Literature, Book Baskets, and Independent Reading

I've been researching, collecting, and purchasing books I've got in mind for the 2008-2009 school year - and beyond! I've been simultaneously dreading and looking forward to this post for awhile now. I've been looking forward to it because it is the end result of research, a few Amazon orders, some swifty ebay bidding and library sales. I've been dreading it because the books were all over the house waiting to be organized, photographed and finally shelved!

It is my great hope that some of these will travel with my children as they grow up. Not literally, of course, but I hope these will grow vocabularies, shape minds, expand imaginations, ignite fires, and all the things great books can do. I don't expect we will get through each and every one - especially the history selections. Many of those will sit in a book basket, there for curiosity's sake. I will highlight some of the definites.

For Picasso (age 6) independent reading:



For Picasso's love of dragons. The Dragon Slayer Academy series is for free reading. Edith Nesbit's The Book of Dragons will be a group read aloud. The others will be for Picasso's read with Mom time.



Read alouds for Einstein (age 8) and Picasso. Trouble can play within earshot, and listen for as long as his attention span holds up. Burgess's Animal Stories are for Einstein to read to his brothers. Other books include: In Grandma's Attic, Railway Children, Ginger Pye, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Enchanted Castle, The Story of the Treasure Seekers. As you can see my boys have discovered Edith Nesbit. Einstein declared Nesbit his favorite author midway through Five Children and It - greater than C.S. Lewis! *gasp* ;) Five Children and It has been the most excited I've ever seen him about a read aloud!



Trouble's preK read alouds. Some of these he has heard as I've read them to his big brothers. Some of these are brand new. All have beautiful illustrations as well as some fun, poignant or memorable classics. Read alouds will include, but aren't limited to what I photographed.

Pictured below:
Mirette on the High Wire, Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, Katy and the Big Snow, Rumplestiltskin, The Clown of God, The Little House, Make Way for Ducklings, Strega Nona, Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, The Empty Pot, Miss Rumphius, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Lentil, The Story of Ping, The Legend of the Poinsettia, Andy and the Lion, The Big Snow, Curious George, Stone Soup, The Little Island, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and Blueberries for Sal.



History, history, history! I don't expect us to get through all of these. I also anticipate for the years of 1600-1850 to take us more than a year. We haven't finished 1500-1600 from last year yet. I do hope to get to the period of the first Thanksgiving by Thanksgiving, but this may be wishful thinking! This lots includes Columbus, Age of Discovery, Colonial Times, Native Americans, Early American History, Revolutionary War time and some info on presidents and states. It ranges from biographies to poetry, amazing facts to "If you Lived..." books. Hopefully it is a well-rounded group to give an impression of this rapidly changing time period in our history. Not pictured, but also included is the "Little House on the Prairie" series. I'm not sure what my boybaric boy-creatures will think of that. I loved them as a girl.

(By request! List coming soon. Or sooner than later. Well, eventually.)



Science. We are doing Earth and Space science this year. Besides this lot, we plan to use Discovery Education Streaming, Learning Resources *huge* inflatable planets and a model of the solar system. It will be a fun year!

Pictured below:
Sea Whales, Deserts, Mountains, DK Space Exploration, Volcanoes, Flat Stanley in Space, Child's Introduction to the Night Sky, The Geography Book, Amazing Space Facts, Our Solar System, Starry Messenger, Stars (All Aboard), Earthquakes, Moonwalk (Step into Reading), There's No Place Like Space, and The Planets in Our Solar System.



Last but not least... my summer reading. This is what I'd like to get through before summer vacation is over. In addition, I need to make a plan to coordinate those history read alouds chronologically, choose a writing plan, and be more purposeful about working with Trouble. Since he's so tiny, it's easy to forget that my older boys were reading at his age. Also, even though "Slow & Steady" is meant for ages birth to five, Trouble has been diagnosed as having a "developmental age" of 31 months. He will spend this year working on letter recognition, skills like cutting and pasting, simple math with manipulatives (teddy counters, rods and beads, etc.)

Pictured below:
The Sense of Wonder, Slow and Steady Get Me Ready, Real Learning, Primary Language Lessons, and Frommer's San Francisco day by Day.

School Shmool and Holy Clothes-Horse, Batman!

School shmool.

That's about how all of us are feeling about school these days. And I'm the worst of them. Today I even did the dreaded job of going through the Boybarians' closets. What a chore that is! Do you southerners do that chore? Today I took down, refolded and packed up every article of clothing in their closets. It. took. all. day! I pulled out all the summer clothes we haven't seen in months, opened them all up, see what would fit who, folded it all back up and distributed it where it needed to go. Oh the burden of having two separate wardrobes. Blah.

You know what else I discovered (while not doing school) today? Picasso had over 40 pairs of pants in his closet! I lost count of the shirts, but I had at least 10 piles...

Now, lest you all think I love shopping for little boy clothes... I will say... The Boybarians have boy cousins just a couple years older. And those boy cousins have boy cousins just a couple years older than them. So we get a long line of hand-me-downs. And while I might not love shopping for little boy clothes, their Nanie just can't resist having the most handsome Boybarian Grandsons on the planet. The boybarians also have 5+ sets of great/grandparents! So combined with generous loved-ones and all sorts of hand-me-downs it all sort of piles up by the time it gets to the second or third boybarian. But by the time it's just little Trouble left... I don't really need to save 40+ pairs of pants and 100+ shirts.

Incidentally, he is still wearing the 18-24 mo clothes I bought him 3 years ago. *sigh*

So we packed up all those piles of clothes. Off they go to new home! The closets look much more sparse, tons more tidy, and I can actually say with confidence (for once!) that everything in their closets are clean and fit them.

All this to avoid school. So what are you doing these days to avoid schoolwork?

ps - remember this guy? Some of you asked if he was rubber. Nope. He's real.

Six More Weeks of School!

I find this almost impossible to believe since it feels like we are just overcoming winter. Spring has sprung! I couldn't be more excited about the upcoming promise of warm weather... just could. not. be.

We are scheduled to finish our school year at the end of May. I can't believe that's so soon! We school mostly year round so we can take off for unexpected hospital visits, fighting burn out, days of nice weather, etc. We get so few warm outside months here in the Arctic Tundra Iowa, that we really need to enjoy those days when we get them. Either that or convince Handy Man to move us to North Carolina or Texas. ;)

So what have we accomplished in school this year?

Math: Einstein finished 2a, 2b and most of 3a. He also did Horizons Grade 2. He may even finish 3a yet this year. He is still just 7, so I'm not terribly excited about him starting 4th grade math while still 8 years old. I am so afraid of what will happen if he is ready for algebra in 5th grade. We took 8 weeks off doing his books (facts only) and he is still plowing through. Picasso dilly-dallied his way through 1a and most of 1b. He may or may not finish 1b by the end of May. I'm not terribly concerned, because if he were in public school he'd be a kindergartner. Again, I don't see any benefit of my 6 yo doing 2nd grade math. We will continue at his pace and pick up where we left off in 1b in July. I do not add Horizons for him because it takes him a long time just to complete his Singapore books. He is still working on pencil skills.

History: Gracious. The theme of history this year is TANGENT. We love love love Story of the World. It is a great launching pad into a billion other subjects. We are still in the times of knights and castles. But the boys are absolutely loving it! I won't hurry them along while they are still soaking and learning. I've abandoned the idea with will finish these books in a year. There's just too much and I'm not in a hurry. I love that they want to talk about catapults and defense systems, chivalry and feudalism. I asked them if they wanted to eat like a medieval family, then horrified them with what exactly that meant. We talked about the plague and rats. This led to talk about blood, DNA, dinosaurs, if Jurassic Park could really happen, and how diseases are spread. Again, tangent. We will pick up SOTW 2 where we left off and just plan to lolly-gag our way through next year, too. I don't see SOTW 3 getting any less interesting... so I plan for that to be 1.5-2 years, too. Fun!

Reading: I've been terrible about updating my sidebars, but we have really enjoyed our read alouds this year. The boys look forward to it as their favorite thing. Einstein has also taken a big leap this year in independent reading, doing Ralph Mouse series, the Hardy Boys (thanks Nanie!) and even few of the Narnia chapters. Picasso is also progressing well, preferring anything about Star Wars, or the Narnia readers. He is well beyond Dick & Jane and Nate the Great but not quite ready for bigger chapter books. That'll be the goal for the 2008-2009 school year.

Writing: *sigh* I think I mostly dropped the ball on this one. We were great about copywork until about February. And just when we should be upping the game, we abandoned it completely. I suppose I ought to use the last 6 weeks to reign in the last of it. Einstein is much more willing to take risks than he once was. He has also finished many of the Explode the Code books. We will pick up with ETC 7 and 8 after summer break. Picasso finished ETC 1 and 2. We will see how far he gets in ETC 3 before summer break. We'll continue the series. Explode the Code has been excellent for them. I can't remember why I ever stopped this series to begin with.

Science: Science started off as a trimester on birds, and then we mostly explored topics as they came up. We use Discovery Streaming Education. We've watched educational videos about habitats, animals, environments, animals, Australia, Oceans, the Polar regions, and the African Savannah. We also have several books they've read - of their own choosing - that definitely fall in the science category. Einstein made a book with bird illustrations, too. I can't wait to get it bound. He really wants a new digital camera for his birthday... so if he gets one... I'll let him add bird photos to his book before we bind it.

Preschool: Trouble, Trouble, Trouble. He is just his own little creature. I wish I had known about the Handwriting Without Tears preschool program when my other guys were little. It's so much more than writing. It's been a huge success for him. Through this I have learned that music gets through to him! I can get him to remember anything if we put it to song. I am now picturing him at 35 singing his phone number and social security number (eek!) but whatever works, right? He has taken great leaps and bounds. And while he cannot name any letters yet, he can match them 100% accurate, which proves he is paying attention to their details. He can also count/add with manipulatives, and repeat a 6-8 bead sequence. He still won't have anything to do with the playdough for the roll-a-dough letters... but slow and steady wins the race.

All in all it's been a great year. We've plowed through burn out, survived a week with Trouble in the hospital, and spent the entire month of March passing around germs. But regardless, we've grown up, explored great topics, made great strides and survived another long, cold winter inside. RSV season is over and it's time for the Boybarians to come out of hibernation and finish the rest of the school year with a bang. I love home education!

Howdy Y'all!

Green. Warm. Lush. Alive. What a change for a Northern girl. Texas is, well... huge. So maybe I should be more specific. The part of Texas (pronounced Tex-iz by the locals) near the gulf shore is tropical, warm and very alive this time of year.

In comparison, I think of words like...

Brown. Cold. Barren. Dormant.

... to describe my area this time of year. It's been a particularly rough winter. Usually by now we've had a little mercy. Global warming you say??? No ma'am. No wonder we are hard to convince to participate in global warming-relief efforts. No one believes it around here. We've had a colder year this year than the last nearly 15 years that I know of. Warming Shwarming.

Handy Man took some pictures while I was gone and emailed them to see what I was missing. He saw this:


I was looking at these:




Can anyone name those root things for me? Google is calling me, but I haven't had a chance to look 'em up. Anyone? Anyone? But the weekend was so much more than pretty Tex-iz scenery. It was a fantastic retreat! Good-bye civilization, good-bye coldness, hello good conversation, wee hours, lots of scrapbooking, and a homeschool partner-in-crime. It was so refreshing to have a great conversations about school, home, life, stuff that matters, stuff that doesn't. I feel reinvigorated. Thanks Jen for playing hostess with the mostest. Thanks to J-Bug and her pham who spent waaayyy too much time in a car on my behalf. I had a wonderful time and I'm lucky to know you. The Pham is gorgeous and fun to be around. Thank you for traveling to me! See y'all soon!

It was my first time meeting Jennefer. Travel across the country to meet a total stranger, you ask? Have you lost your marbles??? Well, that's debatable, fer sure. Jennefer is even more than her blog reveals. She is beautiful, fun, smart (don't let her tell you differently), and an absolute joy. Those are some lucky men-folk in her house! I enjoyed her company so much it was sad to see the hours fly by. And even though she didn't get nearly as much accomplished as she had planned because of our chit-chatting, I hope we can visit again soon. What a dear friend. There were others we had hoped who could make it who did not. Next time, girls. ;)

Can you believe my Handy Man planned most of this trip without me?! I must've been really driving him batty that he wanted me gone so badly. Thanks for the get-away Handy Man. It was a ggrrrreat trip. Regretfully, the people pictures did not turn out. There was a light glare above our heads. This was the only decent one I could salvage. I am SO disappointed.



I'm already lookin' forward to next time.

Warmth, Glorious Warmth!

If it weren't for the threat of 50 mph wind gusts I would just be squealing and jumping up and down right now. Now I just have a big smile and a nervous hop.

I'll preempt that by admitting I am the most motion sick prone person I know. I was car sick as a child, but still able to enjoy a good amusement park. As the years tack themselves on, it seems increasingly worse. Not kidding, I need dramamine to watch the Discovery Channel. I do a lot of travel, but I'm always Susie Passenger who is so loaded up on Dramamine I fall asleep before take off and I'm woken up by the pilot announcing our gate arrival. It's sooo much better than the embarassing alternative!

But I would take a commuter plane to get where I am going! Can you guess?

I am headed for a girls only weekend retreat hosted by one of the blogosphere's sweetest bloggers, Jennefer from Smooth Stones Academy. Jennefer was one of the girls (ahem, women) I connected to immediately. She has 3 little boys, homeschools, has a lot of the same goals for her boys as I do for mine. I'll forgive her for living somewhere so gloriously warm! As a bonus, I will get to hang out with my friend J-Bug who lives far enough away that this is a special occasion! Okay, now I'm jumping up and down.

So goodbye Artic Tundra, hello warmth! I'll take pics so my Arctic Tundra friends can remember what green looks like. ;)

Weekly Silly Report

Trouble's preK stuff arrived in record time. I placed the order late on a Monday night (after hours) and it was on my doorstep on Thursday morning. I love speedy shipping. It makes me wonder why anyone bothers to go to brick'n'mortars anymore. ;)

We've been working on Same or Different, puzzles, fine motor things like stringing beads and Cheerios, following sequencing patterns, and memorizing preK songs and rhymes: Baa Baa Black Sheep, Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, etc





I sooo tried to get a video to show his progress but he couldn't get over the sillies. He kept stopping mid-song to say things like "stinky socks!" or "underpants!" then break into hysterical laughter. He is such a performer. This is what he did when I asked him to show everyone what he can do... he mysteriously fell fast asleep...

The other boys are hanging at status quo. Long division is finally clicking and happily so - we've been doing problems on the dry erase board. We haven't transitioned to paper yet. Picasso is relectuantly moving through his school work, preferring to play at every moment. If I turn my eyes, he is instantly off track. I think we're ready for a break soon.

Now if only we could lose these barking coughs...

Trouble's PreK Learning Tools

Blogger's photo uploader crashed over the weekend, so I've not been able to get this post up. I've been hesitating to blog too much, but I know there are other parents out there that struggle with what to do and how to teach their children who don't follow a normal learning curve.

Over and over medical professionals tell me what a miracle it is that Trouble walks, talks, and breathes. Recently, Trouble was examined by an older doctor - someone who has been in this business a long, long time. He told me, "When I read his medical records, saw this boy's history... well, this is not the boy I expected to see. He is a medical miracle."

And while it takes my breath away each and every day the boy who he is, I am still the one (along with the loving support of Handy Man) who has to help guide and teach him to become the man he is meant to be.

This task feels gargantuan.

I have been pouring myself into forgetting everything I once knew about early education, and trying to relearn from the perspective of a special little boy who needs *more*. Most kids pick up things like letters, numbers, and skills necessary for life from everyday life. This boy has proven over and over that he is not just any little boy. ;)

I have researched Montessori, independent learning centers, tactile learning, and incorporating advice from his occupational therapist. This is what we've come up with so far:

Abadaba Alphabet, book and CD

School Zone, Same or Different?

Kumon's First Book of Tracing

Kumon's Amazing Amazes

Kumon My 1st Cutting Book

Textured Tactile Letters and Numbers


Touch Boards

Zip Snap Button Buckle Lace Tie Manipulatives

Jumbo 15" letters for decorating

Handwriting Without Tears PreK and K materials





Lauri foam lacing, puzzle, tactile Primer Pack and Math Discovery Kit


My Little ABC Coloring Book

Bead and Rod Sequencing, Pattern Kit

Shape Sorting Clock

Window Clings to practice letters

Glue dots - fine motor

ETC Get Ready for the Code

ETC Get Set for the Code

ETC Go For the Code

Besides the regular preK skills, we will be focusing on life skills: dressing independently, brushing his teeth (without the tears), bring able to think through the steps of getting ready to leave the house, getting ready for bed, etc.

I will be adding Montessori resources, and hopefully incorporate the life skills from June Oberlander's Slow and Steady, Get me Ready.

It's a big task, it'll be a big year, but I think both he and I are ready.

Weekly Monthly Some Sort of Report

Has anyone else besides me completely lost track? Since we school mostly year-round, I have no idea what week we're on or when the last time I reported anything was. But this one is for Ms. Candy, our supervising teacher, who requested an update to what's going on here at Mill Creek Academy. It's a report of some sort! ;)

Einstein:
Einstein finished Ralph S. Mouse and is reading Mouse and the Motorcycle. Yep, we know it's out of order, but that's the order he started, so be it. He is also reading the first in the Hardy Boys series: The Tower Treasure. He is liking the mystery and the fact this series was read by his father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers since it was published in 1927. He also read an adapted version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He loved the idea of a creepy "headless horseman". Such a boybarian!

He finished Explode the Code 5 and started book 4. Out of order seems to be the theme around here. It was advised on WTM boards to do the books out of order. Like much advice from that board, I wish I wouldn't have listened. My other boys will be doing the books in the order they were intended. It serves the child better to do 4 before 5. Einstein - my poor, poor guinea pig and my constant reminder to stop taking unsolicited advice. ;)

After taking the month of February "off" of math because of the wall we hit in long division, and the resulting effect on his self esteem, we are back to math. I wish I would have paced him even more in those early books when he was flying through the material. Now he is only 7 and struggling with long division. We are reviewing our factors, filling in the 12x12 times table grid LOTS for practice, and reviewing simple division (which he calls "easy division" because it's "multiplication backwards"). We also invested in the full version of Timez Attack, which is both less scary and more fun than the free trial version. They consider this a huge treat to have computer time that is fun and doesn't feel like school.

Picasso
He has been reading various books to Trouble. I can't think of all of them, but titles include: Runaway Bunny, Goodnight Moon, Are You My Mother?, and Cat in the Hat, among others. He read the Mickey Mouse version of Prince and the Pauper. Twaddle, perhaps, but independant so it counts for me. He is also reading and rereading the Star Wars readers, memorizing all the characters. He also has a Star Wars sticker book that he's been reading to Trouble, helping him learn all the names of character, planets and ships. Not exactly school-ish, but since he's still a young reader, any reading is beneficial.

He also is quite taken with Timez Attack as a fun supplement to Singapore 1b. He did 20 multiplication problems in about 4-5 minutes, proving he is ready to play Timez Attack and earning the full-fledged version. He can skip count all but 6,7,8 and 12 right now. We're drilling the others solidly before going on to those. He can also fill in a 12x12 multiplication grid.

He continues to work daily in Exlode the Code 1.5. It's all review for him, so I'm not sure he's really learning too much, but he is gaining spelling confidence and cementing those phonics rules. Can't complain there.

Both:
History is going swimmingly. We seem to love tangents. We started knights and castles and there is just way too much fun stuff out there. We played with the DK sticker book, we've read about Castles and Catherdrals from Macauley's books, among others. We are reading Mary Pope Osborne's Research Guide for Knights and Castles. I was hoping we'd be ready for Robin Hood, Prince and the Pauper or King Arthur at this point, but we're too enthralled with The Magician's Nephew just now. We read this versionof St. George and the Dragon, which has amazing illustrations!

Like previously stated, we are reading aloud The Magician's Nephew, which the older boys seem to like a lot. Picasso keeps waiting for Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy to appear in the story. Hopefully, the exciting story will keep him from being too disappointed. Einstein is old enough to grasp that Digory is Professor Kirke as a little boy, and "that's why he believed Lucy!". I love those moments where a connection is forged. It's so fun to get to be part of that as a teaching mom!

I am currently organizing all of Trouble's upcoming preK materials and plans. This is brand spankin' new territory for me. Everything I've known about teaching preschoolers has been abandoned and I'm learning all over again. He will be taking a very tacile, exploratory, sensory-rich, life-skills based, Montessori approach with advice from occupational therapy. Stay tuned for the plans!

Mill Creek Academy 2008-2009 Academic Year

A curriculum post again. Feel free to meander on to the next blog on your list if curriculum posts aren't your cuppa. ;)

I think I've nailed down our choices for the boys' next school year. Our school year runs from July 2008 until May 2009. We use short but frequent lessons, focus on read alouds, and try to keep lessons under 3 hours a day so we have plenty of time to be boybarians!

Einstein - 8 years old

Phonics, Spelling, Writing & Reading:
Explode the Code - finish this phonics series
Spelling Wisdom - a Simply Charlotte Mason product. It's spelling via immersion. Not rote lists, but rich language and prepared dictation using today's 6,000 most frequently used words.
Writing Tales 1 - A beginning writing program. Gentle but thorough. You can see samples here.
Lively Latin - Unlike some classical homeschoolers, my goals for Latin are for grammar and vocabulary. I hope a couple years of early Latin will open doors for modern language learning of their choosing. We won't start this until the ETC series is finished. I can only handle so many language programs at once.
Evan Moor's Daily Paragraph Editing - Despite its title, I plan to use this only 1 or 2 times a week to spot common errors in writing, if I feel we get enough of this in WT1 we might use it during breaks. They are pretty short, basic paragraphs; most of them are only 4-5 typed lines.
Reading choices - I won't lay out an exact plan, as I will let their interests dictate, but we will try to get through many of the choices at Ambleside Online Years 2 and 3 (except for Pilgrim's Progress. Blech. We won't be reading that.), Sonlight Core 3 readers, and some from the Caldecott/Newberry List.

Math:
No big changes here. We will continue on with Singapore Math, 3b and 4a. We will do Primary Math, Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems 3. I am considering dropping Horizons since he finally has a good pace without all the extras I was using to slow him down.
Primary Grade Challenge Math, by Zaccaro. We love love love this.

History, Geography:
Some of Story of the World 2 will carry over into the next academic year. Over spring break, I will begin working on customized go alongs for SOTW 3 that incorporate Catholic history, historical fiction from Sonlight Core 3, art and artist history and biographies, as well as notable architecture aligned both chronologically and geographically with SOTW 3. These will feature books suggested by Simply Charlotte mason, Ambleside Online and Sonlight, as well as the Magic Tree House books because my 6 year old loves them. For American History, the list from A Book in Time is an excellent resource.

Science:
We are doing Earth and Space Science. We will be using Discovery Education Streaming (formally "United Streaming") as well as several reading books. I will post them on my sidebars as we get to them. We're using everything from Dr. Suess to Magic Tree House research guide to big inflatable planets from Learning Resources.
We will also be using the Earth Science part of the curriculum put together by Jessica of Trivium Academy. It can be found here.

The rest of the stuff we will outsource: Einstein will continue art classes at the art museum. He will take religious ed at the church. His PE interests this year are swimming, karate and fencing (?). I haven't found a place that will teach him fencing yet. Not sure why anyone wouldn't want to teach an 8 year old how to use a sword. ;) Also, as an extra curricular, he is hoping to join the Junior Lego league.

Picasso - 6 years/7 years old

Phonics, Copywork, Writing, Reading:
Explode the Code - continue to work through this series at his own pace.
Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading -he will not be quite finished by May. I hope to finish this in Fall '08.
Copywork - Happy Scribe copywork, as well as this, which was written by two homeschool moms and published on Lulu.com.
Reading: same as big brother, above.

Math:
Singapore 2a and 2b. We'll also do Intensive Practice and CWP 1. Like big brother, he will participate in the Primary Grade Challenge Math problems up to whatever level he can.

History and Science will be done with Einstein, same plans as above.

As for extra-curricular, this is my shy one and at this point he is adamant he will not do anything outsourced. I'm going to try to get him to do swimming. He attended art camp last year and announced at the end of it, "That was fun mom. I'm never doing it again."

Trouble - 5 years old

Trouble's needs haven't been assessed. I will have a plan for him soon. He will be a preK specialneeds learner. His goals for 2008-2009 include:
recognition of letters and numbers
writing his name
basic math using math manipulatives
letter sounds

***UPDATE - Trouble's PreK learning materials can be found here.

Phew! Did you get all that? It should be an exciting year here at Mill Creek Academy!

Long Overdue Weekly Report

It's been awhile since I've done any sort of weekly report. I love hearing what other bloggers are up to, but one of my New Year's resolutions was to eliminate some of the things that may be fun but require a disproportionate amount of time for their value. All those fun videos fell into that category. I actually really enjoy seeing my past videos, so I do think I'll still do them occasionally. But here's where we are.

Einstein has finally had the long-awaited light bulb moment with reading. He has read Ralph S. Mouse, as well as three Magic Tree House books in the last two weeks. More importantly... he read the Treehouse books in one sitting! I was beaming. He's never been one for fiction up until this point. He would pour over an encyclopedia, or flip pages in his dictionary, but until the very recent past, had never picked up a story to read.

Even though he is nearly done with second grade academically, I wanted to spend some time reviewing and reinforcing phonics before we jump into 3rd grade stuff this summer. He started with Explode the Code (ETC) 5 and will finish the whole book in about 2 weeks. I plan to move him through the rest of the series at whatever pace is comfortable for him. Thankfully, it's all review from OPGTR. As a bonus, it's helping his writing confidence. I feel good about this getting him ready for Writing Tales and Lively Latin.

He is taking a math break. Not to say we're ignoring math, but the wall he encountered doing double- and triple - digit division in Singapore 3a was just a little too much for him right now. We are still doing math games, skip counting, doing kitchen and practical math, but I made the decision to set aside Singapore 3a until March. Stuff like this used to really freak me out... I am getting much more comfortable with the gentle ebb and flow, grow and plateau of learning. I am not at all worried about Einstein's math progression. Since he is ahead of grade here, it gives us some wiggle room.

We are wayyyy behind in history. This happens to us all the time. It took us 1 1/2 years to get through SOTW 1 and it looks like SOTW 2 is going that way, too. In the last two weeks we've talked about Spanish Muslim Moors, Charles Martel, Charlemagne, medieval France which launched us into learning a little about Paris. I think it's darling that my boys call the Eiffel Tower, Le Tour Eiffel, with a French pronunciation. It's almost as cute as the way they say "refrigerator". History is interesting, and I'd like to roughly stick with a 4-year rotation, but my boys have already done more history that I'd ever done... and i rather make it enjoyable and have fun with the tangents and interest-led side explorations than stick to some arbitrary schedule.

Prince Caspian has been so much fun. Einstein is always so disappointed when it's time to stop. Picasso has managed to sit through the story, too, because he is hoping to see the movie in May. When I told him it will be here on the 18th, he corrected me with a quick, "No Mom... Price Caspian arrives in theaters on May 16th!" Trouble has missed most of the fun, and will likely be very disappointed when he isn't invited to see the movie. I think it's going to be a little too intense for him.

Picasso is working his way thorugh ETC 1.5. I find myself questioning why I ever abandoned this series to begin with. He is really getting a lot out of it. He is still working his way through OPGTR, so this serves as reinforcement. So far so good. He started a couple weeks ago, and like Einstein will work through the first book in about 2 weeks.

He started multiplication in Singapore 1b in January. He claims he doesn't know how to multiply, but can now skip count: 2,3,4,5,9,10,11. We still have to learn 6,7,8 and 12. He still needs to skip count his way through his multiplication problems, but at six, I'm comfortable with that. We are looking into upgrading Timez Attack for reinforcement, speed and a fun way to earn productive screen time.

We have also just finished the Old Testament of Tomie dePaola's Bible Stories. We'll begin the New Testament on Monday.

Without getting too wordy and long, I can say I'm feeling more comfortable in my skin balancing the role of mom, teacher, employee, wife, etc. I think I've learned to loosen the reigns on school a little bit, and as a result I have much happier students and a much more laid back mom.

Happy Homeschooling

ps - I did 20 minutes on the elliptical yesterday. Yay me!

It's a Marathon

I imagine even the most experienced teacher has doubts at one time or another. I am nowhere near what I would called experienced, and I have them all the time. But unlike a school teacher who can blame the parents, the system, the curriculum choices made for them, the requirements to prepare for standardize testing... if my students fail I have only myself to blame.

I am not uncertain about the choice to homeschool; that one I feel pretty confident about. It's the multitude of decisions within the decision to homeschool that make me doubt, question, hope, and wonder...

But, boy oh boy (oh boy!), I certainly go around in circles about my homeschooling choices. Laps. Think of your high school track. I do those in my head all the time. I visit and revisit choices. Then, I visit them once more to make sure I made the right choice.

Do I push too hard? Do I not push hard enough? Did I choose the best curricula, program, even style of books?
Will they learn enough? What is extracurricular? What will matter the most when they are 18 and fly from the nest?
Why does my 6-year-old not like school? He doesn't like anything... is it his personality or is it my approach?

Should I finish phonics before starting Latin, or would Latin boost phonics? Should I be alarmed that my 7-year-old, math-loving child hit a brick wall about long division and "hates division"? Why does a 7 year old need to know long division? Why am I questioning the well-proven track of a recognized math program? Why wouldn't I question it?

There is a line in one of my favorite movies, The Devil Wears Prada, in which Emily says to Andrea, "I rarely say this to anyone other than myself, but you have GOT to calm down."

I think it's easy for me to forget that learning is marathon, not a race. It's okay to hit learning blocks like long division (by the way, I am so with him on the long division woes. Blah.). Homeschool is not "school at home"; unlike an institution balancing hoards of children, I need only assure my own three of success - however that may be defined for them. I need only account for the well-being and growth of three students. Three students in whose success I am extremely invested.

Educating one's own children can be daunting for Type As like myself. I want so badly for my children to love learning that it's a constant inner struggle with myself to make sure my ambitions don't suck the life out of the journey. And just when I think I've ruined their love of learning... I catch Einstein curled up with Ralph S. Mouse. He was reading of his own volition, a book he choose for himself, not prompted by me, not "part of school" because.... he wanted to. I turn around to catch Picasso reading a Froggy book to Trouble and laughing about flies in cake. It's not The Iliad, but it is a 6 year old reading independently for pleasure. On his own volition.

And like food for my soul, it is just the thing this mother's heart needed.

I am finding that, as I find my own path on this journey, it is much more important to me the time we spend with books, great stories, engaging authors, beautiful illustrations, and lots and lots of WORDS. I find I am starting to care less and less about workbooks, worksheets, and things that school teachers need to measure their students' understanding of material. I am growing more confident in oral narrations, and being able to gage for myself their comprehension and appreciation for books. It isn't school at home. The tools teachers need for 25 students aren't the tools I need for 3. As a product of traditionals schools myself, it is hard to unlearn the typical evaluation metrics.

Man, I am getting so stinkin' smart now that I'm about done with second grade. ;)

Keepin' it Real and the Value of Camaraderie

So much going on here! Notice the new song? Trouble picked it out just for YOU. It's from Shrek 2; and fits nicely with his current obsession with all things Shrek. What Trouble may not know is that he is MY hero.

First, I need to acknowledge this package that arrived at my door this morning.



Oh my goodness! It wasn't signed, so I'm not sure to thank (Mom? Was that you?). So THANK YOU! Handy Man and I enjoyed some great coffee this morning. In fact, it was the best cup in awhile. You know how some mornings it just tastes better? Mmmm... look at it! Pure bliss! I owe it all to the wonderful sender of the beautiful, delicious illy.





Also! Our school room is getting an 'Extreme Schoolroom Makeover". We have a college dorm-like hodge podge of bookshelves. We have several, but we've outgrown them. Currently, a stack of gorgeous leather Brittanicas is sitting on my floor. For shame! So Handy Man is making the entire back wall built in shelves. Above the right side computer work stations he is also building shelving up there, as well. He moved everything into the center of the room, tore off the trim, and I can hear the saw and router working hard in our garage. I need to send extra props to Handy Man because it's f-f-f-freezing out there! He is working in the garage with a little space heater that's hardly doing anything. I went out only to deliver him some hot illy, and shuffled back in. Brrrr! Handy Man, we really appreciate your hard work in the freezing cold. You are so good to us.

So this is for all you homeschoolers who think homeschool moms only blog the beautiful, perfect, tidy spaces. This is the reality of my schoolroom. We haven't been in there all week.

That ^ is my photoshop rendering of the space where the shelves will be.


Handy Man, hard at work.

And you-whoo, Nester, this is totally for you. We hung curtains in the schoolroom!



The fabric reminded me of Anna Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study - or it would, if the book were in color. It felt like a nature journal, and I loved the plants, cocoons and butterflies all over. The cocoon reminds me a little of Trouble's birth... forced before he was ready. The beautiful butterflies remind me of the gentle grace of all my boys. AND! I didn't sew them. They were purchased from Ikea and they came with an iron, no-sew kit. All we did was cut to the desired length, fold over the iron on part, and heat. Aren't they pretty?! Thanks, Nester! I would have never attempted something like this before I "met" you.


Lastly, I'm going to weigh in on something a little outside my comfort zone. I hope I don't alienate anyone. I've noticed a growing group of homeschool mom bloggers deciding to quit blogging. While many of them chose bible quotes to support their decisions, I'd like to offer an opinion of my own. My family is Catholic. I don't pretend to know the culture you talk about when you talk about "Titus women", Proverbs something-or-another, or "helpmeets". But I can speak a little about the value of blogging. Women who are abandoning their blogs because they feel it isn't Godly or is selfish may be forgetting some things that I've found very comforting. When you invest time in your writing, you give yourself the gift of time. Moms, you are more than just your kids' moms and your husbands' wives. Investing in yourself... be it writing, reading or researching.. is valuable. I don't know about you, but writing is my way of organizing my thoughts. Some of the women abandoning their blogs talk about investing time in "real" relationships. I understand that for many of us, we are separated geographically beyond what is ever possible for face-to-face meetings, but I urge you not to discount the value of a comforting word.

When I visit your blogs and leave you a message, I am no less sincere than if I pick up the phone or have coffee with a girlfriend. The blogosphere is a viable way for mothers who may be otherwise unable to meet like-minded people for conversation, friendship, support, camaraderie. When I was first introduced to "networking" online, it was foreign to me, too. I was stuck at home with a very fragile baby and two toddlers. I couldn't go meet other moms for mommy-n-me groups. I couldn't take a sick baby to a park. I had no other way to meet those who might understand my life. The same can be true for homeschoolers. Sure, we aren't stuck at home. We see museums, parks, science centers, field trips, stores, dance classes, etc. Some of us have active local groups. For those of us who do not, the relationships formed online should not be so easily dismissed.

I also feel that allowing yourself an outlet - creat