Badenell Homeschool Adventures

Time to get moving - Here!

2010-11-15T20:34:00.003-05:00

Still Homeschooling, we still LOVE homeschooling, and I haven't bothered to put virtual ink to virtual paper here in a surprisingly long time! Just wanted to drop a line to let anyone who's watching know that we're still around!

I'll just blame it all on the new "job". I took on the position of colorguard director for our homeschool marching band this year. I really enjoy working with the kids, but WOW does it take over all my free time. Not that I haven't had time to blog, more that I've been lacking the motivation to keep up with it with so much else going on.

We are schooling 8th and 3rd grades, and I can hardly believe it, but we've recently had the first round of discussions with the elder to set up her high school schedule. Where did the time go?

More later, I expect sooner than six months from now but who really knows? GGG

Confessions of a book-aholic

2009-10-20T16:00:00.002-04:00

Took Ashton to her music lesson today, and since there's a homeschool bookstore just around the corner, Laurel and I stopped in to look at a logic book I'm interested in. It's for me, actually, but I think Ashton would enjoy it too - it's called "Art of Argument". Anyway, they didn't have it at that location (in stock at the Alpharetta store, though, so it looks like we're making the trek tomorrow!), and I found myself looking at grammar and spelling books for Laurel. Wait.... Don't I already have a spelling program for her (yep) and do any of the grammar series books start earlier than third grade (nope). So what am I doing looking at books?!? Seems I just can't stop myself! There's just something about shiny new curriculum that I can't resist - I hear it's a common ailment for homeschoolers...

What I did purchase today was a little book about Leonardo da Vinci, so that Laurel can learn about him before we go to the special daVinci exhibit at the High Museum. Because I just hate to leave a bookstore (ANY bookstore) empty handed!

COLD, but clear - Happy Monday!

2009-10-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

So the temperatures dropped dramatically at the end of last week, which made this a really challenging weekend. Friday was music, as usual, followed by a longer than normal marching band practice to prepare for the Sprayberry Band Festival on Saturday. It was SO cold out at practice, and Ashton took my gloves (reasonable, since she was the one holding the metal stick). by the time the pizzas arrived for the band kids, I couldn't feel my hands to serve the food!

Saturday morning we arrived at the festival and were only slightly better prepared than the night before - this time, I got to keep my gloves, BUT I ended up having to stay on the field for the show holding onto the prop (so it didn't fly away like a big sail), hadn't put my gloves back on after we put the props together, and couldn't let go to do it. So I ended up without my gloves *again*! I nearly ended up without a shoe, too - the field was extremely muddy, and when I took a step my shoe stayed glued in the mud... I managed to pull it back out, but they're so dirty now I think I might have to trash that pair of shoes!

Saturday night was the second home football game, and THIS time we had gloves, blankets, hats, and scarves - Ashton was pleased that she had enough stuff to keep eight people warm in the stands!

Today is still cold, but not as cold as last weekend and much clearer - looks like a good week coming! We sincerely hope it stays dry this week, it was raining last Thursday so soccer got cancelled again - The girls are missing that activity!

On the school side, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that using my less rigid schedule last week, we got more done than we ever have before in a week. So I'm going to continue to remind myself that we don't have anyone's schedule to follow but our own, and we'll keep on this way until we need to change to something else. It's great to be able to shift and change direction as we need to!

This week, we are beginning a new method of completing math lessons. We're working through the full first grade math curriculum to make sure there aren't any holes in what Laurel learned in school last year (and have found a few, already). BUT, she's past operational math and into things like shapes and patterns, which I expect she mostly knows. So what we're going to do for the rest of first grade math, is to use the chapter tests as pre-tests. When you take the chapter test, all the lessons that the questions are answered correctly for are marked "mastered" - Laurel will only need to do the lessons that didn't get marked. I'm hoping this will get us quickly through the rest of the first grade math lessons, so we can have more time to work on second grade math. It's working well so far - she had two lessons (out of ten) to do in one chapter, and passed the next completely. My original plan (I know, I know) had us finishing the first grade lessons at the end of the first semester, and doing second grade math in the second semester. So we'll see how much time this saves!

Have a great week!

Great Expectations

2009-10-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Columbus Day - Welcome back to the Monday morning blog post. Today I'm feeling a little overwhelmed - it's hard to get past how things are done in traditional school, and harder still for me to let them go. Last week was difficult for us, because I felt Laurel was "falling behind" and "not keeping up with the schedule"... But really, who is the schedule for? The point of learning at home is that we can go at an individual child's pace, and not be stuck waiting for the rest of the class, or racing to catch up.

I'm still a planner and want to make and keep to a schedule of lessons. But that's not what's best for Laurel, so I'm working hard to learn to let go and let her slow down (or speed up!) if she needs to - I'm just as guilty of stopping her from working ahead or in different areas, as I am of rushing her to keep the schedule.

So this week we are going to try a new "schedule" - I've made a list of the subject topics we're working on, and broken them into daily chunks, but we're just going to go as she feels she can, and see where we get at the end of the week. We'll see how it goes!

It's good to be home!

2009-10-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

So here we are, back to school on Monday morning. Last week was a LOT of fun taking a class with my mom, but I'm glad to be home!

The big news around here is that Laurel is EIGHT now! Yesterday was her birthday, and we had a party at PLAY Activity Center for her. It was a big group of kids but the PLAY party helpers were awesome - they really kept everyone moving, safe, and having fun. It was probably the easiest party I've ever done... Show up at the specified time with a cake and drinks, they did everything else (room decorations, serving pieces, plates & cups, fire for candles, etc.). They even served the food!

Looking forward to a great week - this Wednesday is the second hockey game for Ashton's team (they won their first last Friday), so stay tuned!

Greetings from William Holland!

2009-09-27T20:00:00.001-04:00

This week, I am away from home - I'm at William Holland Lapidary School in North Georgia, taking a wire wrap class with my mom! The girls are home and spending the week with their grandparents (the other ones, obviously my mother isn't in two places at once). I'll be checking in regularly, and school will go on somewhat as usual - There's a lot we do every week, but there's also plenty of free time to simply enjoy having their grandparents around!

I won't have much to post until next weekend, but it'll be a biggie - Laurel's birthday is next Sunday! Check back then!

The Greatest Show on Earth!

2009-09-26T17:00:00.002-04:00

Ashton's marching band played, for the first time, their full show yesterday for halftime at the football game! Their theme this season is "Circus". This video isn't the best, but if you want to see their show you can watch it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxxxg_e8YeA

The flags and big top props are what's taken a large part of my time over the last several weeks - the "tents" are about twelve feet high and eight feet wide, and the flags that match them (the flame colored ones) are what I've been making for the band!

Enjoy the show!

The apple doesn't fall far

2009-09-24T08:30:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, while Laurel was at drama class, Ashton and I went to our favorite "toy store" - Dick Blick Art Supplies. It's about five minutes from our house, and I had no idea that was special until my Mother was here visiting from Charleston and was thrilled to see an actual store. After that I looked it up, and apparently the only Dick Blick retail store in Georgia is this one just down the street!

So anyway, we're now at Dick Blick, but I had called my mother on the way to drop off Laurel, because Laurel's class is very close to another store my mother frequents online, Flame Tree Glass (which sells lampworking supplies). I left a message asking mom if she needed me to pick up anything at Flame Tree, since I'm going to see her on Sunday for a class we're taking together next week. Ashton and I were standing in the checkout line at Dick Blick when she called me back.

Turns out she didn't need anything at Flame Tree, but could I go to Dick Blick for her? Um, yup, in the store right now. She asks for a specific brand and size of blank journal, in blue if they had one - Um, like this blue one here in that size that I just purchased for myself? Sure, I can get another one. Since I'm standing in front of the book display and they have several of every available color, she wants a green one, too...

Sometimes it's nice to see that my artistic tendencies, and my children's, are just the continuation of a longer line. And it's true the apples don't fall far from the tree! Now if I could just convince Mom to try to sew... I guess I'll have to be satisfied with teaching my children!

Swimming around town... Well, not really here!

2009-09-23T15:30:00.001-04:00

Hello all - it's Wednesday, and the local public schools are enjoying their second "weather day" today. There are snow days built into their school calendar, but I can't remember them ever having to use them for flooding!

We, however, are not taking the time off - that's the joy of homeschooling, we don't have to follow someone else's schedule! Unless someone is sick we can go on with our lessons regardless of the weather. Unless we lose internet access - THAT would be a major problem since both kids are in online schools!

Yesterday I wanted to throttle my youngest child - I've seen the blank, "I have no idea what you're talking about and I have no intention of trying to figure it out" look before, but I'm frustrated that she gave me that look while we're covering what SHOULD have been review from first grade math. I'm starting to see the full extent of what she didn't retain or wasn't taught in school...

Everything ended well, though - Jon went through the lesson with her when he got home, and now she claims she LOVES math and Dad is just the best. I'm pleased that he found a way to explain that works for her, but grrrr!

Today is drama day - not metaphorically, Laurel actually has her drama class this afternoon. I called to check, and they ARE open for business (sometimes after school programs close when the public schools do), so we're off to take Laurel to drama!

More later - the first full marching band performance is this Friday, and Jon's parents arrive Sunday to stay with the girls while I'm at a class with MY mother next week. Lots to look forward to!

Well gee, I thought LAST week was wet!

2009-09-21T21:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday! Today we discovered an interesting thing about being homeschoolers - Cobb county suffered massive flooding, middle schools got sent home three hours early, and we were *totally* oblivious to the scope of the destruction until Jon got home from work and told us! Tonight we all sat down together to watch the Weather Channel!

The girls and I left home earlier in the day to go see the new movie, "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs". We got as far as the Boston Market on Sandy Plains, about two miles away, where we intended to have lunch. By the time we got into their parking lot it was raining SO hard, we decided to come back home, make egg salad or Spaghetti-os, and see the movie later in the afternoon if the rain let up some. We ended up at the 3pm showing at Merchant's Walk, about five miles away, and while the roads were wet and puddling in the low areas, it didn't seem any worse than a normal Atlanta rainstorm.

Fast forward to 6pm, Jon comes in and after we tell him about our day, he tells us that the Boston Market parking lot (along with the majority of Sandy Plains road in front of it) is currently underwater, and there is a manhole over a storm drain there that's blowing water UP into the roadway! Wow, I guess we got lucky getting out without incident, earlier... As an example of what we missed today, the soccer fields where the kids play on Thursdays is currently COMPLETELY underwater. Jon showed me a YouTube video someone posted, and you can barely see the top bars of the soccer goals... I'm thinking there's no soccer this Thursday!

We've discovered another thing about homeschooling today, too - tomorrow, the local public schools are out due to school flooding and roadway blockages throughout the county. But WE don't have to take the day off - so my girls have school tomorrow as usual. Every day we finish now, is another day we don't have to do into summer!

Hope your weather today is better than ours, and if not, we hope you're safe!

Long, wet week!

2009-09-18T09:25:00.002-04:00

This week has been a relatively quiet one - Ashton was sick Monday and Tuesday, so no Flute lesson. Laurel's drama class Wednesday was during a torrential downpour (I mean that literally - my feet were completely submerged in the waterfall that is usually the stairs to their door) so we WISH we hadn't had that lesson. Swimming lessons yesterday, but it's getting cold and icky outside and they are still using the outdoor pool at the club. Pep band last night was cancelled AND it was pouring rain outside all night, enough to interrupt reception of the Georgia Tech game on our satellite (not that we were to sorry to miss seeing ALL of that loss). Today, while I think the kids might be able to get marching band practice this afternoon (though it still looks like it's going to rain at any minute), I don't really want to drag the fabric part of the props I've made for the band show to the practice. I have to take the frames, though, since we still need to drill and add bungees to the second one. They are PVC frames that hold fabric "big tops", and we discovered if they aren't tied together somehow, they come apart when you move them - not good when you have to pick it up and carry it on and off the field. We bungeed (is that a word?) the first one a few weeks ago, but I hadn't made the second until we were sure the first one was right - it's quicker to duplicate a correct one, than to change two that are incorrect! but as a result, we still need to tie together the second one, and another band mom has the parts to do it so I can't just leave the whole darn thing here today.

Despite all the wet, this is looking like a fun weekend - Laurel and I have the Brownie troop "Mother Daughter Tea" tomorrow at Tea Leaves and Thyme, a local tea shop. There are 21 of us scheduled to go, so it should be a fun morning!

This weekend is also the Roswell Arts Festival AND JapanFest - since Ashton loves all things Japanese (and is trying to learn the language) I think the festival will be a good educational experience for her. And although I love the Roswell art show, it's outdoors and I can't say whether I'll go if the weather doesn't clear up!

The last thing coming this weekend is Ashton's first hockey practice of the season on Sunday night - Yay! She's on Bantams team 4 of the Cooler house league, but we won't know until Sunday at the soonest what their team color will be. We're looking forward to the season, though, no matter what color they are!

Have a good weekend, hope yours is fun too!

Pajama Day

2009-09-14T10:00:00.002-04:00

So the crazy weekend is over, and we're settling into the "non-insanely busy" portion of our month (yeah, right! Like anyone ever has one of those!). We declared today a Pajama Day - lessons in our PJs, nobody has anywhere they need to be today and we're going to stay in and vegetate.

Good thing, too, because Ashton picked up a bug (probably from one of the other band kids who wasn't feeling well Friday/Saturday), and is feeling too icky to get out and about anyway.

I joke that if she misses five days of school, I'm going to have to send myself a nasty note. Explanation, for those who are unfamiliar with Georgia public schools - after five days absence, you get sent a strongly worded note. After ten, you get the letter stating you'll get referred to a social worker if attendance doesn't improve. We've gotten both of these letters, during the year Ashton got a nasty sinus infection and couldn't get treated for ten days. No, it wasn't that I didn't take her to the doctor, it was because the doctor said they couldn't prescribe antibiotics until the child had been sick for ten days... So poor Ashton suffered sinus pain and headaches for more than a week, and she missed a full ten days of school. I don't miss their system, but it's fun to joke about when you're feeling bad!

We hope it's just a standard ick, rather than swine flu - we'll wait to see if it gets worse, before we go have her checked! Think non-swiney thoughts for her! I just heard today that you can actually catch both swine flu AND regular flu at the same time - wow, it's interesting to know just how much worse it could be!

Outside looking in!

2009-09-12T16:25:00.001-04:00

Today was the East Cobber Parade in Marietta - Laurel and I marched with Davis Elementary School the last two years, and Jon drove the Principal/Teacher of the Year in his convertible. Ashton was not with us either year, first because she was at a girl scout event, and then she was at a sleepover. So this year, when SHE was the one marching in the parade, is the first time she's attended!

Laurel was a little sad about not getting to be in the parade this time, but we sold her on the idea of getting to pick up the candy rather than being the one throwing it. We had the Ackermans sitting with us, and Laurel, Athena and Noah had a great time playing in the street and gathering up candy, after which Laurel and Athena engaged in a high level trading session - Athena can't eat chocolate, so Laurel was swapping things Athena could have (balanced by what Laurel didn't want to give up!). It was interesting to watch the negotiation...

Laurel went to the Ackermans' to play with Athena for the afternoon, and we came home to take a NAP - it's been a long week!

Ashton's first football game tonight!

2009-09-11T22:00:00.002-04:00

Today was busy - we had our first day of band/chorus at Joyful Noise today, and tonight was Ashton's first marching band performance! It was homecoming tonight for Fellowship Christian High School (the school our homeschool band marches for), so the band only had time for one song during halftime, and because we have a parade tomorrow morning we were dismissed after halftime. So it was a good "get your feet wet" performance, before they have to do the whole show. There are only two other home games, though the band also marches in two festivals this fall and a christmas parade, so they have five more "performances". The remaining home football games are going to be Friday, September 25th, and Saturday, October 17th. If you're local, and want to come watch them march, let me know and I'll get you the info!

And if I do say so myself, the flags I made for the colorguard look REALLY great... I'm so pleased with the way they turned out! I had unkind thoughts about them while I was sewing them (mostly because I didn't have heavy clear thread, so I topstitched with embroidery thread that had to be changed every time the fabric color changed... LOTS of thread changing!), but now that they're done I'm already planning the next set in my head!

More tomorrow after the parade - I mentioned before it's a crazy weekend!

It's Yellow Daisy Time!

2009-09-10T20:00:00.001-04:00

So it's time again for the annual Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Park - one of the largest craft shows in the country (really!), I attend every year and have been looking forward to taking my kids with me for the first time this year. Not only do I not have to take them "out of school" to go, we're counting this particular field trip as an Art Appreciation lesson! The show runs four days, but we could only go today, because this is one crazy weekend for us... Lots to do!

Laurel was disinterested, at first, but she warmed up to the idea once we got there - Ashton, being artsy herself, has been looking forward to seeing the show. I only regret that we didn't have more time - Ashton had marching band practice at 5:30 today, because they have their first football game tomorrow night, so we had to leave the show at 4pm to make it back in time (which we almost were, but not quite!). We didn't buy that much - food, mostly - but we had a really fun day!

I had two vendors ask about the necklace I was wearing (I don't usually wear my own art to shows, but I didn't think about it this time) - I think, since we would be able to work shows during the week now, I might have to get serious about applying for shows for next year. So possibly spring, we'll be at shows as vendors!

Off to bed - first day of music classes tomorrow!

Never Say Never!

2009-09-08T15:00:00.000-04:00

So I waited a few days before I posted to see if it was going to "stick", and we seem to be doing well with our new curriculum. Yeah, I know, shocking - we're changing curriculum again! But this time I think we're done. Finally, a plan Laurel enjoys so much that she does it on her own! We've switched her to Time4Learning, an online system that uses CompassLearning Odyssey as the lesson engine. Which doesn't really mean anything to most of you, except to say that Laurel is OVER her aversion to online school!

I struggled half the darn summer to find curriculum that would work for her, because she was adamant that she did NOT want to do school online (like Ashton was going to). I knew about Time4Learning even then, and had recommended it to a friend whose kids LOVED it, but I didn't consider it for Laurel because she didn't want to do schoolwork on the computer. So after a couple of weeks of rolled eyes and groans when the books came out, I thought it was worth at least TRYING Time4Learning to see if Laurel liked the interactive lessons better than she liked having me sit with her to do all her work (and I'll admit, I was hoping she'd be able to do more on her own, with me supervising rather than sitting next to her for the whole schoolday).

So we tried it out, and my visual/kinsethetic learner LOVES interactive lessons! I've gotten lots of hugs and "thanks mom, I love my online school"... Oh good, a complete system that covers all the GA standards, has testing, tracks lesson progress down to the minutes spent on each activity, AND she loves to do it - a total home run for us! Now, I just have to schedule out which lessons she needs to do each week, and she logs in every day without complaint and gets the work done! I still sit with her for some things, answer questions when she has them, and I'm able to print the week's log sheet to record what lessons she's completed.

The time I spent hunting down curriculum for her wasn't wasted, though. She really likes science, so I expect us to be able to finish the T4L science series ahead of their grade schedule, and then we'll move into the Classic Science books (they're actually more appropriate for upper elementary/lower middle grades). We're using the math curriculum as worksheets to reinforce things if she doesn't do well on the quiz the first time through the T4L lesson. And the Social Studies section is VERY minimal in the second grade year on T4L, so she still does the books for that in addition to the T4L Lessons. There's also no formal history on T4L, but she's not particularly interested in it, so I'm just doing audiobook history lessons this year for Ancient History. Add art, music, and physical education, and you have a complete curriculum!

It's easier to have pleasant mornings when Laurel ENJOYS getting started on her schoolday!

Where's Ashton?

2009-09-02T08:30:00.003-04:00

At this point you might be wondering why I rarely mention Ashton and her academics - it's not that she's not doing any! Part of the reason why homeschool is working so well for her, is that Ashton is self-motivated. She goes off and gets her work done, without me needing to tell her to go do it! I'm fortunate that she's always been like that - she came home from public school every day and did her homework immediately, I never had to threaten or bribe or do any of the other things I hear other moms say they have to do. Rather than hate me for it, know that I consider it karmic justice for all the trouble she was when she was little!

We (Ashton and I) were having a discussion just before the beginning of our school year - she had been to visit a friend whose mother is a public school teacher, and said friend is NOT in favor of homeschooling. What the friend said to Ashton was basically this:

"Everybody comes back from homeschooling SO behind, and it's hard for them to make up the work."

The implication that she was bound to fail upset Ashton, some, and we talked about it. After thinking about it a while, we think we understand what her friend was trying to say, and in a way, what she *meant* is true. Here's what I think that is - IF you go back to public school after homeschooling, it's because something ISN'T working with homeschooling. My best guess for what that would be, is that the parent had unreasonable expectations of what homeschooling would do for their child. If the child didn't do their homework when they were in a traditional school, it's not reasonable to expect that a mere change of scenery will alter their habits and personality - they're STILL not going to do their schoolwork, and so they *would* likely be behind if they returned to public school.

What neither Ashton's friend nor her public-school-teacher mom sees, are the many kids for whom homeschooling is working well. Because THOSE KIDS DON'T GO BACK. We see those kids (though more of Ashton's homeschooling friends are "never schooled" than former public schoolers like her) in our homeschool groups and classes, and at the park and the ice rink, and they are keeping up academically just fine, thank you.

So never fear, Ashton is doing great "in school" this year - she's doing Pre-Algebra, Advanced Life Science, and World History online with K12, and using a textbook for English and creative writing. She's also learning animation and cartooning, drawing LOTS of manga, and making stop motion video for fun. And she's studying Japanese, but not often... Maybe I should get on her to work more on that! *GGG*

To Write, or Not to Write (Cursive, that is)

2009-09-01T08:30:00.002-04:00

Tuesday here, week three, and I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that another of my curriculum choices has already gone under - this time, we're getting rid of Laurel's traditional cursive textbooks.

Laurel had two issues that made me start with cursive for 2nd grade, instead of waiting until the "traditional" third grade year like public schools do (actually, I'm told they teach it only briefly, and not until FOURTH grade, in our public school now). The first was letter reversals, which as I've said seem to have been caused by sight word reading instruction - she's just about corrected all of those already. But the reason we chose cursive is that letters that are commonly reversed (B and D, for example) are formed completely differently in cursive, so cursive can help stop the child from reversing. The other reason is that she's been interested in learning, and taught herself to write her name in cursive LAST year, so I thought she'd enjoy it.

The problem we have is that, partly (I think) because Laurel is left handed, and probably partly because no one ever sat down to *show* her the correct way letters get written (which I've read is common if the teacher is right handed and the student is left handed), she forms most of her print letters in reverse. By that I mean that the letter points the correct direction, but she writes it from the end back to the start. Think about the ending point of a lower case "N". Now imagine watching someone skip a space after their current letter, begin at the ending point of the n, and work backwards filling the space between the previous letter and the one they're writing. It's strange to watch, and I definitely understand why she has trouble remembering which way they're supposed to go!

So, since cursive isn't going to fix THAT problem, and I think it needs to be dealt with before cursive could even be useful to her, I'm going to go with a homeschooling forum suggestion I read and switch to italics. The advantage of italics is that it's pretty (so it's fun to write!) and can be combined (without learning a different set of shapes) into cursive italics that allow fluent writing with both speed and legibility.

The program I've chosen for Laurel is "Italics - Beautiful Handwriting for Children" by Penny Gardner. It's a nice book, not expensive, with simple lessons that make sense, and the copywork is secular - a multi-win! I ordered and received the eBook yesterday, so today we can get started!

I got a different book for Ashton, for the same reason (sloppy handwriting - product of the keyboard generation!) called "Fix It... Write" by Nan Barchowsky. It's meant to help older kids and adults self-improve their handwriting. Ashton draws too well not to have nice handwriting...

I read an article that said that parents teaching a child to write should do the lessons along with them, but using their non-dominant hand. It's supposed to make you remember how difficult learning to write really is. But if I did that, what on earth would I *do* with the ability to write with my right hand?!? *GGG*

Rainy Days and Mondays

2009-08-31T13:00:00.002-04:00

Today is Monday. It's been raining all night, it's dismal and gray and raining now. I'm still working on the laundry from this weekend, and we're all moving a little slow.

Sometimes, I think, the weather can reflect my mental state. It's foggy outside, it's foggy inside! But now, unlike in the past, I can't just go back to bed and wait for it to pass. I have a child whom I am educating, and education doesn't take the day off for icky weather blahs.

Which leads me to my next thought... How much education does my child get when I'm not pushing it at her? A lot, actually. I have read about, and even appreciate, the "unschooler" theory that a child can't *not* learn, but I'm still too indoctrinated in the "teacher led school" view of education (I need a little deprogramming myself, I think) to feel secure in letting the child ditch her books and hit the legos for the day.

So what to do, when it's too wet to go outside and we just don't want to "do school" today? Our answer was math (yes, we never skip math), then we did all the Social Studies for this week (since she loves that subject), we read some of her Language Arts novel (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and called it a day. I suppose she's still learning when she's got her nose in her DS, but I feel better for having done the books, anyway...

A Crisis of Historic Proportions

2009-08-28T02:00:00.000-04:00

So it's only our second week, and already I'm having a curriculum crisis! History is our problem - I chose a book that gets really good reviews, but Laurel hates it, I hate it, and it's *way* too time consuming, since the supplementary text we're using (to make our lessons secular) is an encyclopedia above her current reading level, and I have to read everything to her. Actually, had I checked this book out of the library and READ it before I chose it, I think I would have saved myself some time and effort - the tone of the writing bugs me, and the lack of distinction between author bias and actual fact is disturbing.

I will mention that I'm seriously surprised, as a new homeschooler, at how HARD it is to find good, non-religious texts for homeschooling. I believe in religion, I expect to teach my children religion, but I only want religion in its appropriate historical contexts in history books, and not in a scientific text at all. I understand that a lot of people homeschool for religious reasons, it just surprises me how limited my non-religious history and science options are. However, I have found some REAL winners, and I'll post about the curriculum we're using soon!

Anyway, back to our history crisis. After a VERY late night of searching, I have found a book that I like, which I was also able to get as an audiobook so it can read ITSELF to her (though it will be more like "short attention span theater" because the ancient history part of the book works out to, like, five minutes per audio lesson) - E. H. Gombrich's "A Little History of the World". I'm also considering History At Our House, but that one has a steep time commitment and a steep price tag to match, so I hope we will do okay with the Gombrich book and supplemental library books. Laurel is indifferent enough about history that I don't think I'm going to convince her that doing a half hour four days a week (History At our House says that is the schedule for their elementary Ancient History class) is a good thing...

Go with the Flow...

2009-08-24T21:00:00.000-04:00

So today is Monday. We got up this morning and had our oatmeal, and I ask Laurel what she wants to do first.

"Well, I'd really like to go the the Aquarium, but I guess I have to do something else..."

Flash back to MY childhood. I'm staying with my grandparents, and bored as only a 12 year old girl can be. My grandfather comes downstairs and asks me what I want to do that day. I said (not thinking it was at all likely) that it would be GREAT to go to Six Flags. My grandfather said "Okay, then get dressed, and let's go." And we did. He took me to the amusement park, and rode all the roller coasters with me. Best... Day... EVER. It was just a "gee, that would be nice" thought, and he made it happen.

So back to Laurel - she says it would be nice to go to the Aquarium. My FIRST first thought was "but we're not studying ocean animals yet!" Fortunately, that thought was immediately drowned out by the memory of my day with my grandfather, and after that by the second thought - "Who cares what we're studying now, we'll still be learning something - and it'll be fun!"

So today we put off most of what we had on our daily schedule (Laurel had to do her math before we left - I'm all for blowing off the day, but certain things have to get done!), and went to the Aquarium and saw the Titanic exhibit. We were given boarding passes with the name of an actual passenger when we went in, and at the end of the exhibit you check the passenger list on the wall to find out what happened to the person on your pass (ours all lived). I was amazed to see how much the actors in the James Cameron film looked like the actual people they were portraying - so we had to come home and watch the movie *ggg*

Since the World of CocaCola is directly across the lawn from the Aquarium, we went there today too - Ashton, shockingly, didn't *hate* the Beverly soda (a bitter drink from Italy with the worst aftertaste I've ever experienced). We all enjoyed the exhibits, drank lots of different sodas, and Ashton got a T-Shirt with the coke logo on it in Japanese (and a tiny coke bottle to use for her stop motion videos, but it broke on the way home).

Everyone needs to have a day to drop everything and go with the flow now and then...

First week is over - whew!

2009-08-21T21:00:00.000-04:00

So today was Marching Band practice for Ashton (4-8pm, and it's still *hot*!), and the last day of our first official school week!

I have to say that I'm enjoying this more than I thought I could - the girls get along better together than I would have expected, and even though we're still learning how much is too much for one day, in one short week we are actually making academic progress!

Today was also, for Laurel and I, our first day of Phonics lessons. Laurel had a meltdown during the first lesson, so we had to stop and do something else for a little while. Learning how to do something you *thought* you already knew is HARD, but she'll get it - and at the end of the second lesson (we had two sections to complete today) the light bulb was on, and she was SO happy to finally understand!

The program we're doing uses "nonsense" words to verify understanding of the phonics rules -This is invaluable for me to break the bad habits of sight words. There's no way for her to guess, she has to sound out the letters and follow the rules!

And my plug today, for those interested in research and information about phonics instruction - check out Don Potter's website. We found the phonics program we're using there, and it's free! I hesitate to mention which, because it's overtly Christian and we're overtly NOT, so I'm skipping the religious parts and I don't want to offend the person who came up with it because we "secularized" their program. There are lots of great phonics programs available on Don's site - have a look!

A Field Trip kind of day...

2009-08-18T21:00:00.000-04:00

So Laurel wants this to be the "year of the field trip" - She's seriously looking forward to getting out and going fun places for school!

Today we went to the Tellus Museum in Cartersville GA. I can call it both science (we saw the planetarium show, and right now we're studying the solar system) AND history (we dug fossils! We're covering "pre-history" in history). I don't know how I can come up with relevant trips *every* week, but we've gotten a good start!

The Adventure Begins!

2009-08-17T18:00:00.000-04:00

As most of you already know, this year the Badenell girls have left the Public School system and will be educated at home. I sometimes wonder if I've lost my mind to take on this project, but I'm absolutely certain we're doing the right thing for our children. I've started this blog to keep everyone (including me!) up to date on what and how we're doing!

So, a slightly more than brief history, to get everyone up to speed:

Issue #1: Last year, Laurel attended first grade in the public school. The end of the school year brought rounds of School Board meetings, petitions, and protests, as I and several other concerned parents in my county spoke out against standards based report cards for early grades - the vote that we were opposing was the expansion of standards based reporting into 3rd grade (they had quietly passed K-2 the year before). Long (LONG!) story short, the vote was taken and despite public disapproval, the measure passed. So then, we were looking at standards based grading for Laurel through at least 3rd grade. A major problem with standards based grading is that children who are having problems can be made to appear to be doing well - a middle score is awarded for "progressing toward the standard". Just how much useful information does THAT give anyone?!? To compare to a race - I could be right next to the starting line, or almost at the finish line, and BOTH would be "progressing toward the finish"....

So anyway, on to issue #2: Laurel received a perfect score on the reading portion of our state standardized exam. We discovered (almost by accident) that she was completely unable to sound out words - she WASN'T reading at all! She'd been taught to identify words by shape and to GUESS... English is NOT Chinese, our words are not pictograms. Which seems easier - learning the 44 basic phonemic sounds, or more than 100,000 individual words?!?!? And how on earth can someone who can't read the word "bean" make a perfect score on a test for reading ability?

So I seriously considered waiting to see if second grade was any better - and came to the realization that if *I* didn't teach my child to read, she wasn't going to be taught (see #2 - school thinks 'child with perfect reading scores doesn't need reading assistance'). So, we filed the papers to bring her home for school this year.

Ashton was a different story, with the same result. When we decided that Laurel needed to be taught at home, I gave Ashton the choice to come home for school as well. Ashton had just finished 6th grade, and was doing fine in public school. The issue for her, was that her classses (and she was in all advanced classes!) were too slow - it frustrated her to have to wait for the rest of her (advanced!) class to "get it", and to continue to drill concepts she already understood. She decided that she wanted to come home, we chose her curriculum together, and she spent the last half of the summer telling me how NOT stressed she was now that she was going to be able to go at her own speed.

So, here we are - the first day of homeschool! We took an extra week off after our public school's start date (just because, this year, we could!), and I suppose technically Ashton has already "started school" since she's had two weeks of marching band camp this summer, and marching band practice last Friday, but we're calling this our "official" first day. To celebrate, we got up early to wave as the school busses grumbled by, had a leisurely breakfast, and did our schoolwork in our pajamas and fuzzy slippers.

It's good to be home...