Thursday, June 2, 2011

May 25, 2011

I hope you all are doing well this Wednesday. We are doing well. We started SL science week 1 yesterday and dd LOVED it. I've tried the Apologia's Zoology book with her twice and she hadn't been ready to comprehend what I was reading; but she understood all the classifications perfectly yesterday. She said how very exciting this topic is and how much she is liking it....very cool! The last weeks of SL science 2 were covering a lot of machines (planes, boats, ships, combines, tractors....) and I was more bored than dd. I am glad we are back to more naturey-sciency stuff. Dd liked the machines; it was me who didn't.

We went fishing on Sun night; went to a park Mon; and went back to that park Tues. So, we have been face to face with mosquitoes and birds, plants, bugs, you name it. It has been good to be outside. We've been reading our Witch in Blackbird Pond at the park and enjoying it. Dd can play in the stream while I broadcast our book for all to hear (slightly embarrassing).

We are really enjoying TWOBP. I finally had to read the last chapter while dd wasn't looking b/c I just had to know how it turns out. It is really unlike dd to not ask to read extra chapters.

Dd is not enjoying The Light in the Forest yet. If she likes a book I give her as her own reader; she usually finishes it in a few days. But, she says that this one is not very exciting. I think I read or heard somewhere that the beginning is very slow.

I am thinking of reading Calico Captive next. I haven't fully decided. Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare

I have quite a few books that would fit in nicely next. Hmmmmm.

Our library is finally having a book club (I've asked for 5 years) for 3-5 graders. They are doing it on the book: Artemis Fowl (new cover) by Eoin Colfer

has anyone read this?

Well, we are planning on going to the Indianapolis Children's Museum this morning and do some science with microscopes. We will do our lessons after we get back home. We are getting close to finishing our FLL 2 and WWE 1; maybe in the next week or two! I love when we complete curriculum that we've worked so hard for so long on.

May 22, 2011

I forget what week we just finished (maybe 11). Next week is a low-left over's week. We are still reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Dd is way ahead in her readers; so I gave her: Light in the Forest (Paperback, 2004) by Conrd Richtsr


We sold some of our extra/duplicate books at a curriculum hs'ers sale on Friday. I met another SL'er named "IndyMama". She couldn't believe I recognized her by her name. It was good to get rid of some of our boxes of books. Then we went to a book sale to buy some books on Saturday. We ended up spending much less than we made so that is a bonus!

I forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago dd finished her SL Science 2!!! Yeah!! Whistles blowing; cars honking!! I was so ready to finish that one up and move onto this one. We plant and garden so much I thought it would be great to look at our gardening from a scientific point of view for a change. We should be able to get a little science done this week.

Last week we listened to:
The Basket of Flowers : Lamplighter Theatre (Dramatic Audio) by Christoph Von Schmid and John Rhys-Davies (Audio CD - 2009) - Audiobook

and The Hedge of Thorns : Lamplighter Theatre (Dramatic Audio) - Audio CD - Audiobook

Our library got them for us ILL (inter-library loan) and they were so great.

May 19,2001

 Thanks for talking about Writing in your homes; it really gives me some ideas. Right now for writing we do either WWE 1 or RFW "T" or AAS 2 or ETC or SL Science! We do lots of narration and discussion about material-verbally. But, I would like to help dd get a little more comfortable with her ability to write. I think doing the AAS has really showed her she can spell more than teaching her to spell. We are on AAS 2 and except for a ramdom word she already knows how to spell these words or can figure it out. The thing I saw, and liked, at the ps was that the kids wrote down ideas with a few words without that being the issue. I've always leaned more towards the "better late than early" mode of thinking b/c they said that the kids would naturally move toward doing things themselves but I really don't see my specific dd leaving her groove!


Today we am off to sell some of my duplicate books at a curriculum sale at a church. I've never done anything like this; but I am tired of all the boxes of extra books in my spare bedroom. Maybe this will be a good start in my pursuit of saving up money for the new writing program! My van is all loaded up; now I have to go wake up my dd who never gets up this early....this should be interesting! But, she made some signs herself that say "books for sale" and she is encouraging me to wander around the sale and she will take care of the business. That is not like her at all! Is she growing up?

May 17,2011

Today we went to the public school for a field trip. I haven't really processed it all yet; but it was very interesting. The teacher was actually great. She goes to the same church our therapist goes to (and the principal too). She treated the kids well. We sat in on "Writing" b/c that is our dd's worst subject currently; and that just happens to be Mrs. Johnson's favorite subject. She did a very good presentation on comparing and contrasting and how as adults we are always trying to compare and contrast to make good decisions. Her example was parents looking at new cars/vans and how we research and research until we find the best one for our needs. Later when the kids went to Recess I asked to look at one of her students writing folders and saw some examples. The folder I read actually had a story that the girl had written about what she would do if *she were President* and the first sentence said how she would make 'all students homeschooled, and they could sleep in until 10 am'!!!! How funny!

This student had written long complicated stories; with great spelling and imagination. I was impressed with her ability. But, the teacher had specifically picked out this student's folder b/c she said she was one of her best students. The teacher said how ISTEP (Indiana's State Regulations of some sort) regulates or requires all third grade students to be able to write for a minimum of 50 minutes without stopping. Yikes, read that sentence again. It must just be me; but I know my dd could NOT do that. I know how she rocks in certain areas (geography, history, bible), but this was definitely a big blow to us. We really need to work on - I need to work on teaching dd how to write stories and/or write her thoughts down. I don't know if WWE and FLL will get us there or if I need to look at adding in another 'extra' that could teach me how to teach this to her. Any ideas here would be appreciated. If any of you have found a good curriculum that helps frame up how to write ideas; please feel free to educate me. I really need some help here.

The teacher had 30 students; broken up into 6 groups of 5 students sitting in a pod/grouping. There would be one 'teacher's helper' in each pod/group that would go get things for the group. When they were working on the writing exercise, the teacher's helpers would go up and get the small dry-eraser boards for the other kids in the group. They did their brain storming on the dry-erase board and wrote down final ideas on paper and put those in their writing folders.

The teacher had a "smart board"; or is it "smartboard"? We actually had just used one at the Children's Museum last week. It is a touch screen on the white dry-erase board. It is like the screen on our computers/laptops but on the board where our teachers use to write with chalk. It was very high-tech and impressive.

I couldn't really say anything bad about the experience. The only thing was that they did a Science class after their Recess class and it was very condensed. She covered some major science topics (force, gravity....) very quickly. I just wonder if that is all she had planned to spend on those big concepts. We would have spent a lot of time going over those ideas at home and she just tackled them fairly quickly.

Dd opinion was that in some areas they are ahead (writing) and in some areas she was ahead. Dd was pretty happy that the teacher told us she hasn't had the time to teach cursive handwriting. That is one area I have really been focusing on the past few months and here these p.s. kids didn't even know how to do it!

Dd said that she thought if she went to p.s. she would probably learn more. Why? dh and I asked-- she said b/c they spend so much more time there than we spend at home on our lessons. We tried to clear that up and also give dd the idea that we would be happy to spend more time each day on our lessons; but she (dd) really has to work on her attitude being more positive.

We didn't get to see any history, math, recess, english, grammar, spelling, reading....She had planned on doing something after her science class; but some schedule got switched around and they had to go outside and do another recess or something like that. If the kids do things right; they get incentives which they can add up to get another recess, or something like that. I decided we didn't need to stay to watch the kids playing when we had a long drive home.

Literally after we had been in the classroom 45 minutes dd was complaining that this seat was too horrible and she really needed to get up. I told her we had to wait; and imagine those kids having to sit there 7 hours a day...yikes. That part was the hardest on her; just sitting. But then it seems like the teachers have that planned out too; kind of; they seem to do 45 minutes intervals of each subject.

I don't know if you all wanted all that detail, but their you have it. The thing I took away from it was that I definitely have to get better at teaching writing. It would be so much easier if dd didn't act like she was having a root canal every time she has to write for more than 5 minutes. I should admit that she is getting a little better about it every week. I do see improvement in the amount she can do without complaining. I also need to work on being more PATIENT with her.

*side note on the therapist-She has NO idea about homeschooling and hasn't been able to help us AT ALL. I wanted to try it and see if it would help; but it hasn't. We did get this public school field trip idea from her and that maybe the only good that came out of the experience. She can't see how us mom's can put on the loving/nurturing hat and then be able to put on the teacher hat too. She doesn't understand it and that makes helping us about impossible. I think that if I could find a local/experienced actual hs mom that has done this longer than me; and knows what it is like dealing with a 'challenging' kid that would be the best way to learn how to improve my teaching and my parenting skills.

May 16, 2011

We had a sickly week, last week. We didn't get very much done; but we managed a little. We went to a used book sale and I got a few more books and some will fit right with where we are right now in history (just what I needed; more add-in's!!!).

We also went to the science museum and had a blast. I won't bore you all with all the details; but the highlights are that we spent about 2 hours in 2 different science lab/science port and made cheese using a pipette! A pipette is this little handheld thingy that you see scientists use on tv and we used it! Plus we had hours of fun in the non-science areas too. They have a Dinosaur area that is amazing. Real paleontologists work there on real fossils; they are behind glass in a lab with the window open so you can talk with them. It is really neat. DD got to go through some rubble and look for real fossils and there was a employee who would tell her what kind of fossil she had found.

We used two different microscopes; one to look at slides and one to look at fossils. Both had the technology to show the image up on a monitor/screen. We are looking for buying a microscope and I was wondering if any of you have one and do you have any 'reviews' for me? dd wants a bi-nocular - the microscope with two eye holes; but that might not be important if we could afford the attachment that shows the image on a screen. That wouldn't happen this year; but we could save up for that in the future.

Anyway-we had a really good time. Our garden is SLOWLY getting planted. We need to get into high gear this week.

We are loving Kit in The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

I am looking forward to hearing how all of you are doing this week.

I also have a prayer request--tomorrow dd and I will go on a field trip to visit a public school for 2 1/2 hours or less. B/c dd has always been such a wonderful, and very difficult child and b/c we struggle so much with getting her to do her lessons we finally decided to go to a therapist. Her suggestion was to go visit a p.s. and let dd see for herself the amount of work average third graders are doing. B/c dd is an only child she feels like she must have so much more work than most; when the reality she doesn't do nearly what some do. She thought this might be a good perspective for her to see.

I am a little nervous about it all. It is over an hour away too and I am not a great directionalist (my word)---I get lost in the brown paper bag type person!

If you have a moment we would appreciate your prayers for this experiment to go well.

May God bless us and guide us throughout this week.

Oh, I've come back to share something you all might be interested in, that we have been enjoying online for months. Here is there website:

www.lamplighterpublishing.com

and they have audio christian stories that are done in a week by week episode or past story episodes too. We have loved the stories so much we have asked (and rec'd) ILL (inter-library loan) copies of the stories so we can listen in our van too. I ordered their catalog so I could have something to look up on paper. But, the stories are old christian character training lessons/stories that build strong christian character. I couldn't give a higher recommendation. I am always looking for good seeds (good stories) to plant in my dd's soil and this resource is free and amazing.

May 9, 2011

We are on a LOW (Left-overs-week). We finished week 10 last week. We really got so much done Mon-Thur that most of Friday we spent at a park with dd in the stream collecting rocks, glass, and mussel shells. All of our experiments have worked and all of our craft projects from Hands and Heart have been fun.

My birthday was on Sat and I had wanted to go to a near park to go for a good hike; but the weather seemed too gloomy to go; so we went on Sun after church. This was the first time our big dog got to go to church. She (Sophie) waited patiently out in our van during the service. She is a very good girl; so there was no question she could behave perfectly. The weather was a bit chilly at 60 degrees; so she didn't get hot either. We had a great time. We changed out of our church clothes in the parks 'restroom'.

On Sat I had to try out my b-day gift: Trimmers/Pruners! So, my River Birch was trimmed and dd took all the long, thin branches and made herself a working bow and arrow. She spent most of the day being an Indian and shooting arrows all over the house. Sun at the park, she blazed ahead of us and shot her arrows at trees. The homemade arrows had a point; but were way too dull to actually stick to anything. She had a blast being an Indian.

This week I am going to focus on LA, Science, AAS, and some add-in books.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

May 10, 2011




We went to the Children's Museum in Indy and we:

rode the carousel twice
saw frogs
saw Sarah Fisher's racing uniform/outfit worn by a CM employee and felt the fireproof material
saw the CM Store with loads of science, art, and fun things to buy


Went to the Science Port and made a Triceratops out of rocks, glue, and crayon on paper, Made a T-Rex out of  pipe cleaners, made three slides of fossils, we used the "smart board" and made our own dinosaur creation, we looked at micro and macro fossils under a microscope that was viewed on a screen.

Went to the Science Lab and did an experiment where we made cheese from milk and some liquid that is from a cow's belly; but is now artificially produced.  We also got to look under their microscopes and see a variety of things (fern, skin, pine needle...)

We went to the "Barbie" exhibit and did some drawings, draped some mannequins, and the like.

We went into the Dino Sphere and saw lots of dino's in their 'natural habitat'.  We were given a small dish of rock and fossil pieces and tweezers and we hunted for various fossils.  The amber pieces were very beautiful; as were the fish scales (they were shiny black).  This area of the museum is very cool.  The dome is like you are walking back in time.

We went through the "Take Me There: Egypt".  First we boarded an airplane and the screen showed how we arrived in Africa/Egypt.  Puddin got taught how to juggle by a Egyptian man.  She participated in the presentation - celebration the employees did welcoming a new baby by jumping over the baby 7 times.  There are workers in the exhibit who act like real Egyptians and talk and explain and demonstrate various activities throughout.  Dd got to bang on a drum and walk in the presentation.  She loves making the silver band bracelet each time we go.

That about sums up our visit in a nut shell.  We saw a huge bag of pink cotton candy in the dining area that was very tempting; but we managed to keep walking.

May 8, 2010 Shades Park for Mother's Day

With her homemade Bow & Arrow

Thursday, May 5, 2011

May 4, 2011

Watched: Keeping The Promise

This video is based on the novel we recently read titled: The Sign of the Beaver.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Hands and Hearts Early American History Kit

We have been enjoying our Hands and Hearts Early American History Kit.   I broke down each project into a clear bag with the paperwork that described what and how to do the project along with all the materials needed.  That split the kit up into neat and tidy portions that I could use in the order I wanted to do them in.

The first project we started was the Trading Beads.  These Authentic beads were very beautiful to look at.  There was a little dust on the surface; from the clay cores, so we wiped them all down.  Then we split them up depending upon their color.  Then we put them in a vertical line from most valuable to least and calculated their total worth.  The paperwork listed how much each color was worth.  Then we figured out how many days we could pay an Indian guide and how much corn meal we could buy.  We eventually used the trade beads to play restaurant and purchased our own things with each other.

The second project we did was the Bowling game.  My daughter had difficulty painting the round, flat circles.  We were to only paint one side; but somehow there was paint on both sides.  I am suggesting we paint the underside white; but that hasn't been decided yet.  We played a few rounds of this game and enjoyed it.

We made rubbings off of our Tea Brick.  We had fun experimenting with all sorts of different materials trying to find the perfect medium for these rubbings.  After all sorts of charcoals and pencils we found the old fashioned crayon worked best!  How funny!  We haven't made the tea yet b/c we want to make more rubbings.

We put our bamboo flute together.  I do wish the leather straps were a little bit longer; maybe 2 inches longer would be good.  I liked the flute, but wanted to do more with it.  I wonder if we painted the flute if that would do any harm?  I is nice to have a penny whistle (rural ) flute, but the project was almost too simple.  Maybe a song could have been included?

That is as far as we have gotten so far.  We are enjoying this kit!