Lisa's Logbook - January 20

In our home education last week... My oldest has decided to go to a local comic con coming up in May and is making a Master Chief (Halo) suit out of foam and hot glue and paint. I'll put up some more pictures later but here is one. My younger son (age 13) also decided to make a costume, inspired by his brother, yet a bit daunted by the difference in their abilities. This is the 13yo's first project like this and the 18yo has made several things of this nature before. NOTE: This was not part of their "curriculum" per se; they both had all their regular lessons to do.

What's working for us: having my 3 older kids enroll  in the writing classes I am teaching. During the fall semester, they did not join in the classes. But this time I wanted my 13yo and 15yo to practice their basic essay writing skills and I definitely wanted my 18yo to take my Advanced Essay Writing Techniques workshop since he will be off to college in the fall. You can read more about my writing classes by clicking the links in the sidebar.

One place we visited: I took my younger two children (ages 10 and 13) to the circus on Friday morning. We also took along one of my daughter's friends as a birthday gift for her friend. Fun!

We're reading:

Uncle Tom's Cabin - my high schoolers are reading for their American Lit class

A Wrinkle in Time - my 7th grader is reading this

Pilgrim's Progress, simplified - my 5th grader

Pride and Prejudice - a re-read for both me and Emily for book club

The Freedom Writer's Diary - reading with my sisters and mom to discuss at Sister Weekend

...then just stay fat by Shannon Sorrels - a Kindle freebie I am reading

Walking with Bilbo - a devotional I am reading

I'm grateful for:  Forgiveness. Yep. 

My favorite thing this week: getting together with my friends to watch a movie and chat. So relaxing! Oh wait, did you want to know about my favorite homeschooling stuff?

Favorite Resource this Week: The blue colored overlay you see Suzy using in the pic at right does help my 18yo read better. He has found some success using the blue overlay; he tried some other colors but they weren't as helpful. Suzy hasn't found them to be as useful as David does but we are still experimenting with colors. You can buy expensive colored overlays designed to treat scotopic sensitivity syndrome (aka Irlen syndrome), but I made do with colored transparencies from the office supply store (I think I bought some single sheets at a local store, but it's been so long that I cannot recall where now) or amazon - here's one choice. 

Helpful homeschooling advice to share… Insist they do things they don't want to do. They'll be stronger for it and may even thank you later. (Or at least admit that the experience was beneficial.)

Questions I have: How does one know if one has attained that ideal balance between laziness and industriousness? LOL

A photo to share… That's Monkey-Toed Suzy up there demonstrating one of her unorthodox reading poses. Hey, whatever gets her reading is fine with me. The pic was from October.

I am inspired by… my friend Jennifer who completed a half-marathon today - at Disneyland! You rock, Jen!

Coming up this week: Ice Skating at a local rink, Open gym at a local gymnastics studio, and a kids retreat for my youngest! Fun times!

Lisa's Logbook - January 11

In our home education this week, we started in on an ambitiously planned January schedule. 

What's working for us: Making the kids earn their screen time by doing physical activity.

Places we went and people we saw: DOCTORS - I visited the doctor's office three times this week. Once with my husband (check-up), once with 3 of my kids (well child and immunizations - yes, we do those), and once ALL BY MYSELF (the ever-so-enjoyable annual PAP smear and physical). Three different doctors, all in the same building, on three consecutive days. Bob also had a cardiologist appointment that he went to without me.

We're reading:

• Uncle Tom's Cabin (my 12th and 10th graders, for their American Lit class)
• Les Miserables (me and my 10th grader, for our book club)
• My Side of the Mountain (my 7th grader)
• Pilgrim's Progress, simplified (my 5th grader)
• Walking with Bilbo devotional (me)

I'm grateful for: my 5th grader rising to the challenge of a difficult reading book. She is doing well! My hope was that she would find that she is more capable than she (or I) thought she was. And it's true!

My favorite thing this week: challenging my children to find opportunities to pray throughout each day using ideas like THESE from Barbara Bartocci.  Here's one that I hope we all learn: The count-to-60, stop-a-fight prayer. Ever burst out in anger and regretted your words later? Next time, count to 60 this way: one-for God, two-for-God…

Favorite Resource this Week: The Body Book: : Easy-to-Make Hands-on Models That Teach by Donald M. Silver

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share: I am not sure how helpful this is and it is rather humbling to think along these lines, but when I was a brand new homeschool mom (and formerly employed teacher) with a kindergartener, a preschooler, and a baby, I knew more about "the right way" to homeschool than I know now as the mom of a senior, a sophomore, a seventh grader, and a fifth grader. Crazy, eh?

A link to share…  A sad cautionary tale on the Love, Light, Laughter & Chocolate blog. 

Coming up next week: A visit to the circus with my two youngest children; my oldest has an orthodontist visit

Lisa's Logbook - December 2

One place we visited: Suzy and I went to Port Huron today to see The Nutcracker. A friend of ours danced in the production. We had a lovely time attending with some good friends - lunch beforehand and ice cream (or coffee) afterwards. 

We are reading: David and Emily will be reading a couple O. Henry short stories for American Lit and then getting a head-start on Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Emily will be picking up an abridged version of Les Miserables to read for book club. I am now 1/3 done with the UNabridged Les Miserables; that is a HUMONGOUS book! James and Suzy both need new books and I haven't chosen them yet! Emily and I also are both reading The Hobbit in the next couple weeks to get ready for our book club going to see the movie together!

I'm grateful for: my Android phone I got for my birthday - love it! I can stay in touch so much easier now. And my kids can use it too for fun and educational apps. Very very pleased. (It's the HTC One V from Virgin mobile.)

Red Belt Promotion - PKSA Karate

My favorite thing this week: Getting promoted to red belt in karate! Halfway to black belt now....

Favorite Resource this Week: the boxes of Christmas stuff! Lots of crafty odds and ends in there that the kids are excited about.

Homeschooling advice to share: Don't do too much too soon with your younger kids. Let them discover the joy of learning.

A challenge we face: Getting everyone up and ready in the morning takes a lot of energy from me. Still! Wouldn't you think that kids this age could manage to get up on their own and get ready?

A link to share: Ditch Your Office Chair for a New ‘Standing Desk’ (We sit too much, meaning we as Americans, or maybe just first world civilization.)

I am inspired by: reading great literature

A homeschool debate we are living: Do I let the teens sleep in? And that usually means letting the elementary schooler sleep in too....

Coming up this week: Christmas School! Stay tuned! Also a Christmas party with our homeschool group, featuring rollerskating and cookies!

Lisa's Logbook - November 24

What's working for us: I love starting the day with Bible lessons. We sing and pray and read the Word together. If you want to know more about how we do it, check this blog post. 

One place we visited: my friend's temporary rental house. She and her family were displaced from their home due to water damage back in September. The place they are staying is lovely and very pleasant. We had book club there Saturday night and Sunday we gathered for a write-in. 

We are reading: David and Emily have begun reading Walden by Thoreau. James is still working on The Hobbit and Suzy is reading a book about Arabian Nights. Emily will be picking up an abridged version of Les Miserables to read for book club and David will finish The Slumber of Christianity. I am now 1/5 done with the UNabridged Les Miserables and I like it!

I'm grateful for: friends that keep me sane

My favorite thing this week: Seeing my kids working so hard on their novels!

Favorite Resource this Week: Well, this was a light week for us and I let the kids sleep in. So, beds are a great resource. LOL

Homeschooling advice to share: Have your children do a LOT of writing - fiction, non-fiction, letters, lists, all kinds of writing. SO important! 

A link to share: My middle school composition class is learning to summarize fiction. Here's a helpful link for you to use with your children: Steps to Writing a Story Summary

I am inspired by: writing! The more I write, the happier I am!

Coming up next week: James will be 13. Suzy and I will be watching a performance of the Nutcracker and a friend of our family is dancing in the production. We have co-op which is always a fun day for us.

Lisa's Logbook - November 19

In our home education this last week...

What's working for us: A non-workbook-oriented approach to literature. I've tried a few of the more popular language arts curriculum but none of them fit my goals very well. So mainly I have my students read real literature (instead of lit textbooks) and write about them or discuss them with me. The writing could be journal entries, essays, or answers to comprehension questions (rarely). 

One place we visited: Lone Wolf Paintball in Metamora - David and James celebrated their birthdays (a bit early) at the oldest paintball field in Michigan on Saturday. They had a WONDERFUL time.

We were reading: Our reading is pretty much the same as last week. David continues with Ted Dekker's Slumber of Christianity and Emily continues her Jane Austen biography. They are both almost done with their American Literature reading - James Fenimore Cooper's Homeward Bound. James has begun The Hobbit, apparently the first time he's read it! Suzy is reading a selection of easy readers and doing better and better all the time. Les Miserables is my audiobook of the moment and I am just over 1/10 done yet. As far as print material, I am skimming through a ton of magazines.

I'm grateful for: David's second attempt at the ACT yielded an additional point on his score, hopefully increasing his eligibility for merit-based financial aid. He does not plan to retake the test a third time.

My favorite thing [last] week: Staying home for a whole day on Tuesday. That doesn't happen often! OK, and the free massage I had on Wednesday was a close second.

Favorite Resource this Week: Teaching Textbooks has been working really well for us this year, mainly due to the automated grading. Grading math is one thing that I was grateful to eliminate from my daily schedule. The instructional lectures on CD seem to work well for my kids, especially my senior who is doing Pre-Calculus. My struggling math learner has a harder time with this more independent method, so her dad works with her one-on-one most days. For the younger kids, the math 'worksheets' are on the computer. Pre-Calculus is not structured that way, so my senior does his math in a notebook and self-checks his work.

Homeschooling advice to share: Find other people to work with you to enrich your child's education. Especially as they move into their high school years, make them accountable to other people. Provide opportunities for other instructors to work with your children so that they get used to different teaching style and varying levels of expectation regarding performance. For us, our homeschool co-op provides many chances for my kids to work with different adults. Our karate class is another good example of this environment. As a writing instructor, my classes for homeschool students are increasingly designed to teach students study skills in addition to the writing skills parents expect.

Questions I have: I am wondering if All About Spelling will work for my struggling learner whom I suspect is dyslexic. Anyone have input?

A link to share: Here's a printable Bible reading chart that David is using this year. I set him the goal to read through the whole Bible during his senior year. 

I am inspired by: One of the karate masters addressing our class after our belt testing. He told us we had a strong test and encouraged us to keep progressing in martial arts.

Coming up next [this] week: Thanksgiving! Lots of writing! Hopefully some social time. And maybe even Black Friday shopping....

Join the Weekly Wrap-up HERE. 

Weekly Wrap-Up - Lisa's Logbook Revised

Thought I'd try a new meme format. I was getting bored with the old one. As you may have already noticed, I haven't posted it in quite a while.

In our home education this week... the focus was National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo! The goal is to write a novel (50,000 words) in a month (November). All the kids are participating for the 3rd time, except David who has one additional year under his belt. As of Friday, their word counts were David - 8300, Emily - 11,000, James - 5060, and Suzy - 516. James and Suzy are participating in the Young Writer's Program, so we set custom goals for them. I am at 7200, thus both my teens are ahead of me for once! Yes, I have been busy, but I've also been procrastinating! (Case in point: this blog entry. Ahem.)

What's working for us: the monthly lesson plan sheets we have been using for years now. I've included an old picture of these. If there is interest, I can write more about how I put those together each month.

One place we visited:
Great Harvest Bread Company - a small franchised bakery that uses whole grains and has a great business philosophy - check them out! Our group sampled the tasty bread, viewed the oven, mixer, grain grinder, and work areas, then got hands-on making dog biscuits. My two youngest kids attended and they enjoyed it a lot!

I'm reading: The Letters of Jane Austen in preparation for my book club. And I'm actually reading it! I just finished my listening to Drums of Autumn, the 4th book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (my 3rd time reading that book). I'm also listening to Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Wow, it's long!

What the kids are reading: David is reading The Slumber of Christianity by Ted Dekker. Emily is reading a biography of Jane Austen. David and Emily are both reading Homeward Bound by James Fenimore Cooper; this is for their American Lit class at co-op. James just finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. 

My favorite thing this week: SCONES from Great Harvest Bread Company! A close second was participating in our karate testing and (hopefully) doing well!

Favorite Resource this Week: a free Android app for my phone that lets the kids practice their US Geography. U.S. Map Puzzle 

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… Take the ACT early in your junior year. (...or the SAT, as the case may be. Here in Michigan, it's almost always the ACT.)

Questions I have:
How do I distill everything I still want David to learn into his last six months of homeschooling? He is in the home stretch and I am panicking!

A quote to share…
“It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?“ – Henry David Thoreau

I am inspired by… National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) - I think more, I get creative (well, as creative as a left-brained practical person can get), I consider the future, I find like-minded friends, and I see my children writing and liking it!

I'm grateful for: Quiet time alone in the morning - it took a lot of years to achieve!

Coming up next week: working on memorizing the NE region of the US, Co-op on Friday, and I get a FREE massage!

Note: if you're not a homeschooler or if you just want my reports on daily life at the Wagner house, please ask for the link to my personal blog.

Kind of a Bust, or is it?

Kind of a bust is how I'd describe this week as far as academics. Between me starting the new work-at-home position, Emily's birthday on Thursday, Bob taking two of the kids to the homeless shelter to volunteer (in the middle of the night) and our horrendously long Monday, we didn't accomplish much bookwork. No Science, No History. The public schools are off today, so I don't feel too bad. (Teacher Day??? Didn't they just HAVE that? And snow days galore?)

We did, however, do a couple days of math and a couple lessons of Greek and read two chapters of The Lightning Thief. We also did a couple days of Bible study and are working on our March hymn and praise chorus now.

Once the girls get up (they were most of the night at the shelter), we'll do the 3rd Greek lesson and read more of the book, maybe 2 more chapters. I'll make the kids do math this afternoon. It's a sunny day, though cold, so they'll get some outside time today too.

They all had a Spanish lesson on Monday. Emily and James had their monthly art class on Wednesday afternoon. David had his ACT essay class on Wednesday (which I teach) and wrote an essay before class and one in class. We've been to the library a couple times. They've done a lot of free reading (mostly Garfield books, so don't get too excited! lol) and listening to audio books -Beverly Cleary for the girls, James has Diary of a Wimpy Kid on CD, and I'm not sure what David's been listening to beside horrid music that I detest, but I'd guess The Hunger Games again.

They've been cooking too, as well as doing housecleaning and chores. And making projects.

So maybe it's not such a bust after all!

I'm going to make up some kind of chart so we can all stay on our routines, when I have to be holed up in my bedroom/office working.

Better get some lunch on and then do some more work....

Weekly Highlights - Week 28

Sticking with the weekly HIGHLIGHTS plan, lesseeee....

The younger three learned about bats this week - microbats and megabats. Do YOU know the difference? My kids should be able to tell you. Did you know a mama bat can find her baby by smell even amidst thousands of other babies? We practiced identifying our "babies" by smell. (OK, so the babies were cotton balls soaked with various scents. Cut us some slack.) I am going to post a couple videos separately for your viewing pleasure.

David has been working on the physics of motion. See my earlier post for some specifics. He's also been continuing his study of the Civil War. A local storyteller visited one of "our" libraries to talk about The Underground Railroad in Michigan, so David and Emily and I went to hear her speak. (All the kids in the admittedly small audience were homeschooled!) David finished his book The Red Badge of Courage (on audio).

Emily finished her book Hero Tales. Harriet Tubman was one of the heroes, thus Em's interest in attending the Underground Railroad presentation. She is working on her new level in Math-U-See and doing very very well in Spelling! I have the movie Anne of Green Gables that I hope she'll like since she recently read that novel.

James is plugging away at Pilgrim's Progress. He remembers the movie version we saw a while back (starring Liam Neeson) and that's helping him get through it. I have a Pilgrim's Progress game that we've never played that he's asked for, so I'll drag that out. James has memorized all his multiplication facts! Go James! He also amazed me by using the art techniques he's been learning at his monthly art class. I had assigned the 3 younger children to write or draw the differences between microbats and megabats and James worked very hard on his picture, using a pencil lead "smudging" technique. That's what you see in the picture of him at the table; off to the left is the pencil scribble that he's smearing the cotton balls in.

Suzy has been reading little books that came along with her Alphabet Island phonics - practicing her short vowel sounds. She's working on long vowel sounds in Explode the Code and in Alphabet Island, she's working on beginning blends. Doing well, but she gets frustrated OH-so-easily.

Monday's weather was nice but Tuesday's was just lovely and we took some reading outside on Tuesday afternoon. I'm reading aloud from Soup and Me by Robert Newton Peck (the sequel to Soup, which I read to them just a couple weeks ago). They laugh uproariously throughout! I fear nothing else will compare!

Weekly Review - Week 27

This was quite an average week - lessons-wise - here at Cornerstone Academy. Five days of lessons, nothing unusual except Chess Club and a Friday afternoon visit with Michele to break the monotony of the days. The weather was rainy, really really rainy, for the first couple days and then COLD, quite quite cold for a couple more. Next week is supposed to warm up a bit! That'll be nice.

One thing that was different was the lack of any Bible study. I just couldn't muster the gumption to push everyone through it this week. Bible time often ends up being the time of the most complaining and unpleasant attitudes and I just wasn't interested in facing it. Isn't it odd that the time should be about praising the Lord and learning about his Word, but instead it ends up being CHARACTER BUILDING for all? :::chuckles, somewhat bitterly:::: Anyway, we'll do it next week. I promise.

Suzy is working on an art book. Several years ago, James did this art book at co-op. My friend Sarah is teaching it this year at co-op, but Suzy didn't end up taking the class for whatever reason. So, I decided to have her complete it here at home. She is enjoying it, perhaps just the attention from Mom and the opportunity to do "Art". Anyway, some of these pictures are of her mixing colors for one of the pages.

In History this week, the littles learned about St. Boniface, the Iconoclast Conspiracy, and Charles "Martel". I knew nothing about ANY of these before. One of the projects was to make crosses and decorate them, "icon" style. So I have some pictures for you of that.

David's been studying the Civil War this month and I found some DVD's at the library for him to watch. Emily sat and watched them all too, which surprised me, as I personally found them a tad dry - at least the parts I watched. They watched them in the afternoons while I worked on my writing.Civil War Journals: The Conflict Begins (from the History Channel) are the DVD's. I plan to have him watch some Civil War movies too - I had in mind Glory, Gods and Generals, and maybe Gettysburg. I'm not big on war movies, so anyone with suggestions there, please leave them in my comments.

Man, I DETEST working with pictures in blogger! Why don't they go where I want them? Argh!!!

Weekly Reviews - Weeks 25 & 26

Last week, I skipped my weekly review. I'm just bored with doing them. So, instead of the usual long dull list, I'm just going to give you some highlights.

David finished a book on Sequoyah and began listening to The Red Badge of Courage. He also finished a book on teenage manners and resumed reading Why Pray? He's been recording the weather daily for a science project. In history, he's moved on to the Civil War (or the War Between the States).

The littles have been learning about eggs, so we watched some cool videos on youtube. We also tried candling an egg, but it's harder than it looks, or we had a bad egg.



In history, they learned about Andalusia (things I never ever learned) and Arabian horses, as well as the story of Beowulf and a Chinese empress named Wu Zetian.

We've started editing the kids' NaNoNovels that they wrote (or started) in November. David and Emily have also been doing alphabetizing drills.

Emily finished her math book! James has been reading Pilgrim's Progress (A Beka). Suzy is doing great on long vowel words and memorizing her new list of sight words.

I left out all the boring bits about spelling and what math each one is working on. So, if that's what you came for, so sorry! LOL But I'm guessing you don't miss it a bit.

Art class with Don West:

Weekly Review - Week 24

[EDITED TO ADD SOME PICTURES]
Our week included just 3 full days of lessons (Mon-Wed). Thursday we went on a field trip to Red Robin, although I did have the kids each do math and literature that day. (Will blog about that field trip tomorrow.) Friday was co-op. All the kids were invited to sleepovers Friday night, so Mom and Dad had "parent-teacher conferences". :-D

This was a week that I dropped the ball in Bible time. We met just twice this week for Bible study - once to read part of the Brothers and Sisters book and once to read 2 Kings 23-24. I do want to add that I really am pleased with the kids' singing once they start to get the hang of the songs. Even (especially?) David sings, and we usually sing a capella. Only twice this week is totally my fault in not getting started at the right time and then just skipping it, which is lazy. Next week, I'll work harder, but I won't double up lessons to "catch up".

In Algebra I, David learned the Cartesian coordinate system (also called rectangular coordinate system; you know, with x-coordinates and y-coordinates). He took the test and did the honors lesson. He finished his literature book Streams to the River, Streams to the Sea (which was about Sacagawea). He finished his Science module on the earth and the lithosphere and took the test. He's been listening to Book 5 of History of US on audio this week, but is way behind on History. I did assign him much more than usual and we were behind a week waiting on the audiobook from the library. Not sure what I'll do about that.

Emily finished her literature book King of the Wind (about an Arabian horse) and is writing a book review. Her math lesson was on prime and composite numbers and multiplication by 12. Subject/Verb agreement was the grammar lesson this week for both David and Emily. They also watched the instructional DVD for lesson 11 in their writing curriculum which was about report writing.

James' math lesson was on multiplication by 7 and also by multiples of 100. He is reading the book Fish do the Strangest Things and writing about it in his literature journal. He loves this series of books! I highly recommend it for a young reader. In Explode the Code 6, he has been working on "ie" words.

Suzy started subtraction last week and continued working on that concept this week with the focus being -0 and -1. She read several Bob Books this week and wrote about them in her literature journal. She has almost finished Explode the Code 2, in which she has been studying final consonant blends. In Alphabet Island phonics, we have FINALLY reached long vowels.

Spelling words and communication journals went on as usual, as did handwriting, typing, and computer art. They usually work in a program called ArtRage and I just allow them freeplay in the program. They are learning to use the tools in the program and this will carry over to other drawing/editing/art programs.

Birds' nests and eggs were the topic in the younger kids' Science this week and they've gathered the materials to make their own nests, although they haven't actually done it yet. Maybe tonight. They also illustrated 6 kinds of nests and explored the inside of an egg. Bob is working with them on making a bird house.

We also made up one lesson in History from last week, to get caught up. We read a rather long lesson about the Mohammad's life and the birth of Islam.

The crackers are the Scrabble Cheez-it ones I mentioned in my Daybook. Emily is doing her Spelling using the modified Spelling Power review sheet I like better than the booklets the company sells. Bob is looking at the science book to figure out what he needs for the birdhouse.

Weekly Review - Week 23

I wished this Weekly Review would write and post itself. Since that didn't happen, all you're getting is some photos. LOL February blahs!

We did our lessons 4 days this week and had a Valentine party on Wednesday. The kids did math and literature that morning before we left. So here are some pictures of learning to use chopsticks (project for Mystery of History). I showed them a youtube video or two since I myself do not know how to use chopsticks. David got it, Emily and James tried hard, and Suzy gave up, as you can see.

The rest of the pix are from the Valentine party day - a couple of doing math beforehand and the rest at the bowling alley.