Plugging Along

We're making steady progress.  Seth finished his first-level spelling book, so we celebrated last week by having a game of Scrabble as the day's "spelling lesson." I'm excited that the boys are to the stage where they can play cerebral board games.  Gabriel is making progress with his multiplication tables, and he's grasping the principles of grammar very well.

For our September outing, we visited Fanning Springs State Park, and it was so beautiful that we went again the following week.  We saw minnows and mullet, and Seth jumped off the dive platform into the spring hole several times.  Their swimming continues to improve, and I'm SO glad.  Gabriel decided he might want to be a Park Ranger when he grows up, so we talked to some of the Park Rangers to find out what they do.

Today we're meeting the group on UF's Campus for a tour of a statue exhibit by sculptor Seward Johnson.  My plan is to take pictures of the statues, then we'll come home and research online the works of art that inspired them.

Practical and Applied Life Science

For Science this week, we began our Human Anatomy unit.  You have to start with the support structure, so we cut out paper sections of a skeleton, assembled it on poster board, and labeled the parts.  Seth hadn't realized before that the spine is made up of small individual vertebrae stacked on top of each other.

I had to shake my head, because he's seen our family chiropractor once a month since he was born.  I explained that when Dr. Bevis adjusts him, she's making sure all the vertebrae are "stacked neatly," like when he builds a block tower.  The structure is more stable if everything is aligned.  He immediately put this idea into practice:

subluxation, boo!

proper alignment, yay!

If that kid grows up to be a chiropractor, my life will be set.

We had an appointment later in the week, so we took their project in to show Dr. Bevis.

Dr. B and her well-adjusted patients

Why, That Little...

Gabriel just beat me at chess.  Twice.

The third time, I won, but only after he showed me where to checkmate him.

I WILL STUDY ONLINE LESSONS AND HAVE MY VENGEANCE.

*ahem*  I mean, good job, son!

Chess Club

One of the moms in our homeschool group arranged to have a professional chess coach give weekly lessons.  Today was our second meeting.  We're all delighted with how well it's going -- the kids are learning quickly and have displayed a surprising amount of focus and willingness to participate, without any pressure from the parents!  It's really quite idyllic.

Buckling Down

The rest of our textbooks finally arrived this week, so both boys are working a "full course load," as it were.  I'm getting some resistance, but I hope that will diminish as the routine becomes, well, routine.  So far, math is Seth's favorite subject, while Gabriel still loves history the best.  They're doing tremendously well.  We've set up a science lab journal and an art portfolio.  Monday's lab was identifying cell parts by examining a chicken egg, and the dog got to eat the egg when we were done.  Homeschooling is good for the whole family.

The microscope has stayed set up, which was really convenient when the exterminator came to evaluate our ant problem.  We popped a few of the beasts under a cover slide, and he was able to quickly identify the species.  Caribbean Crazy Ants are bad news, but that's another post for another blog.  :p

Current bedtime reading:  The Emerald City of Oz, by Frank Baum.  This is the sixth book in the Oz series that Rick has read to them -- the classics endure.

So Grateful for the Life We Lead

A friend shared this with our homeschooling group:

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2011/08/28/a_familys_struggle_to_resist_the_winds_of_educational_change/

When I think of what Gabriel's life would be if I'd stuck him in Kindergarten at age 5... it nearly does me in.

We're thriving, we're happy, and I'm grateful.

Back to the Old Grind...

...except I think we all secretly prefer The Grind to the limitless computer and Wii games that I let them indulge in for most of August.  No more!  Starting this week, we began our new daily routine:

• breakfast
• creative play
• Seth's book work
• break for play
• Gabriel's book work
• break/lunch
• subjects we do together
• chores
• THEN they can turn on TV/computer/Wii.  

They've moaned about not having "electronics" for most of the day, but strangely enough, there's been a lot less squabbling, and my mood sure has lifted from the rise in productivity!

Gabriel finished All About Spelling: Level 2 this week and is tackling the new challenges in Level 3.  We're working with all of the materials listed in my previous post, except Seth's math book is on back order.  If it doesn't show up tomorrow, I may give the warehouse a call.

My dad visited us last weekend, and his friend gifted us with a terrific Time-Life book series on American Wilderness.  Of course, Gabriel zeroed in on The Carribbean Isles.

I confess, I had to look up both the definition and pronunciation of "archipelago."

Monday, we started our new biology curriculum, and I got out a treasured gift from the other set of grandparents so that we could look at some cells.

The 10X microscope comes with a box of 100 prepared slides, and we saw cells in the onion skin.  Seth enjoyed the experience so much that he explored other slides on his own the next day during Gabriel's book work.  "Mom, I'm looking at a dog's smooth muscle!  It's SO COOL!"  Enthusiasm is that kid's middle name.  :)

Our drawing books haven't arrived yet, so for art on Wednesday, we started the basic foundation shape in clay sculpture:  the ball.  We made piggies.

Gabriel's Pig

Mom's Pig

Seth's Wee, Wee Little Pig

Behind the scenes, the moms in our homeschooling group had a really productive meeting Tuesday wherein we planned field trips and other adventures for every month from now until May.  I think it's going to be our best year yet!  Our first new adventure starts Monday with a weekly Chess Club -- I'm really interested to see how that goes.

Oh, yes!  We went swimming at a friend's house today, and both boys were jumping into the deep end, stroking all over the pool, and having a high old time.  I've been waiting for that moment for YEARS.  Thanks again, Coach Rob!

Happy New (School) Year!

Welcome to the new blog!  Gabriel's former home school blog (covering his first 3 years) can still be found here. However, we're excited to have Seth officially registered with the school board this year, and I've decided to combine their experiences in one log or I'll never keep up for easier record-keeping.

Both boys had an intensive six weeks of swim lessons with Coach Rob Ramirez at High Tide Aquatics for their summer curriculum.  He's fantastic -- patient, encouraging, and caring -- I highly recommend him.  Back-to-school vibes are permeating the aether, though, and we're getting a jump start.  Here are our plans for the year:

Gabriel

• Grammar - A customized curriculum (a.k.a. Making It Up As I Go) covering parts of speech, subject/predicate, verb tenses, and complex vs. compound sentences.  Punctuation will also receive its due.  Schoolhouse Rock will supplement.
• Writing - We'll shore up the cursive he learned last year by writing a sentence or two every school day, some copied, some dictated.  Ideally, I'd like for him to build a story.
• Spelling - We're nearly through All About Spelling 2, and AAS3 has been ordered.
• Math - Singapore Math continues to work well for us.  He has started level 2B (U.S. Edition), and my ambition is to have him through 3B by the end of next summer.
• History - Story of the World, of course!  We blasted from the Middle Ages right up through the Industrial Revolution last year with Volumes 2 & 3.  I've ordered Volume 4, which will take us through the year 2000.  After that, we'll start delving more in depth to further explore the breadth we've covered in the last 2 years.

Seth

• Writing - Handwriting Without Tears - My Printing Book.
• Spelling - All About Spelling 1
• Math - Singapore Math.  Based on the skills he's demonstrated so far, I think he'll do fine at level 1A.
• Reading - I plan to have him read 1-2 picture books per week aloud to me.  He already reads astonishingly well for his age -- this will help us smooth out any rough edges.
• History - Story of the World, Volume 1.  I know it's around here somewhere...

Both Together

• Science - R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey:  Life (level 1).  This is a fairly rigorous-looking biology curriculum, and I'm excited to see how it goes.  Most of our science lessons heretofore have consisted of looking things up on the internet.
• Art - Last year, Mona Brookes' book intimidated me to the point of never pursuing visual arts with the kids.  I'm changing that this year with Mark Kistler's Draw Squad and Imagination Station.  3-D cartooning -- we're going to be all over it!  We'll continue with our textile arts (knitting, embroidery, crochet), and I think this year they're finally old enough to work our way through Carlson's clay sculpture book.
• Music - This will be more Winging It As I Go.  I've noticed that the kids are most enthusiastic about making music when I myself am making it, so I'm trying a mixture of approaches this year.  We'll figure out chord accompaniments to favorite songs so that we can perform for friends, using whichever available instruments call to us (piano, dulcimer, ukulele, recorder, bongos, harmonica -- I'll even get out my French horn if they promise to be careful with it).  I also plan to have some listening sessions to acquaint them with different styles and familiarize them with cultural favorites.  Finally, I'm going to sneak a bit of theory in here and there.  I'd like for them to be able to read music, even if they choose not to at this point.  Also, we will continue to attend the Spirit of the Suwannee Kids' Music Camp as often as possible.
• Aikido - Seth turned 6 last month and is finally old enough to join the aikido class.  He loves it, and Gabriel is being a great mentor.

Well.  That ought to keep us busy, don't you think?