The Museum

We had a great trip to the museum. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but I'm going to try to get some pictures from one of the other homeschooling mothers.

When we first walked in we were a little taken aback. We were confused as to where all the 'engineering' activities were. Then we realized they were set up all over the museum (which is temporarily housed in a smaller building while the museum is under renovation). There was a station for building a block tower, a free standing paper tower, a run for ping pong balls, a paper 'helicopter', paper airplanes, catapult, and a couple other stations we didn't get to visit.

We were, also, able to play in the 'pretend' section with a little grocery store, house, blocks, and dress up things. There was a space section with activities to simulate working in space. You could even attempt 'going to the restroom in space'.

The last section we visited was the Cowgirl Exhibit. The kids weren't terribly interested in that except to sit on the fake pony, but it looked pretty neat. I did see a plaque that talked about how the women on ranches did more then keep the home fires burning. When necessary they were out there herding, roping, and branding cattle alongside the cowboys.

In the end, we really had a great time building things and playing with our creations. The boys spent a lot of time rolling the ping pong ball down the tracks we made and flying their helicopters. I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go.

The last two days have been productive and busy. Yesterday was bowling fun for homeschoolers. We went to the park afterward and then to the kids club at my gym. The kids had gotten their work done quickly before we left. Aria worked online, proofreading and reviewing addition facts. She read her Junie B book for 15 mins and learned about our word of the day which was "poultry".

Casey did some lessons with me in our Shiller Math which is turning out really good for us so far. The lesson was reinforcing his knowledge of opposites and left and right. We, also, did some work with the Materials Bank. It is, basically, teaching place value and counting with manipulatives. I read to him from the book "Buddy" again.

Today, Aria finished her book and completed a math worksheet reviewing addition and subtract using our manipulatives. She, also, completed another lesson on place value. This time reviewing the one hundred thousands place. She completed a worksheet reviewing nouns and adjectives and learned our word of the day, "survive".

I began to implement my idea to incorporate more history into our days. I talked very briefly about early hominids and early man coming out of Africa. I showed her a timeline I had drawn and told her that I plan to have them do some kind of project for each time period we are talking about. We will hang drawings or essays under the appropriate portion of the timeline. I plan to have a timeline hang near the ceiling along the top of the kitchen. So, we shall see how they take to this idea.

Casey completed a lesson from mindsprinting.com reviewing words that we have learned over the last few weeks. We went through Lessons 1-51 to 1-54 in his Shiller Math which teaches rows verses columns. He practiced drawing the number 4.

To cover a little bit of science, Aria watched and episode of Bindi about wild dogs. Casey watched the Magic School Bus which was about dinosaurs. I love to see the genuine interest in these learning shows.

Aria gets to start a Hip Hop Dance class next week. We are both excited for her to have something like that to do.

We've been playing Tennis with our friends, too. Fun!

Busy Times

We've been busy lately. I haven't as much time as I used to have to blog. We've started bowling with local homeschoolers every Tuesday. The kids really enjoy it. We are also spending time on Fridays with other homeschoolers that are becoming good friends. Those times are welcome breaks from our academics and help keep us from too much cabin fever.

Aria's schoolwork, today, included writing an email to Grandpa, filling in a place value chart to the trillions, math worksheets practicing place value, reading to herself for 15 minutes, and watching Bindi the Jungle Girl. She is making good, steady progress in all categories.

Casey's schoolwork, today, included word review worksheets from mindsprinting.com, writing some of his review words and watching Bindi with us. He, also, became familiar with the concept of odd and even. He decided that our family's number is odd, but he verbalized it as "our family is odd". To which I heartily agreed.

The word of the day today was "urge".

We are scheduled for a field trip to the science museum at the end of the week. They are having engineering activities this week. We will get to build things of our own. It should be a lot of fun and all our friends will be there.

This Week At The School of Bantau

Watch out or I'll gnaw you to death with my tooth

Monday we talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. I explained a little about segregation and how eloquent a speaker MLK was. I explained that he pushed many changes in laws to relieve the burden of segregation. Aria asked if she would have been made to sit in the back of the buses. I said she would have passed for a white person. She could have lived in white society, but I don't know what she would have had to deal with if her community knew she was 1/4 black.

Tuesday we did some math worksheets practicing more place value with Aria and comparing 3 digit numbers with Casey. Aria is really grasping the place value associations now. I am so glad to see the light coming on for her. I hope someday soon she will see how much fun it can be to figure out math problems. Math is great for those of us concerned with the 'right' answers. In math, there is always a right answer. There is no room for subjective meandering in math.

Casey had a tougher time with three digit comparisons. We're working with greater than and less than. The worksheet site I am using jumped from using one digit numbers to three and this is not very conducive to happy learning. So, I think we will have to practice seeing the patterns in higher numbers before doing any more of those comparison worksheets.

We went to the library. Casey and Connor played on the computers while Aria found tons of books that looked interesting to her. Which made me glad for her. Connor found some books about bowling which he thumbs through periodically. He points at the pictures and tells me he wants to go there. :) Aria found some movies and music for us to enjoy, too.

I lost the rest of my marbles a long time ago

Wednesday I read Junie B. Jones to the children till they squirmed. Then they completed their math worksheets (more place value and comparing numbers). Casey practice the "ap" family of words. Aria read Captain Underpants for 5 minutes by herself, and we learned the Word of the Day, punctuate.

Today, I read Captain Underpants to Casey and Aria read Junie B to herself for about ten minutes. We watched Bindi the Jungle Girl on Discovery Kids. Aria and I enjoyed the show very much. I was surprised to learn that platypuses are venomous. Casey was mildly interested and managed to glance at the show a once or twice. :)

We played a math game called "Race to 100". This practices place value. Aria won to Casey's very observable and whiny dismay. Our word of the day was, Marsh. Casey practice letter formation by tracing a few upper and lower case A's and B's.

I made a cookie for you but I eated it.

I ordered Shiller Math online yesterday. I am very excited. I hope that it works as well as I think it will. Now if I can just find fun and tactile ways to learn everything else.

Baking is very serious work.

Online Day

We played games online today. To cover the skills Ara is working on in English we played Toon University online. She played Parts of Speech while I looked on. Casey played a word family sorting game on readwritethink.org.

Aria continued to practice place value with another toonuniversity.com game. Casey played one comparing numbers.

I've set Bindi Irwin's show to record so we can watch it when ever we have the time. I missed it with the kids yesterday when it came on at 4pm instead of 5pm like I thought.

Tomorrow, we're off with the homeschool group to roller skate. Yay!

Aria's Lessons

We completed our math worksheets today. Casey is finding that the worksheets are pretty easy. We can speed through them. Especially, since I don't make him to the inane repetition when he most obviously understands a concept. The things that are more difficult for him are only done a few times so that he doesn't get frustrated or tired.

Aria is thriving on the worksheets. This is something so familiar to her that I think it's a little comforting. I'm a little concerned that the information is getting lost in among the 'right' answers. She understands how to get the answers from the example on the sheet, but not because she understands the information.

She can see, for instance, in the number 312 that there are 3 hundreds, 1 ten, and 2 ones. She knows this not because she understands hundreds, tens, and ones, but because she remembers that the hundreds are first the tens are second and the ones are last. She has not totally grasped that there are 300 + 10 + 2. Or that 10 ones are 1 ten or ten tens are 100. This would not normally be a concern for a child that is seeing this for the first time, but Aria has seen this numerous times. The interacts should be clear, but maybe she is not ready for this yet.

Then the problem becomes how to present the information differently just for the sake of not being bored. Being presented with the same information over and over again, whether you understand it or not, can be very frustrating. But I'm not despairing yet. She did seem to really enjoy using the manipulatives and I am planning on using them more often. Hopefully, at some point, seeing the way you can trade one group for another that light bulb go on. I think the ability to grasp it is there.

She, also, practiced naming parts of speech. She didn't do well on that for some reason. I don't know if she just wasn't concentrating or if she forgot what she learned. I will find some way to practice them again tomorrow to see what's going on.

Aria and I, also, tried our hand at making an educational video. She had fun with it at first but quickly grew tired. I will edit it and show it to her and maybe it will inspire her to do more. I think explaining it 'to other kids' will help her to understand it better and inspire her to learn more. It caters to her vanity too. :)



We plan on watch Bindi The Jungle Girl tonight as well. A decent day. A little frustrating but productive enough.

Mondays and Tuesdays

I feel like my days have been really full this week. Yesterday, we played War and computer games to practice our math. We did worksheets today. I'm glad of the help that Mindsprinting.com is giving me by way of child appropriate worksheets provided in an orderly fashion. I think it may help us. I'm really considering purchasing Shiller Math. We have some math manipulatives and Aria really seemed to enjoy using them to figure out her math sheet today. I know Shiller uses manipulatives and music, along with worksheets and such. I can use it with all three children so it is most probably worth the money.

Aria read an article from Mindsprinting and answered questions. She got most right, but I think the articles are just not interesting enough to keep her attention. I need to find something about acting, fashion or music. Then I'll have her undivided attention. I want to be sure she has the tools to remember things she doesn't like to read, though, so we will have to continue to discuss that skill.

The word of the day yesterday was "blare" and today it was "motto". Aria said her motto could be "Keep Trying". I need to make her a sign or framed picture that states her motto. I love that she thought of that on her own. I think that should be my motto as well.

My goal for the rest of the week is to do something creative and/or a science experiment this week.

Smart People

Aria worked particularly hard today to get her work done. Not only that but she was interested in what she was doing. She spent much of the morning looking at The Human Body book. We talked extensively about reproduction and well as the real life emotional issues of having a baby. (Can't do that in school.)

She worked on her place value review and on decimals. She learned how tenths, hundredths, and thousandths worked. By the end she was able to compare greater than, less than or equal to in decimals with moderate comprehension. I was very proud.

She then worked on her reading comprehension worksheet. These worksheets are pretty dumb and kinda boring. I don't know if I will continue with them. I think I may just find articles online and write my own questions up about them. Then I can pick things that are interesting to her and/or are necessary to know. I don't really know how knowing about the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia is going to help her in the long run.

Casey worked on his reading and math sheets. Last night we played a rousing game of 4-Way Countdown. His reading is getting quicker and quicker. On of these days he's gonna take off and never look back. He was full of confidence today. I said, "You really are a very good reader. I don't know what you were worried about." He said, "Me, either."

Even Connor worked about two minutes on a worksheet with me. Then the moment was over and he proceeded to scribble on the sheet.

We then watched a short video about Molly Pitcher here.

Worksheets

We've done worksheets the last couple of days. Aria seems to enjoy them. She seems to like that she can see what she has to get done. She wants to have the end in sight I guess. I think she tells herself "Only two more pages to go and then I can do what I really want." Even, when we're doing something fun it seems that she'd rather be doing what she wants to do. And I guess we are all that way.

Aria did fine on her math sheets. She made some errors on her place value work because she lost sight of what we were studying I think. This is definitely good practice for her. I think the ability to grasp the symbols and some abstracts in math may be a little more developed now. I am hoping that it will go quickly for her.

The reading sheets went fine. Her ability to read is well developed but the some of the comprehension is lacking. I am going to have her start taking notes on things she's read. I find that I retain information better if I've written it down at least once. This will also practice her handwriting skills.

Casey, on the other hand, does NOT like worksheets. We did some reading work which went well in the beginning but as soon as we had done more writing then he felt was necessary he got very rebellious. Writing is difficult for him and reading is an effort, so it's only natural that he balk at it a bit. I don't know how I'm gonna get handwriting practice in without lots of tears. Small doses are probably the way to go. The math sheets he did well on and seemed to enjoy. I'll just have to mix up the worksheets and games and such so that none of it gets stale.

We found a couple of websites that are interesting and educational. We found imbee.com. We found this site on National Geographic Kids website. It is a site where kids have their own page and start groups much like myspace but it is all animal, nature, and kid related stuff. We, also, found Raven Symone Presents. She does all kinds of craft type projects and fun stuff, mostly, for girls.

So, we're getting back to a schedule. As much of a schedule as we are capable. I think people lose out on a lot of prime learning/teaching time when they compartmentalize everything. We are constantly in motion, constantly evaluating what we need to learn that day or even that moment.

On another subject, the kids found ice on everything a few days ago. The leaves on the bushes got iced over and they were able to pull off sheets of ice shaped like leaves. Nature can do such beautiful things.

Vacation is over

It feels good to be doing something with our days. Christmas break has consisted of kids making messes and mom cleaning them up. We did have a great time, but a little more structure and a few more things to do with our brains is definitely a good thing.

Yesterday, we started growing a green crystal. I don't know if it will work since it says not to bump it but my eleven-year-old carried it from one room to another and spilled a bit of it. Said eleven year old claims to have not heard the instruction regarding bumping it. Even if said eleven-year-old had heard instruction she probably would have stated that she didn't bump it, but simply carried it from one room to another.

It was exciting to mix the chemicals and I had to smash the 'seed' rock. The rock is a rough surface for the crystal to grow on. Well, when I hit the rock with the hammer it sent a spark flying across the kitchen floor. The kids where ecstatic, especially when it happened a few more times. I found myself wondering if I could start a fire the old-fashioned way, but I didn't try.

Today, we read Jack and the Bean Stalk in honor of Bean Day. I found a website that gives a holiday for just about everyday of the year. Today is Cuddle Up Day and Bean Day. Cuddling is great as long as you don't celebrate Bean Day by way of eating a lot of beans. Which we didn't so we're safe.

Casey took the math placement test from the Mind Sprinting website. He did just as a thought he would do and now the website is making practice worksheets available for him to work on. Everything so far has been free.

He then played with our new Cool School toy. This toy has captured my three-years-old's attention and it a pretty cool toy. The only thing I don't like about it so far is that it shows SpongeBob, Clifford, Dora 'classrooms', as well as a few others, even though they are not available unless you purchase them separately. I would prefer that those options be hidden from my poor kids who would like to play those games.

Aria took a spelling quiz online that asks which is the correct spelling. She got 8 out of 10 and then she went back and corrected the ones that were wrong. I feel that is good practice and she does that on her own. She likes things to be correct but only when she wants to do it. :)

Aria had been reading the Human Body book we got from the National Geographics sale. I like to see her carrying that big book around. She is teaching herself to be a very intelligent and well rounded person I think.

I printed Aria's math sheets from Mind Sprinting and we went through them together. They are just want she needs and I feel like her ability to understand is a little better now that she's older. I am looking at math curriculums but I may just stick with this for now and see how it goes.

We're kinda vacationing

We've been doing a bit here and there, over the last two weeks. Watching science videos, playing our new 4 way countdown game, and playing learning games online. I can't wait till the holiday season is over so we can get back some order around here.

The hubby and I made a couple of great educational finds that I wanted to put up here for anyone who happens across my blog. We discovered a treasure trove of National Geographic publications while we were in Austin. Apparently, in April of each year the society decides where they are going to have their gigantic warehouse sale. They hold the sale at the end of the year. Here's an article talking about the sales that just passed. Watch for one next year. It is definitely worth a drive to attend. We purchased many books for $1 and large reference books for $10. This is something worth setting aside money for so you can get everything you want. We wanted one of everything. Of course, the pictures in the books are all amazing. It was very difficult to choose.

I, also, read about this site. I can't remember where I got the information, but I'll let you know when I remember. This is a site that offers, according to them, "100% FREE K-12 Tailored Tutoring Programs in Math and Reading". There is a free assessment test which is supposed to help tailor the program to your child or to you. Adults are welcome to use the site, also.

I thought I'd add a few pics of my kiddos, too, because that's really what this blog is all about.

My Budding Three Year Old Photographer

Connor loves to take pictures. I love to see things from his perspective.

Mac n' cheese and Aria are synonymous

M

Connor and bowling are synonymous

Who would have thought to take a picture of the inside of a potato chip bag?




This is my favorite, but please don't tease him about the painted toenails. He just wants to be as cool as his big sister.

Gingerbread Demolition

The beginning of our day was blissful and a bit misleading. One might have thought that this was going to be a cozy, cloudy day in which a young family might bond over some board games. Not so much.

Casey and I played with our new game, 4 Way Countdown. We had a great time adding and subtracting to our hearts content. Connor woke and was fairly accommodating. I woke (i.e., dragged) Aria and the disharmonious-ness ensued.

The whining and petty arguing between Aria and Casey was like a fork in the garbage disposal. It was so melodramatic that I just had to laugh. We played another round of 4 Way Countdown with Aria. Casey won to the consternation of Aria.

Then Aria and I went to the Internet to practice grammar and usage. We played Grammar Gorillas here. Which went well and we checked out National Geographic for kids, online. That was pretty cool. We played a holiday quiz while Casey looked on. We, also, watched a video of one of Aria's favorite singers who was helping to provide bed nets to children in Africa. Malaria runs rampant there and kills many children. She was impressed that her idol would do something like that.

Casey and Connor played on Between the Lions again for Language Arts. We, also, discussed our word of the day which was 'fiction'. Both the older children, later, used the word in our conversations. I love to hear them implement these words. I praised both of them for their usage.

Last, but not least, we demolished the gingerbread house and the eating of candy ensued.

Gingerbread House

I managed to get a little academic cooperation out of the children today, but it seems that they will be in a state of perpetual excitement until Christmas. I started a Junie B. Jones book which received a lukewarm response at best. We did all laugh when Junie accidentally says that no one in her family is 'normal'. I can totally identify, Junie.

We watched a couple of videos about Pandas and talked very briefly about their habitat being destroyed and the probability of losing pandas forever. We, also, watched a video about cats' ability to right themselves in a fall. They are amazing creatures.

Aria and I talked about the difference between fiction and non-fiction. She played a game online which practiced this concept. We also discussed the 'word of the day; prudent. She then did a quick worksheet practicing her math facts. She wanted to get through these things quickly so we could get to our gingerbread house building.

Casey played on pbskids.org. He played most of the games on Between the Lions. I got him started and told him when he was done he could do his math sheet. Then we'd work on the gingerbread house, but he was engrossed he didn't want to stop. He played much more then I told him he had to. That desire to learn is so nice to see.

Finally, to the kids' delight we started on the gingerbread house. They had a blast putting it together and eating the candy and licking the frosting off of whatever it got onto.

The Tooth Fairy and the End of the World

We had an exciting morning. The Tooth Fairy came and left Casey two dollars for his first lost tooth. (He is actually missing two teeth. The first one was damaged and had to be pulled. That one earned a present from Mommy and Daddy since it was so traumatic.) Casey's eyes were lit up this morning. I heard him say, "She came!" He found me in the kitchen and told me the Tooth Fairy came. "And I KNOW she did 'cause there's glitter on my pillow." He exclaimed. Priceless.

Casey and I spent the morning watching videos on howstuffworks.com. We watched a couple of videos on the strangest ways the world could end, like nano technology turning all living things into grey goo. Maybe not so great material for a little kid, but he saw it as fantasy, which it is, basically. We also watched a bunch about colonizing the moon and Mars. We had a tough time tearing ourselves away. Aria didn't want to join us, but she spent about half an hour on wonderville.com, exploring the science games on there. BTW, did you know that the sun flips its magnetic poles every 22 years?

Aria read a chapter in her fairy book and Casey and I finished his book. I read four books to Connor while he tried to go potty. He doesn't want to wear diapers but he also doesn't want to pee in the potty. It is not very much fun to sit in a wet spot on the computer chair. He'll get it though.

We played a neat Internet game to practice our math facts. It's very simple and yet addicting. It practices the facts that add up to ten.

I attempted to get the kids to help me write a rhyming Christmas poem, but we just ended up with a lot of words that rhyme with poo. So, I abandoned that idea. Aria decided to blog and Casey practiced a bit on starfall.

Connor impressed me with his ingenuity. He built a cool little lane for his ball and he rolled it over stuff and into stuff. He kept changing it up and watched what it did each time. He such a little scientist. A scientist who is liable to knock your block off with whatever he's rolling/throwing at the time, but a scientist nonetheless.

Solar Oven

I've been excited about this idea of a solar oven since I found the instructions for one online. So, I made one today. Unfortunately, it was not sunny enough today to really get it going, but the temperature neared 140 degrees at times. It warmed the hot dogs I put in it, slightly.

I'd love to build a real one to take camping with us, to cook with on the beach or cook on in the summer when it's too hot to turn on the oven. I know I could use the slow cooker, but this is neat because it doesn't require any energy but sunshine. There's a very cool site about the benefit of solar ovens to energy poor countries.

Today, we played on a fun science site called Wonderville. Both kids found it entertaining for quite awhile. The 3d environment is really neat.

Aria read twenty-five pages of a chapter book on her own! I read to Casey who wanted to continue the book until chapter six. Awesome-ness on both counts. Aria hasn't read a book on her own since I can't remember when. I'm sure the aversion was because she was forced to read a whole lot of books in school that were of no interest to her and I think her comprehension of the material has improved, considerably. She came to me after she read and relayed all of what she had read in those twenty-five pages. Casey, in turn, told her about his story.

Aria wanted a worksheet to practice her math facts. She finished 50 problems in a relatively short time. I think I'm seeing a light bulb go on with those troubling things. I see her putting in the effort to commit them to memory, finally.

Casey played addition pinball online. He read me a few books on Starfall.com. Aria played a game practicing recognition of nouns and verbs. We finished up by about 1:00pm.

Connor played a pinball game and on Starfall.com, too. He watches everything we do. He recognizes a few words like go, stop, and play. He can type his own name and tries to write a little sometimes. He's learning a lot just by watching from the sidelines.

I productive day over all, I feel.

Thanksgiving, Camping, and New Friends

We survived the Feast. We spent a nice afternoon and evening laughing and eating with our family. We played some games. Connor managed to dampen the evening by breaking a sculpture which had been an anniversary gift, but other then that we had a great time. We brought home plenty of leftovers.



Friday we went camping. We met up with our new homeschooling buddies. We had a blast sitting around the campfire all weekend. The kids ran with their friends and played in the woods. It was really, really good for all of us. We haven't had a vacation in a long time.










I needed yesterday to recouperate. Today, we got back on with a bit of the academics. (When you say it like that it almost sounds like a disease. 'I came down with a case of the academics.') We read a short picture book called "Too Many Toys" by David Shannon and started a new fairy story.

We went to the Internet for Language Arts. Aria practiced identifying types of sentences. (i.e. exclamation, statement, question, command) Then she corrected the capitalization and punctuation. Casey read a short story on starfall.com.

We played a math card game called Twenty-five and Addition War.

Finally, we watched a video about hurricanes and tornados, which Aria loved. The boys were not so interested in it. We found out that Texas has the most tornados per year and then Kansas.