Tolmie State Park - June 16, 2011

We headed out to Tolmie State Park for low tide again today.  We went last month, too.   It was a totally different beach this time.  While there were hundreds of dead crabs covering the beach last month, there were only a few, comparatively, this month.  We saw plenty of sand dollars again, but not in the same numbers.   We did get to see a bunch of cool things we didn't see last time.

A small sunflower star

Cute green hairy shore crab

Great Blue Heron

Josh was freaking out when we first arrived because there were tiny crabs everywhere.  By the time we left, he was holding one.

Red Rock Crab - biggest one we saw today.

There was no keeping Madelynn out of the water.  I kept having to chase after her because she was getting too deep for my comfort.  I had to brave knowing there were crabs below the sand (could feel them moving sometimes) and tiny Pacific Staghorn Sculpin everywhere, not to mention all of the slimy Dwarf Eelgrass.  I don't do slimy well.

Maddie thought the sand dollars were cool.  We learned today that it is illegal to remove any sand dollars from a state park.

A moon snail.  Mika would have loved to have this shell had it not been occupied.  She's been interested in conchology ever since we read about it in our science textbook this year.  He put him back into the water so he wouldn't suffocate.

While this looks and feels like discarded rubber, it isn't.  It's actually a moon snail egg case.  It is made of eggs sandwiched between layers of mucus that is coated with sand.  Cool, huh?

This poor little fish had a hard day.  It's a Pacific Staghorn Scuplin.  It somehow swam into a child's loose water shoe.  The poor girl freaked out because the sharp gills poked her; she thought a crab was biting her. 

This cutie is a Red Rock Crab.  Obviously, Sam isn't afraid of them.

Maddie and Sam joined some kids digging and building in the sand.  Maddie apparently didn't need the top half of her swimsuit anymore.

This sea star was pretty cool.  You can see how it lost a ray and is now growing it back.

We had a great visit to Tolmie State Park with some homechool friends.  We think we timed our visit perfectly because as we were walking back towards dry ground to eat lunch, this arrived...

A large school group.

Tolmie State Park

Last month, we missed the lowest tide day due to scheduling conflicts.  We've been waiting a whole month to get over there.  We wanted to go so much, in fact, that we decided we would postpone finishing Mikaela's assessment testing if she wasn't done in time.  Fortunately, she was done in plenty of time.  Unfortunately, Madelynn started throwing up this morning, though not a lot and she wasn't acting sick other wise.  We figured we wouldn't be exposing other people out on the beach.  So, we went for a little while.

It was definitely worth the trip.  The kids were so thrilled that they want me to buy the new annual pass so we can continue going once the state's new fees begin on July 1st ($10 per trip or $30 annual pass per car).

Here are the highlights from our hour long visit:

There was a great blue heron standing just past the water's edge until a dog tried to get him.  The heron flew away with the dog barreling after him down the shore.  It was quite humorous.  The heron came back though.

Sam recognized the clam holes in the sand and tried to dig one up.  This far from the high shore line and without any tools made a futile effort.

There were hundreds of dead crabs on the shore.  This one was about the side of the ones you get on your plate at a seafood restaurant.  Sam explained to the rest of us that it was a female crab, pointing out the tell-tale abdomen size.

Despite not feeling well, Maddie had a ball.  She picked up and inspected this dead sand dollar.  There were hundreds, if not thousands, of them on the shore.

Mikaela was thrilled with her find of part of a moon shell.  We just learned about chonchology in our science textbook, which is why she was able to identify the type of shell she found.  She's begging us to help her make a beachcombing scoop for finding shells (the real ones are quite expensive) and says she wants to move to Florida because they have awesome shells there.

Mt. Rainier was beautiful in the distance.  If we ever move away, it will be weird not having a volcano on the horizon.

Sam just happened to notice a disturbance in the sand.  Digging around, he found an alive and quite feisty little crab.  It even pinched him a little.

Mikaela found this baby wolf eel on the sand.  They are pretty harmless until they get bigger.  Bigger wolf eels can give a painful, though otherwise harmless, bite.  They are also, apparently, yummy to eat.

What part of "stay out of the water" didn't they understand?

Sam picked up a handful of living sand dollars.

Maddie started going downhill so we had to leave pretty quickly, but we sure got a lot in in just an hour.  It was a perfect little field trip to go with our swimming creatures science studies.  We'll be back for more exploration another time.  

How many hours do you homeschool?

I recently asked this question on an active forum, only I specifically asked for grades 4 through 6, the same grades my kids are in.  I get occasional comments that I expect a lot from my kids, and I was just wondering what was normal.  Perhaps I do ask too much of them.

For grades 4 through 6, here are the results of that poll:

10 or fewer hours: 3
11-13 hours: 2
14-16 hours: 8
17-19 hours: 8
20-22 hours: 13
23-25 hours: 8
26-28 hours: 5
29-31 hours: 3
32-34 hours: 3
35 or more hours: 1

Most people who commented in addition to answering the poll indicated that they did not include PE or other extracurricular activities in their count.


We're right in the middle; our typical school week averages 22 hours.  We aim to start at 9:00am and finish by 3:00pm.  Rarely, we will go to 3:30pm.  However, we take at least an hour off for lunch each day; sometimes it is an hour and a half before we resume school work.  On Wednesdays, we quit at 11am to eat an early lunch and get ready to leave for swim class.  Sometimes we'll do half an hour of school after swimming, but not always.  I also take time off for field trips, park days, errands, etc. whenever I want.  I'm just not that worried about it.  We always take summer off; however, we'll probably continue some school through the summer because we took most of October, November, and December off for moving and the holidays.

So, what do your weeks look like?

Mika's Doctor Who Fan Fiction

Mika wrote the following piece of fan fiction at the end of last year. I got her permission to post it for all of the Doctor Who fans out there.

 

Love has Sprung

Chapter 1

A tall, young man stepped into the sunlight. He breathed in the smell of the fresh air, sighing wistfully. He looked around thinking to himself. This was amazing. This was perfect. And it was all going to be destroyed.

Meanwhile, seventeen year old Ayla Whitman sat quietly in her apartment bedroom, and everything was safe and calm and beautiful, but really, everything was wrong and broken.

The man sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets, walking slowly down the dirt road. He looked up at the birds, the people, the animals. He was disappointed that he couldn't save any of it. Normally he'd go about and have crazy ideas and think and experiment and save the world, but not this time. This time, he was powerless.

Ayla picked up her comb and ran it through her hair. She picked up the family picture on her desk and a sharp pang of sadness ran through her. The picture with her mother in it. The picture that reminded her of the parent she didn't have.

Her parents had gotten a divorce two years ago. They had had frequent arguments and practically wanted to kill each other. But Ayla still wasn't excited about the divorce. At all.

She put back down the picture and comb, running her fingers through her hair. She sighed and got up, opening the curtain. She stared out at the city, the cars and buildings. Ayla glanced at a truck driving away, and noticed a shadowy shape outside. She furrowed her eyebrows and opened the window. She leaned out, looking around for what caused the shadow. Nothing. Nothing was there, at all, besides a little bug. She shook her head, sure she was seeing things.

Ayla stopped abruptly. There was a clicking, snapping sound. She turned around slowly. The window was covered in a black, web-like substance. She stepped towards it, and touched it with her finger. The black webs climbed up her finger. She quickly pulled away, and the web dropped off. It slowly slunk to the floor, climbing up itself. Now not only was her window covered, and there was a globby pile of blackness on her floor.

She stumbled away from the pile, but it only came closer. Ayla stopped, breathing hard. What was this stuff? The clicking sound came again, and the black blob stood taller than herself. She stared up at the thing. It was completely black, void, and it had yellow, glowing cat-like eyes. It stretched out towards her. Ayla let out a scream and pulled open the door, running out into the hall. She finally reached the elevator and punched at the down button. She glanced behind her, gasping for breath. The web monster was crawling after her. She screamed again and jumped into the barely-open elevator, slamming the number one key.

Chapter 2

The man turned immediately when he heard a scream. His eyes darted around, looking for the cause of the scream. He looked at a window in an apartment just in time to see a black shadowy figure. His eyes widened and he took off at a run.

Ayla finally reached the first floor. She jumped out of the elevator and sped towards the doors, pushing them open. She stopped at the street, glancing back behind her. She looked up and saw the web-thing climbing down the building toward her.

Ayla tried to signal a taxi, looking behind her. The web monster was gone. Her breathing quickened and she looked around herself, stepping away from the street. It was gone, just gone like that. She calmed a little, and started back towards the apartment.

That's when she realized that it was still there.

Ayla's scream was stifled by an invisible something. She could feel something crawling up her arm, wrapping around her. But no one was helping her. There were people all around her, but no one seemed to notice that she was in distress.

Ayla struggled to get away from the thing that was now constricting around her. She was loosing her breath now. Ayla was starting to feel light-headed and dizzy. She closed her eyes and crumpled to a non-breathing heap on the ground.

Chapter 3

The man had now reached the road, full of London's crazy traffic. "Oh, come on," he said, in a very stressed way. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a long, metal object, and pressed on a button. It released a quiet buzzing sound and blue light. All the cars suddenly disappeared. He crossed the street, then buzzed his metal object again, and the cars were there again, just as they were first.

The man crouched down next to a girl laying flat on the ground, something black and sticky wrapped around her. He took out a pair of 3D glasses and put them on, studying the thing.

Ayla moaned and blinked open her eyes. A man was wearing glasses and looking at the black thing. "Uh, hello! Put those things down and help me!"

The man raised his eyebrows, but did as she asked. He took the metal buzzer and shot the light out at the black thing. It immediately recoiled and squirmed into a small pile of black goop.

"What was that?" Ayla asked once she had gotten her breath back.

"What was what?" the man asked. "Oh, this? Well," he said, looking at the metal object. "It's a screwdriver."

"Certainly doesn't look like one."

"That's because it's special. It's a sonic screwdriver."

Ayla began to think that this was all a bit strange, so she stood up and started back towards the apartment.

The man watched her turn back around to face him. "Thanks for helping me," the girl said. "Um...I'm Ayla, by the way."

The man smiled and waved at Ayla. "I'm the Doctor."

Chapter 4

Two weeks passed without ever seeing the ma- the Doctor, as he called himself.

Ayla sat in a restaurant with a few of her friends, Kaylee and Amber.

"I swear, he had this...device this....sonic screwdriver, he called it," Ayla said, describing the Doctor.

"Never seen it. Where was he from?"

"I don't know," Ayla shrugged. "The only difference I saw when he came out was this blue police box that came out of nowhere."

After dinner, Ayla said goodbye to her friends and started back home. She climbed into her silver car and turned the keys, backing out into the parking lot. She drove out of the lot and onto the road, headed to the hotel where she was staying. She had been kicked out of the apartment while the building was remodeled.

Ayla turned the car around and parked in the hotel lot. She climbed out of the car and locked it. She sighed and pushed through the glass swing doors and climbed inside the elevator. She pushed the three button and leaned against the walls.

Upon arriving at on the third floor, the elevator opened. Ayla made her way out of the elevator as people pushed past her. The elevator chimed and made it's way back down.

Ayla turned to see a familiar blue box. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked down the hall. She shrugged, not seeing anyone, and walked down the hall the opposite way. She turned the corner and started towards her room. She unlocked the door with her key card and pushed open the door.

The Doctor.

He was rummaging through her suitcase. Drawers of her stuff were pulled out and disorganized and clothes were everywhere.

"What are you doing here?" Ayla asked angrily. The Doctor didn't even look at her. He just kept searching her stuff.

"What are you doing in my room?!" Ayla almost shouted.

"You have something. Something's hidden in here that's amazingly important and could destroy the earth if I don't find it so it might be a good idea to shut up."

Ayla huffed and raised her eyebrows. "And what do you suppose I could have that would be capable of doing that? And you do not talk to me like that!"

The Doctor stood up and walked over to her. She took a step back. He took a step forward and towered over her. She swallowed.

The Doctor looked down at her. "I don't know. But what I do know is that it's here. And if I don't find it in exactly one minute and forty-three seconds it will explode and kill the whole earth."

Recent Art

We've finally gotten back to doing art on a regular basis again.  We use projects from Art Projects for Kids and Draw Squad lessons for art.  I love both resources so I'll continue to use them both next year.

Two weeks ago, we did a lovely spring flowers watercolor.  Last week, we did a cool Lois Mailou Jones mask drawing.

From left to right: Mika's flowers, Mika's mask, and my flowers.

Sam's flowers, Sam's mask, and Josh's flowers.

Josh's drawing of his family, Maddie's watercolor painting, and my mask.

I also took the spring flowers watercolor and made a card out of it:

the card

inside of the card

the envelope

Activities for Josh

Juggling the needs of four kids is proving to be difficult.  The older kids need their schoolwork planned, lessons given, and work graded.  I often fall behind on the latter.  That can be bad when I don't catch that they've been doing something wrong for weeks.  Josh needs attention and lots of active play.  But how do you get outside when you have to do school with the older kids and it's cold and rainy all the time.  Sure you can go outside anyway, but Josh is prone to getting painfully cold even when bundled up more than the rest of us.  Maddie is pretty easy unless she's demanding to be nursed.  Sometimes she won't accept any offer of food or drink, instead crying hysterically for a long time when I won't give in and let her nurse.  I've been trying to find solutions.  Here's a few things we did this morning.

First, I sent him outside in the backyard since it wasn't raining.  Per one suggestion, I gave him a large container and suggested his fill it with rocks (our small patio is bordered with a rock border).  This is for deep muscle work.  He picked up a couple and quit.  Maddie was happy filling up our cooler with rocks; that's not where I wanted them, though.  I also created this with a few 4x4s that the owners left sitting outside.

I thought a balance beam type of thing would be fun.  It has three different levels.  It lasted about 5 minutes.

The owners also left behind this overgrown planter box.  It's about 8 feet by 8 feet square.  Based on suggestions, I thought I might turn it into a digging pit to replace our tiny plastic sandbox.  I started pulling the weeds and grass, as you can see.  I found VERY rocky soil, several rusty nails and screws, lots of worms, a few large larva of some kind, and rusty metal rods that the frame used to be screwed too.   I invited Josh to help weed, but he didn't want to get dirty.

Here's a close up of the dirt and one of those metal rods.  I tried to dig this one out but there are large rocks deep in the soil that I can't get past, and these things are pretty long; I know because I had one of them pulled out from another part of the yard.  It's going to be tough to get them out.

How would you deal with this space?  It's pretty loamy soil (I think that's the term), so the kids will get very dirty if they can bring themselves to play in it.  We'll have to find some play clothes; we don't have any to sacrifice right now.  I was thinking about dumping some sand in it to make it less muddy.  I'm not looking to turn it into a sandbox; that will be too expensive.  I'm also concerned about the nails and screws.  The kids are not inoculated against tetanus so, I guess, we'll have to consider that if they want to play there in case they step on a nail or something.

Finally, we did some "school"...

Structured academic activities are easiest for me; it's how I think.   I started working through the lessons of MEP Reception, a UK math program online, with him yesterday.  Today's lesson asked him to draw his family.  The middle person is Daddy; the other bigger person is me; directly below Daddy is Sam; directly above me is Mika; and on the right side is Maddie on top and Josh on bottom.   He holds his crayon/pencil/marker with his whole arm hovering an inch or two above the table and refuses to rest his arm on the table as I have tried modeling.  His fine motor skills seem way behind to me, but I don't really  know what is typical for this age.  Is this typical for a four year old?

After math, I did lesson 2 from the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading.  I checked it out of the library so I'll have to buy a copy if I want to continue with it.  It only took about five minutes.  Then we read two books from the library.  He didn't want to read the second book, but I didn't give him a choice; I wanted to keep him busy and out of trouble.

It's finally lunch time.  I'm looking forward to nap time afterward.

Our New School Room Reorganized

When we moved out of our old house and into this rental, we lost our dedicated school room.  Our dining room now serves as both dining room and school room.  Unfortunately, this means space is limited.  After months of trying to make it work, I finally got fed up with being unable to keep it organized.  There was just too  much stuff.  I spent over three hours yesterday boxing things up, throwing things away, rearranging furniture, and reorganizing.  The results are so much nicer, and today as been a much more productive day.

This is an overview of the school room when looking in from the hall.

This is the view from end of the kitchen penisula.  It's currently very neat and organized.  I'm hoping it stays that way!

This bookshelf was re-purposed from the living room.  On top, I've placed our globe and paper trays which hold our various kinds of paper: college ruled filler paper, wide ruled filler paper, handwriting paper, printer paper, graph paper, and construction paper.  The first shelf holds our current curricula.  Mika's is to the left, Sam's is to the right, and in the middle are shared books and teacher's manuals.  They are separated by file folders.  The second shelf holds our few reference books, bibles, and bible studies.  The third shelf is our library books.  The last shelf holds our preschool books.

Next to the bookshelf are our office supply bins.  Most of them are divided with dollar-store baskets.  They hold things like pencils, pens, markers, erasers, calculators, rulers, tape...you get the point.  On top is my filing box with consumable curriculum and work completed and my basket of dry erase markers.  I've moved the Blokus game to a safer location.

This bookshelf use to hold our curricula, reference, library, and preschool books.  It now holds miscellaneous stuff like math manipulatives, a few games, our Judy clock, a couple of books too big for the other bookshelf, our file folder games, my laminator, my stationary, and a few other things.  It has plenty of room for everything, which will make it easier to put things away.

Next to it is our computer table.

Next to the computer table is another re-purposed shelf.  It used to hold our DVDs.  I got rid of all of the cases and placed them in sleeves in a box so they would take up less room.  It now holds items for the littles to play with.  The top basket holds their play dough toys; the homemade play dough is in the fridge. The second basket holds counting bears and a balance.  The third holds a few activity bags that I put together; I have more that I want to make.  The fourth basket has our pattern blocks; the pattern sheets for them are in a notebook in the bookcase. The bottom basket holds Madelynn's two wooden puzzles.

Finally, I have a string put up to display our most recent art projects.  These are fairly old; it's time to do another project.

In the back of the counter below these cabinets is a deep cabinet.  One shelf holds all of our nice art supplies, and the other holds all of our science supplies.

I have very limited wall space, but I'm hoping to put up a world map above the computer.  If there's room, I'd like a US map up on the wall again, too.

If you are wondering where everything else is, well, there's two answers.  The curricula that we aren't currently using got inventoried, boxed up, and put out in the garage.  There just isn't enough room to keep it out.  Books...well, we don't really own many.  Because of space issues, in the last house and this one, I got rid of most of our books.  We rely on the library for almost all of our reading material.  Very few books get kept, and those are in boxes in the garage for the day we have a house big enough for them to be out.

Tentative Plan for 7th Grade

Mikaela is entering 7th grade next year.  ~Faint~

This is my tentative plan for her next year.

Spelling
Webster's Spelling Method for the 21st Century

Grammar
Michael Clay Thompson's Magic Lens 1
Michael Clay Thompson's 4Practice 1

Vocabulary
Michael Clay Thompson's Word within the Word 1

Poetry
Michael Clay Thompson's Poetry and Humanity

Writing*
IEW's US History-Based Writing Lessons Vol. 1 (finish)
IEW's US History-Based Writing Lessons Vol. 2 (start)
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers

History
History Odyssey Modern Times Level 2


Science
Astronomy Unit using:
Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy
TOPScience Earth, Moon, and Sun #40
TOPScience Planets and Starts #41

Geology Unit using:
The Geology Book
TOPScience Rocks and Minerals #23

Meteorology Unit using:
National Weather Services Jet Stream Online School of Weather

Spanish
Rosetta Stone Level 2

Art
Draw Squad
Art Projects for Kids

Literature*
Around the World in 80 Days
Things Fall Apart
The Jungle Book
The Red Baron
The Adventure of Tom Sawyer
The Red Badge of Courage
Animal Farm
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
To Kill a Mockingbird
Chinese Cinderella
No Promises in the Wind

*Literature selections will be studied as part of her history curriculum.

Well, that didn't work

I blogged about my plans to change how we did school, giving my kids a chance to study on their own and test out of work before the due date so as to free up my time (to spend with the littles or my chores) and free up their time to do independent study.  Well, they ended up not doing some of their work at all.  Rather than study up and get things out of the way, they didn't study at all and did poorly on a couple of tests.  They spent time on more interesting projects but did them in such a way as to not produce good projects, nor did they learn the material.  It was not what I had in mind.

So, we're back onto Mommy-assigned work this week.  This time, I gave them an assignment list for each subject detailing what they were responsible for in each subject.  I even included things like "prepare for the test" to remind them to do that.  Some things require my participation, and that is noted; it is up to them to come ask me for that when they are ready.  They can do the work in any order they wish, but they must finish each thing on the list by Friday, or they have homework over the weekend.  If they finish everything early, they are free to spend their school time on independent learning.  Computers may only be used for approved learning/projects.

It will require me being more organized than I usually am, but if my time is freed up a bit, I'll have more time to do that organizing.  We'll see how it works. 

When You're Too Busy to do "School"

Moving got us very far behind schedule in our curriculum, and this week hasn't helped us catch up.

Tuesday:

We went on a field trip the the Capitol for Washington Online Learning Day at the Capitol.  Five hundred students, parents, and teachers showed up for the event.  The purpose was to make legislators aware of the importance of online schooling in Washington.  CVA arranged for tours of the Capitol; we showed up for the 9am tour.  After the tour, we visited our Senator's office and our Representatives' offices to provide them with some literature about online learning in Washington.  One of our representatives had a cancellation, and his aid was nice enough to offer us the time slot to meet with him.  While waiting for our meeting time, we completed a scavenger hunt that led us to the Secretary of State's office, the Governor's office, the galleries over both the House and Senate chambers, and the Temple of Justice.  We met a few other families; us moms talked while the kids played on the steps of the Temple of Justice.  A protest gathering had formed on the Capitol steps for Equality Day, making the kids nervous.  At 12:30pm, we met up with the group again for some awards presentations and group photo, but the kids and I slipped out early to meet our representative, which turned out to be rather unexpectedly interesting, to be vague.  After the meeting, we headed home to pick up the two littles and return to a nearby building for a pizza party and info session with CVA.  All-in-all, it turned out to be quite a day.

Wednesday:

Wednesday is our we-rarely-get-much-done day because we have swimming lessons.  We leave at noon for our 1pm lessons.  It takes about 40 minutes to drive there, and we like to allow for ample time to change.  Then they have their half hour lesson before drying, changing, and driving home.  Soon after getting home, Sam leaves for taekwondo back the way we came from swimming.

Today:

The Pacific Science Center was having a free science on wheels program at the Capitol so we headed back there again today, this time with the littles in two.  They had to exhibits: Blood and Guts and Mathfinders.  The kids found the activities to be interesting, and we spent two and half hours there before heading to the library.  When we got home, we ate lunch before we accomplished a little bit of school.

Saturday:

After Sam's taekwondo class, we are planning on going to Point Defiance Zoo so the big kids can do an observation project for their science unit on fish. 

While I know they are still learning, and it is a lot of fun for them, I have trouble getting past the nagging feeling that we are getting further and further behind in our actual curriculum.  While I enjoy doing this stuff, too, I'm glad not every week is like this.

Changes: Science

Science hasn't always gone well for us.  When I first started homeschooling, I was trying to do it completely on my own.  I wasn't aware of the existence of curricula other than Sonlight, and I didn't feel led to use it.  I didn't do a very good job, and now I find myself with a 6th grader who hasn't covered many topics often covered in the elementary years.  This year, Mikaela wanted to continue with our Zoology studies.  Sam asked for chemistry and physics this year and found that he didn't like the chemistry I chose (Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level 1) because it was too simplistic.  I'm afraid he'll feel the same way about the physics course which is the same curriculum and level as the chemistry.   My goal is to finish our curriculum this year in a more interesting manner and come up with a plan for the future.


For physics, I want to go through our curriculum quickly.  We could probably complete the reading, experiment, and lab in a day.  Then I want to use what we learned and apply it to a marble run.  Eventually, I would like to build a large marble run utilizing many of the topics we covered in the text and have that lead into creating a small Rube Goldberg machine (Sam asked to build one). 

For zoology, I want to use a project-based method of learning the material.   After I identify the key concepts in the chapter, I'll create a variety of project options for them to chose from.  I think they will enjoy this, and it will stretch them more than just reading the book would.  The only drawback is that if I have them do a project for each key concept, we'll never finish the book before summer.  I haven't figured out exactly how to handle this yet.

Here's an example of a project chart I created for our chapter on fish in Apologia's Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth day.  Ideally, we would work on one key concept at a time, and they would pick one of the three project choices listed for that concept.  They may also choose a different project provided they run their idea by me and get approval.

The project method described above is how I will probably approach Mikaela's science for the next two year's, as well.  My original plan was to use Apologia's General and Physical Science textbooks because they cover many of the gaps in her science education, thus far.  However, looking again at the curriculum, I think she'll hate it and I'm not thrilled with it either.  Instead, I think I'll design our own general science course comprised of units we've missed or wouldn't otherwise cover in later sciences, using creative projects to learn the material and document understanding. Unlike this year, we should have plenty of time to complete projects for each unit of study.

Changes: Spelling

I've never really been happy with any spelling program that I've tried.  We started with Spelling Workout and Spectrum Spelling but it was too repetitious.  The kids hated doing all of the activities when they already knew the nearly all of the words.  I gave that up and switched to Spelling Power because it promised that the kids would only have to learn the words they missed on pretests.  For Mika, it didn't work out all that well because, again, she knew most of the words.  Pretest after pretest, she would miss maybe one word out of 25, if any.  Sam missed more, but he didn't particularly care for the program.  We didn't like the activities listed for learning the words.  I put spelling on the back burner.

Then while he was reading aloud one day (we rarely do this), I noticed that Sam mispronounced a lot of words.  He has a tendency to just spit something out rather than sound out a word that wasn't immediately familiar.  Many times, it would be a word he knew but didn't immediately recognize it in writing.  Additionally, I noticed some articulation errors left over from his early days.  I adopted Webster's Speller because it breaks the words into syllables and specifically addresses pronunciation.

Because I'm working with articulation and pronunciation, I decided to start at the beginning. The kids hated it because that meant a lot of review, especially for Mikaela.

What I'm doing now is giving them a learning contract that lists which word list they are responsible for each week of the month.  They have to be able to pronounce the words correctly and spell them correctly.  At any time, they can test for mastery.  If they pass with a 90% or better, they are done with spelling for the week.   By doing it this way, they are making forward progress that I can report to our virtual academy but it doesn't take up a lot of their time, and they are free to learn their words using any method they wish.

In addition, I have provided a list of spelling activities that they can use while learning their words prior to testing.  Once we get to a level they are having a harder time with (and they will with Webster's Speller), I will utilize the activities as assignments to help them learn the words.  These activities* include things like:

-- Use all words to create as few sentences as possible.
-- Create a crossword puzzle on graph paper and include an answer key
-- Use pairs of unrelated words, put them together, and invent definitions for them

Sam looked at his list of words for this month and wanted to test immediately.  He tested out of spelling for the entire month.  That's okay because I'm still finding his level for both pronunciation and spelling.  Eventually, we will get to the harder words.  My hope is to go through all of Webster's Speller, which will take quite a while.  By the time he's finished the entire curriculum, he should be able to read and spell very well, and he will have a much better grasp on more advanced phonics like determining whether that c or g is soft or hard and whether that vowel is long or short based on the syllables and which syllables should be stressed.  In the meantime, they will hopefully be less bored.

* See Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom for more spelling activities

Changes...Again

I started this homeschooling venture because I felt Mikaela would be underserved by the public school system.  She was reading second grade chapter books easily before she was even scheduled to begin kindergarten.  In math, she was learning to add and subtract multiple digits with regrouping.  It just didn't seem right to send off to school to "learn" her letters and numbers.  The school told me "the best you can hope for" is that the teacher will monitor her for the first month and decide what to do from there.  That didn't give me a lot of hope, so I kept her home with me.

Despite the fact that I had accelerated her a year, it didn't take long for her to start complaining about school.  It was boring.  She already knew the work.  Did she have to do this?  Thinking I was doing the right thing, I forced her to continue with the work I had planned...because it is taught at a higher level as last year.  It wasn't until the end of second grade that an adaptive assessment test allowed me to see the problem.  She was YEARS ahead of the curriculum I was forcing her to complete.  No wonder she hated school.

Knowing that her complaints were valid, I scrapped all of my plans and started over with new curriculum the following year.  It helped some.  The complaining decreased but the joy of learning did not return.

Meanwhile, I thought I was doing well with Samuel because I had learned from my previous mistakes.  I allowed him to zoom through his math as fast as he wanted.  With some of the material that I was sure he already knew, I allowed him to prove mastery before starting the lesson.  He started our new "gifted" language arts curriculum a year earlier than planned.  He was the model student; he loved school.

But then he started getting angry and depressed.  His smile went away.  He treated his brother poorly.  He had all of these "issues" that we just couldn't figure out.  We thought it might be Asperger's and headed off to the doctor.  Our pediatrician didn't feel he had Asperger's but was willing to refer to testing if I could provide the name of a doctor I wanted him to see (because I wouldn't take him to the local specialist).  Our pediatrician that the problem was more anxiety and depression and prescribed Zoloft.

Samuel is doing much better with the Zoloft.  He's nice to his little brother.  He's not as sullen, quiet, and sad.  He smiles.  He is just so much happier.  Now, it's my job to find out why and how to help him be happy without the medication.

The math salon held a big piece of the puzzle.  I have never seem him so social and so happy.  Another mom had a similar thing happen with her son; he, too, was depressed.  She provided me with some things to think about.  Others gave me some suggested reading.  I've held a math salon of my own; it was a great success, and Sam is looking forward to both the Seattle one and our own future ones.

So, I'm revamping our schooling.  Compacting it.  Differentiating it.  Making it more meaningful, more challenging, more flexible, more independent.  The kids are liking the changes so far.  I'm crossing my fingers that it works. 

So far, I've changed our spelling, vocabulary, grammar, math, history, and science.  They like the new way of doing things.  My opinion: it's too early to say if it will work.  I'm still figuring out what I want to do with writing.  They want it changed, but I really want to work with the curriculum.  I need the structure it provides.  My plan for the next few days/weeks is to share what we are doing with each of these subjects in the event someone out there is struggling with the same issues.  Perhaps the way we are changing things around will be of use to others.

Math Salon

I skipped my usual Monday evening commitment to take Samuel to a Math Salon up in north Seattle.  It was a little over an hour away; I hoped it would be worth it.

What is a math salon?  It's an opportunity for people to come together and play math.  Games that use mathematical reasoning, logic, and/or strategy are often present.  There may also be puzzles, various manipulatives, and books.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  A few people.  Some math games.  Sure.  I hoped Samuel would get a chance to meet other kids who are accelerated at and enjoy math.  I hoped to talk with the leaders to get some ideas of how I can find resources for helping him...with math, with social needs, with emotional needs, etc.  Well, I got some of all of that.

Sam L. O. V. E. D. it!   The leader welcomed us through the door, briefly explained what was available, and off we went.  There were many games and puzzles spread throughout the room. Sam started out playing a strategy game called Hex with another 9 year old, a girl. I believe you can buy board game versions of this, but they played a paper version.  They then moved on to another critical thinking activity called Colorful Houses and Sidewalks in Tourist Town.  Meanwhile, I spoke to a couple of parents nearby.  After those games, Sam watched a mom and daughter play Blokus Triagon.  After watching, the kids played.  He lost horribly (the girl had a lot of practice, and Sam's never seen the game before), but he didn't mind because he was having fun.  Mom and I chatted.

This girl's mom was a wealth of information.  Unfortunately, I got her first name but not any other information.  She suggested a homeschooling author living in my area who might have on suggestions for opportunities in my area.  It just happens to be the same author who I  just read about earlier that day that will be speaking this summer at the convention.  She told me my description of Sam was just like her older son, and she told me about the testing they did and how she worked with the results.  It turned out he was depressed because he was bored, and she suggested the same could be true for Sam.  She explained how she worked with that knowledge, which lead to a lot of thought for me. 

Near the end of the salon, Sam had finished Blokus and moved over to a table with two moms, two kids, and the leader.  They were playing Set, a game we happen to have.  He just joined right in.  I've never seen Sam just join a group like that.  It was so wonderful.  It was like all of his social issues disappeared instantly, and he was very happy.

After it was all over, we jumped in the car and drive a whopping one block to Dicks.  Normally, I would have walked but we were parked on a narrow, crowded street, and I wanted to open up the parking space for others.  We walked over to a gas station to get cash since Dicks accepts cash only.  While ordering, I noticed a homeless man sitting on a nearby sidewalk with a sign.  We bought an extra meal and took it over to him.  After talking with him for a couple of minutes, we wished him a safe and warm night and headed home.*

Sam truly loved the math salon.  I found it definitely worth the trip up; there's a good chance we'll go up for it again (it's only once a month) if we can make it work with Scott's schedule.

More importantly, I'm working on getting one started up down here in Lacey/Olympia.  We're starting with a Pi Day Celebration in the afternoon on Monday, March 14th in Lacey.  If you are interested, let me know, and I'll email you the details (make sure you have your email set up in your google profile or provide an email in your comments).

If you are interested in our salon when we get it started up, let me know that, too.  I'll be putting together an email list to let anyone interested know when we have our first one.  It would be great if we could get a good turn out at our first meeting. 

*I'll be posting a book review soon that will explain why we bought this man a meal.  Look for it.  

Nisqually Wildlife Refuge - New Boardwalk Opening Day

I've been wanting to visit the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge for a long time now, but never made the time.  Now we live just 10 minutes away, and we finally stopped by.  While I was there, I bought an annual pass because I knew we would be coming back often.  I figured I would bring the kids at least once a month just so we could observe the changes in the seasons. Sam and I also decided that the refuge would make a great location for Saturday morning walks.

During one of our recent visits, we found out that they were opening a new boardwalk on February 1st (today).  I knew we wouldn't be able to attend the opening, which was at noon; there was just no way I was going to get Josh to walk a minimum of 2 miles, nor could I carry Madelynn that far.  And that only covered walking to the beginning of the boardwalk and back, let alone walking the boardwalk, too, which would add another 2 miles round trip.

So, Scott worked his schedule so that he could be home early enough that Sam and I could go a bit later in the afternoon.  I didn't tell Sam until it was time to leave.  He agreed that it was a good surprise, though.  We had a nice walk together and had a few lucky sightings.

 

I took this picture as we walked along the dike towards the boardwalk.  It's quite dead now in the middle of winter.  I can't wait to see how the area changes as spring comes.  The arrow points to our destination, the end of the boardwalk.  Once we reached that point, we'd be half down with our walk...time to turn around and come back.  (Click on the photos to bring up a larger version.)

I took this picture from the dike as well.  I'm pretty sure it's a hawk, but we were so far away it was difficult to tell for sure.  (Sorry for the poor photo quality; my camera is just a cheap little point and click.)

This photo was taken from the beginning of the boardwalk.  It wanders out across the estuary.  It was near high tide, which means the water was a whopping foot to foot and half deep under the boardwalk.

I know you can't really see anything in this photo, but the white speck is a great egret, which is not common in this area.  A refuge volunteer told us that the last time a great egret was seen at the refuge was seven years ago.  This one is wintering here and will be gone in March.  If you look just a big to the left, you'll see a grayish speck which is a great blue heron.

This photo was taken to the left front side of the end of the boardwalk.  To the right front, you can make out the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

This is looking east from the end of the boardwalk.  Rainier looks so small from here.

Look close.  A bit to the right of center is a great blue heron.  He looked to be headless because he had his head tucked down while he slept.  To the right a bit was another line of land covered in ducks.

We found out that not all of the ducks out on the water are mallard ducks.  This one is a northern shoveler.  We saw American widgeons the last time we visited.  There was another bird on the water today, but I don't know what it was.  I overheard someone say cormorant, but I haven't been able to verify that and they didn't look as big as the ones I'm finding online.

Almost all the way back to the visitor center, we spotted a juvenile bald eagle at the top of this tree.  We were pretty sure it was a bald eagle and were able to verify it by viewing it through a telescope mounted at the visitor's center.

We also saw definite beaver activity.  They've got a good chunk of these trees gnawed through.

Finally, there's the ubiquitous Canadian geese.  There's hundreds of them here.

Like I said, it was a nice walk with lots to see.  We can't wait to see what spring brings to the refuge!