O'Melay Kids' School

First ES meeting

2011-08-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

We met with our ES today for the first time. We homeschool through a public charter, so an Educational Specialist comes out every 20 days to help us. She mostly facilitates us, makes orders for classes outside of the home if we wish, and buys supplies we request. We have a new ES this year and I like her a lot.

Anatoly did WRAT testing for the first time. He did really well! He expressed being tired halfway through, but he did come back and finish. Kassi had WRAT testing as well, also doing a good job.

Tristan will have scantron entrance assessment. These tests are just for assessment and do not go into the student record.

The ES was not visibly freaked out by our curriculum. That's good, right? While Age of Triumph is decidedly sectarian, it is a strong, history based curriculum. Happy Schooling!

Handbook of Nature Study

2011-08-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

We are beginning to Nature Study with this book this year. I have no idea how it is done. Articles and blogs on the subject are overwhelming. I have the kindle edition.

I can see that the print edition would be preferable but we can't afford it right now. I did find a great blog on the subject that I hope to use as a resource. It is called, naturally, Handbook of Nature Study.

I hope to use her Outdoor Hour ideas to get started. I think Fridays will be our Nature Study days, because Karl should be at home on those days even once he has returned to work.

Learning to Read

2011-08-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

We are using this book this year for reading. It will be for Kassiopeia and Anatoly. Kassi has all the skills, but I am hoping this slow approach will give her confidence and get her reading on her own. Anatoly is starting from an unknown place- I know he can read many words because I have seen him do it, but I don't know how he learned or how much he knows. I just hope we will follow along with us!

YMCA

2011-08-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

We have just signed up for a YMCA membership for our family. We qualified for financial aid. We hope this can play a big role in our lives. Swimming instruction for everyone! They even have dance, yoga, soccer, basketball... every Friday night they have an open 'family night' with a lot of activities and open swimming. We live on an island and spend a lot of time at the beach, so swimming skills are a must.

I just hope we can afford all these things!

Kindle

2011-08-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

We have a kindle which was Karl's birthday present. I really look forward to incorporating it into the school year.

Many of our readers are free, some are low cost as kindle editions. And even if we didn't have a kindle, we can read them for free on our computer.

Language begins this year!

2011-08-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

This year we will be learning Russian as a family. And we'll be using the Rosetta Stone software. Why Russian? Because for the first time, we are part of a close community of people who can help us learn a language. Many families at our church speak Russian. The opportunity to hear native speakers, to interact, is great. The kids love the idea and have even asked "Can we learn to speak their language?" Yes, we can!

The book purchasing...

2011-07-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

We are on the tightest budget ever for homeschooling books this year. The library is playing a big part. I have made some purchases, and more to come:

2011-07-27T12:35:00.001-07:00

What have we been up to?

2011-07-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

Wow... the last time I posted here I intended to homeschool through the summer. It was May 31st. June 1st, my husband came home with what we would later find out was carbon monoxide poisoning. He was very ill, and while the poisoning suppressed his system a common staph bacteria grew in his system and took over. We very much could have lost him then- he was septic. Once they found an antibiotic and it began to work, we found out the hardest news: the infection had destroyed parts of his heart: his mitral and Aortic valves. They could not do surgery until the staph was eradicated, so once my husband was stable he came home with us, and I gave IV medicine through a PICC line for 3 more weeks. We navigated a broken system for people without health insurance. This part was so awful I can't really describe it. Then, before we could get the surgery scheduled, he began to have chest pains and other symptoms. We were in the ER twice before they admitted him. Once they did a new echocardiogram they rushed him off to surgery- his heart was failing. And now here we are, and my husband recovering from open heart surgery. He has been home from the hospital for a week and a day. This has been a summer full of surprises!

Robin Hood Mania

2011-05-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

Reading aloud The Adventures of Robin Hood, plus our archery foray and garb, and we have created a cocktail for Robin Hood obsession which Kassi has drunk from excessively. I love it!

Ology

2011-05-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

Tristan picked these up at a garage sale and loves them!

Last Day of School!

2011-05-20T17:58:00.001-07:00

Today was our last day, according to the Connecting Waters schedule. We will continue to homeschool through the summer but we wont do outside classes or ES meetings.

May 2011 (to be updated)

2011-05-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

May 2nd: T HA, khan academy, multiplication flash cards. K penny math, donna young copywork, around the pond science for both.
May 3rd: T finished the Lost Hero. Wrote on his blog. He has begun to keep in touch with a friend that way. K read alouds, library books, starfall. Farmer's market shopping with their own money.
May 4th: Kassi's Art class. ES meeting. Bikes to the beach trip at shoreline. Crab anatomy, kite flying.
May 5th: Cinco de Mayo. T read up on the holiday. K sewing, embroidery. reading aloud. otter sticker book.
May 6th: Tristan's sewing class. He completed a bag for his projects and a Mother's Day gift for me.

Free Comic Book Day! Biked to the farmers market, shopped, and then picked out comics from the local shop.
Weekend trip & tour of the Berkeley Botanical Garden with the supervisor, Anthony Garza.

May 9th: Story of the world, Spectrum test prep math, copywork for T. Khan math for kassi and more.starfall.
May 10th: Going to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at Altarena Playhouse! It's an ACMT production.
May 11th: Kassi art class. She has art hanging in Julie's tea house on display!
May 12th: copywork for both kids. learning about tide pools and crabs. library trip.
May 13th: Tristan sewing class. He completed a handbag for me.

May 16th: Writing postcards, math flashcards, mapwork.
May 17th: Crusades r us. We're kind stuck in them historically. Tristan is reading #3 in the How to TRain your Dragon series. Kassi more.starfall
May 18th: Kassi stayed home from Art class. More penny math, crab and tide pool science, etc. T did HA and khan multi-digit multiplication.
May 19th: Daddy's birthday! Kids participated in AOHL homeschool fair selling gluten free cupcakes.
May 20th: Last day of school, es meeting, Tristan did sewing class.

Lots of Painting

2011-04-26T10:22:00.001-07:00

new reads for Tristan, again

2011-04-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

Tristan reads a lot. He finished How to Train your Dragon in two hours. We'll definitely be getting the sequels, though, it was a fast but fun one for him.




Now he's reading the latest Percy Jackson (verse) book. The bummer about that is having to wait for the yet next installment.

But we have plenty lined up to keep reading.

2011-04-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Tristan was learning about James Monroe today on Homeschool Advantage. While he was memorizing the date 1817 a snippet from a song I grew up with came to mind and, well, we learned about the Battle of New Orleans.

Spring Books for Tristan

2011-04-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for Fencing

2011-04-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

For us this means watching fencing video online and attending every possible event at our local fencing club. Some pictures:

We're so happy this is mere blocks away!

April 2011

2011-04-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

1st: Tristan is reading City of Ember, Singapore math geometry, copywork. Kassi wrote snail copywork, B words, some Donna Young simple words and sentences.
Of note this weekend the 2nd: We all attended a Medieval Archery Tournament, Kassi and Tristan both participated.

3rd: Meeting with ES Nina went well. Tristan started HA catch up. Kassi painted, did some penny math.

4th: Tristan HA, book report, city of ember. Kassi sewing, F words, kumon simple sentences

5th: HA, khanacademy for Tristan. Kassi sewing, reading with Karl, penny math

6th: HA, kahn academy. Child's History of the World, Robin Hood read aloud. Tristan and I watched Fencing Grand Assaults in the evening.

7th: AOHL park day @ Lincoln. Weather looks good. HA for both, khan academy for T.

8th: HA tristan, Kassi starfall, copywork, HA math. Tristan wrote a passage from his history reading about the Reformation.

Starting this weekend Tristan has adopted a new task to make breakfast every day. He makes Irish (steel cut) oatmeal each morning. So far he has been really reliable.

11th: Tristan HA, reading The Last Olympian. Kassi starfall, writing letters to friends, penny math.

12th: Tristan HA, khan academy advanced addition, simple subtraction review. Picked his own history today (the Hittites) and wrote a passage about what he learned for portfolio. Kassi also learned about the Hittites and made pictures for portfolio. K spent a full hour on Starfall and printed/ completed two worksheets from it.

13th: Tristan finished The Last Olympian last night. Today Tristan: HA, khan subtraction 2 review, camping copywork and sight words in alphabetical order. Kassi has Art with Aliea.

14th: We opted out of park day today. Instead we read aloud, went to the library, T HA & khan review,

15th: Tristan missed sewing due to illness. Kassi wrote 'to do lists', lots of sewing & embroidery, starfall. Tristan read How to Train Your Dragon.

Tristan and I went to another Foil Tournament on Saturday. Kassi went to the beach on bikes with the rest of the family. K & T went to a friend's show of Aladdin at Fairyland.

18th: Tristan is reading The Lost Hero. Still making the oatmeal every day! T did HA, khan final subtrac tion review, read from his Kid's Book of Chess and wrote a summary of chapter 1. Reading A Really Short History of Nearly Everything. Kassi did HA math, and started khan from the first arithmetic video, Number lines! Then we read aloud 3 or 4 books.

19th: We bought morestarfall.com for Kassi (and all the kids), T HA & khan and written letter
20th: Kassi was sick and missed art class. T HA, khan academy multiplication, read Lost Hero
21st: T read aloud to his friend Peter who was sick, HA, khan Kassi morestarfall & worksheets
22nd: T: HA, otters & beavers science/ written passage K copywork, morestarfall.com

25th: T HA, khan multiplication K morestarfall lots of reading aloud, penny math
26th: T HA, written passage from the dictionary re: porculli. K morestarfall, watercolor painting flowers, sewing. T also doing some bitesize maths fractions.

27th: K morestarfall, art class prep for show & dragonflies. beach field trip. T HA, khan academy, writing postcards to friends.
28th: K morestarfall, worksheets from it. library trip. T child's history, new science handbook, khan math
29th: T sewing class, K starfall reading, read alouds, library habitat science

Archery for Tristan

2011-03-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

Tristan and I have started archery lessons. We're learning traditional long and recurve bow archery from an SCA member and skilled archer named Joseph.

New Books

2011-03-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

Three new texts Tristan is using a lot right now. We've had the eguide for years, and Archeology for weeks, but Castle just came in the mail.

March 2011 (to be updated)

2011-03-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

1st: Definitely a sick day for Tristan. Kassi did some more A word copywork and we studied Medieval hoods/ mantles and made one together out of linen.

2nd: Tristan is finally improving enough to do school! Tristan read from Usborne World History, Happy Scribe copywork Middle Ages, And a Starfall writing prompt. HA. Tristan began reading the midwife's apprentice. Makeup Portfolio work.

Kassi did more A word copywork and a March Calendar, plus Starfall sight words. Ka started her own version of HA. Kassi has Art Class.

3rd: AOHL (homeschool) Park Day at Lincoln Park. Tristan HA, Henry's Gift, The Midwife's Apprentice.

He also began free writing in a diary.
Kassi HA, More A words copywork. As a family we began read-aloud of Robin Hood.

4th: Tristan Happy Scribe, HA, diary writing, Read aloud, new math on HA

7th: Tristan HA Kassi did a picture of baby Robin in the Good green Wood for portfolio Day. Tristan finished his writing prompt/ friendly letter, Midwife's Apprentice, Read Aloud from Robin Hood. childs History Portfolio.

8th: HA, plus a new BBC Maths site, then both T and K spent an hour with the cuisinaire rods, T working on multiplication. We rode our bikes to pick up fresh lemons from a neighbor and made lemonade by hand. Copywork. Read Aloud.

9th: HA, BBC Maths. K B-word copy work, T camping copybook. Kassi has Art Class today. T Pg 10-11 in his Plant eguide with a short summary in writing. Tristan also began his Spectrum Test Prep book. I worked on it in the AM and Karl helped him through 2 pages of math in the evening.

10th: Today is AOHL park day and the weather is fine. We'll be riding our bikes to the park and spending the afternoon there with many other homeschooling families.

12th: More Spectrum Test Prep for Tristan, plus Read-Aloud Robin Hood. Copywork, HA, Bitesize Maths. Kassi wrote letters to gramme.

Weekend: Tristan and I started traditional archery lessons. SO much fun!

14th: HA for both, Bitesize Maths mental maths, more medieval clothing construction. Painted stickers to sell at the homeschool craft fair. Tristan got a job caring for the neighbor's flock of laying chickens next week.

15th: Happy Scribe copywork, HA, Bitesize Maths fraction. Tristan read and wrote more about botany and finished The Midwife's Apprentice. Kassi did b-word copywork, kumon, 1 hour of starfall and a starfall worksheet. Tristan also completed an assignment to look up the Battle of Hastings and answer questions regarding it in writing.

16th: HA for Kassi & Tristan, Bitesized maths fractions, Tristan read Archaeology, Norse Gods (in Story of the World) and researched slingshots on Wikipedia. Lots of medieval music, clothing prep and excitement as we prepare for our camping trip/ SCA tournament.

17th: HA, Bitesize Maths, Read Aloud Robin Hood. Happy Scribe, Archery portfolio. Tristan looked up slingshots on wikipedia.

18th: Spectrum Test prep for Tristan, Started khanacademy.com for math. tristan worked on a letter to his grandparents. kassi did copywork, kumon, and HA math.

21st: Tristan was sick but we still did khanacademy and Spectrum Test Prep. Kassi did starfall and helped with measuring/cooking in the kitchen.

22nd: Severe Illness (Tristan) Kassi's art class was cancelled but she had Art Class over the the Scotts. Sewing for the Homeschool Craft Fair.
23rd: Severe Illness (Tristan) Kassi B-words copywork, math work with manipulatives
24th: Severe Illness (Tristan) Kassi snail science, medieval music, painting, writing thank you cards
25th: Severe Illness (Tristan) Kassi Van Gogh art books, reading with Karl, Starfall.

28th: Severe Illness (Tristan) Kassi snail homes, taught a friend to finger knit, reading with Karl
29th: STAR (Tristan) Kassi and I baked bread, reading together, starfall, math with pennies
30th: STAR (Tristan) Kassi more math with pennies, snail houses outside.
31st: AOHL Park Day at Shoreline in Berkeley. Both Kassi and Tristan explored the bay and gathered shells, watched barnacles and mussels open, etc.
end of March

(HA= Homeschool Advantage. Tristan does assignments daily in Math, Science, Geography, History. Spanish, Social Studies, Spelling and Vocabulary Building. Kassi does Math only.)

Love Homeschool Advantage!

2011-02-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

My friend Phoebe suggested Homeschool Advantage to us and Tristan loves it. It gives him his own thing' to do no matter how busy I am, and the rewards/ points/ trophy system is right up his alley. He loves to see his own progress. He is taking on a heavy load of everything from Flags of the World to Spanish to English Word Roots. We are still in our free trial phase but highly recommend this resource.

books of february

2011-02-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

February 2011

2011-02-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

10th: Tristan completed some math review and started a letter to his grandparents. Kassi also wrote a letter, and we all attended AOHL park day at Dimond Park in Oakland.

11th: More math review for Tristan, he also read a book from the Roman view of Heracles/ Hercules and a Graphic novel of Moby Dick. We all made a trip to the library, and Kassi chose a book about Chinese painting which we read together and practiced. We baked challah (bread) together. Family Rosary Night followed.

12- 13th Weekend: We've been out bike riding every day this weekend. To the farmer's market, around town. Tristan has been reading Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan, Cyclist Bike List and The Mad Scientist Handbook. He also reads aloud daily to Kassi.

14th: Tristan was not feeling well so we limited school to reading and Homeschool Advantage (HA). Kassi did some handwriting copywork and her HA as well. We read Our Old House. Today would have been our first Portfolio Day but no one was up to it.

15th: Tristan really likes HA. He did it first thing this morning. Kassi is using a Kumon book, Simple Sentences. We put some figures in our Book of Time, Tristan read from the Usborne Book of World History. We printed shoreline maps of the bay area and located Alameda. Kassi started a story from a writing prompt and learned to make toilet paper roses. I expect Tristan will finish Battle of the Labyrinth today, I haven't seen him this afternoon for all the reading.

16th: HA, reading. Rode bikes to the library. Kassi worked more in her Kumon book. Art with Aliea for Kassi.

17th: AOHL Park day at Franklin Park was cancelled due to rain. We did HA & tons of reading.

18th: Child's History and Homeschool Advantage. Tristan and Kassi both did portfolio art to make up for Monday. Kassi got new soft pastels and played with those. Tristan visited Karl's work and got a tour, plus company tee shirts.

21st: Tristan HA and Singapore Math. Kassi finished her story from the writing prompt. Both made portfolio pictures based on our reading on the Crusades/ fall of Jerusalem.

22nd: HA for Tristan - Kassi has decided she does not like it. We're all sick but still doing basic reading/ writing.

23rd: HA, no art class for Kassi (we're all very ill). Reading. Tristan finished Battle for the Castle.

24th: HA, Kassi is writing 3 and 4 letter "A" words, Tristan Happy Scribe copybooks: The Middle Ages. K and I did a craft making little letter books.

25th: We drove to Walnut Creek and saw newborn fawns! Kassi did a lot of painting and Starfall, Tristan has had a relapse of illness so he didn't even do HA. Will catch up this weekend, I'm sure.

(weekend, Tristan did catch up on HA)

28th: Kassi working on more A words copywork, Both read with me about Muhammad's Vision and flight to Medina. Kassi is creating a portfolio image of Gabriel at the cave. Tristan is very ill and has only just followed along with our reading.

End of Feb.

New Purpose for this Blog

2011-02-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

We've started homeschooling through Connecting Waters Charter School. It is an exciting new adventure. I've been thinking that I should use this blog, at least in part, to keep records for our Educational Specialist who visits about once a month. It seems a great fit since she can check in on us and access the information from anywhere.

We'll see if it works in practice.

Update

2011-01-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

I owe the homeschool blog an update, I think... months have passed.

We moved across 6 states to California. We are back in the Bay Area where Tristan & Kassi were born. Our time away totaled 5 years 4 months and 21 days. We are now living a very urban life, but we're still homeschooling.

Above, our most recent homeschool purchases. Very basic.

Finishing a Good Book

2010-10-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Tristan finished the book Magyk. He had already read Flyte first because it had been given to us in a pile of books. So Magyk was like a prequel for him. He loved Flyte, but Magyk was obviously even better. In the final chapeters I could hear him cheering and exclaiming aloud at exciting points. I have not read these books, so I can't say which parts he particularly enjoyed. But I think we can all agree, finishing a good book is a thrilling experience.

It also can bring with it a sense of loss. I noticed that this was true for Tristan last night and I offered him the idea to re-read Flyte until the third book, Physik, can be purchased. (Not going to happen for a while... money is really tight.) He gave it a good try but finally came to me and said, "I don't want to read Flyte, I want to find out what happens next!"

Who can blame him? I am so excited for Tristan that he loves to read.

scattered

2010-10-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

Our efforts have been really scattered recently. Tristan is deep in the Septimus Heap world, and yesterday we talked for a long while about Bloody Mary and Elizabeth and Philip of Spain. Sometimes we will decipher an old folk song, talking about what it was like then and why the story of the song is the way it is (Molly Bawn, Sweet William, Outlandish Knight, etc)

Kassi is so reading, but won't do it for show.

Lots of painting, making cookies, hot chocolate for breakfast and milk-science (butter, cheese...).

new books

2010-09-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

when i say new i mean 30-99 cents each at a thrift store. as you can see by my picks, these are both for the kids and for myself, basically i buy anything that i think the kids will ever want to read, ever. we are our own library.

2010-09-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

We're reading The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe aloud,
Kassi and I are reading Fleet Foot the Deer and her Fawns (an old book from the 40's that I love and I want more by the author),
Tristan began Singapore 2A, mostly review,
We are conjugating present tense verbs in Latin,
Doing a lot of copy work,
Reading about Attila the Hun,
stuff like that.

big day, huge lessons

2010-08-28T10:31:00.001-07:00

Finding Our Way

2010-08-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

We seem to be on track for a relaxed-but-productive homeschool year. I have a fancy little weekly planner that makes me feel warm & fuzzy. Tristan is interested in the subject matter. We have not been able to buy this year's books so we are enjoying a lazy wallow in the fall of Rome.

I set Tristan's materials out on the table in the morning, and when he buzzes by I suggest them to him. "Hey, Tristan, your books are on the table." I put out a copywork sheet a day, sometimes two. (Tristan is also learning cursive, so sometimes I will put out a cursive sheet in addition to the block print.) We are reviewing in last year's Singapore math so that workbook will be there, along with Child's History of the World, a Science Encyclopedia, and our Latin books. We are reading chapters in History and Tristan is self-directed in his Science books. I make an index card a day for Latin, with one first conjugation verb on each. Tristan is rapidly becoming accustomed to the way the verbs go.

We also have a regular reader for read aloud (Narnia) , and readers that Tristan does on his own (right now it is Mountain Born.)

Tristan will be 8 on August 9th. One of his presents will be very appropriate to our school year: Carcassonne.

Manipulation

2010-07-31T09:27:00.001-07:00

Elderberry Ink

2010-07-24T06:16:00.000-07:00

We brought out last year's Elderberry issue of Herbal Roots, since our berries are ripe. Kassi made ink with a handful and had hours of fun.

She used a chicken feather.

Of course, she thought to color the drawing of Elderberry with its own ink.

Here is one of many drawings that followed.

Pretty Unique

2010-07-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

Kassi and Karl and I watched a hen lay her egg this morning. We opened the box and happened to interrupt the process. I had seen it before, but Kassi & Karl watched for the first time. Then we waited a moment for the hen to leave, and took the warm, barely dry egg inside.

Busy Summer

2010-07-19T06:10:00.000-07:00

We have been busy just treading water with the farm. Tristan has been making time for plenty of reading. He loves Child's History of the World and is working his way through Roman history.

We also received our Galore Park Latin books. I have been looking a them here and there. Whew, they waste no time. For starters I am just relaying odd facts about Latin to Tristan here and there.

I am needing to order Singapore 2A/B, some other Ambleside books, and a case of paper. I guess I have been too busy to even think about finding the lowest prices.

The kids have been helping with canning, dishes, gardening, digging. We have a litter of kittens and 150 chicks. Everyone's learning.

Spotty Week

2010-07-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

We had a fun camp-over with friends who also farm. The next morning we helped with a large chicken butcher. Tristan and Kassi were both truly helpful, working for the whole 3 hours with jobs that were assigned to them. Kassi cleaned hearts and Tristan helped his friend Isaac haul the cleaned chickens & giblets into the house. 87 birds at at least 5 pounds each was a lot of hauling, but he was great!

I think it qualifies as an anatomy lesson!

We brought home two lambs for meat this fall. They are male Shetlands, so they are small, but we will also use their wool.

The Latin books arrived!

Brain Pop, Jr.

2010-07-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

We use and love Brain Pop/ Brain Pop, Jr. I cannot really speak much for their kind understanding should an account issue arise, but they did apparently comp me an entire year, so that's nice.

My only complaint is that in order to subscribe to Brain Pop UK, you have to go through entirely different channels. And Tristan loves Brain Pop UK.

2010-07-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

We need to start buying many of the books for our school year. I complied some of them on Amazon:

Our Homeschooling Supplies List at Amazon

But that is not necessarily where I am going to buy them.

Bought In

2010-07-01T06:53:00.001-07:00

I just bought So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book 1 and the Answer Book from Galore Park. Very exciting!

In the writing of this post I realized how much Wordpress pales in comparison to my main blog at Blogger. Again. (I have just transferred everything to Blogger. So, there)

Wild Life Moment

2010-06-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while we were building a garden fence we found a garter snake and a skink. The kids had a lot of fun observing them before we let them go back to their garden homes. The garter snake was the Eastern Garter (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis), and the skink was the Ground Skink (Scincella lateralis). I believe the skink was 'pregnant', ready to lay eggs. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Garter Snake Wiki
Skink Wiki

Gleaning a school year from the Year 2 A ...

2010-06-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

Gleaning a school year from the Year 2 Ambleside Book List and Schedule. I would like to buy every book o the list, but were are poor, so thank goodness for Librivox and other public-domain friends. Still I hope to buy many of them, and look forward to a year of Middle Ages. I am so sick of Greece and Rome.

Tristan got the second in a series book Flyte (series Septimus Heap) and is deep into it. He is such a great reader and lover of stories. Books are on the menu.

So books in general, plus a new math section, plus a few science encyclopedia type books, are the main expenses. I also dearly and truly want the So You Really Want To Learn Latin series, http://www.galorepark.co.uk/product/parents/36/so-you-really-want-to-learn-latin-book-i.html

Tristan has mastered Singapore Math 1A & ...

2010-05-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

Tristan has mastered Singapore Math 1A & B. I guess it is time to move on. He has read all his Sonlight core 1 books, Is bored of Ancient History (can't say I blame him) ... I am pretty confused about where we will go from here. I don't think I will buy another Core. I like the idea of Winter Promise but I have learned the hard way that making Christian stuff secular is annoying and difficult. I wish there were a truly secular literature based curriculum out there.

Kassi is not yet reading, and while I give her as much in the way of opportunities to practice as I can, she doesn't seem to want to right now. She is drawing profusely, can write many words from memory, and has great addition and subtraction understanding.

Anatoly and Rome continue to just play and learn. Rome can count to 18.

Hopelessly in love with http://www.galor ...

2010-02-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

Hopelessly in love with http://www.galorepark.co.uk/

recently

2010-01-27T06:38:00.000-08:00

Tristan is making good progress with everything in the Core, and his handwriting is both cleaner and faster. We are still reviewing Singapore Math 1A in preparation for starting 1B.

Toly wrote his name yesterday and traced numbers 1-10 on a printout. It was a first for him, to do something school-like.

Kassi has decided to make and sell a big ...

2010-01-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

Kassi has decided to make and sell a big collection of her signature hair ropes. She hand-knits them from various wool yarns and machine wash felts them up. They are great, she has me using them exclusively. She has already made 10 or so, and keeps making a few each day so that when the planting festival time comes we can have them at our booth for sale.

Still Learning

2010-01-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

How to use this blog more thoroughly with our schooling...

We had a holiday break (and Tristan was ill) but are back into Core 1. Tristan is doing daily copy work, and I have him set up where he can do his own work at his own pace each day. Kassi is doing worksheets from a variety of early learning books, using Starfall and other computer resources, and Jan Brett alphabet tracers each day. She is right on the edge of reading, and all that she needs now is time to pass and something to 'click' for her. She writes very well.

Anatoly has taken a big interest in the computer and is getting some time in every day on Starfall. He is not interested in being taught anything by me, so this is a good thing for him to feel more empowered.

Romneya says "bye, bye!"

Well I have not been updating like I sho ...

2009-12-01T05:51:00.000-08:00

Well I have not been updating like I should. Tristan is reading The Secret Valley, Kassi is writing and reading 3 letter words on her own.

we interrupt this homeschool to bring yo ...

2009-11-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

we interrupt this homeschool to bring you MUMPS.

little update

2009-10-27T04:37:00.000-07:00

I have been neglectful of this blog, let me see if I can update. Tristan is well into subtraction and beginning double-digit addition/ subtraction. He just loves math. We are reading riding the pony express and about to start wold history properly. Kassi has been reading small words but seems to lack the desire to read more, and I have been trying to give her plenty of Starfall time.

Handicrafts

2009-09-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

I love to make things with my hands. I knit, and sew, and bake bread. Not all at once, and surely in spurts... right now I am not very handicrafty at all. I am still getting over the canning season, recovering if you will. Anyway, I took the time today, instead of our normal core work we learned to sew with needle and thread (I didn't... they did! you know what I mean). I took out some of my finest wool flannel scraps and cut squares for the kids. Then I taught them to thread needles and sew a straight stitch. They each made little 6-square 'quilts'. It was fun, relaxing, and the kids loved it. There was no screaming or fighting. And they have made something 'useful', as opposed to most paper crafts that end up in the recycle bin. I want to make this a weekly, or more often even, activity.

After the 'quilts' Kassi decided she wanted to sew a dolly for a baby-friend who is turning 1, so we worked together on that for awhile. And I have a plan for a baby gift, too, so I worked on mine alongside her. No pictures of those- they are surprises!

Anyway, what a beautiful lesson today.

we have been slowly making it through we ...

2009-09-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

We have been slowly making it through week 4 of Core 1. A friend told me there is actually a week 4 syndrome. We're pulling through. We are in chapter 8 of Redwall, our own personal addition to the Core, replacing Missionary Stories. I am really enjoying reading it aloud and this weather means outdoors reading in the sun.

Kassi is really progressing with reading lessons. We went to the very beginning, just identifying letter and their sounds, and it already seems to be improving her efforts. She is excited to do her reading lesson every day. Short and sweet.

Tristan has mastered simple subtraction. Yesterday he spent some time playing math games at http://www.kidsnumbers.com/sunny-bunny-subtraction.php

The new Herbal Roots Zine is out, and I need to print it and start it! Lemon Balm, yum.

We have all been sick again, so the sche ...

2009-09-22T04:35:00.000-07:00

We have all been sick again, so the schedule is mixed up. Tristan has taken a huge interest in insects and has a couple of DK books about them. He keeps them by his bed and reads them almost constantly... is becoming quite an expert.

Kassi is making multimedia/ collage art.

Today I hope to pick back up with Kassi's reading lessons, Start a new Core reader, and introduce subtraction to Tristan.

Sunday the 13th we went to a Catholic Ch ...

2009-09-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday the 13th we went to a Catholic Church for the first time. It fit in well with our study of major world religions, and Tristan noticed that right away. He said, "This is Christianity, I know it!" Now, we are Christians, but we have not brought our children up to be at this point. We strongly believe that these choices have to be made after the age of reason, and they must be personal and heartfelt. Tristan is so passionate about everything, and seems fascinated by religion and God. Kassi said quietly during the mass "They are talking about death, right?" I explained that she was right, that we are all curious about and sometimes afraid of death, and that The Church is one way people choose to come together and find purpose.

Last week I began The Ordinary Parent's ...

2009-09-15T05:04:00.000-07:00

Last week I began The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
with Kassi. We are just working on a letter a day right now, but she seems to like the method.

today we covered major world religions a ...

2009-09-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

today we covered major world religions and drew pictures of the hindu statues and the buddha we own. kassi really enjoyed this, as you can see at her blog.

http://kassiope.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/pictures-of-hindu-gods-and-buddha/

Last night we went to the Japanese Fall ...

2009-09-12T05:52:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the Japanese Fall Festival at the Japanese Garden. The kids had so much fun. We bought a young Ginkgo tree, fed huge Koi, and ran around through the torches. Good times!

WOW! We started Redwall at last and it w ...

2009-09-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

WOW! We started Redwall at last and it was so fun to read aloud. We had to stop a lot, even twice per page, for vocabulary discussion. But I was pleasantly surprised at how much Tristan understood, what with all the long and delicate sentences. We described Friar Hugo, and he said, He's the chef! same with the Magic show. The on/off Matthias/ Cluny chapters kept Tristan asking for just one more chapter until finally, I said we had to stop. Got to love the Sonlight. (even though Redwall was not in our Core, we substituted it for Missionary Stories with the Millers)

I started the entire 96 page Level 1 wor ...

2009-09-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

I started the entire 96 page Level 1 workbook from Starfall with Kassi today. We did 4 pages. My goal is to do 4 pages each school day to jump start her reading/ writing.

http://www.starfall.com/n/N-info/level-1.htm?n=downloadcenter

Tristan has mastered simple addition & s ...

2009-09-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Tristan has mastered simple addition & subtraction concepts.

Core 1 Week 2

2009-09-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

I cried like a baby all the way through A Long Way To New Land. No, really, I had to stop and wipe tears twice.

We missed school yesterday because we we ...

2009-09-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

We missed school yesterday because we were up in Springfield all day. But today we made it up and had a fun time with the Money of the World topic. I have a big old jar of foreign currency which we perused and made rubbings of. Some of the cash and coin was exactly the same as in our Peoples of the World book. We identified many of the countries from which we had monies on the Markable Map.

The kids drew pictures of The Elder from the Herbal Roots Lore story.

All in all, a good day.

We began reading Charlotte's web. Trist ...

2009-08-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

We began reading Charlotte's web. Tristan really figured out Roman Numerals based on the chapters. It was a struggle for him at first but then he 'cracked' it! Read aloud time is going to be hard to find... Hope we find a rhythm soon.

Box Day!

2009-08-24T04:53:00.000-07:00

we decided on Sonlight this year. It is our first time and how fun to receive a big box of books! I have been slowly working my way through the IG, figuring it all out. Our school year begins Aug 31st (Just a day I picked.)

Tristan will be doing Core 1 with Readers 2 Int. , Kassi following along, learning to read this year. We also have singapore math 1a/b.

Our 'school year' begins Aug 31st!

2009-08-19T05:45:00.000-07:00

Our 'school year' begins Aug 31st!

2009-04-27T05:18:00.000-07:00

I Quit, I Think.

catchup

2009-04-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

tristan is still plowing through magic treehouse. he is unstoppable.

kassi and i held a newborn monarch yesterday as she flew for the first time. she was on my finger and i transferred her to kassi's and then, she took flight and flew all the way across the field. it was beautiful.

the kids got a big trampoline from grandma/ pa o'melay.

kassi has been practicing writing letters daily, also counting the eggs every evening.

violet jelly

2009-04-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

we made violet jelly this week for Herbal Roots! the violets were blooming and it could not wait. it was great fun and delicious!

we got our new laptop and Tristan has been using brainpopjr daily.

we set up email addresses for tristan & kassiopeia. tristan and karl have been emailing back and forth.

sickness prevailed... not much school

2009-03-30T04:48:00.000-07:00

we made chickweed salve from the herbal oil we created. the salve turned out great! tristan enjoyed watching the beeswax melt.

tristan has finished the first 14 Magic Tree House Books.

yesterday

2009-03-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

We began Herbal Roots: Chickweed, in earnest. We made Chickweed finger puppets and learned how Starweed got her stars. We sang a Chickweed song. We harvested some outside and taped it into a new page in our Herbariums.

Tristan & Kassi did Happy Scribe Copywork.

Tristan read his first chapter book all ...

2009-03-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

Tristan read his first chapter book all by himself. The Magic Tree House series, Dinosaurs Before Dark! He really enjoyed it and followed the story perfectly!

we made herbal oil over the weekend for ...

2009-03-09T04:40:00.000-07:00

we made herbal oil over the weekend for March Herbal Roots: Chickweed. It takes 2 weeks and then we will strain it and make chickweed salve.

sunday we went hiking and to the creek w ...

2009-02-25T04:51:00.000-08:00

sunday we went hiking and to the creek with friends. we found some wonderful rocks and brought them home.

learning about state bird, insect, flowe ...

2009-02-21T10:32:00.001-08:00

learning about state bird, insect, flower and dance

tristan & kassi made menus for breakfast ...

2009-02-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

tristan & kassi made menus for breakfast today

sick break

2009-02-18T04:48:00.000-08:00

we have been sick with a stomach flu and 'school' has been minimal.

also, our computer was in the shop for a week.

we read a lot of books, watched a lot of PBS, and tristan cooked a few times.

yesterday more numbers for kassi, we tal ...

2009-02-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

yesterday more numbers for kassi, we talked about vowels, tristan practiced lowercase printing, we translated names into cuneiform & heiroglyph and began Sumeria, Sargon, etc. story of Abraham.

sang marshmallow songs.

tristan wrote in times from a clock and ...

2009-02-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

tristan wrote in times from a clock and is proficient with hours and half hours.
kassiopeia wrote numbers 0-3 as copywork
we read "I can tell the time"

copywork was numbers for tristan because he has some backwards numbers

copy for k was the letter S, which she has trouble with

sang herb songs and learned the words di ...

2009-02-03T08:50:00.000-08:00

sang herb songs and learned the words diuretic and inflammation

made more books like the herbariums but ...

2009-02-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

made more books like the herbariums but for 'personal use'. those were a big hit.

painted plastic 'stained glass' projec ...

2009-02-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

painted plastic 'stained glass' projects = very fun

began Herbal Roots (Marshmallow) today. ...

2009-02-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

began Herbal Roots (Marshmallow) today. what fun! Kids made Herbarium books, wrote their names, "Marshmallow" and "herbarium" . cut pictures of herbs from seed catalog for decor. We also sang songs about Marshmallow.

yesterday i made a homeschoolmath worksh ...

2009-01-31T08:04:00.000-08:00

yesterday i made a homeschoolmath worksheet of addition for tristan and he really liked it. brought out 20 or so beans to help him.

kassi wrote her name and practiced writing half the alphabet.

tristan learned to count by 10s

2009-01-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

tristan learned to count by 10s

starting this blog today

2009-01-29T07:57:00.000-08:00

starting this blog today

fiar: week two: Madeline

2007-10-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

monday: language - vocabulary for tristan (disaster, solemn, appendix) letters for kassiopeia

tuesday: math- symmetry. in the book and find outside examples of symmetry. painting.

wednesday: art- architecture. compare illustrations with actual pictures of paris.

thursday: history- france in 1930s. find older-fashioned elements in the story to explain.

friday: math: relative size and degree. discuss smallest and largest. sort a group of items by relative size. painting for fun.

Five-In-A-Row

2007-09-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

we borrowed a copy of this book from a friend and i hope to try it out soon. i only have 3 of the suggested books, but that should give us an idea if we even like it.

we have Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, Madeline & Go, Dog, Go. i am a little confused by the notebook record keeping.

assuming we'll start with Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, here are the ideas i chose for monday through friday.

monday: math, geometry (learn about squares)

the kids really enjoyed this! we read the book, then we sat down with paper and crayons and pencils and talked about squares. they learned what makes a square a square. kassi learned to draw a square easily. tristan thought a fun game would be to think of things that are often square and write their names next to pictures (ice, windows, blocks) then they both decided to have a contest to see who could color the most colorful square. it was a tie. ;-)

tuesday: science, steam power (make a pinwheel and use a teakettle to turn it)

this experiment was a dismal failure, but the kids enjoyed it anyway. the steam power might have worked if we'd used plasticized paper, but as it was the construction paper just got wet with steam and curled up. oh, well. the kids are off playing with pinwheels now...

the kids were both excited to 'do five in a row' today. tristan asked if we could do it everyday.

wednesday: art, tree drawing

we decided to paint instead of draw. many, many trees were painted including a lot of 'broccoli families' by kassiopeia. i dont know that we really delved into the different shapes of trees, but it was fun anyway!

thursday: language, vocabulary (canal and cellar)

our jersey cow Nimue became deathly ill and we didnt finish this week.

friday: history, steam power

with a 5 and 3 year old listening to the story, these ideas will have to be flexible. kassi may love to draw squares and trees all 5 days.

yet another blog

2007-09-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

i created this blog for the purpose of planning and documenting our days as a family outside of the public school arena.

at this moment i have 3 children. tristan is 5, kassiopeia is 3 and anatoly is almost 1. initially thinking myself an unschooler, i definitely recoil at the thought of re-creating school at home. i am not a radical unschooler either. we're just finding our way.

all of my kids are 'pre-school', but i hope to start Five in a Row this year along with the basic learning we do everyday. i recently read the book The Well-Trained Mind. I found a lot of it valuable, not all. my amazon wish list is full of homeschooling books. i am excited.

we are new-ish homesteaders on a small farm. our day-to-day is rich with learning.