Suburban Homestead

How We Homeschool - Week 2

It finally feels like we are getting in the swing of things this week. Last week marked our first week of full-session classes/tutoring sessions, but Beanie was out in DC with my mom. She's finally back home and we just wrapped up our first solid week all together. This is how we did it:

IN THE CAR THIS WEEK

I love audio books. I can NOT tell you how good audio books are for us. For all that time spent in the car each week, instead of the pop music, we go educational. 

The Shakespeare Stealer, by Gary Blackwood. Picked this one up on the recommendation of the librarian when looking for Renassance relevant content in preparation for the fair. So far, so good. Kids are hooked, and I'm super happy to discover this is an actual series with two more books to go. 

Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson. This one was for me, and my prepping for the Renaissance refresher. But like so many adult books I read or listen to, I feel there is a lot of wonderful information that is perfect for curious young minds. Typically I listen to these while alone in the car to make sure the content is OK for young ears, and then I play it again while they are with me. They always tune in, and I just love that. I don't believe our culture gives kids enough credit for what they can take in. Here is another adult audio book we enjoyed together in the car.  

MONDAY

9:30 – 3:00 Homeschool in the Forest

Emailed summaries from pack leaders:

5yos group: n/a

7yos group: "Howdy Dirt Timers, Our focus of the day was to start learning about landmarks, where north is and continue learning about hazards and nature awareness techniques.  We also had some acorns we needed to process. So we did quite a lot! We started by taking the sunny side route around Lake Lagunitas, learning about fox walking, a way to move silently in the woods.  At lunch we found a spot by a dried up creek with lots of rocks we could use for acorn processing.  We found lots and lots of lizards and slamanders and spent our time getting to know them. On our way back we identified poison oak and some yellow jackets. We came back to the picnic area at the end of the day to start looking at our own maps, and pointing out where we went that day. 

 

Connections for home:

Journal 5 main venomous animals and poisonous plants of the area

Create a map of your backyard

Challenge yourself to try to find north as you go to different places"

 

10yos group: "Greetings everyone, We had a fun day today - starting with a wild game of "Equinox" - I think it ended up being pretty much like Ultimate Frisbee but with a ball: adults versus youth.  It was epic - super exhausting and fun and funny.  And I think we might have even learned a little about equinox meaning equal night.  

 

We headed out on the land in search of oak trees and acorns, as they have been falling at my house for days...the big mystery was where are the Black Oaks, and are there any Valley Oaks up at the lakes?  We started with snack by the creek talking about how smart squirrels are with their harvesting - and the mysteries of White Oaks and Red Oaks (and Black Oaks and Blue Oaks too)...took a peak into Bon Tempe for a potential otter sighting (no luck this time) as we took turns wondering ("I wonder...") about the lake.  We came upon some trail closures my 'Monkey Fist' (a game and place) so walked around the peninsula, exploring the water's edge.  From the double-crested cormorant to the common merganser (noted by its red head), we listened to red-shouldered hawk call, especially as we took a break from conversation and just listened.  Our oak knowledge was challenged as I invited everyone to draw an oak leaf with eyes closed.  We got some creative renditions, which improved as we tried again eyes open.  After finding 5 species of oaks on the trail, we drew each at the end of our day - with leaves and acorns to compare and contrast.  We'll see what is remembered next week.

 

A game of capture the flag ended our day with some fun and teamwork.  A reminder to gather acorns this week/weekend - especially valley oak, black oak, and tan oak if you get into the forest."

 

4:00 We head into the city to celebrate the 5yos birthday, per his request.

 

BEDTIME READING:

10yo: The Roman Army: The Legendary Soldiers Who Created an Empire

Little kids: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

 

TUESDAY

9:00 - 12:00 Big kids enrolled in locally taught homeschool courses Language Arts + Drawing Out Arithmetic (playing with the ancient tools of compass and straight edge, children will discover the skills and methods employed by the Ancient Greeks to uncover enduring mathematical truths"). I hang out and watch until the 5yo gets restless. When I picked the older kids up at noon, both were THRILLED with their morning of math. I'm THRILLED too! Neither have ever been THRILLED with math, but this hands-on, down on the floor approach is perfect for them. Their teacher D. is incredible and walks me through what they did so I can reinforce it back at home this week. 

While big kids are doing the above, Tiny Buns and I head home and bake mini muffins for his preK birthday celebration. You can learn A LOT of math through baking!

12:00 - 2:00 Open studio art class for homeschoolers. Imagine a fully stocked open room and the freedom to create whatever you want. My kids love to spin clay on the wheel, as well as build terrariums and doll houses.

1:00 - 4:00 Play-based PreK for Tiny Buns. I'm just driving all over the place at this point.

2:15 - 3:15 Music for the 10yo. Last year he started classical piano and continued through the year with little passion other than the for the desire to be able to play well. He now studies with a great musician, in an open studio, exploring any instrument he wants, learning any song he desires. It works much better for him and he is now engaged and enthusiastic to learn. While he is in session, Beanie and I review medieval attire and brainstorm costume designs for the upcoming Renaissance Faire. I suggest we review art of the time and pick one favorite person depicted and recreate their attire. My mind moves to paper as a medium, ala Isabelle de Borchgrave. She'd begs to just add this dress to her cart and be done with it. Oh well...I tried.

3:45 Soccer drop-off, 4:00 PreK pick-up, 5:15 Soccer pick-up

At home the kids play legos for several hours until it's time for bed. While construting stuff I read to them about the Rennaisance period and I'm impressed with how tuned-in they are - asking questions, commenting, etc. Beanie tries re-constructing The Globe Theater in legos. :-) I'm in heaven and continue reading for an hour.

 

WEDNESDAY

Wake up to the sounds of kids playing *black plague* - "Kill the rats! Kill the rats!!" 

10:00 - 11:00 In-home Spanish class with tutor. Kids and I meet with "Señor Jason". We are still finding our way here, as this exact situation is new to both of us. He is used to older students and the work being done seated and at a table with worksheets. We continue to experiment with different ways to keep three little kids engaged for a solid hour. Today we spent it in the yard, learning our numbers through games - hide-n-seek and Simon Says. A great hour.

 

11:45 - 12:45 Beanie takes science with 7yos (while big kids play in the yard). Report from instructor for this week: 

"Our experiment was a mass  and acceleration experiment.  We had three balls of different masses.  We weighed each mass.  Each mass was dropped in an area of flour from the same height.  The masses created craters in the flour.  The size of the crater was larger for the bigger balls, but deeper for the more massive balls.  The balls accelerated at different rates because of their mass, which created a deeper crater.  

 

Mass - the amount of matter in an object

 

Acceleration - the rate at which an object speeds up.  

 

Newton's Second Law of motion - Force equals mass times acceleration (F=ma)"

1:00 - 2:00 Beanie (and the 7yos) move over to poetry class with lovely language arts instructor. 

1:00-2:30 Science with J - great homeschool class organized by a fellow mom, and taught at her house to a group of four by a UC graduate student. Lots of great content for these kids - unlike anything they'd be offered at this age in public school.

"This week, we tested how sensitive different areas of our body are to touch.  We constructed cards with pricking toothpicks that were set different distances apart.  If that part of the body could feel the two pricks as two pokes, then it was more sensitive.  The more sensitive parts were able to feel the two pokes even when they were close together.  

 

We compiled our data from our test and made of list of most sensitive to least sensitive areas and assigned each part a number sensitivity based on the distance between pricks.

 

Put your numbers into this homunculus generator.  

 

http://www.maxplanckflorida.org/fitzpatricklab/homunculus/

Click on a model and plot your number on the side.  The number for each region of your body is the last time you felt the two pokes as two pokes.  

 

We also built a large model of a neuron to explain how the body feels the pokes and passes the message along to the brain through a pathway of neurons.  Neurons are amazing cells in the body that use chemical neurotransmitters to transmit messages."

 

3:30 - 5:30 Beanie goes to her grandma's house for sewing and cooking instruction. At 5:30, my mom brings her home and we enjoy a three-generation dinner together.

6:30 The big kids catch two episodes of BBC's Robin Hood (a kinda-sort prep for the Renaissance Fair ;)

 

THURSDAY

8:15 - 9:15 The 10yo meets with a math teacher while the little kids play legos in the next room and I catch-up with stuff. 

9:30 – 3:00 Homeschool 4-wheel drive - the 10yo's second day a week in nature. Run by the same organization as Monday's class, this group happens have only boys enrolled at this time, which I love. It's great to see them just go off to be themselves with a great male leader.

Emailed summary from pack leader:

"After our first week's adventure up Loma Alta to check out the watershed from the perspective in the North, we ventured into the center of Marin - at least Central Marin - to take in our surroundings.  Little mysteries joined us the whole way: from galls on scrub oaks to lizards on rocks, we made our way to the rocky ridge, exploring healthy and not-so-healthy oaks & madrones along the way...a little research project for us all, as we scout the county for health of ecosystems and species.

 

As we hopped from rock to rock in the chaparral on the ridge, our trail disappeared and it took a coyote crawl to make our way through the scrub into the open grassland overlooking Bon Tempe Lake and Mount Tam.  A beautiful view, indeed.

 

Atop a nearby knoll, we oriented to our surrounding mountains - from Loma Alta in the North, China Camp's San Pedro Mountain in the East, Mt Tam in the South, and Pine Mountain in the West.  For our Monday Dirt Timers, we spotted a tree we had climbed and beach we had walked upon just a few days earlier.  Connecting the dots - that's part of what this program is all about.

 

With gravity helping us, we descended a ridge through a Black Oak forest, and after a quick review of Oak trees and Oak ID, we searched for acorns the whole way down.  Amazingly, or at least surprisingly, almost none in site.  They have been falling on my roof and porch for weeks now.  The search continues... 

 

In the dry creek that is part of Alpine Lake, we visited reptilian friends as some of our herpetologists of the group helped catch and identify them.  So we played a game of camouflage where I was the herpetologist (one who studies reptiles and amphibians) while they all hid in the marsh grasses.  Our game ended with a chase to catch those quick 4-leggeds.  We did some tracking on the shore of the lake, finding deer tracks and some mysterious (and huge) prints.  As some found a rock to perch upon, others continued the search for frogs.  We all gathered our energy as we climbed up a different ridge back up to Azalea hill, again on the acorn search.  Instead of yummy black oak acorns we found plenty of unripe Coast Live Oaks.

 

Back up on the rocks, we took time for a sit spot to be solo and quiet for a handful of minutes, drawing or writing something that we saw or felt.  After the silence evolved into whispers, I called them back to share anything about their experience.  A quick descent to the van and our day was done."

10:25 - 11:05 PeeWee soccer is ridiculously cute! Beanie plays on a nearby playground at this time, but normally I see us reading or working on something. 

1:00 - 4:00 PreK

1:15 - 2:15 7yo has first day of group French class, K - 3rd.

4:00 - 10yo journals about day in nature. He hates to write. I'm not terribly worried about this as he's a great reader, and when he has to write, he does just fine. That said, I am making him keep a journal about his nature days seeing as they are his favorite. Two days a week he comes home and has to write about his adventures. We review it together and I have him make corrections. More than anything, I just want to improve his penmanship. 

FRIDAY

In the morning at breakfast, I read the kids chapter one of Shakespeare for Kids. Great content and 21 activities to get kids familiar with the master. I'm really excited about this one.

9:00 -10:00  Family Spanish tutoring lesson. These are getting better! A bit chaotic at first, Señor Jason and I are finally figuring out how to get Spanish to these kids in a fun ways. Being outside helps immensely! We work on some basic phrases, having them copy in their notebooks what he's written on the post-its. He tells them they must memorize all phrases by next Wednesday. We finish up with a game of tag. 

10:00 - 4:00  We drive to St. Helena (listening to The Shakespeare Stealer) and visit the amazing Castillo di Amorosa as part of this month's focus on all things medieval through 16th century, and in preparation for next weekend's Renaissance Faire. Super cool!

BEDTIME READING: CASTLE, by David Macaulay

 

EXTENDED LEARNING (er, uh - THE WEEKEND)

Soccer games Saturday, it's Beanie's first game ever, Dad is coaching. She's a tiger and makes a goal! This is huge for her. At night, I take the big kids out to see a screening of I AM ELEVEN. It makes for great conversation on the way home. Sunday, Dad takes boys to the Sacramento Reptile Show. This marks the final stop on a long journey of researching, planning, working, and saving. After months of build-up and preparations, the 10yo got to buy is baby Bearded Dragon today!!

How We Homeschool - Week 1

This week marked our first official week of homeschool! While we've been ramping up slowly for several weeks, and even though I thing we are always learning,  last Monday was the start of all our remaining classes, and the tight schedule we need to stay on to keep it all going seamlessly. Here is how we did it:

IN THE CAR THIS WEEK

We spend A LOT of time driving around town all week and so to keep them interested (and, quite honestly, quiet) we always have a stack of audio books in the passanger seat. I swap out different ones depending on what combo of family members are present. 

How To Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Crowell. I checked this one out for Tiny Buns but we were all happily surprised to find we ALL loved it. Beautifully narrated by Scottish actor, David Tennant. This one was in preparation for our Renaissance block and the upcoming fair (a stretch, I know. But remember - I got it originally for the 4yo.)

Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson. This one was for me, and my prepping for the Renaissance Faire. But like so many adult books I read or listen to, I feel there is a lot of wonderful information that is perfect for curious young minds too. Typically I listen to these while alone in the car to make sure the content is OK for young ears, and then I play it again while they are with me, driving here and there. They always tune in, and I just love that. I don't believe our society as a whole gives our kids enough credit for what they can take in. Here is another adult audio book we enjoyed together in the car. 

 

MONDAY

9:30 – 3:00 Homeschool in the Forest

I drop the boys off for their first day in *the forest* this fall. It's the (now) 10yos second year with the program, and absolutely his favorite time of the week. Today was Tiny Buns' first time ever and he was so, so excited. He'll be in the Pup Pack for 4-5 yos. (Beanie is in DC this week playing tourist with her grandma. Their Monday plans include a tour of the presidential monuments.)

An emailed summary of Homeschool in the Forest read:

“On Monday we went over main hazards and safety protocols in a few rambunctious skits and then split into our groups by age.  Each group went and explored a different place on the land to check in on the plants and animals there. 

My group, which is the middle ages 8-10 group, ventured to *the lake* following a magical map that got a new point marked on it every time the group completed a challenge. The challenges ranged from listening for different types of birds to finding plants suitable for fire making to finding signs of animals.  Along the way we played monkey fist, a game teaching awareness and coordination which the group quite enjoyed. 

We are already starting to get ready for our harvest festival. So if you have any large, non-pointy acorns or see any, please collect them in a bag and send them with your child to dirt time.  We will process them :)"

3:00 - 5:00 Pick-up boys and grab a friend's child from middle school for our weekly trip to the library. We spend about an hour there researching topics of interest, reading to ourselves, as well as to Tiny Buns. 

TUESDAY

9:00 - 12:00 The 10yo (and usually Beanie) attend homeschool courses Drawing out Arithmetic and Language Arts. Their math class is perfect for both of them:

"By playing with the ancient tools of compass and straight edge, children will discover the skills and methods employed by the Ancient Greeks to uncover enduring mathematical truths. Students will learn addition and multiplication and even some division and fractions by drawing lines, polygons and circles. A playful and experimental approach seeds young minds with mathematical ideas that will serve them for life."

12:00 - 2:00 Open studio art class for homeschoolers. Imagine a fully stocked open room and the freedom to create whatever you want. My kids love to spin clay on the wheel, as well as build terrariums and doll houses.

1:00 - 4:00 Play-based PreK for Tiny Buns. I'm just driving all over the place at this point.

2:15 - 3:15 Music for the 10yo. Last year he started classical piano and continued through the year with little passion other than the for the desire to be able to play well. He now studies with a great musician, in an open studio, exploring any instrument he wants, learning any song he desires. It works much better for him and he is now engaged and enthusiastic to learn. This week it was Elenor Rigby on the guitar. 

After music the 10yo is beyond tired, and it's hot out, so I let him skip soccer practice. He comes home, jumps in the pool and craps out on the couch listening to his audio book, Rick Riordan's The Battle of the Labyrinth

 

WEDNESDAY

10yo wakes and listens to audio book in bed before chores and breakfast.

8:00 - 9:30 10yo and I watch and interesting documentary, Manufactured Landscapes. (Tiny Buns entertains himself with crafty stuff.)

"Jennifer Baichwal's cameras follow Edward Burtynsky (1955- ) as he visits what he calls manufactured landscapes: slag heaps, e-waste dumps, huge factories in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces of China, and a place in Bangladesh where ships are taken apart for recycling. In China, workers gather outside the factory, exhorted by their team leader to produce more and make fewer errors. A woman assembles a circuit breaker, and women and children are seen picking through debris or playing in it. Burtynsky concludes with a visit to Shanghai, the world's fastest growing city, where wealth and poverty, high-rises and old neighborhoods are side by side." 

Movie sparks conversation about consumption, waste and recycling. 10yo vows to never buy another thing. ;)

10:00 - 11:00 @home science block to prepare kid for afternoon (homeschool) class – anatomy/brain refresher, constructing 3D models, watchTed Talk, illustration labeled.

1:00-2:30 Science with J - great homeschool class organized by a fellow mom, and taught at her house to a group of four by a UC graduate student. Lots of great content for these kids - unlike anything they'd be offered at this age in public school.

"We reviewed the parts of the brain while looking at the preserved brain sample.  We identified the following parts.

1. Dura mater - tough outer covering of the brain
2. Cerebrum - the uppermost parts of the brain split into two sections the right and the left
3. Gyri - the large folds of tissue on the cerebrum
4. Sulci - grooves in between the gyri
5. Cerebellum - the rounded structure at the back of the brain
6. Corpus callosum - connects the left and right side of the cerebrum

We also briefly talked about the four lobes of the cerebrum:

1. Frontal lobe - judgement, decision making, reasoning, memory, emotions, motor skills, language skills
2. Parietal lobe - senses of touch, pain and temperature, storing data, spatial relationships
3. Temporal lobe - auditory processing, smell, emotion, memory, speech
4. Occipital lobe - vision

We also began our exploration of how the body processes the sense of touch and began to map out our body's sensitivity.  We constructed cards with pricking toothpicks that were set different distances apart.  If that part of the body could feel the two pricks as two pokes, then it was more sensitive.  The more sensitive parts were able to feel the two pokes even when they were close together.  

 

We will compile our data from our test and make of list of most sensitive to least sensitive areas and assigned each part a number sensitivity based on the distance between pricks."

 

THURSDAY

8:15 - 9:15 10yo has private math tutor. Today was first day, although we did have two trial meetings over the summer. He is terribly reluctant to go. He's certain he will not like it. She opens up the year with a little geometry, and in the hour, teaches him a card trick that helps drive home the lesson. He comes out saying, "Mom, it was actually fun!"

9:30 – 3:00 Homeschool 4-wheel drive - the 10yo's second day a week in nature. Run by the same organization as Monday's class, this group happens to be boys only which I love. It's great to see them just go off to be themselves with a great male leader.

"Greetings everyone,

I had such a wonderful day today - after falling asleep to gentle rain and waking up to clearing skies, I knew it would be a good one.  It was so great to see returning students (and a handful from Monday as well) and meet new friends.  We have a sweet crew of 9 boys, and had tons of fun together.  From our game in the morning working together as squirrels, to our game on the top of the hill (again as squirrels...a theme here around the acorn harvest) it was great to see how well everyone got along and worked together.  We spent the morning reviewing safety in the creek bed (on the White Hill Middle School side of Loma Alta Open Space, Fairfax).  Once the morning rain subsided and we finished our skits, we followed the creek noting poison oak (close, but hopefully not too close), and some edible plants.  We got to know each other a little more with a game of "The Big Wind Blows" as we shared some of our experiences in nature and got to see who else had experienced that as well.  

 

We transitioned ecosystems as we climbed up the hill, finding an epic rock to have lunch on and simply enjoy the 360 degree views of beauty.  We practiced a little distant botany - identifying trees across the valley based on size and color.  Leaving packs behind we made our way to the top for our game, a sit spot, and a walk of the labyrinth.  We looked out on the hills and shared where we want to go and some sharing of what we are looking forward to this season.  

 

A descent down the hill took us past a highlight - a rattle snake a few feet off the trail, tucked in the bushes.  A good reminder to everyone: to let me lead, to communicate with each other, and to keep our distance.  Seeing the beautiful snake from a safe distance was a highlight for many, as we shared at the end of the day.  Nikos suggested we rename it Rattlesnake hill, after a different sighting last spring...we were all safe and learned what to do when we see one - in case our morning skits wasn't enough.

 

We'll be heading to Hawk Hill either this week or next week (based on the weather) to witness the raptor migrations.  Check out their website: http://www.parksconservancy.org/conservation/plants-animals/raptors/research/daily-hawk-count.html

 

348 Raptors sighted in 6 hours on Wednesay! Amazing right?

 

The peak of migrations is late September, so the time is now."

10yo comes home absolutely exhausted and veges out for hours on the couch listening to his audio book.

7:00PM - After dinner the 10yo and I watch the first episode of the first season of BBC's Robin Hood. I checked the first season out at the library in preparation for our visit to the Renaissance Fair next month. Technically, it's a story told in the 12th century, but whatever. I figure I'm setting the flavor. 

I drive to the airport late to pick-up my mom and Beanie. Weeeee!!!  

FRIDAY

9:00 -10:00  First day of Spanish tutor, although we had one trial class. Today was tough...really tough. The two younger kids gave it a great effort, focusing on the written alphabet and noting the Spanish pronunciation of each letter, per tutor's request. 10yo - not so much. The plan is to bake cookies in the kitchen with tutor and to learn some related Spanish, starting on numbers as well.  It all starts to unravel around 9:35 and I wonder if he isn't going to quit us. After he leaves, I have a serious talk with the kids about what happened. I make the 10yo re-write the in-class assignment three more times. He takes about two hours to do it. I'm guessing the lesson has been learned and that he will put more effort forward on Wednesday. He's a great kid, but starting a new school year always take a bit more effort. 

 

While the big kid works on his Spanish, I find Beanie and Tiny Buns playing with all the anatomy models left out from Wednesday. I bought these last year when the then 9yo said he wanted to learn more about the body. After investing in all this blood and guts, he decided he didn't have the stomach for it and instead wanted to focus on nutrition, which we did, starting with this great read. I wondered if and when we'd ever use these again and sure enough, I got to pull them out when his science focus moved to anatomy. I would have never guessed that these would then be so interesting to the others as well. Who knew Beans would gravitate to all this, and yet, she does! I let her run with it and for over three hours (!!!), she assembled and disassembled models, set-up a whole hospital ward, cared for all the sick, skinless patients, she even took *notes* while doing her *rounds*. One of the many reasons I love homeschooling - you just never know what bonuses are about to surprise you. 

6:45 - 9:00 PM  Beanie is too tired to join us, but the 10yo and I take in a little music/American history block by catching the movie Take Me To The River. :)

"A documentary about the soul of American music. The film follows the recording of a new album featuring legends from Stax records and Memphis mentoring and passing on their musical magic to stars and artists of today."