current events

it's been so interesting to find out that henry is really interested in current events, politics, world views, and the like.  each day, we start off with CNN student news.  it brings up fantastic topics of discussion, and great springboards for a little further research.  we might not go into a full-fledged investigation each time, but we might look something up on wikipedia or find a location on our world map.  it's a great way to get general world knowledge.  henry can have intelligent discussions about the state of world events.  nice.

our other great resource is time for kids.  we subscribed to the magazine, and it comes with teacher materials.  we read the kid news together, then do some of the activities.  we do the comprehension quiz together.  the tfk website has so much other fantastic stuff for kids AND teachers.

we exploded our volcano this morning.  it was somewhat disappointing as the vinegar didn't really seep into the baking soda in the chamber, so there wasn't enough pressure built up to really BLOW.  we had fun anyway, since it's a gorgeous beyond belief day and it was great just to be outside.  i think we'll do all our work outside while the weather's nice.  another perk of homeschooling, right?

week 4 and all's well

i think the most trouble i'm having with homeschooling is the sheer quantity of OTHER responsibilities i have on a day-to-day basis, breaking the concentration that i should have towards henry and henry ALONE.  but trying to hold down a house, a home business, and a freelance job, i have too many other things on my plate to ignore.

he's still REALLY enjoying the units on ancient rome and volcanoes, so i figure we'll go til either the subject, or he, is exhausted.  but with a topic like ancient rome that spanned thousands of years, the topic should be fresh for quite some time.  he's digging the idea of gladiators, so i'm searching for kid-appropriate gladiator fodder.

we made a toga last week out of an old sheet/ dropcloth.  we made one for the dog, too.  a "doga" if you will.

this week we're hoping to explode our own volcano.  we bought a volcano kit from science kit and i'm quite happy with the whole package.  you paint the vocano model, and read through the booklet with TONS of volcano info.  it also came with an informative full-color poster.  nice!

here's an odd shot of him learning to knit on the knifty knitter...

today looks like it will be a good day to teach about the importance of having your car's tires balanced and rotated.

wii

we have a wii, and although we've used it for games, even active games, i never really thought of it as academic.  today i discovered that it can be a valuable and diverting learning tool.  we haven't really explored all the wii options, so i was surprised by all of this.

one of our favorite academic game site is arcademic.  on the arcademic site, it said that some of the games are wii optimized.  okay, i thought, how do i get to them on the console?  i looked it up on the nintendo page, and found that you can configure the unit to connect wirelessly to the internet, and you don't even need a separate component.  huh!

i followed the instructions, connected to the internet, and found the wii shop.  from there i discovered that for $5, you can buy the internet channel.  done.  from there i went to arcademics, and VOILA!  he was doing division problems on the wii.  man, is he stoked.

on another note, henry started his pottery class yesterday.  HE.  LOVED.  IT.  i'm excited to see the output.  i need to take photos!

the other day we went to jordan lake, the local man-made lake, to see the effect of hurricane hanna rains.  impressive!  we found & identified a few rocks, leaves, and mushrooms as well.  it was good to get out and wander.

today we made homemade bread.  it's fun to see how much more time consuming it is than going out to the store and picking up a loaf.  we're pairing it for a delicious lunch with homemade turkey barley soup made with the leftovers of sunday's turkey.  see?  not everything comes prepackaged.  and see?  if you want to cook, you just need to follow directions.  good life lessons, don't you think?

cry time

no, i'm not crying in frustration... YET.

we had a good day today, after a tough start to the week.  scarlett was home from school SICK.  ALREADY.  and was tormenting us on tuesday.  to stop her from the torment, i made her do homeschool work!  that shut her up really fast.  then she played quietly without disturbing us for the rest of our school time.

henry's been REALLY digging a documentary program on TV called "evolve" on the history channel.  it is about different parts of animal anatomy and how they have evolved.  great stuff!  so he eats those up while he eats up his breakfast and lunch (yay for DVR).

we delved into our first issue of "time for kids," a nice current event magazine for children.  he loves pertinent current events, and this is a great format for it.  there was an article on the democratic national convention.  this led to a discussion on party politics.  this led to a discussion of the presidency.  this led to a discussion on the vice presidency.  this led to a discussion on someone trying to kill the president and the secret service agents.  this led to a discussion of 9-11.  this led to a discussion of flight 93 and the true heroes aboard.  this led to wikipedia, where we found recordings of passengers leaving messages from the airplane to their loved ones.

we both started to cry!

we looked at the paul greengrass documentary on netflix, but decided it might be too sad.

which led to a discussion of historical events that are so hard to learn about because they are so sad (like the holocaust), but yet such valuable lessons can be learned from them.  did that sentence make any sense at all?

if all days could be like this, i will cherish our homeschool experience.

i'm sure this is a way old joke, but...

Q: How does a homeschooler change a light bulb?

A: First, mom checks three books on electricity out of the library,
then the kids make models of light bulbs, read a biography of Thomas
Edison and do a skit based on his life. Next, everyone studies the
history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own
candles. Next, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare
types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change
they'll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five
dollar bill. On the way home, a discussion develops over the history
of money and also Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five
dollar bill. Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of
branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed. And
there is light.

this was sent to me by henry's indomitable second grade assistant teacher who is one of my biggest homeschooling supporters.  shout out to susan-- you rock!  you and your partner in crime made henry's second grade year awesome.

it's over.

no, no, no, it's not what you're thinking.  i haven't thrown in the towel after only a week.  what is OVER then, you ask?  the first week is over.  that's what's over.  5 days down, 175 to go.

this week has given a whole new meaning to the phrase "back to school."  scarlett actually IS back to school in the literal sense, which is what we are used to.  henry and i have diverged from the norm, and our "back to school" has been learning how to learn with EACH-OTHER.  very interesting.  our paths are parallel to each-other, and it's taking some adjustment.  i'm sure the adjustment period will last for quite some time.

i'm still not sure whether we are doing too MUCH school or too LITTLE school.  it's so hard to know.  but we've covered so much territory this week in all subjects, it seems like it's been a month already!

our main focus has been pompeii.  this has springboarded us into geology (volcanoes, plate tectonics, earthquakes), history (ancient romans), biography (pliny the younger who witnessed the destruction), reading (myths and pliny's accounts), archaeology (how they unearthed pompeii), writing (what it would have been like) and so much more.  the only thing i can't figure how to wrap into the lesson is MATH.  for that, we have been playing basic review games on arcademics and i know that.

i've been using SO MANY different resources... from reference books to internet to documentary films to art projects.  too many to list.  i wish we lived closer to a volcano so we could take a field trip!  maybe someday, if we actually DO see a volcano, he will remember what we have learned.

that's all for now, folks.  i'll keep you up to date as often as i can!

the hours

it's almost time for me to wake henry for day 3 of homeschooling.  only 177 days left!  can we make it to the end?  i'll let you know in june.  don't hold your breath.

as i prepared scarlett this muggy and rainy day to get on the bus at 7 am, i realized that i spend 8.5 hours away from her each day.  that's 1/2 hour more than the average work day!  and she's only 7!  crazymaking.  i guess i've been missing her more than usual because duh, school just started back, and also because i'm actively parenting henry all day long, and it's mightily quiet.  don't get me wrong.  it's going to be easier this first try at homeschooling having only one to teach, and no one to distract him.

we're finding that 3 hours of schooling is about enough.  this doesn't include life skills or physical activity... just the booky stuff.  he's absorbed a TON in just 2 days!  i'm honestly stunned.  we're incorporating history, culture, reading, writing, science, and who knows what else into our learning about pompeii.  i dig it.

first day

after getting up and getting the little one ready and off to her first day of second grade in the public school...

... i woke henry up for his first day of homeschool.  despite any worries i may have had, his attitude and spirits were fantastic from the first minute.  he was ready to learn!

we took the dog for a walk, then started a major bedroom organization overhaul that will probably take us a week.  after an hour, we ate some breakfast and he journalled.  we did some warm-up math and language arts exercises.  we talked about what he may want to study.

the answer was fast... he really wants to delve further into pompeii, ancient rome, and volcanoes.  HEY!  that sounds like fun!  since we had just seen the pompeii exhibit at discovery place in charlotte, our minds were still dwelling on the amazing artifacts we saw.  here is the plaster cast of a pompeiian woman.

while i dug up books, articles, lesson plans and the like on the internet, he started a painting of vesuvius erupting over pompeii. 

luckily i had netflixed a pompeii documentary, so he watched most of that while he ate lunch.

then we had to go to our *not* back to school pool party.  i wasn't the one with the camera, so no photos of the milestone event.  he had fun.  after i got scarlett off the bus, i took her over as well.

in any case, the day went better than expected.  henry decided that he LOVES homeschooling.  after only one day, who wouldn't?  let's see how he feels on day 156.

how NOT to kill your child

henry and i have a pretty serious personality conflict.  we love each-other, we enjoy each-other, we get along, but we are very different people with very different communication styles.  my worry is that we won't mix well while homeschooling, and i don't want to be the wicked witch of the west-- perpetually angry and steaming.

i'm thinking of a simple demerit system.  when he acts IN ANY WAY inappropriate towards me AS A TEACHER during school time, he will get 1 demerit.  this will include, but not be limited to, eyerolling, asking why, saying no or just being belligerent.  in other words, any way that he would not treat a teacher at school.

i think after 5 demerits he will lose his tv/ computer/ video game privileges for the rest of the day.  maybe if this scenario happens 5 times, he will lose the same priveleges for the weekend.

on the flip side, if there are NO 5-demerit days during a week, he will get a reward on the weekend.  i'm not sure what.  any ideas?

he has a pretty serious dawdling problem, too.  maybe during an exercise (such as journal writing), i'll give him 30 minutes to complete it.  if it's not done, then he gets 30 more minutes to complete it.  all of these minutes get added on to the amount of time we school per day, leaving him less free time.

if anyone has any ideas/ suggestions/ help, please feel free to add your 2 cents.  i appreciate any help i can get!

keeping track...

i looked into a lovely program that helps you track your child's homeschool progress called homeschool tracker.  however, the program was only for windows, and we are mac people.  big bummer.

on the website "chart jungle," i found a nice alternative.  i am labelling the pages by week and will just keep track of learning hours manually, adding them up at the end of the week.  maybe then i'll have an idea which disciplines need more attention.

on another note, i found a pottery class for homeschooled kids at the arts center in carrboro, about 25 minutes from here.  henry is so excited!  he wants to throw pots on the wheel.

here's an example of my chart: