Posted in Teachers Corner

Today was much less interesting, but I tried to get a lot done. I put up the shelving pieces that have been all over my floor for a month waiting for me to decide where they're to go. I helped my hubby rearrange his delivery bin so he'd only have a thirteen-hour day. I did the dishes. Wow. I feel accomplished. Oooh.

Actually, we finally got some schooling in. She did a tangram, very quickly too -- I might have to filter out the easy ones from now on. She learned her times tables, yes, all of them. I picked up a "Times Tables the Easy Way" a couple of weeks ago (sorry, Dena -- I hadn't connected you with the competition at that point), and she's pretty much got it, with the exception of speed. That will come. She also started in on a book called "God in Art" (I believe) that I picked up after that wonderful art class at the conference. And then we played a logic game tonight. Not too bad. Oh, and we enjoyed a lovely romp through extremely odd time signatures with composer Leroy Anderson -- I love his music!

I was incredibly impressed with the speakers at the conference this year. Dr. Tom Hoyle of Genesis fame started out, but I only caught half his presentation. Fascinating. He made a scale model of Noah's ark, using only the info in the Bible (not all our crazy notions about how it had to be), and then compared it to scale models of modern-day ships that we know. Highly effective.

The Brain Guy, Terry Small, was one of my favorites. He's a brain scientist, and has never spoken to homeschoolers before. Boy, did he have fun with us! We may be a little too overeager about learning; he loved getting us to do goofy things during his talks. I was even scolded in front of everyone for laughing too much (actually, my "partner" in all these hilarious antics he had us doing made a goofy comment to me using what he was teaching us, so I wasn't really in trouble, but he did "stop the class" to make us share. Essentially, she called me a genius -- I couldn't help but find that laughable!).

He made quite a few good points that I'll be introducing in our lessons this year, but one of the most significant in my eyes was one he related to Alzheimer's. In most of us, myelin sheaths cover our synapses so that we retain information and that connection is strengthened; I've known this for about six years because of some research I did into behavioral problems with early-term preemies (my dd was 8 weeks early). What I didn't know is that recent research shows that Alzheimer's patients lose their memories because the myelin sheathing disintegrates!

I had never thought of that before -- my daughter's behavior back then (and generally that of others with this same problem -- usually labeled ADD, ADHD, Asperger's, Autistic, and others) resembles that of an Alzheimer's patient! Short attention span and memory, major fits over minor issues, hyperactivity, aggression, uncontrolled emotions, and so on -- it all sounds so familiar.

So my next question was: what can we do to improve the production of myelin in these children? I asked Terry, and first of all, he hadn't heard of this research. I'll have to send him the links to the info I found years ago. But second, he said I shouldn't worry because the brain continually produces more and more myelin. I didn't want to offend the man, so I thanked him and figured I'd send him on this goose chase later, but I had plenty more questions. If the brain continually produces more, what causes the brain to stop producing more in the brains of Alzheimer's patients? And the research I read said these early preemies have some improvements (and remember, there's a wide range of affectedness in this group), but most have ongoing issues for most of their lives, at least as long as we've been able to track it. So somewhere, somehow, there's a switch that either gets turned off or damaged in these kids (probably because they trying to survive in an incubator instead of focusing on producing all the remaining developments they've missed in the womb).

Hmm. I can't wait to see what he and other scientists come up with on this one. I wish I had taken more of his courses.

Enough of my ramblings for one night, but I thought I'd start giving you a flavor of what the conference was like. More later.

Posted in Teachers Corner

I almost forgot! Any of you Washington homeschoolers need to go check out watchhome.org for info on the Christian homeschool conference in August.

They really reconfigured everything this year, and I can't wait to go! The kids are welcome this time around, with their own mini-conference alongside ours. It's at the Seattle Pacific U campus; we get to stay in the dorms or apartments for prices similar to motels, but with the benefit of rubbing shoulders with the conference speakers. BTW, TOS's own publishers Paul and Gena Suarez are supposed to be there too! Nice to have them visiting our neck of the woods!

It's going to be a wonderful conference, and I'd love to have some friends there to visit with. If you decide to go, let me know so we can make plans to meet up

Posted in Teachers Corner

My dd just informed me that the pinecones are popping! If you don't know about this, check my post on it from last year.

Hooray!

Posted in Teachers Corner

I was so unbelievably proud and excited for my little girl today.

This morning, in reading Genesis where God asks Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, she caught on to the typology! Seems like such a ridiculous thing, but I believe it shows that she's understanding the link between the OT and the NT, prophecy, and the theme of the Bible in general. I watched her eyes light up when she made the connection between Isaac and Jesus, Abraham and God the Father, Mount Moriah and its later name -- Golgotha, the three day journey home that doesn't mention Isaac, the missing lamb sacrifice that Isaac was to replace, and the substitutionary ram in his place. I know I've said it before, but this is why I homeschool!

The other event of the day was venturing out for a bike ride (yes, it was over my temperature threshold of 50 degrees, so I agreed that I was going to die of hypothermia). She was terrified to ride a bike two years ago, then interested and slowly progressing last year until I broke my ankle in May, and now finally excited. So we loaded up the gear and headed for the old airport roads a couple of miles away. The excitement turned to frustration and crying, though, but mostly because she's more of a drama queen and less of the tough girl than she thinks. But by the end of the trip, she was riding for 80 to 100 feet at a stretch, and starting and stopping on her own. Hooray! Maybe now we can all start losing some weight...

Oh, and I have to mention that we were out there before the public school kids were released from their institutions, and that we nearly got stopped in a school zone on the way home. Fortunately the officer knew we were pulling out in the middle of the zone, couldn't see the sign, and didn't see any kids yet, so we didn't know. He reminded us with a gesture as we went by, without stopping us. I guess that's one drawback to homeschooling -- we don't know when the others are going to and from school. But I'll take that anyday!

Posted in Teachers Corner

I am getting a recurring message from multiple sources lately that I can't ignore anymore. I've come across it in the Word, in talks from homeschool and church leaders, and even in conversations I've just "happened" to have lately.

It all points to one thing -- my job is to teach my daughter about Jesus, first and foremost. To teach her about His ways, His principles, His commands of us, His mercy. To teach her how to apply that and remember that in her everyday life.

I've been spending too much time trying to cram in all the traditional school subjects. She balks, makes excuses, gets distracted by everything from the weather to music to the trains that rumble by multiple times a day. She eventually gives up all hope of completing the task, because Mom's already too frustrated to have patience with her. Not every day, but too many.

So, we've changed our tactic. I know, seems like I can't stick to anything for more than two weeks, but we're liking this. Everyday we start out with her spelling and grammar starter -- one of those little flip calendars that has a mini-activity for each day. We do this over breakfast, using her little whiteboard at the table for writing suggestions.

Next, we read the Bible. She decided she wanted to read through the Bible in a year (I think I mentioned that in my last post), so her reading schedule is posted on the wall of the classroom and she marks it off every day when we're done. It takes us about an hour to read the chapters and discuss them, talking about how to apply the lessons in them to her (and my) life.

Then she does her spelling. This child has an excellent vocabulary, but her spelling doesn't exactly match up with her big words. She completes a unit of twenty words every two days (her schedule, not mine!), and gets practice writing and alphabetizing in the process.

After that, each day has its own topic. Mondays are langurage arts (vocab, italics handwriting, grammar, word roots), Tuesdays are math (she's in a wonderful phase where she's covering everything from addition to division to graphing to algebra), Wednesdays are science (today we covered weather -- for the hundredth time but at her request -- and made rain inside the house -- read the current issue of TOS for the instructions), Thursdays are history (I've talked about the books we're using in a recent post), and Fridays are arts and crafts (oh my, all the directions we can go with that).

I guess I'll add in the character development, manners and home ec stuff here and there, but maybe she'll agree to do those the weeks Daddy works on Saturday. And, of course, she's gearing up for planting her flower and vegetable gardens, so we'll have to work that in somewhere too. Oh, and we're reading from Kids of Courage on Sundays after church.

She's already happier with this schedule. We went for a family walk this afternoon (unheard of, but mostly because I am cold-blooded and need greater heat in order to get me to venture outside), and she was able to play with a neighbor friend for a while too. She's built targets out of big markers and rulers, and then shot them down with Nerf dart guns. She's happy!

So, we'll see if this works. Above all else, I guess I just need to focus on God's command to teach her His way instead of worrying about the state's screwed up priorities.

Posted in Teachers Corner

I've always said that I like the phase where you can begin to reason with children. I used to think that was about kindergarten age; but I'm thinking I'm liking age 8 even better.

We're pretty much just doing basics at this point -- math, spelling, vocabulary. I'd say she's about on par with her public school peers in the latter two, and far beyond them in the first. In math and vocab, we're using leftover texts from the local school district; dh's aunt is a TA and brings us all sorts of goodies at the end of the year. In spelling, we're using a used text from another local homeschooler, and I'm enjoying the scripture verses tied to each word list. We also tackle italics handwriting with Getty-Dubay books on an infrequent basis, but hopefully we pick that up a bit more regularly from now on.

On Fridays, we try to do an art day. She wants to be an artist, so I'm trying to teach her all I know. We have several texts -- How Great Thou Art, Busy Teacher's Guide to Art Lessons (one of my favorites -- check it out), Children's Art Journal, stuff off the internet, several random "try to draw this" kids' books, Draw-Write-Now's, and my own art background. Our major stumbling block in this subject -- which causes much frustration on both sides -- is her lack of discrimination. Improvement requires a critical eye, and she doesn't have one yet. We'll get there, but right now she's too impatient and prideful to get that she needs to work harder if she wants to get better.

On Saturdays that Dad works (and there aren't social activities that we need to get to, like birthday parties), we do history. She loves this subject and can't get enough of it, but we can't seem to do all the basics and still have enough time to do any in-depth learning in the history department. We're using about five main texts, but we've only used two so far -- Streams of Civilization and The Story of the World. I like the format and detail of the first, and I've seen Susan Wise Bauer in person and appreciated her tactics in the latter. The other two books are The Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History, and Ancient Civilizations and the Bible -- from another one of my favorite speakers, Diana Waring. The fifth text is, of course, the Bible. After diving into history at the Renaissance because of an art lesson we did, dd decided she wanted to go back to the beginning -- literally. (She has a touch of the melancholy personality like her mother.) Another reason we haven't made much progress is because of that very personality trait; one project involved burying some objects for her to dig up and learn about archaeology. The weather got in the way before that could happen, and I haven't wanted to give it up for now and move on. I guess we'll just review that part in the spring when this nasty winter is over. (Yes, I just heard last night that our governor has declared a state of emergency for our side of the state. I hate winter.)

Other stuff just happens as it happens. She has a lot of educational games, and a whole list of mother-approved websites she can access -- and does almost daily. She reads incessantly, and classics as well as fluff (she just got hooked on Babysitters Club, though Geronimo Stilton and Pony Pals are still high on the list). We try writing assignments now and then, but they take so much effort on my part to keep her on task; maybe when her handwriting gets better we'll both enjoy it more, but I know I'm going to have to do more training in the story-writing arena. Then again, maybe it's just the writer in me that's a little impatient with her.

Science is another haphazard subject. We have an extensive collection of texts in this area, and she's often found devouring them. We also end up with many kits, like volcanoes, soda pop, glow-in-the-dark geodes, and growing crystals (that's a disturbing one, BTW -- it uses the same little "absorbers" as disposable diapers, and somehow I can't get past the way I came to be familiar with them in the first place!). We watch quite a bit of Discovery Channel, How It's Made, etc, but I realize I will soon need to do a bit more organized study. And plenty more hands-on, which is where I need dh's help. He's just better with some of that stuff. (See, Love? I can admit that I have a fault. Just one, though .... Well, maybe two ....)

So, as I said earlier, I like this phase. She's asking questions, processing it all through, and then spitting out something akin to a reasoned response. Like the other day, when she told me that I must not have had s-- for eight years or I would have had another child. Oh, how I love her! This morning, though, she asked why I didn't have to do as much practice on fractions, and I told her that I had learned them well enough 25 years ago. She actually sat down and figured out how old I would have been then! Wow! Progress! That just made my morning!

So, that's where we are. Highly unorganized, but success is being accomplished. That's all we ask, right?

Posted in Teachers Corner

Check out this wonderful list of things homeschoolers wish everyone else knew about homeschooling.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PreschoolersandPeace/257413/What+Non-Homeschoolers+May+Not+Know.html
(Why can't I get this link button to work?!)

This woman gets a gold star today... I wish it was worth something, like a nap.

Posted in Teachers Corner

We're trying to get into a habit, but with our very inconsistent schedule, it's all rather haphazard.

We usually start out with her "starters" -- aptly named if I do say so myself. This includes updating her calendars with the weather, date, day of the week; a tangram exercise (we love these!); a spelling and grammar calendar activity; a math drill and flashcards in addition; a chapter in the Bible (Psalms currently); and a character-building activity (usually a little ditty or poem, a coloring page, and discussion on a trait we've selected).

As for major categories, we're going a sort of hit-and-miss, whatever-strikes-our-fancy tactic. Her major topic lately is American History. She wanted to start with who discovered America, so we've begun with Christopher Columbus (I know he didn't really discover America, but it was a place to start). Tied to that, we're going through what was happening in the world around 1500 AD, maps and navigation, clothing styles, art and architecture, and science of the time. Really just a lot of reading and discussion, internet searches and color pages, and lots of library books. We're trying to read many different sources to get a more rounded perspective of it all.

As a family, we're spending a great deal of time exploring at the moment. Here in about a month or so, the rattlesnakes will emerge on the landscape with the increasing heat, and both will hinder these adventures, so most major studies are being set aside on Daddy's days off so we can go out for a hike or drive. Lots of geology and history in this area, especially as relates to trains or landforms.

She's also into science in a major way right now. She has multiple topics going from multiple sources: astronomy, anatomy, chemistry, physics, geology and geography, machines, bugs, animals, dinosaurs, meteorology, .... and the list goes on. She's at a wonderful phase where she just picks up books and reads them. Of course, she then says, "Mom, you should read this!" I can't keep up with her! Once in a while, she asks to do an experiment from one of her readings; she has turkey bones in vinegar and water behind the kitchen sink, where she's studying the effects of acid on calcium -- great project, by the way.

She's jumping into multiplication, but still only in the early concept phases. Won't be long though. On the other hand, she's doing very well in time, money, measurements, charts and graphs, and beginning fractions.

Her main problem at the moment is writing. She's reading at a 7th grade level, but gets frustrated because she can't write and spell at the same level -- that perfectionist side starts rearing its ugly head (my, where does she get that from?!). So, we're trying to journal or notebook to get her penmanship practice in; she's doing a spelling program on the computer; and there's plenty of other writing activities -- Draw Write Now lessons, write-in-the-blank assignments, emails and letters, art projects and birthday cards.

Beyond that, it's just a lesson in osmosis -- she just absorbs information at every turn. She asks a lot of questions, and is learning how to find the answers. We use the internet, the TV -- videos and cable alike, the radio, the library and research materials, magazines, daytrips and everyone's brains. She's alos becoming increasingly health-conscious; it will be by her prompting that I actually get into shape again.

What are you studying?

Posted in Teachers Corner

No? It's the coolest thing!

Come to find out, my little sisters know all about this; but do they tell their oldest sister? Of course not. They let her rant and rave about the neat thing she discovered and say, 'You didn't know that? I've known that for years.' Little rats.

Anyway, for all those of you in the dark like me, you can stand near a pine tree after a warm day in early spring and literally hear the cones pop open. It's like little snaps all over the tree.

I don't know if the same thing happens with fir trees, or if this happens all spring or only during one time period, or what temp it has to be. I just know it was the most exciting little lesson we had last week.

I'll have to ask the girls what they know about this phenomenon ... they might tell me, they might leave me in suspense. Then again, I might just have to threaten them.

Posted in Teachers Corner

There are days when I so love homeschooling!!

Last Sunday, as we were leaving our driveway on the way to church half an hour away, my daughter made some comment about how when you stop growing, you die. What?! So I took her on a journey through DNA, cell replication and biology -- on the way to church! How cool is that?!

My hubby works on Sundays before and after church, so he wasn't with us, but he got his turn on Friday. I was sick, so he took dd to work, where my mom and sister picked her up for a birthday party (at a really cool children's museum in Tri-Cities, btw). As they're pulling out of the driveway (see the trend here?), she held the $5 bill I gave her up to the window ... and found the extra face! So Daddy introduced her to watermarks and counterfeit money schemes and basic criminology! After a whole day away, it was the first thing she told me when she walked in the door at dinner time. The funny part was how to write that in her educational records without sounding like we were the ones doing the counterfeiting!

I so love the freedom and spontanaity of it all. Ah.

Posted in Teachers Corner

With so few posts on homeschooling, even the CIA couldn't prove I was doing so.

This year is a transition one for our family. Here in Washington, we are only required to give a notice of intent to our superintendant, and have our child tested annually. Not too bad. And, state law calls for mandatory education at age eight.

So, this fall -- and specifically on her birthday, not a day before -- we have to give notice and start testing.

Oh, boy.

While she is ahead in almost every other subject, spelling and writing are her problem areas. (How my writer's heart is broken, too, let me tell ya.) It mostly stems from a bit of perfectionism (understatement of the year), so I have my work cut out for me.

Fortunately, I have discovered notebooking and lapbooking. My little self-proclaimed artist loves the opportunity to draw and use scrapbooking stuff. She's writing out all of her AWANA verses, summaries of books she's reading, and short papers on other topics of interest. At this rate, she'll outdo me in no time.

I'm also finding she loves all the cool new peechees (do they still use that term?) out these days -- makes it easy to organize all these papers.

And we're trying another tactic -- for every book she completes (basically math at this point, but we'll see how far we can take this), she earns $7 (based on her age, we decided). She then may pick out something within certain boundaries -- Leapster educational games, art supplies, a new book, etc. She's finished six math workbooks in two weeks! (We have a collection of cheap ones from various sources -- it's all pretty redundant, but she's getting great practice). She begs to do math. I love it!

Other than those two main foci, she's spending extra time doing her learning games on the computer -- JumpStart, Mighty Math, Carmen SanDiego, and others. And reading ... always reading. My parents found her a set of children's abridged classics for Christmas. She might read Jane Eyre before I do.

Gotta go read. Can't let that happen.

Posted in Teachers Corner

After posting the last time (and then ignoring you all for a month), I had a conversation with my family about the WASL. I found out that my sister (the biology teacher) was also in the class that tested the math segment to see if it would work. Keep in mind this girl is near genius -- she hated it! The teachers spent the entire year teaching only what was on the test, so they lost some of the richness (maybe well-rounded might be a better term) of the full curriculum. She said the test was a joke; not that it was easy, but that it didn't make sense. I'll have to get into her head a bit more to find out what she meant by that.

My dad (the music teacher) said one of his co-workers is having her fifth graders evaluate the videos of the fourth graders. Did I tell you about that? The kids are required in band, choir and general music classes to take a "test" to show their understanding of music (because we can't leave any area of learning out of this program); they are to be videotaped performing a piece of music, then the teacher is to evaluate them on things like expression. I'm sorry -- I've got great expression when I perform music now, but I didn't back then. I didn't have the experience in my life to give me anything to base expression on in the first place. I knew students in high school who went to Juliard later, who didn't show much expression in high school. Anyway, when an elementary music teacher sees hundreds of students a week, how are they supposed to be able to teach music and still have the time to test each one individually? It's ridiculous to think this is going to work. I'm convinced that when this becomes mandatory here shortly, the WASL will go down in flames.

I ran across a lady at a gas station near Spokane who told me her kids had been doing well in school, and fortunately went to a school that doesn't teach to the test; they simply mention, "this will be on the WASL," then go on as if it didn't mean anything. She hadn't had any problems with it until lately, when her son -- a great English and science student -- failed the math portion last spring. Knowing he wasn't great at math (but not real poor at it, either), she signed him up for summer school. When I spoke with her, she said they were waiting on the results from his recent, second attempt at the math part, but he was convinced he did no better than before. I can't remember what she said he was interested in doing with his life, but the comment was, "he doesn't need geometry, trig or calculus to do it."

I'm a big fan of giving our kids a broad spectrum of subjects and experiences, and not limiting them to what I think they should be doing. Neither, though, do I think they need to master all those subjects. Let's be real -- very few people out there have mastered all these subjects and perform them perfectly, yet that is what the Washington State educational system is demanding.

Case in point, that darling little girl in the TOS magazine last fall or winter -- the one who painted those incredible pictures. If you remember, the interview said she did her studies in all the basic subjects, but with her unbelievable talent, no one was pushing her into a career in science. Art was her thing, and that's where her educational focus was. For goodness sake, she would probably fail the WASL! (Dear, if you're reading this, I'm not putting you down. Grab your paintbrush and keep going -- I'm behind you all the way.)

I understand that people want to know their kids are getting a well-rounded education, and that they aren't just being pushed through without really learning anything. I understand that Washington is tired of being low on the educational totem pole. I also understand that some students need to be threatened with testing, so that they don't just sleep through class (experience speaking here).

I understand, too, that there are many reasons why this is necessary. Parents have given up their responsibilities in educating their kids; this eventually leads to a complete disconnect with what is possible for both the teachers and the students in a school environment. Governments have made educational accomplishment the standard of success in their jurisdictions, which requires this kind of pressure instead of relying on the more realistic motivators of necessity and desire (which would, of course, go back to parents and their influence on their children); also, our government here in America seems so bent on comparing itself to other countries around the world, despite the fact that we are a different system/society than those countries, and should thus have different expectations and ways to meet them than those other countries. I have a real issue with the media (no offense to my boss), and here is a place where it comes into play; the things we read in the paper, hear on the radio, see on TV, and download on the Internet all affect how we see the world -- when a vast amount of that is skewed, our view of life, education and what's important is also skewed. Of course, as a Christian, I see the Enemy of our souls as a major factor in this too. Sin of every kind distracts us from our responsibilities, setting us up for failure and frustration; he's not going to want our kids to succeed, so he's all for an ineffective test that's going to discourage our children and keep them from learning.

There's so much more, but I'm sure I'm just rambling now. My point is, if we as parents would take our God-given authority (see Exodus 10:2, Deuteronomy 11:1-7, 19, Psalm 78:5-6, Proverbs 22:6, Isaiah 38:19, Ephesians 6:4, the example of the priests and prophets in the Old Testament, and that of Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament), return our government to its original purpose (not policing us and extending itself into areas it was never intended to go, like education), and focus on what's important in life (a relationship with our Creator, following His plan for our life, obeying and serving Him), we would find that we and our children would be successful without the need for tests like the WASL. I know this will never fly in today's society, but I can always hope -- at least it will be this way when Jesus returns to rule. Won't that be nice?

Posted in Teachers Corner

My friend gottsegnet posted about a boy here in Washington who was reprimanded and pretty much emotionally abused by his school for not answering a question on the WASL because he thought it would mean calling his principal a witch.

That set me off. Here I'm quoting the reply I left her. Enjoy.

"You have to understand -- my dad and my MIL are music teachers, my mom is a secretary (now a sub, but still the most coveted one in the district and at the college level locally), my FIL is a maintenance/electrical/pool specialist, and one of my sisters is a biology teacher. WE ALL HATE THE WASL!!!!

"As background, my mom was on the committee for our local school district to take the state guidelines and apply them to our local EALRs (scope and sequence, really). At the time, she was explaining to me why these things were so horrible, but I didn't understand til I was researching what I thought I needed to teach Danika.

"Wow! Every single subject, from math to English to art to PE, includes as a goal "to ensure that the student is ready to be a productive member of the workforce." I'm not kidding! I happen to be one of the ones who believed the school-to-work/certificate-of-mastery thing was coming in the first place, but to see it on paper was creepy.

"So, going from that to this ridiculous test was not surprising. Who cares if they know basic math; now they are being pushed to be good workers. This thing about the boy not wanting to answer angers them because he's not doing what they want him to; who cares that his attitude was right or that he may have had a problem writing (not him in this case, but others) -- they only care that their students will be "found worthy" of the work certificates, and thus the school will get more funding and a higher rating. Ooooh! I get so mad!

"Even the music, art and PE courses are no longer exempt. Now the teachers in these fields have to test the students for their ability in each of these areas, but by subjective state standards. In music, the students who play instruments are being required to "show emotion that is appropriate to the piece being performed;" at the primary and secondary levels, very few students have this kind of understanding of the music, much less that kind of connection to the meaning and subtlety behind the piece. And who determines what level of emotion is appropriate?

"This is all just ridiculous! Thank God the homeschoolers aren't required to take this stupid test. Okay, off the soapbox."

Have any of you had any contact with this awful thing? Leave me a comment.

Posted in Teachers Corner

Why has it taken me so long to get over there?!

Reading TOS and checking in on Gena and Jen's blogs, I kept reading about the Company Porch. It's worth a visit. There are daily topics, covered by some of the best bloggers in HSB-land. Today's topics included schooling an only (hey! that's me -- and boy, do I need the help!); now that I've been reading for almost two hours, I'm not feeling so overwhelmed by the issues I've been stressing over this week.

Head on over sometime in the next week and check out the offerings.

Posted in Teachers Corner

I have to mention how interesting God has made everything.

I've been watching my kitties head out into the snow. Besides the instant panic of "this wasn't here this morning," they head out into the white stuff, leaving behind such perfect little pawprints. But have you ever watched as they walk? The back paw lands in the exact same print as the front paw. Exactly! I couldn't do that if I tried (ignoring the whole argument that I, of course, do not have four feet, and thus don't need to do so or have any way of doing so); I simply mean that, if I walk in a circle in the snow and then try to take the exact same steps as the first time around, I couldn't (which is, of course, not an exact correlation to what they're doing).

All right, my awe of our Creator has turned to confusing rambling. I'm sure none of you have any idea what I'm talking about. So, before I go and confuse myself as well, goodnight.

Posted in Teachers Corner

Okay, a few months ago, my friend ams tagged me, and I haven't done anything with it yet. So here goes:

1) One homeschooling book you have enjoyed
Building Thinking Skills Primary from Critical Thinking/Bright Minds.
Logic is very important for so many reasons, but mostly because we can't defend our faith on emotion. This has taught my little one basic logic without the adult explanations of how or why it works. Very colorful and hands-on for the little ones.

2) One resource you wouldn't be without.
My fiber-optic Internet connection.
I love being able to instantly search (at high speeds!) for anything: definitions from an 1800s dictionary to info on apple snails to a computer game about Lewis and Clark.

3) One resource you wish you had never bought.
The worn-out microscope I picked up at a garage sale.
There were no instructions and too many pieces missing to know what to do with it. I ended up just getting a new one, supplementing it with the leftovers from the used one, and finding a store that sells more supplies for it.

4) One resource you enjoyed last year.
Mind Benders A1 from Critical Thinking Press/Bright Minds.
I love logic puzzles, so finding them for children (done with pictures for non-readers) was so thrilling! My dd picked them up for the first time at 5 years old, and did 16 of them by herself on the first day. I was so excited!

5) One resource you will be using next year.
Anything history related. Maybe the Light and the Glory for kids.
She loves hearing history as stories (Little House, the Bible, etc.), so she and Daddy will begin studying history in general, and locally alongside geography (my dh is a train history buff).

6) One resource you would like to buy.
A general, third-grade level computer program.
Seems like Disney drops out with the first graders, JumpStart can't be found in WalMart anymore, and my favorite homeschool store doesn't carry anything like this 'til the 5th grade level. Visual programs do really well with this child.

7) One resource you wish existed.
A practical manual, much like an encyclopedia, where other homeschool parents have listed their solutions to every problem we could ever face, from discipline to materials to housework to ... you get the idea. And it must be update-able on a regular (daily?) basis.

8) One homeschooling catalog you enjoy reading.
I don't really have a favorite. Rod and Staff, while I don't use a lot of their products, is always uplifting and reminds me of the responsibility I have to teach her spiritual matters. Academic Toolbox is a local (an hour away, but that's fairly close around here) educational store, and their catalog is great for not being a chain store; the store is, of course, much more fun than the catalog. Otherwise, I tend to look up resources on the Net when I need them.

9) One homeschooling website you use regularly.
Sorry -- I'm going to do three.
The Math Worksheet site -- you can generate math drill sheets here. Hooray!
The Old Schoolhouse -- of course! TOS has been so wonderful for me.
Calvary Chapel Children's Ministry Curriculum -- I know it's not a homeschool site, but I use it for Bible curriculum starters. This is my denomination, and it teaches the Bible verse-by-verse, even to the kids (tho' some things are left out because of the difficulty of it for their ages). We also use this in our Sunday School to a degree.

So, there they are. Now I have to tag five people. Hmm. Gottsegnet, Raising Faith, Javamamma, CallMeKate, and Maxwell Academy -- and of course, anyone else who wants to sound off on this.

Posted in Teachers Corner

I'm not one for resolutions with the New Year, but can I do some for mid-year? Think of it along the lines of a mid-life crisis ... you re-evaluate, re-prioritize, and re-solve so you feel like you're actually accomplishing something after all.

So here I am, on the eve of our nation's anniversary of Independence (sort of, anyway -- the anniversary was actually a few days ago ... there's a history lesson for ya), trying my best to be more dependable. I've made my own chore chart similar to my daughter's; now she gets the pleasure of keeping mommy accountable for all those little marks. Seems to have worked well today, despite the zaniness of my life.

As for blogging, it is an item on my chore chart ... far down the chart, but it is there. I realize that I won't get it done every night, but I will still try. Maybe then I won't have all these long absences.

Along with that, I am joining an online book club over at ClassicalMamma's blog. Being so fearful of strict schedules, I put it off for a while, but now I understand that I don't have to keep up the same pace as our fearless leader. What a relief! The first book is a doozy, but the logic-lovers would greatly appreciate it. Check it out if you'd be interested; I'll try to get a doohickey over there in the margin for ya.

Have a safe, fun fourth! I'll report on the family activities probably Wednesday.

PS -- pray for our independence ... we're losing it fast.

Posted in Teachers Corner

While I tend to use an eclectic approach, leaning heavily on Charlotte Mason and a bit of Unschooling, I'm fascinated by the Principle Approach. I think my gravitation toward the former two are because of my rebellious nature -- I want so much to get away from the system in which I was raised. I love doing schoolwork on the floor, drawing as a method of explaining what dd knows, and unifying information from multiple years into one volume so she can see how it all fits together.

The biblical principle idea, though, seems to mirror the way I study now. I love my concordance -- it's second only to my Bible -- and I've been known to spend weeks on one chapter of Scripture, tearing it apart to find every detail of knowledge and understanding. The idea that I can study words in depth, explain the need for math by His very character, and apply every lesson to our spiritual walk with Him is appealing.

My friend Gottsegnet was the first person I "met" who uses this method, so I'll direct you to one of her archived posts that describes the approach in her words. Here are more posts by Gottsegnet: one, two, and three (though this one isn't specifically about PA). In that last post, more recent, she sends us to another mom's blog with more info. Also, Gottsegnet posts several times in her archives about a seminar by Katherine Dang; she says the seminars are a great source of info on the topic (see Gottsegnet if you're interested).

So, I'm off to do some more reading on this topic. I hope this has piqued your interest in this method, as it has mine. Even if I maintain my current style, I think I'll at least be incorporating some techniques/ideas from PA. Let me know if you're interested too.

Posted in Teachers Corner

I found this on Creativehsmom's site. Fairly accurate, actually. I was impressed.

Mothering Style

Your type is: estp  —The “Action Adventure” Mother

“I can’t do anything the same way more than one or two times. Today can’t be like yesterday. Let’s do something different!”

• Active and spontaneous, the ESTP mother can turn ordinary life into a fun-filled adventure. She makes dull routines exciting and chores a “let’s do it again” kind of game. Her best times are those spent with her children actively doing, particularly if it’s spur of the moment, innovative, and unconventional.
• Full of energy and enthusiasm for living in the moment, the ESTP mother gives her children every opportunity to experience all that life has to offer — touching, seeing, moving, doing ... and meeting people. She’s interested in stimulating their senses so they can take life in and live it.
• The ESTP mother is matter-of-fact—“what you see is what you get.” She mothers without hidden agendas and takes life and people as they are. Her children know where they stand. She is able to develop a close relationship with them based on honesty and a strong family orientation as well as sharing a wide variety of experiences.

Posted in Teachers Corner

Seems like whenever I'm not feeling so good about anything really, one of you HSers out there cheers me up. Thanks.

So, I need to tell you how wonderful it was to see my lilacs blooming the last two days, and the bright red snapdragons in the front yard. The tulips and daffodils are still blooming too. And out in the sagebrush fields, there's sunflowers and wild lupine.

OK. I just need to remember all these beautiful flowers that God made to bless me the next time I'm feeling frustrated with my mothering skills  ... or lack of them. When I put it all back in perspective, she's His child. He'll help me figure it out. Not that He won't do it through one of you, of course ...

You're all so wonderful. Keep up the great posts.