November wrap-up

Pathetic, eh? Doing a single post for an entire month? It turns out that between homeschooling, driving kids all over, and too much time spent on Facebook, my little blog suffers. Here's what we've been up to...


Big Sister's Spanish class had a Dia de los Muertos celebration, complete with sugar skulls, pan de muertos (I was able to make some that was dairy and soy free, for our friends with food allergies), and marigolds on display. They learned a lot and had a great time.

Little Brother's last day of first grade at public school was Friday, October 30. He had a Halloween party in class that day, which was a nice way to say good-bye. He also came home with a very nice, spiral bound book of pictures and notes that his classmates and teacher created for him. A nice momento from his time in Ms. P's class.

Lil'Bro' is continuing to participate in music with his class twice per week. I knew that homeschoolers in our state are allowed to access classes through their neighborhood school, but wasn't sure how much resistence I would run into. It ended up being no trouble at all, and the principal was very gracious about the whole thing. It's a really great music program, like nothing I could provide for him, and I was very happy that it fits into our already busy schedule. He would have preferred to continue with P.E., but the timing didn't work out. Maybe next year.


In November we hosted Flat Stanley, who came to us all the way from North Carolina (after stops in Texas and Missouri). I've always wanted to participate in a Flat Stanley project (Flat Stanley has his own wiki), so I jumped at the chance when it came up. Flat Stanley is the story of a boy who gets smashed flat when a bulletin board falls on him at school. He learns that a benefit of being flat is that he can travel all over the world for only the cost of a stamp. We took Flat on a fieldtrip with our homeschool group (to Petco - not very exciting), to dinner at Teddy's Burgers (where he had his picture taken in front of the wall mural), and to the Visitor Center at Microsoft (where he was photographed with the founders of Microsoft). He also got to experience some typical fall/winter weather while he was here. His next stop is Connecticut, and we wish him well. Before he left, Big Sister filled out a form that tells about the activities he participated in, as well as interesting facts about our area. It was a fun learning experience for all of us.

We're wrapping up a unit on Thanksgiving. I recently subscribed to Evan Moor's Teacher File Box through a group-buy at the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op, and I'm really enjoying it. I've always liked the Evan Moor Pocket Books, but found myself put off by the cost of purchasing each of the books, plus the time involved in taking the book to be photocopied. The reasonable cost for the subscription, plus the ease of printing at home makes it totally worth every cent. Some of the Pocket Book themes are a little on the young side for Big Sis, but we can beef things up a bit for her - she's just excited to finally be doing more of this crafty-type stuff.

Our other activities lately have included: girl scouts, lego club, a fieldtrip, parkdays, Spanish class, drama class, swimming lessons, and homeschool PE class.

We just completed Thanksgiving/Christmas number one with the grandparents over on the east side of the mountains this past weekend. It was a little early to breaking out the holiday cheer, but necessitated by the fact that the grandparents will be making their annual flight south to Mexico in less than a week. We won't see them again until summer, and were thankful to have the chance to see them one more time before they go. Thanksgiving number two will be celebrated with hubby's family, and we are looking forward to it.

Enough complaining and whining - time for action...

Friday is Little Brother's last day of public school! We've been going through a rough patch with first grade, and it didn't make sense to keep trying to muddle our way through when there's another option available to us. I'd obviously not been won over by school this fall, but was trying to be supportive of a choice that was making my boy happy, and certainly wasn't damaging him - until it started damaging him.

One night I heard him crying softly in his bed - turns out he was worrying about the next school day, and feeling like he's "not smart enough" for first grade. I immediately emailed the teacher to let her know what we were dealing with at home, so she could either shed some light on the matter, or work with him on her end. After all, with him away from me for 7 hours/day, she's the one who has him for most of his waking hours - plus she's "the professional" and I thought she might have a few tricks up her sleeve. She is a nice woman, and my boy thinks she's amazing, so I have no gripes against her really - it's just that her methods of trying to build his self-confidence back up were hugely unsuccessful. She let me know that she's constantly telling him how smart he is, and publicly pointing out her own mistakes and foibles to him in an effort to make him feel better, but to no avail. The fact is we can tell him these things until we're blue in the face, but if he doesn't believe it and really feel that he is successful, our words matter little.

Unfortunately, after weeks of working on this issue, Little Brother's attitude towards himself and school has not improved. He began asking, daily, to homeschool. So, after many long discussions with dear husband (who agreed that when our intelligent boy believes he's stupid, there's a problem), I set the wheels in motion to home school. I filled out the paperwork yesterday, had it signed and date stamped, and then let his teacher know. She was very supportive, and agreed that the home school environment was likely a good fit for him right now. Today I go to the school's office and let them know officially. I also want to talk with the principal about having my boy continue taking music with his class twice/week (state law allows homeschoolers free access classes, such as PE and music, on a space-available basis at their neighborhood schools). After a Halloween party at school on Friday, he will officially be a first grade drop-out!

This will be a big adjustment for all of us. Big Sister is worried about having less one-on-one time with me - a valid concern. She's also worried that Brother won't like her humming and fidgeting as she works - he probably won't. She does agree that school isn't working for Brother, and that he deserves the same opportunity to learn at home as she is having. I'm confident we will make this work, and that we will all be happier for it. Wish us luck!

A rant from a home schooling mom with a child in public school

A recap: Little Brother is in first grade at the neighborhood elementary school, and Big Sister homeschools. Little Brother says he likes school. Mom doesn't like school. Little Brother frequently comes home and shares things about school that make Mom cringe. Little Brother is a grumpy beast every single morning when we are getting ready to walk to the best. Mom has told Little Brother that she doesn't understand how he can like school but be such a rude crab while trying to get him out the door to this wonderful place. Mom isn't having a good time.

Shall I count the ways in which I dislike school (in no particular order)?

1.We can start with the three weeks of mind-numbing math review that had Andrew in tears at homework time because "I already did this in school. Why do I have to do it again?" Honestly, I don't know. But if you want to play the school game, then this is what you put up with. And even though I would like to have kept him moving forward on the math he'd been doing over the summer, he was burnt out after a long day, followed by homework. "Afterschooling" would be cruel, for both of us.

2. The ridiculously long school day. He leaves home at 8:45am and returns to the house at 4:10pm. That's nearly 7 1/2 hours. These are children, for Pete's sake. I completely understand that the long school day is a huge blessing for families that do not have an adult home during the day, and relieves some of the financial burden of childcare. I would like to have the option of a shorter day for families that are able to accommodate that (oh, wait. i do have that option - home schooling).

3. Homework in first grade. Dumb. It's all part of the trend - cram more academics in earlier, extend the day, and you're supposed to have some magic recipe for higher test scores 11 years from now. I think the experiment is failing. If I remember correctly, when I was in school we did NOT spend all day in school and our test scores were higher. Quantity (time spent in school being stuffed full of information) does not equal Quality learning.

4. I can't even pick my own kid up from school. Last Friday I sent him to school with the proper form filled out so that we could pick him up as our family was heading out of town at the end of the school day, rather than him riding home on the bus. When the school day ended, Brother's teacher wouldn't let him get in the parent pick-up line, even when he reminded her that he did bring a note that morning. She had forgotten, and told him he didn't have a note and made him get in the bus line area. When we finally found him he was sobbing - full body-shaking sobs, afraid we were going to leave town without him. When we homeschool, I don't have to fill out anyone's form to leave town on a Friday afternoon.

5. His class earns marbles in a marble jar when they're being good. Last Friday the jar was full to the top, so the class got to vote on what kind of "party" they wanted to have for the following Monday. Brother voted for an extra recess, but watching a movie won. Monday rolls around, they start watching the movie during snack time, but a lot of the kids are talking so the teacher turns the movie off part way through and the entire class loses their earned reward. Andrew was not talking, in fact is such a strict rule-follower he probably earned half those dumb marbles for his class... and he was enjoying the movie because it was about his favorite book characters of all time: Kevin Henkes' mice. He was so sad and disappointed. I asked him (and I really shouldn't have said this, but the whole thing was ridiculous) "So did you turn around to the rest of your classmates and say 'You guys all suck! Can't you keep your mouths quiet for 15 minutes?!!'" Fortunately he said he hadn't, and you can't say stuff like that at school. Too bad - they deserved it. I hate when the good kids get punished because of idiots they can do nothing about.

6. Other kids are annoying. Really. And they don't listen to politeness and respectful behavior. What's wrong with these kids? There's a girl that is constantly in Brother's space every single day after school in the bus line. She touches him and tickles him, and doesn't stop. For the first couple of weeks he would politely say "Please stop." which only fell on deaf ears. This caused him to revert to behaviors we haven't seen in over a year, where he self-harms out of frustration - biting himself, scratching his face hard enough to leave marks, pounding his head into the ground. Nice, huh? I realize he needs to learn other ways to manage frustration, but this annoying kid needs someone to teach her that when someone repeatedly asks you nicely to stop, you stop. Neither kid is being helped by a guiding adult in this situation. If my kid someday smacks her (rather than hurting himself), I will applaud him.

7. Not enough time for my slow eater to finish lunch, and he's not drinking liquids. Not the school's fault entirely, but something that could be completely avoided if he were eating lunch at home. He never finishes all his food, and he doesn't have enough time to finish his apple juice. Because he doesn't have time to finish his apple juice, he's stopped opening it up at all. Why? Because any liquids have to be squeezed out over a strainer into a garbage can at the end of lunch, and he has a hard time coordinating a proper squeeze that doesn't get juice all over him. Rather than face that stress (since everyone is in a hurry at that point, and the line is growing behind him), he has determined it can be avoided by simply not drinking. This is my kid who is just overcoming 4 years of severe bowel issues and is finally weaned off of daily meds, and needs to be drinking fluids so he doesn't back slide. But I can't be there to say "hold on and drink your juice before heading out to recess".

8. The bus is completely inconsistent. This is a gripe, but it's related to my overall dissatisfaction with our school experience. The bus shows up sometime in a 10 minute window on either side of his appointed drop-off time (morning too, but slightly more regular). I have to block 25 minutes out of my afternoon to make sure that I'm at his stop in case she's running early, leaving Big Sister home to mill about. I'd just like some predictability, that's all I ask.

9. My boy is starting to read, but can't really read yet. Sometimes he doesn't quite get the directions right on the work he does in class. The other day he was supposed to draw and odd number of shapes, and an even number of shapes. He ended up drawing two shapes of odd-numbered sides (triangle and pentagon), then added all the sides together and wrote "8". He did the same for the evens, drawing a square and a hexagon, then adding all the sides and writing "10". We were looking it over when he got home, and he said "Hey! Why'd she mark that wrong?" Well, dear, it's because the teacher is expecting the same conventional responses to these questions out of each of her students, and it's too much to expect her to figure out that your answer shows understanding of the concept - and then some. There is little room in public education for thinking outside of the box.

This is all just a rant. School is not killing my boy (yet), or me (but almost). I think the reason the first month of school has been so hard for me is because I see daily that everything about it is unnecessary. We could avoid all of this by homeschooling. When I think about what he's gaining that he wouldn't be receiving at home, there's very little I come up with. This all struck me yesterday when Little Brother spent a school day at home with us. He woke up around 4:30am with a cough and never fell back to sleep, so I decided to keep him home for the day. It was great - we all homeschooled, he came along to Natalie's Spanish class and swimming, he learned to play tether ball, he picked a chicken egg from our friends' hen house, and we met some very rude and obnoxious homeschooled boys (and I was able see everything happen and talk to him about it later). It was a fabulous day, and it all felt right. I don't think we'll be playing the public school game much longer, as it's just not worth it to us on so many levels.

I can't believe what a joy it has been to get back to serious homeschooling with Big Sister. With her reading falling into place last year, and her overall willingness to learn, it's been a breeze these last couple of weeks. Her attention span is miles beyond what it was just a year ago, and we can work together through the morning, moving from one subject to the next, and the time is flying by. It's a little creepy how well it's going.

Some of what is helping it to go more smoothly is settling on a few key bits of curriculum that we're both equally happy with. Still loving Singapore Math (just about ready to move on to Primary Math 4B), with some math games, and multiplication review thrown in. Still using Spelling Power, which I'm not convinced is helping her to retain words past the week that she studies them, but is at least systematic and modifiable to fit our needs. I have noticed that as she's reading more, her spelling has improved, or at least her ability to recognize that a word doesn't look right. We've been using a workbook for modern cursive (which she chose as the style of cursive she wanted to learn) and adding in some additional copywork to help her become more comfortable with the flow of the writing.



We just started using Four Square Writing Method for grades 4-6 for writing, and Big Sister was immediately hooked. I chucked Writing Strands out the window then and there. This was our second try with Writing Strands, and we both found it excruciatingly dull.



I bought a subscription to Aha! Science through the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op, which she is really enjoying. We've been supplementing lessons on astronomy in Aha! Science with activities and reading from Exploring the Solar System: A History with 22 activities, as well as additional biographies of famous astronomers.

We will likely flip back and forth between science and history this year, still using K12 History. I think it will work fine to finish a unit in one area, and then switch gears to do a unit in the other subject.

Other than that, Sister is continuing her outside activities from last year. She's still taking drama through Studio East, and she's starting her last year as a junior girl scout. New this year is a weekly spanish class that she'll be taking with three other girls. All these activities start next week, so we'll see how our schedule holds up!

Space: The Final Frontier

Little Brother said he wants to learn about space, so we're off on a voyage through the galaxy, where we'll explore planets, stars, and other out-of-this-world objects and phenomena. As we go along, the kids are going to be compiling their own Space books using resources I found at Enchanted Learning's Zoom Astronomy, Learning Page.com (membership is totally free, and there's a lot of fun stuff for the under 10 set on their site), and the (paid) Printables section on the Scholastic website.

Oh, and Brother also let me know last week that he would really like to have "theme" days, like they did at his school. If you stop by tomorrow, I want you to know that it's "Bring Your Stuffed Animal to School Day"...

Getting back into the swing of things...

It's been one crazy summer. July was filled with one road trip after another, with only 12 or so days spent at home. The first week in August found me and the kids at Girl Scout Day Camp - I volunteered (teaching Map & Compass), Little Brother was in the boys unit (for sons of parent volunteers) and Big Sister was in a 5th grade unit. We had a fantastic week! The morning after our final day at camp, we started on a whirlwind revolving door of house guests. It was a lot of fun visiting with friends and family, and taking them around to various touristy activities - however, we are all now exhausted and trying to remember how life goes when it's all back to normal.

We've been on the fence over whether to have Little Brother homeschool this coming fall. He reminded me the other day that I had said early on in the summer that we would try out homeschooling the two kids together and see how it went. If it didn't go well, we would likely have him return to ps. Well, he was essentially firing me as his teacher, saying that homeschooling this summer has NOT gone well AT ALL! I explained that we haven't been anywhere near home for the past six weeks, and would make it up to him once our last guest was gone. Grammy went home yesterday, and school started back up this morning.

One thing I noticed I need to work on with Sister is her summarization skills. They are sorely lacking. We'll focus on that a bit in the next few weeks. Also need to polish of the rusty multiplication tables after 6 weeks of sitting idle. It's amazing how quickly that knowledge drifts away.

Brother read to me for a bit, did some math, played with cuissenaire rods, and put together a puzzle. While putting the puzzle together, he said "This feels like homeschooling." I think that was a compliment, LOL!

Off to a couple of playdates to reconnect with nearby friends we have been missing due to all the other fun we've been up to...

Backing up a bit...

Big Sister went on her first solo sleepover to Grandma and Grandpa's house over in Yakima. See Grandma Sharon's post over on their blog.

They had driven over to our side of the mountains to watch Sis perform in her play "The Princess Plays". There were two acts - in the first she played one of the Princess Court, and One o'clock, and in the second she was one of the Royal Soldiers. Cute play, but not her favorite - it was a large cast, and most of the characters weren't particularly well-developed. Next year she plans to try a musical.

Here she is as a soldier...


...and here's one of both kids on the afternoon of her first performance:

They don't look at all related, do they?