Looking Ahead: 2013-2014

Since the world didn't end in December, now we can get to the fun stuff, planning next year. As you see by the above, some people (or dogs) are already bored with this year's material. I love this photo, Miss Grace (who has about 14 different names) chillaxin' in the classroom. Last semester her entire curriculum was based around learning to not bark at the mailman. She passed so far.

Some people ask why are you planning next school, which doesn't start until August, now? It's like January. Exactly! Homeschooling is not an exact science, *I* don't have infinite power to plan in a few short weeks, I need planning time, purchasing time, lesson planning time, reading time, and tweaking time. Time to print the planner for next school year, time to print study guides, plan grading, and explore the subject myself enough to facilitate the class.

I always end up in the plan-my-own-material camp, most of the time. Some people do buy more pre-planned curriculum, I don't for several reasons. First, I've never found one that covers what need the way I want to cover it, doesn't use the books I want to use, and doesn't fit - it's like Goldilocks. Secondly, some of those pre-planned packages are expensive. Even if you buy the books used, some companies charge 50-100 for lesson plans. Worth it in some cases, but again, I've always had more time than money. I'm frugal and have a hard time forking out that amount of money for something I can create or pull resources together myself. I do invest in the study material, guides, teacher's notes when necessary. I just have a harder time paying for someone to break down and coordinate the reading of books for me.

Also, Z wants to cover some unusual subjects next year. It was my idea and I'm excited, and it's going to be an out of this world elective, but it's going to take a lot of reading and planning to make it work. I hope to order the first book this month.

I also start planning now because, well, it's January. I hate winter with a passion. I hate snow and I hate cold. Who wants to go outside now? Not me. I like flowers blooming and sunshine and walking on ground that isn't crunchy from layers of salt. So, I want MY summer vacation too. I don't mind working a bit each day on planning, but by the end of May I want the bulk of it done. Of course, last year it was so blasted hot I didn't want to go out in it either. *sigh* I also try to work part-time in the summer. Last year I worked from home, which was great.

Another reason to start planning now is burnout season is just around the corner. February is notoriously known as burn out time for many homeschoolers. It's crunch time, you're seeing progress or frustration with your material. If you live in the colder areas, it's getting a little claustrophobic (at least for me), kids are ready for a break. I've thwarted those blues by planning one of our week long breaks in February, this is when I do a lot of the subject planning, prioritizing purchases, and getting a better handle of what I'll need for the fall.

Planning is also earlier because we start school in early August. We do a six week on/one week off schedule. It's perfect for us. But to time it right with holidays we have to start usually in the first week of August. Generally it's about a week earlier than our local public school. This also give us the chance to get a full 18 weeks in before Christmas. We still can get 36-37 weeks in by the end of May and have enough real breaks to stay chilled.

Z and I have informally discussed our subjects for next year. Today we'll go over his options and I'll give him some time to decide. He's pretty much made up his mind, but I have some options now that I hadn't considered earlier. Of course, we'll cover the core classes, but I have some fun options of how to cover a few of those and he needs to pick at least 1 to 1.5 credits of electives.

Once he decides, I'll post that list. I'm looking forward digging into a lot of the material for next year.

Updated Classroom Arrangement

I added a new bookcase yesterday and was able to better organize our classroom. As always, it's a work in progress. The last major project will be painting the walls next summer and getting Z a different chair. 

This is Z's credenza, holding most of the books he uses on a daily basis. Under the credenza, I've organized our science supplies and some larger art supplies.

This is our newest corner. The top shelves will get painted white eventually. The trunk holds art supplies. The dog's chair is on the left, my desk is on the right.

Below is my computer desk and the books above are my reference and writing books. The new bookcase is the one holding the printer.

Below is Z's desk. The shelf holds reference books and literature.

This is my workspace. The bookshelves on the right hold most of my teacher's materials and my personal stuff.

A different view of the front wall.

During school, Z and I move our desks end to end, he's facing one way, I'm facing the other. It works well  in this smaller space. The desk is actually this Ashton Desk from Staples. We left it in two sections. The feet are padded, so the desk moves easily without scratching the floor.

All of the wall shelves were either freebies or bought at garage sales or thrift stores and painted white. This was an economical solution and allows me to rearrange the floor space if needed.

The red curtains (which are actually tableclothes) are temporary for the winter.

A Tale of Two Japanese Programs

A few years ago when Z decided he wanted to learn Japanese, I had a mini-breakdown, sort of. I made sure he understood that it would not be me teaching him Japanese, it would be us learning together.

I searched to find the right program, one that would be audio and visual and teach grammar and writing. Irasshai was that program. Because of life and other pressing academic matters we started and stopped a few times. We poked at it with a stick. This year we started full-time effort. The Irasshai program reminds me of how you would learn foreign language in high school. The videos on GPB feature Tim-sensei breaking it down into palatable chunks for us. We're using the textbook and workbook to make it a full and rich program.

However, here comes the cons, it does move slowly. Not OMG! Would you move already slowly, but incrementally to make sure all students are progressing.

Because I like to make things difficult and because ds's interest allows us to move at a faster pace, I added a second Japanese program, Beginning Japanese by Tuttle. It includes a text, workbook, and website, timeforjapanese.com. I like it as well, but it moves at a faster pace. It introduces kanji in chapter 1, it assumes you will know hiragana and katakana early on. It is probably best used when there is a trained Japanese teacher available, or a motivated student. In my case I have the second.

The pros of this program are you feel like you're reading and using Japanese, even after the first chapter. They also have a website with access to teacher material. I e-mailed for access and received approval right away. The website also features the dialogues in the book. These are great because they speak at a natural speed. Irasshai is mostly classroom speaking, s.l.o.w.e.r. so you catch pronunciation. They have some video dialogues as well, but the audio isn't as crisp as the recordings from Beginning Japanese.

Right now we are merging the two programs, switching around each week. Irasshai has two volumes that break down into three years of study. Beginning Japanese is followed up by Intermediate Japanese with Advanced Japanese not yet available.

Which is better? Neither. They both serve a function. It really does depend on how motivated your student is and if you, as the teacher, will be learning alongside them.

The Aesthetics of Homeschooling

We are fortunate, we have an entire room devoted to education in our house. It's the second bedroom, technically, but Z took the dormer room (which is the biggest, coolest room). By the time I get done with how I truly want to decorate it, it will be lined with bookshelves. Technically, one could lock themselves in this room for several years and learn all you need to know about certain subjects.

Value?

But what is the value of the education? Education doesn't depend upon a well laid out room. Education, in a way, doesn't even depend upon making sure you have the best tools to do the job. Education depends upon the craving of the student to learn, the passion of the teacher, and how they share knowledge. The Greeks had Socratic discussion, modern students have smart boards and Ipads. I'm all for technology, we're a techno geek family for sure. Right now I have a 50 ft Ethernet cable running under my desk and all the way upstairs because our wireless router is being wonky. Z had to hook up the cable last night. A new router is on the list for this week.

Yet, aside from our use of technology in everyday life, we don't use a lot of it in the classroom. Some of our classes have an online video component, one is an online self-paced class. The bulk of his education comes from books and dialogue. You want to have a discussion on the absurdity of the English language? Z is your man.

Creating perspective? 

So does the appearance of education matter? It creates an impression, provides perspective. Some people think homeschooled students are all eager, vivid learners who love coming to school. *cough*choke*sputter* Until recently Z was not a fan of school. He's not a fan of morning, that's for sure. But someday he will look back and reflect upon his educational experience. I hope he sees that his parents cared about his education, that they valued him and his burgeoning brain enough. Not that you have to homeschool to do that, we just happen to see it as the best path for this child. If we had more children the decision would have been made based upon the individual. As it sits, Z agrees about homeschooling. Good, because I'm not a morning person either. 

Aesthetics? 

Does it matter that our classroom is cozy? Not really. Does it help my mindset? Yes. Would it matter we did school under a bridge? I hope not. If that is all we had, that's what we would use. Many years ago some friends shared this quote:

Start where you are

Use what you have

Do what you can 

Homeschooling doesn't demand that you rush to your nearest IKEA and set up 40 Billy Bookcases before you begin. You don't have to have a shiny new expensive history curriculum, or a laptop, or even Amazon Prime *gasp!*. You have to have a student, a metaphorical machete to wind your way through the jungle of education, and some idea where the forest may lead you. Don't get bogged down in the details. The best item in your classroom, where ever that may be, is the look of revelation on your child's face when they finally understand something. 

Of Pruning and Priorities

Some days it seems the doors of opportunity are barred. Some days you bolt them close yourself. Today Z and I discussed priorities surrounding classes. We made the tough decision to drop Russian from our schedule. We like Russian, we enjoy the language, we're learning, yet it's the lowest priority subject on the ninth grade schedule. With the addition of science to the schedule, it's taken a lower priority.

It's all good, that leaves us more time to focus on Japanese and will make our rotation of subjects flow more smoothly. It also leaves Z with six and a half credits for the year instead of seven. I'm okay with that. I am still debating on whether to assign credit to his programming, which he has spent well over half a credits time pursuing so far this year.

I am a little sad though to drop Russian. It's a cool language, it's fun to practice and read. We may add it back in next term or next year. However, we have to keep the focus on the core skills of writing, grammar, math and the coverage of science and history. Z was all right with it. We hadn't gotten to it in the last two weeks anyway. *sigh*

Part of making hard choices is prioritizing. Z knows if he can get ahead in his key subjects we'll add it back in. Part of growth is pruning that which isn't working correctly too. A tree grows better when it is trimmed properly right? Hard choices, but hopefully this tree will grow better now too.

Winter has arrived

We begin our winter term today. Fittingly, there is ice on the deck, a chill in the air, and a grumble in my heart. Bundle up, it's chilly.

I opted to divide our school into terms when we went to the six weeks on, one week off time frame. Fall term is over, 12 weeks gone. It seems to have flown by and I'm fairly pleased with Z's progress.

This week we're adding in science and finishing the text portion of our history study. We'll be spending the remainder of our history reading Great Books from Ancient Greece. We'll start with The Iliad and I have to say it's one of my favorite books. When I first read it a few years ago, I read it mostly outloud while pacing the bedroom. It took six months of off and on reading to finish. Sharing the experience with Z is something I'm looking so forward to, although we'll have 7-8 weeks to finish.

Science is an exciting mix of several components for physics. Udacity will be our lecture focus, with The Sciences:An Integrated Approach being our textual focus. We will add a lab kit from Home Science Tools. I opted to go with a packaged kit to save some time and money. My weakness is gathering the components. It's nice to have them all in one box, ready to go.

So it's winter term. I have visions of physics experiments, hot chocolate, and maybe a little pacing while we read The Iliad. For now, I need to get more coffee and put on socks.

Just a Tad

*twitch*

Better

Some of you will get this right away. Some of you are laughing right now, some of you are still puzzled. Some of you may flat out not get it. 

Why Our School Works

We're in our ninth year of homeschooling. Some days are good, some days are not so good, but most of the time I feel like this homeschool thing is working. I know why we do this, I know where we're headed, but why does it work? Is there magical fairy dust that get sprinkled on the desks at night making us both wonderfully compatible and productive. *not quite!*

The honest answer is I have no idea. Z and I are compatible, he can finish my sentences. I like this kid, this really cool human that Tigger and I help create. I often wonder if we do well because I'm too easy on him, but I don't think so. Maybe because I get him, he is a lot like me, as he is a lot like  Tigger and I see bits of others in him as well. It's all mixed up into this unique being, who actually does smile - he was tired of having his picture taken on the above day.

One of the best things I do is listen. I've never had held fast rules about how school should look. We aren't reproducing school, we are providing a home education. Education is more ethereal, more exciting, more days of wonder than school. Less checklist, more...cowbell, maybe that's it.  At least in my vision for this thing we are doing. Today we had a great conversation stemmed by our frustration with our inability to pronounce certain words in Russian. Granted, we're only nine weeks into our studies and not doing bad for that amount of time, but it's getting hard. That's where the discussion took off. We talked in detail about so many plans Z has for his life, things he wants to do, places he wants to go, and I talked about how to make sure he has a fighting chance to do them. We've had these talks before. Today it seemed to gel and I was able to talk about some of the steps I take in planning his education.

It's not just Paula's great ideas. I pull wisdom from many sources, including families that have successfully home educated their children. Children that are now out in the world living those goals. I rarely have a good idea on my own, I am a funnel, a conduit for plucking those ideas shared by others and turned into something that works for us. I don't have all the answers.

Why else does it work? Part of it is in letting go, and this was hard. I had visions for high school and I had to compromise. Now if I had a student who wasn't so outspoken and was nicely compliant, we would do things my way. But Z is stubborn, opinionated, and hard-headed, much like most members of my family. So, he wants to do some subjects his way. Okay. My hand of authority is over them, but many of them were chosen by him. You know what, the subjects where he has the most opinion and say are the ones going well this year.

Now he doesn't get to choose everything. I remind him that he has to fulfill my requirements for his education, again which is chosen by wisdom from others and my own stubbornness as well. If I were in my school as a student, it would look different. In fact there are a few other parents that I would love to sit in on their school, it would so fit my definition of education. But this is our school, that's Z and me.

Z was born mature and negotiating everything. He has a wondrous imagination about the world that I hope never leaves. My biggest fear about school is making sure he is prepared to tackle his goals as an adult. I've always treated him like a whole individual if that makes sense. I shared hard things with him and helped him make decisions from a young age. He's had choices to make since he was little. I remember standing for what seemed like hours as he pondered how to spend five dollars on toys. He's always been wise with his money and when he feels regret over wasting money he knows it's his decision, mom and dad don't get the blame. I guess part of me wants him to know that this whole education thing really is his decision. I can plan, prepare, and research (and boy do I love those!), but I can't make him do the work. He has to know that all of this - the whole school thing - leads somewhere. In order to believe that I have to show him why each subject is important. It's amazing how much subjects actually are tied together. When I was in school  it all felt so separated, so compartmentalized. Today we are able to tie so many subjects together that it's hard to separate out the hours I need to count towards his credits.

Now I have to go write a history test. Part of it I can take from a book, part I have to generate the questions myself. I may be up for a while yet.

Your ABCs and Oral Exams

If you know Z, you know he likes to talk. Okay, it some instances he likes to talk. When it he gets going, whoa! He's a much better talker than he is a writer, and one aspect of schooling I've wanted to add is oral exams. How do you grade an oral exam? And what makes it an exam and not simply a conversation?

In Philosophy this year we are reading The Theory of Knowledge. Awesome book. He is doing a project with some of the chapters and this week's was language. So fitting, so perfect. Z and I have also being toying with our own alphabet and language. This has been going on for a few years and we've let it lie for a while. So Z decides he wants to write an alphabet, not a language, for his project. He had started part of one, but wasn't finished. He turned the completed alphabet yesterday. That was the written portion of his assignment.

For the oral part we had a question and answer session about his alphabet. I'm his mom, he's my only child, we have sort of a code language already. He finishes my sentences, I can read his thoughts, stuff like that. To eliminate that familiarity I reminded him to consider me as someone who knew nothing about his project. I had googled for a oral exam rubric and found one that met my needs  - rubrics can be great, yet you have to find the right one for your needs. Some are too vague, some not enough categories. The one I found was college level, so there was more definition between levels than simply poor, average, good, or excellent.

In addition to the previous question and answer session, I asked some questions taken from a Theory of Knowledge study guide on the IB website. Theory of Knowledge is an IB course, which obviously we can't do IB at the homeschool level, but I find the course companion (linked above) to be a great introduction to the ways and whys of thinking. As he answered the questions, I wrote notes and used my rubric to grade his remarks.

Z has a passion for language, even the absurdity of English. This was an easy topic for him to discuss. However, I found the manner in which he answered and his overall communication skills to be great. It's almost as if I had stepped outside of my own familiarity with him and saw how he would respond if I hadn't been the one examining him.

After his exam I created a template for my grading notes. Grades are not a huge motivator for Z, yet I want detailed records to support my grading, especially in subjects that have a less defined way of evalution.

My template included these categories:

Subject: Philosophy
Date: 28 September 2012
Material Covered: Theory of Knowledge, chapter 3 Language
Material Graded: Oral examination and written work
Grading system: this is where I noted where I got my questions and what I used to grade the written work
Grading Scale: The rubric I used had 120 points possible (more nuanced than a 1-4 scale). I chose 30 points for the written work, 20 for the work itself, 5 for being on time, 5 for neatness (meeting deadlines and being neat are two skills we are building this year)
Summation of Oral Exam: this is where I typed up my evaluation of his remarks. I pulled a few phrases from the rubric to document I actually used it as part of the criteria.
Summation of Written Work: This is where I wrote my evaluation of his written work, noting the time he spent on it in and outside of class, I also noted which skills he used to finish this assignment, as in creativity and critical thinking skills.

In the end, I have detailed documentation of his grade and how he earned it. Next week we're studying perception. I can't wait to see what kind of project he comes up for that one.

Udacity Physics

I am keeping a close eye of many of the great new offerings in free online education. We've used Khan Academy, Academic Earth, looked at Coursera for down the road, and now I'm trying Udacity, particularly the Physics course. I'm only through unit one (working on the homework now) and it is awesome. I'm a child of the 80s, I use the term awesome in it's 80s form. I watched as this very enthusiastic physicist explained how to use math and science together in some really cool ways. I got it, in the sense of a light bulb went on for me. This is how I teach Z about the importance of math, throw him ahead a few years and show him how physics makes trig sound like fun.

The set up of Udacity is simple, enroll in the class and watch videos. Take some notes along the way and there are simple questions to answer with the click of a mouse, okay the answers may not be simple, but you won't spend twenty minutes trying to figure out the formatting. This course has made the technology part easy.

The enthusiasm of the instructor is perfect. Again, I'm only in unit one and there are seven, but this will appeal to Z when we start in a few weeks. The instructor is young and in the first video I couldn't help but thinking he needed to iron his shirt. Granted he was in Europe explaining physics and ironing probably wasn't a priority. Okay it may the first time I've actually thought someone needed to iron their shirt, I'm not a big fan of irons in general. Then he starts talking and he's engaging, I believe teens will relate to this guy. Then he started writing, guess what!, his handwriting isn't neat and perfect. I wanted to hug this guy seriously. I've spent hours over the last nine years reminding Z to have good handwriting and his Japanese is neater than his English. I've also reminded him about wrinkled shirts a few times. But here is an intelligent guy with less than precise handwriting and a wrinkled shirt, he is the perfect man to help teach Z physics, and to keep him enthused about the subject.

It didn't hurt the other class developer, computer guy, I don't know what his title is. Well it didn't hurt that he is holding a stuffed giraffe in his photo. Opulence, you know, and apparently a fan of giraffes. Who isn't, really?

Now I have homework. I have to find a sunny day, still waiting, and I need to do a little more study on vectors for myself. Otherwise, I'll be on to unit two hopefully next week.

What do Homeschoolers Do on a Break?

In our case we had a party. Z and my mom had a birthday. Same day. I still haven't topped that gift to her, never will.

We took pictures, the boys smiled. Notice how tall Z is now. As tall as Tigger, about as tall as my dad (who was the only one wearing shoes).

This is Z getting some grandma love. They are buddies. Never mind that we see them at least twice a month, they always hug each other like that.

Well after the party, what are we doing? See the above. Z received some games for his birthday. Z also received some money which he spent on games. He also ordered some books, manga, but they are still books. He also put together a bookcase, which was part of his birthday gift. Oh, he is my child! Bookcases for gifts!

Beside that what are we doing? He's sleeping in every day. I'm getting up to see Tigger off to work and then going back to bed. Then taking a little afternoon nap. Did I mention I sometimes have insomnia. I have nearly caught up on my sleep this week. 

I've also been planning more of our school year. I ordered some new books, which I will outline in another post. I planned our physics for the year, and evaluated the progress in other subjects. Mostly we're just hanging out. I like this schedule. We'll be back at work on Monday, ready for another six weeks. 

Did I Mention It's Almost Break Time?

After eight years of homeschooling, we've developed a yearly schedule that works well for us. We do about six weeks of school then take one week off. Thanksgiving and Christmas kind of mess with that system, but it averages out by the end of May.

I was inspired by the British system of school terms, which is what we have at our school, fall, winter, and spring terms of 12 weeks each. This is why we start back the first week of August, it's generally too hot to do much outside anyway. We're done by the end of May, mostly.

So, we've completed five weeks so far, start the sixth tomorrow, then get a week off. It's not really a week off. It's more of a time to sleep in, catch up some projects, and do some administrative work. In common vernacular, this is when I tweak stuff.

I also bought water balloons on clearance this week. Which means it will now cool off too much to use them. A friend suggested using hot water, that sounds good to me. We have a deck, so our Battle of Waterballoon should be very interesting.

The academic highlights so far have been reading Gilgamesh, getting solid grades on Japanese and Russian tests, and an increased ability in writing. I've had to tweak our math program, why is it always math? Every year I have one subject that messes us up. Math is it this year. The instruction in Singapore's Discovering Mathematics isn't adequate for Z. We're working on a variety of skills with math, and DM, while a good program, doesn't work well for him. We in the processing of moving to another publisher, which I think will help. We'll know more after this week.

Our weekly schedule instead of a block schedule is doing well. We still have the timing issue of writing and math taking larger portions of the day. During my tweaking time, I'm going to be looking at our schedule further to see what we can do. The main plan is to remain flexible and prioritize where we need to stay on task and where we can slow down a little. Having a productive day is better than rushing through subjects.

I can't believe we've completed five weeks already. The time is flying by, I'm working to enjoy the good moments and not think about how quickly the rest of the next four years will go.

Three Weeks Done, Obviously Time for a Schedule Modification

It wouldn't be Wakefield Academy if we didn't tweak the schedule. So, we are doing just that, as an experiment for this week. Z is a great kid and we've worked best with a daily schedule. This year we started with a modified block schedule. History and Philosophy are done before lunch, then it's block A on Monday and Wednesday, block B on Tuesday and Thursday, then block C on Friday. A few of the subjects were taking much longer than anticipated, okay not really longer than anticipated, but longer (said with the word longer stretched out loooooonnnnggeer).

Writing and math are those two subjects, no surprise there. When you take 90 minutes to two hours to finish one subject, it can be brain draining. The simple answer would be to limit the class time to one hour each, right? What about when we're in the groove and that extra 30 to 60 minutes will get it completed? I prefer to focus through, as long as he is focusing, and just get it done.

This week our schedule is modified in this manner. History/Great Books will be our first subject. It's an enjoyable way to start the day. Then the other subjects are scheduled individually. There are 2-4 days of assignments for each subject. He will be able to pick how they are finished. One subject must be done before lunch and all assignments must be completed by Friday afternoon.

I know many homeschoolers are able to hand assignments to their high schoolers and then check in once a day. Our school operates a little differently by choice and chance. Z does better when there is someone in the room, hence the classroom and not him working in his room. Besides he has too many distractions in his room. Many of our subjects are completed together or with me available for questions. We use a lot of discussion and dialogue, it gives our school the feel I think is important for his education.

In the case of a few classes, I am doing the work alongside him. We are learning Russian and Japanese together. For Japanese, we have an outlined program designed for high school students. There are videos, a text, and a workbook. I've also added some literature (in English for cultural studies), and a few supplemental books. The Russian is an harder book, one which I am breaking down into bite-sized pieces and adding pronunciation work from a few different websites.

I am ready to start my Monday, off we go.

Week Two: A Wild Week

Be careful or this may happen to your head too! All right, this was an intentional enlarging of the hair to see how fluffy it could be.

We made it through week two. I'll be honest, I'm tired. Z is not. I miss my afternoon naps, Z is actually getting up before noon.

It's no longer lingering near 100 degrees every day and that is good too.

I didn't have to tweak anything else this week. We did have one slow day, caused by insomnia in both of us the evening before. Overall the schedule is working well. Z is able to focus for longer this year (yea!). He's also been working on computer stuff (stuff being the technical term for the subject I am leaving to an unaided discovery method) this week. This weekend he's watching C++ tutorials on his own.

We spent time with the Mesopotamians in history, practiced our hiragana, and Russian alphabet. Z starting writing about Shakespeare (he'll finish that this upcoming week), and spent some time reading Bradbury's R is for Rocket. I started reading Bleach manga that Z read this summer.

I also ordered a Moleskine planner for Z. This will be his commonplace book for the year, which I will discuss next week. I also ordered another book for Z, which I'm taking him up on a big reading challenge. We'll see if he takes the bait. More on that later.

High School and Other Life Forms

News for the week: Curiosity lands on Mars, Mt. Tongariro, better known from the Lord of the Rings movies as Mt. Doom, erupts for the first time in 100 years, and we finished our first week of high school.

It went surprisingly well. We finished all assignments, and I only need to tweak two subjects, both of them victims of my over zealous planning nature. Vocabulary is a minor subject this year, Z has a good vocabulary naturally, so the lessons can't overwhelm the English credit. I think we'll cut the number of words in half for each week. It will work better for learning the skill I have in place, how to write on index cards and refer to them. He's actually writing without a fuss and his handwriting has improved despite our lack of written work over the summer.

Russian is another subject to tweak. We'll probably spend more time with the alphabet and taking more time with reading smaller words. I'm not sure how that will affect our speed, but this was always planned as a work-at-your-best-pace class. Plus, Z may end up helping me as much as I'm helping him. I won't say whether that was part of my diabolical plan all along. We spent 90 minutes on Russian yesterday and it wasn't as hard as I thought. We worked on the alphabet and writing out  little works and translating them.

The schedule is actually working out. Z has been up and ready to work on all days but one. Then we only started ten minutes late because he's had a hard time going to sleep the night before.

An interesting addition to the week has been his work on his programming, computer programming that is, and computer exploration. This is all done without mom, I'd just mess it up. It's his hobby and this week involved putting a Linux system on his laptop and troubleshooting the wireless on the HP laptop, apparently HP wireless doesn't like Linux. Thankfully it's his laptop. He was so excited he figured it all out last night and was probably up half the night dealing with the software. We don't have set bedtimes on Friday or Saturday. He's learning a lot of skills on his own and bringing that ability to troubleshoot to the classroom.

I will make a note about math. It was hard for him this week, but he worked without fussing (joy!), he did it mostly on his own, and he even wrote the dates on his assignments and showed his work. We've discussed the math required if he would want to major in computers in college. It's a ways off yet, but we discussed the importance of focusing now, so that he can be prepared. We'll see if he's up for the challenge.

It was a good week and that is a good thing.

Curiouser and Curiouser

It seems fitting that today we start high school. Another rover landed on Mars this morning, the perfect day for us to begin. When Z was little I used to tease that I would send him to Mars. His favorite question is why, he is intensely curious. So, Curiosity lands on Mars and we're going to land on our first day of high school. Yes, as a friend suggested, I do believe some Bradbury is in order for today. That wasn't on the schedule, but then that's how we roll in our school, make a schedule and then improvise on a whim. At least there is a schedule if we wind up lost.

We're also reading the story of Pandora's Jar. In the version I'm reading they translate the last thing left in the jar as anticipation (pauses for a Rocky Horror memory...). Anticipation can be good or bad. It is usually translated as hope, hope is well, so hopeful. I like hope, I use, but anticipation seems more fitting as we open this year. Anticipation relies somewhat on our choices, which is my point in reading that story today. This year will be what we make it. If we wind up on Mars on Day  One, that leaves a lot of room for exploration this year. I hope to make it so (groan, it's okay, I'm on my first cup of coffee).

Integrated Science and Not Long Now

So far in my life it's a given that the sun will rise each day. See, there it is, just this morning. Like that certainty, there is also the fact I will try to find a way to make my plan work. I don't always win, but I at least try.

Way back like two years ago I developed the desire to what to approach high school science in an integrated way. I read the pros and cons, I looked into the way foreign countries approach science, and I drew up an elaborate plan. Then the budget collapse of this decade happened in our family. I knew my plan was shot. I also knew there was no way I could keep track of all the planning, the books, what concepts to cover when, and I gave up on my plan on doing integrated.

Another reason I had wanted to approach science this way was because of Z's enthusiasm for the three major sciences. Physics, love! Chemistry, okay (what can we blow up?), and biology (yuck!).  I also wanted to approach science from a Physics first angle. Z was zipping along in his math skills and I planned on adding an algebra-based physics for this coming year. Well...with the change in math, I decided that the algebra-based physics would be a stretch. I was considering moving to a Conceptual Physics when I stumbled upon The Sciences by Trefil and Hazen. We own and love their non-textbook Science Matters, so I knew the writing would be engaging and the content approachable. I ordered a copy.

While we haven't used the text yet, obviously, there are some pros and cons I see. The pros being that is is an integrated text. It's not picking and choosing concepts from individual books. They also have a separate book on The Great Ideas of Science. According to the TOC, this is excerpts from the scientists discussed in the book. This is great for classical educators, as it's like an anthology of Great Books for science. I will be adding this book to our study.

The cons? It's light on topics for a true study on the individual subjects. It covers physics, chemistry, astronomy, Earth, and biology. It's designed a college course for non-science majors. My plan is to add coverage from outside sources to round out each year and so have three full credits, physics, chemistry, and biology.

For Physics I plan to add NROC Introductory Physics. We will use the readings from the Trefil/Hazen text and do study and videos from NROC. I also plan to add an experiment kit from Home Science Tools.

I've co-ordinated the NROC study with the text. I've added in the appropriate readings and left room for the experiments.

Using this method, we'll have a full year of study, worthy of a physics credit. Next year my plan is similar only focusing on chemistry, and the following year, biology. That will leave his senior year for a science of his choice or dual enrollment. This will also give us time to delve into areas of interest more easily than if we used a full-coverage text. I'm still putting on the final touches, but I am excited that this text was brought to my attention. It's going to be a stellar year. Only a few more weeks.

Graduating from Toddlerhood

We're adding a new student this year. Yes, the dog gets her own ID badge. Now that she is in pre-school, I'm hoping she'll act less like a toddler. Pink is her color, hot pink mostly. She goes bananas when Tigger gets home from work, and she has her own chair and box of toys in the classroom.

Her core subjects will be:

Walking
Pet- me training (she who must be petted 1000 times a day)
Stuffed flamingo hunting
Sock tug-of-war
Cat training (not sure who is training who here)
Hanging out with daddy on the porch

She needs work on:
Not barking at the mailman everyday
Trusting that Tigger didn't leave once he came home from work (she must check at least every two minutes)

We've given upon the cat, I think he's a grumpy old man in disguise, so maybe he's educated enough. We'll keep him as mascot.

Summer Science and a Parade

We've had ant issues this summer. They're annoying. They like watermelon. We put a rind under the deck far enough from the house to draw them away. The black specs are not seeds. Yuck! The big one is a fly. 

They thought it was picnic time. Little did they know. Let's just say after some spray and a trash bag we have at least a thousand less ants near the house. I actually don't mind ants, if they stay outside, but these have found a way indoors. A small dent in the issue I'm sure.

We also had a parade yesterday. Well we didn't. Tigger and Daytona watched from the porch.

Horses all decked out to celebrate our independence. They were troopers in the heat.

Going Integrated

I have been known to panic if I don't have a plan. That doesn't mean I'm going to stick to the plan, but there is comfort in knowing it's there. Planning for next year has been driving me loopy. Having to order in small batches is like pulling off a band-aid slowly.

My original plan, back some umpteen posts ago, was to use an Integrated science approach over the first three years of high school. After I figured out we'd need physics, chemistry, and biology materials all in the first year, I realized it didn't fit my budget. I thought I had exhausted my search on a truly integrated text, like one text, not three. In fact, I'm pretty sure 42 isn't simply to answer to life, the universe, and everything. It's probably the number of math and science texts I currently own. Want proof? Haha, a math funny. Sorry, still working on coffee.

Science 

Math

Granted, many of these books were bought at thrift stores or as reference or to be used later. After seeing all of these wonderful math and concepts separated out, we've decided to integrate both subjects. (throws up hands)

The science I'm still working on and will reveal in a future post. The math choice is Singapore's Discovering Mathematics. We're going back to 1A to solidify some shaky concepts and make sure algebra has a good base. Discovering Mathematics has four levels and the plan (she giggles while typing) is to complete the four levels in two and a half to three years by continuing math instruction over the summer (groans from the audience). At that point, he'll be ready for trig or pre-calc, I haven't researched exactly that will leave him in the sequence. This is currently about his interest level in math and higher level science. If that interest changes, we'll create an alternate plan. 

Z works better with an overall picture of a subject. We've use integrated before and it worked well. But moving to the high school level makes the whole integrated things so a tad scary and maybe not quite "normal" (why, oh why, do I even continue to try to be normal. It's never going to happen!). After spending some time with both the integrated math and science, I see it's not so bad. I think the key is finding the right text. We're almost there.