Week 2: Mold, Exploration, Charlotte's Web

Another week down!!! We are still trying to find our rhythm with homeschool. I had planned that 9-1 would just be homeschool time, but life keeps getting in the way, so we rocked the checklists this week. Tried to get done as much as we could, then made up what got dropped on other days. 

But this has been an AWESOME week!!! 

Einstein trying to make a rabies vaccine (salt, food coloring, water)

Daily
Each day, we try and fit in:

• Chess practice
• Piano practice (we just started this)
• Exercise (this can be on our indoor trapeze, riding a bike, playing at the park, swimming, hitting a ball outside...)
• Chores
• Something fun!
• Sustained Silent Reading- 20+ minutes quietly reading anything you want. I make sure to do this with him to model good reading habits and because it is the only break I get!

Reading 
We started our new reading unit- Charlotte's Web! I loved this book as a kid, and it is a great read aloud! I had forgotten how many fantastic vocabulary words are in there. 

We used our fisher price toys (that I played with when I was a kid!) to mimic the book's settings-  the Zuckerman farm, the Arable house, and the fair. So Einstein can play with everything while I read aloud.


History
We are finished up our Columbus unit, and began getting into other explorers. We really hit on how diseases such as smallpox and measles came from Europe and wiped out about 8 million of the indigenous population. 

Einstein then asked a bunch of questions about how vaccines were created, so we had a tangent day where we looked up all about Louis Pasteur and his work on chicken cholera and his development of the rabies and anthrax vaccines. 

There is an awesome video about it on youtube if you look up "Louis Pasteur cartoon". It is about 25 minutes long. 

Science
Since we began the exploration/ Spanish conquistador unit in history, it was only fitting to do an experiment involving germs and mold!! 

We have been growing mold (one dry piece of bread, one damp piece of bread) to show that germs are in the air. Mold just started appearing on Wednesday. I guess this will be a good time to talk about penicillin too! 

For fun (and to work on the scientific method of hypothesis, experiment, etc), we did a few other experiments too, like freezing a balloon to see that things shrink when cold.

Math
Worked on identifying roman numerals, time, place values (and where to place commas/ decimals), and we started doing multiplication with carrying, such as 87x5. I was surprised how quickly Einstein caught on! 

And I was thrilled to find that the chapter headings in my copy of Charlotte's Web had roman numerals, so it all worked out!

English
In English, we worked on what proper nouns are, and how to capitalize them. These are extremely easy for Einstein, but the writing part is the difficult part for him, so we power through these just so he gets the writing practice.

We also have been doing reading comprehension outside of the Charlotte's Web reading unit and our sustained silent reading. In comprehension, I want to make sure he understands what is happening. So we read a couple Pecos Bill stories, sequenced events, did some vocabulary discovery, and answered comprehension questions. 

We also quiz spelling in the car, but again, this seems so easy for him. He certainly didn't get that from me! Spelling was far and away my worst subject in elementary school. But my husband is a brilliant speller, so thank goodness Einstein takes after his dad there!

Geography
Every time we learn about something in history, I go over the related maps. But Einstein wanted to learn the state birds this week, so we would quiz each other on states and their capitols, then we would look up what that state's bird is. I had no idea so many states all had the cardinal as their state bird!

Week 1 of Homeschooling

We survived the first full week of homeschooling!!!

I was surprised on the first day of homeschooling that wasn't a trial- I expected to feel excited and eager to get started, but instead felt like a weight had been pressed down on my chest. I suddenly realized that I am fully responsible for Einstein's education!

I took a deep breath and remembered all the reasons I pulled him, and dove in. 

Monday
 Monday was all I had imagined for homeschool. Everyone was fresh and happy, we did math and all the English worksheets, used manipulatives to demonstrate time, all that jazz. Einstein even spelled all his spelling words correctly the first time! (maybe setting him words 2 years ahead isn't enough!)

We read the first few chapters of our new reading unit that would carry out over 3 weeks- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and discussed it together. I planned out fun activities and crafts to go along with each day's reading.

I read some of a biography of Christopher Columbus to Einstein while he constructed a ship out of recyclable materials, and we plotted out on a map events in his life, AND reviewed our family ancestry. 

We finished the day with our science unit "Sink or Float" which I thought would tie in nicely with the Columbus and his ships history. 

That was a good day!

Tuesday

Tuesday was a good day too! We continued our unit on Columbus, making more progress on our ships and discussed why the Queen of Spain agreed to finance Columbus' trip, we had many other things float and sink, and Einstein was eager to do his math, as always. That kid LOVES math!

When I went to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Einstein kept saying "I read that already" over and over as I was reading him the next couple chapters. When I asked how that was, he said that he smuggled the book up to his room and had read about half the book before he fell asleep last night. 

I was pretty disappointed; I loved that book as a kid, and I had really been looking forward to reading it together and doing fun projects. But that was okay, we would just keep reading from where he left off. 

Wednesday

I had meant for Wednesday to be a catch-up day, but we had stayed on top of everything for the first two days, but it all worked out. We went to a story time at a local book shop, then to the park with friends, and then I got a call from someone asking for a ride to the hospital, so that was what we spent usual homeschool time doing. 

Which I was totally okay with- one of my reasons for homeschooling Einstein was so that he would be available to help others and develop a heart for service. 

I did a little review of Columbus and quizzed him on some math in the car, but we really just worked on helping others that day. We picked tomatoes and gave many to several neighbors, baked cookies, and then went to a splashpad with more friends.

Thursday 

I wasn't prepared on Thursday. The baby was awake until midnight the night before, so I hadn't cleaned my house or prepared for homeschool, or anything.

And it showed! The kids fought for a lot of the day while I tried to play catchup on the dishes and laundry, Einstein had a meltdown about not wanting to do any writing or reading comprehension, and had awful behavior most of the day. 

I wondered why on earth I would wish this upon myself, and ended up sending him to his room frequently throughout the day, where he finished reading a lot of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by himself because he liked the book. If I had told him to go read it, he would have refused. He was just plain ornery that day!

From a different day!

My poor husband came home to a wife that was frazzled, no dinner, the house a disaster, and fighting kids. Luckily, very little phases him, and he assured me that we just have 3 very difficult kids, and I was up to the challenge. 

Friday

Reassured from my husband, I tackled Friday with a vengeance! I made sure to clean the house and prep for homeschool Thursday night, and so Friday turned out to be an excellent day! Einstein begged for more math, and was picking up new concepts at the speed of light.

Einstein was able to give an account of Columbus' life leading up to the discovery of America, showed places he lived on a map of Europe, and we sailed the boats we made this week. 


We finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together and watched the movie. Einstein was enthralled with it, and even though he was shocked that the movie didn't match the book exactly, liked the movie overall. 

We finished the science unit of float/ sink and Einstein came to his conclusion about how the amount of air inside something helps with floating. We tested this out by swimming at the pool while holding in a big breath versus expelling our air before swimming. 

Einstein studied chess for a few hours, and it was a perfect ending to the week! 

We did set up the science experiment that will be for next week, since it takes several days- how fast mold grows!

Now I just need to scramble and plan another reading unit before Monday comes!

Behavior Management

Einstein is difficult to manage at the best of times. Sometimes, he is outright unruly and obstinate. I knew that going into homeschool, I would need a consistent way to reward his positive behavior and discourage his negative behavior.

Before we started homeschooling, Einstein was obsessed with his behavior chart at school. That was the first thing he would talk about when he got home- what color he got each day. 

So I simply made a similar one. During the day, if he starts to whine, I tell him "Strike 1/2/3" Once he gets up to 3 strikes for a minor misbehavior, he has to move his clip down. If it is a big misbehavior, it is an automatic clip down. 

He can also earn moving his clip up with good behavior, helpfulness, sticking with a hard task, etc. 

I also put up a Family Rules Chart, with the punishments for each negative behavior so everyone knows what will happen. 

While he still had his fair share of tantrums, I can also see that the clip chart is very rewarding for him. When he gets up to pink, he gets to select a prize for the day- something from the prize bucket, riding his bike with mom, or going swimming. These are all very motivating things for him.

On the flip side, though, if he gets down to red, he gets a punishment. That is either going to bed early, losing a special stuffed animal, or half an hour of cleaning. 

The important thing here, I think, was that Einstein helped with making the chart, as well as coming up with rewards/ punishments. So even if he is upset about it, he did agree to those terms and respects them 

Camping with Einstein

I took my three kids camping. That includes my oldest daughter who has significant disabilities, Einstein, and the baby. I knew it would be a lot of work, but I want the kids to have great childhood memories. 

Einstein had a blast! He is the classic absent-minded yet brilliant professor sometimes. 

When I was setting up camp, he asked to use the bathroom. I told him to go pee on a tree, expecting him to tramp a little ways into the woods. NOPE! He turned to the tree right by our tent and dropped his pants. 

Then he had his heart's greatest desire, I let him help light the fire, knowing that he would strike a match, yelp, and fling it onto the pile immediately. 

He dragged wood out and piled it up, then spent 15 minutes trying to light the fire. Once we got it going, he sat contemplating the flames and asked, "Mommy, what IS fire?"

I asked what he meant, and he asked, "What state of matter? Is it a solid, liquid, or gas?"

I responded that it was a chemical reaction, so none of the above. He seemed satisfied with that answer, or maybe it was because his friend showed up and he ran off to play "Name as many words as you can that start with MON and end with Y" 

We did some canoeing and kayaking, and even went in a paddle boat, and I answered as many questions as I could about the different diets of different kinds of fish, and the likelihood of alligators in manmade versus natural lakes. 

My favorite story from the camping trip was when Einstein shook me awake at 2 am calling "Mom! MOM!!!" Being half awake, I was imagining a bear had snuck into the campsite and was snuffling around. 

So I jerked awake and looked around, and just saw his little face looming out of the darkness next to mine. "What is it?" I asked. "Mom, what is humidity?" 

Still trying to process that I was being asked to answer a weather question and not fight a bear, I said, "What?"

He said, "I had a dream and everyone was talking about humidity and I don't know what that is." 

Yup. Parenting a gifted kid at it's finest! Their brains NEVER turn off!!!

What is Interest-Based Learning?

Okay, one of my biggest reasons I want to homeschool Einstein is because the way HE learns best is not the way kids are school are taught. 

At school, you go to school and rotate every 50 minutes between classes. This may be what a day looks like:

• Fill in geography papers about mountain ranges in Africa
• Solve 2 variable algebra problems in math
• Discuss the 4th president of the United States in history
• Watch a video about electrons in science
• Write an essay about how you will change the world in English 

Those are awesome things to learn! BUT- there is a certain level of disconnect between the subjects.

Interest-based learning is the mode of learning I want to pursue with Einstein. If he is interested in the colonization of America, we would:

• Map out the first 13 colonies in order, along with distinguishing geographical features
• Discuss taxation without representation and do a sample budget and calculate taxes back then compared to now
• Make a diorama of how Native Americans lived, and another of early settlers
• Read biographies about King James and George Washington
• Write contrasting essays about what you would have done as the king trying to maintain control over the colonies versus what you would do as a colonist trying to gain freedom
• Find out what scientific discoveries were made during this time period and discover their use today- still relevant or obsolete?
• 
  

Trial Homeschool

When Einstein went on spring break (in public school kindergarten, letting him finish out the school year), I decided to do a trial homeschool week. 

It was SO much fun!!! I am still nervous about full-time homeschooling, but I truly enjoy spending time with my son and teaching him new things. 

We took a trip to the zoo, visited a homeschool co-op, and did a 9-1 "learning time" each day. 

I also learned the importance of writing down our game plan each day- jotting down a line or two to keep me on track, otherwise we wander through the day without a plan.

Academics
Since I haven't picked out a curriculum yet, we just picked a couple cool things to focus on.

Math- We worked on fractions by cutting up "pies" and water in measuring cups

Not my picture, but such a fun way to learn!

Science- The Lifecycle of the Butterfly. We got a butterfly garden for my daughter's birthday, and during this week, the butterflies formed their chrysalises! We measured the caterpillars each day and recorded lengths

Writing- Journaling, writing a story about our trip to the zoo, and keeping up his research journal. He interviewed zookeepers and wrote facts about all the different animals

History- We watched an awesome Florence Nightingale video (clip below), listened to the Magic Treehouse book A High Time for Heroes, which is when Jack and Annie meet Florence before she becomes a nurse. 

Geography- We learned the states and their capitols, and kept quizzing each other. We used our states puzzle that have the capitols written under there.

Reading- We did some independent, some read aloud, and some with Mom reading. We read a BUNCH of books! Einstein is a voracious reader and inhales books, which is awesome!!! He is teaching his baby sister to love books too

Planning for Homeschool

Oh boy, where to begin? I have been researching homeschooling for months now, pulling every book available from the local libraries, looking up articles and blogs online, and trying to figure out what will work for our family.

That is the one common theme I have found from all my research- families are encouraged to homeschool in whatever way best fits their family. 

There are several "types" of homeschooling, including but not limited to:

Traditional Homeschooling
This is essentially doing school... at home. So you have the pledge, set curriculums that you purchase for each subject, and you work on them at home. Many families using this approach will have a designated school room with desks, chalkboard or white board, and it is a little school right at their house.

Charter Online Schools
This is an online charter school that will pay for your curriculum, give you access to teachers online, and send you things like microscopes as the lesson plan requires it. You teach the given curriculum at home.

Unschooling
This is the complete opposite of traditional school. Those whose unschool believe that children learn from their natural environment, so formal, "sit down" education isn't needed. They believe that you learn about fractions from cooking, and math in the weekly budget discussion during a grocery store run, etc. 

Unit Based Homeschooling
This is COOL. Some people claim that this can also be considered unschooling, but others consider it it's own category. This is where you take whatever your child is interested in, and run with it. 

This takes a LOT of parental involvement, because you are effectively creating the curriculum as you go along, AND teaching it to your child. But the retention in kids with this method is just astronomical. 

Example: Your child loves weather. So you will plot major natural disasters over the course of history, discuss the impact they had on the community, take temperatures and do the mean, median, and mode, find the temperature difference, find the average rainfall over x amount of time, all that for math. 

You study the water cycle and how things can affect that. You conduct experiments to test acidity of rain in different areas, plot on a map the weather patterns around the world, and read everything about weather. 


Eclectic Homeschooling 
This is what most homeschool families do. They put together their own little mashup of traditional curriculums, some fun units, or whatever else strikes their fancy. 

My Current Plan
Right now, we are leaning toward the eclectic homeschool. I want a set curriculum for math and maybe history, but science will for sure be unit based and child-led. Then we will dabble in whatever I feel is right for Einstein at the time.