Accountability Thread (Week of 9/28)

[Critterfixer]

The good, the bad and the worse and what to do about it! Let the week begin!

 

Started out with a bombed Latin Quiz and two irritated, angry little boys who couldn't digest being wrong. Poor things.

Got Latin done, and did Math and that was it today.

Better luck tomorrow.

 

One thing I'm changing. Typically I start our week on Sunday with that Latin Quiz. Doubled up lessons today so that the quiz comes at the end of the week instead of the start of it. That should prevent a disaster like this morning. I also showed the boys how to make an index card quick lesson, and invited them to use mine all they like. In the next three weeks I want to show them how to build their own on the first day of the week and use it to study during the week. 

 

The only other interesting and fun thing going on for our month of October is a focus on mystery and horror fiction. We have some spooky folk tales, some funny stories and excerpts, and a few frightful tales from masters like Poe and Irving. Should be fun.

[lewelma]

Massive accountability fail this last term.  DS(older) has been studying for his ABRSM level7 exam for the past 2 months, or at least I thought he had been.  Well, we found out last week when we had him go over his aural tests with the accompanist, that not only had he not been working on level 6 or level7, that because his voice has dropped that he could not even pass level5 (which he aced 2 years ago).  gulp.  Then, I sat down to mark off where he was on his scales (there are 77 scales and their variations that he has to know from memory) and he has not even learned half of them.  gulp.  So sight reading, um no, he has not been working on it, so he is only at level 6.  gulp.  And *then* I thought he had been doing the pieces with his teacher, but no, his teacher did not want to have him learn them too early or they would get incredibly boring to keep practising, so he has only learned 1.5 out of 3.  Um. wow.  What can I say?  I see it as totally a lack of oversight on my part!  You read about these things on the high school board, and think 'oh, well, that will never be me or my kid' and then wham. Pride comes before the fall!!!

 

So, we have laid out a reasonably strenuous schedule for the next 6 weeks.  1 hour aural every.single.day with dad, 1 hour of practice on scales, sight reading, and pieces every day.  And I have arranged for 5 practices with the accompanist, extra lessons with teacher over school holidays, and possibly some singing lessons to improve the control he has over his voice.  WE can do this thing!  But I do feel :willy_nilly:

[lewelma]

 

I also showed the boys how to make an index card quick lesson, and invited them to use mine all they like. In the next three weeks I want to show them how to build their own on the first day of the week and use it to study during the week. 

 

Can you explain 'an index card quick lesson' and how to use it.  I need ideas for my younger.

[Critterfixer]

Basically, I have ring-bound index cards that I use for scene work in writing. I found that one lined card easily held the Latin saying for the week, the grammar form and the vocabulary for that lesson, and there was even a little room for helpful hints, like tense markers, etc. I make one for every lesson in that format, with the lesson number at the top to show when and where I was supposed to have learned it! Then at the end of the day, or when I want to review, I don't have to drag out my big notebook, I can just use my cards. And because they are not loose, I can't lose them as easily.

[Soror]

Hello ladies!

 

We had a wonderful mini-vacation and visited many lovely places, a nice big zoo in the city, an art museum, Korean War Memorial, Native American site, an indoor garden and a few places that were just plain fun.

 

This week will be our first full week back since our break and I'm very excited to see how it goes, I'm hoping it goes as well as Mon and Tues last week. We made a a trip to the library on Wed and picked up a few books to add to our studies; a Scientist in the Field (Tarantula Scientist) and another about the signers of the Declaration to supplement history. 

 

We are rotating some of our enrichment so tomorrow will be Geography, Tuesday- Poetry, Wednesday- Art, and Thurs- Music. Logistically and theoretically we have plenty of time but everything needs to be well organized for this to flow well. I've got some other extras I'd like to work into the schedule as well but right now I think we need to just do this for awhile before adding on.

[Luckymama]

Last week's scheduling went pretty well! Dd did not end up with an overly large amount of schoolwork to finish on Friday :) She just had a portion that was scheduled, purposefully for Sunday afternoon.

 

Hopefully this week will be as smooth, but she is facing some challenges. She has performances Friday evening and all day Saturday, which means dress rehearsals Wednesday and Thursday. She has a AP Human Geography discussion group meeting on Friday morning (they meet on public school holidays).

 

I'll have dd schedule everything this morning without my assistance.

 

I need to prep a chem lab for tomorrow.

 

I need to come up with discussion questions for Friday's discussion group.

[serendipitous journey]

Basically, I have ring-bound index cards that I use for scene work in writing. I found that one lined card easily held the Latin saying for the week, the grammar form and the vocabulary for that lesson, and there was even a little room for helpful hints, like tense markers, etc. I make one for every lesson in that format, with the lesson number at the top to show when and where I was supposed to have learned it! Then at the end of the day, or when I want to review, I don't have to drag out my big notebook, I can just use my cards. And because they are not loose, I can't lose them as easily.

 

okay, I am fascinated by this.  For FFL, yes?  you get all that on a little index card (3X5-ish)?  or a bigger one?  this sounds really useful. 

 

[Critterfixer]

Yes, it is for FFL. The index cards are 4 by 6 and ruled, spiral bound at the top so that you can just flip through them.

For Lesson 10 I have the Latin saying at the top, under the heading of the Lesson, then I have the Future Perfect Tense endings, amo in that tense, a translation of one of those as an example, and the vocabulary for that lesson all on the facing page. The idea is a lesson per card, so that one can review all lessons in as few index cards as possible.

 

As to whether it will be useful for the boys, I don't know. I certainly use it when I want to review for myself!

[Chrysalis Academy]

Accountability wake up with my 3rd grader this morning.  She's been cruising along in math, so I left her the review to do on her own on Friday (I was working).  She totally flailed.  Trying to figure out what's going on . . . she does fine with a page of problems independently, but the MM3A chapter 1 review threw her for a loop.  She did fine with me sitting there today.

 

So either she isn't reading directions correctly, she can't keep herself focused when I'm not here, she was just having a bad day, or - and this is what worries me - I am doing too much of the thinking for her when we work together on a lesson.   Hmm.  Maybe I need to back off more and have her doing this more independently.  I've never taught a 3rd grader before - how independent are they for math?  Math they know, I mean, I wouldn't expect her to teach herself new concepts, but I would hope she could manage the chapter review independently after we've spent a month on this stuff.

 

She also couldn't remember the meaning or conjugation of any of the spanish verbs she's learned the past few weeks - grrr.  So time to stop the lessons and spend a week or two drilling before we move on.  It's a good reminder for me - it's easy to just steam ahead and do the next thing, I'm clearly not slowing down and assessing enough.

 

Moving too quickly when it seems like they are getting it is a chronic problem for me.  Note to self: sloooooow down.  It's not a race.  It's not like when you finish something you are done, right? You just do the next thing.  So why rush?

[73349]

I have been skipping science activities. They're meant to teach things DS already knows (what ice is like!? Are we 3 years old?). I've decided not to buy RSO level 1 stuff again.

 

Everything else is going pretty well. I might need to add another day of handwriting (currently only 3 a week).

[serendipitous journey]

Yes, it is for FFL. The index cards are 4 by 6 and ruled, spiral bound at the top so that you can just flip through them.

For Lesson 10 I have the Latin saying at the top, under the heading of the Lesson, then I have the Future Perfect Tense endings, amo in that tense, a translation of one of those as an example, and the vocabulary for that lesson all on the facing page. The idea is a lesson per card, so that one can review all lessons in as few index cards as possible.

 

As to whether it will be useful for the boys, I don't know. I certainly use it when I want to review for myself!

 

Thanks for stepping through a sample lesson for me! and for the size &c on the cards.  I think I have it now.  I also think I'll be using this idea!  very handy and efficient. 

[Critterfixer]

You are welcome. I hope it works for my boys as well. The more I get to know my little mud-pups the more I realize that they pretty much need everything in one spot as much as possible. The fewer books and notebooks to keep up with, the happier we all are. So I think that this idea of everything in one spot should appeal and be helpful, but we'll see.

[idnib]

We had scheduled this entire week off because this coming Saturday is a religious holiday for us. Well it turns out we're not traveling so we have bonus school days. I thought we would spend the day doing fun stuff we often don't get to: music appreciation, art appreciation, poetry, cartography, etc.

 

What was I thinking? It's been chaos and we've probably done a total of 3 hours of work. It's been like herding cats. They're not good at changing to a different schedule, I guess. They like their daily checklists so much; I should have known.

 

One the one hand, I feel I could have just done a full school day and gotten ahead. On the other, we were supposed to be off so I'm trying to feel happy anything got done.

[My3girls]

The last 2 weeks we have just gotten in the 3 R's and music.  This week we are back to a full load.  We got it all done today, and the girls did remarkably well.  This week we are just concentrating on staying home and getting the work done.  This is more challenging than it sounds. lol

[hjffkj]

Hmm.. I didn't plan this week yesterday because my anemia wiped me out and it really showed today! A bunch of chaos ensued. We got everything done luckily but it was a little too crazy for my liking. So I'll be planning tonight.

 

This week my goal is to really focus on getting my nephew and son to answer questions in complete sentences to help them understand the concepts better.

[Critterfixer]

Today went better than yesterday. Latin went well. Math tests were today, and all three of us took a test. I don't know how that happened, but for some reason I ended up finishing my first book in Key to Algebra the same day they finished their first CLE booklet. They both scored a B and I got an A. :D

So we are all starting something new tomorrow. We did our spelling, grammar and writing. They made less of a fuss over the dictionary than they did the other day, so I think they are beginning to get the hang of it.

We did not get to history. I got started a little late today because I worked bees, and then all three of us came in from the wonderful woods just loaded with seed ticks! So three people all trying to get showers as fast as possible ended up taking some time. After tea, the boys took a break, went down to the burn pile and loaded up on ticks AGAIN! Back to the showers; thus history did not get done.

[serendipitous journey]

For this week, I need to figure out what we're actually going to try to do this year -- basically, my original plan modified by early fall experience. 

 

Just getting it down will help.  Here's a first draft for A (9 yo):

 

math -- AoPS, calculadder, ideally add some SM MathSprints

spelling -- Evan Moor

vocabulary -- VocabuLit F.  I think I need to alternate days of spelling & vocabulary so things don't run too long. 

grammar -- finishing out Island Level MCT -- I hope to stretch it so that we hit Paragraph Town in January; FLL4

writing -- WWE4.  had to drop CW until after WWE4's done. 

poetry -- IEW's poetry memorization, Music of the Hemispheres, poetry read-alouds (need to find which ones), ideally poetry writing on Fridays

history -- CA history with beautiful feet, 2 lessons/week on Sundays; HO Level 2 Ancients w/Famous Men of Rome done orally

science -- Exploration Education advanced physics, The New Way Things Work, The Secrets of the Universe

art -- Harmony Fine Arts w/Artistic Pursuits, drawing rotating Kistler/Draw Write Now/Draw 50 Dinosaurs

music -- piano

physical fitness -- Royal Canadian Air Force xbx

typing -- Practice Island, Mavis Beacon (alternate as suits)

geography -- Stack the States, learn states & capitals.  MP for this?  just do it?  use StS?  not sure. 

literature -- Narnia, Barsoom series, Harry Potter books, Little Britches, &c. 

Latin -- FLL1

Spanish -- GSWS.  paused for the last week or so. 

 

It's a lot, but the child schools 6 days/week and needs a great deal of formal structure + a lot of time to play.  Now to go over this and find a way to keep it sane all around. 

 

ETA: -- jotting down things for N --

regularly/daily: All About Reading, MEP math, ZB K handwriting or ZB K spelling (he requested the spelling, which is just letter recognition/writing), read alouds

would like to add:

science -- Sandbox Scientist, maybe a few GEMS PEACHES units, do Duplo machine projects, and he's "doing" Exploration Education for K, would like to do Squishy Circuits -- that would be a great Christmas present for him ...

"history" -- read SOTW 1 with him and look at maps and do some projects as long as he's having fun with it all

geography -- do our Montessori geography, at least through learning continents. 

art -- Art for the Very Young

 

 

[Sdel]

Today went really well and I hope we can keep it up for the rest of the week.

 

What went well:

1.  I took the time to actually write out a lesson plan.  I've organized what subjects to hit on which day and made file folders for the work I wanted to accomplish in the week, but this is the first time I've planned something specific for the day.

2.  Started using a timer.  Shock and amaze, we actually did just about everything within the time I scheduled.  The only exceptions were spelling and math, which I just didn't time.  The timer really helps me keep her on track during her writing assignments where she so tries to dawdle.

 

Not so well:

1.  We got a later start than I wanted, so school had to wait until after the baby's gym.  If I don't get stuff done before noon I'm very likely to lose her to being hungry/tired.  I have one of those kids who just gets completely unmanageable if they decide they aren't hungry or that they aren't tired when really they are hungry and tired.  Once I lose her I'm unlikely to get her back.  Fortunately today it worked out.

2. Again, no history, science, or reading.  I just didn't have anything planned or prepared.  Hopefully I'll get that planned tonight before I lose it myself to being tired.  We just really struggle with this subject grouping.  My gut says I need to schedule this first because it is our worst subject grouping, or even just drop history/science altogether to focus on reading and revisit next year.  When I do get through a lesson, its is always a fight, NOTHING is retained, and she loses interest almost immediately, and she just acts *so tired* as soon as we start.  Either she just isn't ready for it, its a teaching/learning style difference, or it's just poorly timed as the last thing on the daily agenda. 

 

Stefanie

[Tawlas]

I'll jump in :)

 

Things that went well: I managed to stay calm today. mostly. My kids are young and I struggle some days to just *chill* and go with the chaos that is swirling around the school table. I did okay today! We also got through all I'd planned today. Well, except for the darn French book.

 

Things to work on: Integrating more French and fun into our week. I'be been given the gift of an unexpected extra morning at home each week. I've been schooling Saturday mornings to make up the lost week day, but now, rather than shifting all our formal schooling to weekdays like a normal person, I think I'll make one morning a 'game day'. French games, board games, sight word games etc. . . hmmmmmm. Plus, I need to get into reading at lunch, just for a few minutes. I'd planned on rereading a french picture book all week at lunch but usually I'm so done by then, I pretend to forget lol. I should just do it and feel better!

[Soror]

So much to say, too little time, Mt. Laundry is beckoning as it is.....

 

We had a mostly great day, although it is more and more obvious that I need to keep dd at the table to finish her work straight away as it is very hard to get her back. Starting at breakfast with current events, read-alouds (and bible) is going smashingly well. I love that we do a bit then take our walk, then we start in with both of them doing Math. I always did math first but we fell out of that habit last year, it is going so much smoother to have both of them do it together.

 

I mentioned last week I had some epiphanies and thoughts, I don't have time to share half and I'm sure they'd bore anyone but me but I realize that ds' ADHD with its accompanying EF, memory and processing speed deficits are really affecting us more than I had thought. He has made such tremendous progress that I had been fantasizing a bit that perhaps we were past the worst of the effects but they are still very real. I need to remember the NP's advice to have my expectations set to 30% less than his chronological age for such things. He did so well on his academic tests that I had/have in my head that I don't want him to lose ground. We've been a bit stagnant on math for a good while, but I cannot rush this along. He needs practice and more practice for everything to truly stick and to develop any kind of fluency. We've went to straight Horizons and as he is working behind in it he has a modicum of independence, which is actually good for his confidence and helps me to get more into my day. It is also a great help to developing his fluency. We've always had longer math sessions due to his EF, memory and speed making everything take a bit longer but I've decided that is no more, we are doing 1 lesson and some practice, no more than 1 hr, we get done what we get done. I will try not to worry about falling behind or not shooting ahead, it is more important that his base is strong. Backing up is also increasing his confidence as well, which has been sorely lacking in this area, a bit surprisingly to me. 

 

We have also gained a bit of independence as I have having him do more independent reading, this along with our change in math is allowing us to do more of those extras. I'm so pleased to have more time for readalouds for everyone, not to mention geography, art, music, etc. This is what is helping me to see my vision for our schooling/family life really coming to fruition. I've cut back electronic time again and I've really been encouraging imaginative play and I'm starting to see the fruits. 

 

Speaking of those extras yesterday we did geography, we took the time to play some 10 Days in Europe and then worked on filling in blank maps, we both were a bit rusty from lack of recent practice  but we did well considering. We read some from Book of Marvels about the Grand Canyon and then we all did some map drawing (CC influenced) just because I think it is kind of cool. Even the (nearly)5 yo joined in and was able to do much more than I thought (although her fine motor skills are probably ahead of my 10yo). I know we need to stick with some drawing as ds desperately needs to practice this skill so this was a bit less intimidating for him. I've found some grid sheets for face drawing we're going to do later this week and I'm still considering New Ausburg, although I've not had a long enough time to preview it.

 

Today is our busiest day, our extra will be poetry today, we're having tea time at 2, which happily anticipating. 

 

So much I want to comment on about everyone else but I'm already well out of time,

 

Critterfixxer- I LOVE the idea of the index card review, I'm mulling it over as to how to use that for us.....

 

Rose- I hear you- my diatribe above relates to that problem well.

 

Sdel- I agree with the timer, I've been using that more consistently with a few of our subjects and it works well for all of us and we actually seem to get more done.

 

I'm not sure on your kids ages but perhaps you could just go more laid back with the content for now, maybe let them go to the library and pick out some books and just have reading time and go through a bit each day, encourage them to get a variety but don't be militant, this is my current approach with my 2nd grader and I did this with ds as well. We also get outside everyday and there are so many opportunities to study different things, even impromptu. It doesn't have to be an official lesson, get out there and talk about what you find. 

 

Tawlas - HUGS, our attitude is so important but it is difficult at times!

 

hfjjk- HUGS to you as well, I'm still recovering from anemia myself, last year was a bit rough with it. 

 

idnib- I hear ya, as much as I hate being slave to a schedule it is a real sanity saver.

 

[maize]

Accountability wake up with my 3rd grader this morning. She's been cruising along in math, so I left her the review to do on her own on Friday (I was working). She totally flailed. Trying to figure out what's going on . . . she does fine with a page of problems independently, but the MM3A chapter 1 review threw her for a loop. She did fine with me sitting there today.

 

So either she isn't reading directions correctly, she can't keep herself focused when I'm not here, she was just having a bad day, or - and this is what worries me - I am doing too much of the thinking for her when we work together on a lesson. Hmm. Maybe I need to back off more and have her doing this more independently. I've never taught a 3rd grader before - how independent are they for math? Math they know, I mean, I wouldn't expect her to teach herself new concepts, but I would hope she could manage the chapter review independently after we've spent a month on this stuff.

 

She also couldn't remember the meaning or conjugation of any of the spanish verbs she's learned the past few weeks - grrr. So time to stop the lessons and spend a week or two drilling before we move on. It's a good reminder for me - it's easy to just steam ahead and do the next thing, I'm clearly not slowing down and assessing enough.

 

Moving too quickly when it seems like they are getting it is a chronic problem for me. Note to self: sloooooow down. It's not a race. It's not like when you finish something you are done, right? You just do the next thing. So why rush?

I don't think I have had an eight year old who could work independently in math, they needed me there to help them focus and make the task seem manageable. My nine year old is becoming more independent if the work is something he understands.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

There might be independent third graders, but Lily wasn't one of them. ;)   It was around 6th grade or so that she had the burst of independence in math.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I don't think I have had an eight year old who could work independently in math, they needed me there to help them focus and make the task seem manageable. My nine year old is becoming more independent if the work is something he understands.

 

 

There might be independent third graders, but Lily wasn't one of them. ;)   It was around 6th grade or so that she had the burst of independence in math.

 

 

Good to hear! Shannon wasn't independent with math in 4th grade (when she started homeschooling) either.  Morgan can do a page of problems on her own, easy peasy, but I guess the nature of a review - a bunch of different problems of different kinds, where you have to read the instructions for *every single one* might be above her EF level at this point . . . fair enough.

 

The thing is, she is very, very good at reading me - and she tries to do this rather than thinking.  She'll say and answer and then look at my face to see if she's right or wrong, rather than think about the problem.  Then if she can see she's wrong, she'll start wildly guessing.  I'm trying to teach her to focus on the problem, and learning how to solve it, rather than focusing on me and on whether the answer is right or wrong.  It's tough, because she is so intuitive! And apparently I don't have a great poker face  :rolleyes: so it's as much retraining myself about how to respond as it is teaching her.

 

I did go through this phenomena with Shannon, so I know we'll get through it, but it's even more intense with Morgan so in a way I feel like I have to think about disconnecting myself a bit more so that she is actually working and thinking about the math problem, not about our interactions, my responses, etc.  Weird problem, maybe, but I feel like she has no difficulties with math, it's this other funny interpersonal stuff that gets in the way of her learning.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Good to hear! Shannon wasn't independent with math in 4th grade (when she started homeschooling) either.  Morgan can do a page of problems on her own, easy peasy, but I guess the nature of a review - a bunch of different problems of different kinds, where you have to read the instructions for *every single one* might be above her EF level at this point . . . fair enough.

 

The thing is, she is very, very good at reading me - and she tries to do this rather than thinking.  She'll say and answer and then look at my face to see if she's right or wrong, rather than think about the problem.  Then if she can see she's wrong, she'll start wildly guessing.  I'm trying to teach her to focus on the problem, and learning how to solve it, rather than focusing on me and on whether the answer is right or wrong.  It's tough, because she is so intuitive! And apparently I don't have a great poker face  :rolleyes: so it's as much retraining myself about how to respond as it is teaching her.

 

I did go through this phenomena with Shannon, so I know we'll get through it, but it's even more intense with Morgan so in a way I feel like I have to think about disconnecting myself a bit more so that she is actually working and thinking about the math problem, not about our interactions, my responses, etc.  Weird problem, maybe, but I feel like she has no difficulties with math, it's this other funny interpersonal stuff that gets in the way of her learning.

 

Lily does this! (Still... :toetap05: ) Not so much with math, but in a couple other subjects. Those moments are how I'm practicing patience (or not.. :thumbdown: ;) )  It's getting better, but talk about frustrating...

 

I try not to give any reaction until she has given a full explanation of why and not just the guess answer.

[Sdel]

 

Sdel- I agree with the timer, I've been using that more consistently with a few of our subjects and it works well for all of us and we actually seem to get more done.

 

I'm not sure on your kids ages but perhaps you could just go more laid back with the content for now, maybe let them go to the library and pick out some books and just have reading time and go through a bit each day, encourage them to get a variety but don't be militant, this is my current approach with my 2nd grader and I did this with ds as well. We also get outside everyday and there are so many opportunities to study different things, even impromptu. It doesn't have to be an official lesson, get out there and talk about what you find. 

 

 

She is almost 7.  This is what I have done in the past and it doesn't work.  She does everything she can to avoid history/science/reading.  She tells me she wants to learn about a topic, but when the books come out within 5 minutes she's telling me she doesn't want to do it any more.  For what it is worth, I'm starting to suspect she's visual-spatial and that is why she is so resistant to read alouds in general.  I'm currently working on finding online video clips, games, and stuff for her science and history to see if that works better.

 

Stefanie

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well Morgan flew through 5 pages of math today, including the ch. 1 test (while I puttered about nearby doing laundry and starting the breadmaker).  She clearly understands all the math.  She just needs me nearby to get energy from and help her stay focused, I think.  Fair enough for an 8 year old, I suppose!  She even mentioned it herself - that why she had a hard time Friday was that she didn't have any mama-energy to draw from.  

 

I'm working on my poker face.  Not this one:  :huh:  or this one:  :glare: .  Maybe I need this one:  :coolgleamA: .

[Critterfixer]

It's going okay, today. I'm really tired today, for perfectly natural reasons, but that is draining my desire to do anything but curl up and nap. 

One boy is on the ball and got through Latin, Math, Spelling and Grammar this morning with ease. He'll be doing writing and science and maybe some geography, since our grammar assignment yesterday used such unfamiliar geographical terms as cape, horn and isthmus. They had to find proper names for those, so the globe came out. I've decided they need to get in some basic geography terms under their belts. I consider it good news that they remembered Ontario was the name of one of the Great Lakes. Less pleased that they didn't remember it was a Canadian province! 

 

We had a really cool moment today in math. There was a question about St. Bernard's tunnel, and I got a funny look from one boy, and then a brightening, as he said "St. Bernard's Pass! In Little Dorrit!" Yep. Always neat to find a connection between geography, math, the modern day and a BBC version of Charles Dickens. The classical Mommy in me rejoiced.

 

On the ugly side of things, I'm really finding one boy to be a world class time waster. He spent all morning dawdling over Latin, and fussing about how difficult it was (he got nothing incorrect) and then spent so much time glowering over having to do math (not complaining, but doing a lot of sighing and eye rolling :glare: ) that he's going to go into deep afternoon to get through the rest of the day. I'm not quite sure what to do about it. He writes very neatly, and will spend time putting a flourish on his work, he tends to take time to get things right, and all that I approve of. He's also quite the rival when it comes to his brother, and it is irking him a lot to see his brother getting done in half the time; but instead of inspiring him to pick up the pace, he drags around and fusses. He's also quite prone to looking out of windows (thinking!), sharpening pencils, rewriting so that it looks better--he is the king of procrastination in the name of perfection! Grrrrr...good thing I'm too tired to even pitch a fit. I've been able to just give him a wan smile and try to encourage him today. I hope he picks up the pace after tea.

[Chrysalis Academy]

:grouphug: Crittefixer, you have my sympathies - I just went in to check on Shannon and she's still working on math . . . at 11:15! Yep, that would be the first subject she's worked on today.  I love the dedication, but it makes for a long day when she starts late and drags it out.  She is doing some form of creative timewasting, because she works with a timer and gets quite a lot done.  She must be really dawdling to get started, or stealing some time on the computer that she won't fess to - i.e. the 10 minute break becomes a 20 minute break or something.  At this point I'm keeping it light - I'm not getting after you, I'm trying to problem solve with you - but there is steel in the velvet glove, which I let her have a peek at by telling her that I want to help her solve her problem so that she gets her work finished and can do horseback riding.

 

I'm trying to encourage her to see the results of procrastinating and make the choice to be more diligent without me standing over her.  I think I need to keep it her problem, not make it mine.  She has already asked if I will wake her up earlier in the morning.  I'm fine with that. . . 

[Critterfixer]

I hear you. Sometimes I wish I did have a good carrot to dangle...hmm. I need more carrots.

 

[idnib]

I'm continuing with our "we're supposed to be off school this week" semi-school. We had a couple of presents lined up to give the kids on Saturday but I broke them out early and let them have at it. One was this electronics lab and the kids have gone nuts over it. DS stayed up until 10:30 last night (usually in bed at 9:00) and was up before breakfast working on it. DD joined him and they've been working away, troubleshooting and trying to figure it out. They worked on it until now, stopping for lunch.

 

The only things I've had to really do today were breakfast and lunch and enforcing a clean-up period. :thumbup1:

[hjffkj]

Today went well!! My ds really shocked me during math. They had a pile of shapes in front of them. We were working on sorting them by attributes such as color, size, shape. Something that I knew he was passed but it was simply review for more in depth things later this week. We specifically only talked about shapes, color, and size attributes. So, when I told him to sort the shapes any way he wanted it blew my mind that he put the circles together and triangles, squares and rectangles together and could explain why (one group has angles and lines the other has none.)

The rest of the day ran quite smoothly because I was planned last night.

[Critterfixer]

Just finished science with the king of procrastination. He isn't a very happy little boy right now. It came home to him this afternoon that the sun was setting and he wasn't done with his work. We discussed how the shorter day is going to require that he pick up the pace with his work if he wants to have plenty of time to play. Don't know if this sank in as he is still too busy sighing, rolling his eyes and huffing around. Got to love ten year old boys!

[maize]

Good to hear! Shannon wasn't independent with math in 4th grade (when she started homeschooling) either. Morgan can do a page of problems on her own, easy peasy, but I guess the nature of a review - a bunch of different problems of different kinds, where you have to read the instructions for *every single one* might be above her EF level at this point . . . fair enough.

 

The thing is, she is very, very good at reading me - and she tries to do this rather than thinking. She'll say and answer and then look at my face to see if she's right or wrong, rather than think about the problem. Then if she can see she's wrong, she'll start wildly guessing. I'm trying to teach her to focus on the problem, and learning how to solve it, rather than focusing on me and on whether the answer is right or wrong. It's tough, because she is so intuitive! And apparently I don't have a great poker face :rolleyes: so it's as much retraining myself about how to respond as it is teaching her.

 

I did go through this phenomena with Shannon, so I know we'll get through it, but it's even more intense with Morgan so in a way I feel like I have to think about disconnecting myself a bit more so that she is actually working and thinking about the math problem, not about our interactions, my responses, etc. Weird problem, maybe, but I feel like she has no difficulties with math, it's this other funny interpersonal stuff that gets in the way of her learning.

Have you tried Beast Academy with her? I was surprised at the determination to tackle a tough problem and keep working at it that BA brought out in my oldest (though she was older than 8 when the first books came out).

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yes, we're using BA and MM3 this year - this is my go-deep-rather-than-fast strategy.  I'm happy to keep her on grade level but challenge her by using both programs.  We've almost finished 3A.  It is really good for her, but again I have to be really careful with how much and how I help . . . I don't know that I've mastered how to "teach" or facilitate BA yet.  What is great about it is that sometimes we are both genuinely stumped by a hard probelm,  and we work together to figure it out.  Those are the golden moments.  I also love it when I see her using a mental math strategy she practiced ad nauseum in MM - and she applies it to solve a BA problem!! Those are good moments too.  

 

On her good days, math feels lovely and fun and while not effortless, totally doable. Today was a good day.  :)

[Soror]

Ack, I'm already on borrowed time and out of likes, at least tomorrow I should have a breather. I love reading about everyone's schooling, I only wish I had more time to comment.

 

Critterfixxer it is so wonderful to see them make those connections, it helps us make it through those not so great moments!

idnib- I think your week is sounding fabulous and I need to check out your link for when we have some more time.

 

Yesterday went swimmingly and we got done in record time, not sure how we managed it tbh. 

 

Dd had 45 min LA

Ds- 1h30 history - half RA, half SR, 1hr- writing/grammar/spelling, 20 min science

 

At the same time

dd 45 min math, ds 1hr

1hr readalouds/poetry tea time

30 min science/tech show

 

We're going light on science now because FLL is consuming many hours right now!

 

We finished by 2:30

 

Today our special focus is music, so we will be listening to some Vivaldi and working on memory palaces. Planning for art tomorrow, looked for books at the library about Degas for art tomorrow but I guess I'll have order some. 

 

Ds has been doing well with his work, actually since I explained to him that schooling is not optional I am legally required to do so it seemed to ease him up a bit. Dd is a different story these days, she's real great at some parts but then it seems there is at least one thing she wants to fight or push on each day, she just has more to do this year and it is going to take awhile to get her accustomed to this.

[Luckymama]

The week is going very well :) Dd did all the scheduling by herself; I didn't say a word ;)

 

Gradual transitioning to self-scheduling over the past few years was stressful at times, but I really think it was the correct path for us. I read many posts from parents frustrated that their newly-minted ninth graders were not able to schedule their schoolwork and extracurricular activities. I watched how my older kids' teachers taught them how to break down assignments, how to use the planner for each type of class (English is different from math is different from bio), how to recognize when to schedule heavier or lighter days, and so on. I took that to heart and adapted the method for homeschooling :)

 

Fifth grade (when we began homeschooling): I scheduled everything

Sixth grade: On Mondays, we discussed what needed to be done that week; I scheduled everything.

Seventh grade: We scheduled everything together on Mondays. Time spent on extracurriculars almost doubled.

Eighth grade: She was in charge of scheduling her outsourced English work (I checked). I gave her a list of what I thought she could accomplish during the week for the other classes, and she selected days to do things.

 

Please note, she works across the table from me or reads on the couch in the next room. We do four of her seven subjects together. We discuss all her work all day long (all day, sheesh!). I have not "moved her to independence" because that is not the vision for our homeschool during the high school. Discussion and collaboration are :)

[Sdel]

Ugh, spoke too soon. Yesterday, and it's looking like today too, was nothing but argumentative attitude and diversion attempts. The first thing out of DD's mouth was an argument about how she wasn't going to eat breakfast unless it was candy. UGH! We go through 20 rounds of "why do I have to..." only end it with her stating something increddibly rude and disrespectful about how she shouldn't have to.

 

At least for me, school is a light day today.....but I thinnk I forsee an early bed time in DD's future.

 

Stefanie

[Soror]

Stefanie- I was thinking about the science does your 7yo like to do nature studies? My oldest dd is 7 and she loves this, we've studied wildflower, rocks, mushrooms at various times it is pretty laid back generally we just set out the door and look for various things. I used Harmony Fine Arts materials before, some free and paid as well. Right now we're doing an informal study of trees. I printed out a sheet that has different leaves and we seen how many we could find, later today or tomorrow we've going to be looking them up to see if we properly identified them. Scavenger hunts are a big hit, it keeps them focused as well to be on the lookout while we're walking. 

 

texasmama- thank you for wharing about your daughter and working towards more independence, it is helpful to see the steps to get there.

 

We're on break here, watching Magic School Bus during lunch- girl's choice today. Ds still has some more history reading to do (he kept getting distracted!), I'm going to do some more readalouds and a bit of music. I got a couple of new books for the kids, Fortunately the Milk for the girls and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate for ds, and the girls have a stack of picture books for me including Beatrix Potter which has been a favorite lately.

[Critterfixer]

We had a really good day today. Both boys kept up. We didn't get to history again, but our writing work went over time, and I was very tired today. Feeling better this evening, and if I can get a decent night's sleep I'll be fine in the morning. I've been pretty much awake since about four this morning, so I'm kind of running on fumes.

I did find a decent botany text to use that is close to what I want to accomplish with botany this year. I wasn't really liking what I'd found for curricula, and wanted to spend some more time on terminology and observation, so I was glad to get a book that did that for me. I'll still have to cover plant physiology, but so many texts didn't spend much time on the field end of things. So now I'll need to hit the library for supplemental books, just as I did for insect study last year. 

We had fun with our first "scary" story at tea today. Got quite a few to read for our horror/mystery fiction month.

[Sdel]

Stefanie- I was thinking about the science does your 7yo like to do nature studies? My oldest dd is 7 and she loves this, we've studied wildflower, rocks, mushrooms at various times it is pretty laid back generally we just set out the door and look for various things. I used Harmony Fine Arts materials before, some free and paid as well. Right now we're doing an informal study of trees. I printed out a sheet that has different leaves and we seen how many we could find, later today or tomorrow we've going to be looking them up to see if we properly identified them. Scavenger hunts are a big hit, it keeps them focused as well to be on the lookout while we're walking. 

 

She'll tell you she does....but after 5 minutes she's done and is whining....on nature topics.  I did osmosis eggs with her and got a 5 minute "cool" and then done although she was able to correctly guess what would happen to each egg.  She does like rocks and phsyics type demos.  Her rock "collection" has over 200 rocks in it and she spent hours with the tornado maker thing.  She talks a lot about volcanoes and space.  There isn't a lack of "interest", there is a lack of desire to work the way I'm comfortable to teach and it is taking me a bit of time to get organized on how to re-tool. 

 

She will read to herself, but she WILL NOT listen to a book being read to her or sit with a book and just look at pictures and talk about them.  She is more than willing to play with things, but as soon as you try to "teach" her something about it, she is like, "okay, I'm done now", but she loves art so I'm hoping the creative outlet of a lapbook will translate to learning *something* even though history pockets are a big flop here.....

 

I am firmly convinced though that a significant part of the problem is we just hit the wall, and she becomes completely unwilling to do anything, before we get to it.  I schedule it late because to me, it is more important to get the LA and math done than risk hitting the wall before we do.  Once we hit it, there is no recovery for her, we just end school to save my sanity.  The days like yesterday and today where we start off with a bad attitude we hit it faster than on days like Monday where she was complaint the entire way through school. 

 

Some days I'm truly concerned she may be even slightly on the autistic spectrum since we have a strong family tendency towards it and she can just be so rigid and obstinate.

 

Stefanie

[Soror]

Stefanie- *hugs* it is a process to figure out what they need and how to best reach them, I'm still figuring out mine so I certainly don't have all the answers.

 

Today I used bribery at various points, they just love the ideas of little treats for when they finish various things. Some part of me thinks I should not oblige them but then again we all enjoy reward for a job well done and it helps morale. Overall dd had less attitude although she certainly had her moments. They grumbled a bit doing our music appreciation, ds especially as we were working on our memory and anything he struggles with he fights doing, however I was well pleased with how he did. 

[My3girls]

Turned down a field trip today.  I feel so left out!  We have gotten so much done, and my girls had a fantastic time playing in the woods, though, so I know it's just me.  Staying home is sooo hard.

[Critterfixer]

Today has been a roller-coaster. After Latin this morning I was very tempted to go see if my ds had left his head in the bed and replaced it with a pumpkin. A carved one. At noon I was literally scrounging leftovers while trying to teach math, knowing that the leftovers were perfectly good lunchtime fodder and knowing also that at least one boy would be unwilling to eat half of it. My ds with the pumpkin for a head ate everything and looked for more, which clued me in to the probable reason for the pumpkin head--cereal in the morning isn't enough. I wonder if he's been growing--I ought to go measure him. Anyway, he now will be getting either some meat or cheese with his breakfast. 

He's also getting Latin intensive review with Mom in the evenings. :closedeyes:

 

The afternoon has gone much better, but I'm beat after the morning. Hiding out for thirty minutes, and the boys are under orders to let Mom be unless something is bleeding or on fire! I left them decorating their new Latin Review Books, and neither of them could resist showing me their drawings, but that was okay. After my recharge time we are all going out to collect leaves, discuss leaf form and how we classify them, and then they will get their reading assignments for the weekend and into next week. Thank goodness for encyclopedias with little questions at the end of a topic! A major positive this week has been that they have been forced into using the dictionary a lot and so they are beginning to groan a bit less. They've been getting plenty of writing in. The negative has been that we have not been able to get into a rhythm when it comes to history. We are getting there with science now. We also need to do more reading.

[Soror]

critterfixer- I have that Botany book on my wishlist now, I want to buy it for myself- too bad I've decimated my book budget- but hey its Oct now :)

 

I know it seems for us it takes a bit to get in a good groove with everything. We just finished week 8(technically 8.5) and I've really just felt like we've really got it the last 1.5 weeks, I was afraid last week was a fluke but this week also went well. I'm totally in love with our current schedule, although it requires me to be on the ball, thankfully I'm feeling good these days. I cannot believe how fast we are finishing and how much we are getting done compared to the beginning of the year. 

 

Dd had a decent attitude today and even did some of tomorrow math and extra reading, ds worked fast in math and we had some time for some math games within our hour and a living math book to boot. Today was drawing which the girls loved and ds complained incessantly about, I even looked up something I thought he would like better, sigh. He is really bad, truly. I need to start on the basics and it has to be something he is interested in drawing. I checked out Ausburg but I don't think he will like it. We've done some Kistler but I don't know that he made much progress. 

 

Anyway, we read some more in Tarantula Scientist and about earthworms in our other book and then had a family trek to find some. We continued with Story of US and our Pocahontas book. I'm enthralled with history right now so it works well that we are hitting it hard. We watched a Drive By History over lunch- we're hitting all the sides from conservative to libreral :) I read the girls a stack of books and ds is now asking for Calpurnia Tate, although he declared it looked boring and for girls the first day :)

 

If we do school tomorrow it will be light, I don't officially have it scheduled and ds has FLL homework and I need to prep for an AHG camping trip, we'll see.

[Critterfixer]

I've been trying to think of things that might be useful for your boy and drawing, soror.

Have you ever asked him to draw something upside down? Every now and again, when I'm having trouble drawing something I'll turn it upside down and draw it. It's an old trick from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It's supposed to help you really see the outlines, but probably the best thing about the technique is that the pressure is off. One simply doesn't expect the drawing to come out like the picture at all, and it's a surprise when it does.