DaisyAcademy's Xanga

Friday, May 11, 2007

Fri, 11 May 2007 13:50:09 GMT

I sold $70 worth of books and curriculum I had lying around so, woohoo! Not too bad for clearing out a box in my office. There are still a few things left - see previous post.    I used some of the money to buy a lovely felted wall hanging from the equally lovely juliepersons - it's the one with the red-dress and the blue robin's eggs in the nest posted here.
I bought it for Lilli for her new room and she loves the colors, the eggs, the dress, all of it :)

As I posted on my other blog, we lost our beloved 16-year-old cat yesterday. Obviously (since they are only 5 and 9), the kids had known him all of their lives. They cried when he was not looking so good a few days back and I had to take him to the vet - before we knew he wouldn't come back. But I guess since they had a few days after that to get used to the idea of him being gone, they took it very well yesterday when I brought home the remains and we had our little funeral here on the property. Lilli even told me, "I'm very brave. Sometimes."   She was a little upset last night at bedtime because she didn't have her Moses to sleep with - he loved sleeping on an extra pillow, right up at her head.

Otherwise, they have had a busy busy week, as usual. Miles has still been doing the state testing, although they're done now. He didn't seem too concerned one way or the other about it - he said it went fine. He's really proud of himself lately for participating more in P.E. and learning how to play baseball and kick ball. He even asked if we could buy a bat and ball to practice at home! I saw his teacher and she said his attitude has improved 100% and he's really trying at sports now, whereas previously he was against trying anything new and would freak out if he couldn't do it right away. I think he finally realized that everybody is on a learning curve, and that it's o.k. to just have fun and not have to master the sport.

He has no more homework for the rest of the school year (3 more weeks) - except to create a big California history project/report. I am trying to help him with that - he is doing his report on California's military role during WWII, which pleases me immensely because he was able to choose a topic of real interest to him. Some of you may remember his WWII obsession as I blogged about it last year - including his birthday trip to the U.S.S. Hornet aircraft carrier. So when he got this California assignment the first thing he thought was doing a report on the Hornet and WWII - and that's kind of been expanded to California's general role in the war with the other naval bases, etc. He's doing a model of an aircraft carrier for his presentation, and then he has to write up a 1-3 page essay. He already has several books and did some internet research at school, so I think he has plenty of material. Personally, I have to admit I was looking forward to maybe doing a model of a Spanish mission this year! But it is pricelss to see him self-motivated on this one and excited to apply his knowledge and interest in WWII to an official school assignment. And he has promised me that we can do a mission model together at home if I really really want to

This reminds me - sometimes he thinks I'm doing all of this for myself - and maybe I am! For example, on Thursday I set up my board games tables during the 4th-6th grade recess as usual. I've been doing this every week and still have 10-12 kids gather around and two boys in particular who come *running* to play Stratego. Anyway, every week I've been there Miles sits and plays games with the other kids and I was happy that he wanted to do this, although of course I never said he HAD to hang out there with me. Well, yesterday, he comes over and says, "Tiff, is it o.k. if I don't play games today? I promise I will play a game with you later at home."   Of course, I said, and he ran off with some other kids to the playground. I thought it was cute and funny that he thought I would be disappointed if he wasn't playing games and that he had to make it up to me later

Lilli's class had a field trip to a farm on Tuesday and I was a chaperone/driver. She saw bunnies, pet horses, fed goats and chickens, had a wagon ride, and learned how to plant corn. It was a bit of a rushed trip because the farm was quite a drive away, and because Kindergarten is only a 3-hour day. But she had fun, as usual :)

NEW ITEMS ADDED: Social Studies / Art / Writing

Sun, 06 May 2007 14:03:40 GMT

This is kind of fun - you can make personalized handwriting worksheets for your child. Go here http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/index.htm. Choose a handwriting style.   And then type in a sentence or phrase or words that your child can practice writing.   I made sheets that say: "Lillian loves cats and rainbows." and "Moses the cat sleeps in the sun all day." :)

I am selling the following general homeschool books - all prices include postage:

David Albert, Homeschooling & the Voyage of Self-Discovery (2003) - Signed by author! And signed to me, so unfortunately it has my name in it, too :)   - $7 ppd.

E.D. Hirsch, What Your 2nd Grader Needs to Know - In case you're not familiar with the Hirsch series, this is a read-aloud collection of literature, history, culture, geography, science, and math concepts for each grade. Hirsch promotes the idea of cultural literacy and these books are great starting points for building or supplementing your child's curriculum. I still regularly refer to these books for my kids' current grade-levels as a source for fables, stories, and poems. This is a hardcover edition in excellent condition.   $7 ppd.

Evan-Moor Unit Study on "CANADA" - NEW - never used. 50-page reproducible activity book on Canadian history, culture, and geography.   Learn through maps, native crafts projects, and biographies of famous Canadians. Grades 3-6.   $6 ppd.

Evan-Moor Unit Study on "MY STATE" - NEW - never used. 50-page reproductible "open-ended" activity book that can be used for the study of any state. Learn about state history, famous citizens, physical and cultural geography. Grades 3-6.   $6 ppd.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 16:19:09 GMT

I dropped the ball on Women's History Month this year. In the past I have made unit studies out of it for Miles - two years in a row I even did a Women's History workshop for K-5 homeschoolers. So, even though I'm no longer systematic about it, I compiled quite a list of children's books related to American women's history that I can return to and add to...whenever.
I read the above book to Lillian today. Well, to both kids, actually, but I had read it to Miles a few years ago, so this time around was meant for Lilli's edification. It is one of my favorites for kids, because I am biased and my special area of research in my own work is 19th century women's rights. Hey, if they're going to learn some random stuff, they might as well learn the stuff I know.

Lilli liked the book, although I fear she may have missed the message. She determined that she "wouldn't mind if girls had to wear fancy dresses every day."     haha. Although, when we came upon the illustration of the boy climbing the tree and the "fancy" girls just sitting on the bench, she decided that girls should be "allowed to wear jeans, too." Of course.
And one of the touchpoints that will help her remember this story is that Amelia Bloomer's women's rights newspaper (in which she printed patterns and drawings of her "bloomers" (also called the "American costume"), was called The Lily

The illustrations are great, but I followed up by showing the kids some "real" bloomer photos. Here's the real Amelia Bloomer, circa 1850s:

SHOCKING display of the female form, eh?!   ;)

Busy Week...

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:15:54 GMT

Well, today is the kids' last day before Spring Break - they get a week plus an extra Friday (tomorrow). I haven't thought about what to do for Easter AT ALL. I can't even find our easter baskets and goodies which are packed away somewhere. I have a Halloween box and a couple of Christmas boxes... but where or where is that Easter box??       We don't even have a garage, so it's not like there are that many possibilities for things to go missing. It has to be in a closet somewhere...

Regardless, we've been having some springtime fun. On Tuesday we stopped in to visit our neighbor who runs an apiary. She sent out a flyer saying they are giving tours of their honey processing and bee hives all through April. We've been into her shop several times to buy honey and treats and candles and gifts, but had never seen behind the scenes.

Lilli had a freakout over the bees, even though there are signs everywhere saying "don't wave your arms," "don't shout," "don't run from the bees." She pretty much did all of those things. Understandable, since the instinct when one sees a bee coming at you is to do all of those things. Surprisingly, Miles trusted the beekeeper AND the bees. I say, suprisingly, because I would have guessed the opposite - that Lilli would be fearless and that Miles would not like the situation. But kids are full of surprises, aren't they?!

Miles was very interested and got right up close and personal with the "viewing hive" - a plexiglass covered box that allows you to see the bees at work. We searched for the queen, but couldn't find her. We did see the busy bees all at work - some with heavy yellow pollen-laden back legs, others filling the cells, others capping them. If you are patient, you can really see what they are working on. Miles was just *fascinated* at the geometry of the bees and how they create such symmetrical hexagonal cells, so as not to waste any space.

I was really proud of Miles for asking lots of questions, too - not only about the bees, but about the honey making process. Later that evening, he re-explained the ENTIRE process to dh - how they collect the leftover pollen (the majority of the pollen goes to feed the bee larvae, so humans only take the leftovers), separate out the honey from wax in a shaking machine, siphon the honey into big tanks, and then hand-fill and label each jar. Honey is amazing because it actually requires NO processing - I mean, you have to get it from the bees, but that's it. No cooking, no preserving, no flavoring. Thank you, Bees

To follow up... I dug out our old "Kids Discover" subscription and found we did indeed have an issue on "Bees" - these are fabulous science unit magazines, by the way - pictures, activities, recipes, suggested readings. The publishers says for 6 and up, but for actually reading the text, I would say 8 or 9 and up. We also had the Magic School Bus one above. I wish our library had more of the MSB videos to go along with the books. Lilli likes looking at the books much more than the actual bees, which is fine ;)

**********
On Wednesday (yesterday) I went to Lilli's class and got an early gig as easter bunny - I was in charge of hiding all the eggs on the playground for the kindergarteners. They had a blast. Then I worked with them in small groups to record their weekly tadpole observations - each group (of 6 kids) examined the tadpoles and then had to write some sentence about them in their science journals. Something along the lines of "One tadpole has legs now" and the date.   Bees and eggs and tadpoles, oh my. Must be spring.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 03:20:45 GMT

mom2sands asked how Miles acts when I'm there for a field trip, etc.   The short answer is... even though he's developing more of an independent streak, age 9 is still sweet and close to mom ;)    Miles, at least, stuck pretty close to me when we were walking about and sometimes even held my hand. I noticed some of the other boys whose moms were chaperones did this as well. It warmed my heart - they are not too self-conscious yet when it comes to parents. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts...
That said, when I mentioned coming to visit his Science class sometime, he said, "No, please don't."   I was a little taken aback, but he finally told me that it's just that I should ask the teacher first since no other parents usually come to that class. He doesn't want me breaking the rules, I guess, or doing anything "different" than the other parents. He did tell me I could come to Math class anytime because there are "some other moms" usually there.

Both kids attended a fun assembly at school this past Thursday - some kind of rain forest education program visited the school and brought wild animals for the kids to see! There was a sloth, a monkey, some wild birds. They were both really excited about it and couldn't stop talking about the sloth, especially :)    Not every day you see a sloth in these here parts...

On a different note... I was browsing through our school district's website and came across some info on a "parent education" program they are implementing at some of the schools. In addition to "training" parents to read to their children, visit the library, and find ways to be involved in the school community, it included this program goal:

One of the cornerstones of the program is that parents spend 15 minutes of uninterrupted one-to-one time with their child each week.

Each week?! I must be really out of touch with what's going on in some households... Sad. Well, guess what? I'm one step ahead - I played chess today with Miles so that oughta do me as far as "kid time" for the next TWO weeks! Now let me check my schedule and figure out when I can squeeze Lilli in next week...

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:26:46 GMT

On Friday, I was a parent-chaperone accompanying the two 4th grade classes on their annual trek to the state capitol.   4th graders in the public school system usually study their state's history - so social studies for Miles this year has been Spanish California, the Mexican-American war, westward movement and the gold rush, and California government.

Sacramento is about 3 hours from where we live and we rented two big luxury buses for our school. The trip included:
- a tour of the Capitol building, a mini-lesson on how state laws are passed, a peek past the guard into the Governor's office, and lunch on the Capitol lawn, where earlier we were treated to a high school marching band and our kids were interviewed by some college journalists "looking for a story" in the capitol...
- a visit to Sutter's Fort (built in 1839), which is set up as a "living history" exhibit to show where they slept, how they ate, how they guarded the fort, etc. We also learned that the Fort sent supplies to the Donner party during the winter they were stuck in the Sierras...

Miles reading the map of the fort and telling us which way to go:

- a visit to the Railroad History Museum, where we were able to climb in and around various cars from various historical periods - and where the kids got to see one of the "golden spikes" that was forged to connect the eastern and western lines opening up the transcontinental railroad in 1869 - there were two spikes made, apparently - one that was used on the tracks in Utah and this "extra" one that was never used... So it's still all nice and shiny, you know ;) We had to buy a souvenir gold spike, of course.

- and, finally, a stroll through Old Town Sacramento culminating in pizza dinner before returning home.

It was a long long day!   But it really set my mind at ease about the social situation at school because I felt like all of the kids got along great and Miles really seemed to be part of the group. As a chaperone, I was in charge of one other kid who was assigned to me because he is one of Miles' best friends, so they had a good time talking all day, just the two of them when we wandered off our separate ways, as well as joining the group during the group tours.
I just haven't been able to get enough information about who he plays with or who his friends are at school, so it's nice to have these opportunities to spy on the kids in action

Dh took the day off on Friday and stayed home with Lillian so I could go on the field trip... which means that he went in today to catch up on some work and left me to amuse the munchkins all by myself.   I got out the modeling clay as well as those little plastic bead things that you piece together on a pegboard frame to make a design and then melt together with an iron... know what I'm talking about? Oh, Hama beads - that's the company that makes them:



At some point we bought a big mega-bag of these beads and so we have a monstrous tupperware tub full of numerous colors and they just make up their own designs. This has kept them busy for a while today. Especially Lilli - she loves it... and, oddly, the bouncy girl who never stops moving has MUCH more patience and stamina for this bead thing than either Miles or myself... go figure. Then again, she's always very serious about her art :)

If You Set Up the Games, They Will Come...

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:12:16 GMT

Another parent at the school has launched a campaign to provide more adult supervision and directed activities during the 4th-6th grader's lunch recess time. I signed on to set up and supervise game tables on Thursdays. The principal purchased a bunch of chess/checker/chinese checker combo sets, dominoes, a couple of mancala sets (which I've never played), and I brought Miles' own Stratego and Battleship from home for our first day out. It went really well!! I had two picnic tables full - about 20 kids total - rush over and start playing board games! Most of them boys... including my own, who played Battleship with a friend ;) One of the kids asked if I could bring the games on more days, not just Thursdays. Awwww... now the guilt - do I do it more often?? It's only 45 minutes, but it cuts into my work time if I did it more than one day.

I was just so excited that the kids wanted to play and was happy to give them a fun recess option.

I love being at the school, helping out in the classes, getting to know all of the kids. Sometimes I think I should have been an elementary school teacher.* But, then, you know... I'd end up not wanting to go by the school rules, not wanting to deal with parents, not wanting to implement lame curriculum, that sort of thing. bleh. I was sad for the kids that the bell rang and some of them couldn't finish their games. Bells, schmells. See, I wouldn't be good at enforcing those kinds of things

*note: Depending on what day it is, I also think I should have been a marine biologist, raised goats, taken in foster children, run for public office, and/or never had children in the first place, choosing instead to live alone in a small but posh flat in a large city somewhere... so don't get sucked into my wistfulness about paths not taken. It's more a matter of too many lives to live and living with the realities of those choices

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:24:19 GMT

Lilli (age 5) did this paint-by-numbers -

I know, paint-by-numbers: the death of creativity and imagination! But she liked the puppies. And, I'm happy to report, that she was then inspired by the color palette to create her own art. The true artist is never confined by the numbers! :)

I was cleaning up the living room yesterday and collecting up reams and reams of paper that had been scribbled on, written on, cut into shreads with scissors, folded up and stapled together into "books" that still sit unused... and I said (stupidly), "Lilli, you waste so much paper!" To which she replied, "It's not wasted. I'm just a creative girl."

Uh-oh. Lilli just peeked over my shoulder and said, "Mama! My painting is wrong. It's supposed to go the other way so the sun is at the top shining down on the water!" Oh, so sorry, I didn't realize :)

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:33:58 GMT

Is anyone reading this? I think there may be a few subscribers still who will find this in their inbox...

Just going back through my old posts here and thinking about some of the kids' recent activities... I've been wanting to write more about what I'm doing with them, but not wanting them to take over my other blog ;)

Wow... they've been in school 7 months already - the school year is practically winding down here soon! It's been up-and-down for Miles (4th grade) - mostly ups for Lilli (Kindergarten). I love the structure we now have in our schedule and household, and I love being part of the school community. I definitely don't feel so isolated and alone on this journey. I've met some wonderful like-minded concerned parents, all of their teachers are very positive and attentive, the principal and vice-principal both know my kids by name. It's a good atmosphere.

I just wrote about Miles' progress (and posted pics) over at my drtiff site. I'm really proud of him and I actually think he's doing o.k.   I expected that I would be more critical of the school in general, but, really, I've been so focused on just getting Miles to get with the program, that I haven't had the privilege of critiquing the program!   I see my job now, as far as his academics are concerned, as helping him get the most out of the curriculum. I actually don't have a problem with the homework he has to do - mostly it's spelling, writing, and math, and I will tell you that he has improved SO MUCH in these areas - well, not spelling so much, because he was already a good speller. But his writing has improved and his math skills just finally CLICKED after the past two years of struggling with me here at home. Those are things that just take practice, practice, practice, and that consistency was so hard for us in homeschooling. And he reads every night - as I predicted, I spend much more time actually DOING schoolwork with him, and reading to both kids, than I did at the end of our homeschooling career. Ironic, uh?

I wish the public school had more arts, foreign language, drama, and/or music - they have had a few special projects, a Brazilian martial arts class for a term, regular musical performances, some fun field trips, etc. I am actually going with the 4th graders to Sacramento next week as part of their California history/government studies - oh boy, THAT is going to be a long day! But they really do spend most of their classtime on the "basics," for better or worse. I wish they had a more engaging history curriculum - but it could be that I don't get the whole story from Miles on this anyway, so I can't really critique it. He is really good at his current events studies and the pull-out science class, so those are both strong points.   OK... so there's my critique after all!

And Lilli, Lilli, Lilli... Kindergarten is one big party. One thing that is serving Miles well is the strong knowledge base I have given him to this point, I am sure. I want to make sure she has that. I hesitate to label it, but really I am "afterschooling" - that is, extending her formal education beyond the school curriculum and beyond the school day. I know many conscientious parents do this, of course - I am just being very self-conscious about it. Miles is actually the one who asked if we could still do Science experiments together, so I have picked up our old Human Body curriculum to do with both of them. In the past couple of weeks we have been studying skeletons, learning about why we need calcium, seeing what happens to chicken bones after a few days in vinegar, and taping our thumbs down to see what we would do without them ;)

I have also begun "The Reading Lesson" with her - she has picked up a lot from school, but is still not reading-reading and seems very eager to do more. Besides the "lessons," I read to her almost every day now. I always complained that she wasn't my "sit in your lap and read me a story" kid - but she's mellowed out a lot and is a lot more interested in what's going on in books. I don't think this is because of school - after all, she attended preschool and therefore had a lot of experience with circle time and story time, yet that never made much difference in her behavior at home! I just think she's matured a lot in the past year and broadened her interests and is genuinely more interested in stories and information.
We read her nature magazines, we've been checking out Reading Rainbow videos and books on music, animals, recycling, etc., and I've been reading simple biographies to her as part of my early childhood history curriculum ;)   Kindergarten "social studies" consists of "learning about your community" - firefighters, police, school, family - so I'm filling in the history gaps, of course... Again, I wish the school did music and formal arts instruction, but they don't. I've been checking out classical music CD's and reading about parts of the orchestra with both of them. Her class does at least have a strong Science curriculum - weather, gardening, etc., and they are raising caterpillars into butterflies right now and she gives me DAILY reports on the status of the chrysalises (chrysali?). Very cute.
She's in a weekly tap/jazz/ballet dance class, and I've also started a Daisy Girl Scouts troop with her - we have 8 girls who have joined! Busy, busy, busy.

This past week I had grandparents on each side of the family remark, in completely separate conversations and contexts, that "Lilli needs outlets for her intellectual and physical energies." As if I don't worry about this every day!! The remarks were made out of love and concern for her energies, which are quite substantial!   Or, perhaps, out of concern that *I* can't keep up with those energies!   But also were made out of concern that the public school really can't do enough for such kids. We (in the family) all know that Miles had such a rich and full K-3 experience and had plenty of encouragement and outlets for HIS intellectual energies, especially. Believe me, that pressure looms over me as far as the second child is concerned! But I can't do it all, either, and so far I'm feeling pretty good that I can do a lot more of what I want to do with them if they are getting the basics at school, and able to socialize and participate in physical activities there. It's kind of like I can do what I wanted to do with them with homeschooling, but I also get a little break those few hours per day when I can focus on my own work.   Some days I miss them... but I pick them up at 1:45. Plus, summer's just around the corner - yikes!

Countdown: 4 days until school...

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 14:27:41 GMT

The kids start school on Wednesday.   On Tuesday we go to orientation, get a school tour, and meet their teachers and visit their classrooms. I've already corresponded by email with the 4th grade science teacher. Well, she has a blog, so she invited parent communication! I just wanted to say Hi and tell her about Miles and find out what they will be doing in science class. She wrote me back right away and sounded nice. I am going to be such a stage parent.

How am I feeling about it?? Fabulous. And worried. Especially about Miles. What if he's not up to 4th grade level after all (in math or writing, for example)? What if all of the other kids are bigger, tougher, rowdier, more street wise than him? The other night DH was telling me what a hooligan *he* was by 4th grade... and it had me really worried!

But homeschooling is behind us, that's for sure. I told DH, no matter WHAT, do not let me bring them home. If there's a problem with the teacher, we'll deal with it. If there are academic problems, we'll deal with it with the school. If they need to go to another school, we'll deal with that. If we need to take money out on the house or I need to get a corporate job to send them to private school, we'll do it (ok, I don't know about that - but I'm just being extreme to get the point across). But don't let me try to homeschool again. I know that sounds terrible, especially as this is/was a homeschooling blog and lots of homeschoolers are reading it :)   But I can't do it anymore....

We have done *NOTHING* in the way of homeschooling all summer, which is fine. Miles worked on his math book up through July, and then he gave it up and started fighting me too much on it. So I let it go. The idea of him having to read chapter books and do daily math work and WRITE paragraphs and stories and essays - 4th grade, folks! - is so far beyond anything he has done or would do at home, that I'm having a hard time fathoming it. But I'm letting it go and trusting the teacher will know what to do and will get it out of him.
So whatever I may have feared about school - behavior problems, fighting with sibling, lack of motivation, lack of interest in academics, bad-mouthing parents, whining, etc. - well, he's already got it. So remind me 2 or 3 or 8 months from now - school didn't create those problems.

Anyway, before you think it's just ME that's giving up on homeschooling, I shared this little funny story with lostcheerio a while back and it kind of sums up HIS homeschooling attitude.   I casually asked what book he was reading one day and he said, "I'm just looking at this Human Anatomy book. But can you just let me *read* it and not make a big human anatomy festival out of it?"   You got it, buddy.   He also won't let me read anything to him. Last night I tried again and he said, at least kindly, "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I don't want to hear any stories." Fine - but it's not that he wanted to read it himself because he wouldn't pick up a chapter book these days for any amount of money. I told him that he's going to be expected to read entire chapter books for school. Then he said, "Maybe when I get a book from school that I'm supposed to read, you can read it to me!"   Um, nice try, but it doesn't quite work that way...

Anyway, I'm outsourcing it all as of next week! And, in general, I'm really excited about being part of a new school community.