Side trip

One of the things I love most about homeschooling is the chance to take a side trip.  When I was thinking about homeschooling last year (a lot), I kept seeing opportunities that I would have jumped on.  The Royal Wedding- we would have gotten up to watch the wedding coverage, had a proper English breakfast, done a quick lesson on the British Monarchy, had a nap and probably ended the day with a Monty Python movie (oh, why not?).  The day of the last space shuttle flight - watch the lift off, visit the NASA and ISS websites, research the history of the shuttle program, watch Apollo 13 and then spend the evening identifying the constellations.

Well, nothing quite that big has hit since we started homeschooling, but today was the birthday of Lewis Carroll.  So, after math and reading, we took a little side trip.  We watched Alice in Wonderland (neither the Disney nor the Johnny Depp version, but the 1999 version which is much closer to the original story); had a proper English tea, complete with funny hats; and read several of Carroll's poems.

We discussed Carroll's writing style and how the Boys saw several similarities to Dr. Seuss.  We talked about how ironic it was that, despite his wild imagination, Carroll was a math professor by day.  And, most importantly, we discussed the joy of good tea.  We decided that we might make afternoon tea a weekly event.  Who knows?  Maybe I can even sneak in a few lessons in table manners!

read more

Adding on

Well, Egypt can definitely carry a unit.  Ancient Mesopotamia? Not so easily.  There was so much to do for Egypt that I really felt like we could have spent another week on it and still have stuff left over.  But we moved on to Mesopotamia last week and things got a little slow.  So this week, as we move into Ancient China, I'm moving away from focusing on just one unit at a time.  We added Chemistry this week and we are splitting our Unit Study time between the two.  It went very well.  We started on the study of matter and I had planned a few simple experiments about the states of matter.  The boys took off from there, wanting to see water go through the cycle of all three states.  So, out came the ice and the saucepans and we played with water for a good 30 minutes.

Then, we studied the properties of matter and played with gases.  Here they are making carbon dioxide in a measuring cup and trying to light a candle in it.

We'll be finishing up Ancient China this week.  Then we'll see if Chemistry can hold it's own for a week or two, because next up in Ancient History are the Greeks and the Romans.  That could take a whole month!

Also, three of my other main goals for us are more movement, more time outside, and volunteering.  It was 53 degrees today in January and we live right on the edge of one of the largest municipal parks.  So we grabbed Sanga and out we went for a hike.  It was gorgeous.  We stopped in at the nature center and after a short chat with their education specialist, we now have a weekly gig.  We'll be feeding the birds in the morning and checking the paths for obstructions before the school groups start arriving!

Here was our First Period today:

read more

Egyptian Unit - Final pictures

Even though today was officially a snow day (we plan to follow the regular school schedule, for now), we finished up our Egypt books today and did some more reading.  I am very pleased with how well the file books turned out.  And the best part?  The Boys both kept talking about how proud they were of the work they did.  Having them do something they were proud of, rather than the minimum required for the assignment, was one of my major goals.

Here are the Boys with all of their projects: the mummy mask, mini sarcophagi w/mummies, pharaoh portraits, clay ankhs and Eyes of Horace and their Egypt books (and the 3D pyramid puzzle we did over the holidays).

 Boy1's book:

Boy2's book:

OK - I can't figure out why one of those loaded sideways or how to fix it.  So just turn your head, ok?

Even though we used a double file book, which gave them 10 panels to work with inside, both Boys had topics left over they wanted to include.  I think they liked these so much because of how much they enjoy the "-ology" books.  We must have about 10 or 12 of them (Oceanology, Pirateology, Mythology, etc.).  They love opening the flaps, pulling things out of the little envelopes, flipping through the mini-books.  This was their own version of Egyptology, and a great final project for our unit. 

read more

Egyptian Unit Study

So, we have started with Egypt (a little bit of a skip-ahead in the Unit), for several reasons.  First of all, what's not to love about Egypt?  There is just so much to work with, from boats to pyramids to mummies.  There are so many resources about it, I've had to really narrow down the books and documentaries we are using.  Also, there was a large exhibit of Egyptian artifacts at our local museum - FIELD TRIP!

PBS's Egypt's Golden Empire series and website, the British Museum's Ancient Egypt site and the National Museum's of Scotland kids' site together gave us more lesson plans, information, pictures and interactive activities than we could get to.  The Boys have made a virtual mummy (which required some in-depth knowledge of mummification techniques), a real mummy mask, a mini sarcophagus with mummy.  We have discussed in depth the chaotic reign of Akhenaten and the brief reign of Tutenkhamun.  They have written in hieroglyphics, played Senet and built a pyramid.

Here's the mummy mask in progress.  We decided that plaster casts are a great project and they've already asked if they can do a mask from each civilization we study.

Here, they are starting on their folder books.  I was a little surprised at how well they took to the idea (even though it is a homeschooling staple).  They are having a great time putting them together.  I'll post pictures when they are complete.  Here they are starting with a map of Ancient Egypt.

Another very popular activity - bean bag tossing (see previous post about the Bal-A Vis-X program).  They are tossing bean bags while I read aloud from the Red Pyramid by Rick Riordian.

The Red Pyramid has been a great tie-in for reading.  We all really enjoyed the Percy Jackson books and this has been just as exciting.  It's also filled with references to Ancient Egyptian Gods.  The Boys are constantly jumping on the references as I read and filling in the details from what we have learned.  We're almost finished with our Unit - I'll post the final pictures of all the projects soon.

read more

Our Approach

To introduce you to a little of what we are doing...
We are definitely from the Eclectic Homeschooling camp.  I have pulled together resources from several different curricula, depending on what I think will appeal to the Boys.  We have started with the Ancient Civilization unit from Intellego.  I really like how their unit studies are put together - just enough structure, links, ideas and resources to give me a framework.  Combine that with a few dozen library books, some documentaries and tons of hands-on projects, and we've got a month's worth of Unit Study.  The Unit block takes up the biggest portion of our day and I've been tying in anything I can think of to our Unit: art, reading, writing and even math. 

For our math studies, I have chosen Life of Fred, a very unconventional, but very thorough, reading-based math study.  So far, the Boys are really enjoying it.  Reading is a constant at our house, so I have just been giving the Boys reading time every afternoon.  We also are always doing a read-aloud together, sometimes more than one (one with Dad in the evening, one with me during the day).  Writing, on the other hand, has always been a chore for the Boys.  Santa brought them each a copy of The Boys' Doodle Book by Andrew Pinder (smart Santa!).  It's a great way to get boys to doodle and write using some very imaginative prompts.  They also each got a new journal and spend some time every few days writing in it.

There are several other priorities that I am working on.  Movement is a big one.  We take a break during Unit study time and toss some bean bags around.  I am following the Bal-A-Vis-X method that I bought several years ago to give us some good throwing patterns that work on crossing the mid-line.  We also do some tossing back and forth each day standing on the balance board.  We'll work up to the ball bouncing as we get better at the patterns.  Here's an good introduction to the program:

Another great resource I've found is Energizing Brain Breaks.  There's a book and several videos on YouTube.  I'm trying to take baby steps and add only one thing at a time - we'll be adding a short meditation time soon and then maybe some yoga. Since the winter weather has held off, we go for several walks a day, sometimes 3 or 4.  Our dog Sanga is getting a LOT of attention.

So far, I am very please with how well we've been covering the major topics each day - Unit study, math, reading, writing, movement and art.  The Boys have been enjoying it so much, it hasn't been as difficult as I though it would be to stay on task!

read more

The Beginning

We finally took the leap!  After several years of frustration with the public school system and many years of wondering why both my boys hated school so much, I finally quit my job and pulled the boys out of school.  Our experience in public schools has been mixed, at best.  My boys were lucky - we got a lottery slot at one of the best elementary schools in the county.  They have both had wonderful teachers - caring, experienced and so willing to work with us on any issue that came up.  So many of them were so inventive, working within the curriculum to give the children hands-on experiences.  And yet, it was a daily struggle to get the boys to school and to get their homework done.

I know...boys who don't want to go to school and don't want to do their homework.  What's new about that?  But then I started to question, why does it have to be that way?  My boys are naturally very curious and love learning about stuff at home.  They are voracious readers (when it's not an assignment).  Why does school have to be so different?

Part of the problem is just being boys.  My boys are active, antsy, silly and talkative.  All things that don't go over well when someone is trying to herd 25 students along on the same lesson.  My boys are distracting to others.  They can't sit still for very long.  And they need breaks and recess.  Desperately.  They need physical activity.  They are an unstoppable force; and, unfortunately, schools have become an unmovable object.

What if there was a way that they could learn without being made to feel like they could never do anything right?  What if it were ok to bounce and jump around while listening to a story?  What if you could write about what interested you?  What if you were allowed to follow your own passions?  We plan to find out.

read more