Teach Like Finland - A Book I'm Loving!

I am always reading a couple books and usually have 1-2 audio books going as well. Right now I'm a couple chapters into a new book and enjoying it so much I decided to tell you all about it!

Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms by Timothy D. Walker (aff) just came out this month. I had been following his blog and decided this would be a perfect book to listen to as an audio book. I like to listen when I am driving, doing chores, or grocery shopping - I've worked my way through nearly 100 audio books from Audible this way.

The book begins with Walker's story of being a teacher in the U.S., where he worked long hours and hit burnout before his first year was over. His wife, a native of Finland, had shared how very different a teacher's days were in her homeland. He didn't believe her tales of shorter days and a more relaxed pace. Finland was outperforming many nations in educational studies. Surely their educational system couldn't be as laid back as his wife shared. After a few years they decided to move to Finland for the slower pace and he ended up working in education.

The book really begins at this point to share the things he discovered first hand about the differences in the educational philosophies, and the similarities. Walker backs up his information with both published studies and personal experience. He also gets very practical in sharing how the day to day educational environment and practices in Finland could be adapted to fit American schools.

As a homeschooling family there have already been many ideas that I love and can incorporate into our days, from small tweaks like encouraging active breaks to interesting ideas like a gallery walk where kids can do presentations in a new way.

What books are you learning from right now?

A Week of Unexpected Things

Monday I had a morning doctor's appointment and Daddy took over the homeschooling. By the time I returned children were well into their work. Yes, I'm blessed with an involved husband! Most of the kids finished up their writing project from last week today - except Emma. She is working on a Star Trek inspired story and is not ready to end it. We listened to our current read aloud a couple times today.

Joseph mowed the grass today (first time using the push mower!). It's a beautiful day when children learn a new skill. I did some grocery shopping in the afternoon, Makayla had track practice. Dinner was homemade burgers and fries, with a side of strawberries.

Tuesday Makayla didn't have Seminary so kids had until 8am to get up for the day. One was up at 5am, three at 6am, and it kept going from there. Yeah, most of them are not willing to sleep in. We ate breakfast and moved right into school. Daniel has officially finished his math book for the year and is on review. Joseph and Emma are on their last chapter. The other kids are working their way there.

I've been snuggling up with my younger three boys to read books each morning. Today they wanted a lot of Curious George books as well as some Eric Carle books.

I went to the dentist - apparently I managed to break a tooth. They can't work on it the same day you come in to get it checked (insurance rules) so I will go back next week to get the tooth fixed.

Wednesday's morning plans were thrown off when Mason woke up with pink eye. In to the pediatrician we went for a prescription while Makayla babysat. When I got home several of the kids had started their school work and the rest were playing peacefully. By mid-afternoon things went crazy when I got a letter from a government agency we deal with because of Mason - one of those "we're changing our mind retroactively about the last 10 months and you owe us more money than you make in 4 months" sort of letters. Sigh. I hate dealing with government agencies. My afternoon was spent on the phone and printing out various documents to hand deliver on Thursday.

Thursday started out with an hour spent waiting in a government office to deliver paperwork. We won't hear back about it for a week or two. We're just in limbo - and scrambling to adjust our budget because of a loss of income related to all of this. Have you ever tried to cut out 1/4 of your income overnight? Ahem. It's interesting, to say the least.

Oh, and Oliver joined the ranks of kids with pink eye on Thursday morning too. So that meant another call to the doctor to get a prescription phoned in for him.

We did school and finished our read aloud today. Yay!

I just really don't have it in me to blog another day in this crazy week. Picture Friday with another child or two getting pink eye - that's what I'm expecting. On the government agency front I've done everything I can do, so I'm going to peacefully turn that burden over to God and not think about it until we hear back official news.

I'm going to grab my kids and see who wants to play a board game - I need some laughs and fun.

{Linking here.}

Homeschool Convention Notes - Day 2

On day two of the homeschool convention I attended 4 classes. These are some of my notes and thoughts about each.

Dr. Christopher Perrin - Why Children Must Play to Learn

This is a subject I've been reading about lately, as evidenced by the library books on my shelves, so I was interested to hear this class. He started out by helping us define 'play'.

• Absorbing - We get lost in a new world.
• Suspends time - We lose track of time and don't want to stop.
• Self-motivating - We want to do it again and again.
• Improvisational - We create spontaneously, without planning and preparation.

So can play be true of our studies too? Yes. In learning we want to play, try new things, explore, dive deep, and make connections. What makes for a great engineer? Creative thinking and problem solving - which come from learning to play.

Other things he covered:

• Math often goes better after some time exercising/using the body in play.
• Watch closely for screen addiction, it happens without warning. Shut them off if setting limits doesn't work. Don't give kids a smart phone - a dumb phone maybe for when they will be away from home and need to contact for their ride.
• Choose media that allows room for imagination. He gave an example of older shows where you knew something creepy was happening off screen, but it left a lot to your imagination.
• Toys - basic is always better, it leaves room for creative play and imagination. Sticks, string, blocks, cardboard boxes, duct tape are great starting places.
• Outdoor time - get outside, leave the screens inside.
• Reading time - Read great books AND THEN provide materials for props so kids can incorporate their stories into their play.
• The opposite of play is not work, it is depression.

My book list from this class - The Power of Play: Learning What Comes Naturally by David Elkind - Which is actually on my shelf from the library and just got nudge up higher on the list to read soon.

Sarah Mackenzie - Connecting with Our Kids Through Books

She went over the many benefits of reading books, especially reading aloud to our children. I'm familiar with the information and we love reading books at our house. Some things she mentioned that made it into my notes:

• Don't stop reading when your kids can read to themselves. Their listening comprehension is much higher than their reading comprehension. They can enjoy many great books if you will read them aloud.
• Kids learn to make connections and process information as they read and are read to.
• Books inspire our kids to be the hero or heroine of their own story.
• Reading encourages empathy - we live many lives through their pages and learn to love and understand in new ways those who are different than we are.
• Reading aloud develops relationships and a family culture. You gain and inside language of memories and family jokes or shorthand when you speak using the books you have loved.

Books added to my list from this class - The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma (I've read this but will read it again some time.), Listening for Lions, and On to Oregon.

Rea Berg - Ancient History through Literature

This class is one that I enjoyed but it was interesting because a lot of what she said wasn't the message I took away. (Don't get me wrong, she had great ideas!) Through much of this class I found myself writing down thoughts that were filling my mind on the topic of education and learning. Some of that is as follows:

• God provides the education of our children. He brings things into their lives when needed. We work and dedicate our meager offering to the Lord and he provides the miracle, multiplying it in the lives of our children.
• What do we give our time to? What do we read when we are choosing a book for ourselves?
• Use stories!
• Seek wisdom out of the best books. Don't waste time on lesser options.

Book list additions from this class - She shared the idea of looking at more than one book for the same topic, which I'm familiar with. I liked the look of these two Noah's Ark books for my little boys: Noah's Ark by Lisbeth Zwerger and Noah's Ark by Peter Spier.

S.D. Smith - Author of The Green Ember

I didn't write down the title of this class but it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of audience participation and a nice long Q&A session too. We had discussion about what makes us love a story or dislike one. He asked the question "What makes a story good?" and here are many of the answers people shared: A villain, adventure, good description, a likeable hero, a problem to solve, adventure, an element of mystery, a character you connect with, a battle, danger, a twist, growth in the characters, limits/imperfections in a character, the guy gets the girl (offered by a teen boy...LOL).

He helped us see that we like characters that make decisions and take action more than characters that are always wishy-washy reactors to their situations.

During the Q&A I didn't take many notes, I was too busy listening and even asking my own question.

My favorite session on this day was definitely this last one with S.D. Smith! He was very humble, funny, and took the comments and questions of the kids and teens just as seriously as those of the adults.

Right before leaving the convention I made one final purchase. I bought four audio CDs of classes I had not been able to attend. I'm looking forward to listening to those in the coming weeks. They are:

• Symbolism: Mastering Literature's Most Powerful Device by Ian Andrews
• Failure in Fatherhood: The Story of a Homeschool Family Feud by Ian and Adam Andrews
• From Critic to Curator or Creator: How to Stop Noticing Everything by S.D. Smith
• Rabbits with Words: Hot tips on writing by S. D. Smith

Homeschool Convention Notes - Day 1

Jessica and I at the Midwest Homeschool Convention

I'm a note taker. I process things by writing them down. The last few days I spent enjoying the Midwest Homeschool Convention with my friend Jessica. We attended 9 classes over 2 days and I took notes. My notes are not just the things said in each class, they include the thoughts, ideas, and inspiration I received as I listened. I want to record some of it here so they are easy for me to find later. I'll cover day one's classes in this post. Enjoy this peek into my head!

Sarah Mackenzie - Teaching from Rest

I've heard Sarah speak before, read her book, and I'm part of the Read Aloud Revival group. I always come away encouraged. She had us picture our children 20 years from now having a conversation with another person, who finds out they were homeschooled and ask, "What was homeschooling like for you?" She wanted us to think about what words we would hope to hear from our children about their homeschool experience. It was an interesting way to look at it.

She also spoke about being careful not to add things to our homeschool backpack just because we see others doing them. We decide what is important for our homeschool trek and carry that, but we don't overload ourselves with things that, while they may be good, are just not important for our family.

Rea Berg - Charlotte Mason Meets Plato

This was my first time to hear Rea Berg of Beautiful Feet Books speak. The big things I came away with from this class were:

• Offer plenty of food for our children's minds, good quality food from the best books.
• Give our children a vision of greatness.
• Study our children.
• Three books I added to my reading list: The End of Education by Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, Hard Times by Charles Dickens.

Adam Andrews - Witches, Wizards, and Wands, Oh My! Evaluating Literature

I've heard Adam Andrews speak many times and I always enjoy it. He is great about pushing you a bit outside of your comfort zone, getting you to think and consider things in different ways. He spoke about our responsibility as readers to sit still, pay attention to the author's message, and not change the subject. When we approach a book it can be easy to be so busy thinking about our own topics sparked by the book as we are reading it that we miss entirely the author's perspective on an idea and the discussion they are inviting us to join them in. When we take the time to understand what they are saying then we can have a conversation with them about that idea (which means we are then free to disagree, agree, ask questions, etc).

He walked us through a structural analysis of the plot, characters, setting, and so on of a story. This I am familiar with from his Teaching the Classics seminar - it's a lot of fun! He also gave some interesting questions to consider when we are evaluating whether or not a book is one we wish to read and share with our children. Here are some of those:

• In the world of this story what is a good death?
• What is a good life?
• What is it like to be a person in this world?
• Where is hope to be found?
• Who is the god or higher power of this story? What are they like?

Sarah Mackenzie - Awake, Loving Your Life as a Homeschooling Mom

She had us think about a similar question to the one from her earlier class. This time it was, "What words do you want your children to say in 20 years when asked, 'What was your mom like when you were homeschooling?'" She encouraged us to make small adjustments now. What do we love? Share that with our children. How can you fill your bucket? Make time for that.

She had us picture what our dream homeschooling years would look like and start moving towards that. For example one mom may want to look back and remember going on lots of field trips, while another may want lots of family read alouds, and a third may really love science experiments and discovery.

Lesli Richards - Start Thriving

To be honest, this one was my least favorite of the weekend. Part of that was probably that it was the end of a very long day that had started very early and I just was at my limit of learning. The one takeaway I got was to focus on balance over a whole week so that everybody's bucket gets filled. 

* * * *

In between classes during this day we explored the exhibit hall. Picture a giant hall with more than 175 booths of homeschooling materials to explore, vendors to talk to, speakers to ask questions of, and thousands of homeschool families. It was a lot of fun! I came with just a few things I was looking for, as well as a small budget for fun items to bring home. I bought five books, one game, and two tins of thinking putty. That's it! I think my favorite session on this day was the one by Adam Andrews.

This Week's Notes, Boy Scout Rank Achievement

Monday was day 1 of the last 6 weeks of the school year. We hit the ground running. Math, science, reading, literature, grammar, writing, and even an art project with our fingerprint Usborne book as the inspiration. The kids took a break at 10am when my visiting teacher came to visit and headed outside to run off their energy.

Also on Monday:

• Thyroid bloodwork for mommy - and a follow up appointment next week.
• Track practice for Makayla.
• A mountain of clean laundry was put away - because we just didn't get to it over the Easter weekend.
• Feeding people. Why do they insist on eating 3 meals a day?
• Thinking about the homeschool convention. I head there on Friday with a friend. It is going to be a fun 2 days!

Tuesday started early as usual with taking Makayla to Seminary. I was home by 6:05am and realized it was time to start putting things in order for the my trip to the Midwest Homeschool Convention. I printed directions and a parking pass, double checked my hotel reservations, and started a packing list. The day then moved into breakfast, school, dropping a meal off to someone, and more school.

We're into physics for science with the 6th grade and under crowd. This week we've been learning about Isaac Newton and his laws of motion. Today we explored force and inertia.

In a moment of clarity today I realized just how refreshing it was to take a week off for spring break. Everyone is cheerful and diligent in their school work again. It confirms the plans I made to put our homeschool on a Sabbath week schedule next fall. We will school 6 weeks and then take the 7th week off for rest. We will have an 8 week summer (all of June and July) and start things back up in August.

I spent part of the afternoon outside with the kids, took Makayla out for some driving practice in the mid-afternoon. In the evening she had another track meet.

Wednesday some of the kids got up earlier than usual, including Tobias (age 17 mos), who was up at 5:00am for the day. My alarm doesn't ring until 5:20am. I missed those 20 minutes! Oh well. We were rolling along pretty well before 8am with school work. I just went with it. Most of the kids have taped their weekly assignment sheets on the dining room wall so they flit between the wall, book shelves, table, couch, floor, piano, and bedroom - depending on where they are most comfortable doing each assignment. Emma prefers to do math on the couch, for example. Makayla does most of her work other than math and piano in her bedroom. Caleb does everything at the table. And on it goes.

Boy Scout Court of Honor tonight - Joseph earned two ranks (Tenderfoot and 2nd Class Scout) and one Merit Badge. It is so strange to see my little boy is taller than I am. Sigh. They just keep growing up.

Joseph pinning on my Mother's pins for the ranks he's earned.

Thursday was a blur with the last school work of the week, grocery shopping (because I'll be gone Saturday), and packing for the homeschool convention.

As I type this is it 4:14am and I'm heading out the door shortly to pick up my friend Jessica and go to our teacher development weekend in Cincinnati at the convention. We have literally hundreds of classes to choose from (and will probably get to 10 or so), hundreds of curriculum vendors to browse, and a lot of fun to enjoy!

School Goals for the Next 6 Weeks

We've reached the last 6 weeks of our school year and so I sat down and set goals for each child to work on. I thought I would share those here for my own records.

Makayla (10th grade)

• Finish The Magna Charta and read The Scottish Chiefs.
• Continue with The Power in Your Hands
• Math U See Geometry - finish.
• ACT Math Review - 3 practice problems per day.
• Veterinary Medicine online class - keep going to the end.
• Literature - Read 1 chapter daily (currently working through The Work and the Glory series)

Joseph (6th grade)

• Literature - Finish Ranger's Apprentice book 3 and move on to book 4.
• Math U See Zeta - finish. Then begin review.
• Fix It Grammar - Keep going.
• Writing - In the next 6 weeks write: a book report, a movie review, a story, and an essay on a science topic of his choice.
• Science - Move into physics portion of our study.

Emma (5th grade)

• Science - Move into physics portion of our study.
• Writing - In the next 6 weeks write: a book report, a movie review, a story, and an essay on a science topic of her choice.
• Fix It Grammar - Keep going.
• Math U See Zeta - finish. Then begin review.
• Literature - Finish Eldest and begin Brisingr.

Daniel (3rd grade)

• Literature - Finish Classic Bedtime Stories and then read Poppy.
• Math U See Delta - Finish and then begin review.
• Writing - In the next 6 weeks write: a book report, a movie review, a story, and an essay on a science topic of his choice.
• Science - Move into the physics portion of our study.

Oliver (2nd grade)

• All About Reading - Finish level 2.
• Math U See Beta - Finish and then begin review.
• Science - Move into physics with older kids.
• Writing - Team up with mom to write: a book report, a movie review, a story, and an essay on a science topic of his choice.

Caleb (Kindergarten)

• All About Reading - Continue with level 1.
• Math U See Alpha - Continue.
• Science - Join older kids for physics fun.

Mason (PreK/K Transition)

• Finish learning ABCs and their sounds.
• Practice cutting with his Kumon workbook.
• Handwriting -practice one letter per day.
• Story time - Rotate through Aesop's fables, fairy tales, Beatrix Potter with Mom and younger brothers.
• Science - Join older kids as desired.

Samuel (age 3) and Tobias (age 17 mos) do not have formal school lessons. They like to join Mason for story time and Samuel sometimes joins in science. Mostly they play. A lot of Mason and Caleb's day is still play as well. The rest of the kids finish lessons and are free to explore their own interests or play. Homeschooling is a wonderful life!

He is Risen!

And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. (Moroni 7:41)