Friday, August 28, 2009

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

School has gotten off to a fairly slow start. The flexibility of home schooling some days. Plus the headache of one older brother who decides that instead of studying Hebrew, he wants to comment on everything his "stupid" younger brothers are learning. If I could erase that word from his lexicon, trust me, I would. We've had numerous discussions about age appropriate learning, what he did at that age, how rude and harmful that type of behavior is, but it doesn't sink in. I got so frustrated w/him at one point, I had to banish him to his room.

The great myth of home schooling I think is that the families all work in glorious harmony and it's a party all the time. Ummm, no. Yeah, some days I am so frustrated, I go hide in my room for a couple hours. And then there are days when it all goes great & runs smoothly. Sort of like life, in general.

You just have to hope that there are more good days than bad ones.

A good day story:

We did a buoyancy experiment. The boys picked 10 different items and classified them according to whether or not they thought they would sink or float. We tested their hypothesis by dropping said items in the tub, observing what happened & recording them in their notebooks.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Monday, August 10, 2009

First Day

School started today at our house. And a good day it was. :) Luca surprised me - he finished a whole workbook [only 30 pages but still] of identifying differences in groups [ smaller, bigger, shorter, smaller, which one is different, etc]. And then went on to do about 10 pages in another workbook which is working on numbers. He did 1-5. I was impressed.

Niles did good as well. He read the lesson on teeth out loud to Luca. We talked about & identified the different types of teeth we have& why some people need braces [in case you are wondering all three of the boys have been cursed w/my teeth & will be needing braces. Nate's top set are already on]. We also are working on an experiment about plaque, using a hard boiled egg & coke. The experiment can be found here. Since the boys all have their 6 month check up this month, this is a great build up to next week, and it will be a hands on field trip. haha! The boys are terrible about brushing their teeth long enough, twice a day, the whole nine yards, so I'm hoping that this experiment will inspire them a bit. Guess I'll have to wait & see.

Hopefully tomorrow goes as smoothly. It is Luca's birthday though, so I'm not sure how much he'll get done. I can't believe he's going to be 6!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Iowa Test Results

Niles' testing results came back & he did just fine. He came in w/in normal 3rd grade levels. Some areas lower, some areas higher than average. I knew his week point was math, so that wasn't a surprise. He hates doing it, the testing was no different. :)

Glad to know that he's right on track. This year, I hope to move a little further ahead of that, since I've know what to expect & where to focus my attention on.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Official School Start Date?

So I've been asked recently when do my homeschool kids start school? We've not had a formal set up this summer, although we have done educational things. But I have set an official start date of August 10th, simply because for counting purposes, I am required to have 180 instructional days per each year for the boys. You have to start somewhere!

Lesson plans are being drawn up, curriculum prepared & chocolate hidden for Mom's sanity! LOL! Both boys got into the co-operative I wanted them in, so each Thursday afternoon, they will get 2 classes taught by someone other than me. I will take a turn doing a class at some point, so they may have me, depending on what the other options are. The nice thing is that they are also in separate age groups. So they will have some space to be themselves & not rely on each other. Niles got the opportunity to meet one of the other boys already, who was in the Apple Camp w/him. This begins in September. Luca is also in a Kinder Co-op, which is just Kindergarteners, which starts at the end of the month.

The problem isn't so much that home schooled children aren't socialized. I'm finding that the problem is to not overschedule! Park dates, book clubs, co-operatives, oh my!!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Survival Camp Week










This past week at Lee Brothers, the theme was survival camp. The boys LOVED it. The man who designed the Warthog & Apache helicopters came in to talk to them. He brought a part of a propeller blade, other helicopter parts & videos to show. Then, they also had a US Army sergeant come in & talk to them about boot camp, being in the Army, etc. Niles was in heaven! He told us all about it, the types of weapons they use, what he thinks he would use, etc. I am not unconvinced that we don't have a future soldier on our hands. The breaker may be - he'd have to get his hair cut! Hope you enjoy the pictures from Friday's presentation! They were taken w/my Iphone, so they tend to capture things moving in weird ways.