Homeschooler's chatter - week of 02/16

Valgal

Valgal

New member
The thought has occurred to me that technically the week starts on Sunday, so I am technically titling these posts incorrectly. However, since I don't really care...

Good Monday! Big plans this week?

I am challenging myself to not use the word 'school' this week. I realized just this morning that most of the times I use the word(s 'school' or 'school work' Eden groans. Learning about stuff is interesting, 'school' is not. We went through grain pains to get her away from school and, in theory, I've gone and drug part of it home with us.

So, the challenge begins...
 
I get the groaning when I say 'school'. Mostly, if I let the kids do their thing and then try to stop their fun to do book work. If I do it first thing in the morning before they play there's no groaning. Well... one person is groaning. Me. haha.

Nothing exciting planned this week. Just some doctor's appointments. The kids have colds so they're home from their PE group today. It's throwing me off because I like to start my week with this time 9-12 without them. I usually get my grocery shopping done, an errand or two and sometimes design work. So far I have accomplished nothing today. :p
 
aww.. but I bet Eden is happier to be at home then at "school"... and it would be hard for me to not say "school" either... haha... what would you say? Learning time? Time to Educate *clap* you up! Sorry - I'm a bit punchy today... :D

Today being Prez day, I want to do something related to prez... there is suppose to be a good video on netflix about them, that we will watch... maybe there is a lapbook to do and I know I have president books that we could read. My dad come today, so that kind of throws off our schedule.

Rest of the week... its an odd week for us - there is no CC tomorrow (winter break) then Wednesday we are planning on going to the state capital. A sister CC group in Madison is having a gathering with some state reps to show the kids what they do and for them to see what CC is about... then there is a tour of the capital. However it's suppose to be cold again tomorrow and not sure I want to drive all that way to Madison for a tour that we could do in the summer... :blink:
 
Rebecca, do you know the name of the video? I'd like to show it, too. ;)

Our week is getting ready to be crazy because of snow. Snow in NC is pretty special, so the kids are crazy excited. They got their school work done early this morning, so they can just sit and watch the snow fall. Ha! Not sure how the rest of the week will go, but I'm happy to just play it by ear. :)
 
Geeze. I must've been a little over-caffeinated this morning, cause there's a ton of typos in that OP. You ever do that? Type too fast?

MamaBee said:
Time to Educate *clap* you up! Sorry - I'm a bit punchy today... :D
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:D Someone was watching SNL's 40th anniversary special last night.
 
How about instead of saying "school" refer specifically to what you're about to do? "Let's cook some pancakes...", "Time for a math workbook page...", "Do you know what a noun is?...", "We can build a birdhouse..." etc. :)

We're getting what may be our first real snowfall in Virginia today. It canceled my girls' drama club meeting and my husband came home early. It was fun having him home in the afternoon for some lively discussion. Now my son is watching videos and my daughters are dancing and singing songs from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. They had their last of 6 performances on Saturday and they're still not tired of it. :)
 
michelepixels said:
How about instead of saying "school" refer specifically to what you're about to do? "Let's cook some pancakes...", "Time for a math workbook page...", "Do you know what a noun is?...", "We can build a birdhouse..." etc. :)
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That's kind of what I'm thinking of. I think with her especially the word 'school' has a negative connotation to it, because of all she's been through. So instead of "Hey, let's get our schoolwork started." it's more like, "Hey, let's start that science experiment now."

I always loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang :wub: I desperately wanted to live in that house. Still do.
 
My kids have a negative attitude towards the word "school" too, when its assigned work and not free choice. I like the idea of a challenge not to say it! It would be hard for me though! I like your ideas though Michele..that could work.

Our week is looking pretty normal so far. Today we played Presidents vs. Aliens on the kindles which is always a big hit.
 
MamaBee said:
It's the ultimate guide to the presidents - http://www.history.com/shows/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-presidents/

So far we have got into about half into the first episode and I learned a number of things... of course my 7yr old is like, "when do we get to Obama?" :D

**disclaimer - I saw on facebook that someone mentioned there is a spot where there is swearing in episode 6. :(
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Thanks for this! We're watching America the Story of Us right now for history. This sounds like a great next step!
 
Hi gals.... I LOVE LOVE LOVE reading your thread. This is sorta related and I just really wanted to hang with you all, so I hope you don't mind if I share.

I'm going to start teaching math to 3 third graders tomorrow. My son is in a small school with a multilevel classroom of 9 kids. The teacher needed help with the variety of levels so I'm going to start helping 3 mornings a week just for math.

Our main goal is to learn our multiplication tables over the next few months. Tonight I'm collecting all my 'math games' type things so we can start playing tomorrow. I have popsicle sticks, spinners, little unifix cubes, some bean bags, etc..

If you have any math games you love to play with your kids I would love to here. My teacher gave me "Games for Math". Fun stuff in there!
 
Kristi, when my dd was in 3rd grade we learned songs for the multiplication tables and she STILL (now in 7th grade) sings them in her head when she's doing some math problems. I found them on Youtube and they were done like a rap. Have you thought of using that technique at all?
 
So I'm going to take a ridiculous amount of snapshots today and make a 'day in the life of a homeschooler' page for the Bingo challenge. Naturally the first pic will be of her still zonked in bed at 9:00 :)
 
Great idea, Val! I should do that sometime. That would be a fun layout. :)

Kristi, thanks for popping in!!! :) Ben is just learning his multiplication tables (he's 2nd grade) so I am all ears about how those games work out for you. You'll have to let us know the games that the kids seem to like the best. Right now we just do flash cards... which is totally not fun in any way. :p
 
kristijoy said:
Hi gals.... I LOVE LOVE LOVE reading your thread. This is sorta related and I just really wanted to hang with you all, so I hope you don't mind if I share.

I'm going to start teaching math to 3 third graders tomorrow. My son is in a small school with a multilevel classroom of 9 kids. The teacher needed help with the variety of levels so I'm going to start helping 3 mornings a week just for math.

Our main goal is to learn our multiplication tables over the next few months. Tonight I'm collecting all my 'math games' type things so we can start playing tomorrow. I have popsicle sticks, spinners, little unifix cubes, some bean bags, etc..

If you have any math games you love to play with your kids I would love to here. My teacher gave me "Games for Math". Fun stuff in there!
Click to expand...

We learn ours through Times Tales. The kids love it and it has been pretty painless.
 
Valgal said:
So I'm going to take a ridiculous amount of snapshots today and make a 'day in the life of a homeschooler' page for the Bingo challenge. Naturally the first pic will be of her still zonked in bed at 9:00 :)
Click to expand...

Ooh I want to try that too! :)
 
Skip counting to song has been a huge blessing for my son... that is how they "teach" multiplication in CC... they learn skip counting each number 1 through 15 to the 12th position... and then when they get to be 10 or so, they switch to 3x3=9, etc... we "cheat" and have started him doing that with him now... :D Totally shocked his CC tutor the other day when she was asking the group to skip count the 12's and she accidentally said there were going to say their 12x12 and my son blurted out 144. :o

Here is my pinterest board on math games - maybe that will help you?
https://www.pinterest.com/mamabee/hs-math-games/
 
You gals are awesome!!!! I did pretty good the first day. The kids were right where the teacher said they would be! Now to fill out my arsenal of awesome games!
 
Kristi, that sounds like such a fun job to take on :)

Well, I took all of our 'day in the life of' pics and now I'm not sure I wanna scrap them because we look SO DANG LAZY! LOL! I guess I may as well be honest about our life. We got lots of learning done, but it just doesn't look like much more than laying around and stuff.

This is kinda funny... Eden is coming out of public school where they've been teaching Common Core standards and all this 'new math' junk for the last couple years. So she comes downstairs from doing her Teaching Textbooks math lesson yesterday morning all excited that she just learned a 'new shortcut' to long division that is SO MUCH EASIER. I did't think there really WAS a short cut to long division, so I was interested in seeing it for myself. She set up the lecture for me a bit ago and I watched it, waiting for the short cut...

BUT IT WAS JUST THE REGULAR OLD-FASHIONED WAY OF DOING DIVISION.

lmao! I was like, "Uh... Eden? This is not a short cut. This is just the normal way of doing it." She proceeded to show me the way she has been taught to do long division and it's utterly ridiculous. No wonder she thinks this is a shortcut!
 
haha - Val! That common core math is... uhm... interesting, isn't it? I come on some of it with J's math book and I'm so puzzled - and it's 2nd grade math, mind you - that I finally say... ignore what the book says - do it this way... haha

Yesterday we had our homeschool event in Madison - it.was.awesome! We got together with 60 or so other kids from the state that were in classical convo... to present to 12 State Representatives that said they would come and see what we were about... in hopes to support homeschooling. Jake's age group recited 5 history sentences and sang the president's song, then two 10 year olds read papers they wrote and then finally four 13 year olds took turns reciting famous speeches like the Preamble, Declaration of Independence and Gettysburg Address (as part of the program, this age has to memorizes these)... and then free hand drew the US map with states and capitals. They kids did an amazing job, too bad only 4 of the reps actually did show up. Then we got a private tour of the governor's office because Gov Walker's Senior Legal guy goes to the same church as one of the parents in our Madison CC group! Now that is connections!

But the most awesome thing was that we were there at the same time that the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin arrived to rally in hopes to talk to the governor. They had walked 155 miles (in subzero temps) to get to the capital. It was a great experience to see some 350 people fill out the rotunda, using their freedom of speech and to gather... dancing, beating drums, burning sage...

If you want to see more - http://www.wearegreenbay.com/1fullt...sally-in-madison/30341/xbjlfCvBLUKC9bxH_tqxbA
 
Wow, that sounds like an awesome day! I'm really hung up on the only 4 reps showing up. That's such a bummer! I had to memorize the preamble when I was homeschooled in the 8th grade... it was hard! So wtg to those girls!

I watched that news video. Eden is doing a unit on early American's right now and I'm going through and reading all her books and resources along with it, so it's REALLY WEIRD to compare that story with what I've been learning, lol! I wonder what the early Native American's would think if they saw that rally?????
 
Yesterday was rough. Eden did a lesson and a half of math and then had a complete when she started grammar. Said I was giving her 'too much work.'

??????

I was not remotely sympathetic and it got a little ugly.
 
What am amazing day at the capital! How incredible to see the tribe. I LOVE when teaching moments happen in real time! :thumbup: It doesn't get better than that!

I've done my first two math lessons. Our main focus for the next couple months is to memorize our multiplication tables. We did some story problems today and played a memory game to find the 'families' 2,3,6 3,6,18 type thing. The kids had fun with that. Next week I think I'll do some big motor skills with the boys (there are 3 boys) and draw a big grid with numbers on the playground with chalk. Then I'll shout out numbers and have them jump to the answer. They have the 'idea' of multiplication but don't have it quick yet.

And...tomorrow...(I've been teaching science to the whole class on Friday afternoons since the beginning of the year). This quarter we are working with the water cycle. Tomorrow's lesson is about 'condensation'. It's all very hands on and messy :w00t: which the kids love. Somehow on Friday afternoons for the very last class period it's always a bit wild! :D
 
Thanks for letting me crash your thread. I'm not a professional teacher and I find tons of inspiration in working with this small class and my own son from homeschoolers like you! :wub:
 
That's awesome, Kristi!!! :wub: I love the idea of the grid with numbers and having them jump into the answer. I'm going to try that tomorrow! :)
 
kristijoy said:
Thanks for letting me crash your thread. I'm not a professional teacher and I find tons of inspiration in working with this small class and my own son from homeschoolers like you! :wub:
Click to expand...

You're totally welcome to hang out here, seriously. We're just regular people too who are helping educate the next gen!
 
Our week so far has gone pretty well besides the fact that I've been totally tired out and haven't been getting great sleep.

One very exciting thing has been happening though. My youngest, Carter (7), has really struggled with reading. He just hasn't been into it and basically thought it was torture to have to try to sound anything out or read a school reader of any sort. I finally decided to just chill out with it for a while and focus on other things and then come back to it later. We still have our individual reading time for all the kids, so I told Carter to just look at whatever books he wanted to for now. Well, this week I picked up a set of Minecraft manuals (his fave game), and he has been browsing them. To my surprise, he was actually willingly trying to sound things out and was reading much more advanced reading than I was trying to get him to do in his readers! Also, dh went and bought Sim City for the computer and was letting the kids build cities. Carter was building in his city yesterday afternoon. So there he is across the room at the computer with his headphones on, READING out loud the game tips and all the info about the different roads and buildings! I was seriously shocked and VERY thrilled.
 
Kelley, that is SO EXCITING! I panic a lot about my kids and reading because I am such an AVID READER, so when my dd first got into reading I was on cloud 9 :D

Unfortunately, most of what I'm taking away from your post revolves around Simcity because, while I'm not into the Simcity part of the franchise, I am a HUGE Sims player, ha! Are either of you Sims players? Or just Simcity?
 
Oh my gosh Val - I LOVE the Sims! My dh loves it too. That game is bad, very bad for me and getting housework done though! I have to seriously limit myself.
 
SimCity to my surprise is actually very educational - I am pleased with that. Aside from the reading, there is a lot that kids don't necessarily think about that goes into getting and keeping a city running, pollution, natural resources...
 
My dd (she's 12) goes through spells where she is Sim-Obsessed, and I can't get on her case one little bit, lol! Did you dive into Sims4? I don't have any current plans to depart from S3, but who knows... I may get bored someday. And yeah, I have to limit myself too. Summer, however, is no holds barred and I get a little, umm, nuts. LOL!
 
We don't have Sims 4 yet! Actually, a couple years ago I deleted all the Sims 3 off my computer because I was cray cray LOL. I was not getting anything done. I have since reinstalled haha! I still "need" to get a few expansions, so I don't think I'll be bored with it for a while. I'd rather upgrade to 4 after they get a lot more expansions out. Plus, I haven't looked yet, but there probably are not a lot of mods available for 4 yet. I'm obsessed with DLing nicer hair, makeup, and clothes along with furniture, etc. Do you do that too??
 
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