A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

Whew!  I have officially closed our school "year" by completing E15's 9th grade course descriptions and transcript.  Out of all of the options out there, I decided to use HSLDA's fillable form .  So easy. But the course descriptions, grades, grading standards, etc., were hard and long. They're done now, and we are free to look ahead as soon as I finish this final assessment of our year. I3 counts accurately to 20, knows the alphabet in both upper-case and lower-case, sounds out C-V-C words, cuts on straight and simple curved lines, knows shapes and colors, climbs, builds, imagines, plays and is a happy, delightful 3 year old.  We never did finish the alphabet quilt we started last fall, but after a break at "J" we picked it back up and worked our way to "Q."  He's taking another break at the moment, but we can happily pick back up during the coming school year. H5 finished her Sonlight K language arts program, worked her way th...

Technically it's time for me to end this school year and begin anew--at least according to our state's start-stop dates for school years. But as we began school in August, and we have a full 365 days to complete our school year, I'm going to keep going until we get done with our math books;  our math books being my arbitrary guide to a complete school year. J11 finished her math book this week!  Hurrah for J11! S12 has hit a learning wall.  I'm actually NOT going to make her finish her math book.  Instead we've gone back to daily multiplication drills.  These important facts keep falling out of her head, so she's really struggling . . . struggling emotionally most of all.  I've packed the books away and have assigned her 30 minutes in front of the computer each day working her times tables.  She's happier; I'm happier; we're all happier.  M13 is working like a demon each day on her math book.  She got halfway through it before Baby L ...

This week we did 5 days of math and 5 days of reading aloud from To Kill a Mockingbird .  It is a hard book to read aloud.  I censor the majority of the foul language and all of the taking of the Lord's name in vain, but I force myself to read the derogatory language of the time period in order to help the girls feel the hurt and horror of bigotry. "Read more!  Don't stop there!" they call whenever I place the bookmark and move to put the book down. "I have to stop.  My throat is hurting," I answer. "Get a drink of water.  You'll feel better," they reply. Sometimes I humor them; sometimes I stop.  Always I ask questions, searching their minds for what they understand.  Often they miss the nuances, the specific subtleties that are the most powerful moments of this classic book.  But they get the feeling overall. They are experiencing it the best they can at ages 11, 12, 13, and 15. I hope they read it again when they are older, and t...

We had school on Monday, and then the oldest 3 girls went to camp for the rest of the week. The rest of us went to a park and a local nature center.   We saw lots of birds of prey, snakes, nocturnal animals, and turtles. We visited the pond we love. We made limeade popsicles. We blew bubbles. We missed our biggest sisters. We're glad they're home. But they leave again next week for another camp, and this time they're taking J11 along with them.  It will just be Mom and the 4 little ones. Touching the cool floating plants that grow their own air bubbles. Photo credit:  J11 We came around the corner and were practically face to face with this deer.  It was not bothered by our presence at all, continuing eating until it was ready to move on. The littles love the Draw, Write, Now books we borrowed from the library. A8 reads the Bible to I3. Testing the limeade for flavor before making the popsicles. Found these bubble b...