tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29007597749422114682024-03-05T09:52:20.599-07:00The Magic School HouseKarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.comBlogger527125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-85770868023001252762013-03-15T13:02:00.001-06:002013-03-15T13:02:30.905-06:00Weekly Report Week 23The good news is that I finally caught up my calendar so I know what week it is, but the bad news is that we'll be 24 days behind last year's count at the end of this month. I think this year I must have started later or something. <br />
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The time change really got us this year. We've been tired all week.<br />
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CC had a good week academically and a bad week socially. She scored well on the tests she took last week, which is good except that she also received some hurtful comments from her classmates because of her grades. She came home in near tears on Wednesday because she got two tests back that day and was told by some peers that she is a terrible person because she makes them look bad. I was ready to take her out of school right away, but she wants to stay and is already looking forward to classes and teachers she'll have next year. So instead of taking her out of school, I emailed the principal. We'll see how it goes, but she's already met with the 6th grade team and found that the teachers haven't noticed this happening. This has been getting steadily worse since Christmas break, and I've run out of ways to encourage and comfort her. I want to see change, but having suffered this myself, I don't really believe this can be changed.<br />
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For LB, the warm weather contributed to a wonderful week along with some pain. She's been taking her scooter to co-op and riding with her friends. This week, she fell three days in a row and came home with increasingly worse skinned knees. She also exclaimed , " I can read!" for the first time ever. She reads well, but it is a huge milestone for her to realize it. MUS is starting to seem easy for her so we've picked up the pace. I won't skip any lessons, but at lesson 14, we're finally starting to move rapidly. I can actually imagine her getting up to grade level before fall.<br />
<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-57756429495203296182013-03-13T10:41:00.001-06:002013-03-13T10:41:26.847-06:00Wordless Wednesday 13 March<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-41879781863230953092013-03-08T13:21:00.001-07:002013-03-10T15:13:27.703-06:00School report for first week of March<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week, CC was home most of the week on doctor ordered rest. She'd pick up a virus on top of her lingering mono, and he wanted her to rest for the week. I enjoyed having her home with me and watched too much Doctor Who with her. She started feeling better and enjoyed a sleep-over at a friend's house on the weekend. Her friend has food allergies so I relaxed a little bit because I knew her mom would know what to do.<br />
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She's been enjoying <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cattus-Petasatus-The-Latin-Edition/dp/0865164711/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362678062&sr=8-1&keywords=cat+in+the+hat+latin">Cattus Petasatus</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harrius-Potter-Philosophi-Lapis-Philosophers/dp/1582348251/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362678112&sr=1-1&keywords=harrius+potter+et+philosophi+lapis">Harrius Potter.</a> She loves to translate Latin and is enjoying the challenge.<br />
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This week she had her first week of state standardized tests. We've done the simple CAT tests previously for homeschooling, but this is her first time of taking 3 days of tests. She said she was completely unprepared for how incredibly boring it would be. She survived the testing and then welcomed normal school days. <br />
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I'm amazed at how much her writing has improved over the year. Last night she wrote a three page tribute speech for her Public Performance class. She's always been a great writer when the topic was something she chose with her own timing, but it was great to watch her write a moving speech in a short amount of time.<br />
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LB has had a wonderful week. She's been reading through her SL2 reader with a bonus that I read a chapter of <i>Droon</i> to her after she reads. She could read <i>Droon</i> herself, but I'm hoping that this little addictive series will get to her and she'll choose to read them on her own. She's still at a stage where she reads when she's told but not for her own pleasure. I know it will come. <br />
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We're slowly working our way through MUS Alpha. We're on lesson 12, and she's still enjoying it. I'd much rather her make slow progress with understanding than rush through going through the motions. She gets math during her co-op also and has learned quite a bit which I think helps to round out the lessons at home. I'm still worried because she is "behind," but I can deal with that better than with pushing her ahead without understanding.<br />
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This week spring started to peek out. LB's class walked to the local money museum one day and took their scooters to a pizza place for lunch one day. She also came home barefoot from school yesterday. I love that she spends so much time outside. She's enjoying German and learning to play a flute as part of her co-op day. She seems to have a talent for languages and music like her brother and sister. Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-51463647364119349172013-02-12T13:54:00.000-07:002013-02-12T13:54:02.548-07:00Week something in Feb. 2013 - It's been a long timeIt is the middle of February. It has been a long time. I'll need to find the school calendar and see what week we're on.<br />
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Since my last post, CC has been in and out of the emergency room a few more times. She's been very sick and has had very severe allergic reactions. She still loves her classical school and her cello. She loves math, grammar, poetry, history, Latin, and science. She has learned something that twelve year-olds don't typically know. She has learned about her own mortality. I've seen my poor baby cry because she understands how fragile her life is. It breaks my heart because one of the beauties of childhood is that children don't know that life is fleeting. <br />
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LB is the little smiling personification of whimsical childhood most of the time. The Waldorf group continues to be perfect for her. She draws, paints, sings, dances, sews, knits, cooks, bakes, imagines, creates, plays, explores and enjoys her way through most of her days, After she gets home happy and tired, we do a lesson from MUS and read from a SL 2 reader. It is perfect for her right now.<br />
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BB is back in Japan working in Tokyo. He has finished classes and will officially graduate in June. He was home for Christmas which was terrific. I am so proud and amazed. <br />
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The kids are all growing quickly. Time is rushing past. I always feel like I have been privileged to have stopped and enjoyed this time with them instead of letting it slip by me.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-55920412263744452162012-12-07T11:10:00.000-07:002012-12-08T12:03:12.533-07:00Week 13 Long, Good, and Painful<br />
Right at this moment on a Friday morning, LB is at the park where she'll spend the day playing at a nature center all day, and CC is sleeping after being in the ER with me until the wee hours of the morning. That is a tiny picture of our week. Yesterday, LB was at a Waldorf co-op that we recently joined making gingerbread cookies and painting with watercolors while CC was at school taking a science test and preparing for her winter orchestra concert. Last night, after the wonderful concert, we found out that she is allergic, very allergic, to tree nuts. I also had my first experience jabbing her with an epipen which was no fun. It was a long, long week.<br />
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Right now, the Waldorf co-op is providing LB and I with a tiny community to belong to. She's getting art, music, stories, and lots of outside time with a few children instead of just working around my work schedule.<br />
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I'm back to being very afraid for CC with yet another life-threatening allergy, but we knew right away what the reaction was and didn't underestimate it. We reacted exactly the way we should have even though we were afraid, and we didn't panic. She seems to get in a perfect balance in her life then her health throws it out again. We'll fight to get control back again.<br />
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The best thing I heard all week: <br />
When I came home from the ER last night I peeked in LB's room to kiss her sleeping head good night. She rolled over and sang, "Carry me home."Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-38092803416651874132012-11-18T15:07:00.005-07:002012-11-18T15:08:37.358-07:00Week 12 1/2 Creating complexity<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Humans tend to create complexity."</blockquote>
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This week our home and school stretched a little to make room from more complexity. CC was asked by her cello teacher to audition for a strings group. We received a letter from her school notifying us that she'd been identified for their gifted and talented program. She also excitedly joined the Junior Classics League. LB started her bass lessons and found that she loves it as much as she though she would.<br />
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<b>Sixth Grade</b>:<br />
CC had another great week. She's realized one of the reasons she loves Latin (besides the fact that it is orderly and logical) is that she has never learned it before so it is all new to her. She was frustrated with her science this week because the topic was ecosystems. She has very strong feelings about human intervention in ecosystems and strongly disagreed with the simplistic answers provided in her textbook. She's currently loving math because her teacher has moved her and a few other girls to the back row in class and started assigning them more challenging problems for each topic they cover in class instead of the more simple problems. Overall, she had a great week in school but is looking forward to a week off.<br />
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<b>Second Grade</b>:<br />
This week LB and I enjoyed Jan Brett's newest book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mossy-Jan-Brett/dp/0399257829/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353001026&sr=1-1&keywords=mossy+by+jan+brett">Mossy</a> about a turtle taken from her pond. After we read it and examined all of the pictures, we pulled out a book of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Natural-History-Smithsonian-DK-Publishing/dp/0756667526/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353000990&sr=1-1&keywords=smithsonian+natural+history+the+ultimate+visual+guide+to+everything+on+earth">Natural History</a> and looked up the names of as many plants and things as we could find. It was a great way to tie literature with science. Along with <u>Mossy</u>, we enjoyed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Swirl-by-ebook/dp/B006O3LR2C/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1353001080&sr=1-1">Swirl by Swirl</a> which is another illustrated science poetry book by Joyce Sidman.<br />
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She worked hard on her vision therapy exercises to get her eyes to focus together as she moves them. We continued in ETC6 with phonics along with AAR2. She had her first actual reading assignment from a book since we started vision therapy. She was very nervous and resistant to reading, but once she started, she was surprised at how well she read. She's still been working with Daddy in math - slow and steady. I still like R&S2 for her. The amount of practice seems like a lot to me, but it makes her feel successful and helps to make it automatic. We're still working through the OM Folk tales which are varied and entertaining.<br />
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Our week was good. I'm looking forward to them being off from school next week to add some simplicity back to our lives for a short time. Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-68642217847360872872012-11-09T17:51:00.000-07:002012-11-09T17:52:59.487-07:00Week 12 - Fall Back, Reading, MusicWith the time change, it is dark when I finish work, but the sun rises as I make my morning coffee. I'm never sure if it is a good trade.<br />
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Second Grade:<br />
School seemed a lot more like school this week. I've continued to increase LB's work back near normal levels. It seems to take us all day, but we're getting through it. She does 4 vision exercises daily which can take a half hour or up to an hour depending on how many times she has to straighten her hair and adjust the eye patch. She's been doing R&S Math lessons daily again and has decided that Daddy is the perfect person to do review math with her. She does ETC6 with GMa daily. I typically do <i>Life of Fred </i>and memory work with her. She also gets a nice folk tale every morning plus a story at least one more time during the day. She and GMa spent a lot of time this week coloring pictures of horses and Thanksgiving pictures that we printed from <a href="http://www.raisingourkids.com/coloring-pages/holiday/">here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LB riding an elephant at the penny arcade.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All About Reading - or is that play?</td></tr>
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This week, we started All About Reading 2. She knows all of the words, but her vision slows her down. I hope this will help her learn some strategies to tackle new words and get practice while we work on her vision. She enjoyed the first two lessons so far, and I found out that she is pretty good at spelling. She likes the activities best. So far we've made strips of ants with words to feed an anteater and matched puppies with their toys for rhyming words. <br />
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Sixth Grade:<br />
CC had a rough week this week, but is doing well. She had another stomach virus this week and missed a day of school. She also had several quizzes, a science test and an ancient Egyptian feast (we brought ale (ginger ale), dates, gf bread and honey, and gf couscous).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CC and GMa taking a break from window shopping.</td></tr>
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She's been working on Christmas songs in cello so we all have "Silent Night" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" stuck in our heads already.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guess who's going to play bass?</td></tr>
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Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-55884116686713977752012-11-02T16:50:00.000-06:002012-11-02T16:51:09.149-06:00Week 11 - Slow and Steady<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LB learning about food in ancient Rome</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CC still not feeling well, but still exploring ancient Rome</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LB and I enjoying history</td></tr>
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<b>LB - Second Grade</b><br />
We started reading the Oak Meadow book of folk tales and started back where we left off in R&S Math. Additional, we played lots of card and board games, watched a lot of Magic School Bus and went for long daily walks. The VT exercises are still hard for her, but she is making little improvements every day. I also installed the new Classical Conversations Year 1 app on my phone. I have a CC book and cd but have had trouble making the review a part of our daily routine. Maybe this will help.<br />
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<b>CC - Sixth Grade</b><br />
Went back to the allergist Monday for a follow-up. After a week of watchfulness and worry, she is still steadily improving from last week's systemic reaction. The allergists have gone over her records and agreed that she should not have anymore allergy shots. We're going back next week for another follow-up and to discuss an alternative long-term management plan. I read a terrific post this week about anaphylaxis. <br />
<a href="http://familynature.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/the-epipen-long-time-owner-first-time-user/"><b>http://familynature.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/the-epipen-long-time-owner-first-time-user/ </b></a><br />
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Not a lot to report in school because it is terrific. She's been learning about ancient Egypt, prepositional phrases, genetics, prime number factoring, and learning lots more Latin vocabulary. Even though she's ahead of her orchestra class, she enjoys playing as part of a group with her classmates. She was spending a couple of hours a day after school doing homework, but now finishes most of it during their afternoon study hall/ tutorial period which has been a big relief to her. She still practices her cello most days for about an hour or until her fingers or arm hurts.<br />
<br />
Last night while we were talking about school, she explained how much easier it is to do GCF using prime number factorization and asked why I didn't teach her to do it that way first. Try explaining to a 6th grader that there is more than one way to do it, and that she first learned GCF in 4th grade which was way before she learned prime numbers.<br />
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We had a good week. It was not exciting except our visit to the Pompeii exhibit. We are in a slow and steady mode right now.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-44433922269287775212012-10-26T11:29:00.000-06:002012-10-26T11:29:08.059-06:00Week 10 1/2 - Art, Allergies and Vision Therapy<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRu7TS_ZSoDc5rSUhfPQGVOkiNiLS21JRbq4vYBJ-A84jshcZYCki41n5MUoL7J0eQlQnoyjwIL_BDWKO6tUlzvMMfJG_DmXaDaR7jtuOkiigtWHUsNeegSKCFe3-PQII2DVUn8tD3iug4/s1600/IMG_2482.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRu7TS_ZSoDc5rSUhfPQGVOkiNiLS21JRbq4vYBJ-A84jshcZYCki41n5MUoL7J0eQlQnoyjwIL_BDWKO6tUlzvMMfJG_DmXaDaR7jtuOkiigtWHUsNeegSKCFe3-PQII2DVUn8tD3iug4/s320/IMG_2482.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last weekend we took LB's friend with us to ride</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26Dpa6g2FpUfVqLLRCeTQuRyc3gLvcShG-Sm2OBz1OCK6MyG8nAwu2w9AGXsmk2bQJ2tRz5Y-75vFK0c7VZw4gJ4YZPTf9-pGuPn8rd4hhc4kYJOLW0pAQm8XmKTR09L1PUQ-a_06wlJF/s1600/IMG_2485.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26Dpa6g2FpUfVqLLRCeTQuRyc3gLvcShG-Sm2OBz1OCK6MyG8nAwu2w9AGXsmk2bQJ2tRz5Y-75vFK0c7VZw4gJ4YZPTf9-pGuPn8rd4hhc4kYJOLW0pAQm8XmKTR09L1PUQ-a_06wlJF/s320/IMG_2485.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what LB wanted for her birthday</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMhDsUGnh54FxPqs3lKW1i8Pd7T5KagZ44go9PxtBFADABjAtvKWRk4BIuqmo11ji30woiFzAmbcOCtJcmBHGQuB3oPjoflbCby4tvA03B94w47DOps-A6PPWG_fLZZo90yxDFG0tvNH9/s1600/IMG_2495.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMhDsUGnh54FxPqs3lKW1i8Pd7T5KagZ44go9PxtBFADABjAtvKWRk4BIuqmo11ji30woiFzAmbcOCtJcmBHGQuB3oPjoflbCby4tvA03B94w47DOps-A6PPWG_fLZZo90yxDFG0tvNH9/s320/IMG_2495.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She's wanted to do this since she was "little"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4lMWXaa0bATGMeQISDWXQm7RxNlp6YuCHM2-esL19PhOd4CkWuONcJKWNgHSEkelK_gFoHBIzuvRzKVJ-Gb21migy5QuilAx52m2PYOgLYQhTENf8pfk_RJdTPJnNQSZY9GEtJBqDfsV/s1600/IMG_2498.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4lMWXaa0bATGMeQISDWXQm7RxNlp6YuCHM2-esL19PhOd4CkWuONcJKWNgHSEkelK_gFoHBIzuvRzKVJ-Gb21migy5QuilAx52m2PYOgLYQhTENf8pfk_RJdTPJnNQSZY9GEtJBqDfsV/s320/IMG_2498.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had perfect weather and a beautiful ride</td></tr>
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This week CC had 2 days off from school so I'm only counting it as a half week.<br />
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Monday night I had one of those rare moments when I felt like I was a picture-perfect classical educator. LB was tucked into bed listening to the audiobook of<i> Moby Dick,</i> and CC was stretched out in bed reading a summary of the <i>Aeneid </i>in her Latin book. Of course the perfect moment didn't last long because LB was in chapter 135 and the whale was attacking, so it was much too exciting to fall asleep to which somehow led to her playing with green food coloring in the bathroom. CC thought the summary of the <i>Aeneid</i> was shallow and left out too much of the story and couldn't figure out how to summarize such a poor version of a story she already knew. Oh well. I enjoyed my moment while it lasted.<br />
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LB had her first vision therapy appointment Monday, and we were given 15 minutes of homework to do everyday. The therapist warned that because her eyes had such a large problem with tracking that she would only be able to work about a minute per eye at a time. She suggested that we break up the work into 4 or 5 sessions throughout the day. It sounds like a little bit of work, but it is taking up our whole day. I was warned by other moms to scale down school expectations during therapy. She gets tired eyes after the first session of tracking exercises. After the third session, she gets a headache. I think it will be a while before she can realistically do schoolwork and VT, but we've been playing lots of games.<br />
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When I first saw how much her little eyes jump around during the tracking exercises, I was shocked. I can't believe that her eyes are that bad and that I didn't know. I'm feeling pretty guilty.<br />
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Tuesday afternoon I was back to feeling pretty happy with the education my kids are getting. When I asked CC what the highlight of her day was she said that it was that she got to touch a Van Gogh. That is a really cool highlight. I got to see the Van Gogh but not touch it. A private collector brought his amazing collection of art to her school. She loved hearing him talk about collecting it because he had such a passion for each piece that it became alive to the students. He had even met Picasso and told the story of having dinner with the artist. LB liked the Jackson Pollack and the Da Vinci. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time looking at them, but I enjoyed seeing such a diverse collection.<br />
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Wednesday ended the school week. CC is still doing great in school and thriving from the interaction with girls with similar interests and teachers that are passionate about their subjects. LB is working hard at her vision therapy but having trouble sleeping this week. I don't know what's up.<br />
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Since CC had two days off from school and her allergies have been better because of the weather, we decided to try another allergy shot. She had been bumped down to the lower than low bottle of serum, and we expected to not have a reaction because of the dilution. Of course, she had another systemic reaction. Instead of a quick shot and a 30 minute wait to make sure there was no reaction, we spend almost 2 hours there. The doctors are reevaluating and will call us with a new plan. I don't know that I am a strong enough person to take her back for shots again, but she is terrified that if her allergies don't improve before spring that she'll spend the whole spring in the hospital. <br />
<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-48430401477399885652012-10-19T10:47:00.000-06:002012-10-19T11:22:09.309-06:00Week 10, Birthday, Math and Reading glasses<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpScZqX4CAn9LCIMY9xKvgp43CXU4T3ki-GfnxklsSRg7FxTWHj9WMbeFxj0P5lsHJj3xOHr8liggub6ZDFtrDgB54xoD8HLgyC72TB6PXv30E1lIknYJMOW7E3SuPd8f15qiFiftcLbCz/s1600/IMG_1452.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpScZqX4CAn9LCIMY9xKvgp43CXU4T3ki-GfnxklsSRg7FxTWHj9WMbeFxj0P5lsHJj3xOHr8liggub6ZDFtrDgB54xoD8HLgyC72TB6PXv30E1lIknYJMOW7E3SuPd8f15qiFiftcLbCz/s320/IMG_1452.JPG" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LB is 8</td></tr>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Happy Birthday, LB! Darling LB turned 8 this week.</span></h3>
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One of the good things about homeschooling is taking the day off for your birthday. LB got breakfast in bed and a trip to the zoo for her birthday. We spent the zoo trip following her around the zoo at her pace. She also had a yummy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Gluten-Free-Pantry-Decadent-Chocolate/dp/B000EVYUG0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1350664800&sr=8-6&keywords=gluten+free+chocolate+cake">gluten free chocolate cake</a> with a dairy free chocolate ganache frosting. Seven was fun, but she is happy to be eight.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5R_OtuITGioRKuB0irxH_sjgX4PVLQS79IRylc-ooQlreh_sCxuIuCji8KZoJC1MsTMHiG49uXZJ-8EfIugBj3mY52M1wS8t5oy-VGvoLZd0BNPwvoqiFj3-zWZnuDpvawZWZa3_DITL/s1600/IMG_1473.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5R_OtuITGioRKuB0irxH_sjgX4PVLQS79IRylc-ooQlreh_sCxuIuCji8KZoJC1MsTMHiG49uXZJ-8EfIugBj3mY52M1wS8t5oy-VGvoLZd0BNPwvoqiFj3-zWZnuDpvawZWZa3_DITL/s320/IMG_1473.JPG" width="239" /></a>CC's math project. By all that is holy, please. I don't have enough patience to watch a child color-code when she could be graphing. Really. She kills me. I'm a monochromatic kind of person. She's artistic. Somebody save me from artistic people. How on earth did this happen to me?! Smile and breathe slowly.<br />
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She really did a great job. She spent two weeks working on a graphing project. She didn't just want to do something simple and easy to answer. After a lot of effort, she chose to look at the effects of bias on surveys. It took her a lot of time to design a question set that would demonstrate bias. Then we spent 5 days collecting data. The results convincingly showed that bias has an influence and negative bias has a stronger influence than positive. (51%-49% favored dogs over cats in the unbiased question. Only 30% chose whichever was the target of the negative bias. 59% chose the target of positive bias.) She had to graph her data in two different ways which forced her to figure out how to account for the different sample sizes in her data set and still show her findings. I think it was a terrific project. She worked hard and learned how important it is to look carefully at the design of a study instead of just looking at the results.<br />
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This week her orchestra class had their first concert in morning assembly. They were terrific. I still think it is amazingly bold to take a whole class of sixth grade public school students and turn them into a string orchestra. My brother always notes that the kids are self-selected into the school so they aren't the same as a class at a typical public school, but still. This is not a group of 65 kids paying private teachers and paying for their own instruments. It is bold to expect they can achieve this. At the end of the year, these kids will sounds wonderful. At the end of the 5 year orchestra program, they will be amazing.<br />
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LB's reading glasses arrived Monday. She was very excited about them, but I think she was disappointed too. Despite her dad and I both warning her that the glasses should make reading easier by making words bigger but that they wouldn't correct her vision problems, she was disappointed. She spent a lot of time playing with the way things looked with her glasses during her lessons, but she eventually put them away before finishing her work without them. I think she had hoped they would making make everything all better. Later in the week, she brought out again to read a chapter from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mercy-Watson-Goes-Ride-DiCamillo/dp/0763645052/ref=pd_sim_b_6">Mercy Watson</a> and said that they really helped.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYo3Jdzxl6QTNucFZY1TfICJMAPXl6zkFE-PhIc5KHx659lnf-7suDlADjy9NGpDmUeglxOeyWZJ-Y_4KotQeqvS3mYXb03F7wiOW6NvxWg8dyM3ITlIfEoKNXqbOpCF9BowEKyop_vSiT/s1600/IMG_1454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYo3Jdzxl6QTNucFZY1TfICJMAPXl6zkFE-PhIc5KHx659lnf-7suDlADjy9NGpDmUeglxOeyWZJ-Y_4KotQeqvS3mYXb03F7wiOW6NvxWg8dyM3ITlIfEoKNXqbOpCF9BowEKyop_vSiT/s320/IMG_1454.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Between the new glasses and her birthday, she didn't do a lot of school. She only completed three days of work this week. She had a lot of fun, and is making progress in math and has been doing well with her science and poetry also. Our book highlight for the week was <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Emperor-Other-Poems-Night/dp/0547152280/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350662885&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dark+emporer">The Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night</a>. It is a mix of descriptive poetry and natural history with beautiful illustrations. It was our first poetry book by Sidman, and I think we'll read some more.<br />
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It think it is interesting how very different my kids' taste in poetry at this age has been. In second grade, BB loved nonsense poetry by Shel Silverstein like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Sidewalk-Ends-30th-Anniversary/dp/0060572345/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350663085&sr=1-1&keywords=where+the+sidewalk+ends+by+shel+silverstein">Where the Sidewalk Ends</a>. CC loved dramatic poetry like "<a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/ChargeoftheLightBrigade.html">Charge of the Light Brigade</a>" by Tennyson. LB loves lyrical poetry like "<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/daffodils/">Daffodils</a>" by Wordsworth.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-4127521766643142022012-10-17T07:33:00.000-06:002012-10-17T11:53:54.921-06:00Wordless Wednesday <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciWfvqFk9qGbjIvCpkSswtPLGSeKpwBTRM6GaN7cMTMFWTO_FuVZeUfqRtOhs6pzcWVV_fUyMxVi8nXarXbndSaJuHXlVSyiyfAEkm02AvpKLl5VuNhlyJdroEN5Xd_UcnIinVFPTAaFQ/s1600/IMG_1460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciWfvqFk9qGbjIvCpkSswtPLGSeKpwBTRM6GaN7cMTMFWTO_FuVZeUfqRtOhs6pzcWVV_fUyMxVi8nXarXbndSaJuHXlVSyiyfAEkm02AvpKLl5VuNhlyJdroEN5Xd_UcnIinVFPTAaFQ/s400/IMG_1460.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Autumn morning view from my office & family room</td></tr>
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<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-46370655477320842672012-10-12T09:45:00.001-06:002012-10-12T12:15:04.031-06:00Week 9 Mitosis and a Doll Party<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjrSJdAUMj1WnEikIyJruW3dw-AAQo5W2ZhQrKJuffyXXgcZz1OsRH4KBcajaQqw1DXlJyS5sha6bjGfDbCGxrt-TDqk6p1Itt-hsJki0tYcnOqxlPrYtsFuqGqjim-Br2EfTDmBAFHwn/s1600/IMG_1431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjrSJdAUMj1WnEikIyJruW3dw-AAQo5W2ZhQrKJuffyXXgcZz1OsRH4KBcajaQqw1DXlJyS5sha6bjGfDbCGxrt-TDqk6p1Itt-hsJki0tYcnOqxlPrYtsFuqGqjim-Br2EfTDmBAFHwn/s320/IMG_1431.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A birthday party for Sammy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzHVH1967OuAQvbsNwGmhRk_sLGo5j7UlWCNpwksdJT_wk_TTh0_D7O0HwNr3qdBS4PGTvETT3dM_ipxG5MslmFJg7znZrjiBYdGmLC-oB1jorwk2A4_qrc6DkShyphenhyphenmS7gXsRwVrRQ0JAG/s1600/IMG_1430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzHVH1967OuAQvbsNwGmhRk_sLGo5j7UlWCNpwksdJT_wk_TTh0_D7O0HwNr3qdBS4PGTvETT3dM_ipxG5MslmFJg7znZrjiBYdGmLC-oB1jorwk2A4_qrc6DkShyphenhyphenmS7gXsRwVrRQ0JAG/s320/IMG_1430.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sammy and LB with the toy LB made for her</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fZO-SFui6B7_6EG1BJcO-RRJliXDKvjXVymtFizg4mNnfUdh4L5KvB62iWeSLTIdBMX_oWycQo-_4eW8eGFQgo_GHet_C01nMEKxRSZMRq1N_DliQMHVrzQEamTa1f1mkOIQv37vjsjh/s1600/IMG_1419.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fZO-SFui6B7_6EG1BJcO-RRJliXDKvjXVymtFizg4mNnfUdh4L5KvB62iWeSLTIdBMX_oWycQo-_4eW8eGFQgo_GHet_C01nMEKxRSZMRq1N_DliQMHVrzQEamTa1f1mkOIQv37vjsjh/s320/IMG_1419.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A lovely view from a lovely walk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6Z7R4ck7N4xW547N6NnEYHGODaM9m1POYR-wu0MLAUViUdb5rJA92KZ3uXePdUjfs5MkY66AOOWHtAsGHCKLVojQEp5P0ixylpPKCR6wqI6ZxvkZZodWpix_1NWTjWZ6Q_6yuPFkrw9H/s1600/IMG_1426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6Z7R4ck7N4xW547N6NnEYHGODaM9m1POYR-wu0MLAUViUdb5rJA92KZ3uXePdUjfs5MkY66AOOWHtAsGHCKLVojQEp5P0ixylpPKCR6wqI6ZxvkZZodWpix_1NWTjWZ6Q_6yuPFkrw9H/s320/IMG_1426.JPG" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CC's Insect collection for science</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlU__5U-EI9eQAKJ1bFsJ2J44tg6blX_x2LHtBgb-KlU6YuLxRrtOHOFQY3ou6CaRpidhVvqDMZ3uZt7EjOoQsFc03pchgEVOXPDsLCSky7M9JQ3I1hPm7mBeQkYz8AMtCUVT_YdjOo1kM/s1600/IMG_1425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlU__5U-EI9eQAKJ1bFsJ2J44tg6blX_x2LHtBgb-KlU6YuLxRrtOHOFQY3ou6CaRpidhVvqDMZ3uZt7EjOoQsFc03pchgEVOXPDsLCSky7M9JQ3I1hPm7mBeQkYz8AMtCUVT_YdjOo1kM/s320/IMG_1425.JPG" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her grade - the color coding was appreciated</td></tr>
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This week in science, CC learned about mitosis. Her teacher had the class act out the stages. Ideas that were just words on a page at the beginning of the week are now tied to funny images of her friends lining up, pulling apart and becoming their own cells. I loved the light in her eyes while she was describing how much fun she had learning about mitosis - even if she had looked at me strangely when I was helping her with her mitosis-related vocabulary earlier in the week. Somehow me acting out mitosis in her room just isn't as memorable as 28 girls acting it out together. Cheers to Mr. Science teacher!<br />
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I've been telling CC all year that her "Lit. Comp." teacher will grow on her. Today, she admitted that he is. They started the section on prepositions not only with a song but also demonstrating prepositions with their chairs. Prepositions have to be one of the best parts of speech. At least grammar class wasn't boring today for a change. <br />
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LB sat with me one night while I was watching CC do her <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Warriners-Handbook-Introductory-Course-Mechanics/dp/0030986265/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349963706&sr=1-11&keywords=holt+grammar+warriner%27s">grammar</a> homework and decided that she wants to do grammar to. I pulled out my old FLL from when CC was in first grade - such sweet memories. I have learned so much since then.<br />
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For school this week, LB did her math, poetry copywork and science. That's all except for stories. We played some games, did some art, sewed a stuffed dog, baked a chocolate cake and even made <a href="http://glutenfreemommy.com/pumpkin-chicken-enchiladas/">chicken enchiladas</a>, but schoolwork was short. If you can find a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dove-Isabeau-Jane-Yolen/dp/0152015051/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350065533&sr=1-1&keywords=dove+isabeau">Dove Isabeau</a>, it is a great story and very different than many fairy tales. We loved that the girl was sweet and fierce just like the best girls we know.<br />
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<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-30079144490519806402012-10-05T10:56:00.003-06:002012-10-05T11:00:48.972-06:00Week 8 Vision Development<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDpi-RJi8xhODlImWtz-JnR0rzi1N9ivSKZsMNsDox4hpF0h-X32csEUukmJXcFLhF8HQF-kb85d1I9dZZ-omMN8yzx23wQ0qmK1gK05uhYF3c09rZxCVNpidMBlnGfHWybEQKixvgOmk/s1600/IMG_2439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDpi-RJi8xhODlImWtz-JnR0rzi1N9ivSKZsMNsDox4hpF0h-X32csEUukmJXcFLhF8HQF-kb85d1I9dZZ-omMN8yzx23wQ0qmK1gK05uhYF3c09rZxCVNpidMBlnGfHWybEQKixvgOmk/s320/IMG_2439.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mountain in fall</td></tr>
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This week LB had her evaluation by the developmental optometrist. It was very interesting to watch. I could tell that she was curious about the process and trying very hard to not have anything "wrong" with her. After two hours of hard work, the doctor concluded that she has tracking problems and convergence insufficiency. Essentially, when LB reads across a page, her eyes can't stay focused on the same point so words go into and out of focus as she reads, and she easily looses her vertically in the page. It explains the way she reads, why she tires easily from reading, why words "jump around the page", and a lot of other things. Now that I know more about how she sees, I understand a lot more about her reading, her lack of confidence about reading, and her resistance to reading despite her ability to read. We're going to do some vision therapy starting in a couple a weeks. Hopefully, it will help a lot. In the mean time, she has chosen some really cute reading glasses that should make it easier to read when she has to.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2vOMHydxdM-_n5tVblpEMVtxg8Ao-V0OLivcIPgOrqk0lTUsInUuHTrgKwCLX3qz8KqHt0o8fwu3snlZxIrq1utVGS4mw-NMFLwA3l-3NmXVHwjCxkDs_nNzd1EfeBEYRcSfe-XccVJs/s1600/IMG_2410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2vOMHydxdM-_n5tVblpEMVtxg8Ao-V0OLivcIPgOrqk0lTUsInUuHTrgKwCLX3qz8KqHt0o8fwu3snlZxIrq1utVGS4mw-NMFLwA3l-3NmXVHwjCxkDs_nNzd1EfeBEYRcSfe-XccVJs/s320/IMG_2410.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LB and tiny aspen</td></tr>
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That was LB's big accomplishment for the week. I've spent the time since the appointment reconsidering the material we're using. I understand why the simple, clean pages of R&S math work better for her than the other math books we've used. I'm adding in additional read alouds for her and some daily board games. I want some more art and less reading until we've started making progress in VT. I'm keeping our science, poetry, copywork, and math just the way it is because it has been working well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayZXzLk4SKsfJIpu3emWATF1znplezYrmFyi-gBK3zYTHdxs2lmFNoYth927HR2UIWx3XciLbZW49ta69FrJXHdKjcHwT8Hvt1GldAFoIR-AsLeHmHPoH0PL6ozsbVp6jN6K5Z10yhyE/s1600/IMG_2471.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayZXzLk4SKsfJIpu3emWATF1znplezYrmFyi-gBK3zYTHdxs2lmFNoYth927HR2UIWx3XciLbZW49ta69FrJXHdKjcHwT8Hvt1GldAFoIR-AsLeHmHPoH0PL6ozsbVp6jN6K5Z10yhyE/s320/IMG_2471.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CC and more aspen</td></tr>
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CC had a great week at school this week. She wore a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A145EY/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i03">dust mask</a> to orchestra to help with the rosin aggravating her asthma. It was a huge improvement for her. I really like that her school creates a culture of respect and kindness. Instead of the other kids making fun of her, they expressed concern about her breathing, supported her and celebrated with her when it proved to be effective.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family picture - I'm the tall one in the back</td></tr>
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She had a history test this week covering Ancient Mesopotamia and did well on it (they used <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Near-Eastern-World-Times/dp/0195161599/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z">this book</a> for this part of the history class). She also had quizzes in Latin and Math and a playing test in orchestra. She is still doing great in school and still loving it. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0wZc3QSq8i4PXXmVqhPfwp9Gb153A0ibrj0BZVFDYW1DQVMWKKficpipTS9gQUHHVU2G2qMhrs6ha0pH3FFVjE-Q6BHpe0wv6EGD5Yll3Rod7QL3AKwm80oRCrtvoe4NClmHCz-GkuVM/s1600/IMG_2466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0wZc3QSq8i4PXXmVqhPfwp9Gb153A0ibrj0BZVFDYW1DQVMWKKficpipTS9gQUHHVU2G2qMhrs6ha0pH3FFVjE-Q6BHpe0wv6EGD5Yll3Rod7QL3AKwm80oRCrtvoe4NClmHCz-GkuVM/s320/IMG_2466.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or maybe I'm in red</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZaZRbcZgk8ZNHTFl80MAS9yKhqCIsjEH4FUum742TPJP8rgBco1qUcdNRze-4nQPJUovg6ejU_7CpjHwOJCIljnRDRtc9C54T0P1PTFzgEkuI0DNWkREwFhAlJvccIeojzWsQB3nm_gI/s1600/IMG_2360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZaZRbcZgk8ZNHTFl80MAS9yKhqCIsjEH4FUum742TPJP8rgBco1qUcdNRze-4nQPJUovg6ejU_7CpjHwOJCIljnRDRtc9C54T0P1PTFzgEkuI0DNWkREwFhAlJvccIeojzWsQB3nm_gI/s320/IMG_2360.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what the top of the mountain looks like</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5-T4B1PpIr-9Z0fonwurRBwY4hS83QtbIUVzLJbCmy1dwG9IjsVQSh2BTTWt_ZHPFEc-glT3qQbOmfPgiPiIF0tqv9XVwZ_MGHLMr_PHMRe39XlQOn3TNWkf7kU3ZXFwyE84E4a4RzCw/s1600/IMG_2365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5-T4B1PpIr-9Z0fonwurRBwY4hS83QtbIUVzLJbCmy1dwG9IjsVQSh2BTTWt_ZHPFEc-glT3qQbOmfPgiPiIF0tqv9XVwZ_MGHLMr_PHMRe39XlQOn3TNWkf7kU3ZXFwyE84E4a4RzCw/s320/IMG_2365.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or this about 15 minutes later when the storm blows by</td></tr>
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<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-9265285485464209752012-09-28T12:05:00.001-06:002012-09-28T12:05:39.397-06:00Week 7 Mermaids and Neutrinos<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ultra Deep Field Hubble View of a speck of a the universe</td></tr>
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I really love watching children become storytellers. Monday after LB was finished with her schoolwork, she excitedly pulled out a bunch of her stuffed animals to decide who would be the damsel in distress, the hero and the villain then told a cute story of a fair maiden captured by a dragon and rescued by a brave knight. She wasn't satisfied with the story so she pulled out more characters and things to use as costumes, drafted dh and I for parts and spent the next hour preparing a production of <i>Rapunzel </i>inspired by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rapunzel-Picture-Puffin-Books-Zelinsky/dp/0142301930/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348520787&sr=1-2&keywords=rapunzel">Zelinsky's beautiful telling</a>. She even wrote a script for daddy since he didn't know what the handsome prince was supposed to say. It all turned out exactly the way she wanted it to. She spent the afternoon telling a wonderful story that has been told many times before, but this time, she told it with her own voice.<br />
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A quick snapshot of my life because this moment is strangely typical:<br />
It is 5 pm. I have an hour or more left to work. CC is home from school practicing a Bach piece on cello so she can relax before she does her homework. I just finished helping LB make a mermaid tail for herself so she's stranded in her room for a while - I do know better than to just answer "Where is the duct tape?" without first asking "Why?". It is Tuesday, so there is taco meat in the crockpot. All I need for dinner is to find the spinach and tortillas and grate some cheese. Hubby is at work but should be home soon. Wait...CC is alternating Bach with the theme from <i>Jaws</i>. It was a long but good day; we have about 4 more hours before I send the kids to bed and one more after that before I can hopefully sit quietly for a minute with hubby.<br />
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Thursday morning, CC had a hard time getting up. She was tired and disgruntled. Once she came down to sausage and waffles for breakfast we started chatting. I shared with her the newest Hubble deep field photos then we talked about the scale of the universe. She'd learned about neutrinos in morning assembly and was explaining to me the relative size of things in the universe. Apparently, compared to neutrinos, we're unbelievably large although looking at space through the deep field, we feel very small. I love curious minds.<br />
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By the end of the week, LB has done 4 lessons in R&S Math. She's doing great and has been getting the math without the stories this week. I still like the amount of practice that she is doing daily because I see that it is helping her to remember the problems instead of having to work them out every time. She illustrated and copied "The Eagle" again and copied two more short poems this week. She's still doing the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Science-Evan-Moor-Educational-Publishers/dp/1596734205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348844627&sr=8-1&keywords=daily+science+grade+2">Daily Science workbook</a>. I like that she is writing full sentences for her answers and learning to use and spell science words like <i>marsupial</i> and <i>germinate</i>. I think of it more as writing than as science, but it is a bit of both. We started reading <i>Little House in the Big Woods</i> in the mornings for our literature. For history this week we read<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Year-Castle-Time-Goes/dp/1580137962/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348846302&sr=1-1&keywords=a+year+in+a+castle"> A Year in a Castle</a> and enjoyed reading about the history of <a href="http://www.castlewales.com/caerphil.html">Caerphilly Castle </a>which has some family ancestry ties. From the point of Vikings to modern day, I should be able to link in an ancestor or two into each time period.<br />
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CC has been doing great at school until Thursday. I had to pick her up because of her asthma Thursday morning after orchestra then she came down with a stomach virus in the wee hours of Friday morning. When she went to public school, I was concerned about a lot of things academically and socially, but I had forgotten the stew of germs that simmers in public schools. I'm just trying to remember that this is good for her immune system. I guess limited germ exposure is both one of the benefits and negatives of home schooling. <br />
<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-57052334988280284622012-09-21T16:32:00.000-06:002012-09-21T16:32:32.729-06:00Week 6 Finally getting easier<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMa2hOl3sVnZyLM8yEsiIMl3bBe5XLB4KbpKSeKlSj5x2T6ygOQ79bHHyQQPwyeUDivbr5vsqiokfy3kDoibm2QDATsCXyPOmdW8DnwhH62K_4_RwB0t8gA6dEsuolU-rIqeJMee-wrM/s1600/IMG_1399.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMa2hOl3sVnZyLM8yEsiIMl3bBe5XLB4KbpKSeKlSj5x2T6ygOQ79bHHyQQPwyeUDivbr5vsqiokfy3kDoibm2QDATsCXyPOmdW8DnwhH62K_4_RwB0t8gA6dEsuolU-rIqeJMee-wrM/s320/IMG_1399.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting history map project</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where did fall come from?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_Y5blXyaGv-i6l7bpzcdPzPJgq10GOi85Wq41mJqMBZ5KLu9JVHIZuZGT2RuS2mh4bsWxn2r75RpTqKr20t5DyOVaB6tx10GJzfu0ba9hp1Ch1hHRcs2cQco65qu30vD_yyWDc8FW4s/s1600/IMG_1401.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_Y5blXyaGv-i6l7bpzcdPzPJgq10GOi85Wq41mJqMBZ5KLu9JVHIZuZGT2RuS2mh4bsWxn2r75RpTqKr20t5DyOVaB6tx10GJzfu0ba9hp1Ch1hHRcs2cQco65qu30vD_yyWDc8FW4s/s320/IMG_1401.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It is important to take the toys for a walk</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CC practicing cello after school</td></tr>
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<br />
Well, CC finally messed up. She forgot to bring home a book and couldn't do her assignment for Lit./Comp. When she told her teacher the next day, he said something that included the words "finally" and "you are really human." She had to make up the work the next night and the world didn't end - I had assured her it wouldn't and was happy to be proven right. She also noticed that school seems to be getting easier which is good. She's settling into a routine and feeling good about it.<br />
<br />
This week, LB learned to joys of doing her work early in the day which include playing cards with me during lunch. We've decided our favorite "class" of the day is cuddles which begins sometime after 8:30am and lasts for quite a while. It is one of the best parts of school.<br />
<br />
LB chose <i>The Eagle</i> as her poem this week. She's copied it and is working to memorize it:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>The Eagle </b></div>
<span class="author">By <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/alfred-tennyson"> Alfred, Lord Tennyson</a> </span>
<br />
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
</div>
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
</div>
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
</div>
<br />
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
</div>
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
He watches from his mountain walls,
</div>
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
As a peek into our day: this morning I reviewed Latin with CC over breakfast then went to morning assembly at her school to hear the fourth year orchestra class perform <span style="color: olive;"> Camille Saint-Saens' <i>Carnival of the Animals</i></span>. Hubby and LB put up a tent in the living room, and I made them peanut butter gf waffles for breakfast. Hubby is trying to get some work done and LB is supposed to be doing her math, but I think they're both playing. After I get some of my work done, I'll get her to finish so we can play Clue. <br />
<br />
Schoolwork for both girls is under control. We're settling into a nice routine that helps me to feel successful and balanced. This was a good week. Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-37163355739431522762012-09-10T20:37:00.000-06:002012-09-14T13:20:58.508-06:00Week 5 With Focus on Math<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrI-dDR3wf2sPnz7qSg7Dt1UdM11JPNQm-cV-WCCQeV7_9uuASiPNx6dJZB8BlfIFW33fSicpz66OIVWbNXLrU5pqfwcjF3jIyj4nkNab21u65HxyOdla-tMpwrSjtYuR3wbVRiDaBsXo/s1600/IMG_1391.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<b> </b><br />
<b>History:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiRnC4OuCVCOtPhFBaQOFqo5RRFfTvra99J98SCLlrQZKVnuMI4OaxDjLq1eRdUV1dQ8GUFmCv8f1QHPLxCl4f3OmgxNa8Jrzqt73G90EIxmy_kX2NeHqi_66yocRzQAYi_MqL3lJNQns/s1600/IMG_1393.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiRnC4OuCVCOtPhFBaQOFqo5RRFfTvra99J98SCLlrQZKVnuMI4OaxDjLq1eRdUV1dQ8GUFmCv8f1QHPLxCl4f3OmgxNa8Jrzqt73G90EIxmy_kX2NeHqi_66yocRzQAYi_MqL3lJNQns/s320/IMG_1393.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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LB has been spending her evenings listening to David Tennant read<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-to-Train-Your-Dragon/dp/B003IR2ANC/ref=la_B000APSVVK_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347404452&sr=1-1"> How to Train Your Dragon</a> to her (isn't that sweet of him?). She has decided that it is time for history again and wants to study Vikings which are always fun. We're using our trusty <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Time-Traveler-Medieval-Ancient-Usborne/dp/0746033656/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347649685&sr=1-1&keywords=time+traveler">Time Traveler</a> for most of our historical information along with a globe and some books on Norse mythology. She spent some time in the afternoons practicing her longsword skills with her sister and breaking down boxes to fit in the recycle bin with the those wooden swords. The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Middle-Times-Travel-Agency/dp/1550745387/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347649338&sr=8-3&keywords=good+times+travel+agency">Good Times Travel Agency</a> book on the Middle Ages arrived, and judging by her reaction to the book, we might be ready for the Middle Ages next week. Although, I just might pick up their Viking book if I can find an inexpensive copy so we can stay here a little longer.<br />
<br />
<b>Science, Writing and Reading:</b><br />
LB started avoiding the CLP Nature Reader so I decided it was time for a switch. I pulled out the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Science-Evan-Moor-Educational-Publishers/dp/1596734205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347404014&sr=8-1&keywords=daily+science">Daily Science 2 workbook</a> and did a few lessons a day with her. She read each lesson, answered the questions, and talked about the discussion questions with me. It was a fun change. I changed out the writing to poetry copywork from our old, tried-and-true <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2900759774942211468#editor/target=post;postID=3716335573943152276">IEW poetry book</a>. I also brought up a shelf of mixed level books from our basement library so she can have independent reading which really excited her. I can't really decide where we stand on reading this week, but she did make it through a stack of books.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrI-dDR3wf2sPnz7qSg7Dt1UdM11JPNQm-cV-WCCQeV7_9uuASiPNx6dJZB8BlfIFW33fSicpz66OIVWbNXLrU5pqfwcjF3jIyj4nkNab21u65HxyOdla-tMpwrSjtYuR3wbVRiDaBsXo/s1600/IMG_1391.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrI-dDR3wf2sPnz7qSg7Dt1UdM11JPNQm-cV-WCCQeV7_9uuASiPNx6dJZB8BlfIFW33fSicpz66OIVWbNXLrU5pqfwcjF3jIyj4nkNab21u65HxyOdla-tMpwrSjtYuR3wbVRiDaBsXo/s320/IMG_1391.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dogs aren't very good at math.</td></tr>
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<b>Math</b>:<br />
<br />
Currently math is going well. I'm pretty sure I have low expectations gained from years of failures teaching math, but I like math with LB right now. We're doing a chapter of LoF Cats which is too easy and too fun to really count. We follow that with a section of R&S Math 2. It starts with what should be review of basic operations on numbers. This week we started subtracting from 6. The math was easy, and we made it fun. She doesn't have these facts as automatically as I think she should so I'm not skimping on this step. We're also using toys. We use Calico Critter toddlers which to the casual observer may not make good manipulatives, but they are for LB. For the 6's, I chose 2 sets of triplets that each have 2 girls and 1 boy. Each and every math problem had a story this week. Six toddlers were playing when the 2 boys decided to chase the girls. How many girls did they chase? Six toddlers where playing, but the 3 kittens had to go home for their bowl of milk. How many meerkats were left? I made a lot of silly math stories which were completely unnecessary, but she didn't have to stop and think or count the toys even once. She knows how many kittens she has and how many are boys. I told a lot of stories, and she did a lot of math. It is clicking a lot better than any of the other math we've done. After the calculations, there is place value work, skip counting, and other math that is very easy for her. Math is a marathon.<br />
<br />
I think it really helps me to have clear goals of where I want to be in math by the beginning of 6th grade. My previous big plans with contingencies based on when we hit Algebra were just too vague to really be useful. I know now that by 6th grade I want her to be solid on computation along with some basic geometry, fractions and decimals. That is all I am aiming for right now. I know how to achieve that. <br />
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<b>CC's School:</b><br />
CC's school doesn't give the kids grades until their parents get very detailed evaluations at the end of the semester. Instead of a numerical grade, each quiz, test or paper is supposed to have detailed feedback which is supposed to help the kids improve and not circumvent a conversation about the work. Based on her recent quiz in Latin, I think she must be doing okay. The comments on the different sections were: "Super", "Great", and "Terrific." The overall comment at the top was, "WOW!!" That must mean she did alright. Her only trouble so far has been with the phrases in the vocabulary that use declensions she hasn't learned yet. My attempt to explain the more advanced declensions to her gave me a great deal of respect for a guy that could successfully explain <b>that</b> to a whole gaggle of 6th grade girls.<br />
<br />
<b>CC's Allergies:</b><br />
I bought two air purifiers for medium sized rooms which we put in the two classrooms where she spends the most time. We have 5 hours of school covered with those two purifiers. So far, it has helped tremendously. She might survive weed season after all.<br />
<br />
<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-29223802301034484492012-09-07T08:16:00.001-06:002012-09-10T20:37:31.118-06:00Week 4 - Victories and Allergies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was a really great week. LB has been pretty happy being at home. She's making slow and steady progress through her math and writing and has <a href="http://themagicschoolhouse.blogspot.com/2012/09/triumph-page-at-time.html">found her place in reading</a>. This is her daily work:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li>A chapter from LoF Elementary - currently in <a href="http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Life+of+Fred%3A+Cats/029777/c79f4324290ba6892277ff9a?subject=10&category=9813">Cats</a></li>
<li>A lesson from R&S Math 2</li>
<li>Copy at least 2 sentences from the <a href="http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=6&category=947">CLP Nature Reader 1</a> although she's been copying a whole paragraph (we had some chapters left from last year before we start book 2)</li>
<li>I read aloud a couple for chapters from a couple of books - Currently reading <i>The Courage of Sarah Noble </i>and a children's Bible.</li>
<li>She reads at least 2 pages from <a href="http://themagicschoolhouse.blogspot.com/2012/09/triumph-page-at-time.html">Trumpet of the Swan</a> to me. Two is the minimum, but she's never stopped at just two.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Next week, we're adding in spelling. She's excited about that. Second grade is progressing nicely. Her non-school work this week has included a lot of play with Schliech horses and of course the paper dinosaurs - this week they migrated from one side of my office to the other to find more food. They need to be boxed up today so I can vacuum.<br />
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Now for CC who is attending the amazing classical charter school, the pollen count is high. She came home Tuesday itchy with aggravated asthma. Wednesday, she came home with hives so I put her back on a medicine to help then started to worry that if she's this bad in the fall when the weed pollen is high, she'd never make it in spring when the tree pollen explodes. I have a plan to work with our doctor and the school to get hepa air filters for the school and portable air purifiers for the classrooms she uses. All I need is some way to get grants to happen so I don't need to save up and buy them myself. I chatted with the school nurse and the dean of girls. We have to do something before spring.<br />
<br />
Other than air filled with pollen, school is still everything I had hoped it would be for her. This week was the Back-to-School Night so I got to chat with most of her teachers. Her Latin teacher asked if she had shown a talent or affinity for grammar because she seems to have no problem with the Latin grammar. I had to explain that we had homeschooled, and I never taught grammar because I had found it too abstract to teach to a younger student. I had been saving grammar for middle school and Latin. She has said that she loves Latin grammar because it makes so much sense. It is nice to see a classics teacher smile. Of course, now it will be harder than ever to start grammar with LB.<br />
<br />
One more thing. Quickly now. What is 7 / 1.4 ? How fast did you figure that out? Did you get it without writing it down? Math is currently covering a lot of computation that we'd covered in 4th and 5th grade so CC is sailing through it, but she can still amaze me. The answer to that problem was obvious to her, and her explanation confused me greatly, but it had something to do with half of 14 and 10 times 7 and something. It was the problem she was assigned to work on the board which she did in her head while writing it down. She is doing great in school.<br />
<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-70669940347471957092012-09-05T16:34:00.000-06:002012-09-05T16:34:04.889-06:00Triumph, a page at the time It is a long time coming, but I'm claiming a cautious triumph today in reading. I set a firm rule of 20 minutes of reading a day a few weeks ago for LB. It has been painful to get her to complete that goal. She is a terrific reader but lacks confidence. Sunday, she read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marley-Farm-Dog-Read-Book/dp/0061989371/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1346883678&sr=8-2&keywords=marley+the+farm+dog">Marley the Farm Dog</a> because I wanted her to read a full story that she'd find easy. Monday, she reread it, twice. Tuesday, I picked up another Marley book for her to read and<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Trumpet-Swan-full-color/dp/0064410943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346884359&sr=8-1&keywords=trumpet+of+the+swan"> <i>Trumpet of the Swan</i></a> to use for copywork. She asked if she could read <i>Trumpet of the Swan</i> instead which I agreed to but cautioned her about the small font. She read two pages and was exceedingly proud.<br />
<br />
Today, I offered Marley for reading again, but she chose Trumpet again. She didn't want to stop after a page. She didn't stop until she finished the chapter. She asked if she could just read <i>Trumpet of the Swan</i> for reading until she finished it. She declared that <i>enormous</i> is an easy word, but not as much fun to read as <i>sizzled</i>. It helps that she's listened to E.B. White read <i>Trumpet of the Swan </i>to her a few nights a week for the past few years and that it is her favorite book in the world. I should probably give him credit for writing such a terrific book, but I'm still claiming a small victory bringing another child into the literary world one page at the time.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-38121877905423109382012-08-31T14:35:00.000-06:002012-09-01T19:36:19.885-06:00Week 3 Back Home<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2nEQiTvBTBqmzlyHZatQERopiljO5QWBvknTr_xjNSpbWfqwcKxFuMz8-KBPWGh1pK_45BGw-9klDRupHyvbYmukmklxVG-DhKfPRzbzLF-fFyTlBFwOKvEXWWEHssxZhfTpOMzX_r1o/s1600/IMG_1383.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2nEQiTvBTBqmzlyHZatQERopiljO5QWBvknTr_xjNSpbWfqwcKxFuMz8-KBPWGh1pK_45BGw-9klDRupHyvbYmukmklxVG-DhKfPRzbzLF-fFyTlBFwOKvEXWWEHssxZhfTpOMzX_r1o/s320/IMG_1383.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After watching the street sweeper, LB designed her own.</td></tr>
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<br />
Well, we lasted for 6 days with LB in the local public school. On Monday, she stayed home because she didn't want to go, and I didn't have the conviction to make her go when she was unwilling. Hubby and I talked about school and decided to just withdraw her now instead of waiting for a one-month trial. We started homeschooling again on Tuesday.<br />
<br />
Right now, we are ramping up our work. She read every day. She did a chapter in Fred Cats and a lesson in R&S Math 2 everyday and declared, "I feel like a math monster! I love math!" I started reading <i>The Wind in the Willows</i> to her. She also copied a paragraph from the CLP Nature Reader each day in addition to reading a chapter. Next week, we'll add in phonics and spelling then add in some geography. We added a morning walk to our day and some outside playtime. She's been drawing, coloring, labeling and laminating families of dinosaurs that now have nests and herds all over the floor of my office. We had a great week.<br />
<br />
CC had another terrific week at school. She's finally gotten her homework time under control and is getting all 19 pounds of homework completed in a reasonable amount of time. She took a quiz in grammar and got 42/44 and got a 44/45 on her math quiz which are her first two quizzes ever. She's told me that she can feel the wrinkles in her brain soaking up more information.<br />
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For the first time this school year, I'm happy about school and feel like everyone is where they should be. I guess this will be my eleventh year homeschooling. I have a homeschool graduate who is a senior in college in Japan, a sixth grader in a classical charter school for the first time, and a second grade homeschooler. I still have a lot to learn.<br />
<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-7767348331710787732012-08-25T14:25:00.002-06:002012-08-27T15:00:29.182-06:00Week 2 - Day by Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Monday</b> -<br />
CC was up right on time at 6:30. I made her waffles and turkey bacon for breakfast. Hubby came down a little later and joined us; then BB came down around 7:00. CC and I reviewed her Latin vocabulary words as she was finishing her breakfast then we all helped her with tips on how to get her 19 1/2 pounds of books back into her backpack. She was out the door a little late at 7:20.<br />
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I started waking LB up at 7:30, but she was too warm and cozy and didn't get up for about 15 more minutes. I made more waffles and more bacon plus her lunch. She enjoyed breakfast then BB walked her to the bus stop at 8:20.<br />
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Hubby took me to the doctor for my horrible, aweful sore throat. BB took himself shopping for some food and stuff to take back to Japan. He's all packed and ready to go. They got the girls home from school, and we all went out for dinner. I was getting more and more sick.<br />
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<b>Tuesday</b> -<br />
Tuesday was kind of a blur to me. I had had the worst sore throat ever since Friday, hubby took BB to the airport at 4am, and I spent part of the morning throwing up blood because of the sore throat. Ick. The girls made it to school with Hubby's help, and I started feeling better after I could keep some food down and the antibiotics kicked in. Tuesday night the kids were tired, but happy.<br />
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They shared about their day over dinner. CC beamed after telling how her Latin teacher noted that her homework was good and that she was a perfectionist. Latin is her favorite subject. Also, her science teacher said, "Wow" after she explained how a virus works to the class. She loves getting feedback from her teachers. LB excitedly described her science experiment and explained to everyone how her reading circle works and what a "whisper phone" is used for - they're for the kids to quietly read to themselves while the teacher listens to one child read.<br />
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We're all missing BB already.<br />
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<b>Wednesday</b> -<br />
I made some rice pudding for breakfast which both the girls enjoyed. CC read and discussed <i>Gilgamesh</i> with me over breakfast then hubby took her to school. LB was sleepy again. Over breakfast she shared that the girl that sits across from her is mean, and she's been having trouble in class. When was LB the first in class to earn enough points to go to the prize bin, the girl said to her, "You don't always have to be so perfect." When they were standing in line a girl accused her of bragging about the prize she chose (a cute, stuffed puppy). Another time, a girl asked her why she's always trying to be the best at everything. We talked about her feelings, and I reaffirmed that trying your best is the right thing to do.<br />
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After my morning meeting, I sat in a very empty and quiet house wishing LB was home. I really miss her. I wonder if this is the the right choice. I wonder if I want her here because it is best for me or because it is best for her. When I brought BB home, I knew it was best for him. When I sent CC to the charter school this year, I knew it was best for her. I'm just not sure what's best for LB.<br />
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CC enjoyed school again even though she came home early because she wasn't feeling well. She took a nap and did her homework which included math and writing a legend for history class. <br />
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LB had more trouble today with girls siding against her and telling her she's not so smart and that she hurt their feelings by always trying to be the best in class. She came home with 4 pages of phonics homework and a page of math homework. She's off for the next two days for "scheduled individual testing". So I guess we'll do some phonics and math on her days off. <br />
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<b>Thursday</b><br />
CC spent the day in bed after being up most of the night with a stomach bug. <br />
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LB had her first ever standardized test. It was a half hour individual test administered by her teacher, and she loved it. After the test she played on the playground for a while before we went home. At home, she played doggie kindergarten with our dogs. I read them a chapter from <i>Wind in the Willows</i>, and taught them math, art and music.<br />
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BB finally arrived in Japan, safe and sound but exhausted. <br />
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CC started running a fever and now has a sore throat too.<br />
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<b>Friday</b><br />
I woke CC up at 6:30 for breakfast to see how she felt then sent her back to bed with her fever. I called her in sick for school, again. I had missed having the girls home, but I'd be happier if she were healthy and in school than sick in bed.<br />
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We took CC to the doctor then she spent the rest of the day in bed. LB hung out, did some of her homework, read to me, and watched too much tv. She seems to be feeling under the weather and says her tonsils feel too big. I hope she's not going to be the next victim of the sore throat, but I suspect it is just a sympathy sore throat. <br />
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<b>Overall</b><br />
Even with her two days off from school and about 6 hours of homework to catch up, CC still loves school. The jury is still out for LB. I'm trying hard to be encouraging and give school an honest try. <br />
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<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-20036965510525780322012-08-18T08:16:00.000-06:002012-08-18T16:19:45.574-06:00Week 1 - All New and not at homeWell this has been a whirlwind of a week. It was very strange being a drop-off Mom instead of the Mom doing the teaching. I tried to focus my energy to "more parenting and less teaching." <br />
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CC started her week with homework on her first day. By the end of the week, she was measuring her homework in pounds - as in her backpack weighed 19.5 pounds with her science book, math book, Latin book, history book, grammar book and the accompanying binders and folders. She has homework in every class every night, and she loves it. She spent dinner talking to us about Fibonacci numbers and has red marks on her arm from history class - apparently cuneiform can be dangerous. I was worried I'd feel left out of her education, but I've found that she happily lets me review her Latin, history and science with her and check over her grammar, writing and math. She just needs to learn to work more efficiently so she can have more free time at night. One additional note, this morning she complained that the muscles in her cheeks and neck were hurting - the muscles directly correspond to her great-big grin. I think she's smiled too much this week.<br />
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LB decided at the last moment that she wanted to go to school too. I had asked her about it all summer because I could see her growing sadder with her sister gone for her summer volunteer job. I think that once school preparations started, she finally realized it too. It has been really hard for me. She is the only one of my kids that hasn't been in daycare or something like that. She's riding the big, yellow bus to the neighborhood school. After she gets acclimated, I'm going to add in some after school enrichment for her with continuing phonics, reading, and maybe more depending on what else I see. It is harder with her to see what she's doing in school. I think that so far they've spent a lot of time getting settled in. We'll see. Right now, I meet her at the bus then cuddle her on the couch while she eats a snack and tells me about her day. So far her biggest issue is that second graders aren't allowed on the monkey bars, and she loves monkey bars.<br />
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BB has been home for the past couple of weeks from college. It has been wonderful to have him home. I just love to have him around. He's getting ready to go back to Japan for his final semester. I can't believe he's almost done with college already.<br />
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<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-43795243940341138832012-08-15T13:46:00.001-06:002012-08-15T13:46:18.483-06:002012-13 First Day of School - LB<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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LB's first day of Second Grade!Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-81202093624370480582012-08-14T08:56:00.001-06:002012-08-14T16:10:57.233-06:002012-13 First Day of School - CC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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She had a great first day of school even if she had a math test on the first day and homework in four classes. She's pretty sure she'll survive at least one more day. She didn't get lost, lunch was good, and she likes her science and Latin teachers. Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-6078678567581959552012-07-25T12:00:00.001-06:002012-07-25T12:00:49.204-06:00Will it work? A first look at an organized day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I like color coding people and times. The Blue is CC, the Pinks and Orangey Pinks are LB, the Yellow is me, the Purple is both girls, the Green is a scheduled rest or together time. I have lots more meetings during the weeks, but they aren't as predictable as the ones I have here. I decided that I would do a morning and an afternoon session in a "main lesson block" where we'll cover the main content, art and writing for the day. The other scheduled times are for reading, phonics and math in their own time slots. My idea is to weekly add in the rest of my meetings and reorganize blocks as needed. At least it works on paper, which is a big step towards working in reality.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900759774942211468.post-9006170195017633812012-07-21T14:43:00.001-06:002012-07-23T09:27:11.431-06:00Plans for Sixth and Second Grade<b>The Framework:</b><br />
Both girls will continue Judo and art lessons. LB will continue her ps enrichment program that offers science, music, art and pe. She'll also take tap, jazz and ballet. CC will be taking cello at school and will continue private lessons. Our schedule will leave lots of time for reading, crafts and play.<br />
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<b>Second Grade:</b><br />
Last year I found that it is really easy for me to give LB a stack of workbooks to work through and call it school. That is not the kind of school I want. I also found that with my schedule I need something planned. I am combining the MP Second Grade Curriculum Package for skill subjects with the Oak Meadow Third Grade package for content subjects. The emphasis will be on reading fluently and writing with content focused on ancient civilizations and life sciences.<br />
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<b>Here is our material:</b><br />
Following the <a href="http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/2ndGrade_Curriculum.html">MP2 schedule</a>: <br />
<b>Math</b>: <a href="http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/item/1-132--/?list=Rod_and_Staff_Grade_2">R&S Math 2</a> -- she needs simple, non-distracting, mastery. <br />
<b>Phonics and Spelling</b>: MP spelling and SRA Phonics 3<br />
<b>Reading</b>: <i>Little House in the Big Woods, </i> <i>Mr. Popper's Penguins</i><i><span class="style8">,</span></i><i> The Courage of Sarah Noble</i><i><i>, Tales from Beatrix Potter </i><span class="ArticleTextSmall">(Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Johnny Town-Mouse)</span></i><br />
<span class="ArticleTextSmall"><b>Handwriting</b>: <a href="http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/New+American+Cursive+II+%28secular%29/034311/45725745a685e1163c8279dc?subject=9&category=8248">New American Cursive 2</a></span><br />
<b><a href="http://www.oakmeadow.com/curriculum/third-grade.php">Oak Meadow 3</a> </b>- Language Arts, History, Science, Art and Music<br />
<a href="http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/002540/45725745a685e1163c8279dc">CLP Nature Reader 2</a> - extra reading practice + some science content .<br />
<b>Fluency Practice:</b> <a href="http://www.soundfoundationsbooks.co.uk/">Dancing Bears</a> <br />
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<b>Sixth Grade: </b><br />
<br />
This year, CC is going to a public charter school for sixth grade. The school is based on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Paideia-Program-Mortimer-J-Adler/dp/0020130406/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342902034&sr=8-2&keywords=paideia">Paideia Program</a>, classical homeschooling and Trinity Model schools with a foundation of Socratic methods.
They study Latin, diagram sentences, use Socratic methods, and emphasize
truth, beauty and understanding. We shadowed a couple of times last
year, and CC was thrilled to see kids her age excited about
learning. <br />
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<i><span class="ArticleTextSmall"><br /></span></i>Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13682263612972031068noreply@blogger.com1