Orange Peels, Chocolate Cakes, and Tests

December has been pretty random. We're finishing up the calendar year and the school year. Since we've finished most of our 5th grade stuff, we're doing little art projects here and there. Lu's been playing lots of guitar and learning more with YouTube tutorials, and other sites like Kids Guitar Zone.

 

Orange Peel Creation:

A little friend we caught:

One of the many baked wonders Lu's been whipping up:

 

At the end of the year, we practice testing.

I download whatever standardized tests I can find

for whatever grade Lu's in, print them, and hand them over.

Here, he's doing a California 5th grade Science test:

 

Lu knows that they're just for practice,

and to help us see which areas we haven't covered.

Not that we have to cover everything,

but it's good to know where we stand

in relation to the "standard".

 

Our social arts project is also finishing up,

and the kids are getting ready for our

End-of-Year show.

Pictures of the show coming next week!

Tests and Hawks

This week, we tested Lu's "standard" 4th grader skills. 

We used these: math test and language arts test. 

He did the language arts test in three sessions of 90 minutes each, and the math test in two sessions of 75 minutes. 

I mostly do this for the sake of learning how to take tests and not getting freaked-out-stressed-out-lose-your-head-crazy if and when the day come that he need to take a standardized test. And I don't spend any time on Lu studying for them, or prepping him in any way - except for the customary motivational speech on how tests are to help us see where we need to work harder, and not to make us nervous or scared.

Lu does NOT do well with tests. He'll have a full-on existential crisis if he thinks he doesn't know the answer to a question on a test. So I especially feel the need to do this a couple of times a year with him, and to work through the anxiety and fear. He did really well at learning to catch himself this time, and controlling the freak-outs.

We school from January-November, so we are at the beginning of our last trimester. I like doing the tests now so that we have time to strengthen skills, and the tests help me see which skills need strengthening. Of course, because they are not the official tests, I don't know how Lu really scores. I know how many answers he gets right, but I don't know what percentile he's in. And I don't need to know - as long as I'm sure that we've covered it all, which is really not a difficult or time-consuming thing to do. 

And you might just be starting to homeschool, and looking at all the stuff your kid is supposed to learn this  year, and you might feel overwhelmed... DON'T. It gets done. But you're not going to believe me until you've done your first year and realized that you had loads of time left over, and that there was no need to worry or rush.

It takes us five or six months to finish our standard grade level stuff, which leaves the other 6 months for fun projects, unstructured learning, and for practicing and strengthening skills. So now, knowing that we have covered almost all the standard stuff, this is what we've been doing:

Typing

We're using this new site for review and practice.

 Reading about Ancient Egypt.

In our History class this year, we studied the first humans all the way through the first civilizations. I had wanted to get as far as Greece, but it didn't feel right. Mesopotamia and Egypt were so mind-blowing, we decided to stick around a little longer. So we got some DK Eye Witness books on the ancient civilizations that we'd already studied, for Lu to read independently during the next three months. We'll start Ancient Greece in January, having really sunk our teeth deep into those first, awesome civilizations.

 Reading about Sailing on the Nile,

and explaining the keel of the boat to me.

We're using Khan for math daily, and we're finishing up our MEPYear4. I still can't believe that we're going to finish it! It seemed so impossible at the beginning of the year.

For Science we're watching BBC Life of Birds series, and the whole family (well, we're only three, but still...) has a new-found fascination for our feathered friends. Seriously, birds are awesome, and crazy, and do the most unexpected things. I'm totally tripping out on birds right now.

We're about half way through the whole series of 10 episodes, and the other night I told Lu that it'd be really cool if he could further research something from what we've recently learned about birds that especially interested him. 

Right away he said "Hawks!" 

The next day, he asked me if we could go by the stationary shop, and he bought a small notebook with his own money. As we were leaving the shop he told me that it was for taking notes for his research report! I was like - Dude, I would have bought that for you! And he responded: it's my education, I can put money into it too. 

Well, okay then! I can't argue with that :-)

Last year, Lu did an independent research report on the Saber Tooth Tiger.

I won't be helping him at all with this project - no editing, nada. It goes into our homeschool records as a true product of Lu's research and writing abilities. For me, this is the real language arts test. This is where I'll see how much he has truly retained.

("lover", hehe)

It's Friday. The weekend is here.

I'm going to go make myself a margarita now :)

A Really Great School Day

Sometimes we have long, slow, stretchy days. 

Sometimes we have crisp, faster, more up-beat days. 

Here's an example of an extra speedy, ultra-productive day when we are feeling good and getting along, and everything flows perfectly.

We started our morning at 7:30am with Lila Down's version of La Bamba and some other songs from our repertoire. I love it when we start the day singing.

At 7:45 Lu read an Aesop's fable aloud in Spanish, and then worked on his handwriting by copying the moral of the story in cursive.

 At 8:00 we were starting our MEP worksheet,

and flew through it.

At 8:20, Lu read me two Shel Silverstein poems.

At 8:30, we got out our Glencoe Math

 and did 4 problems in our notebook.

At 8:45 Lu read silently about Orpheus and Eurydice.

 At 9:00 we took a little break.

At 9:15 Lu took this free math placement test.

We do these once in a while, when I run into a free one,

just to see where we're at (in the standardized world).

I'll skip the part about Lu having a panic attack that ended in sobbing when he couldn't do one of the problems, because he got over it and understood that tests are just to help us figure out where we need to strengthen our skill.

 At 10am I worked out the score while Lu ate an apple.

We're right on track - 4th grade, 2nd semester.

At 10:30 we played Snatch.

Lu gets tense with tests,

so a game was much needed.

At 11am, Lu read a couple more chapters from 

How To Think Like a Scientist.

Last night, Lu offered to make today's lunch on his own,

(A BIG FIRST)

so at 11:30 he was done with schoolwork 

(an hour earlier than usual)

and started cooking.

 It was his first time making rice.

He set a lovely table with white rice, 

zucchini, and eggplant.

He was very proud of his spread.

 (and I was speechless and teary) 

As soon as we were finished eating, 

friends started showing up for afternoon group activities.

I wouldn't want every day to be so speedy. We like the long, slow days too, when we get side-tracked and too caught up in discussion to see what time it is, or worry about what we need to do next. But once in a while, days like today are great for plowing through and catching up.

Snow and other Stuff we don't have

I spent my blog time this week reading more than writing.
I love all the wintery posts with snow on the ground, rosy cheeks,
colorful hats and scarves, steamy cups of cocoa,
sitting around the fireplace early in the morning...

I spent 10 years
in Midwest US as a child,
so I know snow.

My mother, being from Guatemala,
wasn't used to the winter-time custom
of listening to early morning radio
to hear if a snow day was called.

Many days I walked the six blocks
in waist-deep snow to an empty school
with a SNOW DAY sign on the door.

- Here's me, age 10, mid-80's
(Check out Mr. Snowman's Ghostbusters cap)


Lu was 7 years old when he saw snow
for the first (and so far only) time.

It had been 15 years since I had seen or touched it myself.
So magical.

- Here's Lu in the New Mexican winter, 2010




Anyway, back to reading other people's blogs...

Snow on the ground is just one of the things that I don't have.

I also don't have the artsy-craftiness of many a homeschooling blogger. I'm a performing artist by trade, but never had much patience for glitter and glue, or needles and thread. And as pretty as those crafty homeschool blogs are, I can't help but think of how much reading we get done in the time it takes them to glue on all those sequins. Luckily, Lu also prefers reading. He is much craftier than I am, but he likes making practical things like knitting, or making jewelry to sell.

Another thing I don't have are learning labels for my son. If he has any learning problems or giftedness, I am unaware. This is partly because there are no specialists anywhere near us, partly because I don't have other children to compare him to, but also because I don't feel it's all that necessary to know. Lu does some strange things with numbers and letters, which I'm sure fit under some dys-something label, but I don't need to know the medical term to be aware of it and work with it. Labels are needed to explain why a person isn't standard in x, y, or z. And since I'm not going for standard... If I can go with my son's flow, I don't need to have him tested over why he doesn't learn this as quickly as that, or as well as other kids, or faster, or sideways, or backwards, or upside-down.

Another difference, and one that makes me feel slightly disabled as a homeschooler, is not having a library. I know we're not the only ones, and there are other homeschoolers who live out in the middle of nowhere too, but I so envy those pictures of dozens of library books spread out on the kitchen table, and I can't help but think how much easier they have it - with all those books available for free. But then I remember, in places with good libraries, the books are free, but everything else is crazy expensive, which is why we choose to live where we do. My father did the opposite. He left the jungle because he couldn't be without the libraries. But I can't be without the jungle. Go figure.

So, we're all different, and I mostly love looking at other homeschoolers' blogs to appreciate the diversity among us and to get new ideas. A lot of those crafty moms are really good at what they do, and I'm sure that their kids will greatly benefit from learning those skills. A lot of parents who have their children diagnosed for learning disorders do it because their governments will actually help them (whereas mine wouldn't do a thing). And a lot of those families near great libraries wish they had as much green and nature around them as we do.

There are infinite ways to homeschool, probably as many as there are ways of managing a family. Our choices are shaped by many factors - circumstantial, geographic, physical, ideological, financial... There is no one right way, except for the one that works for the unique you and your unique family.

This week I learned that there is definitely no way for me to get Lu's papers in order and get our homeschooling accredited in any way here. He will have no official papers to back his education. But I believe in what we're doing, and that my son is learning at the speed of light, and that the world is changing. I don't believe in the way universities work (with some exceptions), and want to see us go back to apprenticeships. I don't want my son to have a 5-digit debt for a PhD without a guarantee that he'll get a job in his field. Screw that.

So I guess it's a matter of trusting that:
My son is brilliant. He will know how to find a way to make a living, and he will be an expert in knowing how to make a life. He will follow his passions, and that can only lead to an extraordinary life. Creativity and innovation will compensate for any lack of paperwork. And if he still really wants to go for that PhD, he will do what it takes to make it happen.

But from where I'm standing now, trying to go through all the bureaucracy for something I don't believe in reminds me of trudging through the snow to get to that empty school building. I think we'll just stay home and read a book.

Standardized Testing

Ugh.

Testing.
I printed out some standardized tests - free CAT released tests for 3rd grade.
Why?
Just want to make sure that we're getting the basics covered.
Since my son is ESL, I thought he'd have a hard time with the Lang. Arts Test.
He scored 80%. Of course I didn't have a curve to consider.
Our confidence was high, and I was sure that we were on track.

I thought he'd do great on the Math test, our next test.
He spent 2hrs on the standard 90+ questions,
and didn't even get half way through.
I think it was a mistake to do it in the afternoon,
so today he's trying in the morning.

Apparently he's like me in that if we learn content in one format
(a yellow workbook with the problems numbered from top to bottom),
and the format changes
(to a pink workbook with the problems numbered from left to right),
we panic.

I checked his answers from the half of the test he did yesterday.
66%. He was so frustrated. I was so frustrated.
Testing sucks.
I hope today goes better.

We were both on the verge of tears about twenty minutes ago.
I apologized for getting frustrated. I know he knows how to do this.
He just needs to look at it with a clear mind, and try not to panic.
I know how he feels.
So much information in an unfamiliar format is overwhelming.

Take a deep breath together.
Hug.
Leave him to it.
We're both calmer.
10 minutes later, he yells out "Woo-hoo, only 35 more to go!"

So, yes, testing is painful. I question its worth. Mostly I do it because I think test-taking in itself is a skill that needs to be developed, in the case that my son ever choose an academic path. But I tread with caution, as I don't want to break his motivation or hurt his love for learning. So we talk a lot about why we take tests, who writes the tests, what they mean and what their objective is. I explained that they are standards of a system that we don't believe in, and that we use them (like spies), just to make sure that we can make our way around the system, but can also jump in when we want or need.

Science Tests - Life Science and Earth Science – Grade 3

*to compliment the use of Scott Foresman On-line Science Text Units 1 and 2