So I did it, I blogged everyday this month. Honestly, I didn't love doing it and I'm glad that it's over. I much prefer posting when I feel like it.
We started the reboot of Waldorf homeschool grade 6 today. I'm not going to allow myself to assess how it's going until we finish this block. First days tend to go well for us with plenty of enthusiasm on both sides; it's one to two weeks into a block that I have a good sense of how it is going.
It went slowly, but after a simple circle (candle lighting, singing, and beginning to learn a new verse) we started with our basics: Daily Grammar and a math fact sheet from Making Math Meaningful. We spent some time reviewing parts of speech (as we'll soon be incorporating Waldorf grammar into our mornings), then we had our math main lesson. And that was it. We won't start independent lesson time until next week. Today was PE so we didn't have a traditional afternoon lesson.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
More on Math
Today I went through some of the skills charts to evaluate where the boys are in terms of their math learning. I decided to leave off the higher math learning that they have out of sequence, such as multiplying in other number bases or solving algebra word problems and to simply find out where they are in terms of the their solid (rather than Swiss cheese) math knowledge.
I'd put them squarely in grade 5; they have grade 4 down and are working on some grade 5 and grade 6 skills. It helps to know where they are; I suppose this is why teachers and schools assess students. It feels a little unfair to leave out their higher math skills/knowledge, but I need to focus on the basics.
So my goal is to get them completely solid in all Waldorf math through grade 6 by the end of our homeschool year.
I've written before about the boys' love of Life of Fred and how they seem to be gaining skills but can't demonstrate them when it comes time to do the bridge problems. I'm thinking now that moving away from Waldorf math main lessons took away their opportunity to really connect with the math and take it to a deeper level of understanding. They get the Life of Fred math when we do it, but it isn't grounded and so they've mostly forgotten it by the time we get to the bridge.
I'm kind of bummed; I really thought that Life of Fred was a great program and had planned to use it with them through high school. Maybe it will be something that we can return to when the boys have more skills. In the meantime, I am going to suggest that they continue with it on their own during independent lesson time and we'll see how that goes.
We're moving directly into a math block using A Little Garden Flower; we're going to do the a grade 5 main lesson block from Melisa's book, A Journey Through Waldorf Math. That's right, we are going back and doing a grade 5 fractions block. I actually find that it is material that we have previously covered with Life of Fred, but it needs grounding.
We'll have two more Waldorf math main lesson blocks this homeschool year: Geometrical Drawing (Using Nature, Number, and Geometry from Live Education) and Business Math/Decimals and Percents using Making Math Meaningful. We'll also have daily math practice as well as a weekly math lesson using Making Math Meaningful to review math concepts from grades 4 and 5 and to bring in a lot of the other grade 6 math concepts such as casting out nines, ratios, statistics, graphing, etc.
I am reminded of how simple my goals were for Enki grade 2: reading at a Frog and Toad level and understanding place value. Whenever we got off track I simply reminded myself that those were the big goals for the year. This year it will be catching up to grade level in Waldorf math and learning the steps to write a basic research paper (research, outlining, summarizing, introductory sentences, sentence structure, conclusions, paragraph structure). Everything else is just along for the ride ...
Monday, November 28, 2011
Still Planning
I woke up this morning still uncertain as to how to proceed with our homeschool year, and thus spent the morning pouring over all the resources I have trying to puzzle it out.
Here are some of our main issues:
Live Education is at times uninspiring and very geared to the classroom vs. homeschool. I thought the boys would love the Mineralogy block because they love rocks and the things that make rocks such as volcanoes. But the block was mostly drawing and writing and they've hated what we've done so far.
The boys know a lot of ancient Greek history, leaving me uncertain as to whether or not we should do the second half of the block. Comparing a variety of Waldorf curricula it seems that Live Education is the only one that includes Greece in grade 6.
Roman History: my boys also know a lot of Roman History, having gone through When the World was Rome with Papa. I'm thinking of shortening the block and making it very experiential to help the seeds that have already been planted grow.
Math: how to proceed, how to fill in the holes in their math education, how to build math confidence.
Writing: same issues as with math.
So ... I think I have a new plan:
We won't finish Mineralogy as a block; we'll continue to explore the subject more organically. We have several great books and guides plus a plethora of rock samples.
We won't do the second block on Ancient Greece.
We will combine both Roman History blocks into one block, placing a focus on experiential learning vs. typical classroom learning.
We'll do a math main lesson block for the next 2 - 3 weeks (using Making Math Meaningful), then move new math learning to Thursday afternoons (taking the time slot previously allotted to completing any unfinished lesson work). Math practice will still happen daily, and the boys will use Life of Fred on their own. We'll keep the Geometrical Drawing block but will move it to February.
We'll keep the Physics, Astronomy, and Middle Ages blocks as planned. However, I need to evaluate what to do with the astronomy block as again, my boys (J-Baby in particular) have spent countless hours reading about astronomy, watching astronomy documentaries (okay, not countless hours there, but more than one or two), and looking at the night sky.
We'll add in a World Geography block as most of the other resources I have suggest this in grade 6, although Live Education doesn't.
Our Tuesday Literature lesson will have a stronger focus on writing; I will decrease the main lesson writing accordingly. In addition, the boys will resume daily journal writing (which I will not correct, but will use as a tool to help me see where more writing instruction is needed).
We'll see how it all goes. This is generally the time of year that they really want a more relaxed homeschooling / unschooling experience so I am going against their rhythm a bit, but I think I can draw them in.
Here are some of our main issues:
Live Education is at times uninspiring and very geared to the classroom vs. homeschool. I thought the boys would love the Mineralogy block because they love rocks and the things that make rocks such as volcanoes. But the block was mostly drawing and writing and they've hated what we've done so far.
The boys know a lot of ancient Greek history, leaving me uncertain as to whether or not we should do the second half of the block. Comparing a variety of Waldorf curricula it seems that Live Education is the only one that includes Greece in grade 6.
Roman History: my boys also know a lot of Roman History, having gone through When the World was Rome with Papa. I'm thinking of shortening the block and making it very experiential to help the seeds that have already been planted grow.
Math: how to proceed, how to fill in the holes in their math education, how to build math confidence.
Writing: same issues as with math.
So ... I think I have a new plan:
We won't finish Mineralogy as a block; we'll continue to explore the subject more organically. We have several great books and guides plus a plethora of rock samples.
We won't do the second block on Ancient Greece.
We will combine both Roman History blocks into one block, placing a focus on experiential learning vs. typical classroom learning.
We'll do a math main lesson block for the next 2 - 3 weeks (using Making Math Meaningful), then move new math learning to Thursday afternoons (taking the time slot previously allotted to completing any unfinished lesson work). Math practice will still happen daily, and the boys will use Life of Fred on their own. We'll keep the Geometrical Drawing block but will move it to February.
We'll keep the Physics, Astronomy, and Middle Ages blocks as planned. However, I need to evaluate what to do with the astronomy block as again, my boys (J-Baby in particular) have spent countless hours reading about astronomy, watching astronomy documentaries (okay, not countless hours there, but more than one or two), and looking at the night sky.
We'll add in a World Geography block as most of the other resources I have suggest this in grade 6, although Live Education doesn't.
Our Tuesday Literature lesson will have a stronger focus on writing; I will decrease the main lesson writing accordingly. In addition, the boys will resume daily journal writing (which I will not correct, but will use as a tool to help me see where more writing instruction is needed).
We'll see how it all goes. This is generally the time of year that they really want a more relaxed homeschooling / unschooling experience so I am going against their rhythm a bit, but I think I can draw them in.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
What To Do Tomorrow
Tonight I am pondering whether we should finish our Mineralogy block or start our second Ancient Greece block. I hate the idea of pushing everything back and am leaning toward starting Ancient Greece and weaving the rest of Mineralogy into the afternoons.
I'm also trying to figure out a new approach to math. I am thinking that Life of Fred is going to be something that the boys do on their own and I will bring math to them using Making Math Meaningful. They are so caught up on the importance of the bridges in Life of Fred and I can't tell if they make mistakes because it is a big scary test or if they truly don't know the material. Talking to them they can demonstrate that they do know it, so I am at a loss.
I don't want to abandon Life of Fred completely; it actually is the best math curriculum we've used in terms of holding the boys' attention and helping them want to do math. They love everything about it except those pesky bridges. I do think that in part it is test anxiety and in part it is that they do so much of their learning orally and they need to learn to do math from written exercises that they read rather than have read to them. I'm learning the there is a difference in terms of how they process the information. Since I have to assume that there won't always be someone there to read their word problems to them I need to help them learn to take in the information through reading it themselves.
I'm also going to bring in more Waldorf grammar using Earthschooling. I miss the grammar we did with Oak Meadow G4 (probably one of the best thing we did using that curriculum for those few months). Daily Grammar works, but it isn't that fun. The boys will continue with Daily Grammar on their own to increase their skills and understanding of grammar.
I think the biggest change may be that I will be giving the boys more work to do on their own; I am thinking of it as preparation for the high school years when I do expect them to take on more responsibility for their own learning. I am planning 45 - 60 minutes in the afternoon for them to do this work; it's kind of like homework for homeschooling. I'm not exactly for homework as it is given out now to publicly-schooled children, however, I do know that some basic study skills are needed for college. Anyway, we'll give it a try.
I'm also trying to figure out a new approach to math. I am thinking that Life of Fred is going to be something that the boys do on their own and I will bring math to them using Making Math Meaningful. They are so caught up on the importance of the bridges in Life of Fred and I can't tell if they make mistakes because it is a big scary test or if they truly don't know the material. Talking to them they can demonstrate that they do know it, so I am at a loss.
I don't want to abandon Life of Fred completely; it actually is the best math curriculum we've used in terms of holding the boys' attention and helping them want to do math. They love everything about it except those pesky bridges. I do think that in part it is test anxiety and in part it is that they do so much of their learning orally and they need to learn to do math from written exercises that they read rather than have read to them. I'm learning the there is a difference in terms of how they process the information. Since I have to assume that there won't always be someone there to read their word problems to them I need to help them learn to take in the information through reading it themselves.
I'm also going to bring in more Waldorf grammar using Earthschooling. I miss the grammar we did with Oak Meadow G4 (probably one of the best thing we did using that curriculum for those few months). Daily Grammar works, but it isn't that fun. The boys will continue with Daily Grammar on their own to increase their skills and understanding of grammar.
I think the biggest change may be that I will be giving the boys more work to do on their own; I am thinking of it as preparation for the high school years when I do expect them to take on more responsibility for their own learning. I am planning 45 - 60 minutes in the afternoon for them to do this work; it's kind of like homework for homeschooling. I'm not exactly for homework as it is given out now to publicly-schooled children, however, I do know that some basic study skills are needed for college. Anyway, we'll give it a try.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
A Gluten Free Thanksgiving
This year I decided to make our entire Thanksgiving meal gluten free; our entire family (Papa, the boys, and I) all eat gluten free and my SIL and BIL are amenable to it. I wasn't sure how my MIL and her boyfriend would take it, but she doesn't usually complain and since Papa didn't put up a fight I decided to do it my way. My SIL did bring a traditional pumpkin pie that the non-GF folks ate.
There are plenty of ways to have a gluten free Thanksgiving. Many dishes traditionally served at Thanksgiving are naturally gluten free; the turkey, the ham (unless you buy a Honey-Baked Ham in California), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad, and vegetables are easy. Gravy can be made gluten free by using potato or corn starch as a thickener instead of wheat flour. Cornbread stuffing can be made with gluten free cornbread, and depending where you live you might not have to make the cornbread from scratch (I chose to).
Rolls and desserts are the hardest; pie is the most traditional Thanksgiving dessert there is, and what is a feast without rolls?
For the rolls I went with Chebe rolls; they are a naturally gluten free roll that comes from Brazil. They aren't what you think of when you think of that quintessentially tender, yeasty dinner roll, but they worked. Other than the kids most of our family limits their carb intake anyway.
But the pie -- how to make pie? The easiest thing to do is to make a cookie crumb crust; gingersnap crust has been my go to for the past 5 years. This year I went all out with a gluten free pastry crust and it was ... meh. I'll have to work more on a recipe as the one I pulled from the internet didn't work. It looked beautiful, was okay (not terrific) to work with, but only tasted so-so. The sweet potato pie with gingersnap crust was far superior.
Other desserts ideas are pumpkin or sweet potato custard without the crust, gluten free fruit crisps, and even gluten free cakes made with fall fruits; I made a pear cake as J-Baby doesn't like pie. In the end we had too much dessert, but that is a post for another day.
There are plenty of ways to have a gluten free Thanksgiving. Many dishes traditionally served at Thanksgiving are naturally gluten free; the turkey, the ham (unless you buy a Honey-Baked Ham in California), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad, and vegetables are easy. Gravy can be made gluten free by using potato or corn starch as a thickener instead of wheat flour. Cornbread stuffing can be made with gluten free cornbread, and depending where you live you might not have to make the cornbread from scratch (I chose to).
Rolls and desserts are the hardest; pie is the most traditional Thanksgiving dessert there is, and what is a feast without rolls?
For the rolls I went with Chebe rolls; they are a naturally gluten free roll that comes from Brazil. They aren't what you think of when you think of that quintessentially tender, yeasty dinner roll, but they worked. Other than the kids most of our family limits their carb intake anyway.
But the pie -- how to make pie? The easiest thing to do is to make a cookie crumb crust; gingersnap crust has been my go to for the past 5 years. This year I went all out with a gluten free pastry crust and it was ... meh. I'll have to work more on a recipe as the one I pulled from the internet didn't work. It looked beautiful, was okay (not terrific) to work with, but only tasted so-so. The sweet potato pie with gingersnap crust was far superior.
Other desserts ideas are pumpkin or sweet potato custard without the crust, gluten free fruit crisps, and even gluten free cakes made with fall fruits; I made a pear cake as J-Baby doesn't like pie. In the end we had too much dessert, but that is a post for another day.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Buy Nothing Day
I try to observe Buy Nothing Day, I really do. I've done so since 1997 when it was first brought to the U.S. I plan for us to eat at home and spend time in nature, and mostly it works. Every now and then, however, Papa decides that shopping must be done. I've learned to go with it. Luckily this year nothing has grabbed his fancy.
I'd love to claim some higher ideal in not going shopping on Black Friday, but really, I'm lazy. There is no way that I'd wake up before dawn or wait in line to get into a store, just to buy something. I don't want to save money that badly. There is nothing that I need or want so much that I'd suffer the cold or a lack of sleep.
And really, I like to make gifts. They don't always go over as well as I'd like, but neither do store bought gifts. So the list of what I need to buy for the holidays each year is rather short.
My boys? There is nothing they need to buy either and luckily for my they don't like crowds either. They don't even really like shopping. However, if they have cash and if the comic book store is offering a store wide discount for Black Friday there isn't anything Ican will do to stop them from buying something. I am the keeper of my own conscience only.
So today I am reading, walking, knitting, eating, and relaxing. On the best Buy Nothing Day my car never leaves the driveway, and that is exactly how I like it.
I'd love to claim some higher ideal in not going shopping on Black Friday, but really, I'm lazy. There is no way that I'd wake up before dawn or wait in line to get into a store, just to buy something. I don't want to save money that badly. There is nothing that I need or want so much that I'd suffer the cold or a lack of sleep.
And really, I like to make gifts. They don't always go over as well as I'd like, but neither do store bought gifts. So the list of what I need to buy for the holidays each year is rather short.
My boys? There is nothing they need to buy either and luckily for my they don't like crowds either. They don't even really like shopping. However, if they have cash and if the comic book store is offering a store wide discount for Black Friday there isn't anything I
So today I am reading, walking, knitting, eating, and relaxing. On the best Buy Nothing Day my car never leaves the driveway, and that is exactly how I like it.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
A gremlin ate my Thanksgiving post ~ I swear I saw it here yesterday, complete with a photo of a cute gnome. Oh well, if you celebrate Thanksgiving I hope yours was fantastic.
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