The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Let's see, it's been over a year since I blogged. The above is me moving forward, through the best and worst of it. The long break was for several reasons, one being it's high school and there is a level of privacy I want to afford to Z that didn't feel necessary before. The other is that my personal life has been chaotic and it was time to pull back and regroup. Some of you know, some of you don't know, but I am in the midst of a divorce. It's a long complicated story that for everyone involved, I'd prefer to keep private. Suffice it to say, I am still here, I am still homeschooling, and this year Z starts his junior year.

Another change last year was my becoming a college student. Last year I took online courses, this semester I'm on campus part of the time. Last week was my first week. I felt those nerves rise up, like every other first day of my school in my life. Instead of seeing a teenager staring back in the mirror, I saw this person who should feel more confident about the whole thing.

Truth is, I'm tired a lot. I'm exhausted right now. But we move on. Z is a great kid, I'm not sure I can refer to him as a kid now, he's growing up, maturing, being the voice of reason in the household on some days. He's growing into this awesome individual that I am proud to call my son.

Since this is a homeschooling blog, I'll be posting more about actual homeschooling. We have a intense schedule this year, with college planning in the works. For now, I'm going to crawl into bed and kick up my feet. If you're reading again, welcome back. If you're new here, welcome. It's dusty and needs updating, but Wakefield Academy's blog is still here.

Tempus Fugit

We have three weeks before school starts again. It seems we just stopped. A lot has been happening, things I will announce in upcoming posts. One is that I moved the classroom around. I'll post new photos once I tidy up a bit.

This summer has been about blooming and replanting and weathering the storms. The picture is flowers that are just off my front porch. They're not so pretty now, but they've bloomed.

School is planned for the fall. We've implemented a few new administrative type things (so precise a word, I know). I even broke down and bought an e-reader, only because it was on clearance for 20.00. I've used it a bit, but I'm still not sold on ereading. I like to flip pages too much. I like real books.

Since I rearranged the classroom and bedroom I now have several wall mounted book shelves in my bedroom. In the midst of insomnia the other night, I counted the books in my bedroom. Including the stack on the nightstand, there were 198. I found that thought comforting. Some are dear and treasured books, so are waiting to be discussed. There is even a row of Classic Club Great Books.

On the admin side for school, I've done a few things:

We do school 6 weeks on, 1 week off. I'd added a nice form for modifications and assessments of where we are at each break. We tend to tweak something every year, so I'm leaving room for the modifications.

We're also going to study an artist or composer each term, nothing formal just exposure, appreciation, and some facts.

Fall Term will be Beethoven
Winter term will be Hokusai
Spring Term will be Van Gogh

I'm looking forward to this year. Z is growing up so quickly. He fixed the lawnmower yesterday. He should learn to drive this year, although he's in no rush. Okay, not sure I want to think about that yet.

Tis the season for school. I can't wait.

And Now for Something Completely Different: Actual Plans for 2013-2014

What in the world are you doing now? 

On some days, I'm not sure. Since March our lives have changed a little. Stress levels have been high, and we've had to modify some of our plans for next year. Now that we've actually decided, I feel pretty good about the choices. I've purchased most of the material and am in the planning phase.

Our new lineup includes the following subjects: 

• English 10 - with a focus on grammar, argumentation, and "Language and Literature"
• Geometry - with Holt Geometry
• Algebra II - with Lial's Intermediate Algebra
• Japanese II - continuing with a combination of Irasshai and Beginning Japanese
• Astronomy/Astrophysics - using a mix of classes and books for a custom-designed course
• History of Time and Language - a custom designed course
• Ethics - a half credit class using Aristotle's Ethics and an open course class
• Philosophy & Science of Modern Science Fiction - This was going to be our Star Trek class, but we recently got hooked on Doctor Who, so we're modifying to include it. This is by far my favored class for next year. 

I'll explain each class in subsequent posts. Our school year officially ended last Friday. We have two classes we'll be finishing up over the summer, but we're mostly done. I have so many thoughts on this year. I'm proud of Z and the growth he has shown, I'm excited to see where this summer and beyond takes us. He's also grown in other areas, he almost has a beard. It's not a full one, but it's there. It's strange to see this man-child sitting across from me to study, more a man than child in many ways. I'd write more, but I'm starting to get sappy, and it's the middle of the night. I'll leave you with this Doctor Who quote instead. 

"The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and ...bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant." - The Doctor ("Vincent and the Doctor")

More Tentative Planning for 2013-2014: History

Best laid plans sometimes end up getting eaten by the dog. I knew as soon as I posted our plans, something would change. It did, not drastically, but changes on path for the remaining years. This time it's history. We're going to spend three semesters on U.S. history. It will end up more like U.S. through a world history view.

Why three semesters? 

Z has been interested in studying the WWII era for a long time. He used to watch the military channel for hours. We have a lot of books on WWII, a lot of areas he wants to study. A lot of movies I remember studying in high school.

So we're going to spend our time in this fashion:

• semester 1: Civil War up to WWI
• semester 2: WWI through WWII
• semester 3: post WWII to modern day

I'm actually looking forward to this course and I have a loose outline of how it's going to work. I started pulling resources off my shelf, and realized I have most of what I need already. Amazing how plans fall into place like that. 

But what about the Romans? 

Because Z wants to study about "wars with guns", we are going to modify a few of our history plans for this year and add a study on the Romans and Middle Ages into the last few months. Again, I have enough resources on my shelf to make it work. While we'll do a quick tour of history, we will touch on more topics from the era down the road. Some of the Romans will come up in our  ethics class next year. We'll spend time pondering the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. We'll also touch on the Middle Ages in a later philosophy class. I'm pondering how to frame it all, but I have a lecture series on philosophy of the Middle Ages. Z also wants to read Dante's entire commedia, which we won't attempt without a nice study guide. I also have this fascinating book called The History of Hell, those three resources would make a nice class. I can already imagine the discussions. 

On the Education of the Non-Morning Person

These propositions do hereby contain the lamentations and corrections of educating a person not conceived with a morning nature. 

Proposition 1: 

When thou dost rise later than thy peers assembled in publicly funded education, thou shalt be concluding thy studies of the daily rotation later than thy peers.

Proposition 2: 

Should thy not consume nutrients prior to the commencement of the current educational rotation, do you expect thy teacher to transfer her duties back to the mistress of the kitchen to accommodate thy inability to eat within the proper hour.

Proposition 3: 

Should thy proper, God-given, and blessed name and the correct date in this rotation of the heavenly bodies not appear on every assignment required, the assignment shall be sternly returned and rectified.

Proposition 4: 

Should thy hand be illegible on any assignment, said document will be sternly returned and written again in a legible hand post haste.

Proposition 5: 

Thy eyes, heart, and mind should be focused always upon they work. Idle hands should not be cajoling with the canine or feline residents of thy domicile.

Proposition 6: 

The requirement of output for each and every subject is not a device of Satan. Thou shalt place trust into the facilitator of your education, and understand the requirements to consider you an educated member of said household, community, and society in general.

Proposition 7: 

Thou shalt not argue with the facilitator of your education unless you are in the midst of an argumentation lesson.

Tentative Course of Study for 2013-2014

Z and I had a few great discussions this week, those kind that make you proud to have such a neat human being in your life. Among those discussions, we came to a tentative agreement about classes for next year, year 10. Year 10, a decade of learning. Whoa.

Anyway, here's the list. Even if the subjects don't change, I know that I'll modify contents a bit before we start, if previous planning years are any indication.

• English II (literature & composition)
• World History II (Roman - Middle Ages)
• Modern Physics (Physics in the 21st Century)
• Geometry 
• Algebra II - he wants to double up on math this year so he can do calculus his senior year.*
• Japanese II
• Star Trek and Its Influence**
• Ethics (.5 credit)

* I'll cautiously schedule two credits of math. If it becomes too much we have a few options: 1. Rotate the maths each week and take two years to complete them both. 2. Scale back to Geometry only, saving Algebra II for later. 

**This class is one I am most excited about creating. Since we school in six week segments, we will study a different aspect of Star Trek for each six weeks. My current options include philosophy, technology & science, cultures & religions, film/tv study, and a section on Star Fleet Academy. We may also delve into the Ethics of Star Trek in our Ethics class. 

My current plan is to approach some of these subjects through the lens of philosophy and linguistics, two of Z's major interests.  

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.