It is that time of year again. The typical school year winds down and people begin to investigate the possibility of homeschooling their children in the upcoming year. As they begin to seek information I am sure they are experiencing the same thing that Kelley and I discovered.
Tons of articles that compare scores of homeschooled children to those in public schools. Articles about institutes of higher learning that are beginning to seek the homeschooled student. Finally, they are reading pro-homeschooling articles about the age old argument about socialization. We are ending our fourth year so of course I have come to some conclusions myself about these issues and others. Oddly, there are tons of methods to learn but in all of the methods I have not seen any reference to the need to keep the atmosphere positive. It has to be positive all of the time.
Even the best Charlotte Mason style blogs don't address the importance of positive attitude while teaching. I try to tell new moms that they need be on stage during lesson times. It is important that teacher at home performs at the level of perfection that they expect from a public school teacher. I expect a teacher to smile all the time. I expect a teacher to hand out compliments every day to every child. I expect a teacher to establish an environment in which a child wants to achieve to their best ability. I expect a teacher to meet each and every child's specific need and accommodate to their learning style without the need for IEP paperwork. I expect a teacher to be like Mary Poppins.
So when I enter our learning environment I feel like breaking out in a song about flying kites and a spoonful of sugar. (OK that is a bit much) Not only does it foster a relaxed lesson time, it also tends to separate me from my roll as their grandmother. I am not the kind of grandmother that says yes to everything. Particularly because I am with them so much, it is important to instill discipline and not undermine the efforts of my daughter and her husband. Therefore, I have a stage and a performance.
If you happen to come across this blog in your search about how to homeschool, let me encourage you to be Mary Poppins. You child deserves the best experience you can give them. They deserve to have you perform each and every day. You expect this in your public school teacher. Why shouldn't you expect it of yourself?
Everybody has a bad day. I have discovered that when I cannot be positive that it is best that I do not attempt to do much teaching. Not that we do not still have school. I will give them a little seatwork to complete and then find other activities to accomplish. Some days that means tending to the barn or the house. It may mean an impromptu field trip. Even a trip to the grocery store where we can plan meals and manage a budget. I just hate to introduce information about math, history or language in our curriculum when I am clearly not able to keep in character.
The result to this approach has been amazing. Some days it is initially difficult to get the kiddos on track. They tend to dream of flying kites and jumping chimney tops. Today I had to tell them I was serious. They looked at my face and were not so convinced but as I began writing on the boards they knew it was time to settle in and begin the day.
I encourage those who seek information about homeschooling to avoid the fancy articles about how much smarter your children will become. It simply still depends on the effort from you and from them. Do not worry about how you are going to socialize them. Unless you are living under a rock they will interact with a wide variety of people in their years and as they age they will learn how to effectively socialize with a diverse group. AVOID the traps about how perfect homeschooling is and remember that it is only as perfect as you make it. So in conclusion try to be practically perfect in every way. Of course you will not succeed every day but if that is your goal then you cannot fail. If you can keep up the performance during lessons then you will encourage a love for learning, a positive approach to the difficult situations in their lives.
Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Friday, May 2, 2014
Friday, September 2, 2011
25th Anniversary
So today is my wedding anniversary and it feels like any other day. I am not sure what I thought it would feel like. After all, a birthday is not different than the day before or the day after. This means that since later this month I also turn 50 yrs. old I will be married to Roger for half of my life.
Half of my life? So I ponder, which is the better half? I hear it said, go ask my better half. Well he is not the better half of me nor I of him but in the bigger scheme of things I would like to think that I am embarking on the better half of my life. Why will it be better?
In the beginning, when God created this union, we were young and lacking much of the fruit of the spirit that we have both come to improve upon. Sure we were head over heels in love, however, that began two year prior to being married. Roger and I both had been married before and each of us had one child. I had the baby fever so the two years of daily love and life became a marriage commitment in oder to justify our baby. If we make a choice to have a child then we certainly had better get married. We had to make a firm commitment to a family as well. Still, I was not patient in those days like I am now. Perhaps patience comes from the day to day living and the fact that no matter what happens that you think you cannot endure is not as important to the rest of the world as it seems to you today because tomorrow kept on coming. One day after another of getting us to the little stuff and living through the big stuff. I find that as those days passed and the world did not implode that I gradually developed patience.
I have heard it said that Love Is Patient and I believe I understand that today. Roger and I use to argue our points firmly and sometimes loudly to no end. Somewhere along the line we just stopped. Yesterday, he and I had a very brief argument over a financial matter, of course, but that is the first time in several years that we have taken the time out of our precious lives together to argue about anything. Within our years together we have carved out our own little niche, one in which we find peace, acceptance, understanding, cooperation, respect, and just a down right comfy feeling each day.
Could we both improve little habits in our lives? Well, he sure could but if I shared that with you then you would wonder why I still put up with his habits. I on the other hand am flawless. After 25 years together the truth of the matter is that none of my bad habits or his bad habits are significant enough to come between the tremendous deep feeling of joy that we bring to each other. I understand him in a way that nobody else can and he understands me. God has blessed us by developing within us individually and as one whole the living example of the fruit of the spirit.
So after 25 years we are indeed one whole created by God and a tree growing His fruits in our lives. His fruits in our lives will then also grow in our family's lives. You see, we are faithful not only to God but to each other. We are patient to each other and ourselves and certainly demonstrate self-control. We find peace and joy in each other which grows in us as one whole. We are certainly gentle and kind to each other and to the single whole that God has joined as well as finding meekness in this union as we are not tempted and do not find fault in each other. Then there is LOVE. It is ever growing in us. Not the kind of love that we felt our first few days together but the kind that is a slow blooming flowering plant with deep roots into a firm soil.
So the better half of my marriage is upon us because we have grown to truly be one whole as God intended us to be. He has given us the tools to make it better in this half of our whole by the gradual growth and development of His fruits of the Spirit within this thing we call marriage.
Neither Roger or I expected this much from that simple act of wanting another child, but that is where this all first began. The honesty is that is neither of use really cared if we were married or not but we knew that it was best to get married if we wanted to raise a family. The surprise is that we had no idea how emmense this connection woule become. So one day, 25 years ago, I wore white (my white nurses uniform as I had just gotten off of work at seven a.m.) and we went at the court house. We did not take a single person with us and so two strangers in the room witnessed our mariage in front of an Associate Judge. He was a pleasnt man and desired to be a full judge so he signed his name backwards on the paper so as to write the word "associate" last. Sure that does not make sense to you but at the time it was funny to Roger.
Knowing now, what I did not know then, I can only look forward to the ongoing next half of our married life and accept God's wisdom in the union He created. Who could have ever imagined this complete and perfect whole that He has created?
Half of my life? So I ponder, which is the better half? I hear it said, go ask my better half. Well he is not the better half of me nor I of him but in the bigger scheme of things I would like to think that I am embarking on the better half of my life. Why will it be better?
In the beginning, when God created this union, we were young and lacking much of the fruit of the spirit that we have both come to improve upon. Sure we were head over heels in love, however, that began two year prior to being married. Roger and I both had been married before and each of us had one child. I had the baby fever so the two years of daily love and life became a marriage commitment in oder to justify our baby. If we make a choice to have a child then we certainly had better get married. We had to make a firm commitment to a family as well. Still, I was not patient in those days like I am now. Perhaps patience comes from the day to day living and the fact that no matter what happens that you think you cannot endure is not as important to the rest of the world as it seems to you today because tomorrow kept on coming. One day after another of getting us to the little stuff and living through the big stuff. I find that as those days passed and the world did not implode that I gradually developed patience.
I have heard it said that Love Is Patient and I believe I understand that today. Roger and I use to argue our points firmly and sometimes loudly to no end. Somewhere along the line we just stopped. Yesterday, he and I had a very brief argument over a financial matter, of course, but that is the first time in several years that we have taken the time out of our precious lives together to argue about anything. Within our years together we have carved out our own little niche, one in which we find peace, acceptance, understanding, cooperation, respect, and just a down right comfy feeling each day.
Could we both improve little habits in our lives? Well, he sure could but if I shared that with you then you would wonder why I still put up with his habits. I on the other hand am flawless. After 25 years together the truth of the matter is that none of my bad habits or his bad habits are significant enough to come between the tremendous deep feeling of joy that we bring to each other. I understand him in a way that nobody else can and he understands me. God has blessed us by developing within us individually and as one whole the living example of the fruit of the spirit.
So after 25 years we are indeed one whole created by God and a tree growing His fruits in our lives. His fruits in our lives will then also grow in our family's lives. You see, we are faithful not only to God but to each other. We are patient to each other and ourselves and certainly demonstrate self-control. We find peace and joy in each other which grows in us as one whole. We are certainly gentle and kind to each other and to the single whole that God has joined as well as finding meekness in this union as we are not tempted and do not find fault in each other. Then there is LOVE. It is ever growing in us. Not the kind of love that we felt our first few days together but the kind that is a slow blooming flowering plant with deep roots into a firm soil.
So the better half of my marriage is upon us because we have grown to truly be one whole as God intended us to be. He has given us the tools to make it better in this half of our whole by the gradual growth and development of His fruits of the Spirit within this thing we call marriage.
Neither Roger or I expected this much from that simple act of wanting another child, but that is where this all first began. The honesty is that is neither of use really cared if we were married or not but we knew that it was best to get married if we wanted to raise a family. The surprise is that we had no idea how emmense this connection woule become. So one day, 25 years ago, I wore white (my white nurses uniform as I had just gotten off of work at seven a.m.) and we went at the court house. We did not take a single person with us and so two strangers in the room witnessed our mariage in front of an Associate Judge. He was a pleasnt man and desired to be a full judge so he signed his name backwards on the paper so as to write the word "associate" last. Sure that does not make sense to you but at the time it was funny to Roger.
Knowing now, what I did not know then, I can only look forward to the ongoing next half of our married life and accept God's wisdom in the union He created. Who could have ever imagined this complete and perfect whole that He has created?
Thursday, July 21, 2011
History and Culture Lesson
So this will be my last entry until my trip is completed. (if you take the link at the end listing location you will find my heritage)
Next week we will head out to the homestead in Tennessee. It is a beautiful place and has remained in our family for five generations. I spent much of my childhood there. It has never had electricity, running water or any comfort items that I grew up with in my home. My mother was born there and even as late as 1950's she still did not have comforts that one would think of for the time.
There are two plots of land, one is almost 100 acres in the middle of the Tennessee Ridge and the other is 10 acres owned at one time by my grandfather and now shared with my mother, aunts and uncles. A clear creek called Hurricaine Creek flows through the middle and it includes an area called Cinder Ford and has an old Iron Ore Furnace on the land called the Eclipse Furnace. So much history sitting in one hollow. There is a spring that comes from a rock under a large tree, many years ago my grandfather put a pipe in it and that was the running water that my mother had. The water was about 1/4 mile from the house and when the bucket was full it was a steep walk back.
I know it all sound cliche' but it is real. She even attended a one room school house and was not permitted by culture to continue school during her sixth grade year as she came into her womanhood. NO JOKE!
I hear tell that there are still several families in the Appalachians like how she was raised.
So I am going with G and F to the family cemetery. We will meet with a cousin that I met two years ago via ancestry.com but this time she is bringing her mother. Her mother left the hard luck, hard life area a long, long time ago and did not return. She has not ever been the her grandparents graveside and does not recall how to get there. I am going to take her. She recently lost her husband of 66 yrs and now wants to return to home for one last visit. It is a bitter sweet moment.
In the meantime, we will all be enriched by this experience. I will take G and F along, they have been there once before. I also am going to stop at THE HOME PLACE along the Trace of the LBL area. It will be a learning opportunity for them. I will take them again to the area where Danville, TN use to be prior to the TVA flood and to the cemetery moved for the flood.
I will post pics if I get any good ones. I expect that the copperheads will be near the creek with this heat so rather than a lot of photo ops at the creek I will be on the look out and carry my "snake charmer". When I was a child my grt-grandmother had a snake dog named Tony that always went ahead of us. He always seemed to get them. No one lives on this land anymore so the pathways will not be well traveled.
I will put up the location on this post. THIS is my heritage!!!
Next week we will head out to the homestead in Tennessee. It is a beautiful place and has remained in our family for five generations. I spent much of my childhood there. It has never had electricity, running water or any comfort items that I grew up with in my home. My mother was born there and even as late as 1950's she still did not have comforts that one would think of for the time.
There are two plots of land, one is almost 100 acres in the middle of the Tennessee Ridge and the other is 10 acres owned at one time by my grandfather and now shared with my mother, aunts and uncles. A clear creek called Hurricaine Creek flows through the middle and it includes an area called Cinder Ford and has an old Iron Ore Furnace on the land called the Eclipse Furnace. So much history sitting in one hollow. There is a spring that comes from a rock under a large tree, many years ago my grandfather put a pipe in it and that was the running water that my mother had. The water was about 1/4 mile from the house and when the bucket was full it was a steep walk back.
I know it all sound cliche' but it is real. She even attended a one room school house and was not permitted by culture to continue school during her sixth grade year as she came into her womanhood. NO JOKE!
I hear tell that there are still several families in the Appalachians like how she was raised.
So I am going with G and F to the family cemetery. We will meet with a cousin that I met two years ago via ancestry.com but this time she is bringing her mother. Her mother left the hard luck, hard life area a long, long time ago and did not return. She has not ever been the her grandparents graveside and does not recall how to get there. I am going to take her. She recently lost her husband of 66 yrs and now wants to return to home for one last visit. It is a bitter sweet moment.
In the meantime, we will all be enriched by this experience. I will take G and F along, they have been there once before. I also am going to stop at THE HOME PLACE along the Trace of the LBL area. It will be a learning opportunity for them. I will take them again to the area where Danville, TN use to be prior to the TVA flood and to the cemetery moved for the flood.
I will post pics if I get any good ones. I expect that the copperheads will be near the creek with this heat so rather than a lot of photo ops at the creek I will be on the look out and carry my "snake charmer". When I was a child my grt-grandmother had a snake dog named Tony that always went ahead of us. He always seemed to get them. No one lives on this land anymore so the pathways will not be well traveled.
I will put up the location on this post. THIS is my heritage!!!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Living with Great Danes
A moment away from my primary blog purpose:
I have been the owner of Great Danes for 22 years now. I enjoy other breeds but these gentle creatures are my favorite. I have a friend who loves Greyhounds and one who adores Beagles. I have owned other dogs and even until recently had a Rott with me for 9 years. But my last two Danes passed aways within the past 6 months. I had decided that I really did not want to start the pup routine again.
Then I accidentally came across a 2yr old Dane in a no kill shelter. She had be surrendered by her owners. Her story touched me and when I say her pictures I knew she was meant to be with me. This is not an easy decision as I also fear the possibility that my life is coming to a close and a commitment to a pet like a Dane is hard to make. Still, I made contact and she has been with me since June 24th now. She is beautiful, had I purchased her as a pup from the breeder her cost would have been no less than a grand and possibly more. So here are some pictures of Allie to enjoy. She has really filled my heart with so much joy and is a part of our family very quickly. It was like the love you have the moment you actually touch your baby, it was real, it was instant and it will be lasting forever.
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I have been the owner of Great Danes for 22 years now. I enjoy other breeds but these gentle creatures are my favorite. I have a friend who loves Greyhounds and one who adores Beagles. I have owned other dogs and even until recently had a Rott with me for 9 years. But my last two Danes passed aways within the past 6 months. I had decided that I really did not want to start the pup routine again.
Then I accidentally came across a 2yr old Dane in a no kill shelter. She had be surrendered by her owners. Her story touched me and when I say her pictures I knew she was meant to be with me. This is not an easy decision as I also fear the possibility that my life is coming to a close and a commitment to a pet like a Dane is hard to make. Still, I made contact and she has been with me since June 24th now. She is beautiful, had I purchased her as a pup from the breeder her cost would have been no less than a grand and possibly more. So here are some pictures of Allie to enjoy. She has really filled my heart with so much joy and is a part of our family very quickly. It was like the love you have the moment you actually touch your baby, it was real, it was instant and it will be lasting forever.
Friday, May 27, 2011
School's out for summer! Sure it is......
So why is it that I expect more from the children in my life? We are calling it summer break but in my eyes it does not resemble a break at all. In the eyes of the girls it is a huge relief to only do what I have shown them they will be expected to complete over the summer.
Just how is this a summer vacation? For one, it is our first year and although we did plenty during our schedule school year we did not do everything we had hoped to. No! No! That is not quiet right. We did what ever we planned to do but as I made it individual to each person's need it meant that G will have year round math and F will continue with her phonic/reading in hopes that she will be in the first grade reader next year. But if not, we will work on each child's level.
That makes the curriculum purchase a bit hard. We bought all of the second grade program and we purchased the consumables for the first grade. It is possible we will not be at that level for each child so the whole integrated curriculum will be less effective. WHICH is why I expect more from mine than others.
I expect them to learn year round even when we do not call it school We have always done this even before we officially home schooled. We find enjoyment in this process, they are eager to learn more and more.
Yes indeed, today will be our last official day but it will not be the end of out lessons plans and would have never been the end of learning for the year either way.
HAVE a SAFE SUMMER!
Just how is this a summer vacation? For one, it is our first year and although we did plenty during our schedule school year we did not do everything we had hoped to. No! No! That is not quiet right. We did what ever we planned to do but as I made it individual to each person's need it meant that G will have year round math and F will continue with her phonic/reading in hopes that she will be in the first grade reader next year. But if not, we will work on each child's level.
That makes the curriculum purchase a bit hard. We bought all of the second grade program and we purchased the consumables for the first grade. It is possible we will not be at that level for each child so the whole integrated curriculum will be less effective. WHICH is why I expect more from mine than others.
I expect them to learn year round even when we do not call it school We have always done this even before we officially home schooled. We find enjoyment in this process, they are eager to learn more and more.
Yes indeed, today will be our last official day but it will not be the end of out lessons plans and would have never been the end of learning for the year either way.
HAVE a SAFE SUMMER!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday will be our last official day
I am finding that it means very little on one hand as we have summer work that is going to be completed. On the other hand they seem to like the thought that we will not be engaging into routine class time.
I find that I am still planning lessons. G has accepted the fact that her math will not be completed and we are going to take is slow so she is successful in the process. I think she is even looking forward to the math summer program. I will bring home the whiteboard/chalkboard easel so we can work with it during lesson. Lessons will not be in their class room but at my house. Since I have the pool they will be here most days and we will do lesson before jumping in and then workbook during the after lunch wait period.
She took several test that I had not given in math and did very well. She even did it without the puffy cheeks and stiffened arms. She does so well on the test that I know we could move along faster if her emotions would just change about the word M-A-T-H.
G has only three stories left to read in her last reader for first grade and will have completed the Letter and Sounds book by Friday. She will not have all the Language book completed but most of the book at the end is about creating sentences and stories. I offered her to work more in that book which she really does not like the book much. She finds it repeating to the point of aggravation. The other day it had several pictures and wanted sentences that described the picture. She did o.k. but not great. Then the next page had a large blank wanting to tell a story about a subject. Instead I asked her to write about the zoo trip we made last week. She was so excited! AND she did a good job with it. So we will call it quits with Language book as well and she is eager to practice sentence structure with a journal/diary for the summer.
F has only a few pages left in her K math book. She has several in he phonics book and has more readers to get through. It does not seem to bother her at all. She is enjoying the book but does not find it as fun as the math book. Perhaps I was wrong to pace her differently in this book but I let her be the guide here as well. Some days she did not want to touch the book but would do several lessons in the math book. She is 4yr 7mo. now and I feel she is doing well with phonics and reading but we may very well be finishing this level by next October. We will see. When she does not have anything to do but phonics/reading she is likely to really take off this summer. WOW that sounds like she did not take off which is not what I mean to say about F. She is eager and bright but she is also a hot head and when she is tired her four year oldness shows. One cannot win a fight with a tired four year old.
We join the health/science/social studies/art all into one combined class. Which means F is doing first grade learning here. We finished the last of each book. F did read all the questions herself and answer them.
So what about my failure with spelling? Well I am heading to www.spellingcity.com/abeka and going to use it this summer and in the future as the current method does not even get the subject done. This will be a summer thing too for G to complete the first grade lessons that we stalled on.
I wonder if other parents/grandparents stall in spelling at home too or if it is just our own failure. No one seems to ever complain about spelling class on other blogs. A lot of math issues and some curriculum issues out there but no spelling issues. I guess our little Academy is unique in this.
I imagine that this summer I will blog maybe weekly or every other week. I will go online to see what is happening in the blogs I follow.
I find that I am still planning lessons. G has accepted the fact that her math will not be completed and we are going to take is slow so she is successful in the process. I think she is even looking forward to the math summer program. I will bring home the whiteboard/chalkboard easel so we can work with it during lesson. Lessons will not be in their class room but at my house. Since I have the pool they will be here most days and we will do lesson before jumping in and then workbook during the after lunch wait period.
She took several test that I had not given in math and did very well. She even did it without the puffy cheeks and stiffened arms. She does so well on the test that I know we could move along faster if her emotions would just change about the word M-A-T-H.
G has only three stories left to read in her last reader for first grade and will have completed the Letter and Sounds book by Friday. She will not have all the Language book completed but most of the book at the end is about creating sentences and stories. I offered her to work more in that book which she really does not like the book much. She finds it repeating to the point of aggravation. The other day it had several pictures and wanted sentences that described the picture. She did o.k. but not great. Then the next page had a large blank wanting to tell a story about a subject. Instead I asked her to write about the zoo trip we made last week. She was so excited! AND she did a good job with it. So we will call it quits with Language book as well and she is eager to practice sentence structure with a journal/diary for the summer.
F has only a few pages left in her K math book. She has several in he phonics book and has more readers to get through. It does not seem to bother her at all. She is enjoying the book but does not find it as fun as the math book. Perhaps I was wrong to pace her differently in this book but I let her be the guide here as well. Some days she did not want to touch the book but would do several lessons in the math book. She is 4yr 7mo. now and I feel she is doing well with phonics and reading but we may very well be finishing this level by next October. We will see. When she does not have anything to do but phonics/reading she is likely to really take off this summer. WOW that sounds like she did not take off which is not what I mean to say about F. She is eager and bright but she is also a hot head and when she is tired her four year oldness shows. One cannot win a fight with a tired four year old.
We join the health/science/social studies/art all into one combined class. Which means F is doing first grade learning here. We finished the last of each book. F did read all the questions herself and answer them.
So what about my failure with spelling? Well I am heading to www.spellingcity.com/abeka and going to use it this summer and in the future as the current method does not even get the subject done. This will be a summer thing too for G to complete the first grade lessons that we stalled on.
I wonder if other parents/grandparents stall in spelling at home too or if it is just our own failure. No one seems to ever complain about spelling class on other blogs. A lot of math issues and some curriculum issues out there but no spelling issues. I guess our little Academy is unique in this.
I imagine that this summer I will blog maybe weekly or every other week. I will go online to see what is happening in the blogs I follow.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Baby is growing
Today was a joyous day for our family. K is off of bedrest but on light duty mothering. I know, we can all get a good laugh at that one. Fortunately, I am able to help her a lot.
Today they could not see any more signs of the clot or separation of the placenta and found a growing baby with a heartbeat of 183 bpm.
We know that this is great news and we find hope in it. We also put our trust to God and will not worry about this soul. God all ready knows His plan and we can only hope it is the same as our desires.
G and F are excited to get a bit of mommy back. I do believe it was a challenge for all three of them.
We had not choice today but to take the girls with us to the doctor office but there is a large common area just outside of the office and so of course I took out lessons and we went to work on one of the table. I expected questions but did not find any asked. I guess it was clear that there was real learning taking place.
I have decided we got a bit stagnated so i am going to us a lapbook lesson for our plant study. They seem to enjoy creating these.
Today they could not see any more signs of the clot or separation of the placenta and found a growing baby with a heartbeat of 183 bpm.
We know that this is great news and we find hope in it. We also put our trust to God and will not worry about this soul. God all ready knows His plan and we can only hope it is the same as our desires.
G and F are excited to get a bit of mommy back. I do believe it was a challenge for all three of them.
We had not choice today but to take the girls with us to the doctor office but there is a large common area just outside of the office and so of course I took out lessons and we went to work on one of the table. I expected questions but did not find any asked. I guess it was clear that there was real learning taking place.
I have decided we got a bit stagnated so i am going to us a lapbook lesson for our plant study. They seem to enjoy creating these.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Passed by the public school and she shouts-------
that's MY school!!! WHAT? You mean the school you use to attend! I follow it up with the do you miss it question. She quickly replies---"ARE YOU CRAZY?".
Whew! She had me scared for a moment. Then little F tells her, "I am sure glad we get to be in school together. I would miss you SOOO much if we were in that big building. How could I ever find you when I need you?"
So this week we did some math testing on G and she did well. As I have repeatedly said--g is a learner--not a memorizer. Yet, she is retaining more and more facts quickly but as math goes on she begins to revert to her old self and seems blocked. Suddenly what she knew at the start of a lesson is forgotten and frustrating. Math is only 20 min. lesson time but she drags it on and on.
F is making so much progress in her reading skills this past two weeks. She is a little copy cat of her sister and I found her laying in her bed at bedtime with her old reader and challenging herself.
Yesterday I pulled out their sandbox and filled it up. It provided hours of imagination play. Next week however we will need to clean the sand as they pulled up every dandelion in the yard and made there own garden that was later destroyed by the volcano.
I managed to do more typical lessons this past week but ended up with more delays as my own mother had to go to the hospital. I have also been working in both homes to get things in order. I will be happy when K is off of bed rest and she can come down to help teach and do her own dishes. Next week I will go to the city to purchase next years curriculum and K has another ultrasound as they keep a close eye on the placenta hemorrhage and the heartbeat. Even with that I plan to keep the girls routine more routine next week. HA ha...as I typed that I recall the physical therapy appt and the orthopedic surgeon appt on Monday. The book display is on Tuesday and the ultrasound is on Thursday. Guess I will get it in when it works and do some traditional lessons on Wednesday and Friday.---OK--- I will do traditional lessons the week after next. (oh the beauty of home school--learning is as flexible as life itself) Yet they do indeed learn and do it well.
Now it is time to sit back and watch the May flowers grow, after all we had 19 days of rain in April and almost 8" worth. The river is touching my drive and one neighbor is already stuck behind the line as he did not get his truck out before his drive was impassable.
Whew! She had me scared for a moment. Then little F tells her, "I am sure glad we get to be in school together. I would miss you SOOO much if we were in that big building. How could I ever find you when I need you?"
So this week we did some math testing on G and she did well. As I have repeatedly said--g is a learner--not a memorizer. Yet, she is retaining more and more facts quickly but as math goes on she begins to revert to her old self and seems blocked. Suddenly what she knew at the start of a lesson is forgotten and frustrating. Math is only 20 min. lesson time but she drags it on and on.
F is making so much progress in her reading skills this past two weeks. She is a little copy cat of her sister and I found her laying in her bed at bedtime with her old reader and challenging herself.
Yesterday I pulled out their sandbox and filled it up. It provided hours of imagination play. Next week however we will need to clean the sand as they pulled up every dandelion in the yard and made there own garden that was later destroyed by the volcano.
I managed to do more typical lessons this past week but ended up with more delays as my own mother had to go to the hospital. I have also been working in both homes to get things in order. I will be happy when K is off of bed rest and she can come down to help teach and do her own dishes. Next week I will go to the city to purchase next years curriculum and K has another ultrasound as they keep a close eye on the placenta hemorrhage and the heartbeat. Even with that I plan to keep the girls routine more routine next week. HA ha...as I typed that I recall the physical therapy appt and the orthopedic surgeon appt on Monday. The book display is on Tuesday and the ultrasound is on Thursday. Guess I will get it in when it works and do some traditional lessons on Wednesday and Friday.---OK--- I will do traditional lessons the week after next. (oh the beauty of home school--learning is as flexible as life itself) Yet they do indeed learn and do it well.
Now it is time to sit back and watch the May flowers grow, after all we had 19 days of rain in April and almost 8" worth. The river is touching my drive and one neighbor is already stuck behind the line as he did not get his truck out before his drive was impassable.
Monday, April 18, 2011
The entire past six weeks in a nutshell
The title may say more than I can recall in one post. It seems that March was very busy for us and it has not slowed down until tomorrow. At least that is my plan, after tonight I am going to find the slower part of me and take slower more deliberate strides.
Now that is a laugh!
We did a great project during March that we called LION OR LAMB. Each day we marked on the graph that we put on the wall and had some early spring weather observation. It was such a huge success that we are now graphing rain and dry days and calling it our APRIL SHOWERS graph. Now I must be honest. We have been out of the traditional classroom so much this month that the poor graph is looking pitiful. I must say that the girls really enjoyed it.
Tomorrow I have already told them that we are going to be back in the classroom where all of our visual aides are kept and have a terrific lesson day. I recall as a child thinking that we did not finish all of our book when the end of the year came. I was puzzled by that but find that will be the case in our school as well. So I glanced into the books for the next grade level and we will be fine.
So what have we been doing? Our week was cut short one day for the past ten weeks while we participated in our Master's Lyceum. It is an enrichment program offered by the co-op group we participate with. I taught two classes and helped in one. Then entire day consisted of four classes for each child. It was time consuming to prepare for the classes as well so much suffered around my own home.
We took a great field trip that was all about math. On our way home G asked when we were going to go to the "math place". When we told her we just spent three hours at our math field trip she replied..."that wasn't math, that was fun" TaDa...success!!!!!
We got a classroom bunny but it suddenly became ill and passed. I have replace it but it does not yet have the same friendly disposition as the other one.
G has a pen pal who is also home schooled and she was excited to get another letter from her. She has sent one back as well. It is good practice for her to keep this up, and they may even find a friendship in it sometime.
G has many girl scout events this past month as well.
F has really taken off in her reading skills. She is not fast but she is accurate and enjoying it. We are beginning some special sounds in phonics. I do expect her to be officially a first grader next year. I had planned on spending two years on it but she is ready to go on, even at the age of 4.
I know I am a grandmother here but the girls are very bright and I hope to provide them oil for their lamps for many years to come. It has become late here so I cannot even try to catch up, just move on from here.
MawMaw Jean--I hope you find this site easy to work with.
Now that is a laugh!
We did a great project during March that we called LION OR LAMB. Each day we marked on the graph that we put on the wall and had some early spring weather observation. It was such a huge success that we are now graphing rain and dry days and calling it our APRIL SHOWERS graph. Now I must be honest. We have been out of the traditional classroom so much this month that the poor graph is looking pitiful. I must say that the girls really enjoyed it.
Tomorrow I have already told them that we are going to be back in the classroom where all of our visual aides are kept and have a terrific lesson day. I recall as a child thinking that we did not finish all of our book when the end of the year came. I was puzzled by that but find that will be the case in our school as well. So I glanced into the books for the next grade level and we will be fine.
So what have we been doing? Our week was cut short one day for the past ten weeks while we participated in our Master's Lyceum. It is an enrichment program offered by the co-op group we participate with. I taught two classes and helped in one. Then entire day consisted of four classes for each child. It was time consuming to prepare for the classes as well so much suffered around my own home.
We took a great field trip that was all about math. On our way home G asked when we were going to go to the "math place". When we told her we just spent three hours at our math field trip she replied..."that wasn't math, that was fun" TaDa...success!!!!!
We got a classroom bunny but it suddenly became ill and passed. I have replace it but it does not yet have the same friendly disposition as the other one.
G has a pen pal who is also home schooled and she was excited to get another letter from her. She has sent one back as well. It is good practice for her to keep this up, and they may even find a friendship in it sometime.
G has many girl scout events this past month as well.
F has really taken off in her reading skills. She is not fast but she is accurate and enjoying it. We are beginning some special sounds in phonics. I do expect her to be officially a first grader next year. I had planned on spending two years on it but she is ready to go on, even at the age of 4.
I know I am a grandmother here but the girls are very bright and I hope to provide them oil for their lamps for many years to come. It has become late here so I cannot even try to catch up, just move on from here.
MawMaw Jean--I hope you find this site easy to work with.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Standardized testing
I am a bit confused on this issue. The test tell one how your student compares to same age, same grade students. I do not recall it telling me exactly where my child struggled or if there were inconsistencies in a specific area. I do recall telling my own children not to stress over them at all and that I knew where their strengths and weakness was already. The test say more about how a school is doing rather than a student.
So today I read that the state of Vermont has agreed to discuss the options of testing with homeschoolers before they decide how to confirm that learning is taking place. I live in Illinois, and so far we do not even register with the state. I know that learning is taking place in our home. Some is above the current school level and some is right along with it. As a matter of fact it is possible that G is a bit below level in Math but we will continue all summer with a math program.
I wonder who will bear the burden of cost should that happen in Illinois. The state owes our local schools millions of dollars already.
Well, just a thought.
I have been at the other blog site as I like how to work my page so much better but once again it has its troubles. I think I will keep both for now, had not been here in a while.
So today I read that the state of Vermont has agreed to discuss the options of testing with homeschoolers before they decide how to confirm that learning is taking place. I live in Illinois, and so far we do not even register with the state. I know that learning is taking place in our home. Some is above the current school level and some is right along with it. As a matter of fact it is possible that G is a bit below level in Math but we will continue all summer with a math program.
I wonder who will bear the burden of cost should that happen in Illinois. The state owes our local schools millions of dollars already.
Well, just a thought.
I have been at the other blog site as I like how to work my page so much better but once again it has its troubles. I think I will keep both for now, had not been here in a while.
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