week 2 - what's working, what's not

I know, I know, it's only week two... but sometimes things either really click or they don't.

First up... one that's working....

Evan Moor's Daily Paragraph Editing

My I Spy loving son thinks this is the coolest thing.... a grammar I Spy! He has declared it his favorite thing (after math, of course). This makes me happy because we struggled with finding a language arts program that engaged him. This is not a language arts program, but it makes it possible to skim through some of the dry repetition of our grammar program because of all of the practice he's getting here. I got the regular ebook (not the enhanced one) from CurrClick and I love being able to print my own copies as I need them instead of having to actually make copies.

The one that's not...
Sequential Spelling Book 1

Okay... that's unfair to say. It is working, but I had counted on using it for both kids at the same time and that's not going to happen. Let's start with Alex... he enjoys it, so much more than any other spelling program we've tried. He "gets" the patterns they use and is improving his spelling. Clara on the other hand, is no longer using the program. I will try again in a few months so they are not on the same word list. When will I ever learn that it is not a good idea (no matter how appealing it seems) to have both of my kids using the same book at the same place at the same time? Clara struggled to see the patterns, which was made worse by the fact that they came easily to Alex. Just because the grade range encompasses both kids, I should learn to keep them as separate as possible. I'm hoping after a few months of learning, coupled with doing spelling separate from Alex will help her enjoy this program because I, personally, am really liking it.

We have some other things that are going over well... but I'm going to give them another week before I blog about them... don't want to jinx anything yet! :-)

cyberchase (for real) :-)

My kids used to watch Cyberchase on PBSKids years ago... long before any of the math concepts would make any sense to them whatsoever. It was just that when they were toddlers, there wasn't much toddler appropriate viewing available during the time I was cooking dinner... other than PBSKids.

I had sort of forgotten all about the show until a friend of mine reminded me about it. So, I set the DVR to record a few episodes for school.

Yesterday was a dark, dreary, rainy day so I thought it was a good day for Cyberchase. After lunch, the kids curled up on the couch to watch an episode of Cyberchase. This particular episode was called "Totally Rad". While they were watching I found the Lesson Plan online and printed it. I looked it over and started getting the materials together. For this particular one you just needed their activity sheet and some toothpicks (I cut mine in half). Well... I couldn't find the activity sheet anywhere on their site (it's probably there, I just couldn't find it), so I quickly made one myself. It was just supposed to be a grid of one inch squares (according to their instructions, but I made mine 1.25" squares to better fit our toothpick halves). I used the handy-dandy free graph paper generator I found online a while back.

After the show, I turned them loose with the toothpicks and graph paper to see how many different rectangles they could make using all twelve toothpick pieces....

After they had made their three rectangles, Alex multiplied to find the area of each rectangle, Clara counted the squares. It was a cool way to show them that even though the perimeter stayed the same, the area can change.

Finally, since we had a little bit of time to kill before we had to leave for gymnastics, the kids played the game online that related to this lesson on perimeter and area (it was linked in the lesson plan).

It was a good little activity for a rainy day!

I *heart* chicago

... and I especially love homeschooling in the city.

I mean, honestly, they make it so easy here to give your kids this incredible education! Today we went with a friend and her daughters to the Harold Washington Library to see Dancing in the Library: Discover Bharata Natyam. The Chicago Public Libraries have all kinds of incredible free programs.

I really thought this was one was fantastic. It was meant as a lunch hour teaser for Nayta Dance Theatre's longer main production this weekend. This made it the perfect length for kids. Before each dance, a synopsis story was told along with an explanation of some of the movements. The dances and costumes were mesmerizing. The kids were completely enthralled!

Here's one of the photos I took...

After the performance, there was a question and answer period. I learned so much today!

Like I said before, I love homeschooling here in the city :-)

first day of school...

and a little impromptu art appreciation! :-)

Here are my kiddos on the front steps on the first day of school...
Do you like how they match? Clara had decided the night before what she was going to wear for the first day (which I'm not sure I get since we homeschool). Alex's decision was made when this shirt fell off the hanger while he was looking for a shirt to wear... it was either wear it or hang it back up.

Things went rather well today. We didn't start back with everything but enough. It takes a while the get the kinks worked out of our schedule, so adding a few things at a time works out well. My biggest "kink" right now is Clara. She just doesn't have as much to do as Alex does. Which should be fine... but it isn't. She insists on sitting at the table with us as Alex works asking over and over what she should do next. I've got a couple workbooks coming for her so that should help. I just don't quite know what to do with her. We have computer games and other stuff... but she really wants to be at the table with us doing work. Oh well... it's just the first day!

Something that worked out well today was recess. Our neighbors a couple houses down are doing the virtual charter school this year so we've decided to get the kids together for recess as often as we can. Today the kids just played out in the alley, riding bikes and such. I'm excited to work this into our regular routine.

This afternoon I took the kids to their last art class of the session (and sadly, the next session doesn't fit into our schedule). Imagine our surprise to see these in the gallery...

yes... they are postcards.... but there was more than that.... the actual paintings were there! Todd Parr's paintings are just so fun and colorful! Maybe we'll check out some books from the library and try our hand at painting some canvases. We might even try some of the book writing activities on his site (especially since Alex still claims to want to write children's books someday).

Okay... I'm sleepy!

'nite!

nature study

For part of our science next year (which is only a week and half away... yikes!), we will be doing nature study.

I found this book....
Handbook of Nature Study
while looking through the Ambleside Online book lists. However, I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to use the book until I found this blog... Handbook of Nature Study. My plan is to participate in the challenges that are listed there. I love the thought of getting us outside more. Not that we're not outside a lot... but outside, taking the time to observe the nature that is around us... even in the city. It's amazing how much can be found in such an urban environment. Right now, on one our potted plants on our back deck, we are watching caterpillars grow! We found the eggs on a leaf one day, watched them hatch and are now watching the caterpillars grow larger by the minute (or so it seems). The kids love checking on them multiple times a day (plus doing a head count to make sure we're not missing anyone!).

If I was questioning that a nature study would be something the kids would enjoy, I got my answer this weekend. We were at Crystal Mountain and while there, we went geocaching. The kids found such greater treasures than the caches as we trekked down trails and up the ski hills. They asked me to photograph some of their favorite finds.

The bark on this tree...
a bee on a thistle...
a monarch caterpillar...
and a frog in the creek...
Next week I'm going to the art supply store to buy sketch books for all of us to use as nature journals.

I really can't wait!

art 08/09

Okay... as you can probably tell by my previous posts, my "style" is changing a bit this year. I'm letting go of my previous "school at home" homeschooling method and going for a more "joy of learning" philosophy. Don't get me wrong, you can still love learning in a "school at home" scenario, but I'm finding the we, as a family, are really enjoying a more relaxed framework when it comes to school.

I used to think that I needed to schedule in artist studies. I went crazy trying to find the right curriculum and such. I never really found one that was right and I would beat myself up about it. But then I began to realize just how much my children had absorbed from our frequent trips to the Art Institute. They had developed relationships with the various pieces of art, and through these relationships, they had begun to seek out more information about the artist, the history of the piece, the style, etc. They had done all of this because they loved the piece and it brought them joy. It was so amazing to finally step back and realize what had happened. I'm pretty sure most of the curricula I was considering wouldn't have brought them the same delight as our trips to the Art Institute did.

So, instead of lesson plans and such for art appreciation, I bought these instead...
Can You Find It?
Alex LOVES I Spy books so I thought this could be fun for him.

The following books look like a lot of fun..... mysteries, spot the differences and great pieces of art! I think we'll really enjoy these...
Art Fraud Detective
The Great Art Scandal

In addition to these, we may continue with the art classes the kids are currently in. If not, we'll continue working our way through our Atelier Art program. We'll also continue visiting the Art Institute as well. I have some special art appreciation things lined up for Clara that I will post later in a separate post. Clara has her own special little plan for next year that I'm very excited about!

More later!

math for 08/09

Okay.... I'm a bit behind with posting my plans for next school year (which shockingly enough, starts in a month!). So, here's the plan for math...

Clara will be starting a formal math program again. I will use Math-U-See for both kids. Clara will be starting Alpha...
and Alex will be continuing on with Gamma (he's about halfway through it)....
For mental math, we will be using....
Ray's New Primary Arithmetic

For additional challenge problems, we will be using....
Primary Challenge Math

Whew... looks like lots of math, huh? Well, it doesn't stop there. I've become math obsessed ever since joining the Living Math yahoo group. I joined it after I purchased Julie's Primary, Cycle 1, Unit 1 lesson plan to go along with Story of the World Vol. 1 which we will be using for history.

I've been picking up a few books for this along the way. I just got this book...
Mathematicians are People, Too
It looks really interesting. It's on my bedside table to start reading... but I haven't started quite yet.

I also purchased...
The History of Counting

In addition to these, I have begun a quest to track down the now out of print books from the Young Math series (thanks Tracy... lol). I received a few from used book sellers lately.

Roman Numerals
Spirals
Mathematical Games for One or Two
Graph Games

So far I have read them all except the Mathematical Games book. The explanations in them are wonderful. I can't wait until the other ones I've ordered arrive.

One last thing (okay.... there will never be a "last thing" with my seemingly unending quest to acquire math materials, but we'll go with it for the purpose of this post)... for my construction loving son, I got this...
K'nex Education: Elementary Math and Geometry Kit

I know, I know... like I said earlier... lots of math... but the plan is to incorporate it more into our daily life instead of always being a stand alone subject.

I promise not to wait another month before posting again! :-)

*** Edited to Add Another Book I Forgot ***

The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat
Seems like a very cool math story book... the kids are pretty excited about it. They're very intrigued by the "mathematical cat".

Okay... I think that's it! :-)