ThadenPierce School

C, yesterday you took over an hour to do your math assignment and it should have taken 30 minutes, tops. You admittedly got distracted and today I decided to provide some extra incentive to move things along – it’s 34 degrees right now and so cold in the sunroom. I sent you out there to do your lesson and I said as soon as you finish, run back in and I’ll check your work. An HOUR LATER you came in and showed me your feet and asked, “Mom, is this frostbite?” After I stopped laughing I said it was not and are you done yet?? You almost were.

SO needless to say, serving a mission in Siberia probably won’t phase you because even in the frigid sunroom you got just as distracted daydreaming. Hmm, how to better help you focus then? That really is a concern for me, I know the kids are distractions for you but even alone you get distracted by your own projects and thoughts and you lose track of time. Not that I don’t know where you got that from but I would like you to have a habit of focusing on your tasks until they are completed.

Mo wrote up the abbreviations for the months of the year and we’re now filling in the holidays for each month. We include our anniversary in July as a family holiday – it’s when our family began! Bennett asked why it was a holiday and Emiline said, “Because we love each other, Ben!” Then this:

I know, they are sideways, I took them with the iPhone and they are not cooperating with me.

Christopher: First Language Lessons 3 (grammar, narration, dictation, memorizing scripture mastery instead of the poems in the book.) Piano book 2, composition book for Spell to Write & Read lists, binder with spelling tests, grammar writing, science notes, etc. Missing – timeline/century binder for history.

Moira: Saxon 2 & workbook pages in binder, piano book one, First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind level 1, composition book for Spell to Write & Read spelling lists, Ready Bodies Learning Mind activity guide for OT work. Missing century binder & binder with spelling test, science notes, etc. And Out of Sync Child has Fun.

Combined work: Spell to Write & Read with Wise Guide (teacher’s manual), Teaching the Classics, Cursive First, flashcards for phonograms and spelling rules, etc.

Bennett: Saxon 1 with workbook pages, speech therapy workbook pages in binder, phonics binder with spelling test.

Science: Just a ton of books for reading and science experiments on “creation” to cover solar system, animals, rocks, etc.

Social Studies: Right now it’s Texas/local history and geography but in fall we’ll start Story of the World again. Lots of geography books and social studies stuff the kids enjoy plus My First Book of Biographies.

Art: Annotated Mona Lisa, American artists book (with huge posters to accompany it), Ed Emberly, lots of sketchpads, Discovering Great Artists, Science Arts.

We are reading The Chocolate Touch for our February book club and Christopher fell in love with it. Mo and C have a birthday party in a couple weeks and we decided that would be a fun present. I was able to put a copy on hold at the local Barnes & Noble (so nice and easy!) and then we brainstormed for other ideas. C wanted to get a gold wrapped chocolate and put it in a candy box alone (how the boy receives the magical chocolate) – Kit picked up a Ferrero Rocher 3 pack and we crumpled up some tissue paper and put it in the bottom of an old candy box we had, put a single chocolate in the center then crumpled up more tissue paper on top. We tied a ribbon around it and wrote a note on top to not open it until after Chapter 2. Christopher also made a foil wrapped cardboard coin (how the boy buys his candy) and wrote the birthday girl’s initials on it and “The Chocolate Touch” around the edge in a Sharpie. Cute extra touch.

But C, ever creative, also said he wanted to find a chocolate pencil! Kit suggested we look for some Pocky sticks – the store only had strawberry ones so we wrote a note on the box explaining they were strawberry “pencils” and wrapped them up with a note to not open until after Chapter 5. C insisted we also needed a real pencil since the teacher replaces the chocolate one with a real pencil and we had a cute glittery pink pencil we tied onto the Pocky with a ribbon.

So, we wrapped up the book and wrote, “Open first!” on it then tucked in the other wrapped presents – the Pocky with a pencil, the coin, and the chocolate box. I think it’s a totally cute (and educational!) and fun present. These could easily be used for a book club activity, too, though the Pocky and Rocher both have gluten so we can’t use them for our club safely. We have other fun activities planned!

I caught him doing math! (This is the Saxon 1st grade text, lesson 19.) The last problem is what impressed me the most, it says put 3 seeds in the first apple, 1 seed in the third apple, and 5 seeds in the second apple and then circle the one with the most seeds. Not so shabby for my four (almost 5) year old, eh? He’s been asking for lessons a lot but I was nursing J and looked over to see him doing that. Bennett, you rock.

Becky suggested these, we got Shades of Black, I am Latino, Rainbow All Around Me and Let it Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters (which I’ve not explored yet.) The first three are all fun picture books for kids of any age, the latter is geared to older kids (like Mo & C’s age.)

I took a course in grad school called Women of Color and I helped set up a visiting scholar lecture series called Black Feminist Thought with half a dozen women flying in from across the country to speak on campus in an open evening lecture and Q&A and I still have big fat compilations on my shelf of black women authors and this is something I studied! And I’m sad to report I recognized less than half of the ten black women freedom fighters. So needless to say, this book is a good introduction for ALL of us!!

Again, homeschooling – a humbling reminder that I have many gaps in my own education that I need to fill in and while I know I cannot avoid gaps in my kids’ education, I will at least help them know where to look for answers and do what they can to explore a broad range of important subjects…

Interesting – but sensitive topic so hiding this from the kids until further discussion. Read the rest of this entry »

I liked this article so much I’m linking to it again.

10 Reasons Not to Homeschool
October 28, 2006 — Tammy Takahashi
1. There is no “how to”. You have to make your own decisions about what is important in education. You have to read lots of books and do lots of research to ultimately to figure out who you are, and you will soon learn, there is no “right” way to educate.

2. People will always ask you why you homeschool. Then you have to deal with their questions somehow. This. Never. Ends.

3. It is very likely that someone you love will absolutely hate the fact that you are homeschooling, and will make it clear. Wouldn’t it just be easier to do things the way your family expects you to? You’d get along better with them if you do.

4. You have to create your own social networks and be able to make friends without the constructs of a school setting. And the kids have to learn how to get along with people in the real world. The real world is scary sometimes, and it’s not always easy to know how to meet people.

5. You will have to answer all of your kids’ questions. And sometimes, (ok, maybe often), you’ll have to admit that you don’t know something. And you can’t say, “Ask your teacher tomorrow.” Instead, you will have to say, “Let’s look it up.”

6. The first step to successful homeschooling is to let go of everything you ever knew about education, and to start from scratch. If you really like how school works, you may be surprised at how different homeschooling is from that version of reality. Sometimes, that causes smoke to rise from the ears as two sets of gears try to go in opposite directions.

7. There are a million things to buy out there. It’s easy to get sucked into the “it’s for our kids’ education” trap. And beware homeschool conferences. They are like going to an endless mall of educational materials and ideas. If you go to too many of them, you may even be coerced into speaking at one.

8. Even if millions of parents have homeschooled before, nobody will be able to tell you what to expect. Homeschooling is like being a parent – every family is different and you’re going to have to become your own expert and do a lot of research. Sure, it’s possible to homeschool without research, but that’s like parenting without thinking about why you make our choices. So, once you’ve decided to homeschool, you will be spending just as much time as your kids with your nose in a book, or doing on-site research (park days and info nights). In fact, in the beginning, you’ll probably be learning a lot more than your kids are. That is a very tiring.

9. You run the risk of filling your house with books, magazines, science projects and pencils. You may need to convert part of the bathroom into a library. And what’s worse, is that whenever someone starts talking about a topic, you won’t be able to stop yourself from saying, “We have a book on that! Here, let me go get it.” People will either stay away from you to keep from being told all the nuts and bolts about taking a radio apart, or they will always be bugging you for help on their school science projects because they know you have all the books and info (and experience).

10. You are free. Completely and totally free. Do you really want to be free?

Bennett is clearly ready to start kindergarden (see post below.) Moira today for the first time ever did her math worksheet without any help from me – she read the directions herself and that’s HUGE! Until now she didn’t think she could read and always asked me to read it to her. Hooray, Mo!! She has the skill, she’s now building the confidence in herself to use the skill. It also meant I was able to do one-on-one math with Bennett because the older two could do their work without my direct supervision – though each still needs individualized instruction, the worksheets they can do without me after I’ve taught the concept.

Christopher is finishing his last math lesson in Saxon 3, he now starts Saxon 54 (which is for fifth graders or “advanced” fourth graders.) Instead of a teacher book and workbook it’s a regular math textbook. And Emy is identifying the numbers 0 through 10 with a few errors and she’s telling me the letters of the alphabet and some of their sounds. Yesterday she saw me helping draw lines for Bennett to practice his handwriting – I put a solid line on the bottom and dotted line on top just to give him boundaries. She’s playing with the dry erase board now and just drew herself a solid and dotted line! They are picking up so much just from watching each other learn.

After his birthday we need to make him a kindercone and officially start kindergarden. Yesterday for fun I started him on the SWR lesson one to see if he could do the spelling words? He wrote out all ten words, no mistakes. He’s ready. Maybe we’ll do lessons with him just two days a week, do the Cursive First, SWR for spelling, Saxon 1, and lots of reading aloud?