The Week of Spring Fever

We are really feeling ready for spring around here. Dean and I spent time in the yard transplanting iris back into the bed that had escaped. The cherry blossom tree outside his bedroom window is blooming. My husband is tuning up the lawn mower and mowing today! I hope spring really is here to stay, but I suspect it isn't. We had such a funny winter and it is still only March. We shall see. I toyed with taking spring break early but decided to stick it out and wait until the public school system and dance studio are on break. We are actually doing educational field trips each day of spring break, which will still count for school ~ but don't tell the kids 😉.

I decided to make our field trip this week to the nature center even though it didn't really fit into our science plans. The kids just needed to get out, and Dean needed to familiarize himself with the layout of the nature center before he volunteers there this summer. Our nature center is over 40 acres. It is a big place. I hope it will be a great growing and confidence-building experience for our young man.

We also went to a mini golf course, plus go-karting with another friend last weekend. The kids had a blast!

The rest of the week was spent doing school lessons and going to appointments. Dean had another speech evaluation, where the speech pathologist gave some more ideas on how to work on his pragmatic language issues at home. This coming week is going to be a blur. We have tech week for the Junior Company showcase. Anne has seven dances. Goldilocks has an all-day appointment at the FASD Clinic that I will be attending, and we are preparing for a gigantic yard sale. No wonder I have spring fever! It feels like life is taking precedence over school right now. Nevertheless, we are inching toward the finish line. I sorted out the books that we have completed so far for this school year. It felt good to get the school shelves down to manageable order. (I kept walking past the shelves and things were falling off.) It made us feel like there was no end to how much work was left. Now I can see the finish line much better. This has been a rougher school year than most, and I am ready to put it to bed. We have just nine weeks to go. I never regret homeschooling my kids though. It is an awesome blessing to be home with them and guiding them to their goals. I wouldn't have it any other way -- even on the rough days, months ~ and, in this case, most of a YEAR.

Done!

Blessings, Dawn

My Teen Son's High School Plan

My son is currently 14 years old. According to the public school system, he should be completing his freshman year of high school. Instead, he is completing his eighth grade year and is working on a few courses which will count for ninth grade. Dean needed tons of medical intervention and therapies when he was very young, so we didn't start homeschooling full force until he was a bit older. The result was that he was ready for eighth grade this year, but he desperately wanted to be in ninth grade like his public school friends. At the end of last year, I had my son professionally tested for various special education needs as well as extensive IQ test. He came out with a superior IQ and some very confusing, scattered test results that suggested a learning challenge and the need for further testing. Further testing showed that he has a significant pragmatic language disorder, scattered processing issues and depression. Armed with this information, we were advised to have him do a split year. We continued with eighth grade as originally planned and picked some courses that he could work through that would count for ninth grade.

This year he has been working on the following courses ~

8th Grade Courses

• English 8 (8th grade) ~ mostly literature
• Pre-Algebra (8th grade)
• World History (8th grade 1/2 credit)
• Life Skills (8th grade)
• Physical Education (8th grade)
• General Science (8th grade 1/2 credit)

9th Grade Courses

• English I (9th grade) ~ mostly a writing course
• Earth and Environmental Science (9th grade)
• U.S. History I (9th grade)
• Visual Arts I (9th grade)
• String Instruments (9th grade)

Obviously, with 11 courses on his plate, he isn't going to complete all of them by the end of the year. He thought he would be able to tackle this much schooling at the beginning of the year, but his depression really got in the way. Instead, we are focusing on finishing all of eighth grade and being at the halfway mark in most of the ninth grade courses he worked on this year. This will mean that he could take on the rest of his ninth grade courses next year and perhaps two tenth grade courses as well. In the end, he hopes to somehow "catch up" and graduate at the same age that most of his peers would. This is all his own internal pressure. I would rather take the next four years to complete his high school credits. He has come a tremendous way from the huge challenges placed on him in infancy, but there is lots of work to still do. I wish he would relax and give himself time.

Below is part of his high school plan. I have studied all of the requirements of our county and state. We are focusing on a college track diploma, even though I think a two year college degree is the most likely scenario for our son and doesn't require foreign language and the harder sciences. However, we want him to be ready for a four year college if that is where he is led. We are not required to follow the local high school transcript, but I find it to be a good guide. I feel it will be helpful for future employers to have a familiar looking transcript (if he doesn't go to college at all).

His current plan ~ 

9th Grade

1. English I
2. Math I
3. Earth Science
4. American History I
5. Physical Education (mostly dance) and Health
6. Visual Arts I
7. String Instruments I

10th Grade

1. English II
2. Algebra
3. Biology
4. American History II
5. Career and Technology course
6. 
   
7. 
   

11th Grade

1. English III
2. Geometry
3. Chemistry or Physics
4. Spanish I
5. 
   
6. 
   
7. 
   

12th Grade

1. English IV
2. Personal Finance
3. Government
4. Spanish II
5. 
   
6. 
   
7. 
   

We still have many electives empty, since I am still waiting to see what he truly needs to follow his passions. Our state requires a 4 year concentration for public school students. Dean's concentration will most likely be in the arts, which can be a combination of music, theater and visual arts.

Blessings, Dawn

We Plow Along

Another week has flown by! This was one of those weeks where I didn't touch the camera much. Thank goodness I record everything in lesson planners, otherwise it would be like the week didn't happen without pictures ~ LOL.

Literature in Movies ~ We continued watching movies this week to get more great literature into our learning. This week we watched The Chocolate War and The Book Thief. The kids gave The Chocolate War a thumbs down. They didn't like all of the bullying. Of course, they weren't supposed to like it from that perspective. They liked The Book Thief much better, even though it had lots of death. The death wasn't graphic and you expect a lot of death when a movie is set during wartime. If you are wondering what films we plan to see, I have compiled a list of many movies in this post.

Documentaries ~ The stomach virus has moved through the family one member at a time this week. To keep school going, we watched several documentaries. Our two favorites were Life After People and One Day On Earth (a time capsule of life in a 24 hour period of time around the world).

Art with Grandma ~ We got to do art with Grandma this week. We learned about Henri Matisse and then created our own cut-out artwork. It was lots of fun! Grandma always worries over her art lessons, but she needn't worry. The kids always enjoy the lessons and create wonderful art.

Science ~ Geology is coming along nicely. We spent one morning this week identifying several minerals. We studied the luster, color, hardness (using a scratch test and the Mohs Hardness scale) and texture of each mineral. Plus, we streak tested each mineral. We also studied salt vs. sugar under the microscope. Lastly, my kids showed Rose how you can set steel wool on fire using only a 9 volt battery.

The rest of the week was achieved. There were lessons in math, writing, and reading, as well as workbook pages. There were trials and small triumphs. Our debit cards were compromised through a Paypal hack, so we are currently without bank cards while the bank tries to get our money back. There was lots of dance classes ~ the ever present activity. There were meetings. We went to Goldilocks' first choir concert at her school. So we plowed along. We are now bracing for a winter storm. Crazy!! It has been spring-like for weeks and now here comes 4 to 6 inches of snow. I always say, "when life gives you lemons ~ make lemon cake!"

Blessings, Dawn

A List of Middle School/High School Literature Films

I am compiling a list of movies based on literature for middle school and high school students. This is a great way to review great books after reading them or get in some more literature for a slower reader.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. The Great Gilly Hopkins
3. The Book Thief
4. The Giver
5. Watership Down
6. Anne of Green Gables
7. Where the Red Fern Grows
8. Sounder
9. The Diary of Anne Frank
10. The Time Machine
11. A Christmas Carol
12. Romeo and Juliet
13. Animal Farm
14. A Raisin in the Sun
15. The Chocolate War
16. Jane Eyre
17. Les Miserables
18. The Great Gatsby
19. Wuthering Heights
20. Of Mice and Men
21. Pride and Predjudice
22. Moby Dick
23. War and Peace
24. Grapes of Wrath
25. The Invisible Man
26. David Copperfield
27. Great Expectaions
28. 1984
29. The Outsiders
30. Gone With the Wind
31. Dead Poets Society
32. Holes
33. The Lottery
34. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (the book is much better)
35. I Remember Mama ~ Based on Mama's Bank Account
36. Roots
37. The Glass Menagerie (1973)
38. Because of Winn-Dixie
39. The Black Stallion
40. The City of Ember (the book is much better)
41. The Hunger Games
42. 12 Years a Slave
43. The Old Man and the Sea
44. The Color Purple
45. Little Women
46. Emma
47. Oliver
48. A Passage to India
49. A Man for All Seasons
50. For Whom the Bell Tolls
51. The Princess Bride (my husband says I need to give this movie a chance ~ he says it is the best!)
52. Johnny Tremain

I found the websites below useful.

<http://www.teachwithmovies.org/>  This website has some great lesson plans and lists of movies.

<https://www.commonsensemedia.org/> This site is a super way of checking the content of movies before viewing.

I am sure I will add more over time, but this is the beginning of my list.

Blessings, Dawn

Meeting My Teens Where They Are

Last week I talked about how my teens are struggling to stay focused on school this year. They are focused on what is going on in their bodies and minds more than my schoolwork agenda. So, I keep looking for ways to meet them where they are and still get the education into them. This week had some great accomplishments. Score points for Mom!!

The Mall Challenge ~ My son has been "screaming" for more independence, yet he really isn't ready to go out and conquer the world. In fact, he resists my many attempts to help him go out into the world. However, I found a challenge that he embraced. My friend and I created a mall challenge for her daughter and my two teens. We gave each child $25 and a list of places in the mall they had to go into together. They were required to make three purchases each. We took them to the mall early on a weekday when there would be very few people at the mall. We sent them off on their challenge while we power walked the mall. They knew we were there and they had their cell phones if they needed us, but they were free to follow their lists and make their own purchases. Her daughter and my son hate to use money to make purchases by themselves, because they are both very shy. But by being together, they both were able to accomplish the goal. It was a great experience! We plan to do it again with gift cards and get them to spread out farther into the mall. This time we let them tell us where they wanted to go in advance. Once we were there and walking, we realized that they had picked places all within one wing of the mall. (The only picture we got of them was off in the distance).

Literature in Movies ~ I'm going to break one of the homeschool myths. Have you heard that all homeschool kids love to read? They are all avid readers, right? NO! My kids aren't avid readers at all. They can read on grade level or above and do use reading every day, but you will never find them curled up with a book for free time...NEVER. My daughter is an avid athlete and my son is an avid musician/artist. They have their passions that consume their time. I just can't get them to read enough of the amazing books on my endless lists. I have decided to have them watch a literature-based movie every week that will replace having to read a book on my list. I will be doing a separate post about this soon. This week we watched The Great Gilly Hopkins. It was good and stuck pretty close to the book, at least from my memory.

Field Trip ~ This week we went to a gem and mineral museum in the next town over. It is a tiny museum that only takes up one large room in the basement of an old building. However, it was wonderful. We were greeted at the door by a very eager volunteer who walked us through all of the displays. We learned about florescent minerals, saw lots and lots of cool fossils, learned about a meteorite that was found in our town, and admired petrified wood. We then decided to break two geodes. I love geodes. They are my favorite thing about geology. Once the museum volunteer broke open our geodes, he told us all about the minerals inside. He then showed it to them under a black light, a florescent light and a microscope. It was an awesome lesson! This tiny, free museum beats the expensive one in our larger city.

What We Did in Bullet Points

• Mall Challenge (life skills and some math)
• Lots of Sukoku (math)
• Mineral and Gem Museum (science)
• Work on eBay and organize/clean out pantry (home econ for Anne)
• 10 hours of dance classes for Anne
• Bessie's Pillow (English) almost done!
• 12 math pages on average, mean and mode for Anne (math)
• 6 pages of Are You a Math Genius? for Dean (math)
• Geology ~ lesson 2 -- layers of the earth (science)
• 3+ hours of art for Dean (art)
• Dean started working on a timeline that he is illustrating (world history)
• 5 lessons in spelling for Anne (English)
• Guitar lesson for Dean and lots of practice (music)
• The Great Gilly Hopkins movie (English)
• CNN Student News
• Anne finished reading The Little Mermaid (English)

Blessings, Dawn

Homeschooling the Middle Grades

If I was to come up with three words to describe my daughter and son this year it would be goofy, sleepy and driven (but driven only to do the things that they want to do). Given the choice, my son would do art and music all day long. My daughter would dance and do little tiny writing projects. They still are compliant and do what they must ~ but with a bluster of whining and pleading for the torture of school to end. I have wondered what is going wrong lately. Then it hit me -- they are young teens. My Mother reminded me the other day that the middle school years are the toughest to teach. The hormones are raging, they are growing like weeds and there is so much to figure out socially. Their minds just aren't on the Three R's right now. So what is a homeschool mom to do?

Should I throw in the towel and let them do what they want? That really isn't my style. I am not a true un-schooler at heart. I also really don't think it works for most special needs kids -- especially those that struggle with time management, self direction, and some academics. So, I am trying to meet them where they are, do more field trips, go at a slower pace (although the pace this year seems tediously slow to me), do lots of life skills and go heavy on their passions ~ art, dance and music. My mantra this year is make each day be filled with quality and all will work out.

Sewing lesson number two

This week did go better. I really concentrated on saying yes more to their desires. We went outside every day, struggled to get in bed at a decent hour and stopped everything else when we just needed to concentrate on emotions.

Dean had primary-colored fan blades in his Lego-themed childhood room. Here he is painting those blades a teenage black!

The highlight this week was a field trip to Thomas Wolfe's home and a field trip to explore graffiti art and street murals with their art teacher.

They watched their Cover Story lesson on the laptop.

The tour was interesting. Thomas Wolfe grew up in his mother's boarding house. It was amazing to imagine making meals twice a day for forty (or more!) boarders. After the tour, we enjoyed a picnic. We wrapped the day up with Cover Story in the park. Where better to write poetry than in nature?

They loved, LOVED their field trip with Miss Laura to look at graffiti and street murals.





Homeschooling is a journey and education looks different through the years. Are they learning? They are drinking in lots of knowledge every single minute. Sometimes I get worried about whatever subjects they are behind in, but then I remind myself of my mantra. Make each day be filled with quality and all will work out!

What we did accomplish this week ~

• An awesome art field trip
• Learned about shading and blending in art
• Two lessons in Cover Story (English)
• 14 Math Mammoth pages for Anne
• 11 lessons in the Are You a Math Genius? book for Dean
• Sewing for Anne
• Painting bedroom fan blades and bedroom door for Dean
• Tour of Thomas Wolfe's Home (U.S. History)
• 13 hours of dance for Anne ~ She was picked to be the princess in the upcoming production of The Little Mermaid. Our dance studio follows the original story, not the Disney version.
• Five hours of dance for Dean ~ He is working on choreographing a partnering piece with a young lady for the upcoming showcase. 
• A geology lesson ~ intro to geology
• CNN Student News daily
• Anne completed copying The Declaration of Independence.
• Four hours of drawing for Dean and the completion of two drawings
• Robotics Club for Dean
• A guitar lesson for Dean and hours of practice through the week
• Dean filled out a long application to volunteer this summer.
• Anne completed chapter one with notes of the book, Girls Gone Green (taking care of our environment).
• Nine chapters from our family read aloud, Bessie's Pillow: A Young Immigrant's Journey

It is good.

Blessings, Dawn

Review ~ History Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study: Ancient Egypt

We love Home School in the Woods products, so I jumped at the chance to review History Through the Ages Project Passport World History: Ancient Egypt. We received a digital copy that we could download and print off what we needed. This study did not disappoint. It is chock full of lapbook materials, hands-on projects, audio recordings and much more. We are enjoying it so much that we may order their newest Passport to History: Ancient Greece.
My kids were quite familiar with Ancient Egyptian history, so I chose to do many of the hands-on projects and listen to the MP3 recordings with my teens. We chose to bypass the lapbook at this time, because we recently had studied this time in history. However, I looked over the lapbook materials and they are wonderful. We also found the timeline and timeline figures to be very useful. The timeline really helped everyone keep track of the events and important people of Ancient Egypt. The first project the kids did was create a shoe box diorama of an Egyptian temple. I simply printed out all of the materials, and they colored them in and assembled the walls and floors. There were many people and information blocks to choose from to add to the diorama. The picture below is of the project about two-thirds done. 

Next, we decided to try out some of the wonderful recipes that were provided with this unit study. My kids love to cook and there are 11 recipes to create. We chose to make a lovely Egyptian yogurt dip to eat with pita bread and stuffed dates. They were so good! We enjoyed a delicious lunch. We hope to try a few more recipes soon. 

The kids went on to make a cartouche, which is a name plate. They used the printable worksheet of hieroglyphs to write out their names on clay. The directions were easy to follow. 

Lastly, we did a quick study on artifacts from Ancient Egypt and then made several out of clay. The kids made an Eye of Horus, Ankh and a Nemset Vessel. We loved these simple hands-on projects that really reinforced our knowledge of Ancient Egypt. 

There are many more hands-on projects in this unit study. We could have dressed up like Egyptians, made a reed boat, made a chariot and so much more. We still plan on making a shaduf and studying how farmers used the Nile River to water their fields in the middle of a vast desert. We are also enjoying Tomb Dash, a folder board game. I printed it all out and assembled it on a normal folder. This is a wonderful way to review all that they learned. This program gets a thumbs up from our family. I used it with two 13 year old students and one 14 year old. It was exciting and they learned lots of new things. They thought that the projects were mature enough and they liked the audio recordings. I feel that this program could easily be used for all grade levels in your home. That is a huge plus in my book. There is truly something for everyone. Whether you have a reader, a hands-on child, a budding cook, an auditory learner or one that loves to lapbook, it is all here and every individual's learning style can be nourished. Check out what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew had to say. Blessings, Dawn