Global Disasters, Agritourism, Flight, & Tangrams

Monday June 2nd
Pilot is reading The Resistors series and finished book two today. He was talking about how the characters, who live in a post apocalyptic-type world, have a base underground and I told him I just watched an episode of America's Book of Secrets that described underground community shelters built by a private group called VIVO in case of the event of a global disaster. So, we watched that part of the episode together. A shelter can hold 5,000 people and as of the time of taping of the show, there are over 25,000 applicants. A spot in the shelter goes anywhere from $7,000-$50,000 per person!

Pilot thought this was interesting but nothing really came of it. So, I continue to search for activities to keep him occupied with his interest in flight. I came across what looks to be a great site for young learners.

The TV episode happened to mention a list of different types of disasters and this caught Storm Chaser's attention. He just had to know more about the items on the list

Here's what the list said:
Tsunami
Nuclear
Asteroid
Planet X
Biological
Terrorism
Economic Collapse
Super Volcano
Electromagnetic Pulse
Solar Flare

This gave me the opportunity to talk about the theory that a huge meteor strike killed off the dinosaurs 65-70 million years ago, The Great Depression, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Katrina. We watched an Asteroid Impact Simulation and saw before and after pictures of Hiroshima. These were taken at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. We saw video taken of the 2011 Japanese tsunami (Definitely recommend checking out these videos before showing them).

All of this gave me the idea of having Storm Chaser put together a sort of History Repeats Itself exhibit showing how history has repeated itself and what we can do to prepare for some of these events or what technology he would invent to help before, in, or after times of disaster.

Tuesday
I need to find some activities for Pilot. It's good to get information but that information has to be synthesized in a meaningful way.

I am also compiling a list of resources for Storm Chaser.

Little One had her first day of summer gymnastics. She also worked on a seek and find alphabet activity.

We went to the library. Pilot borrowed Operation Inferno, the third installment of The Resistors series by Eric Nylund, Storm Chaser borrowed Tiny World Terrariums by Michelle Inciarrano and Katy Maslow. Little One played a painting game on the computer.

There was a special section out with all kinds of Oklahoma information. I grabbed an agritourism map and oh my goodness! We have got to plan some daycations! The kids and I had a good time finding where our favorite activities were located on the map. It was a great moment to explain the legend and how the map works. All over the map are little pictures with numbers under them. The picture is a symbol of a particular activity and the number is a key to finding more information about that particular place on the back of the map. Very cool. If you live in Oklahoma or ever plan on visiting, you will want to add OklahomaAgritourism.com to your favorites.

Wednesday
We spent all morning and early afternoon getting Pilot his state ID card so he can get on the plane to Ohio soon. Storm Chaser went to the grandparent's house to mow. He is getting pretty good at this. Did I mention he is now riding the motorcycle! He's all about facing some fears this year.

Friday
Little One and I read Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert. What a cool story about tangrams. The author provides fun information and activities on the front and back inside covers, even a square of tangrams to trace and cutout to make your own shapes.

Little One was not very interested in working with the tans until later when she surprised me with her creation of a pig. She will do that. After we've had our learning moment and have each moved on to other things, she will decided to go back and work with whatever we learned about.

Aviation Careers & Hearing Loss, Ocean Exploration, and a Breakthrough

The kids have been busy over the course of the last two weeks. We have continued with our flight and sea life studies.

Last week, Pilot discovered three types of jobs he thought were interesting: ferry pilot, test pilot, and patrol pilot. He researched the jobs and the requirements of each one and then we compared them to the executive type jobs. I didn't save the link to the video we watched of an interview with a top executive but a quick search of online videos will give you lots of results. Pilot noticed that the executive being interviewed had global knowledge of the aviation industry while an assistant airport manager's knowledge revolved around the airport. Other jobs he found of interest were air traffic controller, engineer, community planner, and chemical engineer.

I did some researching of my own and learned all kinds of things, good things, about deaf pilots. Pilot is deaf in one ear. Here are some of the links:

Hearing Standards and Evaluation
Training FAQs
Q&A Deaf Pilots Association
Deaf Pilots Association

This week, Pilot began his Flight unit study by Amanda Bennett. Pilot has a few books to read regarding his studies. "The Rocket Man and Other Extraordinary Characters in the History of Flight", "The Story of Flight: The Wright Brothers and Other Pioneers of Flight", and the "Illustrated Book of Fighter Aircraft". For pleasure, he chose "Sterling Squadron" by Eric Nylund which he finished in two days. I suggested he keep a notebook for documenting what books he reads and what movies he sees so he can take note of what he liked or disliked about them.

Storm Chaser began his Twisting Tornadoes unit study by Amanda Bennett and Little One started her Whales unit study. We also watched Ocean Exploration, a Bill Nye the Science Guy video. The kids really enjoyed it. We learned why humans cannot simply use a long tube (imagine a long straw) to breathe in deep water...because there is too much pressure on a person's chest for the air to come through the tube, since there's less pressure on the air going into the tube. We also learned how oceanographers used to map the ocean floor (with weights) before they had echo sounding equipment, how water pressure can crush things and people, and JASON. JASON is a remotely operated vehicle.

I was so excited that Storm Chaser wanted to read to me!!! This is a spectacular event! He NEVER reads for fun. He read "How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures" by Ruth Heller. I thought it was interesting he didn't notice how it rhymed until I told him after he was done with the book. Maybe we need to get familiarized with poetry?

And, as if  reading for fun weren't enough, Storm Chaser took it upon himself to build a solar airplane, puppy, and car from his RobotiKits 6-in-1 Educational Solar Kit. Before, he never had the patience to deal with the step by step instructions.

Finally, I began reading "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum to the kids, which I downloaded for free at ManyBooks.net They love this story so far. They haven't seen the movie...maybe only glimpses. I know, I know.

Whales, Planes, & Imagineering

Our first semester was all about scientists. Each week we learned about a new scientist with two weeks dedicated to one topic like Astronomy, Physics, Zoology, Botany, etc. This semester, I stopped everything. No schooling whatsoever. I told my husband, "Let's see where they go." That was over Christmas Break and now we are in May and the kids haven't really gone anywhere. I would like to take all the time it would take for them to venture out and start exploring and learning but I feel like there isn't time for that. Especially for Pilot, our oldest. No matter what, I just don't feel comfortable at this time to sit back and watch. I've thrown ideas, books, and videos out there and they've actually taken them and enjoyed them. Pilot was amazed how great the book, From Oklahoma to Eternity: The Life of Wiley Post and the Winnie Mae (Oklahoma Trackmaker Series) by Kenny Arthur Franks, Gini Moore Campbell and Bob Burke (Feb 1, 1998) was. So, I figure I'll keep doing that and see where they go from there.

And I'm not talking loading them up with curriculum and a full day of their noses in books. For instance, Monday, Storm Chaser (9), Little One (6), and I did a simple experiment with some Crisco and two cups of ice water. Little One has this fascination with squishy things. Many family members of ours have found this out much to the dismay of their rear ends, lol. Anyway, when I was browsing the net for ideas, I thought of blubber. This led to the discovery of  the experiment at http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/Science-experiments+10/Blubber-experiment+10975.htm And what has blubber? Whales! Weirdly, searches into whales led us to a disgusting but interesting video about tube worms at http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/expedition15/videos/dissection.html We showed this video to a friend yesterday and he asked why the man was doing that to the tube worm. Good question! Yes, for research, but there is obviously no benefit to that particular tube worm. Good conversation and exploration of ethics.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I found a packet of activities I printed out for the Winter Olypmics that we never used and in it were some Sudoku (with images) pages. Storm Chaser really enjoyed the challenge and, today,  asked for more difficult ones.

Little One and I made a trip to the library today for some books about whales, turtles, seahorses, and crabs. We found so much more, of course. The first video we watched was The Science of Disney Imagineering: Design and Models. Pilot (14), as I expected, was the only one to stick with the video the whole way through. It was a very fascinating look into the processes and teamwork that goes into creating Disney theme park rides.

I gave Pilot a group of links to explore regarding beginning aeronautics and aviation careers. I will have to check in with him in a few days to see if he's looked into any. It will be interesting to see which ones he is most attracted to.

Homeschool Hours & Outdoor Time

I found this information from Cindy Downes very interesting. If you are wondering how much time to spend teaching your child(ren) or are worried you can't spend as much time teaching your child(ren) as a public school would, then this information is for you.

Public schools meet for five hours a day to allow time for students to earn the required number of Carnegie Units for graduation. A Carnegie Unit is the amount of credit given for successful completion of a course which meets 40 minutes per day, five days per week, for at least 36 weeks or the equivalent time within the school year.

This amounts to 900 hours per year. It has been estimated by some educational professionals that out of that 900 hours, approximately 200 hours are spent on one-on-one or on-task teaching. The remainder is spent on all the other things that happen in schools such as correcting papers, recess, lunch breaks, managing classrooms, etc. That is the equivalent of 66 minutes per day!

Considering that the average homeschool family teaches one on one approximately 1-1/2 to 3 hours per day, it's no wonder they are scoring better on standardized testing! See Sample Homeschool Schedule.

You can find this quote at http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/getstart.html#plan

You might think of homeschooling as the opportunity to use time more efficiently. How you use this time is up to you and the method you choose. Some methods encourage homeschoolers to spend their free time learning in a natural way. I really like the Charlotte Mason approach.

She believed children should spend most of their time outdoors, which, of course, is not always possible in a city or suburb. The main idea, however, is that children learn about the natural world they live in. Aside from learning their local flowers, trees, borders, directions, etc., children develop their observational skills and their ability to focus their attention. I am reading about this in a Modern English translation of the Charlotte Mason Series. Here's the relevant part...http://amblesideonline.org/CMM/M1_2.html

I learned in my first attempt at homeschooling that I am too new to this to have firm beliefs so even though I am focusing on the Charlotte Mason Method, I am not trying to say this is THE best method. You are free to compare information and form your own beliefs. I cannot fully subscribe to the CM method anyway. At least, not yet. And after this year, I may not want to. Who knows?

For instance, as much as I would love for my children to run and play and explore outdoors for hours a day, it just isn't feasible for us. For one, I do not tolerate heat very well and neither do my children. For two, we live in good sized suburb where there is high traffic and too great an opportunity for contact with strangers. Once the school year begins, I will jot down how we do spend our time.

I hope you find this information helpful. Please feel free to discuss in comments. :D




 

Great Link for Beginners (and everyone else, too)

Well. I wish I had this from the get go.

http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/index.html

Though this site is geared toward Oklahoma homeschoolers, it has tons of great information in a very organized and easy to understand format. Love it :D The site covers every base there is to cover, from the history of education, buying curriculum (or not), and recordkeeping to planning, finding assessments and testing, and answering some common FAQs.

So far, I have particularly enjoyed the section Questions to ask before purchasing textbooks, the links to assessments and placement tests, and all the samples provided.

I felt that the information provided was given in a very encouraging way. After visiting MANY sites, I can tell you that THIS site sums everything up in a very simple, practical way. Check this out,

"A well-kept log book and portfolio are better indicators of what homeschool children have studied and learned. Although many colleges are now asking to see portfolios, most homeschool transcripts do include grades as this is what is expected. If a parent does choose to award letter grades, they should choose their own method of arriving at grades and add this information to their portfolio."

Not only does this tidbit on grades give you advice on how to track your child's learning but it also gives you practical hints about how colleges deal with homeschoolers. I didn't have to search a huge site to find all that information. Whew!

THEN there's this......http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/funstuff.html Awesome!!!

Week of September 24, 2012-A New Plan

After much fuss, I have finally accepted that the work assigned to the boys is a bit much. Not only is it overwhelming them and taking the joy out of school, it's boring! This week, we took a big step back. The boys have weaknesses that need to be addressed before they can take on the course load suggested by The Well-Trained Mind. I need to build their confidence.

So, I've reduced their day down to History, Math, Spelling (Spelling Workout gives them a chance to learn new words in the context of a short vignette at the beginning of each lesson,  see how the sounds are broken down, learn their definitions, find errors in sentences using proofreading marks, and write their own sentences after reading a prompt), Spanish, and Reading (They can read on their own, but I read to them every day).

This week they have continued learning about the ancient Egyptians (where they were in the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History). I borrowed a couple of DVDs and some books from the library.

First, they watched Mysteries of the Ancient World. This DVD is not kid friendly since the narrator speaks at an adult/academic level but, at least, the kids gained a sort of introduction to some of the world's ancient mysteries. The DVD reviewed The Great Pyramids, The Minoan Civilization, Cadbury Castle, Stonehenge, and The Oracle of Delphi.

Then, the boys created a map on poster board on which they pasted the continents and pictures (found online, around 300x300) of the mysteries. They labeled everything and colored the countries that contain the mysteries.

                                                  Not a great pic but it gives you the idea.

I found some great Math games at:

http://www.funbrain.com/ (Pilot and Storm Chaser really like Math Baseball)
http://www.coolmath-games.com/
http://www.primarygames.com/math.php (Pilot worked hard on Carptenter's Cut)

I printed out the number coloring pages for Little One to work on next week from http://www.coolmath-games.com/coloring-pages-for-kids-to-print-out-01.html

The boys did a lesson out of their Spelling Workout workbooks and we did two pages out of My Number Book every day. My Number Book is a Southwestern Advantage book. It is in English and Spanish and comes with a poster.

Also, they started Seven Wonders of the Ancient World a Questar distribution. The Wonders are:

The Pyramid of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Temple of Artemis at at Ephesus
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Pharos of Alexandria
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia


I am reading King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang to them. Storm Chaser is reading The Curse of King Tut's Mummy by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and King Tut's Tomb by Amanda Doering Tourville.

Little One and I are working with her Usborne Phonics Flashcards and Phonics Readers. We go over five cards at a time. She says the name of the picture, I show her the name spelled out, and then we spell the name. After we do this, we run through the names one more time, then I turn the flashcards over to the side that has just the name with no picture. She tries to say the word by sight. If she needs help we sound out the letters together. After all that, I read one of the phonics readers and give her a word to look for. (The cards and the books use the same characters, so I can find a book that has the words we just learned.) She lets me know when she sees the word and then says it out loud.

Why the Classical Method and How We're Doing So Far

The classical method of homeschooling is appealing to me for several reasons.

1. The stages of a classical education--Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric--correspond with a child's development (e.g. The Grammar Stage takes advantage of a child's natural wonder and ability to memorize information and, basically, soak up information like a sponge.)

2. A classical education begins with a focus on language (i.e. reading, writing, grammar) and math. The public school system emphasizes reading but also puts, I believe, too much emphasis on other subjects like art and music in the early years (up to third grade). I can't help but wonder if Pilot's language skills would be much more improved today if the time spent going to art, music, and gym in his early years was, instead, spent on one-on-one time with the teacher developing those language skills.

3. A classical education teaches students to think critically, how to ask questions and find answers on their own, and how to recognize and refrain from using fallacies.


Our First Three Weeks

Well, we complete our first three weeks today and then the kids have a week to regroup themselves, enjoy some extracurricular activities, and maybe even study (ha!). The first week was fun because the kids were excited about having school at home. They really enjoyed coming to their desks in their pajamas. The second week was not so good. Attitudes were surfacing in rebellion to the fact that school is school no matter where it takes place. Work still has to be done. Rules still apply. That week I questioned my decision to homeschool, that's for sure! This week, however, has been much better. They already know what subjects to study and on what days. This predictability gives them control over their day.

Overall, the first three weeks have been kind of chaotic. I realized I required some extra materials like a teacher's manual for Storm Chaser's Grammar and paper! Of all things, paper. How did I manage to forget to buy paper? Luckily, stores have school supplies on sale now. Also, Pilot and I never spent time on Logic, we spent so much time adjusting to our new schedule and way of learning, and I just realized today that I need a Logic text (Doh!).

Reflections

Pilot and Storm Chaser on several different occassions made phone calls to their grandma to inform her of what they are learning. For example, they told her how they wrote their notes with "perfect" handwriting and that molecules move faster when they are hot.

Never, never, never has Pilot expressed pride in his schoolwork. I am amazed.

Also, Pilot woke up at 6:00 A.M. yesterday to complete his homework from the day before. I am even MORE amazed. :)

Lastly, I cannot forget Little One. Among many other things, she is learning the sounds of each letter in the alphabet and how to read color words. While working on that, she created a poster of primary and secondary colors.

So, what are your thoughts on the classical method of homeschooling? If you need more information, I recommend A Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. They have a website as well: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/

I also recommend http://classical-homeschooling.org/

And http://www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html Here is the famous speech by Dorothy Sayers
Coming up next...Pros/Cons of the Curriculum We're Using this 2012-2013 School Year