Book Arts Bash: Last Weekend to Write
2 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Friday, September 26, 2008 at 12:01 AM.
We have twenty categories with five age groups in each. Three finalists from each age group in each category will move on to our judges -- that means that 300 homeschoolers (or homeschooling parents) will get a chance to be read, seen, and analyzed by someone they've only seen on the bookstore shelves, read about on the internet or in Publisher's Weekly.
I can tell you that at this point some categories are quite underrepresented -- the multimedia categories for example: blogs, storytelling audio files, drama, and comic book. Here's one young author working on her comic book:
Another comic artist with his little sister, showing off a few of his titles:For a list of our judges, a full description of all the categories, an entry form to print and instructions for sending in your work, please visit the Book Arts Bash. We can't wait to see what you've got for us to read.
Labels: book arts bash, contests, homeschooling, writing
Three Homeschool Classes to Consider in Norfolk
0 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 9:14 AM.
Mad Science classes are fantastic, and they are very interested in working out a time that would work for homeschoolers to have a fun, engaging science class with no mess at home and no prep for mom.
These teachers are very gifted, their classes are interesting and effective. My four-year-old daughter is still teaching me the lessons she learned about air currents from Jen and Heath at the science fair last year. She uses the newspaper wrapper to demonstrate. It really made a big impact! If you're interested in Mad Science class for your child, let the powers that be know what days work for you, what times are good, and what you'd like to see happen. Of course they can't accommodate everyone's schedule, but they need to get a sense of what most people want. They want feedback! Email jen@madscienceofhamptonroads.com with your suggestions and to register your interest.
Young Chef's Academy is a fantastic and fun way for children to get empowered in the kitchen. Again -- no prep and no mess for you, and the kids get to toss around flour and break eggs. Sarah Horne is planning a homeschool class. She has asked me to give some input on what days and times would be good for the homeschool community. I told her what I thought but I can only speak for myself and give info on the schedules and classes that I know about. Again of course she can't accommodate everyone but she's interested in providing a service to our community and access to classes during school time instead of the usual after school offerings. If you have input, email her: ghentva@youngchefsacademy.com.
Norfolk Karate Academy is planning a daytime class for homeschooled children. Again, Bill Odom needs your input on times and days. If he plans the class for Tuesday morning, when everyone is in co-op or at the YMCA or whatever, the class fails and we as a community miss out on a chance to get in our martial arts class in a smaller class size, before the after school rush, when our kids can get more individual attention. This is a wonderful karate school. My child has been involved for four years now and we've been impressed and amazed with the excellence in training and the character and commitment of the owners and instructors. If you'd like to be part of a homeschool karate class in Norfolk, here is your chance to give your input: info@norfolkkarate.com.
If you do email them, please let them know where you heard about the classes, and thank them for their sponsorship of the GUESS Homeschool Science Fair 2008.
Labels: classes, homeschooling, local, norfolk
Want to learn to make an awesome, waterproof, colorful, duct tape hat, using two rolls of duct tape and nothing else!? Welcome! This project is part of the Vote for Me! Elections Unit Study hosted here at Little Blue School. All the lucky people who are attending the political conventions are going to be wearing those crazy, ridiculous, fashionable hats, so I decided to get us in the mood with duct tape hats. My dear friend Lori, adored playmate of my childhood, brought her kids over today to play. They are also homeschoolers! Naturally, I roped them into some hatmaking, particularly Eden, who is 11 and handy with the duct tape.
Here's our result:
So, how did we get there?
Materials:
Duct tape in many colors. We used Duck brand which comes in purple, orange, blue, red, chrome, pink, aqua, yellow, and other silly choices. I used approximately two rolls per hat. Some rolls have more on them than others. I had no problem getting a whole hat out of two small rolls, with leftovers.
Scissors you don't care too much about. They will get sticky.
I can think of a million variations to this hat, but here are directions for my hat, my method:
1. Build the Brim Square. First, you build a square from which to cut the brim.
Lay down a piece of tape, about 18 inches long, sticky side up.
Next tear off another piece of the same length. Lay it on the first piece, sticky side down, staggered halfway up.
Now you have two pieces of tape stuck together, with half the sticky side exposed on each side.
Turn the piece over to expose the sticky part of the tape you just added.
Stick another piece on, same length, sticky side down, over that one.
Continue until you have a square.
By laying each piece of tape exactly over the other, arranging these two-sided strips next to each other, and then laying another layer of tape perpendicular to the first layer, to join them, you can create a stronger piece. Like I said, there are other ways, but this was my way.
2. Cut the Head Hole. When you have built a square, cut a circle out from the middle of it.
You'll need a circle that will allow your head to go into it, but be careful of making it too loose. Duct tape is actually pretty stretchy. To get a circle, fold your square in half and then cut a quarter circle away from the center point, then unfold. If you start with a 3.25 inch quarter circle, you will probably be in the right neighborhood. Big math points to older students for figuring all this out exactly. Fit it onto your head to make sure it will go:
3. Create the Crown Rectangle. Now it's time to make the crown. Figure out how high you want your hat to be. I did about 12 inch strips. Your vertical strips will be joined together in exactly the same manner that you joined strips to build the brim. If you want stripes, alternate colors -- two blue (one in the front, turn, one in the back) then two red (one in the front, turn, one in the back)
Here's me making the striped crown of Sadie's pink-and-chrome hat:
4. Join the Crown Tube. When the crown has been built up to a length that will wrap around your head and fit approximately into the hole you made in your brim, finish it by joining the two ends together.
Here I am with the "stovepipe" part of the hat, measuring it against the hole in the brim, while Dan explains something about trading to me:
Here's Eden measuring her crown against her brim, checking to see if she needs to add more strips:
5. Cut the Tabs. Now cut slits in the bottom of the crown, about two inches long, all around the bottom of it. These will become tabs that attach to the brim. This is best illustrated in a picture I took of Eden making her hat:
6. Connect Brim to Crown. When you have your tabs cut, tear as many 3 inch strips of tape as you have tabs, and stick them to something closeby, like a table edge or your leg, so they'll be handy. Start by taping down one tab, then do the tab opposite, then the tabs between, and work your way around. So, do the north tab first, then the south tab, then east and west, etc. This will keep your project even. It's a good idea to try on during this process so you can gather it in or stretch it out a bit, as needed. Tape all your tabs down firmly. If at any point the hat becomes too big, create a gather and tape it down. If it is too small, cut the crown apart, add more tape, tape it back together, and you will *never know* there was a problem. Duct tape is awesome!
7. Attach the Top. The only thing left is to make the very top of the hat. If you still have the piece you cut out of the brim, you can use that to finish the top, or you can create a new piece using the same strip-on-strip method, and cut it into a circle. It's not necessary to make it perfect at first cut, you can trim it to fit later, after you tape it in. Attach it with tape strips inside the crown where it won't show:
8. Embellish. Now you can trim the brim into whatever shape you like. Zig-zag, circle, scallops, or whatever. You can cut out embellishments and tape them on, add a hat band, flowers, whatever you like. We added stars on this hat to turn it from this:
To this:
Eden rolled her brim to create a cowboy-hat-like effect:
That's it! There are more pictures in my Flickr Set but I can't resist posting a few more here. Any questions, please email me. If you do this project, I would love to see the results! Stay tuned for more Vote for Me materials, and happy campaigning!
Benny's hat:
Jordan's hat:
Cameron's hat:
Happy Homeschoolers:
Here's our result:
So, how did we get there?
Materials:
Duct tape in many colors. We used Duck brand which comes in purple, orange, blue, red, chrome, pink, aqua, yellow, and other silly choices. I used approximately two rolls per hat. Some rolls have more on them than others. I had no problem getting a whole hat out of two small rolls, with leftovers.
Scissors you don't care too much about. They will get sticky.
I can think of a million variations to this hat, but here are directions for my hat, my method:
1. Build the Brim Square. First, you build a square from which to cut the brim.
Lay down a piece of tape, about 18 inches long, sticky side up.
Next tear off another piece of the same length. Lay it on the first piece, sticky side down, staggered halfway up.
Now you have two pieces of tape stuck together, with half the sticky side exposed on each side.
Turn the piece over to expose the sticky part of the tape you just added.
Stick another piece on, same length, sticky side down, over that one.
Continue until you have a square.
By laying each piece of tape exactly over the other, arranging these two-sided strips next to each other, and then laying another layer of tape perpendicular to the first layer, to join them, you can create a stronger piece. Like I said, there are other ways, but this was my way.
2. Cut the Head Hole. When you have built a square, cut a circle out from the middle of it.
You'll need a circle that will allow your head to go into it, but be careful of making it too loose. Duct tape is actually pretty stretchy. To get a circle, fold your square in half and then cut a quarter circle away from the center point, then unfold. If you start with a 3.25 inch quarter circle, you will probably be in the right neighborhood. Big math points to older students for figuring all this out exactly. Fit it onto your head to make sure it will go:
3. Create the Crown Rectangle. Now it's time to make the crown. Figure out how high you want your hat to be. I did about 12 inch strips. Your vertical strips will be joined together in exactly the same manner that you joined strips to build the brim. If you want stripes, alternate colors -- two blue (one in the front, turn, one in the back) then two red (one in the front, turn, one in the back)
Here's me making the striped crown of Sadie's pink-and-chrome hat:
4. Join the Crown Tube. When the crown has been built up to a length that will wrap around your head and fit approximately into the hole you made in your brim, finish it by joining the two ends together.
Here I am with the "stovepipe" part of the hat, measuring it against the hole in the brim, while Dan explains something about trading to me:
Here's Eden measuring her crown against her brim, checking to see if she needs to add more strips:
5. Cut the Tabs. Now cut slits in the bottom of the crown, about two inches long, all around the bottom of it. These will become tabs that attach to the brim. This is best illustrated in a picture I took of Eden making her hat:
6. Connect Brim to Crown. When you have your tabs cut, tear as many 3 inch strips of tape as you have tabs, and stick them to something closeby, like a table edge or your leg, so they'll be handy. Start by taping down one tab, then do the tab opposite, then the tabs between, and work your way around. So, do the north tab first, then the south tab, then east and west, etc. This will keep your project even. It's a good idea to try on during this process so you can gather it in or stretch it out a bit, as needed. Tape all your tabs down firmly. If at any point the hat becomes too big, create a gather and tape it down. If it is too small, cut the crown apart, add more tape, tape it back together, and you will *never know* there was a problem. Duct tape is awesome!
7. Attach the Top. The only thing left is to make the very top of the hat. If you still have the piece you cut out of the brim, you can use that to finish the top, or you can create a new piece using the same strip-on-strip method, and cut it into a circle. It's not necessary to make it perfect at first cut, you can trim it to fit later, after you tape it in. Attach it with tape strips inside the crown where it won't show:
8. Embellish. Now you can trim the brim into whatever shape you like. Zig-zag, circle, scallops, or whatever. You can cut out embellishments and tape them on, add a hat band, flowers, whatever you like. We added stars on this hat to turn it from this:
To this:
Eden rolled her brim to create a cowboy-hat-like effect:
That's it! There are more pictures in my Flickr Set but I can't resist posting a few more here. Any questions, please email me. If you do this project, I would love to see the results! Stay tuned for more Vote for Me materials, and happy campaigning!
Benny's hat:
Jordan's hat:
Cameron's hat:
Happy Homeschoolers:
Labels: art, duct tape hat, homeschooling, how to, projects, voteforme
Book Arts Bash: An Unlikely Explosion
4 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Monday, August 11, 2008 at 8:57 AM.
You have heard of the Book Arts Bash, right? It's a new writing program and contest for homeschooled writers, with twenty categories across the full spectrum of literary arts from novels to poetry to storytelling, dramatic skits, and book cover art. With five age groups in each category (including homeschooling moms and dads!) the Bash has something for everyone. Shez and I have been working hard to promote and organize the project, in this our "beta" year, and we've run into some major shocks.
First, the judges. Now peel your eyes open. I know you had a late night watching the Olympics. Take a deep breath. Shoulders back. Just have a look at a few of the people we have on our roster of judges for the Book Arts Bash.
Bestselling authors: Sara Gruen, Karen Abbott, Joshilyn Jackson, Dan Elish, Michael D'Orso, Robert Sabuda & Matthew Reinhart.
Industry Pros: Caryn Karmatz-Rudy and Emily Griffin (Editors, Grand Central Press), Kirby Kim and Daniel Lazar (literary agents in NYC), Caitlin Roper (Managing Editor, The Paris Review), Cressida Leyshon (Fiction Editor, The New Yorker), David Lynn (Editor, Kenyon Review).
Then we have homeschooling moms who are also published authors: Julia Devillers, Jennifer Roy, Melissa Wiley. Storytellers Bobby Norfolk, Odds Bodkins, Joel Ben Izzy. Internet Favorites: Ann Zeise (A to Z Home's Cool), Mir Kamin (Woulda Coulda Shoulda), Michelle Mitchell (Scribbit).
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.
Are you kidding me? Does it not bring a tear of joy to your happy eye to see such glorious support for homeschooled writers from all over the literary world? I cannot tell you how shocked and amazed I am at the response from everyone we've contacted. Many more have said they can't help this year, but asked to be kept in mind for future years. These are busy, busy people who are juggling speaking engagements, new projects, book promotions, and regular jobs, as well as parenting and grand-parenting and the rest of life. They have agreed to help us with our project, to get more kids to try different types of writing and art, and to encourage homeschool teachers to use writing and art across different areas of the curriculum. A big booming thank you to all our judges, the ones I listed here and the other twenty exciting names I have not yet announced.
The judges will be reading the world of all 300 finalists in each of 20 categories, 5 age groups each. All of the adult groups will be judged by industry pros. All of the winners will receive critiques and comments from the judges, glory and recognition on the web site. The younger kids will get prizes too. One early critic of the Bash sourly and openly speculated back in June that the prizes would probably be pencils, and the judge would probably be the lady down the street who edits the local homeschooling newsletter. I can assure you (and her) that this is not the case.
Here's another shocker: This was originally intended to be a rather localized program, reaching out from our home base in Norfolk, maybe across Virginia and down into North Carolina, possibly up to DC. The idea started as a book fair to complement our science fair, to showcase literary efforts of local homeschoolers. However, when we started getting "yes" replies from big names like judges Robert Pinsky and Sara Gruen, we also started getting urgent interest from elsewhere in the country and even in the world, as far away as South Africa and Australia. We had never meant to exclude anyone, but we didn't think people from other areas would really be interested. But they were. So, would we open the contest to people outside Virginia? We decided yes.
Such a swell of interest from such widespread locations led us to really examine the original idea, which was to have an event in Norfolk, at the Chrysler Museum, where we'd invite in one or two visiting authors, showcase the finalists in a reading and a display in the museum lobby, and party down to celebrate homeschoolers' creativity. We can't celebrate finalists from Oregon if the party is in Norfolk. Then there's the question of the visiting author: We've been in conversation with Christopher Paolini's publicist, but will we be able to actually swing a visit from that homeschooled superstar?
How many people will ultimately enter? Is it fair to have an actual Book Arts Bash event in Norfolk when our finalists will be from all over the country and mostly unable to attend? Will we get a great big name for the event? Will Walt Whitman sign on as a judge? What will the prizes be for the younger age groups? Trips to the moon? These questions are all still in the air. As we put together this experience for homeschooled writers, illustrators, and teachers, we are watching it unfold in front of us. As we were shocked with the level of judges we were able to get, shocked with the amount of interest from around the world, we hope to be shocked by more developments as we move into fall.
The entries have started to come in. Will you be among them? Do you have any advice for us? Can you help us promote the project? Are you a close personal friend of Mary Pope Osborne, and can you convince her to speak at the Book Arts Bash in November? We welcome all your comments and suggestions. And of course your best work!
Labels: book arts bash, homeschooling, language arts, writing
On what planet is this true? The planet where we also drop heavy objects on our children's heads, kill their pets, and burn up their toys, just to acquaint them with the realities that they may someday face in their adult lives? Oh right, that planet doesn't exist. Or if it does, no one wants to go there, because it sucks.
A dear friend of mine was recently ambushed with a bunch of anti-homeschool criticism, which took this familiar form: You have to send your kids to school so they can get used to the horrors and hazards of real life. In real life, you have to march in step even if you don't like the tune! You have to put up with people you can't stand, you have to persevere in a negative environment, you have to grind through tasks that you don't enjoy, and it's not all fun and roses when you grow up, so kids have to get used to it! That's what school is FOR.
Are you kidding me? School is for preparing children for how awful life will be? Yes, that is the idea. School is boot camp for life. Survive this, and you're ready for that. Get used to it, because it's never going to get any better. An unbelievable position to take. Inconceivable.
First, this assumes that life will always be terrible. That my children will have to groaningly turn off an alarm clock, scrape a comb through their hair, trudge off to a job they hate, push themselves through tasks that are meaningless to them, and repeat this process for years and years. I would *never* assume that. I would never want my children to expect this kind of life! I don't do that, my husband doesn't do that, and we never ever *would* want to do that. If I found myself in that situation, my first and most earnest goal would be to pull myself out by my ears. I speak from experience.
My friend was asked, "If they don't have to cope with an unfriendly, uninspiring teacher for a year of school, then what are they going to do when they have to deal with a boss they don't like? If they don't learn to cope with boring school material, how will they cope with a boring job?" My answer is that they SHOULD NOT have to cope, long term, with either of those things. If they find themselves in a boring job with an awful boss, I hope they stand up immediately and march away fast, shaking the dust off their shoes behind them. I would never, ever want them to respond by putting their heads down and saying, "I guess I better get used to it." Never, never, never.
Second, this assumes that *if* an awful adulthood is inevitable, then an awful childhood is the appropriate preparation. That doesn't make any sense to me either. If my children are really, truly doomed to an adulthood of weary drudgery and persevering through awfulness, then that should be all the MORE reason to allow them to experience all the joys and freedoms that childhood could bring! Bring on the field trips, beach days, light sabre battles, and art classes! Is the logic of this lousy argument that a happy childhood will lead to unreasonable expectations of a happy adulthood? I expect to be happy. Why should my children not expect this?
My final beef with this is the basic premise that we expose our children to bad things because bad things are going to happen in the future. Inevitably, an event will be rained out, a relative will get sick, a friend will leave. So, do I need to pull my kid out of the bike race for a random reason, refuse to love him at regular intervals, and kill one of his aunts, just so he gets used to the way life is going to be? Of course not, that would be RIDICULOUS. We don't parent like that in any other area of life -- we try and protect them from all evils, all discomforts, all pains, until they are old enough where we can't protect them anymore. So, why can't we do this with school?
I refuse to put my child in school just so he can gets used to boredom, stifling routine, and negative social situations. The very idea boggles the mind. What do you think? Have you heard this argument before?
Labels: homeschooling
Obama's Position on Homeschooling
5 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Saturday, August 02, 2008 at 8:45 AM.
This week, Spunky Homeschool contributed a little hand-wringing and consternation to the discussion of how an Obama presidency would affect homeschoolers. Apparently, Obama hasn't said enough in support of homeschooling. He did say that he would honor parents' decision to do it. This has the conservative homeschoolers in a paroxysm of "Oh dear!" and "What if?"
It's not like McCain has come out leading a homeschool parade. He said he would support it, along with private schools, public charter schools, and other choices parents might make. Sounds like he will honor my decision too. Fine.
Let a president encourage people to homeschool, and you'll hear the already criticized, maligned, underpaid teachers of the country heave a collective groan of despair. The president has to exude confidence and hope for the public school system, as long as there is one. As long as the car companies tell me they're not going to get bicycle-riding made illegal, I'm not expecting them to stand there and applaud and cheer as I fail to buy a car. I expect the government to have faith in its public schools, and work to fix them. Saying, "Yeah, go ahead and homeschool -- it's the best choice!" is tantamount to giving up.
Okay! Obama hasn't proclaimed his support for homeschoolers. Well, McCain hasn't proclaimed his support for people who use cutesy Christmas dishes out of season. If I'm clutching my curriculum in a hot panic, I should also worry about my rights to eat off these stripey plates in the middle of August. Cringing and worrying over the true meaning of what it means to "honor" our choice -- what does he mean he'll honor it? Will he really honor it? What does "honor" really mean anyway??? -- just seems like an excuse to not vote for the guy. An excuse that assumes we are all judging the candidates solely on their homeschooling platform, and not on the rest of their agendas.
Even if Obama had cackled fiendishly and declared he was going to put an end to homeschooling as we know it, I would still consider voting for him. If I have to do more paperwork, fill out more forms, take more tests, endure more certification, that's a small price for me to pay against the cost of another war. What's more important to me? Fewer homeschooling hoops to jump through, or tens of thousands of people dying in Iran, tens of billions of dollars being spent on killing them? The truth is that neither president could reverse such a strong cultural trend as homeschooling by regulating it, even if they wanted to. The only way to end homeschooling (or send it back to the religious fringe) would be to make the schools so awesome that we all were clamoring to get our kids involved. If that happened, I would be the first one celebrating.
There are lots of reasons for conservatives to hate on Obama. Worrying over some imaginary position on homeschooling is a real stretch. I posit that any homeschooler voting against the guy because his support only extends to a promise to honor our choices, was already going to vote against him because of some other issue. Let's be honest. As much as it may pain us diehards to admit it, there are more important things that homeschooling. Fluffing and clucking over imagined threats distracts us from the real issues of the campaign.
It's not like McCain has come out leading a homeschool parade. He said he would support it, along with private schools, public charter schools, and other choices parents might make. Sounds like he will honor my decision too. Fine.
Let a president encourage people to homeschool, and you'll hear the already criticized, maligned, underpaid teachers of the country heave a collective groan of despair. The president has to exude confidence and hope for the public school system, as long as there is one. As long as the car companies tell me they're not going to get bicycle-riding made illegal, I'm not expecting them to stand there and applaud and cheer as I fail to buy a car. I expect the government to have faith in its public schools, and work to fix them. Saying, "Yeah, go ahead and homeschool -- it's the best choice!" is tantamount to giving up.
Okay! Obama hasn't proclaimed his support for homeschoolers. Well, McCain hasn't proclaimed his support for people who use cutesy Christmas dishes out of season. If I'm clutching my curriculum in a hot panic, I should also worry about my rights to eat off these stripey plates in the middle of August. Cringing and worrying over the true meaning of what it means to "honor" our choice -- what does he mean he'll honor it? Will he really honor it? What does "honor" really mean anyway??? -- just seems like an excuse to not vote for the guy. An excuse that assumes we are all judging the candidates solely on their homeschooling platform, and not on the rest of their agendas.
Even if Obama had cackled fiendishly and declared he was going to put an end to homeschooling as we know it, I would still consider voting for him. If I have to do more paperwork, fill out more forms, take more tests, endure more certification, that's a small price for me to pay against the cost of another war. What's more important to me? Fewer homeschooling hoops to jump through, or tens of thousands of people dying in Iran, tens of billions of dollars being spent on killing them? The truth is that neither president could reverse such a strong cultural trend as homeschooling by regulating it, even if they wanted to. The only way to end homeschooling (or send it back to the religious fringe) would be to make the schools so awesome that we all were clamoring to get our kids involved. If that happened, I would be the first one celebrating.
There are lots of reasons for conservatives to hate on Obama. Worrying over some imaginary position on homeschooling is a real stretch. I posit that any homeschooler voting against the guy because his support only extends to a promise to honor our choices, was already going to vote against him because of some other issue. Let's be honest. As much as it may pain us diehards to admit it, there are more important things that homeschooling. Fluffing and clucking over imagined threats distracts us from the real issues of the campaign.
Labels: barack obama, homeschooling, john mccain, politics
Moore Expressions: Virginia Homeschoolers' Favorite Store
0 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 at 4:37 PM.
Moore Expressions is a homeschooling bookstore in Virginia Beach, VA. They carry new and used books, curriculum, literature, homeschooling workbooks, test prep materials, unit studies -- pretty much anything you could ever imagine that would help you homeschool and is manufactured by a publisher is in that store. The store is huge: 4000 square feet. It is state-of-the-art, meaning you can view their store inventory online in real time and make purchases from your computer. Take a look at their "about" page and see for yourself what this store, owned and operated for and by homeschoolers, is all about. Within their store is also a rental resource where you can check out games and science equipment, and these amazing people also publish the Bayith Educator, our regional homeschooling magazine. Moore Expressions is a wonderful, wonderful resource. Anyone who lives within driving distance and hasn't visited must be out of their homeschooling minds.
I'm lucky enough to live close and I have visited the store on many occasions. What's it like to go shopping at Moore Expressions? Fun. Productive. Enlightening. From floor to ceiling there are curriculum materials of all shapes and sizes, all types of methods and philosophies, from Rosetta Stone to Bob Jones to math manipulatives, literature texts, story of the world, used homeschool books, Evan Moor workbooks, YOU NAME IT. The store is quiet, the aisles secluded, so you can really think and make decisions and explore the materials. I love this store! Let me put it this way: I have never walked out of Moore Expressions empty-handed. Never.
As if that wasn't enough to make it worth the drive over, there are bins of free books outside the door. You can bring your unwanted books -- if Moore doesn't buy them from you, you can leave them outside in these bins for whoever wants them. And the books you will find in these bins! WOWZER. Once I found about three years worth of Kids Discover magazines. What a find -- I almost screamed with joy. I've found (and donated) all kinds of stuff to those bins -- they are almost my favorite part of the store. It's like an ongoing swap meet for homeschoolers, right on the doorstep of the best bookstore in town.
Moore Expressions sponsored our Homeschool Science Fair this year, and made it possible for us to hire professional judges, which we and the children really really appreciate. The value of this enterprise to homeschooling community in Virginia, between the bookstore, the magazine, the support group, and everything else they do, is monumental. Thanks for the sponsorship, Moore Expressions, and thanks for providing such an amazing resource to families homeschooling in Virginia.
Labels: guess sponsors, homeschool bookstore, homeschooling, moore expressions
Standing in the middle of a curriculum fair, looking around at all the vendors, picking up this colorful workbook here and that heavy textbook there, deliberating, comparing... it can be a little overwhelming. Add the vast chaotic marketplace of the internet, and you might find yourself starting to cry and suck your thumb. Maybe you're new to homeschooling and want some help navigating the choppy waters of curriculum selection, or maybe you have multiple children and don't feel like teaching cafeteria style for each individual. For complete curriculum packages for homeschooling, check out Homeschooling Books.
One big box delivered to your door contains everything you need for a whole year of teaching. There are three different levels of these curriculum packages: comprehensive, basic, and a third level for non-university-bound students. Homeschooling Books also offers Switched-On Schoolhouse, LIFEPAC, and custom curriculum packages to suit your child's needs.
Homeschooling Books is a sponsor of the GUESS Homeschool Science Fair and we're thankful for their support of our efforts.
Labels: books, guess sponsors, homeschooling
Move On hosted almost 900 "New Priorities" anti-war demonstrations around the country today. One of them was right down the street from my house. As we were driving home from our science fair prep class and International Homeschool Fun Bee at Ben and Shira's house, we noticed this protest going on, with people holding up signs that proclaimed, "Honk if you love peace" and other more extreme sentiments.
Well of course I was joyfully honking away, and went around the block unnecessarily so the kids could get a good look. I was rattling off a bunch of stuff about how in this country we can disagree with the government, and we can express our thoughts publicly, and it is a good thing when you see people protesting peacefully. As I was driving away trying to fit in all my lessonating, I realized I could just park, unload the groceries and walk back. Let them get a good look at it and have their first experiences holding up signs.
So that's what we did.
Here's Benny with his sign:
And Sadie with hers:
Just warms the little red cockles of my heart. Heh heh. Here's a video I took with my phone. It's a bit blurry but you can see that Sadie is using her protest sign to demonstrate that M is W upside down. See, it was educational!
There were actually a lot of children participating, and we ran into some friends of course. Here's Benny with Nicholas:
With people shouting from all four corners of the intersection and lots of honks from cars going by, it was intense for the kids, and for the dog. :) We left after probably 30 minutes, and I was glad we had a good experience. It's not the safest thing to do, protesting the war in this military town. I have to admit it was a little nerve-wracking. A very different feeling from when I was in college, that's for sure. However, I think it was a good experience for the children, and as long as it was within walking distance from my house, how could I pass it up?
Other pictures on the mobile blog and one other video on the YouTube channel, if you just haven't had enough political action for one day.
Well of course I was joyfully honking away, and went around the block unnecessarily so the kids could get a good look. I was rattling off a bunch of stuff about how in this country we can disagree with the government, and we can express our thoughts publicly, and it is a good thing when you see people protesting peacefully. As I was driving away trying to fit in all my lessonating, I realized I could just park, unload the groceries and walk back. Let them get a good look at it and have their first experiences holding up signs.
So that's what we did.
Here's Benny with his sign:
And Sadie with hers:
Just warms the little red cockles of my heart. Heh heh. Here's a video I took with my phone. It's a bit blurry but you can see that Sadie is using her protest sign to demonstrate that M is W upside down. See, it was educational!
There were actually a lot of children participating, and we ran into some friends of course. Here's Benny with Nicholas:
With people shouting from all four corners of the intersection and lots of honks from cars going by, it was intense for the kids, and for the dog. :) We left after probably 30 minutes, and I was glad we had a good experience. It's not the safest thing to do, protesting the war in this military town. I have to admit it was a little nerve-wracking. A very different feeling from when I was in college, that's for sure. However, I think it was a good experience for the children, and as long as it was within walking distance from my house, how could I pass it up?
Other pictures on the mobile blog and one other video on the YouTube channel, if you just haven't had enough political action for one day.
Labels: field trips, homeschooling, politics, social studies
The Destruction of Sennacherib by George Gordon, Lord Byron
1 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Saturday, March 08, 2008 at 11:20 PM.
The children have memorized their Assyrian poem. Now we're on to Ozymandias. They're such good sports:
Labels: children, homeschooling, kids, language arts, memorizing, poetry, reciting
Colonial Williamsburg and Home Educator Week
8 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Friday, March 07, 2008 at 10:08 AM.
You can't pass up Williamburg at $5 per ticket. We went last fall, and we will be going every time they offer this fantastic program. This time, the children were both dressed in colonial attire, provided by Ahno and her mad sewing skillz.
Here they are hanging out at the well like a bunch of colonial gossipers:
I have a bazillion more pictures, including a group that Sadie took herself, in my Flickr gallery, in the Colonial Williamsburg set.
For other colonial good times, check out Benny's Colonial Williamsburg Pictorial Tour Guide on his blog. Here's a sample:
Yes, he did move on from discussing the horse poop. But, it was a significant influence on his narrative.
Here they are hanging out at the well like a bunch of colonial gossipers:
I have a bazillion more pictures, including a group that Sadie took herself, in my Flickr gallery, in the Colonial Williamsburg set.
For other colonial good times, check out Benny's Colonial Williamsburg Pictorial Tour Guide on his blog. Here's a sample:
Yes, he did move on from discussing the horse poop. But, it was a significant influence on his narrative.
Labels: colonial williamsburg, field trips, history, homeschooling, travels
Egg Drop Contest at the Virginia Air and Space Center 2008
4 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Sunday, March 02, 2008 at 11:28 AM.
Great day. Good times. Lots of homeschoolers rocking the museum with awesome engineering. Here are some pictures and videos:
Benny and Sadie after their drops. Benny won second place in the two-egg parachute category at 114 grams with both eggs surviving the fall. He also won the prize for the most creative entry in that category:
Here's Sadie with her contraption, which failed to protect its egg. Video of her drop is below:
You can here somebody speculating that she's 18 months old. She was dressed up as a fairy and her egg was pink and sparkly and frilly, but darnit she's in PRESCHOOL! :)
My entry was "Egg Drop Soup" and it did not protect its egg and did not win anything.
I didn't get any pictures or video of Benny, partly because I pushed the wrong button during his drop and ended up filming my collarbone for like 5 minutes. So ironically the one in the family who built a successful contraption and won prizes did not get documented!
However, I do have video of our friends Zoe and Ben. Zoe won in her category for the lightest successful contraption! Very cool.
Here's Zoe's drop:
And Ben's drop:
So I did get *some* good video! Just not of my own children! :) :) I was proud of all the kids in our little group: Josh, Austin, Zoe, Phillip, Ben, Shira, Benny, and Sadie. We were all very good sports, supporting each other, cheering and hollering, and celebrating physics. It's such an awesome event, because little brainy smart kids get to receive hoots, cheers, and yodels just like the football players. I deeply enjoy myself every year at the Egg Drop contest. It is a great experience for the children and the adults alike.
Benny and Sadie after their drops. Benny won second place in the two-egg parachute category at 114 grams with both eggs surviving the fall. He also won the prize for the most creative entry in that category:
Here's Sadie with her contraption, which failed to protect its egg. Video of her drop is below:
You can here somebody speculating that she's 18 months old. She was dressed up as a fairy and her egg was pink and sparkly and frilly, but darnit she's in PRESCHOOL! :)
My entry was "Egg Drop Soup" and it did not protect its egg and did not win anything.
I didn't get any pictures or video of Benny, partly because I pushed the wrong button during his drop and ended up filming my collarbone for like 5 minutes. So ironically the one in the family who built a successful contraption and won prizes did not get documented!
However, I do have video of our friends Zoe and Ben. Zoe won in her category for the lightest successful contraption! Very cool.
Here's Zoe's drop:
And Ben's drop:
So I did get *some* good video! Just not of my own children! :) :) I was proud of all the kids in our little group: Josh, Austin, Zoe, Phillip, Ben, Shira, Benny, and Sadie. We were all very good sports, supporting each other, cheering and hollering, and celebrating physics. It's such an awesome event, because little brainy smart kids get to receive hoots, cheers, and yodels just like the football players. I deeply enjoy myself every year at the Egg Drop contest. It is a great experience for the children and the adults alike.
Labels: egg drop contest, homeschooling, science, vasc
Burying Blackeye: A Homeschool Park Day Moment
2 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Monday, February 18, 2008 at 9:02 AM.
Last week at our Norfolk Homeschool Park Day, the kids found a dead bird. Shira and Benny immediately took charge of burying it:
After I had been coerced into filming the burial process, I let Benny have the camera for further procedural records.
He and Jillian made this grave marker:
And had a funeral:
Please note the following:
1. No child's hands touched the bird -- they handled it with sticks.
2. In the second movie, the voice you hear is Jillian's, and she is five.
3. Both Jillian and Shira wept over the bird, but Benny was fine. In fact, he even got a valentine from Jillian out of the whole experience:
Homeschoolers with soul!
Labels: burials, funny, homeschool park day, homeschooling, kids, playground
The First International Homeschool Fun Bee
1 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Thursday, February 07, 2008 at 7:33 PM.
The Concept: A spelling bee that's not just about spelling, where you don't get eliminated, and everyone competes on their own level. Moms bring lists of ten questions (words to spell, math problems to answer, history facts to remember, whatever) for their own children. Children "compete" in ten rounds of action. Even if they miss one, they go on slinging.
The Bee: Stand up, put your toes behind the line on the floor, answer your question, bang the drum, sit down.
The Verdict: Totally hilarious and fun!
We started out with the six children in our Lego League family (minus one sleeping little brother), and held our first bee right before Lego League yesterday.
After the bee, the kids had chocolate cake, courtesy of Ben and Shira. Nothing says "Don't Forget the Silent E" like a lovely piece of cake!
We also had a democratic meeting about whether to expand our bee, how often to have one, whether to include all different subjects, how to deal with the squirminess of the children who are waiting to stand and spell, how competitive to make the "non-elimination" aspect of it, etc. Of course, since it was a democratic meeting, the results were inconclusive. Hehehe. Next Monday, another bee.
The Bee: Stand up, put your toes behind the line on the floor, answer your question, bang the drum, sit down.
The Verdict: Totally hilarious and fun!
We started out with the six children in our Lego League family (minus one sleeping little brother), and held our first bee right before Lego League yesterday.
After the bee, the kids had chocolate cake, courtesy of Ben and Shira. Nothing says "Don't Forget the Silent E" like a lovely piece of cake!
We also had a democratic meeting about whether to expand our bee, how often to have one, whether to include all different subjects, how to deal with the squirminess of the children who are waiting to stand and spell, how competitive to make the "non-elimination" aspect of it, etc. Of course, since it was a democratic meeting, the results were inconclusive. Hehehe. Next Monday, another bee.
Labels: fun bee, homeschooling
Islands of Adventure: Boys Book Club Materials
4 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 1:43 PM.
UPDATE: This set of lessons is available in full now, downloadable as one PDF. Go check out the Treasure Island Seminar to check that out. :)
Hello! On this page you'll be able to do access and download all the materials your children will be receiving in class, as well as additional stuff to look at and print. I will update this page as new materials become available. Here's a short list of the materials you can find here, and below is a more detailed list, by date.
Class Summary 1: jpg or pdf
Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum: jpg or pdf
Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirate's Life for Me: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 2: jpg or pdf
Compass Exercise: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 3: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 4: jpg or pdf
A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life: jpg or pdf
Vocabulary Worksheet for Part One: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 5: jpg or pdf
Pirate Story Plan: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 6: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 7: jpg or pdf
Pirate Vessels: jpg or pdf
Vocabulary Worksheet for Part Four: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 8: jpg or pdf
Ship's Bells Worksheet: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 9: jpg or pdf
Signal Flags Worksheet: jpg or pdf
Lillibullero: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 10: jpg or pdf
Coin Worksheet: jpg or pdf
Class 11 and 12 available here.
This week the children really impressed me with their grasp of the salient points from these chapters. As we near the end of the book, things will start to come together, plot-wise, but this part where Jim Hawkins is in the coracle, on and off the Hispaniola, and fighting with Israel Hands, is kind of difficult to follow even for an adult. I continue to be amazed with their comprehension skills and when we sit down to discuss the story they are almost always right with me as we go through the ideas and facts I want to get across. Kudos to you guys for reading with them, and kudos to them for tackling such a challenging text.
When Jim Hawkins returns to the stockade, he is clued in to the fact that the pirates have taken over residence when he hears the parrot saying "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!" We learned what this phrase means, and the answer was kind of interesting! Spanish dollars were worth 8 reals, and they were made of gold. To make change, instead of making coins with smaller denominations, they would just chop up the big gold coins into individual reals. Each "bit" was worth one real, making each quarter worth two reals, or two bits! Interesting -- I did not know that until doing research for this class.
After we discussed some of the symbolism of the images that appear on coins, how carefully the faces, buildings, animals, birds, or shapes are chosen, the students designed their own coins with interesting results. We also talked about fractions, and practiced dividing our coins into halves, quarters, eighths, but I found this was not challenging for them -- they seemed to already understand these math concepts.
Documents:
Update April 29:
In this class we learned about signal flags and the way they were used to communicate between ships. We studied the signal flag alphabet and practiced writing our names and messages to each other in flags. Keep your eye open for flags in the harbor and also on buildings around town!
We learned a new song today. Lillibullero is an English folk song that has been used and re-used with many different lyrics at different times in history. We put Treasure Island lyrics to it -- a call and response song between the faithful and the pirates as they taunt each other over the wall of the stockade.
Lillibullero was the tune that the pirates were whistling while Dr. Livesey was making his trips with the jolly boat before the faithful took up residence in the stockade. I thought it would be neat to teach the children this song, and it *really* gets stuck in their heads. I may have assigned them to come home and drive you insane singing "Lero lero lillibullero!" Sorry about that.
Here are the documents:
Update April 8:
The men in the stockade had to make difficult choices about what they chose to take with them from the ship, since they didn't have a lot of room in the boat. Some luxuries and even some necessities were left behind, and now they're struggling to survive with only what they have. Today in class we're going to be creating "survival packs" in class. We will determine the bare minimum that we would need to survive in a jungle island environment and pack our boxes with symbols of these provisions and tools.
We will also be learning about telling time with ship's bells, and I have a worksheet for them to use in practicing this. It would be great if throughout this week you could reinforce the "ship's bells" method a bit when you find yourself checking the time or setting a bed time or a time for dinner. :)
Update April 1:
At the beginning of our reading for today, Dr. Livesey becomes the narrator and Jim Hawkins is temporarily out of the story. Today we focused on point of view as a literary device. The point of view from which a story is told determines a lot about the story! We discussed how different Treasure Island might be if it were told from the point of view of Long John Silver. We discussed how real life situations might be seen differently from different characters involved in the action. The boys were incredibly perceptive with this stuff! Well beyond my expectations! They continue to amaze me.
We are learning about different types of pirate vessels in these chapters and the ones to come. I assigned an art worksheet for them to do, with your help, after looking up pictures of gigs, coracles, schooners, and jolly-boats on the internet. I also gave them another vocabulary worksheet -- same as the first, with "pick three to use in sentences" and then "pick three to show in a picture." As usual, how much you do of these "assignments" is up to you, but it does enrich our class time if everyone can participate fully.
Update March 11:
Chapter 13 provides us with a lot of very evocative descriptions of Treasure Island itself. This is not your fun, happy, blue-skied, diamond-beached tropical paradise! It's marshy, grey, forbidding, and scary. Today we discussed literary settings, and the three elements that make up a setting:
1. The physical objects present, including landscape elements and "things" in view.
2. The time of day. Lonely beach during the day is quite different from a lonely beach at night!
3. The weather.
Without any of these three elements, a setting is incomplete. An author gives us at least an impression of all three, to create a full picture in our minds. We also talked about including other senses besides just vision. The marsh in Treasure Island smelled bad, the heat felt oppressive, there were bird calls, etc.
To reinforce these ideas, we did watercolor paintings of the setting we had read about. This is why your child's picture might have come home looking very dreary. We talked about including the major landmarks, like Spyglass Mountain, and giving an impression of the weather and time of day.
During spring break, I'd like the boys to read the next six chapters. Also, if you're interested in participating in the Reading Rainbow contest for young writers and illustrators, that deadline is March 28. I would love to have some pirate stories entered! They could even use their watercolor painting as a cover, or one of their illustrations.
I realized when I was unpacking my things that in the excitement over giving the boys their pirate mugs (thanks, Amy Moler!) I forgot to hand out the class summary sheet for Class Six: Land Ho! Here it is:
Update March 4:
What's up pirates and pirate parents? Today we spent some time working on their pirate vocabulary and looking at their homework. I was amazed and delighted to hear them already beginning to incorporate some of these words into their discussion of the books. These children are so smart! You might look over that sheet this week and ask your child which words he remembers, to reinforce his knowledge. If you didn't do this sheet, don't worry about it -- we'll be doing more of these as the book progresses. One of the most valuable side effects of reading real literature at a young age is exposure to interesting vocabulary, so we want to maximize that! We also spent some time talking about the geography of the ocean voyage, from Bristol to the Caribbean Sea. If you have a globe handy, you might point out these places on the globe.
New project:
Storytelling: Today we started a new project! We are all going to write pirate adventure stories! In their folders you will find a worksheet I made to help them start brainstorming ideas. If your child needs help writing down his ideas, you can absolutely be a scribe for him, or he can just draw pictures in the boxes to start thinking about the main points of his tale. In class, they already began telling me how they have different ideas, ones that don't fit in the boxes -- well, of course, that's just what I would expect!! Not at all necessary to fill in the boxes or stay within the limits I've defined -- whatever your boy imagines is fantastic. I'm just trying to spark some ideas with these questions.
Reading Rainbow, a show on PBS, has an annual contest for young writers and illustrators. The contest has some very specific rules, so you will definitely want to look at their web site if you're interested in pursuing that. Check out the local rules and regs at WHRO. I think this is a great contest, and I will be doing this with Benny. I encourage you to investigate it -- not a requirement by any means though! The deadline is at the end of this month. Next week in class we'll be talking more about structuring their stories, so over the break they'll have lots of time to finish working at home.
Ongoing Projects:
Songwriting: Two of our students wrote new verses to "A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life" which we sang in class. I encourage everyone to do this! There are lines on your song sheet for filling in your own verse(s) that relate to Treasure Island.
Treasure Collecting: I gave the children their treasure pouches today, in which they'll be collecting coins and jewels in class. They can either keep it clipped into their class notebooks or with the rest of their treasure trove at home. They've begun negotiating with me for trading up to better coins, better "diamonds" etc. -- this is awesome! Deal-making is very piratical. So now in their treasure troves they should have their beads, their maps, and their pouches.
Music: I have made MP3 versions of the three songs we are learning in class! I'm not going to host them on my site or the list, but if you would like to have me email them to you, please email me offlist and let me know.
That's it! Keep reading!
Update February 26:Ahoy pirates! I hope your reading is going well. Today in class we launched two new projects:
1. I invited the students to write their own verse, or verses, for the "A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life" song. I'm working on getting you guys a CD with all of these songs on it, but until then if you're not sure of the tune -- it's the song from Peter Pan. There's no pressure on this -- if they don't want to do it right away or at all, that's totally fine. Some seemed excited at the prospect, some less so, so let's just make sure it stays fun!
2. We will be making a pirate's sea chest later on in the class, but for now we are starting to collect our "treasure trove." The students should now have a treasure map (in an oilskin packet) and a necklace made with beads and shells from the West Indies. Note: The shells are not actually from the West Indies and the envelope is not actually made of skin. :) They will be collecting and making more items, so they'll just need to keep them in a central location at home until we make the chest later in the semester.
The reading for this week is the next three chapters. I welcome your feedback on the speed at which we are going through the book. If three chapters per week is too fast, please let me know. Also let me know if your children are done reading the book! :)
The vocabulary worksheet that the children brought home is a "friendly" homework assignment. We will be talking about it these words in class, and it would be helpful for the students to learn their meanings. If these homework assignments are too much, just ignore them. If you're enjoying them, that's great! They're meant to enhance their understanding of the book, not to be a chore. :) If you have any questions, feel free to email me at jackets at rpsd dot com.
Update February 19:
For next week, please read chapters 7-9. Please bring your treasure maps back to class with you so we can all admire them before we put them in their "oilskin packets." :)
In class, we sang our pirate songs, and then covered the "salient points" of chapters 1-3. We learned about boxing the compass, which means reciting the thirty-two points of the compass. We learned sixteen points of the compass, and did a worksheet in class to practice putting these points where they go in relation to each other. For next week, I'd like them to be able to place N, S, E, and W on a compass. We will also work on this in class with some games on our not-quite-round rug. :)
I handed out their folders and they each got a black pencil. It would be great if they could bring these to class each week. I will have extra pencils for those that forget, and I have someone's pencil in my bag from last week, but if they could just put their pencils in the center little pocket on their folders, then they'd always have one. It is not important that they bring the actual text of the story, since we will not be using that in class.
For next week, please read chapters 4 through 6. The children all had amazing recall of the facts in the chapters they had read. You are all doing a great job supporting them as they tackle this literature! They are such bright, enthusiastic, exciting students -- I really appreciate them.
Update February 5:
I realized that I assigned the boys to research one of the piratey terms in "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" but did not provide them with a lyric sheet. I had to wrestle my printer into submission to get it to print out the class summary, but it stuck out its lip last night and refused to print the lyrics!
Here is the class summary, which the boys received on paper today. You'll find their chosen pirate names in the blank on the sheet they got in class. You can download this either as a JPG (image) or as a PDF (Adobe Acrobat file).
Hello! On this page you'll be able to do access and download all the materials your children will be receiving in class, as well as additional stuff to look at and print. I will update this page as new materials become available. Here's a short list of the materials you can find here, and below is a more detailed list, by date.
Class Summary 1: jpg or pdf
Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum: jpg or pdf
Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirate's Life for Me: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 2: jpg or pdf
Compass Exercise: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 3: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 4: jpg or pdf
A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life: jpg or pdf
Vocabulary Worksheet for Part One: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 5: jpg or pdf
Pirate Story Plan: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 6: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 7: jpg or pdf
Pirate Vessels: jpg or pdf
Vocabulary Worksheet for Part Four: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 8: jpg or pdf
Ship's Bells Worksheet: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 9: jpg or pdf
Signal Flags Worksheet: jpg or pdf
Lillibullero: jpg or pdf
Class Summary 10: jpg or pdf
Coin Worksheet: jpg or pdf
Class 11 and 12 available here.
This week the children really impressed me with their grasp of the salient points from these chapters. As we near the end of the book, things will start to come together, plot-wise, but this part where Jim Hawkins is in the coracle, on and off the Hispaniola, and fighting with Israel Hands, is kind of difficult to follow even for an adult. I continue to be amazed with their comprehension skills and when we sit down to discuss the story they are almost always right with me as we go through the ideas and facts I want to get across. Kudos to you guys for reading with them, and kudos to them for tackling such a challenging text.
When Jim Hawkins returns to the stockade, he is clued in to the fact that the pirates have taken over residence when he hears the parrot saying "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!" We learned what this phrase means, and the answer was kind of interesting! Spanish dollars were worth 8 reals, and they were made of gold. To make change, instead of making coins with smaller denominations, they would just chop up the big gold coins into individual reals. Each "bit" was worth one real, making each quarter worth two reals, or two bits! Interesting -- I did not know that until doing research for this class.
After we discussed some of the symbolism of the images that appear on coins, how carefully the faces, buildings, animals, birds, or shapes are chosen, the students designed their own coins with interesting results. We also talked about fractions, and practiced dividing our coins into halves, quarters, eighths, but I found this was not challenging for them -- they seemed to already understand these math concepts.
Documents:
Update April 29:
In this class we learned about signal flags and the way they were used to communicate between ships. We studied the signal flag alphabet and practiced writing our names and messages to each other in flags. Keep your eye open for flags in the harbor and also on buildings around town!
We learned a new song today. Lillibullero is an English folk song that has been used and re-used with many different lyrics at different times in history. We put Treasure Island lyrics to it -- a call and response song between the faithful and the pirates as they taunt each other over the wall of the stockade.
Lillibullero was the tune that the pirates were whistling while Dr. Livesey was making his trips with the jolly boat before the faithful took up residence in the stockade. I thought it would be neat to teach the children this song, and it *really* gets stuck in their heads. I may have assigned them to come home and drive you insane singing "Lero lero lillibullero!" Sorry about that.
Here are the documents:
Update April 8:
The men in the stockade had to make difficult choices about what they chose to take with them from the ship, since they didn't have a lot of room in the boat. Some luxuries and even some necessities were left behind, and now they're struggling to survive with only what they have. Today in class we're going to be creating "survival packs" in class. We will determine the bare minimum that we would need to survive in a jungle island environment and pack our boxes with symbols of these provisions and tools.
We will also be learning about telling time with ship's bells, and I have a worksheet for them to use in practicing this. It would be great if throughout this week you could reinforce the "ship's bells" method a bit when you find yourself checking the time or setting a bed time or a time for dinner. :)
Ship's Bells Exercise: jpg or pdf
Update April 1:
At the beginning of our reading for today, Dr. Livesey becomes the narrator and Jim Hawkins is temporarily out of the story. Today we focused on point of view as a literary device. The point of view from which a story is told determines a lot about the story! We discussed how different Treasure Island might be if it were told from the point of view of Long John Silver. We discussed how real life situations might be seen differently from different characters involved in the action. The boys were incredibly perceptive with this stuff! Well beyond my expectations! They continue to amaze me.
We are learning about different types of pirate vessels in these chapters and the ones to come. I assigned an art worksheet for them to do, with your help, after looking up pictures of gigs, coracles, schooners, and jolly-boats on the internet. I also gave them another vocabulary worksheet -- same as the first, with "pick three to use in sentences" and then "pick three to show in a picture." As usual, how much you do of these "assignments" is up to you, but it does enrich our class time if everyone can participate fully.
Vocabulary for part 4: jpg or pdf
Update March 11:
Chapter 13 provides us with a lot of very evocative descriptions of Treasure Island itself. This is not your fun, happy, blue-skied, diamond-beached tropical paradise! It's marshy, grey, forbidding, and scary. Today we discussed literary settings, and the three elements that make up a setting:
1. The physical objects present, including landscape elements and "things" in view.
2. The time of day. Lonely beach during the day is quite different from a lonely beach at night!
3. The weather.
Without any of these three elements, a setting is incomplete. An author gives us at least an impression of all three, to create a full picture in our minds. We also talked about including other senses besides just vision. The marsh in Treasure Island smelled bad, the heat felt oppressive, there were bird calls, etc.
To reinforce these ideas, we did watercolor paintings of the setting we had read about. This is why your child's picture might have come home looking very dreary. We talked about including the major landmarks, like Spyglass Mountain, and giving an impression of the weather and time of day.
During spring break, I'd like the boys to read the next six chapters. Also, if you're interested in participating in the Reading Rainbow contest for young writers and illustrators, that deadline is March 28. I would love to have some pirate stories entered! They could even use their watercolor painting as a cover, or one of their illustrations.
I realized when I was unpacking my things that in the excitement over giving the boys their pirate mugs (thanks, Amy Moler!) I forgot to hand out the class summary sheet for Class Six: Land Ho! Here it is:
Update March 4:
What's up pirates and pirate parents? Today we spent some time working on their pirate vocabulary and looking at their homework. I was amazed and delighted to hear them already beginning to incorporate some of these words into their discussion of the books. These children are so smart! You might look over that sheet this week and ask your child which words he remembers, to reinforce his knowledge. If you didn't do this sheet, don't worry about it -- we'll be doing more of these as the book progresses. One of the most valuable side effects of reading real literature at a young age is exposure to interesting vocabulary, so we want to maximize that! We also spent some time talking about the geography of the ocean voyage, from Bristol to the Caribbean Sea. If you have a globe handy, you might point out these places on the globe.
New project:
Storytelling: Today we started a new project! We are all going to write pirate adventure stories! In their folders you will find a worksheet I made to help them start brainstorming ideas. If your child needs help writing down his ideas, you can absolutely be a scribe for him, or he can just draw pictures in the boxes to start thinking about the main points of his tale. In class, they already began telling me how they have different ideas, ones that don't fit in the boxes -- well, of course, that's just what I would expect!! Not at all necessary to fill in the boxes or stay within the limits I've defined -- whatever your boy imagines is fantastic. I'm just trying to spark some ideas with these questions.
Reading Rainbow, a show on PBS, has an annual contest for young writers and illustrators. The contest has some very specific rules, so you will definitely want to look at their web site if you're interested in pursuing that. Check out the local rules and regs at WHRO. I think this is a great contest, and I will be doing this with Benny. I encourage you to investigate it -- not a requirement by any means though! The deadline is at the end of this month. Next week in class we'll be talking more about structuring their stories, so over the break they'll have lots of time to finish working at home.
Ongoing Projects:
Songwriting: Two of our students wrote new verses to "A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life" which we sang in class. I encourage everyone to do this! There are lines on your song sheet for filling in your own verse(s) that relate to Treasure Island.
Treasure Collecting: I gave the children their treasure pouches today, in which they'll be collecting coins and jewels in class. They can either keep it clipped into their class notebooks or with the rest of their treasure trove at home. They've begun negotiating with me for trading up to better coins, better "diamonds" etc. -- this is awesome! Deal-making is very piratical. So now in their treasure troves they should have their beads, their maps, and their pouches.
Music: I have made MP3 versions of the three songs we are learning in class! I'm not going to host them on my site or the list, but if you would like to have me email them to you, please email me offlist and let me know.
That's it! Keep reading!
Update February 26:Ahoy pirates! I hope your reading is going well. Today in class we launched two new projects:
1. I invited the students to write their own verse, or verses, for the "A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life" song. I'm working on getting you guys a CD with all of these songs on it, but until then if you're not sure of the tune -- it's the song from Peter Pan. There's no pressure on this -- if they don't want to do it right away or at all, that's totally fine. Some seemed excited at the prospect, some less so, so let's just make sure it stays fun!
2. We will be making a pirate's sea chest later on in the class, but for now we are starting to collect our "treasure trove." The students should now have a treasure map (in an oilskin packet) and a necklace made with beads and shells from the West Indies. Note: The shells are not actually from the West Indies and the envelope is not actually made of skin. :) They will be collecting and making more items, so they'll just need to keep them in a central location at home until we make the chest later in the semester.
The reading for this week is the next three chapters. I welcome your feedback on the speed at which we are going through the book. If three chapters per week is too fast, please let me know. Also let me know if your children are done reading the book! :)
The vocabulary worksheet that the children brought home is a "friendly" homework assignment. We will be talking about it these words in class, and it would be helpful for the students to learn their meanings. If these homework assignments are too much, just ignore them. If you're enjoying them, that's great! They're meant to enhance their understanding of the book, not to be a chore. :) If you have any questions, feel free to email me at jackets at rpsd dot com.
A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life: jpg or pdf
Vocabulary Worksheet: jpg or pdf
Update February 19:
Hi pirates! I hope that by now you've uncrumpled your treasure maps and rubbed them with oil. Ours turned out really old and piratey-looking, but we had a terrible tragedy in our house -- THE DOG ATE IT! The dog ate Benny's homework literally! I guess we should have used goat oil or something, because the olive oil we used was just too delicious for Leroy the Boston Terrier to resist.
If you are in the same situation, or if you just need instructions on making your pirate map because you missed class, here are the steps:
1. On a plain piece of paper, draw a pirate map with permanent marker or crayons. Don't use washable marker! Your map should include the elements we agreed on in class: a compass, labels on landmarks, and an X to mark the treasure.
2. Paint the map with tea. We used pretty weak tea in class, but you could use stronger tea for a darker color. Paint both sides.
3. When the map is good and wet, crumple it up and leave it to dry overnight while crumpled.
4. The next day, uncrumple the map and rub oil into it for a greasy old pirate map.
Note: If a lot of the crayon rubs off during the oiling process, don't worry -- part of the point is that when maps get used and abused, they get harder to read.
Here is the class summary for this week:
For next week, please read chapters 7-9. Please bring your treasure maps back to class with you so we can all admire them before we put them in their "oilskin packets." :)
Update February 12:
This update is late because almost immediately after our class on Tuesday, I went off on a trip! For those who are wondering, it went very well. For those who are wanting to download the class materials, here they are!
In class, we sang our pirate songs, and then covered the "salient points" of chapters 1-3. We learned about boxing the compass, which means reciting the thirty-two points of the compass. We learned sixteen points of the compass, and did a worksheet in class to practice putting these points where they go in relation to each other. For next week, I'd like them to be able to place N, S, E, and W on a compass. We will also work on this in class with some games on our not-quite-round rug. :)
I handed out their folders and they each got a black pencil. It would be great if they could bring these to class each week. I will have extra pencils for those that forget, and I have someone's pencil in my bag from last week, but if they could just put their pencils in the center little pocket on their folders, then they'd always have one. It is not important that they bring the actual text of the story, since we will not be using that in class.
For next week, please read chapters 4 through 6. The children all had amazing recall of the facts in the chapters they had read. You are all doing a great job supporting them as they tackle this literature! They are such bright, enthusiastic, exciting students -- I really appreciate them.
Update February 5:
I realized that I assigned the boys to research one of the piratey terms in "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" but did not provide them with a lyric sheet. I had to wrestle my printer into submission to get it to print out the class summary, but it stuck out its lip last night and refused to print the lyrics!
Here is the class summary, which the boys received on paper today. You'll find their chosen pirate names in the blank on the sheet they got in class. You can download this either as a JPG (image) or as a PDF (Adobe Acrobat file).
Here are the lyric sheets for the two songs we'll be learning. The boys do not need to learn *all* these lyrics, by any means! The "pirate choir" will be joining in on the repeated lines, with me singing the verses, for now. No pressure to learn these at all, but I would like them to look at one of the slang terms in "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" and try to figure out what it means.
Have fun with the reading for this week, and don't worry about the boys understanding every little aspect of the text. This is more "grown up" literature than most of them are probably used to. It's more important to get a feel for the language and enjoy the general feeling of the book than it is to go through it paragraph by paragraph and make sure they understand every word. We will talk about the settings, the characters, and the plot points, when we meet. Next week in "pirate lore" we'll be discussing the points of the compass, and also all the other pirate lore stuff that we didn't get to this week, since we ran out of time!
Labels: book club, homeschool co-op, homeschooling, islands of adventure, language arts, lessons, literature, reading, treasure island
Labels: benny, homeschooling, sadie
Cruel, ain't we?
Benny is making a shortbread pizza that he found in his cookbook from Rowena's Tea Room. The shortbread pizza is easy to make. Form your shortbread dough into a pizza shape, then spread jam around on it and litter it with fruit while still warm. I tried to convince him that bananas would make good pepperoni, but he decided to make some pears be green peppers. Whatevs!
Benny is making a shortbread pizza that he found in his cookbook from Rowena's Tea Room. The shortbread pizza is easy to make. Form your shortbread dough into a pizza shape, then spread jam around on it and litter it with fruit while still warm. I tried to convince him that bananas would make good pepperoni, but he decided to make some pears be green peppers. Whatevs!
She's missing her shawl thingy, but Sadie likes her anyway. We sewed her dress back together and cleaned her face and body. Now she's all purdy again.
Benny did a spelling test at Denny's this morning. Dan also took it. Here's Benny taking a break from a little post-pancake DS gaming in order to grade Dan's test. Grading it was easy -- all answers took some form of the word "bucket." Sadie did her letter practice at the table at Denny's too -- working on N and M and telling the difference.
Finally, we got our caterpillars today for our butterfly garden thingamajigger that Grammy gave Benny for Christmas.
I hope they're not cold and dead. It's pretty cold here. Time will tell, right? Benny is pretty excited. He's throwing them a shortbread pizza party:
Benny set the table. I guess I'm having wine -- awesome. That'll help me cope with the fact that it's SNOWING. Gah.
Labels: homeschooling
Handwriting Help: Four Suggestions for Happy Letters
0 CommentsBy Lostcheerio on Wednesday, November 07, 2007 at 5:11 PM.
Handwriting is a stressful subject. Any time there is a "perfect" way to do something, and we are helping our children to try to meet that "perfect" standard, we have to be careful not to set off weird alarms in their heads -- what's wrong with me? Why can't I just do it exactly like the book has it? In math class, we can get the right answer if we figure out the correct number. In science class we can memorize the facts. It's either right or it's wrong, there's no subjectivity in most of elementary school. The truth about handwriting is that it's almost mechanically impossible to duplicate the correct answer. What we're all trying to do is to get close, and in the end most of us abandon that attempt anyway, and either type things or write in all caps (like me) or just embrace the scrawl.
Here are four ideas for helping your child navigate this shark-infested water, especially if you're already having trouble, tears, and terror.
1. It's okay to let the child write using the typewriter or computer. This lets the kid form words, express thoughts, etc. without the pain (psychological or otherwise!) of holding a pencil. Just forming the words and having them look perfect, perfect, perfect can be very satisfying! My son’s favorite computer “game” was wordpad for a long time.
2. Get rid of whatever medium is driving the child and you crazy. If pencil and paper isn’t working, ditch it. For as long as is necessary. Write with your finger in marshmallow fluff, in fingerpaint, in sand, in chalk dust. Write on a white board with scented markers. Write with mommy’s ancient lipstick on the dishwasher. Okay, maybe not that last one. Hehehe. We used a whiteboard for everything and Benny loved it – it’s a lot less frustrating to erase when you can just swipe it off, and you don’t have to scrub at a piece of paper
Here are four ideas for helping your child navigate this shark-infested water, especially if you're already having trouble, tears, and terror.
1. It's okay to let the child write using the typewriter or computer. This lets the kid form words, express thoughts, etc. without the pain (psychological or otherwise!) of holding a pencil. Just forming the words and having them look perfect, perfect, perfect can be very satisfying! My son’s favorite computer “game” was wordpad for a long time.
2. Get rid of whatever medium is driving the child and you crazy. If pencil and paper isn’t working, ditch it. For as long as is necessary. Write with your finger in marshmallow fluff, in fingerpaint, in sand, in chalk dust. Write on a white board with scented markers. Write with mommy’s ancient lipstick on the dishwasher. Okay, maybe not that last one. Hehehe. We used a whiteboard for everything and Benny loved it – it’s a lot less frustrating to erase when you can just swipe it off, and you don’t have to scrub at a piece of paper