First Week of School, 2017

8th grade, here we come!

May this year be more successful than this selfie 

we tried to take with the chihuahua.

It's been an awesome week and our schedule has a nice flow.

Lu takes the goats out to pasture 3xweek. He's out there for 3 hours, so he takes an assignment with him. "Cambalacha" is the afterschool program we run from our home, where Lu will be acting more as a facilitator than a participant. I started the program when he was a few months old, so he's been a part of it his whole life. It will be beautiful to watch him come into the role of "tallerista". On Wednesdays we'll go out for some yoga, ping-pong, kayaking and lots of swimming. "Free Time" is for Lu to go hang out downtown with his skateboard *if* all Mon-Wed schoolwork is done. Anything incomplete from Thursday or Friday will get done on Saturdays. This system helps keep the motivation high for getting the job done!

But what about having the freedom to take as long as you like on something if it's interesting? Well, we've done that too, but Lu needs to work on turning things in on time - an important skill in life. This involves being realistic about how much time you have to do something, planning how you're going to do it in that amount of time (again, realistically), and doing the best you can in the time you have. So, that's what we're working on this year. I *do* imagine us going back to a more time-relaxed way of learning, with lots of lounge-y reading and discussing. But then again, there are goats and chickens and jobs to be done, and only so many hours in the day....

 Most of what we're doing this year requires me to read ahead 

and prepare discussion questions. So, lots of homework for mama.

For algebra, we're continuing with our resource 

from last year - Great Courses, videos and workbook.

For the next couple weeks, 

Lu is participating in self-defense classes.

Cooking and guitar continue to be his main passions.

He'll be apprenticing at a French bakery/restaurant on Saturdays,

and practicing at home (yum!).

Our schedule is a guide, flexible, not written in stone. Activities are changeable, but we *are* trying to do 5.5 hours of school a day over fewer days (990 hours in 38 weeks vs. fewer hours/day over 40 weeks), for longer vacations, because, as much as we love homeschooling... ... ... we REALLY like vacations 😄

Having this as a clear goal that we both agree on, as well as the "Free Time" agreement, is already proving to be very positive for maintaining good attitudes in a headstrong teenager and a not-the-most-patient mother 😉

We are both enjoying the resources we are using (score!) and all the physical exercise we're getting. Lu is excited to start facilitating workshops. Our little farm is producing lots of awesome, organic food. Life is good. 💚 And these new emojis on blogger are fun 😜 Lol.

Hope you're having a great start to your year, 

and thanks for stopping by!

7th grade. Check.

Today is officially our last day of 7th grade. Lu will still need a few more days to finish his final project - a compare/contrast essay about the American, French and Russian revolutions. But other than that, we are D O N E.

This was our sixth year homeschooling. Every year I seem to blog a little less. Our academic activities/projects are less and less photo-worthy, and they also take a lot longer, so there's not as much variety. It's a lot less taking nature walks, and a lot more trying to wrap our heads around algebra and chemistry. We also recently got chickens and started a vegetable garden, so our little farm is growing and giving us more work.

Tinich is undecided on the chickens.

And maybe a little jealous :)

But really, this year, I haven't written as much because it's been a difficult year. So difficult, I sent Lu to public school for a few months. Hormones and attitudes were raging, and it felt like I had to learn (in about one second) how to be the mother of a teenager who took the place of my baby boy from one day to the next. Well. It was a bumpy ride, but it was one of much growth. 

We've learned so much about love, patience, acceptance, respect, and communication.

These last months, since returning to homeschooling, our objectives have been more about creating harmony in our day-to-day, our home, our family, and ourselves. Academics took a backseat, but we still covered our 7th grade bases. 

We studied a little chemistry with different online resources like these videos - http://www.periodicvideos.com/ and this site - http://www.softschools.com/facts/periodic_table/

Lu completed this workbook that I found in an old box of books from when my mom was a teacher in the 80's, dated but clear and thorough, and something Lu could do on his own, while out with the goats.

We got halfway through our algebra course and then circled back to review. We'll do the other half next year.

(I had no idea how to do this a year ago. lol)

Lu mostly does art through the after-school program we run from our house two afternoons a week, but sometimes we do art on our own.

 Here's Lu with the other kids from the program, performing with the "diabolo" in their circus show.

We did lots of creative writing over the last couple of months. Lu remains very passionate about cooking and playing the guitar. We do yoga, go swimming, and dance regularly. We used this list of 100 words for spelling and vocab - http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/100middle/ and got quick at finding words in an actual, for real dictionary. But WHY MOM? He argued that it was ridiculous when we have online dictionaries. I insisted, and he later actually confessed that he enjoyed looking up the words. Like, he really actually said it was "fun". So, see, you never know. 

Try it, it might work. 

(I need to go look up synonyms for "actual and actually" lol)

Besides our regular viewing of (lots of) history and science documentaries, we also watched movies about growing up, life and its difficulties, freedom, passion, compassion, love, loss... and I'm recording them as school activities because I think we learn a lot from the right movies at the right time. Here's the list, in the order we watched them:

Whale Rider

Ixcanul

Ratcatcher

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Outsiders

Earth to Echo

Rainman

The Color Purple

Awakenings

Little Big Man

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Juno

O Brother, Where Art Thou

Dead Poets Society

Les Miserables

So, it's vacation time :happydance: !!! And, despite goats, chickens and adolescence, we had a productive homeschool year.

See you in January, when we embark on our 8th grade adventure, and start preparing for high school!

***If you're struggling with a just-turned-teen, don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. Just remember to breathe and try not to take it personally (that's the hardest part). Good luck!

Some Cool Websites for 2015

We'll be starting our 2015 school year later than usual.

We have family visiting, friends in town, 

and general lingering of vacation-ness vibes.

We're taking this year as a transitory year. Lu did fine in all his subjects, but I just don't feel like we're ready for 7th grade. And he's growing up so quickly. Teenager-y is just around the corner. So I want to take this year to ease up on the academics and enjoy my 12yo as much as possible.

We'll be doing lots of swimming, hiking, reading together, cooking and baking, and running art classes in our afterschool programs. We'll continue our history studies and start on some algebra (yikes). And I'm putting together some cool websites for Lu to explore.

So, here it is, a short list of websites that I think my 12yo 

6th/7th grader will really enjoy:

1. YouTube - The Science Channel

 specifically:

YouTube - Most Viewed Science Videos

2. The Kid Should See This

 Awesome videos on ALL kinds of stuff.

3. Sheppard's Software - Cell Games

Learn about plant, animal, and bacterial cells

though tutorials and games.

4. Incredibox

Make music by learning basic mixing.

Super fun!

5. Codecademy

 Learn to code!

6. How To Do Research

7. Big History Project

I'm very excited about this one!

Big THANKS!!! to all the awesome homeschool bloggers 

who share great, free, educational resources throughout the year,

and of course to the creators of those resources.

Designing Our Days

One of the things I love most about homeschooling is being able to design our days according to what we want and/or need to do. Our schedule is different each day to fit in all the different stuff we have chosen together - develop skills, gain knowledge, exercise, enjoy nature, cook, make music, dance, walk our dogs... These are the things that make us happy, and that we want to make sure to do.

Lu got absolutely into the guitar last year.

Even though it is only on our schedule from 8-8:30am every morning, guitar practice happens all throughout the day. He even has the guitar near when we're watching a movie, so he can play whenever we pause for bathroom or snack breaks. He also has a private lesson with a teacher each week.

 

Math is daily at our house. Sometimes even twice a day.

Lu sometimes sits down to do two hours of math and not even notice.

But that's not every day. Some days 30 minutes is too much.

Science is officially 3 times weekly,

but we often end up watching science videos 

and documentaries during breaks or with lunch. 

Lu is always up for doing experiments, he'll do them just for fun.

History is pretty much daily, between reading and watching documentaries, we do something history related almost every day. This is my favorite subject and Lu enjoys it most of the time, except when he has to write a lot. This definitely isn't a year of enthusiastic writing, but that's okay. He's written a lot in past years, so I'm not pushing and just hoping that he will find his own writing inspiration in his own time.

Wednesdays are lake days.

We try to make it each week, after all, that's why we live here.

 Slowly but surely, Lu's clubhouse is moving forward.

Whenever there's a chance,

 Lu will go bang in some nails or sand some boards.

 

 Cooking, like music, has a place on the schedule,

but also happens all the time, throughout the week.

Jewelry-making has taken a backseat

to cooking and guitar, so it's not on the schedule,

but occasionally happens when Lu's in the mood.

Geography happens twice a week.

This year's focus is on regions and landmarks.

Language arts is not one of Lu's favorites, and I have come to accept and respect this. We still do a little English spelling and some Spanish grammar, but it's very minimal. I used to insist on more, but I'd rather he used the extra time for what he's truly passionate about.

Lu specifically asked for basketball this year, so every Friday morning, at 7am (before the public school's P.E. classes take over the court) Lu goes to play for an hour, and comes back sweaty-faced and red-cheeked. I should go take some pictures of him playing one of these days, but this is sacred empty-house coffee time for mama :)

 

  On Thursday afternoons 30 other kids come to our house/center for arts classes.

 And since the volunteer teachers live on site with us,

Lu often has the chance to get some one-on-one with them.

As Lu gets older, my role shifts more and more from working side-by-side with him, to making sure we have lots of interesting resources, organizing our subject matter so that it fits in the year, and trying to put it all together in a way that flows nicely for us, in a flexible schedule that molds itself to our needs.

When it all comes together, we finish a day satisfied with having completed the work we'd planned on doing AND having time for art, exercise, hobbies, research, new interests, exploration, naps, outings... This is a perfect day.

I feel that this year we've really whittled down our academic plans to what is important for him to learn for the life he desires. This gives us much more time for all the other stuff we want to do. And yes, I push for certain things (like spelling and grammar), but I do it with a strong argument, and it only goes if I can manage to convince Lu. If in the end he really doesn't want to do something, then he won't. He has his own reasons for studying science, math, and history. He has real interest for learning where things are in the world, who invented what and when, what black holes are, how dogs' brains work... If I force my own ideas about what is important to learn, I'm taking time away from him following his true interests.

So, maybe we won't be reading Shakespeare together in high school like I had envisioned, but there will be engineering, and culinary arts, and maybe a rock band, and a bunch of other stuff that I never envisioned because they weren't my interests. But I LOVE my son's interests, just because they're HIS. His very own. 

And when he is engaged in what he's doing, he glows. He shines. 

He is REALLY learning. And that is what it's all about.

2014... Back to a Schedule

After a lot of experimenting with minute-by-minute schedules to NO schedules last year, we're going back to using a schedule this year. It's not written in stone, and it can accommodate and adapt, but it seems that both Lu and I work better having an idea of what we're doing.

So, at the end of last year, we sat down together and talked about what our learning priorities are. 

Together, we agreed that these should be regular activities:

Music

Every morning, after breakfast and washing up, Lu will have time to practice his guitar-playing and singing. Sometimes he plays in the kitchen, and sometimes he comes up to my office so that I can sing along. On Saturdays, he'll also be taking shared lessons with another homeschooler.

Geography

Twice a week, Lu will continue to learn where things are in the world, with our favorite Geography Site and with our Children's Atlas.

,

Math

We'll be doing math in Spanish this year with this workbook. It's based on the Guatemalan public education curriculum, to get Lu ready for a test he might need to take in a year or two. Just this week, we went over mathematical sets, Venn diagrams, and cartesian product. 

Lu will also work with this book:

 

And, of course,

we'll keep working with Khan Academy

 Science

We plan to get through half of our "Great Scientists"

book this year - from Aristotle to Charles Darwin.

 Then we'll move on to Evolution.

Once a week,

Lu will try out different science experiments with this book:

This week, he made a wind-powered winch.

Cooking

Lu asked for lots of cooking time.

He'll be making dinner on Mondays, 

researching new recipes on Tuesdays,

and baking on Fridays.

 History 

We'll be learning about Ancient America,

Medieval Europe, and Asia in the Middle Ages.

Then we'll zoom in on Guatemalan history.

Reading and Language Arts

This year, Lu's starting out with Rudyard Kipling's

"Just-So-Stories".

He reads a story in the evening,

and retells it to me the next day, for retention,

and story-telling skill.

I don't have a huge reading list for him this year,

but I'd like him to read these two Roald Dahl books:

For Spanish we'll be using a Guatemalan Language Arts workbook, and spelling worksheets for English. Most of our writing will be done in our history notebook. Lu will also continue taking private lessons in Kakchikel - the local Mayan language of our town, working on his typing, and learning ASL (American Sign Language).

Physical Education

Mondays - Hiking

Tuesdays - Circuit Training

Wednesdays - Swimming and Dance

Thursdays - Circus Arts 

and Team-building games (with other kids)

Friday - Basketball (with a friend)

And that's the plan!