Oh, How I Wish....

This picture really has little to do with what is on my mind tonight, but I had to share! The pile of books in the foreground came from a local book selling fund raiser. All of those for $15! The handle on my bag broke twice while I was shopping. The mess in the background is the material I am planning to use in addition to the as of yet unseen Calvert. So far, I have sorted them into piles according to subject. The next 7 days I plan to REALLY get to it!

Now...How I wish....my son could have access to a school that is something like what he is experiencing this week at Kids' College. A local university puts together a day camp every summer geared towards gifted kids. They don't advertise it that way, but that is really what it is. He attends 4 different classes every day. In the morning the sessions are titled, "Think Like Leonardo", "Westward Ho!" and "CANS of Creativity". Afternoon he is in "Bug it Up!". He absolutely LOVES it. They dissected frogs, they ATE bugs, they are thinking outside the box from the minute they walk through the doors. After the first day, he was so excited he could barely tell me about what they had done. Tuesday afternoon he was already worried that the week was going to end too soon. Tomorrow is the last day and I'm a bit concerned that the let down will be a bit too much for him. I am trying to come up with something fun for our evening to try to bring him down slowly. On our ride home Tuesday, he said, "Mom, wouldn't it be great if I could go to a school like this every day?"

Obviously, the educators involved in these programs have the ability to pull out all the stops for one week worth of activities. Teachers in traditional settings couldn't possibly put the time and energy into a learning environment like this one for a full school year. But I am not an educator in a traditional setting! I am trying to look at the excitement this week has generated and translate that into my need to push myself to allow learning in non-traditional ways. Yes, we need to do the worksheets and testing the school needs to show what we have learned. However, this week has cemented my goal to do as little of that as possible in our next school year. It's time to think like Leonardo!

The Long Wait

While talking with a friend today, I realized I could find out exactly when we received our Calvert material last year by checking my old blog posts! It seems things arrived August 1st. Now I can stop getting excited every time I see the UPS or Fed Ex truck coming down the road...it's probably not coming yet. I really don't want the Calvert material in order to know what we are doing for the year, I actually want to see it so I know what we are NOT doing. After I see how much of it we can toss aside, I'll know how much other material I can squeeze into our days.

In the last week, I realized that our first year of homeschooling was not what it could be for one big reason. We were trying to create a 'school at home' instead of homeschooling! I found this comparison in the book I am reading, "Homeschooling" by Sherri Linsenbach. She says in her book, "A school is an institution or a facility. A home is where you live with your family. Homeschooling is a way of living." That really struck me as where we had gone wrong. Instead of homeschooling, I was playing school. I am trying far too hard to make our day follow a school-like routine.

So, I'm scrapping the old plan! This year may be a bit messier, but it should also be less stressful. That will be important since I want to lose as much of the Calvert script as possible and explore JT and EM's interests as often as possible.

I have been spending lots of time on the web looking for the perfect things to supplement this year's learning. So far I have purchased Susan Wise Bauer's "Story of the World: Ancient Times" text book, activity book and test book. I think I will use this series for both boys. The reading level will be beyond our 1st grader (for now) but he will still be able to participate in the study. I also ordered, "Mysteries in History", by Wendy Conklin as a supplement for JT.

At a yard sale last year, I picked up a set of science activity books put out by the PA Energy Office in the early 90's. The material appears to still be valid and is put together very well. Each unit has teaching tips, reproducible worksheets and suggested activities.

I also borrowed some study guides put out by Educational Impressions for a variety of children's literature. I am planning to order a few for this year, mostly for JT.

My problem now is deciding what I want to do for EM. He is more of a hands on kid. He does not enjoy reading as much as JT, but when he wants to, he does a great job. I think I'm going to use the provided material to begin and get a good feel for where he really is. His Calvert work should take no more than 2 hours a day from what I have seen on their website. If he joins JT for the science activities and the Story of the World, he should have a pretty good day.

I am STILL tossing around the idea of traditional homeschooling. This will be the year that decides. If I can find a way to use the Calvert only as much as necessary and still provide what I would like for the boys, I will stick with PACyber. If not....we'll strike out on our own.

Flexibility

I have tried to keep myself from thinking too much about schooling this summer....but now I really need to get my act together! When I look at the calendar, I see July packed with fun and interesting activities with August lurking around the corner.

First, let's talk about summer! I had hoped to keep summer free of too much activity, but that plan failed. June was packed with wedding prep for my daughter, followed by one week of peace. Since then we've had things happening almost every day. JT now has a weekly violin lesson. So far, so good there. He likes it and seems to have some natural talent. These lessons are just our 'trying it out' period. If he wants to continue, it will be added to the fall schedule. We have also been participating in our library's summer reading program. This year's theme is 'Being Creative'. The boys both feel it's more for the girls! I don't know if I agree completely, but I did allow them to skip the day with the theater make-up. Next week, we will have the first of our 'summer science' days. This is our third year getting together with other moms and their kids to do experiments and learn about science. Later this month, JT will spend a week in day camp at a local university. Our youngest, EM, decided he would like to take piano lessons this year, so we will probably have the initial lesson in August.

Today we took part in a GATE/STARR activity that PACyber offered. We drove 2 hrs west to Parker Dam state park for an environmental day. It was wonderful! The boys learned about predators and prey, camouflage and aquatic life. We also got to link up with friends who also use PACyber, but live 2 hours further west. However, the day did present a few challenges...

I do not always adapt smoothly to new ideas...people who know me well are laughing at this understatement. My boys do not swim yet. They are just beginning to learn to be comfortable in water. My parents have a pool and I grew up swimming. We've just been slow to get them over this hurdle. One of the activities today was kayak safety. This included putting my kids in a kayak on a lake. Granted, they were going in the tandem with an adult (the adult ended up being my husband) but I still had a mini anxiety attack and claimed they weren't going in. Fortunately my husband is used to this bizarre behavior and stood back until I felt comfortable enough to allow it. My friend that was there kept assuring me they wouldn't drown, they had pfds on..etc...

When it was all over, the boys had a great time, my husband was convinced he should buy a couple kayaks and I calmed down. I also learned that I need to work hard to become more flexible! I watched my friend's children happily jump in the kayaks on their own. They had never been in them before but she was calm and positive and there they went.

The flexibility issue made me think about the book I'm currently reading "Homeschooling: Everything You Need to Know to Educate Your Child at Home" by Sherri Linsenbach. It's your typical, 'this is how to homeschool book'. But reading this book, it is becoming clear to me, I am not being flexible enough with our schooling. Next year it's going to be so much more important to be able to go with the flow when I have both the boys in the classroom all week.

I'm hoping my little kayaking lesson will be able to remind me to focus on the big picture in our boys education. I want them to be prepared for life. Not just in an academic sense, but ready to tackle new situations. Ready for all the adventures on their distance horizons.

Conclusions

Our experiment has ended. I have survived this first year of so many unknowns. Last night JT said, "The year sure went fast!" "Thanks for doing this for me."

This morning we began our last official day of school ON TIME! I don't think we've started many mornings when I said we would, but for some reason, today we were feeling inspired. We only planned for a half day of school, since today was also our youngest's last day of Kindergarten and they had a half day.

We had four things on our list for the day.

1. Spelling test
2. Talk about what we accomplished this year and changes we can put in place for next year.
3. Make some summer plans.
4. Register for a subscription at BrainPop.

The spelling test went well. 100% after he had only 9 out of 20 right on the pretest last week. He had been a little discouraged by the pretest score. We talked about how he would need to work hard at learning those words if he wanted a good grade. He was very happy that he pulled off the perfect score. I honestly was amazed that he did it. This was probably his hardest list. Some of the words: necessary, recommend, ascending, descending, duodenum (his suggestion!), concentration.

When we finished the test we moved on to talking about where we have been and where we are heading. We went subject by subject and talked through some of the new things he had learned. We both agreed that he had made a lot of progress in spelling. We decided that next year we will spend more time focusing on the meanings of words rather than just how to spell them. I'm thinking a list of 10 words each week (instead of 20) with the expectation that he be able to spell and define them on the final test. We also will need to spend more time on alphabetizing.

In Math, we felt that he had made real progress in his knowledge of fractions and decimals. He also learned to factor numbers and identify prime numbers. We agreed he needs to focus on memorization of basic math facts, instead of his unusual method of quick calculation every time. He will also need much more practice in long division.

Even though he seems to completely despise composition, he managed to do a decent job on his assignments this year. For next year we will be working on improving his outlining skills, adding more descriptive detail and more variety in word choices. I would also like him to become more proficient at keyboarding. I really think he would put forth more effort in content if he didn't need to spend so much energy on the physical side of writing.

Science... the subject we were so excited to have under our control this year, really didn't pan out the way I expected. I spent far too much time trying desperately to do ALL the school provided and never went far enough beyond what they had. Yes, we had our moments where we explored a tangent, but overall we did not do what we could have. JT said his favorite part of science this year was our unit on digestion. That was the one time we did our own thing completely, with not a bit of the school's material. He can very accurately describe the process of digestion from start to finish in all of it's gory details. That is one thing I am very proud to have taught him.

We both felt that Spanish, geography, history and reading could have been far more challenging. I think most of that could easily be blamed on me and lack of motivation. The material provided by the school in those subjects was below level for JT and I knew it, but I still did not invest the time and energy to bring them up to an appropriate place for him.

Overall, I think the year was a success for me and JT. We were both challenged to learn new things and we had fun. I still wonder how I am going to keep up with him as we move along this path. I wonder how in the world I am going to have the energy necessary to keep both of the boys learning and engaged next year. I wonder if they will tire of being with me both day and night long before their years of education are complete. But all this wondering is a good thing... after all, isn't that what education is about?

So Close....

I really can not believe we are so close to the end of our school year! We only have 3 school days left in our house before we leave the realms of 3rd grade.

We had our GIEP meeting with the cyber school on the 13th. It's kind of a joke to me now to take part in these meetings. When JT was in brick and mortar school, I would prepare my test results and other relevant data to defend my position. Now I say, "Sounds fine." It's not that the school is doing much to assist my child in getting an appropriate education, it's that they don't prevent him from having one. By allowing me the freedom to tweek what they offer, they provide him with opportunities he would never have had in his former setting. While I am sad that they can't see how much better they could make things, I am happy that this works well for us.

One thing that did come out of the meeting...I had to fill out a survey asking about strengths, weaknesses and goals for the future. One of the things I mentioned was that JT is more than likely 'below level' in organizational and study skills. I asked if they had anything to offer that I could use to help him work on those skills. The team agreed to sign him up for a Lincoln Interactive class called "Exploring Study Skills". This class is a self-paced enrichment course. He will have until Dec of 2009 to complete it. I like the fact that this is graded work. He will have some accountability in a subject in which he does not excel. We also need to learn more about the technology involved for the interactive classes. Up until now we have really had little to do with the 'cyber' aspect of our cyberschool! Our IS told me if he decides he doesn't like it, we can always drop the course.

We also made another new committment this week. JT will be taking violin lessons this summer! We have talked about trying a new instrument for some time (he already plays piano and a bit of guitar) but had put off the decision. He only has 3 piano lessons through the summer months, so we thought it might be a good time to try something new. We signed up for ten 30-minute classes at the local university. Now we need to make a road trip to the closest place that rents violins (45 minutes away).

Next week, I plan to blog about the rest of our summer education and fun plans...and then take my own summer sabbatical until July. My daughter is getting married in mid-June and once school is out, we will be in the heat of the final planning. After the dust settles, I will be cleaning and making improvements to the classroom for next year!

What am I going to do with myself with all this free time? :-)

Fractions and Praise

I had a few ah-ha moments this week.

JT was having a hard time reducing fractions. At first he really seemed to understand and would successfully complete the problems I would assign. Occasionally, he would have these strange moments where he'd take wild guesses at answers. I thought he was just having a hard time focusing. Turns out, that was not the problem...

Most of the early problems we encountered involved fractions like: 5/25 or 3/9. He could do those no problem. Then we came across.... 12/39. The wild guesses began. I suddenly realized he didn't understand what we had really been doing. He thought the numerator was always the number you used to reduce the fraction! After some further conversation, he was able to handle numbers like 27/72. All of this made me consider the fact that I have a hard time knowing when he is goofing off or not really getting it.

What had annoyed me in the whole situation was the fact that I felt like I had explained it well enough. We had spent the last couple days factoring numbers and discussing primes. Sometimes I get so frustrated when I feel like I need to repeat things over and over again. It's not that he's not understanding and needs more explanation, it's that he thinks he knows what I'm saying and stops listening. Did this come about because he cruised through his first couple of years in school so easily? Or does he just naturally think he knows it all?

I've been reading a very good book this week, "How We Decide" by Jonah Lehrer. In this book, he brings up a study done by Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford. She took a group of students in New York and gave each an easy test. When they finished she said one of two things to them, "You must be smart at this" or "You must have worked really hard". The students then had a choice to take either a test similar to the one they just took, or a harder test. Out of the kids that had been praised for their effort, 90% chose the harder test. The ones praised for their intelligence mostly chose the easier test. The study went on with several more testing options resulting in the children that were praised for their effort taking on more challenges than the ones praised for intelligence.

This study just blew me away. I thought of all the times I tell JT he is 'a smart kid'. Not neccesarily in a way that I would think of as trying to make him feel better than others, just as a positive statement for something he was doing. I wondered if I was responsible for making him lack motivation in the ways I praise him. So....I decided to change that this week.

When I gave JT an assignment Tuesday, he thought it was 'too hard'. He sat there complaining with no signs of getting starting. When I told him he would 'have to work hard' and that he would 'learn a lot if he tried it' he gave in and began to work. When he finished I praised him with the phrase, "You really worked hard on that!", he told me he was happy I had assigned that because he learned something new. What an eye opener!

Depth

At the end of last week, we decided to spend a little more time really exploring the biology of the digestive tract. This subject has great appeal for small boys; you get to talk about bodily functions in class and no one stops you! One morning this week, as I was doing my before school day web surfing, JT was quizzing me about body parts.

"Mom, is your bicep or tricep the one on top of your arm?" "Mom, where exactly is my liver?" Then he disappeared. A few minutes later, he came back in the room and said, "You are REALLY going to like what I did downstairs!" This being the kind of comment that puts fear in my heart, I immediately went down to check it out.

The picture on the right is what I found on the board in the classroom. (The stars were an unrelated bit of earlier art) Not bad, for his first serious attempt. I pointed out that the large intestine shouldn't really be connected to the stomach. That turned into a search for a good picture of the digestive tract. Here is what we found. Cool pic. We printed one out on card stock paper and started our studies. We used the same book by Dr. Mehmet Oz that we were using to study the immune system. We read about the function of each organ. When we got to the part about how bile works to make fat soluble and it was compared to dish soap cutting through grease, we went to the kitchen for an oil, water and dish soap experiment. Later we read about the evils of High Fructose Corn Syrup (which I have been telling him for years and now he believes) and the importance of fiber in our diets.

What an exciting day for both of us! He was engaged and learning. I felt that I had provided opportunity for him to explore something important. Most importantly, he saw that when he had a question, he could do the work to find an answer.

I have found that since we have moved out of the Calvert material and onto our own agenda, we are spending more time per subject and covering fewer subjects per day. This has allowed us the freedom to really dive into each topic.

For history, we have been watching the DVD's of the John Adams series done by HBO. The series is based on the book by David McCullough. Some of the content is not appropriate for 8 year olds, but I have previewed and skipped when I thought necessary. If you have not watched it, I highly recommend this series.

In math, we continue to use the Fractions book in the Life of Fred series. We have slowed the pace a bit and added supplemental material to be sure JT is confident in each concept before moving on. We also drill some multiplication facts daily.

Overall, I think this last month is going to prove to be the most exciting month of schooling this year. I hope we can keep it up in the fall. Actually, JT has asked if we can keep having spelling tests through the summer.... I'll have to think about that one.