Homeschool Distractions

Experience Educational Excitement: Ten Ways to Make Learning Fun and Memorable

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 06:33:00 +0000

Everyone knows that learners of all ages learn more and retain more when they enjoy the experience. Here are ten ways to make learning come alive.

1) Go on a relevant field trip. |

Whenever I'm planning a history or literature unit, I hunt for relevant field trips to add to my lesson plans. I think beyond the obvious to widen my search when necessary. I don't always find something, and I don't always have time to hit every field trip that I'd like to take, but just the search ensures that we get out and have more interesting experiences.

2) See a play.

Many community theaters offer inexpensive ways to enjoy their plays. In the past, we've enjoyed many plays from one theater that offered a sneak preview during their final dress rehearsal; admission was pay what you can. Another theater that we have enjoyed had one $5 "Thrifty Thursday" for each of their plays. High school theater classes often have public showings and can be reasonably priced as well. Sometimes you can even find a play that ties into a history topic or novel that you are covering in the current school year. If not, enjoying a play still fits under the subject of fine arts appreciation. Have your students write a critique, and it becomes an English assignment as well.

3) Make some art.

Scour art teacher blogs and Pinterest for projects that can tie in with time periods or geographical areas that you are studying. Search for projects based on a novel that you are reading. You can almost always find something that fits. Art Projects For Kids is one of my favorite art teacher blogs.

4) Play some games.

It's pretty easy to find games that work on almost any skill you are working on.

5) Build a diorama.

Pretty much every historical concept or novel can be used to build a diorama. As part of the process, have your student research the time period to make the diorama more realistic. If based on a novel, the project becomes English, history, and art all rolled into one. Here's a literary diorama my daughter made a couple of years ago for our library's peeps diorama contest.

6) Utilize mainstream movies.

Yes, I know most mainstream movies have elements that aren't accurate, but nothing helps a student understand better than a good visual. Afterwards, you can talk about what was realistic and what artistic licenses were taken by the director. This website has lesson plans for just about every history period and location you could want.

7) Add some music.

See if you can find period music to go with your history students or literature. Enjoy a concert or two. Learn about the time period or location in which the genre of music became popular. Do a biography of a famous musician that utilized the genre you heard.

8) Volunteer.

Add community service to your school year. Is there an assisted living center, food bank, homeless shelter, soup kitchen, or humane society you can help out for an afternoon? Nothing teaches social studies better than helping people in need in your community.

9) Give them a choice in how to present their research.

Would your student enjoy making a short movie? A news show? A computer game? A board game? Sewing a costume? Designing a map? Putting together a tri-fold board? Writing a short picture book? Not every research project needs to enjoy in a paper.

10) Design or replicate a science experiment.

What was discovered during the historical period you are studying? Can you design a corresponding science experiment? Need a biography to add to your literature studies? How about choosing a scientist and trying out a related experiment? If you have older kids, have them show the younger kids some kitchen science experiments? In my home, my littles often watch and/or participate in the labs the bigs are doing. Sometimes I run into a fun experiment for the littles that we didn't do with the bigs, so they take a few moments to join us. I'm using this book with my littles this year, along with other experiments I find online.

My Way Too Eventful Day

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 06:11:00 +0000

Looking at my calendar, I thought today was going to be the easiest and quietest day of the week. It was the only day that I expected to be home all day, able to focus on homeschooling, chores, and cooking. Each day for the rest of the week has some sort of outing that I'm committed to attending. All those evening events mean I have little wiggle room for getting dinner done, which means a little more stress getting everything else done earlier in the day. Today was not the peaceful day I expected.

The day started off with me waking up a bit later than I wanted to. I was tired, and had trouble getting out of bed. I managed to get dressed and feed the kids bagels for breakfast, but my usual chores didn't get touched.

Once 9am rolled around, I made a call to the vet. Our 14 1/2 year old cat has been getting older and older and sicker and sicker. We decided over the weekend that he's suffered enough. So I was calling to see about making an appointment to have him put to sleep. They asked if I could bring him in at lunch.

Having made the call, I returned to getting school done with the kids. Despite wearing jeans and a sweater, I was cold. My daughter has been living in sweats and a sweatshirt and complaining about being cold. We knew our furnace wasn't working, but we hadn't put in a maintenance ticket yet because the property management company and/or owner has been dragging their heals on a much bigger issue. I decided to go out to the shed to get some wood to build a fire in the fireplace that happens to be in our school room. Heading out with gardening gloves, to protect my hands from spider bites, I instructed my eldest to wait by the door to let me in when I came back.

I headed out to the shed and started grabbing some pieces of wood. Most of this is cut up branches of fir that fell during a big snow and ice storm. It had a lot of dirt and some dried out fir needles and spider webs on it. So, I decided to try to clean up each piece before throwing it in the bin I was using. Some of the pieces I thumped against the floor to loosen the debris. About 7-8 pieces in, I suddenly feel a very sharp pain in my shoulder.

With spiders on my mind, I first wondered how a spider had gotten inside my sweater. I started swatting at my shoulder frantically while running out of the shed door. I stopped just outside the door, still freaking out about the spider when I felt another sharp pain on my ear and another on my upper lip. At this point, I realized I was under attack my some sort of winged, stinging insect and took up running full speed, waving my arms frantically to the deck, up the stairs, across the deck, down the stairs, and towards the sliding glass door where my daughter was waiting for me to return with an armload full of wood. I yelled, "Open the door!" as I approached.

Seeing my running and waving, she realized I had been attacked by bees or something. Bless her heart, she opened the door for me. (She later admitted that she opened it because she knew she'd be in huge trouble if she hadn't.) As I ran through, I yelled, "Close the door! Close the door!" I ran through the kitchen, stripped off my sweater, and kept running to the bathroom to look at the damage. While in there, I felt a sharp pain on the top of my head. I managed to swat the thing dead before it got any venom in, because that spot did not continue to hurt.

I stepped on it to make sure it was dead and ran back to the kitchen to frantically make myself some baking soda paste, yelling to my son to get me some Benedryl. (I've been stung before...30 years ago by a honey bee...so I was pretty sure I was ok, but I wasn't sure what three yellow jacket stings would do.) Then I ran back to the bathroom to smear baking soda on my lip, ear, and shoulder. All this time, I'm breathing so hard and fast, I'm practically hyperventilating, and I'm shaking so bad, I was having trouble stirring the baking soda and water together. Did I mention that I've had an exaggerated fear of stinging insects for years?

I finally calmed down enough to grab my tweezers and pick up the dead wasp on the floor, grabbed this picture, and flushed it.

I headed back into the school room to try to calm down when I saw a rather angry yellow jacket running repeatedly into the walls. I sent the kids to the girls' room, and told them to close the door and stay in there. I didn't want them to get stung. I called my husband, told him what had happened, and found out that he was nowhere near coming home. Between my fear and the shaking I was experiencing from the ordeal, I knew I couldn't take care of the wasp myself. So, I headed outside to go knock on my neighbor's door. I saw that our favorite neighbor had arrived home and went there instead. He didn't answer, so I came home and texted him. Then I saw that he was coming out his door so I called him over. I told him what had happened, and near tears asked if he would kill it for me. Then I joined my kids in the bedroom.

He called that it was dead, so I came out. He has wanted to come over to talk about the furnace and the other problem. (He's awesome and has been trying to help us solve the problem that the management/owner are ignoring.) While we were talking, I caught a glimpse of another wasp, screamed and took off running. He killed that one too. Then he checked my sweater that I had peeled off and left on the kitchen floor to see if there were more hiding in there, and suggested I wash it.

Then he closed the fireplace flue for me. I was envisioning a swam coming through the fireplace. Did I mention that phobia of stinging insects that I have? And then he fixed the furnace. It turns out that the property management's inspector and replaced the cover wrong when she changed the filter which deactivated the fan.

Then he looked for the source of the water leak again and proposed another possible cause since no source of leaking could be found. Then he went home and contacted an insulation company to ask if his theory was plausible. When I got home, I borrowed a dehumidifier from another neighbor and got it going in the master bedroom (three bedrooms and the living room have wet carpets when it rains).

Finally, it was time to take the cat to the vet, so I left. It's not the easiest thing to drop your cat off to be put down, but we knew it was coming soon, and I'm normally calm about such things. On the way home, I stopped at the library to pick up holds.

Shortly after that, the insulation guy came to the house, and my neighbor showed him around while they investigated the moisture problem. While they were doing that, they discovered a new problem with the house...lovely. Fortunately, it isn't a huge problem at this moment. Unfortunately, they did not find any indication of a leak anywhere. The current theory is that there is any airflow problem and humidity in the air is getting condensed into the carpet...part of the modern houses are too tight problem. He proposed that we get one room dry with the dehumidifier, get the furnace fixed/rigged so the whole house fan can be run without the heat having to be blasting, and see if that fixes the problem.

Between being stung, taking the cat to be put down, and dealing with trying to fix things (and the lease tells us not to fix things...to file a maintenance ticket and let them ~~fix it~~ ignore it), I just didn't get around to defrosting dinner. Nor did I feel up to washing dishes and cooking dinner. So we went to Wendy's for dinner where I burnt the tip of my tongue on my sandwich. Yes, yes I did.

It's been about twelve hours since I was stung. There is still a bit of ache in my shoulder where I was stung, and my lip has a stinging/tingling sensation still. The dehumidifier has been running for about nine hours and has pulled 20 cups of water out of the air. I'm looking forward to the rest of my week being as uneventful as today was suppose to be.

Getting It All Done

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 00:14:00 +0000

I knew this year was going to be the toughest yet. With Madelynn demanding to do school with real curricula of her own, I have the schooling of four kids to manage. Mikaela began high school this year, and Sam is working right along with her using the same curricula. This is the first year that I feel the need to buckle down, get it all done, and actually maintain grades and real records. There's a certain amount of stress that comes with beginning high school: it counts now.

I knew that I don't have as much flexibility to just go with the flow; that leads to not getting things done. I knew I needed to figure out how to get it all to fit into the day. I knew I needed to follow a schedule even though that is so very hard for me to do. My first attempt at creating a schedule was too complicated and didn't work. I spent time this weekend revising, and came up with a simpler schedule that seems to be working.

First, I created my very own school bell. I found out a few years ago that having bells to denote the various times of the day really helped to keep us, and me especially, on track. Without them, I get distracted or hyper-focus on one thing, and we end up having either very long days trying to catch up or not getting things done. We don't like either consequence, so some sort of school bell is good for us. I went with the simplest option: a bunch of alarms on my cell phone. I even downloaded a school bell sound, just for fun.

Here's how our day looks:

7:00am:

Everyone in the family must wake up and be ready to go before 8:00am. For me, that includes waking up, showing, getting dressed, making my bed, starting a load of laundry, feeding the cats and dogs (or asking someone else to), and putting together breakfast. Until I get all of my planning odds and ends wrapped up, breakfast consists of easy things like cereal, bagels, english muffins, fried eggs and toast, and scrambled eggs with mix ins.

8:00am:

At 8:00am, we all eat breakfast. After eating, we brush our teeth and get ready to start our morning.

8:30am:

The littles get to start their day watching a TV show. If I have one, I'll tell them to watch something that goes with what we are learning about. This morning they watched The Magic School Bus Shows and Tells, which is about archaeology, our history topic for the week. Meanwhile, the bigs and I do what I'm calling the Morning Meeting. We discuss their Bible assignment, watch and discuss the CNN Student News for the day, go over any little bits of trivia that I want to share with them, and discuss the schedule for the day if there are changes.

9:30am:

Once we are done with the Morning Meeting, the littles join us in the school room for their work. I read them a story out of Egermeier's Bible Story Book and then work with them on their individual subjects. I get Maddie started on handwriting and then do phonics with Josh. Then I get Josh working on handwriting while I do phonics with Maddie. Then they both work on math. If Josh finishes before Maddie, he works on a page of spelling and a page of language arts. These are both Spectrum workbooks, which are a quick and simple way of introducing both subjects without a lot of stress. Then we work on history and science together. I'm finding that I have to keep both of these very short because Josh just doesn't have the attention span for content subjects. Meanwhile, Mikaela and Samuel work independently. I'm available for questions, but it is generally understood that questions should wait until later so I can get done with the littles.

12:15pm:

At this point, I am done with the littles and make lunch.

12:30pm:

Everyone takes a break to eat lunch.

1:00pm:

Maddie takes her nap immediately after lunch. Josh is free to do what he wishes. His only limit is that he cannot play on the computer if someone is using it for school, and if he does play on the computer, he can't have the sound on. That is because the computer is in the school room where we are trying to work. Meanwhile, I teach Health to Mikaela and Samuel.

1:30pm:

The big kids and I move on to Spanish. If it is the beginning of the chapter, we move to the living room to watch an episode of Destinos. If we are working in the textbook, we stay in the school room to do the activities as a class. Some activities require the use of sound files online, so we use my laptop for those. If we are working in the workbook, we move to the living room so we can use the stereo to hear the audio CDs. Obviously, if Josh is using the TV, he gets kicked off as school takes priority.

2:30pm:

At this time, I continue working with Samuel and Mikaela if needed. This is the time for those activities that don't come up every day, like science labs or vocabulary discussions or tests. If I'm not needed, I use this time to grade the day's work.

3:30pm:

Maddie is awake by this time, so I have determined that once a week, this time will be designated for art. Otherwise, I work on grading and chores during this time.

4:30pm:

It is my goal that I start cooking dinner at this time. It hasn't happened yet, but it is the goal. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I have to have dinner ready earlier so I'll likely force myself to stick to this goal those days, while other days it is less important.

The rest of the evening is devoted to eating, cleaning up after dinner, grading, chores, taking the big kids to their social activities, and free time.

And a Different Set Up

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 03:01:00 +0000

After spending a week attempting to do school all together in the same room, we decided that our previous two small tables push together wasn't going to cut it. We were just too crammed together, and I was sending Maddie out to the living room alone so I had room to work with Josh on his school work. Making her spend so much time alone is not part of my plan.

Here's how it was set up last week:

It's a little crammed. Both Mikaela and Samuel really like having their various textbooks, workbooks, and primary resources all within arms reached. They were a little tight on space, but seemed to do fine. Plus, they moved around when they wanted, working on the computer or reading on their bed or the couch.

The biggest problem was the littles' side. There just isn't room for three of us and the stuff we are working on that tiny table. Even if Josh and Maddie only have the paper they are working on, there's still no room for the things I need to keep busy while supervising their work.

So, we moved the dining table into the school room. Here's how it looks now.

There's a lot more room now.

Here's Josh and Maddie's side of the table. They have their notebooks, science journals, MUS blocks, and crayons within reach. I have room to sit at the end of the table where I can see the big kids for discussions, work with the littles direction, and have room for my own stuff.

The dining room is looking less and less like a dining room though:

It's now a cross between a home library and an art studio.

We usually eat in the living room anyway.

First Day of School 2013

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 06:19:00 +0000

After much planning and gnashing of teeth, we reached the first day of the new school year. Gosh, I didn't know if we were going to make it, or if I was going to have to make up something to call school before I was done planning. The kids just needed something to do besides screens!

The plan today was primarily emptying out the notebooks of last years papers, getting them set up for the new year, and explaining how each subject was going to work this year.

Normally, I'd have the notebooks cleared out and my work samples filed into our records already. However, I totally dropped the ball last year, and we ended up with a disaster of a year. I dropped anything that looked like English. We read books and talked about them, but I had nothing to show for it. Then we got so far behind that it took up to this past Friday to finish math. And we didn't even finish state history yet. We are NOT year round home schoolers. Getting any of us to do anything that looks like school work during the summer is nearly impossible. I finally had to accept that getting math done so we can move onto high school with a clean slate would be good enough. None of us want to do that again, so everyone is motivated to get down to business, and neither of the big kids want to take days off and get behind again.

Once we got the notebooks emptied, we set them up for the new courses. This was the easy part; all we had to do was put in new dividers and label the tabs.

This year will be very different from previous years, primarily because Mikaela and Samuel both start high school level classes. I feel that I need to be more organized and on top of things to be able to do high school well. I too readily drop things in favor of doing something fun, especially if I'm not well-prepared. We just wouldn't be able to get a full credit's worth of work done in a year. And I'd have very poor records to show for it. And I would have very inconsistent grading methods. So, to fix all of that, I decided to write a syllabus for each of their classes...and I even got most of them written in time.

Why a syllabus? Well, because I had read that some other moms actually do this. And it will acquaint the kids with syllabi. And it will be a written record of how the class will work, what kinds of assignments there will be, how their grade will be formulated, etc. They won't be able to argue about what is expected. I won't forget how I intended to grade. There will be consistency. Yeah!

So, we spent today emptying binders, adding dividers, and reading through syllabi. As we discussed each class, I was able to pull out the books they would need, show them how the curricula were organized, let them know that they weren't getting away with giving me bare minimum this year. Yes, you have to participate in Spanish because you can't learn it without actually speaking it...out loud. And to make sure you participate, I'll be grading you on participation daily, and it will be part of your final grade. Yes, you actually have to keep your papers in your notebook rather than lying around all over the house in random locations. Yes, you will be graded on having an orderly and complete notebook. Yes, you have to write lab reports and here's how they will be graded. Basically, there's a lot of bad habits that need to go away, preferably before they move onto college. And it's all my fault because I've been way too inconsistent. Not this year.

We also have a new set up in our school room. We put two tables that we happen to have together to form one larger table. The big kids sit facing the white board since they'll need to see it more. We put books that they share in the tipped over crate and their individual books in the corner on their side. They like having them all within arms reach without having to get up and hunting for them in the bookshelf. On the smaller table, with their back to the white board, the littles will do their work. In the photo, their table is cluttered with my stuff because I didn't have them doing much today.

Overall, the day went well....and very long...thanks to a Maddie meltdown (they are legionary around here) and a surprise visit from the property management's handy man. But the kids didn't complain, and we'll all set to get down to business tomorrow.

How did you first day of school go?

MIA

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 05:39:00 +0000

Yeah, yeah, I've been missing. I'm still trying to figure out how to fit editing photos for blogger (don't want to do huge file sizes and run out of space) and writing into my schedule. I've found Facebook's quick and easy status updates to be easier to manage, especially when I can do it from my phone. So, if you want to follow my there, shoot me a comment.

The Giant House Spider Invasion

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 07:07:00 +0000

Ok, it wasn't really an invasion, but it did turn out to be an interesting night.

Sam, Scott, and I were watching TV earlier this evening when Sam suddenly spotted a rather large spider on the carpet in the middle of the living room. While cowering on the couches, Sam and I demanded that Scott take care of it...but first, take a picture of it.

This is the photo he took of the spider just before stunning it with a whack from a flip flop and then squishing it with a napkin. He then deposited it into the garbage and uploaded the photo to Facebook.

Well, the Facebook discussion was lively. Usually when you find a large spider in the house in this area, especially if it is brown, people think they are hobo spiders. While hobo spiders do live here, they are impossible to identify without a microscope. There are quite a few spiders that are mistaken for hobo spiders. In fact, WSU has a ten-page PDF document entitled "How to Identify (or Misidentify) the Hobo Spider."

Well, I got interested enough to overcome the heeby jeebies I get around spiders and very carefully, touching only the very edge, removed the napkin from the kitchen garbage. Then using a pencil and a pair of dirty tongs I found on the counter, I opened the napkin and found that the spider was intact and not squished beyond recognition. Gaining a little courage, I used the pencil to move it around, making sure it didn't move on its own (or I'd scream and run). I pulled out our handy-dandy flash magnifier (if you don't have one, you need one), and looked at it more closely...literally...because you have to get really close with a flash magnifier to see clearly. Yes, I had all kinds of shivers running through me.

This is what I saw:

See that white line? It is pointing to three little circles on the underside of the cephalothorax. There are three more on the other side, too. According to the WSU document linked above, that's enough to identify the spider as NOT a hobo spider. It is either a giant house spider or a barn funnel weaving spider.

Ok then....next step. Look for the female epigynum, or opening of the reproductive organs. None. Ok, this is a male spider.

Next step. Using a exacto knife, I cut off the left palp, or male reproductive structure. I then put it on a slide and put it on the microscope. Using a flashlight to add contrasting light from the side, I examined that thing from all directions and could only find one prong. Hobo spiders have two. Funnel weavers have a small prong. This was definitely a large one.

Next step. I looked at the RTA, or retrolateral tibial apophysis on the palp. It definitely had the saddle-shaped top of a giant house spider.

So, with all of those observations, it is confirmed to be a giant house spider.

And that folks, is the only way to know, for sure, if the brown spider you found is a hobo spider or not. As giant house spiders outnumber hobo spiders three to one, it is more likely a giant house spider. However, barn funnel weaver spiders also look similar. People also mistake several other species of spiders for hobo spiders, including the callobius spider, which I have also caught in my home (and had people tell me was a hobo spider).

Being a giant house spider, he was a beneficial spider. In fact, having a colony of giant house spiders in the basement is almost guaranteed to prevent hobo spiders in your home. However, given how closely they resemble hobo spiders and my dislike for large spiders running across my carpet, I wasn't going to stop to exam it alive first.

First Formal

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Sun, 12 May 2013 05:25:00 +0000

A local-ish co-op puts on a formal dance for the homeschooled teens each year. Mikaela has a few friends who attend the co-op, so when I heard about the dance, I decided it would be fun for her to attend...whether she wanted to or not...hehehe.

There's a great dress rental place nearby, so we headed there to try on dresses. Fortunately, she found one that she liked. Not liking the shoes they had available, we bought her shoes. It make the occasion more special, we got her ears pierced with cubic zirconium studs. Daddy took her to get a manicure and pedicure two days ago. Today, we got her hair styled. And then when she and her friend were all ready, we headed outside for some pictures, of course.

She was just picked up by her friend's mom. She is spending the night there. But I hear that they are giggly and happy and had a good time.

World War II

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:37:00 +0000

We're just finishing up a four week unit of World War II. I found some great resources and enjoyed learning some new things along with the kids. Here's what we read:

Literature

Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition
Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two*
Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6-September 30, 1945*
Between Shades of Gray
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (only Mika read this one)

Nonfiction

America in the 1940s (Decades of the Twentieth-Century America)
DK Eyewitness Books: World War II
Auschwitz: The Story of a Nazi Death Camp
Japanese American Internment Camps
The Anne Frank Case: Simon Wiesenthal's Search for the Truth
Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis*

Websites
Digital History

Movies
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Schindler's List
Masterpiece Theater: Diary of Anne Frank

Field Trips

Museum of Flight (has WWI and WWII exhibits)

The items marked with an asterisk are still in process. We'll be giving World War II a fifth week before moving on so we can finish up these books. Mikaela and Sam are also working on research projects of their choice which will take them a few weeks to work on. Mikaela has chosen to cover the concentration camps in Germany, focusing on the Jews before, during, and after the war. Sam is focusing on the atomic bomb.

Hard Year, New Hopes

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 04:48:00 +0000

This year has been the most difficult and frustrating homeschooling year yet. I just struggled from the get go and never really got it figured out. I ended up giving up on some of my plans in favor of just getting some basics done. We've finally settled into a routine that's getting an acceptable amount of school done, but it is far from what I had envisioned. Sometimes, you just have to called it "good enough."

That said, I have new hopes for next year, in part because we are able to afford getting our new curriculum early. I spent this afternoon buying the bulk of next year's work. Hopefully with the jump start, I'll be able to get all of my planning done and next year will run more smoothly because of it.

I'm really excited with the new curriculum for the big kids. We're moving into high school and much of what we are doing is new. Some of our language arts is staying the same (Michael Clay Thompson for grammar, vocabulary, and poetry) and our math won't change (Math-U-See for Mika and Art of Problem Solving for Sam). The rest is new, and I am excited about my choices and hopeful that they will work well.

The littles will be pretty easy in that they are working entirely with curriculum I've used before. Josh has matured and learned so much; I'm hopeful he'll make the leap from just the basics of phonics, math, and handwriting for kindergarten to adding in spelling, language arts, science, and history in first grade. Rather than disappoint Maddie for a second year, I'm actually buying her some curriculum too.

How are your plans for next year going? What are you using again? What are you excited to try out for the first time next year?

Lesson Plan (The Third Wave)

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 02:00:00 +0000

A couple of days ago, I posted a review of Die Welle, the German remake of the movie, The Wave. Yesterday, we watched Lesson Plan, a documentary directed by one of the original students in Ron Jones and featuring several students and the teacher.

The documentary is simply interviews with the students, laid out by day. They talk about what happened on each day. It's amazing to hear how it occurred, what they were thinking, and even how they each experienced it so differently. The experience obviously had a profound impact on each of them.

I definitely recommend the book, the movie, and the documentary if you have ever wondered how the Germans could have gone along with Hitler, or if it could ever happen again. It's been fascinating.

Art Class

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:38:00 +0000

The homeschool group that we are involved in is mostly younger kids. However, there are a few older kids here and there. The group covers a very wide area, and most of us with older kids are spaced out. It makes getting the older kids together difficult.

One member in our group knows an art teacher. A class was set up, and mostly younger kids came. It took a while, but I eventually set up a class for older kids. We had six kids for the class, two of them being mine. Fortunately, she lives close to us, so the teacher didn't mind coming for a smaller class.

Today was a first class. The teacher chose to do face drawings so she could assess the skill level of the students. The drawing on the left is Mikaela's. The drawing on the right is Samuel's.

I think they did well.

Fascism: Could It Happen Again?

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:05:00 +0000

Though we haven't studied World War 2 yet, my kids are aware of WWII, Hitler, and the Holocaust. The very idea that the Germans would vote Hitler into power and then stand by as he decimated the Jewish population is difficult to imagine. The idea that a lead like Hitler could rise to power again is unfathomable. For awhile now, I've been waiting for the time when I'd show them a movie from my own childhood about this very topic.

Years ago, ABC broadcast a series known as the ABC Afterschool Specials. One of these specials was The Wave. The Wave is based on the true story of Ron Jones, a California school teacher who designed a classroom experiment to show his students how easy it is for a totalitarian leader to rise up and create a fascist society. The experiment, which only lasted a week and a half, spiraled out of control. Later, the movie The Wave was produced about the experiment. I remember it having a profound impact on me; I remember the movie thirty years later even though I only saw it once.

Unfortunately, the quality of available copies is rather poor...difficult to watch poor. I discovered that there is a modern German remake of the movie, Die Welle, and decided to try that one. It was also well-done, though there are a couple of scenes I would have preferred to do without (one in particular) and a much more violent end. It would probably be rated PG-13.

I've been thinking about the two films since we watched it a couple days ago. The 1981 version is only 47 minutes long and much gentler. The point is still made. The 2011 German version is an hour and 47 minutes long, contains some sexual content*, and ends violently. The point is well-made in this one as well. I like the teacher in the German film better. He leads the class with questions; through these questions, the students come up with the elements of their new Fascist club themselves. Most of them don't even realize it. The impact of the society on the members is more pronounced. The message is bigger, more in your face, than in the original.

We'll continue our little side-study with a viewing of Lesson Plan, a documentary about the original experiment. It is directed by one of the original students and features interviews from other original students. We are looking forward to watching it.

There is also a novel of The Wave. My daughter has expressed interest in reading it as well.

If you've ever wondered how Hitler managed to get the Germans to go along with his plans, check out the movie or book. If you've ever wondered if it could happen again, definitely check them out and remember that they are based on a true story.

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If you don't like spoilers please stop now. For those who might be considering watching these movies with their children (older children) and are concerned about appropriateness, I'll briefly describe the scenes so you can decide if your children should watch it or wait.

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Near the beginning of the movie, kids enter a dance club. One boy is shown bringing a beer bottle to his crotch and stroking it. He then spits up beer as if he's ejaculating. The scene is shocking but only lasts a few seconds.

In another scene a boy sees his mom arrive home drunk with a man in tow. She's heavily made up and they grope before heading to the bedroom. It is obvious that this is a regular occurrence; she is either a prostitute or simply promiscuous. It is also a very short scene. Unlike the previous one, I felt this one helped with character development as the boy goes on to become one of the more enthusiastic members of The Wave.

In another scene a married couple gets affectionate as the father's hand squeezes the mother's rear. This momentary scene also assists in character development of their daughter.

A boy is shot before the shooter turns the gun on himself. It happens quickly but is fully shown. It happens on school grounds. Fortunately, as far as I can tell, this did not happen in the original experiment.

Hands On

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 06:49:00 +0000

Today, we had the pleasure of spending the day with two good family friends. They drove almost an hour to spend the day with the kids and I. The kids shared various things with them. We played Uno. We had lunch. And then we headed to the Hands On Childrens Museum.

We made sure to visit each area and had a great time. This was our third or fourth trip to the new location. My kids really enjoy the museum, especially Maddie and Josh.
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Fortunately, Maddie was good and didn't attempt to go off on her own. I reminded her of how much trouble she got in last time, and she was good about staying in the designated sections with us. The last visit involved her ignoring me and sliding down to the first floor and then evading her brother, which resulted in a fifteen minute search involving at least half a dozen staff with walkie-talkies.

We spent more time than usual in the Build-It section. Maddie got all dressed up. The hat wouldn't stay on her head for more than a couple of seconds, though. Mika, Sam, and one of our friends built a cabin with their boards (they remind me of flat lincoln logs) only to find out that there aren't enough roof pieces.

Overall, we had a good time. We love seeing our friends!

Flower Dissection

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:47:00 +0000

Ovary and ovules of a daffodil as seen through a 10x flash magnifier

We are working through Exploring Creation with Botany this year along with some library book and some additional observational activities. Like the zoology books, this book has not disappointed. It is incredibly in-depth for an elementary text, enough so that I've been comfortable using them through middle school. (We're skipping the middle school texts because we've already covered most of their topics.)

Today's activity is a great example. After reading about flowers, it was time to dissect a flower. I headed to the store yesterday and bought one for each of us. I needed a flower with visible stamen and pistils for the activity. Daffodils were the best option from our local Safeway, so that's what we used. After letting them open for a day, they were ready to dissect.

We started by looking at and carefully removing the sepal. Then we removed each of the petals, making sure to get all of each petal off. Once those were removed, we were able to look at the stamen with each of their parts, the filament and anther. We paused here to look at a couple of germinating pollen slides under the microscope. I also got some pollen off of one of our daffodil anthers, and we looked at that, too. Back at the table, we removed the carpal and identified its parts. Then we sliced the carpel in half to be able to look at the ovary and ovules. The picture above shows the inside of the ovary and ovules under our 10x flash magnifier. (We love our magnifier. I can't find a link to the one we got on amazon, but this one at skygeek is the same thing.) Each part got glued down to a sheet of heavy paper/light card stock and will be labeled once it dries. Even the littles participated in this activity with help.

I really enjoy these types of activities (really looking forward to biology); they make science come to life.

Assignment Sheets

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:16:00 +0000

Over the years, I've changed the way we've done things several times. My favorite method was when I used the filing box system. We used a lot of consumable workbooks back then. It was easy to tear the books apart and distribute the appropriate number of pages to each week's file. But then we moved into other curricula that didn't easily work with that system.

Our next system was a weekly checklist. That sort of worked. The most difficult part of that was getting those weekly checklists written up each each week.

This year, I managed to get a list of assignments written up for botany and a list of assignments written for the first half of state history. Then I ran out of time and school started. I still refer to the two lists I have, telling them to work on assignment number 25, for example.

But here's the big problem. We are way behind schedule for my hopes and plans for the year. And I don't have assignments assigned to actual days. So each day, I go through the subjects and tell them what they need to work on. Mika has taken to writing these verbal instructions on her hand. It works. She gets the work done. I don't have to find time to get a weekly assignment written up. It saves paper. It's not the ideal, but this year has been far from ideal. I'm finding that folding in a new kindy student is much like having a new baby: expect a lot of bumps in the road and a lot less getting accomplished.

Almost a Teen

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 08:11:00 +0000

It's really hard to believe that my firstborn is nearly a teen. Her birthday is just a few days away!

Inspired by an idea from another online mom, I came up with an idea for her birthday. We gave her the choice between a birthday party and gift (as in item wrapped in pretty paper) or a new haircut with styling consultation, a makeup consultation, and a shopping spree. She choice the latter. And today was the day.

First we visited a local hair salon for her cut and consultation. You see, mom has straight hair; my daughter has wavy hair. I have no idea how to style her hair so she's always worn it parted in the middle, brushed, and allowed to air dry. It was frizzy and without any style. Today, they cut several inches off, put in layers, and added some side bangs. Then they talked to her about what kind of shampoo would be best, using a curl definer, and some hair spray. They also used a Knot Genie in her hair, and my daughter was sold instantly. She's never been able to brush her hair painlessly in less than a minute. With the money budgeted for the day, we paid for the cut and brush.

Then we hit Taco Bell for a drive though lunch on the way to her makeup consultation with Clinique. There she was taught how to clean her face and shown how to apply makeup in an appropriate way for her skin and age. There we got a list of all of the items used and their prices. She also chose to buy a small package of facial cleaning products, foundation, and lipstick.

Then we visited Target to do a quick price check before going to Kohl's. She scored big at Kohl's where she found a pair of jeans, a pair of sweats, a long-sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, two screen-printed tees, and a tank for under $50. She would have been able to get more but the current styles and colors are not her style.

Then we went back to Target. We were so under budget that we went back to Target to get clearance-priced Converse shoes, mascara, eyeshadow, blush, makeup brushes, a makeup bag, a mirror for her bedroom door, cork tiles, and push pins.

In the end, she still had a little money left over, which we just let her have.

She's one happy almost teen!

Beginning to Read

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:59:00 +0000

Josh, my third child, was the only one that didn't want to be read to. There was no getting him to sit through a story for the first four years of his life. He was too busy. He had too much to do. Or rather, he needed to spend all his time running, flipping, standing on his head, climbing, etc. Books didn't include enough movement for him.

About a year ago, I finally figured out a way to get him to listen to a short picture book. When I found the perfect book for him at the library, I brought it home and read it to Maddie while he was in the room. A few times, it worked, and he was finally open to me reading it to him.

When he turned five, something happened. All of a sudden, he was willing to listen to chapter books at bedtime. He got interested enough in those that he'd occasionally ask to hear a chapter during the day. After a few chapter books, he got burned out, and we've been focusing in picture books for a while now.

Also during his fifth year, he started using Reading Eggs. He has really enjoyed that program. I'm not pushing it because I think it ultimately ends up in the child memorizing words rather than learning the phonics needed. He spends most of his time playing games rather than doing the lessons. His subscription runs out in a week, and he's requested that I renew it. I probably will.

The other big change was that he was finally interested in joining us for school. He's been slowing doing some phonics. We've gone through the sounds for each letter of the alphabet in Phonics Pathways. We're now working on finishing up the alphabet book we're making. He's at the point that he can read CVC words and a few sight words.

But through this all, he been very reluctant to attempt to read any words to me. Today, I caught him reading Are You My Mother to Madelynn. I was able to get this quick snapshot with my cell phone. It's exciting to see him finally showing an interest in reading.

My Weird Kid

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 02:05:00 +0000

This almost six year old boy living in my house is one weird kid. I have no idea where he gets some of the things he comes up with. We call them Josh-isms.

He painted the above picture today. I asked him what it is, and he replied, "A rockstar with lots of pants and a maze. [In the maze] the red is evil. The green's nice. I made all of the red green because I wanted to make it all nice."

Recently, he asked me to cook "that healthy food that I like."

Another time he told his father, "Daddy, you smell tired."

Eating jello, he asked, "When you touch your jello, why does it feel like juice?"

Or...

"It's ok to wear armpits."

Or...

"Daddy, why do you always sometimes sit by Mommy?"

We never know what he's going to say.

Field Trips and Activities

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 02:21:00 +0000

Oh, how I miss the days when I only had two young children. Back then, we did a lot more out-of-the-house activities. Now that I have four kids, three of them officially in school, it is so much harder to get out of the house. School takes so much more time now. And it is difficult to find things to do that satisfy both the older kids and the younger ones.

Every now and then, though, I find an activity and just jump on the opportunity. If one set of kids isn't happy, tough. I do try to make sure everyone is getting opportunities for activities and play dates that they like. Regardless, I always fight the feeling that we aren't doing enough.

Today we met a large group of homeschoolers at an indoor soccer field. It worked out really well, much better than I had been expecting. Mikaela had a friend come; they hung out together while younger siblings enjoyed the actual purpose of the meetup. Sam enjoyed the activities. Josh loved the activities. They ran; he loves to run. Madelynn went back and forth between being on the field and playing with a younger friend. I'll definitely be on the lookout for the next meetup here.

Movie Time

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:22:00 +0000

Going to the movies is a big deal in our family. With the current ticket prices and six people, we just can't go that often. So a movie comes out that we want to see, it is a big deal. We look forward to it for a long time.

The Hobbit is a movie that we've been wanting to see for years. When we heard it was finally coming out, we were excited. It was a long wait!

Last night, Mikaela and I went to see it together in 2D (3D gives us headaches). It was awesome! I just love, love, love what Peter Jackson has done with both The Lord of the Rings and now The Hobbit. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD so I can see it again and for the next part to come out.

Tomorrow Scott and Sam will be going to see The Hobbit using the tickets Sam won playing Bunco at our small group's New Year Eve party. They'll be upgrading them to IMAX 3D, of course.

Quiet Time

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 06:45:00 +0000

The end of last week, I decided to try instituting a quiet time after lunch. My three year old hasn't quite outgrown her need for a nap, but I haven't been putting her down for one. She doesn't want to lay down with everyone else is up doing things. What we get instead is either 1) she passes out somewhere right before dinner or 2) she has a meltdown. And her meltdowns are spectacular in a not good way.

So, we're trying for a quiet time. It's really difficult for me because I already feel like we aren't getting enough school work done. I just want to keep plowing through because we don't have time to stop for an hour to do "nothing." But she needs a nap, and I'm hoping the quiet time will help another kid who has their own form of meltdowns every so often as well.

Now I have to work out the details. I'm trying not to require each of them to be on their beds reading. They do enough reading already; in fact, it is difficult to keep Mikaela and Samuel in reading material. I wouldn't mind if they were sitting at a table coloring, writing, or working on a quiet hobby. Unfortunately, Joshua picks something to do, then comes out to ask me questions or change what he's doing, etc. It's not very quiet, and it makes it difficult for Madelynn to actually fall asleep. So, I need to make a rule of some sort that quiet time requires them to pick something to do and then stay where they are doing it. No talking. No wandering.

I never had a quiet time growing up. And we've never had a quiet time in our house. I'm just trying to feel my way through this and see if it works. Any suggestions?

After the Kids Go to Bed...

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 08:55:00 +0000

In an effort to fall asleep faster, I've changed my nighttime routine. Rather than sitting up on the computer half the night (like tonight...got distracted...oops), we put Pandora on the Jim Brickman station and hang out.

Scott is usually on his laptop, while I sit and knit or crochet. Zach, our dog, is pretty much always snuggled up against me like that.

The combination of low light, soothing music, and calming activity is helping me to fall asleep sooner. While I am usually still up pretty late, I'm no longer laying in bed for 3-4 hours waiting for sleep to come.

How do you spend your evening hours after the kids have gone to bed?

Socks

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 02:25:00 +0000

I'm really good at starting projects; I'm horrible at finishing them. One of my goals this year is to become a good finisher not just a good starter.

Among the things I want to finish better is my crafting. A year or so ago, I got rid of almost all of my yarn. I only kept projects that I really wanted to finish. The picture above is my new pair of socks. Don't they look great?

Here's the back story:

A couple of years ago, I tried crocheting a sock for Josh. While it looked great, it was awful. Crocheted socks have no stretch, making them very difficult to get on. I moved on and knitted my very first sock for Mika; a pink camo sock. Bored of that, I moved on to a sock for Sam. I gave them each a sock for Christmas with the intention of finishing the other. At the same time, I put yarn in Scott's stocking with the intention of knitting a pair for him. I also bought yarn for my own pair. None of the pairs have never been finished.

It's time for a clean start. I pulled the match for Sam's sock off of my needles. I would never be able to figure out where I was in order to finish it. Besides, both of them have much bigger feet now. Then I dug for a long while and found the fourth needle and started my socks. It's about time I make something for myself...and I plan on finishing both socks this time.

What unfinished project do have laying around that you plan on finishing this year?

Mazes

noreply@blogger.com (JoAnn) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 05:27:00 +0000

What a winter break! I've been having the hardest time getting settled into the routine of doing school with three students and a preschooler. I never thought it would be this hard to add in a third student. The age gap being great enough that we can't combine subjects isn't helping either.

After a long Christmas break, we eased back into school today. We didn't do much: some history reading, some individual reading, and some maze making.

A friend posted this link to a PDF explaining how to make a maze. Sounded like fun so that's what we did. Mine is on the left. Mikaela's is on the right. Sam is still working on his. It was a good exercise in being neat and careful as we were using small graph paper.

Once they are all done, I plan on getting them scanned so I can print out copies for us all to try.