Raising Up Hackers (Part 2)

So I was feeling really overwhelmed and decided school was the main culprit. I remember our first year of homeschooling. Sweetheart was in 2nd grade. Little Bit was 3. We used ABeka curriculum and added in lapbooks and unit studies and we were still finished by lunchtime every day. My children had tons of time to play and explore. I remember watching with delight as Sweetheart figured out what things SHE liked doing....not just what had been cool in first grade among the popular kids. (Turns out she didn't really enjoy Littlest Pet Shop nearly so much when she didn't see other kids with 50+ pet shops playing at recess every day.) The point was, they had time to do things they wanted to do AND get school done.

Now granted we weren't involved in very much that first year. We did go to gym days and field trips and parties with our homeschool group. We still do that. But over the years we've added in piano lessons and choir and now Toddler Time at the Library for Baby Bee. So we run a bit more than we used to. That won't change any time soon.

And of course 8th grade and 4th grade are a bit meatier than 2nd grade and no grade. Obviously there is more school.

But why should my homeschooled children spend their whole day doing lessons just like public school kids? Where is our benefit? Sure, they can sit on the couch or lay in the floor instead of sitting in a desk.....but that doesn't seem like enough difference to me. Shoes or no shoes? Small potatoes.

So in the midst of my dissatisfaction, I saw this article someone posted on Facebook. What I took away from that article was, "Shoot. MY kids are unhappy in school. THEY have lost their zest for learning!" Some of the descriptions of the public school kids rang true about my own daughters. I didn't like that. 

Then, my husband clicked on this TED Talk. I'd seen it before, but as I sat across the room listening to it again, it only solidified what I was thinking.

Untraditional.
Time to hack their own education.
Time to explore what they are interested in.

These these were not true of our homeschool. They weren't happening.

WHY???

And THEN, I read this blog post. And now my wheels were really turning.

Everyone says it's OK for your kids to not go to college and I totally agree. I suspect a lot of homeschoolers agree with that. Yet, we really still feel that we owe it to our kids to educate them as though they ARE going to college. I mean, you're supposed to. We don't want to write off their fate in the 9th grade and have a child graduating who doesn't have a transcript that will help them in their future! What failures we would be!

Plus, so-and-so's kids are studying ______________ and _______________! Is it really asking too much for my kids to study ________________? I mean, that's not even 1/4 of what this friend's kids are doing! And on the field trip, that kid knew so much about _______________ and asked such intelligent questions and my kids were just standing there looking dumb! I have failed them! We haven't done enough! We haven't learned enough! Must. Add. More. Courses. Must. Hit. (fill in subject). More Often!!

****deep breath****

And that's pretty much how we got to where we were at the beginning of this month. We were doing every single thing we could possibly fit in. And still I was lashing myself for not having Sweetheart spend time on that vocabulary app I downloaded. Because her vocabulary needs work. I know because she took a standardized test last spring. How can I fit vocabulary in? I know! I can have her do it while she's in the bathroom!!! Otherwise that's just wasted time!

OK I'm kidding. But that's how crazy we can get. Maybe it's just the pressure of being completely responsible for our children's education. Maybe I'm starting to crack.

But those three items started my wheels turning. And that started a conversation with my husband.

Next time....

It's Summer School Jack!

OK. We don't have TV. But we have watched several episodes of Duck Dynasty and Sweetheart just loves that show. We watch it online after it has already aired. We have a lot of respect for the folks on the show and she likes it a lot so I thought, "Why not have a Duck Dynasty birthday party this year?"

She said no thank you.

Humph. And there was a lot of cute stuff on Pinterest too.

Double humph.

So.....I already had a pin board called "Language Arts Boot Camp." That's what I was calling what we were going to do this summer. We pretty much ignored language arts this year in school because we had a newborn and were doing good to get everything else done. Therefore, we are spending our summer break cramming some major language arts down little throats. Er...filling their little heads full of knowledge I mean.

Why not combine the two ideas? Yes sir. We are going to have camo pencils and use some camo duct tape on our binders and we are going to have us a fun theme for summer school!

SUMMER BOOT CAMP.

I'm the drill sergeant.

I might wear a whistle.

So last night I was trying to really start thinking about how this will all look. S was in the Navy (no camo there, but boot camp nonetheless) and what they did a lot of was drill.

This week we are taking the IOWA test with our homeschool group. I am already seeing what gaps my girls have in their education thanks to this test. So I know for a fact they need drills on grammar and punctuation and capitalization and all that jazz.

In the 90s when I was a public school teacher, we used to do DOL or Daily Oral Language. You would have a few sentences on the board when the kids got there and they would copy them down in their journals, making corrections of the on-purpose mistakes. THIS is what my girls need. Not every day...but some.

So I know we will be drilling rules. And I'm going to be doing writing instruction with each of them separately. The other girl will be in charge of playing with the baby. She's such a sponge right now. Little Bit sat down and played play food with her last night. In just a few minutes she had learned to shake the pepper on her food, squirt the ketchup bottle, and pretend to eat it all. They are so proud to teach her things. So they will enjoy that job.

Spelling will also be taking place. And reading practice. And math will continue 3x a week. Oh there is a lot to be done this summer. I sure wish we could just take off, but no. We have much to do.

And don't think there won't be push ups involved.

By the way, the drill sergeant doesn't have to do push ups.

Just wanted to clear that up.

Here's my Pinterest board for boot camp.

Perspective

Today I will go grocery shopping. My LEAST favorite thing to do (right up there with balancing the checkbook).

BUT...I am not giving the state test today.

Today I will make my girls do school and chores and all the other things they would rather I forget about.

BUT...they are not taking the state test today.

Every spring I used to break out with a bacterial infection on my face. The doctor said it was stress. I called it the TAKS rash. (It's now called the STAAR test.) I am ever so thankful that our family has nothing to do with that test anymore.

I looked at the released questions online this morning and had a small panic attack. And then I was really, really glad that we are free to move at the girls' pace and that they don't have to be smashed into a mold they don't fit in. I am also thankful for our curriculum as I know we will end up ahead in the long run of their education.

And I was reminded that the state test doesn't measure how many Bible stories they have learned this year, or how many homemaking tasks they have had the opportunity to practice. It doesn't measure their love of good books or their ever-growing understanding of how history all fits together. It doesn't measure much of anything important, really.

Lord, I am so thankful for the opportunity to homeschool my children. Thank you for this perspective today!

Homework or Life

I don't know why I continue to be shocked by this every year, but I do. A child who was born the same year as my Sweetheart (actually her mom and I shared a first grade classroom the year they were both born--yikes--2 maternity leaves!), is in 6th grade this year just like my daughter. Only she is in public school.

The bus usually drops her home about 5:00. Yesterday her Dad picked her up, so she got home earlier. And at 9:00 last night, she still wasn't finished with her homework. She had stopped for supper and a bath. Her Dad was working with her the whole time. She's 11.

This, after a full day at school. Another friend who I used to teach with has a daughter in 11th grade AP classes. She reports her daughter routinely stays up until 2:00am to complete her homework. Not sure when she gets started. I know many children in high school don't get started until after supper because they are in extra-curricular activities until many hours after school is out.

No wonder these children grow up and do NOT QUESTION why they must work long hours, 6 or 7 days a week. No wonder they don't think twice about going to school for 4-10 years after high school. Our niece works a full-time job and has just gone back to school for a Master's degree. This, after working her way through college and graduating just a few months ago. She's not married. She doesn't have children. She's in her mid-20s. Does she know there are other options out there besides just work and school?

Work. School. Work. School. Schoolwork. It's all the same. It's what we're made for, right? These poor kids don't even seem to question it.

I shudder to think how I would be handling it if my children were in public school right now and carrying such a homework load. Would I let it get in the way of church? Family time? Scripture memory work? Service? Chores? How is there time for anything else but school?

Oh I pray for families today. I wish people knew there was an alternative. I could list and list the things that happen in our day that would NOT be happening if my children (and therefore our family) were under such a burden.

I am grateful for each and every one of them. And I wish more people knew.

Everything New is New Again

So this is our first year with a new curriculum.  ANY new curriculum offers a bit of hesitation on our parts as Mom/Teacher, right? For the most part, I am completely excited about using Sonlight this year, but I do have some concerns.

Actually, they aren't even all about the curriculum but just the year in general. When you teach public school, the only thing that really changes each year is the class. Will I get a good class or a class from...? It goes in cycles and you KNOW when you are due one of THOSE classes. But your room, the curriculum, the furniture, how you set up your calendar, your lesson plans, your routines, they don't change a whole lot from year to year. If you stick with one grade long enough, you can get your room set up in no time. It's just a new group of kiddos coming through your already established classroom.

Sweetheart ready for 1st grade at our church's school. 

But with homeschooling? Practically everything changes! My students are the same this year (some of you may be adding new little ones to the mix), but they are one year older. They are in new grades. And even though we are now at a repeating stage--Little Bit is in 2nd grade which is where I started homeschooling Sweetheart--I'm not doing anything the same way so it's like a completely different grade anyway. This year the only thing staying the same is our classroom. (Rearranged, of course!)


The last few years we stuck with the same curriculum for the most part so we had settled into a comfortable routine of how to do things. Leave it to me to mess that all up!

The incoming 6th grader--5 years later!

Sweetheart will be in 6th grade and will soon turn 12 years old. I need her to be more independent as this really needs to be The Year Little Bit Gets Caught Up On Some Things. I need to focus a lot on Little Bit's reading and math and for that to occur, Sweetheart needs to be way more independent. She isn't one of those naturally independent kiddos.

For example, when she was 3 and I was pregnant with Little Bit, Sweetheart would need to go potty or wash her hands or something, but couldn't reach the light. She would call for help and I would have to scramble my big self up from the couch to get the light on for her in time. I had to actually teach her how to get the stool and reach the light herself. But Little Bit? Girlfriend was hauling that stool around the house as soon as she could walk getting into everything. I remember telling Sweetheart she was old enough to get dressed by herself. Little Bit took over that job right quick as soon as she was able. Sweetheart has always just needed a little more prodding. This year is no different.

Little Bit---otherwise known as Trouble!

And the schedule? Yikes. How to find time to work with each girl, fit in all the subjects, and navigate around curriculum choices that DO involve me? Well, here's is what I like to call Attempt #1.

2nd grade on the left, 6th grade on the right

 I just stuck them on with sticky tac so they are totally movable. I love that. Now I can rearrange at will and they line up horizontally. What I mean is, I can see what one girl is doing while the other one is doing math or whatever. That way I can make sure not to schedule myself to be in 2 places at once.

A most helpful tip for any new homeschoolers! (And I have a break too, it just isn't reflected on their schedule cards.)

The little pictures indicate "work with mom" or "independent work." 

We are just going to stick with review work for Math and Spelling the first week. That won't take so long and  will just help us get used to the order of things before we start new lessons in everything.

So...it's a new year. With a new schedule. New curriculum. New grade levels. New expectations.

But the same reasons that homeschooling and figuring all this out each year is important.

Reason #1:

and Reason #2:

I Have a Classroom--And I Am OK With That

I know a lot of homeschoolers are very....

...anti-classroom.
...anti-school-at-home.
...anti anything that looks like formal education.

And when I read posts or articles by those kinds of homeschoolers, I start to doubt myself just a bit. And then I read that their children are (usually) in preschool and I relax.

I completely agree that you need to do nothing that looks like school when your kids are that little. Unless you want to! That's the beauty of homeschooling.

Sigh. I miss preschool. 

So I'm not writing this to make anyone doubt themselves. Or to make anyone feel badly. But I would just like to write a little bit in favor of those who do a little "school at home."

You have to understand, I taught public school for 11 years. I grew up in public school. So when we started homeschooling....I did this:

L to R:  Sweetheart's desk, my chair, and Little Bit's preschool desk. 

I'm sorry, OK? We didn't have a table! And I had no idea what I was doing! Well, that set-up lasted 2 weeks and then we ended up at the dining room table the rest of the year.

Apple Unit. Three year old Little Bit and 8 year old Sweetheart. (2nd grade)

Which was fine. But we had this perfectly good room at the front of our house where we COULD do school AND store all our school stuff. That was really the part that got to me about using the dining room table--I wanted everything in one place! I NEEDED everything in one place.

So I prayed for a table. And the Lord provided! Twenty dollars later, we were in business and our first school room was born.

And when we used that room those few years, Little Bit would play/do school-y stuff in the hallway by the front door. She didn't want to be in the living room "all by herself." And in Kindergarten when she did join us for school more formally, I found out our little school room was CROWDED!

Kindergarten. Took about an hour every day. 

So we moved. I switched the toy room and homeschool room. We are still in there and it works great for us right now. It has everything I have wanted in a homeschool room:

1. Room!
2. A table.
3. A place to keep all our school stuff.
4. Walls to hang up school stuff where we don't have to look at it in the main part of our house.
5. The ability to close the door and leave school behind on our weeks off--and weekends.

I have found that the older my children get, the more we really look like we are doing school work. There are more subjects. There is more work. They have more responsibility.

That's not to say we don't have fun. That's not to say we don't leave the "classroom". I'll be writing more about this.

But now you know how we came to have a classroom, which I'll be showing you around soon too. The "new and improved" version that is!
.
Where do you do the main part of school? Don't you think so much depends on the floor plan of your house?

The Beach and the Closet

I couldn't face the homeschool room today. So we did this instead:

Little Bit

Yes, this large child is mine!!! Stop growing Sweetheart!

We met some friends at the beach and had a great time. We saw jellyfish, but no one got stung. Normally, I'm a jellyfish magnet.

And after very refreshing showers, I was ready to finish that closet!

How did the closet get so bad??? Wasn't it just a little while ago I was cleaning it out???

Amazing.

But now the right side holds all the out-of-season and don't-fit-yet clothes.

This closet goes back a long way on each side.

And the left side fits all the extra toys and games. That left the middle. The part that shows.

So I lined up some friendly faces to look at.

And then I found a place for something very important. (Thanks for the idea Masto Mama!)

Doll School!

They bring their dolls to school all the time anyway. In our old homeschool room there was a little space to put them, but they always needed to be picked up later. Sweetheart has the same Doll School set that Masto Mama's daughter has but she's never had a permanent place to put things up.

They were very excited about the area. Even though Sweetheart is close to out-growing it (but not yet!), I know Little Bit will continue to use that area for a long time.

And...I sent Little Bit back into the deep recesses of the closet while we were cleaning out and she found the Bible Daddy has been looking for a LONG time.

And with that happy note (they are in there playing right now)...the closet is done!

Affording Homeschooling

I'll tell ya. This year we are really spending a lot more than we usually do. I've been thinking about how much it's going to hurt to drop that much money all at once on curriculum. I know I could homeschool cheaper. I know I could. A person can do a really great job of educating their children with no budget at all. But something happened today that made me realize what a bargain I'm offering my husband with our curriculum costs this year!

While searching for something online, I happened to stumble on a site for a private Christian school. It's not in daily driving distance from our house, but it's in our general area. Anyway, I was interested in how much it would cost to send the girls to private school next year at this place. (A thing I am in NO way considering.) Are you ready??

For both girls: $16,824.00

That does not include uniforms.

Are you kidding me? $8,000something for Sweetheart +$7,000something for Little Bit (after a 10% discount for sibling) + $75 testing fee for Sweetheart + $50 testing fee for Little Bit + $500 enrollment fee + $250 enrollment fee + $400 in some other fee........SIXTEEN THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED TWENTY FOUR DOLLARS.

I will be spending $600.

See? It's not looking so bad now, is it? Yes, there will be other fees for field trips but honestly....that won't even total $100. Not even close.

But we don't live in quite that nice of an area. So how do tuition rates look closer to home?

School #2  $11,342.04 for both girls. Glad they got that .04 in there.
School #3  $8,620.00 for both girls.

Again, I will be spending $600.

Homeschooling rocks.

Have you ever looked at private school tuition rates by your house?

Guarding Our Children

This morning S sent me an article he'd run across. This one made me mad. (Not at S!) I spoke yesterday about how we need to guard against the lies that are out there and stick with what God's Word teaches. It's true. But in light of that article, I think we need to be even more purposeful about guarding our children.

This is subtle, and yet, not so subtle. I guess it depends on how much you are paying attention. While it may appear to just be "two days out of the whole school year", you have to know this is being taught/promoted more than just on these scheduled days. And only 3 children were kept home that day. Three. Out of 350 students. And it isn't like those 3 students aren't going to get filled in by their friends.

We need more than just teaching our children, "God made 2 distinct sexes." This is all being taught to our children (it's NOT just California....and it WILL be in many other places in a few years) in the name of "acceptance" and "anti-bullying." That word acceptance is a buzz word. Watch for it. See what things fall under the word acceptance. (That book was part of the 2 days of lessons.)

I wrote about this trend in public schools a long time ago. (The first year I blogged actually.) We used to do a "multi-cultural" unit in December when I taught 3rd grade. We studied Christmas Around the World and each child was put in a group and assigned a country and at the end of 2 weeks they had to give a presentation on how people in that country celebrated the holidays, complete with food, costumes, etc. Multi-cultural was a big, big thing in the early 90s when i was a teacher. The music teacher had the 3rd graders do a multi-cultural musical. A preacher friend of ours was at the performance because his wife was a teacher and his son was in 3rd grade. After it was over, I remember him muttering about how he was sick of this "one world thing." I remember being totally clueless about what he meant. I got it later.

Community. Acceptance. Diversity. Anti-bullying. Differences. Non-discrimination. Safe schools. Oh people, SO MUCH is being slid under the door under these names. If your child goes to public school, please investigate. Pay attention. I would like to believe, like many seem to, that your children are JUST learning math, reading, writing, etc. at school. But it isn't true. They are parenting your children. And it might not jive with your beliefs. (And even if it DOES jive with your beliefs, I do not think it is their place to teach.)

How can Kindergarten students be expected to see this teaching for what it is? How can elementary students hear this from their teachers and not begin to believe it? How can homeschooled students be prepared to deal with this when they are out from under our care?

How much teaching is required of us in the home to counter-act this? To prepare our children for a world where this is normal? What do we do?

Math Blaster Online

Alternate Title: My Children are Better at the Computer Than Me

 Disclosure: I was provided with a membership good for Math Blaster and Knowledge Adventure at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.


I have long loved Math Blaster. It's been around since the 1980s and I have always heard good things about it. Although I never had the chance to play the really vintage version...we do have some experience with Math Blaster in other formats. For example, we've borrowed a computer CD game of it from a friend and Sweetheart has the DS version. This review is for the online version. Simple and easy. You can access it from any computer and don't have to keep up with a game.

Math Blaster has evolved a lot over the years! The main character is now "Max" and he gives directions and serves as a guide.

I would have been lost without you Max!

Your child gets to first create their own "Blaster Cadet" (character) and name themselves something cool like my name of Emma LunaFlare. They can customize the hair, clothing, and other features. This activity alone can take awhile and is quite fun. Once they are created, you are ready to play!

Customize your cadet before you play. You can edit later as well.

Here is where I must admit that Mom was lost and so I had to just let my child take the wheel, or the mouse as it were, and watch over her shoulder as she expertly figured out where to go and what to do. So obviously, just because it didn't make sense to a 40 year old....does not mean there is a flaw! Once she showed me around I was good to go.

There are a lot of games on Math Blaster and....this may surprise you...not all of them are math games. I think that's important to point out because I would have assumed if my child was spending 20 minutes playing Math Blaster that they were playing all math games. But Math Blaster offers both. Your little cadet can find math games by visiting the Academy and the Job Board. They can play other games in the Space Port. They are all fun, but I thought I'd point it out in case you need to make a rule of how many math games you want them to play before they play the other games.

I was happy to see more than just the four basic operations. This game has fractions, decimals, and percents.

This is a fun way to practice place value.

One thing I was very happy to find out was that there is no chance for my child to communicate with other people who are online. At first we thought you could, but it turns out they can only communicate with their friends. Maybe they'd like to play with their cousin, or friend, or classmate. These people can be added to their Buddy List. The good news is this feature can be controlled and monitored under the Parent Section on the website. We have not used the Buddy or chat feature because I have trained them not to communicate with others online.....but with these safety features in place it would be fine. I was so very glad to find a children's website with some good common sense about that feature!

Yee Haw!! This is my favorite game!

My favorite game is the Alien Wrangler. Basically, you get to ride the mechanical bull at Gilley's except the bull is an alien and you have to answer math problems instead of....well OK maybe it's not much like Gilley's. But it's really fun and is a great drill. You can choose from Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division and then you can choose from other categories inside of that. (Such as "facts up to 16", etc.) This game gets 2 thumbs up from me as a Mom because it gives quick math drill and is fun.

Choices to make it appropriate for your child.

There is also a Math Blaster Blog for the parents to check out. This is a helpful thing as it lets you know what features are new and sort of helps you feel like you actually know what your child is doing while they are on the game. Sweetheart does not need the blog, she just logs on and figures it out as she goes. My bet is your children will too.

Math Blaster does require a membership, but you can add up to 6 children on one account. There are also a lot of things in their Shop on the website such as a downloadable game, the Nintendo DS version, one of the math games from Math Blaster in ipad/iphone format, and much more. Check out the store here. 

I hope this review was helpful! If you take the summers off, or you children go to school and have the summer off, a membership to Math Blaster might be a good thing to give them something fun to do AND keep up with those math skills. If you have any questions I haven't covered--just holla!

Mid-Day at Our House and School Lunch

We have accomplished Bible, History and Science today. I'll face facts, that's probably all we'll get done today. Those are the things we do together and the things I consider when deciding when our year is "through."

Because let's face it, the girls could ALWAYS work on math. That will never be over.

But the reason I'm calling it quits already is because we have a science class to attend today. That's school too, but it will take the place of some other subjects today.

S is getting off work early to go to the eye doctor. Finally! He was diagnosed with diabetes last summer but it wasn't worth going to the eye doctor back then because his eyes were literally changing every week. The doctor said the eyes were the last place for sugar to leave. He's been surviving on Walgreens glasses. I'm glad he's going since diabetes can cause so many problems with the eyes, although I suspect he just needs glasses for now.

Anyway, because he's getting off work early today, I feel the need to pick up around here--a task I usually reserve for later in the afternoon.

So, lunch will come early today and our whole routine is thrown off. But it is BEAUTIFUL outside and I am so thankful that it's not hot enough to have to keep the curtains closed yet. I dislike that about summer. Also, we aren't having to worry about keeping the rabbits alive in the heat yet. Spring is pure bliss.

Now, after my rant on school lunches yesterday on Facebook, in which I was very linky, I am going to serve my children a highly nutritious lunch.

Here's the links if you are interested:

Parents not allowed to send lunch
Go to the 2010 archives of this site to see what real school lunches look like.
Go here to see what parents are capable of. I know they don't all do it. But they should have the right to.

And having said all of that, 10 years ago I would have probably thought school should reserve this right. After all, we know better than parents. That attitude is VERY prevalent in public schools. I remember.

By the way, we're having hot dogs. (Nitrate free hot dogs on whole wheat buns with organic ketchup and fruit on the side, thank you.)

When Life Hands You Lemons

Not 5 minutes after I posted on Facebook that I had nowhere to go today...I noticed S left his work phone at home. I called him on his personal phone to tell him.

"I did?" he said.
"Yes," I answered.
"But I do have the holder right here on my belt."

Good for you dear. And.....it's Monday.

But other than that, we don't have anywhere to be today. That won't happen again until Friday so I plan to enjoy it. My biggest (well, oldest) sister let us borrow Voyage of the Dawn Treader so the girls are very excited to get to watch that after school. We've been waiting a long time to see it.

And now I'd like to tell you about our restaurant experience yesterday. My dad took us all out to eat after church. We all ordered water. The waiter came out with waters for all the adults with 3 lemon wedges in each glass. That was a lot of lemon, folks. We all just sort of shook our heads as we removed lemon after lemon from our glasses so we could, you know, fit a straw in there. Lemons littered the table.

But he had not brought waters for the girls. Why? So we reminded him we needed one kid's water and a regular water. A few minutes later he appeared with a lidded cup for Little Bit and a glass of water for Sweetheart with SIX LEMON WEDGES IN IT! Yes! SIX. Water was dribbling over the sides of the glass as he handed it to me and I guess they don't study water displacement in school these days.

It was very strange.

Then Little Bit had to go to the bathroom. Of course. As I waited for her, I noticed a sign on the wall of the bathroom. It's nice when restaurants take the time to decorate their bathroom and hang decorative stuff on the walls, don't you think? This was a cute little sign with a picture of a chef on it. It said "BISTRO."

Hmm. So I'm wondering if the schools are teaching vocabulary? Or the ability to look up a word? Because generally speaking, a bistro is NOT a bathroom.

But I cannot concern myself with the staff of the restaurant, today I must educate my own offspring. So they don't grow up like that.

It's one of my new goals.

Little Bit got birds last week. Meet Jacob and Esau, the zebra finches. They are adorable.

Getting Books Your Kids Can Read

So, I totally overwhelmed you all with my information on Lexile Reading levels a few weeks ago. It's really useful once you get the hang of it and I know I still owe you that post on early readers.

But....I found out something cool and wanted to share. If you order books from Scholastic, they have Lexile levels for the books!

What this means is, you can actually click on a range of Lexile levels and they will show you all the books in that range that are for sale. This way, you can be sure that what you are ordering for you child (or at least some of what you are ordering, after all, some books are for read alouds or just for fun) are in a range they can actually be expected to read. You can also just look at the information on each book and the Lexile level is provided at the bottom.

Very useful if you are needing independent reading material for your kiddo.

And if you aren't ordering from Scholastic, you really should! You can get cheaper games in their "Click" flyer. I ordered Math Blaster for DS! Many of their games, just like their books, are cheaper than stores.

By the way, I've actually been posting at my other blog this week quite a lot! Who knew I would have so much to say about food and my kitchen? Big things happening over there! Here's a sneak peek:

Go check it out! (see sidebar)

Deciphering Reading Levels

First of all, this is going to take more than one post. I know that right now.

Second of all, I am not an expert. Some of you have more years of homeschooling under your belt and will have lots to share on this subject. I welcome your thoughts.

Thirdly, I sat through a LOT OF TRAINING in my former life as a teacher and I'd like it all to mean something, OK?

There is a lot of confusion in the way books are leveled. Please do not think that teachers just walk over to the library and pull a book off the shelf and have a student read it. Teachers, at least in the district where I taught, have whole rooms full of emergent readers that have been specially leveled. Testing occurs at the beginning, middle, and end of the year to let teachers know what level each student reads on. Then they put the kids in a group with similar-leveled children, pull leveled emergent readers out, and read with them. Throughout the year, teachers take "running records" on students as they read...which helps them know to the percentage point if a child read the book with 95% accuracy or 60% accuracy, and whether they should move up or down a level for that child.

Teachers have a lot of work, folks.

In the olden days when I first began teaching, we had none of that. We had a set of "basal readers." Basal readers are a textbook adopted and chosen by the state and given to teachers at the beginning of the year in the form of a class set of 22. Every child in the class got out the book, turned to page 17, and started reading together. Which did not work, by the way. By the time I finished teaching, 11 years later...teachers just left those basal readers on the shelf.

Where I taught, all the teachers in Kindergarten through second grade were trained in guided reading. In addition to the book levels that regular classroom teachers used, which were the Fountas and Pinnell levels, I also had training in Reading Recovery. But we had charts that told you how a F&P level corresponded to a RR level. Then, there are Scholastic Levels, DRA levels, just plain old grade levels...it goes on and on. Oh mercy, there is science to this stuff I'm telling you.

There are many, many other ways to level books and none of them seem to have anything to do with the other. For example, some publishers just go ahead and level their own books. This results in frustration when a parent or grandparent purchases a book that says "Pre-Kindergarten" and the child cannot read it. I do not trust ANY book that has been leveled by a publisher. I want to know that book's level based on F&P, or RR, or DRA....levels that are based on research.

There is so much that goes into deciding a book's level. You, dear homeschool mom, don't need to know everything about book levels, but it is helpful to think about what all is considered when leveling them the correct way. How many syllables are in the words, the level of vocabulary, the length of sentences, the decodability of the words, the number of different words used, the predictability, the use of patterns, and on and on and on.


It is probably not too hard to figure out when thinking about emergent reading books, but leveling gets a lot harder when your child moves on up into chapter books. Then, if you have a great reader they may be able to read books they really don't need to be reading content-wise, or if you have a child who is struggling to read and are way over the age of reading Fancy Nancy, even though the level is appropriate... what do you do then?



Here is an example of a publisher leveled book.

It's confusing though. If you read the notes inside, they intend for parent to read this TO the child. Big difference.





Let's assume this was a book for your young child to read: the only word that repeats is "the." There is a pattern though, and the pictures support the text. Also making it harder? The text begins in a different place on each page and sentences are broken into 2 or 3 lines which requires visual tracking.



Still, "borrowed"? Later, the words "juggled" and "attached" show up. These are HARD words folks and not ones that will naturally be assumed by looking at the pictures.

I'm going to share some things to help all us homeschool moms---all we homeschool moms? to figure all this out. Knowing a bit about reading levels can really help you choose the proper books for your children.

Up next: Everyone needs three.

It's a Pretty Low Number, I'm Thinking

I finally got around to reading Dumbing Us Down The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling  by John Taylor Gatto. It's been on my wish list at Paperback Swap for a long time. It's a short book--just over a hundred pages.

But it's a little outdated. And that's sad because I think some of the things he talked about are actually worse now. First, let's look at his numbers and then we'll talk about what might have changed in the last 21 years since he spoke these words.

(from a speech given in 1990)

"Out of the 168 hours in each week my children sleep 56. That leaves them 112 hours a week out of which to fashion a self.
According to recent reports children watch 55 hours of television a week. That then leaves them 57 hours a week in which to grow up.
My children attend school 30 hours a week, use about 8 hours getting ready for and traveling to and from school, and spend an average of 7 hours a week in homework--a total of 45 hours. During that time they are under constant surveillance. They have no private time or private space and are disciplined if they try to assert individuality in the use of time or space. That leaves them 12 hours a week out of which to create a unique consciousness. Of course my kids eat, too, and that takes some time--not much because they've lost the tradition of family dining--but if we allot 3 hours a week to evening meals we arrive at a net amount of private time for each child of 9 hours per week." John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down page 29.

Several things occurred to me while I was reading this. First of all, the "recent reports" are not recent any longer. I wonder what the average amount of T.V. watched is now? More than that, this was written before the Internet splashed into our lives. With the addition of computers, cell phones, handheld games, etc. what do you suppose is the new number devoted to "TV and other media" these days?

My guess is it's pretty substantial. The little 4th grade girl who lives across the street came over to jump in the leaves with my girls the other day. She held up her phone and asked where she could put it while she jumped.

I've also noticed that the school day is extended for a lot of students. There is after and before school tutoring, clubs and organizations after school, etc. The local middle school by our neighborhood has children still hanging out at the building well after 5:00pm. Why???

Then there is the homework number. I think it might be higher but it depends on what grade your child is in, what school they attend and also who their teacher is that year. Homework varies greatly. What would you say the average number of hours a week would be?

I can only imagine. Sweetheart only went to public school through 1st grade, but they had us busy. Boy did they ever! The thing is, this quote from the book sounds so grim. How can my child go to public school and still turn out OK? I don't think it's any secret that I'm not too fond of public school or its results. Most of my opinion changed when I changed from being the teacher to being the parent. That was a whole new perspective. When your child is in public school, you just have to spend so much energy making up for the deficits. And wondering about the what might have beens.

The funny thing is, I don't believe this is solely a public school issue. I know homeschool families who are involved in absolutely everything imaginable. Sure, the homeschool crowd may be a bit more gentle and easy-going, but if your child is spending so many hours a week in group activities and scheduled time...there are still repercussions.

As Americans, I think we are just too busy.

And I couldn't help but think about church while I was reading all this. Church activities can suck the time away from a family faster than anything.

I was struck by this section needless to say. I feel afresh the need to protect my children's time and to prayerfully consider activities they will be involved in.

What do you have to say about all this? What do you think the numbers would be today?


**Don't forget to check in on my kitchen! Go see what's new and shiny and what I think about while I cook.**

The Transition

I'm sitting here wrapped up in my leopard print birthday Snuggie with the laptop.

I just wanted you to have a visual.

If you read Carissa's blog, you know she is really good about transitioning her kids in school. What I mean is, when Krash, her current pre-schooler, needed to move from "Tot School" expectations to "Pre-school" expectations, she had a whole plan and spent time going through those changes with him. She didn't just say one day, "OK.You're 4. Time to get to work!"

That's very wise and S and I have been talking about the need for Sweetheart (5th grade) to transition into more of an independent student. Unfortunately, I'm ahead of Carissa in children's ages so I can't just use all the awesome printables and downloads and units she will be sure to come up with when her children are this age. Shoot.

I know that there won't be a grand "now you are in middle school" feel to Sweetheart's school experience seeing as how she'll still be sitting in the same homeschool room with me and her little sister. Not too much frightening about that. We're considering shoving her in the closet some mornings on her way to the homeschool room and making fun of her each afternoon just so her experience will be authentic.

Anyway, it really hit me that this is the second half of her 5th grade year and it's time to start a transition. So, after talking it over with S, this is what we came up with.

We used to start our morning doing all of our "together" subjects (Bible, History, Science) in one fell swoop. Then, the girls had contact papered charts of what they needed to do the rest of the day so they could check things off with a marker and re-use the chart the next week too. Some of the subjects were independent and some required me. It didn't matter to me what order they did them in but they couldn't both work with me at the same time, obviously. This was working just fine. But it's the new year and I wanted something fresh.

Now, I have a binder for Sweetheart with all her independent work inside. This took more effort on my part than just going day by day but it's worth it. She begins her school day at her desk under her loft.

Uh, it's cleaner now.

And I begin the day with Little Bit in the school room doing reading, spelling, journal and handwriting with her. Little Bit LOVES having me all to herself first thing in the morning.

Here is what Sweetheart is doing in her room:

1. Read one chapter of the Bible. (Right now she's reading John and I made a list for her to check off. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.)

2. Write in journal. I made an assignment sheet for the week. Yesterday's assignment looked like this:

Wednesday  January 5, 2011
Write a story about a baby ladybug. You may draw a picture at the bottom of the page when you are through.

So, the date is right there for her to copy into her journal and each day has a new assignment. Since she read over them all on Monday, I know she's been thinking about what she wanted to write ever since then. And that's a good thing because her story about the ladybug had all the story elements in it.

3. Grammar. Here is where she does 2 boxes on a Drops in the Bucket sheet.

4. Math Practice. I printed a bunch of practice worksheets for her (way more than one week's worth) and just let her pick one to do each day. I check it the next morning.

5. Handwriting. One sheet in her Handwriting Without Tears book. I will probably begin to alternate this with copywork next week.

The first morning all this took her 30 minutes. Can you believe that? She LOVED working by herself and knowing exactly what was next. She's already asked me if she had to do things in order and I told her she did not. At a real job, you work on whatever needs doing and no one really tells you "first this, then this" so I'm letting her choose. If her math papers are continuously wrong, we may discuss the need to do math first. We'll see.

Then, the rest of the school day is spent alternating between "together" subjects and individual subjects. The only independent subject Little Bit has is computer time. But that's only because she's in first grade. Doing things this way breaks up all the reading I do and the listening they do in History and Science so that's easier on Little Bit.

So far, so good. This is the first step in having a more independent student. Don't ask me what the next step is, because I haven't a clue.

Where You Learn Matters

When you walk into a room and forget what you were there for, what do you do?

I've been taught to "go back to where you were when you thought of it." Have you? It really does work. Sometimes you'll even remember on your way back to where you were. Other times you have to walk all the way back to where you were when you had the thought and then BOOM it comes to you.

It's really strange how the mind works.

I had a professor in college who ran a review packet for us before each test. The review packet was always on yellow paper based on the research that yellow helps you remember. (Legal pads anyone?) The test was always on blue paper based on the research that blue calms you down, thereby eliminating test jitters.

It's really strange how the mind works.

When Sweetheart was struggling through public school 1st grade, I had to work with her A LOT in the evenings. We studied for the required spelling test each week. Each week she failed. I started wondering, how can she KNOW the words at home sitting at the dining room table with me....and then NOT know them in her classroom on the day of the test?

So I set out to prove to her that she knew the words no matter where she was. That she did not have to be sitting at the dining room table to get her spelling words right. I studied on my bed with her, in the kitchen, while she took a bath, in the car, and even in the hallway of our home. I don't remember how she did on that test, but I wanted her brain to be able to retrieve the information no matter where she was.

I also used color coding with her. I had a very strange friend/acquaintance in college named Rick who I have not thought about in years. We used to end up in a group of people who would go down to the cafeteria and study and eat late at night. Rick had this elaborate system of marking his notes that required 5 highlighters. I would study with him, learning the correct color to use on what type of information. It all seemed very complicated. He told me it would work.

The next day I took my exam. I got to a fact I could not recall. So, I did what Rick said and closed my eyes and pictured the information on the study sheet. I'm telling you, not only could I recall WHERE on the sheet the information was, but the colors came leaping out to me as well. And I remembered.

The brain is SO interesting.

Colors matter. Location matters.

How does all this play into homeschool? Well, I think one thing we have going for us is the location thing. We study all over. We learn all over. We are not confined to one spot. BUT, having said all that, 80-90% of our school work does take place at our table. Sometimes we move to the couch. They both use the computer in the living room. We do use the floor when needed. And of course we learn other places as well.

But this is why it's so powerful to read a history lesson at the table....and then watch a movie about it on the couch...and then find a book about it at the library...and then go on a field trip. Of course that is not always possible.

I think about how my daughter's eyes lit up last week when we went outside so Little Bit could practice writing her numbers in chalk on the driveway. Of course, Sweetheart wanted to come too. Later I thought, why couldn't she practice her multiplication facts on the sidewalk?

Every now and then I really rock in this area. I need to get better. When Sweetheart was learning her letter sounds in Kindergarten, I wrote letters on our ceramic tiles in our kitchen. (This was at the old house) I called out a sound or a word and she had to jump on the tile that had the correct letter. She loved it.

So, I write the answers to the 8s on the driveway, and she jumps on the right answer! Isn't that better than computer practice every day? I really need to think on this.

Trying to float our Viking ships in the bathroom sink.

We went mining for coal during a Five in a Row book. We mined
in the only dark room in the house---the bathroom. Again!

I am good about this...sometimes just letting them get up and work on the
white board is better than sitting at the table.

Another FIAR Kindergarten moment...floating Ping down the Yangtzee River
with a friend.

Sweetheart working in the kitchen floor a few years ago.

Making mummies in the living room floor--the day before we evacuated
for Hurricane Ike.

Making quilt toast in the kitchen.

Sometimes, when you've worked at the table too long, you should just get ON the table!

I used to be better at this. I don't feel like I've done enough "get up and go" stuff around the house this year. How can we get our kids up and in different locations around our home and still purposefully learning? What do you do at the table now that you COULD do somewhere else? Help me think here...

Let the Wakefullness Begin

I can't ever sleep well right before back to school time. When I was a teacher, this was the time of year I was in my classroom for a few hours each day getting stuff ready. Only, when it was time to leave, nothing was done. I maybe had put bulletin board paper up, and possibly even border, but none of the bulletin boards were finished. I had pulled stuff out of everywhere and laid it all over the desks but couldn't put it away yet because I wasn't finished with it. There was a roll of laminated items to be cut out, and punched out die cut letters laying everywhere and copies that needed to be made and even though I worked every day.....it would remain unfinished for about 2 weeks.

And that made me not sleep well. And have nightmares. I shared about some of them a few years ago.

I'm in the middle of planning and thinking and dreaming about our upcoming year and so I have a kajillion things on my mind. I realized at 5:00 this morning, while lying in bed wide awake, that I have a conflict on Wednesdays. So first thing this morning I was up e-mailing someone about switching times or dates. And really, I haven't actually sat down and done ANYTHING about our new year. Not much at all. This has all been mental while I'm washing dishes or cleaning up from the break-in.

Today I'm off to Half-Price books to see if I can get some cash. I already have a healthy stack of books to sell but I'm going to have the girls go through their bookshelves too. I feel sure we can get rid of some more. Oh and last night at Target, I found chapter books for $1!!!! The titles Sweetheart picked out were "The Wizard of Oz", "The Story of Doctor Dolittle", and "A Little Princess." They are "Junior Classics for Young Readers" so I assume they are condensed in some way. I don't know if your Target Dollar Spot has them but goodness sake what a great deal.

When we get back from our book selling (I can't imagine how much money we'll make. $2? $5? I really have no idea.) I have to actually walk into the school room and DO something. Instead of clicking all the links on the Not Back to School Bloghop although I did get some great ideas yesterday. It is time for action.

And perhaps action today will help me sleep tonight?

The Eye-Opening Conference

So I told you that Saturday our youth minister had coordinated a seminar on sexuality in today's culture. Kind of a "here's what our kids are up against" report.

Wow. I am really out of it.

When we sat down, we had several packets to leaf through before things got started. One packet included the lyrics to a few currently popular songs. I was embarrassed just reading them. But I'm glad I did. It made me remember a friend in high school whose mom was upset he was listening to "Jump" by Van Halen. At the time, we all rolled our eyes and laughed and wondered what on earth was wrong with that song. He said she was afraid it was about suicide. We laughed some more.

I'm not laughing about the song lyrics I read on Saturday. They make Van Halen look like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. These links are NOT to the videos but rather to the lyrics if you should like to see what some kids today are listening to. (Caution: do not click these if your children are hanging over your shoulder!) "3" by Britney Spears, "Rude Boy" by Rihanna, "In My Head" by Jason Derulo, and "Bedrock" by Lil' Wayne were the songs given in the packet. I'm sure they are just a sampling.

So the first speaker went over the purpose of sexuality. His answers were: 1. Pleasure (Gen. 2:23, Song of Solomon), 2. Procreation (Gen. 1:28), and 3. An image of Christ and His church (Eph. 5:22-33). Then he started talking about sexuality in technology and media.

One thing I learned on Saturday was how p*rn*graphy has changed. He told the typical story of finding some one's Dad's magazines at a sleepover. Yep. That's true for me except it was some one's older brother's magazines. Well, it ain't like that anymore. P*rn falls into three categories today: er*tica (which would be the old-school magazines), hardc*ore, and sm*t (r*pe, death, besti*lity, and children). It's WAY more depraved and WAY more accessible. They gave a lot of statistics and basically nearly every school-aged child has encountered p*rn on the internet in one way or another.

He went on to discuss how music (see above), movies, the internet, and "s*xting" (sending stuff via texting) has affected our culture's and our children's view of sexuality. Everyone had stories of stuff sent to their teens on their cell phones, solicitations made while playing X-Box, and just the hundreds of ways our children are encountering an ungodly view of it all. Boy is it out there and it is rampant and it is depraved.

A middle school counselor was the next speaker and he talked about several things. One thing that really struck me was the report that a female coach (PE teacher) at his school doesn't let the girls shower after class because she's afraid of what would go on in the showers. Seems h*m*sexuality is very common and kind of popular among the girls.

And that is where I wrote on my notes NOTE: CONTINUE HOMESCHOOLING.

I'm not saying I can protect my children from everything because clearly, it's everywhere. But I can say I will not knowingly put them in a situation to be affected in that way. But our children, yes even our dear sweet innocent homeschooled kids, need to be prepared to deal with what is out there. I believe that begins by knowing exactly what God's Word has to say about it all as well as being told what to do when they encounter it in their real life....which they will.

Any thoughts?