Snowflakes, books, and crunching the numbers!

I've been planning ever since Day One of this school year to update this blog regularly. As you can see, I've fallen a bit down on the job. Ahem.

But I did want to post a recent update, and leave the rest to the mercy of New Year's Resolutions.

Catherine read 61 books in November (yay!) which was her stated goal for getting her ReadIt! pizza. So we'll be having a pizza lunch sometime next week. (In truth, she read more. Those are the ones she remembered to tell me about so that I'd mark them on my list.) A mix of chapter books and easier readers.

Yesterday, Isabella and Catherine made snowflakes out of pipe cleaners, string, and supersaturated Borax. They turned out great. My advice would be to use as wide a jar as possible. The crystals form b/w the jar and the flake, and I had to pry it loose! Here's a link to the instructions if you want to try it yourself.

Oh, and our big news! Catherine is done with first grade math! We're moving on to Level 2A in Singapore Math, having completed Level 1A and 1B (along with Alpha in Math-U-See). Catherine's very proud of herself, and I'm proud of her, too. We've spent a lot of time working on the word problems in particular, and she's really developed a sense of how to think in mathematical terms.

As for Isabella, she's doing so great! Her speech is coming along nicely, and she "reads" (i.e., carries a book around) all the time. She's doing great at counting (though she skips "six" all the time ... poor Mr. Six!). Both girls are taking piano, and are doing great!

That's enough for now. Next homeschool post will be more in depth ... and with pictures!

"He gave his life for tourism ..."

So ...

we've been doing Egypt, and Catherine read a book on King Tut. I got on line, found out the Tut exhibit is coming to Dallas next year, reserved slots, and then showed the girls the material on the web. They thought it was very cool.

And then ...

I remembered Steve Martin's King Tut, so I searched YouTube and found it.

Who would have thought two little girls, ages 6 and 4, would be sooooo enamored. Isabella has (for two days now) come over and over into my study making the sign for silly and pointing to the television. Needless to say, they are enraptured. And dancing "Egyptian" too.

In case you don't remember it (or are just too dang young) here you go:



Thanks, Steve Martin, for making my week. Not to mention entertaining my kids and supplementing our classical education with a mixture of whimsy, retro, and pop culture!

A Reading Machine ...

Catherine is, in her own words, a "reading machine." And Don and I couldn't be happier. She LOVES to read. Anything and everything. Getting her to go to sleep at night is torture, since she wants to sit up and read. Really, what could make a mom happier????

Her current favorites are the Bailey School Kids books (she still loves Magic Tree House, but BSK has outpaced the time-traveling duo). What I love, is that she'll pick up science and history books and simply read to read. (And even better, Isabella "reads," too. They'll lock themselves up for hours with books -- though usually we have a meltdown in the end when Isabella's stamina fails to match her sister's. But such is life.)

We've signed up for the Pizza Hut Book It program, and in October, C hit her 50 book goal and got her free pizza. Encouraged, she upped her monthly goal for November to 61. Per Mommy Rules, these have to be books that she remembers to tell me she's read. (And I'm lenient with the easy ones; I figure for every early reader she reads, she's also read a chapter book).

Here's the list we made of the October books:

1.Vacation Under The Volcano
2. Amelia Bedelia's Family Album
3. Pinky and Rex and the Bully
4. Twister on Tuesday
5. Dolls of Danger
6. Sleeping Beauty
7. Winter of the Ice Wizard
8. Louis Braille bio
9. Angels Don't know karate
10. The Cat that Sat
11. The Hungry Thing
12. Clifford's Happy Mother's Day
13. Fossil Fever
14. Amelia Bedelia Helps Out
15. What a Bad Dream
16. Night Animals
17. Absolutely Lucy
18. Greek Myths
19. Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm
20. Scrambled Eggs Super
21. A Pet For Us
22. Septimus Bean and His Amazing Machine
23. Tikki Tikki Tembo
24. Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots
25. Why Do Cats Meow
26. Gilgamesh the King
27. The Shape of Me.
28. Mermaids Don't Run Track
29-32. Four Halloween books, the titles of which I forgot to note.
33. Kitten's First Full Moon
34. Goodnight Sweet Butterflies
35. Don't Forget to Come Back
36. Werewolves Don't Go To Summer Camp.
37. Leprachauns Don't Play Basketball
38. The Big Green Pocketbook
39. Ollie the Stomper
40. Dinosaur
41. The Mission of Addition
42. Insects are My Life
43. The Last Quest of Gilgamesh
44. Much Bigger than Martin
45. Baby Mickey Toys
46. Play Ball Baby Minnie
47. Baby Minnie's Treat
48. Baby Goofy Catches a Fish
49. Humpty Dumpty
50. Duck For President
51. Tigers at Twilight
52. Ghosts Don't Eat Potato Chips

Way to go, Catherine!

(And for the record, she's now had number the October personal pan pizza ... and it was a big, big hit!)

Ah, the Drama of it All!

I've been a bit out of touch for the last week. Why? Because my girls (and me) have been in rehearsals and performances for a local homeschooling kids' group production of THE WIZARD OF OZ.

More about that later (many blog-worthy episodes!), but I just wanted to show you some photos that my friend Julia London took at today's matinee performance!

My eldest is the tinman, my youngest both a flying monkey and a munchkin. And I (in order to wrangle the youngest) am the tallest munchkin ever and a monkey!

(As a sidenote, the play premiered at just about Chenchen's 6 month anniversary in the states. How cool is that? So much has happened in 6 months it's hard to believe!)

Life is good! Busy, but good!

Stanford Magazine: Homeschooling article

Stanford Magazine: November/December 2000: In a Class by Themselves

Here's an interesting article on homeschooling in the Stanford magazine.

The Guerrilla Curriculum: How to Get An Education In Spite of School by John Taylor Gatto

The Guerrilla Curriculum: How to Get An Education In Spite of School by John Taylor Gatto

Another thought-provoking article

"No Thank You, We Don't Believe In Socialization!"

Home Educator's Family Times - No Thank You, We Don't Believe In Socialization!

couldn't resist posting the link to this truly excellent article on the socialization "issue" that homeschoolers are often questioned about.

Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth

Wow. The problem of our graduates being less than competitive in math and science is not going to be solved by putting a calculator in their pockets, nor by avoiding the teaching of basic, solid algorithms. The TERC and Everyday Math methods are interesting, and any student who fully understands how numbers work should understand how to fashion those solutions. But first the student needs to understand -- math, that is. Not how to press buttons on a calculator. (And can I just say for the record how pleased I am that we're using Singapore ... even though even that method will require more drilling of math facts than is set out in the books.)

Bleah all around ....

Well, I guess I did jinx myself, as today was a major whinefest by both girls, both during school and after. Ugh! (Although Catherine did read all of Jack and The Beanstalk to me! And only needed help with one or two words: "giant" and "roared" -- Yay!)

And on top of that, I feel completely horrible. Tired and achy and sick to my stomach. How lovely is that?

So instead of the post I'd planned to do about Chenchen's first plane ride, instead, I'm posting my own whine.

WWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

A great day in the old schoolhouse ...

Today was one for the record books. Dare I write about it, lest Monday go horribly awry? Am I tempting fate?

Ah, what the heck. Here goes: Today was a banner day in the world of homeschooling, both C and CC. The kids learned things, which is actually a usual occurrence, but we had enthusiasm in every subject, plus the every popular Getting Along and Minimal Whining. Both girls getting A++s in both of those categories.

For those who like the down and dirty details (and because I just have to write it down to memorialize this amazing occurrence) here's an outline of the day's events.

We got up at 7:30, which is something of a miracle in and off itself. (While CC is an early riser, with the ice, she'd actually been sleeping in until 9. And I could sleep until noon if left to my own devices, as could CEK).

The girls watched their standard 1 show -- Go, Diego, Go
since CC actually likes it too (a brief aside while I cheer -- loudly -- about the fact that she will now watch things on television other than the Mei Mei DVD). I drank coffee. Life was good.

At 8, the girls got to the table for breakfast and school. I had CC cut pictures out of a magazine for later pasting on cards (we're making sign language flash cards). I will have to go back and re-do all of that, but she had a great time with the kiddie scissors, and let CEK and I start Day One of Latin (Prima Latina). We discussed the pronunciation, expressed amazement that those wacky Romans could have an alphabet without the letter W, and then proceeded to learn our 5 vocabulary words for the week (which, really, is next week, but the materials arrived yesterday, and CEK wanted to start. Who am I to argue with enthusiasm?).

We listened to the CD for Lesson 1, went over the vocab again, and then moved on to "can we do math next, mommy?" Sure thing, kiddo. Whatever my baby wants.

So on to math. Which consists at this point of making addition stories within 10. But the kid's got it down. After yesterday's moaning and groaning, she zipped through today, easily figuring out that the blank in 10=_____+3 was 7. Go, Catherine! (By this point, CC has moved on to gluing. she's gluing anything and everything down to construction paper. Works for me!)

She did her workbook pages in record time, and later during the day when I wandered into the playroom, I found 5+3=8 on the magnetic board. Always nice to know she's playing around with numbers even without me or a workbook urging her on!

After math, she did her handwriting/copywork quickly and neatly (amazing). So then we took a break to do "school" with CC. We made cards with signs on one side and a color on the other. Four cards today: Black, Blue, Red, and Green. Then we took the same colored blocks and sat in the living room. I showed CC and CEK the sign for each color, and then we focused on Blue. I had the girls run around the house finding things that are blue and bringing them back to the living room. CC did great! (This evening at bedtime she wasn't quite as consistent, but she correctly told me and dh in sign that my mousepad is blue at dinnertime, so I think the tiredness factor works against her.) Tomorrow, we'll do blue and add in another color. (Oh, I forgot, she had her first speech appointment yesterday. More about that later!).

The signing is because of the cleft, obviously, but it also helps simply with the change from one language to another. For words with front-palate consonant beginnings, I'm trying to get her to say the exaggerated sound. Not much luck, actually, but Amy (at speech) will probably have better luck. Her surgery is scheduled for March 2, so presumably things are going to change with regard to speech and her ability to form sounds soon anyway. Mostly, we're just trying to increase communication at this point.

We also played "If your name is X" ... and if there was any doubt that Chenchen knows her name is Isabella, it's been erased. She LOVES to respond when "Isabella" is supposed to do something. And for the most part, she understands what she's supposed to do (hug sister, stand on chair, meow like a cat). Her comprehension of English is coming along like lightening! Her spoken English is becoming better, too. Though most is still inflection, we (or, really, me and Catherine and sometimes Don) can understand her. Today, for example, she said, "Where's Daddy?" Inflection and expression made the question clear (and since I ran to the sign language book to look up "where," the question should be even clearer next time!)

Throughout all of this, CEK had been asking when she could do her "experiment." Since I had no idea what said experiment was, I was reluctant to give her a specific answer, LOL! (She originally told me only that she needed a glass. Uh-huh, right. That gives me a warm, fuzzy, my-things-won't-get-broken kind of feeling). However, now she tells me that she needs a glass and water and food coloring. Okay! That I can handle. Experiment is scheduled for after lunch while CC is napping. And since it's getting on about that time, I let them play while I pretend to think about editing a manuscript. After perpetuating that hoax for fifteen or so minutes, I give in and make lunch, then call the girls. We do the lunch thing, and CC goes down for a nap ... wait for it ... without complaint. Wow. The planets must be aligned or something. Or I won the parenting lottery. Truly. Amazing.

Anyhoo, the day continues on its rosy way, with CEK reviewing sight words at lunch. We've been doing OPGTTR, but I'd found a set of 100 flash cards for sight words, up to and including words from typical 3rd grade lists. I thought I'd just see what she's picked up from going through her readers, and while I'd expected her to know more than where we are in the phonics instruction, I really wasn't expecting her to do so well (brag alert: she only missed 4!). Yay, CEK!

After that, she got to do the experiment, which consisted of her mixing colors in a variety of beer glasses. Somehow, she always got to black (this is the same kid who cannot keep colored Play Doh; it all turns brown). But she was having fun and learning and that's what counts even if it did look nasty in the end!

At one point, I watched her stir and said "double double toil and trouble," which sparked a whole conversation -- what was I saying, what did it mean, who was Shakespeare, what's a cauldron, could I read the whole speech?

And I did. We read the whole speech about 3 times (learning in the process that "chaudron" means, basically, "guts"), and CEK decided that she wanted to learn the chorus part. After that, she proceeded to label the food coloring as things like eye of newt, zombie hair, dragon wings, and my personal favorite, mouse chaudron. Yum.

Our science experiment concluded, we moved to the couch for reading with Mommy. We're reading the story of Joseph (and the dreamcoat) and once finished, we have the animated show and the Donny Osmond version waiting at Netflix. I've never seen either, but I saw the musical on Broadway in teh 80s, and loved it. I have no idea if CEK will like it or not. We'll see! We also did some geography reading, and she was totally into it, and even begged for more (shock and awe!).

After that, we moved on to the Animals book from some Childcraft volumes I picked up at a library sale. These books are old, but fabulous! Well illustrated, simply written, yet interesting. We read about animals and how they move and eat (and CEK discovered with fascination that SHE is an animal, too!) and she proceeded to tell me that I didn't have to tell her about the butterfly's tongue, because she already knew that from Go, Diego, Go. She also knew about sponges from Spongebob (a fact which I met with some wariness, but, in fact, she had picked up on some basic concepts, particularly as involve Sandy needing her helmet for air, and SB needing water). Later, she flipped through the book, stopping at the microscopic section and informing me that she knew about plankton from The Magic School Bus. At least she's retaining information, LOL!

Finally, we ended with a few of the tasks of Hercules (from the Usborne book). VERY simplified, but clearly right at her level. Even more gratifying, she begs for more when I finish!

And thus endeth school. We did watch an episode of Meercat Manor (we have several Tivo'd, and I'm fearing for Flower. Don't tell me!) while the girls made airplanes out of boxes. The day ended with PE, also known as "leaping off the couch onto cushions," a popular pass time around these parts.

All in all, a great day. Ya gotta love it.

(And, yes, in the evening I even managed to get some real work done. Truly, a miraculous day!)