Academic Cycle 2012-13 - Callin' It Done, Year in Review

It seems at the end of every conventional school year (i.e. the September - June timeframe) I am awash with feelings of inadequacy, shortcomings, and the conviction that I have not done enough to teach my kids this year. Then I sit down and write year-in-review post that causes me to realize once again that we are doing just fine, and all is well. I asked the kids what they thought we did well this year and their immediate response was science and writing and history. I asked them where they thought I dropped the ball, and without hesitation and in unison, they said, "Geography!" which is both of their favorite subject. :-/ hmmm...Sorry about that, guys.

This last week Matt wrapped up his history timeline work, writing, and grammar. It is a perfect place to leave off for the next couple of weeks while we prepare for vacation and take a break and regroup for our next cycle of study.

This year I made a major decision to abandon the conventional school year concept and do lessons through the summer, allowing us to take time whenever we need it without the inevitable feeling of "falling behind." I find that I am pushing back against all of the in-the-box thinking about schedules and curricula and what a kid "must" do in order to have a good education. Education, intelligence, and the concept of "school" is such a fluid concept anymore that I honestly believe that we as parents can pretty well choose from any number of options for our kids and have them be "okay," and even far exceed "okay" by public school standards. I have a feeling when our kids look back on their educations they will look nothing like those that their parents received. My son could already attest to this. It has worked well for us so far to allow ourselves the flexibility to take longer breaks if we need to or to work longer than what is expected or recommended in a curriculum on the assignments given. Other things were finished in less time than they would normally take. This gave us the time to develop other things such as taking a hard look at our diet and fitness, and getting deeply involved in the local CrossFit community. (Stop by and see what we've been doing at the Accidental CrossFitter!)

learning to cook

In a nutshell, this is what we covered in lessons for this 2012-2013 cycle:

Tapestry of Grace year 4 units 1 and 2. We covered these slowly and went a bit deeper into the WW2 portion of the year's study. There were many fruitful conversations over dinner. Matt interviewed his grandfather who was one of the Japanese Americans sent to internment camps, and from that wrote his first essay about how the Japanese side of our family was impacted by the war. I am extremely proud of his efforts.

We covered wonderful literature: War Horse, Private Peaceful (Morpugo), The Call of the Wild (London), Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery), The Secret Garden (Burnett), The Railway Children (Nesbitt), Pollyanna (Porter), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Baum), The Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis), The Hobbit (Tolkien),  Our Town (Wilder), Peter Pan (Barrie), Swallows and Amazons (Ransome), Mr. Popper's Penguins (Atwater)

These selections lead to both of the kids consuming much more literature than is listed here. Matt went on to read the entire Oz series, and Molly is continuing through the Swallows and Amazon series, and has listened to the entire Chronicles of Narnia several times through. The only book of these selections that Matt did not cover was Mr. Popper's Penguins, but otherwise this list is complete for him. Molly did not cover Private Peaceful or The Call of the Wild due to the difficult themes in these titles. We also read some wonderful biographies of Eric Liddel, Amy Carmichael, and Corrie TenBoom. Matt, Dad and I read Unbroken (Hillenbrand), the biography of Louis Zamparini, which has become one of my all-time favorite books.

We completed Apologia's Anatomy and Physiology book and notebook (Jr. notebook for Molly), complete with experiments. These became some of the highlights of the school year.

frog dissection

the frog's parts on display!

In math, Matt finished Math U See Zeta and began the Pre-Algebra book. Molly is essentially finished with Beta and will move on to Gamma when we return from break.

In writing, Molly finished Writing With Ease 1 (WWE) and began WWE 2. Writing is her favorite subject. Matt worked steadily through lesson 11 of Writing With Skill (WWS). I had set a two-year goal for WWS 1, and we are on track to complete it in that timeframe, or sooner. As his writing skills continue to develop he is able to complete the assignments in less time. Writing is not his favorite subject!

In grammar, Matt is continuing to work through Analytical Grammar. He finds this to be very tedious and describes it as difficult, but from my perspective it is thorough and challenging. He understands it and does well on the tests. I know that at this point he doesn't appreciate all the parsing and diagramming, but hopefully he will see the value of it in the future.

Matt also completed Vocabulary from Classical Roots 1 and Logic Liftoff, and is currently working through Caesar's English and Phonetic Zoo list B.

Reading with Molly has been an area that has caused me some consternation. I have been concerned that she would not develop into a "reader" but I think if I examine her behavior patterns where books are concerned, I can put my fears to rest. In her progress with reading and phonics (she finished the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading this year, and has been working through All About Spelling) she had not demonstrated that "click" that seemed to happen with Matt around this age, in which his reading fluency suddenly leapt up and he was able to read just about anything. She still struggles with reading aloud, but has decidedly improved her silent reading fluency. The lover of good literature in me cringes when I consider the source of this improvement, but it has come from her love of the Rainbow and Pet Fairy book series. Mercifully, these have helped to greatly increase her fluency and enjoyment of reading, and she will now voluntarily sit down and read these. To my delight I will hear her in the other room laughing hysterically at something she read in the books. To me those books are like death by a thousand cuts, but to my fanciful, fantasy-loving girlie-girl, they are wonderful, so read on, dear girl! For her read-aloud skills she has been reading Socks (Cleary) to me. We both enjoy Beverly Cleary, and so I can endure the very slow process of having her read this out loud. On her own, she devours audiobooks, listens to me read aloud to her and reads her picture books to herself. I don't think I need to be concerned about whether or not she will be a "reader."

In March, both kids began attending an art class. Matt concluded his study of piano, fulfilling his 5 years of music study, which is what I originally had hoped for him to do. That is a huge accomplishment, but I cannot deny that I am a bit sad that he has not given it even a cursory backward glance, and does not miss it at all. He even said he had a nightmare the other night that I made him go back to piano lessons! They are both doing very well in the art class and will continue that through the summer.

After reading through what I have written here, I can breathe a sigh of relief. I am pleased with the progress that both of my kids have made this year, and I can trust that, once again, the Lord has guided our efforts. I have grown as a mom this year, learned how to let go a little bit more, and learned how to invest in myself to help me be stronger, healthier and better for them. More on that in a separate post. 

As we close this cycle, I look forward to changing gears a bit, heading back into ancient history and a deeper examination of the roots of our faith and spiritual heritage. It will be an exciting journey with Tapestry of Grace, Year 1 I think.

Wordless Wednesday: Let Me See!

Week 25: Tips, Tricks and Major Accomplishments!

Tip 
I'll admit it. This winter I have been struggling to find a groove, as I have mentioned in previous posts. The addition of 3 days out of the house for workouts, plus two for the kids has meant that I have easily become disorganized with the more bookish lessons. Something motivated me last week to sit down and make a very simple assignment chart for them for the week, and it proved so helpful. I have used assignment charts before, over and over, and they always seem to be only moderately helpful for us, but this one, this week WORKED.

Trick
I also made a shift in how I asked DD7 to approach her math lessons. Rather than plopping down two sheets of math for her to do, I asked her to do as much as she could in 30 minutes, and what she didn't finish she would need complete before free time / computer time as "homework" for lack of a better term. (Thanks to my friend Heather for giving me the idea to do it.) It has worked beautifully. She no longer feels overwhelmed by the amount of math she needs to do, and stays more focused on the task so as to avoid the homework.

Major Accomplishment! (aka Bragging Mom Alert!)
The major accomplishment of the week is that my son finished his first full essay! He wrote a paper about his Japanese family's situation during WWII. It was a difficult assignment for several reasons. First he was writing more than he has ever written at once, so the length of the task was daunting. Second, he was writing from information he had gathered from a lengthy interview with his grandfather in which he took notes. We also recorded the interview, but he primarily used his notes. The spelling and some of the facts, dates and places were a bit sketchy in his memory, as he was a young child at the time of the Japanese relocation, so it was up to us to do a bit of research and match up our information with public records. To add to the challenge, this information was difficult for DS 11 to put into words because it was personal, and he felt a strong desire to please his dad and grandfather with the final product. Finally, in the middle of the paper the poor guy got delayed by a stomach bug, and set us back a week. What we thought would take one solid week to accomplish took several, with quite a few touch-ups and tweaks. The end product, however was well worth the effort, and I am so proud of him! It was a major goal we had set for this school year to integrate history, family history, and writing skills.

Now that this major project is done, we will wrap up the end of WWII and Unit two of Tapestry of Grace, finish our last chapter of science and the "school year" will be over. We will go away on our annual beach vacation, and then through the summer we will do "summer school" type lessons in math, grammar, writing, and possibly geography. I am working on a plan for that, since the kids tell me that is where I "dropped the ball" this year. I can see the light at the end, and I am so ready for vacation! A glorious week at the beach to play and soak up the sun with my favorite people cannot come soon enough. Well, yes it can. I have a lot of prep-work to do to get ready for the trip!

Summer vacation is coming soon! 

Paradigm Shifts, Finding Balance

As I sat down to write this morning I thought, "It's been a few weeks..." I didn't realize it had been more than two months since I last blogged. Partly it has been due to the Accidental CrossFitter and the more frequent posts there, but it is more than just the blog. CrossFit certainly has cut into my free time, and I am gone from the house for approximately 6 hours per week to sustain this habit. This has been a huge paradigm shift for me emotionally and physically. For years I have been hearing the advice that we need to let some things go in order to achieve balance, but  I don't know that I have ever really been able to achieve that. My own maxim to myself is, "You cannot do two things well." I suppose this is my own version of letting something go.

This year CrossFit has been the thing that we have done really well. Cleaning, getting the laundry done, having lessons planned well each week--not so much. Even so, every member of the family has benefitted from the impact CF has had on our life. But in order to get the stuff of daily life done, I am having to learn how to train my children to do jobs and then actually delegate work to them, I am having to learn how to accept a dirtier kitchen floor than I am comfortable with, I am having to consider year round lessons to allow for the fluctuations in our life that seem to be inevitable. However, in the process of learning how to let things go a bit, I have learned that fitness and health is a top priority in my life, and one that needs to remain.

The flip side of this paradigm shift has been sorting out what is essential in our homeschool priorities. Somehow, despite my feelings of being scattered and disorganized this year (i.e. school did not fit into a tidy 9-3 timeframe), we are about to finish exactly what we have needed to complete this school year. Science is nearly finished, Matt finished his math curriculum and has started pre-algebra, Molly has somehow learned her addition and subtraction facts and has figured out how to regroup, tell time and count money, her reading level has improved, we have digested plenty of good literature, and learned about the first half of  the 20th century, which was my goal with Tapestry of Grace this year, and none of it has looked like I thought it would.

I suppose this is the journey. As our children change, are we ready to change, as well? My year has not looked the way I thought it would, but it has looked like this, and I am more than okay with that:

Molly reading to me on the deck on a beautiful spring day

an especially tough WOD that Matt crushed

working up to a 105# dead lift

Making friends at CF

prepping the garden for spring planting

learning how to make everything Paleo, like this...

and this...

and this...though I did already know how to roast a chicken I've
just been doing it more often and better than ever...

science activities...

and dissections with friends...

It has been a good year. Neat and tidy it has not been, which is why I have not been doing my usual weekly updates, but it has been productive, and it has been good. In the next month we will be wrapping up the traditional school year and will embark on our first time working through the summer on lessons. I hope to establish a simple routine that will keep us moving on math, grammar, writing and also get a jump start on the Tapestry of Grace, year 1, so that when we need breaks during the winter months, we can take them. 

I continue to learn as I go. Learning to let go of my own expectations is the hardest lesson of all...

On Courage

CrossFit continues to challenge me on every level. Here I must venture into boldly proclaiming my faith through my writing. This, too, takes courage. I hope you are encouraged, and are able to apply the same to your homeschooling. These choices require us to set aside fear...

Benchmark #4: Courage

Week 17...History, Geography and Dissections, Oh My!

Since October 25, my life has been overwhelmed by a lifestyle decision--that in order to be healthy, I was going to have to break down and finally get some exercise. The first three months of this choice have been wonderful, difficult, exhilarating, and overwhelming! Figuring out how to balance three days of going to the box (it's a box, it's not a "gym") and still get school done has been a bit of a trick, but we've been doing okay. I have taken every opportunity to get the kids involved in the process of changing our health and fitness. They continue to love attending CrossFit Kids, and Matt is going to participate in his first CF competition in a couple of weeks! Along with the fitness emphasis, I have also enjoyed spending time with my girl in the kitchen. It is wonderful to see both kids interested in making healthier choices in our diet, as well.

Making bone broth in the pressure cooker

Don't worry, I corrected her right after I snapped the photo!

This week, however, I made the serendipitous mistake of sleeping past my WOD time. The kids were not at all eager to have me rushing out the door to make it to class, so I went to the 3:30 p.m. class instead. What a difference that made in our day! I decided to see if it was just a fluke and went at the same time on Wednesday, and again, it was a great school day! Regular exercise and diet change has also blessed me with sustained energy throughout the day, and so I am able to stay focused, clear-headed and in control of the tasks, allowing us to get far more done. The result was that in this week my CrossFit life and homeschool life came into balance, and actually complemented, rather than competed with each other. I realize in light of this that it's been a while since I did a thorough weekly report, and so today I will bring everything up to date.

Math and language lessons are going well. Matt has begun working through the Art of Problem Solving's Pre-Algebra book, and Molly is doing multi-digit subtraction. Matt is wrapping up week 8 of Writing with Skill (we take two weeks per lesson) and continued his work in Analytical Grammar.
In history the kids have been learning about the beginning of WWI, and I continue to be impressed at the level of reading Matt is willing to do on the subject. He asked me to get a copy of Mein Kampf so he could try to read it. I obliged, of course. He is reading a biography of Roosevelt, and various other selections. One of his favorite books this year has been the very well-written and illustrated World Wars book, published by Usborne. We also colored maps that showed the extent of Germany's domination in Europe, and compared that to modern-day maps. We are also reading the story of Corrie Ten Boom together aloud.

In literature Molly listened to Mr. Popper's Penguins and Matt is reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Together we are listening to the unabridged Fellowship of the Ring.

In science, we are continuing our studies of Anatomy and Physiology, and both absolutely love the lessons, the notebook pages, and the labs. This week we dissected a sheep heart and a frog. I was amazed at how the kids were not grossed out by the experience at all, but rather wanted to see, feel and identify everything. The smell of the specimens was far more difficult for them to tolerate than any other aspect of the experience (as evidenced by many of my daughter's facial expressions!) Both of them thoroughly enjoyed the lab, despite the nauseated looks. It was great that Dad got to be part of the experience, too, as he happened to have the day off.

Excited to get started!

Dad this smells gross!

We found the aorta!

Using the probe to pass through the aorta into the left ventricle.

The kids really enjoyed identifying the muscles, digestive organs, liver, kidneys and heart of the frog, which they have learned in previous chapters.

Proud of their work!