We need another Eclectic thread! - Page 15

[Jennifer3141]

I have had a heck of a time getting the supplemental readings at our local library for Calvert. So I have bought some from Amazon. If it looks like something we'll enjoy for a long while and I really, really like the message we get it. I got the kids the entire Beatrix Potter collection in the teeny books because I suspected that the kids would love them and I was right! (Plus, I've enjoyed reading all of them again. I remember checking them out of the library one at a time as a kid but I don't think I ever read them all.) It's been kind of disappointing to me to see that our library is missing so many classics. I understand that they need to keep stock of what kids are reading nowadays but it's really sad to me when I try to find a basic book by someone like Margaret Wise Brown and it isn't there.

We're roadtripping to Wisconsin and then Mackinac Island tonight! We'll be gone 4 nights and I'm taking our school stuff. I'm so excited! This will be our first attempt at roadtripping and school.

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by Jennifer3141

I have had a heck of a time getting the supplemental readings at our local library for Calvert. So I have bought some from Amazon. If it looks like something we'll enjoy for a long while and I really, really like the message we get it. I got the kids the entire Beatrix Potter collection in the teeny books because I suspected that the kids would love them and I was right! (Plus, I've enjoyed reading all of them again. I remember checking them out of the library one at a time as a kid but I don't think I ever read them all.) It's been kind of disappointing to me to see that our library is missing so many classics. I understand that they need to keep stock of what kids are reading nowadays but it's really sad to me when I try to find a basic book by someone like Margaret Wise Brown and it isn't there.

We're roadtripping to Wisconsin and then Mackinac Island tonight! We'll be gone 4 nights and I'm taking our school stuff. I'm so excited! This will be our first attempt at roadtripping and school.

Have fun!!! And your post makes me again so thankful for our library (the whole system and our little local branch). They don't always have what I want, but the majority of the time, I find what I need. I just love our librarians and the library.

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by inkedmamajama

finally a thread for me!

i consider us unschoolers who use public school as a tool...hows that for eclectic? I have subscribed to the theory of unschooling since my first baby was born-but circumstances in my life took away my option to homeschool when she was kindergarten age-so we started public school. i like to consider public school to be the supplement to the unschooling we do at home.

We also use public school half-time to supplement our homeschooling. Dd leads almost all of the homeschooling so I'm tempted to call it unschooling sometimes. The problem is that her interests leads to a fair amount of curriculum so it doesn't look a lot like unschooling. LOL

[Annapooh]

I think this is us to a tee, although our "tee" seems to be lacking.

[dotnetdiva]

We're road-tripping to Wisconsin today too!

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by dotnetdiva

We're road-tripping to Wisconsin today too!

Have fun!!!

[craft_media_hero]

Eeek! I just found out that DD is going to have to do a 1st grade reading assessment! The DRA test, specifically.

I think she's doing great, but when I look at online samples of first grade reading, it seems like she could read many of the words (not all the sight words), but the samples are really LONG---way longer than what she actually reads when we do our practice.

I'm just a little worried because we haven't been practicing reading with actual books, heh heh. She got such a bad taste in her mouth with "forced reading" last year, that I've just been laying real low about it with her.....

She's made so much progress since our official start date....I'm a little rankled because the test won't show how far she's come since the beginning of the year. I think I'm just going to make the appointment and carry on our way; I don't want to change anything that we're doing because of an upcoming test. I mean, that's part of why we're avoiding traditional schools!

[Kristin0105]

Just starting down this path and think this will fit me perfectly

[Jennifer3141]

Originally Posted by dotnetdiva

We're road-tripping to Wisconsin today too!

Angela,

Are you back yet? We are.

And we did school on the road. Only 2 days' worth but it WAS a vacation after all.

And the most exciting thing happened on this trip. I found a slip of paper with the word, "pig" written on it on the desk one morning. I aked DH if he did it and he looked at me like I was nuts. So he asked DD if she wrote it and she said, "Yeah! That's for mommy!"

Well, she's never written a word before. Technically, we're only on the letter "W" in her curriculum. So we both a little shocked and delighted in our little genius.
DH asked her to spell pig and she sure as heck did.

About an hour later, we were driving down the highway and drove past a glen where the trees were mostly turned. DD said that was because the sugar was drying up inside the leaves and the tree didn't need the leaves anymore. I told her I was very proud of her ability to remember so much and that she was very bright. So I said to her, "Quick! What's pi?"

Her reply was, "P I E. That's pie."

She knows TWO words.

And the pig note was for mommy. Homeschooling is going just fine.

[TzippityDoulah]

I'm just jumping in here... this sound slike how we homeschool. we don't fit in anywhere

[Jennifer3141]

Welcome Laura!

[craft_media_hero]

Well, DD had her reading assessment and it was fine. The "reading specialist" said she was right at a beginning 1st grade level, so that's good. She's supposed to do an end of year assessment to check her progress.........I'm glad that she's "on grade level" but honestly the whole testing thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I mean, even if a kid tests "below grade level", that doesn't show how much progress they've made in that year; maybe they've improved drastically, but the test would only show that they're still "behind" ugh.

And besides that, I can't help but think, "how can you know where my daughter's at in reading when you've read ONE "leveled" book with her?" The reading specialist kept getting her name wrong, tsk tsk. I just don't really buy any of it as an accurate portrayal of where she's at, and if the testing becomes too intrusive, then we'll drop our charter and just "homeschool".

Besides that, our week has been pretty good. We've had several child-led days this week and ended up studying Hinduism/India/Mohenjo-Daro and baking/crafting those days. DD's handwriting is vastly improving lately! Which is a huge relief since we're taking it so slowly with penmanship. She's becoming a lot more conscientious when spelling words, too.

How's everybody else's homeschool week going?

[Jennifer3141]

Craft, there's just one more evaluation at the end of the year? I'm with you. I'm not a fan of snapshots of learning. That's all you get, one snapshot without any context.

Our week was pretty good! We haven't done any school yet today but hey. Who knows?

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by Jennifer3141

Craft, there's just one more evaluation at the end of the year? I'm with you. I'm not a fan of snapshots of learning. That's all you get, one snapshot without any context.

Yeah, they tried to make us do a more CSAP-type, but I weasled out of it I think we can get by with just the DRA until 3rd, when they really start pushing the CSAP. Honestly, I might find out what grades the testing is required and then "homeschool" those grades, but our charter does have quite a waiting list and I don't want to lose our spot.....we'll see.

Our week was pretty good! We haven't done any school yet today but hey. Who knows?

We really didn't either. We read a little from the Usborne World Religions book, looked stuff up online. Then we basically did crafts and drawing all day. Pretty much what we did Wednesday, too.

Maybe we'll do some math later, and I'm sure we'll do our read alouds.....I'm resolving to introduce more non-fiction into our read-aloud time. I think we could supplement a lot of our Science/Social Studies if we just started out with a non-fiction before moving onto our regular read aloud (lately it's been Harry Potter, Grimms, or Catwings).

[LilyGrace]

Originally Posted by craft_media_hero

How's everybody else's homeschool week going?

Ours went by so quickly! We took a week and a half to go to DC/VA, so this week has been mostly recuperating. We came home on Weds. to find The Kid is now hooked up with the Rosetta Stone through our library service. He puttered around on the Italian and Latin classes yesterday and today, announcing that it was "way cooler" than his Latin's Not So Tough books. I have to admit, I really like the new RS set up myself.

Today we did a couple of science experiments to ease back into schooling. And I swear, the kid amazes me. One of the experiments was about water and oil drops and he predicted that they wouldn't go together because of <insert long convoluted hypothesis about electrons, protons, and balanced charges>. And in a round about way, he was right. We hadn't done any science for two weeks and he pulls that out.



.......and now the bad news. Due to medical issues, I may have to put The Kid in school for the last half of the school year. I'm to be gone 3 months, and if they don't let The Kid and dh come with we have to come up with another plan. (I have to go to a place, any place, where there's actual medical services, unlike here on the island) We told The Kid over dinner tonight and he was a bit bummed but understands. If he could come with we'd only be taking a month break and wouldn't have to quit.

[MyLittleWonders]

LilyGrace - I hope it all works out for you and your family in regards to the potential of putting your son in the second half of the year.

For us, we have done nothing today; ds#1 has a pretty bad cold/low-grade fever, so it was an excuse for everything to sit around and watch copious amounts of TV. This week wasn't too bad - not a full week but overall, I feel good about what we accomplished school wise. We also moved ds#1's bed into the other two boys' room, so we have one bedroom of boys and one bedroom with toys. So far, so good!

I am watching disc 1 for the Institute for Excellence in Writing's Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. I'm excited about at least starting it with the boys - mostly orally/cooperatively at this point. Ds#1 is ready for more writing, but I think we'll stay with WWE-inspired copywork through the new year. I also think I finally decided what Latin I want to do with ds#1 this spring. We are really enjoying Song School Latin and Minimus. I think they are both giving us a good introduction to Latin in an easy-going way. I'm going to stick with Classical Academic Press and do Latin for Children A this spring. I don't think ds#2 will be ready for it yet; but, ds#1 should be at a good age to start (I'm gauging mostly on reading/writing ability).

[rockportmama]

LilyGrace-- hope they can go & that you get the care you need! :

Originally Posted by momofmine

Sounds like you are doing great!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Eli&SkyesMom

I We haven't realy started it as we are still working on learning hte list of prepositions. ( any suggestions on how to make it more fun would be great!)

Oh yeah, we are also doing a Basic Music Theory class from www.spaceded.com which is pretty cool. I've learned a lot, and recomend it to anyonw who doesn't know much about music theory but is interested.

I remember a preposition handout with a mountain. Over, under, around, through, etc. But my favorite for parts of speech is Madlibs!

Thanks for the link! I've signed up for a couple of free classes.

Originally Posted by Jennifer3141

And the pig note was for mommy. Homeschooling is going just fine.

How sweet!

NAK

My son (4 in Dec) doesn't want to write. At. All. But he loves to biuld I's, L's, T's & V's with his blocks. So now I think I should be doing more with, IDK, sculpture, or something. Recommendations?

How was all the roadschooling? There's a remote chance we might be spending Dec in Hawai'i. Been researching edutainment, but I'm not sure how many museums/aquariums we'll be able to afford. Hiking and beachcombing are educational! Right?

Oops! Baby's waking up
-rockport

[LilyGrace]

Originally Posted by rockportmama

LilyGrace-- hope they can go & that you get the care you need! :

Thanks. Me, too!

How was all the roadschooling? There's a remote chance we might be spending Dec in Hawai'i. Been researching edutainment, but I'm not sure how many museums/aquariums we'll be able to afford. Hiking and beachcombing are educational! Right?

Oops! Baby's waking up
-rockport

I just want to say hiking and beach combing can be very educational! We're fortunate enough to own a set of the Take A Walk books, put out by the No Child Left Indoors company. Each book focuses on a different area and what you might see there. Granted, they're mostly written for the U.S. eastern coast, but you could create something of the sort if you wanted to for Hawaii. Put together pictures of different flowers and shells to find along the way, along with 'who lives there?' pages and things like "what's the smallest animal you can find?". Take your camera and a magnifying glass.

Then again, you could be like me and just let the experience do the talking. The beach is a lot of fun, and that's educational in itself. Our main method of learning on trips is to just do whatever we want, take lots of pictures, and when we learn something that goes along with it later to drag up the pictures and use them as a visual. Not perfect, but it tends to work.

[langdonslady]

Oh, I have found my niche!
Now I just need to find enough of you in my area to find friends (like more than one or two and in less than an hour's drive away!) not only for my kids, but heck why not me while we are wishing?
We are too scientific and not religious enough for the religious ones, despite not being Atheists either... but too "traditional morality" for the most "alternative" ones.
We're too normal for the extreme counterculturists (we like Star Trek and enjoy Netflix as our TV content) but too extreme for the normals (we refuse broadcast or cable and don't want mass-market corporate franchise toys, clothes, or paraphenalia invading our lives any more).

As for homeschooling, well, we are happy to make it up as we go along, and aren't buying curricula, but do have some worksheets and desks, and plan to put up a cute little fun chalkboard upstairs to play around with because DD likes playing "school" and sometimes, so do I. So far, the world awaits as a big adventure waiting to unfold. But it's a bit lonely when she gets together with one single friend maybe twice a month and never gets to have more than one friend at a time. This is a girl who longs for a throng of buzzing little bees around her. But the available throngs I have found have increasingly unpleasant mainstream "values" and are wearing teen fashions at 6, being sarcastic and saucy, or exclusionist and cliquish, that young... and I just can't stomach it.

Advice? BTDT solutions? We want to see about 4-H Cloverbuds. Not willing to consider anything Girl Scouts unless I happened upon that mystical rarity of a troop where the parents just pay a fee instead of farming little girls out to perfect their cold selling techniques. Sorry if any of you are avid Girls Scouts supporters; my experience of it was terrible, and I hear too much of what sounds too familiar when I ask around, so it's not for us.

So, if any of you have overcome the hurdles of difficulty finding a group of possible playmates and friends in your area, please share!

[Jennifer3141]

Langdon, could you move next door to me?? I thnk we'd get along just fine!!

I've taken days off from "school" with the kids. It all started with more than 2 bushels of tomatoes...
But we're back in the swing of it today.