Pizza, Sunflowers, and everything in between

Rebekah helped herself to some cake this week.

She is quite the climber.

Another week has slipped by at our house. Sunday was peaceful. We enjoyed church as a family and spent the day together after that. I love our peaceful Sabbath evenings together.

Monday was full of homeschool lessons. We read great books. Art created. Group science was on the sense of smell, with lots of spices and essential oils to smell and identify. Math lessons went smoothly. It was just a normal, full morning. Then we played Ticket to Ride at the request of the 14 year old boy.

By late afternoon we were going through bins of clothing in the attic, seeing what fall/winter clothing we have for each child and what things we need. I made a list with sizes, details of what they have and need, and finished the process with 7 of the kids.

Joseph has been using chalk pastels regularly this week.

Tuesday school random notes:

• Reading about lighthouses, Greek scientist Archimedes, levers, a circus, the sense of smell, microscopes, an elf in the mountains, microbiology. Reading poetry and discussing it. 
• Microscope exploration for the biology students, learning parts and how to use the different objective lenses and focus. 
• Math topics included adding and subtracting fractions, multiplication and negative numbers, skip counts, adding to make 10, simplifying and solving algebraic equations.
• Language Arts included sentence diagramming, commas in a series, changing silent e words to -ing words and back, rhyme scheme and stanzas in poetry, homonyms, spelling, sentence dictation, challenging words (vocab), etc.
• Handwriting. Lots of handwriting.

In the afternoon we got through the last two kids clothing bins. Rebekah napped. We made homemade pizzas for dinner.

One of the kids used a free coupon to rent Secret Life of Pets 2 and we watched it as a family after dinner. 

Wednesday we started school but then Makayla called for a video chat. When choosing between school work and relationships it was obvious - leave the school work on the table and chat from the couch. Again, this is a perk of homeschooling! We can put our priorities in the order we feel is best. Family comes before academics! Everyone spent time talking with big sister. I will never forget how excited Rebekah and Tobias were to see and hear Makayla. The rest of the kids are old enough to understand that Makayla will come back for visits. These two little ones are 1 and 3 and simply don't understand. They were so happy, they had been missing big sister.

The rest of the morning was spent doing school. Today's The Good and the Beautiful history lesson was about several famous Greeks. We read about them, placed them on our timeline, compared when they lived with other peoples and events we are familiar with, and talked about their contributions to the world. We only have one more lesson set in Ancient Greece before moving to Ancient China. If I get terribly energetic we may do an Ancient Greece themed art project.

I thought it would be fun to share a peek at the Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. One thing that I love about TGTB is that their language arts courses rotate your student through so many subjects. It is not just reading and writing. They integrate things so well. For example the geography/map work is related to the stories you are reading or the people who wrote the poetry/created the art/wrote the stories you are studying. Here are notes about what was covered today in the various levels my kids are in:

• Spelling practice.
• Sentence dictation.
• Grammar definition card review.
• Geography cards reviewed.
• States/Capitals Ladder reviews.
• Poetry memorization practice.
• Reading aloud (elocution) in a variety of forms: poetry, story, vocabulary and definitions, factual information relating to geography, an artist's experience as a POW in WWI, and an author.
• Personal reading of stories set in several time periods and places, depending on the level.
• Reading challenging words. 
• Grammar/punctuation practice with focus on apostrophes, commas, dependent clauses, independent clauses.
• Beginning to write a 'How To' Essay.
• Learning about protagonists, writing about the protagonist in a story, creating a list of possible protagonists and their descriptions for a future writing project.
• Mapping European countries (related to an artist whose work would be studied).
• Observing a painting and then oral discussion of the painting.

In biology Joseph and Emma are finishing up the first module. We were reviewing some of the concepts in the chapter by doing the study guide questions. It is fascinating to see the difference between these two students. They approach, absorb, and interact with the information differently. 

The kids planted sunflowers this year. 

They are growing and blooming so the

kids brought a few in this week to enjoy.

Thursday's school was peacefully uneventful. We followed our routines and the day went easily. In the late afternoon I loaded everyone up to take Joseph and Emma to the orthodontist for regular adjustments. I sit in the van with my car full of kids and we listen to an audio book while we wait. Joseph only has 2 appointments left before he gets his braces off, which he was excited about.

Friday is here and the afternoon is in progress. Kids are pursuing their own interests. Rebekah is napping. It is the end of the school week and it is wonderful! 

Off to College, Homeschooling, and the Jar of Joy

Flowers at a rest stop in Virginia

I'll say right up front that I nearly took this week off of school. I knew we would be off Wednesday and Thursday dropping Makayla off at college 7 hours away. I knew the beginning of the week had all the last minute packing and preparations to do. I decided that the rest of the kids needed the comfort of routines, so school happened Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.

Sibling tears over Makayla leaving began Monday night. It was hard. These children have spent more waking hours together than the average family because of homeschooling. This is an enormous blessing! They have strong bonds, know each other deeply, and have many memories together. The children at home have been praying for Makayla by name ever since she left, in every prayer.

The trip to Virginia was uneventful. Moving our daughter into her dorm, one last trip to WalMart to grab a few items, meeting her roommate, and then goodbye. We all cried. It was hard, but I know she is ready to thrive as a young adult.

One thing we did in secret in the weeks before Makayla left for college was gather notes from people who know and love her. We made her a "Jar of Joy". The idea was simple, there were five categories for notes, each printed on a different color paper. There are enough notes in the jar for Makayla to read one every day for the entire first year of college. The categories are:

1. Memories - These all are memories of Makayla from across the years.
2. Encouragement - These are favorite quotes, scriptures, and personal notes for Makayla. 
3. Fun Facts - The topics range all over the place.
4. Humor - Jokes or funny stories landed here.
5. Just Because - This category was the catch all for anything that didn't fit the other categories, and some things that would have fit other categories but were placed here by the person who wrote them 'just because'. 

Thursday my husband and I drove home to Ohio. It is so rare for us to be able to spend 7 hours together without kids. It was a wonderful time. We talked, laughed, and dreamed together. We discussed each of our children in turn. We made plans for the future and reminisced about the past. We found Grandma holding down the fort with the nine children, then we got right back into the swing of daily life in a large family. 

Friday morning my husband was back to work and the kids and I were back to homeschool. We got subjects done early and headed out the door for Homeschool Book Club. This time we talked about The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Catling. It was a really fun book that is a spin on the tale of King Midas and the touch of gold. All the kids liked it. Our next book club title is Archimedes and the Door of Science, which fits in with our history study of Ancient Greece.

Saturday has started and we went to the post office, the library, returned the van we borrowed for the summer so we would have 3 vehicles, cleaned the church, and then grocery shopping. I'm going to go over next week's homeschool lessons and then it will be time to cook dinner.

Happy End of the Week!

The 2019-2020 Homeschool Year is in Session!

8am - The 1 year old eating breakfast, lots of kids

working on school. Another is behind the table

laying on the floor doing math, one is on 

the couch in the living room working.

Monday
The first day of our new school year went well. I reminded the kids that it would be a bit unorganized this week as we all get used to our new materials and figure out what to do for each subject. My husband is home on Mondays, so I really was able to focus on helping kids do school while he kept Tobias (age 3) and Rebekah (age 1) happily playing.

Daniel reading to me from The Good and the 

Beautiful Language Arts

This year I set a block schedule for each day. There are no specific times - instead the kids have certain subjects assigned to each day. Then there are things kids don't have assigned, because they simply do them every day, like reading great books, handicrafts, personal scripture study, and piano practice. Today's blocks were as follows:

1. Joseph - Math, Language Arts, Art. Our language arts curriculum encompasses many different subjects including: grammar, writing, literature/reading, poetry memorization, spelling, geography, art appreciation, art expression. I just list it as language arts for simplicity.
2. Emma -  Math, Language Arts, Art. 
3. Daniel - Math, Language Arts, Science. This science is a group of Daniel, Oliver, Caleb, Mason, Samuel. Today we studied sight and did a lot of fun experiments/activities. 
4. Oliver - Math, Language Arts, Science.
5. Caleb - Math, Reading, Handwriting, Science. Caleb is not finished with All About Reading, being partway through level 3 of 4, so he does not yet use The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. Perk of homeschooling - we go at his pace!
6. Mason - Math, Language Arts, Handwriting, Science. Mason has finished all levels of All About Reading so he is doing TGTB LA. Again, perk of homeschooling - we go at his pace!
7. Samuel - Math, Reading, Handwriting, Science. 

Monday is the most challenging day for me as teacher, because I have six new math lessons to teach. The rest of the week kids are doing practice pages, but Monday takes a lot more direct instruction. 

A Peek at Monday Topics

Joseph and Emma reviewed the commutative and associative property today. The chalk pastel work from language arts made Emma batty - because chalk pastels are square, not round like a colored pencil. In Artistic Pursuits the three of us started the unit on space - the area filled or left empty in a piece of art, studied an Indian miniature painting of an elephant chasing his handler, then reproduced a rough sketch of it on 9x12 paper and then on a half sheet, paying attention to the proportion of elephant (4/5ths of the page) to man (1/5th of the page). 

Daniel reviewed negative numbers with addition/subtraction/multiplication/division/exponents. In language arts he happily remembered the grammar concepts and started reading a biography of Evaleen Stein. He loved science. His favorite part was exploring the affect of covering one eye and trying to throw or catch small objects - it really messed with his depth perception. 

Oliver doing The Good and the Beautiful

Language Arts 3

Oliver is focusing on all things fractions this year in Math U See Epsilon. Today he found fractions of a group. For example: "What is 3/5 of 20?" We kept it very hands on with manipulatives. In science he liked looking at everyone's irises and seeing how different the colors are, even within our family. Language arts was all new to him and me - nobody in my home has used TGTB LA level 3. We read through lesson 1 together and practiced using commas in a series, among other things.

Caleb did reading with Daddy, reading aloud the word sheet that prepares him for his next story. This year he will begin transitioning to learning cursive with Handwriting Without Tears, so today was reviewing writing the print alphabet. Math was easy, according to Caleb. He is starting multiplication. Today was hands on, with rectangular arrays of blocks. He liked science best today.

Mason working on Math U See

Mason is still in the throes of all things addition and subtraction this year. He is finishing the last few lessons from Math U See Alpha and moving into MUS Beta. He started TGTB LA 3 today too. I am waiting to see how he does with this. His reading ability is easily on this level, but the amount of writing may prove challenging with the fine motor challenges he has. His favorite science activity today was when we tested peripheral vision to see who can see best to their sides while still looking forward.

Samuel is not sure he wants to be in 1st grade this year because it means learning time infringes on all this play time. I just make sure he has breaks between each subject and offer praise when he is working on his learning activities. He is reading pretty well, semi-fluent in his current level of All About Reading, level 2. His pencil grip is the craziest I have seen in my kids yet, so we are trying a few things to remind him how to hold his pencil when doing handwriting. He liked science well enough, anything that feels more like play than sit down learning is going to be a hit with him. Math was his least favorite because he wasn't thrilled with writing numbers - again, coming back to pencil grip issues.

Rebekah enjoying a puzzle

Tuesday
Day 2 of the homeschool year was day 1 without daddy home and everything went smoothly. Rebekah and Tobias mostly gravitated to whatever room I was in, pulling along toys or climbing up to the table with a bin of activities like slime, thinking putty, magnetic dolls from Melissa and Doug, puzzles, wooden lacing animals, and counting bears.

Caleb doing Handwriting Without Tears

It was day 1 of biology for Joseph and Emma, so I got them oriented in the student notebook and they jumped right in to the textbook. The younger boys science group focused on fooling our eyes today. We experimented with optical illusions.

Our nature study right now is watching the spider who has taken up residence outside our window, building a web and trapping bugs for its dinner.

Emma decided a treat was in order and made a double batch of no bake cookies, about 70 cookies.

Wednesday
No meltdowns yet is cause for celebration. Samuel did tell me he didn't want to be a big kid and do school work any more when it was time for handwriting. Ha!

Joseph working on The Good and the Beautiful

Language Arts

We started our day with our very first lesson from The Good and the Beautiful History 2. I passed out books about Ancient Greece and Greek mythology to the kids and challenged them to flip through and just look at pictures, to get a mental image of ancient Greece started. They each chose a favorite picture from their book, or one they had a question about, to share. Then we started reading the lesson, which begins with a discussion of our belief in one God (monotheism) and the Greek belief in many gods (polytheism). Most of my kids are familiar with Greek mythology so we compared the characteristics of the true God to the characteristics of the Greek gods and goddesses. We looked at maps of Greece - political, topographical, historical - and discussed how the land and water could impact the people groups in ancient times. We learned about the Minoans and Mycenaeans and started individual timelines with entries related to each. We also read some Greek myths.

I am tweaking the amount of writing in TGTB Language Arts 3 as I go for Mason. He has fine motor challenges and is on the young side for this level. He cannot do all the writing by hand in this on top of handwriting lessons. Some days seem especially heavy on writing in the language arts. Today, for example, included the following writing in the lesson:

• Writing 20 words, many of which follow a particular spelling rule, as orally dictated by me. This is not the normal spelling words, this is a lesson on a particular spelling rule.
• Write 4 adjectives that describe a painting in the lesson. 
• Use a thesaurus to write a list of synonyms for those 4 adjectives.
• Write a list of 7 nouns from the painting.
• Rewrite the list of nouns in alphabetical order.
• Write 2-3 sentences that use those nouns in a series with commas.
• Practice the 5-7 spelling words the child is on in the Course companion. TO do this the child is to come up with a sentence for each word and write the sentence.

Add to that all his writing in other subjects and it's overwhelming him. So we tweak. We do some things orally. I write the nouns he lists. We take turns writing the list in alphabetical order. We make the curriculum fit the child, not the child fit the curriculum. It's a perk of homeschooling!

Handwriting Without Tears for Samuel

Today we finished our Homeschool Book Club read aloud: The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Catling. Everyone enjoyed it. We have simply listened to it at lunch time each day. The sweetest thing happened at dinner time. Tobias ran into the other room and grabbed our CD player because he wanted to listen to another story. He was quite put out when I didn't have one ready.

Thursday
A rhythm is starting that feels solid and comfortable. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts! Everyone is doing their assignments. I'm trying to get my routine back in place for checking papers/grading. I used to do it during Rebekah's long afternoon nap, but we have discovered that if she naps too long in the afternoons now she will be up to midnight or later. As I am not a night owl, and I wake before the sun most days, that nap is now kept to 2 hours or less before I wake her up. And during 1 1/2 of that 2 hours I'm doing medical care with Mason.

Emma doing Apologia Biology

One subject that is outside my comfort zone this year is art with Joseph and Emma. They decided I need to participate in Artistic Pursuits with them. Drawing is not an area I enjoy. I just keep reminding myself that they feel that way about some of their other subjects, so surely I can cheerfully do art. Today's task was exploring the different art pencils and doing a rough sketch of something interesting to us. We headed outside to draw.

Tobias loves this Button Art

Friday
We made it through the entire first week of the school year without tears. It is probably a record. So far I think the block schedule is going to be a great fit. The moments of me being pulled in too many directions/subjects at once were few this week because everyone had the same general subjects each day.

In history group (Emma down through Samuel) we sat around the living room listening to the first audio story for this year's history curriculum. We learned more about the ancient Greeks. We pulled out our timeline and used it to answer some questions relating people and events we learned about last year to this year. Then we did our first day with this history level's game. It is a card game that is set up to be used like a memory match. On light blue cards are descriptions of people. On dark blue cards are a picture and name of a corresponding person. These are all people we will learn about this year.

For today, I passed out people cards to the kids, including Tobias, and kept the description cards. I  read a description card aloud and they could guess who the match was. If they didn't have any idea I would tell them. When you had the match you brought it to me. The kids loved this sneak peek at the people we will learn about this year. As we go through the rest of the year we will play the game as a memory match. Sometimes I will give description cards to each family member and have them pretend to be that person and give us clues about who they are. We will do Pictionary with the cards and take turns drawing the clues. There are lots of different ways we can play with these cards.

While we were doing this Joseph was reading about Einstein's teen years and writing about him for history. He's decided to begin his history study with Einstein.

Over lunch today I read aloud a chapter of Archimedes and the Door of Science. This is the first read aloud we'll do with The Good and the Beautiful History 2.


Well, that's all my notes from the week, so I'm hitting publish. Hooray for another year learning together at home!

Preparing for Another Homeschool Year

With August here I am in final preparations for the new homeschool year. This is one of my favorite things! I love seeing the possibilities ahead of my family as I sort our materials, make plans, and contemplate weekly schedules. This year I will have 7 students in grades 9, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1, with a 3 and 1 year old tagging along for the ride. My oldest will be a college freshman in another state. I'm going to miss her, but it will be a wonderful adventure for her. I thought I would share about how I'm preparing things for this school year.

Task #1 was to create our calendar year. Homeschooling is flexible and laws vary in each state. In Ohio we are given a specific number of hours to aim for - 900. We do not have a number of school days required. I still block out our year and mark when we will be schooling and when we will be on break. Each year is a bit different based on our start date, when holidays fall, and when the local high school spring break is. Until I had high school age students I ignored this. However, from 9th grade on, my teens attend an early morning scripture study class, called Seminary, at 6am. This class follows the local public school calendar somewhat, and I learned with Makayla that it is really nice to have our spring break overlap the seminary class spring break. 

Task #2 was to write out the books and curricula I need for each child and start gathering everything into one place. I ordered materials earlier this year, and some things we reuse for younger children. I have been gathering things to a cubicle in my bedroom. For anything new, that we haven't used before, I spend a few minutes reading through introductions and making notes. 

Some new to us materials this year are:

• Handwriting Without Tears - we've used the orange level, but this year I have kids who will use the next two levels. 
• The Good and the Beautiful History 2 - we used History 1 last year and loved it. History 2 is similar in setup. I have a few things to prep for this year. I printed the first quarter of student explorers for different grade levels. I created a supplies list by lesson. I made a list of coordinating art projects from my Deep Space Sparkle stash of lessons. I gathered books for the first quarter of topics from by boxes of history books in the attic (these are a mix of nonfiction, picture books, and chapter books). They will go into a book basket for free reading. I chose a history read aloud. I transferred the audio story files onto a kindle and grabbed a speaker so these are ready when we need them.
•  The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts levels 3 and 6 - we used 4, 5, and High School 1 last year. This year I will have kids using 3, 3, 5, 6, 6. I'm looking through the new to us levels and making a daily checklist for each level that doesn't already come with one. 
• Photography - Joseph wants to do digital photography as an elective this year. We have a couple resources: Fundamentals of Photography (The Great Courses) with National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore is 23 video based classes, Basics of Digital Photography with Rick Allred is 9 video classes, and we have a checklist of photograph categories (ex: flowers, landscapes, buildings and bridges, teens and adults) that Joseph will use to take 50 photos per category, then choose 10 favorites in each category. He will edit 2 from each category and create a book of his photography from the year. 
• Artistic Pursuits: The Elements of Art and Composition - Emma and Joseph want to do this course. I grabbed a picture of the materials list with my phone and picked up the few things we needed. 

Some materials we have used before:

•  Apologia's high school Biology - I gathered the student notebooks, textbooks, dissection tools, dissection specimens, microscope, and biology slides. Dissections don't begin until Module 11 (about 22 weeks into the course), so those items won't be brought downstairs to the dining room yet. 
• Science for my Elementary group - This year the 5 boys in this group (Daniel, Oliver, Caleb, Mason, Samuel) each chose a couple topics they want to study. We will rotate through the topics together. Here are the ones they chose: Bats, Ants, Bees, Big Cats, the 5 Senses, Muscular system, Circulatory system, Light, Simple Machines, Motion/Mechanics. I have the Apologia Elementary Science series of textbooks, which is what the kids flipped through to give them topic ideas. We will use the chapters that go with each topic, as well as hands on learning, and nonfiction and picture books from our shelves or the library. 
•  Math U See - Pulled teacher's manuals and dvds from the attic for Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra 1. Opened the box of student workbooks we ordered. 

Task #3 was to have each child empty their school bin and pass out their new books. It was a quick and fun job. 

Then came the hardest part - Task #4 - making a realistic weekly schedule. One interesting facet of homeschooling is that I teach lessons for everything from elementary school through high school in a variety of subjects every day. There are independent portions, such as math worksheets after the weekly lesson, but a lot of mom-led lessons happen too, especially with the younger students. I do some group teaching. For example this year Joseph and Emma combine for Biology and Art, Daniel, Oliver, Caleb, Mason, and Samuel combine for science, and Emma down through Samuel combine for portions of history. Add in the fact that I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, cooking meals, physical therapy and daily medical care for Mason, piano lessons one afternoon a week, and life in general, and having a realistic schedule is important. 

This year we are starting out trying a slightly different way of scheduling. In past years the kids get assignment sheets listing how many days per week they need to do each subject. They would then schedule that week however they wanted. It works, but it means I have some days very heavy on lessons kids need me for, and others lighter. I want this year to be a more even balance. 

To get that balance, we are trying a more set schedule, where each day has the subjects assigned out already. For example, I will teach the elementary science group lessons on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, while we have a history block on Wednesday and Friday. Our block schedule allows for more time to immerse ourselves in a topic each day, instead of rotating through every subject every day for a shorter time. I also won't have as much mental jumping around because everyone has history on history days, or everyone has science on science days.

Task #5 is to start teaching and learning together. That happens Monday. I'm as ready as I can be. The kids are ready. The schedule is cleared, with as few interruptions to the first week as possible (no appointments).
Here we go!