All Things Hold Together

I was really looking forward to doing posts for “Back to Homeschool Week,” but with my internet connection down all week, I didn’t get to do it until today.

Maybe I will get a chance to back-fill the other topics. If for no other reason, it is good to answer those questions for myself.

Todays prompt is curriculum.

We are about to start our third school year homeschooling. The D is going into 5th grade; Big E 4th.

We still use grades because they started out in public school and, let’s face it, the world of kids is structured by grade, at least here in America, anyway.

This year, we are doing sort of a grade 4/5 hybrid, starting with grade 4 materials and ending with grade 5, except in language arts and reading, where The D is ahead of Big E and we can’t combine it.

The first year, we tried things out and found out what we liked and didn’t like. It was very “school at home.” Some things we liked (Saxon math), some we didn’t (language arts workbooks).

The second year, we tried an unschooling approach, which was not a good fit for us. They need more structure. I need more structure. We need more structure.

This year, I have a pretty good idea about what materials will work and what ones will not. I also have a pretty good idea of how much structure we need and how much flexibility we need.

I still believe in a life learning philosophy - that learning does not only take place during school hours - but this year, we will have school hours, too.

I just finished sketching out my curriculum to submit to the state, a requirement in Vermont, so here is what we will be doing this year:

Math: Saxon Math 5/4 for both kids, though The D should be able to move into 6/5 at some point.

Language Arts: Learning Language Arts Through Literature. Orange book for Big E; Purple book for The D. (Read my review.)

That book also covers the “Literature” requirement for the state.

History: The Story of the World: Middle Ages, and the tests, so I have something for our state portfolios. We will supplement this with library resources as well.

Geography: Spectrum Geography, grade 4. We will complete this in half a year, doing it once per week. Then we will move into the grade 5 book.

Vermont History: Ethan Allen. His homestead is right in Burlington, so this is an easy one. Plus, our community garden is right next to the homestead museum and the kids have been begging me to bring them there. This we will also supplement with books and/or online resources.

Science: Science Made Simple, grade 4. (I can’t find a link to this.) It is an experimental, hands-on science guide. This will only take half of the year, so I am not sure what we will do the second half, yet. Again, supplemented with library or online resources.

Art: How to Teach Art to Children, plus music (singing, instrument playing).

Phys. Ed.: I can’t even believe this is a requirement for homeschoolers. It is a perfect example of how clueless the state can be.

Health: This one I am not sure about. Another area that is foolish to require for homeschoolers. Suggested topics, like nutrition and hygiene, are things we teach the kids every day. We do not use a curriculum. Usually, I just order some free pamphlets from the government and use those for the portfolio.

So, that is our curriculum for the year. Fortunately, most of those books I already had because I picked them up along the way somewhere.

Of course, so much more is learned, as we live and grow together, that is not in a book or written out on our curriculum. Those are usually the most important things.

Sometimes I feel like I am not a good homeschooler. I have a hard time keeping a schedule and completing our curriculum, despite spending hours planning out the school year. And re-planning. And re-planning.

Here is it the middle of July and we still have work to finish from this past “school year.”

I had a plan to get it done, which we were supposed to start today, but here we are not doing it for what is, of course, another good reason.

I always have a good reason for not doing what I had planned.

Don’t get me wrong, the kids have learned tons of stuff this year.

The D is a voracious reader. All I have to do is pick out a few non-fiction books at the library and, when he is done reading the books he picked out, usually within a day or two, he will inevitably pick the non-fiction books up to read when he gets bored between library trips. I am certain he learned lots this year about a variety of subjects.

Big E has learned lots, too. Between the books he read, the videos he watched, and what The D told him about the books he read - he loves to share what he learns - I am confident that Big E has learned a lot this year, too.

We have also done science experiments together, explored topics online, gone on field trips, and even though we didn’t finish the math curriculum we were working on, we do math problems together all of the time in practical, everyday settings.

I love math and never miss an opportunity to teach the boys about it. I’ve even gotten Bob into the habit. As I look over at the dry erase board now, I can see where he was showing the boys the night before last how to figure out the hypotenuse of a right triangle using the Pythagorean theorem.

My problem, I think, is that I don’t have a neat and tidy package of written work to send to the state to prove that they learned something.

I went through this last year, too.

That’s what frustrates me about the homeschooling laws here. I know that the kids have learned a lot of stuff, but I get really stressed out over the prospect of proving that to the pencil-pushers over at the state Department of Education.

It’s not that I am not a good homeschooler; it’s that I am not a homeschooler that looks good on paper to a bunch of educrats.

Now I just need to figure out if that realization is supposed to make me feel better or frustrate the dickens out of me.

Someone on the Homeschooling Boys Yahoo group had a question about whether or not to buy the teacher’s editions for Saxon Math for the lower grades, which got me thinking that I should write up my review for Saxon Math 2 and 3.

When I first started homeschooling, The D was going into third grade and Big E was going into second, so I bought Saxon Math 2 and Saxon Math 3.

I only bought the student workbooks, in order to save money. After all, it was lower-elementary math and I have bachelor’s in mathematics, for Pete’s sake. How hard could it be?

Well, it wasn’t hard, but there were a lot of pages in the book that I did not know how to use.

For each lesson, there is a double-sided worksheet. The problems on each side are the same type of problems. There are review problems and problems from that day’s lesson.

Without the teacher’s edition, I would work through one side of the worksheet with the child, explaining the things that he didn’t know. Then, I would have him complete the other side himself.

If there was something that he did not do correctly, I would make up some extra practice problems.

The workbook also contains some extra sheets that go with the daily lesson. Many of these I did not know how to use.

The teacher’s book also contains oral assessments that are not in the student book, though the written assessments are.

I ended up buying the teacher’s editions about half-way through the year. This was a much better way to do it.

I went through the daily lessons and then had the child do the first side of the worksheet. If extra practice was needed, I could have him do that type of problem on the other side of the worksheet. No more need to make up extra problems.

I found they rarely needed extra practice because the lessons are very thorough.

The lessons are even scripted, for the parent who is weak in math, lacks confidence, or just wants a curriculum that makes lesson preparation very easy on her.

Saxon focuses on math fact memorization, manipulative use, mental math, and learning a fundamental math vocabulary. It provides a good solid foundation for mathematics success.

The daily worksheets provide practice of the skill learned in the current day’s lesson, but also reinforces previously learned skills, by providing additional practice.

There are also timed drills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.

Overall, I really enjoyed using Saxon Math 2 and 3, and so did the boys. We used a different program this year, just to see what else was out there, and ended up going back to Saxon.

The Saxon website provides additional information, scope and sequence, and other resources and support.

Please consider purchasing Saxon Math from CBD - at a great price - through the links below or using the handy search box in the side bar of this blog. Purchases made through this blog will support our homeschool. Thank you.

Saxon Math 2, Home Study Kit
Saxon Math 3, Home Study Kit
Saxon Mathematics Homeschool Manipulatives Kit

I thought this looked interesting. The History Channel has some free educational resources available.

Historians and other educators at The History Channel are creating multidisciplinary teacher’s manuals, available to educators on a complimentary basis. Each manual features primary sources, portfolio projects, vocabulary, and creative activities. Join teachers around America and get your students involved in the Save Our History initiative, where history combines with science, math, geography, and language arts topics to bring the past alive in the classroom. Indicate the manual of your choice. You may order all of the manuals listed.

I ordered some, but I didn’t want to wait until they came to post the link; they might not be available then.

Okay, now that I have a little time, I am going to rant a little about that anti-homeschooling post I was talking about yesterday.

Since kestrel9000 has since backpedaled from his original agreement with the statement that, “home schooling does more damage than it does good, and should not be allowed to be a continued practice,” I’m going to turn from his post and, instead, look at a few of the comments made there.

Maybe there is a distinction

I’m an educator and I’ve interacted with homeschooled students who come to me for private music lessons. There is a “right” way to homeschool such as mataliandy mentions downthread and there is the fundy way. There are plenty of legitimate homeschoolers out there. I’ve seen plenty of homeschoolers who go on to be successful in college and in their adult lives. The distinction should be made between Christofascist homeschooling and people who have children who do not fit into their school system for whatever reason.

And the comment by mataliandy referenced above…

Translation: If you agree with us, you should be allowed to homeschool, but if you don’t, then, no way.

I would like to think that the problem with that line of thinking is self-explanatory, but the blogosphere continues to chip away at my idealistic naivete on a daily basis, so I will attempt an explanation.

There is a “right” way to homeschool … and there is the fundy way.

Determining one’s fitness to homeschool based on whether or not you agree with their ideology and/or religious views is wrong for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is that you might not be the one deciding the fitness criterion in the future.

I mean, do you really want that line drawn when you want to homeschool, but the people deciding the acceptability standard are not like you?

I cannot believe there are actual participants in our democratic process that are so exclusive in how they think rights should be appropriated.

News flash: There is this little thing called Freedom of Religion that actually prohibits the government from disallowing certain parents to homeschool because they hold religious view you oppose.

*Deep breaths* …Charity suddenly remembers the downside to political blogging…

What I find funny is that what mataliandy describes is exactly what many “fundy” homeschooler do, in addition to teaching young earth creation and providential history.

So now what? How are you going to weed out the “bad” ones, huh? How will you separate out those using the “fundy method” if their kids can parrot back all of the facts you want them to know, but still believe what their parents believe? What then?

Here’s the thing, despite watching hours of “real” science videos and reading “real” science books from our secular library on evolution my kids still believe that God is creator, that He created man, and that we do not share a common ancestor with apes.

Oh yeah, and I didn’t tell them that.

I have actually tried to play Devil’s advocate and open their minds a little bit on the issue. I don’t fully know how to reconcile God and science. The Bible provides an insufficient account to know exactly what happened, so I don’t pretend to know all of the answers.

The bottom line is that they can pass all of the secular science tests that you could possibly throw at them, but they will likely still emerge from their homeschool experience believing in creation.

So how are you going to stop us from infecting our children with the fundy virus?

Here’s a word of advice; ripping them out of their home and putting them back in the public school that failed to meet their needs will only drive them further away from your world view.

The thing that really peeves me about this is that there are homeschoolers out there who refuse to recognize that all parents have a right to homeschool, not just the ones that attend the local Democracy for America meet-ups.

Okay, rant over. We now resume regularly scheduled bland, homeschool mommy blogging.

I’ve been staying away from political posts - heck, I’ve been staying away from politics altogether - but I had to get this off my chest. Besides, it came to me by way of the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Man, I can’t get away from those guys over at Green Mountain Daily. Even when I am not reading it, they find me.

Imagine my surprise when I went over to read the CoH and found that Ed Garcia (aka kestrel9000) was being taken to task by Alasandra for his anti-homeschooling post on Daily Kos.

I just wonder how these civil libertarians find a way to justify their view that the state has the right to force parents to raise their children a certain way (their way, of course).

One of these days I am going to take the time to do a montage of their deep-rooted hypocrisy and blatant double-standards.

Just not today.

The Carnival of Homeschooling is over at Why Homeschool this week with “The Top 10 Reasons to Homeschool.”

Last Christmas, I bought the kids the Smithsonian Frog Lab and we finally got around to doing it yesterday.

Basically, you put together a plastic frog skeleton, with rubbery organs, and place it into the two piece mold. Then, you mix a green powder with really warm water, stir for 10 minutes, and pour it into the mold. After it sets (about an hour), you have a “frog” to dissect.

Little E holding the frog

It’s really more like picking off the thick, gel-like substance with fake tools, and really not like a real dissection at all, but the kids had a good time with it.

The booklet that it comes with contains a lot of good information about frogs. It has an introduction that describes their life-cycle and a few other facts. Then, as you work through the dissection, it details the functions of each of the organs.

Overall, it is a fun alternative for anyone who does not want to do a real frog dissection.

If you read the reviews on Amazon, most people had a hard time putting it together. It was kind of a pain, but not a deal breaker, as far as I am concerned. I can’t remember the last kids’ toy that was not kind of a pain to put together.

The D doing the dissection

I was planning on having the kids help me pick out some 4th of July crafts and recipes to do together, take some pictures and write a post about it, with links, but they didn’t want to.

It’s all their fault. Really.

Okay, I also got into doing some other things, so I didn’t exactly beg them to do it.

In lieu of a great post with lots of pictures and links to things to do for the 4th, here is a link to Family Fun’s 4th of July page, with lots of pictures and links to things to do.

I know it’s cheating. I promise, I will make it up to you.

Our first year of homeschooling, we used grammar, phonics, and spelling workbooks for Language Arts. The kids hated it. They found the daily drills boring.

Even worse, not a day went by when I didn’t hear, “Why do we need to learn this?”

With a year of homeschooling under my belt, and a growing comfort with moving away from the way the public schools do education, I decided to find a more practical approach.

That’s when I found Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL). LLATL teaches all of the language arts skills through the context of literature passages.

Each week’s lesson contains a literature passage. The work for each day focuses on a different language arts skill that refers back to that passage.

In grades 4 and higher, there are also book studies throughout the year. The lessons following the book studies focus on literature passages from that book.

Never again did I hear the words, “Why do we need to learn this?” It was obvious why they needed to know these skills because they learned them in a practical context - reading and understanding literature.

The skills covered by LLATL include grammar, reading, spelling, vocabulary, writing mechanics, creative writing, thinking skills and more. You can view the full scope and sequence here.

We plan to order LLATL again this year. I found the LLATL program to be all we needed for language arts, however, I have read that some parents felt it was weak in spelling.

We do not focus on spelling drills and quizzes because the kids read so many books. I just figure they will pick up on spelling that way.

If you are a parent who would like to use LLATL, but would like more focus on spelling, I recommend using a free online program, such as Spelling Time.

If you would like to read other reviews on LLATL, Homeschool Reviews.com has some here.

If you decide to buy LLATL, please consider checking out Christian Book Distributors. I buy almost all of my homeschool books there because they have great prices. And if you follow this link to their LLATL page, and decide to purchase, you will also be supporting our homeschool.

Updated: I added a feature in the side bar that shows current eBay auctions for LLATL.