Homeschool Plan 2014 - 2015

I am pretty sure that I made this way harder than it should have been, but, at long last, we have a plan.

Zippy:
Classical Conversations Challenge A - this is a total curriculum that is as the names states challenging.  We decided that Zippy is going into grade 9 this year.  Challenge A is geared for grade 7, fortunately there are some minor modifications to make this high school appropriate.  A good example is math.  Zippy is doing Algebra instead of 7/8 grade math.  I love that students can work on the math that is appropriate for their learning level and still discuss math concepts on the community day with their fellow Challenge students.

Extra Curricular
Those fun, social activities during the week.  This year kind of turned service oriented, but it is what she chose to do:
American Heritage Girls - She joined AHG last year and made some really nice friends. Her first badge she wants to work on is cooking.  Look forward to seeing lots of yummy badge requirements here on the blog.

The Animal Shelter - She started volunteering during the summer.  You have to be 13 to volunteer and she has been bugging me about it for a while.  She is really impressing me with her desire to help the animals even though the job is sometime kind of stinky.

The Library - She is also volunteering once a month for an hour at the library as part of the teen advisory group.  Basically they discuss things they can do to help in the library and community and work on projects. This summer they helped out with a program where they one on one read to a small child.

Church - This year our church is trying something a little bit different.  There is not a normal Sunday School class for the teens.  Instead they are encouraged to participate in a small group of teens on a different night and serve on Sunday morning.  I think Zippy will be part of the team that greet people as they enter the church.  It is right up her alley.  There is also the fun youth group meeting once a week as well.

Little Dude
This was where a lot of the thinking and rearranging came into play. I really had to figure out what the goal needed to be for this year and plan accordingly. The goal, in case you were wondering is to get his speech well in hand.  That means practicing, practicing, practicing, and not just with me.  So I had to find places for him to go where there would be other people to talk to.  We already decided that we are going to homeschool him because of his medical issues so finding a place was a little more challenging than just putting him in kindergarten.

Preschool - 3 half days so he can practice talking with the other children, and also work on all those preschool skills, like holding a pencil and letter recognition, that he still is working to master.

Speech Therapy - One time a week through our local public school.  While I have had serious reservations about our public schools, the speech therapist that we started working with last year is super helpful.

Classical Conversations Foundations - This was probably the hardest bit of the puzzle to fit together.  I had this mental block that said he is not is kindergarten so he should not be in classical conversations, right?  In addition to that because I am tutoring Challenge A I did not want to just throw him into this new, slightly more rigid class environment.  However an opportunity came up for me to tutor Essentials on a different campus.  I take him with me to give Zippy the time to work on her work (and the responsibility to get it done withing a set time frame).  Essentials meets in the afternoons and Foundations meet in the morning.  It dawned on me that he could attend class and the work at home - all oral memory work since he does not read yet - would provide a perfect opportunity for him not only to learn more words but practice saying them as well.  He gets to hang out with the younger siblings of my Essentials class.

The road is set before us, and in truth we have been traveling on it for a couple of weeks, but I am now comfortable in saying this is the direction that we are going this year.

School Pictures

The bloggy neglect is due strictly to the sheer busyness of life .  As the weather is warming activites are happening with greater frequency.  I want to spend a few days catching you up.  

School Pictures

Last year I did not get pictures at all.  This was rooted in the question of what grade is Zippy in?  This year I wanted to be sure school pictures happened.  

I contacted Bob Brodbeck, a local photographer (who also happens to Zippy's kindergarten teacher's husband). Both kiddos had pictures taken individually and some together.  I was super pleased with the outcome.  He took so many more photos than the usual school pictures, so we came away with several great ones.  

He included all the photos, so not only do I have some wonderful school pics, but also a fun reminder of the experience. 

Reflections on the First Day back to School

Yesterday was our official first day back to homeschool and today was the Little Dude's first day back to preschool.  I like the idea of having a beginning, or rather a new beginning, even though we essentially school year round.  It puts us into the right frame of mind, putting our best foot forward.

We started this year with prayer and choosing a verse for the year. I gave Zippy the choice of 3 this is the one she chose:

Of course there were pictures.

I was reflecting on how far we've come from last year, what has changed which frankly feels like almost everything, what has stayed the same.  I feel more confident in Zippy and The Little Dude.  I am happy with the decision to do a blended approach with the Little Dude and Classical Conversations with Zippy.  I finally feel that we are going down the right path.

Seventh Grade {The Plan}

With all the schools and homeschools starting up I feel like I'm a little late with this post.  It took all summer to finalize plans, figure out books and curriculum.  Last year was our first full year and we both learned a lot. This year is bringing some significant changes.

The first big change is  Classical Conversations.  I am super excited about this opportunity for Zippy.  She is going to take both Foundations and Essentials.  She is technically a year past the end of these two programs but I believe that is just what she needs to completely catch up, especially with writing.  I am grateful that our campus is allowing her to do this. My goal and expectation is that she will be ready to do eighth grade work at the end of this school year. 

I've always been drawn to a Christian Classical education, but felt it was a bit daunting for Zippy with her distractabiltiy.  So many of the things that I've seen are right up her alley like using songs to memorize information.  So many of the pedagogical ideas really fit into my idea of what education should be.  

The second big change is I am getting a job.  I hoped this would already be done, but, alas I am still in training for just a little while more.  When the job happens schedules will be massaged.  My plan is definitely not set in stone.

Spelling:  All About Spelling - Zippy is up to book 4, I would like to be done with all 6 by the end of this year.  As I've said before this program has been the single most significant thing in remediating Zippy education.  

Grammar:  Classical Conversation's Essentials program

Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing, Style and Structure and History Based Writing Lessons.

Math: Saxon 7/6

Science: Apoligia Astronomy

Social Studies:  Using the Classical Conversations as a spine, Zippy is using The Story of the World as a text and filling in timeline and geography from the Classical Conversations memorization work.

Music, Art and PE: There is some music and art in the Classical Conversations, and we will fit it in  as we can.

I will also continue my reviews for the TOS Review Crew at least through December, so we will fit that in as well

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Over 40 Speakers at the Schoolhouse Expo

Less than a week until the big Schoolhouse Expo event.  With over 40 speakers, there are so many great topics to explore. Here is a short list of five speakers and the topics they are going to tackle.

1. Kim Kautzer - Veteran homeschool mom and author of WriteShop will be speaking about laziness.  The lazy student.  What is Mom to do?  Is it laziness or is it procrastination.  What is the difference?
2. Andrew Pudewa - direction of the Institute for Excellence in Writing will be speaking about motivation.  Teaching Boys & Other Students Who Would Rather Be Making Forts All Day. Relevancy, if it matters, students will learn it.  If it doesn't matter, they don't care. I am especially looking forward to this talk.
3. Marie Rippel - founder of the All About Learning Press will be giving practical advice to help the struggling learner.  Effective Teaching Methods for Struggling Learners.  There is a lovely laundry list of technique and ideas, including focusing on goals, finding routine, and teaching with multiple senses. 
4. Jessica Hulcy - coauthor of KONOS will be talking about staying sane while homeschooling multiple children.  Multi-level Teaching: Build Families and Stay Sane!!!  Speaking and actual video footage of using a unit method, to keep it all together with multi-level children. 
5. Todd Wilson - founder of Familyman Ministries will be talking about parenting and technology.
   Taming the Techno-Beast – Parenting in the INTERNET Age.  Has technology taken over children's time and mind? How to get a handle on it. 

Sounds exciting doesn't it?  Want to know how you can listen to all these great speaker and more? 

Register today for the Schoolhouse Expo!

Only $24 

August 19 - 23, 2013

I am looking forward to it.  I hope you are too.  

* Disclaimer *
This is a promotional post. I receive a ticket to the Homeschool Expo in exchange for my post. All opinions expressed are my own.

Weekly Round Up - with heat

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All the pictures in this post were taken with Instagram.  I love Instagram.  Follow me to see more great pics. I'm hollyoshesky.

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Bring on the Heat

If I had to sum up this week in just one word, that word would be HOT.   We had a heat advisory for the whole week.  ug.   This weather really makes me thankful for air conditioning, fans, and ice water.  Of course with the hot, hot, hot weather comes thunderstorms and we've had our share of those too.  The drain for the street is right in front of our house and when it rains bucketfulls at a time it gets gunked up with tree debris and the street floods.  The Little Dude and I like to watch the rain pour down and the big splashes the cars and trucks make as they drive through the water.  When the rain clears off I usually go and clear out the drain with a rake and been splashed myself by cars and trucks driving through the water.

On the Homeschool Front

I went to the Sub Sale to sell some homeschool books that I wanted to get rid of .  It was a complete bust for me in the selling department, but I did find a Saxon 7/6 book for only $7.  I was a super happy camper.  As so many people have said it is a complete review of Arithmetic.  This will be perfect for Zippy to practice what she knows and fill in any gaps she might have before moving on to Algebra next year.  I have only 3 more curriculum books to buy before next year now.  

The Little Dude and I are having so much fun this summer doing preschool. If the employment situation allows, I want to put Little Dude in preschool only a couple of days a week and do more at home.  I've almost finalized my curriculum for him as well. This week he cut straws, which was super fun and just right for his scissor level.

Periodically we have family game night.  A favorite is Fluxx.  It is a card game, so it is compact and can go on a road trip.  In the game the rules change and every game is a lot of fun.  There are lots of little quirks and it keeps everyone thinking.    

Moment of Joy

We do not have air conditioning in our car.  Did I mention it was hot?  So all the windows get rolled down.  This makes the back seat a little bit windy.  Zippy said it was akin to a roller coaster.  Here is Little Dude's reaction:

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Weekly Round Up - with sparklers

I found a great new app called Collect.  It is a photo journal meant to capture one picture a day.  The best part is that it presents the photos in a calendar format, oh and did I mention, it is FREE.  I've tried most days to capture at least one photo per day, usually on my phone.  This app gives me a little reminder at the end of the day to take a pic or at least upload one into the app.  I like it.

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Almost all the pictures in this post were taken with Instagram.  I love Instagram.  Follow me to see more great pics. I'm hollyoshesky.

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This Week:

Sunday we spent a few hours at the Zoo.  The kiddos took along with them a scavenger hunt and put stickers by each animal they saw.  Little Dude was excited to put the stickers.  It helped him to be less bored.  

We started back doing some light homeschooling the week.  Little Dude is doing pre-school stuff, counting, alphabet, calender and doing better than I expected.  It is making me re-think sending him back to pre-school in the fall. 

Zippy also started a fabulous American History curriculum.  Seriously, where was this last year when I was looking for a great American History book?  

We took a nature walk.  Zippy spotted this ladybug.  We walked our way down to the playground where we had to take cover from the rain in the play structure.  Zippy carried the Little Dude home in an effort to go a little faster before the rain started again.  

And of course yesterday was The Fourth of July.  We did not do a whole lot for the holiday, but we did break out the sparklers.  What is an Independence Day without John Sousa, BBQ, and sparklers? 

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An Amazing Deal from Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Where can you get more than 175 e-books for only $25?





The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is offering 175 e-books on over 25 topics for all ages stages. This looks like a great resource.

Check it all out HERE (or click on the pic)

Homeschooling Through a Crisis

How to homeschool when something unexpected happens.

My Story

The night of Thanksgiving the Little Dude vomited. (It does seem that these things always happen near a holiday).  For the next three days he was sick as a dog, sleeping a lot, not eating, not drinking, just generally feeling icky.  We adjusted his medication as the doctor told us, but after three days, he was not better, so I called the endocrinologist and, as expected, she told us to go into the Emergency Room.  I expected them to hydrate, run some blood tests, have many conversations with the endocrinologist, perhaps adjust medications and be sent home.  Instead the Little Dude was admitted to the hospital due to his very low sodium levels.  This was out of the blue.  I was not prepared to spend 20 hours a day in the hospital with my son, for a week.  This was a crisis.  We got through the best we knew how.  In the meantime, I had a child at home, who was homeschooled, what was I to do?  She stayed with her grandmother most days. She worked  independently. We touched base once a day.  Did she do all I planned that week? No.  Was it an educationally fulfilling week? No. Was it ok? Yes.

Five Lessons I Learned

There are so many different kinds of crisis in life.  I am hesitant to give blanket advice but here are five lessons I learned about homeschooling through a crisis.

1. Don't sweat the small stuff
2. Do what you can
3. Don't be afraid to ask
4. Accept grace
5. Love unconditionally

In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.  

~Mr. Rogers 

This post is a part of 5 Days of Teaching Creatively Blog Hop.  Check out other's posts on Toys, Games and Puzzles by clicking on Blog Hop Linky at the bottom of this post. You can click over to the TOS Review Crew Blog to find out more.  Don't forget to enter to win one of three great homeschool prize packages in the Teaching Creatively Giveaway

Weekly Round Up - with a Birthday

#MOMeo Tip: Monday sets a critical tone for your entire week. Start it off by getting stuff DONE!
— Carla Young (@CarlaYoung) January 23, 2013

Truth via Twitter.

Monday was a mess. Well it is fair to say  Sunday night was a mess, which flowed into Monday.  I did not get my plan for the week written down, big mistake, I will never go into a homeschool week with the idea of "we will just wing it this week". Nothing gets done.  Nothing got done, because I did not have a written plan.

So here is the short version of a short week.

Monday - The hubs was off of work, not because of MLK day, but because he wanted to go to Little Dudes doctor appointment.  Anytime the hubs is off work is a holiday to me.  We went on a family field trip to see the LEGO exhibit.  Little Dude has his check up doctor appointment.  Only gained a half a pound.  Needs to eat. more, going to try PediaSure. (Any other suggestions on how to get more calories into him would be ever so greatly appreciated.) Other than that all was status quo.

Tuesday - The temperature was zero. Zero degrees.  Zero degrees Fahrenheit.  Monday, something unfortunate happened to the hubs front brakes.  This is not the catastrophe it might first appear. He fixed it, eventually after purchasing two different tools (one to take the old part off and one to put the new part on - really).  He had to take my car to work. Again, normally not a big deal, we live within walking distance of Little Dude's preschool.  But when it is zero degrees one does not walk anywhere, unless it is truly a life altering kind of situation.  So rides were found, he got to school and Zippy did spelling, math and science. 

Wednesday: Still cold, but I had a car again, so less drama. 

Thursday: My birthday, woohoo.  I'm old, although if you ask me my exact age, I always have to think about it for a minute.  Is that a sign of age?  No cake, ice cream or singing, but I got to go bowling with the Little Dude and his class {truly a lesson in patience for all the little ones}, and I got to go out to eat with the Hubs and Zippy while a dear friend watched the Little Dude.  The hubs also bought me a candy bar.  

Zippy's interpretation of Benihana's heart o' fried rice.

Friday - The best laid plans... Today was supposed to be a big trip out to get Science supplies.  Looking out the window at the snow, I think we may put off some of that running around until tomorrow.  (The Apologia lab kits are looking better and better.) 

How was your week?

Photos taken with InstaGram.  I love InstaGram.  Follow me!  I'm hollyoshesky.

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Looking Forward

Ok, ok I know that they new year starts tomorrow, but, for me and Zippy it feels like today is the beginning of the new year.  That is because today starts a brand new day for us in homeschooling.  We are starting a whole new course of study. 

I took a hard look at where we are.  Here is the truth, I was trying to make her perform - or catch up to - where others say she is supposed to be performing.  She was in sixth grade last year so she should be doing seventh grade this year, right?  The answer is definitely no.  She is working at a sixth grade level this year and in some subjects even lower.  When we put her in school, her birthday was two days before the cut off date, so she would either be the youngest in her grade or we could hold her back and she would be the oldest.  We took a little bit of a gamble and put her in young.  I always had it in the back of my mind that I had a year of grace. 

The year of grace is here.  This is it.  The beginning of this year was an adjustment period.  Her adjustment and mine.  We know what we need to do.  We know where we need to go.  We are going to focus on those things that are necessary: reading, writing, spelling, math.  The other things, science, social studies, and specials will find a place within the framework.

Here is the plan

Spelling - All About Spelling
Reading - Using the novel Worldwalk by Steven Newman, we will work on comprehension with questions, and fluency by practice.  There is also a big geography component to this book that we will be using as well.
English/Grammar/Writing - I am putting together a straight forward "boot camp" approach to bring her up to where she needs to be, I'm calling it a Language Lab. 
Math - Time4Learning - 6th grade -
Science - Apologia, and Handbook of Nature Study with the direction of the Handbook of Nature Study Outdoor Challenges from the Handbook of Nature blog {because, frankly, we need to get out of the house once a week}. 
Social Studies - This Day in History by Schoolhouse Teachers.  She will be starting an index card timeline. 

Well that is it.  The Plan.  Not completely set in stone, but a good starting place.  I am letting go of the stress of the judgement and expectation of others.  From here, this new starting place, this beginning, of the year, of the plan, from here we can move forward with purpose.   

What plans do you have for the New Year?  Any change ups for the second half of the school year?  I love comments.  Leave one and let me know what are your plans.

 

Weekly Wrap Up - Where exactly did the week go?

Wow, it's Friday.  Here is a wrap up of the week:

In my life this week:
Catch up.  Catch up.  Ketchup.  I lost last week to the hospital, so all the things that I had planned to do last week and all the things I planned to do this week all somehow had to happen together.  Plus an extra blood draw (and trip to McDonald's for being such a brave boy) and doctor appointment for Little Dude.  I think I can almost see the bottom of the laundry pile and the kitchen counters are in sight.  I was so proud of myself yesterday, I wore matching socks and makeup.

In Our Homeschool This Week:
This week we started doing daily grammar and daily writing from Schoolhouse Teachers (fantastic website, review later this week).  We are also listening to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, narrated by Tim Curry.  We are doing this in the evenings as a whole family.  I was inspired by a geography lesson on industrial England, and Christmas.

What is Working/Not Working:
 Looking at what is important and what is busy.  I am struggling with grade levels and work loads with Zippy.  Where I want her to be and where she is - and the amount of work she does/doesn't want to do - is frustrating.  I need to sit down, get real, and map out some nitty gritty, 3Rs kind of learning. Take a hard look at where Zippy really is, where she needs to go and how to get there. 

Places We are Going:
Last night Zippy and I went to the Christmas Potluck for the homeschool co-op we were involved in this fall.  Zippy was part of a girls chorus.  There were seven girls, Zippy the youngest, who sang, acapella, in harmony, just beautifully.  It was a lovely night of fellowship with other homeschool families.

Questions/Thoughts:
Completely not homeschool related but...how do you get someone to take salt?  Part of Little Dude's treatment for the low sodium is to take a specific amount of salt a day.  He does not like it. at. all.  We've tried it in food, water, straight on a spoon.  Nothing works. Matthew 5:13 keeps coming to mind "If salt loses it saltiness..." There really isn't anything to disguise the taste.  All suggestions welcome.

I'm Grateful:
1. That I am not in a hospital room with my son this morning.
2. For those people who have come along side with meals and encouragement just when we needed it most this week. 

I'm Praying:
For all those children who have a more difficult time than we do and their moms and dads.  Whenever I am tempted to complain about our situation I see children, particularly at the hospital, with issues that seem just enormous and then I see their parents who care for them with strength and love and I am humbled.

Quote/Picture:
This quote has been bobbing around in my brain a lot this week:

Source: google.com via Holly on Pinterest

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