The Springtime Snowfall

It seems that we are no different than much of the Midwest and the New England States. Five days into spring and our area was hit with a beautiful, heavy wet snowfall.  Only fifteen minutes north of us there was seven inches and a tad bit further northwest was twelve inches in just twenty-four hours.  I know that others have more than this but it was a nice farewell to the winter season.

Today we completed our KTM activities which included map skills and art this week. Grace completed a beautiful project that included the use of crayons to a project then applying baby oil to the back of it. When it was completed she had a great Easter art project that looked like stained glass. Faith began doing a mosaic art project with simple scraps of paper but she it doing it all on her own.  The snow was calling her name however and she tells me that she will finish it tomorrow.

 

 

When the evening began and the girls were gone the Great Danes were afraid of the multiple snow men that ended up in the yard.  When tomorrow comes we will once again attend archery lessons and on Wednesday we will go to a field trip conducted at The Nature Institute. The theme for this one will be "dynamic duos" as we explore symbiotic relationships.  Plans for Good Friday will include an Easter Egg Hunt at the Nature Institute as well. 

 

My own health has been a continuing issue but I continue to get stronger. Still, I am unsure that I will return to the state of health that I was in prior to the last flare that placed me in the hospital.  I was unable to participate in the snow play but enjoyed the view from the front window.  It is not like me to avoid days like today. I try not to complain about it as I am so grateful for the days I am given.  My vision is a huge issue since I became sick again and I look forward to the ophthalmologist appointment.  It is hard to function with double vision but then again, I have had worse double vision than this in the past. The difference is, this time it is rather persistent.

 

The schedule next week is simplified. Except for our archery instruction, the week will be spent in the classroom. I would hope the weather begins to break in a few days and we can do some planting next week.

 

As always, I am excited to be homeschooling. Grace met a girl that she is eager to strike up a friendship with soon.  She has been at several activities lately and is eager to have weather that we can meet up and play from time to time.  The best part of this is that she does not live as far away and many others she has met.  I do not know if they are new to the area or just recently connecting with the group of folks we tend to hang with. 

 

I do believe that this enough for today. I hope your week is blessed and that you find time to rejoice in the Easter Season.  

 



Geography Fair- Their country: Australia

Grace introduces herself and her sister. She then tells the audience of about 60-80 people that they had spend their Mondays learning about Australia. They cannot show everything they learned but here are some of their favorite things.



This girl has come SOoooo far.  It has taken use three years to get back the child that we rescued from the public school system (after only one year there).  She was happy and not frightened at all to make the presentation.



Showing Ayers Rock and Alice Springs

 Grace tells about a photo she found on the Internet. It is a picture of the Great Barrier Reef from a space satellite.

 

 Displays her rock art.

 

 Here Faith explains dot art and the art she did.

 

 Faith explains about the didgeridoo.

She tells them how it is made, who would use it and that to make music with it you blow raspberries with your lips, like this.....

 

 

Finally, they end with a demonstration of the didgeridoo.

 

It was a great night and all the children did so well telling about what they had learned. They took a lot of pride in their display.  Of course, in homeschool there are no funds for awards like they give in the public school but it does keep all on an even field when it is all said and done. 

 

Interesting that Faith was not as outgoing and bubbly as she usually is when she faces such a large audience but she did very well as she told her portion of the presentation.

 

Not sure what we will do on our KTM now that the Australia project is completed.  Maybe some science experiments and some gardening skills.  Yes, that sounds like the plan!

 

 



How I Have Come to Love Mondays

Another Monday has passed and it was once again painless. We continued with the lessons about penguins since Faith had requested it a few months ago. We have now spent time watching the movie MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, visited the zoo for the specific purpose of going through the penguin display. It is amazing how much more we all enjoyed the display with a lesson prior to going. The display of written material made me look really smart too.

So last Monday we worked on some globe issues and found where each penguin lives. Today we read and reinforced the material so that we could begin a lapbook. I love the "Hands of A Child" lapbooks that I come across but I also have found lots of other material that are lesson related to enhance the experience. I imagine it will take two more weeks to complete the lapbook.

We discussed it and feel that perhaps it would be good to learn about Arctic animals. There is a new series on Discovery Channel called Frozen Planet and I saw the premier last night. Girls think it sounds like a great idea. Lots of books to get in from the library as I rarely pay $20 for a book but found several at the zoo we all liked.  I tend to write down the ISBN and then go look it up. I can often find it at a much reduced price as well if I choose to buy it.

Today we also did a homeschool class at the zoo. One of the classes at Lyceum includes bird study and recently we took a great field trip that introduced the girls to bird nesting habits. They seem to be pretty fascinated with the topic as well right now. You know if I teach them how to have many irons in the fire now they should learn the skill of multitasking.  SO they attended a class called BIRDS FOR BEGINNERS and loved it. It got them into a classroom environment totally away from a parent. They made a book of observations, they handled three different kinds of birds and made a cute set of binoculars. The class for both girls (using my zoo membership) was only $32.  Of course, this is not something we can do often so we generally take advantage of the free stuff at the St. Louis museum scene. 

Duck eggs have not begun to stink so I imagine we are free of any rotten eggs and the experience will be a positive one. I must get the chicken coup repaired as I am suddenly down to only three chickens left out of thirteen. This is disturbing to me but fortunately the chicks are cheap right now. (ha ha to myself  ..cheap cheap little chick) 

Other projects we have recently done to reward the days work is to plant the strawberries. They are growing and in one more week the roots should be settled enough to hang them as they are intended. I also got a roll out butterfly garden that we will put around the tree when the get their work done this week.  I will plan to do this on Thursday with them. These things cost little as I get lots of things from the dollar store or plant starts from friends. 

I cannot express the joy I feel getting this opportunity to teach the girls. Soon Owen will be crawling around and of course learning begins with play.

OH yes!  We are absolutely going to move school back to my house. The classroom is going to be a toy room for the girls things that Owen will have the potential to get into. It was a toy room before it was a classroom.  I have a nice sized out-building that is attached to my back deck. We are going to make it into an old fashioned one room schoolhouse but with modern technology. I have Internet so they will have access to lots of things. I have a large wooded yard that is near much to explore. They have a nice big yard but it is surrounded by corn/soy/wheat fields and it use to be a wheat field. Their swings and toys are fun but recess here will be OK too.  The room will have storage as well so that items can be saved and brought out in cycles. I am excited as it means that I will stay here and they will need to come to me. I know it is a whole eight miles lets face it. I am not getting younger and walking down to their basement lately has been more difficult for me.  I am playing with some floor plan ideas to place things. 

Lyceum is all ready half over and I am working on enhancing the class I have planned. I am pleased with the content so far but find one boy not so enthused. You know that means I need to find a way to touch him.

That is all for now!

Can I keep the momentum going?

It has been a very eventful and progressive learning environment at the Geralds Learning Academy.  There are eager learners and a teacher who is on a roll.  Now that it has calmed down again the girls are easily focused on what needs to get done.  So what have we done in the past two days?

Since Monday was Chinese New Year we stayed true to the theme of our studies and did not have our KTM (Kitchen Table Monday) activity. KTM usually involves lots of cutting and we could not use knives or scissors so I had to do something else. My mind wondered what sounded like a spur of the moment field trip and I chose the eagle watching along the Mississippi River around Alton and Grafton, Illinois.  As we drove that way the girls caught a glimpse of the Arch. At the same time the asked me if we could go to the Arch instead.  It did not take me but half of a second to reply "yes".  Eagle watching was going to be a cold event and a long drive to reach our destination. We got a later start as I am dragging on Monday's and the Arch was only ten minutes away from us at the time. 

I know that God intervened in our day as it was a much better choice considering our class time lessons. We have been reading and discussing the move to the west. It was rather light hearted as it was intended to be the first introduction to the topic.  For those who do not know this, you enter the Arch underground and there is a large museum, two shops, and three theatres in that area. The museum is called The Great Westward Expansion Museum.  Lets face it, there were very few people there this time of year. We attended the National Geographic movie about Lewis and Clark. We meandered through the museum viewing wagons, buffalo, bear, yokes, peace medals, typical prairie home layout, and a replica of the wharf of St. Louis where supplies were bought. That is only a small list of what they experienced.  Best of all, it was all  about things we have been learning about in class.

Following the museum experience we continued on with our Chinese New Year celebration by eating lunch at a Chinese Buffet.  The girls were bothered by the fact that the ladies had to work on their holiday.  We did have a discussion of how many times ones culture begins to blend with another when they leave their homeland. But wait, there's more.....they recalled the lesson when the pilgrims first went to Holland and left because of the influence on their children and the Indians and pilgrims who realized their children were influenced by one another and the changes that took place.  OH YES!  It appears we have begun to understand sociological impacts. 

Our class is decorated for the Chinese New Year as well and they made a dragon puppet yesterday. G played with the puppet in front of the new baby and realized he liked it a lot. It was brightly colored with yellows, reds, blues, and other unknown blends.  It also was capable of a variety of motions. 

I feel so blessed to have such rich experiences with my grandchildren. K is ready to return to teaching, so she says, but I find she is still so busy with the business of a newborn, busy house, and grabbing some sleep that I think she should relax and enjoy the fact that her mother is handling it.  Well, that just sounds silly!  She knows we are having a blast and knows she is missing out on the little things that are happening.  She wants to be a part, even if it means a little bit dirtier house or a little less sleep. I do wish she would nap a bit when the baby does but she keeps pushing through each day without a nap.  I do not know how she does it but so many other mothers of many do.  Me?  Well, I spread my simple two children out by six years which is so much different that her experience.

We did hear a little about our Master's Lyceum this semester.  It will be at a different location and will begin MAYBE Feb. 17th.  This is driving me crazy as I hate last minute plans. I love spur of the moment activities but this is too big of an event to have so much dangling this late in the game.  The schedule has not yet been released since they just got the approval for the new location.  I look forward to the semester to teach the classes I have planned. I have heard from several parents who plan to participate if the schedule permits. Sometimes there are ongoing classes that get scheduled at the same time so a choice has to be made.

Well this is a long enough post for now.  I hope others are feeling the winter revival that we are experiencing.

Finally a moment to make a post!

What a whirlwind life is sometimes. By the time I get a moment to keep up the blog I am too tired from all of life experiences lately. So it would seem that there is no time for school...but we are still making progress and learning goes on.

G is enjoying math a bit more, it seems we are getting into some newer ideas mixed with the old. She seems to like creating graphs and tally marks.  As we are going places we make a choice of what I want her to observe and she is keeping her tally marks then making her graph.  There is so much available for her right now to enhance her learning and I struggle to keep up with her.  Soon the St. Louis Magic House will have a special exhibit on three of the Magic Tree House books. Additionally another local museum has a homeschool day coming up that will focus on the Civil War. She often asks me what the Civil War was about as our Tennessee heritage home is near Fort Donnelson and so she has been exposed a bit anyway. So today I think I will have her begin reading her Magic Tree House books out of order so she is better prepared for the Magic House display. 

I need to decide if we are going to attend the other museum program on Monday or not. Their baby brother will be born on Wednesday, his due date is actually 12/3/11 but he has been a challenge and it is time for him to stop. 

F has had her birthday and enjoying a new swing set that many tossed in their cash to make it possible.  She has been a classroom challenge lately and I am thinking it has more to do with the baby coming than her core. We has slowed down her phonics a bit as she knows it for the moment but I do not see it being retained like her basic phonics was. So I am probably going to see her working well into next year with her first grade phonics and language (remember she just turned 5).  I want to see her become a strong speller and reader so we will take it as she can handle it.  I love to see her blossom. The other day she made a shopping list and spelled it all herself.  Her list included celery which she spelled  s-l-r-r-y  sure she was far off but I could read it and knew what she wanted. :)

It seems I had so much I wanted to say and since sleep is not in the cards for me I thought I would type out a post but now I discover that my thoughts are rambling and my concentration is poor.  Some days I am more like my students than I care to admit.

We did get started on our KTM dinosaur study yesterday and it was a huge hit. We did some at the kitchen table but much of it was in the back seat of the car while we managed hospital appointments and other baby preparations. This unit is going to be fun but I need to get moving on it as we are also going to the Butterfly House with two of their friends in December to see the thousands of Paper Kite Butterflies that they expect.  I want to do a KTM on a butterfly too. 

K will deliver Owen on Wednesday on way or another. They will attempt to change his breech presentation and then induce or they will take him via c-section. Either way my newest grandchild will be here tomorrow.  K is feeling disheartened as nothing is working out the way she had planned it. I know how she feels but also know that God has His way of reminding us who is in control.  As her mother I do believe she is getting a valuable lesson in this pregnancy and I thank Him for that.

This week is the last day of the semester for Lyceum enrichment classes. It has been a good time!  However, my car was broken into and the dirty thieves took the boxes that held my lesson material and lapbooks for my class. So the project that my 4-6 year olds have been working on have been taken and they do not have anything to show for their efforts.  It is a sad thing indeed.

On a final note, we are indeed blessed with lots of love and joy in our home. We may struggle for other things from time to time but we are never short of love and encouragement.

I Must Blog Often or Risk Forgetting the Week

Now is the time for me to reflect on how the process is going so far. Are the girls learning?  Am I enjoying teaching? Are they getting the correct instruction needed for their age and abilities?

The answer to the first two questions (or interrogatory sentences) is that they are learning and I am enjoying this.  The last one is a bit more difficult to respond to. If I was to answer it based on our desire to keep them up to date with current instruction that they would get at school then they are not meeting that goal.  If I answered it from the "other" type of homeschooler then yes they are getting what they need.

It has been a whirl-wind week.  We have not been in the classroom for one week. We were at two field trips, one Lyceum day, one Kitchen Table Monday and suddenly we have not had a traditional lesson in one week. I really feel sorry for them tomorrow when we return to our classroom but I hope it also a motivator for them  I hope to show them how much we have done to give the the extra things they want and use that as a catalyst to work diligently so we can plan other days and weeks like this past one.

Yesterday as generally a big success as we finished up the unit study about the rain forest. G worked on it for a long time while F demonstrated her physical age rather than her typical approach to these things. She will gradually color her pages to the book they made over the next several days as I know she wants it to be nicely done but the 4 year old in her directed her differently.  Otherwise, she participated in the activity to day and watched the movie Dolphin Tale without issue. Actually, a theatre full of homeschoolers, which means lots of children yet we did not experience the typical child interruption that generally takes place in children films.  It is an amazing story and we all enjoyed it.  K had to see her high risk OB so we took along a family friend it was enjoyable for her as well.

Our rain forest, (see back about three posts) is doing well and it was a fun unit. There is so much more to learn but we must stop at a point that is right for them. We will of course readdress the rain forest in the future.
G completed a project in her scrapbook class and is ready to begin the next one. She has decided to make it a book of pets and animals she has contact with or has had in the past.  I need to hunt down the photos to print for her. She enjoys telling stories like this. Our Pizza Hut Book It materials came and we will begin coloring in a nice calendar I found on their web site to keep track of the extra reading they do. Yesterday was a library day and F really is enjoying her efforts to read books.  G has read her books several times and enjoys it each time.

Back to my review of our progress. I am tossed. I know we learned new things, that we enjoyed it and that goals were met. I know that we must push on to the traditional subject matter, after all, even though our laws are few in our state that does not provide me reason to ignore the material they need to learn and learn it now while they are young and it comes easier.

I am finding my balance and when I do LOOK OUT as it can only create a more balanced child too.

Kitchen Table Monday- make a rain forest



We begin with an old fish tank and store bought gravel.



Add a layer of charcoal and then stones that they found outside



Next we seek our natural compost around our wooded yard and begin to get dirty



The old end of the woodpile is a great source of composted material



We end up in the woods and find lots of matter that is decaying for natural compost




See the layers in this picture




Top view waiting for plants




Now to the yard to gather moss, as we do live in a rich environment.





Begin by adding the moss while it is freshly taken.




Layer view of our rain forest; see ferns, umbrella plant, orchids and moss in our forest.



Top view before we put the cap on top and some water in the environment so it can now produce its own rain and compounds it will need to thrive.  WE HOPE!

Study about a structured homeschool and Mondays

Today I was lead to an article about the success of homeschooling.  It came from Concordia University and another institution that I cannot recall at this time. The point that it made was that a homeschooler who was taught in a structured program scored better than their peers in the brick and mortar schools. That is not a shock but it was a huge relieve to me to read this study and see also a comparison to the unschooling approach to education.

We are very flexible and toss in lots of interesting extras that the girls want to learn but we are also traditional.  I tend to justify this to other home school parents when I meet them. The fact that we have a lesson room and a very specific curriculum that we follow nearly to the letter making adjustments as appropriate for each child. I make sure to tell them that I have a chronic illness and that our family knows all too well how life can suddenly make a change. that we want the girls to be able to more easily step into a regular classroom in circumstances require it.  I do not tell them that this is our preferred way of teaching and seems to be ther preferred way to the girls as well.  If we get too off the strucutre they seem to seek it.  I always feel judged by teaching in an old fashion manner.

The study further identified the unschooled approach scores and they were lower than the public school students in all seven areas of testing. On the other hand the strucutred homeschool student was 2.2yrs ahead in reading/language skills and scored  0.5yr higher in math.  Of course, this is an average and we will all know that exceptional student that the statistics will not accurately apply to. Still, I find comfort in knowing that I can finally rest easy and not feel compelled to justify my methods to others who are more relaxed than us.

Now, as I type this I must tell you that we did decide to change up our structure a little. It seems that the girls want to do some lapbook and additional studies but we just loose our zest at the end of the day when we finally complete our lessons. On Mondays I am very very tired and my feet hurt so bad from working my two twelve hour shifts that it is hard for me to get down the stairs and stand in the room to teach.  So today we did what we are going to coin as "Kitchen Table Monday".  It will be the day that we review any of the work that our Lyceum needs to have completed. It will be the day that we learn from special items I get, such as the rainforest books and printouts that I came with today. It will be a day that scissors will be used, glue and colored pencils.  Today we used several items from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ .  It has been one of the best $20 I have ever spent.  Next week we will make a rainforest in an aquarium during Kitchen Table Monday.  They enjoyed coloring the Morpho Butterfly today and making a Rainforest Animal Wheel. 

G had some work as did F from Lyceum and it permitted time to do this. As it turned out, G spend a few hours of uninterupted independent work to get her project completed and loved it.