Sheesh, I am not very good at this record keeping. I should probably get better at it since I will have a high schooler in 2 years - ack!
In April and May, we did school on the days that my hubby was gone. He had classes to teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays and often went to his office to work on things on Mondays and Wednesdays, so most weeks we did school M-Th.
As planned, we did a Hawaiian history unit. For science we did a bunch of experiments from kits I had purchased at the beginning of last year and we hadn't gotten around to using. For math and grammar we continued working through Singapore and Growing with Grammar. Sierra and Kali did their usual did copywork, typing, and spelling. They also memorized the states and capitals using this website. For composition, we continued to use ideas from K12. Sierra did a how-to essay, an advertisement and presentation, and a book review. Kali learned about different writing types - narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive. She wrote short essays using each type. Sierra read Alice in Wonderland. Kali read several Magic Tree House books. She is working on reading them all and I think she is to about #32. Arwen worked on becoming a more fluent reader and read several Dr. Seuss books and other easy readers.
Also, during April and May, we had the opportunity to participate in a furlough Friday co-op with some public schooled kids. Because of lacking of money, the public schools in Hawaii had no school almost every Friday. Some of the parents were concerned and decided to hold a co-op on the Fridays with no school. The classes included reading, math games, science, poetry, sign language, music, and art history. It has been nice to be able to join the public schooled kids for activities like this since the are so few homeschoolers in our area.
We finished out the month of May with a choir and violin concert and seeing the campus play, Wizard of Oz. May 25th was the last day of school for the public school, so I decided to make that our last day of school, too. Rand's semester ended around that time also and he had the next term off, so it made sense to take a break.
My sister came to visit in June. We went to the Bishop Museum, Pearl Harbor, and Waimea Valley and, of course, the beach. Our church had a ward camp in June. The kids had a great time playing with all of the other kids.
Rand was out of town in July. We attempted to do some school. Sierra and Kali did some math and grammar and practiced their instruments. Arwen did math and reading and writing. Arwen has made a leap in her reading ability this summer, despite of, or maybe because of, our lacking of formal practice. She read an entire Magic Tree House book on her own- yahoo!!
In July, we also went to the Bishop Museum for its Super Science Saturday. The extra displays were kind of lame, but we also went to the volcano show and the planetarium show. We hadn't been able to go to either of these before, so that was fun (and educational).
School starts back up for the public school kids on August 2nd. I figure we might as well get started, too. It has been great to take a break from our formal studies. I am feeling much more motivated to start back up again now that we have had a little break. Rand only teaches Tuesdays and Thursdays again this term, so we may just do school on Tuesdays and Thursdays in August and then go back to a full schedule in September.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
January, February, March
Back to our own independent homeschooling - yeah!!!! I cannot believe how much happier I am than I was when we tried to do k12. We spent the last 3 months doing all of the things we would have done in the fall had we not tried k12.
We finished up SOTW 2 ( finally - it only took us 2 1/2 years..). We worked through the Real Science 4 Kids Biology book. I liked that it taught lots of scientific vocabulary, but it wasn't super exciting and as my oldest expressed, " The experiments didn't really work."
We went back to Singapore Math. Sierra was able to skip the fractions sections and is almost finished with 5B. Kali needed to get her multiplication facts down, so we worked on those and started back up where she left off. She is almost done with 3B. Arwen also picked up where she left off and is almost done with 1B.
We started using Growing with Grammar levels 4 and 6 with Sierra and Kali and are loving it. Well, I am loving it. It is pretty self teaching and doesn't take much time each day to complete. The girls kind of think it is boring, but it gets the job done. When they finish with their current levels I am going to skip Sierra to level 8 and Kali to level 6 since grammar curricula are often too repetitive. I am using First Language lessons for the Well Trained Child with Arwen and we are almost finished with the 1st grade section.
The older 2 did some spelling using Natural Speller. We began copywork again - 2 perfect lines in cursive - for both older girls. The older girls also did some writing assignments from K12. Kali did a poetry unit and a narrative essay. Sierra did a research paper on Kiwi birds complete with a bibliography. I also came up with a writing assignment for both girls to go with their literature reading -yeah me! We also returned to my girls favorite kind of writing - free writing.
Read alouds included The Number Devil and The Phantom Tollbooth. We tried The Second Mrs. Giaconda, but found it a bit boring. Sierra read Anne of Green Gables and Kali read Ballet Shoes for their independent reading.
We also worked through some of English From the Roots Up and a poetry curriculum that I have been beta testing for the last few years - ha!
Whew! It is also nice to record what we have done. Sometimes it feels like we have not done much, but when I type it all up, I realize we have accomplished quite a bit.
Originally, I had planned to continue our history and science studies (SOTW 3 and RS4k Chem) after the break we have been taking the past 2 weeks while Grandma and Grandpa visited. But then we visited the Bishop Museum and I decide we should do a unit on Hawaiian history. More on that later.
We finished up SOTW 2 ( finally - it only took us 2 1/2 years..). We worked through the Real Science 4 Kids Biology book. I liked that it taught lots of scientific vocabulary, but it wasn't super exciting and as my oldest expressed, " The experiments didn't really work."
We went back to Singapore Math. Sierra was able to skip the fractions sections and is almost finished with 5B. Kali needed to get her multiplication facts down, so we worked on those and started back up where she left off. She is almost done with 3B. Arwen also picked up where she left off and is almost done with 1B.
We started using Growing with Grammar levels 4 and 6 with Sierra and Kali and are loving it. Well, I am loving it. It is pretty self teaching and doesn't take much time each day to complete. The girls kind of think it is boring, but it gets the job done. When they finish with their current levels I am going to skip Sierra to level 8 and Kali to level 6 since grammar curricula are often too repetitive. I am using First Language lessons for the Well Trained Child with Arwen and we are almost finished with the 1st grade section.
The older 2 did some spelling using Natural Speller. We began copywork again - 2 perfect lines in cursive - for both older girls. The older girls also did some writing assignments from K12. Kali did a poetry unit and a narrative essay. Sierra did a research paper on Kiwi birds complete with a bibliography. I also came up with a writing assignment for both girls to go with their literature reading -yeah me! We also returned to my girls favorite kind of writing - free writing.
Read alouds included The Number Devil and The Phantom Tollbooth. We tried The Second Mrs. Giaconda, but found it a bit boring. Sierra read Anne of Green Gables and Kali read Ballet Shoes for their independent reading.
We also worked through some of English From the Roots Up and a poetry curriculum that I have been beta testing for the last few years - ha!
Whew! It is also nice to record what we have done. Sometimes it feels like we have not done much, but when I type it all up, I realize we have accomplished quite a bit.
Originally, I had planned to continue our history and science studies (SOTW 3 and RS4k Chem) after the break we have been taking the past 2 weeks while Grandma and Grandpa visited. But then we visited the Bishop Museum and I decide we should do a unit on Hawaiian history. More on that later.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Fall 2009
OK, time to catch up on this blog. If you read my other blog you know that we spent this fall trying out the K12 curriculum through Hawaii Technology Academy. For the most part it ended up being a huge disaster. I was miserable. The kids were miserable. But I am glad that we tried it because we did gain a lot of insight.
1. We now appreciate better the way we have always homeschooled
2. I have learned better what kind of work I should be expecting of my kids at their grade levels.
3. The kids learned the kind of work that would be expected of them in school.
4. I discovered areas where my kids were weak and areas where they were strong.
5. I got ideas to use on our own in certain subjects especially writing.
Things the girls learned about using K12:
Sierra - Earth Science, American History from 1865, fractions, read Island of the Blue Dolphin and a bunch of short stories, art lessons
Kali - some Hawaiian History, ecosystems, chemistry, plant and animal interactions, the human body, read Charlotte's Web, an abridged version of Robinson Crusoe, and some short stories
Arwen - Mesopatamia, ancient Egypt, states of matter, weather, animal classification, light, read aloud Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and Winnie the Pooh and other short stories
1. We now appreciate better the way we have always homeschooled
2. I have learned better what kind of work I should be expecting of my kids at their grade levels.
3. The kids learned the kind of work that would be expected of them in school.
4. I discovered areas where my kids were weak and areas where they were strong.
5. I got ideas to use on our own in certain subjects especially writing.
Things the girls learned about using K12:
Sierra - Earth Science, American History from 1865, fractions, read Island of the Blue Dolphin and a bunch of short stories, art lessons
Kali - some Hawaiian History, ecosystems, chemistry, plant and animal interactions, the human body, read Charlotte's Web, an abridged version of Robinson Crusoe, and some short stories
Arwen - Mesopatamia, ancient Egypt, states of matter, weather, animal classification, light, read aloud Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and Winnie the Pooh and other short stories
Monday, October 19, 2009
What we have been up to since June
July was moving month. Even though we didn't have to pack or load our stuff, it was still a lot of work to get ready for the move. Most of the work involved getting rid of stuff and still we didn't get rid of enough to be under our weight limit- grrr... but that is a story for another time.
August was traveling month. fun educational stuff included going to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, discussing all of the state capitals that we were traveling through (Santa Fe, Austin, Tallahassee, Atlanta, Charleston, Columbus, and finally Honolulu), and the older girls writing stories in the back of the car as we drove.
September was unpacking month. I was all set to start back with school on September 21nd when we were faced with the idea of using K12 and participating in our state's online virtual school. The following week was spent talking, crying, making pros and cons lists, talking some more. Finally it was decided we would give it a try until December. Then we had to fill out paperwork, take practice assessment tests, and take the real assessment tests. and then wait.
Much to this nervous homeschool mama's delight, the girls all tested on grade level. Well, Kali tested on 3rd grade for Language Arts, but is considered a 4th grader with her October birthday. Eventually we found out that she did test high enough to be in 4th grade Language Arts and are in the process of switching her over.
For Sierra and Kali, I asked for the grade level lower in math (5th for Sierra and 3rd for Kali) because I felt that there were skills that they hadn't covered. We are moving quickly through concepts that they understand and are slowing down through the new material and hoping to get them to the next grade level sometime between December and February.
Now here we are half way through October, six days into our new curriculum - read more about how that is going here. We are getting set for another week. We are still trying to catch up since we started 2 months into the school year. Last week was pretty stressful, but Friday was a pretty good day, so I am hopeful.
August was traveling month. fun educational stuff included going to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, discussing all of the state capitals that we were traveling through (Santa Fe, Austin, Tallahassee, Atlanta, Charleston, Columbus, and finally Honolulu), and the older girls writing stories in the back of the car as we drove.
September was unpacking month. I was all set to start back with school on September 21nd when we were faced with the idea of using K12 and participating in our state's online virtual school. The following week was spent talking, crying, making pros and cons lists, talking some more. Finally it was decided we would give it a try until December. Then we had to fill out paperwork, take practice assessment tests, and take the real assessment tests. and then wait.
Much to this nervous homeschool mama's delight, the girls all tested on grade level. Well, Kali tested on 3rd grade for Language Arts, but is considered a 4th grader with her October birthday. Eventually we found out that she did test high enough to be in 4th grade Language Arts and are in the process of switching her over.
For Sierra and Kali, I asked for the grade level lower in math (5th for Sierra and 3rd for Kali) because I felt that there were skills that they hadn't covered. We are moving quickly through concepts that they understand and are slowing down through the new material and hoping to get them to the next grade level sometime between December and February.
Now here we are half way through October, six days into our new curriculum - read more about how that is going here. We are getting set for another week. We are still trying to catch up since we started 2 months into the school year. Last week was pretty stressful, but Friday was a pretty good day, so I am hopeful.
Friday, July 10, 2009
June
Oh my, time is really starting to fly, so much to get done before the move. We finished up school at the beginning of June, learning about Texas. Sierra is still working on Secret Garden, so I am encouraging her to read it and try to finish it up before the move, so it isn't several months before she picks it up again and forgets what is happening. I have also been encouraging Kali to practice her violin since she had a concert coming up. Other than that we are pretty much done with formal schooling until we get settled in Hawaii. I will be on the look out for lots of unschooly moments in the next few months and post them if I remember.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
May
We traveled a bit this month and were busy with lots of moving stuff, but I managed to stay motivated to do school mostly because we are learning about places that we are planning to visit on our way to visit family on our way to Hawaii in August.
We finished chapter 21 in SOTW and will stop there until fall.
We learned about Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Louisiana, Georgia.
Our trip to Florida was really fun. The learning highlight of the trip was going to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. We read about Dali before the trip. It is amazing how much more interesting art is when you have a little background on the artist.
Our middle ages group when to the Crandall Historical Printing Museum for our final activity of the year. It was very fun and interesting.
In choir, the girls prepared for their Jr Seussical performance, which was last night and turned out really cute.
The final Interactive Storytelling was in May and the focus was Asian tales. Thank goodness it wasn't my turn to tell the stories.
At the end of the month went went to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, so much fun... and educational!
Some pics from our visti to the printing museum:
We finished chapter 21 in SOTW and will stop there until fall.
We learned about Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Louisiana, Georgia.
Our trip to Florida was really fun. The learning highlight of the trip was going to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. We read about Dali before the trip. It is amazing how much more interesting art is when you have a little background on the artist.
Our middle ages group when to the Crandall Historical Printing Museum for our final activity of the year. It was very fun and interesting.
In choir, the girls prepared for their Jr Seussical performance, which was last night and turned out really cute.
The final Interactive Storytelling was in May and the focus was Asian tales. Thank goodness it wasn't my turn to tell the stories.
At the end of the month went went to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, so much fun... and educational!
Some pics from our visti to the printing museum:
Saturday, May 9, 2009
April
Where is the time going? Sierra and Kali went to a self defense class on Mondays in April leaving us with 3 days of school since they already have choir on Thursdays. The month just seemed to fly by. I guess it didn't help that we left for a trip to LA on the 22nd and then had 3 days home before we left for Florida the first weekend in May. We actually did do school during those three days. It is so nice that the older 2 can do most of their stuff on their own (math, spelling, writing, reading, typing, instruments) and then I just do some read aloud and call school done for the day.
What else did we accomplish this month? The problem with posting monthly is that I forget what we did. Let see, we finished reading the Math and Grammar readers, worked through some SOTW2 chapters. One more chapter and we will be half way through. Then I will call it good for the year. One fun thing we did this month was read a book about and listen to Carnival of the Animals. I had bought this book at some used sale a while back and had forgotten about it. It was great. The girls loved it and continued to listen to the CD and make up dances for the songs for several days after. Sierra recently made up a song on the piano where different parts represent different animals. I wonder where she got the inspiration to do that? What else? We may have worked more on the Poetry Curriculum. We are about half way through it and I am calling that good for the year as well. With our move coming sooner and sooner, I am really losing motivation. It is so nice that we can just pick up where we left off in the Fall. We also had Math Club. The last of the year. I had planned to do one more in May, but again the motivation is gone... We also had our Middle Ages group. The focus was China this time.
Our trip to LA was fabulous. In addition to getting to visit my friends we also went to the La Brea Tar Pits and the LA Art Museum. My friend kept commenting on how impressed she was with my kids. How well behaved they were and how excited and interested they were about topics that she always felt like she had to tried hard to convince her 4th grade students to be interested in. I guess I must be doing something right :)
I still worry that I am not requiring enough of them, especially Sierra. And I worry that their "skills" are not where they should or could be, but as far as instilling a love of learning and raising children that are kind and curious, I think we are doing well.
Goals for May:
Chapter 21 of SOTW2
Learn about states we will be traveling through this summer:
Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Ohio I am skipping the states that we will just be driving through because I don't think we will have time.
Learn about Georgia O'Keefe since we will go to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe
Ideally, I would like to be done by the end of May. I leave for Girl's Camp on June 16th, so I definitely have to be done by then. After Girl's Camp, my in laws will be visiting, then my friend Ann and her kids will be here and then we will have 3 weeks until moving day. I may have the older girls do a bit of reading and math and maybe writing each morning on days we are not too busy just to keep their little brains working. And I need to keep working with Arwen on her reading. The month of August we will spend traveling which will be its own learning adventure and then we will be living in Hawaii!!!
What else did we accomplish this month? The problem with posting monthly is that I forget what we did. Let see, we finished reading the Math and Grammar readers, worked through some SOTW2 chapters. One more chapter and we will be half way through. Then I will call it good for the year. One fun thing we did this month was read a book about and listen to Carnival of the Animals. I had bought this book at some used sale a while back and had forgotten about it. It was great. The girls loved it and continued to listen to the CD and make up dances for the songs for several days after. Sierra recently made up a song on the piano where different parts represent different animals. I wonder where she got the inspiration to do that? What else? We may have worked more on the Poetry Curriculum. We are about half way through it and I am calling that good for the year as well. With our move coming sooner and sooner, I am really losing motivation. It is so nice that we can just pick up where we left off in the Fall. We also had Math Club. The last of the year. I had planned to do one more in May, but again the motivation is gone... We also had our Middle Ages group. The focus was China this time.
Our trip to LA was fabulous. In addition to getting to visit my friends we also went to the La Brea Tar Pits and the LA Art Museum. My friend kept commenting on how impressed she was with my kids. How well behaved they were and how excited and interested they were about topics that she always felt like she had to tried hard to convince her 4th grade students to be interested in. I guess I must be doing something right :)
I still worry that I am not requiring enough of them, especially Sierra. And I worry that their "skills" are not where they should or could be, but as far as instilling a love of learning and raising children that are kind and curious, I think we are doing well.
Goals for May:
Chapter 21 of SOTW2
Learn about states we will be traveling through this summer:
Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Ohio I am skipping the states that we will just be driving through because I don't think we will have time.
Learn about Georgia O'Keefe since we will go to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe
Ideally, I would like to be done by the end of May. I leave for Girl's Camp on June 16th, so I definitely have to be done by then. After Girl's Camp, my in laws will be visiting, then my friend Ann and her kids will be here and then we will have 3 weeks until moving day. I may have the older girls do a bit of reading and math and maybe writing each morning on days we are not too busy just to keep their little brains working. And I need to keep working with Arwen on her reading. The month of August we will spend traveling which will be its own learning adventure and then we will be living in Hawaii!!!
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