It’s been a long time since I last posted (nothing new there), but I finally feel as if I’ve got the energy and the understanding to write about what we’re up to these days.  I mentioned in my last post the fact that we were on the brink of a big change (for us anyway).  Now we’ve made that step and are a couple of weeks into it.  I’ve been able to see how it’s going to work for us, and I’ve decided that it actually is (for the time being anyway).  So here it is:  online curriculum, specifically Time 4 Learning.  There are so many reasons for this and the benefits are different for each of my kids, but it really does seem to have solved some of the issues we were having. 

 I had been feeling for a long time that I was just Tired (yes, with a capital “t”).  Tired of planning out lessons, trying to come up with creative ways of learning, trying to figure out my kids and how they learn and what they want to learn, trying to fit in these creative lessons with each of them all around my toddler’s schedule and needs, trying to persuade kids who didn’t want to do an activity or unit I had planned to go along with it.  Just tired.  I felt as if I was trying so hard to do everything right for everyone and also to do this version of homeschooling that I’d decided long ago was “the right one” for us.  I had “rebelled” against traditional schooling (although it really did work fine for me and my learning style) because I wanted what I thought would be better for my kids – more living books, more creative projects, more hands-on, more field trips, more fun.  But the truth is this:  I’m really not very good at many of those things (except for the living books – I’m great at finding and using those) and also, at least one of my kids (Ben) doesn’t really want that kind of learning (he really likes to just read and then take a quiz and move on – and he actually remembers what he’s read – it’s taken me all the way to this year to really understand that).  After a long time (years, we’re talking here) of trying to figure something else out and always coming back to the same method of me busting my tail to mix together an eclectic and creative mix of learning resources and activities, I decided to give Time 4 Learning a try.  They have a two week trial period.  I had the recommendation of an IRL friend (Robin of Martinzoo).  My kids seemed excited to try something different.  What did I have to lose? 

So a few weeks ago, we started it.  Madeline and Ellie loved it right away.  Ben, at first, thought it was going to be too annoying and babyish, but he realized after I really made him sit down and give it a try that it was right up his alley.  Since then he has sat down at the beginning of each week and scheduled out his lessons for the week.  He does Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science online and still uses his Math U See curriculum for math (although he may go in and use some of the math for topics that aren’t covered in his Pre-Alg curriculum but that he’d like to review or get more practice with).  He is very pleased that he is doing SS and Science (which he hasn’t really been doing for a couple of years, formally) in a way that is working for him at this time, and I’m pleased that he is so independent and feels so confident with this.  Madeline is working through her topics very systematically too and really loves to get on there each day.  For her, the math has been a great thing because, while she loves, loves, loves math, she hates workbooks.  She approaches math in a very “living math” manner which is wonderful, but she also needs frequent practice to keep her from losing skills, so this provides that in a way that she enjoys and looks forward to.  For Ellie, it is more about learning (and reviewing) in a fun way.  I’d be fine with her not doing any of this and just unschooling at this point, but she likes it and it gives her some structured learning each day.  

Another good thing about the T4L for us is the Language Arts for the older kids.  I have never done any formal LA program with my kids.  They all love to read and were early and mainly self-taught readers.  They read voraciously still.  They are good natural spellers and have a good grasp of basic grammar and usage (both from lots of reading and from other “living” resources such as the Ruth Heller books, Mad Libs, etc.).  But one area that has worried me a bit is formal instruction about reading comprehension.  Mostly I feel that one learns to comprehend by reading and discussing, reading and discussing, reading and discussing.  But there is that school-educated, elementary teacher part of me that wonders if children do need a bit of formal instruction in such skills as “determining cause and effect”, “making inferences and drawing conclusions”, “determining author’s purpose”, and “finding the main idea and supporting details.”  Both of the older children are getting all of this and more in the LA section of T4L and enjoying it.  Ben just said to me today that he likes it because it is new and different.   *insert sigh of relief here* 

So, the kids each get on for anywhere from a half an hour to a little over an hour each day (Ellie for less time, the older kids for more, usually).  They sometimes argue to see who will get to go first.  They often get annoyed when they have to wait too long for their turn.  This is happening more frequently lately since the new computer that replaced our dead laptop (our secondary computer) is having problems and is temporarily out of commission and we’re down to one computer for three kids. 

 So what else are they doing?  Ben does his Math U See (almost done with Pre-Algebra and looking forward to moving on to Algebra), reads books I’ve selected for him that extend what he’s been doing on T4L or that I just think he’d be interested in (lately it’s been books about WWI and WWII and I’m trying to get him interested in a book I found called Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku), and reads his own books of course.  There is still a lack of writing going on, but I’m pushing that aside for now.  He did mention that he’s been writing the dialogue for a comic series he wants to create on the computer sometime.

Madeline reads, reads, reads.  I get a bagful of books from the library each week that are not related to anything, they just look interesting.  She is the kid most likely to pick those up and read every one of them cover to cover.  Also, she is working on a series of writings to go along with a world that she has created.  Her dad finds her cool pictures of magical looking places online and she determines what they might be within her world and then writes a description to go along with the picture.  She is going to compile these into a booklet when she is finished.  She also wants to start a blog about her world.  She continues to be a wonderful help with Sam. 

Ellie reads a lot too.  We’ve been doing some math activities together lately to strengthen her number sense skills (understanding of the hundred chart, skip counting, ones and tens places, etc.).  We’ve all been doing some art projects, painting and making rainbow crafts with contact paper and tissue paper.  She plays with Sam a bunch when he’s about which is great for both of them and for me too. 

The girls and I are doing a short, fun reading activity in which we are taking familiar stories/fairy tales and reading alternate versions of them (“fractured fairy tales”).  I’m using this booklist website for titles.  So far we’ve found a bunch of fun versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Next we’re going to do The Little Red Hen.  It’s just a fun way to get a little bit of reading in and to get them thinking about how an author creates a story.  I’d love for them to pick the idea up on their own and start creating their own “fractured fairy tales” but I’m not “assigning” it and if they don’t it’s not a big deal. 

Read-alouds are happening as usual.  Madeline and her dad are reading Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban.  Ellie and I recently finished Little House in the Big Woods and The House on Pooh Corner (that one for her book club) and are now reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (also for her book club)

I’m sure there is so much more that they do.  And I keep thinking that I should start keeping track again.  I almost wish (sometimes) that our state required more log-keeping because it would force me to do it if only for my own personal records. 

 Now, I have to say that while the first part of my post might sound like an advertisement for Time 4 Learning, I really don’t mean it that way.  It’s been a good thing for us, for now.  It’s definitely not an absolutely complete curriculum in my mind since it can’t replace reading real books, doing real science experiments (although there are a few on there), going to real places, etc.  But it has filled a gap for us, has provided me with a simple way to cover some basics, and is solving a problem for me at this time (me being the be-all, end-all of our homeschool).  I don’t know where we’ll head next.  I seem destined to not settle into any routine for too long.  But this is our homeschool for now. 

It’s good to be back here at the blog.  I’d love to hear from you if there are any readers out there who made it through this huge post!

We’ve had a busy week so far this week, but nothing too out of the ordinary.  Here’s a few bits and pieces…

Yesterday we had our learning time in the morning. Ben did his work independently while the girls and I did their stuff together.  We’re having a language arts block this week.  I’m centering it on the parts of speech which seems strange, but I wanted a review for Madeline, an introduction for Ellie, and I wanted to use it as a means to get to some writing.  I checked out a bunch of books from the library on various parts of speech including the Ruth Heller books and the Brian Cleary Words Are Categorical series.  Yesterday we read the noun and verb ones, brainstormed our own nouns and verbs, and then wrote noun poems and verb poems (they needed to write on a topic using only nouns and verbs).  They had a lot of fun with that.  Then we did their math – I’m reading The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat with Madeline and Ellie and I played around with telling time.  Then in the afternoon, Ben had a friend over and the girls made a bunch of bracelets and necklaces with the bead kits (2!) that Ellie got for her birthday.  The kids had Tae Kwon Do in the evening.

Today Ben did his schoolwork independently again.  Ellie and Madeline and I read about adjectives, brainstormed our own lists again.  Madeline did an activity in which she thought of adjectives that describe her friend and then use them in descriptive sentences.  She seemed to enjoy this activity, but it really didn’t go as far or become as interesting as I’d hoped.  I’d planned to have her write an adjective poem or a descriptive passage about a place or person, but she didn’t want to do anymore writing at that point.  She went to read her book for her book club meeting this Friday (Cricket in Times Square).  Ellie and I sat down to work on a storybook making kit that she’d gotten for her birthday.  Pretty neat actually.  It came with a scrapbook-type book, tons of stickers, decorative papers, die-cut pictures, markers, etc.  We sat down and planned out three different stories that she wants to write based on the types of things in the kit.  Then we went to the computer and she dictated the first story to me, we fixed it up and then printed it out.  Later in the day she cut, glued, etc. and she has her first story in the book!  She’s so pleased with it.  What a great gift. 

Later this afternoon we had a doctor’s appt for Ellie (6 year old check up).  Then we stopped by Michael’s so the girls could get yet more beads and lacing string with their allowances.  Home again where I caught up on some email and made dinner.  Not much to write home about.  But good days nonetheless. 

A busy few days coming up.  Afternoons full of park days with our hs group, more Tae Kwon Do, gymnastics, drum lessons, book club, and then Friday preparations for visitors coming this weekend.  My SIL and BIL and their three kids (including their 3 month old baby who I haven’t seen since she was about 2 weeks old) are coming for the weekend.  Should be fun! 

Okay, I made myself write this tonight simply to get something written on this blog, but I can hardly stand how boring it is!  I feel as though I have nothing at all to write about these days.  I can’t think of anything to say about anything.  I come up with things during the day that sound interesting to write about, but none of them appeal to me at night when I have time to blog.  I need to just start saying something, I suppose. 

June and July have been busy months as seen in my last update post.  But the greatest adventure of the summer happened in the middle of July when our family had the wonderful fortune to take a trip to California.

My grandmother wanted to be able to take us all (her three children, their children and children’s children) on a vacation to a beloved spot in the Northern California mountains, a place where she and her family had vacationed many times. So after much planning by my grandmother and my uncle and others, off we went! First the 13 of us from the East Coast (my family, my brother’s family, and my parents) flew together to Oakland, CA. We stayed at a motel near my grandmother’s home for a couple of days, enjoying some sight-seeing in the area including a trip to the beautiful Muir Woods.

We drove through San Francisco to get to the coast north of the city, stopping after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge for a quick look around and a few pictures. A typical cool and foggy day there.

Then we arrived at Muir Woods and took a walk around this beautiful park.  It is just absolutely breathtaking, and the kids were really awed by the trees there.

We then traveled from the woods to the coast, stopping at a beach for a picnic and a short playtime on the beach.

After a couple of days in the San Francisco area, we journeyed to the Lassen Volcanic National Park where we stayed at the Drakesbad Guest Ranch for 3 nights. At this location we enjoyed hiking, horse-back riding, campfires with s’mores, swimming in the hot-spring-fed pool, playing games and relaxing on porches and in swings, wonderful food in the dining hall, and just general fun with family that we don’t get to see very often. The kids had plenty of time to play with their cousins and get to know some of their older relatives. We even received t-shirts designed and made specially for this occasion by my uncles. We all had a really fun time despite the usual complications that come with traveling in large groups and with many different personalities and small children. This is an adventure we’ll remember for a long time to come!

We’re heading into a couple of busy weeks here at the start of June with some things finishing up and others just getting going.  The kids have been told that we’re going to finish up our unit on the American Revolution this week (carrying over into next week if we absolutely have to).   Aside from Ben’s math (which he wants to continue with in order to finish sometime later this month – he has only 8 lessons left in Math-U-See Zeta level), we’ll be taking a break from our “mom-directed learning” for the next couple of months (mom is worn out and needs a break!  I give, I give!)  Our homeschool group is doing a play of Robin Hood which has its final practices this week (at least two of them) and then a performance for the families next Sunday (along with our end-of-the-year picnic).  Ellie’s gymnastics class has two more sessions, this week and next, and then it is done for the summer. The older kids are taking a month off from Tae Kwon Do (they are not happy about this, but I’m doing it for my own sanity and for the sake of our budget).  

On the gearing up side of things, swim team started last week. Practices are once a day (afternoons this week and next, then in the mornings from then on). There will also be meets every Tuesday evening. We also have Ben’s birthday coming up on the 10th (he’s turning 11!!). I think after the 14th (the day of Ben’s bday party with his friends) things will seriously slow down and ease into more of a relaxing summer mode. Aside from swim team, a possibility of a summer camp or two, and a vacation in mid-July (California with my mom’s family, thanks to my grandmother), things will be pretty easy-going around here. And I’m looking forward to it very much, thank you!

 What about you?  Do you take time “off” from homeschooling in the summer?  Does your routine change with the season?  I didn’t think that I would, thought we’d be “learning all the time”.  Well, of course we do, but as far as structured, mom-directed learning time, I find that I need a big break and also that Ben in particular is very aware of the school calendar and feels a need to have ours coincide.   I love to hear how other hs’ers tackle this issue…

We’ve been having such a slow-going, laid-back week here, in the mornings anyway.   Afternoons have been busy every day – Monday Ben had a friend over for the afternoon and the older two had Tae Kwon Do, Tuesday we had a family of friends over and then Ellie had gymnastics, Wednesday we had play practice and park day with our hs group and then Tae Kwon Do again, today a new friend of Ellie’s came over (with her mom) for the afternoon, tomorrow we have book clubs for both older kids, then errands to run and a birthday party for the older two to attend in the evening.  Whew!!  Knowing that we had a week of busy afternoons caused me to make our mornings pretty low-key. 

The older kids did their CAT tests this week – finished up today!  Just need to send them in to be scored. 

Ben’s been trying to finish up some corrections in his Math-U-See lessons so he can do the test for this section.  He hates doing the corrections, but it makes no sense to me to just let mistakes slide and not correct them.  Mainly the mistakes are careless errors (and really not many of them), but I want to make sure that he really understands all of the skills before he moves on. 

I’ve been reading Pippi Longstocking aloud to Madeline and Ellie.  It’s this month’s book for Madeline’s book club (meeting tomorrow!) and since I thought Ellie would enjoy it too, we decided to do it as a read-aloud.  They’re really having fun with it, but we still have two chapters to read before 2 pm tomorrow!  Aack!

I decided to start trying to do little mini-units with Ellie again, mostly just for fun and to make sure I set aside time with her.  This week’s was going to be about colors.  We read a couple of books we had here at the house relating to colors including the Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow book.  We’ve done a couple of science experiments – turning carnations colors with colored water, separating out the colors of markers on strips of filter paper, using dishwashing detergent to make drops of color in milk “explode” – all greatly enjoyed by her.  I also had in mind for her to practice writing (spelling) the color words (in paint of the appropriate color) and to learn the Spanish words for each color (with a nifty booklet printed from Enchanted Learning).  Yeah.  Not interested.  Also had plans to get more books from the library on the topic and to maybe write some kind of poetry using colors (accrostics or something).  Just didn’t have time.  We could keep going next week.  Or not.  Oh well.  I guess the idea was really to set aside time to spend one-on-one with her and that was accomplished.  She is one to always verbalize things like “I love to spend time with you, Mom” and “I like to help you out, Mom”.  I’m glad she says those things, but it also makes me realize that my time and attention really is a precious commodity to her.  Poor third child…

The older kids finished up their Mystery Class project last week, as I mentioned in a previous post and tomorrow we get to “meet” the classes online.  I’m not sure what is involved in this – I guess the classes will be “telling” us about themselves in some way – but I’m really excited to finalize the project.  I’m looking forward to doing this one last thing to bring closure to the activity.  That and reading the rest of Pippi will probably be most of our morning tomorrow. 

 Ben’s started working on creating some trading cards using the Trading Card Maker that Robin of martinzoo talks about here.  He’s been wanting to do this ever since he and Madeline got hooked on Yu-Gi-Oh a couple of weeks ago (they’re late bloomers…Oh yeah. There’s been lots of dueling this week too).  So far, so good…

I’m still giving lots of thought to where we’re headed next.  I’ve gathered materials for a unit on the American Revolution because that is what is “next” for us in our history pursuits (chronologically, as we’ve been doing it all along).  But I’m feeling reluctant about it.  I know that Ben isn’t really interested in this (he always tells me that he doesn’t like history at all, thinks it’s boring despite my attempts to make it interesting and fun) and the timing might not be the best.  But I really think that I want to do this, keep it kind of low-key with lots of read-alouds, do some of the activities from this and not try to do much else and then take a good break for a couple of months.  I think I might during the summer create my own learning plans for me and encourage the kids to create their own learning plans for themselves.  Still mulling over how this might work…

 At any rate, this was our week.  And now for some well-deserved sleep…

We’re having a whirl of a week here.  Busy for many good reasons…

• Monday was just a bit of school work in the morning, a dance class for M, dh home from work and taking a couple of kids to run errands and do stuff with him, then a library trip for the whole family, on to E’s gymnastics class, then to dinner (for my birthday – 38 – whew… not the best b-day dinner in the world, fussy baby, kids who needed to go to the bathroom a bazillion times, etc.), then to get ice cream (again for the birthday – I would have done without, but the kids had been looking forward to it, and, well, it was tasty!), home and bed – deep breath…
• Tuesday – dh home again so we could all go to Jamestown!!  We had a rough start to the morning, but we got to Jamestown in time for our homeschool workshop and tour -very well done, nice day for it (a bit hot, but mostly great), and so awesome because we’ve been learning about Jamestown and the kids really remembered a lot about it, and I think it was so amazing to be able to actually go to this place and see it firsthand.  The kids particularly liked the ship (boy, were those things small! And they sailed across the entire Atlantic Ocean in them!  Yikes!)  So a great field trip. 
• Wednesday – school time in the morning, a playdate with a friend of Ben’s in the afternoon, and then Tae Kwon Do for M and B in the afternoon, dinner, then bed
• Thursday – a day off from school work for Madeline’s birthday!!  (She’s eight and so thrilled with it…)  We hung out at home in the morning (Ben built Bionicles and had some computer time; the girls…. played school.  Yep, I gave Madeline the day off from school and she wanted to play school.  She made them report cards and wrote a report and looked up vocabulary words to write down their definitions – things we don’t even do in our homeschooling – and played school.  And they wanted me to be the teacher.  I just had to laugh!)  Then after lunch we took Ben to his drum lesson and ran some errands to get stuff for M’s party on Saturday.  This evening we had M’s favorite dinner (mac and cheese) and opened her family presents. 

Tomorrow we’ll be finishing up some school work from this week and then the kids will have Tae Kwon Do again.  Then on the weekend, we’ll be having M’s birthday party on Saturday and B has a friend’s b-day party to go to on Sunday.  Whew!  Sometimes I feel as though I’m losing my mind, but that’s a topic for another post… 

 Hope your weeks were good ones! 

Today…

• read some history with the older kids – about John Smith of Jamestown.  Tried to get them to remember some of what we’d read last time, but they weren’t too forthcoming… we’ll see tomorrow if they remember what we read today. 
• read some more of Carole Marsh’s Jamestown mystery (which isn’t the most well-written book, but has good historical info and the kids seem to be getting into the mystery; I’m looking forward more to Pocahontas and the Strangers next. 
• Ben did some MUS work and played Fraction War with me (practicing equivalent fractions – made up game)
• Madeline and I played Race to 1000 (actually we raced to 3000 because we were playing to practice both x and +, first rolling dice and doing a problem such as 30 x 5 and then adding the answer to our previous score so it added up quickly)
• M worked on mapwork – we’re doing the Southeast states right now.  She also wrote and drew her two geography vocabulary words for this week. 
• B began reading The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill (one of his independent reading books) and then decided that he had to, right then, try making his own homemade toothpaste.  He did it and was quite pleased with himself and he and M used it to brush their teeth then and this evening.  Too funny.
• M had dance class
• We picked up E from my mom (she had gone to visit my parents for a few days).  She had gone for a horseback riding lesson this morning that my mom had set up for her (she volunteers at a local therapeutic riding place and they’ll give lessons too).
• E also had gymnastics this afternoon.
• M did a lot of building with Legos this evening. 

A good start to the week.  Tomorrow is our at home day.  We’ll have our Tuesday Teatime and also begin Ellie’s FIAR – Lentil.  Should be  another good day, I hope. 

Every now and then, along comes a moment during which natural learning occurs without any plan or forethought or special materials procurred.  Today we had one of those.  I awoke this morning and was informed by my husband that I needed to make a phone call or two to find someone who could remove the bat from our fireplace.  ????!!!  A what in our where???  Well, apparently late last night Charles discovered a bat flapping around inside our fireplace (behind the glass doors).  He took some pictures (from outside) and left me this morning to find someone to remove it.  I made the calls and while we waited for the Bat Guy to come and take our little friend out we did some searches online and looked through our books to learn a bit about bats.  Madeline made bats out of paper for herself and Ellie.  Then when the guy arrived and took the bat out, he held it in his thickly gloved hand and expertly told us about the little guy, a Common Brown Bat.  He let the girls touch its back and told them about its hearing (better than a dolphin’s) and that bat poop is called guano.  Then we took the bat outside and set it free.  It flew to a pine tree nearby and landed on the trunk where we could still watch it and listen to it squeak.  Madeline took a bunch of pictures and asked some questions.  It was all in all a neat(although expensive) experience.  The man was very nice, very knowledgeable and obviously loves bats, and was very willing to share his interest with the girls.  Cool stuff. 

I’ve been noticing lots of posts about planning for next year’s homeschooling lately.  I’m reading them with great interest for I love to plan also but as Steph of A Room of My Own admits (I do admire her honesty), I’m also not quite as good at the sticking with the plans as I am in the making of them.  I think that is the very reason I’ve been having a hard time actually starting any planning this summer.  I’m more than a little bit worried that with a baby (who will be 5 months old in September) and a new “homeschooler” (Ellie will be turning 5 in November), I’ll be doing more tossing of schedules and plans than following of them.  I think I’m afraid to put anything down on paper because I’m sure it will all be in vain. 

 But I thought I’d share with you all (and keep here for my later perusal) some of the great planning posts I’ve read lately.  I do love to read what other people are thinking of doing, what resources they’ve found, and how they go about doing their planning.  And if you’ve found (or written) some good posts on this subject, please feel free to share them in the comments. 

 So here goes:

• Steph of A Room of My Own talks about her plans here and at her new blog Around the World .
• Dawn of By Sun and Candlelight explains here how she wraps up from this past year and prepares to plan for the next.  She organizes like I aspire to someday. 
• Faith of Dumb Ox Academy is beginning to plan for her youngers and is also creating planners to use for a couple of her older kids. 
• Melissa Wiley hasn’t been planning per se, but she has been compiling some wonderful resources to use for planning purposes:  a list of book lists and a list of things to buy instead of curriculum .  Wonderful stuff.   She’s also been discussing again her tidal learning concept which has sparked my thinking on the way(s) we learn and how I can plan for that (or sometimes not plan!). 
• Cheryl of My Thoughtful Spot is starting to plan how and what she will plan.  I think this is actually a good idea.  Maybe it would help me get going if I laid out what needed to be planned for so that I could tackle it bit by bit.  Wouldn’t seem so overwhelming that way. 
• Angela of Three Plus Two is starting her planning in July too. 

That’s it for a start.  I’ll add more if I come across them.  I just love reading things like this.  Now if I could just find time and energy for my own planning! 

My son Ben is creating his own blog all about his favorite things – Bionicles.  For those of you who don’t know, Bionicles are a Lego-created toy, kind of biomechanical creatures with a history, world, and stories all of their own.  Ben is seriously obsessed with them, knows tons about them, and loves to create his own too.  He’d love for people to check out his blog, especially other Bionicle lovers.  So if you have any of those kicking around your house, could you send themn over to his blog?  Thanks!!

They can go here to find Bioniclemania .