Our semester so far

This might be a good moment to talk about our semester so far.

What we've done this fall, or should I say, what I remember about what we did this fall:

Typically we get schoolwork done 5 days a week. Mondays are dicey. We are busy at RES with writing class, junior great books, geography, and music appreciation and art history adventure for Frances. When classes are over, it is customary now for us to split up children with the Sharpes. It has worked out well, but it doesn't make for accomplished schoolwork. Many Mondays we have gotten the basics covered while Frances is in ballet and flamenco class. There is enough time and there are enough brain cells left to do a bit of math, reading comprehension, finding some keywords for outlining, grammar, and cursive writing.

Here's a breakdown by subject of what we are currently using:

Math: We had been using Saxon Math for all 3. Then Frances decided that she needed a break from it. Walter and Ollie got stressed by the format and length of assignments, so we have recently moved back to Singapore 3B for Ollie (lots of conversion of meters to kilometers and centimeters and graphing) and Key to Algebra: Integers for Walter. Consistency in doing a bit each day has been the key to our successs this year. Neither is completely overwhelmed, and yet they are moving forward and are well on track for both testing and just being ready for new material. We had great success with Times Tales this summer in helping learn the upper multiplication facts. Mrs. Week and the 1st grade class will probably be our friends forever.

Reading: They are reading to their own interests, still primarily graphic novels and short stories. As far as our schoolwork goes, I have been having them work through a number of reading comprehension materials because I had noted some weaknesses in being able to think like a test-maker. Walter also had some attention issues with answering questions about what he has read, especially details or inferences. I am taking advantage of our built-in two person group to have them cooperate in working through "Reading Connections," which breaks down comprehension into different skill sets and provides practice with each one. I have been using the CARS test booklets to help myself better pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses in comprehension. The kids aren't crazy about it, but it's a nice diagnostic tool for me. We also are all satisfied with the McCall-Crabbe 3 minute timed readings and questions. I finally broke down and let them write directly in the books, which is making things easier for everyone. They're cheap enough that we can get some more copies when we need to. Each book has 77 very short comprehension passages on all sorts of topics. And finally, I have had them doing some assignments from Evan-Moor's Non-Fiction REading Practice, 4th grade.

Writing: We have done two writing class sessions this fall. One was with Hilary and Kristi and all of the kids. This was a bit challenging to me because assignments were more open-ended than the boys are capable of handling on their own. The second was at RES, and again, some assignments were longer or more open-ended and not part of our own home prep scheme, but overall, they had a really good time, and I saw some very creative responses and thoughtful sentence structure, as long as I was transcribing and they didn't have to physically write or type on their own. The difference between the products of dictation and of writing are staggering. It is a discrepancy that I will need to keep my finger on. I have been incorporating some elements of IEW into our own home writing work. I have some misgivings aobut this as a complete program, and I disagree with some of what Andrew Pudewa agrees, but as far as exercises and practice, there are some sound suggestions. I just hate to put a lot of limitations and rules on writing when they are just beginning to see the possibilities of how they can communicate, and I think that Pudewa doesn't put enough emphasis on the real purpose of writing, which is to communicate and share information or ideas with other people. To me, that's the whole purpose of learning to write and enjoying writing. Things are an enjoyable challenge when you have a purpose and feeling about what you are doing. I would like to see continued progress and greater comfort with writing as the year goes on, but we simply must confront the fine motor issues that are holding them back.

Spelling: We're doing poorly with this. I was using the 2nd grade Evan-Moor book, but it really doesn't work very well for us. The boys can do the exercises, but still mispell the words if tested. Neither is a natural speller, alas, though Walter has made enormous strides in the past few months in really hearing the sounds in words and being able to determine a more normal spelling. Oliver is a much greater challenge in this area!

Geography: We love the Evan-Moor geography daily practice book. The challenges are fun, manageable in length, but thorough. Geography class as RES has also been a big hit, especially for Ollie. His passion is helping other people and working in a group to share what he knows and help guide other people. One thing you can say about Ollie is that he lives to serve. He just wants to be useful. We supplement with National Geographic GeoBee questions. Oliver particularly likes to choose books from the library about various countries, especially those in Eastern Europe or the Middle East.

History: We are making our way through Story of the World Volume 2, the Middle Ages with our co-op and at RES earlier this fall. Since my stereo in my car has been broken, we have not been able to listen as well as I would have liked, but the greater emphasis on written tests and actually being consistent with doing the mapwork and activities has, I think, cemented some of the material in this book that is at time more dry and contains more to remember than the previous book in the series. We are also working through Volume 2 of Joy Hakim's History of Us. I would kind of like to see us moving a little more quickly than we are, especially since we're not yet at the American Revoluation, but I'm pleased with how thorough this book as been in giving them a sense of the variety of lifestyles in the colonies and what led up to the separation from England. Through the summer and early fall we also did a lot of reading, field trips, and activiities about the American Revolution, so much so that Ollie now claims there is nothing else for him to learn about this, thank you very much.

Science: I have a textbook that we have been using to some extent this year, but primarily as a jumping off point. We did a unit on space and a unit on water and are in the midst of a unit on volcanoes. These texts feel so random, but I'm not viewing this as our only science. Science remains one of our most interest-driven subjects, and we've explored topics from the water cycle to earthquakes and the U.S. Geologica Survey information on seismography to animal classification.

Handwriting: Both of them are doing fairly well with cursive, especially Walter. Even Ollie, though, is finding that he prefers to make some letters more fluidly ("g" is his favorite). We are using Handwriting Without Tears, and I'm generally pleased.

Grammar: I'm overdosing them on this, I think. We continue to use Growing with Grammar, which I have mixed feelings about. It does introduce many topics that were not familiar to them, and I appreciate this, but then other parts will seem like purely busy work. Slow and steady, though, slow and steady. Some days are very helpful days, some less so, but it all evens out, and progress keeps us on track. I am also having them do a page each day from Easy Grammar Systems. There isn't a lot of concentrated practice, but there is plenty of exposure to a variety of topics each day, and it is not frightening to anyone because there are only four or five matters to take care of each day.

We have had fewer field trips than in earlier years, but there are moments when I wonder whether we haven't gone on practically every field trip known to man. Poor Rutledge and Frances, who are suffering from a parental Been There, Done That syndrome.

Walter is learning by leaps and bounds in trumpet. He is amazing at reading music--sight reading comes so very naturally to him. I could not be more pleased with his progress over the past three months. His first performance with the band will be this coming month at a concert before Christmas. Frances is sitll learning piano from me. Oliver should be learning guitar, but Kerry keeps forgetting to set aside time to teach him. Ollie also needs more prodding to get him to build up calluses on his fingers so that practicing won't hurt so much.

Frances remains largely unschooled, which just feels right for her personality and learning needs right now. She initiates so much on her own. today it was writing a short paragraph about cats that she copied from my writing. Yesterday it was drawing a picture for and writing text for a holiday card for her babysitter. She is an incredibly proflific artist these days, using all sorts of media. For a week it was imitations of Miro. Now it is portraits of her whole family, castles and princesses, and landscapes.

Rutledge, bless his heart, does his very best to distract the rest of us from whatever else we might be doing. It's the job of a toddler, I suppose.

As usual, we've been busy. Thus no writing. Some of what we're doing:

* A new thursday co-op with two other families, where I'm teaching writing and the kids are doing Five in a Row, a special "theme week," Story of the World, and P.E.

* Lots and lots of birthday parties. An unprecedented number of birthday parties (3 this week!).

* A "Fall Festival" with our homeschool group tomorrow afternoon.

* A trip to Norfolk to see "Pirates of Penzance" at the opera house.

* A trip to Chesapeake for a LLL enrichment workshop.

* An etiquette class and dinner this afternoon.

* Testing for Frances at gymnastics.

* Me feeling sick much more often than I would like. It's making me a bit crazy, actually.

* Kerry starting a new job--or more accurately, his old job again.

Ewww. I was feeling so sick so very unexpectedly tonight. Driving home from gymnastics with Frances, I was suddenly overwhelmed with nausea and tingliness in my hands and feet. I was sure I was going to toss my dinner in the car, but being the freak that I am, I was thinking along the lines of just throwing up as I drove, with my blinkers on. Normal people would have pulled over and gotten out of their car, but not me. I waited until my stomach ws flipping over and bad tastes were rising up into my throat. But I breathed like a Lamaze mother in transition, and I was able to hold it back and get home and take some medicaiton. I'm still feeling funky--having those moments where I didn't breathe or swallow right. I hope this is not a new normal.

Frances got her strength and flexibility testing report today at gymnastics, and it was rather disappointing. I guess it shouldn't be--she scored 72.5, which is short of the 79 benchmark for Level 1, but I have to remind myself that this is the goal for the end of the season, not right now. Yes, some did much better, and I think Frances can do better, but she was not alone in having disappointed and disbelieving parents. Would it help if we didn't leave the girls there and go run errands or go home? Can we put the fear of God in them to make them behave and listen?

This must be nanoblomo month, so here's my first entry. i'll try to post pictures tomorrow of our great co-op today.