The youngest Brant is back on track! Look at this folks.....
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| From Too Cool for School |
See those two men kneeling? See what they are holding? Yes, it IS a broken
board! Hooray - she finally broke her board on a side kick!!!! PNut
has been a red belt for a very long time. Her broken arm last September
set her back, not physically, but mentally. Now, Miss Kicks is back!
Congratulations PNut!
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| From Too Cool for School |
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PNut found some pipe cleaners yesterday and proceeded to create. I just love the parrot. It took alot of patience on her part and hot glue from me, but he came out so cute!
Summer vacation has been full of swimming at the pool, trips to the book store, meeting new friends from the North Wake Teen Co-Op group and creating projects from what we find around the house.
But, next week we will start Science (Anatomy), Art and Latin. They need something more challenging to do. Keeps them out of trouble, too!
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I tell people we are going to home school and I get one of two basic responses....
"Oh! Really?"
When they say this I know that they are screaming inside: "Are you INSANE? Around your kids 24/7? No thank you. I couldn't do it!"
or
"Really? That is great! You guys are going to be great at that!"
These people get us. They know us. They see the fun and love we share.
And through the last two weeks of the "telling" I have come to realize something.
I LIKE my girls.
I mean, really like them.
They are fun to be around. And during our recent track out I have been so glad to have them home. I am going to miss them when they go back to school for their last 6 weeks of Public School.
I'm so thankful that I have girls that can make me laugh until I'm crying.
If you have ever seen Pony singing Wheezer's "Beverly Hills" you would need to reapply mascara, too!
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Just so you don't think I'm over-schooling my preschool daughters with the curriculum choices mentioned in the previous post, that picture was taken in 2004. Here is a picture of the lil' chicks now:
I have taken liberties with the use of lil' (not to be confused with the recently departed American Idol contestant Lil Rounds - g'bye Lil!). They aren't little anymore. Pony is almost as tall as me and can currently wear my shoes. Not for dress up, but for real. But I won't let her touch my Rocket Dogs!
Have you seen what an 11 year old does to shoes? Not pretty.
Pony was appalled when I told her I was putting pictures of her on the blog.
P: "The whole entire world is going to see them?"
M: "Oh yes. But mainly just family and friends to keep up with what we are doing."
P: "But why?????"
M: "Because I can, babe."
That's a mom's right, isn't it? To embarrass and tease and make life an absolute eye-rolling, tween-sighing nightmare?
I kid, I kid.
A little. Here's another just for kicks:
They have a great relationship with their dad. Always hugging and goofing around!
I love my Chip!
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So, we've decided to home school. Look at them up there in that picture. Too sweet, too cute, too long ago! That was Pony's first day of K and she was 5 years old. PNut was only 4 and she looks soooo tired. Now they are 11 and 9 and really don't enjoy posing like that anymore. Soon, I will post pictures of what a moody tween looks like when she goes to school. NOT that cute at all, my friends! Anyway, back to deciding to home school. That, I soon learned, is the easy decision. The harder decisions are how to teach and what to teach. While I would love to show my chicks the fine art of home decor and how to reclaim Craigslist finds, I'm sure my hubby would object.
So we need a curriculum, a plan of action, a direction. I assumed you bought the teacher manual and the student workbook from the local home school store then flipped through magazines while the lil' chicks wrote fast and furious for a few hours. Then, when the work was done I would whip out the answer key and, with my big fat red marker, show them the error of their ways. Just kidding. Except about the teacher manuals - desperately need those! Otherwise I would be a fish floundering in water while my lil' chicks look on in horror! Nope, we need a curriculum. Or curricula. Multiple curriculums. And after many long hours researching the subject I've developed curriculitis - usually not fatal, but definitely debilitating! We are leaning towards Classical Education around here. For an explanation go here. You could buy the All-for-one-and-one-for-all curriculums but really, that would be too easy. Instead I am picking and choosing programs that better suit our lil' chicks. So, here is what we are looking at: Writing - I am leaning towards The Brave Writer program. Very impressed with this one. Then there is the Institute for Excellence in Writing. IEW is more structured, giving you day to day lesson plans. This gives you what to write, then they work on how to write. Brave Writer gives the student more freedom in what to write and they work on the "rules" later, when they are more confident writers. History - Totally going to do an eclectic approach but all materials are Classic Ed. History Odyssey by Pandia Press will be our spine and we will supplement with Usborne Book of World History Dates for the timeline. I also want to read Asimov's Chronology of the World. Story of the World will be read, although I have heard they aren't always accurate and blurs facts with myths. But, we will cross those bridges when we come to them. Math and Science - oh boy! My weakest and scariest part of HSing. My lil' chicks eat this up and excel in both these subjects. And they have been in PS all their young life, will that matter? Has it made an impression on their learning style? I have no clue which to use so we will pick one and if it doesn't work we will move to the next. Here is what's on the buffet: Singapore Math and Science, Saxon, Aleks, Math U See, Living Math, R.E.A.L. Science, and Real Science 4 Kids. Who knew there were so many? And believe me when I say these are just a few. Any suggestions or reviews on any of these would be appreciated. O.kay - this is all for now. My curriculitis has taken over my brain. I must get back to my HGTV and my pile of decorating magazines, at least for a bit. Oh yeah, and my laundry pile, and the pile of paperwork, it all takes over. Tags: home school, curriculum, math, writing, science, history Powered by Qumana
