Learning a foreign language

Sass, Spyder, and I are all learning German this year. We start a homeschool co-op for conversational German in just a couple of weeks. I took three years of it in college, but I haven't used it since, well, college, so I don't remember very much.

I've been coveting the Rosetta Stone German program. Spyder and I used the free download, and it was really, really good. We both loved it, but it's very expensive, so I have to save up for it. I've been looking for other alternatives, but I hadn't had much success until today.

Today I heard about a new site, Mango, via Dumb Little Man. I only signed up today, but it looks promising. And the best part? It's free!

It doesn't look as comprehensive as what I want or need, but it does look like a good supplement to a language study.

Happy learning!

Because it is never too early to appreciate words

Sass and Spyder and I do a "poem of the day" every day. We read the poem, then we talk about the theme and the any of the devices used, generally punctuation, rhyme, meter, alliteration, and assonance.

Tonight we went to a little carnival held to raise money for the classrooms of one of the local schools. My friend Kristin is a first grade teacher, and we went to help her out in her fundraising effort.

They had a Moon Bounce, and my Sass is all about bouncing.

(This is related to the poem thing, I swear.)

Sass went in and bounced and bounced until her little face was red and her hair was all sweaty. All smiles, she ran over to me and said, "Mama! That lady let . . . (pause, with dawning comprehension, a huge grin, and excited eyes) . . . . Hey! That's alliteration!"

I was so proud. :)

Committed

Last night Spyder and I stayed up extra late to watch the Perseid meteor shower.

In our area the best time to watch was around 1 am. The parent in me balked at letting my son outside that late (early?). Spyder is enthralled with all things astronomical though, so he was excited about seeing it. The homeschooler in me decided to relax and go with it.

It was a great night for stargazing in general, really. There was a new moon, so the star field was much clearer than usual. Spyder got out his Dangerous Book for Boys and his star chart and found several constellations while waiting for a meteor. He had such a great time stargazing that he decided that he wanted to go stargazing at every new moon.

He saw the first meteor around 12:45, and we saw a total of 5 between 12:45 and 1:30 am. By then we were both so tired that it was a struggle to keep searching. Spyder came in and (quite literally) fell onto the bed and went to sleep where he landed. I came in a few minutes after, took off his shoes, washed his feet, and tucked him in. I think he was already asleep before I ever got there.

It was a great experience though, and I'm glad that I stuck to the commitment that I had made to let him see it.

So long, Pippi!

We've just finished reading Pippi Longstocking, and we all enjoyed it tremendously. Sass and Spyder both loved Pippi's unorthodox ways of doing things, and each had a little epiphany during Pippi's escapades. Spyder was annoyed by the ending though. There was no closure, and he hates that.

Sass drew this today while we were reading.


Not bad, eh? The little blobs off to the right are Tommy and Annika. I was especially pleased with her drawing of Mr Nilsson.

So for now we say goodbye to Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking. I've just put Pippi Goes on Board on hold at the library though, so we'll see her again soon.

The beginning of the end

As of today, I have our school materials for the coming year. I only needed two things to round out our studies, but I've been trying to find them cheap with no success. I found an eBay seller who had both for decent prices and reasonable shipping, so I ordered them last week, and they arrived today.

Let me emphasize my complete nerdiness by saying how excited I am about this year! Spyder and Sass will both be studying etymology, specifically Greek and Latin roots, and my inner nerd is loving it!

Spyder and Sass will also both be studying beginning biology, which I (personally) am more excited about than last year's astronomy. We'll be doing another earth science as well, since Spyder can't get enough of science.

I haven't decided exactly what our history lessons will encompass yet. The three of us decided today that we've had enough of the ancients -- thank heavens! -- and it's time to move on. I'm voting for the end of the Roman Empire to the High Middle Ages, but the children are leaning more toward early America. Either way, I have the materials, so it's just a matter of deciding. I'm betting we'll go with American since it's what they're more interested in studying.

Spyder and I decided that we'll begin at the same time as the regular schools this year, which works for me. That gives me about two weeks to get the schedule worked up and making the rounds at Target for basic supplies. Sounds easy enough, but those school supply aisles just make me giddy. I have to go in with a very specific list, otherwise I come out with all sorts of things that I just loved but don't particularly need.

"A bouquet of newly sharpened pencils" may be ideal for our first day, if only for myself. :)

Preconceived notions

I just love Hathor. I don't always agree with her, but she makes me challenge some conventional wisdom and decide whether her view is right for us.

The above cartoon, however, is absolutely spot on for me as a homeschooling parent. When someone (a stranger, a family member, a friend, doesn't really matter) finds out that Sass and Spyder are homeschooled, the first question almost always is "What about socialization?"

The snarky part of me that Hathor shows always groans and thinks, "Not again!" I have to assume, however, that the person asking is truly curious to know how children who don't go to a traditional, mainstream school "socialize," so I always answer honestly and politely. But considering how often we're asked about it, I wonder if people really do believe that we homeschoolers live in a box.

Let me preface this by mentioning that every family is different. Every person you ask will have a different answer. As for us, we have many, many opportunities to "socialize" with others.

Perhaps it's hard to imagine for someone who isn't a homeschooler, but "socializing" isn't a problem. My standard answer is, "We attend church. We are part of a group of homeschooling families that meets regularly, and Spyder is in Scouts." If the conversation continues, I mention the specifics.

We attend a relatively large church -- about 500 members or so -- and we participate fully. The children attend junior worship or regular service, as well as the Awana program. They both have several friends from church. With one exception, all of Spyder's church friends go to school, either public or private. When time permits, we have regular social activities with these friends.

Additionally, Spyder is in Cub Scouts, and he regularly attends meetings and social activities. Sass is beginning Brownies this summer, and we'll have similar meetings and activities for her as well.

The children also attend art class on Wednesdays, which started out as being only art class, but it's turned into a wonderful class/playdate with the other students. Sass's class is from 2-3. Spyder's class is from 4-5. But the classes are held about 30 minutes away from our home, so we simply stay for the hour in between. Most other parents do this as well, so we generally have anywhere from 10-14 children playing before or after his or her class.

We're also members of a wonderful homeschool group which meets every other Friday for a playdate. Moms chat, and children play. It's a fantastic time, for the moms and the children.

Sass is a member of an American Girl club within our homeschool group, which is a kind of history club based on the American Girl books. We meet once a month to discuss one of the characters, her books, and her historical context. Occasionally, we have a field trip. The next one is to a plantation.

Sass and Spyder both take a class for homeschoolers once a month at the science and history museum, which they absolutely love. We also go to the children's museum regularly, and they make fast friends there every time. We also have field trips at least twice a month. Just this past week we went to a paint-your-own pottery studio with our homeschool group.

We have a couple of close friends within our homeschool group, and we have impromptu playtimes with them at least a few times a month. We also attend a variety of live theater and music performances, as well as wandering around the botanic gardens and art museums.

Sometimes our schedule gets so full that we have to pull back from some of these activities, simply so that we can spend a bit more time at home, doing what we need to do. It's not unusual for us to have 4 or 5 outside activities per week, and it's easy for Spyder (in particular) to feel like we're doing too much.

But really, aren't many of these the same kind of activities that all children have? Scouts, playdates, zoos, museums, and the like aren't exclusive to homeschoolers, nor are they only found within traditional school activities. It seems that both groups tend to forget that.

Skeeter got his first taste of answering the "socialization" question during Space Camp. When they found out that Spyder was homeschooled, it was the first thing they asked. Considering where they were and what they were doing, that really surprised me. The other campers were with Spyder. They ate together; they took classes together; they even slept in the same bunkhouse! That's socializing to me. If the person who asked had taken a moment to think about it, he could have answered his own question.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that we all live in boxes -- boxes that are defined by our notions of who we should be. We all have a tendency to place our personal boxes around others, and they don't always fit.

The adventure weekend

Remember that grand adventure? It was . . . Space Camp!


Skeeter and Spyder went to Huntsville, AL for the Parent/Child Space Camp! They spent the weekend building rockets, training on the moon walk simulators, going on a space shuttle mission, and learning about NASA.


The US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville hosts the Space Camp, but it also is a museum that shows the history of the US space program. We didn't realize it at the time, but Sass and I could have gone with them (staying in a hotel rather than at the camp) and toured the grounds and museum. Ah well! Perhaps another time.


Since they did the Parent/Child camp, it was only a weekend. But it was a pretty intensive weekend! They were scheduled from breakfast to bedtime, and they were exhausted by the time they got back home.

Both Skeeter and Spyder thoroughly enjoyed it though, and they're already talking about returning for the Aviation Challenge weekend in a couple of years.

The program gets highest marks from both of them, which truly says a lot about it. Considering their excitement, which continued for days after they got back, I would highly recommend the program!

A few tips for anyone considering the program:

• Spend the extra money and buy your camper the jumpsuit. It sounds a bit silly, but Skeeter said that Spyder felt more like he was really "in training" once he started wearing the jumpsuit. I didn't buy it in advance, and in retrospect, I would.
  
• Plan to eat at least two meals not included in your camp. Lunch is not provided on the first day or the last day. I would have packed them a lunch for the first day, at least, if we had realized that. As it was, they had to eat lunch in the snack bar, which was grossly overpriced (as in all touristy areas). If I had known to plan ahead for it, it would have saved us $35 to $40 on those two meals.
  
• Bring a bottle for water. Or buy one bottle and save it to refill. Water from the machines was $1.50 (pricey!), but you can refill the bottle from the water fountain.
• Pack light. The rooms are designed exactly as a space station would have them (think bunkhouse in Star Trek). The beds are actually set into the wall, so you have a very limited amount of room. I sent my campers with two bags, one large bag for clothing and one smaller bag for toiletries. Skeeter said it was crowded to have two, so he ended up repacking in the back of the car.
• Use travel sized toiletries. We have quite a collection of trial toiletries, some from hotels, some that I've gotten in the mail . . . . I sent these with my campers -- everything from mouthwash to toothpaste to shampoo. Skeeter said that these were absolutely fantastic. Between the two of them, they used a bottle of shampoo per shower, and he could just throw the container away. They used the shampoo as body wash as well, so they didn't have to bother with a bar of soap OR an extra bottle of body wash.
• With the way that the days were scheduled, it was best to shower at night. Skeeter is accustomed to taking his showers in the morning, and he didn't realize that the schedule didn't permit that until he was too late. He had to squeeze in time for a quick shower sometime mid-day on Saturday, since he didn't have time in the morning.
  

The total cost for whole trip (including travel, food, and souvenirs) was right at $1000, which is exactly what we had planned. That sounds like a lot (and it is), but it took us about a year and a half to save enough for it. Saving $30 per paycheck for 17 months is infinitely more do-able than $1000 all at once. :)

Papermaking!

Spyder, Sass, and I made paper! Spyder got the idea and recipe from the Beakman's World DVD.

Sass and Spyder shredded two pages of a newspaper. We put it in a blender, one page + one cup of water at a time. (Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking pictures!)

We blended the paper and water into ugly gray goo, then put it into the kitchen sink with about three inches of water. Then we added two tablespoons of Elmer's glue and stirred it around. I really think I added too much water, so I'll cut that down a bit next time.

We used a wire coat hanger as the frame, and stretched pantyhose over the hanger to make the drying surface. We put the frame into the goo/water/glue mixture and captured the fibers to make our paper.

The DVD instructions said to lift it slowly, but it worked better for us to lift it quickly and turn the hanger so that the entire surface was covered. It didn't take long at all (less than a minute) for it to begin to set, and I was able to hang the paper in the shower to dry overnight.

This is what our surface looked like after it dried overnight.


We carefully pulled the paper off of the pantyhose. This was the hardest part for us, partly because I think our mixture was a little too thin. Spyder had to get his hand underneath and push it up to get it started.


Once it was started, he was able to pull the middle, thicker portion.


Here is one of the finished products! You can see some of the larger pieces of newspaper that didn't get blended well, and you can see the torn portion at the edge.


This was a fun, easy craft, and I know we'll do it again. Today we were talking about using the sale flyers that come weekly so that we can have different colors, rather than just light gray.

Fun and easy!

The Shakespeare Stealer

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood is the story of Widge, an orphan in the late 16th century. Widge is taken in by a rector, who teaches Widge a version of shorthand. The rector uses Widge's learned skill by sending him to listen to sermons and have him transcribe them word by word.

Eventually Widge is sold to another man who charges him to transcribe Shakespeare's Hamlet while standing in the audience. Widge succeeds, but loses his transcription. Caught behind the stage, he pretends to be interested in learning to be one of the players.

Widge makes friends with the other apprentices -- the first real friends of his life -- and the players become his family in a way that he has never had before. Eventually Widge has to choose between loyalty to his purchaser and his new-found friends.

Spyder and I both really enjoyed this book, and we had an excellent discussion on it afterward.

Many of the people in the book play a role to conceal his true character, just as a player does on the stage. Widge pretends to have the acting bug so that he can steal the play, although he learns how difficult that is. The rector pretends to be an upright and honest man, but he uses Widge to steal ideas and words from others. There are other examples, but they would be spoilers, and I wouldn't do that to anyone. But at any rate, Widge finds that the people who show their true selves to him are the players themselves.

Additionally, Widge finds himself in a situation where he has to find his own morals. His world has been filled with adults who display amoral behavior in one way or another. Widge has been shown this type of behavior, but he finds that he is dissatisfied with it and decides to make his own way.

This is exactly the kind of book I hope to find when I'm browsing, one that is both exciting and thoughtful.

Very highly recommended for both boys and girls (and adults)!

Traditional ballad, rewritten

We've recently enjoyed a most wonderful book called, appropriately, Magic by the Book, in which three children are dropped into various stories and live out a portion of the adventure within.

Sass, Spyder, and I all absolutely loved the story, but one of our favorite portions was when the children were dropped into Tolstoy's War and Peace. In this particular scene, the children have a war of words with someone, based on an old ballad for children.

In particular, the children were fascinated with this portion:

What is greener than the grass?
What is smoother than crystal glass?
What is louder than a horn?
What is sharper than a thorn?
What is brighter than the light?
What is darker than the night?
What is keener than an axe?
What is softer than melting wax?
What is rounder than a ring?"

Envy is greener than the grass,
Flattery smoother than crystal glass.
Rumour is louder than a horn,
Hunger is sharper than a thorn.
Truth is brighter than the light,
Falsehood is darker than the night.
Revenge is keener than an axe,
Love is softer than melting wax.
The world is rounder than a ring.

Sass prefers to answer the questions with her own answers rather than the traditional ones. Here are her answers to the questions.

Paper is greener than the grass,
My hands smoother than crystal glass.
Screams are louder than a horn,
A knife is sharper than a thorn.
Sunshine is brighter than the light,

Being scared is darker than the night.
Teeth are keener than an axe,
Fluffy dogs are softer than melting wax.
A circle is rounder than a ring.

We've been doing several activities with word associations lately, and I think it's one of her favorite things we've done.

US Geography

We've been doing a fun little study on US Geography this term, and I've found a few internet resources to share.

Awesome America.

A great fact-filled website that shows a state map, plus the state flag, symbols, trivia . . . loads of clickable information in the site.

This has been a great site for us in an "I didn't know that!" kind of way.

Make your own map of states you've visited.

Spyder thought this was particularly cool. Just check the states that you've visited and you can see your own map. Ours was particularly heavy on the South and East, and we've never been further west than Oklahoma.

Test your knowledge!

A click-and-drag map to place the states within a certain time. (I think it's three minutes, but I can't remember.)

Another test!

Answer questions on the right side of the screen by clicking on the correct state.

And yet another test for state placement!

What I like about this one though, is that you can do it either with or without the state outlines as a guide. It's more challenging for those who've been doing it for a while and can get bored with the same old stuff.

I truly appreciate the work that goes into sites like these. They make learning interactive and fun, and make my job a little bit easier. Enjoy!

Jack and the Beanstalk, operetta style

The urchins and I went to see a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk today, done operetta style.

One would immediately think, "Operetta and children? No way!" Yes way! The performance is engaging, and there portions of spoken dialogue that reiterate the lyrics so that children can understand what's going on even if they don't quite get the lyrics.

Spyder (age 8) and Sass (age 5) both enjoyed it and understood it. Afterward, the organizer told us about next year's performance, and both of the children wanted me to add it to the calendar right then so that we'd be sure not to miss it.

I absolutely love taking them to live performances. I love the dynamic of a live show. There is an interaction between the performer and the audience that is like nothing that a movie can duplicate. We try to take in a live performance at least every other month, but each time we do, I'm reminded that I should try for even more.

The Mad Libs game rocks!

Spyder and I spent part of the morning playing our new Mad Libs card game, found on clearance at Kohl's for $1. If I had known it was this much fun, I would have bought it when it was at 50% off! (You didn't actually think I was going to say "full price" did you?)

The winning sentence?

Massive evil squashed poodles always graciously entertain forbidden pickled vegetables.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Jim Weiss

A couple of people have asked me about Jim Weiss since I mentioned him in my homeschooling meme.

As I said before, I absolutely love his recordings. His voice is just simply enchanting. Sitting in my living room, I can actually feel as if I'm sitting in a great hall, listening to someone weave a story for a court. We listen them in the car, but my children are also perfectly happy to listen to them while we're putting puzzles together or coloring or baking cookies.

I've just realized that the clips featured in the brochure on his website are quite long, about four minutes, and it gives a good idea of what the recordings are like. We have several of the CDs (and I'm always coveting more), but the ones that my children seem to like best are Fairytale Favorites (they like Puss in Boots in particular) and Greek Myths.

Another of the great things about his selections is just that there is such a variety. Mythology, classic fairy tales, tall tales, history, the sciences . . . they're all available, and it's just so easy to get my children interested about learning with his tales.

I ordered three more CDs from Overstock.com about two weeks ago. The tracking number showed them to be less than 20 miles from my house for three days before I got them. Three days! For those three very long days, I felt like I was stalking the mail lady.

Wander on over to his website, browse through the online catalog, and give him a listen. It's worth it!

Homeschool meme

Shamelessly lifted from Mary at Owlhaven

1) One homeschooling book you have enjoyed.

The Unschooling Handbook. It was one of the first that I read cover-to-cover. It was a good one to start with because it made me think, "I can do this!"

2) One resource you wouldn’t be without.
If I have to name only one, it would be the internet. But really, the internet and the library are tied for first place. The internet one-ups the library because I research what I want/need then head to the library to get it!

3) One resource you wish you had never bought.
Loads of things, but the biggest disappointment was the Abeka Kindergarten curriculum. It was an utter waste. We abandoned it after, oh, two weeks, and we've never looked back.

4) One resource you enjoyed last year.

Jim Weiss. Love him, love him, love him! I can't recommend his recordings highly enough. Both of my children are absolutely mesmerized when listening to him.

5) One resource you will be using next year.

Learning Through History Magazine. I had a subscription last year, and I let it lapse because . . . well, just because. I didn't have a reason. I ran across the magazines when I was cleaning the bookshelves this week, and I remembered how much we enjoyed it. I have it on my calendar to renew it next month.

6) One resource you would like to buy.

Rosetta Stone German. We downloaded the trial version, and Spyder and I have both enjoyed it. I'm saving to buy it for next year since it's kinda pricey.

7) One homeschooling catalog you enjoy reading.

Sonlight. I've always been very pleased with their reading recommendations, and I get load of great ideas.

8.) One homeschooling (educational) website you use regularly.
Does Google count? It's probably the one site that I use every single day, whether I'm looking up "preschool cutting activities" for Sass or "weapons in World War I" for Spyder.

9) Tag other home schoolers.

Well, Tara is tagged since she's the only homeschooling blogger I know!

A day in the life

Lately I've had several people ask, "What do homeschoolers actually DO all day?" so here is a bit about how we organize our schooling activities. This is not necessarily typical of any other family! It seems that the more homeschoolers I know, the more I realize that everyone does things differently.

I tend to categorize our studies into math/science and liberal arts, so that's the way that we study them. We do math and science on the same days. English, history, and geography are also on the same days. We don't have an exact schedule for which studies belong on which days because that can change depending on the week. We do different outside activites several times a month, and the days (and even times of day!) are not always consistent. It would drive me batty trying to set an exact schedule of days and times. Instead, we work it around what is best for our schedule, making sure that math/science days and lib arts days are done at least twice a week.

Today was liberal arts. Our history study right now is Ancient Mesopotamia, so we used the dough that we made at Thanksgiving and made our own cuneiform tablets. Spyder decided that cuneiform was actually much harder than Egyptian heiroglyphics (which we studied last year). Cuneiform used about 600 different symbols, and Spyder and I both had a difficult time remembering any of them. After the cuneiform tablets were made, we took some of the dough and made a model of a ziggurat.

We also read pertinent selections from The Story of the World, Ancient Mesopotamia, and The Mystery of History. I had wanted to read a bit from Gilgamesh the Hero, but the children wanted to move on to geography, so that will wait til next time.

Geography today was pretty easy. The children both played Carmen Sandiego on the computer, working together -- YAY! Spyder also did a crossword puzzle, and Sass did a coloring sheet.

We read part of Gail Carson Levine's Cinderellis and the Glass Hill before Sass fell asleep on the couch. Spyder and I had hoped to get to the end of it today, but poor Sass was exhausted. She'd gotten up at 5:30 am with Skeeter, so by noon she really wanted a nap! (So did I, but I didn't get one!) While Sass was snoozing, Spyder and I talked about parts of speech and did Mad Libs until Brittney and her children stopped by for some serious play in the backyard.

After our friends had gone, Spyder decided that he wanted to learn German (no idea why though). He got out an audio course that we've had for years. He put the first cassette in the player, and he worked on that for almost an hour. I finally had to dig out my old German/English dictionary and my college German texts. He was thrilled! I have a feeling that we'll be scouring the libraries tomorrow afternoon for an course that comes with a book.

That was it for the "official" schooling, but during room time tonight, Sass drew pictures of ziggurats. LOL! I suppose some of the information did sink in. I always wonder if it does.

Spyder spent his room time looking through my German texts, then reading Mystery in Massachusetts. He finished Mystery in Massachusetts, then he moved on to Skinnybones.

Tomorrow, on to new adventures in astronomy, earth science, multiplication, and division!

Sometimes the simplest thing works best

I've been trying since June to get Spyder to memorize his multiplication tables. He knows the concept and can answer almost any problem given enough time. But that's just it. He took FOREVER to do his multiplication problems.

We've tried graphs and charts. We've tried card games. We've tried problem drills and flash cards. *sigh*

Last week I got out a pair of dice and one of the graphs. He spent a happy hour or so throwing the dice and filling in the graph. The second day, he got the dice himself and started throwing them and writing down the problems on a sheet of paper.

About four hours of work total, and -- voila -- Spyder knows his multiplication tables for 1-6. I'm on the search for 12 sided dice so that we can do the rest of them. A local shop was supposed to have ordered them, but the ones that I "picked out" were backordered. They can't seem to realize that I don't care what they look like, as long as they're readable!