9.30a - tile geometry, building shapes, patterns, balance games
----I had bought a sheet of mosaic glass tile in alternating shapes on clearance at work - we cut it apart, pulled off the mesh backing, and then began to use the tiles as a combination tangram and building material toy. She tired of making patterns quickly - and we began to build house-of-cards like structures that required patience and attention to balance and details. We talked about keeping your temper when things go wrong and trying again.
She mentioned the tiles were a lot like dominos, but they didn't stand up - so she couldn't make domino ((cascades)). She then said she wanted to find a thing that was like the machine that does the things that do the other things to keep going - and wanted to know how to build one. I could see by her hands what she meant - Rube Goldberg.. and we played a screen game about that one day a few weeks ago. Then she combined it all - and asked if that was possible in Minecraft?
---She has been using the 'I need to add one tiny detail.' and several other phrases that are quite cool to hear. I've also heard her say 'then suit yourself' (and then ask what it meant a minute later)
10:3 - Minecraft Rube Goldberg machine video (7 minutes)
10:37 - attempt to apply things seen in video on Minecraft
---She ended up making a huge flower structure that started deep underground and blossomed up into the world above.. she said she was working on it as a secret and I had to do something else. It was pretty cool - but then I spent another twenty minutes showing her how to do the water-->torch-->drop sand technique and challenging her to make six torches go out all at once. She did figure it out, and demonstrated it for Daddy again when he came back from the store.
11:30 - break, Daddy was back from the store, there was lunch, and Mom leaving to go to work.
1p - Planet Earth "Jungles" & "Shallow Seas"
3p - done
We also found out where the seeds we ordered had come from - these are black and white dianthus and they come from Hong Kong, China. We found it on the map. She asked me where Guang Zhai? province was???? I don't know where she heard that, but there was something close to it on the map. The map is becoming very useful! I have a topographical one coming in the mail now so we can compare. We're still waiting on the car history/construction book.
//Tomorrow I have told her we will test some spelling and some math - she has so many plans of her own, as well. She can check in on her eggs that need to hatch in Dragon City - because they are babies and they need us, she said as she brushed her teeth. We should check her greenhouse items (the petunias are coming up more, and Daddy bought us a new seed tray), and she mentioned something about using Google to check on a button that does something with powers in Goat Simulator - so she can research as school time and when it is afterschool time she can go try to find the things. After she does her tests and greenhouse I have promised a town trip. We can have some time at the library and maybe even some time at the playplace for PE if she has been in a good mood and done her things. Then it is a cold weekend ahead.
Showing posts with label 2E. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2E. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Wednesday dragons come marching in
9a - math, time, reading with dragon city
//growing food, watching time, subtraction (up to four digits) and multiplication-as-repeated-addition exercises, both on paper and verbal - estimating, checking to see if she had enough food to fulfill needs, planning, using the interface and reading up on what to do next where etc. She learned h can stand for hour, m for minute, and k for 1000 of something. There was a bit of complaint when I was having her do a paper problem and she saw the food was harvestable and she didn't want to waste time doing the math...sarcasm and snippyness... I said we could be done right there if she wanted to act that way - she shaped up.
10:30 - handwriting with dragons
//I told her because she did that so quickly (I had allotted fifteen minutes for one side of the paper, and she did both in ten and was LAUGHING about it, instead of grumping) she could freeplay while I washed my hair, and then when I got back I'd answer any questions if she had them. She told me she saw (name) and (name) dragons in the books and then saw them in someone else's habitats and knew them by their shadows. And - this was so exciting!
10:40 - freeplay in dragons (mostly spent reading the dragon manual, options and breeding rules)
11:00 - rainforest animals : pythons - looking at our world map to see where they live
//There is a pullout 3 page painting from one of our Nat'Geos that shows rainforest animals by shadow in a smaller graphic, then she finds the number for that silhouette and it tells her the name. She picked the python to look up more about today. She thought the carpet python was pretty, and noted that her friend is now in Costa Rica and several of those snakes live near there. Noted 'Central America' between North and South America, and Indonesia above Australia.
11:15 - break
12.45p - snap circuits #13, 14, 15, 16
2p - PE (11x 500ft laps)
2.30p - done
//growing food, watching time, subtraction (up to four digits) and multiplication-as-repeated-addition exercises, both on paper and verbal - estimating, checking to see if she had enough food to fulfill needs, planning, using the interface and reading up on what to do next where etc. She learned h can stand for hour, m for minute, and k for 1000 of something. There was a bit of complaint when I was having her do a paper problem and she saw the food was harvestable and she didn't want to waste time doing the math...sarcasm and snippyness... I said we could be done right there if she wanted to act that way - she shaped up.
10:30 - handwriting with dragons
//I told her because she did that so quickly (I had allotted fifteen minutes for one side of the paper, and she did both in ten and was LAUGHING about it, instead of grumping) she could freeplay while I washed my hair, and then when I got back I'd answer any questions if she had them. She told me she saw (name) and (name) dragons in the books and then saw them in someone else's habitats and knew them by their shadows. And - this was so exciting!
10:40 - freeplay in dragons (mostly spent reading the dragon manual, options and breeding rules)
11:00 - rainforest animals : pythons - looking at our world map to see where they live
//There is a pullout 3 page painting from one of our Nat'Geos that shows rainforest animals by shadow in a smaller graphic, then she finds the number for that silhouette and it tells her the name. She picked the python to look up more about today. She thought the carpet python was pretty, and noted that her friend is now in Costa Rica and several of those snakes live near there. Noted 'Central America' between North and South America, and Indonesia above Australia.
11:15 - break
12.45p - snap circuits #13, 14, 15, 16
2p - PE (11x 500ft laps)
2.30p - done
Monday, February 09, 2015
Monday
Mark almost let Esme off for a sick day today - she had eaten breakfast and done a project with me - and then started to fall asleep on him doing her copywork - really fall asleep, not pretend. He gave her some cough syrup and a nap after I left for work and she was feeling much better in a few hours. Chicken soup for breakfast doesn't sound so bad now...
8.45a - oobleck; recipie hunt, meausuring, mixing
discusion of : force resistance, descriptor/identifier, wet vs. dry, everything over 3 feet in the room, living vs. not living...then she asked me what the difference in flour and water was and cornstarch and water and why it was dough vs. oobleck
word problem math division : (If you have six circles and I'll give you a square for every two circles, how many squares could you get? If you have six million circles and I'll give you a square for every million circles, how many squares? if you had 42 dogs and needed an extra leash for every ten dogs - how many EXTRA leashes would you need?)
spelling on the refrigerator of the Dough Although poem we made up on the fly
talk about Bermuda Triangle, quicksand etc...
9:30 - Mom had to leave for work, she was still playing 'Pancake Falls Swamp - where you get eaten by pancakes' and making patterns in the oobleck - Daddy said they added food coloring and made a containment field (ziploc bag) before cleanup time.
10.30a - cleanup
10.45a - break
//nap occurred in here.
4p - copywork : quick brown fox
4.45p - gardening
5p - pbskids
6p - cooking pasta
6.15p - done
She would like to look more at the Bermuda Triangle for school one day this week. She is excited about the idea of going to a movie next Thursday. She had a lot of interest in the rainforest (South American and African comparison) pullouts in the Nat'Geo... and we could use that to help her research different animals. She is coming along with the 'We can look it up' and 'can you type it into Google' experiences...it used to take a lot more to get her to take a stab at looking it up because she is so afraid to spell it wrong -- and now that she has seen the auto complete she is more willing.
8.45a - oobleck; recipie hunt, meausuring, mixing
discusion of : force resistance, descriptor/identifier, wet vs. dry, everything over 3 feet in the room, living vs. not living...then she asked me what the difference in flour and water was and cornstarch and water and why it was dough vs. oobleck
word problem math division : (If you have six circles and I'll give you a square for every two circles, how many squares could you get? If you have six million circles and I'll give you a square for every million circles, how many squares? if you had 42 dogs and needed an extra leash for every ten dogs - how many EXTRA leashes would you need?)
spelling on the refrigerator of the Dough Although poem we made up on the fly
talk about Bermuda Triangle, quicksand etc...
9:30 - Mom had to leave for work, she was still playing 'Pancake Falls Swamp - where you get eaten by pancakes' and making patterns in the oobleck - Daddy said they added food coloring and made a containment field (ziploc bag) before cleanup time.
10.30a - cleanup
10.45a - break
//nap occurred in here.
4p - copywork : quick brown fox
4.45p - gardening
5p - pbskids
6p - cooking pasta
6.15p - done
She would like to look more at the Bermuda Triangle for school one day this week. She is excited about the idea of going to a movie next Thursday. She had a lot of interest in the rainforest (South American and African comparison) pullouts in the Nat'Geo... and we could use that to help her research different animals. She is coming along with the 'We can look it up' and 'can you type it into Google' experiences...it used to take a lot more to get her to take a stab at looking it up because she is so afraid to spell it wrong -- and now that she has seen the auto complete she is more willing.
Sunday, February 08, 2015
Sunday
We had originally planned with a friend to go out to a park but they had something else to do last minute, so we made our own plans. We bought some groceries and the sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs today, and Esme and Columbus were watching it as seen above. We also finally found a world map - and hung it up in the hallway where Esme can see it easily. I've seen her steal glances at it on the way down the stairs...She may learn some of it by osmosis, perhaps. She chose a Minecraft poster for her room and pored over it for fifteen minutes recognizing what was happening in the many scenes and if it was purely funny or a real possibility in the game. She is growing up some - gone from having an animal alphabet poster on her door to a video game ;)
//laundry now and a few little bits. Esme wants to try to feed Minecraft cake to pigs, as seen in her poster.
I've got to remember to look for 1987 NGs at the library this next time we go. There is a map of walruses in one of them that we didn't have.
bits of note: I've made a few observations lately. Esme is much more 'grown-up' about some things than she was even last October (when we began homeschooling). It's not across the board, but it is noticeable and it has been creeping up on me lately that I needed to try to put some of them to words.
She has finally started to take more direction for herself, and be vocal about future ideas although she doesn't always follow through. She was in quite a bad mood when our friend cancelled on us - and I thought she was doing very well with it, but she blew up a bit later when something else didn't go as planned, and it lingered for a while with her unhappiness on things - but we told her to shape up and she teetered a bit and came back to acceptable behavior. But, in her favor she did not throw any 'tantrums' .. just was unpleasant and snippy...that is a good change from a year or so ago, or at least a more sophisticated one. I haven't been kidding when I say things like we've had a teenager in training since she was three...
Her language ability has taken another step up the ladder - which is a big thing because she HASN'T been in speech therapy or around many children her age, which were supposedly the best things for her (therapy and 'audio bombardment'). She listens more to conversations that don't directly involve her and remembers more of it for later -- a skill she was lacking on. And she has started to understand and pick up some more of the little bits of language that are odd or colorful.. She is starting to sound more like a teenager in the words she uses, although she still makes tense, gender and question/declarative mistakes often. 'Do you want to know what kind is it?' 'There's Mom, Columbus, you can tell because he is much taller than I am.'
However, spelling and writing are her least favorite things. But, I've seen her spelling improve when she doesn't know she's being watched (names in Minecraft, signs, notes she writes for herself)..and she is more willing to attempt to spell things phonetically than she was before. She throws some huge words around now that she doesn't always know what they mean - but they're there.. and she is gaining ability with them (magnificent and superstitious and pteranadon, today...) And her sense of humor is getting better. She is less 'lost' when it comes to sarcasm, jokes etc..
Last bit, her names and pretends are becoming some bit more interesting and using info from many places..her creative streak is coming into it's own. And she still does things that are very much like a seven year old little girl. She had a sweet little 'dress shop' made out of a book holder box, some dresses I had made for other dolls and her chosen favorite animal dolls to put the dresses on. Her rubber "Leaferella" frog was given a dress and getting some very special treatment (even a baby bottle). Her own fashion sense is coming along nicely - pairing her clothes and such in a less haphazard way - that is worthy of note, too...even if it isn't something she sees in either of us, it is a step to growing up.
She made an awesome 'Flint Lockwood' type computer out of the bottom of her book box, drawing a screen and keys on it. She then put on her white 'lab coat' and told me her new pretend sister Sam Sparks was coming for a visit and they were going to do science! She said she can look up pretend things all day long on her new computer and real things on the computer upstairs with Daddy.
//Notes
Homeschool articles:
Why do some schools feel like prisons? // Yes, if you had read our Homeschool Decision, this was half of our complaint about the local school district. School should not be like prison. School should have talking and playing somewhere in the day for six year olds - not constant lockdown and punishment for whatever the teacher decides is being punished today. ie: stand in your square, don't drop your pencil, etc etc.. They then tried to tell us those are the skills that she will need in her job someday. I think you're doing it wrong, especially at six.
De-Schooling Me // Great article, especially about halfway through I started seeing the reasons we are homeschooling.
Note: The best medicine - humor and laughter - is the best teaching method with this girl. She shuts down when something goes wrong, or she is wrong - perfectionism streak...trying to teach her to try again, laugh it off (if possible) and learn from mistakes. If something is funny or really really cool - she wants to learn about it and doesn't mind doing things related with it, as long as they really seem related to it. Bribery doesn't work too well...at least not for hurrying along - she is very in the moment when she is working on something.
We've been talking about 'the fourth dimension' though, and thinking back in all of the time you saw something (photographic memory, making it an asset) and thinking with your brain what the future can be - because we make the future, and how to make it happen. She was skeptical about the idea when I brought it up a week or so ago (while looking for something at the supermarket that had moved) and now she is quoting it back to me and pointing out areas the skill is useful and how to use it. //Mom would fist-pump the air at this one if it continues to progress! My photog.mem has really become an asset in my work because I took the time to train it...it can still be annoying at times, too - but it really helps as well when I can quickly access orders and product locations in my 'mental file' instead of the computer one that takes more time.
Friday, February 06, 2015
Friday
7:30 - discussion, cars, boats, maps, friends, Costa Rica, air currents in 'orbit' on a cold window
I told her I had ordered a book about how cars work on the inside and hoped it would be good. She wandered all over many topics after this but it was really good learning conversation, questions etc...
8a - break
8:45 - print out 9 page world map, tape it together and discussion of places
She wanted 'map pins' the 'round thing that is a pin that goes on the map and tells you that it is a point to this'...okay, I think I understand that! We marked where Costa Rica is because it is a place one of her 'two friends outside the house in the counties are'..I think she meant 'friends in different countries'...
9:15 - break
She really wanted to do Cyberchase game with me and Khan math, but I had to go.
Mom went to work... Somehow I read the schedule wrong, I was supposed to be there at 9! *eep*
9.45a - pbskids
10.45a - reading aloud (The Sun and the Wind)
--There was a short question and write-the-answers after this Mark showed me, and Esme did well. Writing is her weakest subject and she has been doing more of it lately without as much fuss.
11a - electric company (ep 57a)
12.15p - break
1.45p - drawing
She drew things she liked out of Goat Simulator. Her drawing is getting very good - she drew more than a dozen pages of different places in the game. I loved seeing her 'this is me out in Space' picture.. try to upload it later.
2.15p - done
In other news: // We are making some plans for a new shower curtain for the bathroom, which is a big deal sort of -- we've been all these past eight years without one because of the geometry being odd. And me, a fashion plumbing designer, and we still haven't gotten it figured it out yet. Also, we finished Dragonbox.. I had to do the last one about six times, but I figured it out and showed Mark and Esme what the problem was. Now she'd like me to go play Combat and Pong with her on the Atari system. We're still planning to go skating at a friend's house this weekend one day...
These are just SOME of her drawings of goat simulator..
This one made me laugh!
This is me in space. And those are rocks.
This is the hang glider over the forest, but you don't lick it - but if you did, it would look like this.
And that is the goat fighting ring down below
riding a firework in the city
she says that on top of one of the buildings is the DJ party
throne room in the goat castle
spaceship taking her goat to space
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Tuesday painting
8.30a - painting -- will add the pictures to the post later...
Esme did a painting that is a 'King kid who set down his crown on a mushroom, which has a bean growing under it, and a flower, and grass... the kid has a grass stain on his sock, because he is a kid.' I tried a painting of some flowers :)
9.15a - Kahn academy math - subtraction word problems and comparing greater/lesser than +1425 pts
9.45a - break
10.15a - cooking scramled eggs
10.30a - planet earth ep 4 "Caves"
11.45a - k'nex engineering - rolling robot thing with a cup to hold things
12.45p - break
3p - snap circuits #6 and #7
3.30p - done
I gave Esme the schedules of some of the free 'museumy' things around here.. she really liked that idea. She had wanted to go visit one and see what they had there - when we were painting this morning.
She had lost a tooth last night.. one of her last front baby teeth.. she was a bit upset the tooth fairy left only a few coins, and not a toy. I had such a headache when I got in from work she did her snap circuits with Daddy instead of doing something she had planned to do with me. I was still not entirely 'good' early this morning - and I thought she was tossing things around in the video area downstairs, but she was really reorganizing, moving a table from her room, clearing things in her room to make more room to sit etc etc.. she made a teaparty with her teddy bear and was drawing pictures on post-it notes this morning when I suggested painting to her.
Esme did a painting that is a 'King kid who set down his crown on a mushroom, which has a bean growing under it, and a flower, and grass... the kid has a grass stain on his sock, because he is a kid.' I tried a painting of some flowers :)
9.15a - Kahn academy math - subtraction word problems and comparing greater/lesser than +1425 pts
9.45a - break
10.15a - cooking scramled eggs
10.30a - planet earth ep 4 "Caves"
11.45a - k'nex engineering - rolling robot thing with a cup to hold things
12.45p - break
3p - snap circuits #6 and #7
3.30p - done
I gave Esme the schedules of some of the free 'museumy' things around here.. she really liked that idea. She had wanted to go visit one and see what they had there - when we were painting this morning.
She had lost a tooth last night.. one of her last front baby teeth.. she was a bit upset the tooth fairy left only a few coins, and not a toy. I had such a headache when I got in from work she did her snap circuits with Daddy instead of doing something she had planned to do with me. I was still not entirely 'good' early this morning - and I thought she was tossing things around in the video area downstairs, but she was really reorganizing, moving a table from her room, clearing things in her room to make more room to sit etc etc.. she made a teaparty with her teddy bear and was drawing pictures on post-it notes this morning when I suggested painting to her.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Monday geography
9.30a - pbskids.org
10a - cooking scrambled eggs
10.15a - break
10.45a - Geography (google earth)
11.15a - writing vocabulary words
12p - break
12.45p - Planet Earth ep 3 "Freshwater"
1.45p - google earth
2p - PE (30x situp, 30x 10lb benchpress, 30x 10lb squats, 30x 5lb
bicurls, 50x 5lb deadlift)
2.30p - break
7.15p - snap circuits #5
8p - done
She waited for me to come home from work - wanting to do something with me, but I had a killer headache, so Daddy brought out the snap circuits kit and they did a module in that. We had been studying greek online this weekend (long story) - she was catching on quite well. I might do another one of those with her tomorrow. It is nice to be able to follow her interests when she has one, with homeschool.
She had come to me when I was running hot water over my head - waiting for my migraine to ease.. and told me that she guessed she would go finish her work now, but she was sad. She was sad about the boring stuff had to be done before the fun stuff could happen - like putting the circuit together 'just right', but when it worked, she was happy. I told her that was a lot like other things in life - and I had that at work, too. She said and there is the opposite - you have to do the fun stuff, like have a break, before the boring stuff happened, too! Like do a worksheet after the break! **oh my child** Yes, that is true, but we usually don't see it that way...
10a - cooking scrambled eggs
10.15a - break
10.45a - Geography (google earth)
11.15a - writing vocabulary words
12p - break
12.45p - Planet Earth ep 3 "Freshwater"
1.45p - google earth
2p - PE (30x situp, 30x 10lb benchpress, 30x 10lb squats, 30x 5lb
bicurls, 50x 5lb deadlift)
2.30p - break
7.15p - snap circuits #5
8p - done
She waited for me to come home from work - wanting to do something with me, but I had a killer headache, so Daddy brought out the snap circuits kit and they did a module in that. We had been studying greek online this weekend (long story) - she was catching on quite well. I might do another one of those with her tomorrow. It is nice to be able to follow her interests when she has one, with homeschool.
She had come to me when I was running hot water over my head - waiting for my migraine to ease.. and told me that she guessed she would go finish her work now, but she was sad. She was sad about the boring stuff had to be done before the fun stuff could happen - like putting the circuit together 'just right', but when it worked, she was happy. I told her that was a lot like other things in life - and I had that at work, too. She said and there is the opposite - you have to do the fun stuff, like have a break, before the boring stuff happened, too! Like do a worksheet after the break! **oh my child** Yes, that is true, but we usually don't see it that way...
Saturday, November 08, 2014
Saturday counts as school
7a - pbskids.org
8a - break
8.30a - Planet Earth, ep 2 "Mountains"; pandas on youtube
9.30a - break
10a - "build and Grow" at Lowe's
11a - library, music games, building, play with boy
12p - shopping, counting money, comparing prices at two stores
1p - break for home packed snack
2:00 p - home, math lesson with comparing prices from receipts
2:30 - break
5:45-6p - gelatin baking soda vinegar volcano experiment
We didn't set out 'specifically' to count today as school, but we knew there was a good chance of it. I told her, on the way out of the store at noon, that it was probably a school day, and she was surprised. I did my own Kahn academy stuff today, instead of having her do hers.. since she had already taken her time and done math with the price comparison 'Price is Right' type lesson I made with the groceries when we got home.
I'm listening to music now and wondering if I should try to sew something.
8a - break
8.30a - Planet Earth, ep 2 "Mountains"; pandas on youtube
9.30a - break
10a - "build and Grow" at Lowe's
11a - library, music games, building, play with boy
12p - shopping, counting money, comparing prices at two stores
1p - break for home packed snack
2:00 p - home, math lesson with comparing prices from receipts
2:30 - break
5:45-6p - gelatin baking soda vinegar volcano experiment
We didn't set out 'specifically' to count today as school, but we knew there was a good chance of it. I told her, on the way out of the store at noon, that it was probably a school day, and she was surprised. I did my own Kahn academy stuff today, instead of having her do hers.. since she had already taken her time and done math with the price comparison 'Price is Right' type lesson I made with the groceries when we got home.
I'm listening to music now and wondering if I should try to sew something.
Thursday, November 06, 2014
Thursday bits here and there
We kind of split this day up here and there to fit everything in - and Esme was so glad to get her 10,000 point badges on Kahn :)
7.30a - Starfall.com
8a - walk, leaves and mud outside
8.30a - crafting skee ball target
9.30a - break
5p - shopping, comparing items, money counting
5.30p - break
6p - clothes folding and care
6.30p - Kahn Academy math - adding, comparing equations, counting from any number 100-120
7p - Mr Rodgers video - Growing
7.30p - done
7.30a - Starfall.com
8a - walk, leaves and mud outside
8.30a - crafting skee ball target
9.30a - break
5p - shopping, comparing items, money counting
5.30p - break
6p - clothes folding and care
6.30p - Kahn Academy math - adding, comparing equations, counting from any number 100-120
7p - Mr Rodgers video - Growing
7.30p - done
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Thursday apple barrel
We washed the barrel outside and then Daddy cut it down the middle after we marked it. Then we washed it inside and out again, and used the other half for planning.
We measured with the measuring tape, decided the size of the triangles and the distance between them, got some cardboard and cut pieces out to 'test the theory', and it seemed to work. Then we drew all of the pieces out on wood for Daddy to cut with the saw. She had to use a square and a marker to make the triangles (with my help).
She did a great job with the electric screwdriver, and put in seven of the eight screws for the triangle braces.
Testing it out - it fits.
Trying it out - it works!
We did the project!
And now it is cleanup and rest before we do the more 'traditional' school stuff...
9.30a - construction project, apple bobbing trough. - moving in, washing, cutting barrel, more washing
10.15a - break
10.45a - more construction - planning, trying out theory marking and cutting wood, starting to construct.
12.30p - break; trough finished.
10.15a - break
10.45a - more construction - planning, trying out theory marking and cutting wood, starting to construct.
12.30p - break; trough finished.
After the project we took a small break and when she came back upstairs Daddy asked me if we should do P.E. or read. I asked her - she said she wanted to do P.E.!
1.15p - PE (30x 10lb bench press, 10x 10lb deadlift,
50 situps, 50x 2lb R&L curls,
Each time Daddy asks her what exercise she WANTS to do, and how many - we ask her 'really?' - and she says 'really really'... and each time she actually DID that many, with some breaks on the situps at every ten...
After that, I suggested she snuggle up in the knitted blanket on the bed with me and read some - which she agreed to. She just kept going and going on it.. she really liked this story as it had lots of 'gross' in it.
1.45p - Reading aloud (Frannie Stein- Frantastic Voyage)
She wanted to go on and finish the book - so we did.
2.45p - done - although she wanted to go play Frisbee outside in the sun and then we had her feed and gather eggs from the chickens, too.
2.45p - done - although she wanted to go play Frisbee outside in the sun and then we had her feed and gather eggs from the chickens, too.
As we were finishing the project she said she couldn't wait - when she went back to school (?) she would tell her friends all about using an electric screwdriver. We just nodded along - she gets it some days and others she thinks she is going back 'next year'... we'll still have to see. At this point she would be even MORE bored in that same sort of public school class..and not have anywhere near the choices and consideration we are giving her. We still make her do things - like worksheets, and not 'drama' ... but we do listen to her and involve her with the day's events... which leads to her learning more about what she can really 'do.'
She told me the other day that she was glad she wasn't at school for the 'when there is trouble and it's my fault, even when it isn't.'... I thought that was an interesting note for her.. she said it kind of off-hand, while watching a Johnny Test cartoon... and that was that. We didn't elaborate, I just said 'Yea..' and agreed that shouldn't happen.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
a Wednesday field trip
9.30a - worksheets; vocabulary,
perimeters (addition and subtraction (perimeter with unknowns))
10:15 - spelling words / copywork handwriting
- using the weather.com website to look at the day schedule
- White Bear fairy tale (Blue Fairy book) - listening quietly while I told it, recounting facts
10:45 - piano - at her request! Review and a few new ideas.
11.30a - break
--get ready to go to town, pack snack, grab purse, dress appropriately etc etc.
12:00p - library, building towers and squares with blocks
- counting and vocabulary building while we were building blocks
-----(structural integrity, 'failure' pertaining to building, balanced, unbalanced, 'accomplished' etc.)
- music store visit (field trip), id'ing instruments
1:15 p - lunch
1:30 p - play park P.E. and throwing/catching football
2:30 p - photography, printing photos (read and learned to use menus on machine)
--- navigating store in lead ('map' navigation)
3:30 p - counting out money for purchases at drug store
-- she even impressed me by counting it out so easily, she had 3.00 in her hand for her purchase, and when told what the tax would be she picked it out quickly.
4:30 p - home
We got several books at the library - the one that I want her to read with me tonight is the original Winnie the Pooh. I read a bit of it to her at the park while she ate her lunch ( we had agreed she would not get up and play until she ate all of her lunch). She kept asking when the school day was 'over'.. but I told her that on some days we break things up here and there, and that counts, too. So, she would have to read some with me later, but she does that sometimes, anyway so... Two LARGE boxes came in the mail today and we have put them aside until she goes to bed and we can wrap them up for her birthday. I still need to find a good cake recipe as well.
Update : So, it has been since October the 6th? that we signed the paper to do homeschooling. Mark and I were talking together again and agree it was a very good move for Esme. We are both very tired - and get little rest when she is home - BUT we are less stressed about what she is learning that she shouldn't be, advertent and inadvertent lessons in anxiety, crowd-control, 'coping' mechanisms as they had said at the meeting etc etc... and we can see real progress in the areas she was learning 'hardly anything' in - her reading, spelling and math - as well as many other subjects that were ignored in school or 'not yet'...
Instead we see the bright curious girl who sometimes giggles too much or argues too much, or 'drama llamas' about not getting her way etc... but we also get to show her the real world and field good constructive questions and directions for her learning. A lot of the disturbing anxiety behaviors she was doing from the school have continued to fade - we noted that together, as we trade on and off for my days at home so she gets variety in teaching styles. She has some great ideas - and even when we aren't doing 'actual school' she immerses herself in activity - physical, educational, imaginational... her excess of energy is being used to good activities and learning opportunities instead of being suppressed and discouraged just for the sake of 'calm and order' in a classroom setting.
Also, doing homeschool, she can have breaks at the end of 45 minutes, or the end of her immersion in a subject (which could be three hours at times, or 15 minutes, depending).. if she has put forth a good effort she can see that - if she needs help, we can offer it constructively... if she just wants to 'play' and 'drama llama', we can address that, too. And she does get to go to real places, use money, make plans, watch the time, weather and obligations etc etc... and build stuff. She really, really likes to build stuff :) Another point - in between and after school (since she has more time overall now not being on such a long bus ride) she gets to see US do more things, talk together, cook, drive, read, write, check the calendar/weather/timer for planning, play a game, do math, clean house, shop, bank, post office, yard work, sewing, animal care.. and ask questions, offer ideas, plan with us for the future etc etc..
perimeters (addition and subtraction (perimeter with unknowns))
10:15 - spelling words / copywork handwriting
- using the weather.com website to look at the day schedule
- White Bear fairy tale (Blue Fairy book) - listening quietly while I told it, recounting facts
10:45 - piano - at her request! Review and a few new ideas.
11.30a - break
--get ready to go to town, pack snack, grab purse, dress appropriately etc etc.
12:00p - library, building towers and squares with blocks
- counting and vocabulary building while we were building blocks
-----(structural integrity, 'failure' pertaining to building, balanced, unbalanced, 'accomplished' etc.)
- music store visit (field trip), id'ing instruments
1:15 p - lunch
1:30 p - play park P.E. and throwing/catching football
2:30 p - photography, printing photos (read and learned to use menus on machine)
--- navigating store in lead ('map' navigation)
3:30 p - counting out money for purchases at drug store
-- she even impressed me by counting it out so easily, she had 3.00 in her hand for her purchase, and when told what the tax would be she picked it out quickly.
4:30 p - home
We got several books at the library - the one that I want her to read with me tonight is the original Winnie the Pooh. I read a bit of it to her at the park while she ate her lunch ( we had agreed she would not get up and play until she ate all of her lunch). She kept asking when the school day was 'over'.. but I told her that on some days we break things up here and there, and that counts, too. So, she would have to read some with me later, but she does that sometimes, anyway so... Two LARGE boxes came in the mail today and we have put them aside until she goes to bed and we can wrap them up for her birthday. I still need to find a good cake recipe as well.
Update : So, it has been since October the 6th? that we signed the paper to do homeschooling. Mark and I were talking together again and agree it was a very good move for Esme. We are both very tired - and get little rest when she is home - BUT we are less stressed about what she is learning that she shouldn't be, advertent and inadvertent lessons in anxiety, crowd-control, 'coping' mechanisms as they had said at the meeting etc etc... and we can see real progress in the areas she was learning 'hardly anything' in - her reading, spelling and math - as well as many other subjects that were ignored in school or 'not yet'...
Instead we see the bright curious girl who sometimes giggles too much or argues too much, or 'drama llamas' about not getting her way etc... but we also get to show her the real world and field good constructive questions and directions for her learning. A lot of the disturbing anxiety behaviors she was doing from the school have continued to fade - we noted that together, as we trade on and off for my days at home so she gets variety in teaching styles. She has some great ideas - and even when we aren't doing 'actual school' she immerses herself in activity - physical, educational, imaginational... her excess of energy is being used to good activities and learning opportunities instead of being suppressed and discouraged just for the sake of 'calm and order' in a classroom setting.
Also, doing homeschool, she can have breaks at the end of 45 minutes, or the end of her immersion in a subject (which could be three hours at times, or 15 minutes, depending).. if she has put forth a good effort she can see that - if she needs help, we can offer it constructively... if she just wants to 'play' and 'drama llama', we can address that, too. And she does get to go to real places, use money, make plans, watch the time, weather and obligations etc etc... and build stuff. She really, really likes to build stuff :) Another point - in between and after school (since she has more time overall now not being on such a long bus ride) she gets to see US do more things, talk together, cook, drive, read, write, check the calendar/weather/timer for planning, play a game, do math, clean house, shop, bank, post office, yard work, sewing, animal care.. and ask questions, offer ideas, plan with us for the future etc etc..
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Tuesday piano lessons
8.45a - worksheets; verbs, contractions, math, geometry (cartesian points)
9.45a - piano lessons (Joseph Hoffman youtubes, Mama and Daddy both teaching, practice)
-----------She took to the keyboard we have pretty well, and practiced the song over and over
10.30a - break
11.45a - "blue planet"
12.45p - break
2.30p - reading; dinosaurs book, Frannie K Stein
3.30p - done
10 pm - retelling of a version of the Twelve Dancing Princesses folktale
Daddy said she was quite grumpy today, and needed an extra nap, of which she took one after the nature show. Tomorrow will be a library and/or park day after some regular schoolwork at home.. depends on the weather. She wants us to do some inventing/building as well. She was fascinated with a magnetic cabinet latch as her invention tonight - was taking it apart and putting it back together during the story.
I've downloaded a lot of free ebooks and am reading through them myself (lots of fairy tales and the like) to find ones that are a good message to tell her. I am a little inspired to draw some of them, like the princesses one. I have a toy project to sew in these next few days off, too.
9.45a - piano lessons (Joseph Hoffman youtubes, Mama and Daddy both teaching, practice)
-----------She took to the keyboard we have pretty well, and practiced the song over and over
10.30a - break
11.45a - "blue planet"
12.45p - break
2.30p - reading; dinosaurs book, Frannie K Stein
3.30p - done
10 pm - retelling of a version of the Twelve Dancing Princesses folktale
Daddy said she was quite grumpy today, and needed an extra nap, of which she took one after the nature show. Tomorrow will be a library and/or park day after some regular schoolwork at home.. depends on the weather. She wants us to do some inventing/building as well. She was fascinated with a magnetic cabinet latch as her invention tonight - was taking it apart and putting it back together during the story.
I've downloaded a lot of free ebooks and am reading through them myself (lots of fairy tales and the like) to find ones that are a good message to tell her. I am a little inspired to draw some of them, like the princesses one. I have a toy project to sew in these next few days off, too.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Monday scrabble night
This morning she came up to my bed and asked 'Can I have a break for cartoons before we start the school today?' Well, it was a good and complete question! And she didn't ask 'Do we have to have school today?'
9a - Worksheets, punctuation, math, shapes
10a - reading aloud (Bears in the Night, Reptiles book)
10.30a - PE (30x 5lb deadlift, 20x situp, 50x 10lb bench press)
10.45a - Writing practise
11.15a - lunch break
12.30p - ditch digging (helping Daddy move gravel in front of the garage, and talking about purpose)
1.30p - pbskids.org
3p - done
When I got home from work she wanted to make a cake, but we didn't have a good recipe or quite enough butter. Daddy asked her to explain her objections to going to town all by herself and getting us more butter. She laid them out pretty well - she can't drive the truck, if she walked the bears will eat her and it would take forever, and she had no money. There is a brain starting to operate in there! So, Daddy suggested we play Scrabble - and she helped add up the tile scores, search for words and learned more about how to fit possible words into the ongoing game. She came in second place out of three :) Most of her words were short but she made a few good ideas and we pointed out other things to her when she was stumped. As her vocabulary improves she is going to kick tail in Scrabble just like Grandma :)
We read a few Shel Silverstein poems before bedtime. She liked the push button one where the belly button just makes burps.
9a - Worksheets, punctuation, math, shapes
10a - reading aloud (Bears in the Night, Reptiles book)
10.30a - PE (30x 5lb deadlift, 20x situp, 50x 10lb bench press)
10.45a - Writing practise
11.15a - lunch break
12.30p - ditch digging (helping Daddy move gravel in front of the garage, and talking about purpose)
1.30p - pbskids.org
3p - done
When I got home from work she wanted to make a cake, but we didn't have a good recipe or quite enough butter. Daddy asked her to explain her objections to going to town all by herself and getting us more butter. She laid them out pretty well - she can't drive the truck, if she walked the bears will eat her and it would take forever, and she had no money. There is a brain starting to operate in there! So, Daddy suggested we play Scrabble - and she helped add up the tile scores, search for words and learned more about how to fit possible words into the ongoing game. She came in second place out of three :) Most of her words were short but she made a few good ideas and we pointed out other things to her when she was stumped. As her vocabulary improves she is going to kick tail in Scrabble just like Grandma :)
We read a few Shel Silverstein poems before bedtime. She liked the push button one where the belly button just makes burps.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Thursday lizard day
2014-10-23
8:00a - discussion about nose hair, ear hair, tastebuds
skip counting by 2 and 3 to 30, by 5 to 100
tossing a ball into moving buckets, dime toss
Daddy stopped by the school and brought home her Scholastic book order.
It included a small color changing lizard that then continued to accompany us throughout the day.
9:00 - reading Werewolf Watch #31 Scooby Doo, shapes worksheet
talk about contractions from books, word match sheet
asked how a holographic image works
9.30a - break
10.20a - crossword puzzle, math worksheets
11.20a - break
12.50p - reading aloud; "Reptiles and Apmphibians" book (Scholastic order book)
1.15p - Clocks worksheet
1.30p - PE (Walking / running laps around lake)
2.30p - done
Got home tonight and she is building a 'lizard house' that turned into a 'Feelings Machine' out of K'nex.
Research : I'm reading Focus on the Family's homeschooling book - sent to me by Aunt Dot.
I also realized that many of the books that show up on the Charlotte Mason homeschooling book lists are books we already have - Children's Garden of Verses and the Oxford Book of American Verse ended up in our laps from the flea market and library this year.. Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix Potter, Sinbad, Grimm's, etc etc...
8:00a - discussion about nose hair, ear hair, tastebuds
skip counting by 2 and 3 to 30, by 5 to 100
tossing a ball into moving buckets, dime toss
Daddy stopped by the school and brought home her Scholastic book order.
It included a small color changing lizard that then continued to accompany us throughout the day.
9:00 - reading Werewolf Watch #31 Scooby Doo, shapes worksheet
talk about contractions from books, word match sheet
asked how a holographic image works
9.30a - break
10.20a - crossword puzzle, math worksheets
11.20a - break
12.50p - reading aloud; "Reptiles and Apmphibians" book (Scholastic order book)
1.15p - Clocks worksheet
1.30p - PE (Walking / running laps around lake)
2.30p - done
Got home tonight and she is building a 'lizard house' that turned into a 'Feelings Machine' out of K'nex.
Research : I'm reading Focus on the Family's homeschooling book - sent to me by Aunt Dot.
I also realized that many of the books that show up on the Charlotte Mason homeschooling book lists are books we already have - Children's Garden of Verses and the Oxford Book of American Verse ended up in our laps from the flea market and library this year.. Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix Potter, Sinbad, Grimm's, etc etc...
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Wednesday portal night
2014-10-22
8a - discussion about words 'exaggeration' and 'superstition.'
- Friday the 13th, Halloween, black cat, brown bears in woods
9a - Worksheet; sentence completion
9.30a - pbskids.org; wild kratts
10.30a - Blue Planet "Tidal seas"
11.30a - pbskids.org
12p - done
7 pm - Family play at game : Portal, thinking exercises etc.
bedtime : The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza - by Philemon Sturges
It would be good to do some work on contractions - She'd and Who'll were in this book and she had to think hard about them.
8a - discussion about words 'exaggeration' and 'superstition.'
- Friday the 13th, Halloween, black cat, brown bears in woods
9a - Worksheet; sentence completion
9.30a - pbskids.org; wild kratts
10.30a - Blue Planet "Tidal seas"
11.30a - pbskids.org
12p - done
7 pm - Family play at game : Portal, thinking exercises etc.
bedtime : The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza - by Philemon Sturges
It would be good to do some work on contractions - She'd and Who'll were in this book and she had to think hard about them.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Tuesday library night
2014-10-21
10a - Worksheets; word search, math (more dd addition) sentence completion, coins
11a - Reading aloud
11.30a - break
12.30p - PE (30x 5lb leg lifts, 50x 2lb R&L curls, 20x situp, 50x 10lb
bench press)
1p - Shoe tying
2.45p - break
5p - Public library (math game, typing game, playing/talking with older girl)
6p - done
bedtime: read Madame Martin by Sarah Brannen (mom read, she listened), discussed some French words.. discussed skills she needs to learn to be an adult.. she wants to play Portal tomorrow...very hard for her to wait, this led up to the questions about when she is old enough to leave and still doesn't know how to - how will we help her.. what does she need to know...ended in tucking in with Mr.Frog... so many ups and downs on this rollercoaster
topics: wants to learn how to use makeup, wants to learn to play guitar
10a - Worksheets; word search, math (more dd addition) sentence completion, coins
11a - Reading aloud
11.30a - break
12.30p - PE (30x 5lb leg lifts, 50x 2lb R&L curls, 20x situp, 50x 10lb
bench press)
1p - Shoe tying
2.45p - break
5p - Public library (math game, typing game, playing/talking with older girl)
6p - done
bedtime: read Madame Martin by Sarah Brannen (mom read, she listened), discussed some French words.. discussed skills she needs to learn to be an adult.. she wants to play Portal tomorrow...very hard for her to wait, this led up to the questions about when she is old enough to leave and still doesn't know how to - how will we help her.. what does she need to know...ended in tucking in with Mr.Frog... so many ups and downs on this rollercoaster
topics: wants to learn how to use makeup, wants to learn to play guitar
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Mixie Eingeering Primary School core values
thoughts.. haven't gotten these 'approved by the board' yet *heh*
We are still on official break - and tomorrow should be a full day of school again
Mixie Engineering Primary School
is about:
Asking questions:
---and learning HOW to find answers.
---Reading and Writing
---Math and Science
---Building and Engineering
---Art, music, history, learning new skills
Trying hard:
---not giving up
---and working together for goals.
Meeting People in our Community:
---learning from each other
---changing the world around us for the better
"Tell me I can do this again, especially as I have thus already begun."
Being the nature of me, I have worries that we can do this right - get everybody working together and keep progress up. I've read some unschooling things.. the flavor is right, being child-led, but we still need to direct here and there, especially early on here where her anxiety and fear of failure are still high from the bad school year.
I found a few great reasources to try
Daria world music
engineersweek.ie - they have a water pump idea with Archimede's screw I could see us working on
I remember Esme points at that one Astronomy book every time she sees it in the library..
Audio book reports? as a step before written ones?
Making a choice calendar big enough where she can reach it - we set some of them - reading/writing park day etc, and she can set others like Art and Music as we go...
We are still on official break - and tomorrow should be a full day of school again
Mixie Engineering Primary School
is about:
Asking questions:
---and learning HOW to find answers.
---Reading and Writing
---Math and Science
---Building and Engineering
---Art, music, history, learning new skills
Trying hard:
---not giving up
---and working together for goals.
Meeting People in our Community:
---learning from each other
---changing the world around us for the better
"Tell me I can do this again, especially as I have thus already begun."
Being the nature of me, I have worries that we can do this right - get everybody working together and keep progress up. I've read some unschooling things.. the flavor is right, being child-led, but we still need to direct here and there, especially early on here where her anxiety and fear of failure are still high from the bad school year.
I found a few great reasources to try
Daria world music
engineersweek.ie - they have a water pump idea with Archimede's screw I could see us working on
I remember Esme points at that one Astronomy book every time she sees it in the library..
Audio book reports? as a step before written ones?
Making a choice calendar big enough where she can reach it - we set some of them - reading/writing park day etc, and she can set others like Art and Music as we go...
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Saturday building stuff
We started out at Lowes early this morning to meet up with friends and build the project.
She did very well and did require some help - but did almost all of the work herself.
She was very helpful and mindful at the Lowes store to stay with us,clean up after herself and say hello and goodbye to people - several people commented on her good manners - which only goes to show the school just wasn't handling her right. She didn't hide behind me at all while we were there!
We got a pumpkin for carving later, some groceries, some lunch, and came home.
Then Daddy set up the Atari system and she helped clean the parts, hook up things and learned how to use it in her DVD area to switch the video input back and forth. We played PONG, Frog Pond and Combat together. I cleaned some, napped (while she played Martha Speaks on PBS), did laundry, talked to Aunt Dot about our homeschooling week, and then it was time for dinner. I cleaned up some, set up some more areas for homeschool (trays and sorter for nature stuff) and then we disassembled the K'nex rollercoaster from last Christmas and played with the K'nex to make a cube, 'birdcage', swing and practice with the rollercoaster pieces. She was so happy several times today that she didn't give up and things worked out with a little extra effort.
Then Daddy and Esme watched an engineering video about racecars.. and it was time for bed.
We decided that was a day we would mark 'present' as school - because she really did a lot of hands-on building things and was doing a lot of thought while playing the Combat and PONG games about what to do and when, and why. We discussed the 'ethics' of Combat.. she didn't want to shoot at my tank.. and then we decided to play it like tag and she laughed a lot about the way the tank spun when it was hit... so she got over the freeze-up at the idea of hurting the tank when it didn't disappear. She hated Combat 2 though, so we went back to the regular Combat.
There was more rollerskating, and weight-lifting, and some running around outside after the rain stopped. She even made an attempt at tying her shoes. I didn't make her do a journal for today, though.. Tomorrow, we hope the weather will cooperate and we will invite our friends over for fishing!
transition : We've talked more, but she still isn't entirely certain why we are homeschooling her. She doesn't think there is anything too bad about it.. she wants to go places and do things and homeschool actually makes that MORE possible - since she is not gone from 6:30 am to 3:45 pm every weekday. She really wanted to initiate the building school late tonight, even though it is a 'weekend'.. She has been mindful about expressing her thoughts on seeing friends, thinking about time (discussion of earlier and later, and what happened years ago vs. what will happen in a minute or a second from now). She discussed, by her initiative, listening when we have to do things, that she had not thrown a fit leaving Lowes even though it was tough leaving friends, trying hard on things, and trying to give us time to do other things (like fold laundry, or write this post) and wait patiently. All of it is very good progress! I love to hear her express her reasonings out loud to us again - it shows she is really working things out and remembering what she has learned.
I noted that she had her Indian village playmobil set up inside her spaceship toy (the one she can fit inside and has been drawing chalk graffiti on all of the walls of for months, including the 'best day ever calendar' I saw a few weeks ago)... space Indians ;) We are missing a few pieces but I was impressed as she has not shown much interest in that toy set since last Christmas...pieces were scattered to the wind last I knew about.
Thursday, October 09, 2014
Adventure day two and Engineering day
Adventure log drawings
2014-10-98am - Greater / Less than worksheet
- Bike parts worksheet
- Starfall
- Break
9am - Tongue Twisters
- word search
- PE (weights! 30x 5lb lift, 30x 5lb squats, .25mi run (quarter mile), 10 situp)
10am - Outside adventure nature observation walk
- Writing report of observations
11am - recess
4pm - Web searches with Rhe
- Designing monkey bars
5pm - Engineering: pipes, T and elbow joints.engineering vocabulary
5.30pm - Done
extracredit: Spider egg case drawing for science , discussion
eating watermelon from a coworker's garden with her egg and cheese sandwich for dinner
the light was almost completely gone and the camera had a hard time getting much quickly... got quiet contemplation and 'super excited'... She had her knee-high socks on and rollerskates on and had been skating for about an hour today on the concrete floor just before I got home...
List of things she wants to do 'soon':
Potato stamps art project
ink blots with paint
Engineering school:
Project requests:
Build a cottage out of wood - bit too much for us at the moment...but possible
Buld a set of monkey bars out of pipe and a ladder.. very possible, need used ladder
We discussed both options, looked it up some for material cost and discussed measuring and how to decide how big a project should be when it's done. Went to a store site, looked up materials, talked about price sorting and how to check if an item is what you want. Talked about counting pieces in a design so you don't have to go to the store more than once for materials, and why it would be hard to go back once you were building/working. Then we practiced using our PVC bag of parts and pipes (from the flea market tent) to build a structure, make it stable, balance and mirror (opposite but the same - she said) parts so it comes together.. how to compare lengths of pieces and find four/eight etc. the same, how to substitute a part if you don't have what you need right at hand... She was very good at keeping-trying and then also about making her drawing, counting, and cleaning up.
//transition //
She asked if she had to go to school tomorrow (Friday) and I said not go 'to' school, she would have school here at home, like the past days since Monday. She said she didn't want to do school at home either (she wanted to skate and play and I had told her it was really time for bed).. but then I said she didn't want to trade her Saturday, did she? Oh no, don't want to do that... She still gets the weekend off like she would at 'regular' school and we had fun things planned for the weekend.. and she gets to plan some of the things she wants to do, unlike at the public school. So, she planned some things and is ready for classwork tomorrow then a fun weekend with no 'required' stuff. She then said 'I am kind of tired.' I said I saw it in her eyes. She said she saw I was tired in my eyes, too.. Yes, and I have work tomorrow. She flip-flopped for a few minutes while taking forever brushing her teeth.. by the time I had her in bed and reading a few poems to her she was in a sweet mood.
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Setting up the general plan
Esme is working up the plan with us... she had a few things she wanted to do and I had some limits or expansions on it.
School name : Mixie Engineering Primary School (tentative)
She suggested the name - wanted something that didn't sound silly. She said it had to be serious.
I added the Mixie to make it unique so we could register it.
Esme's requests: model building times (LEGO and other project based things), lots of physical exercise and nature stuff, books about outer space and science, finding friends on town trips, art stuff
kind of in between :
---She likes the idea of more math... better math, have to find our way on that. I'm starting a bit on Khan academy - she dislikes the hard and easy mixed together, but got her to do quite a bit.
---She wants to play with the billiards table more, making up her own games - I want her to learn a bit of physics and math about it while she does it.
---I hope she will get back into her Minecraft, she hasn't spent anywhere near the time she used to for at least a month.. she used to build whole 'worlds' and projects, the Test house, the school practice etc.
---Correcting language in place, especially 'slang' and 'idioms'...there are a lot of things I know other kids must have made fun of her with - or told her was 'ok' to say, jokes on her etc.. I'm hearing more of them, trying to kindly but firmly set them straight.
Social :
Reduce anxiety and 'fear of failure' that has increased sharply since August.
Work on better behaviors for sitting and waiting in line -
----'What are you thinking? Can you think that without moving your foot/head/arm/body?'
((I got a hug today because I asked her that gently in her ear instead of being harsh or laughing).
Dealing with disappointment and frustration in constructive ways.(trouble at school, underchallenged)
Working on compromises and interjecting ideas in a constructive manner.(trouble at school, underchallenged)
Using proper tone of voice and attention to facial expressions, body posture.(had worsened at school)
Meeting real adults (with us), asking appropriate questions, finding out about their past or work in ways they want to share, being polite and waiting her turn in conversations etc.
Meeting children in environments like library, community center, park, home-ed meetups etc...
Mom's educational add-ons :
Math and science - STEM activities, following her interests and helping her learn to research.
Writing, spelling, new vocab : Using a journal to record what we have done. She has always been a reluctant writer, but her fear of failure had made this worse the past few months. Starting small with two to three sentences and notes where appropriate.
Continue with advanced reading, work on comprehension. Do some poetry, fables and myths beyond ordinary library books. Work on nature science and flora/fauna while looking at geography and history combined. Find out about local events and plan on a calendar things we are going to do.
Dad's educational add-ons :
Building projects, technology lessons, forest and nature lessons
Use of audio and photographic equipment, technology.
Music and expanding her tolerance of some sounds through audio equipment, recording etc.
Speech 'playback' - so she can hear how shes sounds saying things, reading etc..
Thoughts to build more exercise equipment.
Build a larger and more specified desk area for her things and supplies.
Rerun through all of Electric Company and our 'History' cartoons as educational choices
She has access to a large compilation of 'antique' cartoons on her DVD player while riding bike.
Daily responsibilities, chickens, mail, cleaning up after herself, helping with tasks and projects in a constructive way (like when we set up the new printer today).
//Today// (left house at 9:45 am, returned at 2 pm)
We went to my workplace and asked several coworkers questions. We went to the library. She wrote in her journal a date and time of an event, and we wrote down lists of words based on something she had trouble spelling....She worked on a typing program through the first two modules, and saved her progress. She had been 'eh' on picking any books for herself the last two times (a very bad sign) and today she picked three for herself. She built with blocks, and put them away. We discussed where to find a certain type of book with the librarian. We went to the secondhand bookstore and she bought a how-to drawing book for a quarter. She went to the thrift store with me and purchased a small toy for a quarter.
We planned lunch, and she played with two homeschool children for about an hour while I read. Then I insisted we come home and we helped Dad set up the printer, drew a picture and then learned how to use the scanner. We also did some math on Khan and she put together her new LEGO set I had not given her until today. She walked to the mailbox and to the lake with us, brought up some sand in a bucket from the lake (which was heavy, but she was stubborn and relentless), dumped it at the base of a tree and played archaeologist for a while. Now she is pedaling her bike and watching an old cartoon again before we discuss dinner and what book we will read. I will have her write in her journal again before bed.
School name : Mixie Engineering Primary School (tentative)
She suggested the name - wanted something that didn't sound silly. She said it had to be serious.
I added the Mixie to make it unique so we could register it.
Esme's requests: model building times (LEGO and other project based things), lots of physical exercise and nature stuff, books about outer space and science, finding friends on town trips, art stuff
kind of in between :
---She likes the idea of more math... better math, have to find our way on that. I'm starting a bit on Khan academy - she dislikes the hard and easy mixed together, but got her to do quite a bit.
---She wants to play with the billiards table more, making up her own games - I want her to learn a bit of physics and math about it while she does it.
---I hope she will get back into her Minecraft, she hasn't spent anywhere near the time she used to for at least a month.. she used to build whole 'worlds' and projects, the Test house, the school practice etc.
---Correcting language in place, especially 'slang' and 'idioms'...there are a lot of things I know other kids must have made fun of her with - or told her was 'ok' to say, jokes on her etc.. I'm hearing more of them, trying to kindly but firmly set them straight.
Social :
Reduce anxiety and 'fear of failure' that has increased sharply since August.
Work on better behaviors for sitting and waiting in line -
----'What are you thinking? Can you think that without moving your foot/head/arm/body?'
((I got a hug today because I asked her that gently in her ear instead of being harsh or laughing).
Dealing with disappointment and frustration in constructive ways.(trouble at school, underchallenged)
Working on compromises and interjecting ideas in a constructive manner.(trouble at school, underchallenged)
Using proper tone of voice and attention to facial expressions, body posture.(had worsened at school)
Meeting real adults (with us), asking appropriate questions, finding out about their past or work in ways they want to share, being polite and waiting her turn in conversations etc.
Meeting children in environments like library, community center, park, home-ed meetups etc...
Mom's educational add-ons :
Math and science - STEM activities, following her interests and helping her learn to research.
Writing, spelling, new vocab : Using a journal to record what we have done. She has always been a reluctant writer, but her fear of failure had made this worse the past few months. Starting small with two to three sentences and notes where appropriate.
Continue with advanced reading, work on comprehension. Do some poetry, fables and myths beyond ordinary library books. Work on nature science and flora/fauna while looking at geography and history combined. Find out about local events and plan on a calendar things we are going to do.
Dad's educational add-ons :
Building projects, technology lessons, forest and nature lessons
Use of audio and photographic equipment, technology.
Music and expanding her tolerance of some sounds through audio equipment, recording etc.
Speech 'playback' - so she can hear how shes sounds saying things, reading etc..
Thoughts to build more exercise equipment.
Build a larger and more specified desk area for her things and supplies.
Rerun through all of Electric Company and our 'History' cartoons as educational choices
She has access to a large compilation of 'antique' cartoons on her DVD player while riding bike.
Daily responsibilities, chickens, mail, cleaning up after herself, helping with tasks and projects in a constructive way (like when we set up the new printer today).
//Today// (left house at 9:45 am, returned at 2 pm)
We went to my workplace and asked several coworkers questions. We went to the library. She wrote in her journal a date and time of an event, and we wrote down lists of words based on something she had trouble spelling....She worked on a typing program through the first two modules, and saved her progress. She had been 'eh' on picking any books for herself the last two times (a very bad sign) and today she picked three for herself. She built with blocks, and put them away. We discussed where to find a certain type of book with the librarian. We went to the secondhand bookstore and she bought a how-to drawing book for a quarter. She went to the thrift store with me and purchased a small toy for a quarter.
We planned lunch, and she played with two homeschool children for about an hour while I read. Then I insisted we come home and we helped Dad set up the printer, drew a picture and then learned how to use the scanner. We also did some math on Khan and she put together her new LEGO set I had not given her until today. She walked to the mailbox and to the lake with us, brought up some sand in a bucket from the lake (which was heavy, but she was stubborn and relentless), dumped it at the base of a tree and played archaeologist for a while. Now she is pedaling her bike and watching an old cartoon again before we discuss dinner and what book we will read. I will have her write in her journal again before bed.
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