This year Sweet Pea is studying the 20th century in history and literature. One of the best things about this time period is the development of cameras, video, tv, and computers. We are really taking advantage of resources available to us on the computer and other places to enhance/add to her studies.
Netflix is great. She has watched All Quiet on the Western Front, Saving Private Ryan, and The Great Gatsby already this year. I have a list of movies that we'll watch throughout the year that tie in with history. Some may not be specific history movies, like the war movies, but will be more to give a sense of the time period like The Great Gatsby. We're also going to watch a few movies instead of reading the book, partly to save some time. She's got a heavy reading load and a movie here and there instead of a book will be a nice change. Next up on the movie list is The Jazz Singer, the first "talkie" movie.
YouTube is also an amazing resource. We haven't used it much yet but I will be encouraging her to use it more, especially since she's moving into the 1940s this week. She's on it a lot, but mostly looking at music videos. I know there's videos of speeches, music concerts, and lots of other events that will tie in to her studies. It will be nice to see speeches and other things from early in the century instead of just reading the speech. It will give more of a feel for what was happening and how passionate the person giving the speech was at the time.
11 November 2013
08 November 2013
Homeschooling Today
Right now my aunt, uncle, and cousin are visiting. They're actually staying with my mom, but we've been able to spend time with them. I enjoy talking with them since my cousins were homeschooled (I enjoy talking with them for other reasons as well). It's interesting how things have changed since they homeschooled back in the Dark Ages versus what I'm doing now with my girls. Knowing them, they were probably more of the unschooling/delight directed type of homeschoolers. While I would love to do that, it's not what we're doing and I'm not sure it would succeed well here. We're more of the "literature based and throw in a few interest based classes" types. But that's the joy of homeschooling, figuring out what works best for your family.
One of the great things of homeschooling now is computers and the access they give us to other things. My girls are taking a few online classes, obviously not an option before computers were found in the home. The classes they're taking are actually very different; two of the language classes are live and they can interact with the teacher and the other kids, the other language class has three live classes and the rest are recorded for the students to watch (no live interaction on those days, but there is a forum where you can ask questions later), and the other online class is a live class, but in lecture format, with an opportunity to ask questions at the end. There are other ways to deliver online classes but this is what my girls are doing right now.
The choices my aunt had back in the mid-80s were probably pretty minimal, if she was going with some sort of curriculum. She may have used what the schools use. Now, there's so many choices that sometimes it's hard to pick the right thing. I also think that there's some areas that are still lacking in homeschool materials or maybe there just hard to find.
I'm glad to have the ability to homeschool since I do think it's the best thing for our girls. They are learning, loving to learn, a trait which seems to be hard to come by in many kids that go to public school, and mostly enjoying school.
One of the great things of homeschooling now is computers and the access they give us to other things. My girls are taking a few online classes, obviously not an option before computers were found in the home. The classes they're taking are actually very different; two of the language classes are live and they can interact with the teacher and the other kids, the other language class has three live classes and the rest are recorded for the students to watch (no live interaction on those days, but there is a forum where you can ask questions later), and the other online class is a live class, but in lecture format, with an opportunity to ask questions at the end. There are other ways to deliver online classes but this is what my girls are doing right now.
The choices my aunt had back in the mid-80s were probably pretty minimal, if she was going with some sort of curriculum. She may have used what the schools use. Now, there's so many choices that sometimes it's hard to pick the right thing. I also think that there's some areas that are still lacking in homeschool materials or maybe there just hard to find.
I'm glad to have the ability to homeschool since I do think it's the best thing for our girls. They are learning, loving to learn, a trait which seems to be hard to come by in many kids that go to public school, and mostly enjoying school.
21 October 2013
Golf
Rosie Jane has been playing golf for about five years now. She's really
enjoyed it and has seen her game steadily improve. She's taken lessons
through the First Tee program locally and played with various relatives
(her grandfather, her dad, her aunt). Now she's to the point of needing
to step up her game and play more often on more challenging courses.
This was her hanging out this summer before she was heading out for class.
First Tee has four levels of skills to move through and Rosie Jane has worked her way up to the last one. She passed the Birdie level this summer and just has Eagle left to go. The playing requirements are much harder, she has to play on a longer course with a lower score, and all her skills need to improve.
These last two pictures are recent when she was out playing with one of her coaches. They played Augustine Golf Club on a beautiful fall day. I managed to snap these from the deck at the clubhouse where I was waiting for them to finish.
She's got enough interest and passion for playing golf that we're looking into colleges that have a women's golf team. Her coaches have told us that she's good enough to play in college. We still have a few years to plan, which is good because the NCAA requirements are time consuming to document (for everyone, not just homeschoolers, although we've got to do it on our own with no school counselors to help). It will also take some time to find the right match with a school for her - one that has a golf team and has the major that she wants, which currently is marine biology but who knows how that will change in the next three years.
19 October 2013
What is this? Revisited
So earlier this summer I found something growing in my garden that I didn't expect. It was some sort of vining thing that looked like it was from the pumpkin/squash family or perhaps, but less likely, cucumber. At the time I took the first picture, it was just a vine with leaves. I watched it grow, put out flowers, and finally something else. Honestly, I'm still not exactly sure what it was that was growing. It was definitely some sort of squash or gourd. It was green with some yellow and it was round. I'm not sure it had a long enough growing season to mature, not knowing when it was "planted" nor what it was supposed to look like when it was finished. I'm hoping to get some yard work done soon to get things cleaned up for the winter so the wayward vine will be making it's way to the compost bin soon.
17 October 2013
First Steps Towards College
Not quite sure we're ready for this but the first steps towards college have been taken. Sweet Pea took the PSAT at the local high school yesterday and it sounds like it was quite the interesting experience. It also reaffirmed for her that there's a reason she chose to homeschool high school and she's glad that she chose this path. She was in a room that was a mix of public school kids and homeschool kids, including a good friend of hers. Among the interesting things that happened - the public school kids were reminded the day before the test that they had to bring a pencil and calculator if they wanted to use one. Guess they forgot as a few of them showed up with out either a pencil or calculator. They were admonished for forgetting, told they were setting a poor example for the homeschool kids (yes, the proctor really said that), given a pencil and told if they didn't bring a calculator, they would have to do without. You would think for all the standardized testing they do in the public schools these days that they would remember a pencil for a testing day! You would also think that they would be able to follow directions about how to fill out forms and sit quietly. Apparently not.
On the good side, after the nerves of just having to go over to the high school, Sweet Pea said she thought the test itself went well. She felt a bit rushed on the last part (a few things happened, like the class bell going off, that distracted her) but overall felt she did well. We'll get her scores in December along with her testing book and will see how she did then. Sometime in January, we'll start prepping for the SAT she'll be taking in May. We did very, very little prepping for the PSAT but want to make sure she's ready for the SAT. Her goal is to do well enough on it the first time that she only has to take it once.
So I guess now the college mail and emails will start coming in and a few more colleges may pop up on her list of ones to think about. Hopefully none of them will have any surprise requirements for homeschoolers. We've mainly been focused on one or two schools and they really don't require anything extra of homeschoolers. If she needs to take an SAT subject test, we'll have to figure that one out when we get to it and hopefully any that are required will be ones that don't need a lot of studying. I think the bigger issue here is fitting them in at this point. She's got a busy summer ahead and if she needs to have the testing done before applying, it could be tough to fit in.
So the first steps have been taken, now we need to see if there's more colleges she wants to look at, figure out all the testing that needs to be done, fit in some college visits, and keep moving forward. Most importantly, she needs to keep working hard this year.
On the good side, after the nerves of just having to go over to the high school, Sweet Pea said she thought the test itself went well. She felt a bit rushed on the last part (a few things happened, like the class bell going off, that distracted her) but overall felt she did well. We'll get her scores in December along with her testing book and will see how she did then. Sometime in January, we'll start prepping for the SAT she'll be taking in May. We did very, very little prepping for the PSAT but want to make sure she's ready for the SAT. Her goal is to do well enough on it the first time that she only has to take it once.
So I guess now the college mail and emails will start coming in and a few more colleges may pop up on her list of ones to think about. Hopefully none of them will have any surprise requirements for homeschoolers. We've mainly been focused on one or two schools and they really don't require anything extra of homeschoolers. If she needs to take an SAT subject test, we'll have to figure that one out when we get to it and hopefully any that are required will be ones that don't need a lot of studying. I think the bigger issue here is fitting them in at this point. She's got a busy summer ahead and if she needs to have the testing done before applying, it could be tough to fit in.
So the first steps have been taken, now we need to see if there's more colleges she wants to look at, figure out all the testing that needs to be done, fit in some college visits, and keep moving forward. Most importantly, she needs to keep working hard this year.
04 October 2013
STEM Expo
I had seen a short blurb in the paper a couple of weeks ago about a STEM Expo (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, for those not up on the lingo) that was going to be held sort of locally. After a bit of Googling to find the details, both exactly where it was going to be held and who was going to be there, I decided that Sweet Pea really needed to go.
For quite a while she's been talking about wanting to study meteorology; she wants to learn about extreme weather, especially tornadoes, so she can figure out how to help people prepare and survive these types of storms. And then physics came along and did not play nicely. She became really frustrated, having a strong desire to study meteorology but not really liking science and math. We looked at the class requirements at a couple of colleges and there's lots of physics, chemistry, and calculus, along with all the weather type classes.
I'm really glad we went to this expo. It was held in a mall almost an hour away but it was worth the drive. While there were a lot of booths she wasn't interested in visiting, she spent quite a bit of time at the NOAA booth (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) as well as a few others. Most of the booths had catchy names and interactive things for the kids to do. It was mainly geared towards middle and high school students.
We stopped first at the NOAA booth and she had a chance to talk to someone there that worked the night of the derecho that came through our area last summer. It was very interesting talking to him and I think she got a good inside look at what one type of meteorology job entails. He also was very encouraging, gave her some guidance on colleges to look at, suggestions on classes she could/should take in high school, and a few other tidbits.
We then wandered around to more of the booths, stopped at a few that looked like they might be interesting, and went back for the opening "ceremony." One reason we went back for that is that Josh W. a storm chaser was speaking. He showed his tornado equipment and talked a bit about what he does. We wandered around some more, stopped and talked with the people at the USGS (US Geological Survey) booth, although that was more for me than her. After that, she decided she had seen what she wanted to so we went back upstairs to the food court for lunch. Another stop at the NOAA booth to talk some more and try out the wind gauge, then we were on the road to home.
Going was worth it because while it reinforced her desire to be a meteorologist, it also reinforced the science that was needed by someone who is doing what she wants to do. It was good to get more information about college options, professional organizations, and some other options that will be open to her when she's in college.
For quite a while she's been talking about wanting to study meteorology; she wants to learn about extreme weather, especially tornadoes, so she can figure out how to help people prepare and survive these types of storms. And then physics came along and did not play nicely. She became really frustrated, having a strong desire to study meteorology but not really liking science and math. We looked at the class requirements at a couple of colleges and there's lots of physics, chemistry, and calculus, along with all the weather type classes.
I'm really glad we went to this expo. It was held in a mall almost an hour away but it was worth the drive. While there were a lot of booths she wasn't interested in visiting, she spent quite a bit of time at the NOAA booth (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) as well as a few others. Most of the booths had catchy names and interactive things for the kids to do. It was mainly geared towards middle and high school students.
We stopped first at the NOAA booth and she had a chance to talk to someone there that worked the night of the derecho that came through our area last summer. It was very interesting talking to him and I think she got a good inside look at what one type of meteorology job entails. He also was very encouraging, gave her some guidance on colleges to look at, suggestions on classes she could/should take in high school, and a few other tidbits.
We then wandered around to more of the booths, stopped at a few that looked like they might be interesting, and went back for the opening "ceremony." One reason we went back for that is that Josh W. a storm chaser was speaking. He showed his tornado equipment and talked a bit about what he does. We wandered around some more, stopped and talked with the people at the USGS (US Geological Survey) booth, although that was more for me than her. After that, she decided she had seen what she wanted to so we went back upstairs to the food court for lunch. Another stop at the NOAA booth to talk some more and try out the wind gauge, then we were on the road to home.
 |
| Learning about wind speed |
Going was worth it because while it reinforced her desire to be a meteorologist, it also reinforced the science that was needed by someone who is doing what she wants to do. It was good to get more information about college options, professional organizations, and some other options that will be open to her when she's in college.
14 September 2013
A Crazy Week in the Books
I'm glad we made it through this week because it was a crazy one! We had several doctor's appointments that disrupted school on different days, dance classes started, online classes started, and we just got back into everything.
While Sweet Pea was in France, her Imperial Russia class started. It meets online Thursday nights. They're recording it so if you miss a class you can catch up later. We had one heck of a time trying to get into the recorded class so she could watch it before Thursday night's class. Turns out something got messed up in her settings; they finally figured out the problem and fixed it late Wednesday night. She did get to watch class 1 before class 2 so that's good. I just need to check and see if she had homework that she needs to catch up on.
Sweet Pea's French and Russian classes started this week as well. So far it sounds like they're just doing review but new stuff will pick up soon. She will be sharing (through interrogation) about her trip to France. Her classes are a little bit crazy and fun but she's learning a lot.
Rosie Jane's biology lab group met over at a local park on Tuesday. They were collecting pond water for their lab that they were doing on Friday. After she finished there, she went to the driving range to smack a bucket of golf balls around. It's not the best range but it did give her some practice. In a continuation of a busy day, we stopped at Subway to get lunch then I dropped her off at the preschool at church where she volunteers on Tuesday afternoons. She loves working with the kids and, although she was sad to not be seeing last year's kids (they're in kindergarten now), she was excited about the new class.
In between all that stuff, they did get some book learning and reading done at home. Sweet Pea is officially done with physics and is moving on to chemistry next week. I think she's happy about that! Rosie Jane is having a hard time with math. I want to make sure she's got this down well before we move on to harder things. We'll take the time she needs to really learn it before we move on.
We're going to enjoy our weekend, then jump into another busy week.
While Sweet Pea was in France, her Imperial Russia class started. It meets online Thursday nights. They're recording it so if you miss a class you can catch up later. We had one heck of a time trying to get into the recorded class so she could watch it before Thursday night's class. Turns out something got messed up in her settings; they finally figured out the problem and fixed it late Wednesday night. She did get to watch class 1 before class 2 so that's good. I just need to check and see if she had homework that she needs to catch up on.
Sweet Pea's French and Russian classes started this week as well. So far it sounds like they're just doing review but new stuff will pick up soon. She will be sharing (through interrogation) about her trip to France. Her classes are a little bit crazy and fun but she's learning a lot.
Rosie Jane's biology lab group met over at a local park on Tuesday. They were collecting pond water for their lab that they were doing on Friday. After she finished there, she went to the driving range to smack a bucket of golf balls around. It's not the best range but it did give her some practice. In a continuation of a busy day, we stopped at Subway to get lunch then I dropped her off at the preschool at church where she volunteers on Tuesday afternoons. She loves working with the kids and, although she was sad to not be seeing last year's kids (they're in kindergarten now), she was excited about the new class.
In between all that stuff, they did get some book learning and reading done at home. Sweet Pea is officially done with physics and is moving on to chemistry next week. I think she's happy about that! Rosie Jane is having a hard time with math. I want to make sure she's got this down well before we move on to harder things. We'll take the time she needs to really learn it before we move on.
We're going to enjoy our weekend, then jump into another busy week.
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