Thursday, October 10, 2013
We've made a good start this year. The kids are all doing homeschool classes at local learning center one day a week -- the 8th grader is getting a lab science that way. We do lots of history -- Ancient Rome this year -- and I'm happy with the books I'm using (Augustus Caesar's World and Story of the World Vol 1, and The Bronze Bow for fiction). For math we've switched from MEP and Khan Academy to Life of Fred. After years of trying, the 8th grader is now off and running independently as if a switch flipped. It's gratifying to watch. And he's busy with his own stuff -- books he reads, stories and D&D stuff he's writing. There are gaps in other areas, but I'm pleased with his transition to a teenaged learner.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Fun short supplements
Here are some supplemental resources we've enjoyed so far this year:
On maps and geography:
On maps and geography:
- The West Wing on Peters projection maps
- How many continents are there? A non-simplistic discussion
Nature studies:
- Find recent NPR news clips here
- We listened to this one on how wolves increase biodiversity
Inspriational
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The Cost of Education
Salman Khan, The One World Schoolhouse, on the cost of education: It may not be working very well, but it certainly is expensive. . . . The average cost for a single year of secondary public education was $10,499. To put this number in perspective, consider that it is larger than the entire per capita gross domestic product of Russia or Brazil. In New York, the state with the highest education costs, the figure was $18,126 per student, more than the per capita GDP of such wealthy nations as South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Writing Curriculum for a Reluctant Writer
Well today I finished off my paperwork for the 2011-12 school year, wrote my education plan for the next year, and started to plan next year. (My education plan letter is generic enough that I can plan after I write it. I include a list of the resources we used last year so that our Superintendent can get the gist of what we do here.)
My ten year old is a very reluctant writer, and I spent the afternoon looking for a curriculum that might work for him, and for me also. I want a program that will get him writing sentences and paragraphs, and, in short, not be inane. There are so many writing programs out there that have silly assignments, and those are not going to fly here. I also need a program that won't require too much of my time since I'm homeschooling three different kids and I have a paid project coming up this fall. I looked at many of the popular programs -- some I could describe with a pithy comment, but as I know they work for other families, I will skip that. I looked at Institute of Excellence in Writing, Writing Strands, Classical Writing, WriteShop, Learning Language Arts through Literature (LLATL), English for the Thoughtful Child, Six-Trait Writing, Writing With Ease (which we used a little last year), Michael Clay Thomas (MCT) Curriculum (Sentence Island, Paragraph Town, etc), Shurley English, Winning with Writing, Voyages in English Writing, BraveWriter, Wordsmith Apprentice (maybe next year).
Some are too difficult to implement, some too expensive, some have too much busywork, and some just don't appeal to me much. In the end I think I've settled on Writing Tales I -- it is similar to WWE and LLATL, I believe, but the lessons have variety. It's true that the lesson where the student has to rewrite the story will meet with resistance, but some lessons are significantly easier. It gets good reviews, and is said to be very easy to implement, and covers a variety of topics (grammar, copywork, spelling and vocabulary) using well written stories. (I'll use it with two kids).
In addition, we will continue with All About Spelling, which I find to be an easy to use and effective program. I'll accept the fact that it's dictation phrases and sentences lack depth, as long as our writing program balances it out on the silly-meaningful scale.
Many thanks to the Well Trained Mind board members, whose thoughtful comments have helped enormously with today's evaluation. Less thanks to the TOS Crew, who have apparently never met a curriculum they didn't like.
My ten year old is a very reluctant writer, and I spent the afternoon looking for a curriculum that might work for him, and for me also. I want a program that will get him writing sentences and paragraphs, and, in short, not be inane. There are so many writing programs out there that have silly assignments, and those are not going to fly here. I also need a program that won't require too much of my time since I'm homeschooling three different kids and I have a paid project coming up this fall. I looked at many of the popular programs -- some I could describe with a pithy comment, but as I know they work for other families, I will skip that. I looked at Institute of Excellence in Writing, Writing Strands, Classical Writing, WriteShop, Learning Language Arts through Literature (LLATL), English for the Thoughtful Child, Six-Trait Writing, Writing With Ease (which we used a little last year), Michael Clay Thomas (MCT) Curriculum (Sentence Island, Paragraph Town, etc), Shurley English, Winning with Writing, Voyages in English Writing, BraveWriter, Wordsmith Apprentice (maybe next year).
Some are too difficult to implement, some too expensive, some have too much busywork, and some just don't appeal to me much. In the end I think I've settled on Writing Tales I -- it is similar to WWE and LLATL, I believe, but the lessons have variety. It's true that the lesson where the student has to rewrite the story will meet with resistance, but some lessons are significantly easier. It gets good reviews, and is said to be very easy to implement, and covers a variety of topics (grammar, copywork, spelling and vocabulary) using well written stories. (I'll use it with two kids).
In addition, we will continue with All About Spelling, which I find to be an easy to use and effective program. I'll accept the fact that it's dictation phrases and sentences lack depth, as long as our writing program balances it out on the silly-meaningful scale.
Many thanks to the Well Trained Mind board members, whose thoughtful comments have helped enormously with today's evaluation. Less thanks to the TOS Crew, who have apparently never met a curriculum they didn't like.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Margin for magic
I am currently in the midst of NaNoWriMo, an attempt to write 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days. For me it is all consuming, so why am I writing about margins? There is a magic that can come from placing myself in front of my novel, with my fingers on the keyboard. Sometimes it takes awhile, but in the course of this month my imagination will send more to my typing fingers than I ever thought possible -- but I have to give my imagination a margin -- I have to sit at the keyboard and do the work, even when it takes a long time.
Similar in my family life in the concept of quality family time. We do not always have quality time every time we are together, but the value in being together is that it can be wonderful. But if we never give it the time, it won't be. We are tempted to fill up our evenings with commitments and skip family dinners. It's true that sometimes our dinners are far from transcendent. Some one is mad at someone else, or the food isn't very good, or the conversation is boring. But sometimes we have a fabulous time together, we talk about interesting things, or learn something that we didn't know. Those are the dinners that I want to happen, but to experience them, we have to live through the other kind too. We have to provide a margin for the magic to happen.
Similar in my family life in the concept of quality family time. We do not always have quality time every time we are together, but the value in being together is that it can be wonderful. But if we never give it the time, it won't be. We are tempted to fill up our evenings with commitments and skip family dinners. It's true that sometimes our dinners are far from transcendent. Some one is mad at someone else, or the food isn't very good, or the conversation is boring. But sometimes we have a fabulous time together, we talk about interesting things, or learn something that we didn't know. Those are the dinners that I want to happen, but to experience them, we have to live through the other kind too. We have to provide a margin for the magic to happen.
"I am not responsible for your feelings"
I have recently been thinking a lot about this idea "I am not responsible for your feelings."
While it is true that no one can enter my mind and fiddle with my feelings, we certainly learn to push the buttons of our loved ones. I have noticed, particularity with my children, that upsetting siblings (or other loved ones) is in some way rewarding, and people learn quickly how to do it. It seems to me to then teach them that they are not responsible for the feelings that arise from their words or actions is somewhat immoral. It allows them to commit egregious deeds and then respond without compassion to the feelings that arose in the other person as a result.
But let me take a step back and look at two extremes. The first is the case where someone, in fact, truly did nothing and their friend or relative is having strong feelings about them. I will risk my reputation when I say this has happened to me, that I have become angry or unhappy about a person when, in fact, nothing has actually happened. I expect that I am not alone.
At the other extreme, a person has willfully been hurtful, has spread rumors or spoken cruelly, been physically or emotionally abusive, or stolen from or cheated someone in someway that most of us would see as justifiable reasons for negative feelings.
Having laid out what I think are self-explanatory examples from which you will draw your own conclusions I want to return to the idea of being responsible for feelings. I am going to venture the opinion that no one is responsible for anyone's feelings, even our own. There are a few enlightened beings among us who can control their thoughts and feelings. There are others among us who are at the complete mercy of our thoughts and feelings. The rest of us ride a middle course: attempting to turn our thoughts and feelings to the positive, but certainly not always succeeding. My understanding of Buddhist belief is that thoughts and feelings happen, but it is up to us whether we chose to believe them. This comes close to my own opinion.
My experience is that I can only be somewhat successful in controlling my thoughts and feelings, and that some responsibility for triggering negative thoughts and feelings may sometimes be reasonably applied to an outside source.
As a parent this is an interesting question to me. Take the case where one of my children gets upset and tell me "He made me mad." Sometimes I agree -- one brother may have set up another brother in a way that made him mad in the past and is likely to do the same today. The mad brother, though, has a history of over-reacting -- again this is our subjective opinion. I personally do not see this as a case of not being responsible for the angry brother's feelings. I see it as more like the case where one car rear-ends the car in front of it without much force, but the driver, who was predisposed to injury through pre-existing conditions, suffers traumatic neck injury. In this case the driver of the car causing the accident is legally liable for the injury.
With my kids I want them to look at the upset person, acknowledge that they have acted in a way that contributed to the out of control feelings, and make appropriate amends and, hopefully, refrain from acting the same way again. The angry child has a job too -- to try to tone it down, to recognize that they are very sensitive to getting angry and to begin to get a handle on that. We live in a family, a community, and we cannot live alone. These are the steps I think the involved persons need to take to live in harmony with each other.
I recently had the experience of two people making a decision that negatively impacted my life. One was able to listen to my upset, and validate that she could see why I might feel that way. The other told me that she was not responsible for my feelings. Guess which one I'm now happy to be in community with? The first didn't change what she had done, but she did help me to deal with my own feelings about the event. She didn't "Gaslight" me by telling me in any way that my feelings were invalid, and because of that I was able, on my own, to recognize the ways in which my feelings were out of proportion to the event and it's actual effects on me and my family.
If empathy is foremost then we can in fact say (but only in our heads and never aloud to the upset person) "I am not responsible for your feelings." It may be true, but it is a way of saying "I don't have to care what I did, and I don't have to care about you and your feelings." If we can be with the person, hear them, empathize with their feelings and make reasonable accommodation not to repeat the result will a better community/family.
These are some other interesting discussions of this same topic:
I am not responsible for your feelings
Responsibility
While it is true that no one can enter my mind and fiddle with my feelings, we certainly learn to push the buttons of our loved ones. I have noticed, particularity with my children, that upsetting siblings (or other loved ones) is in some way rewarding, and people learn quickly how to do it. It seems to me to then teach them that they are not responsible for the feelings that arise from their words or actions is somewhat immoral. It allows them to commit egregious deeds and then respond without compassion to the feelings that arose in the other person as a result.
But let me take a step back and look at two extremes. The first is the case where someone, in fact, truly did nothing and their friend or relative is having strong feelings about them. I will risk my reputation when I say this has happened to me, that I have become angry or unhappy about a person when, in fact, nothing has actually happened. I expect that I am not alone.
At the other extreme, a person has willfully been hurtful, has spread rumors or spoken cruelly, been physically or emotionally abusive, or stolen from or cheated someone in someway that most of us would see as justifiable reasons for negative feelings.
Having laid out what I think are self-explanatory examples from which you will draw your own conclusions I want to return to the idea of being responsible for feelings. I am going to venture the opinion that no one is responsible for anyone's feelings, even our own. There are a few enlightened beings among us who can control their thoughts and feelings. There are others among us who are at the complete mercy of our thoughts and feelings. The rest of us ride a middle course: attempting to turn our thoughts and feelings to the positive, but certainly not always succeeding. My understanding of Buddhist belief is that thoughts and feelings happen, but it is up to us whether we chose to believe them. This comes close to my own opinion.
My experience is that I can only be somewhat successful in controlling my thoughts and feelings, and that some responsibility for triggering negative thoughts and feelings may sometimes be reasonably applied to an outside source.
As a parent this is an interesting question to me. Take the case where one of my children gets upset and tell me "He made me mad." Sometimes I agree -- one brother may have set up another brother in a way that made him mad in the past and is likely to do the same today. The mad brother, though, has a history of over-reacting -- again this is our subjective opinion. I personally do not see this as a case of not being responsible for the angry brother's feelings. I see it as more like the case where one car rear-ends the car in front of it without much force, but the driver, who was predisposed to injury through pre-existing conditions, suffers traumatic neck injury. In this case the driver of the car causing the accident is legally liable for the injury.
With my kids I want them to look at the upset person, acknowledge that they have acted in a way that contributed to the out of control feelings, and make appropriate amends and, hopefully, refrain from acting the same way again. The angry child has a job too -- to try to tone it down, to recognize that they are very sensitive to getting angry and to begin to get a handle on that. We live in a family, a community, and we cannot live alone. These are the steps I think the involved persons need to take to live in harmony with each other.
I recently had the experience of two people making a decision that negatively impacted my life. One was able to listen to my upset, and validate that she could see why I might feel that way. The other told me that she was not responsible for my feelings. Guess which one I'm now happy to be in community with? The first didn't change what she had done, but she did help me to deal with my own feelings about the event. She didn't "Gaslight" me by telling me in any way that my feelings were invalid, and because of that I was able, on my own, to recognize the ways in which my feelings were out of proportion to the event and it's actual effects on me and my family.
If empathy is foremost then we can in fact say (but only in our heads and never aloud to the upset person) "I am not responsible for your feelings." It may be true, but it is a way of saying "I don't have to care what I did, and I don't have to care about you and your feelings." If we can be with the person, hear them, empathize with their feelings and make reasonable accommodation not to repeat the result will a better community/family.
These are some other interesting discussions of this same topic:
I am not responsible for your feelings
Responsibility
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
"Self Learning" in our Homeschool
I'm working on a self-learning model for my oldest, who is turning twelve in November (although I'm not a fan of the term). I'm motivated by the fact that I'm feeling a bit burnt out and we haven't even started the year yet! But just as importantly, the self-learning option has a lot to recommend it. My current plan is to give him a loose list of topics and books to work from, but not so much he can't add his own, or find more resources on a topic that interest him, or go lightly on something that doesn't spark his interest. I'm also making him a planner to keep track of it all. He has a composition book sectioned into topics for notes and narrations. I'm not willing to give him completely free rein, but I do think that giving him choices over books and when to study each subject can have positive effects. I'm not willing to put aside books and methods that I have researched, but I will be flexible.
My hope is that I will have far less to do -- I have never yet been very successful at giving him a list of things to do. I tend to watch the clock and decide if there is time for one more thing. My hope is that with this plan, he takes over much of that work, to his benefit and mine. I need time to work with my other two. Last year my youngest mostly tagged along and didn't get much work targeted to his own level. I don't think much harm was done, but I want to be able to work with him individually. And my nine-year old needs some help to learn to set thoughts on paper. He has a way to go.
These are some of the best resources I've seen on self-learning for homeschoolers:
http://www.wildiris4you.com/2011/03/self-directed-learning-and.html
http://www.urthemom.com/Self-Learning.html
My hope is that I will have far less to do -- I have never yet been very successful at giving him a list of things to do. I tend to watch the clock and decide if there is time for one more thing. My hope is that with this plan, he takes over much of that work, to his benefit and mine. I need time to work with my other two. Last year my youngest mostly tagged along and didn't get much work targeted to his own level. I don't think much harm was done, but I want to be able to work with him individually. And my nine-year old needs some help to learn to set thoughts on paper. He has a way to go.
These are some of the best resources I've seen on self-learning for homeschoolers:
http://www.wildiris4you.com/2011/03/self-directed-learning-and.html
http://www.urthemom.com/Self-Learning.html
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Thoughts about the day
I am grateful today for the lovely weather, and for not having been in the path of a tornado yesterday. My gratitude makes me much more patient than I have been for the last few days, and motivated to make my house look a little less as if it has been hit by a tornado (which, just to reiterate, it hasn't). I would like to be in the position, should the occasion occur, to offer hospitality to anyone who might need it following yesterdays storms. Yesterday I could easily envision all of my clutter rising into the air and adding far more to the mess of destruction than any one house has the right to do. The thought that I do not keep up well with the house makes me feel inadequate and grumpy. But also the universe has been sending me the message, "You are enough," and as I go about my day, doing a lot of work of various kinds, but not managing to keep up with the clutter, I try to keep that message in mind, to do my best and to acknowledge that I am, in fact, doing a lot in this multifaceted life of household manager, cook, and homeschooler, and that perhaps no one, and certainly not I, can do it all.
I took my patience into a nice morning. We cancelled plans for a fieldtrip today due to evening sports commitments, and as a result I would have a full fledged mutiny on my hands if I tried to assign tablework. Instead we sat outside and read The First Book of Birds and had a great Nature Sit (that's like a nature walk, but without the perambulation). I have mixed success with nature walks, and today's version worked well. By sitting fairly still, we managed not to scare all the wildlife away! We saw a bluebird in the backyard (and I have never seen one here before, and it makes me happy), and a woodpecker that was probably a Northern Flicker. We noticed other birds and watched a robin take a bath in the sandbox cover. We saw chipmunks and squirrels and had a good conversation about birds, using the Cornell site to look at bird shapes. There were no time limits, and no pressure to be done and move on to something else so we could continue as long as it seemed there was interest.
When people ask if we do science and history and whatever other subjects, this is the type of day that I can't quite use in my answer, but that best describes why we homeschool. Learning unfolds in these hours, but not in a way that falls into the traditional paradigm. This type of learning is vastly underrated, but in my opinion, it is some of the best.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
WiNoWriMo: Teaching Noveling, Pt 2
Well, I'm not getting these posts done, so I'm posting my outlines in the hope that they will help inspire someone else:
Noveling 2nd meeting:
Warm up: adjectives
Word count -- graph it and discuss
discuss setting: a great way to add lots of words.
Hand out adjective sheet -- adjectives are a great way to add to your word count and bring detail to your story -- note that every noun could have as many as ten adjectives to describe it
List 20 adjectives that can be used to describe a setting
exercise: write 50 words describing a new setting you can use in your novel
What makes characters interesting? observe the people around you for tidbits to add to your novel.
Exercise (either written or orally): list 20 adjectives that can be used when describing a character
exercise: write 50 words describing a new character you can use in your novel
Who would like to read theirs?
Do you have a part of your story where you introduce a character that you would like to read to us?
What ideas do you take from these readings?
villain/conflict
what use is a villain?
Who is the villain in Little House on the Prairie, Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel, Anne of Green Gables, The Odyssey?
Has your Main Character been pushed out of their comfort zone yet? What is the problem they are confronting?
tips for figuring out names?
Workbook: Make up your story p. 42
plot
write the climactic scene
11:50 read week 2 pep talk from NPNP
Email to writers:
I hope your writing is going well this week. I hope you've had the chance to put the descriptions you wrote on Thursday in class into your stories. If not, that might be a good thing to do.
One thing I've done during NaNoWriMo that I've found helpful is something called a Word War. That's where you agree with someone to write for a certain amount of time. At the end you compare word counts. You can do this using the telephone or email. If you'd like to do it as a group, we could set up a time tomorrow to have one. You can also arrange your own with just one or more other writers.
Good luck! I'm thinking of you all this week!
3rd meeting
Warm up: Nouns -- use specific ones (5 mins)
Check in: go around the table (20 mins)
What's hard, what's easy, has it been the same the whole time?
Is there anything you'd like input on?
word count (15 mins)
work on milestones page of workbook
create wordcount plan to finish (work individually, using a worksheet I built before class)
Each writer should copy down their customized word plan somewhere in workbook or notebook
Character voice -- read 3 examples on pp. 52-53 of Magnificent Stories
Are your characters growing and developing?
Examples from books you have read:
Will your character do something surprising? (Examples from books you have read)
creative process (15 mins)
Liz Gilbert TED video starting at 6:30
What's your creative process like? What are you finding writing like? Where do your ideas come from? Do you have all your ideas before you sit down to write, or do they come to you as you write?
Did you hear anything from anyone else here that you'll use in the next two weeks?
Halfway video peptalk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7te8m-YlL8 box castles
Suck dragon video from YWP
discuss different types of scenes: action, description, backstory, etc.
Where is your story? Has it reached the climax yet. It probably will this week, although it might be late this week or even early in the last week. (Exercise to go with this?)
Pep talk (text) http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/node/849990
NanoWrimo 4th meeting
Warmup: Using all senses to describe a place or person
1. Update word count. Note who wrote the most in each week so far. Make plans with those who need a plan to finish.
Has real life helped you figure out what to put in your novel this week? Did anything unexpected happen that you ended up writing about?
2. Discuss some other aspect of noveling? Climax? Conflict? Summarize the conflict in your story.
3. Check in. Let everyone talk for a few minutes about their novel. Try to keep the kids from changing the subject to their own novel when it isn't their turn ;) Give them time to talk about process as well as ask for help/ideas about ending their novel if they want to. (I recommend more focus for a conversation like this one. We found that kids had a hard time describing their novels. Maybe ask them to read an excert that will help us figure out what their novel is about. YMMV)
4. 15 minute word war. Award winner prize. (We made a white duck tape sash that said Word War Winner.)
5.Talk about endings. How do novels end? What kind of ending do you like best? What kind do you think your novel will have?
5. Another word war?
6. pep talk for 4th week
NanoWriMo 5th session
DONE!!!!
Collect and graph word counts
Congratulations and applause, callouts for exceptional work
Maybe make a poster to share wordcounts? (as percentage of goal)
read your novel (We gave the kids some quiet time to read what they had written. Not everybody could read their whole story in the time we had.)
Talk about revising
(we did one week of revising before reading excerpts and having a party the last week)
1st, make a backup copy of your novel. You can use the words "rough draft" in the file name"
Most people recommend taking a break from your novel before revising it. http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/nowwhat
for revision categories, see the last section of your workbook
grammar
complete sentences
story
paragraphs
punctuation
tense
spelling -- how to approach spelling this week, and my philosophy of spelling in general
this week -- use your spell check and be aware of homonyms
in general -- very similar, but also notice words as you read so that you can recognize a word that is wrong.
My philosopy of spelling: it matters, it can affect how seriously your writing is taken, but it's not the most important aspect of writing. Do your best, and use the tools that are available to you (including proofreaders)
list of homonyms http://www.cooper.com/alan/homonym_list.html
phrases that are often misspelled: "Say your piece" Bare your soul,
Talk about NaNoWriMo November. Could we do it as a coop? What would you say to the rest of the coop to convince them.
(Make a poster?)
talk about choosing a passage to share with the coop next week
Write a blurb:
story is defined by: character, setting, genre
complete this sentence in writing: My story is about: (less than 2 minutes each) (make it interesting)
write a cover blurb to suck in readers who might buy your book
write a bio for yourself for your book cover
read excerpts?
Email sent:
The writers all did extremely well, all meeting, and some massively exceeding their word goals. We talked in class about editing spelling, paragraphs, and grammar. It is often recommended to let a piece of writing "rest" for a while before returning to it to make changes, but we don't really have the time to do that. I forgot to recommend that they make a backup of their files, but that is still valid -- they should keep a copy of their novel as it stands now and before they make additional changes to it.
In class we also wrote "blurbs" to describe our stories.
In addition to editing this week, they should also pick an excerpt of a page or less to read to Echo on Thursday. They can briefly introduce their excerpt, preferably with their blurb rather than a detailed description of their story. It would be useful if they worked with you to pick an excerpt to read, but if that doesn't work at your house, we will help them on Thursday morning.
We are looking forward to celebrating the hard work they've done in the last four and a half weeks!
6th meeting
This meeting was devoted to practicing reading an excerpt they chose. We sat with each writer and helped them pick an excerpt if they wanted us to, or just made sure it was a good length. One typed page is plenty, we found, YMMV.
In retrospect, it is very important to have them practice out loud and get any gentle coaching on talking louder and/or slower. Also, it turns out to be very difficult to stand up and launch into an excerpt without explaining it first (even though I encouraged them to do that). So talk about that and figure out how you want to handle it.
We had each writer write a bio that we used to introduce them. Most of them were pretty silly, but fun. It's a good idea to read these in advance to make sure they aren't offensive (like mentioning stinky little brothers who may be in the audience). We also had them write a cover blurb for their books, in part to keep them busy while we worked with writers individually.
We made a congratulatory word count poster, and each writer signed it with their word goal and actual words written.
Once all this was done, we presented our excerpts to our audience and then had party food!
Noveling 2nd meeting:
Warm up: adjectives
The _______ dog gave a ________ bark.
The _______ dream left a ________ memory.
The _______ book gave me a _______ idea.
Check in: How is it going?Word count -- graph it and discuss
discuss setting: a great way to add lots of words.
Hand out adjective sheet -- adjectives are a great way to add to your word count and bring detail to your story -- note that every noun could have as many as ten adjectives to describe it
List 20 adjectives that can be used to describe a setting
exercise: write 50 words describing a new setting you can use in your novel
What makes characters interesting? observe the people around you for tidbits to add to your novel.
Exercise (either written or orally): list 20 adjectives that can be used when describing a character
exercise: write 50 words describing a new character you can use in your novel
Who would like to read theirs?
Do you have a part of your story where you introduce a character that you would like to read to us?
What ideas do you take from these readings?
villain/conflict
what use is a villain?
Who is the villain in Little House on the Prairie, Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel, Anne of Green Gables, The Odyssey?
Has your Main Character been pushed out of their comfort zone yet? What is the problem they are confronting?
tips for figuring out names?
Workbook: Make up your story p. 42
plot
write the climactic scene
11:50 read week 2 pep talk from NPNP
Email to writers:
I hope your writing is going well this week. I hope you've had the chance to put the descriptions you wrote on Thursday in class into your stories. If not, that might be a good thing to do.
One thing I've done during NaNoWriMo that I've found helpful is something called a Word War. That's where you agree with someone to write for a certain amount of time. At the end you compare word counts. You can do this using the telephone or email. If you'd like to do it as a group, we could set up a time tomorrow to have one. You can also arrange your own with just one or more other writers.
Good luck! I'm thinking of you all this week!
3rd meeting
Warm up: Nouns -- use specific ones (5 mins)
Check in: go around the table (20 mins)
What's hard, what's easy, has it been the same the whole time?
Is there anything you'd like input on?
word count (15 mins)
work on milestones page of workbook
create wordcount plan to finish (work individually, using a worksheet I built before class)
Each writer should copy down their customized word plan somewhere in workbook or notebook
Character voice -- read 3 examples on pp. 52-53 of Magnificent Stories
Are your characters growing and developing?
Examples from books you have read:
Will your character do something surprising? (Examples from books you have read)
creative process (15 mins)
Liz Gilbert TED video starting at 6:30
What's your creative process like? What are you finding writing like? Where do your ideas come from? Do you have all your ideas before you sit down to write, or do they come to you as you write?
Did you hear anything from anyone else here that you'll use in the next two weeks?
Halfway video peptalk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7te8m-YlL8 box castles
Suck dragon video from YWP
discuss different types of scenes: action, description, backstory, etc.
Where is your story? Has it reached the climax yet. It probably will this week, although it might be late this week or even early in the last week. (Exercise to go with this?)
Pep talk (text) http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/node/849990
NanoWrimo 4th meeting
Warmup: Using all senses to describe a place or person
1. Update word count. Note who wrote the most in each week so far. Make plans with those who need a plan to finish.
Has real life helped you figure out what to put in your novel this week? Did anything unexpected happen that you ended up writing about?
2. Discuss some other aspect of noveling? Climax? Conflict? Summarize the conflict in your story.
3. Check in. Let everyone talk for a few minutes about their novel. Try to keep the kids from changing the subject to their own novel when it isn't their turn ;) Give them time to talk about process as well as ask for help/ideas about ending their novel if they want to. (I recommend more focus for a conversation like this one. We found that kids had a hard time describing their novels. Maybe ask them to read an excert that will help us figure out what their novel is about. YMMV)
4. 15 minute word war. Award winner prize. (We made a white duck tape sash that said Word War Winner.)
5.Talk about endings. How do novels end? What kind of ending do you like best? What kind do you think your novel will have?
5. Another word war?
6. pep talk for 4th week
NanoWriMo 5th session
DONE!!!!
Collect and graph word counts
Congratulations and applause, callouts for exceptional work
Maybe make a poster to share wordcounts? (as percentage of goal)
read your novel (We gave the kids some quiet time to read what they had written. Not everybody could read their whole story in the time we had.)
Talk about revising
(we did one week of revising before reading excerpts and having a party the last week)
1st, make a backup copy of your novel. You can use the words "rough draft" in the file name"
Most people recommend taking a break from your novel before revising it. http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/nowwhat
for revision categories, see the last section of your workbook
grammar
complete sentences
story
paragraphs
punctuation
tense
spelling -- how to approach spelling this week, and my philosophy of spelling in general
this week -- use your spell check and be aware of homonyms
in general -- very similar, but also notice words as you read so that you can recognize a word that is wrong.
My philosopy of spelling: it matters, it can affect how seriously your writing is taken, but it's not the most important aspect of writing. Do your best, and use the tools that are available to you (including proofreaders)
list of homonyms http://www.cooper.com/alan/homonym_list.html
phrases that are often misspelled: "Say your piece" Bare your soul,
Talk about NaNoWriMo November. Could we do it as a coop? What would you say to the rest of the coop to convince them.
(Make a poster?)
talk about choosing a passage to share with the coop next week
Write a blurb:
story is defined by: character, setting, genre
complete this sentence in writing: My story is about: (less than 2 minutes each) (make it interesting)
write a cover blurb to suck in readers who might buy your book
write a bio for yourself for your book cover
read excerpts?
Email sent:
The writers all did extremely well, all meeting, and some massively exceeding their word goals. We talked in class about editing spelling, paragraphs, and grammar. It is often recommended to let a piece of writing "rest" for a while before returning to it to make changes, but we don't really have the time to do that. I forgot to recommend that they make a backup of their files, but that is still valid -- they should keep a copy of their novel as it stands now and before they make additional changes to it.
In class we also wrote "blurbs" to describe our stories.
In addition to editing this week, they should also pick an excerpt of a page or less to read to Echo on Thursday. They can briefly introduce their excerpt, preferably with their blurb rather than a detailed description of their story. It would be useful if they worked with you to pick an excerpt to read, but if that doesn't work at your house, we will help them on Thursday morning.
We are looking forward to celebrating the hard work they've done in the last four and a half weeks!
6th meeting
This meeting was devoted to practicing reading an excerpt they chose. We sat with each writer and helped them pick an excerpt if they wanted us to, or just made sure it was a good length. One typed page is plenty, we found, YMMV.
In retrospect, it is very important to have them practice out loud and get any gentle coaching on talking louder and/or slower. Also, it turns out to be very difficult to stand up and launch into an excerpt without explaining it first (even though I encouraged them to do that). So talk about that and figure out how you want to handle it.
We had each writer write a bio that we used to introduce them. Most of them were pretty silly, but fun. It's a good idea to read these in advance to make sure they aren't offensive (like mentioning stinky little brothers who may be in the audience). We also had them write a cover blurb for their books, in part to keep them busy while we worked with writers individually.
We made a congratulatory word count poster, and each writer signed it with their word goal and actual words written.
Once all this was done, we presented our excerpts to our audience and then had party food!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
WiNoWriMo: Teaching Noveling, Pt 1
Here’s what I did for our 6 week NaNoWriMo-inspired noveling class (with gracious bows to Lydia, whose curriculum inspired many of my own activities). We had eight kids, ages 10-14, and two adults, who also wrote. We met around a table for about two hours, once a week.
The materials I used are what I had lying around the house. If you have different books on writing, by all means, use those!
Materials I used:
Overview
Session 1: Discuss the whys of writing a novel quickly. Brainstorm plot and pick word goals.
Session 2: Think about adjectives & conflict.
Session 3: Think about nouns and character voice. Do a wordwar.
Session 4: Share stories and do a wordwar.
Session 5: Wrap up, many congratulations, and discuss editing.
Session 6: Prepare readings and read a page or less to an appreciative audience. Follow with a party!
If you have the time, it would make sense to introduce the concept in the first class and then have the kids spend the first week working on the workbook. However, our schedule changed a couple of times due to snow, so this is what we ended up doing.
And now in slightly more detail. My apologies if many of the details have been lost, but my hope is that this is still useful to someone!
Session 1
We started by stressing very strongly that to make our group a safe place to share our writing we all had to be very respectful of each other and work hard to censor intended and unintended criticism. We had to reiterate this often, throughout the session, as kids often just say whatever pops into their heads!
Community builder: We didn’t end up doing this, but some sort of exercise to get kids working together and trusting each other would certainly be useful.
The Whys: Why try to write a novel or a story in a short amount of time? Read from No Plot No Problem. Chapter 1 deals with this. It is clearly written for adults, so preread and decide if you need to make any substitutions to the examples.
Genre: What is it, what are some examples, What are your favorites, what genre will your novel be?
What makes a book good? (Hero, villain, conflict)
Write a recipe for your novel (i.e. 2 cups adventure, 5 explosions, ¼ teaspoon romance, etc.)
Quick thoughts about paragraphs, quotations, chapters. (Use a favorite novel as a model)
Store your inner editor (workbook)
Brainstorm novel ideas in small groups
Where to write your novel? a notebook, Word, Google Docs
What to do when you get stuck:
Writing exercise to help determine reasonable word count (I’m sure this was a good idea, but we didn’t do it due to time constraints)
write an exciting scene (we didn’t do this either, but I’ve used this successfully myself for NaNoWriMo)
We did, however, pick word goals. The lowest the goal any of the kids had was 2400 words which is high for 5th graders (who made up a large portion of our class) according to the Young Writers Program guidelines. However, all the kids with that goal exceeded it, one by nearly 400%. The word goals varied between 2400 and 7000. The two adults writing had word goals of 15,000, which had the potential to mess up the group progress chart when we both got behind. On the one hand, the kids got to see us struggle, but I wouldn’t have been happy if my own failure to write had caused the group to fail to meet its goal. That didn’t happen, but I offer it as food for thought.
This is the email I sent to parents after the first session:
Welcome to the crazy life as a family member of a novelist!
Today in class we looked at the workbooks put out by the Young Writers Program (http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/). I encourage the kids to make use of these workbooks, but I'm not assigning specific pages -- I want them to concentrate on writing their stories. However, if they seem stuck, the workbook is a good place to turn to.
As of tomorrow, they need a way to start working on their novel. If you need technical assistance, please ask. We talked about writing in Word (or another word processor) or in Google Docs, which is accessible anywhere you can get internet access. If they are going to write longhand, they should have a notebook devoted to that. I discouraged them from deleting or tearing out pages -- everything they write counts towards their word goals. If they really need to they can put gentle x's or grey out the words they wouldn't want to use in a final product. But we are not writing a final product! Our goal is exuberant imperfection -- there is no bad writing at this point, as long as they are writing!
My ideal is that they spend about 3 hours a week writing -- either three 1 hour sessions, or 6 half hour sessions, or whatever works for them. However, their progress is not measured in time spent, but in words written. Below is their word goal for the four weeks (writing from February 10 to March 10), with another column for the weekly goal. We're shooting for 100% success here, and they are encouraged to write more than their goal -- the goal is a minimum. If they are writing longhand they do need to count their words and make a note of it on each page (a cumulative count would be useful too). If they are using a computer, there is always a way to get the program to tell you how many words you have written. I encourage them to track their progress as it can be encouraging to see what they've accomplished. The Ready, Set, Write section of the workbook has place to note progress and goals (i.e. pages 83 and 85). Note that our "month" starts today and is 29 days long.
Word goal Weekly words
[Table of individual word goals and group total word goal]
If your novelist has an email address, please send it to me. I'd like them to be able to ask each other for advice. I'd also like to be able to nudge them personally during the week (I'll CC parents on that too, in case they don't check their email often).
Next week I would like them to bring their workbooks, a writing implement, and a copy of what they have written (with word count noted). (A small notebook would be useful also, and I've suggested they have one to write down ideas when they are not actually writing.) They will retain control of their own writing, and will be asked to share a bit if they would like to. I think that a hard copy is a useful, tangible mark of their progress, but even that is not required. I can print out their stories if you would like to send them to me on Wednesday.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
That's it for Session 1. More to come in a future post!
The materials I used are what I had lying around the house. If you have different books on writing, by all means, use those!
Materials I used:
- No Plot, No Problem: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days, by Chris Baty (creator of NaNoWriMo)
- Guaranteed Non-Lame Young Novelists Workbook, from The Young Writers Program (they also have curriculum). I had access to a spiral binding machine and asked families to print out a copy and then I bound them (or I charged a nominal fee to print them out). Some kids kept them in 3-ring binders. I personally thought the Staples/Kinko price for printing and binding a bit high since in my class, at least, use of the workbook was optional. Some kids really got into them and enjoyed them, and found them useful, and others hardly used them.
- Memorable Characters. . . Magnificent Stores: 10 Mini-Lessons on Crafting Lively Characters – the key to Great Student Story Writing, by Susie Garber
- A big piece of paper to track group progress
- I asked each child to have a notebook and pencil for class, but I was also realistic and had a stash to share. The notebook could be to write their novel in, but it was definitely for wordwars and other class writing. They could also use it to write down ideas they had about their novel when they were not actually writing, but I’m not sure any of them actually used them like that!
Overview
Session 1: Discuss the whys of writing a novel quickly. Brainstorm plot and pick word goals.
Session 2: Think about adjectives & conflict.
Session 3: Think about nouns and character voice. Do a wordwar.
Session 4: Share stories and do a wordwar.
Session 5: Wrap up, many congratulations, and discuss editing.
Session 6: Prepare readings and read a page or less to an appreciative audience. Follow with a party!
If you have the time, it would make sense to introduce the concept in the first class and then have the kids spend the first week working on the workbook. However, our schedule changed a couple of times due to snow, so this is what we ended up doing.
And now in slightly more detail. My apologies if many of the details have been lost, but my hope is that this is still useful to someone!
Session 1
We started by stressing very strongly that to make our group a safe place to share our writing we all had to be very respectful of each other and work hard to censor intended and unintended criticism. We had to reiterate this often, throughout the session, as kids often just say whatever pops into their heads!
Community builder: We didn’t end up doing this, but some sort of exercise to get kids working together and trusting each other would certainly be useful.
The Whys: Why try to write a novel or a story in a short amount of time? Read from No Plot No Problem. Chapter 1 deals with this. It is clearly written for adults, so preread and decide if you need to make any substitutions to the examples.
Genre: What is it, what are some examples, What are your favorites, what genre will your novel be?
What makes a book good? (Hero, villain, conflict)
Write a recipe for your novel (i.e. 2 cups adventure, 5 explosions, ¼ teaspoon romance, etc.)
Quick thoughts about paragraphs, quotations, chapters. (Use a favorite novel as a model)
Store your inner editor (workbook)
Brainstorm novel ideas in small groups
Where to write your novel? a notebook, Word, Google Docs
What to do when you get stuck:
- ask for help: share email addresses (or set up a group) to get help from each other (I emphasized that no one has to use anyone else’s ideas, but that they may help to get the creative juices flowing, also, again emphasize being gentle and avoiding anything that can be construed as criticism of someone else’s idea)
- Describe things in detail
- Skip to another part of the story (write an exciting scene that you have to work up to)
Writing exercise to help determine reasonable word count (I’m sure this was a good idea, but we didn’t do it due to time constraints)
write an exciting scene (we didn’t do this either, but I’ve used this successfully myself for NaNoWriMo)
We did, however, pick word goals. The lowest the goal any of the kids had was 2400 words which is high for 5th graders (who made up a large portion of our class) according to the Young Writers Program guidelines. However, all the kids with that goal exceeded it, one by nearly 400%. The word goals varied between 2400 and 7000. The two adults writing had word goals of 15,000, which had the potential to mess up the group progress chart when we both got behind. On the one hand, the kids got to see us struggle, but I wouldn’t have been happy if my own failure to write had caused the group to fail to meet its goal. That didn’t happen, but I offer it as food for thought.
This is the email I sent to parents after the first session:
Welcome to the crazy life as a family member of a novelist!
Today in class we looked at the workbooks put out by the Young Writers Program (http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/). I encourage the kids to make use of these workbooks, but I'm not assigning specific pages -- I want them to concentrate on writing their stories. However, if they seem stuck, the workbook is a good place to turn to.
As of tomorrow, they need a way to start working on their novel. If you need technical assistance, please ask. We talked about writing in Word (or another word processor) or in Google Docs, which is accessible anywhere you can get internet access. If they are going to write longhand, they should have a notebook devoted to that. I discouraged them from deleting or tearing out pages -- everything they write counts towards their word goals. If they really need to they can put gentle x's or grey out the words they wouldn't want to use in a final product. But we are not writing a final product! Our goal is exuberant imperfection -- there is no bad writing at this point, as long as they are writing!
My ideal is that they spend about 3 hours a week writing -- either three 1 hour sessions, or 6 half hour sessions, or whatever works for them. However, their progress is not measured in time spent, but in words written. Below is their word goal for the four weeks (writing from February 10 to March 10), with another column for the weekly goal. We're shooting for 100% success here, and they are encouraged to write more than their goal -- the goal is a minimum. If they are writing longhand they do need to count their words and make a note of it on each page (a cumulative count would be useful too). If they are using a computer, there is always a way to get the program to tell you how many words you have written. I encourage them to track their progress as it can be encouraging to see what they've accomplished. The Ready, Set, Write section of the workbook has place to note progress and goals (i.e. pages 83 and 85). Note that our "month" starts today and is 29 days long.
Word goal Weekly words
[Table of individual word goals and group total word goal]
If your novelist has an email address, please send it to me. I'd like them to be able to ask each other for advice. I'd also like to be able to nudge them personally during the week (I'll CC parents on that too, in case they don't check their email often).
Next week I would like them to bring their workbooks, a writing implement, and a copy of what they have written (with word count noted). (A small notebook would be useful also, and I've suggested they have one to write down ideas when they are not actually writing.) They will retain control of their own writing, and will be asked to share a bit if they would like to. I think that a hard copy is a useful, tangible mark of their progress, but even that is not required. I can print out their stories if you would like to send them to me on Wednesday.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
That's it for Session 1. More to come in a future post!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Nanowrimo 2010
After skipping last year, I am back in the game again this year. Week 1 was was barely adequate, and week 2 was even worse. I have considered giving up or reducing my personal word goal, but that didn't sit right, so I have a plan to make it to 50,000 words by midnight on November 30.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Homeschool Planning
I thought hard about our homeschool plan for this year, and explored many options. I ended up not far from where I had begun though.
I felt in some ways that I was starting over this year, although it's my sixth year homeschooling. I think I felt that way because with the third entering first grade it feels like my first year juggling three students, and with my oldest in fifth grade I feel like I need to be sure that I'm giving him the education I want him to have. Also, as I outlined in my last post, I our family's values to be well represented in our homeschool.
My middle son, who is eight, is perhaps the one I think about most, and the one I looked at the most options for. He enjoys language and books, but his own language arts skills (reading and writing) are at nearly the same level as his six-year old brother's. He is also the one who hates school work the most, and who most drives me to consider quitting homeschooling. However, he would likely hate school even more, and that's not what I want for him. For him I looked at mainly two curricula: Moving Beyond the Page and Global Village. My goal was to find meaningful books that he would enjoy. I did purchase the Global Village curriculum guide for 3rd grade, and I'll review that in a separate post.
I spent a lot of time wondering how I could combine kids so that I don't go crazy trying to direct the three of them in their different work. As of last year the oldest still liked me to read to him, and I thought I would still be doing that this year. As it turns out, he is happy enough reading selections like George Washington's World, Treasure Island, and a biography of Isaac Newton by himself this year. In the end they will all have their own work, and we will try to do many subjects together.
I did come up with a long term plan for history so that in two years all three boys will be studying the ancients and proceeding through a six year history cycle together.
Some of what I had to do was (clearly) relax a bit. In order to do that I've changed my record keeping a bit. In previous years I've used spreadsheet versions of the Ambleside Online schedules. However, when I'm always behind, I'm always stressed! This year I'm trying to be a little looser without doing less. I'm open to two or three kids listening to what I'm reading, and I'll record it that way so I have plenty to report at the end of the year. I have a monthly grid for each kid (a row is a week) with all the main subjects across the top so that I make sure we cover a variety of subjects each week. I'll use it for both planning and recording. In short, I'm trying to keep track of what we accomplish, not what we fail to get to. I think that's very CM, since CM tests ask you to explain what you know rather than trying to trip you up and discover what you don't know.
Each boy does have his own rough plan, but we'll do more together than we have before. I'll use the Global Village book choices, and ones like them to expand our world view and try to get a glimpse of cultures and lives around the world. Otherwise, I continue to use AO book choices as our spines, and as a guide to topics and numbers of books when I decide to substitute. I want to be more open to following rabbit trails and doing rough units. For instance, right now we have an ocean theme going, middle ages (for the youngest), and monarch butterflies (from one of the Global Village selections).
So a little run down of our plan:
5th grade:
History: Constitution through the 19th Century, using Foster "World" books and historical fiction
Language Arts: Typing Tutor, Dictation Day by Day, written narration, Easy Grammar 5. We're saving Write with the Best for next year -- getting him ready to take advantage of that is a priority this year.
Math: MEP 5 (actually, first we're finishing up the data and probability sections in 4B)
Science: Biographies of scientists, library books and videos on various topics
Literature: some AO5 selections, and others we both agree on. He reads a lot and I want to use this year to work on writing and let literature take a back seat. (Currently reading Treasure Island)
Ideally he will also learn recorder
3rd grade:
Social Studies:Global Village around the world book choices
History: Age of Explorers -- Marco Polo and ocean explorers
Science: library books and DVDs, at least one nature story
Literature: good books we select together (currently A Door in the Wall, planning on Wind in the Willows)
Reading: easy readers on level, Phonics Pathways
Writing: Getty-Dubay workbook and some simple dictation
MEP 3
1st Grade:
Ambleside 1 secular selections, fable-like books (such as those by Janell Cannon) and whatever he listens to when I read to his brothers. He is a great unschooler and has a great attitude, and I don't want to mess to much with that.
All:
Art appreciation (currently Monet)
Music appreciation (currently Beethoven)
Virtues
Nature Study (with help from Katie's Homeschool Cottage)
Bible (using Penny Gardner's suggested readings)
Shakespeare (using Leon Garfield)
Family Read Alouds (we recently finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
Geography (I purchased Map Trek and hope to make good use of it)
I looked at a great many science curricula, because I'm afraid I may be weak on science. But in the end I didn't find anything I liked enough to spend money on (other than the Nature Study ebook). I rely heavily on David Atenborough videos, and I'll try to be better about finding science books at the library. I think the ToC of Nebel's Elementary Education (which I own) may be useful. In fact, I should add a list of science topics to my homeschool notebook right now!
I felt in some ways that I was starting over this year, although it's my sixth year homeschooling. I think I felt that way because with the third entering first grade it feels like my first year juggling three students, and with my oldest in fifth grade I feel like I need to be sure that I'm giving him the education I want him to have. Also, as I outlined in my last post, I our family's values to be well represented in our homeschool.
My middle son, who is eight, is perhaps the one I think about most, and the one I looked at the most options for. He enjoys language and books, but his own language arts skills (reading and writing) are at nearly the same level as his six-year old brother's. He is also the one who hates school work the most, and who most drives me to consider quitting homeschooling. However, he would likely hate school even more, and that's not what I want for him. For him I looked at mainly two curricula: Moving Beyond the Page and Global Village. My goal was to find meaningful books that he would enjoy. I did purchase the Global Village curriculum guide for 3rd grade, and I'll review that in a separate post.
I spent a lot of time wondering how I could combine kids so that I don't go crazy trying to direct the three of them in their different work. As of last year the oldest still liked me to read to him, and I thought I would still be doing that this year. As it turns out, he is happy enough reading selections like George Washington's World, Treasure Island, and a biography of Isaac Newton by himself this year. In the end they will all have their own work, and we will try to do many subjects together.
I did come up with a long term plan for history so that in two years all three boys will be studying the ancients and proceeding through a six year history cycle together.
Some of what I had to do was (clearly) relax a bit. In order to do that I've changed my record keeping a bit. In previous years I've used spreadsheet versions of the Ambleside Online schedules. However, when I'm always behind, I'm always stressed! This year I'm trying to be a little looser without doing less. I'm open to two or three kids listening to what I'm reading, and I'll record it that way so I have plenty to report at the end of the year. I have a monthly grid for each kid (a row is a week) with all the main subjects across the top so that I make sure we cover a variety of subjects each week. I'll use it for both planning and recording. In short, I'm trying to keep track of what we accomplish, not what we fail to get to. I think that's very CM, since CM tests ask you to explain what you know rather than trying to trip you up and discover what you don't know.
Each boy does have his own rough plan, but we'll do more together than we have before. I'll use the Global Village book choices, and ones like them to expand our world view and try to get a glimpse of cultures and lives around the world. Otherwise, I continue to use AO book choices as our spines, and as a guide to topics and numbers of books when I decide to substitute. I want to be more open to following rabbit trails and doing rough units. For instance, right now we have an ocean theme going, middle ages (for the youngest), and monarch butterflies (from one of the Global Village selections).
So a little run down of our plan:
5th grade:
History: Constitution through the 19th Century, using Foster "World" books and historical fiction
Language Arts: Typing Tutor, Dictation Day by Day, written narration, Easy Grammar 5. We're saving Write with the Best for next year -- getting him ready to take advantage of that is a priority this year.
Math: MEP 5 (actually, first we're finishing up the data and probability sections in 4B)
Science: Biographies of scientists, library books and videos on various topics
Literature: some AO5 selections, and others we both agree on. He reads a lot and I want to use this year to work on writing and let literature take a back seat. (Currently reading Treasure Island)
Ideally he will also learn recorder
3rd grade:
Social Studies:Global Village around the world book choices
History: Age of Explorers -- Marco Polo and ocean explorers
Science: library books and DVDs, at least one nature story
Literature: good books we select together (currently A Door in the Wall, planning on Wind in the Willows)
Reading: easy readers on level, Phonics Pathways
Writing: Getty-Dubay workbook and some simple dictation
MEP 3
1st Grade:
Ambleside 1 secular selections, fable-like books (such as those by Janell Cannon) and whatever he listens to when I read to his brothers. He is a great unschooler and has a great attitude, and I don't want to mess to much with that.
All:
Art appreciation (currently Monet)
Music appreciation (currently Beethoven)
Virtues
Nature Study (with help from Katie's Homeschool Cottage)
Bible (using Penny Gardner's suggested readings)
Shakespeare (using Leon Garfield)
Family Read Alouds (we recently finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
Geography (I purchased Map Trek and hope to make good use of it)
I looked at a great many science curricula, because I'm afraid I may be weak on science. But in the end I didn't find anything I liked enough to spend money on (other than the Nature Study ebook). I rely heavily on David Atenborough videos, and I'll try to be better about finding science books at the library. I think the ToC of Nebel's Elementary Education (which I own) may be useful. In fact, I should add a list of science topics to my homeschool notebook right now!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Defining Family Values
I am realizing more and more that time is limited, and that to get done the things that are important to me, I need to first focus on my values, and on our family values, and then choose my tasks accordingly. I am happier when my actions reflect my values. For instance, I can stand the dents and dull spots in my living room floor because my choices about the floor reflected my values of using local, affordable,recyclable, and nontoxic materials. When through circumstances I feel forced to choose actions that do not align with my values, I feel a lot of stress.
I've found that, without thought, finding what aligns with my values is a kind of "I'll know it when I see it" experience. But with thought, I can do a better job of articulating what I want to find, and perhaps get help from others in finding it. That is a journey I am taking now with my homeschooling, but more on that later.
The values that we think are important for our family include the following:
My youngest son recently finished his first year of Spirit Play at our church, and I very much like their Rainbow Promises, and find that they are a good model for our family values also:
I've found that, without thought, finding what aligns with my values is a kind of "I'll know it when I see it" experience. But with thought, I can do a better job of articulating what I want to find, and perhaps get help from others in finding it. That is a journey I am taking now with my homeschooling, but more on that later.
The values that we think are important for our family include the following:
- Gratitude: although we can certainly complain with the best of them, we try not to, and we try to find things to be grateful for. We are blessed, and this is not difficult. We try to express gratitude out loud, too, so our children can hear it. "Yes, it is very sad that Uncle sold his house, but we were so lucky to have the chance to visit it."
- Responsibility to make the world a better place: I see this one from micro to macro, and all our actions are small. At home, I try to use this with sibling issues. If a comment isn't likely to make the situation better, it doesn't need to be said. In speech I like the suggestion to first consider "is it necessary? is it kind? is it true?"
- Kindness: in a similar vein, being kind is important. We point out that being funny at someone's expense is unkind and that with kindness we can make a difference in the world, as we make someone feel a little better through kindness that may multiply as all the people we interact with may interact just a little better with other people, and so on.
- Take care of the earth: We struggle with this one, but it is nonetheless a family value. We drive a gas minivan and heat with oil, but recycle, talk about how there is no "away" to throw trash to, try to limit our consumption, and think about ways that we can preserve nature.
- Appreciate beauty: I try to point out natural beauty as I see it (and even man-made beauty). I think noticing it helps with the previous value, and it also sharpens observation and takes one out of oneself for a moment at least.
My youngest son recently finished his first year of Spirit Play at our church, and I very much like their Rainbow Promises, and find that they are a good model for our family values also:
- Respect each person.
- Offer fair & kind treatment to ourselves & others.
- Yearn to learn about ourselves , each other, and the mystery.
- Grow by searching for what is right and true.
- Believe in your ideas, share them, and listen as others share their ideas.
- Insist on a fair and peaceful world.
- Value the earth, our home.
Written as part of Steady Mom's 30 Minute Blog Challenge.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Growing
Today my youngest turns six. He was born at home, in the bed and bedroom I still sleep in. He was born fond of snuggling - I carried him in a sling a lot as a baby, and loved him to sleep. As a toddler he would good naturedly find his snuggling, sneaking into a lap when it was convenient to him.
He is very deliberate and independent now. He goes to bed on his own schedule, and doesn't need any help doing it- he may stay up later than we'd like sometimes, but then suddenly he's gone-taken himself off to bed. He's very deliberate in his answers to questions, which in this house often means his answers are provided for him. But if they are provided incorrectly you can be sure we'll hear about it! He is hard to interrupt because he will steadfastly continue on his course. I have found it quicker and easier to work with that and let him finish what he is doing before having him do the task I need from him. I've also found that more than one or two directions or questions at a time is a waste of my breath! He is endlessly energetic and always has something goiing on in his head (and is often engaged in visible, imaginative play). His good nature and happiness are nearly always apparent, and he continues to be an excellent smuggler.
He is quite picky about food, and has been known to leave the table in a huff if green vegetables are put on his plate. His good nature and position as third child have somehow helped him get away with this. Exhibit 1 is the fact that he somehow got three bought meals for his birthday, which has never before happened here! And he's a terrible sugar addict. The other two boys will eat their Halloween candy slowly, over days and week. Not Evan -- he eats his right away and then steals his brothers' if he thinks he can get away with it! When he was one or two we found him ensconced on the couch with a pile of foil wrapped eggs, deliberately unwrapping and eating each one with no end in sight.
He is very verbal, and describes and explains in detail. He knows how to take advantage of finding an available adult ear! He spends a lot of time on weekends at our neighbors house, either talking to her or playing on her computer. Sometimes he comes home with treats they've baked. He plays with ideas and absorbs at his own speed, sometimes surprising me with what he knows. He's an excellent unschooler.
He is very deliberate and independent now. He goes to bed on his own schedule, and doesn't need any help doing it- he may stay up later than we'd like sometimes, but then suddenly he's gone-taken himself off to bed. He's very deliberate in his answers to questions, which in this house often means his answers are provided for him. But if they are provided incorrectly you can be sure we'll hear about it! He is hard to interrupt because he will steadfastly continue on his course. I have found it quicker and easier to work with that and let him finish what he is doing before having him do the task I need from him. I've also found that more than one or two directions or questions at a time is a waste of my breath! He is endlessly energetic and always has something goiing on in his head (and is often engaged in visible, imaginative play). His good nature and happiness are nearly always apparent, and he continues to be an excellent smuggler.
He is quite picky about food, and has been known to leave the table in a huff if green vegetables are put on his plate. His good nature and position as third child have somehow helped him get away with this. Exhibit 1 is the fact that he somehow got three bought meals for his birthday, which has never before happened here! And he's a terrible sugar addict. The other two boys will eat their Halloween candy slowly, over days and week. Not Evan -- he eats his right away and then steals his brothers' if he thinks he can get away with it! When he was one or two we found him ensconced on the couch with a pile of foil wrapped eggs, deliberately unwrapping and eating each one with no end in sight.
He is very verbal, and describes and explains in detail. He knows how to take advantage of finding an available adult ear! He spends a lot of time on weekends at our neighbors house, either talking to her or playing on her computer. Sometimes he comes home with treats they've baked. He plays with ideas and absorbs at his own speed, sometimes surprising me with what he knows. He's an excellent unschooler.
All in all, he is nearly always a joy and causes us very little worry. We're glad he lives here!
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Journey North Mystery Class
We started the Mystery Class this week, and I thought I'd give a summary of our first get together. I found it difficult to figure out what to do, so maybe this will help someone else, or simply be a reminder to myself next year. I'm feeling my way through it, but I think the class offers a great opportunity to use data as clues, draw conclusions from graphs, discuss how seasons happen in an astronomical sense, and look at the geography of the world. I homeschool in part to be able to take advantage of integrated learning opportunities like this one!
We printed out data sheets and graphs -- a data sheet for each location (10 in all, and an additional one for each student to record their home data), and one graph for each student. I cut off the bottom inch of the top page of the graph and then taped the two pages together from the back. All the action happens around the 12-hour mark, so make sure the graph can be written on where the two pages join!
We introduced the class as simply taking time clues such as sunrise and sunset to find locations in the world, and that we will be doing this over time.
For the first week we had each student record the sunrise and sunset times for their home location, and calculate the photoperiod -- that is, how long it was light. By our first meeting we had two weeks of data for the home location. We split up the rest of the locations between the students and recorded sunrise and sunset times and calculated photoperiods. Each student then graphed the photoperiod for all eleven locations on their graph, using a separate color for each location (color a box of that color on the top of the data sheet), and noting the number of the site next to the first data point. Data can be graphed as a dot or an X, and as time goes on the data for each location can be connected in a line. So on our first week we had two points for Home and one point each for the other 10 locations.
We used a globe to discuss some of the simpler concepts, such as where it's light all day and when, and vice versa (the poles). (This would probably work better at night with a flashlight -- we did it in the daytime with sunlight -- or by using these pictures which I just found.) We looked at the line dividing day from night and talked about how it slants and what that means for the length of the days and nights in north and south hemispheres. With a flashlight I could have taken the globe around to the other side (retaining the same slant) and discussed the opposite season.
We talked about latitude and longitude in very general terms (latitude being measured by the lines parallel to the equator, and longitude being measured by the lines that go through the poles.) We read the Latitude Rap, which might be more interesting later -- right now it had too many new ideas. We mentioned the Prime Meridian as the base (or Universal) time used in the world (which lead to a brief discussion of the extent of the British Empire).
We looked at the completed chart included in the teachers pack on Latitude and used what we know to make some guesses about the locations on that graph.
We also viewed the video included in the clues for Location #6 and made some guesses on where it might be based on our data for the first week, their data for the first week, and a guess on the nationality (or native language) of the students.
Our students picked a pet location and filled out one sentence about it on the weekly worksheet. There will be more to write later, I think.
I think that's it! Next week I may have new students, so we may review. I may get a better grasp of the materials available on the Journey North site, also, and make use of more of them.
Check out my friend Kris's preparations too, at At Home Science.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Temper, temper
I have a bit of a temper. My mother will tell you all about it. Lately, my kids have been mentioning it too. So, with my wonderful new ipod Touch, I'm on a mission to improve it. I'm using (free) Daily Tracker -- I added a "Temper?" question, and every day I can answer yes or no. If I don't answer, it puts in a grayed out No for me, but doesn't count it in the statistics it compiles. Day one, before I decided to start, I lost it when our oldest broke a pretty wedding gift, but that, with the yelling a couple days before were what propelled me to this new effort, so they had a purpose.
It's day 2 that's worth talking about. It was a Sunday, which means I didn't have to direct the kids too much, and I didn't do any yelling. We just needed to get to church and home again, and keep the boys out of too much trouble. M (7) and I went to Family Yoga together. He went reluctantly, but he loved it. I wish it was more than once a month. The day is already fading into memory, but it was joyful, a really lovely day, and I have to think that my new resolution was part of that.
The days since have not been as good. One of them I yelled -- it bubbled out of me (with some cause that I don't know remember) so quickly that I didn't have a chance to quell it. The next day I didn't yell, but I was trying to get the boys to do some schoolwork, and they didn't appreciate it. In fact, the oldest ran away from home for about 45 minutes over math homework.
But I will hold the glow of that one day and hope that if I continue to work, it will be repeated.
It's day 2 that's worth talking about. It was a Sunday, which means I didn't have to direct the kids too much, and I didn't do any yelling. We just needed to get to church and home again, and keep the boys out of too much trouble. M (7) and I went to Family Yoga together. He went reluctantly, but he loved it. I wish it was more than once a month. The day is already fading into memory, but it was joyful, a really lovely day, and I have to think that my new resolution was part of that.
The days since have not been as good. One of them I yelled -- it bubbled out of me (with some cause that I don't know remember) so quickly that I didn't have a chance to quell it. The next day I didn't yell, but I was trying to get the boys to do some schoolwork, and they didn't appreciate it. In fact, the oldest ran away from home for about 45 minutes over math homework.
But I will hold the glow of that one day and hope that if I continue to work, it will be repeated.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Getting ready for a new puppy
Even before we went to England we knew we would get a new dog soon. My sensitive middle son was very attached to our dog who died in March, and is also attached to our neighbor's 15-year old dog. We feel like getting a new puppy is almost a necessity.
Before we went to England we visited a local breeder who I know a little bit who has two litters of black Portuguese Water Dog (PWD) puppies. (Because of my allergies we're looking at purebreds with non-shedding coats.) We were pretty sure we would be bringing one home at the end of October. But when we came home from our trip and the weight of my household and family responsibilities hit my shoulders like a ton of bricks, I began to rethink that decision. For one thing, these puppies are very expensive. And for another, I could see that even though the rest of the family would love the dog, the work would fall to me. A big dog can really only be walked by an adult, and PWDs need intellectual stimulation and exercise and training. I had time to do agility with Jake when he was young; I think I'd just feel guilty I couldn't do the same with this new dog.
I'd thought of a smaller dog earlier in the process, but when I asked my family, particularly dh, they preferred a larger dog. Really, I think, we just wanted a new Jake. And the PWDs we looked at looked just like Jake. But I remembered something an older friend said to me recently "In the end, you're only responsible for your own happiness," and I wasn't sure that getting a bigger dog was taking care of myself.
I asked my family to write me a letter telling me how they would help me out both with the dog and with other work I do when we got a puppy. They didn't write anything. So I started to think about a compromise that both gets my middle boy a puppy and doesn't make me much crazier than I already am. I came up with a smaller dog that costs less, makes smaller poops, and doesn't need it's own seat to travel in a car (we bought a mini-van to in part to travel with Jake). We're getting a Bichon Frise that the boys will be able to walk, even when it's full grown. The boys are fully converted after seeing some pictures. They sound fabulous although some say they're hard to house train -- I hope they're wrong!
I felt sad today when I told the PWD breeder we had decided on another breed, but maybe that's just the end of saying goodbye to Jake. We're working on names for our new puffball (who I plan to keep in a puppy cut)! My hope is that a smaller dog will need less training (maybe I'm wrong there!) and will be easier to exercise. I know the crate will fit into our house better!
Before we went to England we visited a local breeder who I know a little bit who has two litters of black Portuguese Water Dog (PWD) puppies. (Because of my allergies we're looking at purebreds with non-shedding coats.) We were pretty sure we would be bringing one home at the end of October. But when we came home from our trip and the weight of my household and family responsibilities hit my shoulders like a ton of bricks, I began to rethink that decision. For one thing, these puppies are very expensive. And for another, I could see that even though the rest of the family would love the dog, the work would fall to me. A big dog can really only be walked by an adult, and PWDs need intellectual stimulation and exercise and training. I had time to do agility with Jake when he was young; I think I'd just feel guilty I couldn't do the same with this new dog.
I'd thought of a smaller dog earlier in the process, but when I asked my family, particularly dh, they preferred a larger dog. Really, I think, we just wanted a new Jake. And the PWDs we looked at looked just like Jake. But I remembered something an older friend said to me recently "In the end, you're only responsible for your own happiness," and I wasn't sure that getting a bigger dog was taking care of myself.
I asked my family to write me a letter telling me how they would help me out both with the dog and with other work I do when we got a puppy. They didn't write anything. So I started to think about a compromise that both gets my middle boy a puppy and doesn't make me much crazier than I already am. I came up with a smaller dog that costs less, makes smaller poops, and doesn't need it's own seat to travel in a car (we bought a mini-van to in part to travel with Jake). We're getting a Bichon Frise that the boys will be able to walk, even when it's full grown. The boys are fully converted after seeing some pictures. They sound fabulous although some say they're hard to house train -- I hope they're wrong!
I felt sad today when I told the PWD breeder we had decided on another breed, but maybe that's just the end of saying goodbye to Jake. We're working on names for our new puffball (who I plan to keep in a puppy cut)! My hope is that a smaller dog will need less training (maybe I'm wrong there!) and will be easier to exercise. I know the crate will fit into our house better!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Trip abroad: Planning and Money
We are back from 11 fully filled days to the UK. That said, we didn't see everything, not even everything on my much shortened list. However, we did have a good time.
So here are my first thoughts on planning a trip such as ours.
The first suggestion is to plan lots. Have a flexible schedule with options. In a few places on our trip, notably London, which we did at the end, I was woefully underprepared. I didn't have a reasonable top 5 list, and perhaps more importantly, I didn't know how we were going to get around. So we struggled a bit with Tube tickets before buying an Oyster card (still not sure if that was the right decision), and we struggled with finding a double-decker bus going where we wanted to go, although that was successful in the end.
Money: If you can, you and your travel partner (even if it's a spouse) should carry different credit cards so that if one disappears or get stolen, you have the second to fall back on. We ran the last day and a half of our trip on the cash left in my wallet. We didn't see the Tower of London for this reason, although there weren't resounding cheers at the idea of going either, so we might have skipped it anyway.
The less money you have, the more you should plan. If you're trying to keep to a budget, it's going to be less stressful if you know where you can eat and sleep each day. Don't forget to budget for sights – we were told this is an affordable option in the UK). We only visited a service station once, and we did quite a lot of driving. We were lucky to be able to travel without counting too many pence, although we did have to budget at the end when we didn't have plastic anymore.
Speaking of driving, it's pretty challenging. First there's the driving on the left side thing. Then there's the fact that the roads are narrow (really narrow, and they sometimes get narrower for no other reason than to slow you down) and the Brits drive really fast. Then there are the hedges blocking your view around any bends – and everywhere there's a bend, so don't plan on seeing the road ahead (except for motorways, of course). And because of that you'll whiz right by your turns. If you're lucky there will be a roundabout where you can turn around, but if not, plan on going miles before the driver gets up the nerve to turn around. And speaking of roundabouts, feel free to go around more than once if you need to to find the correct road. It's way easier than turning around later.
I scheduled our flight on Iceland Air through Iceland. It was cheaper than anything else I could find. The flight over is a bit brutal, leaving Boston at 9:30 pm and getting off the plane for an hour at 2am our time, and on another plane for another 3 hours. I don't regret that choice at all.
I was very happy with our lodgings. The first place we stayed was a wonderful little cottage at Merkins Farm near Bradford-on-Avon (which is near Bath). It has three bedrooms and a wonderful view, and was just perfect for us. There was a delicious cake awaiting us after our hard drive from Heathrow (see section above on driving in Britain!). It was worth the difficult drive, and we stayed there three nights.
So here are my first thoughts on planning a trip such as ours.
The first suggestion is to plan lots. Have a flexible schedule with options. In a few places on our trip, notably London, which we did at the end, I was woefully underprepared. I didn't have a reasonable top 5 list, and perhaps more importantly, I didn't know how we were going to get around. So we struggled a bit with Tube tickets before buying an Oyster card (still not sure if that was the right decision), and we struggled with finding a double-decker bus going where we wanted to go, although that was successful in the end.
Money: If you can, you and your travel partner (even if it's a spouse) should carry different credit cards so that if one disappears or get stolen, you have the second to fall back on. We ran the last day and a half of our trip on the cash left in my wallet. We didn't see the Tower of London for this reason, although there weren't resounding cheers at the idea of going either, so we might have skipped it anyway.
The less money you have, the more you should plan. If you're trying to keep to a budget, it's going to be less stressful if you know where you can eat and sleep each day. Don't forget to budget for sights – we were told this is an affordable option in the UK). We only visited a service station once, and we did quite a lot of driving. We were lucky to be able to travel without counting too many pence, although we did have to budget at the end when we didn't have plastic anymore.
Speaking of driving, it's pretty challenging. First there's the driving on the left side thing. Then there's the fact that the roads are narrow (really narrow, and they sometimes get narrower for no other reason than to slow you down) and the Brits drive really fast. Then there are the hedges blocking your view around any bends – and everywhere there's a bend, so don't plan on seeing the road ahead (except for motorways, of course). And because of that you'll whiz right by your turns. If you're lucky there will be a roundabout where you can turn around, but if not, plan on going miles before the driver gets up the nerve to turn around. And speaking of roundabouts, feel free to go around more than once if you need to to find the correct road. It's way easier than turning around later.
I scheduled our flight on Iceland Air through Iceland. It was cheaper than anything else I could find. The flight over is a bit brutal, leaving Boston at 9:30 pm and getting off the plane for an hour at 2am our time, and on another plane for another 3 hours. I don't regret that choice at all.
I was very happy with our lodgings. The first place we stayed was a wonderful little cottage at Merkins Farm near Bradford-on-Avon (which is near Bath). It has three bedrooms and a wonderful view, and was just perfect for us. There was a delicious cake awaiting us after our hard drive from Heathrow (see section above on driving in Britain!). It was worth the difficult drive, and we stayed there three nights.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
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