Boy for Sale

After seven (7) grueling hours of homeschool yesterday, this song kept running through my head. Not sure why....

Sick Day

I'm not sure that Danny appreciates having school at home when he's sick. Or when it snows. Public school students stay home on those days...he's already there. And since he's here he may as well work on his classes. Sick or well, snow or.....?

Danny looks like a poster child for Kleenex today. Poor kid. Get well soon.

Happy Back To School!

First Day of School 2004 - that's Danny with the black backpack and blue shorts.

For the first time since David started preschool (22 years ago!), I'm not sending anyone off to school this week. I sort of wish I was. I love that feeling of accomplishment and solitude. Not so much solitude here. Alex will start seminary next Monday....but then, so do I. Alex and Nathan start school at Everett Community College a couple of weeks later.

Danny starts school next Monday...and in a way, so do I...that's the curse AND blessing of homeschooling.

Farewell July

July 2007 - what was I thinking?

Hard to believe how quickly summer is passing. As a child it felt like a year. As a parent I cringe when retailers start having "back to school" sales on July 5th. I'm not too caught up in that this year - I don't have anyone actually going to a real school on September 2nd. Well, Alex and I will be going to seminary.

Time to turn the calendar from July to August.

To do list for August:

• Jonah's baptism
• camping with Tia
• hiking with YW
• weekend without kids
• Marcy's wedding?
• Seminary inservice meetings/preparation
• organizing homeschool for Danny

I'm sure there's lots more, but I don't want to get too overwhelmed. Right now the only overwhelming thing is seminary - and that's because it's new and unexpected. Wish me luck.

Do Not Adjust Your Set

My 5 boys seem to function just fine most of the time. Their shared disability is rarely a problem, seldom even brought up any more. It's not that we're ashamed, or that we try and hide their inadequacies...we just forget about it. That is, until it pops up to surprise us.

I went shopping with Stephanie yesterday (for her birthday). While I was gone I gave Daniel his last school assignment for the day. He was to write and illustrate a haiku. Being Danny, he tried taking the easy way out by writing a haiku about Jack and Jill:

Jack fell down and broke

his crown and Jill came tumbling

after, it hurt lots.

Not his best effort, but we're still working on substance. He found a drawing of Jack and Jill on the internet - so he printed it out and colored it. This is where his red/green color deficiency bit him. He thought he was coloring the faces a nice flesh color. Last I checked, green is not really a flesh color (on our planet). Maybe Jack and Jill fell down because they had food poisoning?

We'll be working on haiku and illustrations again today. With more adult supervision this time.

Fashionably Late

Is it possible to be tardy when you're homeschooled?

Why yes it is.

Danny didn't wake up until 9:45. I usually wake him up between 7 and 8, but this morning I was busy cleaning my room and moving a little furniture. He's not happy about how late it will be when we're done with school - but I informed him that I was not his alarm clock.

His teacher, yes, his alarm clock, no.

Maybe I'll make him take the bus tomorrow.

Here We Come A WASL-ing

It's that time of year again. Yeah, it's spring, but more importantly - it's WASL time! I think the acronym stands for "Washington Assessment of Student Learning". I'll be dropping Danny off at the SHoPP (School/Home Parent Partnership...)office where the test will be administered to the eager young students that are being homeschooled through the school district. Two afternoons this week, two afternoons AND two mornings next week.

I hope Danny doesn't suffer from any test anxiety. It's not like the test even matters or counts for anything - until a student is in 10th grade. Then it counts. Supposedly you can't graduate unless you pass the dreaded 10th grade WASL.

Fun, fun, fun.

Back in the Saddle Again

It's been a little tough to get moving this morning. It's not so much that it's Monday, it's more the fact that Danny and I have had 9 days off. Nine days of not taking Alex to seminary, nine days of no math, nine days of no social studies, language arts, p.e., science....and only a little bit of piano. I was going to have him do more during spring break - but I was pretty wrapped up in Nathan getting home. We all were to some extent.

So far this morning we've spent an hour on algebra, an hour on syllogisms and other language arts stuff, 30 minutes reading, 30 minutes piano practice, 30 minutes working out of the social studies book. Now Danny is building "The Great Wall of China" - I'll give him another 1/2 hour or so. Science and P. E. are all that we have left, plus our regular Monday advisor meeting at the school district office. I'm looking forward to getting the WASL testing schedule - since all the testing is done at the district office I will have hours of free time that counts towards our weekly school attendance.

It almost makes me wish he was back in school. Almost.

The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

Danny and I spent an hour this morning playing Take Off. When he was younger we modified the rules so that if you landed on your opponents piece, they only had to go back one turn, instead of to the beginning.

Now that he is a teenager...well, let's just say that we can now take the gloves off.

It wasn't too funny when he bumped me from one side of the map clear back to the beginning - after I had just been nice to him on the previous turn (I could have bumped him, but I didn't). But when I had the opportunity to do it to him on the very next turn....well...I took it. We were both laughing pretty hard. Who knew geography could be so funny. This sure beats always having to "let" him win.

I didn't feel too bad about losing to him - we both had a lot of fun and the game was fairly close. Besides, I wupped him good earlier when we were both doing the soduko puzzle from the newspaper.

To Dye For

This week's science experient involved learning about capillary action. I harkened back to the days of my youth when we used to put food coloring in vases with daffodils. Unfortunately I couldn't find daffodils the day we started our experiment, so we used carnations and celery (thank you Suzanne for that tip). I found some daffodils the next day, so we added them to the mix. Our next experiment might involve living plants. It would be cool to water some daffodils with colored water. Or some daisies. We'll see, I'm not willing to invest a lot of money in this.

Red Dye #40 doesn't look too appetizing.

A Fresh Start

I started homeschooling Daniel the very week my mother-in-law came for an 8 week visit.

I appreciated having a schedule to keep to without interruption, but it did come at a cost. Pretty much for the past 8 weeks Daniel and I have been holed up in my office. My 9x10 foot office. Slightly claustrophobic (the walls were closing in).

We now have the luxury of spreading out to the living room, dining room and even the kitchen counter. It's wonderful. I can now have Daniel working on math at the dining room table, and I can be more than 12 inches away (which was too close).

Michelangelo, Move Over

Today's social studies lesson was all about the famous "Terracotta Army". This picture fails to capture the great expression that Danny gave his warrior. He looks like he's ready to bust out singing an Irish pub song. Complete with bowler hat (topknot), and handlebar mustache.


Qin Shi Huangdi would have been so proud.







Next time we'll try for a life size statue.

Different Drummer/School Daze

Two items of interest on the education front.

First: Alex's Knowledge Bowl team qualified to go to State. Ably assisted by Alex on answers such as "what subatomic particle in the lepton family can pass through a light year..." he buzzed in with the answer "neutrino". The rest of the question was "...of lead without hitting anything?" He's awesome in soooo many ways (as the clip proves).

Second: Took Daniel in for his assessment for the district homeschool program. He did well in reading, not too great in writing (no surprise there)..but what did surprise me was that he did so well in math (supposedly 11th grade - but it must be 11th grade remedial...). After the test our advisor went to get his textbooks. She took a while but when she finally came back she could barely carry the armload of books. At first I thought she was also restocking her office, but no, they were for us. We ended up leaving 4 books there (we will go back and get them as he finishes up the ones he has). The pile was still pretty tall.

The Homeschool Diaries. Part I

Off and running. Well, at least off and walking. Maybe with a little hop, skip and a jump.

Subjects covered today:

1. Math



2. Social Studies (Geography)



3. Writing (check his blog)



4. PE



5. Reading



6. Science

We haven't completely got our curriculum set in stone. Monday Danny and I go back in to the district office and get some textbooks - so I'm going to be somewhat flexible until I figure out what we are required to do - then I'll work around that.

Withdrawals

I was feeling a little like a yo-yo today. Went to the middle school to withdraw Danny. Went to our appointment with the district homeschool advisor. Back to the middle school to get the principal's signature, BACK to the homeschool advisor to turn in all the paperwork. I'm hoping that all the paperwork is done.

It just better be.

I did have a little contretemps with the middle school principal...When she started throwing around "the 31 years I've been in education has taught me there is no substitute for a classroom education"....I rebutted with "I'm cutting out the middle man". I refused to be drawn into her diatribe.

Mental Gymnastics

Okay...maybe not gymnastics....how about a few mental pushups and a jumping jack or two?

I'm gearing up for my appointment tomorrow with the school district homeschool representative. I'm not worried about the appointment - they don't intimidate me, but I am concerned about being ready to dive right into "The Education of Daniel".

Wish us luck.

Oh, Danny Boy oh boy!

I decided this past week to remove Danny from public school. It's not all their fault, it's not all his fault, let's just agree that the new middle school isn't working well for him.

I expect to be writing many future blogs about homeschooling ups and downs (aka "The Education of Daniel"). Thank you Keira.