The "school" year comes to a close

I breathe a deep sigh of relief as the year comes to a close for us.  It's been a tough one.  Between food allergies and trying to teach 2 kids, it's been interesting to say the least!  All of the focus on health, the cooking, and the lost sleep as a result of reactions was draining, and made it very difficult to stay on task this year.  But -- we did it!!!  


I had really thought we'd love it, but in reality, I will be very happy when someone purchases our copy of Winterpromise American Story 1 off the trading post online.   I wound up really disliking it.  Many of the books were way over Lilli's head to the point of tears of frustration (and I was the one reading them out loud, not her!) and the whole thing left a lot to be desired.  We wound up having a really great time studying American history this year despite it though!  We snuggled up in my bed every night and read oodles of books, reliving everything from Columbus' journey, to Squanto and the Pilgrims, to a great escape of a Native American girl from another tribe, to a family's journey the revolutionary war, and more.  We had a blast!  And being able to go relive so man of these stories in real life around here in VA made it all the better.  We can't wait to go to MA and see more!

Mickade did a TON of work this year in math.  We got a little behind our goals with all the moving last year, so he had some extra do this year, and he did great.  We started with Math Mammoth which, quite honestly, brought tears, so we moved to the ever-popular Singapore Math 3A.  He had a few holes so we backtracked to 2B, moving through it quickly, then back into 3A.  He did great with the work, but, quite honestly, the way this program teaches math was too spiral for him and we had tears on a daily basis.  I pushed and pushed him through it, when I finally decided this was NOT the vision I had for homeschooling.  Never once did I picture us screaming and crying every day when math came out, nor was it EVER this way before us.  I'm not sure why it took so long for the lightbulb to go off in my head, but it finally did and we made one more change, this time to Math-U-See.  It is mastery based, and different from other curricula in that it focuses on one thing each year.  I put Mickade in Gamma, which is multiplication, and he took off!  It has been absolutely fantastic for him.  He watches a dvd lesson, then does worksheets until he understands it. The program has a whole set of unit blocks that goes with it, and they are used to help the child quite literally see math.  He loves it (well, "loves" may be a strong word, but I can say we have not had fighting and tears since we switched.)  Because he had background in multiplication but the old program didn't really allow him to get mastery, we were able to go through most of the year's work quite quickly.  Out of 30 lessons, we are now on 24 I think, and he will finish it up over the summer.  The way it's set up is great, because there are 3 pages for each lesson that focus on the new material, then 3 more that include that plus systematic review of everything from the past. The system makes it easy to customize to each child, since we can do less of the worksheets on topics he gets quickly, and more on the ones he doesn't.  There is even a worksheet generator on the website if you need still more.  Long story short, he took his first standardized test since VA requires them, and though I don't have the results yet, he kicked butt in math. :)  A little hard work goes a long way!

Lillian did great this year.  We tend to keep things laid back in K and 1.  Lillian is a go-getter though, and even though I had started her with Rightstart Math, she had to have workbooks like Mickade, so she wound up completing Singapore Math 1A & most of 1B, all on her own.  Seriously.  I barely discussed and answer with her at all.  I've learned this year that she is very independent (well, I knew that, but not in regard to learning lol) and hardly wants me in the equation at all!  I'm making some curriculum changes for next year, even from what I used with Mickade at this age.  I still really like First Language Lessons, but I can tell already she is going to fight me all the way with too much mom-lead work.  Since I don't really like Singapore Math, Lillian will move on to Math Mammoth 2 in the fall, since it is an excellent program similar in rigor to Singapore but written to the student, so she can retain her independence and use me when needed!  That girl will argue something to death, and never admit she was wrong.  She "doesn't need" me to teach her.  If she makes a mistake, she finds a way to back out of it as if she knew the real answer, she just wrote that one for fun.  Ah, these will be interesting times with her! 

Summer is here though, and so is the fun!  Our neighborhood is jumping with new kids, they are out playing all the time, and they have a few weeks of camp starting tomorrow (read: mommy vacation time.)  We're going to spend most of our time hanging out and having fun this summer, but I'll be slipping in Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry, Pre-Level, over the summer.  They've been asking for chemistry and this actually looks FUN, so who am I to deny them?  I've never seen a chemistry book explain things to kids in such an amazing way, maybe my kids will have a chance at making it through college chemistry if they need it to achieve their dreams!

Jamestown Settlement

Jamestown Settlement is a wonderful place to go with your family.  Aside from a great indoor museum, they have recreated the Powhatan camp (where Pocahontas lived) and Jamestown...it literally brings history alive.  We have a blast there.  Homeschool week was our second time there, and everyone still loved it.  They had classes for the kids as well.  I'm going to include photos from both of our visits.  We read Pocohantas' biography, and this was like stepping into the story.  Magical!

Learning about Powhatan life

Map of the settlers' route to Jamestown

In a Powhatan home

scraping deer hide

grinding corn

playing native games

 

 

Trying on armor in the Jamestown settlement

learning about weapons

Mickade gets put to work!

Down below in one of the life-size ship models

Homeschool Week in the Colonial Triangle

The first week of March was full of fun for us!  We've been studying early American History this year, and had the opportunity to go to special programs and have discounted rates at Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Victory Center, and Colonial Williamsburg.  It was fantastic!  All of our reading literally came to life.

Colonial Williamsburg 

blacksmith

silversmith

A much needed break for Mom

At the wagon wheel maker's

'

The Millinery....clothing shop.

 

We got a behind the scenes tour of the horses and carts, called "Bits and Bridles."  The kids learned a little bit about the animals kept here, what types they breed, and got to see the carts up close and the horses in the stables (which was their favorite part.)  They have old breed working horses, and rare sheep and chickens.

 

Look at the size of that wheel!

The Barber....who actually makes wigs.  Mickade is checking out the different hair options (goat, horse, human....)

Enjoying a cup of drinking chocolate after a tour of the coffee shop

Enjoying some Colonial games

After missing several times, Lucy decided this game was best played up close.

Setting the table for Mr. Powell (Lucy boldly decided Mr Powell's seat was hers.)

I'd like to note that all the shops, etc in Williamsburg are actual working workshops.  The blacksmith makes the nails, etc that restore the buildings....the wagon wheels are used on real wagons...they make their own dresses at the millinery....the shoemaker makes the shoes they wear (and it take 8-12 hours per pair, mind you!)  It's an excellent experience and I highly recommend it!

First Day of School

Ah, the plans we make! Today was our first day of school. We were supposed to get started at 9am this morning. That was my goal. Of course, best laid plans and all, Lucy had her own ideas. She went to sleep all nice and sweet by 8pm last night, yes! Or so I thought. One of the disadvantages of our amazing new house is that I don't hear when she cries if we are watching TV. What's that you say? Use a monitor? Yes. I know. I have it right here on the counter. Or most of it. I'm too stubborn to buy a new one. At any rate, it should turn up. Somewhere. So, I didn't hear her fast enough and she was awake. Yes, my baby had now taken a 2 hour nap. At night. Awesomeness. After a Wonder Pets marathon, at 1am I told her I simply had to go to bed. We could watch in my room (and I could doze). After some convincing, she came up with me, settled, and we watched more Wonder Pets. She curled up in the rocker at one point to sleep, but didn't. Then asked me for a pillow. Then she made a bed on the floor. Then, finally, at about 3am (!!) she crawled into bed next to me. I slept til 8:45 (so no school at 9 lol) and she slept til...10:45!!!

We sat down to start around 11am, and it went pretty well. We are excited to study early American History, especially because we are living so close to the actual locations for our early history. In case anyone is interested, we will be studying the following this year:

Together:
American Story 1
La Clase Divertida Spanish
Song School Latin
Handwriting Without Tears Cursive

Lillian, first grade:
First Language Lessons 1
Handwriting Without Tears, print
All About Spelling
Rightstart Math B

Mickade, third grade:
First Language Lessons 3
All About Spelling
Math Mammoth 3
Writing With Ease 2

We also have an awesome homeschool coop we're going to start attending once a week called Renaissance School of the Arts for art, music, and other creative classes. It's going to be a great year!!!

I presented the kids with some Native American "crowns" to kick off the new school year. We will have a big focus on Native American history this year.





Rocking out with La Clase Divertida, as they act out and sing along learning los vocales in Espanol (the vowels in Spanish.)

Making Gum

Gum, natural gum, as you may know, comes from the sap of the chicle tree in the rainforest. It's a really cool process we learned all about. We read all about it here before we got started. It's really neat if you've never read about it, I highly recommend it! Anyway, we ordered a kit from Glee Gum and had a blast!!! We made peppermint and cherry (the peppermint was our favorite). The kids LOVED the process, and now we understand where gum comes from (though a lot of the gum we buy now is man-made). One of the ways we can help preserve the rainforests is by buying gum like Glee Gum, since the chicle tree only grows there.

Melting the chicle.

The powdered sugar to mix in the chicle

Mixing

Rolling it flat

The finished product!! Delicious!

Workboxes!

I thought it would be fun to join the craze and try out workboxes for homeschooling. It's an interesting concept designed by a homeschooling mom, where, ideally, you set up twelve or so clear shoebox-size containers on a little 3-tier shelf with an activity in each, so the kids can visually see their progress and you have everything all set and ready for the day. Sounds great to me, especially because time to sit down and do our stuff is hard to come by with the little one. So, we're giving it a go. I made my own version with large ziplocks instead of bins though for space reasons mostly, but also because I can see Lucy emptying every box as fast as I can fill it...which of course would be counterproductive!! One of the best parts is I have things all laid out and can use the fun things we never get around to because we are too busy just trying to get things done. For example, in addition to the 3 R's there is a bag with instructions for us all to take Bunny to the dog park, one to go play on the swings for 10 minutes, one to draw a picture of a rocket from a book, and one to work on his Lego Star Wars ship for 30 minutes. Fun, huh? I made 6 bags for Lilli since she doesn't really have much she has to to do yet, and hers include writing, cutting and gluing, painting, etc.

Homeschooling

On the schooling front...things are going quite well.

Books we've read:
The Boxcar Children
My Father's Dragon
Elmer & the Dragon
The Apple & the Arrow
Johnny Appleseed
The Hundred Dresses
James Herriot's Treasury for Children
Come Look With Me: Enjoying Art with Children

Mickade himself is reading on approximately a 4th grade level, but we still keep the selections he reads out loud on a second grade level (remember he's in "first grade") as recommended by our literature-based curriculum. The idea is to stimulate love of reading and fluency, instead of too much challenge and frustration...so he reads books to me like "Frog and Toad" and other stories.

We've made crayons. We took all our old crayons, unwrapped them, and designed our own crayons. I put them in the oven to melt them..the kids enjoyed the project. They came out quite nice!!!! One small caveat, however: do not do this in your stoneware, even with cupcake liners...the wax leaks through, forever ruining it. So while I did manage to save $3 on a box of crayons, I lost $30 for a muffin pan....oops!!! At least we ALL learned something....lol.


In October, we did a unit on presidential elections...it was fun. We made a lapbook of our work. Mickade was very interested in it all. He even went on nick.com (they had a program going for kids to vote) and researched all the candidates on his own. He knew how many children they had, where they were from, etc.....all from looking by himself. His researching skills are quite strong.


We use a program called RightStart Mathematics, and it rocks. It is actually FUN and makes math engaging...the true understanding coming from it is amazing. Mickade actually ASKS to do math and play the games in the program. He can add numbers in his head and extrapolate what he has learned and can apply it elsewhere. He recently kept score in his head for a nerf shooting match he, his dad, and grandfather had that included points of 5, 10, and 100. I included a couple of photos here of him using place value cards and base ten cards to build numbers and 'see' what they are made of, then do trading and eventually add quite large numbers.



For science....we use our backyard. :) Mickade is obsessed with sharks...he reads all about them, researches them online, finds videos....it's fantastic.

It's Not on the Test (or, one of the many reasons we homeschool)

Isn't No Child Left Behind great?