A and I have had a busy week learning about James Watt and Scotland and trains and such, but I think that I started a bit fast for him ... he seems a little burned out. So we're taking a play day today (yesterday, Thursday, was our social day), we may do more school on Monday or Tuesday if he's up for it.
The older children are setlling in well in their classroom settings. W's teacher always has seemed a bit on the gruff side to me, but he loves her and keeps saying how nice she is, so it seems to be a good fit. I already know T's teacher, since she was W's teacher last year. She called to set up conferences (routine ... naturally, they're the week DH is out of town), and to dicuss carpool options for one of T's classmates. They're a one car family, and so are we ... both dads can take the dc to school, but can't pick them up. I'm thankful to live within walking distance of the school bus stop. On days when I can't get there, they can walk home together (it helps that there are 2 of them, as well!)
We had a good visit with my parents ... they were here for their annual convention.
Dh's sister had her first baby, my first niece, and my dc's first cousin (their FIRST first cousin 
) ... we had a side bet going on how long it would take for our dc to get a cousin. I was 10 1/2 when my oldest cousin was born ... W is still only 9. Erin Leah was born on 8/22, 8 lb, 9 oz ... she was a few days late and her cousin Logan was a few days early, so he ended up being 3 days older.
The kids watching a calf. Calf wasn't doing much. It was hot.
A in the playhouse
W and T in a tree. Yes, she's bigger than him.
This year, W and T will both be in the magnet program at the ps. So it'll just be A, E at home with me. A is 6 1/2, and this will be his first grade year.
For the first couple of months, we'll be doing Amanda Bennett's trains study. I know she has it scheduled for 4 weeks, but at that pace, it is packed. For a first grader, it needs to either be scaled down or stretched out. Since it looks like he's capable of everything in there (skills-wise, he's at 2nd-3rd grade in most areas), we'll just take it at whatever pace works for us. We'll start the last week in August, and will probably finish sometime in October. I think we're going to do a lapbook to show our work. I'm hoping to do some really cool field trips -- the Golden Spike National Historic Site is a couple of hours away from us. We'll try to take a ride on the Heber Valley Railway. And I really want to take the Amtrak train home from Grandma's house someday. Our read-aloud will be The Railway Children and his reader will be The Boxcar Children. He also has the complete Thomas the Tank Engine collection that he's almost loved to death as a preschooler. I rescued it then, and am bringing it out, coverless though it may be, now that he's old enough to actually read it.
His life's ambition since he was 2 has been to be a train engineer. He's certainly got a strong mechanical bent, so I definitely think he'll be an engineer (whther train or design, I don't know), or an equipment operator of some sort. After the trains study, I'm thinking about doing a Meteorology unit, and then we'll probably spend much of the rest of the year focusing on David Macaulay's Building Big and The New Way Things Work. Being an engineer myself, it's kind of fun to have this year to focus on the child who shares those interests (the others don't particularly care about such things).
Right now, his math of choice is Miquon. He has CIMT 2 and Singapore 2B available, too.
We're going to start a bit of more formal Language Arts. Out of what we had around the house at about his level (Sonlight 2, LLATL Yellow, FLL, LOG), he's chosen CHC's Language of God A.
I'll do some of letter of the week's prep level with the little one (E is 2 1/2). I don't know how regularly we'll get to it, and we may stick more to the weekly themes, as things like colors, shapes, letters and numbers are coming along nicely without much effort on my part. If she shows more of an interest in reading, we may go to the regular program then. I have a lot of Montessori Practical Life work set up for her, and need to start going through all of my 3-6 albums for more work that she's ready for. It's been a year already since we studied PL in the Montessori class I'm taking. I'm in Karen Tyler's first class that started last summer and will finish this winter/spring sometime.
On the big kids' copious days off this fall, we'll be starting to work on Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry I. They have very little science in the curriculum where they are, and none at a level to challenge them, so I'll be adding that in. My friend Heather was selling her set, so I got a deal I couldn't pass up. Half of my support group will be using RS4K this year. Their dc are all home full-time, so they'll be moving faster than we will.
I think it will be a fun year. We will likely be waiting all year for word of a corporate transfer. It will likely be to the DC area. Right now, it looks like it may be to Bailey's Crossroads in Virginia, but dh is holding out to see if he can be assigned to the Calverton, MD office instead. So we're in a holding pattern. We'll also be evaluating over the course of the year whether to leave the dc (particularly W) in the program they're in, or whether to bring one or both back home next year. While W has had a lot of opportunities for growth that he wouldn't get at home, he was rarely challenged academically this year.
Today was our first day of summer school. It's also the first day of our new "school year". W is in fourth grade, T in third, A is in first and E is 2. W finished up ps 3rd grade yesterday. He'll continue in ps next year, and T will join him. I think she'll enjoy the third grade program even more than he did.
We're studying Marco Polo. We did the introductory part of Marco Polo for Kids by Janis Herbert, discussed Venice (I was impressed that T figured out that the streets were water and W knew it). We looked at the overview of his route, and talked about the first part of his journey to the Holy Land. Research points for mom, brought up by the kids: Why was the pope at Acre, not Rome? Who was the pope? We learned a few words in Turkish (p 3), and they had a great time making maps of imaginary lands (p 4). Tomorrow, we discuss Turkey. I think we'll have shish kebabs and see what T has in an international cookbook Grandma gave her to put together an eastern Medeterranean meal for when D gets back tomorrow. We also listened to Science Verse. Pure silliness, but educational, too. It was read by Jon Scieszka, the author, with Lane Smith, the illustrator, providing peanut gallery commentary.
W is using CIMT MEP Summer School to brush up on the primary grades stuff, then we'll start in on level 7 (their intermediate program is years 7-9). T is working on math facts drills. 100 every day. 5 minutes to do them. So far, she's at 75 in addition and about 60 in subtraction. She'll have to have 100 in both by the end of the first term of ps in November, an d100 in multiplication/division by March, but she'd like to be able to go in and get 100 the first time and be done with them. I need to evaluate what to do with A for math. We have Singapore, Miquon, and CIMT. I need to nudge hime toward one, but I'm having a difficult time deciding which one (they're all good, it's just a matter of what would fit him best right now.)
Other plans for the summer term: Read The Little Duke and The Princess and the Goblin (well, Princess I have from Librivox). W wants to learn sign language. So I'll get more of the Signing Time and Bravos series. I also want to see about getting them involved in the deaf community, since the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in the language and culture. I want them to work on their States books. This includes a paragraph per state for W. He needs to keep in practice and refine some things. Staying comfortable with writing should help.
But that's Monday. For now, I need to get them fed and ready because a friend has invited them over for a water fight.
W finished third grade yesterday. It was his first year in ps, and it was a good experience for him. The teacher was very gentle and understanding and really loved those dc with all their quirks (and most of them had some major ones, W included). At the beginning of the year, W had stage fright about speaking in front of the class. By the end of the year, he was able to say a couple of words at the parents' assembly. She was great adapting things ... having him give book reports just to her or just to s small group, or tape them on the video camera and play them for the class. He learned a lot about computer presentations ... Word, Powerpoint, Paint. He was in a great group of dc who are all really good, nice, dc (the best class in 13 years according to the teacher).
Academically, he took a step about 2 years back in math. He had to learn to do stuff that he already knew and remember to go back and check and do a good job. He'd get bored halfway through, skip problems or parts of problems, and ended up with a B for the middle term. They didn't do much for social studies or science compared to what we did at home. He is writing so much more, and usually without complaint, legibly in either print or cursive. And voluntarily adding detail, he's come a LONG way there. The spellng program wasn't TOO challenging, but he has had a good bit of growth there. He's a natural speller, his sister isn't. She's been looking at his spellng lists and panicking, so along with math facts, we're cramming on spelling this summer.
He's actually happy for the challenge of summer school. We think that he's grown enough this year, and the promise for more growh is there for next year that he'll spend one more year in this program (unless we move sooner). Then, we'll bring him back home and focus more intensely on academics so that he will have the option if he chooses of starting community college (dual enrolled) at age 14.
Just a shameless plug for our little worldwide community of homeschoolers/afterschoolers of all religious backgrounds, educational philosophies, etc.
www.thehomeschoollibrary.com Tell them that higginszoo sent you. (No, I don;t get paid for this... well, the admins have offered the moderators 1/2 cent, but noone of us have seen it yet )
Ok, so the really purist, radical people would still probably say that I'm imposing some structure on my dc, and so therefore the title doesn't fit.
But compared to most of the people I have contact with, both IRL and online at The Homeschool Library
it really seems like we're closer to that than anything right now. And the dc are still learning.
I do usually sit down and read to them some, a few mornings a week. Right now, we're generally on about week 28 of Ambleside Online's year 1 schedule. We've dropped a lot of the nature/science books. They didn't like them. And we've added a few of our own. The big hit is Our Island Story it's a British history written around the turn of the 20th century.
They have gone and voluntarily picked up Singapore math again recently. But I'm finding that I'm having to skip the older 2 ahead quite a bit. They have learned a lot of the material in the books without even opening the books. I'm waiting for a friend to send me 5A, 5B, 6A and 6B textbooks for W to continue. In the meantime, I may print off some math from the Old Fashioned Education site.
I really am enjoying the free aspect to these curriculum choices. It looks like we'll be moving to Maryland, maybe Virginia, in a year. I'll have to submit some sort of 'curriculum' then. I'm grateful for these free sites, as they allow me to prove that I'm covering the basics while they should still allow us a lot of freedom to take advantage of being in DC and doing field trip schooling.
Having one in school IS giving me more time to focus on my middle children. They're flourishing in a relaxed, almost unschooled environment. We start the day with some reading ... on Friday, we'll be officially 1/4 of the way through Ambleside Online Year 1. They're loving it ... especially Our Island Story ... British History. I thought that was going to be one I'd drop. But no, they love it. Ok, then. We have dropped the Burgess Bird Book (one I thought they'd like, but that they consistently complained about).
Then, they play. If they come looking for something to do, I nudge them toward some seatwork. T is doing In the Hands of A Child's Horses Unit for 3rd-6th graders. I also have her working in HWT's first cursive book. She's catching on really quickly. A is moving along with his reading, and lately has been working some in his Jump Start First Grade workbook.
The two of them really do come up with elaborate imaginative play scenarios ... some which require composing books or building structures or involved art projects. I currently have 3 embodied imaginary friends (flat Stanley style -- there's a book I should read to them!) hanging in my stairwell. They spent all Friday morning building them. They're quite elaborate. Their names are Emily, Eli, and a yet to be named baby.
I'm working on decluttering the house, and they're going on learning without me having to stress over teaching them.
I just realized when I looked at the calendar that as of tomorrow, my ds will have been in school for a month. He's really loving it and flourishing. He misses his homeschooled friends, but he's also making new ones. His first progress report was excellent (lowest grades were 93%), and he has done so well on his spelling and dication tests that he usually doesn't have any daily homework.
Last week, he declined my offer to help him study, and sure enough, he ended up with 4 wrong, instead of his usual 2 ... so this week he has homework. I really like his teacher's trying to keep busywork down to a minimum, and also her natural consequences philosophy, which fits nicely with our parenting style. If they get most of the spelling/dictation right, then they don't need practice. If they don't know it for the test, then obviously, they need more practice (in the form of homework).
We're plugging through getting his science fair project together. It's due next week. It's part of a national program/competition, so he has to have a paper, a "notebook", and a display (the school sent the board home the first day of school, though we didn't get the instructions until 2 weeks ago.) He's doing a pretty good job, learning about required formats, and expanding his MS Word skills to follow them. He's also doing a lot of typing himself (I have helped with some of it).
I've done one volunteer day in the classroom. I'm assigned to go in every other Monday morning (second and fourth Mondays). He's really with a great bunch of dc, and his teacher is really enjoying the dynamic they have this year. She claims that it's the cutest class she's had in the 13 years she's been teaching, and it's one of the best behaved. I really enjoyed working with them (I was one of 7 moms who helped with a scavenger hunt ... we coached them in writing rhyming clues and hiding them, then accompanied the group assigned to find those clues. As one of the girls in my finder group declared, "It's The Amazing Race: Third Grade Edition!"
Tomorrow's a half day, and then they're off Friday ... then in 2 weeks he has 2 days off for the state teacher's union meeting. So they do have a good bit of time off. I wish more of his days off were Mondays, not Fridays, as it would be nice to get to stay for Sunday night suppers. We don't get out of there until 9:30 or 10 when we stay, though.
Playgroup is tomorrow MORNING, so he'll still miss it (I'll try to have it on Thursday the week he's off on Thursday). I want to set up a playdate for him with his old friends, but now he has a classmate's birthday party to go to on Friday afternoon, before he has to be back to the house for piano lessons.
Dh ad I decided to shift a lot of our focus to life skills 2 years ago. We did this because our dc are ahead in academic areas anyway, and because I was having a pretty difficult pregnancy (I haven't really had an easy one, but 18 weeks of sickness, with a month off before 12 weeks of bedrest took its toll on the family.)
So, my youngest, the product of that pregnancy, has been exposed to this philosophy her whole life. This morning, she cleared her highchair tray, wiped the counter, put a swiffer pad on the Swiffer all by herself and mopped the floor. All without any prompting. It was really quite amusing to watch. 
Of course, a 19 mo old "cleaning" can really make more of a mess. She moved on to wiping the marker off of her dolls (earlier in the week, coloring dollies was the thing to do any time Mommy turned her back). She did a pretty good job, but there were baby wipes all over my living room floor.
I'd better go check on her. She's quiet and I'm afraid she may have upset her own very strong sense of entropy! 