Lapbooking!

We made our first lapbook! I wasn't feeling too well and M wanted to do something to keep away the "boredom" blues so I figured a sit down craft might help. She wanted to do some Girl Scout badge work. She's 9 and a first year junior. The idea of earning badges is appealing and exciting. Since November is coming around and our household is buzzing with political talk, I thought a lesson in civics and government wouldn't be a bad place to start with badge work.Most of our resources came from the Girl Scout Junior Handbook, Crayola's website (presidential coloring sheet), www.homeschoolblogger.com/joyfulschool, www.apples4theteacher.com, and homeschoolshare.com, enchantedlearning.com. If I missed anyone please let me know. I'll add it to the credits. I took from here and there and we made our own creation!

Here's the inside cover.

The flap cover. She decided to draw the American Flag. I am proud of her creativity.

This is the back cover. I photocopied the the badge requirement pictures and we cut it out. Then she added some National symbols.

The proud little Junior displaying her work!

Homeschooling Revisted: Year 6

It's funny, but every year I revisit the notion of homeschooling. Am I really doing what is best for my children? As they get older, what I can provide them becomes less and less like what they are going to miss by being a part of a social network of children in an institution; i.e a brick and mortar school. There's dances and class officers, to name a few things.

Our eldest is entering sixth grade. This is the magical age that when I began my homeschooling adventures five years ago, I had told myself she would enter school. After all, middle school does have necessary evils--mainly, to learn to deal with peer pressure. Then, I realized my children are dealing with that on a daily basis. They are under scrutiny constantly by society because they are homeschooled. Sometimes, I wonder if people expect them to go into spasms, meltdowns, or something weird like that. The humor of it is that people would not be able to tell my children are homeschooled if it weren't for the inevitable question, "What school do you attend?" or "Who is your teacher?" Once they discover she is homeschooled, people start to ask, "Don't you wish you can be in public school?" I look at her. She's a quiet private person like her father. She appears social and will engage practically anyone, but in the end, she doesn't like to give anything personal. But, if you ask her about honey bees, she'll talk your ears off. In the end, she usually shrugs and says, "Sometimes." And, this is true. She has many homeschooled friends but the idea of seeing friends day to day in school does appeal to her. We know this. This is evaluated every year in our question, "What is best?"

My other ones will answer the questions from "Yes!" to "No, not really." to "I'm not sure what it is like." My children truly know no difference, yes. K went to school throughout preschool and kindergarten. The experience was a great one with some incredible teachers but ultimately my child had to follow rules and guidelines I didn't necessary believe. I had less influence over what she learned and how she learned and the speed of which she learned. I didn't like that. So, when many other things started to bother us, too, I was glad to have the choice to bring her home. The other children never attended public school. M did attend two years of preschool which helped her socially, but academically, I am not so sure. G doesn't know any difference. In the end, homeschooling has become a way of our lives.

Many people have told me throughout the years that I needed to give my children the choice. I used to feel guilty about this and we'd sit down and discuss it and decide to homeschool another year. Finally, I started to evaluate this thought process. Why would I give my child a choice? Do they give their children the choice. It's very common for me to mention I homeschool and have a parent say to me, "My child begs me to homeschool him/her." However, these are the same people who tell me I need to give my child a choice. But, are they not giving their children a choice in the matter by sending them to school when they are "begging' to be homeschooled. Truly, how many parents give their children the choice to attend public brick and mortar schools? Is not the best thing for my child enough of a choice? So, this year, I sat the girls down and said, "You know I won't be giving you a choice anymore. There's no decision in this other than what we decide. You know why?"

Then we discussed how the children need to trust in us that we are doing what is best for them. We have been given the gift of parenthood and the choices we make in life, will affect them, yes, but they are also what that gift's job description entails. At the age of 18, my children will have the choice to attend the college of their choice, to major in any subject tthey wish and to embrace adulthood. We will support and love this new stage in life. Until then, we give them a voice to be heard and hope they trust that we do everything we do because our vast experience in this world, our age and our parenting skills ultimately results in the best decision possible for them. Here's a few pictures from our school year (and other activities)....

We have many supporters, and we will be forever be grateful to them. And, to our critics, do these pictures look like children who arenot well adapted, well scoialized and educated?

Pinterest

I took the lunge and joined Pinterest. I am still exploring it but it seems like a great way to share what I discover while surfing the net.

Nature Study--Entomology

I have to fight the urge to turn everything the kids do into a lesson. My kids like to explore and just learn, especially when playing outdoors. As an adult, I want to capture this enthusiasm and turn it into a life lesson on nature. I imagine a structured environment with lots of workbooks, labs and lectures on nature. However, Charlotte Mason instructs us not to do that. She tells parents that the children are to be "'let alone, left to themselves a great deal to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heavens.'Give them time and space to wonder, grow, watch, see, hear, and touch. During the nature walk, they may sketch and record their observations. In addition they may want to collect small natural treasures in a bag to take home for further study. (Out of Doors for the Children Volume I, Part II). She's right in warning a parent not to speak too much during a nature study. But she also encourages a parent to be in presence to help a child learn.

While I believe in many of Charlotte Mason's concepts with an emphasis in teaching about the natural world, using classics and living books, there's the urge to structure the learning. Mason encourages a mother to be present but I would argue. My children E, G, K & M all were outside teaching one another. I have yet to introduce a nature journal to them the way Mason suggests, but I plan to.

Mason is very much right when she says, "Watch a child standing at gaze at some sight new to him––a plough at work, for instance––and you will see he is as naturally occupied as is a babe at the breast; he is, in fact, taking in the intellectual food which the working faculty of his brain at this period requires. In his early years the child is all eyes; he observes, or, more truly, he perceives, calling sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing to his aid, that he may learn all that is discoverable by him about every new thing that comes under his notice. Everybody knows how a baby fumbles over with soft little fingers, and carries to his mouth, and bangs that it may produce what sound there is in it, the spoon or doll which supercilious grown-up people give him to 'keep him quiet.' The child is at his lessons, and is learning all about it at a rate utterly surprising to the physiologist, who considers how much is implied in the act of 'seeing,' for instance: that to the infant, as to the blind adult restored to sight, there is at first no difference between a flat picture and a solid body,––that the ideas of form and solidity are not obtained by sight at all, but are the judgments of experience."

So instead of squatting next to the children and taking over their own living lessons, I grabbed my camera and took pictures of their learning at work. I am so blessed to be able to home school these wonderful children and am truly thankful for the opportunity every day to be witness to their incredible intellect.

Latin

So we are trying out a new foreign language program with K. If we like it, I'll introduce it to the other girls. K wants to take Latin but she really wants to do conversational Spanish. She is allowed to take one foreign language class (and bonus--she'll get high school credit) so she had to think about this pretty hard. I hated the fact it was even a decision. She's pretty efficient in her ability to take on more than one language as she has been doing Spanish since 1st grade. So, we discussed it and decided that as a homeschooled child she should be able to do Latin and Spanish. Latin I had to pay for. Spanish will be provided for by the cyberschool.


After reading several reviews and looking at The Well-Trained Mind, we chose Lively Latin. I liked the fact that it is in .pdf form, with online elements, and it's a lifetime membership. So for one price all four children can take Latin.


For me, it is highly important all of my children have a strong language foundation. Latin is where the root of most American-English was formulated from so it is important for K to learn this language. I am actually a little irritated that more schools do not provide this Language class to their students. It probably is one of those classes you should learn as an English major, really.  Ah, but that's another thought process...the things I would have done differently if I could go back to college.


We purchased this program yesterday, so i don't have much to review. I am hoping to review it within the next few months.

Warm weather

Here in Pennsylvania we had July weather in April. It was actually a great day all around. I had some housework that I needed to catch up on, so when the kids woke up, got dressed and did their school work basically on their own, I decided to reward them by letting them outside to play.

Letting Go

The hardest part of homeschooling is letting go of the idea of what childhood should be like. As a child, I went to school for 6-8 hours a day. We went to the after school dances, had art shows, science fairs, etc. These are my happy memories. But, I also was ridiculed, punched and bullied on the playground. I had carefree after school times, but I don't have a specific talent or anything that go me a scholarship or pulled me into a part time job other than a toy store or fast food place. And, I didn't want my children to have my childhood. But the hardest part is letting go of what I know.

May is homeschooling month for Hershey

Hershey Park has homeschooling days in May. They are among the many different organizations that offer something special to homeschoolers. As homeschooling becomes more popular, I have noticed many different places reaching out to us during their off season. I am tickled. I prefer doing day time stuff and at a discount makes it easy!

Is July here yet?

I long for the day I have nothing. Nothing, I tell you. Nothing to do but sit and relax and enjoy my children. Today was a nice day. I spent it shopping with a friend who would have otherwise been trapped at a car mechanics. So, I picked her and her daughter up and we went shopping. It was a nice day. We bought stuff for the Girl Scout event we are running together. It was nice. It didn't consume my life and I spent it with my son. Another blessing. It's making me long for the day I will not be committed to anything but spending time with my children. Oh, yeah, I bought new chicks. The girls were thrilled.

Raising the Gifted Child

I find it ironic that somehow stating your child is a genius can be construed as bragging. However, I have to sit down for 5 hours to hear how some kid is great at football or lacrosse or whatever sport of the season is and that's considered great. I'm competitive. I am raising competitive children. I plan to be raising Ivy-leaguers, but won't be disappointed if they end up at a state school. In the end, I have taught my children to dream big and to reach for the galaxy and see where it lands you. And, yes, I have a genius or two in my gene pool.


My eldest scored an IQ that places her in the Mensa category. I did the research and have opted to see if she will qualify. As her scores already show she will qualify, she'll be able to place on her resume "Mensa". Having a child who needs a GIEP is not easy. She lives in a foreign world to her. She rather build robots and read books than play with Barbies or listen to Justin Bieber. I have spent 5 years trying to force her into this crevice we as a society call normal. My children are not different from brick and mortar children because they are homeschooled. My children have more social interaction with non-homeschooled people than they do with homeschool. My children are different because they are home schooled--but also because we are different. We encourage the "genius' in them to come out. Because if they finish school in 30 minutes, then they have all day to dissect the bugs, and play with the robots. It's a challenge raising children who think differently than society. They are treated like they are "backwards" because of it. It's why I pushed so much for them to be assimilated. However, it's not what we believe and strive for. So I think the choice to join Mensa will help us.


My hope is we will be given a support system of other parents who have the same "problem" as we do.

Our Typical Homeschool Day

In a perfect world, I would have a set time for school. But I am not perfect and neither is my homeschooling world. I try to get the kids up between 7-9am. I have started to implement that the kitchen closes at 9:00am to motivate them from straggling. I do not allow tv before chores, food and getting dressed. On Mondays and Tuesdays thy have classes outside of our house during the day. These two days are pretty much our catch up days. The girls do a subject or two but I don't expect an entire workload. Mondays are our busiest because they have music class, art class, scouts, girl scouts and K's orchestra. Tuesdays are close with violin lessons for all three of the girls and swimming class. But we can usually get more school in on that day than Mondays. We always make up our work on the weekends. Sundays are actually a school day after church. It's been this way since we started 5 years ago so the kids know no difference.


No matter the day, the girls always get to pick the subject they wish to start on. Since K does most of her work online, she doesn't need much instruction to get started. G and M usually do. M won't do anything on her own, a big issue, without being told. She will always whine, "I don't know what to do!" and then run off to watch tv or try to get on the computer for a computer game. All three like being plugged into he computer. I was once asked about the downfall of cyberschooling, I would have to say that the reliance the girls have on computer games to learn. We don't have to be that way. It really started when I moved K off Calvert and onto the cyberschool's own curriculum. While I like the idea, I hate the curriculum and so does K.


Ideally, Wednesdays-Friday we do more school, Saturday-Tuesday we do half day school. We don't take a day off. It's too hard to get the kids in the mindframe of working again. I fear this may end up being a problem later. But my girls do not have the best work ethic anyway. I think it's the ADD coming out in their parents.


We do not have a rigid time frame. I do expect everyone to be fed, dressed and working on school by 9:00am. I expect them to be done with school by 5:00pm. But if we have nothing to do and an activity they'd like to catch up on, they may do so until bedtime rituals begin at 8:00pm. They all need to be in bed by 9:00am. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the worse because of outside activities.


I try to be flexible as well. If another homeschool friend calls me up and wants to do a spontaneous activity I try to accommodate those moments. However, it's harder to do this right now with being so heavily involved in scouts. Next year, I will be changing that.


The cyberschool has set a pacing schedule. I am awful with keeping with that. I need to get better, I must admit. I like their pacing schedule; it's a deadline. However, I dislike it in many ways, too. It makes it hard with a struggling child. She doesn't fit in the proper time frame. I do like the fact the school is accommodating to this fact. But by third grade there is a ton of pressure because of state standardized testing. Up until this year, I was always irritated by this fact. However, I just learned that the state standardized testing standards are higher for a charter and cyber school than for a regular brick and mortar school. The expectations are higher. Personally, I think the state needs to raise the bar on brick and mortars to the cyber standards. We'd probably see more failing schools, but we'd be able to fix the American public school system. By lowering our standards to fit the schools, we're setting ourselves up for children graduating but not being able to function, learn and read at the appropriate standards.


My children often explore their own things. When they have finished a day's worth of assignments, it's guaranteed they are reading or using blocks, erector sets or something educational to continue learning. If they have a particular interest, we try to purchase books and activities around those interests and have them available at our house for active play.


Next year, I plan to incorporate their Girl Scout activities into our daily homeschool. And, even field trips we take.

Homeschool Activities

In September, a friend suggested I attend Williamsburg, VA during their homeschool days. It was a fantastic opportunity for the kids to run through history--literally. While there (although we did not attend), we also discovered Yorktown and Jamestown both had homeschool days (tickets purchases separately) and that we should have done all of them.


In a conversation today with a friend, we were discussing opportunities and advantages of homeschooling. I started to think about things. Homeschooling gives us flexibility. However, the irony is our schedules do not allow for us to have flexibility. Plus, in the conversation, I also started to think about other places that have homeschool days/discounts. There are plenty. Here are the ones I managed to find...


1. Historic London Town and Garden--the archaeology dig sound fantastic!
http://www.historiclondontown.com/index.php/events/details/131-dig-day


2. Mount Vernon


3. PA State Museum


I'll add more later. But here's 3 to look up!

Toss & 'em, Throw 'em, Save & 'em?

I think my desire to sell my wedding dress and engagement ring has been met by sentimental horrors. First of all, it's been dancing with the dust bunnies in it's neat little acid-free box for ten years. I was dutiful and I kept it. It was THE dress. Once everyone saw me in THIS dress it would be like the moment Prince Charming realized Cinderella was the beautiful belle at the ball who lost her shoe: I would transform in their eyes. People would see me as C sees me. Somehow, aghast, people wouldn't know how to control themselves. And, magically, my life would be great.


As we know, life doesn't give us happily ever afters. We have to make the "happily-evers" for ourselves. People's views didn't change about me; they only changed in front of the audience. It's called a honeymoon phase for a reason. When we came back to reality, we had to face reality.


Instead of being my key to transforming into a Princess, the dress is a reminder of what I cannot have. It's a reminder of my failed happily ever after. I was not magically whisked into a world where everyone understands me.


If I was to redo my wedding, I wouldn't do it the way I did it. I tell my eldest this often. If she wants a wedding, we'll give it to her, but there's ways to have the "dream" and not the expense. We spent $8000 on our wedding. It was a prelude to our stupid ways. We thought "buying" ourselves the fantasy would actually impress enough people to make it our reality. Instead we started on the descent to our stupid tax. Our $8000 wedding probably cost us $15000 when you calculate the debt we created by it. Maybe more.


1. I saw a beautiful dress the other day for $50 in a consignment shop. It was in mint condition and gorgeous. I'd buy a consignment dress.


2. I'd also have the groomsmen wear suits instead of tuxes.


3. Flowers we did well at. I paid $500 total for my flowers and it was without the hassle of doing it myself. Some things are worth the expense of not doing it yourself.


4. We painted pots. I'd not paint pots. I'd figure out something else out.


5. I'd have an outdoors wedding in a backyard, at a state park or somewhere else that costs less than $100.


6. The DJ would be a friend.


7. The photography is important to me. But it's not worth what we got. I'd also choose a friend or invest in a smaller package. Our photographer didn't listen to us. I questioned poses and hated all of the poses we got. I'd discuss what poses I wanted beforehand.


I would not spend more than what I have in cash for my wedding. Plain and simple. I'd still get married but we'd keep it for us. Impressing people isn't worth the debt.

Mealworms

We've "adopted" a new pet into our schoolroom: mealworms. Honestly, the idea of having them anywhere in my house creeps me out. I half expect these creatures to somehow escape their case and find their way into my cabinets. It can happen. It happened to my husband's meal worms.


The mealworms were received well by the children. They all think of them as being these cool creatures. Okay, bugs require a full fledged screaming fit in my house. M won't even go upstairs if she sees a bug. She will stand in front of me, my eyes raging with the ludicrous refusal of a 7 year old to my orders, and tremble and cry if she sees a stink bug. But, the beetles and worms in a cage are cool. Dos she not think these things are bugs?

But I guess I should feel fortunate because have you ever tried to teach an obstinate 7 year old? It's not fun.

The mealworms are part of K's Calvert 4th grade curriculum. However, metamorphosis was discussed with all grade levels. I do my best to incorporate all three grade levels science into the "whole classroom" as a group activity. K didn't have much 2nd grade science because she excelled through that grade level. I always worried about the speed in which she did it. Would the information retain itself? Now, because I am doing science across the grade levels, I am not so worried. What she may have missed in her own 2nd grade "class" she will catch when we do it again. Repetition is the best way to learn. We're always toting to the girls: practice, practice, PRACTICE! when it comes to their instruments.


In my school room, I currently have three different levels (not counting the toddler)K4, 2nd and 4th grade. I love this grade separation because it works well for peer-to-peer teaching. What G doesn't get now, I truly feel because she is exposed to it early on, she will understand better when she is in 4th grade and has to do all the extensive writing worksheets. I know I didn't quite understand literature in high school, but once studying in college, what my high school teachers were saying suddenly made sense.

Starting the science observation was easy. Our kit came with the cage, food, and supplies needed to do what they expected of the children. First, we discussed the stages of metamorphosis and read the book Mealworms by Adrienne Mason. This books is good for all ages because it has pictures--G didn't get bored, a blessing. It came with K's Calvert mealworm kit.

K's curriculum has no other requirement than she needs to record her observations of mealworms for several weeks. I asked her what she's recording, and she says there's nothing really to record new. This didn't satisfy me. I was disappointed by the curriculum's lack of taking advantage of the mealworm kit. It's a purchase that truly should be taken advantage of or it would be a wasted lesson. So, I searched the web and found a curriculum that was thorough on observing and experimenting with the mealworms. It's the first thing the two older girls do in the morning. I find this amusing. I used this curriculum for the two older children. Finding an appropriate curriculum for G, who is in K4 was a lot more difficult. I knew I wanted to make a booklet or cut & paste sheet. So, I printed a life cycle worksheet from two different sites. G will have to color, cut & paste (her favorite thing) worksheet 1 onto worksheet 2. We then cut out worksheet two and make a book. Underneath, I wrote down a "story" she relayed to me about each picture. She is involved in all other experiments with the older girls, but she won't have to do the recording and extensive writing they have to do.

Art Class Unscripted

My kids are natural artists. I always liked art. So does C. However, neither of us are actual painters or sketch artists., even though we both believe in natural expression of art and appreciate it. Therefore, art is important to us and we feel the children should be exposed to it.


Today, after church, we had an art lesson. Art lessons in our house is usually an unschooling thing. I provided materials--paint, canvases, string and tissue paper--and told the children to create. I do demonstrate an example to give them an idea of what to do.


At first I tried to put paint into a spray bottle but it didn't work. Therefore, I actually stenciled my work on. C made the spray bottle paint thicker. G and E enjoyed spraying the paint onto the tissue paper canvas. E glues yard onto his canvas. The work came out pretty nice. Now, we have 5 wonderful pieces of artwork to hang on our walls.  And we had a fun Sunday afternoon.

This one belongs to G, age 5. 

This one belongs to M, age 8.

 This one belongs to K, age 11.

This one belongs to E, age 2.

Teaching Writing Without Tears

I am a writer. Writing comes easy to me. I actually love teaching children how to write. While I do not take credit for the fact that my eldest daughter writes at a high school level, I do take credit for the fact that I had enough sense to teach her how to write. She loved it. She writes extremely well. Then came along her 8 year old sister. M is an artist. She can draw pictures and describe them. When we started her in our classroom, she drew the pictures and wrote. Back then, what she wrote and how she wrote wasn't important. Only that she wrote. She didn't mind writing as long as it was writing what she wanted to. She especially hated being given a topic. The problem was I rarely understood the "kid-writing" she was producing. I assumed it would get better. But it never did. While I could understand words, she never composed a sentence properly. She'd write gibberish. But to her it wasn't. Then we'd have to create the work sent to her cyberschool. This was more painful than a tooth extraction. I have a temper and I'd time her out--more to calm me down. I'd yell and beg, and plead and I'll admit I never felt like a really good person. Much less a great teacher. One of the reasons we chose the cyber route over the traditional route was for the support to bounce off ideas of how to fix the problem. But, in the end, it's a system. We could not drop writing. She didn't have an IEP. When we pursued an IEP, the fact that she got good grades came into play. And testing indicated she was proficient. But they don't test writing. Not until 5th grade state standard tests. I started to go out onto facebook asking for help. I bought comprehension and vocabulary books. We were now not only doing the requirements of what the cyberschool curriculum entailed, but also an additional 2 hours of lessons. Please keep in mind I am schooling 3 kids and have an additional 2 year old. This only frustrated me more. I wasn't getting anything I needed to get done. In addition, I was barely spending time with the 2 year old. I was having the 5 year old play with him more and more. And, boy do they know how to get into trouble! I asked for help again. And this time I was asked about Title I. However, Title I would not take away work from her but add an additional work. This was part of the entire problem. M has trouble with memory. While the workbooks and activities built her comprehension up to nearly a 7th grade level...she still has a hard time with retention and recall. At the time I didn't realize this was a major part of what we just called "low memory". Now, as I type this, it makes a little more sense. I struggled with the fact I could sit down with K and explain the rules and walk away. When I came back, she'd have a composition written up. I was frustrated because M wasn't like that. She couldn't have me just walk away. The school requested that I have her write something unedited by me. This time I gave her a topic about school. She wrote 4 sentences and had maybe one spelling error. It did take her a long time to write her ideas. She could write a sentence but then couldn't think of anything else. I couldn't believe it? She has an easy time if you ask her to write a "how to" essay though.

The trouble I finally pinpointed is she can not visualize her words. Then, she cannot visualize her sentences. When you ask her a question, she can answer in complete sentences. She's never had trouble with answering questions in complete sentences based on her reading. This baffled me. She also never had trouble with dictation. I remembered dreading the dictation assignments when we started but each time she enjoyed writing them out. At first I had thought the act of writing was the problem because when she was asked to write in her journal she'd burst into tears and claim with a vengeance it was "too hard!".  I concluded quickly the act of writing is not her problem which I initially thought.  I started to use handwriting without tears and she started to beg to do the assignments. I quickly concluded the act of handwriting was not her trouble. While she can get sloppy, she does have beautiful handwriting. She also always loved free writing. If I asked her to write a story in her journal she'd cry. But I could often find her snuggled up writing in her journal away from school assignments. I have peaked in her journal and her writing was repetitive. She would write the same thought over and over again. In her journal she's also write the same story over and over again with variations. Here's an example of her work at the beginning of the year:

"Once upon a time thier was a girl name Maddy. Maddy like to go to redraoben and redlopster. One day she lost her dog at red lopster then when they pickup. Her dog and her mom said lit eat her Maddy. Maddy's dad said okay. Then they ate lunch at red roden. Then went home. Maddy went to the park and went to the swings. Then when it was time to go home she had a friend come over. They had a sleepover. Then the sleepver. Then in the morning they ate bretfest then went outside.

 Her work was riddled with mistakes. It sounded gibberish. But she wrote sentences.

It frustrated me because I knew she could write.

Two days later I assigned her the topic "Country Child" and wrote out a series of questions as if I was interviewing her to help her brainstorm. This is what she wrote:

"I am a country child. I live in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. My house is a 1920s red brick house. It is across the street from the park. I love my house house because we have a playsit. One good thing about living in the country is that it's guite. Another thing is that I have freinds in the country."

Now, I was even more confused. The questions made that much of a difference? But as the year progressed and I tried to get her to do more independent work she would burst into tears. I don't remember ever having a lesson day with composition writing that didn't result in tears. I knew when we spent time, slowed her down she would write well. We could never easily get 3-4 sentences out of her but we could. I hated having to sit down next to her to produce the work. It sounds selfish but I would spend an average of more time with her than her siblings. if asked questions she could answer them. She could write them down. however, she spent days on one composition and I didn't have that kind of patience or time. It wasn't fair.

The question I kept asking myself is: Is she lazy? She dealt well with structure. She knew sequencing. Or at least it appeared she did. She definitely did better when she was given the questions and then asked to construct them into a paragraph. When given free thought, her work grew worse with mechanics and problems.

Desperate, I ordered a supplement. Bauer's "Writing with Ease". She basically hit me over the head and reminded me that writing should be a step-by step approach. That creating an inarticulate idea and making that idea into words, AND then taking the idea and making it into words on paper are two difficult and very different operations. Can you pat your head, rub your tummy and talk? If practiced you could. But most likely it may be difficult. However, we are asking our young students to write before they are ready! What is my end goal? To make M a proficient writer and ready for college. Why do I teach her rather than send her to school? Because I don't feel kids are robots. They aren't all on the same path and can do the same things at the same time. Not any of my children learned to walk at the right age. Neither did they learn to talk, roll over, or build block towers. I threw out the baby milestone book and laughed. My children were well above advanced based on when they performed those tasks (with minor derailments...we did have a few language delays). M was advanced based on those books. Until she reached preschool. Then we noticed she was struggling. She wasn't reading by the end of kindergarten like she should. But neither was I. However, I kept feeling beaten up by a system. My child wasn't performing adequately! I must do my tasks within the box...make her, a beautiful round peg, fit into a square hole. She wasn't going to.

However, I wanted to work at a little more advanced level, doing what was expected of her, but still teaching her the skills she needed. So here's our steps:
1. We choose a topic
2. We start a conversations
3. I ask her questions. The point is to get her used to explaining to me in detail what she means. For example:
She would say: My sister is Hannah.
I would ask: What does Hannah look like?
She would say: She has brown hair and brown eyes.
I would then asked: Anything else about her.
M will stare at me: No.
I would then ask: Is she nice to you?
She would say: Yes.
I would then say: Okay, can you tell me a sentence about how she is nice?
She would say: She is nice to me because she let me borrow her favorite dress.

And this is what I get:
My sister is Hannah. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She is nice to me because she let me borrow her favorite dress.

4. I dictate to her what she just told me. This is about what we get back:
My sistr is Hannah. She has brown hair and brown eye. She is nice to me because she let me boro her favrit dres.

I do not edit her. But that's because I am instructed not to. Now, if I was not in cyber school I would edit her. But I think it is because the school wants to see where she is...since they don't see all her work other than what is on a test.

If she is not writing a composition for a test, we will edit. We will go over the rules she failed to write, do assignments and sentences based on them.

 We put this away.

 Then the next day we will get out her work:

5. She must read it aloud to me. She catches herself often. She edits herself. And corrects it.

6. She writes the final draft.

Now, we have a completed composition. I think this worked on creating a great composition. It helped her with areas she lacked. It used different senses to edit and write. She will eventually learn to visualize her words.

If you must know...Schedule, Schedules, Schedules!

Since the socialization issue doesn't seem to be a problem with homeschoolers anymore (ahem...after meeting my children they appear "normal" and well-adjusted), I am now getting the "children need schedules" lecture on why homeschooling is wrong. I suspect, however, that schedules does not even begin to describe the problems people have with a homeschooling parent. I have heard several people talk about accountability. To whom? The Government? They can't even balance a budget, so I am not about to depend on them for my child's education.

Statistic all homeschooled children do better than public school children, according the National Home Education Institute. And, according to their statistics it does not matter what level of education the parent has or whether they are certified as teachers. So, when someone asks what qualifications I have to teach my children, I can say, what are yours to do (and name their job). In reality, I am a strong believer in a college education. But, we education daycare workers, in some cases. But, when someone opens their home and advertises themselves as a daycare worker, people don't accuse them of not being qualified. I have many friends who send their children to daycare environments that do "school-like" things and that's okay. However, mention I am a SAHM mom and people freak? Put on top of that homeschooling?

Often, people think a break is needed. As with any job a break is very much needed. I get my breaks through many avenues: book club, writer's group, and outings with friends. I don't feel deprived in any way. I feel pressure, yes. I feel stressed, yes. But I LOVE my job as Mom. I find it rewarding, delightful and above all else, the best job in the world.
As a final note let's evaluate Dictionary.com's definition of a career:

1. an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework: He sought a career as a lawyer.
2. a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking: His career as a soldier ended with the armistice.
3. success in a profession, occupation, etc.
4. a course, esp. a swift one.
5. speed, esp. full speed: The horse stumbled in full career.
6. Archaic . a charge at full speed

I think the problem is people don't view parenthood as a career choice anymore. While I agree you never give up being a parent, many times I hear people say "I am a full time parent and a full-time lawyer" and find myself wondering how exhausting that can be. I don't disagree with this statement because there are many people who work two 40 hour full time jobs, but I often wonder why society has pushed us into such a situation where we think we have to work ahem to make money, to be worth something. 

Math 101

What a productive math day! G got to learn her place values (yes, she's in Kindergarten and it blows my mind how fast she gets it--which is why she's in 1st grade curriculum). We used the Singapore manipulatives but did the Calvert sheets. Tomorrow, she'll do the Singapore book. I find using the two interchangeably to be quite useful. I guarantee she's learning the material enough for the Calvert math test (which is graded by her cyberteacher) and yet, she enjoys the Singapore workbook better. I typically use the Singapore first and then the Calvert as a enrichment. Either way really works well.


M has finished the Singapore book. Over the summer, we did the 2nd grade book as a way to get the information across and to really make sure she's approaching 3rd grade (the big PSSA year) without any holes. She's still testing low (based on the Doma test)on fractions and measurement, but neither of them are below grade level. So, I am pleased with the results.


K complains everything is too easy. But, she prefers to be challenged and it's hard to be challenged when you are all over the place skill wise. We had psychologist evaluate her and I cannot wait for the results! K had a blast with the psychologist, who was super-uber nice!


M & G definitely need work on spelling. I have plans to make that happen real soon. Spelling is one of those hard areas. C can't spell real well and he is exceptional. So, I am not as worried about it anyway.

Keeping up with The Alphabet Family

First of all, please understand I want to comment to you...for whatever reason, I make my comments, then sign in and it keeps directing me to sign in. I cannot comment back. It's extremely frustrating!


Among other things, school is frustrating me as well. I am a true believer that school needs to be year round. Partly, to keep up a routine. Last year, we fell out of routine and it really made a huge impact on how far back the girls got. So, this year, we are doing school through the summer. It started out fine. But, then I let it slip because of summer camps, friends being over, etc. and so now the girls are behind. Many of my friends are doing summer school with their children to keep them at pace. Since we cyberschool, the children get the advantage that their summer school counts for the year. The sooner the girls realize this, the better and less frustrating it will be. Depending on their age, a traditional day of school is done by noon. I am frustrated that they even complain. Leave it to them and they'd vegetate (reading, video games and computer games or tv) over having to do any structured activity. This, too, frustrates me. I have begun to demand a better routine in the house.


C's 6 days are really being quite productive. We finished mulching the front yard and it looks fantastic! I am so happy with how nice it looks. We now are starting to get curb appeal. I hope to paint the porch within the next few weeks. We still have the side yard to finish up. But, it'll look nice, too.


C finished the bathroom--the light switches and headers. The closet now has a door. I finished mudding and I will now need to fill in the holes for the header and sand. Then, the bathroom will just need a paint job. He grouted the tile in the mud room and now needs to finish up the crown moulding and baseboard. Once that is done, we will be seeing a finished mud room. Then, we need to move onto the dining room, kitchen and foyer! All of the rooms really just need little things to complete it--plus, a paint job! It's amazing how much we are accomplishing, especially considering we have a toddler and 3 little girls under foot! G got a kick out of getting her hands dirty and spreading the mulch. She's in a clingy mood--wanting to be around us more. But, she is still saying she wants to go to a traditional school. It's so hard to explain to her that she isn't going to play all the time (this is how she envisions school because we often visit the school's playground on walks) and she would have to sit still and listen for up to six hours. I am not opposed to G attending school, but I feel this would be a complication for her. She has no focus. I am constantly redirecting her.


M's curriculum is still not here. She'll be slightly behind her sisters as she has not started the cyberschool's curriculum yet. We are working on sentence structure, grammar and Math in the meantime. I seriously just want to look it over anyway. She's struggling with just knowing how to handle verbs. I worry about her being in the 3rd grade. But, she gets straight A's. The school did request her handwriting--unedited. So, I will be submitting that this week.


K is having a hard time focusing herself. It is frustrating to me, as it is to her, that she cannot do this. She needs to focus a little more on what she's supposed to do and stop focusing on what is going around her. It will be hard lesson to learn. I am not sure we--her parents--have that skill.

World History Curriculum

I have spent the last 4 months sweating, dreading and musing over a World History Curriculum. I downloaded several from different sites, but none of them fit us exactly. I decided to tweak and work with each curriculum, taking what I like from them. However, I was just not satisfied. Therefore, since this is for summer school, I have the flexibility I do not have as a cyberschooler or traditional homeschooler in my state--I don't have to build a portfolio--so I am doing a little "controlled" unschooling. The girls want to do the topic "World History"...in my opinion World History begins at the beginning--"The Big Bang Theory" included. And encompasses all World Religions, equally. What you will be getting is a curriculum as I go...all comments are appreciated.


I am homeschooling 3 different age groups:
K just finished 4th grade
M just finished 2nd grade
G is a Kindergartener working on 1st grade material


K & G are ambitious, highly gifted girls. I suspect M is as well, but she processes things visually and once we moved her work to a more visual format we're having a lot more luck with advancing. This fact is one of those things that pull me through the day when we have bad days with homeschooling. When I worked I had bad days too. So, why am I lamenting on the bad days over the results. In the end, it's about her education. This is assumed you will buy these books. I will make a book list as I go. As of now the Usborne Internet linked Encyclopedias of Archaeology, World Religion, World History & Science are what I am using (found at the library--although may be good to purchase as the girls love them and they are resources I'll need all year). I purchased The Story of the World Ancient Times, both the book & activity book through Amazon. I have to tell you I love them. I will be pulling references for them into the curriculum but as this is a curriculum in itself, I will not be doing anything more than referencing what pages to complete. These are a must to either purchase or check out at the library to do this curriculum. This curriculum is across several subjects. I am doing Singapore Math with the girls as well as Spaceship Math drills.


Day 1 Books: Usborne Internet linked Archaeology


• Reading?History: Read to page 35 (this is the introduction of what Archaeology is).
• Technology: Complete page 27 on interactive website to see what archaeology is about
• Writing Journal: Write a summary of what archaeology is and what you like about it). Depending on the level and your child’s ability: my 2nd grader wrote one paragraph while I told my 4th grader to write a 3 paragraph essay. My Kindergartner drew a picture and wrote one sentence.


Day 2 Books: Story of the World (book and Activity Book)
• Reading/History: Read Story of the World (Susan Wise Bauer) Ancient History 1 “What is History” Chapter 1 (to page 7).
• Listening Skills/Oral dictation: Complete Review Questions out loud in SW Activity Book 1 :What is Archaeology” and “What is History”
• Writing Journal: How are Archeology and History related?
• Art: Family Tree Project & Timeline project: What is your history? Everyone has a personal history…as does every family. Be a historian and record yours! What does it say about you? What do you think archaeologists will find 1000 years from now and think about your world today? (This project is only started today but will last the whole month).