I just calculated our days in school so far and we've completed 128 days of learning! Only 47 days of school left! I am super excited to be done because that means we get to switch our focus to gardening which will be about 1/3 or more of Olivia's science curriculum for next year! So exited! Spring is coming and as long as we stay on track we will finish up school on May 13th! I remember getting out of school on my brothers birthday every year (June 17th) so we will be done 1 month earlier than the public schools! Yay us!
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Friday, March 7, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Wonderful Visit =)
Yesterday we paid a wonderful visit to our home-school neighbors out back. The Caldwells, along with their six children, live out behind our house past our field. I got to chat with Amy while Olivia and Maddox caught up with the kids since we haven't seen them all winter! I couldn't believe how big there newest daughter Ina has gotten! She will be six months old very soon and I hadn't seen her since she was three weeks old!
The kids got to play in and outside while us Mommys talked about school, and other things about our family life. It is wonderful to come together with other homeschooling families and talk about our studies and routines. I love how much we have in common with them, despite the difference in the number of children!
Olivia thoroughly enjoys playing with Grady, Paige, Nora (who is only 3 weeks older than Olivia), Marin, Elias, and cooing at Ina who is such a happy and easy baby. Maddox was able to open up and play with the kids too....it took a few minutes to loose his shyness, but a big bowl of popcorn to share helped remedy that!
Amy told me about the food co-op that she orders from and showed me the catalog she orders from. I think when she orders next, we might slide in some items to try out for ourselves! Spices at 3-4 dollars per pound is an amazing buy!
It was a wonderful visit, one that I hope we will get to duplicate very soon! =)
Now I suppose I will scoot off since as I am writing this, my son has stripped himself naked and is running around the house! LOL Ta-Ta!
The kids got to play in and outside while us Mommys talked about school, and other things about our family life. It is wonderful to come together with other homeschooling families and talk about our studies and routines. I love how much we have in common with them, despite the difference in the number of children!
Olivia thoroughly enjoys playing with Grady, Paige, Nora (who is only 3 weeks older than Olivia), Marin, Elias, and cooing at Ina who is such a happy and easy baby. Maddox was able to open up and play with the kids too....it took a few minutes to loose his shyness, but a big bowl of popcorn to share helped remedy that!
Amy told me about the food co-op that she orders from and showed me the catalog she orders from. I think when she orders next, we might slide in some items to try out for ourselves! Spices at 3-4 dollars per pound is an amazing buy!
It was a wonderful visit, one that I hope we will get to duplicate very soon! =)
Now I suppose I will scoot off since as I am writing this, my son has stripped himself naked and is running around the house! LOL Ta-Ta!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Mid-Way Point!! =D
So, we've made it to past the mid way point of our first legal school year! I just submitted our first term report to our Non-Approved Private School so that Olivia's information can be updated with the State of Maine.
And everyday Olivia progresses beautifully through her lessons. She completes them with excitement and school time has become a favorite part of my day. It is wonderful to see her grow and hear her read....it is a wonderful feeling, knowing that I taught her how to read; a skill that is one of the most important ones she will need to succeed though life.
I am happy to see her excitement when she learns about whatever it is we are studying...for example, in health this week we learned about the heart. I watched her eyes grow large as she realized the heart pumps from a few weeks after conception, till the day you die. Then, in social studies, we learned about how people survive living in the dessert. She learned about the Tuareg and Bedouin cultures that survive in the dessert, transporting goods on camels. Then, in Science we delved into the changing of the seasons and why they change. She learned the term "Land of the Midnight Sun," and was only too happy to explain it to Daddy when he got home from work.
It is wonderful to have the opportunity to home-school my children...If I didn't have this opportunity, I would have perhaps missed the signs of Maddox's intelligence and aptitude for learning, as he has an amazing memory and has already memorized many of the letters of the alphabet. He even watches Olivia's Hooked on Phonics videos as she does her phonics lessons.
Homeschooling has already brought much joy and independence to our family. I cannot imagine being a stay at home Mom and not doing homeschooling. It allows for a deeper connection with my children than most people have, and it allows me to learn right along with the kids. Olivia loves it when Mumma learns a new interesting fact; she always giggles when she finds that Mumma doesn't know everything!
So, we continue to enjoy our lessons, halfway done the school year already with lots of cool stuff still to learn. =)
And everyday Olivia progresses beautifully through her lessons. She completes them with excitement and school time has become a favorite part of my day. It is wonderful to see her grow and hear her read....it is a wonderful feeling, knowing that I taught her how to read; a skill that is one of the most important ones she will need to succeed though life.
I am happy to see her excitement when she learns about whatever it is we are studying...for example, in health this week we learned about the heart. I watched her eyes grow large as she realized the heart pumps from a few weeks after conception, till the day you die. Then, in social studies, we learned about how people survive living in the dessert. She learned about the Tuareg and Bedouin cultures that survive in the dessert, transporting goods on camels. Then, in Science we delved into the changing of the seasons and why they change. She learned the term "Land of the Midnight Sun," and was only too happy to explain it to Daddy when he got home from work.
It is wonderful to have the opportunity to home-school my children...If I didn't have this opportunity, I would have perhaps missed the signs of Maddox's intelligence and aptitude for learning, as he has an amazing memory and has already memorized many of the letters of the alphabet. He even watches Olivia's Hooked on Phonics videos as she does her phonics lessons.
Homeschooling has already brought much joy and independence to our family. I cannot imagine being a stay at home Mom and not doing homeschooling. It allows for a deeper connection with my children than most people have, and it allows me to learn right along with the kids. Olivia loves it when Mumma learns a new interesting fact; she always giggles when she finds that Mumma doesn't know everything!
So, we continue to enjoy our lessons, halfway done the school year already with lots of cool stuff still to learn. =)
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Volcano Project
In Science this week, Olivia has been studying about rocks, land formations, and volcanoes. In her text book, there was a fun make-your-own-volcano project and we figured we would give a whack at it! So, we gathered up the supplies and off we went down our volcano building adventure!
Supplies needed: 1 large tray, 6 tablespoons baking soda, 1/2 cup vinegar, funnel, food coloring, paint brush, paint, watered down glue, small soda bottle, newspaper, rocks & dirt. First we covered our tray with newspapers, then loaded the center with a pile of glue to help hold the bottle in place.
The soda bottle becomes the lava chamber, holding the baking soda until the vinegar is poured in and begins to "erupt".
Crumple up newspapers into balls (like Olivia is attempting to do quite forcefully =P) and pile them around the water bottle, adding more glue to the base to help keep them in place. The bottle and balled up newspaper acts as a base to put the full sheets of newspaper onto.
After the base is finished, take a full sheet of newspaper, rip a small hole out of the center, then drape it down over the mouth of the bottle to form a mountain. Use the paint brushes and watered down glue to moisten the paper all around until it stays in place and takes shape.
Next, rip off and glue smaller pieces of news paper to the cone, working around it and further up to cover the sides of the soda bottle.
To get the ball rolling, we added 6 tablespoons of baking soda, with the help of a funnel, into the water bottle which you can see so cleverly hidden inside our mountain.
When you are ready for the eruption, simply add 6 or 7 drops of red food coloring to 1/2 cup of vinegar, pour into soda bottle with funnel, remove funnel and stand back for your display!!
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Crumple up newspapers into balls (like Olivia is attempting to do quite forcefully =P) and pile them around the water bottle, adding more glue to the base to help keep them in place. The bottle and balled up newspaper acts as a base to put the full sheets of newspaper onto.
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After the base is finished, take a full sheet of newspaper, rip a small hole out of the center, then drape it down over the mouth of the bottle to form a mountain. Use the paint brushes and watered down glue to moisten the paper all around until it stays in place and takes shape.
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Now, after the volcano has been built, let it dry for a few hours before painting. We used brown, green & blue paints to create dirt, grass and water features on our volcano. Olivia really liked this part!
Adding colors...
And more colors...
Finally added streams, ponds, and lakes.
To finish it off, my wonderfully creative girl went outside and grabbed some rocks and sand from the sand box for some added detail!
And we were left with...can I get a drum rolls please?
TADA!!!
When you are ready for the eruption, simply add 6 or 7 drops of red food coloring to 1/2 cup of vinegar, pour into soda bottle with funnel, remove funnel and stand back for your display!!
The look on Olivia's face tells it all!
We even re-erupted our volcano several times and explained the chemical reactions to her whilst she was mystified!
So, to sum up the experience of building a volcano in science, I would say it was an A++! We had a great time, my daughter got to explore her creativity, and it was wonderful time spent as a family.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Portfolio Woes
This year has been full of fun learning so far, for both my daughter and myself. My daughter is learning things in school, I'm learning about the ins and outs of homeschooling and what works for us. However, among all this fun learning, I am running into problems that I must solve. In Maine, you have a few options when homeschooling.
A) You can compile a portfolio of your child's work throughout the year and have a certified Maine teacher review it and approve it. Then you send the teachers letter to the state and superintendent verifying your child is learning on track.
B) You can take your child to testing with other school children and test their progress.
C) You can form a Non-Approved Private School made up of two or more unrelated homeschooling teachers where the Private School sends in all the paperwork for the child and parents aren't required to send anything to the state or superintendent.
Well, until a few days ago, our chosen option was A because it is the most widely used and accepted. We had joined our local 4H club because it was geared specifically for home-schoolers. The club has a board which can review each child's portfolio if the parents wish. However, there is a $40 membership fee for the club, then each portfolio to review is between $30-50. I have been looking for other options because I would rather spend my money on school supplies or field trips. Plus, when we went to 4H this year, instead of the 20 kids there last year, there were over 50, in addition to parents and younger siblings running around. Normally this would be fine, but because my son is still young (2) and just wants to go go go, it is difficult to control him among-st such chaos!
So, the other day I went looking for another option. Last year, I reviewed a lot of information online due to the fact that my daughter would be entering into the legal age of reporting for the state, I wanted to be on top of the game. I found a Non-Approved Private school in our area, however the website was dated and no new information had been uploaded in quite some time, so I passed that one and never ended up finding what I was looking for. Unfortunately I cannot just waive my wand in Maine and "poof" a certified teacher or a Non-Approved Private School will appear just for me to use. I wish I could, but alas that is not an option. There is no way, that I have found, that a homeschooling family can come in contact with either option without paying lots of money to join some blasted group.
A few days ago, however, after skipping our 3rd 4H meeting due to the sheer stress, I went looking online again and wouldn't you know it that I fell back once more to that Non-Approved Private School that I had come across the year earlier. This time, there was updated information for the current 13-14 school year. I was so excited! It seemed too good to be true! So I scanned the info and sent the leader of the school an email requesting more info and inquiring whether or not we were too late to join for this year.
I was surprised to get an email right back just a few hours later. I was excited to find out that with a $35 dollar fee, the whole family is included, not per child. Then we do not have to report anything more to the state, the school handles it. The best part is when our children reach high school age, we can pay the school to compile transcripts for us and she can even get a diploma! I was pretty excited to hear this news and it immediately alleviated all my worries for this year!
As a family, we shall still collect all of our children's work, and maintain a portfolio for each year as a backup, but I am so excited that we can now just focus on the schoolwork and not the politics or the money it will cost us for the year.
Halle-fricken-lujah! =)
A) You can compile a portfolio of your child's work throughout the year and have a certified Maine teacher review it and approve it. Then you send the teachers letter to the state and superintendent verifying your child is learning on track.
B) You can take your child to testing with other school children and test their progress.
C) You can form a Non-Approved Private School made up of two or more unrelated homeschooling teachers where the Private School sends in all the paperwork for the child and parents aren't required to send anything to the state or superintendent.
Well, until a few days ago, our chosen option was A because it is the most widely used and accepted. We had joined our local 4H club because it was geared specifically for home-schoolers. The club has a board which can review each child's portfolio if the parents wish. However, there is a $40 membership fee for the club, then each portfolio to review is between $30-50. I have been looking for other options because I would rather spend my money on school supplies or field trips. Plus, when we went to 4H this year, instead of the 20 kids there last year, there were over 50, in addition to parents and younger siblings running around. Normally this would be fine, but because my son is still young (2) and just wants to go go go, it is difficult to control him among-st such chaos!
So, the other day I went looking for another option. Last year, I reviewed a lot of information online due to the fact that my daughter would be entering into the legal age of reporting for the state, I wanted to be on top of the game. I found a Non-Approved Private school in our area, however the website was dated and no new information had been uploaded in quite some time, so I passed that one and never ended up finding what I was looking for. Unfortunately I cannot just waive my wand in Maine and "poof" a certified teacher or a Non-Approved Private School will appear just for me to use. I wish I could, but alas that is not an option. There is no way, that I have found, that a homeschooling family can come in contact with either option without paying lots of money to join some blasted group.
A few days ago, however, after skipping our 3rd 4H meeting due to the sheer stress, I went looking online again and wouldn't you know it that I fell back once more to that Non-Approved Private School that I had come across the year earlier. This time, there was updated information for the current 13-14 school year. I was so excited! It seemed too good to be true! So I scanned the info and sent the leader of the school an email requesting more info and inquiring whether or not we were too late to join for this year.
I was surprised to get an email right back just a few hours later. I was excited to find out that with a $35 dollar fee, the whole family is included, not per child. Then we do not have to report anything more to the state, the school handles it. The best part is when our children reach high school age, we can pay the school to compile transcripts for us and she can even get a diploma! I was pretty excited to hear this news and it immediately alleviated all my worries for this year!
As a family, we shall still collect all of our children's work, and maintain a portfolio for each year as a backup, but I am so excited that we can now just focus on the schoolwork and not the politics or the money it will cost us for the year.
Halle-fricken-lujah! =)
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Stick Craftiness!
One day, while at my friends house, I noticed she had a really neat star hanging on her wall that was made with sticks and bound with twine. I asked her where she got it and it turns out that it was a decoration that was left behind by the previous owners when she bought the house. So, I decided to look online for how to do it. I was disappointed however because I couldn't find any step by step instructions on how to do it.
So, Olivia and I decided to just wing it and try to produce something on our own. After Olivia collected a huge pile of wonderful sticks from outside, our tree seemed happy to shed some for the occasion, and we began the project.
First, we bound the different legs of the stars, then bound them together at each end piece. After looking at our results, we were very satisfied. However, Olivia wasn't quite satisfied yet, so after a few more minutes, we produced another small star made from one stick for each leg.
Here are our results:
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The big one turned out kind of fatter than I'd liked, but they are both pretty good for our first try! I would say that on the difficulty level, it was pretty easy, however it was not the most fun project to complete. Parts were a bit frustrating, but that comes with the territory when you have no idea what you are doing!! =)
So, Olivia and I decided to just wing it and try to produce something on our own. After Olivia collected a huge pile of wonderful sticks from outside, our tree seemed happy to shed some for the occasion, and we began the project.
First, we bound the different legs of the stars, then bound them together at each end piece. After looking at our results, we were very satisfied. However, Olivia wasn't quite satisfied yet, so after a few more minutes, we produced another small star made from one stick for each leg.
Here are our results:
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The big one turned out kind of fatter than I'd liked, but they are both pretty good for our first try! I would say that on the difficulty level, it was pretty easy, however it was not the most fun project to complete. Parts were a bit frustrating, but that comes with the territory when you have no idea what you are doing!! =)
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Changes, changes, changes!
So, I suppose one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling is that we are not limited to one curriculum. It is good because about 2 weeks into this school year, I decided that the Easy Peasy Homeschool program was a bit off from what I wanted for Olivia. The concepts are too advanced in several areas, and Olivia was having a difficult time getting into some of the material. She especially had difficulty with the reading which was severely dated, using words such as "nag" for horse and "lad" & "lass" for girl and boy. People just don't use words like that anymore, and it is unrealistic to think that learning those old words will help her in the future in any way.
So, we've ditched that curriculum and I am currently making up a new one as I go. It is composed of learning videos online, games, lots of worksheets & coloring pages, and some online learning as well. She seems to be responding well and she has definitely enjoyed switching back to Hooked On Phonics for her reading instead of the memorization reading we were doing before. So, we have figured out what works best for us so far, and I have found some areas to work on with her. For instance, her writing of numbers and letters is a bit behind I think. I am unsure if it is due to the fact that she is left handed or if she just has not practiced writing enough. I know a lot of left-handed people who write poorly, but I don't want to assume that that is why she is having difficult. She also has a hard time differentiating between her "Bs" and "Ds" which gives her trouble with reading. Most everything else she does pretty well in. There is an occasional number switch as well "01" instead of "10, or "41" instead of "14". I wonder if she has a slight case of dyslexia....maybe something to keep an eye on for the future. =)
So right now, her curriculum is as follows:
Reading - Hooked on Phonics, finishing up Kindergarten level 2, then moving on to First Grade level 1.
Grammar - Pearson Grammar & Writing Grade 1
Handwriting - Evan-Moor Daily Handwriting Practice
Spelling - Evan-Moor Building Spelling Skills Grade 1
Math - MathMammoth Light Blue Series Grade 1A
Social Studies - Weekly Units, including printables, online learning, and activities
Science - Weekly Units, including printables, online learning, and activities
Phys Ed - Playing with her friends, Softball, dancing activities
Fine Arts - Basic coloring, using new mediums, friendship bracelets, cooking, crafts
So, I think we've gotten a well rounded curriculum going for ourselves! I found a site in a community online with usernames and passwords to a bunch of online resources like printable worksheets, learning videos, and much more. We are covered with Hooked on Phonics until the end of grade 2, so after that she will begin independent reading with book reports.
Not a bad conclusion to our never-ending search for the perfect curriculum....MY conclusion is that there is no such thing as a perfect curriculum!!!
So, we've ditched that curriculum and I am currently making up a new one as I go. It is composed of learning videos online, games, lots of worksheets & coloring pages, and some online learning as well. She seems to be responding well and she has definitely enjoyed switching back to Hooked On Phonics for her reading instead of the memorization reading we were doing before. So, we have figured out what works best for us so far, and I have found some areas to work on with her. For instance, her writing of numbers and letters is a bit behind I think. I am unsure if it is due to the fact that she is left handed or if she just has not practiced writing enough. I know a lot of left-handed people who write poorly, but I don't want to assume that that is why she is having difficult. She also has a hard time differentiating between her "Bs" and "Ds" which gives her trouble with reading. Most everything else she does pretty well in. There is an occasional number switch as well "01" instead of "10, or "41" instead of "14". I wonder if she has a slight case of dyslexia....maybe something to keep an eye on for the future. =)
So right now, her curriculum is as follows:
Reading - Hooked on Phonics, finishing up Kindergarten level 2, then moving on to First Grade level 1.
Grammar - Pearson Grammar & Writing Grade 1
Handwriting - Evan-Moor Daily Handwriting Practice
Spelling - Evan-Moor Building Spelling Skills Grade 1
Math - MathMammoth Light Blue Series Grade 1A
Social Studies - Weekly Units, including printables, online learning, and activities
Science - Weekly Units, including printables, online learning, and activities
Phys Ed - Playing with her friends, Softball, dancing activities
Fine Arts - Basic coloring, using new mediums, friendship bracelets, cooking, crafts
So, I think we've gotten a well rounded curriculum going for ourselves! I found a site in a community online with usernames and passwords to a bunch of online resources like printable worksheets, learning videos, and much more. We are covered with Hooked on Phonics until the end of grade 2, so after that she will begin independent reading with book reports.
Not a bad conclusion to our never-ending search for the perfect curriculum....MY conclusion is that there is no such thing as a perfect curriculum!!!
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