Oh yeah.... I forgot I had a homeschool blog!

 1st Grade!

 5th Grade!

 8th Grade!

Chillaxin after a hard day with cucumbers on their eyes... "spa day" is what they called it. Evan did his spelling words like this!

 beading....

 building...

 "teacher's institute" at the forest preserve...

 Civil War Days

 Civil War Days at pumpkin farm

 Evan's Special Birthday trip to New York City with Grandma

Zombie Apocalypse

"Good morning, Evan! Happy Leap Day!"

"What?"

"You know, Leap Day. It's the extra day we get every 4 years because it takes 365 and 1/4 days to go around the Sun so our calendar makers decided to save that 1/4 day and put it all together on an EXTRA day, every 4 years. So we have 366 days this year!"

blank stare

"Don't you remember the field trip to the planetarium? The discussions we've had? HELLO?!?"

"Well, what would happen if we didn't use the extra 1/4 day?"

"We'd have snow in June and a really hot Christmas because the seasons would keep inching away from where we want them."

even blanker stare

"...And zombies would take over the Earth." (I am not above using sarcasm in educating my children)

pause

"Why would zombies take over the Earth? How would that happen?"

Holy cow. I think he needs some coffee this morning.

You homeschool? I don't know HOW you DO it!!

The real question should be: HOW do you traditional school families do it? I have been shuttling the kids all morning and we are still not done and I am EXHAUSTED. We had Evan's karate graduation and then Justin's soccer game and now we're changing clothes to take the younger two to a birthday party and Patrick is out of town and the dog has diarrhea and, and, and... Whew!

On Tuesdays, we have our homeschool co-op followed by karate and gymnastics. That day requires a ton of planning and prep work to make sure that everyone has what they need when they need it and that we all arrive everywhere on time and with our gear. Add that to 3 other weekly activities and I am usually pretty darn tired come Friday. And that is with the ability to sleep when we are tired and do school on a relaxed pace! If we were having to fit all of our activities into 5 hours every night INCLUDING homework and "quality" time? I do believe that I would be having a nervous break down right about now.

My hat's off to you families with two working parents/single parents/kids in public school; I honestly don't know how YOU do it!

Busy Busy Busy

Shockingly enough, Penny takes up a lot of our time. I KNOW! Can you believe such a tiny puppy could do that??? That said, she cuddles on our laps while we read through Narnia, sleeps in the sunshine during math, and gnaws on her bone during the rest of our school work. She's a damn fine dog. Now if we could just get her to consistently poop and pee outside...
Believe it or not, that box caused a ton of strife. "I want to read in it!" "It's my turn!" Waah waah waah. Still, it's pretty nice to see such a clean family room...

Go Kenmore! Thanks for the free vacuum. So far, my floors are cleaner. Especially when I remember to use the vacuum. That helps a lot.... (Corinne reading Harold and the Purple Crayon).
"Take a picture of us, Mama! You can call it 'A boy and his dog'!"

The elusive 12 year old on the cusp of turning 13. He still loves Life of Fred (Pre Algebra right now) but has been asking for books that are more challenging. Be still, my heart.
Snow day! We haven't had many of them, this year. And, when we do get snow? It melts in about a day. What the hell? This is Corinne's serious face for a serious dress creation on her doll mannequin. She wanted a full size mannequin but Nana found this one and I am SO GLAD because a life sized one would be HUGE.
Still loving FreeRice.com for math facts and vocabulary. We've also discovered some cool free typing games online for Evan and Corinne. I hope it helps their spelling and keyboard skills...

And that's it, folks. I haven't been too camera happy lately. Must be the dreary weather. I NEED SUNSHINE.

The Chronic

Evan and I have been reading the Chronicles of Narnia these past few months. It's pretty impressive for him considering how many freaking RUN ON SENTENCES C.S. Lewis likes to use in every single paragraph. It can be a lot to digest for a 9 year old. That said, I have been reduced to singing this song Every. Single. Day. for the past 2 months...

Ahem.

This is not my main blog.

Just thought I'd clarify.

Especially since I can't figure out how to rearrange the order of appearance on my profile page and this one comes up first and I realized that THIS must be why I don't get very many comments anymore! People come to my homeschool blog because it's first on the list and see that it's rarely updated and then they click away before they realize that all of the REAL GOODS are on my REAL BLOG. You know, the one where I talk about puppy obsession and harassing my pre-teen on Facebook.

I am freaking hyper this morning and I haven't had any coffee AT ALL. Maybe my body is weird (duh) and reacts opposite to caffeine?!? THIS COULD EXPLAIN EVERYTHING.

A report card to myself

I hesitate to write this, but...

The year is going excellently!

SHHHH!!!! Don't tempt the Gods and read that out loud! Knocking on wood and throwing salt over my shoulder and looking for a spot to spit as I type this...

But seriously, I'm happy. We're not perfectly timed like a digital clock; checking in and out, ticking this off and filing that. We run loosely and freely. There are issues to cover and details to complete for sure; but those details are most definitely not dictating the flow of our lives.

Justin is slowly wading into algebra this year. Don't tell him, but he's actually doing well with it. He doesn't like to admit that he's able to retain information (one of his favorite phrases) but that kid, on a good and happy day, can learn anything. He just needs to give himself more credit. I keep hoping that the "drive to learn for learning's sake" will kick in. Sometimes, I can see it taking hold, only to slip back again and be hidden behind the "I hate school" mantra. He's a tough cookie to figure out, but he always insists that he never wants to go to public school again. This is a question I pose to him whenever he claims that I am asking too much of him or presenting him with too much work. I remind him of the homework that would take us all into the late evening hours, should he be in public school. I remind him of the earlier bedtime and early alarm clock wake ups that we would all be enjoying, should he go to school. And then he usually grumbles and plods through whatever I've laid out for the day. :)

Evan is still Mr. Active. He likes to stand up to do his schoolwork and sometimes does his best stories while he dictates as he walks in circles. No joke. His mind works way faster than his hand can keep up, so I have him dictate to me, and then have him copy the work afterwards. His spelling and writing abilities are slowly catching up to his grade level and he continues to do well at his math and reading comprehension. I keep meaning to look for a good health/human body curriculum but haven't found something as of yet...

Corinne reads well above her age level. What level does she read at? I don't know. Don't really care. I just know that she is ABLE to read. And that everything we're doing with her seems to be working. I don't set any age restrictions to the math or reading or science that she receives. If the boys are doing it, and she's interested? I pull her onto my lap and she learns alongside them. And she RETAINS it. Not all of it and not perfectly, but WOW. She remembers! It's interesting to think of what she'll be doing when she is Evan or Justin's ages...

And, with that, I have to jet so that I can take them all to our homeschool co-op where they will do a writing class, 2 different history classes, P.E. (run by me!) and a reading/art class. The group has gotten larger lately and there are tons of kids that my children are becoming good friends with. Basically? Our school year (and family year) is off to a fabulous start!

And so it begins...

Evan and Corinne in our "spaghetti garden."

And yes; we've made a LOT of spaghetti this August...

Run-on sentences and improper punctuation, but it's 4 am and I'm tired...

Every year we do this homeschooling gig, I learn more and more about the educational system and fall more and more in love with our current lifestyle. I am so happy that we are able to provide this option for our kids. I remember school. There were some great times. There were some crappy times. But mostly? Mostly I felt unimportant and not as worthy as the other children. High school sucked but for the extra curricular activities. SUCKED.

This girl's valedictorian speech reminds me, once more, that the cookie cutter system available by public school isn't a good shape for my family. My children are thriving and learning and living just fine in our home. I cannot imagine sending them back to someone else for their education! I simply can't. It kind of breaks my heart a little. I try to be flexible and open to the possibility that one or more of them will want to try public school out someday, but it actually sounds quite foreign. Isn't that interesting? I've become more used to homeschooling. Even after my own public education and the 4.5 years we had our kids in public! 16.5 years of public school combined, and I am more loyal to home education!

Wow. I really am exhausted. This will NOT be a brilliant post, heralding the remarkable abilities of me as a home educator. Let it be known that I do a good job. I DO. And I know that I can do AT LEAST as good of a job as a public school system can do. Naturally, my goal is to do BETTER, but since I don't believe in report cards (never have!), you can't prove or test my theory.

Or can you?

Corinne is reading SO WELL and doing math way above what I know other kids her age are doing. And she's doing it independently.

Evan still struggles to put words onto paper, but the words fly from his brain! He has such an imagination! I want this year to be the Year of Imagination for Evan. I want to nurture his creativity. I want to let his talents be the front-runner for everything I offer him to learn. Geography, creative writing, art, history... Why didn't I do more of that last year? I tried, but didn't place enough importance on it.

Justin picks up what he's interested in and surprises me with the knowledge he can retain. Who knew that a big box of National Geographics would inspire him?

Yawn. What was I saying? I really am tired. Need sleep. Can't write anymore...

My New Mission Statement

It's summertime. My kids don't deliberately "do school" in the summer because

a. I am lazy

and

b. they would kill me. Truly.

But my 5 year old, who has never been "to school" but loves homeschooling, has been working like a maniac this summer! Reading all the time, asking to do Freerice.com, randomly sitting at her desk to work on writing and math workbooks and on and on. Just a moment ago, I helped her tug out the big box of Math U See manipulatives and she is currently stacking and counting and building and LEARNING without an agenda.

That's what I hope to accomplish this year: Learning without an agenda.

I think I'll make it my mission statement....

Reason #2,768 to love the freedom of homeschooling

"Mom, can we focus on genetics and biology for the rest of the school year?"

He loves it and I am happy to oblige. Off to the library we go!

Photo post!

It's addictive, really. Buying curriculum... speculating about the brilliance that will be absorbed next year before this year is even over. Speaking of which, It's Spring Break this week!!
Finger looming. She LOVES it. Patterns, fine motor skills, etc.
You go, girl!
Museum of Science and Industry never fails to entertain and educate my family...
We enjoyed the regular exhibits AND toured the Body Worlds exhibit! It was really interesting, but Evan was grossed out when he realized that they were REAL human bodies...
The plethora of dioramas made up for the ickiness. He ADORES miniatures. He's probably pretending to wage a war in that shot.

RSA Animate's video on Changing Education Paradigms

Thank you Deb for sharing this link! What a cool video!

March Madness

Things we're loving:

Corinne at age 5 is reading! Yes, reading, reading. Thanks to brilliant genetics (ahem) and programs like Starfall.com, All About Spelling and Frontline Phonics Readers (we bought this program about 9 years ago and I highly endorse it for little ones!), she is an avid reader. Amazing, actually. No bias.

She's also spending a lot of time on her finger loom, sewing a pillow at homeschool club, learning bits of clocks and money and just diving into all things kindergarten. I have no doubt tthat she learns more than I realize. Since I don't do a formal "record" of my kids' academics, it's a bit difficult to "gauge" her school level, but I'd put her at about the K-2nd grade levels for most of her abilities. Considering she would only be eligible for preschool due to her birth date, I'm really pleased with how she's progressing!

Evan is nearly 9 and has shown a HUGE improvement in the past year. His reading comprehension is the largest area that I am excited about. My heart nearly stops whenever I walk in on him just reading, JUST FOR FUN. This from the child who hated books about 2 years ago!

He continues to be an extremely imaginative writer and just took on the beginning of his first "novel" entitled "The Battle of Normandy Beach." Honestly? It's pretty darn interesting! I ignore the spelling and grammar and encourage the imagination because his vocabulary is far above his spelling ability. He is doing the Excellence in Writing through a homeschool group to assist the development of expanding ideas and utilizing all parts of the English language. It's extremely exciting for me to have a fellow writer in the house. :)

I recently started him on Teaching Textbooks, level 5 for Math. It is a cd-rom math program that I resisted for a long time because it just looked too expensive for something that a workbook could teach. But we borrowed it from a friend and Evan has responded REALLY well to it. (as have all the other children in our homeschooling group). Soooo... I do believe I will be buying the set for him for this year and for next. (And for Corinne for levels 2-4 as well! She likes to sit with him and shout out the answers! Yikes.)

He just finished his American Heritage history book from Abeka (though we're not Christian, I like the layout. We just skip the proverbs!) and I would like to have another formal history curriculum for him but I think that the Story of the World that we have is just a bit above his language comprehension right now. Anyone have any other Abeka history books they want to sell?? He's doing a study on Martin Luther King Jr. from library books for a while. I may just have him pick out important people to study for the remainder of the year.

GEOGRAPHY! This kid is a wiz. As in, WOW. We are working on the capitals of all the states now as he's memorized the states quite a while ago. Evan responds really well to flashcards. I want to get some anatomy and world geography flash cards for him for next year. Again, anyone want to make a few bucks by selling what they have?

Justin is 12 and does a majority of his work independently now. Yay! He is on book 2 of Life of Fred and I cannot speak highly enough about this program. We both enjoy it, and it's a great supplement for a math curriculum. We don't use a formal curriculum and so his Fred books are actually in conjunction with several workbooks that we have bought online and through book stores. I hope to find something of a higher level for him next year and am considering the Teaching Textbooks for his age, too. It seems to be harder to find homeschooling curriculum over 6th grade without searching online...

He is on book 2 of Story of the World and still enjoying its layout. I have been lax in testing or quizzing on this book but we are doing a group class that centers around the 2nd book and I find that this is a great way to supplement and reinforce what he's already read.

Justin also uses several books from FlashKids and Spectrum that are just fabulous. I especially like the color and texture of the FlashKids books (really important for Justin's comfort level issues). He is plodding through the Fearless Writing Essay workbook; it's only been slightly bloody over that book. (Though I have finally found a topic he wants to write about: Dungeons and Dragons! THANK YOU GOD!) I like the layout of this book and intend on purchasing some of the other topics as well.

I am truly happy with all of their academics this year. Without a report card to show to family and friends, it's difficult to explain how much they've learned. It seems that we all desire a checklist, report card, letter grade, etc. as "proof" of how intelligent or educated our children are. However, the longer I homeschool, the greater my belief is in the LACK of a checklist of evidence. My children are the evidence! They are thriving and writing and reading and building and creating and playing and HAPPY.*

What report card could tell me more than that?

*(Not counting the pre-teen angst...)

A little update

Poor little homeschool blog. So neglected...

As Christmas gets closer, I am so grateful for homeschooling. We have been doing some basic review of math, just to stay on top of things. Evan's been reading about people from the Revolutionary War era and Justin's been doing a study on the history of classic American toys. I got the book at the TAGIE awards and was absolutely serious when I said I was going to do a study with the kids through it. Justin is making a timeline and all sorts of things to go with it. It's pretty interesting stuff.

Corinne is just a reading phenom. Dick and Jane is almost too easy for her, but we've got several other phonic-type books that she likes to read on her own that are filling in the spaces until I can find another progressive type of reading series. I have never been solely responsible for teaching any of them to read! Justin knew how by kindergarten but I guess I figured that preschool had something to do with it. Evan struggled until first grade and I assumed that it was my fault. I think I am really REALLY accepting that each child will learn at their own pace, regardless of what their parent tries to force down their throats. That said, I need to keep up with Corinne so that she remains INTERESTED In reading!

We have paper snowflakes everywhere right now. It's crazy how involved Corinne can become in an art project. For a while it was beading, beading, beading. Now it's cutting intricate designs. I wonder what's next?

Well, the kids have a h/s friend over right now and they're playing some sort of top-spinning game that involves a lot of laughing and smack-talking. I am going to browse the internet while it's still peaceful in the house. Merry Christmas!

Braggity brag

Corinne's counting by 12's. Holy shit. She's really DOING it and I don't really know how to stop her...

Also? Evan is a geography genius. I'll have to record him with his cards. It's amazing.

Today

Evan's reading Beowulf.

At age 8.

After needing special reading help in first grade.

I am happy and content.

Random pics of what's been up...

Game day of Life, Rummikub and Apples to Apples...
Working on her new PictureIt books.

Good Stuff

We were walking through the Field Museum yesterday and every other exhibit heralded a remark from one of the boys on something they'd just read in Story of the World. "I just read about that!"

Justin had to stop walking near the jade exhibiti to explain to me the differences between the dynasties of China and how long each one was, etc... It took him over 10 minutes! I nearly cried.

When Evan finally got to see the Lions of Tsavo and explained to me why they were maneless, I smiled with pride.

We spent over 5 hours at the Field Museum and never even got to do my favorite sections on the Americas and Native Americans. THAT'S how long it takes for my kids to read every plaque, investigate every diorama, discuss every cool exhibit, and watch every interactive movie. I told the kids we'd have to go back again soon so that we could go through those sections. Justin remarked,

"Really? But I practically have the entire museum memorized!"

HA. If that truly were the case, I'd be sending him to college today. But it is somewhat true that he knows much of the museum's information. And THAT? That is why I love homeschooling. Having the chance to become familiar with the educational information at top-notch museum sounds like a pretty damn good way to learn, don't you think?

Chicago Free Days!

One of the BEST parts of homeschooling are the free days at museums!! We went to the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday (it was free all week) and had a BLAST. Hardly anyone there, and we used the parking lot off of the Space Center which has hourly parking so we saved a ton on parking $. The kids loved the Coal Mine exhibit which we hadn't been to before. I forgot how neat it was! And they never tire of the Idea Factory for children.

The new Weather exhibit was also really cool. Justin especially enjoyed the interactive choice stations where he had to put out forest fires and create avalanches and such. Corinne just loved all of the buttons and knobs that made stuff react. DON'T miss the light box room!! We spent a good 10 minutes in that tiny booth listening to the speaker and watching the world change around us with the absence of certain lights.

The best thing for me at Science and Industry is that there aren't a whole lot of extra charges once you enter. Other museums charge an arm and a leg for all of their shows and such which are what make the museums interesting to begin with! It's frustrating with 3 kids to see everything we can't do when there are additional charges of 5 or 10 bucks a person just to see a movie...

ANYWAY. Hope you can take advantage of some of the empty spaces at the museums this September. It really is the best time to go!!

Free Days in September 2010:

Museum of Science and Industry:
September 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28

Adler Planetarium:
September 13-17, 21 & 28

Field Museum:
September 15, 16, 21, 22 (We're thinking about going on the 16th!)

Shedd Aquarium:
(free general admission only)
September 13,14, 20, 21, 27,28