Otherwise Educating

Homeschool Sloths

2011-11-28T08:53:00.001-08:00

It's just that kind of day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New School Year, New Fashion Statements

2011-08-03T11:12:00.001-07:00

(The iPad camera still stinks, but it is super handy for blogging.)

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

And So It Begins

2011-08-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, Summer. I'll miss you.

Planning

2011-07-24T13:44:00.001-07:00

Here 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.

Donna Young Planners

An overdue post

2011-06-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

I 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.

Oak Meadow 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.
Sometimes less is more. (See #1)
Swinging helps Thing 4 concentrate. I started noticing that if she was having difficulty focusing on, say...Math, 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 ~~with attention issues~~ who are especially creative, and they have noticed this, too. Interesting.
MCT Language Arts is fabulous, especially the Caesar's English portion. (Thanks, Melanie).
Life of Fred...also a fabulous curriculum. We use this to supplement Singapore Math. It is great for developing higher level thinking skills.
Singapore Math is perfect for Thing 3, not so much for Thing 4. We are switching to Oak Meadow Math for her next year.
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.)
As Latin goes, Lively Latin 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.)
Rosetta Stone is a great way to learn a foreign language.
It's worth paying for a good art class.
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.)
CiCi's pizza is over-priced and under-good. We go there anyway.
Otherwise Educating is great. Summer is greater.

The Cult of Apple

2011-05-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

In an effort to further indoctrinate 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 needs 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.

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!

The big kid in this next photo is Adam, an Apple ~~mind control expert~~ Store employee. He had as least as much fun working on this as the kids did. He was so great with them that my neighbor suggested we hire him to entertain the children this summer.

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 location tracking...I checked).

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.

Learning about Bernoulli's Principle And Flight

2011-05-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that I really love Oak Meadow? 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?

Some days are good math days...

2011-05-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

...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.

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.

It made the bad math day a lot less frustrating.

The black hole of homeschooling "stuff"

2011-04-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

How is it that we do school at home, rarely take our books, etc. out of the house, yet we are always losing things?

"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.

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.

I wonder if other homeschoolers have this experience or if we are just terribly, horribly disorganized? Feel free to comment.

I love the outdoor classroom...

2011-04-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

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.

We watched the squirrels.

We studied the rocks.

And we found a perfect example of phototropism, a term we studied earlier in the year.

We took a class picture.

And we enjoyed the beautiful colors of the season, (and tried to stay away from that huge bumblebee in this bush).

There's just something irresistible about rocks in a stream...

...and sticks.

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." ~ Albert Einstein

Volcanoes!

2011-04-17T18:55:00.001-07:00

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 volcano kit for our demonstration. That's art and science rolled into one! My kind of activity!

We forgot to add the red food coloring the first time. Still, it was an impressive eruption.

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?

Kidipede

2011-03-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

Our OM 3 curriculum directed me to this fantastic reference site today. Kidipede is an online encyclopedia covering topics in history, science and math. It's a great resource. Check it out!

From the mouths of babes...

2011-03-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

So I was back at art class 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.

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."

Amen.

"If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise." ~Johann von Goethe

iPad

2011-03-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Last 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.

This morning,Thing 4 sat in front of the map and played Stack The States, 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 Stack The Countries.)

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.

Another great app that we have found is BrainPop. 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.

Here is an example of a featured movie:

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.

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.

iPad, where have you been my whole life?

Art Class And The S Word

2011-02-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

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.

Recently the S word has come up again. You know..."Don't you worry about socialization?" I don't even like the term socialization. It sounds so forced...like something we do to make 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 My Strange Addiction people any time now.)

But back to art class. When I walked in yesterday to pick up Thing 4 and her friend, it struck me that this 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?

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.

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.

Learning With Weird Al

2011-02-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

Today, one of the kiddos asked me what a palindrome 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 Schoolhouse Rock), I showed the kids Weird Al's Bob video. Every phrase is a palindrome.

Ok, that's not entirely true. It's not even mostly true. I showed them the Weird Al Bob video simply because I love Weird Al. The man is a genius, and he does a darn good Bob Dylan impersonation.

Practical Application

2011-02-17T20:53:00.000-08:00

Thing 3 to Thing 4, "You are a grotesque and vulgar individual! Even odious pit bulls are more amiable than you, and worms are more venerable!"

Thing 3 to me, "Mom, I'm not serious. I'm just trying out my awesome new vocabulary."

Thank you, Caesar's English. (And a hat tip to my good friend for finding this fabulous language arts curriculum.)

The Terrafirmanator

2011-02-12T14:26:00.000-08:00

I took the kids to see Gnomeo and Juliet today. It was a cute movie. In the movie, there was an ad for a do-it-all lawn tractor called The Terrafirmanator. My kids got the joke. Thank you Latin study.

Canaanite Mask

2011-02-06T18:02:00.000-08:00

Last week in Oak Meadow 3 Social Studies, Thing 4 studied Phonecia and the Canaanites and how they used different types of resources to create and trade goods. We talked about natural, human and capital resources and how they interrelate. She was really interested in this, and I was really happy (again) to be using OM, because I would never have thought to teach her this at this point in her learning.

To go along with the lesson, she created a Canaanite ceremonial mask out of Sculpey clay. Cool!

Edible Cell

2011-02-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

In Oak Meadow 5, we've moved on to Life Science. On Friday, we studied cells and made an edible cell. This was a really cool activity that made learning the parts of a cell a little less intimidating.

We started by gathering items from the kitchen to represent the organelles. We used a blueberry for the nucleus, a strip of fruit roll-up for the microtubles, Mike and Ikes for mitochondria, and rock candy for vacuoles. Not surprisingly, the candy didn't hold up too well in the Jell-o, but we worked with what we had because we were sort of snowed in.

Jell-o was our cytoplasm.

We poured the Jell-o in a quart-sized Zip-Loc bag (which was the cell membrane) and added the "organelles". As we added each item, we talked again about what it does. I don't have a photo of us actually creating the cell, because we had a slight mishap just as I was going to shoot the picture. Let's just say that cytoplasm on the floor, cabinets and Oak Meadow Science book makes for a sticky situation.

Here is our finished cell, which no one will eat because it looks too gross.

It's even worse than those nasty congealed salads that people of a certain generation like to bring to our church pot-luck dinners. All of our organelles, except for the nucleus, either dissolved completely or look really anemic. Oh well, it wouldn't be an Otherwise Educating science project if it worked well. The cell may not be edible, as the book suggested, but Thing 3 does have a really firm grasp on how the main parts of a cell work together. He also learned that rock candy completely disappears if you let it sit in Jell-o too long. Where else is he going to learn that?

Some days we ditch school...

2011-01-28T22:15:00.000-08:00

...and play outside. After two weeks of really cold weather, we just had to go out on this beautiful 70 degree day. We took a trip to the skate park (after our environmental science field trip to drop our recyclables at the recycling center because, when you home school, everything is a lesson).

Thing 2 was home from school trying to recover from the flu. He needed some fresh air and sunshine, so he came along and read.

In our recent study about the artist Renoir we learned that he didn't allow his children to attend school until age 10 because he felt they could learn so much more simply by being outdoors than they could ever learn in a classroom. I think he was right.

Benjamin Franklin

2011-01-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” - Benjamin Franklin

In OM 5 History, we are studying Benjamin Franklin. What an interesting man he was. Early in his adult life, he was a soap and candle maker. We attempted to make candles the way Ben did, by dipping wicks in melted wax, then in cold water, then back in the wax, repeat, repeat, repeat.

We were supposed to keep this up until our candles were the diameter we wanted. After about 20 minutes of dipping, our wick looked only marginally different, and we concluded that Benjamin Franklin had much more patience than we do. (No wonder he moved on to bigger things like becoming an inventor, scientist, writer, along with that Founding Father gig.)

We ditched the Oak Meadow suggestion and re-purposed our Subway cups from dinner, using them as candle molds. I showed the kids how my sisters and I used to make ice cube candles when I was a kid.

I'm no Ben Franklin, but my children were impressed.

Today we wrote with a quill and ink, just like Ben Franklin did. It really gave the kids an appreciation for our current day writing instruments...not to mention the eraser.

Thing 4 had a lot of fun pretending she was writing the Declaration of Independence.

Did you know that, except for two years of formal education from age 8 to age 10, Benjamin Franklin was home schooled and self-taught?

Marbling Paper

2011-01-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

This week, OM 3 had us marbling paper. This is quite possibly the coolest art project we've done since we began this crazy OE experiment a year and a half ago.

We started with the marbling set that came in our OM 3 craft kit. (Buying that kit was one of the best decisions I've ever made. When it's time to do a project, I have everything right there...no running to Hobby Lobby to piece together our materials.)

We filled a pan with 2-3" of water and placed the float paper.

Then, we added color, one drop at a time to the float paper.

The kids loved watching the color shoot out from the paper and move through the water. They were amazed that the color stayed on the surface.

Next, the kids blew on the water, causing the colors to move around (but not blend), which created cool designs. This can also be accomplished by dragging the colors around with paint brushes.

We carefully laid heavy weight paper on top of the water. (Our first attempt was with lighter weight sketching paper, but it rolled when it got wet.) Card stock would work well.

And when we lifted it up...Voila!

Marbled Paper!

When Thing 4 saw the result, she literally gasped and said, "Please don't ever put me back in school." (She really likes art.)

This project was so much fun that the kiddos showed Thing 2 and the OE Dad when they got home tonight. They both made some, too.

And I loved it so much that I marbled all the trash that I found on my kitchen counter.

Now we have to figure out how to make something gifty with this paper.

A Warm, Fuzzy OE Moment

2011-01-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

Math isn't so bad when you're sitting by the fire.

In Monet, I Find Hope...

2011-01-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

...for my ~~most challenging~~ wonderfully creative, free-spirited, child.

"I was undisciplined by birth, never would I bend, even in my tender youth, to a rule. It was at home I learned the little I know. Schools always appeared to me like a prison, and never could I make up my mind to stay there, not even for four hours a day, when the sunshine was inviting, the sea smooth, and when it was joy to run about the cliffs in the free air, or to paddle in the water." -Claude Monet

(Yes, that's underwear on her head and socks for ears.)

The girl is something else, and I wouldn't trade her for the world.

Homeschool Christmas

2010-12-19T22:16:00.001-08:00

Have I ever mentioned how much I love our homeschool friends? They are the best.

Here are just a few pictures from our very laid back, nothing fancy, just the way we like it ChristmasHanukkahKwanzaHolidayFestivus Party.

And yes, Thing 4 is wearing her pajamas. My kids wanted to have a pajama party (because they never get to wear pajamas to school, except on school days ending in "y"), but it didn't work out for the other kids. Never one to be swayed by peer pressure, she had a pajama party anyway. I love that girl.

Doing a little crafting:

Dominos and WalMart catered our shindig:

Happy Break! See you next year!

Math Can Be Dangerous

2010-12-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Sundial

2010-12-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

OM 5 Science has us learning about astronomy. In our study of early, practical applications of astronomy by the Egyptians, we learned about sundials. One assignment required Thing 3 to make a sundial and try to tell time with it, checking himself against a clock. It was difficult at first, but he got pretty good at it fairly quickly.

We made this very simple yet effective sundial by placing a pencil in a ball of clay. Every hour, Thing 3 went out and marked the hour with a stone. This sundial goes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Easy cheesy! And fun!

Fool-Proof Science Experiment

2010-11-17T19:18:00.000-08:00

Our first semester of Oak Meadow 5th Grade Science has focused on Environmental Science. A few weeks ago, we were studying pollution, recycling and composting. We did a very easy experiment where we buried five different types of trash.

Four weeks later, we went out to dig up the trash in order to make observations about how quickly the different types of trash decomposed. Now that's an experiment that even I can't mess up!

Oh wait. Yes I can. Unbelievably, we couldn't find the trash. We even called in reinforcements. Still, no trash.

Through some kind of gypsy magic, the trash disappeared! Either that, or someone is trying to drive me insane like Adam did to Dixie all those years ago. (And let me tell you, that's a pretty short trip!) Or maybe we gave up too soon. It was very windy and chilly that day. Perhaps we'll find it when we plant our garden in the spring...if I'm not in a treatment facility by then.

Music To My Ears

2010-11-11T21:41:00.001-08:00

Planning ahead for next week's history lesson on the patriots (not the modern day "patriots" who don't spell-check their protest signs, but the real patriots), I ordered Thing 3 a copy of The Declaration of Independence. It came from Amazon today. When I went to tuck my kiddo in tonight, he confessed, with a fair amount of guilt, "Hey Mom, instead of reading Johnny Tremain I read The Declaration of Independence. I hope it's ok. Sorry I didn't wait until next week."

I knew that ditching the twaddle was a good idea.

Learning With Oak Meadow

2010-11-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

Learning is natural, school is optional.

I came across that quotation on an Oak Meadow board the other day. I don't know who said it first, but it really resonates with me. If I had a true homeschool room instead of dining room that the homeschool tsunami struck, I'd have that quotation painted on our wall.

Humans have an innate desire to learn. If you don't believe it, just spend some time with some boys who play Yu Gi Oh, Bakugan, or Pokemon. My boys have played or are currently playing all of these games. They can talk to you about the minutiae of the games until your eyes glaze over and your brain goes numb. At one point, my older boys knew the names and evolved states of all 200+ Pokemon. Seriously. They never took a class. They learned the details because they were interested and excited Pokemon, so learning about it was natural. (I should confess that during our Pokemon phase, which seemed to last years longer than it actually did, I often commented that I wished the children would put as much time and effort into memorizing, oh I don't know, something like the Periodic Table as they did into memorizing Pokemon.)

If you don't believe that learning is natural, just step into my kitchen right now and watch my daughter trying to teach herself how to use chopsticks. She's been at it for 15 minutes. There is no teacher standing over her and there will be no test. She got chopsticks on a field trip last week and she wants to learn to use them. It's that simple.

While the idea of unschooling appeals to me on some level, I have never bought into it completely. I think that people (and kids are people, too) need to be exposed to lots of different ideas and activities to find out where their interests lie. I also think there is value in learning about some things that one does not find particularly interesting at the outset. When my children ask, "Why do we have to learn about that?", I like to tell them, "Because knowing things like this makes you a more interesting, well-rounded person." (It sounds so much nicer than, "Because I said so", doesn't it?)

Oak Meadow does such a great job of building on a child's natural desire to learn while gently guiding them through a fabulous, well-designed curriculum and exposing them to lots of interesting subjects and ideas. I see it as a homeschool curriculum with an unschool-y feel. Both of my children have studied topics this year that they probably would not have chosen to study had they never been exposed to them, and they have been excited about them. The OE Dad even commented again last night that we are having so many more, "Hey Mom! Listen to what I just read!" moments this year. I "blame" Oak Meadow.

Instead of asking a child to list 5 animals that live in the ocean, Oak Meadow asks them to, "Go to your library and check out a book about the ocean biome. Learn about ocean life. Describe 5 animals that live in the ocean and draw one of them." In response to that question, Thing 3 said, "I need to get a book on rare ocean life. I already know about dolphins, sharks and whales. I want to learn about ocean animals people don't know about." In fact, several times in the last few weeks, Thing 3 has gone beyond what was required in his research. Success!

When you take the "schooliness" out of school, as Oak Meadow does, learning is not confined to a certain time or place. It becomes natural again and can happen anytime, anywhere.

Learning is natural, school is optional.

Biomes and Deep Thoughts

2010-11-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Thing 3 is learning about the Earth's biomes so last week we headed out to Red Bud Valley Nature Preserve to do a little biome study. Red Bud Valley is interesting because in one relatively small area, you can observe both forest and grassland biomes. Because of the different conditions, the variety of plant life is vast.

I love nature walks because they offer so many opportunities to learn. On the cliff side of the preserve, we talked about rock formations and the different types of rocks we saw. My child who loves textures had to touch them all.

The kids did a little nature journaling.

Thing 3 did lots of observation and made many notes.

My hunter hunted.

And my gatherer gathered.

As I was walking behind my children, watching them experience their science lesson that day, it hit me that *this* is why I homeschool. Sure, the flexibility is great. No homework is great. I love that we don't do fundraisers anymore. Doing school in our pajamas is fun. But for me, it really all boils down to days like this...days when my children can spend time learning by doing, touching, seeing, hearing and smelling.

I'm so thankful for that I am able to spend this kind of time with these sweet children and I know that I will never regret a moment of it.

Vote!

2010-11-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

We took a little field trip to the polling place yesterday so I could vote. Initially, the kids grumbled about having to go, but we had a great discussion as a result of them tagging along. They had lots of really good questions. It's so interesting, because they have gone to vote with me many times but they have never been as curious as they were this time. I like to think it's because they are in an environment now where they are encouraged to ask lots of questions and to think outside the multiple choice bubbles. Or it could have been a fluke. I'm going with theory number one because it validates my existence and makes me feel better about not being able to shop the clearance aisles at Target while they are in school.

After voting, we talked about why there are partitions at the voting booths and the importance of a secret ballot. We discussed the 19th amendment and the fact that women didn't have the right to vote until 1920. (That discussion led us to a mini-study on the Women's Suffrage Movement. We are reading a great book on the subject. Why have I not studied this until now?)

We talked about different political offices and about term limits. We also talked a little about why it's important to exercise your right to vote, even when there is a better chance that you will win the lottery after getting struck by lightning than there is that most of the candidates for whom you vote will win...not that this ever happens to this slightly liberal independent who lives in Oklahoma. I'm just saying...

I love homeschooling. Everything is a lesson.

Homeschool Blues

2010-10-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

Hat tip to my good friend and fellow homeschooling mom, Angie, for telling me about this video. Love it!

Artsy Craftsy

2010-10-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Oak Meadow provides a lot...a whole lot...of enrichment activities to go along with what we are studying. I'm thrilled to have the activities planned for me. That makes it so easy. Here are a few things we've done recently.

Thing 4 has been studying Native American cultures, so we made corn husk dolls and dream catchers. We invited our sweet friends to do these crafts with us.

Thing 3 has been studying Colonial America, so we made pinch pots and we're in the process of doing a little needlework. The needlework thing has made Thing 3 thankful that he was not born a female in Colonial times.

In our Animal Habitat study, we learned about ways we can improve the habitat for some animals. We made bird feeders.

Whew! I'm about ready for some worksheets!

Fall Break!

2010-10-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Fall Break starts Thursday and goes through Monday. I am doing the Happy Dance!

Most homeschooling moms I know don't take Fall Break or many of the other typical school breaks. I, however, welcome the public school vacations and take them just as if my children were in public school. I do it with little guilt, too. Maybe I'm just a slacker, I don't know, and at this point, I don't really care. I just know that after 8.5 weeks of lots of focused time with my precious angels, I need a break. If that makes me a slacker, then call me a slacker. I've been called worse.

So tomorrow our school work will consist of doing our history crafts for the week and then we break until next Tuesday. The OE Dad insists I deserve the time off (smart man, eh?), and I couldn't agree more.

Science

2010-10-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

Oak Meadow Science is very hands-on. The kids and I really appreciate that. Science is so much more meaningful when you can see and touch it.

Here are just a few photos of some of our science activities from the past few weeks.

The kiddos are gathering pond water for our observation of bacteria growth. We put tap water, pool water and pond water in petri dishes with agar to see which would grow the most bacteria. The children's hypothesis was that the pond water would grow more bacteria. They were right, of course. You'll have to take my word for it because I forgot to take pictures of the bacteria growth.

Since I had extra petri dishes and agar, we decided to swab some things around the house to see what kind of bacteria we could grow. We swabbed the toilet seat, the door handle in the bathroom, the coffee maker handle, the computer keyboard, Thing 4's bear that she has slept with (and chewed on) since she was 6 months old (aptly named "Yucky Bear Bear" by her brothers), and Thing 3, who had a bad cold at the time, coughed in one of the dishes. Ick.

Here, the kiddos are looking at Thing 4's blood. She made good use of the nasty scrapes she had on her knees after having a bad fall on her skates.

Science rocks!

A Cool Dam Tour!

2010-10-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, the munchkins and I went on a tour of Pensacola Dam at Grand Lake with some of our awesome Otherwise Educating friends.

Or, as my homeschooling friends and I like to call it, the Dam Tour. (We spend entirely too much time around pre-adolescent and teenaged boys.) We never tired of the (bad) joke. We went on a dam tour, had a cool dam tour guide and took some good dam photos. Our collective mental age is currently somewhere around 11, I think. Ok, truth be told, we really can't blame it on the boys. We just need to get out more.

The OE Dad accompanied us on this field trip and was glad he did. He put this field trip right up there with the tour of the PAC.

The Pensacola Dam is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in the late 1930s so there is a lot of history there.

Cool Art Deco light:

The building used to be a fallout shelter:

There is still a gas mask and "telephone" in the original Otis elevator:

Thing 4 operating the elevator:

We did learn some more technical things about the dam, but I am more interested in history than the generation of electricity, so not a lot of that information stuck with me, but the kiddos remember. I do remember that the dam provides electricity for 24 OK counties and some counties in Missouri and Kansas.

It was definitely worth the drive.

How to get a kid to read a book...

2010-09-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

Let him read it on your new Kindle. Thing 3 was supposed to read two chapters of The Witch of Blackbird Pond for school today. He read six chapters because he didn't want to put down the Kindle. He even opted to read it at bedtime instead of the book he's reading for fun.

While I have a soft spot in my heart for "real" books and will never give them up completely, the Kindle is a wonderful thing to have. One thing I like about using it for school is the ability to highlight text and make notes as you read. I also appreciate the built-in dictionary. The kids, are reading more difficult books this year (out with the twaddle!), and frequently come across a word they don't understand. With the Kindle, they can just move the cursor up to the word and a definition pops up. It's great!

The Kindle is easily in the top 5 on my list of Favorite Things.

Today in Oak Meadow Science

2010-09-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

This week in third grade, we are studying plants and our relationship with them. We learned about the plant oxygen and food cycles yesterday, and today we learned that in addition to food and clean air, plants provide us with beauty. The assignment for today was to find ten flowers/plants in our immediate environment and draw them in the Main Lesson Book.

In fifth grade, we are studying the envrironment and our ecosystem. We talked about living and non-living things in our environment. Here, Thing 3 is making a mural of a forest scene and including both living and non-living things in his drawing.

When we have a busy day (like we have today), it's tempting to skip the more artsy aspects of our lessons and get on with Math, Latin and more "school-y" things. I'm trying to resist that temptation and remember that taking time to observe and draw a flower is important, too.

Recorder lessons started tonight!

2010-09-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

(...or "Better You Than Me".)

The philosophy behind the Oak Meadow curriculum is to educate the whole child...engaging every part of the child. To that end, the curriculum for the younger grades includes a musical component. More specifically, children are supposed to learn to play the recorder. While I am somewhat musically inclined, I am not nearly as musically talented as the OE Dad, who writes music and plays several different instruments. You can understand why the recorder instruction falls to him, can't you? (Snort!)

Main Lesson Books

2010-09-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Oak Meadow, being a Waldorf-inspired curriculum, makes use of Main Lesson Books in the Third Grade curriculum (as well as in the younger grades). The Main Lesson Book (MLB) is simply an artistic and creative record of lessons we have completed. It might include drawings, copy work, stories, etc. The MLB serves as a beautiful textbook that the child creates herself. It is also a wonderful keepsake.

We are still getting used to the idea of creating these Main Lesson Books, and it gets easier with every lesson. Any Waldorf purists who happen upon this post will surely realize how woefully inadequate our MLBs are, but I'm hoping they get better over time. Don't judge me.

Here, after hearing and re-telling the story of Rapunzel, Thing 4 drew a scene to represent the story. She added the happy witch later. And yes, I realize she misspelled Rapunzel one time, but I'm torn between the Charlotte Mason idea that you never leave a word misspelled and the fact that I love looking back at my older kids' early work that has those kinds of sweet mistakes. I went with sentimental this time. Don't judge me.

Her entry about the Kush civilization:

She told me the other day, "You know, I learn so well this way. I hear a lesson, then I tell it back to you, then I write about it and then I draw a picture about it. That really helps me remember it." Success! Go ahead and judge me on this one.

Today's Science lesson about the plant food cycle:

While Thing 3's lesson plans do not call for the use of MLBs, I like them so much that I'm going to start using them with him next week.

Watercolor Painting a la Oak Meadow

2010-09-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

I'm learning that Oak Meadow is not a curriculum to be rushed. Everything we do in OM is very "intentional" with a real and well-thought out purpose. In addition, everything is a process. In fact, for Third Grade, I have a Home Teacher's Process Manual that covers everything from Guidelines for Recorder Playing to Crayon Drawing.

Today we worked on Watercolor Painting. There are four pages in the Teacher Process Manual devoted to teaching Watercolor Painting. Who knew painting with watercolors was so complex?

With Oak Meadow, there is no using those nasty watercolors that come in the plastic box...the ones that all turn black after a couple of uses because all the colors get mixed up, but then it doesn't matter anyway because they crack when they dry out and you have to buy new ones. No, we used high quality paints and a good paint brush.

We used just the three primary colors. Sometimes less is more. At first, Thing 4 balked at the lack of choice, but she quickly figured out that mixing colors to create other colors is fun! With this technique, you mix the colors on the paper as you paint, not in a dish.

Oak Meadow encourages a "wet paper" method of watercolor painting. When the paper is wet, the colors blend more easily, and it allows more movement of the paint lines. I thought it was a strange concept until we tried it. If you're going to use the wet paper method, it's important to use high quality watercolor paper. All of my high quality supplies came in the art kit I ordered from OM, but you could find them at a craft store.

Today she really enjoyed just experimenting with the colors and seeing them blend.

It's not exactly a Monet, but she had fun! There's no going back to those nasty watercolors in the plastic box.

Bake Like A Phoenician

2010-09-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Thing 4 has been studying ancient Hebrew and Phoenician cultures over the past few weeks. Today, we made flat bread, which was most likely a staple in the diets of people of both cultures.

(How's that for product placement? It was purely accidental. I'm really not getting paid by the Gold Medal people.)

One thing I really appreciate about Oak Meadow is that they give me a lesson to teach and then give me two or three activities to reinforce that lesson. It's working so well for us.

She thought it was kind of magical the way they ballooned in the oven:

And then flattened out as they cooled:

This was her favorite part:

Various and Sundry Things

2010-09-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

I discovered over the summer that keeping a blog of our OE activities was a great idea because it's a scrapbook for me of the things we did throughout the year. One night I was feeling pretty inadequate as a homeschooling mom, so I sat down and went through the blog, post by post and realized that our year hadn't been quite as lame as I had originally thought. We did some pretty cool stuff. However, our science experiments last year? Mostly lame.

While I don't have the energy to write decent blog posts to go with the photos I've taken over the last two weeks, I decided to post them in one entry so I can look back next summer and see what we did.

This photo is a little difficult to see, but this was an impromptu science observation. (Sometimes the unplanned lessons are the best.) We were getting in the car to run a couple of errands, when Thing 4 spotted this awesome spider web that had raindrops all over it. We stood and looked at the intricate weaving and marveled at how tenacious and hard-working spiders must be.

This was the day that Thing 3 was learning how to convert from Imperial measurements to Metric. He had to count how many cups of water this bottle held and then he converted the measurement to liters. There's an app for that, but I didn't let him use it.

During a study of Hebrew culture Thing 4 drew a Star of David in her Social Studies Main Lesson Book. (I love the Main Lesson Books! More on those in another post.) See the beeswax crayons there? She loves those...so much so that I had to order a bigger set so she could have more colors. They are pricey but so worth it. See the dog watching her draw? She often brings a friend to class.

For her Main Lesson Book entry on the folk tale The Wise Thief, she decided to draw a peach seed. She wanted the drawing to be accurate, so we had to stop for a snack. Have I mentioned that I love the Main Lesson Books? I love Oak Meadow, too.

Thing 3 is studying Colonial America right now. One of the assignments he chose was making a Pocahontas puppet. The girls in the family had to teach him how to braid. If this homeschooling thing fails him, he can always get a job on a touristy island.

Why Do My Science Experiments Hardly Ever Work?

2010-09-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

Seriously. I'd like to know. Ok, I've had the occasional experiment/demonstration work out. But more often than not...as my boys would say, "FAIL."

Today, in the interest of learning how ancient civilizations measured the passing of time, we tried to make a Greek/Roman water clock. The directions and illustration that Oak Meadow gave me looked so simple. I thought, "Now here's an experiment I can't screw up." We just needed to punch some holes in some cans (we substituted cups, as suggested in another book we have), set them on a ladder, pour the water in the top cup and start timing.

We were excited. Thing 4 poured the water in the top cup.

Thing 3 was manning the stop watch. We watched. Water started shooting out of the hole in the top cup just like it was supposed to do. At this point, for some reason unknown to me, Thing 4 excitedly shouted, "Look! The baby is peeing!"

Then, as quickly as it started, it stopped. Well, it didn't stop exactly. It just slowed to a sad trickle. Instead of shooting into the cup below, the water just dribbled down the bottom of the top cup and landed on the floor.

Those poor Romans and Greeks. What a lame excuse for a clock.

Thing 3 accurately noted, "That is quite possibly the worst science experiment we've ever done." And let me tell you, given our track record with science experiments, that's saying a lot.

Nature Study and Nature Journaling

2010-09-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

It was beautiful today and it's supposed to rain for the next two days, so we cut our school day short and took a quick trip to the nature center. We even took our expensive purple plastic binoculars.

We saw this sign in the visitor center. While these are the words of an adult, I think they describe the nature of most children perfectly. How wonderful it is for my children to have the time to wonder why.

We took a little time to do some nature journaling. Nature journaling is such a great way to get kids to pay attention to the details of nature. We don't do this nearly enough, and every time we do it, I think we should do it more often.

Here are photos of just a few things the kiddos noticed today on our walk. Much to the relief of Thing 3, we did not encounter any snakes or bears on the trail. Whew.

Oak Meadow, Grade 5- Review of the First Two Weeks

2010-09-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we finish our second week of Oak Meadow. So far, I am loving it! I am using OM Grade 5 History and Science for Thing 3.

While I have a fabulous language arts curriculum for him, I am finding that I really like, no, I love, the language arts component of 5th grade OM, so I'm using it in addition to our other program. In Oak Meadow, Language Arts (which OM still refers to as "English") and History are integrated, so the spelling and vocabulary words, grammar lessons, as well as the writing assignments (and there are a lot of those!) and art activities are all related to the history readings. Because of this integration, by the end of a week of lessons and activities, the theme is firmly cemented in my kiddo's mind and he can see the broader picture instead of bits and pieces.

The writing was a little overwhelming at first, but it gets better with each assignment. One thing I appreciate about OM is that there are usually several writing options from which to choose. Today's history lesson listed 8 different writing assignments and had the student choose two. We took it a step further and used the other options as discussion questions which we talked about together. In the first two weeks, Thing 3 has completed 5 separate writing assignments.

As a part of the history lesson last week, we spent some time one night lying on the patio trying to locate the North Star because that's how the early explorers navigated. It turned into a family event! We all agreed that using the Garmin is preferable to navigating by the stars. The next day, Thing 3 had to write a poem about the night sky and illustrate it. He really enjoyed that.

This week, as we study Columbus, the OE Dad (what a guy!) is helping Thing 3 build a sailboat which we will try out in the pool this weekend. (Pictures to follow soon!) That's been a fun activity for the two of them.

OM Level 5 Science is fantastic, too. It starts with the basics and will build from there. The first week, we learned about Scientific Inquiry by studying and classifying birds. This week we are learning about the Scientific Method, and we're studying frogs (the barometer of environmental health) and their habitats.

My only small complaint about Oak Meadow is that I feel a little rushed at times with the weekly schedule. I really think we could spend two weeks on some topics. In the future, we may stretch some things out over a couple of weeks so we can dig a little deeper. I know that some families stretch one level of OM over two school years. The other option would be to continue OM over the summer, but, based on my history, we all know that, despite my good intentions, that's probably not going to happen.

I am so happy to have found Oak Meadow. It's perfect for us.

Why I Love Otherwise Educating...Reason #278

2010-08-23T11:16:00.001-07:00

This is gym class...and recess!

I Need This T-Shirt

2010-08-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

While ~~wasting time~~ doing a little homeschool research today, I came across this t-shirt. I want it.

The Pity Party Is Over

2010-08-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

...moving on.

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. ~John W. Gardner

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child. ~George Bernard Shaw

And that is precisely why we do what we do. Coffee with friends can wait.

Let's get started with year #2!

True Confessions Of This OE Mom

2010-08-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

School starts tomorrow in our town. My kiddo who is in the 10th grade starts back to school. I will start our new school year here at home tomorrow, too.

So here's my confession. All day long, I've been daydreaming about dropping Things 3 and 4 off at school and meeting my friends for breakfast. How I would love to have coffee with my girlfriends and then come home and clean my house and have it stay clean for a couple of hours. Or start one of the 486 different projects that have been on my to-do list for months. Or just sit on the couch and read a book with no interruptions.

The truth is, right at this moment, I don't want to start school tomorrow or the next day or the next week.

It's not that I don't love having my children around. I do. I love nothing more than when we're all home together. I've never been one of those moms who can't wait for the school year to start. However, I would be lying if I didn't admit that state funded child care was really nice to have sometimes. I'm envious of my friends who, for the next nine months, can plan a hair appointment without worrying about what to do with the kids. I'm envious of the girls who are meeting for the annual "Back To School Breakfast" tomorrow. I'm envious of people who will pick up their children tomorrow afternoon and bring them home to a clean house, and will sit and listen to all of their "first day" stories.

I've enjoyed our summer off. It's been so nice to not have the day to day responsibility of educating my children, of planning schoolwork and enrichment activities. I've enjoyed just being their mom. I'm not ready to start being their teacher, too.

Am I allowed to say all that or will I get kicked out of the Homeschool Club?

Curriculum Choices - Part 2

2010-08-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

Big changes are also in store for Thing 4 this year, and I am very excited! One thing I discovered last year is that an unconventional child doesn't really do that well with conventional teaching methods. Workbooks and other "school-y" activities just sucked the life out of her and frustrated me.

Oak Meadow, Grade 3 - This is going to be where we focus the bulk of our time this year. This Waldorf-inspired curriculum will be perfect for my little girl who loves art, crafts, cooking, nature and spending lots of time with Mom. The third grade curriculum covers Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science, Art, Music, Health and Crafts. There are many activities and crafts included in the curriculum. It's very teacher-intensive, which might not work for some families. It's also a very "gentle" curriculum where children explore topics through reading, re-telling stories, drawing, experimenting, observing and investigation. We cannot wait to get started with Oak Meadow!

Singapore Math - I talked a little about Singapore here. While it's perfect for Thing 3, it's really not perfect for Thing 4, but I haven't found anything I just love yet so we're going to plug along with Singapore. We won't do it every day. I'll likely use Oak Meadow math and math games most of the time, but we'll work on Singapore a couple of times a week.

Handwriting Without Tears - We started this last year and will continue using it until we finish the program. I love this program because it is not teacher intensive, and every homeschool mom needs something like that.

Primary Language Lessons - This is also something that we used last year. Although it was written in the early 20th century, this book is still relevant today. It has wonderful, gentle Language Arts lessons that we work on together. I will use it to supplement Oak Meadow Language Arts.

Thing 3 will also work on her journal and nature journal. She will work through a reading list of children's classics, take dance, piano and maybe start a blog to practice writing and keyboard skills. She's looking forward to field trips and live theater, too!

We are ready to go!

Curriculum Choices - Part 1

2010-08-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

I've made a lot of changes for the upcoming school year. I'm excited about our new curriculum choices.

Here is what I'm using for Thing 3:

Singapore Math - This curriculum is different than the "drill and kill" math we are used to from our public school days. The goal of Singapore Math is to "teach our young to think creatively and apply knowledge innovatively" and to develop "creative independent learners". It moves quickly and may not have enough practice problems for children who need more time on a particular concept. We used it last year, and it was perfect for my kiddo who enjoys math.

Life of Fred Math Series - I love this humorous, creative math series. It's self-teaching and requires kids to use their critical thinking skills. We will alternate Life of Fred with Singapore.

Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts, Level 2 - I'm crazy about this Language Arts curriculum! I can't wait to start using it. It was written by an expert on gifted education with gifted children in mind. It covers grammar, vocabulary, poetry and writing. The text is both beautiful to look at and read. It's very engaging. I think we're really going to like it! (Hat tip to my neighbor, good friend and fellow OE mom, Mel, for turning me on to both MCT and Life of Fred.)

Lively Latin - We started Latin last year but used a different program. It was DVD based and just didn't work that well for us. I've had a chance to read through Lively Latin and I think it's going to be great! I like that it incorporates history, art study, and culture. It also has games and hands-on activities to make learning Latin more fun!

English From The Roots Up - This is just a fun, easy way to improve vocabulary. We work on four or five of these roots every day while the kids are eating breakfast.

Oak Meadow History and Science, Grade 5 - I have searched high and low for secular History and Science curricula. (While I am a Christian, I would rather teach History and Science from a secular view-point.) I finally found Oak Meadow and I really like it. It's a Waldorf-inspired curriculum, and it incorporates a lot of art, nature study, and projects.

Our Beautiful America Copywork Book - I use this for handwriting practice for Thing 3. We started it last year and he really enjoyed it. The family who wrote this book took a trip to visit all 50 states. Along the way, they recorded interesting facts about each state. This book has two to three information entries for each state.

Spelling Wisdom - We use this for spelling and dictation practice. The book is filled with inspirational writings from great authors, politicians, speakers, and some from the Bible.

Rosetta Stone Spanish - We started this last year, too. Thing 3 really enjoys it. I like that it's self-paced and he can do it independently. I'm not sure it's the best way to learn Spanish...in fact, I'm sure it's not. However, it works well for us right now. I anticipate having to find a real, live Spanish teacher one of these days. Until then, we'll continue with Rosetta Stone.

That's the formal "stuff" we will use. In addition to those things, both kiddos will journal, work on nature journals, work through a reading list of classics, and take music lessons. We will go on lots of fun field trips, and will continue to see lots of live theater through the Young At Art program. Both children want to start blogs, too. We'll see how that goes.

It's going to be a good year!

Ruth Heller World of Language Series

2010-07-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

Quite by accident, I recently came across a lovely series of language arts books. I wasn't even looking for a language arts curriculum, but saw these books mentioned on an Oak Meadow forum that I frequent and knew I had to check them out.

The Ruth Heller World of Language Series is a beautiful collection of picture books with each book highlighting a particular part of speech. There are eight books in the series:

Merry-Go-Round, A Book About Nouns
Mine, All Mine, A Book About Pronouns
Kites Sail High, A Book About Verbs
Many Luscious Lollipops, A Book About Adjectives
Up, Up, and Away, A Book About Adverbs
Behind the Mask, A Book About Prepositions
Fantastic! Wow! And Unreal!, A Book About Interjections and Conjunctions

This afternoon I received the first four that I ordered.

I loved them so much that I ordered the other four tonight. (It helps that Amazon has a "buy three, get the fourth free" promotion going on right now.)

These living books, have beautiful, lively illustrations and are written in engaging rhyme.

Thing 4, who is a highly visual child, will love this series.

Who knew that grammar lessons could be so much fun?

One Year Down!

2010-07-07T09:38:00.001-07:00

Our first year of Otherwise Educating is finished and we're well into our summer break. I had big plans to school over the summer, but so far those plans haven't materialized. Neither have my plans to paint two rooms and organize all my closets. Oh well...at least I'm consistent.

I learned a lot in my first year of Otherwise Educating. Here are just a few things I learned:

Homeschooling is harder than I thought it would be.
Greek Mythology is really interesting!
So is Ancient History.
I own the curriculum. The curriculum doesn't own me. (Many thanks to veteran HSing mom, Meredith, for that pearl of wisdom.)
It's tough for some kids to hold on to a pencil for longer than five minutes at a time.
When you realize the day is going downhill fast, it's ok, and probably even wise, to ditch school and do something fun. There's always tomorrow.
A good network of homeschooling moms is essential.
Making the bed is overrated.
So is cleaning up the breakfast dishes before dinner.
Time spent with my children is priceless.

While I'm enjoying our summer off, I am excited to get started next year. I have finally settled on all of my curriculum. I'm going to start seriously planning as soon as our new Latin and Language Arts programs arrive.

I'm really excited to start using our Oak Meadow curriculum. I'm hoping it's going to add some fun and creativity to our school days.

And just because I think all blog posts are better with a picture or two, here are a couple of pictures from our summer vacation.

Thing 4 at Space Center Houston:

Thing 3 as an X-Man:

Bring On The Learning Revolution!

2010-06-08T20:47:00.001-07:00

Here is another great talk by Sir Ken Robinson. Having a child who has chosen to go to a technical school rather than a four year college (because it is the best way for him to pursue his passion for auto mechanics), I really appreciate Sir Ken's thoughts on kids and college.

Hobby Lobby Homeschool

2010-04-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

When I'm out and about with the munchkins, I often try to sneak in a lesson or two. For example, if I buy something that costs $6.84 and give the clerk a $10 (on the rare occasion that I actually have cash in my purse), I'll ask one of the kiddos to tell me how much change I'm getting back. If I'm really quick (and have a calculator handy), I can get the answer before Thing 3 does. He is a math whiz!

Sometimes, a lesson just jumps off a shelf and slaps me in the face. Today was one of those times. We were strolling around Hobby Lobby when I glanced over at a shelf filled with frames and saw this spelling/grammar lesson staring me in the face.

In case you have old eyes like I do, that picture frame says "Grandma's are Great!"

When I saw the frame, I literally gasped and said, "Oh. My. Goodness." My children looked around, expecting to see someone impaled by a knitting needle.

I admit that I am a grammar and spelling snob. It's rare that I read an article on the website of our local paper with stopping 10 times and exclaiming, "For crying out loud! Don't these people proofread?" Even so, I was pretty sure that my 8 and 10 year olds could spot the problem with this frame.

First of all, to be completely nit picky, given that "Great" is capitalized, "are" should have been capitalized, as well. I could let that go, however, if not for the other glaring mistake on this commercially made frame that some sweet child is going to give Grandma for Mother's Day. Let me show you again.

After regaining my composure, I turned to my darling children and said, "Do you see anything wrong with this frame?" Without hesitating, they both said, "It's the apostrophe." Thing 3 then added, "You don't use an apostrophe to make a word plural."

Ahhhhhh. Exactly. You don't use an apostrophe to make a word plural. Ever. You don't do it when addressing Christmas cards. (It's "The Smiths", please, not "The Smith's".) You don't do it on a picture frame.

My children are paying attention.

I did consider the possibility that some sweet child is going to put a photo of Grandma's cookies in this frame, making the caption, "Grandma's Are Great!", entirely grammatically correct. In that case, just ignore this post.

Unschooling Days

2010-04-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

"It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated."
--Alec Bourne

Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead!

2010-04-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

Thing 3 finished 4th Grade Shurley English today! I don't know who was more excited...him or me. I'm pretty sure it was me.

I have a love/hate relationship with Shurley. In October, I almost divorced her. I couldn't handle the jingles, detail and repetition any longer. I was about ready to set fire to the books when I decided I didn't want to spend another dime on curriculum and vowed to give it one more try. I went through the curriculum, figured out what parts of it would work for us and ignored the rest. Once I did that, it worked beautifully. Thing 3 developed a really solid grammar foundation, and for that, I'm glad I stuck with it. That said, Shurley and I are going our separate ways next year.

We headed to Quik Trip this afternoon for a celebratory Icee.

As if we don't draw enough attention to ourselves just by being out and about during school hours, Thing 4 got some extra attention by wearing her favorite shoes.

The old me...the one who didn't expend a ridiculous amount of energy every day arguing about subtraction...might have said "no" to wearing those shoes out. The new, tired me was just glad she was getting out of the house.

Freedom To Be Creative

2010-04-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Thing 4 loves to create. It doesn't matter if she's creating with paint, clay, sticks or trash she found in the street. The simple act of creating feeds her sweet little soul. So last week when she took one of her frequent outdoor breaks, it was no surprise to me that she came back in with an armload of flowers, (or weeds, depending on your perspective) and asked if she could make some flower arrangements.

We still had math and cursive to complete, but who am I to stifle the creative spirit of an 8 year old? Math and cursive can wait. Creativity can't. She spent the better part of the next 90 minutes creating and then placing her beautiful arrangements around our home.

I know people wonder how she will ever learn to cope in the "real world" if I don't make her sit for most of the day doing pencil and paper work. I have heard that ~~criticism~~ concern first-hand.

How will she ever learn to sit at a desk for hours at a time if I give in to her need to move?

The answer is "She won't", and that's precisely the point.

I could fight who she is and we would both be miserable. Instead, I choose to allow her to be the person God created her to be, (as much as it frustrates me sometimes).

Some days we have recess first...

2010-04-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

I believe that children need to spend time outside. A lot of time outside. It's good for their minds. It's good for their bodies. It's good for the sanity of their mother.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so instead of jumping into schoolwork, we started our day with a long bike ride and took in the beauty of Spring.

Some people see this as a weed.

Others see it as a something beautiful.

"We are all meant to be naturalists, each in his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things." ~ Charlotte Mason

Always concerned about all of God's creatures, Thing 4 collected sticks and made a raft for any birds that might get tired while flying over the pond.

In a beautiful moment of Homeschool Teacher Affirmation, Thing 3 noted that this flower looks a lot like the flowers in the Van Gogh painting at the Philbrook.

The flowers in the Van Gogh are actually lilacs, but I can see why a ten year old would think these were the same flowers.

"Children are born naturalists. They explore the world with all of their senses, experiment in the environment, and communicate their discoveries to those around them." ~ The Audubon Nature Preschool

Free Rice!

2010-03-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

My good friend directed me to the coolest website: Free Rice. You answer questions, and for every correct answer you get, they donate 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme to help end world hunger. There is a running total so you can see how much rice you've donated in one session (or you have the option of keeping a running total).

This is a great site for homeschoolers. Kids (and adults!) can answer questions on art, chemistry, English grammar, vocabulary, geography, math and foreign languages. It's not only fun and educational, it's also a worthy cause! Check it out!

Ahhh...Spring!

2010-03-23T09:23:00.001-07:00

Math is so much more pleasant when it's done on the front porch glider.

It took her longer than normal (and that's a l-o-n-g time) to finish her assignment because she spotted the coolest looking bird in the front yard. She spent a good deal of time just observing him. Any day we can combine nature and math is a perfect day in my book.

Doing The Happy Dance!

2010-03-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

Our new curriculum came today!

I haven't had time to sit down and look over it thoroughly. I plan to do that later tonight. Just a quick glance through it all makes me think I'm going to love it. I think it's exactly what I've been looking for. There's a lot more to it than is shown in these photos, but this gives you an idea.

The craft supplies are really high quality, too. In addition to what's pictured here, we also received a book binding kit, mexican clay, beeswax crayons, quills and India ink, acrylic paints, paint brushes and much more. I love that I'm not going to have to make trips to Hobby Lobby every time we do an enrichment project.

Can we scrap 2nd and 4th grade and just start on 3rd and 5th right now?

Education Is Broken

2010-03-21T15:00:00.001-07:00

I posted a really good video on my other blog. Check it out!

Planning Ahead

2010-03-15T10:51:00.001-07:00

The end of this year is approaching quickly. I've liked a lot about our first year of Otherwise Educating. I have to be truthful, though, and tell you that there has been more than a little about our first year that has frustrated me and made me feel like a totally lame homeschooling mom.

It was about a year ago that I started thinking seriously about Otherwise Educating my children. I had big, big plans. I shunned the all-in-one curriculum. I wanted to "roll my own"...choose the best of everything. I did just that. Some things I chose I love, some things I don't love.

One thing I don't love is the fact that I often feel so disjointed. I feel like I never have enough time to plan properly, to coordinate subjects, etc. I often feel so overwhelmed by everything I want to teach my children that I end up paralyzed, not ever settling on one thing. There are days on end when I feel like all we really accomplished was trudging through Math and Grammar. Where is the creativity in that? Something has to change for next year.

I've done a complete 180 and decided to go with a pre-planned curriculum next year. Shocking, I know. I feel like I need something that will lend structure to our days and weeks. I want something that will provide a "jumping off place" for our learning.

My criteria for a curriculum are pretty tough.

I want something that allows flexibility in timing...something that doesn't have a daily schedule, but has a more general schedule. I'm a little OCD, and I have trouble letting go of things on a list. (That's precisely why the Fly Lady routines never worked for me. I couldn't keep up yet I couldn't let go. I always felt like a failure.)
I want something that is heavy on good literature. I can't stand the idea of my children reading paragraphs and answering comprehension questions.
I want something that is integrated across subjects.
I want something that will easily allow me to expand on topics of interest.
I want something that is "holisitic". Something that educates the whole child, not just one side of the brain. Something that will inspire and nurture creativity and imagination.

I thought I'd never find a curriculum that is a good fit for us, but after much searching, I came across Oak Meadow School. It was love at first sight! It is Waldorf-inspired curriculum that encompasses everything I love about homeschooling. There is too much to go into here, but please check out their site if you are looking for a great curriculum for next year.

It can be a little pricey, but I had many of the required books, and the ones I don't have, I know I can find at the Goodwill or used on Amazon. I also found some of the teaching materials for about half-price on Ebay.

I can't wait until it arrives! Once I get it and have a chance to look over it, I'll post my thoughts about it.

Weather!

2010-03-12T05:44:00.000-08:00

In Science last week the kids learned about weather. Among other things, they made it rain in a jar, learned about lightning, and made these fun anemometers.

Have I mentioned that Ms. Angie is the best!?

Socialization

2010-03-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

When I dropped my daughter off at dance class today, she and another little girl who is homeschooled starting talking about their homeschool experience. A third girl who was listening piped up and said, "Homeschooling isn't good for you." My daughter said, "Why not?" She said, "Because you don't learn to play with other kids." I said, "Oh, that's not true. Who told you that?" Of course, I knew who told her that. I don't know why I asked. I stood there like a fool, listing all the ways my children get social interaction in spite of (actually, because of) their educational experience. Yes, I was arguing the socialization issue with a 7 year old...defending myself and my children as if I were on trial for child abuse. It was ridiculous but I couldn't help myself.

Can I just say how sick to death I am of hearing that "concern"? Why is "socialization" (or lack thereof) the one thing so many homeschool opponents choose to focus on? I suppose it is because people can't really pick on any other aspect of homeschooling. "Hmm, overall, homeschooled children excel in every academic area, so we can't say the kids aren't learning. I know, let's say they weird and unsocialized."

Do people think we sit at home all day, just the three of us, never interacting with the outside world? Do they think my children stand, noses pressed against the glass storm door, watching longingly as the children on the street play together? Do they think we drive past the park and just wave at the children playing there?

Why do people think that spending time in traditional school is the only appropriate way for children to socialize with other children?

Why is sitting in a crowded, noisy lunch room at a table with 25 other children who are trying to eat their lunches in 20 minutes while the lunch lady yells at them better for children than a group of 12 homeschooled children eating a leisurely lunch at a picnic table outside?

Why is being teased on the playground at school better socially than a multi-aged group of children playing a game of football after our science class?

Why is my child looking at pictures of a naked woman on another child's cell phone in the hall at school (yes, my child saw this) preferable to him taking a trip to the art museum with a couple of other homeschooled children?

Never in a million years would I go up to a parent of a traditionally schooled child and ask, "Don't you worry how all the negative stuff that happens at public school will affect your child's self-esteem?" Yet so many non-homeschooling parents feel free to question and criticize what I'm doing and talk about how it will negatively affect my children. (By the way, as a parent of two children who attend public school, I do worry about all the negative things they experience there.)

Here's the real story. I find the "socialization" issue to be a challenge, but it's not in the way you would think. We have so many opportunities to socialize with other children that I have to carefully choose what we do or we would never be home to do our schoolwork.

We have been on more field trips than I can count. We have had play dates at the park. We "school" with a group of 10 other children every Monday. We go to the gym and play with other kiddos. We meet with our co-op for Culture Club. My children take lessons, go to church, play outside with the dozen or so other kids who live on our block. I think they'll be fine.

Really, the horse is dead. Let's stop beating it.

Learning To Type

2010-03-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

Thing 4 has decided that it's time she learn some keyboarding skills. Unsure of where to start, I consulted my homeschool network and one of my homeschooling friends directed me to Dance Mat Typing. Thing 4 loves it! She has learned a lot already. I love it, too, because it's another one of those self-paced, self-directed activities which allows me time to work one-on-one with her brother on another subject.

I think it's more appealing to the younger set than it would be to older kids. If you have a younger child who needs to learn to type, check it out!

Recess And The Outdoor Classroom

2010-03-06T08:29:00.000-08:00

I am so fortunate that my good friend and neighbor also Otherwise Educates her children. We do lots of activities together, including recess. If we didn't have her children for my children to play with, my children would be even weirder and less socialized than they already are.

Friday was beautiful here in windy OK. It was much too pretty to be inside, especially given that we have been cooped up for months thanks to an unusually cold, wet winter. It also happened to be Thing 4's 8th birthday, and who wants to do school work on their birthday? So, the kiddos headed outside for a longer-than-normal recess and some outdoor learning.

(By now you know that she dresses herself, yet I still feel compelled to publish a disclaimer.)

While I believe that children need adult directed teaching, I also think that children need time to be children and to do what children are created to do...that is, to learn by doing. Children's lives today are much too scheduled, structured and adult-led. I love to see them doing their thing without parents interfering.

Kids learn a lot when they play with each other and adults leave them alone.

For example, on Friday, these boys learned that if you're having a RipStik competition and the little sister of one of the competitors is the judge:

...chances are she is going to award, at her discretion, a bonus point for "politeness" and her brother will win the competition. Very important life lesson, doncha think?

¿Habla usted español?

2010-03-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

I don't, but thanks to our new Rosetta Stone software, I'm hoping our children will one day. So far, Cole loves this program. I appreciate that the program is self-paced and self-directed. It's been a fun addition to our homeschool day.

Green Science!

2010-03-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

Every Monday, we meet with eight other kiddos and their moms for Science. Ms. Angie is the best Science teacher. She is as passionate about Science as my 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Shepherd, was about Shakespeare. That's pretty passionate. Ms. Angie also happens to be one of my best friends and the coolest mom ever! We love her!

Last Monday, we studied Environmental Science. It was oh so fun, and it warmed my little green heart!

The kids learned about paper, paper fibers, etc. Then they made paper from recycled newspaper.

They also learned about the effects of oil spills on animal life by making a foil "tanker" and having a spill.

Finally, they learned how oil spills are contained and then cleaned up.

Very cool!

Now That Was A Cool Field Trip!

2010-02-25T07:34:00.000-08:00

One thing about Otherwise Educating is that there is never a shortage of things to do. For any non-homeschoolers out there, if you've ever worried about the "socialization" issue (and it's the rare "outsider looking in" who hasn't expressed that criticism, er, concern), please don't worry. I find that we have so many options for enrichment and socialization, that I have to choose carefully or we'd never be at home to work on math and grammar.

We've had the opportunity to do many things away from home this year. We've done some really great things, and there have been a couple of activities that have left me thinking, "Yeah, we probably should have stayed home and worked on math facts."

Our latest field trip was the best yet. Our co-op went to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center for a behind the scenes tour. It was so cool and we all loved it! We have been to many performances at the PAC, including several plays this year through the Young At Art Series (which happens to be the best value in homeschooling), so it was really fun and interesting for the children to see the PAC from a different perspective.

We saw all four theaters at the PAC and were able to go on stage, backstage and to the orchestra pit in the theater where we see the Young At Art plays.

On Stage, Williams Theater:

Orchestra Pit in the Williams Theater:

Backstage:

We saw dressing rooms:

We rode in the freight elevator...

...which was the highlight of the trip for Thing 3:

We even got to go all the way to the top of the PAC to the spotlight room...

...where we had a great view of the Chapman Music Hall:

Orchestra Pit In The Chapman Music Hall:

This is the glass art piece that hangs in the lobby. They say that sucker weighs 4 tons. Think about that next time you're in the lobby waiting for you show.

It was great day!

National Pancake Day

2010-02-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

In case you missed it, today was National Pancake Day!

If you dropped in to your local IHOP today, you might have gotten a free short stack of pancakes. If you are like me, you dropped in but didn't get the free pancakes because you don't really like pancakes, so instead you ordered the $8 omelet. Add the cost of the coffee, side order of bacon for the munchkins, tip and suggested donation to Children's Miracle Network (a worthy charity) you might have spent $30 for breakfast when you could have eaten cereal at home...had you not been lured in to the IHOP by the promise of "free" pancakes. However, I have a difficult time resisting the lure of anything free, even if I don't need or want it. I also have a difficult time resisting the temptation to put off regular "school" for an hour or two. So, we turned Pancake Day into school.

We studied a little about Pancakeology, as well as the history of Pancake Day (or Shrove Tuesday...who knew?), then we headed to IHOP for "free" pancakes. Again, some might ask what might be the practical application of this new pancake knowledge. There is none. However, if my children are ever on Jeopardy, look out!

"Alex, I'll take 'Lesser Known Christian Holidays' for $1,000."

No Snow Day Here

2010-01-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

My older boys are out of school today due to the snow. In our little homeschool, we don't take snow days because I don't want to add days to the end of the year. We do, however, set aside our regular schoolwork in favor of "outdoor weather labs", if you know what I'm saying. There's a lot you can learn when you play in the snow. I pretty much let them teach themselves, though. It's too cold and windy out there for me.

More on Vincent

2010-01-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

As part of our Van Gogh study, we watched this fun video this afternoon.

It is not the dry, biography that I was expecting. It was very good and really held the kids' attention. I always know that a video is a hit if they ask to watch it again with their daddy, and they did that with this one.

I'm not sure what it is about Van Gogh, but my children have been more interested in this study of him than in almost anything else we've done this year. It ranks right up there with our ongoing study of Greek Mythology. Van Gogh's life was short and tragic, and the kids are fascinated by stories of him. I think it comes down to the fact that all kids love a great story, and Van Gogh's life, tragic as it was, is a really great story. After watching the movie today, they both asked if we could go back to the Philbrook and see the Van Gogh painting again. That is success in my book.

I'm not sure what the practical application is for all of their newly acquired knowledge of Van Gogh, as I'm certain the ACT and SAT do not have any questions about why he lost part of his ear or why he began using bright colors later in his career. That's ok, though. I'm hoping things like this will make them more well-rounded people.

Check out the Getting To Know website for more great educational materials on artists, composers and presidents.

Taking School On The Road

2010-01-27T06:23:00.000-08:00

I'm certain I've mentioned this before, but one thing I love about Otherwise Educating is the flexibility we have. It's great not being confined to a classroom. The children learn so much simply by being a part of my day.

Yesterday, we did some work in the morning and then traveled 30 miles north to have lunch with my husband. As we were driving, I noticed that my children seemed more observant than they had in the past. We talked about the pumpjacks and what their purpose is. The children noted how different the terrain is just a few miles north of where we live. (Thing 3 described it as "a barren wasteland". He prefers trees to wide open plains. I was just impressed with his vocabulary.) We talked about the horizon and how much farther you can see when you're in ~~barren wastelands~~ wide open spaces.

Since we are doing a rock and mineral study in Science right now, we stopped by the rock shop on the way home so the children could pick out some rocks and minerals. It was fun to look at all the rocks and talk about things they had learned in Science the day before. And I enjoyed chatting with the woman who was working at the store because she had homeschooled her children. It's always a pleasant surprise to run into people who support our decision to OE. You just never know what kind of reaction you're going to get when you have your kids out in public during school hours.

On the way home, the children did some logic puzzles together. (Gotta love those higher order thinking skills! )

Today we are taking school on the road again. A friend asked me to work at her store for a few hours. The children are thrilled about doing school at the store, and I'm thrilled to be getting out of the house and to have the opportunity to interact with big people for a few hours.

We are ready to go!

Fun New Math Game

2010-01-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

As I may or may not have mentioned, teaching AC math is a bit of a challenge. It's not that she's not good at math, quite the opposite is true. She is a math whiz if she's doing it in her head. She just has a mental block where math work is concerned. I think it's partly a confidence issue.

After beating my head against a wall and causing my ever-patient homeschooling friends to want to beat their heads against a wall due to my incessant whining about our math struggles, I finally took the advice of all three of those friends and ditched our math curriculum (for the time being). Instead, we do kitchen math, mental math, math games, games that are not math games but that require math skills (like Yahtzee), and work from the incredible "Math Pamphlet" that my good friend made for AC. (That's a whole other post. It's really wonderful.)

In my search for ways to work on math without it seeming like we are working on math, I came across the Exact Change Card Game. Not only is it a great way to teach money skills, but it is perfect to teach children how to add a series of numbers with regrouping. I have AC do all the adding for all of us. It's great practice and is a good confidence builder for her. I think it's really going to help. Hopefully, we can start our Singapore Math curriculum again soon.

Starry, Starry Night

2010-01-13T11:11:00.001-08:00

Last week, I took the munchkins on a last minute field trip to the Philbrook Museum of Art. While we were there, we noticed a painting by Van Gogh that we had not previously seen. We have been since it was added to the collection, but somehow we missed it. I don't know how you can miss a Van Gogh, but we did. Seeing the painting piqued the kids' interest in Van Gogh, so we decided to make him the next artist we study. (This brings our total of artists studied this year to two. My intentions were good, but it takes longer to explain long division than I had planned.)

I picked up some great books on Van Gogh at the library. Vincent's Colors is our favorite. It is perfect for picture study.

Vincent Van Gogh Gallery is an incredible online resource. We also enjoyed watching this slideshow of many of Van Gogh's paintings set to the music of Starry, Starry Night by Don McLean. I've always loved the song, but somehow it seems even more sad when I listen to it while seeing those paintings. Here is a great explanation of the lyrics.

Homeschooled Kids Are Weird!

2010-01-07T14:43:00.000-08:00

Today marks the fifth time in the short life of this blog that someone has arrived here by doing a Google search with some variation of the words in this blog title. (A while back I had a post titled My Weird, Unsocialized Homeschool Kids, and it is showing up in Google searches that include those words.) I can't help but wonder what the motive was that drove those folks to perform that search. Was it someone who really thinks homeschooled kids are weird and is looking for articles to back him up? Or is it some parent who wants to homeschool her kids but is afraid that homeschooling her kids will make them weird and is looking for evidence to the contrary? Whatever, I find it mildly amusing.

For the record, my homeschooled kids are weird, but it has nothing to do with the fact that they are homeschooled. My kids who attend public school are weird, too. As evidence, I'd like to share a photo of a gingerbread house my public school kids decorated together.

For those math challenged people out there (me!), that is Absolute 7 in gum drops. Don't ask me why. All I know is that the boys thought it was pretty funny (because they're weird!)

Nope, my kids' weirdness has nothing to do with schooling. It's all in the genes, Baby! I come from a long line of freaks. Just ask my husband. We take pride in our "weirdness".

For future Googlers who end up here by accident, please read this helpful article to determine whether or not your child is showing signs of weirdness. Early intervention is key.

Handicrafts

2010-01-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

While I don't strictly follow the Charlotte Mason model, I do like to incorporate many aspects of the CM style into our week. One aspect of CM that I particularly like is the teaching of handicrafts. As I am somewhat handicraft-challenged, I have not jumped right into this endeavor. My intentions have been good, but I just haven't taken on the challenge yet.

In an effort to make this semester a little less ~~dull~~ school-y, I am trying to shake things up a bit. To that end, I decided that there was no better day than today to start handicrafts.

About a month ago (when I first intended to start handicrafts), I purchased some small cross-stitch kits at Hobby Lobby. We dug those out today and went to it. We didn't get very far, but we did, at least, get started.

Do you know how many times a child can drop a needle while cross-stitching? More times than she can drop a pencil while doing math.

The Lost Art Of The Thank You Note

2010-01-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

My mom is a GRITS girl. If there's one thing the child of a Girl Raised In The South knows, it's the importance of a thoughtfully written thank you note (preferably written on monogrammed stationery). However, unlike my mother (and much to her dismay, I'm certain), I have never really taken the time to pass along to my children how important it is to handwrite (not send via email) a thank you note for a gift received or for any other act of kindness. Sure, over the years I've had the children send a thank you note now and then for various things, but I have not been consistent about it. I decided that since I have my younger children with me all day now, there is no excuse for not teaching them when and how to write a proper thank you note.

Instead of copywork this week, we are writing thank you notes for Christmas gifts. In addition to learning basic etiquette, writing the notes provides opportunities to learn how to address an envelope and to practice handwriting, grammar and a little creative writing.

Since Thing 4 is still learning to write neatly, we use penmanship paper for her notes. I also let her use the kind of paper that has space for drawing because she likes to include a little art with her notes.

Surprisingly, the children have really enjoyed doing this.

My Inspiration For The New Semester

2010-01-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

"Learning that begins in freedom, that is guided by curiosity and that is conducted without a need for external rewards and punishments gives children an understanding that life is learning." Linda Dobson from The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas