Mary's Muse

Sketchy Summer Plans

Compass Kid has a full schedule this summer.  He will be finishing history and science as well as religion and math.  Ugh!  I didn't do very well in keeping up with him.

Zookeeper has to finish a little math.  This should be easily accomplished by the end of June, if not sooner.  He's working on the next catechism book so that in eighth grade, his religion book will dovetail with what he studies for history.  He also is completing his science book.

Princess has a week's worth of math.  That is ALL she has to do all summer.  However, partly for fun and partly for an introduction to a panorama of American history, she will be reading the American Girl books in order.  She narrates each one for me and at the end of each set of books, we may do a project.

Little Man is already 1/2  year ahead in math, so his goal is to complete two lessons per week, just to keep it fresh, and read to me daily.  Every week he must choose a different subject area: history, science, religion, or fun.

I had great plans to purge excess items and do a deep clean of much of the house.  Apparently, however, God had other plans for me.  Again.

Devotional Humor

In our morning devotions, I asked the kids what would cause them fear and trembling.

Zookeeper:  Being attacked by a bear, or wolves, or wolverines.

Princess:  Watching Zookeeper being attacked by a bear, or wolves, or wolverines.

Shakespearian Pigs

 

What About Training the Will?

Some friends and I were chatting over coffee one day when I explained my home schooling theory.  School at home ought to be, within a framework, delight-directed.  Kids who learn grudgingly only to dump facts on a test paper or jump through the next hoop that someone else says they need to learn are unable to grasp the joy of learning.  They don't experience the "Aha!" moment fully.  They don't retain ANYTHING.  And they are just not happy kids.  I tried that method. Cramming someone else's ideas down my kids' throats doesn't work. 

I explained that I changed up my ninth grader's history to be more of a delight-filled subject.  With what we're doing now (to include many books between), not only does he get to read a ton.  He also gets to complete projects like an early American flatboat.  And he gets to relate what  he learns via composition.

Religion is another discussion subject, which requires analysis on paper.  I'm still in the process of perfecting this subject as it seems to elude the grasp of teenagers who have been studying it all their lives.

Instead of using an expensive foreign language computer program, we use about $40 worth of workbooks which will take us through at least 2 years and $20 of audio CD products.

Science is a complete joy for ALL of my kids this year.  Compass Kid, my 9th grader, finished the Oceanography using Apologia.  He's working through many resources for his study of geology.  The main texts we are using are: All About Our Changing Rocks, How the Earth Works, and Geology Made Simple.  During winter, we'll tackle Astronomy using How the Universe Works and Astronomy Made Simple.  Labs are worked into each area just to foster interest and retention as well as give depth to the subject.

Zoo Keeper is in 7th grade this year and is using a delightful physical science book by Critical Thinking Company.  This book is geared to classes of several kids, but works just as well at home.  Simple experiments with most items found easily at home, question-and-answer format, and clear explanations make this great book for home study. 

Princess uses another Critical Thinking book for science.  It's totally hands-off for me, except where I added things to round out her year.

Little Man reads Christian Liberty Nature Readers and, when we can, we follow bunny trails.  For instance, right now, we're hot on the trail of bees.

We're trying something new for spelling this year.  Spelling Wisdom was recommended by many and i hope it will solve at least some of our spelling woes.  We're about to start it tomorrow, so stay tuned ...

Math is our only sit-down-and-do-it subject.  However, since it is conducted on the computer, just a colorful and noisy different media method, the kids are ready and willing to take it on.

So all this to say that my friend asked me, "What about training the will?"  Aren't kids' wills trained enough by attending Sunday and daily Mass, attending Adoration, participating in sports or musical instruments, functioning in a family where chores need to be accomplished, schedules met, and rules followed?  Even just getting up on time is a training of the will. Participating in morning prayers before breakfast and devotions and completing school all day ~ fun or no fun, a day-long foray in several subjects when all you want to do is read the latest book from the library can be challenging ~ is definitely bending a child's desires to higher needs.

What Happened to Home Schooling?

Before the onset of every home school year, I pull out Educating the Whole Hearted Child and read through the ENTIRE thing.  That was, hands down, THE most worthy home school helps book I had ever bought.   Every year, I glean just a tad more so that we can home school more productively and more happily.

Something happened this year.  I didn't pull the book out.  I didn't prepare lessons.  I didn't even buy some of the books we'll be using on time.  And things I know we have around here ... somewhere ... are lost.  I have no excuse.  No illness.  No travel.  No ill relatives to help.  What's happened to me?  Why can't I bring joy to this season of my life?

This is the first time we took a break in the summer.  I planned to get so much done.  But I didn't.  I planned on cutting the chaff out of what we have. But I think we managed to get more.  I planned on paying off some bills.  But we owe more.  I think we're making smart decisions ~ like paying $1,000 to repair a van rather than junking it and buying another vehicle, with payments stretching for years ahead.  I just having this niggling sense that something is not right.

I copied my 9th grader's religion plans to our planning sheet last night.  Then I went to sleep.  This morning I woke up thinking, 'He won't like that. He'll buck doing all the reading and writing required.'  I know that kids have to do some things they don't like.  But when we're talking about their catechism, I need to know they're not just robotically storing and then spitting out information.  The data dump completed, I need to know he's there with me, taking it in, loving it, embracing it.  Maybe I just need to be more there for him.  This is a discussion topic, something that needs sharing.

I think I worked some pretty neat discovery science for him this year.  I incorporated a lot of experiments and reading to understand the hows and whys of those experiments.  Our last topic is a little overwhelming.  It's Weather, and it's something I have an interest in.  Therefore, we have a LOT of resources.  Too many, if you ask me.  It's difficult to choose which ones to use.  Time to weed out some weather resources.

This particular child could read history all day long.  All month long. All YEAR long.  The writing part might be a challenge, but the assignments are varied, and thus, interesting.  I give a whole lot more liberties and more variation than the syllabus suggests.  Creativity within a framework of solid history.  Gotta love it!

Math is still math. The bonus for him is that this year he can learn through lectures on the computer, complete the problems on the computer, and be graded on the computer.  Oooh.  Another bonus is that we bought a supplemental math/logic game that he can do on Friday.  He loves it and it is challenging.  To play the arcade games, he has to get 75% or better.  To get two tokens, which allow for two arcade games, he has to get 80% or better.

We're trying Winston Grammar this year.  Is it just me, or do boys and grammar not get along?  I had an unusually easy time with it in school. My oldest daughter skates with grammar rules.  Why don't my boys seem to get it?  I've flip-flopped with all the boys so far.  My daughter happens to be placed in between the two boys who have the hardest time with it.  And with every type of grammar lessons we tried, she sailed.  The boys, on the other hand, seemed to have to navigate choppy seas.  Quite choppy.  Thunderous, even.  Our fourth child, a boy as well, has an easier time with grammar, but wants to be lazy about it.  I have a feeling that the biggest problem with grammar overall is laziness.  The boys don't like to follow directions or reread when they forget something.

So it's time for me to dust off Educating the Wholehearted Child, read it, remember that sciences, music, and art are discovery subjects, history and religion are discussion subjects, and foreign languages, language arts, and math are seatwork subjects.  We can do this. I know we can.  Little tweaks at the beginning of the year are no big deal.

Old Testament Connections

The kids and I have been reading some new books my sister sent us and it's got us studying the lineage of Jesus.  Our pastor is kind enough to answer questions as I stumble along.  I'll give a short review of each one I've read so far.

The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud:  It took me until the end of the book to understand how it is that tame animals would board the ark.  It also took me the whole book to understand why they were speaking in accents before the time of the Tower of Babel.  Apparently, in these books, animals are way ahead of humans.  Once I understood these otherwise disturbing things, the book was good, if a little cutesy.  I wasn't thrilled with the cat's assumption that her brains were sharper than anyone else's or that the little white dog was in such awe of the cat.  And there was that niggling difference between shake and nod which the author didn't seem to have grasped.

What did I like about it, you may ask?  I like how tricky and devious the snake is.  I liked the image of the snake representing the devil.  I like the character/life lessons throughout.  The further into the book you get, the better it is.  It reaches a true climax and then the things that are confusing in the beginning of the book are explained.  Max's dependence on the Lord is exemplary.

The Dreamer, The Schemer, and the Robe is a much more mature work of fiction.  Liz, the cat, is more sympathetic and is just a nicer character all around.  Kate, the white dog, despite getting very little billing by staying with Joseph's brothers, is better developed as well.  She needs to be more active in these books.  We actually get less of Max in this book than any other.  But Al, the orange cat, develops in his full glory.  So basically, aside from some disturbingly modern language ~ thinking specifically of "how sad is that?"~ the only thing I have a quibble with in this book is that Max doesn't have enough development.  Max's dependence on God, though still there, is less apparent in this book.  There is a slight confusion as to whether the snake in this book is a good character or evil.

This is an easier book to read and having understood all the confusing variables of the last book, it's smoother.   Everyone who read it in my family likes the addition of Nigel P. Monaco, the mouse.  The book starts quite a bit quicker than the last and there's obviously much more factual information included which gives a person much more substance to "ingest."

The Epic Order of the Seven stories were fun reads, but didn't necessarily propel me into studying Old Testament history.  No. It was actually A Lineage of Grace which actually roused me from my 'knowing God' slump and caused me to want to know Him better.  This book is about five women, only two so far of whom I've read, who are Jesus' descendants.  The author adheres to the Biblical account faithfully, only adding fictional dialogues and characters to amplify her story.   The fictionalization is just enough to whet the appetite to read more of the story.  She also did her homework, I can tell.  She describes the landscapes and climates, professions people of those times might have,  pagan religions and gods, even how imperative it was for a wife to fulfill her duty of bearing boys.  These stories are very well researched and written.   Having many kids and little time, I appreciate how quick and satisfying they are.  Each has a Bible study following it, which a person can do alone or in a group.  The most telling factor of how good these books are is that they encouraged me to pick up the Old Testament and read it again.

Accelerated Algebra

Download Accelerated Algebra Plans

We kind of tubed algebra last year.  This year, one of them is struggling with geometry and the other will struggle with intermediate algebra next year if he doesn't get a better background in basic algebra.  The older two kids were supposed to retake it at home, but we had schedule and attitudinal issues.  We're on it now.  The one who usually bucks, I have learned, either bucks with all his might or charges forward with all his strength.  He's charging.  Yay!  And when he charges, the rest of the family feels the current and moves forward by catching his wave.

And I really like what we've done to speed it up so that they have some semblance of summer while they power through the class at home.  The lessons of Painless Algebra (PA) introduce the topics in Teaching Textbooks (TT) in enough of a different way that the kids catch on to the concept using one method or another.  The lessons are so short and are more explanation than practice in PA.  We envelope the TT lessons with the PA lessons on the first and last days of the week.  Due to schedules, we do not do homeschooled math Monday through Friday. Instead, we do it Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  TT lessons are thorough with enough lecture and practice that the kids can benefit from even only 1/2 a lesson's worth of problems.  Each of the kids completes two 1/2 lessons, to make up what would have been one whole lesson on the three days they are responsible for Teaching Textbooks.  If they find that they want extra credit, they can do the other 1/2 of the lesson.  On quiz days, they only complete the quiz.

This way, I'm not bogging the kids down with too much schoolwork and I think they're laying some good background to pave their way to easier algebra with trig.

Happily Engaged Kids = Messy House

I decided recently that happily and fruitfully engaged kids equate to a messy house.  Oh, I can follow them around and tidy up after them, but all of them?  And only one of me?  When I am not feeling well or am not engaged with them, the kids tend to watch more movies or play on the Game Cube.  Yes, I know. We haven't made it over that  technology curve.  Probably never will.  Anyway, the house, outside of the kitchen, stays relatively clean those days.  But the kids are in a fog.  Like I am, when I've been computing or planning too long.

Sometimes, even when I haven't engaged, the kid will pull out the math shapes and make all sorts of pictures.   Or they'll create a crazily complicated car track or get all creative with paper, crayons, paints and pencils, glue, and scissors, making holiday decorations from Thanksgiving through Christmas.  Sometimes they drag a basket from the schoolroom full of kitchen toys and whip up incredible pretend breakfasts for our culinary pleasure.  Or they'll wander into their fairy hideaway and spend hours pretending.

 
 

I've just recently ordered lots of wonderful art supplies: markers, crayons, colored pencils, erasers, and even oversized paper.  With spring just around the corner, we're ramping up our art efforts.  A different type of mess.  Fun, nonetheless.   Ooooh, and we'll begin puttering in the garden again.  Definitely messy.

My goal in this house is to have a corner here and there where the kids have related toys so that they can play without having to drag things across the house or spread the toys over walking paths through the house.  I'd like, for instance, to set up a Lego and Playmobil station in a corner in the boys' room.  The girls could use a smaller Playmobil station as well.  Somewhere.  Think, think, think.

Science Plans

We've bumped up the level of science learning in this break.  The kids are working so hard on and making such beautiful pictures that I decided that the older three, 4th, 6th, and 8th graders, would make bird field guides based on the birds I mention in the Burgess Book of Birds.  We haven't quite settled on what kind of book to make. I think they should paste the picture on one side and they should write and draw other views on the other side of a Bienfang Notesketch.  My son wants to use filler paper.  It seems rather messy to me.

The boys are reading the Cardinal Richilieu book.  They didn't like the Three Musketeer DVD as well as the story.  Their imaginations were more engaged with the book.  And my 8th grader was looking for some blood, which the movie did not allow.

It seems my best "planning" occurs on the fly.  The kids are enjoying school and I'm not stressing about how much of what they get done because they want to do what we do.  I always say this, and I never learn, but I could learn something from these break times.

Advent "Break"

I've always been a huge proponent of preparing for the birth of Our Lord by breaking from traditional schooling, cleaning the house, and focusing our souls.  But we never quite get around to a complete break from school.  We just do things differently.

For instance, last year, we studied birds.  We studied bone and wing structure, migration, what they eat.  We did experiments and projects.  And it took about a semester to burn through an Apologia Bird Book.  We're taking another look at birds through this break. 

This time, we're focusing on identification by observing habits, colors, and sounds.  To kids from 13 down to 5, I'm reading The Burgess Bird Book while they color pictures from a Dover Bird Coloring Book or from this Cornell site which offers free coloring pages.  They learn as they color what to look for in markings.  They must color each bird in accordance with what I read.  They use a Peterson Field Guide  to help visualize what I read, sometimes.

We just read about Flickers yesterday and lo and behold, there were several in our back yard.

 

Our math during break is reading Theonni Pappas books, beginning with The Adventures of Penrose.  It's stretching our brains in a whole new way!

We just happened to delve into France for an historical holiday.  I started reading a Junior Classics Three Musketeers during the school year.  We've finished it, but now we're watching the BBC Production (a little theatrical, but very well done as far as being faithful to the book).  We also have a children's biography of Richilieu from the library that the sixth and eighth grader will read.  Then we have the sequel: Twenty Years After.  If we manage to get through this fat tome, we do. If we can't, we don't.  Beyond this, our French history will focus on the French Revolution using The Scarlet Pimpernel as our springboard.

Religion is filled with Advent reading and activities that are sprinkled throughout my blog in previous Advents.  I may comment more on this later, but must tend to a crying baby right now.