Week 1, part 2

On to the eight-year-old's boxes:

E. is my natural speller, so I'm taking it easy on her right now. Worksheets from Enchanted Learning for spelling and alphabetizing.

This girl loves her geography. She had a great time with these flash cards this week.

Why is it my children seem to forget math over the summer? We are doing a review for this very reason. We've tried both the Miquon and the Singapore math programs, and needed to keep looking for both kids. Right Start Math is an excellent match for my visual-spatial learners.

E's favorite one day was her nature journal with a new set of compact binoculars (to replace the ones her little brother threw across the room and broke). She sat on the deck and drew happily for half an hour.

Science reading. She read about half one day and half the next.

The Usborne Latin Words Sticker Book was fun for E., too, though she requested help a few times.

Besides the nature journal, E's favorites this week were the States and Capitals flash cards, Draw Write Now, and math (once we switched to a review of what she did last year). Only one day did she have a least favorite, and that was to read a few pages of Who Were the Romans? (Usborne Starting Point History), which surprised me a bit.

Part three coming soon!

Week 1, part 1

I tried to take lots of pictures this week, and here are the highlights, mostly of the workboxes since those are such a new and fun aspect of our homeschooling.

Here are some of the 11-year-old's workboxes this week:

We're making a switch from Sequential Spelling to Spelling Workout for O. I liked how SS has the kids check their own work, but it was very time-consuming. Spelling Workout has some independent activities after the pretest, and then the lesson culminates in an end-of-week spelling test. So far, this is DS's favorite subject along with Latin (which is a group activity, so it didn't make it in the workboxes).

Okay, maybe this was his favorite--he snatched it out of the workbox, read what was required and then requested to finish it when he was through with the boxes. Lawrence is a very prolific author--the series has at least sixteen books in by now. O is devouring Book II (The Secrets of Vesuvius) under the covers with a booklight right now, probably.

Handwriting is not a favorite, but I don't hear the moans and groans I have in years past. We alternate handwriting and copywork 3-4 times a week. We use the Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting course.

Even though the poetry club is now defunct (sigh), O. still memorizes a poem a month, or thereabout.

Great, great book. Just right for logic stage Earth Science. Shaping the Earth by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent.

I had thought that Beginner's Japanese on his iPod would have been right up O's alley (he's been mentioning learning the language for a year or so), but he did not like the format of this program. So glad I decided to try via ILL before buying. Now I'm looking for a DVD language program for Japanese, or something with more visual components. Any ideas?

At the end of each day I have the older two write a list of what was in their boxes and what they liked most and least that day. So far O's least favorites have been math and his nature journal, with which he doesn't feel like he excels.

Tomorrow, week 1, part 2: the eight-year-old's boxes. I have only so much patience with Blogger's image uploader/formatter.

Good finds of the week

1. Lively Latin

I don't know if it's Harry Potter Syndrome or what, but my kids have been after me to study Latin for a while now. We started with The Big Book of Lively Latin, v. I this past week, and it's been a big hit so far with both of the older two (11.5 and 8) and myself. I love how Magistra Catherine Drown has laid out the lessons--vocabulary, pronunciation, history, even diagramming (in Latin)!

2. PBS and David Macaulay's Roman City on DVD

We really enjoyed this DVD this week. I even stayed awake through it, which is saying a lot since I had about four hours of sleep the night before, and we watched at that sleepy time of the afternoon when it's hard for me to stay awake when I've had a good night's sleep. Narration by Macaulay as he walks around Ancient Roman ruins is interspersed with the animated story of a young Roman architect (voiced by Derek Jacobi), and it kept the interest of all three of my kids (11.5, 8, and 4.5). There are three more DVDs in the series: Cathedral, Castle, and Pyramid.

3. Yoga Pretzels

These made it into DD(8)'s workboxes this week. Each card has a yoga pose or activity or game on it. The ones I put in the workbox were ones she could do by herself, but there are also partner activities. The cards are divided up into the following groups:

Standing poses

Forward bending poses

Twisting & stretching poses

Balance poses

Breathing

Partner poses (such as "Warrior Friends")

Time in cards (guided meditations)

Games

The oversized cards come in a sturdy flip-top box. I expect to get a lot of use out of them!

More on our week of workboxes once I get some photos uploaded. Hopefully soon. . .

Coming soon

A new book by Richard Dawkins called The Greatest Show on Earth will be hitting libraries and bookstores on September 22nd. Chet Raymo says that, in this book, Dawkins writes "with such an eclectic gathering of scientific illustrations, personal anecdotes, and snarky asides -- that the mix is irresistible even to someone fully apprised of the evidence." I'm looking forward to reading it, myself.

Mission: Organization, the Homeschool Edition

Since first hearing about workboxes from fellow eclectic/Charlotte Mason-style homeschoolers in the SecularCM yahoo group, I've been working toward getting our homeschooling/living space organized. It's been an interesting shift--I'm seeing toys being brought down from upstairs during the day and actually being played with, instead of being strewn throughout the first floor rooms and largely ignored. The living area is much more peaceful to look at, as well. Gone are the one-per-child homeschooling cubes that quickly became overfilled with just about anything, and (mostly) the sideways stacks of notebooks that wouldn't fit in the fourth cubbyhole.

the eleven-year-old's set

the eight-year-old's set

the four-year-old's set

everyday resources

Sue Patrick's Workbox System grew out of her work with her autistic child, and, while I did purchase her book through Amazon, I also found a huge outpouring of ideas and resources from the many homeschooling parents in the Workboxes yahoo group. The general idea is that kids will have visual reminders of what needs to be done on a given day (or week, depending on how one tweaks the system), which help improve time management skills and increase self-reliant learning. In theory, anyway. ☺

Being someone who usually follows a recipe pretty closely the first time I make something new, I'm planning to keep with the "fill x boxes per child per day" idea as long as it's working for everyone. I've also kept the "schedule strip" idea, which you can see here (with names blurred out courtesy of iPhoto):

Activities on the schedule, besides delving into their boxes, will include group time (for lessons the older two have together), tea time (thanks, Bravewriter), nature walks, mental breaks like crab-walking around the room or rolling across the carpet, music lessons and practice, online educational games, Skype-ing a friend or family member for a few minutes, and more:

While I think my kids will benefit from using the system, I think they will benefit even more from my use of the system. No more printing out pages while the kids sit at the table waiting, or, worse, wander off and get distracted by something else. No more really cool materials sitting on the shelves, unused, because we've forgotten about them or just don't have time to make use of them. Time for me to harness that creative gene I know is somewhere in my 23 pairs of chromosomes and fill the boxes with a combination of must-do homeschooling work, possible rabbit trail beginnings, and miscellaneous fun stuff. Once I have a solid idea of what's going in this coming Tuesday's boxes (this weekend's task), I'll post more. Wish me luck, and a firm grip on my sanity!

Tell me a story

Nam Le's "The Boat," one of the best-reviewed books of fiction of 2008, has sold 16,000 copies in hardcover and trade paperback, according to Nielsen Bookscan (which admittedly doesn't include all book retailers). In the first quarter of 2009 alone, the author of the "Twilight" series, Stephenie Meyer, sold eight million books. What are those readers looking for? You'll find critics who say they have bad taste, or that they're lazy and can't hack it in the big leagues. But that's not the case. They need something they're not getting elsewhere. Let's be honest: Why do so many adults read Suzanne Collins's young-adult novel "The Hunger Games" instead of contemporary literary fiction? Because "The Hunger Games" doesn't bore them.

from "Good Books Don't Have to Be Hard," by Lev Grossman, in the Life & Style section of the WSJ earlier this week. Read the rest of the article here.

Must get back to reading Eclipse.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. . .

Well, almost. I've almost finished ordering all our homeschooling materials for the first half of the year, packages are arriving, apple-picking season starts in about two weeks, and the promise of crisp fall weather isn't too far away.

I'm organizing like crazy--we're trying a new system that's supposed to help with time management and encourage more independent learning. I joined the Workboxes yahoo group, which has tons of free information and lots of files available to peruse and print, and made a quick trip to IKEA for a couple of Trofast systems to help us get started. Will post photos when everything is in its place.

And I found a great resource for ideas and free Montessori printables today: MontessoriMom.

How are everyone's back-to-school or -homschool preparations going? Are we having fun yet? ☺

Impostor

This friendly visitor was too small to be a Monarch, so E. and I are pretty sure was a Viceroy (Limentis archippus). Plus it has the black line across the hindwing that distinguishes it from the Queen of Butterflies.

Book Sharing Monday 17 August

Quentin Blake's Tell Me a Picture is a new favorite in this house. The book was published to accompany an exhibit of the same name at London's National Gallery from February through June of 2001. This delightful book was published in the same year by National Gallery Company Limited, and published in the U.S. in 2003 by The Millbrook Press, Inc., now a part of Lerner Publishing Group, which also publishes Brian Cleary's Words are CATegorical grammatical picture books.

The artwork featured in the alphabetically-arranged book are pre-21st century paintings by artists such as Avercamp and Hopper, as well children's book illustrations by several artists. There is much to see in each work of art, but one of our favorites is Paolo Uccello's circa 1460 painting, Saint George and the Dragon:

Quentin Blake is well-known for illustrating many of Roald Dahl's zany chapter books and many other books, as well as authoring his own books for children. He was appointed the very first Children's Laureate of England in 1999.

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity--head on over and see what other people are reading!

Playing around with iMovie

(Video fixed--uploaded the wrong file the first time.)

Hemaris thysbe, or the Clearwing Hummingbird moth, likes hanging out at the butterfly bush in our yard. I tried out iMovie for the first time with footage from outside today.

Playing in the background is "Strange Days," sung by Beoga on their cd, The Incident, as otherwise, the not-so-sonorous sounds of the neighbor's weedwacker would have been apparent.

Walden Pond

One of our favorite places.

The 11-year-old doesn't like crowds of any sort, so after sulking sitting on the jam-packed beach for a few agonizing minutes, he headed into the woods for a short hike and some nature photography, accompanied by his mother (as he gets his abhorrence of hordes from me).

We knew this wildflower was Indian Pipe, thanks to the 100 Species Challenge, begun last summer.

This waxy-leaved little wildflower was very pretty--but I forgot my Audubon book and don't remember what the leaves looked like. Possibly Spotted Wintergreen?

I can't resist any rock photo ops.!

8-year-old and 4-year-old in the pond--they would have stayed all day.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

~Henry David Thoreau

Book Sharing Monday 20 July

The Planet Gods--Myths and Facts about the Solar System (2008), written by Jacqueline Mitton and illustrated by Christina Balit, is one of several books by this duo that have to do with astronomy, which is not surprising considering that the author is a Cambridge-educated astronomer. The pair's other books on the topic are Zoo in the Sky, Once upon a Starry Night, and Zodiac--Celestial Circle of the Sun.

The illustrator has also written and illustrated a few books on her own, including the highly enjoyable Atlantis (2000) and Escape from Pompeii (2003).

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity.

Book Sharing Monday 29 June

We are dog fans in this house, so when I saw this new picture book featuring that noble animal and then noticed it was by one of DS (11)'s favorite authors, I had to check it out.

All three kids enjoyed hearing this tale of a new king who was the pickiest eater in the world (hmm, now who does that sound like? Oh, yes, two of my three children), and the dog who got to eat foods that the chef traveled 'round the world to find to tempt his royal highness.

Much of the book's appeal is in the unique, lovely illustrations by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher--definitely children's book artists I will be on the lookout for from now on. The two of them have collaborated on more than thirty children's books to date.

In addition to The King's Taster, Canadian author Kenneth Oppel has also written Airborn, Skybreaker, and Starclimber, which trilogy DS (11) recently devoured (our library has them in the YA section). Oppel has another series for younger readers (9-12 years, according to Amazon) that features bats as the main characters (Silverwing, Sunwing, Firewing, and Darkwing), as well as several other stand-alone chapter books and picture books.

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity.

Sing out!

From CBS Sunday Morning:

New science & music special on PBS

The Music Instinct is being broadcast this weekend here in New England. Check your local PBS listings for more information. I'm especially looking forward to hearing what David Rothenberg has to say about birdsong.

Rothenberg has written several books, including Why Birds Sing: a Journey into the Mystery of Birdsong, and the recent Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound. The author-musician also has seven cds released under his own name.

The Music Instinct also features slightly more mainstream musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin.

Book Sharing Monday, um, Tuesday?

I can't believe three weeks and a day have gone by since I first joined my fellow bloggers on a Book Sharing Monday. I don't know where the time goes, except that I am finally, after eleven years, catching up on some much needed sleep!

Tonight we read an old favorite--all three kiddos have enjoyed this one, and the four-year-old still requests it. He used to have it memorized, we read it that often. Wish I had thought to record his toddler-ly interpretation of it.

"In the tall, tall grass. . ."

"Crunch, munch, caterpillars lunch!"

And so it goes throughout In the Tall, Tall Grass, by Denise Fleming. Fleming has written other gems as well, such as In the Small, Small Pond, The First Day of Winter, and Beetle Bop. See below for more!

Book Sharing Monday is hosted (note to self: on MONDAYS) at Serendipity.

The Summer TBR Stack

No photo this time, but I hope to make it through a few more of these than I did of my spring stack.

Current reads:

The Quiet Girl, by Peter Høeg

This book club read is not my usual fare, yet so far I'm enjoying the strange flavor.  Høeg also wrote Smila's Sense of Snow, which I didn't read, but vaguely remember seeing on screen and not loathing.

Evoking Sound--The Choral Warm-Up, by James Jordan

Among all the suggestions given me by wonderfully helpful colleagues via forums on Choralnet, Evoking Sound is the most easily digested and most immediately helpful of the several books I got from interlibrary loan to evaluate.  Now if I can just get through its 300+ pages of jam-packed information!  Jordan has several DVDs that are going on my wish list.

Choral Charisma, by Tom Carter

Tom has been personally helpful via email with a couple of musical issues I've had in the past, and his book gives excellent advice about creating a safe learning environment for singers, amongst a host of other helpful suggestions.

She Shoots to Conquer--an Ellie Haskell Mystery, by Dorothy Cannell

Since I first read The Thin Woman, I've never failed to be entertained by Cannell's British amateur sleuth, and this latest in the series has been fun so far, though this is my "read to sleep" book so I have to confess I haven't gotten very far yet.  Have been very, very tired, as is evidenced by my lack of blogging (late nights are blogging time for me).

The Well-Trained Mind, Third Edition, by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

Haven't read the book cover-to-cover since first discovering it years ago, so am giving the new edition a go now.  Am reading the section about preschoolers and feeling guilty that DS (4.5) hasn't gotten the attention he deserves.  Ever hear of trickle-down homeschooling?  I'm hoping that listening to the other two (DD - almost 8! and DS - 11) recite lists of verbs, etc. will mean that he will magically acquire all he needs up until the time I can actively homeschool a third child without losing my sanity.

On deck:

The Charlotte Mason Study Guide, Secular Edition, by Penny Gardner.

To counterbalance The Well-Trained Mind. ☺ Or complement it, I suppose I could say.

No Enemies Within and I Will Not Die an Unlived Life, by Dawna Markova.

Feeling the need to carpe diem again.  

No Mind Left Behind by Adam J. Cox or Smart but Scattered, by Peg Dawson

Executive function as it relates to kids.  Getting organized, staying focused, and controlling emotions.  Hmm, there might be something in here for me, too!

Touchstone, by Laurie R. King

A stand-alone novel by the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice and all the subsequent adventures of its spirited protagonist.  The latest in that series is The Language of Bees, which I highly recommend, though, why, Dear Author, oh, why did you leave us hanging so?

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

At some point this summer, I'm finally going to give in and read this paramount piece of escapist fiction.  If you need me, I'll be in 18th-century Scotland.

Book Sharing Monday

The McElderry Book of Greek Myths, retold by Eric A. Kimmel and illustrated by Pep Montserrat is a new favorite of ours.  The illustrations are extraordinary.  At the beginning of each of the twelve myths, there is a full page illustration like this one, at the beginning of "Pandora's Box":

And interspersed throughout the stories on every page

 are other illustrations, like this one, from "Prometheus":

It's a beautiful book that we are heartily enjoying during read-alouds this week.  My eleven-year-old keeps snatching it when we're not reading it out loud and reading ahead, which is a pretty good recommendation in and of itself.  ☺

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity. Come join in on the fun!