Geography Activity

Today Sandy was away for the morning so I covered a play ball with paper. The kids painted continents on pieces of paper. I painted the ball light blue. When the continents dried we glued to them to the ball. We learned that if the continents were crumpled first, they fit on the ball much better and looked much more realistic! We hung it from dental floss attached with a hot glue gun. Hung up in the dark bathroom and illuminated with a flashlight, it's a good way to illustrate continents and oceans.



It would be easy to make snowy areas with glue and sprinkles, put in lakes and rivers with markers, and start adding cities. Advanced activities would include:

* Drawing maps of each continent.
* Naming countries and cities.
* Measuring distances.
* Imagining populations.
* Adding islands.
* Studying moons (we made two).

My Kids Made the Paper

It's always nice to see something positive about homeschoolers in your local newspaper; it's even more fun to see that those homeschoolers are your own children.

From The January 3, 2009 edition of the Rochester Post-Bulletin:

(click to enlarge)

Our New Co-Op

Our inaugural session of Med-City Homeschoolers went off without a hitch. The other parents were fairly helpful, we started and ended on time, and the kids had big smiles on their faces when the day was done.

Although there were a tad more kids than we anticipated (do you know how hard it is to teach 14 preschoolers to share musical instruments???), I think it will be alright. The kids were all really nice to one another, and other than a tear shed here and there by a child who missed mom suddenly, everyone got along really well.

Today, we sang Pa's version of Yankee Doodle, talked about the author and illustrator and where the Ingalls family lived, and made our own butter.

It was a good day, and I can't wait for next week.

Sometimes You Can Squeeze In a Quick Science Lesson Before Bedtime

TED Talk on the Educational System Killing Creativity

I watch a lot of TED videos and this one on creativity and education is excellent. Not so much a criticism of education perhaps as a criticism of people in general. I think that most homeschooling parents have in them, too, the sense that there are more important areas of intelligence, Math and Science and so forth, and it's simply not true. The trick is to not kill the creativity that is inately there and replace it with our own vision of educational importance.

The real question is, are parents and educators ready to allow kids to retain their innate creativity and curiosity while not knowing what a worldwide movement of that radical idea would bring about? Which children will be sacrificed on the alter of right-brain based education to maintain our world? Which children will be allowed to flourish creatively on their own?

Fascinating talk. Some excerpts:

Picasso once said this, he said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately, that we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather we get educated out of it. So why is this?

But something strikes you when you move to America and when you travel around the world: every education system on earth has the same heirarchy of subjects. Every one, doesn't matter where you go, you'd think it would be otherwise but it isn't. At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and the bottom are the arts. Everywhere on earth.

Truthfully what happens is, as children grow up we start to educate them progressively from the waist up. And then we focus on their heads. And slightly to one side.

Now our education system is predicated on the idea of academic ability. And there's a reason. The whole system was invented round the world there were no public systems of education really before the 19th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism.

So the hierarchy is rooted on two ideas: Number one, that the most useful subjects for work are at the top. So you were probably steered benignly away from things at school when you were a kid, things you liked, on the grounds that you would never get a job doing that. Is that right? Don't do music, you're not going to be a musician; don't do art, you're not going to be an artist. Benign advice -- now, profoundly mistaken. The whole world is engulfed in a revolution.

And the second is, academic ability, which has really come to dominate our view of intelligence because the universities designed the system in their image. If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they're not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized. And I think we can't afford to go on that way.

She's been responsible for some of the most successful musical theater productions in history, she's given pleasure to millions, and she's a multimillionaire.

Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down.

Common Sight Words For Little Readers

Recently, I realized that not all sight words are created equal. Some are indeed true "sight words," words that should be committed to memory without "sounding out," then blending the sounds together. Other words that are commonly thought of as sight words can actually be sounded out successfully without memorization or have such common spellings that your reader can easily figure them out. For example, "go" is commonly thought of as a sight word, even though phonetically, it is an easy word to sound out. The word "goes," however, is much more tricky. Phonetically, it confuses the reader, so it should be memorized.

Here is a list of common nonphonetic words (and words with less usual spelling patterns) that should be rote memorized. In general, these words have been arranged according to the degree of difficulty and the frequency of occurrence. These words are easier to learn if the student write them, saying aloud the names of the letters as he forms them. This provides simultaneous auditory, kinesthetic and visual reinforcement. Frequent review is necessary.


For my own information, I have starred the words below Annika has memorized.

ROTE MEMORY LIST
*Taken from Language Tool Kit by Paul D. Rome and Jean S. Osman


the *
one *
only
once
of *
off
to *
too *
two *
four
do
does
done
don't
goes
gone
was *
were
what *
where
there
they
their
are *
says
said *
you *
your *
want
have *
give
live
who
whom
whose
whole
been
both
always
could
would
should
any
many
sure
very
owe
own
some
come
such
much
rich
which
father
aunt
woman
women
buy
build
busy
half
pint
ninth
triple
among
false
move
prove
again
against
often
listen
put
push
pull
bull
bush
door
floor
friend
people *
pupil
enough
pretty
laugh
Wednesday
February
minute
hour
though
through
thorough
cloth
clothes
sew
iron
study
city
copy
busy
odd
egg
yolk
folk
bye
eye *
heart
stomach
toward
answer
soft
wind
beauty
great
steak
break
straight
touch
Arctic
ocean
island
view
lose
bear
pear
tear
wear
shoe
sugar
wore
worn
swore
honest
honor
usual
company
blood
floor
truth
doubt
debt
guess
guest
guy
guide
guard
calf
wolf
rough
tough
cough
height
journey
route
machine
sign
foreign

Sometimes The Best Lessons Cannot Be Found In Textbooks

The Wonderful World of Shells

This term, Annika decided to choose shells as the topic for her public speaking class. It's so fun to help her with this, as she really gets motivated and loves to take charge of such a big project. It's also neat to see how far she's progressed when speaking to groups of people (a difficult skill to master, I think), although the kids could use a bit of a refresher course on the difference between a question and a statement. Still, it's cute to watch.

It Snowed Today

Have you stored your snowballs yet? I understand that January snow is the absolute best.

Plant Biology was my weak point

I've Been Feeling a Bit Guilty This Month

You see, we've done little to no home schooling since Thanksgiving.

And I felt really guilty about all of this, until I realized that even though we haven't cracked open the books in a while, and the notebooks and pencils are collecting dust on the desk in the living room, we have indeed had great learning experiences.

I've discovered that the Holidays have offered so very much to my family, giving us opportunity to use the season as our textbook. Annika has been busy practicing for the church pageant (in which she volunteered for a speaking role) and rehearsing a solo she will sing with the adult choir on December 24 (and yes, I am VERY proud!). Our family continued our tradition this year of adopting a charity for Christmas. This year, we chose to give to the Crisis Nursery, and all of the kids really got a lot out of picking out presents, clothes, and toiletries for needy kids and their families. I was absolutely astonished at their generosity and genuine interest in the charity, and I know they will remember how proud they all felt as we dropped off our packages long after the Christmas season has ended. For the first time, Annika and I also volunteered our time ringing bells for the Salvation Army. Although she seemed a bit embarrassed that her mother kept belting out Christmas carols to the shoppers passing by, she thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent together and asked if we could volunteer again next year.
We've spent many mornings baking Christmas cookies to give to neighbors, putting up decorations, stringing popcorn garland for the tree, and stuffing envelopes for our family Christmas letter, and we've spent just as many evenings curled up on the sofa reading books like The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (highly recommended) and retelling the story of Jesus' birth.
Now I know what you're thinking, and yes, many of you do all of these things and more, and still manage to send your kids off to school each day or successfully continue your schooling at home throughout December.

But for me, taking it easy on the traditional schooling has really allowed our family to admire all the magic this season has to offer and gives pause to what it is we are truly celebrating this month, and I refuse to feel an iota of guilt over it.

Besides, I figure we have plenty of snowy January days to revisit those textbooks.

The Lies I Told My Daughter

It's Thanksgiving week, and we've been busy over here at Walnut Grove. We spent the majority of last week creating turkeys, listing all of the many things we are thankful for, and reading books about the first Thanksgiving. Yes, we've been reading all about how the Wapanoag tribe, led by Squanto, saved the pilgrims from starvation by teaching the good pilgrims how to grow corn, hunt, and fish, and to show their gratitude, the pilgrims celebrated that first harvest by inviting their new Native American friends to a 3-day feast of peace and harmony.

Therein lies the problem. I sort of have a problem with that version of the story.

Don't get me wrong. I love the holiday and what it represents. Thanksgiving is a time of reflection, when we can all get together with family and friends and appreciate all it is we are blessed with in our lives. From preparing the Thanksgiving menu to watching to parades on television, it's a festive day that our family truly loves. There is even a very small part of me that enjoys the reenactments and retellings of that first Thanksgiving. I think this is because it is a story that is so deeply rooted in American History, passed down from generation to generation.

Or perhaps I enjoy it because deep down I wish that that was the way it really happened.

But authors like James Loewen know better, and he has worked very hard to amend the very sanitary version that teachers have taught for years. And I find myself, as a first year homeschool teacher, at a crossroads. Do I tell my innocent five-year-old the true story? Do I tell her that by the time those pilgrims arrived at Plymouth rock in 1621, most of the Wapanoag Indians had died from diseases passed to them by Europeans? Do I tell her that these pilgrims recorded prayers they gave thanking God for wiping out all of "savages" so that they could start their lives in America alone and in peace? Do I mention that even though Squanto and the other Indians did indeed help them survive, the pilgrims repaid them by stealing food and items from many of their camps?

Because that, my friends, is what really happened. And although I know this, and the minority inside of me was screaming to tell Annika the truth, I didn't.
I just read that lovely story to my very innocent 5-year-old...because I didn't want to tarnish the image of a holiday we will celebrate in four days.

Did I do the right thing?

More Friday Fun!

Does this qualify as phy-ed???

A Week Of Over Extending Ourselves

This past week we tried to home school...tried being the key word here.

We were a busy bunch this week, with 3 field trips scheduled. On Monday, we visited this apple orchard again, but this time we were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour, where we learned all about the cider press and the machines that sort the apples that go to the store. It was very cool.

On Thursday, we visited this bakery for a group tour. Mark, the baker, showed the kids all the neat things about his bakery...the milling stone was especially interesting, as he could show the kids how flour is actually milled from the wheat berries.

The neatest field trip by far though occurred on Wednesday, when we drove up to the Mall of America for a trip to Underwater Adventures Aquarium. The kids really learned a ton of information in the shells class, where they were able to handle lots of different kinds of shells and learn cool facts about shells (did you know that shells are made out of calcium and that the sea creatures grown them like bones?) and create cute lobsters out of paper plates.

Following the class, we took a tour of the aquarium, which the kids LOVED.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring LegoLand, trying out a couple of rides in the amusement park, and dining out at Rainforest Cafe. As we leisurely strolled back to the van to head back home, I realized what it was I liked about taking these trips with my kids this week. I truly enjoyed myself. And I enjoyed seeing my kids enjoy everything that day brought. We never had to rush, we never had to follow anyone's schedule, and I got to be a part of every aspect of those learning experiences. And that is one of the many reasons I feel so good about educating my children at home.

And although we didn't have a ton of seat time this week, I think all of us learned a lot, beyond cider presses, wheat berries, and crustaceans.

Especially me.

Writing tests in Linux

#!/bin/sh
# $SENT1 is a variable meaning "Sentence 1"
# Not sure what PS3 means.
# Could be a good start for a program that would make tests for Annika.

PS3="Choose the number of the correct word to fill in the blank: "
echo "The emergency brake let go and car rolled ______ the hill"

select SENT1 in up down along beside

do

   if [ "$SENT1" == "" ];  then
       echo -e "You need to enter something\n"
          continue


   elif [ "$SENT1" != down ];  then
       echo -e "Sorry. Incorrect\n"
       echo "1. Incorrect" >> eoiexam.dat

   elif [ "$SENT1" == down ];  then
       echo -e "Great!\n"
       echo "No. 1 - Correct" >> eoiexam.dat
       break

fi

done

Annika's Presentation

The home school co-op we belong to has been really great for the kids. In addition to art, science, and physical education, the kids get to work on their public speaking skills. On Friday, Annika had the chance to give a short presentation. She chose the topic "leaves," and spent much of the week collecting, pressing, and preparing different fall foliage from our neighborhood.

Throughout the week, she practiced speaking in front of different family members and friends, and although she professed nervousness a few days before, she gave a flawless presentation.

At the end of the presentation, the presenter must field questions from the audience. As you view this, you may notice that the kids are still having a difficult time mastering the art of asking relevant questions, which is to be expected since they're only in Kindergarten, but Annika handled the comments, as well as the questions, with poise.

She's already looking forward to her next presentation after the holidays. As of right now, she believes she will research "horses."

Wanna See What We Did Today?

It's Field Trip Thursday!

Click here to see what we were up to.

This Evening's Activities

Numbers

• Annika wrote out the numbers 1-10 pieces of paper towel.
• Boys made a "bean bag" out of flour and 2 small plastic bags.
  
• Lined up the numbers and saw how far we could jump.
• Boys went to bed.
• Scattered the numbers and threw the bean bag at each one, playing "Number Golf" to see how many throws it took to reach each number. This game could be expanded upon to include fractions and things like small letters, music notes, colors, etc...

Sound

• Examined a phonograph and record to see how they worked.
• As the needle was broken, Annika figured out why the sound would not work, and thought of ways to fix it. (Make a new needle or buy one.)
• Found zooms of phonograph records online. (See at right.)
• Played different songs on Windows Media Player and watched the visualizations to see what different songs look like. She noticed major differences between songs from Neil Young and more driving songs like T.A.T.U.'s All the Things She Said.
  
• Downloaded and installed Audacity, a free open source sound editor. When songs were loaded in it, we could see their WAV patterns, and we experimented with slowing songs down to see what difference that made.
  
  

Ended the day by reading a Chapter in Beverly Cleary's Runaway Ralph.

Our First Week

Here's a few photos from our first week of home schooling.


This is a model of an ear the kids built out of ordinary objects to show how sound travels through it. It included an auditory canal (play tunnel) ear drum (balloon stretched over an oatmeal container), hammer, anvil, stirrup (cookie sheets), cochlea (bowl of water), and auditory nerves (telephone wires).






Annika is busy designing a stop sign for the driving course game we played the next day.


The results of an "Adjective Find" we conducted one afternoon.


The driving course game.

I'm A Little Nervous About This School Thing

I know I don't really have a right to be, but I am.

For the past week or so, I've had opportunity to witness friends preparing their children for their first day of school. I've listened to many of them talk of their angst over the unknown -- what will the teacher be like? Will their child adjust to a new environment? More importantly, how will they adjust to their little baby leaving for the big, big world called school? And I have listened to all of this patiently, feeling extreme empathy for my friends, while at the same time content in the knowledge that I made the right decision to home school my own children, just as they have made the right decision to send their children off to school.

But there was one thing I didn't count on. Like these friends, I too am getting the jitters. For the past month or so, Kurt and I have been busy preparing for our own first day of sorts. We've converted the "toy room" into a more friendly space for Walnut Grove, complete with white board, supply cupboard, small table, and easy-to-get-to educational toys. We've hung a map and a large blank calendar, and we created a space to display our art. We've placed a large clock on the wall to help us learn how to tell time, and we've stocked up on paints, paper, and every art supply under the sun.

We've even chosen a curriculum, though I have yet to fill my newly purchased lesson plan book with ideas from it -- I'm planning to do that before we leave on our trip. And, as a last-ditch attempt to erase my unfounded fears that home schooling will make my children anti-social, I have enrolled all of them in a home school co-op as well as swimming, dance, soccer, and an ECFE class.

So I guess you could say that I'm ready. But I don't feel like it.

Like my friends, I too feel angst. Though I know my children love me as the mother, I wonder daily if they will like me as their teacher. I constantly worry that I won't know the answers to many of their questions, and I am stressed that the lessons I will plan won't be fulfilling enough. At times, I think I've signed them up for too many extra-curricular activities; at other moments, I think they're not involved in enough activities with their peers. I hesitated to sign them up for a home school co-op, yet admittedly I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out they were accepted into the program (apparently quite a few families are turned away each year), happy that I wouldn't solely be responsible for educating them day in and day out.

Most of all, I'm scared to death of the first day. Unlike my friends, who get teary just talking about dropping their child off at the bus stop or leaving them at the classroom door, my angst can be found elsewhere. I feel dizzy just wondering where to begin.

Just as I've reassured my friends that I know that they will make it through this life changing time in their lives unscathed, I too know that our own experience will be okay, and that my children and I will work to make this leap into home schooling together and weather the bumps along the way.

But I'm still nervous.