Record-Keeping Format, and more

I like the way Faith logs her kids' daily academics in a weekly format. It looks like it would be more streamlined and less boring than the way I used to log daily. So I think I'll try it that way and see how it goes.

Also, I love Blogger's new gadget -- you can put a blog-feed on your sidebar which is *specific to that particular blog*. That is nice for people like me who have more than one blog. So my sidebar feed here is devoted to blogs that fit in the "learning notes" category, with Stephanie's blog "What I Knew Now" in sort of the alumna role since she is blogging about learning from a future perspective.

Incidentally, speaking of the neat new blogger changes, here is a warning for parents of young bloggers, and an update, by Love2Learn Mom. This is useful for me to know since I was thinking of having my YEar 7 son start a blog as a sort of narrative record of his studies. Just a thought, and a caveat.

One more thing -- this 100 Species Challenge is really pulling me in. Since we live in a national forest, it seems like a "natural" -- ha, ha. Besides, Kieron reading over my shoulder sounded interested -- and it might be a fun way for him to organize his nature study this year. Just thinking out loud.

Day 8

We woke up to a storm today -- the rain intoxicated Kieron and Aidan (everyone else was asleep) so we went for a couple of short nature walks to see what our favorite spots in the forest looked like during an August rainstorm. They also had fun trying out their Irish umbrellas -- we don't get to use them very often in central California highlands!

So that along with the bat, and a cluster of daddy-long-legs we found, counted as Science/Nature for them for today.

Aidan helped me make Rice Krispie squares -- not exactly health food, but various forms of pouring and stirring and measuring -- so, Practical Life for him.

Kevin took the older kids off to watch the matinee screening of Harry Potter in town; they will be gone till late night because after that, it will be Sean's therapy and then his football practice.

Kieron has rediscovered the Tintins and is reading those.
Sean is reading Laughing Gas by PG Wodehouse -- he read us a part this morning.

Last night we listened to Les Miserables and to Amazon samples of Scarlet Pimpernel.

As far as formal academics --
Sean didn't get anything done before they went.
Kieron did Math (parentheses and order of operations)....Greek, Thinking Skills (he is enjoying these!) and I reviewed Latin vocabulary with him since Clare didn't have time to do Latin. I must say he knows the vocab well. Whatever the two of them are doing, it is working!

(Incidentally, I remember how I used to read about older kids teaching younger ones, and feel bad because I never tried to train them to do this. However, now I see lots of natural teaching like this going on in my home, and I never had to "train" -- something I rather dislike and prefer to avoid. It makes me happy now that I waited, though I think that if I had respected my style and my kids', I probably would have seen signs of this process and been able to build on it and encourage it a lot sooner).

This will be the last academic journal for about a week, since I am going to Alaska to visit my parents, along with Brendan. I THINK I will tell the kids to do their Greek and Vocabulary daily, and I probably couldn't STOP them from reading -- I intend to collect a pile of books for them to choose from. But that's about all they will be doing.

Day 4

Sean

Henle Latin: more review
Algebra -- lesson 2 -- it was a bit of tough going
Greek
Vocabulary lesson 4

Kieron

Henle Latin -- with Clare
Math -- MCP F -- lesson 2
Greek
Spelling (from Writing Road to Reading)

Aidan

Alphaphonics lesson 1 and 2 -- blending a bit better.

Paddy

100 Easy Lessons #8-9
Horizons K Math -- coloring

Kieron is printing out coloring pages for the little ones.

Later on we are going to homeschool Stations of the Cross -- so that wraps up our first week of work.
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Update and Informal Learning Log:

Stations was cancelled, which made me sad because of Kieron's sadness. He looks forward to seeing his friends all week. Instead we made peanut butter cookies together, and then when Kevin got back from town where Sean was seeing his uncle, a chiropractor, for his muscle tear, --- we went to the lake after dinner. It was spectacular, and so quiet. Clare and I talked about future plans and her reactions to her course of studies so far, and several other things, while the younger boys played in the water.

Oh, and also Clare, who had been pretty sick and miserable this week, took Kieron and Aidan for an "expedition" out in the woods, and later sang Irish drinking songs with him : ) like Wild Rover, which cheered him up quite a bit.

It was nice, but I wish it was easier for Kieron to meet up with his friends. Because a miscarriage came between him and Aidan (we lost twins in mid-gestation) there is 3.5 years between them and 3.5 more years between Aidan and Paddy. Aidan's developmental delays put him closer in level to Paddy than Kieron, and Sean is firmly planted in the teenage world, while Kieron is still a youngish eleven, and a very different type than Sean. Consequently, though there are consolations like Irish songs and trips to the lake, Kieron is lonely in a way the other kids weren't.

(photo, courtesy of my Treo -- it's not good quality, but it gives you a glimpse of the beauty -- we've made plans to go back there again one of these late summer evenings, and maybe we'll bring a "real" camera)

Nature Study Thoughts

I was asking a friend what she did for nature study and she gave me some ideas which I will share, with due credit to my friend who is another veteran hser and a mom of six:

First, we both have older children who will be following the Mother of Divine Grace Natural History syllabus so she suggested starting with that as a sort of general spine theme for the whole group of kids (she is way, way better at multi-level teaching than I am).

Then:

Go to the Forest Service or tourist information center in your area (we both live in National Forests surrounded by spectacular scenery) -- pick up any free brochures and bring them home to generate ideas about possible field trips.

Visit a couple of selected spots at regular intervals during the year -- building up a relationship with them, take photos and then sketch at home. See if there's any notable art based on the scenic spots. You can bring your sketchbook to the scene, but we agreed that this was very difficult for us during the many years that we had little ones. But drawing at home based on photos taken is a nice alternative, and you could even use the photos and sketches to make a natural history scrapbook.

Pick a few nature writers to study -- some examples we came up with are: John Muir, Rachel Carson, Thoreau, Audobon (her ideas) -- (my ideas)Beatrix Potter, Donald Culross Peattie, Edwin Way Teale, and JH Fabre (a family favorite).

Once you have a few selected, you can read a few of their books alongside with a well-written biography or documentary of their lives

She has a kindergartener who loves to color, so Prismacolor pencils and Dover-type realistic coloring books can come in very handy with the littlies.

There you have the embryo of a nature study plan that includes all the age groups.

In addition, I realized we have a Sierra Historical Society bookstore in our area that has various local history and nature books and resources on sale. It might be nice to develop an intimacy with our local region this year -- it is really the first year we haven't had various issues that prevented us from exploring -- for several years it was pregnancies and babies, then medical difficulties, then last year our car was dying slowly and we didn't trust it on the backroads and byways.

Finally, more on the science proper front; Kieron seems to love doing those simple experiments and projects and crafts, so perhaps we will build on that this year.

Life Learning and Study Trails

No formal academics this week.

We are still on our Harry Potter learning trail.

Lots of spectacular friendship-with-nature for Aidan, me, Liam and Clare up at Grandma's cabin by the lake. (I just realized that what TS Eliot said rather darkly about popular literature seems to me to apply a bit to nature, too, in a good way -- I think children acquire something from casual "quantity time" life in the outdoors that they can't acquire so easily by studious "quality time", though both are beneficial).

We are learning from life by our chickenpox pestilence. The older children have been cooking.

Music: Clare on guitar, keyboard, violin, voice. Liam on classical guitar. Aidan listening to The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and Loreena McKennit. ... in the car as we shuttle from place to play.

I am thinking that we might study the pre-Raphaelites this year, in a friendship-with-art type of way. Reasons for this? I was listening to Loreena McKennit sing "The Lady of Shalott".... then just yesterday, by one of those coincidences, went googling John Waterhouse because of the picture on Melanie's header. Why did I look up her header painting? Because I felt a bit like that lady, who turns out to be Miranda of the Tempest. So then I found out that John William Waterhouse, and some of the other pre-Raphaelites, were also fascinated with the Lady of Shalott. There you go.... a study in the making.

What I'm thinking is Giotto and Architecture in the first half of the year, and connect by way of Shakespeare from there to the pre-Raphaelites. Plus, it looks to my amateur art sensibilities like some of the 19th century illustrators may have been influenced by the pre-Raphaelites.... which is another connection. This is fun....

A New Favorite Nature Spot

Oh, thank you, Blogger! You removed me from your list of possible spam blogs so I don't have to painfully discern and type in not one, but two verification codes. Since there appears to be a bug in your verification code so that it always marks the first attempt as as an error.

Today we went to the lake and Clare, Kieron, Aidan and Patrick swam around for a couple of hours. It was beautifully cloudy today and at the very end of our lake visit, it started to rain and we got to experience a sandstorm.

MacBeth Derham writes on her page about nature study:

Mount Holyoke College has a lovely tradition: On a crisp October morning at 7am, the morning bells continue to ring past 7, signaling that classes are cancelled. Because many students choose to climb the local mountains on their day off, the day is called “Mountain Day.” I have carried this tradition home, though we try to have our “Mountain Day” once a month, as a special addition to our usual time spent out of doors. Our “mountain” is a local preserve with several different environments—fields, forests, pond, seashore, and even old ruins. Best of all, it is free!

Mountain day is not a substitute for getting out daily! The mountain day location is a special place, away from home, where we can observe the seasonal changes, wild life, plants, and weather. Mountain day is a treat, wildly anticipated by the whole family. Nevertheless, we still go out as much as possible, on a daily basis.

Here's another site celebrating seasonal nature study.

We love returning to the same natural spot many times through the year to watch the seasonal changes as they come.

We have several "mountains" in our lives -- favorite places we return to again and again to see -- more than see, experience and live in -- the changes. The lake is becoming our new favorite. Its temperamental activity today really endeared it to the kids.