This Year's Curricula

New Homeschool Year

here are our curricula purchases for the upcoming school year (which we start on May 1st, don't ask), by category:

Math:

Foerster's Algebra I (Student book and Solutions Manual)
Math Without Borders (video lessons) to accompany Algebra I
Westcott Metal Compass (I have no idea if Primo will need a compass this year, but he could have used one a few weeks ago while doing 'test prep' for his CAT-E, so I'm picking one up.  It's $1.25, not a big deal if we don't need it this school year)
Singapore 1A/1B workbooks (for Snorzy in four years, I'm worried they will stop selling these before he gets around to starting math)
(nothing for Radish, I jumped the gun last year buying 5th grade Singapore, which we didn't need until this coming May.  I also have Life of Fred Fractions, and Decimals & Percents ready for him, if he wants to start those this year)

Science:

Tarbuck Earth Science (college textbook, it looks intimidating but everyone in the online reviews I read swore this was the best thing to use for middle school/high school level Earth Science, we'll see)
Prentice Hall Science Explorer Earth Science
Earth Science Success: 50 Lesson Plans for grades 6-9 (for labwork etc to go with above)
Investigating Rocks: The Rock Cycle (from the Do It Yourself series, supposedly good hands-on experiments and activities that kids can do with little to no adult help)
Detective Science: 40 Crime Case Activities

History:

History Odyssey Modern Times (Level 1)
History Odyssey Modern Times (Level 2)- I'm so excited about having both boys use this curriculum this year, each at an appropriate level!  I still haven't gotten around to writing a whole blog post about how much I love this history curriculum, but I will one of these days.

English:

Daily Grams Jr/Sr High (sad that this is the last in the series!  these have been so great for my guys, they never mind doing them, it's a nice little bit of work to get them going in the morning, and their basic writing skills have grown so much since they each started doing these)
Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing, Grade 6
Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing, Grade 9
Reading Comprehension Book 4, plus Teacher Key
More Reading Comprehension Level 2, plus Teacher Key- I'm nervous and unsure about these four (above) pieces, I haven't made the guys do much in the way of reading or even writing instruction for the past few years and I don't know if they're going to be overwhelmed, or enjoy a little challenge in these areas.  My thinking is that it's time (for Primo, anyway) to go back to having 'English' as a subject, aside from the reading and writing he does in science and history.  In the past few years I've been acting as if he has 'tested out' of English by reading above his grade level and testing high on the CAT E at the end of each year, in both reading and writing.  Now I'm starting to think in terms of transcripts and college entrance requirements, he's going to need English and I'm too lazy to want to tease out what he's doing organically and write it up.
Comedy of Errors (No Fear Shakespeare)- a young friend showed this book to me the other day, and since that young friend and her brother are going to be in a production of this play in the summer which we will certainly want to attend, I thought my guys should become familiar with the story.  I love the format of these 'No Fear Shakespeare' books, wish I had had them when I first tried to read these plays!
Getting Started With Latin- I lump Latin in with English for our purposes.  We finished Minimus Secundus a while ago, and I didn't know where to go next with this.  I want to continue to expose them to some Latin, it can't hurt anything, but I don't want to spend a lot of time or energy on it either. 

Practical Arts:

Start it Up: a Complete Teen Business Guide for Turning Your Passions Into Pay
Better Than a Lemonade Stand!: Small Business Ideas for Kids
Growing Money: A Complete Investing Guide for Kids
Let's Cut Paper (for Snorzy, to practice cutting)
Betty Crocker's Cookbook For Boys and Girls

Health:

Healthy Eating: Diet and Nutrition (another of those DIY books like the one I bought for science, this one sounds more like 'health ed' to me so I'm putting it in its own category)
Pandemic! Board Game (maybe this one is a bit of a stretch, but I usually throw in a new board game with our huge curricula buy, and tell myself it has educational value.  That's how Settlers of Catan came into our lives, a few years ago)

Physical Education:

Cozy Coupe (Snorzy)
Mashoonga! Warrior Pair (we're calling these 'whack-y sticks', and I hope they'll encourage a certain Primo to want to go outside to play a bit more often)

The Big Buy

Every year around this time we get a tax refund, and it's time once again to make our big homeschool purchase.  The project of deciding what books and supplies we need for the coming school year has been consuming all of my spare time for the past week and more.  It was a little more work than usual; in the past I've mostly just ordered the next book in each of the series that I've liked over the years.  This year, though, I felt a need to make things more challenging and comprehensive for Primo, as he goes into 7th grade.  And after six years of trying to put together something on my own for science that I can be happy with, I'm going to cave and try a textbook-based curriculum for Primo.  I think I've almost settled on what we're getting (for all the boys and all the subjects) after *many, many hours* researching various curricula, previewing books through interlibrary loan, reading reviews, and taking stock of what we already have (and what sorts of things I buy and then find we never use-- that's right, I'm talking about you, art supplies).  This may change a bit, there's no hurry to order since we won't start our new school year until May 1st.  Here it is then, for anyone who is curious:

Math:
Singapore 5A/5B workbooks (Radish, he won't need them until early 2015 but I like to have everything I'll need for the next 12 months when I place my order)
Life of Fred Beginning Algebra Expanded Edition
Life of Fred Beginning Algebra: Zillions of Practice Problems (both of these for Primo)
Learning Wrap-Ups: Multiplication (Radish)

History and Geography:
History Odyssey- Early Modern (Level 2) (for Primo, but some of the literature units I'll use for Radish as well)
Yo, Millard Fillmore!
Yo, Sacramento!
The Little Man in the Map (these last three mostly for Radish, to work on memorization)

Science:
Holt Science And Technology, Life Science, Homeschool Package (Primo)
Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia (both)
Microscope Adventure! Unit Study (both)
World of the Microscope (both)
ScienceWiz DNA (kit, for both)
Bridges! (mostly Radish, although I think Primo won't be able to resist 'helping' with some of the projects and experiments)
spring scale (Radish, needs for Steck-Vaughn Science by the Grade, which we already own)

English:
Daily Grams 4th Grade (Radish)
Daily Grams 7th Grade (Primo)

Practical Arts:
Life Skills for Kids (Primo)

Art:
1-2-3 Draw People (Radish)

Philosophy:
Thank You For Arguing, Revised and Updated Edition (both)

Planning for High School and Beyond:
Homeschoolers' College Admissions Handbook (me)
College Without High School (Primo, very unschool-y but I want him to be exposed to these ideas)
Setting the Records Straight: How to Craft Homeschool Transcripts and Course Descriptions for College Admission and Scholarships (me)
Homeschooling the Teen Years (me, on the fence about this one because it's the same author as the Homeschoolers' College Admissions Handbook above, might be repetitive)

Snorzy, toddling at home:
water table
My Fairy Princess Palace (because I want it, and he'll want me to play with him, and this is the compromise we're going to come to-- I'll play with him, if we can play things that I like and am usually deprived of in my boy-centric world)

So there you have it, and that's what's been eating all my time lately.  (don't ask about the craft challenge, I had to let it slide this past week or go crazy! hoping to continue the sweater project as this week's 'craft')

Struggling in February

This time of year is the pits, every year at this time I get at least a little fed up with everything.  Many years I entertain the idea of sending the kids to school, in February, but come March I love homeschooling again and wouldn't dream of doing things any other way.
I'm trying to keep things a little bit light and fun over here...the boys are doing plenty of math and all the other core subjects, but I'm making sure I keep some lighter things injected into our school day-- for example, today we started with a Valentine-making workshop (which included lots of practice in negotiation and working together, and for Milo also the skill of finding an unknown zip code--so, not completely noneducational).
Another way we're keeping it interesting is by doing science experiments, like this one on crystals:

And later in the week we're going to view some videos on Khan Academy and Ted Ed (or is it Ed Ted? never can remember) about plate tectonics, earthquakes, Pangaea, and Fibonacci numbers.  I've been thinking about how to incorporate these online resources into our homeschool, and what I've hit on this week is that I'll have them do their usual books-and-papers work on these topics, and then add watching the videos (and, as always in our hs, writing and drawing about what they've learned) late in the week as enrichment.  Up until now I've resisted using videos in the boys' lessons, going with the Well-Trained Mind idea that learning from books is a different skill that should be acquired first.  However, some of the home educating moms whom I respect the most (Hi Jen S. and Ariel D.!) use Ted Ed (Ed Ted?) and Khan Academy videos with their kids, so I knew it was time to re-think this and see what using these could do for my family.
Craft Challenge news this week: well, this time of year really is getting me down, and my week was, once again, almost up without anything to show for it (craft-wise, that is).  So, last night on Primo's advice I grabbed my fabric scissors and a big bag of felt scraps, and made some shapes and animals for Snorzy's felt board.  Radish agrees with me that the baby would probably just eat the felt shapes right now, so this will be put away and likely show up next under the Christmas tree later this year (when Snorzy will be almost 2)

Next up: remind me to get around to the post that I've been meaning to write about learning styles, Radish, and multiplication.  Also, I'm going to try to do a more involved and interesting craft this week-- not needle felting yet as I don't have the supplies, but something engrossing and fun.

Cold Snap

One fun thing about this prolonged stretch of cold weather is that we were able to get around to an art project I'd been meaning to do with the kids: an ice chandelier, as seen in The Jumbo Book of Outdoor Art (one of my favorites for unusual art projects).  Primo made the frame by himself (not visible in the picture below, unfortunately-- the kids were the photographers), and we collaborated on a set of colorful ice cubes and a circle, all with small objects (natural and man-made) trapped inside.  We hung it about a week ago, and it's been interesting to see the cubes melt and change, *even though* the air temperature hasn't risen to even close to 32 degrees all week.  How is this possible?  Our hypotheses include heat from the cars passing on the street, and sunlight shining on the ice.



Once again I felt a little 'under the gun' to make something for my craft challenge.  I had the idea to make Snorzy a felt board, but didn't know what to use as the base (without buying anything).  Then I realized we had just thrown a white board into the recycling bin.  I had one of the kids retrieve it, and used it to form the basis of a felt board (with a blue sky and a slight hill made of green felt).  I found that staples wouldn't stay well in the cardboard back of the white board, so I reinforced it with duct tape.  Not pretty, but hopefully it will hold up.  Next mini project: making some felt shapes for Snorzy to use with this board.  No rush, he's still at the age where he's more likely to put the pieces in his mouth than on the board.  Maybe I'll save this as a birthday or even Christmas present.  The important thing is that I *made something* this week, other than the chandelier (with the boys) and various baked good ('Samoa' Brownies, Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake).

Trying to Keep My Head In the Game

I'm pretty much accepting right now that most of my energy is taken up with getting ready for Christmas.  At the same time, I can't help having a little yipping voice in my head reminding me that *very* soon after the holidays we'll go back to doing lessons, and it's easier to plan ahead than on the fly (for me, anyway-- how about you?)  I also have a 'quarterly report' due on December 31st, which I haven't written yet-- I set my quarterlies at even intervals around our (year-round) school year, this is the only one that falls during one of our breaks-- every year I forget this one, or nearly do so, and write it up at the last minute.

Here are the notes that I've made for myself, regarding this upcoming (and in our school year, last) trimester:

1. continue with Nebel science (we go in and out of this science curriculum, but it's still the best one I know of), discussing the concept of 'Center of Gravity'
2. remember to do all the 'extra' lessons each week, sometimes we fall out of the habit of doing these toward the end of a session: Latin, geography, philosophy, art, music
3. continue having the boys write book reports (this is relatively new for us)
4. ask the boys to re-do (or at least re-visit and add to) thier timeline of exploration of the New World, including Brendan the Navigator and explaining where 'Vinland' is
5. take a day off from Story of the World to update their old timeline, which has been neglected for a long time
6. start a program of memorization, working on (one at a time): US states (being able to fill in a blank US map), US capitals, US presidents
7. look up a good touch-typing software or online program/game for kids

That should be enough to go on with, once I get started in January it will be time to start thinking ahead to our next school year-- what to continue, what to change or add.  Primo will be entering 7th grade, somehow that sounds intimidating to me.

Their Own Thirst for Knowledge

When I started reading about homeschooling years ago ( when Primo was a toddler) I gravitated right away toward eclectic, middle of the road methods, and definitely *not* unschooling.  Over the years that hasn't changed-- though some of our friends and many of our friendly acquaintances would describe themselves as unschoolers, the idea of 'child-led learning' just doesn't work for me.
But.
Even though I'm happy with so many things about the way we do 'education' in our home, I wish the boys would get more excited about learning.  They tend to be cheerful and compliant when it comes time for lessons, and they are sometimes enthusiastic about particular parts of our routine (science experiments, history and science lessons that one of them reads and then teaches to the other, taking turns reading Latin stories aloud).
But.
We are avid readers in our family, and we spend a lot of time at our local library.  I make good use of the 'interlibrary loan' service offered by our region's libraries, and yesterday was not unusual-- there were 10 books waiting for us at the check-out counter.  Said each of the boys in turn, "Are there any fun books waiting for us?"-- meaning novels, recently published middle-grade novels about fantasy or funny situations.  8 of the 10 books were about Christopher Columbus and other explorers, and I had taken great care to choose interesting, high-quality, and in some cases beautiful books.  I felt a little crushed when the boys asked about 'fun' books.  After nearly 6 years of homeschooling, don't picture and activity books about explorers count as fun?  What can I do to awaken in them their own thirst for knowledge?
There are glimmers of light at the end of this tunnel.  Several months ago the boys chose a book called Stronger Than Steel about scientists looking to replicate the properties of  spider silk.  On this recent trip to the library I brought home two science-themed books, one of them called One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science and I found Primo reading it over his dessert later that night.  It wouldn't have to be science, I'd be happy with either of them taking an interest in anything that has to do with the real world-- really, almost anything at all (I'm sure there are exceptions, I just can't think of them at the moment).                                     

Out of the Gate

Primo started a blog last year.  One post, then forgot about it until a few weeks ago.  Now he's started it back up again, and posts almost every day.  He doesn't overthink it, just jumps in and rattles on about whatever is on his mind.
Here is his mama, trying to take a leaf from his book.  I've had a book on blogging out of the library for two months.  I've laid awake thinking of names for this blog, like I did when I was pregnant with Snorzy ( boy number three, but I didn't know that then and it was the thought of having to name a girl that kept me up nights).
I want to write about my adventures in homeschooling and raising my three sons.  About cooking and crafting and sometimes feeling ambivalent about my life's work.

For now, I have to take a moment to congratulate myself, just for having begun.

Primo today: duct tape creations, some for the Flea Market Craft Fair on Friday, some just for himself.

Radish today:  in the darkened back room, experimenting with a flashlight and some construction paper, learning about the color spectrum (while Primo at the same time was doing Snap Circuits experiments in the living room.  Good day for science learning in our homeschool!)

Snorzy today:  first word, "bath", while taking a rare morning bath.