The Charging Bull
My oldest son and I made a quick trip into the city this afternoon for an audition. We had the pleasure of seeing one of NYC’s iconic structures,”the Charging Bull” during our visit. Its history including the sculptor Mr. Di Modica is very interesting.
http://chargingbull.com/chargingbull.html
Academics were abbreviated today because of travels, so I’ll be having make-up lessons over the weekend with everyone. On the drive home, I bought some happies for the kids to open in the morning. They’ll all been working with great intensity on their studies for several days now, so I thought a small gift for each child would be a nice surprise.
Present status for homeschooled kids and the IB/DP program
I’ve been researching extensively the IB program since they’ve recently started a pilot for their DP in conjunction with seven participating schools. I was excited to learn from the Pamoja website that they were allowing homeschooled kids to apply for this program. See below.
http://www.pamojaeducation.com/admissions/
IB Open World Schools Pilot
Home-schooled students or students not currently studying at an IB World School could still consider our online courses through a new IB initiative known as the IB Open World School pilot.
The Open World Schools pilot project from the International Baccalaureate (IB) is exploring how an authentic IB Diploma Programme (DP) experience can be extended to students who would otherwise be unable to access an IB education.
By digitally linking with an IB World School, students have the opportunity to undertake a two–year DP course online that meets the challenging academic standards and rigorous assessment for which the IB is renowned. Students collaborate worldwide with their peers while developing essential skills and expanding their global perspectives in a secure, teacher- facilitated environment.
However, after speaking with a lovely lady from the Netherlands who’s representing their online program, I’ve learned several things.
Recently, the IB program accepted two homeschooled students (I’m assuming to take some of their DP classes) and the process of opening up their program to more homeschooled kids is currently on-hold. This current period seems to be a trial of sorts for the IB program and the homeschooled community.
This is an interesting development with the IB program. I’m hoping they will get on board with the online educational movement and consider adding our diverse and highly capable applicant pool. No doubt it would be a win-win situation for all.
Scattered
I’ve been in a fog for the last several days and slept most of the weekend. Needless to say, I was ill-prepared to begin studies this morning and was actually thankful to learn that I needed to have my oldest in the city this afternoon. I covered math and vocabulary with everyone before we left. My son studied several of his science lessons on the drive. My husband read our ongoing chapter book with the bottom three kids. They had a few lessons online, and that was the extent of our academic day. I’m hoping I have my act a bit more together tomorrow.
Middle school Latin and up
My daughter and I are still dealing with flu-type symptoms, so I’ve been sleeping quite a bit and taking many soaks in between attempting to teach and run the house. Just riding out the storm at this point. Next year and beyond is on my brain. I’ve been researching online classes for my oldest son who will officially be in middle school next term. A few classes I may outsource include Latin and Logic. Below is an initial list of tutors that I’m considering. I found these companies mentioned on the Well-Trained Mind forum. I’m surprised to not see Latin offered by CTY, since there are many benefits to studying the language.
(Standard Latin exams including the National Classical Etymology Exam, National Mythology Exam, Phaedrus Contest, and the National Latin Exam.)
https://vpsa.veritaspress.com/catalog?category_list=2&year=2
http://www.memoriapress.com/onlineschool/classes?f%5B0%5D=field_class_subject%3A24
http://www.clrchomeschool.com/index.php?option=com_civicrm&task=civicrm/event/info&reset=1&id=90
http://cty.jhu.edu/ctyonline/courses/
Through the eyes of a six year old
I’m up at 2 a.m. presently. My daughter woke me up coughing that close-to uncontrollable cough so I’ve been working to get her comfortable. While I’m waiting and watching her sleep, I went online to a company called “Oriental Trading”. I imagine many of you know this site. They offer unique party items in mass bulk. The reason I’ve been surfing their products is because it occurred to me today that I need to make some adjustments, especially for my youngest child who is six years old. He’s a social butterfly and loves to talk to people, anybody really. He wakes up talking and he goes to bed talking. Here’s an example. I wake him up and the conversation goes something like this: “Oh, I got a really good sleep last night, Mom. I wonder what we’ll eat for breakfast. I forgot I had my Batman pajamas on. I really like Batman and my Batman shoes. I better lift the toilet seat up. Sometimes when I pee, I draw pictures in the water. What day is it? Can we eat waffles? I love waffles. And syrup, too. But not all the syrups that you buy. Just only some of them.”
And this conversation is happening while he’s walking from his bedroom to the bathroom and back. Most of the time his conversations are enjoyable. They only potentially become a hindrance when we are in a place requiring silence. Visiting the library always proves entertaining.
I share this because I’ve noticed recently that he’s seemed a bit down (for a six year old). He’s longing to play outside, but our recent lousy weather has put a damper on this activity. I believe also that his homeschool environment can be quite boring, and that’s my fault. At times, I’m so focused on making sure that my oldest son can solve for N, and that my second son can identify the topic sentence and main idea that I forget to change the climate acceptable to a six year old’s eyes and even a seven year old’s eyes. Shifting gears to the various children and their needs is by far one of the toughest challenges I face as a homeschooling teacher of multiple children. I don’t always have the enthusiasm to present material in a fun and engaging way to a first grader, and I fall short. Does that matter? I’m providing him with what I hope is an academically rigorous education. I believe it does matter, so therefore I must make small adjustments.
I was brainstorming how to make his environment more exciting while not consuming me in the process. Knowing him well, I have identified that one of his love languages is receiving gifts. He doesn’t so much care to give, but he loves to receive presents. I remembered that I used to include a treasure chest of sorts several months ago. I don’t know why I got away from that idea, but the kids loved it at the time. After finishing their studies, they would have the privilege of visiting the treasure chest to obtain a prize. So, I’ve ordered a few goodies from Oriental Trading. Their products should arrive in a week or so, and I will create another treasure chest. I’m chalking this expense up to improving their academic experiences and equating the investment to that of purchasing a new book. Yes, I do believe adding a bit of six year old happiness may make a respectable difference in his day, at least until the weather brings some sunshine.
Study your children. Know what makes them tick.
Piano surgery with a fever
An unusual day for me. My daughter and I ran high fevers, so I was in no shape to teach and she was in no shape to study. Thankfully, my husband took the older boys on a field trip. Part of our afternoon was spent observing our piano tuner-fascinating to watch what he does. I also spent a bit of time looking over the IB program and the advertised pilot for homeschoolers and other students who may not have access to the brick and mortar schools. I’ll post what I learn. Now off to hibernate..
The International Baccalaureate Program (IB) being offered online for homeschoolers
A homeschooling father in Taiwan wrote the below post recently on his blog (http://unschooledfuture.com/2014/02/19/an-online-international-baccalaureate-provider/). I have very little knowledge of the IB program except for a cousin who teaches in a UNIS school in Hanoi but the information is a good read.
An Online International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Provider
The International Baccalaureate (IB) program was first established in 1968 in Switzerland. It provides an international (147 countries) alternative schooling curriculum.
The final stage of the education, the IB Diploma, is accepted by almost every major university in the world (every university in Australia for example) for university entrance – you can use the search function here to check for your country and particular universities.
IB offers programs for students from the age of 3 to 19. The programs offered are academically rigorous, but placed within a strong mission of creating globally-minded life-long learners. The official missions statement for IB is that:
“The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”
This approach has apparently led to it not being as favoured in the U.S. as it is elsewhere in the world, due to complaints that it does not focus enough on America and prefers global-thinkers over national thinkers and that it is Marxist etc etc (although, despite this, around a third of IB schools are in the U.S.).
Anyway, my intent here is not to list the pros and cons of IB – you should form your own views on that – instead, for those who may be interested, Pamoja Education (strongly partnered with IB) is now offering an online IB Diploma (the final couple of years schooling, and only open to children over the age of 16).
This is currently still being trialed and so, I think, could provide even more care and attention than may perhaps occur if it was already widely rolled-out.
For those interested in pursuing a path like this the IB offers an extremely viable alternative to the Advanced Placement (AP) system that is currently gaining favour for university entrance.
Finally, of potential interest to some of you, IB now also offers the IB Career-related Certificate, which although it has some academics, also allows kids the chance to pick up career related skills in a more flexible way. Although obviously good for those wanting to pursue a trade, it is not only aimed at this and people can also apply university off the back of this – just with more career knowledge. It sounds like a fantastic option and you can start here in having a look at it.
The Winter Crud
Tis the season. My daughter began running a high fever today having likely acquired the virus from her younger brother. She began complaining of feeling icky after her math quiz. I thought nothing of it really until I found her asleep on her bedroom rug upstairs. I couldn’t take her temperature because we don’t own a thermometer, but her skin was hot to the touch, one of those scary touches where you put them in a tub of water to cool them off. So, needless to say, she was out of commission and slept for hours.
I’m also sharing in the fun with a raw throat and coughing, but the symptoms aren’t of such a nature to slow me down. No need to stop teaching, and I was thankful to even get a run in tonight.
I was thrilled to sit down and work with the older boys on their writing skills. I have to be in a certain frame of mind to teach composition effectively. The subject matter for me seems to demand a certain amount of enthusiasm and we seemed to have good energy in their writing lessons today. Other subjects were covered including math. Is it sad that I applaud myself when I solve my oldest son’s math problems while he’s doing so concomitantly? At one point today he said that he felt like he was teaching the math concepts to me versus the other way around. How sad and exciting is that?
Here’s to feeling better tomorrow.
All day and into the night
It’s been a very long day of academics for me. We began studies just after breakfast around 10:00 and didn’t officially stop until 11:30 tonight after read-aloud time. There were a few breaks. My daughter had a 45 minute dance class, but that’s about it. And I’m not sure that I served an official lunch, just periodic snacks. It was a marathon of teaching and still I feel behind. I’ve gone back to just writing down what each child will learn for the day. They have their own schedules, but they are still of the age that their studies require me either to teach or oversee their learning. Even my oldest son still needs good discussions and editing of his work. They can do some of their studies online, but again, their academic experience at this point is still heavily dependent on me.
I’m completely open to trying out something new because I’m consumed with the material I’m trying to cover now. I’d simply throw it all out and regroup except for the fact that I believe they’re getting a solid, academically-rigorous foundation. Hoping I’m correct on this one because I barely ate lunch today and finally ate a dinner of taco salad at 11:45 tonight. That should go over well when I eventually lay down to sleep. The gym didn’t happen either-ugh. It’s a bit nutty..
My throat hurts and my ears are popping so here’s hoping all of that green tea that I drank today kicks in. Maybe I can wash my hair tomorrow..
https://www.criticalthinking.com/
The Asian mindset
I have this book on my IPAD (see below) and was reading through some parts of it again this evening. I have such a great respect for the Asian community and the high value they place on education.
First floor check
I was still carrying out my mission today of removing dust balls and conquering dirty toilets. The kids enjoyed their free time by sleeping in and playing in the snow. I enjoyed a quick lunch with some girlfriends in between house cleaning and organizing. I still have one more room to clean and then I’ll be ready to begin academics tomorrow. I guess you could equate my entire house to that of a schoolroom. I assume teachers would not want an untidy classroom, so the same goes for me. I’m just more at ease teaching when I know I have a clean house to do so in. The kids even had to eat on the kitchen floor tonight picnic style because I had just swept under the bar where they normally eat and didn’t want that area to become dirty again! Weird, I know. Just one of my many eccentricities..
Off to lesson plan for four children. Hoping to get to sleep at a decent hour but that’s not likely to happen.
NYT article on common core mess
Shared by a girlfriend..
Second floor check
We’ve had a weekend full of sports, a birthday party, and a fever run by my youngest son. I had set a goal for this weekend to clean my house. I don’t know why but the tidiness or lack thereof affects my mood and therefore affects my teaching. I hate to wake up in the morning to disorganization or filth. Even when the house has the appearance of being in order, I still know when it’s really not clean. I can only keep teaching in that type of environment for so long before I have to stop almost everything to clean toilets and remove dust balls. The dust that I removed with a swiffer from under our bed tonight almost made me gag. I finally accomplished cleaning the second floor of the house this evening. Now I have the first floor to go. Our kitchen area hasn’t been mopped in over a month, just a tad embarrassing. People will suggest to me periodically that I should hire a cleaning service to help me. But I’m reluctant to do that for a few reasons. One is I’d really need a service about every day, not every other week. And then there’s the expense. Those dollar signs add up to books I might need for teaching, so I just can’t justify paying someone else when both my kids and I can clean. And I certainly cannot work around someone else’s schedule. I can barely keep up with my own. No, I just need to clone myself as likely do so many other moms.
Lessons now need to be prepped, but I’m exhausted for now. Hoping to start early with a fresh cup of coffee and a clearer head. My daughter’s extracurricular activities are weighing heavily on my mind at present. She had a terrible gymnastics meet today, so I’m still questioning whether she’s plugged into what’s best for her. Always something to meditate on. I need quiet time, but let me just end by saying how much I enjoyed driving the fast go-carts. They should sell those and the track to homeschoolers. Great way to get rid of some stress-Now I’m thinking my second careers will include taxi and NASCAR driving.
IOU
Today was one of those days where I felt like I was moving and processing in slow motion. My body’s energy level seemed to be dictating my mind so it was a challenge to teach four kids feeling the way that I did. But I did manage to provide some Valentine’s Day happies for my loves. (Question-do you think to yourself when you’re buying these non-essential items, “I shouldn’t be buying this because I’ve got four kids to homeschool and put through college!”? Still, I’m a sucker so I buy them). The typical goodies of chocolate, candies, cards, and stuffies. I love that my husband thought to buy roses not just for me but for my daughter as well. That will be a sweet childhood memory for her. As for hubby and me, we will be delaying our Valentine’s Day celebration a few days. Timing doesn’t always coordinate when you’d like it to, so I’ve given him a verbal IOU.
I’m hoping this weekend is centered around getting some essentials accomplished. My house is disgustingly dirty and there are several home projects that need to be addressed. I feel like our consistently on the go status needs to pause for my sanity before I start hearing the circus music being played.
Sidenote-History.com has some interesting write-ups on the origins of Valentine’s Day.
Hope you and yours have a good one. I love today’s odd calendar date: 2/14/14
Vomiting Snow Day
Like so many others, we were blasted with snow overnight receiving another several inches. So, our school morning was altered by the fact that my husband and I had to clear snow. I covered a small amount of schoolwork with the oldest 3 kids (math, composition, vocabulary, quizzes, etc). My youngest son awoke with a high temperature and later vomited a few times, so needless to say, he was not of the mindset to learn anything new today. The cold, dreary weather combined with a sick child was a bit depressing. I couldn’t really get myself into a rhythm today with academics. I don’t know why, but when our public school friends are out for snow days, it has an effect on my motivation to teach at home. Still, I pressed on to cover a few topics after shoveling. We need some sunshine.
Suicides
I’ve been made aware of several young adult suicides that have occurred in the last couple of weeks, so these tragedies have been on my mind. Thoughts go out to these families in mourning, and the question is likely asked, “Why?” I don’t know the answer to this question for these kids. Was the pressure too great? You worry about this as a parent. What’s the right balance of pushing your child to meet their potential versus too much that would cause anxiety or depression?
Another day of academics and sports for us today. I recently purchased Wordly Wise 3000 through the homeschool-buyers co-op. I have their books in our library collection, but I have never really utilized them. This time I purchased their online program for a variety of grades. The kids just took their pretests today, so I’ll have to post later if they liked their lessons.
http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/Wordly-Wise-3000-Online-faqs/
My kids are science fair experiments
Does that sound odd? The concept really isn’t that far-fetched. Daily, I identify problems or issues for each child. Then I ask myself questions about their problems and form hypotheses on how to solve them. I test my hypotheses by conducting “experiments, then collect data to see if my hypotheses were correct. I can apply this concept to almost any academic scenario with my children.
I share this because I sometimes find myself stressed out about curricula choices. Homeschoolers are constantly discussing books of choice or companies producing these types of products. We want to know what resources are available and what schools are using. Acquiring this type of knowledge can be beneficial. But what I’ve come to appreciate as my number of homeschooling years increase is that each child is truly unique. You can use a canned curriculum, but it’s in the best interest of that child to then alter the material presentation to suit that child’s learning abilities and interests. And how wonderful to be able to do that as a homeschooler. I can add to or take away from any material I choose so that I can maximize my child’s learning potential. So, daily I carefully study my children. I observe what their natural abilities are and listen to what peaks their interests. They really are my own science fair experiments, but no doubt the duration will be measured in years. I just hope I win some medals based on how they eventually turn out-ha!
The picture below is of me and some of my girlfriends gathering at a local cafe to share homeschooling information. It’s good to have a network of moms to bounce ideas off of and to share in their wisdom. Afterwards, I went grocery shopping around 10:30 finally arriving home around midnight. I even did some Valentine’s Day shopping since it’s either going to rain Thursday where I live or we’re getting 18 inches of snow-what?! Do I have a weird life? It would seem so..
2 a.m.-off to bed.
Adjustments
This year of homeschooling has been a huge challenge for me already. This is my first year teaching all four children at home, and it’s a massive, constant, juggling act as they are all different types of learners and on different levels in their subjects. At times, my brain feels like that of an Excel spreadsheet. Drill his times tables, she needs to practice her penmanship, I haven’t taught him cursive, he needs to study his Latin, he needs to read more classics, she needs to practice her spelling words, he is reading beyond his level and needs more challenging books, and so the thoughts race on. Sidenote-how much easier it must be to only educate one or two children, but then again maybe not.
So, I have been taking a step back over the last several weeks looking at what I’m doing and teaching from different angles. Am I maximizing the children’s academic time while not being completely consumed in the process? Am I making full use of what’s offered online versus me teaching the subjects? At some point, I become their rate-limiting factor, and I will need to farm out their studies. I have already done so with my oldest son’s math this year, and I continue to supplement various subjects with online resources. What do I then become? I am then no longer their teacher but their manager, and I’m okay with that. However, hesitant feelings still remain in me by having everything being taught by a video or a teleconference. I’m not sure why nor do I know that my hesitations have any validity. But here’s one random question.. What about the importance of sitting down with a challenging, classic piece of literature and training your mind to decipher all that goes along with that process. Is technology going to now spoon-feed our kids their lessons? Am I just stuck in my old school mentality of education? I’m trying to think outside of the box (many meanings here) with my approach to education but at the same time still questioning it all. Now to see if I can sleep..
Homeschool buyers co-op
Don’t forget about this site. I was just on here a couple of nights ago looking through their great Language Arts offers, and my girlfriend just posted today that they’re having a sale of ChessKids. You can really save on your purchases if they have what you’re looking for.
Full Day
Monday madness for us today. My oldest son had a field trip this morning. I was so thankful that my husband could drive him because that gave me time at home to teach the bottom three kids. Their studies have been sporadic recently because of extracurricular interruptions, so I enjoyed being able to focus on just their needs today while playing catch-up. Our evening activities were the usual of gymnastics, soccer, and Scouts, and I finally made it to the gym for a hard cardio workout consisting of a combat class, running on the treadmill, and rowing. Hopefully, I won’t be too sore in the morning.
Sadly, the three meals that I spent cooking for hours yesterday are gone! Now what do I feed them tomorrow? Those meals were supposed to last for a couple of days. I guess I need to run to Trader Joe’s for frozen meals!
Recovery
I slept until around 11:00 this morning and may have come close to resembling a hibernating bear. My spine upon awakening felt stiff and sore from having been in a supine position for so long, but I needed the rest. Pajamas were worn the entire day. There were grand intentions to hit the gym and clean my house but even those goals were brushed aside to embrace my lazy day. However, I did find myself on a cooking spree making a variety of dishes to include chili, fried chicken nuggets, baked sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and hamburger steak. My daughter even helped out with baking a double recipe of peanut butter cookies. The goal in mind was to have a few dishes already prepared for the upcoming week. It took what seemed to be forever to prepare these meals! Then there was the clean-up for the huge mess. The time factor is just another reason why I do not enjoy cooking.
Just finished prepping tomorrow’s busy lessons. My lazy day is now over.
Science fair season
Today my oldest son participated in one of our area’s local science fairs. I’m sure many of you know how much work is involved with competing in this type of activity. Knowing this, I really didn’t want to add this event to our already full schedule, but we pressed on and somehow managed to squeeze the work in. And what fun it was to watch all of these young minds engaging themselves in stimulating conversation. Nevertheless, I had to stay busy to avoid falling asleep during the breaks!
My son took first place in his grade level along with the Outstanding Award. So now, off we go to the next level, and I’m learning on the job. Maybe I’ll be at pro at this stuff by the time my fourth child reaches this age-ha!
Right about now the weight of this week is coming off of my shoulders, and I can now rest, at least until next week:)
Winslow Homer
I was organizing our bulletin board while once again studying and admiring this picture by Winslow Homer called “The Country School”. I’ve had this picture hanging in or near our schoolwork for over three years now and can really connect to his scene.
Ivy League Homeschooling 