Golden Acorn Homeschool

This post is a little late, I know.  But better late than never, right?

A couple weeks ago I taught a two-part Van Gogh class for our co-op group.  (Have I mentioned how much I will miss them?  *sniffles*)  It was a very fun class and I ended up finishing two projects of my own.  We talked about Van Gogh and then the kids created their own Van Gogh inspired art with air-dry clay.  We used the clay to create texture, rather than gobs of paint.  In week 2, we did end up painting our creations.  The idea came from Art Projects for Kids.  Duh.

I think the kids made beautiful and interesting pieces!  I was very proud.  :-)

Last Friday we had a chance to explore the historic Beall-Dawson house in Rockville.  Many thanks to Tamara for arranging the trip!

There was no photography allowed inside the house, but I snapped what I could.  :-)

This is just me posting about my general excitement with homeschooling.  (Yes, I am still excited about it.)

It seems like we have really hit a stride where the kids just know what to expect from the day and I don’t deal with very much resistance anymore.  I love that we have finally sunk into a good routine for the year.  I have realized that I CAN homeschool three kids, still manage to bathe them, wash some laundry, and put a meal on the table (that I cooked myself) nearly every night.  Yes, sometimes we eat out, or I let people fend for themselves.  No shame in that!

Adding Zoey into the mix as an “official” preschooler took some juggling.  Also having Sydni working in Ambleside Year 1 and Cole in Year 3, meant a lot more work and reading (for me) overall.  At this point, I have stopped trying to work with them at the same time.  I was reading/working with one child while another did independent work, but no more!  It worked for the past two years, but this year I was finding that I was being constantly interrupted by the “independently” working child and that everyone was losing focus and getting frustrated, too distracted, or just slipping through the cracks.

Now, I am starting the day with all three kids and doing the things we do together: Bible, hymn, artist study, composer study, Spanish (not everything, every day!).  After we complete the “circle time” session (as I call it), I choose a child to work with one at a time.  Zoey takes about 15-20 minutes a day, so I usually begin with her since she has a much shorter attention span anyway.  Then Cole and Sydni take turns on a daily basis over who works with me first, and who takes a play break first.  I get through all of their work quickly and efficiently, and then move on to the next kid.  We are still finishing up our school work most days by lunchtime or shortly after.

This does mean that for those hours we are doing schoolwork that I get almost nothing else done because I am literally moving from kid to kid to kid.  I used to be able to do some dishes or start a load of laundry while they were working on their own – not so much anymore, but that’s ok.  Cole is working his way to being independent much of the time, as his reading fluency continues to increase, along with his ability to digest more complicated readings.

I am also SUPER excited about some good things happening with the kids and their development and learning.  Sydni has already finished her first Pathway Reader for this school year, and at the rate she is going, will be moving on to the 2nd grade readers by the Spring.  I am also happy about a VERY long and detailed narration that Cole gave on the “Pecos Bill” tall tale.  I think I will type it up and share it this weekend.  The chapter was quite long and I stopped five times during the story and had him narrate.  He did a great job and remembered some really interesting details.

It’s also nice to see additions to our “Staircase of Time.”

(This was taken right after I finished drawing it, I should take a new one!)

Having a huge visual tool for tracking historical events is really helping things stick in the kids’ minds.  Sydni even drew little crowns over the names of Phillip the II of Macedon and Alexander the Great to help her remember they were kings.  CUTE!  Tell me how many 1st graders you know who even have an idea of who those people are?  :-D

Yeah, I really love homeschooling.  WOOT!

I know, I know!   I haven’t been blogging all summer.  We’ve been busy and I have been taking something of an internet break.  I have cut back on emails, cut back my time on myspace to almost nothing, and have even been trying to cut back on facebook.

We’ve been camping, visiting family out of state, sending kids to “sleep away” camps, swimming, playing, going to movies, and enjoying the summer.  There were plenty of things I wanted to post about along the way, but a quick photo upload to facebook did the job much more efficiently, and so I ignored my blog for a couple of months.  I want to say I feel badly about it, but I don’t.  I also want to say I feel badly about hitting the “mark all as read” button on my google reader, but I can’t quite feel remorse about that either.  I have skimmed enough to know that you all have been busy and productive this summer as well.

That being said, the school year is starting back up (we begin on the 24th of this month) and I am excited to chronicle what will be our third year of homeschooling.  WOW!  Our THIRD year.  I really can’t believe that I already have two years and four county reviews under my belt.  It has flown by and…I did it!  I really did.  I somehow managed to teach 2nd grade, 3rd grade, kindergarten & Pre-K.  This year I will tackle (gulp) 4th grade, 1st grade and Pre-K (round 2).  I am excited about our new adventures.  I am organizing book shelves, rearranging art supplies, and making up weekly schedules.  Cole will be much more independent this year, reading about 1/3 of his material on his own, and being responsible for assignments that will be due to me outside of our regular school time (kind of like traditional “homework”).  Sydni will be starting AO year 1 (which I loved and am looking forward to doing again).  Zoey will be starting phonics formally (we have done it all along, but not extensively) and focusing on early literacy, and continuing to build on her math skills.

I am excited about more nature studies, new artists, composers and poets.  I can’t wait for co-op to begin again, to explore more of the Smithsonian, and to do “school” outdoors on a blanket during the cooler fall days.  I am hopeful for a year of learning, adventuring and growing in every way.  I hope you are too!

I am declaring summer 2009 as the official “Summer of Shakespeare” for the Golden Acorn Homeschool.  We have already moved to a more year round format with homeschooling (I think it’s beneficial), but at the same time,  I also think summer is the perfect time to lighten up a bit.  Even with a lighter load of academic work, I still want the kids to have a rich educational experience that doesn’t feel like an educational experience.

Granted, my kids do have some math to finish up from this year, and we will continue reading some great books, but I really want to focus on my main man, William Shakespeare.

I especially want to focus on these plays (which we were meant to do this year, but mostly skipped over for lack of time):

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Romeo & Juliet

All’s Well that Ends Well

Cymbeline

Macbeth

&

The Comedy of Errors

The plan is to read a biography of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley.  Then, as we are reading about him, we will begin reading each play (from Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare), and acting it out in some fashion over the period of a week or two.  We like to do the acting ourselves if we can, but we have been known to use Barbie dolls, paper dolls, and Legos before.  We go where the creativity takes us.

I also plan to play many games at the Folger Shakespeare Library website, and plan a field trip there in July.

I am on the hunt for a live performance in the DC area, which really tops my list of things to do this summer.  But if we can’t find a real performance, I have a list of movies and animated shorts we can enjoy.  Shakespeare the Animated Tales is fabulous and I get it from Netflix whenever I need to.  I would love my own copy…maybe some day!

I am thinking we might do a few fun crafts and art activities to round out the summer, and a stage of some sort is definitely in order.  Even if it’s just fabric and a few curtain rods.  We have a perfect doorway that will work, and I am imagining how it will all come together now.  Some shower curtain rods and a two cheap shower curtains…

I am SO excited!

“Compliant” is a word I long to hear twice every year, and I cannot tell you the joy I feel (and much relief!) when I hear it.  Maryland requires that all homeschool families be reviewed twice a year (up to three times, actually, but they only ever do two) to determine if they are teaching the eight required subjects and to determine “compliance” with Maryland home education laws.  Or, families can choose to pay and be part of an approved “umbrella” group, and avoid the county review, but be reviewed in some manner by the umbrella.  I chose to save money for actual books and school needs, so we do the county review with the school system.

Today was my 4th review since starting to homeschool (it’s been two years already???), and I always hate getting ready for these reviews.  I have always been found “compliant,” but I still feel very stressed preparing for them, and trying to show on paper and quantify all we have been learning and doing.  We don’t follow a textbook model of learning, and I don’t favor workbooks and worksheets and “busy” learning that yields very little educational value.  Showing learning via the Charlotte Mason method is a challenge, and I hate the fact that they have the “power” to determine my right to homeschool *MY* children.

So, I am relieved that we are, in fact, “compliant” by the state’s standards, but in the same breath of relief, I wonder why they don’t seem to hold themselves to the same standard of “compliance.”

Why are kids in the public school system being taught how to pass tests as if their lives depend on it?  Or better yet, why do their academic lives depend so much on testing?  Why are kids losing more and more recess and PE time, when every study shows they need MORE of those activities, not less?  Why is art and music being diminished in favor of exams?  Why is homework increasing dramatically in elementary years, when studies show it provides no additional benefit?  Why aren’t children being taught how to be independent learners and thinkers…to sort out ideas for themselves, and seek knowledge for the sake of seeking?  Why can’t America see its educational shortfalls, and fix them?  Our model of education in the US  is clearly not working very well, despite the wealth of this nation and the excess of money we pour into the education of each child.  Other nations work with half (or less) of the financial resources we have, and they are getting better results.

Who can we review for this educational model that is failing, and demand they find a new way to come into compliance?  It’s a question worth looking in to.

I am not sure where you lovely readers call home, but here in the Mid-Atlantic region, we have been experiencing a dismally damp Spring season.  It has been raining, and raining, and raining until the kids and I feel like we might just go insane.  Opportunities to play indoors (in order to burn up energy) are rare in this locale, or way too expensive for our family.

We do have a Wii game system that we purchased for Christmas this past year, and I have to say, it was the BEST money we have spent on a gift in a very long time.  We have been using the game “Wii Sports” to bowl and play baseball, golf and boxing.  We also have an incredible game which has become a new family favorite and fills in nicely on days when we need some P.E. activity, but can’t be outdoors: “Outdoor Challenge” by Active Life.

Check us out!

The girls flipped the setting on my camera, so some of the action sequences are a little blurry.  You may not be able to tell, but we are running, jumping, pumping our arms, and generally having a hot, sweaty BLAST!

Our family gives this game 5 out of 5 stars.  It gets us up and moving, it raises our heart rates (I had to take a BREAK), and it encourages team work.  In the last two photos, the girls are working together to jump rope as a team.

It retails for $56.99 and comes with the game and the pad.  Most Wii games are around $50, so I consider that to be a bargain.

If you know of any other “get up and move” games, pass the names along.  It seems that Active Life will be putting new games out soon.  We want a Wii Fit, of course, but that’s just not inthe budget right now.  Maybe someday.  :-)

We have been very busy lately now that Spring classes and activities have started back up.  Not only are we trying to make it to the park to play every chance the weather is nice, but now Cole is taking fencing classes, and Sydni and Zoey are taking beginner tap and ballet.  This is in addition to co-op classes, and our regular school work.

Here’s  a sneak peek:

He just seems so small to me, but the class is a beginner class for learners ages 7-72.  He wasn’t thrilled about the first week, which was all talking, and minimal instruction.  But this is from week 2, and when we got home he couldn’t stop talking about it!

I can’t be in the classroom while the girls are in their dance class, so I can’t get very good pictures.  You better believe when we have the recital, I will be ready with my camera to catch every cute twirl and tap!

My girls are the only ones in black!  HA!

Sydni is tapping and walking.  I cannot tell you how many times she slipped!  LOL…

Zoey is looking around to make sure she is doing the right thing.  She is one of the younger girls in the class.

I love this stuff.  It’s so fun for me to see my kids having a chance to do things I didn’t have the opportunity to do.  They are so cute!  I just want to freeze these moments forever.

I had a craving for soft, cinnamon & sugar coated pretzels yesterday. We didn’t have the car to run to the mall, and even if we did, I wouldn’t have been willing to spend precious money on them anyway. What’s a girl to do?

Why, make some of course!!!

I had good helpers!

Aren’t they big cheeseballs??

The pretzels were really good, and the whole dozen was gone in about 2.2 nano seconds.

They were so good, in fact, that I made another batch of dough for today.  You might call is “baking,” but this homeschooler calls it “home economics.”  I think we need more “home economics” in our homeschool and I am making an executive teacher decision to implement it immediately.

This will not be good for my thighs, I can tell.

;-)