Our Everyday Talk

I am a Curriculum Junkie!

My name is Nancy, and I am a curriculum-aholic.    This is a common vice of homeschoolers.   So much great material, so little time! 

I’ll show you a few pictures, so you have a little window into my world.   And then I’ll tell you the HUGE step that I made in the right direction this last week.

So here’s a picture of my used curriculum that I’ve boxed up according to grade level.  

All of this material has been used at least once – some will be used again, some not.   Like the boxes of 1st and 2nd grade materials.   Unless God has a different plan for us, we will not be using this material again!   But I keep in on hand, just in case.   And Last year I had the opportunity to borrow out much of this material to 2 other families.   One started homeschooling in the middle of the school year, and I was able to supply her with much of the material that they needed to get them through to the end of the school year.   Another friend was looking for some materials to help their kindergartener who was struggling with reading.   The school district wanted them to put him into some special programming, and they were looking for an alternative to that.   I had some phonics materials that they were able to use with him at home in the evenings and such.   I’m glad that I had kept that material, so that I was able to bless someone else with it.

Then I have my cupboard of materials that is full of stuff that I haven’t gotten the opportunity to use as of yet.  There’s also some reference materials in here that I refer to off and on.   There are a couple things that I have used and have a plan to use again soon, in here as well.   This cupboard is 24” long and 24” deep.   It’s kind of hard to see, but the rows of materials is 2 deep, and things are stuffed in here tight!   Good stuff!   No junk, really!

Here’s our schoolroom shelves ready to go with this year’s materials stocking the shelves.

Our “Busy Table” is set for the upcoming week and the bin next to it holds more educational games and activities to swap things out in the weeks and months to come.   This is all “extras”, fun stuff, that is educational but isn’t part of any regular curriculum.   So the kids get the opportunity to use the things on this table when I’m busy with someone or something else and can’t get to them right away.   They love it!   They feel like they are getting a break, and it’s all stuff that’s going to fill them up with knowledge and wisdom. I could show you my over stuffed bookshelves, cupboards full of board games, cupboards full of educational dvds and videos, cupboards full of educational computer games, but I think you get the point.   I LOVE TO BUY EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR OUR FAMILY !!!

I’m probably worst with Science and History materials.   Noah currently has curriculum materials for Earth Science from 3 different companies sitting on his shelves for this year’s Earth Science.   Oh, and I forgot to mention the bench seat at our work table – full of materials for Science labs.   And History, Noah’s doing World History this year, and he’s got curriculum materials from 5 different publishers for that.    But each one is unique and filled with its own valuable information.    We just can’t ever get enough of Science or History!

But here’s when I come to the good news.   This next picture is all the material that I have gathered up to get rid of.   See I can do it, I can pass some of this great stuff on to another family who will love it and use it as much as we have.   But it has been hard.   I’ve taken some of this stuff on and off this pile 2 or 3 times, before I was sure I wanted to part with it.   Some of it I’m selling on-line, and some I’ll bring to our UPLIFT homeschool co-op in a couple weeks to see if anyone there can use it.

And lastly, I went to the H.E.Y. Fall Rally for our homeschool support group last week.   There was a gymnasium full of tables, all filled with wonderful treasures for our homeschool shelves and cupboards.   I only need 1 more thing for the upcoming school year.   I need Math-U-See Zeta.   I went in hopes of finding someone who was selling their used DVD and textbooks at a bargain price.   Unfortunately I didn’t find it.   BUT, I didn’t come home with anything else either.   I was in a room full of textbooks, and workbooks, and kits, and games, and dvds, and computer games, and you name what else, and I came home with NOTHING!   This is huge friends!   I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a curriculum sale and come home with nothing!   So not only am I in the process of cleansing our home of some unneeded stuff, I also resisted the temptation to bring home more.   Now, I still need that Math-U-See material though, so I will need to look online for that.   But that’s all I’ll buy, I promise :)

A Day at the Guthrie Theater and Mill City Museum

We are your stereotypical home schoolers when it comes to our love of museums, especially history museums!    We spent the day at the Guthrie Theater and Mill City Museum in Minneapolis yesterday.    Noah and I had to give a presentation on "A Day in the Life of MNVA Student" for a MNVA Showcase event in the morning.   After an hour of being put under the microscope by parents looking for alternative education possibilities, our family spent the rest of the day playing and learning in downtown Minneapolis.

Do you realize how blessed we are to have so many options to educate our children?    It's easy to take these things for granted, but these types of options don't exist in other countries.   And are much less available in many other states.    Our choice of any public school that we want to take our children to, charter schools, magnet schools, schooling our children at home through a public school base (like MNVA), Christian private schools, home schooling.   It's a smorgasbord of education!

Our presentation was for maybe 150 people at the most, but in the medium sized theater there, which seats 700, it was a bit intimidating.

Afterwards we had lunch in the Target lounge inside the Guthrie.

DISCLAIMER:   REMEMBER HOW MY CAMERA FELL DOWN AND WENT BOOM A COUPLE MONTHS WHILE AT THE WATER PARK OF AMERICA?    WELL, SINCE THEN I'VE BEEN USING MY BIG OL' ZOOM LENS AND IT'S BEEN TOUGH.    THE MINIMUM FOCAS LENGTH ON THAT CAMERA IS 7 FT.   I'VE HAD TO WORK HARD AT GETTING 7 FT. AWAY FROM MY SUBJECT (MOSTLY MY KIDS)  WHEN TAKING PICTURES THE PAST COUPLE MONTHS, BUT I'VE BEEN MAKING IT WORK.   WELL YESTERDAY THAT LENS DIED.   IT HAS BEEN A SLOW DEATH.   THE AUTO FOCUS ON THAT LENS HASN'T WORKED FOR SEVERAL MONTHS.   BUT MANUAL FOCUS STILL WORKED - KIND OF.    BUT AS THE DAY WENT ON YESTERDAY, IT CONTINUED TO GET MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT TO GET MY CAMERA TO WORK.   UNTIL, AT SUPPER TIME IT DIDN'T.    SO ALL THAT TO SAY, THESE PICTURES AREN'T VERY GOOD, BUT YOU'LL GET THE IDEA -  WE WENT TO SOME COOL PLACES, AND HAD FUN!  

Noah and J.D. chillin' in the Target Lounge.   This place reminds me of some of the chic 80s dance clubs that Todd and I used to go to.   Black leather, everything really slick and clean, with the red light boxes.   The views of the river are great and we were the ONLY ones there, so it was like we were eating lunch at home (if we owned a contemporary home on the riverfront ;)

The kids loved the Amber Room (on the 9th floor of the Guthrie.)   They had to make 3 or 4 visits up there through the morning.

Getting a good picture in this room is difficult, especially with a camera in my condition, but this picture turned out pretty cool.   This is Noah lying on the glass floor that looks down onto the gravel roof a few floors down.   The windows are tinted amber glass and 1 wall is lined with a dull reflective metal.   It's a beautiful and very unusual room.

Here are the 3 kids sitting on the glass window in the floor.   It's freaky.   I couldn't get myself to step out on it.   My brain just couldn't let go of the, "you'll fall to your death" message that it was getting when looking down 30 ft. below the floor.

Our friend, Jennifer, the Local Development/Marketing Manager for Curriculum Company, and the one who organizes all the fun MNVA events that we go to, lives right across the street from the Guthrie in these condos . . .   (I took this picture from a window in the Amber Room, so the coloring is a bit off.)  

 

   Her front door opens to the beautiful green space along the side of the Guthrie Theater and then overlooks the Riverfront.   I have no desire to live in downtown Minneapolis, but if I did live there - this would be a great place to live.

 

 

 

Next we headed next door to the Mill City Museum.   This great local history museum is built  within the ruins of one of the largest mills in the world before it burned almost completely to the ground in 1966.  

 

 

 

We rode in an old freight elevator that was converted into a multi-media exhibit about the history of the mill.

 

 

 

 

   J.D.relaxing on the observation deck in 90 degree sunshine.

 

 

 

Looking down on the ruins of the fire of 1966 that burnt the mill to the ground.

 

 

We learned how wheat becomes flour and about all of the different types of flour that there are, in the Baking Lab.

  

We learned about turning water into power in the Water Lab.

             

Then we drove around the lakes, and stopped for a walk around the Lyndale Park Rose Garden near Lake Harriet.

           

We had dinner at The Malt Shop near Lake Harriet - the food was not as good as I remembered it to be - but the malts were yummy!

And after that my lens was officially called dead.

On our way home we stopped by an old familiar store that Todd and I frequented when we lived in the Twin Cities 15-20 years ago, to look for a birthday present for me.   (Man, I feel old when I can say that I lived with my husband somewhere, 15 to 20 years ago.)   I found a REALLY nice one, birthday present that is, but that's for another day.   But I'll give you a teaser . . .

 

So what do you think I got for my birthday?

Nancy

 

Celebrating Another Great Year of Schooling at Home!

In the end of May we spent the day at Water Park of America.   We love water parks!

  

Our brave little Hannah on the body slide

  

J.D. surfing

  

Noah on the body slide.  A couple hours before this,he had crashed while racing on the tube slides and spent an hour in the first aid station icing the big bump on his head (you can see the black and blue spot a little on the side of his head, under his bangs.)   That poor kid bruises and swells very easily as a result of his head surgeries.  

 

As always everyone's favorite was the 10 story family raft.   There's another view of the family raft ride from the outside of the building at the top of the page.   The green spiral tube coming from the tower is the family raft ride.   Tons of fun, but quite a bit of work to get to the top, 10 flights of stairs.   The  I only did it 3 times, Todd thinks he did at least a dozen.

On our way home we stopped to have with my sister's family.   We had pizza and I brought strawberry shortcake (her favorite) to celebrate.   A great ending to a great day and a great year!

How do you celebrate the end of your school year?   Whether you home school, school at home through an on-line public school, or your kids attend a private or public school, do you do something to congratulate yourselves for completing another great year of education?   I hope so!

Nancy

Our tour of Collegeville Artisan Bakery

Last week we took a really fun field trip with a few families from our home school co-op.    We went to the Collegeville Artisan Bakery. It's the bakery that has their delicious breads and croissants for sale at the Farmers Market.   It was so much fun, and so delicious!   We got to try some samples, and we of course had to buy a few things too.    Steve and Mary Ann Nelson were great hosts and we learned a lot!   They're quaint bakery is in a building on their beautiful home property in the woods behind St. John's University.   J.D. is very much into baking and cooking at our house, and he asked lots of questions.   The tour lasted almost an hour, but we ended up staying for almost 2 hours because J.D. wanted to stay and learn some more.    Steve jokingly invited us to join him at 6 a.m. some morning to help him bake his breads, and J.D. told him he'd be there!  J.D. also tells me he wants to take one of his baking classes.

 


YUMMY!

Steve offered to teach the kids about the practical applications of the metric system when baking by weight, or more in-depth information about his baking methods.   Maybe he doesn't realize that when you offer to teach something to a home schooler, we'll definetly be taking him up on it!

Zoologica de Minnesota

Yesterday was “Spanish Day” at the MN Zoo.   We’re learning Spanish this year, so I thought it sounded like a fun way to learn some Spanish.    Since things are pretty slow for Todd at work these days, he took the day off to come too.

 

The zoo is a spot filled with all sorts of nostalgia for Todd and I.   We both worked there PK (Pre-Kids) and had a membership there for several years.   So Todd and I always have lots of stories to tell and “wisdom” to share with the kids when we take trips to the zoo.   At this point the kids love all the fun stories and insider information that we tell them.

 

 

 The kids listening to a presentation about Flamingos in Spanish.   There were a couple dozen of these presentations done through out the zoo, done by High School students.   Noah was able to follow along pretty well, J.D. and Hannah picked up on a few things.   After each presentation the H.S. students played some type of review game where they asked questions that you should be able to answer from their presentation (which were completely in Spanish.)   It was fun.   A couple of the presentations were awesome, and a couple were pretty bad.    Most were pretty good.   The kids were thinking they might be able to do one in a few years.

  

 

 

 

 

Since we were being all nostalgic, we decided to go to an old restaurant in Edina.   Todd and I lived in the Twin Cities for the first 5 years we were married, plus the time we spent there while at the U of M, St. Paul.   I was in the mood for a greasy burger and fries.   Greasy burgers don't appeal to me all that often, but when they do there's no better place than Convention Grill & Fountain in Edina!   They have the best greasy burgers ever!   It's like you've stepped back in time and landed in the 50s.   Our waitress was the sweetest thing.   AND I HAD THE BEST BUTTERFINGER SHAKE EVER!

 

We had an early dinner, and then did a little shopping and headed for home.   It was a great day!

A summary of school in our house this year.

This morning as I was doing some filing and record keeping for the end of our first semester I realized I hadn’t posted about what we are doing for homeschooling this year.   Here’s our agenda for the year - including the curricula of choice, but not including all the little rabbit trails we take each week.    When I started blogging, one of my goals was to use this as a way to keep track of this adventure we call homeschooling.   I haven’t done that yet because, unfortunately, I have had some preconceived ideas that I need to have a well thought out and designed way of doing this before I start.   But I’ve decided to take a new approach, and just start; knowing that what will motivate me, is having something started that needs to be improved.

Noah

Enrolled in MNVA so using K12© curriculum as main source for his courses.   But Noah’s a pretty quick learner, and needs quite a bit to keep him busy, so we use quite a few other materials for enrichment.

Math – Algebra (Thankfully Todd has taken over teaching this for the most part – not that I won’t, but I count it as a blessing that Todd doesn’t mind doing it!)

Language Arts -  which consists of Grammar, Composition, Vocabulary, and Literature.

History – World History Creation through the Middle Ages.

Science – Physical Science.   Again, thankfully Todd enjoys doing this with him, because although I love Science, Physics is not my favorite (maybe it’s too much like Algebra ;)   He also is taking a Physical Science (using Apologia curriculum) class through our homeschool co-op which has been a fun way for him to do some experiments and discussions. 

Art – His art follows along with this World History.   He’s also taking an art class in UPLIFT (our homeschool co-op.)

Spanish – He’s doing Powerglide (an on-line based program) as well as taking a Spanish class in UPLIFT.

He’s also taking a Team Building class in UPLIFT, which should be fun and good for him.

He’s not doing any sort of on going Music or Phy. Ed. right now.   We’ve talked about a few options, but he was in a play at Christmas and is pretty busy right now with this, so we’ll wait and maybe ad something in the Spring for one or both of these.

 

J.D.

Homeschooling.   I tend to be fairly Classical in our approach, but we’re a little eclectic.   This year we are really concentrating on Math skills and the Writing process. 

Math – Started the year finishing the Math-U-See Delta (which concentrates on division concepts), now we’re using Teaching Textbooks 7.   I have loved both of these curriculums.   Math-U-See has been really good for him to break down computation skills in a way that he can grasp.   Teaching Textbooks has been good for expanding the math concepts, and we like the way it teaches how math will be useful in every day life.

Language Arts – Consists of spelling, grammar, composition, vocabulary, and literature.   Using K12 homeschool curriculum right now, looking into other materials that might work better for him.

History – Early World History using Mystery of History curriculum materials.

Science – Using a combination of K12 and Abeka curricula.

Art – Taking an Art class in UPLIFT (our homeschool co-op)

Spanish – Using Powerglide (an on-line program) as well as taking Spanish class in UPLIFT.

 Music – Taking piano lessons as well as using K12 Music for music theory.

Also taking a Chess class and a class called Life Skills in UPLIFT.

 

Hannah

Enrolled in MNVA.   Considering homeschooling her independently, but for this year this works for us.

Math – Just finishing up her 2^nd grade materials and will be starting 3^rd grade in March.   Will be using Math-U-See Gamma to reinforce multiplication concepts.

Language Arts – Includes Spelling, GUM (Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics), Vocabulary and Literature.   She’s just finishing up her 2^nd grade materials, and will be starting 3^rd grade in March.   So she’ll start Composition with that material.

History – Early World History enriching the K12 curriculum with Mystery of History materials.   I’m teaching a History class for our home school co-op using the same sequence and material as we’re doing at home, so she’s getting a really good understanding of History this year.   Which is a favorite subject for both of us.

Science – Using a combination of K12 and Abeka materials.

Art – She loves Art, so we do most projects a couple times each, and she’s taking an art class in our UPLIFT homeschool co-op class.

Music – Enriching the K12 music curriculum with a little bit of piano.

She’s also taking a Phy. Ed. class in our UPLIFT homeschool co-op, and will be starting gymnastics in the spring.

 

So that’s a synopsis of how we’re doing things this year.    Like I said I do hope to start weekly updates with details of what we’re doing each week.

There I’ve gone and said it, so I’ve got all of you as my accountability partners, now.

Nancy

 

 

"THIS REALLY MAKES SENSE!"

 

Hannah started learning about multiplication today.   She was pretty anxious about it.   In her head she had made it into this huge thing that her brothers “could do” and she “couldn’t.”   After spending about 10 minutes on it together she said, “THIS REALLY MAKES SENSE!”   And off she went!   She did the next 3 assignments in the multiplication unit, and asked if I would write out some more multiplication problems for her to do.  I decided to make her up a blank multiplication table and told her she should just fill in the ones she could figure out.    About an hour later she came back with it all done, the whole thing filled in.   She ran upstairs to tell her dad, “I’m learning how to do multiplication!’    What a blessing, that her dad and I get to share this experience with her.

    

Nancy

Funny homeschool comic

Some more homeschool humor.   This comic was pasted on our bulletin board for years.   It cracks me up!

by Bruce Tinsley

originally published in the Jewish World Review June 10 2002

Can you tell I'm spending too much time in bed?   The kids got a little schoolwork done this morning, but I'm leary about getting too close.   Thankfully I have THE MOST AMAZING HUSBAND IN THE WORLD!   Yes, I do.   He's been coming home from work, making supper, doing the dishes, keeping up with the laundry, and doing a little more schoolwork with the kids.  I really appreciate everything he's been doing the last couple days.   But I know that there are dozens (and dozens) of little things that aren't getting done each day, that I'm going to be faced with once my fever goes down enough so that I don't feel pain when I raise my hands up to blow my nose.   

I went into this with a strategic plan.   I figured it would be more effective for me to surrender to the bugs and take a couple days to completely dedicate to the healing process.   Sleep, lots and lots of sleep, forced fluids, hot showers, steam vaporizers, and albuterol nebulizers once in awhile.   But 4 days apparently isn't enough time for this one.   I'm getting frustrated and the kids are getting a little stir crazy.   Fortunately it's warm enough today for them to play outside this afternoon.   T.'s coming home early today too.   Things are pretty slow around work these days so they have no problem with him taking some time off.   

Hopefully the next time I post, it will be without a fever.   Amen!

N.

A fun video about homeschooling

I found this video again last night.   It's been around awhile, so if you homeschool you may have seen it before, but it "tickles my funny bone" so I'm going to post it here.

It addresses some of the stereotypes of homeschoolers (both positive and negative.)   Like "we never leave our dwelling" which would address the number 1 question heard by homeschoolers.    "What about socialization?"   

I hear it all the time.   And for some new homeschoolers it is one of the hurdles that they worry about before they start homeschooling.   Someone I met just a few weeks ago asked about it.   Somehow in the conversation a question was asked of me that required a, "We homeschool" reply.    "Oh that's great.   And so you get together as a group with other homeschoolers and do stuff and go on field trips, right?"  They nod affirmingly as I agree, with a sign of relief on their face.   The seemed relieved that I didn't reply with something like, "No, we don't believe in that we just keep the kids in the house all day and they rarely see another soul" that would make them feel like they had to call Children's Welfare Services.

I'm afraid I might just have offended half of my readership.   I don't have any idea how many people read this on a regular basis, but let's just say that 2 out of the 4 of you that read my blog don't homeschool, please don't take offense to what I'm saying, PLEASE!    

I think maybe we just have a different definition of "socialization."   It seems to me that if by my children not being in the public school system would neglect them of "socialization", that socialization would be the process of our children being exposed to 25-30 of their aged peers for a period of 6 to 8 hours along with 1 or 2 adults who have no long term emotional attachment to our children.    When I look up "socialization" in the dictionary there is 1 definition that come close to describing that experience.
                " 2. to put under group control; esp to regulate under socialistic principles."

Now that doesn't sound like something I want to do.   

If I look at the other 3 definitions of "Socialize"
                " 1.   to make friendly, cooperative, and sociable.
                   3.  to adopt for the uses and needs of society
                    4.  to take part in social activities"

all 3 of them seem like they would be more effectively accomplished if done outside of the typical brick and mortar (b&m) school system.    If I want my kids to become friendly, cooperative, sociable uses in society wouldn't I want them to learn that from me and from a variety of other adults or older children who I select as good role models for my kids; and not from a room of children at the same maturity level as they are?   

Now there is another implied question that is being asked when asked about socialization.  That's 1 of, don't we want to expose my children to a variety of other people who arent' of the same exact mindset and cultural background as we do?   And my answer to that would be yes, to some degree.   I still want to have control of who and when my child is exposed to these other mindsets and cultures.   I think looking around at today's culture is a pretty good example that kids are exposed to way to much stuff before they are emotionally or mentally mature enough to handle it.    I absolutely want my child to be the "salt" and the "light", but our concern is that if we put them out there without some barriers that the people who we want them to influence will much more likely influence them in a way that is detrimental to them.

Well I honestly didn't have any intention of getting on a soap box when I started this post.   So I'll step down now.   Please know that I'm speaking tenderly from the heart here, and my hope is that it will be received with a like ear.

N.

Where we are "doing school" today

I've got it!   The bug that is.   The cold and flu bugs have been flying around us all winter long, and I've been so grateful that we've been able to avoid them up to this point.   But I've been sick for a couple days now.   So far the kids remain healthy, which makes me very happy.   The only thing I hate more than being sick, is having sick kids!

My fever waxes and wanes, as do the body aches.   This morning, I don't have the energy to get out of bed, so the school room has been moved to our bedroom.   The kids are thinking it's a great adventure!   Who am I to ruin their fun by telling them it's the same old same old, just in a different location.

N.