Our homeschool journey in Virginia - Homeschool Blogger

A great science resource

Wed, 6 Feb 2008 17:40:00 -0600

We FINALLY got started on Science. I have borrowed another My World Science curriculum from another homeschool family and we have started talking about the African Savana. We are in week 1 and so far, so good.

I have a link to an African web cam. It is of a watering hole in, coincidentally, the African grasslands. We have already seen quite a few animals that are discussed in our book. So, I'm going to have the kids keep a journal. I'll assign each of them a 30 minute time period a couple times a week - a time that is really active, and have them write down which animals they see at which times, and why they left, etc.

African Webcam

Today alone, I saw some Gazelles drinking. They perked up when they heard some noises, and then moved off, at which point some Zebras approached the water to drink. Almost immediately, we heard very loud barking and the zebra went running off.

We still don't know what scared off the zebras.

Later, we saw 2 Impala "fighting" and clashing horns.

It is pretty neat.

Smacked down at every turn

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:14:00 -0600

Just when I think I have my act in gear about science, I get smacked down again. I had decided to do another year of My World Science. This year was going to be African Savana, Electricity, ... Well, I borrowed the Instructor Guide from a neighbor. I went online today to purchase the curriculum to get the student guide for my kids - and they are OUT OF BUSINESS. I was just looking at them a week ago!!

So, I need to see if the mother I borrowed the IG from has the electronic student guide. I've emailed someone else I know that has used MWS in the past to see if she has one. I hope I can find it, because that's what I wanted to do.

Ugh!

I have been remiss

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:06:00 -0600

I just haven't been keeping up this blog as much as I should.

We started our year off ok, not as gangbusters as I would have liked, and I think we've been suffering as a result. I've been having a hard time getting in and keeping the groove. We just don't have the momentum that we should. Some of my challenges:

I have almost completely neglected Science, which is going to change this week as I'm going back to my previous approach with My World Science. I have borrowed the books until I get my own. I just realized over Christmas as my kids played a game of "Are you smarter than a 5th grader" and I heard some of the science questions that I'm just not covering some of the things I should
We had to finish up Core 3 History. That put us a bit behind on Core 4. I finally admitted that the only way to get it done this year was to switch over to the 4-day schedule and still try to fit it into 5 days. I'm going to give the readers that are "Skipped" to Samantha because she is always ahead of our History and Read-Alouds, and I already supplement with different books for Michael since most of the Core 4 readers are way too hard for him. But, I'm slowly catching up. We should be on about Week 16 and we're on about Week 10. I tell you - the best thing I have done is gone back to Read-Alouds on CD. Mike has been out of town this week, so we listened to our Read-Aloud at lunch AND dinner this week - per the kids request. I actually had to do some catch up with the History reading to catch up with the Read-Aloud since we had been doing it so quickly.
I slowed down Samantha's Sonlight LA 4 to stay on pace with History, since the assignments co-incide. So, she "feels" like she is behind but I don't feel too bad, because I ALSO have her do Writing Strands assignments from time-to-time so I think she's getting enough grammer. I also am keeping pace with Grammar Ace.
Michael is also a bit "behind" on his Sonlight LA. But, I think I'm gonna find a couple of weeks that I can just "Skip". I wanted to get the writing instruction but intended to use First Language Lessons as my primary Grammar - are we are doing ok with that. So, we'll be ok with that.
Both of the kids are doing OK in math. They are both advanced in that area, so I'm not particularly worried if I don't finish a curriculum on a certain schedule. Michael is getting ready to finish Horizons 2, which includes multiplication, so I feel like he's already in 3rd grade math (he's only a 2nd grader). Samantha is doing Saxon 8/7, so I don't care if it takes her 2 years to finish it, since she's only a 5th grader.

So, I think in a couple areas if I can just pick up the pace a little, and manage my expectations that we will go well into June, I think the pressure of feeling "Behind" will go away a little. That is, of course, if I get moving on Science so my "Mommy Guilt" will go away.

Schooling has also been challenged by Emma, who can't be left alone for too long without getting in lots of trouble. As with many homeschoolers, I don't have "Mrs. Cleaver's house". I have stuff everywhere. Emma tends to exploit that and find pens and markers and necklaces and things she shouldn't and do things she shouldn't, to the tune of broken necklaces, permanent marker everywhere, crayon all over the walls, etc. At least now she is fascinated with her "painting with water" Christmas present she got, so that is keeping her out of trouble right now. But, my curriculum choices this year require more of my time one-on-one with the kids, and that's tough with trying to keep Emma occupied. I'm just trying to finish getting her potty trained and then there is a preschool that is willing to take her and learn about her diabetes.

So, that's where we are with our homeschooling year. I'll try to do a better job of updating where we are with things!

Progress: Lesson Planning STARTED!

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:29:00 -0500

Yay!

I sat down today and STARTED lesson planning. It was for Samantha. For her, we are continuing with some curriculums that we had started last year. But, we hadn't quite finished the edition we had for last year, so my initial planning had to incorporate the remaining lessons from last year's edition and THEN start in on this year's edition.

Her math is the most difficult. I have Saxon 8/7. A lot of it is repeated from 7/6. I don't want her to just "do it again" kind of thing. AND, as I was reading through a few lessons I found some terminology or things that seem NEW. So, I'm trying to figure out how to proceed along in that book. I'm going to have her take the pre-test as a "Warm up" and then the tests in sequence in the book, throwing in a lesson here and there, until we reach a point that its too much new stuff. Then, we'll hit the lessons in full force. I also have a Word Problem Book and Logic books that we want to incorporate this year, so its a bit of a struggle.

I sat down and I wrote down the first few weeks of Wordly Wise Vocabulary and Sequential Spelling. Then, I pulled out my Sonlight LA IG for her. There were spaces right there to write it in. What they had proposed was completely different than what I am doing, but I just put a single pencil line through what they had and put my own lessons. So, all of her "Language Arts" is together, including Grammar Ace, Spelling, Vocabulary, Handwriting, and Creative Writing. I like it. I MAY or MAY NOT even load it into Homeschool Tracker, because it seems so easy this way. If only they left room for Math on there, I'd be set.

Tomorrow I need to look over Michael's subjects, many of which are just continuing from last year, and figure out what we are doing. And then I need to look at History and Science, which we are doing together. History corresponds with Samantha's LA, so I need those to be in synch as much as possible, but the Science is up to me to just start picking some experiments and doing them.

And I need to schedule Latin for Samantha. My brain was tired when I got there, so I just stopped and figured that I wouldn't start it on week 1 anyway.

PE

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 12:00:00 -0500

I volunteered to take on the role of organizing our PE co-op this year. I didn't think it would be that big of a job and my kids really enjoy it, so I wanted to make sure that it continued.

Boy has it been an interesting journey!

We started with adding a number of families and the group getting huge. AND, in addition to being large, the demographic has gotten OLDER so we starting discussing how to change the focus a little.

Then a few families dropped out, making the size much more manageable but still needing a slight change in focus due to the age.

Then a couple more families have dropped out and now the size is a bit on the small size. This is mainly a problem because it means that the moms each have to commit to more weeks of teaching lessons. Not many of us are real interested in that.

So, now we are brainstorming our next step. A call to the local Rec Center yielded a potential for having them teach a PE class weekly for us. Some families are interested in that. Another person suggested turning PE into Recess and just planning time to get together and play games. Not a bad idea but 1) someone has to make some decisions about when and what games; and 2) these games aren't as fun if people don't show up. The bad thing about having it more informal is that its easier for people to NOT come. There were lots of instances where folks didn't come when it was organized.

So, we have two ideas floating around and I am suspecting that in the end, we'll do some of both. We are close to having enough people to have a class at the Rec Center, so I'm going to call them back tomorrow to discuss a couple of younger kids and see how they feel. We may take on the "Recess co-op" idea as well, as just getting out and playing some games with other kids is equally fun.

Boy, this is so much more than I expected and the pressure to try and make as many of the families happy is tough.

2 weeks until school starts

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 08:45:00 -0500

I have targeted August 20th (or somewhere around there) to be our first day of school.

I guess that means I have to start planning.

I think I am being "lulled" into a false sense of preparedness by my Sonlight curriculum. You see, they have nice neat little grids of lesson plans for each week in their manual. Much like the ones that I like to create. They are pretty easy to use and follow. So I'm thinking I'm lulled into thinking that I can just "pick up the book" and start.

Its not quite going to be that easy. In addition to Sonlight History (and Samantha with Sonlight LA and Grammar Ace), they both have Reason for Handwriting and Wordly Wise Vocabulary (different years). Samantha has Sequential Spelling and Michael has Spelling Power. Michael has Horizons Math and Saxon Math.

By the end of last year, I got lazy. Each day (or couple of days), I would just open their books and see what lesson was next and say "this is your assignment for the day". It works. If the next worksheet in the math workbook is Lesson 67, then that's what you do today. If its Tuesday of Week 7, then look at Tuesday of Week 7 in the book to see what's next.

I guess I ought to do something - maybe at least get the first 4 weeks of lessons typed into Homeschool Tracker. And Maybe I should pick 6 or so Science Experiments from our book to get started. I think that HST might be what is overwhelming me. Don't get me wrong - I really like it and its not too hard to use. But I'm questioning WHY I Have to when it seems so easy to write lesson plans each day on the back of scraps of paper. AND I have to get the new school year set up, which will be the biggest struggle.

But, we'll start on time - I guarantee you. Its just a matter of how much we do the first week above and beyond just looking at our fun new books and school supplies.

How God selects the mother of a diabetic

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:52:00 -0500

How God Selects the Mother of a Diabetic Child
by Erma Bombeck

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit.

Did you ever wonder how mothers of children with diabetes are chosen?

Somehow I visualize God hovering over earth selecting his instruments

for propagation with great care and deliberation.

As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.

"Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron Saint Matthew." "Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, Patron Saint Cecilia."

"Rutledge, Carrie, twins. Patron Saint Gerard. He's used to profanity."

Finally, He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a child with diabetes."

The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly", smiles God. "Could I give a child with diabetes to a mother who does not know laughter?

That would be cruel".

"But has she the patience?" asks the angel.

"I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as if she is here by my side. I don't want her to have too much patience, or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I am going to give her has her own world. She has to make it live in her world and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps. "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she cannot separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive.

Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with less than perfect. She does not realize it yet, but she is to be envied. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see ....

ignorance, cruelty, prejudice ... and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone.

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in mid air. God smiles.

"A mirror will suffice."

I'm so tired

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:26:00 -0500

When Emma was first diagnosed with Diabetes, the adrenalin kept me going. Kept me going through 3 nights of little to no sleep in the hospital (including a drive from one hospital to another at 1am the first night, and a switch from the PICU to the Pediatric floor at 1am the 2nd night). Kept me going through conflicting Doctor's orders and late food (which is an issue for a diabetic).

Once we came home, I got emotional. It didn't take much to set me off. I was driving through the neighborhood a few days later (thankfully alone) and rolled through a stop sign. My mind was a thousand other places other than my driving. I was pulled over. By the time the police officer had gotten out of his car and reached my car, I was a basket case - just bawling there sitting in the car.

The first month she was home was a blur. Hundreds of readings we didn't understand, constant calls to the Doctor, then the change to a new Doctor, lots of training with the new Doctor, and finally stabalizing a little.

We still get up at least once a night, and usually twice. Typically around midnight and 3am, based on what her readings are and what time we eat dinner. This is to prevent VERY SCARY low blood sugar readings overnight. I have told many people that its like having a newborn (having to get up overnight) without the sleeping during the day that helps a newborn's mother recover.

Now the reality of our life is really setting in. As I sat on the couch to give Emma her two injections after dinner I just sat there a minute and realized "this is my life". Until she leaves my house as an adult, I will be responsible for making sure she gets her medication all day and night, every day of my life. What an awesome burden. I'm so tired. And we've only just started.

There are lots of advancements on the horizon. Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring. Infrared BG meters. Insulin Pumps. But, the only way to change this is to find a cure. In my lifetime. I can only hope.

But for now, I'm just tired. My brain is so tired of the responsibility. So tired of the worrying. So tired of watching the clock because I really want to know if her insulin worked at the 3 hour mark. So tired of testing her blood because she's fussy and I can't tell if she's just being 2 or her blood sugar is low.

I'm just so tired.

Finding Joy in the Morning

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:17:00 -0500

"Joy in the Morning" is the name of a blog that I often frequent. This woman is an inspiration. She strives to find joy in the morning despite some serious challenges in her life, including several miscarriages, a lost child at birth, serious childhood illnesses and the loss of a child at age 16. I think I would just curl up and die but she goes on and thrives.

I don't have nearly the challenges this woman has in her life. I don't have nearly the challenges that many others have in the lives. I do have challenges - don't get me wrong - but not like some others I read.

One of my challenges right now is wondering if I will EVER get more than 6-7 hours of sleep a night - and that is INTERRUPTED sleep. I see no prospects in the future for CONTINUOUS sleep. We have to get up with Emma at least once, and often twice overnight, to check her blood glucose levels. And worse than that, if we have to treat her, we have to stay awake at least 30 minutes to check her again. And if we aren't happy with the results, we have to treat her again and wait another 30 mintues. And I remind you this is often at 3am.

We are tired in our house. Physically tired. Emotionally tired. Completely drained. It is just so affecting our overall lives in so many ways.

I'm having trouble finding joy in the morning - most days I'd just like to find sleep. I hope the joy finds me again soon.

What a difference a year makes?

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:47:00 -0500

This time last year, I had most of my curriculum and I was furiously putting things together and building lesson plans for each of my subjects.

This year, the books are sitting on the shelf. I have one more order to place this week and I will have most of what I need.

Am I going to build any lesson plans? Maybe. I found that I was getting lazy by the end of the year and just looking at what we did the previous day in order to decide what to do. It was often written on the back of a shopping list or other scratch piece of paper.

Lesson Plans make me accountable, though, so I probably should.

Here is our plan for the year:

Samantha: Sonlight LA4, Sequential Spelling, Reason for Handwriting, Saxon 8/7 and Critical Thinking (Bright Minds), Sonlight Core 4, Developing Critical Thinking through Science, Latin for Children

Michael: First Language Lessons, Spelling Power, Reason for Handwriting, Horizons 2 and 3, Sonlight Core 4, Developing Critical Thinking through Science

They will both take Art from the great art teacher we had last year, Piano Lessons, and PE through the co-op. They are also signed up for Soccer in the fall and Michael will take Tae-Kwon-Do and Samantha will take Dance.

I need to add Health back in (I kept skipping it this past year) and some Religion/Bible Studies, but I haven't quite decided what to do yet, and these are the things that keep getting left behind when I get lazy.

So, there it is, the plan for next year. Is it here yet?