End of Week Five and We're Still Alive

When life give you pears, you make faces. Wait, that's not right. When life gives you pears, you eat a lot of pears. This is something we will be doing over the next few weeks, months, etc. One pear made this weird little face today. It's sticking out its tongue at you, or me as was the case.

Week Five. Not as good as week four, but we accomplishated anyway. Z completed the Write Guide Skill Sheets,  a nice freebie find. He also completed an argumentative paragraph. Now you have to understand Z. As much as he hates to write, he loves to talk. He has advanced reasoning skills, thinks formal logic is fun, and amazes me on a daily basis. So we wrapped writing, logic, and current events together and he produced a paragraph entitled, Netflix is Stupid. He met the parameters of the assignment, formatted correctly, and used several writing resources to check his work.

We also got to spend an afternoon with the Grandparents. We saw them last week as well for Z and my mother's birthday. Tigger was out of town that day and couldn't celebrate with us. Here's a few pictures from that day.

 Z with his new gaming mouse. It's pretty cool. 

 I adore this smile!

 Which you won't see when behind the new Darth Vader helmet. 

The Birthday People. Be Careful, if you get too close they hug you. 

This is their version of American Gothic. They're just silly, which is why I love them. 

Next week we're back at work, finishing our journey with Dante, continuing our journey through Middle Earth, and finding a little more courage each day. 

Four Weeks Down and Our Time with Tolkien

We've finished four weeks of school. It feels wonderful to say that. We've had a good year, our subjects are flowing smoothly, and we made it four weeks with only one minor delay for lingering illness.

We are spending time with Tolkien this year. We're working through Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings, which is a literature study. You can see the details at homescholar.org. So far we've finished five chapter of Lord of the Rings and finished the Tolkien biography by Humphrey Carpenter. We were both intrigued by the biography. As a yet unpublished writer, I found some great gems to hold onto, some details of a writer's life to work into my habits.

We're fans of Lord of the Rings, more in the movie sense at this point. We've watched the extended versions of all three movies. We have brought the Ring culture into our house with all the silly little asides from Ring lore. Z thinks someone should stand on the corner in a Gandalf costume holding a sign that bears YOU SHALL NOT PASS! I can't convince him that he'd have fun doing just that. In a way I'm glad we have the movies to refer back to, which isn't always the case when I read a book. I'm a visual person, we both are picturing the movie characters as I read. Yes, we are doing them as read-alouds, although he is joining in with the readings. We enjoy the sharing of moments, reading being one of them.

Although we are only five chapters into the books we've already referred back to the movies. Z and I are great movie critics (grin). Our observation so far is that Peter Jackson has condensed the movies, not changed them. I am excited to see where else our wanderings take us this year.

We've already touched on two very individual men, Tolkien and Leonardo daVinci. We studied daVinci's art and read a short biography on him as well. Z then wrote a report on da Vinci. Writing is one of the skills we are focusing on this year, so we walked through the report phases together. He did a wonderful job. He's also learning how to cite sources, which has me learning the new ways as well.

In math we spent the week working with prime factors. This required a lot of thought on his part, he did excellent. I stretched my brain this week as well. Yesterday he asked if you could actually hurt your brain by thinking too hard. This was in math class, of course, all of the the weird random comments come during math class.

Aside from that did I mention he is now taller than me? Just by a smidge, but he is. He turns fourteen next week. Next week is also our first week off break, planned to coincide with his birthday. Overall I am very impressed with how our year is proceeding. Our schedule is working wonderfully. We're only behind in one subject, logic, but that is because we're taking longer in each lesson and we skipped a few days when neither of us were feeling well.

I believe we are going to enjoy our journey this year, and for that I am most glad.

Writing Course: Day Ten and Wrap-up

Day ten was not all that productive, but it's all good. Maybe that's my motto for the week. Day ten started with massive insomnia on my part, not unusual. Insomnia has been a part of my life off and on for a few years. Some days are better than others.

Back to school. We did a few activities and I had a light day planned anyway. We worked on our Stuart Little narration and Z finished his paragraph exercise. We discussed a few other items on the agenda and called it a day. I grumbled through the rest of the day and took a nap.

Note to self: Do not schedule any intense studies for the same week as a time change.

Wrap-up: I'm still assessing where we are now. I plan on finishing Paragraph Writing Made Easy and Igniting your Writing while I finish reading through Bravewriter. I'm gathering, absorbing, and pondering all the information I gathered. I'm glad we took the time for this little experiment. I'm exhausted, Z worked hard, and tomorrow we return to our regular schedule.

We took the road less traveled for the last two weeks, we are dusty and dirty yet all the better for it.

Writing Course: Day Nine

Day Nine was an interesting diversion because of the cultural holiday. Yes, St. Patrick's Day. When you have Irish heritage and you're married to someone who has Irish heritage (and an Irish name to boot) you celebrate the day. "Cultural Studies" would be appropriate title.

Actually Tigger has been out of town and returned home in time to celebrate with us. We made it through our Stuart Little reading and part of  a Paragraph Writing Made Easy exercise. Then we went out to lunch. We're in a new town and discovering the town is part of our agenda, so lunch was our adventure for the day. Great little restaurant. Dh had a Reuben sandwich, his version of an Irish meal.

After that we attended our small towns small St. Patrick's Day parade. I think the crowd was bigger than the parade itself. It was quaint and I'm trying to talk the boys into doing our own float next year. They were not as excited about the idea as I was. We could be "The Classical homeschoolers of __________" we might be the only ones here. *grin*

Z is still working on Java. He did some of that yesterday. It was a short school day. However, as I said earlier in the week, next year we're taking off during the time change. We are still not acclimated...but that story will continue on day ten.

Writing Course: Day Eight

What does the future hold? The Magic 8 ball does not say. I can tell you about the present though. Today was good. Insomnia hit last night and I was up for over two hours in the middle of the night. We renamed our house Zombieland for today. Z was like one as well. We don't do time change well.

Today's study started with a practice of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. Today we rewrote any version, I love my child. We opted to do a Dirty Jobs version. We collaborated, here is our take:

                   Dirty Job Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a dirty job

Thou art more odorous and more horrendous

Rough winds do make me vomit upon the sea

And summer's lease hath all too much to rot

Sometimes too hot the toilet on the boat doth burn

And often is his nasal passages assailed

And every thing doth sometimes decompose

By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed

But thy eternal filth shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that smell thou owest

Nor shall Mike wanderest in the shade

When in eternal dirtiness thou growest

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see

So long live Dirty Job which gives life to thee. 

That counted as our work on adjectives for today. We then moved to Stuart Little and he did wonderful using complete and full sentences, YEA!!! Igniting your writing was working with adverbs. Those were a little more complex but we worked through it. 

The most interesting part of today was his free write. Five minutes, anything he wanted. He wrote Java code. :lol: After our science discussion yesterday he had spent part of the morning and break working on Java. So naturally it would show up in his free write. Not what I had expected, but things seldom are with this child. He continues to surprise me with his unique outlook. I look at him sometimes wishing I could peer into his thoughts. I wonder if he realizes how cool he really is? I tell him, I do, but I wonder if he's buying it yet. 

Homeschooling him is always an adventure. I've learned as much from him during this process. But children have a way of doing that, teaching us by simply being themselves. 

Writing Course: Day Seven

   

Day Seven was very revealing. We corrected a few small issues from his paragraph work yesterday. We took a writing break to talk about our art study of week. This week's picture was Tiger by Kawanabe Kyosai, it reminded Z of our cat. 

Next we moved to our read-aloud, Stuart Little. I mentioned WHY I picked this book in an earlier post. This book is just fun to read! E. B. White is a master of the written work and the quality sentences roll off the page. Z and I laughed at Stuart's adventure on the sailboat. I was engaged, he was engaged, it was a beautiful moment. All over a book. If you haven't read Stuart Little aloud to your children, you should. Even if  you children are older. The chapters are short and it would be a fun exercise to dissect the literary qualities of the book. You don't necessarily see those things if you read the book on your own as a younger child. 

We worked on adjectives in Igniting Your Writing and rewrote the example, mad lib style. Not exactly the way the assignment was supposed to go, but it was more fun. 

Next I had slated for Z to read a chapter from a text I had downloaded. It was a chapter on earthquakes and  would be relevant to current events. We've studied a little about them in the past, but he's watched so many science programs I knew the information might be redundant. Part of my goal was to see if he COULD read well from the computer screen and he was going to outline the piece. Halfway through he balked. He expressed with great passion an extreme desire NOT to read more about earthquakes. Writing is communication. His oral communication was clear. My heart skipped a beat. What about the entire course of earth science we have planned for next year? I gulped. 

His statement turned into a one hour and thirty minute discussion. We started at earthquakes, moved to Pangaea, a quick discussion on religions, cultures, racism, conspiracy theories (again! he brought it up), economics, nuclear energy, alternate energy, infrastructure, politics. At the politics I stopped and brought out Plato (which I've only skimmed one section of in my own reading). I read the editor's note "Plato sought a cure for the ills of society not in politics but in philosophy, and arrived at his fundamental and lasting conviction that those ills would never cease until philosophers became rulers or rulers philosophers." I gave my hearty agreement to that statement. 

After a few more diversions I asked about science for next year. I do all my planning before May so if he's changing his mind,I needed to know NOW. He did. We looked up all the areas of science. Since we will do chem, bio, and physics in high school (and we've already done those) he opted for Computer Science. We're a techie family so I agreed, knowing Tigger would be thrilled. Writing is communication. If nothing else he learned how to communication a desire for something different. 

Z was different by the end of our discussion. I had fulfilled a love language, I had listened, I had made his words important, even if they weren't ones written on a page. Plus anytime you can use Stuart Little and Plato in the same day, it's a good day. 

Writing Course: Day Six

Day six was a Monday. That summarizes the day nicely. The writing portion was good. I'm starting to see some of the information Z has absorbed coming out of his mouth. He wasn't even aware how he was using what he learned. Happy mommy time.

We started with Stuart Little. Today I continued with asking pointed questions to help him form his narrative. It went well. I also had him complete a copywork from a section of writing. Note: E.B. White is great to use for copywork.

He then practiced his Shakespeare sonnet. Friday is test day. We went through a few exercises talking about slang, cliches, and sexist language in formal writing.

He worked on paragraphs with Paragraph Writing Made Easy. He did these exercises on his own, as well as his science for the day.

He's almost finished with the first book in the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, Mister Monday. He found a series that truly appeals to him. I knew it would and I'm so excited to hear that he is excited to read the rest of the series. It's wacky and weird enough for us. It reminds me of Alice's Adventure in Wonderland in some respects, or a dream gone mad.

Our diversion into writing has been very beneficial. I can't wait to see how the rest of the way goes, and thankfully it won't be Monday anymore.

Mom's Five Minute Free Write

I've been reading through my Bravewriter today. One suggestion was a five minute freewrite for the teacher. My brain is frazzled today, the writing reflects that. For your reading enjoyment, my free write: 

I'm supposed to do a free write for five minutes. I'm staring at a blank page. I have a thousand ideas running through my head, but none of them have to do with writing. We have ants in the house. WE don't know how they are getting in, but they are very computer literate ants, both Z and I have found them near or IN! our computers. Yes there were three ants in my netbook this week. Yuck.

In a period of five minutes today the dog got into the trash and I spilled lemonade on the floor because someone didn't put the lid back on the what do you call it..pitcher, that's it. The lid was not on the pitcher.

My desk is a mess and that's pretty much the state of my mind right now too. I'm trying to do too much, as usual. I don't know what's for dinner, I'm sure someone will ask me soon. The cat is sick and I'm trying to not let him eat paper. I have hordes of it on my desk, which is a mess.

I cut Z's hair today. It's look decent, I hope he's okay with it. The trimmers we borrowed from mama and papa aren't as good as ours, but ours are in the storage, along with half of my life. I keep thinking I brought something and then I can't find it.

We had a good day yesterday. Spent time with mama and papa, saw wind farms, bought books. Yes, I adore books. Now I have a silly song in my head. Five minutes is up, thankfully. 

Writing Course: Day Four and Five

I'd like to say I waited to post simply so I could use my favorite driver's number, 45. Actually I got busy last night and didn't update. 45 is the number of Kyle Petty, one of the nicest men in Nascar. But this isn't about my obsession with Nascar is it? This is about writing.

Yesterday, day four, was interesting. Interesting is a word I used when I'm not sure how I feel. We ended up doing a partial day of school, but what we did was productive. We started Stuart Little as a read-aloud. Stuart Little, yes, he's way too old to NEED Stuart Little as a read-aloud, but it had a purpose. One, majority of my books are still in storage :toetap05:. Two, I had picked up this nice colored illustration copy at a thrift store not too long ago.

We read two chapters and he answered questions WWE style. I then read the narrative to him and we'll work on incorporating that into writing next week.

He also did his reading and then we had a fire drill. I am extremely heartbroken to hear the news out of Pennsylvania this week about the family that lost so many children in a house fire. I cried and immediately thought "I can't imagine".  Then I cried more as I realized that they probably can't imagine it quite yet either.

We had gone through a quick fire drill when we moved in December. However, this time we discussed more. I reiterated how he was supposed to exit the house. This is the first house where we've had two stories and his bedroom is the entire upstairs (yes, it is that cool. It's a dormer room.) We talked about what he was responsible for getting out of the house, himself alone. The pets ONLY if they are in the room with him.

I'm glad we covered it again. Teenage brain has fogged up some of the details we've drilled into him over the years. So PLEASE COVER FIRE SAFETY IN YOUR HOME THIS WEEKEND!!!!! and PLEASE DON'T FORGET THOSE TEENS!!!

What does this have to do with writing? Nothing, although we might do a report on fire safety. We didn't get much done yesterday, but we did something important.

Today, Day five, was a planned field trip with my parents. My mother is my son's buddy. He adores her and she him. I've stated it before, but they share a birthday and probably a few other secrets. We went out to eat, to a Borders that is closing. I found some deals. I also found some deals at the thrift store.

At the thrift store I found a 1966 version of Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student and a copy of Writers INC : A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning. Both were 1.79 each! What a steal.

I then came home and ordered Bravewriter's Writer's Jungle from Homeschool Buyers Co-op. It's on sale for 50% off until the end of March. I'm printing it out now. (insert biting nail smiley) I typically print large items thirty pages at a time, just so I can catch any issues before there are so many pages to look through.

So it was a productive in-service day for me. One the way home we drove through an area with wind farms. The windmills are enormous and very cool. We saw farm fields with ancient tractors and modern technology side-by-side.

We also stopped at a rural cemetery. One I am very familiar with. I have many relatives buried there including my father's mother and grandparents. One branch of our family tree goes back four greats (from Z) there. He's been there before, but was too little to remember. We're one of those dorky families that enjoys cemeteries. Three of the family member buried there I knew well, so I do feel it honors them to visit. It's also the most peaceful cemetery in the world. You can see the wind turbines from there and hear an occasional cow in the distance. So we managed to sneak a little bit of history and science at the same time.

We've also been watching the coverage of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Our history focus this year has been Asian history. We also started learning Japanese this year. We'd put it on hold with all the chaos we've had. However, grief doesn't need a translator.  I hope to find some way we can help those devastated by this incident.

My dad was stationed in Japan in the military. Although it was years ago it was helpful to discuss it with him. I also decided to add an interview with my dad about his time there as part of Z's studies this year. They need to spend some time together. As we have seen this week, life is indeed too short.

So while writing may have been our focus this week, we completed some important things too. Spending time with those you love can never be a waste of time. Today we literally took the road less traveled on the way, and we are better for it.

Well Bravewriter is now printed. Now I wonder if I have a binder big enough?

Writing Course: Day Three

Day three has come and gone and we are stronger for it. Z worked with words, paragraphs, and narratives today. Our first task was to read a short book and I asked questions, thereby creating a narrative. This was taught in Writing with Ease. I started to see something in him while he was answering my questions. I studied and made notes.

When we moved to sentences I saw it, like discovering there is a sparkly vampire in your midst, I found it. (I only use that analogy because Z and I have had many conversations about who believes that vampires sparkle. He finds it illogical) What I discovered is something I knew, but it's like peeling that layer of understanding. Z is more literal than I imagined. He has such a sense of humor, a vagueness about his concern for certain areas of his life. When it comes to instructions and writing he needs more specifics. Alas, HE IS like me, he needs the details. (I'm quite sure Tigger is going to be happy to hear that one *giggle*) He was trying to be overly perfectionistic about his writing. Since our everyday speech is more casual that was a surprise.

As the light shines on this epiphany I see that he is like that in some areas. I attributed it to his youth/inexperience, not necessarily his personality. This helps me tremendously. I can frame assignments differently, I understand how to teach someone who needs details. *details, glorious details*

The rest of the day went smoothly and I'm seeing a path in the forest emerge. We just needed an aerial view to show us the way.

Day Two

Day two went more as planned. We covered outlines, enumerative paragraphs, strong verbs, and a game of Yahtzee. Our first activity was to outline an article in our state conservation magazine. I made two copies of the article and we numbered the paragraphs. I then had Z highlight the topic sentence of each paragraph. He then made a one level outline from what he highlighted. We worked on this together, although he picked out the topic in the later paragraphs.

Our strong verbs activity came from Igniting Your Writing activity B1. We discussed synonyms, connotation, and made up funny sentences. Z smiled.

Our next activity was from lesson five in Paragraph Writing Made Easy. We discussed enumerative paragraphs and Z worked the examples mostly on his own.

We played a few other games including a game of Yahtzee. That helped clear our mind and gave us a few moments of non-writing activity.

Day two was more productive on the writing scene. It was also a more frustrating day as we dealt with the distraction of the dog and a teenage boy's need for food. Tomorrow is going to be an adventure, I can't wait. This is turning out to be fun.

Writing Course: Day One

I have a schedule, an agenda for the next two weeks. Today we did not complete said schedule. Today was simply another realization that we are destined to forge our own path through the forest of writing. *sigh* I'm happy though. It seems the floodgates of creativity have been opened, just not how I had planned.

We started well with a discussion on words. We dissected the Gettysburg Address by highlighting the powerful words. We discussed the impact of a three minute speech that chose the correct words over a long drawn out one. We then read a Shakespeare Sonnet. Number 18. Powerful and rich in language. We read through a paraphrase to understand the meaning. I reminded him that someday he might want to date a girl (like when he's 30!) and that she would think it was cool if he could recite Shakespeare to her. This is when we talked about having an audience for your writing was important. At which point I ad-libbed a Redneck rendition of Sonnet 18. Z loved it. So for your reading enjoyment:

The Real Shakespeare Sonnet 18

SONNET 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; 

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Paula's Redneck Version:

You are just like the sweatball hanging off my nose

Except you look better and don't smell

Even though the wind will blow the sweatball off my nose

and this summer is awful,

and I'll be sweating more because

because of this infernal humidity.

Don't worry about them grey hairs, 

that fact you never lost the weight from our last child,

You still look hot in that tube top. 

Even when you die I won't think of you that way

because whenever I have a sweatball hanging off my nose I'll think of you

So long as people step outside and start to sweat for no good reason

You will live forever. 

After this we took a lunch break. Apparently at some point the floodgates of creativity were opened. Z came back to class with a renewed enthusiasm for creating...a world in Minecraft, nothing to do with writing, nothing to do with the rest of schedule. *grin* We spent two hours together designing the world. He drew a rough sketch on the dry erase board (great investment!) and then drew a scale version on some graph paper I found in the basement yesterday. 

The joy on his face was unmistakable. We had a great discussion on what needed to go where, how to stay symmetrical in his design (his choice), and why he wanted things to appear as such. We only completed one more of the assignment I had hoped, but today was a good day. 

He'll remember me helping him be creative more than he would the assignment on paragraphs I had so diligently planned. *sigh* I did remind him that tomorrow we needed to do more to make up for today. 

Someone also linked this video when I mentioned our diversion in sonnets. It reminded me that there are many ways to use a Shakespearean sonnet. This one made me laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxB1gB6K-2A

I can't wait for tomorrow. I have a schedule, we'll see what happens. 

Conquering the Dragon of Words

I admit to having an odd fascination with dragons. I like good dragons and naughty dragons and stories about dragons. So when searching for a title for our little detour into writing dragons came to mind. I even started a little story about the Dragon of Words, Words is a place in my story.

For the next two weeks, Z and I are focusing on writing. Getting his writing up to speed, out of the forest, into the light, however you want to phrase it. I spent most of last week figuring out how to do with while not spending any money. My only real investment was fifteen dollars for a new ink cartridge (it was low anyway) and one dollar and fifty cents for two sets of dividers on clearance. Oh, I did also spend seven dollars on a new white board, but I needed that anyway.

I feel like I've been dragging Z through the narrow path of the forest of writing. Now we're going to take a dragon's view and look at the forest as a whole. How, you ask?

Basically I've gathered many of the half used writing sources I own. Thankfully, for him, most of my books are still in storage. This might have turned into a month long deviation. (insert mad laughing smiley). One bite at a time we are going through these programs. I'm not totally a meanie. When I discussed this with some friends they suggested NOT stopping math for this time period. While I agree I knew I'd have mutiny if all we did was focus on writing and algebra. So I'm inserting some math games. We'll play Yahtzee every day. We're also completing a science study on latitude and longitude. It will tie into our current science study and force, allow, make him use some math skills.

Last night I finalized the binders and cleared the school desk. I have absolutely NO IDEA how this is going to turn out. I have a schedule. I only printed one week as I'm sure I'll change it before we start week two.

In the vastness of our homeschooling adventure, this is a simple adjustment of the sails (or dragon's wings). Where the wind will take I do not know, but I will seek to enjoy the journey.

Teacher, Teach Thyself

After much contemplation with how to proceed in our writing instruction, I finally made a decision. I have decided to send myself back to school, at least in a writing class. No, I'm not signing up for a class, I'm much too stubborn to do that. I have multiple resources in my home to use. I working through a rhetoric book. Okay, I just started this week, but I have a goal to finish by the end of June.

My first assignment was to write an essay on a topic of choice. There was a helpful list in the back of the book, topics from A-Z, controversial to mundane. We're supposed to write about what we know, right? I chose aging.

I chose my point of view, I completed a spider diagram, and then I wrote my rough draft. Mostly I'm doing this to be an example for Z. I found I had some strong opinions on aging. I printed two copies of the rough draft. In the first one I highlighted where I had used the points from the spider diagram. In the second one I started editing. That's the stage I'm at now, editing. I may end up changing my entire thesis, based upon the discovered opinions I have on aging. I'm laughing because I didn't know I was so emotional about the topic.

Tomorrow I'll share my new found enthusiasm with Z. He may not be as passionate about my opinions on aging, but at least he'll know I'm not asking him to do anything I'm not willing to do myself. I'm talking about the writing, not the getting old part. I'm still not sure how I feel about that one.

What is a Writing Philosophy and Why Do I Need One?

Someone recently asked me about my writing philosophy. Writing, as in the process to teach my son how to write everything from a quality sentence to a properly cited eloquent essay. The truth is, I don't know. It's kind of the David and Goliath of our schooling right now. I'm not even sure who is David and who is Goliath. I'm pretty sure I am Goliath standing there in all my armor waiting for that one simple answer, like a rock, to smack me in the head and take me down.

When he was younger, it was easier. Writing was important, but there was a greater emphasis on learning how to think. Believe me that is still there and I am amazed at some of the ways my son can put together a thought. However, I realize that when he jaunts off to college the professors are not going to want to listen to him give oral essays, they don't have time for that.

Having one child and homeschooling one child has its perks. You can truly tailor the education to that one child because that is your only student. You can listen to them expound upon the wisdom of ______(whatever) and take the time to do it. You can modify, tweak a program or even write your own with that ONE student in mind. So when I think about MY writing philosophy it's really asking what is the philosophy which is best for my son.

I'd love to pick up an already existing program and use it verbatim, but my son is not wired that way. Now if he were one of five students, or seven of nine (just had to throw in that Star Trek reference) it might be different. He has no issue telling me stories or thinking of things to say, but when I would tell him to put it down on paper I'd get a blank stare. When this first happened a few years ago I was stunned. I don't remember learning to write, I just always have. I don't say I can write well, but I knew how to do an assignment. Back in the dark ages when we had to hand write reports my teachers loved me. I had one report admitted to our school library when I was in ninth grade. Got and A+ and 50 extra bonus points, the maximum. I still have that report. I had another report in high school on knights that earned me an A+ and a bunch of extra bonus points because I enclosed a bunch of drawings. Still have that one too. Read parts of it to Z last year when we studied the Middle Ages. So getting a blank stare from my son who was so willing to be creative in an oral capacity was not planned.

Fast forward to middle school and now the writing seems so serious. I've read many different writing philosophies, I see merit in all of them. They are the experts, not me. But I am the expert on my son and as he grows in his writing ability it doesn't always grow according to the philosophy of Provider X. I'm not going to name all the providers I've looked at or used, most of them have been great programs, just not the right one for us at this particular time.

Maybe my philosophy is that I want my son to learn how to think and along with that put his thoughts down on paper. Somewhere along the way we'll learn to format correctly, how to cite sources, how to use good grammar, strong sentences, analyze some literature, properly document a science report, and how to research. Amidst the programs I already own I'm sure I can pluck out those pieces.

In the last week I've asked a lot of questions from those with more experience than me. I've received some wonderful responses, responses which I am pondering. I'm reviewing the programs I already own to see how they can serve us. I wish we had the budget to buy some of these programs to preview and absorb, but that would probably only confuse me more. Fortunately I know what we're doing for the remainder of this year. I have a vague idea of where we need to be when he graduates high school and I'm willing to do what it takes to get him there.

I guess the key is when that David, the one little program with the right idea, swings that rock, you know like a V8 moment, I shouldn't duck.

Rewriting History

I picked a sentence for Z's dictation today. It was from the ________(publisher shall remain nameless) Introduction to Archaeology. After reading and dictating the sentence I decided the sentence was really wonky. *Wonky is a technical term for out of sorts. For an additional exercise, we rewrote the sentence. Again, a rabbit trail turned into a wonderful exercise. Why is it that the things I don't plan turn out better than the things I do plan? Hum..... pondering... There's a whole other post in that issue.

Anyway, the original sentence from the book is:

Damp, soggy, places, such as bogs and marshes,
and the mud at the bottom of lake,
can be very good for preserving organic remains.

Not horrid, but confusing. If you pull the subject and verb and predicate nominative from this you get:

Places| can be\good

Kind of vague and uninspiring. So Z and I rewrote the sentence. Here's the rewrite:

Bogs, marshes, and mud at the bottom of lakes
preserve organic remains well because they are damp and soggy.

We now have a much stronger(compound) subject|verb| direct object.

Bogs, marshes, mud| preserve| remains

So we rewrote a bit of history today. At least we made it more pleasing to read. This may be a week of rabbit trails. I can't wait to see where else they may take us.

Beginning Literature Analysis

After some reflection, contemplation, frustration, and commiseration from certain other homeschooling families I decided to follow the wisdom of someone who was kind enough to share their latest venture into writing. Going back to familiar stories to teach literature elements.

I immediately cried Eureka! at her lightbulb moment and ran through the house and grabbed one of the Z's favorite childrens stories, The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. It is a most excellent story to help develop a basic lit analysis.

I hurriedly created a lit analysis form, available here. The form was created by referring to the book Critical Conditioning by Kathryn Stout. Critical Conditioning is an excellent reference source for homeschoolers.

So today we discussed the elements on the form, then we read the book. Then we went back and filled in the form. I was impressed with Z's focused attention (a good thing in 12 year olds), his observations of the plot, and how easily he grasped the plot elements.

Tomorrow we are doing a paragraph with Z being able to chose from a few different topic sentences. If you have read the book, these should be familar to you.
1. The Bear never existed.
2. The narrator was looking out for the mouse
3. The narrator was a bully.
4. The mouse allowed his fear to win.

or Z's addition
5. The narrator was a jerk and only wanted the strawberry.

I feel quite blessed to be able to bounce ideas, frustrations off others that are homeschooling. I am also thankful that those that are further ahead of us on the road are willing to be transparent so we can learn from them.