This and That and Summer

The last couple weeks we've been working hard to finish our winter subjects and have succeeded for the most part (save for Latin).  Our last day of co-op was Monday, and now I'm relaxing and playing catch up.  Our busy winter schedule always means many things get neglected.  Summer is a time to rest, reevaluate, and bring the household up to par.  I love summer.  Soon I'd like to organize closets, clean, and take care of various little odds and ends that have been on the back burner.  I also expect to cook more decent meals rather than relying so much on restaurants or spaghetti!

Kylen was invited to a birthday party at a place called Sky High that is just amazing.  They have huge trampolines where you can even bounce off the walls!  He enjoyed it so much that Greg's been taking him about once a week.  Within the first 15 minutes of Greg's first time there, he had snapped his glasses in half, and they'd both sprained their ankles!!  We have to admit, he was being kinda stupid jumping into the foam while wearing them.  Thankfully, it's gone pretty smoothly since that initial break in session!

Sky High ~ Kylen Upper Left


Progress is being made on finishing our basement.  Our good carpenter friend has been coming 8-5 Wednesday through Friday.  He's finished most of the framing and electrical.  Today he worked on the plumbing.  Roller blading down there will probably be on hold until the floor is carpeted, but we did manage to attend one last homeschool skate event.  Greg even went!

Playing Pool at the Skate Place

Greg Came!


We got some flowers planted in front last weekend.  Yay!  Still need to weed the raised garden beds and plant more flowers and seeds in them.  This week has been rather chilly and rainy, but I would say summer is here at last!  And what better way to celebrate than a nice, foresty read aloud?  We've been greatly enjoying The Adventures of Robin Hood and his band of merry men!  Did I mention I love summer?  But who doesn't?!

Homeschooling: The Extras (Part II)

My extended family has been blessed to have a strong musical background, especially in piano, strings, and voice. I have precious childhood memories of the many informal performances that took place during family gatherings, and piano was always a favorite. Although I personally had to give up playing, I've long harbored a strong hope that someday Kylen might learn. At the same time, it was important to me that he only take lessons as long as he enjoys them. Hopefully this would lead to self-motivated practice and a lifelong love for a hobby that can be so tremendously refreshing to the soul.

There was a short time during which I tried to teach Kylen myself, but his enthusiasm quickly waned. I decided to let it lie a few years and held out hope he'd still learn in the future. So when he expressed an interest last spring, it was hard not to get excited! This time I thought we might have better success if we tried lessons from someone else. I found a local lady in an ad, and we both liked her from the start. She is a very talented Christian musician who, having overcome physical challenges, specializes in children with disabilities. I believe this has helped make her extra patient and unusually keen at keeping things positive. To my heart's great joy, Kylen not only likes playing but very much enjoys performing. In fact, he seems to play better when someone is watching! Here he is playing Star Wars at his second recital back in November. He's playing more advanced music now, but I don't have any recent videos!


Another "extra" we've employed this year has been Netflix. It takes a bit of work to wade through the junk, but you can find a lot of educational gems on there. They have an abundance of resources for nature lovers (like me!), but I've also discovered good quality documentaries and shows that appeal more to Kylen's interests (which sadly do NOT include plants, animals, or many other topics related to science). We especially liked Fires of Kuwait, A Cemetery Special, 17 Kids and Counting, Waiting for Superman, and Prototype This. We've been particularly impressed with Prototype This which takes viewers through the process of inventing and building cool new gadgets.

As for art, Kylen takes a couple of watercolor classes each year from this fun, vivacious gal. In the past, she focused mainly on watercolor, but I've noticed recently she's been adding other mediums. We might give some of those a shot before the school year is over! Anyway, she offers art classes for all ages and has a great personality. Art isn't Kylen's thing (opposite me that way), but he does get in the mood occasionally. Recently, he's turned out a couple of excellent super hero drawings done freehand. I have a closet full of art supplies he's never noticed, and that's partly why I decided to teach art at our co-op this year - a sort of last ditch effort to get in a few crafts before junior high takes him off into more specialized directions. Although, I'm sure we'll still do some art-related projects in the future.

I bought this stop motion book by Klutz forever ago and finally got around to trying it out. (We have several homeschooling items we've never gotten around to "trying out." I've chosen to address it by no longer attending conventions or reading curriculum literature. I am determined to use what we have before purchasing any more! I mean, we're not drowning in the stuff, but I seriously want to use what we've already spent money on! But I digress.) We have made two videos. The first was a snap and came from Kylen's imagination (see below complete with sound effects he made); the second took hours and was the combined effort of my brother, Kylen and me. It could have been quick, but we didn't take enough care in our setup and made a mistake that resulted in reshooting. By the time we were halfway through, we were losing our outside light and patience. We took a much needed long break after the second one, but I think this week we might make a few more. For the most part, it's a lot of fun, and I'd like to try some of the neat projects already laid out in the book.


Well, that about covers the main areas of homeschooling, although we've already discovered new additions since I started this series. It's just one of the many aspects of homeschooling: it's always morphing and the possibilities never end. Rather than being stuck in doldrums or drudgery, we can instantly ditch what no longer works, try new things, skip over well established knowledge, and explore new topics at any time. I wouldn't trade it for traditional school for a million bucks, and I don't believe Kylen would either!

Homeschooling: The Extras (Part I)

I probably couldn't remember all the extras we've done this year, but I can give a quick overview! In terms of extracurricular activities, I would categorize us about middle-of-the-road. Now if I could drive, we'd likely be at the extreme end of busy, so it's probably good I can't. Gives us plenty of time to chill, sleep, think, and read.

The most valuable "extra" in our homeschool journey has been our co-op. We've been attending three trimesters a year, eight days a trimester since 2006. Besides the obvious benefit of enrichment classes (some of which would be impossible outside a group setting), we've been blessed to meet some of our best friends there. This year included drama, basketball (during lunch), the science class I mentioned, an inventions and technology class, strategy games (chess, Risk, etc. - taught by me), and art (also taught by me).  We were blessed to have a drama teacher who very kindly used a play written by Kylen.  I was an assistant and got to witness his work being brought to life under the hand of a truly gifted instructor.  It was an amazing experience for both of us!  Kylen would love to do more acting and is hoping for more drama classes in the future.  We'll see!


In addition, our co-op offers 2-4 field trips a month, of which we aim for one. This year we've toured Cabela's, a dam, and a frozen yogurt shop (yum!); watched high quality performances by two different children's Christian theater groups, and attended hands-on impressionism and soil exhibits at a museum. We also helped with our co-op's Christmas party.

  

The Shooting Range at Cabelas

Yogurt Shop

Impressionism Exhibit

 "PE" has consisted primarily of basketball, bike rides, LOTS of basement hockey, and recently a whole lot of rollerblading. A friend kindly offered us a ride to a once/month homeschool skate day, and it appears that may become a regular event on our calendar! During the summer, Greg's dad takes Kylen on weekly park outings for tennis and other activities.



Sadly, February marked the end of Upward basketball, since Kylen will exceed the grade limit next year. Between practices and games, it provided two solid months of exercise over the last 6 years. We liked how it was Christian based with a focus on good sportsmanship and values rather than competition. Next winter we'll have to look for something else!

Dribbling in Last Game

Can You Spot Kylen?  Smiling, Lower Middle

 I'll be doing one more post on homeschooling "extras," and that should wrap up my homeschool series!



Happy Easter!

We celebrated in our usual way of reading the resurrection story just before an egg hunt (a few days ago). Then on Easter, we always decorate eggs and have Greg's parents over to share a meal. Rather than the traditional ham, we use more of a Romanian twist that includes raw veggies, cheeses, bread, and of course the eggs. Read about how we crack them in this old post.

Kylen has methods for getting Greg up (in this case, so we can start the egg hunt).

 

He was warned!



Kylen had a hard time finding this egg mostly buried in a box of LEGOs.



 

Time to find out what's inside!



Homeschooling: The Secondary Core Subjects

This is our fourth year using Sonlight for history, a literature based curriculum. It's perfect for Kylen given his love for books, though he hasn't read a single one! Nope! Instead, he likes to hear me read, and I like to learn history alongside him. We're currently covering the Eastern hemisphere and have about seven books left (plus encyclopedia selections) which should give us plenty of time to finish before summer. In addition, I read other books throughout the year for fun. All this translates into a significant portion of our days spent with me reading while Kylen occupies his hands in various ways. He's able to concentrate better while doing something, and lately that something has usually been LEGOs.

Our favorite books this year have been: The Master Puppeteer, Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun, Eric Liddell: Something Greater than Gold, and Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde.

We decided to try science through our co-op, which has worked well. It's been nice doing note booking/experiments there and keeps us accountable in a subject that tends to get neglected. I've been impressed with the text: Apologia General Science. The author gives clear and thorough information while doing a fine job of presenting evolution alongside creation and then explaining why the latter is superior. The class has been beneficial in other ways. Kylen was struggling to keep up with the writing, and that inspired him to make a permanent switch to cursive. It's also helped improve his listening skills and the ability to record information in a quick and efficient manner.

Latin is a new subject and our first serious study of a foreign language. I went round and round about what to choose -- Spanish, French, Greek? In the end, I decided on Latin, because I felt it would improve his vocabulary and understanding of our own language. He's had an interest in word origins for years, and I figured Latin would play right into that (and it has!). Though we have a few complaints about the curriculum itself (frequent errors among other issues), he's doing fairly well and likes the subject for the most part. We'll probably continue with it next year using a different curriculum.

Well, that's about it for the core subjects! Join us right here next time for Homeschooling: The Extras!

It's Official

Confirmed on Saturday:

 Kylen is taller than me by about 1/8th of an inch.  Life will never be the same.

Homeschooling: The Three R's

Kylen Reading Redwall, Age 8

Katrina - a blogging friend and fellow homeschooler - expressed interest in hearing more about our studies. Perhaps others are curious as well? While I LOVE talking homeschooling, interestingly enough I've been a little uncertain how to post about it. We are fairly eclectic (and becoming more so with each passing year). Much of what I consider "school" blurs with life until sometimes the two are hard to distinguish between. I will also admit that I'm not sure how to describe our son's strengths without sounding boastful or his weaknesses without sounding harsh. And how much detail to cover before losing my sparse readers to boredom? After one attempt at a post-turned-book, I thought I'd try breaking it up into a few specific areas. So here comes the big three: reading, writing, and arithmetic!


Math has probably been our number one constant (he he). We've used A Beka math workbooks since we began formal schooling in third grade - so for four years. Before that we had a very relaxed style that included a mish mash of cheap workbooks from Costco. Greg and I both developed strong math skills while at college for electrical engineering. Plus, his mother taught mathematics at a university, and his father teaches electrical engineering courses AND considers math to be beautiful. Yes, beautiful! So you might say Kylen didn't have a choice about whether he'd be good at math. But while he's proficient in this subject, he has little love for it. (Truth be told, neither do Greg or I. Shhh! Don't tell his parents, but we always viewed math more as a tool at best or . . . dare I say it? A necessary evil?)

Reading and writing are Kylen's greatest strengths. He was devouring series such as Narnia and Redwall by age 8 and continues to nourish a love for the written word. We've never used a spelling curriculum, because he never needed one. His writing will definitely surpass mine and probably already has in some ways. As such, I decided to skip English this year other than a quick review prior to testing. Sure enough, he scored perfect in almost every area, which gave me all the reassurance I needed that this was the right decision. It's been nice having a break from nouns and apostrophes! His English has consisted primarily of plays and stories he turns out for fun. When he gets in the mood, he fills a page or two in his journal.  If I had a single guess as to Kylen's future career, it would be a writer.

Here's a an excerpt from the first chapter of a book he's currently working on. Gotta love the reference to homescooling!

     “Good morning, Mark.” Trissa smiled at him from across the table. “How are you today?”
     “I’m good,” he replied. “Those pancakes smell great.”
     Trissa’s smile widened. “I hope they taste just as good as they smell then.”
     They did. Mark wolfed down five pancakes, then ate three more slowly.
     “You know,” His dad said thoughtfully, as Mark started on his ninth pancake. “You could stop any time.”
     It was an old family joke. Well, as old as when Mark had been eleven-and-a-half, anyway. This was his dad’s half of the joke.
     “Really? I can? I had no idea!” that was Mark’s half of the joke. He was contemplating whether or not to have a tenth pancake when his mom grabbed the plate off the table saying, “No more for you, young man. You’d eat all the food in the house if your stomach could hold it.
     Mark grinned at her, then washed his hands and brushed his teeth. He was home-schooled, so there was still another hour until he and his mom started school. Up in his room, Mark turned on the Imperial March from Star Wars and flopped onto his bed to listen. After laying there for a while, he became aware of a faint humming.
     “Dad? Do you hear something?”
     “Like what?” came the response.
     “Like a faint humming?” Silence for a while, then a “Nope. Must be in your head.” The noise grew steadily louder until it was a deafening roar, and before Mark had time to scream, he was sucked into… nothing. It was like being in a tornado, Mark supposed, though he had never tried it, and hoped he never would. He spun and twisted, and twirled, and just when he thought he couldn’t stand it any longer, it stopped.
     Mark looked around. It was obviously nighttime, as the sky was black and he could see stars. For a moment, he was entranced because of the sheer number of them. There were never so many stars in the city, at least, not that Mark could ever see. He was tempted to lie down on the nice, soft sand, and….