Ramblings...

We have entered our third week of schooling and things are chugging along fairly well. Last week was rather rough with some resistance. Our first week went well, but our second week there was the longing for non-productive days spent playing video games and watching movies. After a few discussions on why we do our schooling, the importance of doing our best, and the rewards that come from completing our work *for instance getting to enjoy video games and movies*, T.B.M agreed to try their best every day.

So on Tuesday we started in on our work, catching up on the assignments we fell behind on while they were on “strike” last week. While they were hard at work General Disarray stated that he would just do his work when it was assigned instead of complaining, because one page of work is far more enjoyable than three, since he would still have to finish his work at some point in time.

I think it was a great lesson for them to learn, that we can either tackle our work when we need to or we can put it off increasing our work load and decreasing the fun. It was also a great reminder for myself, there are plenty of times I put things off until the following day, when I could easily conquer those things in the moment.

Aside from our little epiphany I have also decided to add more literature to our curriculum. My goal is to have General Disarray read at least one chapter book a week and Professor Chaos to “read” at least five books during the school week. We will start using the program Book Adventure which is similar to the Accelerated Reader program offered in many public schools. I wanted General Disarray and eventually Professor Chaos to answer questions about their readings to build up their comprehension skills, but I honestly didn’t want to have to sit down with every single book they will read and write these up myself.

The program is free and features a rather extensive book list, which will give the boys plenty of reading choices and ensure they can always find something they might enjoy reading.

Along with the Book Adventure program I’m also adding additional reading to our science studies. We still have our core materials, but I found a book series called Giants of Science at our local library and figured they would be a great addition to our science program.

Also to our history curriculum I’ve decided to add The Story of the World audiobook as a supplement. I found it at the library as well and figured it would be a nice little addition. We’ll play it during our hands-on activities since we use the workbook for this series anyways; I figured listening to it while we do the work wouldn’t hurt. If I don’t like it I can always take it right back to the library, libraries are wonderful! We also read The Magic Tree House series and use the research guides as well when a book ties into our history lessons.

We have loads in store this school year and so far, despite a few hiccups, I think we are doing fairly well. Homeschooling isn’t just a learning experience for the boys, it’s a learning experience for me as well.

They asked us to blow this up for them…after spending a while jumping they grabbed their Tag reading books and sat down to listen to stories. They stayed like that until dinner time.

A vast number of parents with preschoolers are familiar with starfall.com; it’s a wonderful free site that helps teach the all-important skill of reading. General Disarray loved using the site, and will still check it out every now and then even though he has mastered reading; it’s just that much fun. Professor Chaos has started to enjoy using it more lately. At first he wasn’t really sure about it, mostly from a navigation/mouse clicking standpoint. Now that he has all of that worked out he is always begging to log-on.

This morning while he was using it he clicked on the More.Starfall.com section. It only allows a limited selection of items if you don’t have a membership, but he greatly enjoyed what he was able to do, so I looked into the cost. It is 30$ a year, not a bad price I figured when you factor in all it allows you to do. More.Starfall.com features interactive number lessons, similar to the alphabet section on the free portion of their site, as well as fun math songs. Once a child has mastered their numbers they can then click on the addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division buttons and do lessons in those areas.

Aside from the math activities this portion of the site also features more reading/phonics activities, songs and rhyming, as well as a talking library! Which I think may be my favorite part of the site. The More.Starfall.com portion of starfall.com also works hand in hand with the Starfall Kindergarten Curriculum too. I had considered buying that curriculum this year but decided to make a custom curriculum for Professor Chaos like I did with General Disarray. It looks like a great program though, if you are looking for an interactive kindergarten curriculum check it out!

Starfall.com is not compensating me for sharing their product information; I just like to plug the things we use to help other families find useful materials and programs to use with their kiddos!

This is one of the many series I plan to start on this blog *and you will be able to find a click link to it located at the top of the blog with the other blog tabs*. This one will be bi-monthly and will feature books I’ve recently acquired that I think are worth sharing. I may go into why I purchased them or even give you a bit of info on what I’ve read so far, my thoughts, etc. Or I may just list them all with links to them on Amazon. It will really depend on how that particular day is going.

The last few weeks I’ve done a lot of book collecting even though I really shouldn’t have due to having to actually put it all away while unpacking, but I can’t turn away a possible good book. So here are my finds *well some of them*:

The 5$ Dinner Mom: Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook- The book is pretty good, easy recipes and plenty of helpful hints that I am making plans to incorporate into our lives. I’m going to order her first book, but a lot of the discount stuff really doesn’t apply because my places to shop are rather limited *and mostly Japanese*. It’s good info to have on hand whenever we are in the states though.

The Family Dinner- This is one of two books that I feel should be in everyone’s home! Yes it’s that good! Tons of information with the purpose of bringing families together. I love the meal time ideas, the recipes appear easy to follow and relatively quick to make.

His Needs, Her Needs- This is the second book that everyone should have! While the author is clearly Christian the book is practical, honest, and useful. It doesn’t spend time preaching at you or saying that *insert religious deity* needs to be at the forefront of your marriage. It’s written by someone who has years of experience counseling couples from various backgrounds and it shows. While geared toward heterosexual married couples, I think anyone can take away something from this regardless of their status.


Grow Up- Why did I grab this title? Because it says “how to raise an adult by being one yourself”. That struck a cord with me. How many times do we expect our children to act like adults while we are acting like children ourselves? We demand, whine, fuss, and fight and then wonder why our children do the same. I am more than willing to admit there have been times when I’ve been frustrated and muttered *yelled* the phrase “Oh just grow up!”, in truth though they aren’t the ones who need to do the growing up *figuratively speaking*. This book also has a chapter devoted just to different parent types (single, adoptive, gay/lesbian, etc.) and the issues faced in those situations and how to handle them.

And last but not least:

All About Japan- It’s a colorful, fun, information packed book on Japan that the boys and I have enjoyed making our way through.

So what's new in your bookcase?

I could say that I’m shocked, flabbergasted, or completely floored by the fact that very few US students are proficient in science. I would of course be lying if I said those things, and everyone who reads this blog would know that I was. Nor am I shocked that the worst results come from the south…all of my education was received in the south…in my Marine Science class we had a fish fry…that should just about sum up the situation down there.

One thing did really bug me about the article and it was the following quote:
“Yes, we have to be intentional about science education, and we have to ensure that all schools have working science labs, but you can't introduce a kid to a science lab and expect them to do well if they can't read the text”.~ Amy Wilkins

While I do agree that we can’t thrust children into a science lab without them being equipped to read the text *or more importantly equipped with the knowledge of the rules when inside a lab*, I don’t see why we think we can’t intentionally introduce scientific understanding until a lab is needed though.

Children are hungry for scientific information at an early age, and we can easily mesh science with reading. In fact using science themed reading material is a great way to teach reading comprehension, while also meeting a science objective. We do it all the time in our home, it is actually really easy, and requires very little effort to make happen.

You can’t even interpret scientific data if you don’t possess the skills to comprehend text, period. By exposing children to reading comprehension thorough scientific material, we are setting the ground work for reading comprehension in a lab based setting later on. So why then are we treating science and reading like two issues that can’t be solved together, when they so clearly can be?

Yes reading is important, reading is the gateway to all knowledge. Once you possess the ability to read you can learn anything and everything you want. Science and Technology as well are important, they are what allows us to move forward and thrive on this planet. Without them we would still be in the Dark Ages. Ignoring their importance sets the future generation and ultimately ourselves on a path that isn’t as promising. Reading and Math are just half of the educational battle. Full mastery means mastering all “core” subjects. Not just the two “big” ones.

So what does that have to do with homeschooling? Well it is the biggest reason we continue each day on this homeschooling journey…mastery! We don’t just want our children spouting off a few “need-to-know” facts in order to pass a test. We want them to know the material to the point that a test is almost pointless. If we spent half the time we use testing children, on actually instructing them to the point where they really KNOW the material, these test wouldn’t be needed.

A lot of our “tests” are oral, I prefer knowing TBM can articulate back to me what they know. Instead of just being able to color in the right bubble on some sheet. Why? Because life isn’t a sit down test. We have to be able to voice our knowledge in a way that the world can understand us. We don’t walk around filling out bubble sheets when asked about our knowledge, we have to express it through papers, speeches, or in everyday conversations.

I think the current state of education in America is shameful, I won’t even pretend that I think otherwise. It doesn’t promote acquisition and retention of knowledge. Which is why we have made the decision that we have. As mentioned before we want our children to master the things that are getting pushed to the side or cut all together *history, science, technology, physical education, sexual education, and the arts*, not just reading and math. We feel well-rounded individuals emerge when they have a well-rounded education.

This idea of mastery over test taking seems foreign to people who question us, but all I need to do is take a look at the data to see that we are truly headed in the right direction. Hopefully one day the American school system will hop on board, drop the “standardized” testing, and work to achieve across the board subject mastery.

Until that day *oh who am I kidding…until TBM reach college age* we are educating at home. Don’t like our educational choice? Well you can go Google national stats for math, reading, writing, science, and history, and then come question me about our choices. Or not. The choice is yours, just like the choice in how our children are educated is ours.

To the homeschooling skeptics I present to you our nation’s report card. Enjoy.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink of it deeply, or taste it not, for shallow thoughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking deeply sobers us again."~Alexander Pope

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is coming up so I’ve put together a mini lesson for us. We won’t just be focusing on MLK Jr., but on equality as a whole. On our learning board we have the word equality for our weekly vocabulary word, that will extend into next week as well. We also have a picture of MLK Jr. next to our vocabulary word, and the dates of his birth and death.

I found a printable activity book on Enchanted Learning that General Disarray will use, as well as some coloring sheets from various websites that both of TBM will use. For an art activity we will cut into my insanely large stack of magazines and create “Unity Collages”. I'll post pictures of them when we finish them.

Our reading books will encompass the bulk of our learning, since I’m looking to these as a way of prompting discussions and maybe a few journal entries.

Our book list is as follows *we own all of these, but you may be able to locate them at your local library, and if they don’t have them you can always request them*:

My First Biography: Martin Luther King, Jr. by Marion Dane Bauer

Our People by Angela Shelf Medearis

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry With a Beat (includes audio CD) edited by Nikki Giovanni

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters by Barack Obama

In My Heart by Molly Bang

America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle by David A. Adler

Free To Be You and Me (includes audio CD) by Marlo Thomas and Friends

At My House What Makes A Family Is Love by Dee Dee Walter-Goodspeed

Is There Really A Human Race by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell

I found the Hip Hop Speaks book a while back and even though I’m personally not a huge fan of hip hop it seemed intriguing so I scooped it up. I’m really glad I did because it will fit in perfectly with our equality lesson. I won’t be using the whole book now, although when we study poetry I will come back to it. For now I’ll be using the following pieces *with accompanying audio tracks* from the book:

from Ladies First by Queen Latifah
People Equal by James Berry
from Umi Says by Mos Def
Dream Variations by Langston Hughes
Me by Elizabeth Swados
Love Poem For My People by Pedro Pietri
From Love Is by Common
The Rosa Parks by Nikki Giovanni
We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes
If We Forget by Ja Jahannes
and lastly but surely not least from I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King Jr.

I think I’ll track down some other poems, and possibly some video clips as well, we will just see how the rest of this week as well as next week plays out.

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscious stupidity.”~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Ah yes another change. Currently Child #1 is on a 1st/2nd grade reading level *when he actually tries to read*. He doesn’t always like to do it, and I can’t say I blame him. The selection for kids in that reading range isn’t very exciting. Of course the only way to get to the exciting stuff, is to wade through the not so exciting stuff. Over the summer we did two reading programs, both of which he thoroughly enjoyed. Mainly because, he got prizes after reading X-number of books or for an X-amount of time. I figured why not extend that to our everyday learning.

Now I’m not a big fan of the paying kids for grades thing that is sweeping parts of the US. Since I don’t see school as a job *or something a child must be paid to do in order to excel*, instead I see schooling as something far more complex. Where good grades are not the goal, but actual acquisition of the knowledge is. Hence our homeschooling, I do however think a little treat, something fun to work for, can get a non-interested reader started on path of unlimited possibilities.

Now how would our reading log be done? We will use a simple reading log printable off the web like one of *these*, and after ever ten books Child #1 will receive a sticker or a small piece of candy. Nothing outrageous or outlandish, no big screen TV *yes some student got a big screen for making straight A’s*, or flashy new gizmo. Just a sticker or piece of candy. Not much to most kids now-a-days I’m sure, but to our kids little things like that are awesome.

Now would I use this same method with grades later on down the road? No. Why? Because, we don’t do “grades”. As I stated previously, I feel education is about learning the material not about making good grades. Right now whenever Child #1 does something and hands it to me to check I go through it and if I notice something wrong like a misspelled word on a spelling test, or the wrong answer on a math problem I hand it back to him. I then instruct him to look over the problem again and double check his work, or if it is a spelling word I will say it again, making sure he listens closely *the majority of his spelling work right is heavily phonics based* We also keep a Language Arts binder with spelling rules in it so they are close at hand when he needs them.

I know I will have to keep “formal” grades once the boys get in the higher grades or if we move to somewhere that requires that. My plan for that are to take the initial grade and then the grade for the corrected work. I think that would be a far more accurate indication of what they can do then just the initial grade alone. Either way though they won’t get any cash from us for good grades. Now stickers and a piece of candy, well sweets do make the day brighter.

Now to go stock up on our sticker collection!

Visit your local library and take a friend with you, it’s Library Card Sign-Up month!

Copyright(c) 2010 Rayven Holmes