Dangerous weather
We’ve had some rough winter weather recently. I was thankful this morning that my kids were safe at home with me, because it was sleeting and the roads were covered in ice. It was especially nice to stay in our pajamas while studying math.
We actually slept until 10:00 this morning. I had stayed up until 4 a.m. working on a variety of things, so you can imagine that my body did not want to get out of bed at 7 which is my goal wake-up time. I hit the snooze button repeatedly. I was only able to cover mathematics and reading before we quickly had to switch gears and prepare for our FLL and JrFLL meetings. Both teams have upcoming competitions and expos, so we were busy prepping for those events. I’m coaching the junior group with the help of another mom, and this age is great fun to work with.
I’ve been thinking about how much of a rate-limiting factor I may be in my children’s education. I mean that from the perspective that there’s only one of me and four of them. Could they be learning more and faster if I were using more technology as an educational aid? A topic for me to research further..
Researching and projects
I finally feel like I can take a few days for some down time. I could call that “me time”. No camp this week, thank goodness. The thing about camps is that it still involves you getting them ready and driving them to somewhere. It’s just easier for me to have the kids hanging out at home and having friends over to swim. I’m hoping to accomplish some maintenance doctor visits this week including a few for myself. Home projects are also high on my list.
I’d love to say that my brain is still in shut-down mode from academics, but it’s not. I was back today pulling out books and such that I’ll use over the summer break for each kid. I spent quite a bit of time this evening looking at programs out there providing unique opportunities. Today, my oldest son and I worked on several math problems in between me painting one of our side doors, and he practiced his spelling. All of the kids read off and on. I’m planning to use SWR over the summer with the bottom 3 as we work on their reading skills. Truthfully, it’s just not in their best interests to have a huge gap from studies. Regression would ensue, and I don’t need that as their educator.
Hard to stop.. I’m beginning to take on a year-round learning experience approach versus modeling what we do to that of the typical school year. Doing so may take some of that pressured feeling off of me. Trial and error. Trial and error.
Bubba burgers
We are having an unusual Fourth of July this year. The Paris trip has thrown me off-not that I’m complaining.
My husband is working over the holiday. I had thought about taking the kids to watch fireworks this evening, but selfishly I just didn’t have it in me to haul them around. Plus, our local weather has been less than pleasant with lots of rain and humid conditions. Not too great for being outside, but the kids still swam in the rain. That’s me in the picture below sitting under my blue poncho trying not to get soaked. We did enjoy Bubba burgers for a late dinner tonight. You really must eat burgers over the holiday, and my younger kids helped make a flag cake (which I’m still eating on as I type this to you). The kids took turns finding items in an American art book I have featuring pieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That’s about as deep as I went with any American history-related topic today.
I finished second grade studies with my second son this afternoon-yah!! Now, my focus is on my first grade daughter. She and I worked on her Singapore math this evening, and she finished one of her tests around 9:30. I was almost surprised how well she did given the lateness of the day, but they have been sleeping late in the mornings so maybe the rest helped. Tomorrow I’ll cover more academics with my daughter. It’s quite possible she will reach all of her first grade goals then. I may be opening a bottle of champagne, soon!
I should catch up on what’s going on in the world. I saw a blurb on Egypt and unrelated Snowden, but that’s about it. Instead I’m looking at house magazines, a rare treat for me. I’m hoping to transform my basement into a large schoolroom over the summer and take back my former dining room. Looking for ideas on decor. If you’d like to send your child to our school in my basement, I’m taking applications since I’ll have a much larger space. The tuition is quite high, though.
Alright, no, I’m just kidding, but tuition money would help to fund my Home Goods runs-ha!
Validation
I’m always wondering how I’m doing as my kids’ primary teacher and how they are doing academically in this setting.
Recently, I administered the IOWA/CogAT exam to my oldest. While I don’t assume the exam is an all-knowing sort of thing, it does provide some nice feedback on areas of strengths and weaknesses. I was very nervous to open and see his results, knowing that it would be a direct reflection of my teaching skills. Thankfully, his results were of a positive nature. Had they not been, I might be crying as I write this now. There’s a great deal of pressure that comes with this job. If they do well, you can breathe a little easier, if only for a fleeting moment. Tomorrow still brings new challenges and hurdles.
To test or not to test
I’m administering a standardized test to my oldest son over the next few days. There are differing opinions on the benefits of doing so. I’m using such a device for several reasons: to identify areas of proficiency, to identify areas that may need improvement, and to teach him useful test-taking skills and strategies. Hopefully, the results will be of benefit to us.
Copycat-sort of
I am constantly studying what programs are out there for kids. I’ve recently been reviewing Hopkins gifted program to see what their curricula offers. No, my kids were not doing performing long division at the age of 3. Still, why not offer things in our home studies that an expensive, elite program might offer even if it’s altered? It certainly can’t hurt. It just takes some effort on my part. For example, I was looking over their various book lists in their LA programs. I added these book lists to the kids’ already existing book of book list. Then, I went to the library and obtained a few of them for my oldest child to potentially read and let me review what the CTY students are being exposed to. I can’t mimic their actual online literary discussion, but I can at least do this much, and it’s free! There’s also another CTY class on inventions, so I checked out the DK Eyewitness book “Inventions” from the library. My thought was that I’ll look through the book with my kids, and then have them start keeping a log of their ideas that could possibly be turned into inventions. Again, it’s not CTY, but it might be worthy of the attempted copycat effort. This is what I do with some of my free time. Am I nutty? Yeah, probably a little bit…
Book list from “EPGY”, Stanford University
Up late looking over some various courses offered possibly for my oldest child. Sources like EPGY, TIP from Duke, and Johns Hopkins Center for talented youth…
A nice book list on EPGY’s site:
http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/english/RWL/
Using technology to enhance your student’s learning experience and to aid you in teaching
Recently, I learned about this great resource, “Discovery Education streaming” from a colleague. Now, I just saw that our Calvert curriculum offers this through their package. I hadn’t even seen that before in our portal! Calvert also offers “brain pop” , another media educational source that my kids love to watch. I use these kinds of videos to reinforce a topic that we’ve covered together. Another reason why I’m a big fan of Calvert’s curriculum and the many aids they offer parents as teaching tools.
http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/discovery-reviews/
http://homeschool.calvertschool.org/
Excelsior “Friends and Family” night
The program began with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem
Preschool class recited poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson
Canis class (grades K-1) recited the U.S. presidents and the Preamble
Feles class (grades 2-3) recited the Declaration of Independence
Ursa class (grades 4-6) recited Patrick Henry’s speech
Psalm 8 was recited
Geography songs covering Central America and the former Soviet Union were sung
Food and drinks followed
The kids did an amazing job this year!
What to do with my children over the summer
Some people want nothing to do with schedules and committments over the summer break. Some people schedule their entire summer. I fall somwhere in the middle. I won’t do any formal schooling (except some miscellaneous math and reading). And I’d like my kids to exeperience new things and learn new skills. Where and how to do that are questions I need to answer soon. Some good reads:
http://giftedkids.about.com/od/educationoptions/tp/gifted_camps.htm
Ivy League Homeschooling 