brain week

just love this happy shot of color sitting on my table everyday

Several years ago, I came across the idea of integrated thematic instruction and brain-compatible learning. I found it intriguing. While I explored it a little but didn't implement it into our schooling. This happened probably two or three more times. Recently, when I came across some information on it yet again, it hit me that perhaps I was receiving a gentle nudge from a divine hand to use this methodology. So I am. Finally.

Our theme for this year's learning adventure is titled "Raiders of the Renaissance Mind". With this being our first year, I purchased an  "epic adventure" from Courageous Beings so I could get a feel for how to put a thematic study together. This is how they explain the rationale behind the theme:
"The unifying concept of Raiders of the Renaissance Minds is to help students recognize the distinctive traits that characterize a Renaissance Mind and apply them to recognizing their own potentials. We have chosen people who made tremendous leaps and affected mankind profoundly thereafter. We relate one Renaissance Mind to another, searching for common threads. We help our students not only to recognize a Renaissance Mind but also to understand the sacrifice and hard work that produced it. Our goal is that each student may catch the vision of his or her own potential and what it takes to develop it. 
"As we, alongside of our students, become raiders of great minds we are given a means of seeking, through repetition, the patterns necessary to understand what qualities great minds have in common. We are also providing a fun way to perceive learning. Learning is no longer a dry biographical book report, but an adventure. We are raiding, like archeologists, like an Indiana Jones, those great minds of the past
and present. It becomes a quest that directly applies to our own minds and how we can tap into the greatness that exists within each of us."

This week was Brain Week. We started with the concrete study of the brain, its lobes and functions and then moved into abstract ideas like "thoughts precede actions". Our activities this week included dissecting a sheep brain, building a neuron out of Play-dough, watching Hoosiers (to illustrate "beginning with the end in mind"), and listening to "Choosing" from My Turn on Earth.

We ended the week with a Renaissance feast celebrating our learning yet to come, complete with costumes, fancy dishes and fantastic food.

Today I spent all day finishing up preparations for the year. I hope it all comes together the way I have envisioned. I am taking a leap of faith. It is hard to let go of the more traditional subject-based learning we have done for 8 years. Adventure awaits!

back to school

Dear me. It would appear my blog has been rather neglected. Never fear, faithful readers, I have returned! I will be "catching up" eventually with a few posts about the last two months. Check back and scroll down. There will be more!

Last week, when the rest of the neighborhood was heading back to school, we were busy having a few more days of summer fun. On Tuesday, Dave took the older kids to Trafalga. Then we went to Pizza Pie Cafe (an all you can eat pizza/pasta/salad buffet) and finally, we finished the day at Seven Peaks. We brought two cars thinking I would need to leave early with Ben and Anne. No such luck for me. Ben slept for two hours and then was happy in my arms for the next two hours so we stayed until closing. Dave and the kids had a fantastic time. On Friday, we spent the afternoon at the pond with our wonderful neighbors. We were there for three hours of fun in the water and sand.

Now, like the rest of the rank and file, we are back in school. I should clarify. We are back to our regular routine. Slade thinks I'm the meanest mom since I make them do schoolwork all through the summer. They do a page of math, twenty minutes of reading on their own. Plus, our history and science co-op continues through the summer. Monday was the day to actually get back to a full school schedule. The week so far has actually gone really well. Our schedule looks something like this:

8:00 Practice Time
9:00 Breakfast
9:30 Chores
10:00-12:00 Math and Language Arts
12:00 Lunch
1:00 History and Science
2:00 Quiet Time (I don't think there has been a day when we've actually had "quiet time" but I still keep it in the schedule because hope springs eternal.)
3:00 Free Time

For the record's sake, this is the curriculum we are using this year.
Math: Math-U-See
Grammar: First Language Lessons (Nathan and Slade), Analytical Grammar (Emma)
Spelling: All About Spelling
Vocabulary: Wordly Wise (Nathan and Slade), Vocabulary from Classical Roots (Emma)
Writing: Writing with Ease
History: Story of the World
Science: Botany from Apologia Science and The Elements

This is our 8th year of homeschooling. It took a few years of trial and error but I feel quite settled in our routine now. I do try to tweak things here and there but we've been doing things this way for about five years now. Adding a new baby into the mix is always a little tricky. On Monday, Ben slept from 10-12. The next day, he had a major diaper blow out during the middle of Math. Today he was fussy and wanting to be held the whole time. When things get tough I just try to remember the great ideas from this essay: The Baby is the Lesson. Our school time definitely does not always go smoothly but somehow we usually manage to get things done.

Happy Learning, everyone. Here's to a great year!

6th grader

4th grader

2nd grader

preschooler

cutest two year old

darling daughters

handsome boys

biggest and littlest

all six!

inspired

 Once a month, I meet with my homeschooling friends for Mom's Night Out. We meet to discuss a book, homeschooling, parenting, and life in general. Add in a treat and it makes for a delightful evening. This month, we were lucky enough to listen to our brilliant, book-enthused friend, Shauna, practice her presentation for an upcoming conference. She shared a lot of great insights into how to get your children reading but it was one small idea that totally changed things for me.

I've really struggled with finding a regular time to read out loud to my children. I've tried the afternoon, but once school time is over they are ready to be off doing their own thing. I've tried bedtime, but I am usually ready to be off duty by then. When Shauna shared how she reads her kids out of bed each morning, it was major light-bulb moment for me.

I immediately put the idea into use and it has been wonderful. I read to Emma first in her room. We're reading The Secret Garden. Then I get Slade out of bed and we go sit on the playroom couch. He is quite interested in Greek mythology so we first read D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths and are now reading The Golden Fleece. Then Nathan comes out to the couch. Our current read is Indian in the Cupboard. After that, I head upstairs to make breakfast while they get dressed and tidy up the rooms.

My plan is to read to Anne and Sawyer in the afternoon. I haven't been as successful in getting that implemented but I am still hopeful it will happen.


I'm thrilled with how a small change in our schedule can make such a difference. Thanks, Shauna!

will you be my valentine?

We began our Valentine's Day celebrations last Friday with our homeschool group party. I really love this support group. The other moms are all fantastic. The kids are all nice to each other. I am so glad we've been able to make such friends. For this party, several moms pitched in with games and crafts. I led the kids in playing Who Do You Love? to get us started. Then they got to eat food, decorate cookies and cupcakes, make an iLove (iTouch knock-off), listen to stories, and make cards. Plus they exchanged Valentines. We had to make and bring 170 Valentines. All around it was a great time. Since I forgot to bring my camera to the party, I can only share our pile of Valentines and the post-party candy exchange.

On Valentine's Day, the weather was so gorgeous that we took the day off of school and went to the park instead.

Dave brought home donuts and chocolate covered strawberries for lunch.

I took the kids out to JCW's for dinner. Mmmm, milkshakes. Then the other kids went to Aunt Katie's house while Emma, Dave and I went to her violin recital. She performed Minuet in G by Beethoven and played really well. Since I am trying though always failing to be as awesome as my mom, I accompanied both Emma and another student. Eventually the accompaniments may get too hard for me to play but for now I am glad I get to do it.

snapshots of everyday life

We all love playing Just Dance 2. I especially enjoy watching the boys play. They've got some moves!

I managed to get Annie's hair into pigtails. She looked so adorable. Sadly and not surprisingly, the hairdo did not last long. She ended the day looking like this:

 I've been trying to reduce the amount of screen time at our house. Winter might not be the best time to try this since they can't always go outside. Instead, they do fun but messy stuff like making blanket pits at the bottom of the stairs.

Emma finally got to take out her studs on the 7th. She has had a wonderful time trying out all her cute earrings ever since. Sometimes she looks entirely too grown up!

We've been doing our schoolwork upstairs in the kitchen more often this month. It is just too cold downstairs. I can hardly believe we are in the middle of our 7th year of homeschooling. There are always things I need to do better (writing, reading, music, art) but I think we have a really good system going on.

The younger kids always enjoy getting a little Starfall time on the computer after their Math is done. I couldn't help but take a picture of this set-up.

first snow

The first snow of the season came last week. Dave came in to warn me about 6 in the morning on his way to the airport. I was not excited but of course the kids were. With the exception of Slade, they all worked really hard to get their work done so they could go out and play.

Slade on the other hand was ranting about how unfair it was that he couldn't go out. He was a few days behind on his schoolwork because he had been completely refusing to do any of it. He would not make the connection of his choices to the consequence though. Instead he just told me how mean I was. After a rough start, he did make better choices this week. He managed to get caught up on everything by Wednesday and actually did all his work without complaint on Thursday. Perhaps, he can be taught after all!

walk like an Egyptian

This year in History we are returning to study the ancient civilization beginning with Egypt. In preparation for my turn to host our History and Science group, we made Egyptian death masks. Emma and Slade both served as models. Over the course of about three days, we made six masks. We tried the first one with paper mache and a plastic Halloween mask but it did not turn out like I wanted. The rest were made with Rigid Wrap--plaster infused gauze--which turned out a lot better.




After all the masks were dry, we spray painted them gold.

At co-op, each family painted a mask to take home. I divided our mask into four sections so each child could paint one section.


Our final masterpiece:

thirty days hath september

Oh, September. Already you are making me crazy and its only the first day! School, soccer and music classes have all started recently. My husband is working in Boise. I can't figure out when to actually have dinner on some evenings. Sigh. It is going to be a crazy busy month.

Today we hosted history and science co-op at our house. I always tell myself to prepare early. I always seem to be scrambling to the end. I should listen to myself!

We held a debate about building a nuclear power plant (after studying about the Chernobyl disaster). We acted like a cell dividing. As a nod to DNA, I had them break a code to build a structure out of playdough and popsicle sticks. And finally, we made edible cell models with jello and candy.


Our co-op is made up of six families with a total of 31 kids between us. Needless to say, it is a tad chaotic. And lots of fun.

As I ushered the last guest out the door, I promptly plopped down on the couch and read Mockingjay all afternoon. That is my kind of afternoon.

Then the evening rush hit:
-Pick up Emma from a friend's.
-Rush Emma and Nathan to soccer practice.
-Take Emma to her Triple Threat (music dance acting) class.
-Pick up dinner at McDonald's.
-Feel really guilty about spending that much money on unhealthy food when its my fault I didn't make dinner because I was reading.
-Read some more while waiting until its time to go back to get Emma.
-Pick up Emma. Get her a smoothie and take a second trip to McDonald's.
-Let the kids watch TV until bedtime.
-Finish Mockingjay.
-Ignore the mess in my kitchen and blog instead.

Tomorrow there is only one soccer practice on the schedule. Maybe I will actually get my act together.

reason no. 1367 why I homeschool

I've got a bajillion reasons for homeschooling. Not having to turn over control of my child to idiots like these in Texas is just one of them.

http://www.khou.com/news/Candy-Gets-Third-Grader-A-Weeks-Detention-93033319.html

the living planet

Yesterday, we took another field trip to The Living Planet aquarium. We enjoyed the new exhibits they've gotten since the last time we went. Some highlights:

--the Utah portion of the aquarium is rather boring but it does have this frog for a cute photo-op

--The sting rays are always a hit though Nathan was sad that he didn't actually get to touch one despite plunging his whole arm into the water. Anne cried every time we got near the sting ray pool because she wanted to play in the water. Finally, I let her splash her hand for a minute. Then I was sufficiently grossed out when she stuck her thumb in her mouth before I could wash it.

--We got to watch the sting rays, penguins and octopus get fed. The octopus was the most interesting. They put his food in a Mr. Potato Head because the octopus is a highly intelligent creature that likes to figure things out. They try to change things up for it to keep it interesting. This time the hatch was off, next time the hatch will be on, then they tape it up, etc.

--We learned that an octopus has no bones and can squeeze through an opening about the size of a quarter.

--The penguins were very playful and fun to watch.

--Emma and Slade were quite entertained by Anne at the shark tank. I guess she would get startled when one would swim by her at the glass.