tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88719798303875469202024-03-05T02:58:40.730-08:00Otherwise EducatingOur adventures in home schooling two of our children.Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.comBlogger141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-25462886633627498532013-06-29T10:00:00.000-07:002013-06-29T10:00:01.056-07:00Rambling ThoughtsIt's summer break here. I wish I were a year round homeschooler. I would love it if my kids didn't think of learning as happening only between the months of August and May. I would love it if I were the kind of mom who felt inspired to plan fun learning activities all year, to teach grammar in July, to plan fun field trips over the summer, but that's not reality for us. Right now, I have one kiddo in the pool with her friends and the other three kiddos are rotting their brains playing League of Legends together, and I haven't done one productive thing today, unless you count getting a pedicure as productive. We are slackers from late May to mid-August and we like it that way.<br />
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We have been part of the public school system in one way or another for 16 years. The younger two have been homeschooled for the past four years, but we have always worked with the older boys' public school calendar. Summer weather signals a break...a big chunk of unscheduled time with few obligations. We love summer break. We need it. That's never going to change.<br />
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In the fall, we will start our fifth year of Otherwise Educating. I can't believe it. This whole thing kind of started out as an experiment. I had no plans for how long I would continue doing it. I truly take it year by year and figure I'll do something different when this doesn't feel right anymore. Right now, it still feels right.<br />
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As the kids get older, people get more uncomfortable with me not having my children in "proper" school. When we first started homeschooling, many people thought I was crazy, but I've always been a little unconventional, so most just chalked it up to another odd thing I chose to do like cloth diapering, baby food making and breastfeeding for longer than most people consider "normal". As time has marched on and my older homeschooled son approaches high school, people are starting to get uncomfortable and have started asking what I'm going to "do" with him. I mean, clearly I can't homeschool him once he reaches high school, can I? Sometimes I pretend like I've put a lot of thought into it and lay out my "plan", but most of the time I shrug and say, "I'm not sure", because that's the truth.<br />
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I am conflicted, because when I look back over my older boys' public school experiences, there are some cool things they did/experienced/learned that I'd hate for my younger kids to miss out on. I also see that they wasted an enormous amount of time and they both tell me that they would have been much better served doing things differently. They don't learn the way public school teaches. Much of the time they were bored, frustrated and sadly apathetic. While I can't give my younger two identical opportunities my older boys had available to them in public school, I think the different experiences and opportunities we have because we homeschool will more than make up for it.<br />
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I make no promises about our future plans. My second son just graduated from public high school, so we are definitely going to enjoy one year of not being tied to the public school calendar in any way. After that, we will reevaluate.<br />
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Happy summer!<br />
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<br />Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-51190682466898994462013-02-23T09:44:00.001-08:002013-02-23T09:50:23.171-08:00Saturday Morning Writing Thing 4 started writing a story yesterday. As soon as she got up today, she began writing again. <br />
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When kids are excited about and invested in a project, they take ownership of it. No threats or bribes are needed to motivate them. <br />
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhoneMelaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-21748003337487305452013-02-22T08:17:00.000-08:002013-02-22T08:17:02.987-08:00Finding the passion againWhen I started this crazy experiment, I was beyond excited about learning at home with my children. I researched curriculum options until I couldn't see straight. I read more books and blogs on homeschooling than I can count. I blogged every <a href="http://otherwiseeducating.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-do-my-science-experiments-hardly.html" target="_blank">sad science experiment </a>we did. We field tripped, co-oped, crafted and nature walked our little hearts out those first two years. It was wonderful and we loved it. When I look back on those years, I just feel all warm inside. I wouldn't trade that time for all the money in the world. As time has gone on, we've fallen into a rut. We are bored. I hate to admit it, but homeschooling just isn't fun anymore. It used to be a way of life. It has turned into something we check off so we can move on with our day.<br />
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One by one, our homeschooling friends are going back to school. I admit that I'm tempted. Wouldn't it be nice to "just" be the mom? No more answering "What do we have to do for school today?" No more Sunday night list making. No more worrying and stressing about whether or not I'm teaching them everything they need to know. More coffee with girl friends. More time to clean and organize my house. Maybe I could finally get to that four year old to-do list.<br />
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Whenever I am trying to make a big decision, my wise younger sister always advises me to envision my day to day life as it will be if a make the change. When I envision my life with my kiddos back in school, I don't like what I see. I see rushed mornings. I see kids coming home exhausted after spending all day at school yet still facing two to three hours of homework at night. I see me opening up a lunch box and finding a lunch that wasn't eaten because my child was being teased at the lunch table and couldn't "stomach" eating. (Ugh... I still get teary when I remember <i>that </i>event.) I see busy work, stress over state tests, drug dogs... I could go on and on. I see these things because I <i>have</i> seen them. I've done this before. It's less than 70 days until my second son graduates from public school (not that I'm counting). Having had two children go to public school from K-12, I know of what I speak. As I have said over and over and over, my kids have had some fantastic teachers and experiences in public school. They have also had some not-so-great experiences. I'm just not ready to travel that road again... yet.<br />
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I'm not saying my children will never go back to school. I don't know what tomorrow holds. When people ask how long I'm going to do this, I often respond, "At least until next week." What I do know is that I really like my life right now the way it is. I love learning with my children. I love not feeling rushed. I love walking into the family room and seeing them bundled up by the fireplace reading or working on math. The flexibility is priceless. It's wonderful to be able to drop the books and go spend time in nature on a beautiful day. I like being able to allow them to follow their interests instead of having to follow someone's idea of what they should be learning at this point in time. When I focus on the the good things, I realize that there is a lot that I would miss.<br />
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So... I have started reading John Holt again. I'm reading homeschool blogs and books. I watched <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY" target="_blank">Sir Ken's Ted Talk</a> for the umpteenth time. I have committed to making new connections with other homeschoolers. I am going back through the pictures of our first two years of homeschooling and re-reading my blogs from those days. I'm even considering going to a local homeschool convention, which will be new for me. I am reminding myself of why I started this journey in the first place and it gives me renewed passion to continue. Thanks for following along.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">"What children need is not new and better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and to find out what they want to find out." ~ John Holt</span></blockquote>
Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-40840801797821384652013-02-07T21:22:00.001-08:002013-02-07T21:22:35.415-08:00Fireside School...just one more reason to love learning at home. <br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=13/02/07/2588.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/13/02/07/s_2588.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br />Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-36672407228065282332013-01-29T20:52:00.000-08:002013-01-29T20:54:51.877-08:00UdacityA few weeks ago, another homeschooling friend suggested I check out <a href="https://www.udacity.com/" target="_blank">Udacity</a> for Thing 3. (Thanks, Alison!) Wow! I am so impressed. If you're unfamiliar to Udacity, as I was, here is a short description from their site:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #363636; font-family: Karla, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Udacity is the future of online higher education. We offer accessible, affordable, engaging classes that anyone can take, anytime. </span></blockquote>
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And it's free!<br />
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They offer online classes with engaging videos, complete with quizzes, tests and a certificate of completion, for free! Right now they offer math, computer science, physics and business classes. I'm really hoping they add more subjects. The classes are geared toward high school students and above, but the beginning classes seem challenging yet not frustrating for younger gifted kids. They are great for independent, self-directed learners.<br />
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Thing 3 chose Introduction to Physics and is loving it. I can't believe how much he is learning and retaining. He asked today if there is a second physics class he can take after he finishes this one. What the heck? Asking to take a class? I've dreamed of this moment since I started this crazy journey over three years ago.<br />
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This is one of the best resources I've found in a while.<br />
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Did I mention that it's free?<br />
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<br />Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-86720755203542919982012-11-06T18:40:00.001-08:002012-11-06T18:40:30.781-08:00Election NightWe are doing a little school on this election night. Thing 4 is learning about politics and geography. She is coloring in an electoral map as results come in. She's doing a little math, too, as she keeps a tally of electoral votes for each candidate. <br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/11/06/2130.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/11/06/s_2130.jpg' border='0' width='400' height='400' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br />Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-51554997172901763412012-11-01T21:11:00.000-07:002012-11-01T21:11:18.086-07:00A very long overdue postIt's been months and months since I've blogged. We switched things up a little last year with the kiddos going to a Montessori school a couple of days a week. It was a good fit for them, but it caused a real time crunch for me, trying to cram five days of lessons into three days. I felt like I didn't have time to do anything extra, so the blog got put on the back burner. I regret not having blogged much last year because I really enjoy going back through my old posts from the first couple of years and seeing what we did. It's a homeschool diary.<br />
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Today was a beautiful day here in OK so we headed out to the nature preserve this afternoon. It's one of our favorite local places to hike, and every time we go there, I wonder why we don't go more often.<br />
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While we were hiking around, </div>
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looking for letters in nature for art projects for the kids' rooms, </div>
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enjoying having our pictures taken,</div>
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and watching butterflies do their thing, </div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I had a moment of clarity. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Lately, I've been feeling like I'm at a crossroads with this whole Otherwise Educating thing. This is our fourth year, and I've loved it. I haven't loved everything about it. There have been days when I have not loved it at all. But overall, it has been a wonderful experience for me and for my children. I wouldn't care if they hadn't learned anything (they have), I would not trade the time I have had with them for all the money in the world. However, we are quickly approaching the high school years with Thing 3, and Thing 4 has been telling me she wants to go back to school. She doesn't want to go back to any school. She thinks she might want to go back to </span><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i>public school</i>. </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">You know, that place from which I rescued her over three years ago. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I've had many conversations in my head, with my husband, with my <a href="http://oureducation24by7.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">neighbor and favorite homeschool mom</a> about whether or not to continue on this path. </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I wonder if my children would be learning more in school. </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Would they be better off socially? I have</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> doubts about my ability to homeschool high school. It's one thing to homeschool elementary school kids. Anyone can teach state capitals and multiplication tables. But how will I teach geometry, chemistry, writing? Can I do this for the long term? Do I even want to? Should I have done this at all?</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">And then, as she often does, Thing 4 said something that brought me back to the moment. She has been learning about food chains and food webs. Before we headed out today, we covered (for the third time) the various parts of the food chain...producers, consumers, scavengers, decomposers. As we walked past a log that had been eaten by termites, I casually mentioned, "Oh look. Termites have been eating that log. Where do you suppose termites fall in the food chain?" She looked at me, looked at the log, thought for a minute and shouted, "Decomposers! They're decomposers. And look, Mom! You can see how they're breaking down this log. It's turning back into soil." Then, "Wow. You know, it's one thing to read about decomposers, but when I can actually see and touch what they've done, I really get it." </span></div>
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And that's why I do what I do. I'm doing it again tomorrow. After that, who knows? For now, I'm just going to enjoy the moment.<br />
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<br />Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-40511700798230658572012-04-16T08:56:00.000-07:002012-04-16T08:56:22.857-07:00A Science Experiment That Actually Worked!Now that's blog-worthy!<br />
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We came across the following brain teaser and had to try the solution for ourselves.<br />
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<i>A man in a restaurant asked a waiter for a juice glass, a dinner plate, water, a match, and a lemon wedge. The man poured enough water onto the plate to cover it.<br />
"If you can get the water on the plate into this glass without touching or moving this plate, I will give you $100," the man said. "You can use the match and lemon to do this."</i><br />
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A few minutes later, the waiter walked away with $100 in his pocket. How did the waiter get the water into the glass?</i><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">Solution: </span></b><br />
<i> <span class="textblock">First, the waiter stuck the match into the lemon wedge, so that it would stand straight. Then he lit the match, and put it in the middle of the plate with the lemon. Then, he placed the glass upside-down over the match. As the flame used up the oxygen in the glass, it created a small vacuum, which sucked in the water through the space between the glass and the plate. Thus, the waiter got the water into the glass without touching or moving the plate.</span></i><br />
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<span class="textblock">This was so cool that we did it three times. Try it! </span>For other brain teasers, check out <a href="http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/index.php" target="_blank">Briangle.</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/index.php" target="_blank"></a>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-10371386931118410042012-04-04T12:07:00.000-07:002012-04-04T12:07:30.715-07:00Homeschooling With Weird Al (Again)Hello again! It's been a crazy year, and I haven't found much time for blogging, but some things are just to good not to share, so here I am again.<br />
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Last year, we incorporated some <a href="http://otherwiseeducating.blogspot.com/2011/02/learning-with-weird-al.html">Weird Al</a> into our Language Arts studies. I know we are a family of total nerds, but we really love Al. Have I mentioned that the man is a goofy musical genius? Anyway, this week the kiddos and I were learning a little about the digestive system and the question arose, "What does the pancreas do?" Weird Al to the rescue again. I have it on good authority that this silly little song about the pancreas is 100% scientifically accurate. My son's high school biology teacher even uses it to teach his students about the pancreas.<br />
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Given that my kids retain pretty much anything they hear in a Weird Al tune, if he wrote a home school curriculum in song, I'd buy it.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tqDBB0no6dQ" width="420"></iframe>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-33841332235644269122011-11-28T08:53:00.001-08:002011-11-28T08:53:09.602-08:00Homeschool Sloths<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/11/28/1328.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/11/28/s_1328.jpg' border='0' width='400' height='400' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/11/28/1329.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/11/28/s_1329.jpg' border='0' width='400' height='400' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><font size="3" face="Arial">It's just that kind of day</font>. <br /><br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br />Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-82088885505101371342011-08-03T11:12:00.001-07:002011-08-03T11:13:52.870-07:00New School Year, New Fashion Statements<center><a href="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/08/03/2619.jpg"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/08/03/s_2619.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" width="320" /></a></center><br />
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(The iPad camera still stinks, but it is super handy for blogging.)<br />
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-Posted using BlogPress from my iPadMelaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-77960069562193552162011-08-01T09:32:00.000-07:002011-08-01T09:32:48.151-07:00And So It Begins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxV7ZXJJOj2edgwMLj33Hg_tI_AWSDzFCC0jUFlNpiaiT0C1_E9JhxJ2cb_NmloV9yx9Knhcwa6fnhs5fpIwXDRYr9JbjucUhKkdzjhR7N9RMbPPeP9G2OMbK95ue-uf_JHoWZUBlhAh0/s1600/IMAG0334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxV7ZXJJOj2edgwMLj33Hg_tI_AWSDzFCC0jUFlNpiaiT0C1_E9JhxJ2cb_NmloV9yx9Knhcwa6fnhs5fpIwXDRYr9JbjucUhKkdzjhR7N9RMbPPeP9G2OMbK95ue-uf_JHoWZUBlhAh0/s400/IMAG0334.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Goodbye, Summer. I'll miss you.Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-40566146336849094562011-07-24T13:44:00.001-07:002011-07-24T13:44:42.357-07:00PlanningHere is a great site with free printable homeschool planning forms, calendars, recording keeping forms, etc. It's a little overwhelming at first, but there is a lot of good information there and many great resources.<br />
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<a href="http://donnayoung.org/forms/index.htm">Donna Young Planners</a>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-62220053098746226182011-06-15T16:58:00.000-07:002011-06-15T17:27:16.832-07:00An overdue postI have been meaning to post a detailed "Year In Review" post but I just can't seem to get around to it. Here's the Reader's Digest version of what I learned this year.<br />
<ol><li> <a href="http://oakmeadow.com/">Oak Meadow</a> is perfect for us. The upper elementary (we were in year 5) is much more involved than I had anticipated, and some weeks we had difficulty covering everything completely, mostly because I didn't use only Oak Meadow. I had too many other things in our schedule. </li>
<li>Sometimes less is more. (See #1)</li>
<li>Swinging helps Thing 4 concentrate. I started noticing that if she was having difficulty focusing on, say...<a href="http://otherwiseeducating.blogspot.com/search?q=math">Math</a>, she would ask if she could go swing. When she came back in, her concentration was better. (Everything is relative.) I've talked to other moms who have kids <s>with attention issues</s> who are especially creative, and they have noticed this, too. Interesting. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.rfwp.com/mct.php">MCT Language Arts </a>is fabulous, especially the Caesar's English portion. (Thanks, <a href="http://oureducation24by7.blogspot.com/">Melanie</a>).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html">Life of Fred</a>...also a fabulous curriculum. We use this to supplement <a href="http://www.singaporemath.com/">Singapore Math</a>. It is great for developing higher level thinking skills. </li>
<li>Singapore Math is perfect for Thing 3, not so much for Thing 4. We are switching to Oak Meadow Math for her next year. </li>
<li>It's great to be able to tailor instruction and expectations to each child's learning style, personality and activity level. (See #3 and #6.)</li>
<li>As Latin goes, <a href="http://www.livelylatin.com/site/index.php">Lively Latin</a> is a really good curriculum. It's a nice mix of the basics of Latin combined with history, games, art history and puzzles. The online resource is very good, also. That said, we are dropping Latin next year. (See #2.)</li>
<li>Rosetta Stone is a great way to learn a foreign language.</li>
<li>It's worth paying for a good art class. </li>
<li>We should have planned more field trips and done less "school". Thing 3 was verging on burn-out by the end of the year. (See #2.)</li>
<li>CiCi's pizza is over-priced and under-good. We go there anyway. </li>
<li> Otherwise Educating is great. Summer is greater. </li>
</ol><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA3q13sMRAsCkGslIAbbLuhAolyqS-q8mUf6d5bJjqo2KtnfIYbVzyF5ZmQb2ciSQ4mYb95vsP2kIMjUDoVGw9AdY05g0rJLdbLhVfEgDTRUfr_geJQ_-pxvIXLqdp0VWVQORj7qCV8ww/s1600/-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA3q13sMRAsCkGslIAbbLuhAolyqS-q8mUf6d5bJjqo2KtnfIYbVzyF5ZmQb2ciSQ4mYb95vsP2kIMjUDoVGw9AdY05g0rJLdbLhVfEgDTRUfr_geJQ_-pxvIXLqdp0VWVQORj7qCV8ww/s640/-1.jpg" width="380" /></a></div><br />
<ol></ol>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-54488657161676318012011-05-18T22:01:00.000-07:002011-05-18T22:22:58.037-07:00The Cult of Apple<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In an effort to further </span></span><a href="http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/apple-field-trip-program#%21/photos/27265/1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">indoctrinate</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> our children in the Apple ideology, we took our FunSchoolers on a field trip to the Apple Store. Granted, given that my children live in a home with, ahem, an Apple product or ten, there wasn't much work to be done on my crew. However, there are some in our group who have not yet drunk the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid. What better way to convince a parent that she </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">needs</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> to buy an iMac than to let her kids play with one for an hour and a half and let the kids fall in love with it? Who can say no to a child begging for a $1,700 computer? Sneaky, sneaky, Mr. Jobs. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We could choose from one of four projects...video, text, music or photo. We had the kids make a stop action video with props they brought from home. Very cool!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The big kid in this next photo is Adam, an Apple </span></span><s><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">mind control expert</span></span></s><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Store employee. He had as least as much fun working on this as the kids did. He was so great with them that </span></span><a href="http://oureducation24by7.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">my neighbor</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> suggested we hire him to entertain the children this summer. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Indoctrination aside, this was a great field trip. In addition to giving each child a DVD of their project and a certificate, they got free t-shirts (sans </span></span><a href="http://www.betanews.com/article/Apple-tracking-location-of-iOS4-device-users-researchers-say/1303319892"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">location tracking</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">...I checked). </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have tried in vain to upload one of the projects but Blogger is having trouble with video tonight. Trust me when I tell you it very cool...as long as you don't play it backwards. </span></span>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-30087560497096932312011-05-17T20:27:00.000-07:002011-05-17T20:27:51.039-07:00Learning about Bernoulli's Principle And FlightHave I mentioned that I really love <a href="http://otherwiseeducating.blogspot.com/2010/11/learning-with-oak-meadow.html">Oak Meadow</a>? The enrichment activities are so great. Take our lesson on Bernoulli's Principle and the Principles of Flight, for example. We had a textbook lesson that explained Bernoulli's Principle and its relation to flight, and then OM had Thing 3 experimenting with paper airplanes to gain a concrete understanding. He told me today that it was one of the best days he's had this year. But then, who doesn't love playing with paper airplanes?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzk9l3aT86pSCMuUDyuJ9YUx397pT5uQbh-UqbIDnIQE9uZklX1htGUf4beqtKPDsBuUrDl02uJ7OOs-7zhWg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-43096864651376104772011-05-13T12:41:00.000-07:002011-05-13T12:54:36.932-07:00Some days are good math days......and some days aren't. I've finally learned that it's better to let go of math on the bad math days and move on to something else.<br />
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It was a bad math day but an excellent day for flower arranging. Thing 4 spent a great deal of time carefully choosing flowers and greenery from our backyard and making flower arrangements. This was one of her favorites.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin92E0AnFSo-Jblg-GY082DB4DZDvTWabz9VDdGs10VL_qSa7KzF4qqomKl8Ao5r5weYqWjzCmVuKcJu-U9aNjQLSb4-Bnly3wkVj0zNs3ue7HcF00VF2ARBP85yGEokhwk9oljBBTUOg/s1600/IMG_2639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin92E0AnFSo-Jblg-GY082DB4DZDvTWabz9VDdGs10VL_qSa7KzF4qqomKl8Ao5r5weYqWjzCmVuKcJu-U9aNjQLSb4-Bnly3wkVj0zNs3ue7HcF00VF2ARBP85yGEokhwk9oljBBTUOg/s640/IMG_2639.JPG" width="425" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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It made the bad math day a lot less frustrating.Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-2454768070377106212011-04-22T13:46:00.000-07:002011-04-22T13:46:41.127-07:00The black hole of homeschooling "stuff"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How is it that we do school at home, rarely take our books, etc. out of the house, yet we are always losing things?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Go get your math books, please." "I can't find them." "What do you mean you can't find them?" "I mean they aren't on the shelf or table or in my room. I looked on the couch, in the playroom and even in the car. I can't find them anywhere." If I had back all the time I've spent looking for school books, my house would be clean and I'd never have dirty laundry in the hamper.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And pencils. What's with us not being able to keep up with pencils? In the course of our two years of homeschooling, I have purchased approximately 4,598 pencils, yet we can never find one when we get ready to do school. Are the children eating them? Today, Thing 3 resorted to doing math with a red ink pen because it was either that or a white board marker. The few pencils we manage to scrounge up always have broken lead and/or bad erasers.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wonder if other homeschoolers have this experience or if we are just terribly, horribly disorganized? Feel free to comment. </span>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-11916367960941633182011-04-20T15:50:00.000-07:002011-04-20T15:50:35.864-07:00I love the outdoor classroom...<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yesterday was a beautiful day, so the kids and I headed to the park to take some pictures and just spend some time enjoying nature on a beautiful day. The ability to take advantage of days like yesterday is one of my favorite things about homeschooling.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkcBpQyZecwrm7SueB4xh2MyoN5PtDjEKxe1wU6_7TLBRQ_Obkmipuo9VINCmg5appR3Cgh8iMeAeGY67hl4vVKK5H8Y1zgzY8pLgX9JW-d2dBIJVR4JYCiZwOf0mW2MKJXnXu7udt0Ow/s1600/IMG_2510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkcBpQyZecwrm7SueB4xh2MyoN5PtDjEKxe1wU6_7TLBRQ_Obkmipuo9VINCmg5appR3Cgh8iMeAeGY67hl4vVKK5H8Y1zgzY8pLgX9JW-d2dBIJVR4JYCiZwOf0mW2MKJXnXu7udt0Ow/s400/IMG_2510.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggd3GNmHfkEUl_FLHsYc4MZNyzt4vGnPZvjMj4_OFlNc6ik4qiytWd5IyXQ5OJISi7Tg1aXybDlTkzGhZoIrO1pwF_yjhw0b4kWQ5Lb75TR_9wsx-50-VNEQRvf61aZlW8wtW4IFYmZcc/s1600/IMG_2447.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We watched the squirrels.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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We studied the rocks.<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And we found a perfect example of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phototropism">phototropism</a>, a term we studied earlier in the year. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02ZZeD6Y6zuSM9KjYeObvIE3aBHROOIqmoieRmV9NpPDszWpFFlWK-lUFNVkwXcQjsKO5C4ADZAXYa9-bZ1VnH2iotHXnsiLhbZqFQlJu2qR196yAIsk9MXH4donSIiaxZNU3cDjtwe8/s1600/IMG_2536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">We took a class picture.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKjqLTRL3WmC2Enjq3vxb-v9c9XA1Lsq8Ekvh7qsrPKJz6YV-HGXQA-aYljfu_-hPisiqxsrxF0rLrgXt9PEJko6TIyGVj7N_9SDE1ay3hRvqifGHmTq0AFHcxMWIZY9Ihh9MOZptMHU/s1600/IMG_2502.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKjqLTRL3WmC2Enjq3vxb-v9c9XA1Lsq8Ekvh7qsrPKJz6YV-HGXQA-aYljfu_-hPisiqxsrxF0rLrgXt9PEJko6TIyGVj7N_9SDE1ay3hRvqifGHmTq0AFHcxMWIZY9Ihh9MOZptMHU/s400/IMG_2502.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">And we enjoyed the beautiful colors of the season, (and tried to stay away from that huge bumblebee in this bush).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWaFg7ALPTopdDT49GZyz3-cEn5pAzxNueu-f4sj0Sd_gIsIprMK8w80XWV7TYrkmA_ecMNGNeDS1exsR_S3XEzmH_qDgUu9gftcQDmLDncyBY0dxzO9waNfBEXL0JnDg33MYy8ryS_A/s1600/IMG_2516.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWaFg7ALPTopdDT49GZyz3-cEn5pAzxNueu-f4sj0Sd_gIsIprMK8w80XWV7TYrkmA_ecMNGNeDS1exsR_S3XEzmH_qDgUu9gftcQDmLDncyBY0dxzO9waNfBEXL0JnDg33MYy8ryS_A/s400/IMG_2516.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There's just something irresistible about rocks in a stream...</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYxmjUFrp6o6r8q3RdCJTeAXh1DsXl1VuqU2zzZ993FNuHSTqv5QDlA_slsSXBKTqOmsoZ9mWl1DE8GP9N6pvv5TT752aTqgQ8ctNI4O8R0gH-580WVLWJjnTmeHgBCupbzvSOOzhnwY/s1600/IMG_2452.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYxmjUFrp6o6r8q3RdCJTeAXh1DsXl1VuqU2zzZ993FNuHSTqv5QDlA_slsSXBKTqOmsoZ9mWl1DE8GP9N6pvv5TT752aTqgQ8ctNI4O8R0gH-580WVLWJjnTmeHgBCupbzvSOOzhnwY/s400/IMG_2452.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggd3GNmHfkEUl_FLHsYc4MZNyzt4vGnPZvjMj4_OFlNc6ik4qiytWd5IyXQ5OJISi7Tg1aXybDlTkzGhZoIrO1pwF_yjhw0b4kWQ5Lb75TR_9wsx-50-VNEQRvf61aZlW8wtW4IFYmZcc/s1600/IMG_2447.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggd3GNmHfkEUl_FLHsYc4MZNyzt4vGnPZvjMj4_OFlNc6ik4qiytWd5IyXQ5OJISi7Tg1aXybDlTkzGhZoIrO1pwF_yjhw0b4kWQ5Lb75TR_9wsx-50-VNEQRvf61aZlW8wtW4IFYmZcc/s400/IMG_2447.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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...and sticks.<br />
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</a></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span class="huge">"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." ~ Albert Einstein</span></i></span></blockquote></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="bodybold"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_einstein.html"> </a></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-50301014677768177672011-04-17T18:55:00.001-07:002011-04-18T07:35:43.114-07:00Volcanoes!<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A couple of weeks ago, we studied volcanoes in OM 3. I am fascinated by volcanoes. As it turns out, so are my children. I purchased this </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Toysmith-3431-Volcano-Making-Kit/dp/B0007KK0V2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303137117&sr=8-1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">volcano kit</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> for our demonstration. That's art and science rolled into one! My kind of activity!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We forgot to add the red food coloring the first time. Still, it was an impressive eruption.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbYsnEUXnVRe59cB-NxVbkmg6gBnBgoYmRXiH98sVgAoAKplI_0Fn87aEgQnCw-udKdA1UV20N3Ux87-fivCDbXBCmDjH9xLpzTD2TlOUDOL0zeZ8dLKkJlCyyGXrhd49L1H2bvHVB-CQ/s1600/IMG_2302.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbYsnEUXnVRe59cB-NxVbkmg6gBnBgoYmRXiH98sVgAoAKplI_0Fn87aEgQnCw-udKdA1UV20N3Ux87-fivCDbXBCmDjH9xLpzTD2TlOUDOL0zeZ8dLKkJlCyyGXrhd49L1H2bvHVB-CQ/s400/IMG_2302.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596929708512594018" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /><br />The boy had the idea of recreating Pompeii...with army men and Native Americans. There were army men and Native Americans at Pompeii, weren't there? </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGA3g-VryzTGg8VrCvPCuri1llRo389fJ7_UsZcSiuUz5NYaixJcrfYAjg9GgIJyoeGo_I7Q7j1AwlYdzqEKmqRDKEEriC8F4mc-qybSc_CH6AvwOD9P3BV__zvHdnG6qW6RG07eF73qU/s400/IMG_2308.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596930548227095538" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqmwRcO1w3t04YI-rpC-RpcFbLQj63Dnu4cGatKLfR2G97eju3dhsZmBfhcbbPo_sLBoEj_qxO_bY-RMmfX9c_lDfzJOGMQzA7so8kvrOMP7kI9nGVWylHGadHUA-6JsC3E2p-qma44C4/s400/IMG_2310.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596930918964997042" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-67784101265221175272011-03-31T11:13:00.000-07:002011-03-31T11:13:39.415-07:00KidipedeOur OM 3 curriculum directed me to this fantastic reference site today. <a href="http://www.historyforkids.org/">Kidipede</a> is an online encyclopedia covering topics in history, science and math. It's a great resource. Check it out!Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-7427794051273280612011-03-22T18:13:00.000-07:002011-03-22T18:13:54.044-07:00From the mouths of babes...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So I was back at </span></span><a href="http://otherwiseeducating.blogspot.com/2011/02/art-class-and-s-word.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">art class</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> with the kiddos today. I'm always glad when it takes the children a while to finish what they're working on (you just can't rush creativity) and pack up their things because I get to watch and listen to everything going on in the room.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Today, two girls were sitting at a table in the corner working on their paintings. One girl, the younger of the two, said to the other, "Someone called me weird yesterday." The older girl said, "So? There's nothing wrong with weird. Why would you want to be normal? Normal is boring. Normal is a setting on the dryer. Weird is better. Weird people do great things if people will leave them alone and let them." </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Amen.</span></span><br />
<blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise." ~Johann von Goethe</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><br />
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<blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia, 'bookman old style', 'palatino linotype', 'book antiqua', palatino, 'trebuchet ms', helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, 'avante garde', 'century gothic', 'comic sans ms', times, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: large;"></span></i></div></blockquote>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-12788834714905505182011-03-18T22:15:00.000-07:002011-03-18T22:33:24.606-07:00iPadLast week, I splurged and bought a refurbished first generation iPad. With the release of the iPad 2, Apple cut the price on the original iPad. Since we purchased a refurbished model (which comes with the same warranty as a new iPad), I saved an additional $50. It's going to be such a great resource for us. I've already found so many fun, educational apps for the kids. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzMgGaYUr_fnnR0gW-SEHD139kyenfWTKCaO4rMDYnB4fMV6eHxZsjDyo-bMStnd2kQ4JwolXEgjmzqnRUxmpn321caExDsA1yK_ILpAWi8bNgOU7iSF1-kfV9ieP9LLeCpIGGUqUL90/s1600/IMG_3972.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>This morning,Thing 4 sat in front of the map and played <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stack-the-states/id381342267?mt=8">Stack The States</a>, even though it's Spring Break and we have taken a week off from "school". (I realize it looks like she's looking at the map of the world, but she's really looking at the map of the U.S. which is hanging above the world map. The world map will come in handy when she plays <a href="http://www.padgadget.com/2011/02/18/stack-the-countries-for-ipad-quick-app-review/">Stack The Countries</a>.) <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzMgGaYUr_fnnR0gW-SEHD139kyenfWTKCaO4rMDYnB4fMV6eHxZsjDyo-bMStnd2kQ4JwolXEgjmzqnRUxmpn321caExDsA1yK_ILpAWi8bNgOU7iSF1-kfV9ieP9LLeCpIGGUqUL90/s1600/IMG_3972.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzMgGaYUr_fnnR0gW-SEHD139kyenfWTKCaO4rMDYnB4fMV6eHxZsjDyo-bMStnd2kQ4JwolXEgjmzqnRUxmpn321caExDsA1yK_ILpAWi8bNgOU7iSF1-kfV9ieP9LLeCpIGGUqUL90/s320/IMG_3972.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Stack the States is such a fun way to learn about state geography, capitals, shape, where they fit on the map, etc. Here's a short video that shows the app in action.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9B3SKf96nkY" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
Another great app that we have found is <a href="http://www.brainpop.com/">BrainPop</a>. BrainPop has short, animated movies on many different topics across all subject areas. Every day there is a new BrainPop movie. Each morning we check for the new movie. In addition to the daily featured movie, you can search their large database of other movies for others your kiddos might find interesting. <br />
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Here is an example of a featured movie:<br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3C%21--BEGIN%20BRAINPOP%20PARTNER%20CODE%20--%3E%20%3Cscript%20language=%22JavaScript%22%20src=%22http://www.brainpop.com/partners/brainpop_partners.js%22%20type=%22text/javascript%22%3E%3C/script%3E%20%3Cscript%20type=%22text/javascript%22%3Eget_partner_container%282039,%20320,%20320,%201,%20%27en%27%29;%3C/script%3E%20%3C%21--END%20BRAINPOP%20PARTNER%20CODE--%3E%20"> <script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.brainpop.com/partners/brainpop_partners.js" type="text/javascript">
</script> <script type="text/javascript">
get_partner_container(2039, 320, 320, 1, 'en');
</script> </a><br />
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If you don't have an iPad, you can get a membership at the BrainPop website. There seems to be a lot of information and many educational tools there.<br />
<br />
There are so many more fabulous apps for education that I haven't had the chance to check out yet. We also plan to use the iPad for writing papers and playing with videos, photos and music. <br />
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iPad, where have you been my whole life?Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-32424167803152334322011-02-23T19:00:00.000-08:002011-02-23T20:37:38.248-08:00Art Class And The S Word<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEaTTDFdcEOG9ExIak8dz7bvaVMTqcp32txdI6MjlWPtQCETENH9VlYC4CBcSq019N80I2H9lLBre8iRDznj2Ch2ou6hwRFJZY6ALf2FBcYlTKo9EwXDnC4dmPxUUqGMDHrbTgiWmZcRM/s1600/IMAG0009.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEaTTDFdcEOG9ExIak8dz7bvaVMTqcp32txdI6MjlWPtQCETENH9VlYC4CBcSq019N80I2H9lLBre8iRDznj2Ch2ou6hwRFJZY6ALf2FBcYlTKo9EwXDnC4dmPxUUqGMDHrbTgiWmZcRM/s400/IMAG0009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576667477671765490" border="0" /></a><br />Every other Tuesday, Thing 4 heads to the big city for art class. She loves art class, just like she loves piano lessons and dance class. And she's very much looking forward to starting her acting classes. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Math? Not so much. Anything related to the arts? Definitely.<br /><br />Recently the S word has come up again. You know..."Don't you worry about socialization?" I don't even like the term <span style="font-style: italic;">socialization. </span><span>It</span> sounds so forced...like something we do to <span style="font-style: italic;">make </span>people fit in. I find it negative and, frankly, kind of creepy. I suspect that what people really mean is, "Don't you worry that your children will never learn to interact with other children if you keep them locked in your house all day and they never see anyone but you and the UPS man when he makes the almost daily delivery of Amazon packages?" (I'm expecting to hear from the <a href="http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/my-strange-addiction/">My Strange Addiction</a> people any time now.)<br /><br />But back to art class. When I walked in yesterday to pick up Thing 4 and her friend, it struck me that <span style="font-style: italic;">this</span> is the way I want my children interacting with other children. On this day, my daughter was sitting in a class of 17 children of many different ages. A couple were close to her age, and most were at least 3-4 years older. It was such a diverse group of kids. I appreciate that she has kids in her class who have been at this art thing longer...kids she can look up to. I appreciate that she has the opportunity to interact with children (and adults) of many ages. The "real world" is made up of many different kinds of people of all ages from many different backgrounds. What better way to learn to relate to people in the real world than to live in the real world every day? <div><br />I stood for a bit and listened to the casual conversations going on in the room. The kids were complimenting each other's work, asking "What shade of green do you think would look good here?", talking about past paintings they had done. The teacher was easily facilitating the work going on in the room and it was obvious that the kids respected her and she them. Several of the children (who I didn't know) came up to show me their paintings and asked what I thought about their work. They were very comfortable conversing with me and seemed so mature and, dare I say, normal.</div><div><br /></div><div>What more could I want for my daughter? Socialization? Not so much. The ability to develop real and valuable interpersonal skills and maybe a true friendship or two? Definitely. <div><br /></div><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GjOXT_KSFhA" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe></div></div>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871979830387546920.post-23209737975002354832011-02-22T16:56:00.000-08:002011-02-22T17:18:58.496-08:00Learning With Weird Al<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Today, one of the kiddos asked me what a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">palindrome</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> is. Since I believe that music and memory are strongly connected, and that people remember things better if they can relate it something musical (think </span><a href="http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Schoolhouse Rock</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">), I showed the kids Weird Al's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Bob</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> video. Every phrase is a palindrome. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ok, that's not entirely true. It's not even mostly true. I showed them the Weird Al </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Bob</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> video simply because I love Weird Al. The man is a genius, and he does a darn good Bob Dylan impersonation. </span><div><br /></div><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Nej4xJe4Tdg" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div>Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402115718981514002noreply@blogger.com2