May 31

I'm posting the child's daily school efforts so that I can look back over them and see the trends.  Keeping it online is easier for me than keeping it on paper and then risk misplacing the folder.

Today I have so many errands to run that he's going to need to be a bit more independent.  He's getting into reading while I'm driving, which is a good use of his time.  His brother has a speech therapy appointment today, and I often work with him one on one while we wait.  Right now as I type this, I'm encouraging him to make his own list of things he wishes to accomplish today while I get organized, and then I want to encourage him to stay on task even while I'm too busy to offer much help.  We'll see how it goes.

Wednesday May 30

Math:  Scholastic page 303  Did not finish page
Reading, 25 minutes in car
Tennis
Spelling
Social Studies, The Interrupters
Reading Comprehension, Comprehensive Curriculum 98-100
Scholastic, Writing page 270-272

Tuesday, May 29

After a pretty good Memorial Day weekend that placed household responsibilities, health and light studying ahead of video games and television, while still making some time for fun, (hurray for us) it was time to get down to business.

I was surprised to see that our oldest, who still goes to school, was up before the rest of us, and cooperated perfectly with the process of getting ready for school and waiting for the bus.  The youngest got a head start on his morning physical fitness exercises, and was ready to begin school at 8:30 a.m.

We had a terrific day.  I wish they could all go this smoothly!

I made a list of classes, and let him know that we would spend 30 minutes on each class.  Sometimes he might work through until the timer goes off.  At other times we stop at the 20 minute mark and review his work.

The classes were:

Writing
Spelling
Math
Social Studies
English
Reading comprehension
Science
Maps

First he chose reading, and read 30 minutes of The Hunger Games. 

He chose maps next.  It's in the 4th Grade Scholastic Success book, and he flies through it easily.  He completed pages 365, 366, and 367.

Next we did spelling using book one of Sequential Spelling.  We've only been working with that book since near the beginning of this month, and we are already at day 36.  By the end of this week we'll be one quarter of the way through the book.  He loves Sequential Spelling because he's achieving a level of success that works well for him.

Science.  I drew a blank, so I opened CK-12 Life Science For Middle School in the Kindle and together we read the first chapter, "Scientific Ways of Thinking."  We need to review the websites within that chapter, and then read the review questions and re-read the chapter to find the answers.  I need to make a mental note to gather all of the Human Anatomy materials I've compiled and turn them into a comprehensive unit.  This morning I was unprepared and thankful to have a textbook on hand.

For math he finished page 376 in Comprehensive Curriculum in the 4th grade.  It was a page filled with multiplication problems, to strengthen his skills.  I would like to see his speed improve but he is making progress.

Next he chose Grammar, and he worked in the Scholastic book, pages   122 and 123.  While he did this I checked his math.

For Social Studies we watched about 20 minutes of The Interrupters, (the edited version,) with several stops for discussion:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/interrupters/#b

I'd like to finish this documentary and then begin working on Nevada State history and government for social studies.

Lunch:  Last night we had a wonderful vegetarian homemade pizza for dinner, and today for lunch we had leftovers.  I told him that after the listed classes were done for the day, he could choose to work on music, watch a science documentary or watch more of The Interrupters.  As a result, lunch took about ten minutes.

He did ask if he could choose art as one of his extra choices but I explained that he can sit and draw anytime.  If he wants to do art we need to have some sort of a prepared program.  So clearly I also need to get the art unit ready.

Writing:  Scholastic, starting with page 178-179

Reading Comprehension in Comprehensive Curriculum, page 94-97

I appreciated the way I was able to get little tasks done as he completed each block.  He still needed me to provide some guidance and clarification, and some things I had to do with him, such as watching The Interrupters, but I was able to make a phone call, place the nuts for tonight's dinner in a bowl of water to soak, rinse the sprouts, fold some laundry, put together a pack of supplies for his brother's tube feedings at school, etc.

He chose for his optional activity to watch more of The Interrupters, and we made it about 44 minutes in.

In summary, this is a plan that works well for us at this time.  I would like to find some time to work on units for human anatomy, Nevada history and government, and art.

Studying on Weekends

One of the challenges of the deschooling process is changing our internalized frames about learning.  We think learning happens from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, in institutionalized classrooms.  Studying happens in afternoons and evenings at home in bedrooms at home desks, also at specific times.  It's very structured and prescribed.  And it also means that there are times when learning is off-limits because the student is entitled to some time off.

I think structure is necessary.  But we are looking for a balance where spontaneous learning happens because we never really shut off our curiosity.  There is never a time when it's not appropriate to be inquisitive.

Yesterday we succeeded in getting our young man to do 20 to 30 minutes each of math, spelling and reading, even though it was Sunday.  He did it without grumbling or behaving as though he felt it was wrong.  I think this is a good plan for us.  If we can do between 90 and 120 minutes of core subject work daily as a matter of discipline, it will be easier to allow the more "soft" subjects to flow.  Writing comes easier for a kid who is a competent speller.  All learning comes easier for a kid who reads easily.

Daily work helps to reinforce the idea that we are inquisitive, learning beings that never take time off from this basic necessary activity.  We don't normally go a whole day without resting, or eating, or drinking water.  We don't go a whole day without learning either.

Documentaries

These documentaries have been useful to support the anatomy unit:

The Incredible Human Journey
From Conception to Birth
How Does the Brain Work?  Nova ScienceNow
National Geographic:  Incredible Human Machine

I'm glad we have Neftlix!

Better today

Right now he's watching a documentary on the human body.

It's clear that he seems to do best with about ten minutes of instruction followed by 20 minutes of practice.  After 20 minutes of practice he is more easily distracted and begins to fidget.  If I'm not paying attention he's completely lost.

He assured me he could work on sequential spelling for 45 minutes but I noticed after 30 minutes that we were wasting our time.  Out of the 30 minutes, we spent some time looking up some of the words that he didn't understand.  I also discovered that if I can show him several pictures online to represent the word, his retention is better.  For example, we were working on manner - manor.  He struggled with the word "manor" for days until I showed him several pictures of famous historical manors online.  We were also working on mooed - mood, and he struggled with that.  I showed him several pictures of mood rings, talked about what they were and how they worked.  Next, I demonstrated showing how several animal sounds are spelled, showing each of them in past tense.

meow   - meowed

howl - howled

moo - mooed

After that it was clear that he knew it.

So it really does look like a total of 30 minutes per class, then we switch gears.  I don't know what he should do between classes, but I think that exercising, completing small tasks like chores, or getting organized are good ideas.

Playtime is NOT a good idea between classes.  If he starts playing games or watching junk television between classes, he loses momentum and tends to have an attitude problem when it's time to get back to work.

He had leftovers for lunch - dino kale salad with avocado lemon dressing, mixed with quinoa lightly seasoned with turmeric and curry.  Nutrition is clearly a big part of this too.

I'd like to see if we can gently bump up his attention span and the length of his classes a little at a time. 

Today he's had a total of 30 minutes of spelling, 30 minutes of math, 30 minutes of reading comprehension and 30 minutes of grammar.

In the Comprehensive Curriculum book for the 4th grade, we are starting from the beginning in language arts but it's clear that he's more advanced than that in math.  He demonstrated that he knows how to do rounding and estimating.  He can do long division but still needs to work on some of his math facts. We are skipping a great deal of the math section because he demonstrates that he knows it and is ready to move on.  I'd like to see some increased fluidity in his math skills.  He seems to tire easily in math.

Tough Day Yesterday

Tough days.  I guess all homeschooling moms have them.  Yesterday was one for us.

We started the morning out well, with spelling and math.  I had to go to the chiropractor so my son brought a fiction book he's been reading.  On the way home we stopped at a grocery store, reading labels and talking nutrition.  If a person wished to eliminate all sugar, fat and salt from their diet, we found that in this particular store some aisles only contained one or two acceptable items for purchase.

He seemed to dawdle over lunch, taking his time and stretching it out for as long as he could.  I felt myself growing impatient.  After lunch, he spent about another hour working in his workbook, and then it was time to go pick up his brother at school and take him to speech therapy.  During speech therapy he worked in his workbook a bit more, but his attention was beginning to wane and his productivity decline.

I was beginning to become concerned.  He had spent a total of three hours on education that day, and isn't coming anywhere near the volume of finished work I hope to see from him.  Former teacher comments were echoing in my mind.  The problems he exhibited in school are repeating at home.

I have him a rather stern lecture on work ethic, effort, and productivity, and told him that I needed six hours of homeschool work and study per day, with a much higher volume of finished work.  It didn't go well.  He needed to spend an hour in his room to think.  But later, he told me that maybe  he reacted the way he did due to puberty.  I admitted that it might be best if we gradually increase his work time and output.

We did have a talk about responsibility.  I said that I've been demonstrating to him that nothing need get in the way of learning.  He has access to all of the information and instruction he needs.  I asked him what was getting in the way of learning, and he said his brother's name.  I was stunned.  Clearly he is cultivating the mental habit of making excuses for himself.  I told him that responsible people determine what obstacles are getting in the way of success and then find their way around them.  We are definitely going to revisit this.

I realize that his learning style is more kinesthetic, but I still want him to do worksheets. I figure that he's capable of it and simply needs to increase his tolerance for it.  It's something that every typical person needs to be able to do.

Last night before climbing in my bed, I said, "Tomorrow will be better.  Today I tried to be a drill sergeant.  Tomorrow I will try to be Mother Theresa."  At least my husband thought it was funny.

Gearing Up

We are using Sequential Spelling to help my son with his spelling struggles.  It doesn't teach spelling rules, but that will come later.  It does seem to be helping.

We continue to use Khan Academy for math.  He spends about 1/2 hour per day on that.

Sometimes we go to Time's Lighbox photo of the week.  We look at the pictures, then look up the location on the globe along with any other supporting information.

We begun Comprehensive Curriculum for the 4th grade.  Already I can see we are closing the holes of the things he somehow didn't learn that year.  Soon we will also begin using Scholastic Success with:  4th grade.

After we are done with the 4th grade review, we'll move on to do the same with 5th grade.  Hopefully we can get him caught up in a timely manner.

I am still developing the human anatomy unit study that we will work on over the summer.  For now we watch science documentaries.

For about 1/2 hour each day he reads to me.  I help him with more challenging words.  If he becomes too fatigued, I read to him for the remainder of the time.

We are currently spending about two hours per day five days per week.  I hope to gradually increase it in 1/2 hour increments until he can spend at least 30 hours per week on academics.

In addition he walks on a treadmill most mornings, plays tennis once a week, spends 41/2 hours a week in dance classes, and has just started television acting classes twice monthly.

He's a busy boy.

Still Settling In

Yesterday the topic of professional dancers who happen to be men came up in conversation, and the next thing I knew, my son and I were watching Dirty Dancing instead of doing math.  We stopped the film several times to discuss many of the social dilemmas that came up in the film.  Afterwards, checking emails, I found a group invitation to a television acting class for homeschooled kids.  And off we went.

This morning we talked about the recent announcement President Obama made in favor of gay marriage,  and then we watched this video clip together:  Richard Dawkins Interviews the Bishop of Oxford 

At the end of the clip, I read the first three chapters of the book of Genesis to him, in order to try to explain the mindset of those who start with a literal interpretation of the Bible in every aspect of their worldview, and those of us who view the Bible through a lens modern understanding.

I asked him, "How does a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis affect a person's values?  He said something like, "If God gave the planet and all the animals to man to use as he pleases, then he doesn't have to care about the environment or animal rights."  I asked, "Do you agree with that?" and he said, "Of course not.  The planet doesn't belong to us but we should take good care of it."  We talked about the biblical role of Eve as Adam's "help meet," and how that contradicts our modern understanding of women being equal to man.  We discussed how in a literal interpretation of the Bible, just from the story of Adam and Eve, one could interpret that a man can't be a helpmeet to another man, and a woman can't be a helpmeet to another woman.  But if one is open to embracing a modern understanding of nature and what it means to be human, then all adult humans deserve to have an adult human mate, regardless of sexual orientation.  (The "adult" and "human" qualifiers were added because of all the silly talk of legal gay marriage leading to marriages between dogs and humans.  Woof.)

Every day we visit Time Magazine's Light Box on the web, and as we look at the pictures, we talk about what they mean and look up the locations on the globe.  The pictures are sometimes a little graphic, and we talk about that - the conditions that exist elsewhere in the world, the struggles that other people face, and why we should care.


Despite these little educational detours, the young man is making progress.  We are finding that little twenty minute bursts of math and spelling drills work better when sprinkled throughout the day than trying to knuckle down and study for hours at a time.