Ant Colony

This was not part of our lesson plan but I wanted to keep it somewhere we could access it easily if the time comes.

Cells

Today one of our subjects was Science.  In particular, CELLS.   We just took a bite sized piece of the new material and then we did a pop quiz on some old work.  Characteristics and Needs of living things and he got 8/8.  For me, that is the real test.  Retaining the information we cover.  So who knows, maybe we are moving slow (maybe not), but what good is going fast if it's all for not?

We also watched a DVD of the ocean from the Planet Earth series.  We discussed how all of the living things are connected in one way or another.  All designed to work together and help one another which I know is a very broad statement.  He was going to write a paragraph about the connections but he had to head off to PE and we ran out of time.

Mckenzie did his Math Whizz again. 

He went to his PE class at the college

He read and did another chapter report for the book Stranded. 

We'll need to get him a new book since last night he finished Percy Jackson (the 2nd book)

Art

With Halloween around the corner we took on a day of the dead art project.  Really it's just a decorated skull.  He's not quite done.  Nothing says scary like the colour pink.

Science World Field Trip

We finally managed to get away for a field trip of our own.  Kalea had a pro-d day and the whole day was wide open so off we went.  We took in an Electricity show - again, since I know we'll be covering electricity a bit later in our Science curriculum. 

 Mckenzie wasn't quite himself yesterday so we took it easy on the lessons.  Having had memberships for a while we've seen it all many times and one of the great things about Science World is that even the things we've seen over and over can teach us or remind us of principles we use every day without even knowing it.

Above:  we spent a fair bit of time working on the brain teasers they have on the main level.  We never did figure this one out.  But he did figure one out that seemed particularly challenging - until you change your way of approach.  Maybe that's the key to most things we often find challenging - change our point of view.  It's fun to watch the kids working things out in their minds and with their hands.  We can easily underestimate their ability to solve tricky 'puzzles' when sometimes it's the kids who have the easiest time solving them because of their fresh minds that haven't been programmed to only look at things in one way. 

Elaborate costumes made entirely from plastic bags. 
Checking out the new Amped exhibit

Queens Park Greenhouse Field Trip

 We've lived very close to these greenhouses for years and we know the previous caretakers but we've never actually been to the greenhouses.  On Thursday we finally got to see all the goodness inside.  I'm a huge fan of succulents so I was in for a real wonderful surprise.  I think Mckenzie felt a bit more casual about it.  But aside from it being so fun to see all the gorgeous succulents it was a great field trip for more than just his Architectural Landscape class; it was great for us because as you know we've been doing lots about the diversity of life.  Seeing so many different plants and flowers (not so many flowers because of the season), was a good conversation starter to discuss the many ways we could classify all the amazing creation around us. 

 Each child was able to plant their own succulent to take home (and the parents too!!!).  What a nice way to end the tour.  All the kids did a great job of planting, they all looked so great.

A Little of This and a Little of That

 Mckenzie's fully completed LEAF CLASSIFICATION chart. 

Playing THE MAIN IDEA board game.  Each player gets a card with 3 multiple choice answers.  The aim is to pick the main idea the story was getting at.  Good for comprehension. 

 The the sports/PE program.  That's Mckenzie jumping for the ball.

 Standing in goal.  For a kid who is not sports minded he does ok.  You can tell who is really into sports and who is neutral.  Mckenzie is at best, neutral.  But he's improving and the benefits of working with teammates, on co-ordination, sportsmanship, physical activity, etc... is great.  You can see the timid pride on his face when he knows he's played well.  It's nice to see.  I still think that he may always gravitate towards individual sports.  We've heard there is an archery location nearby so we'll look into that since he seems really interested in that.

Thoughts on Homeschooling

It's been a little over a month now since we began this adventure and I feel like it's going pretty well.  Both Mckenzie and I are happy with how it's been going.  We have no problem filling our days which I didn't really expect.  I thought we'd have more 'down time' but we really don't.  I guess most of the down time we do have is filled with him biking.  In fact it feels like we don't have enough time.  But then again I have no point of reference.  Are we doing enough?  Are we on the right track?  Are we moving too fast?  How do we fit it all in?  Those are questions I'm hoping to figure out.

 

I think we're on track but the pace is probably the biggest question I have.  I keep reminding myself that one of the things I was drawn to was the fact that you can be flexible, choosing to focus on what you want and in which order, etc..  So maybe I don't need to worry so much about whether or not we spend all day working on Language Arts, or on Science, etc... If we need extra time to focus on an area then we have the luxury of doing that rather than glazing over a subject for the sake of time.

 

My teaching days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday while he goes to the centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We were typically 'learning' from 10 am - 2 pm with a good lunch break.  But now that the sports program has begun it's right in the middle of our Monday and Wednesday making me feel even more like we're not spending enough time learning.  On the up side though is that I'm very happy that he's taking in the many benefits of an organised sports program. 

 

Throw in the fact that I'm getting into the thickest part of planning the main fundraiser at my daughter's school right now and time seems to be the biggest concern.  I'd love to be able to do more 'outtings' with him, more experiments but time just isn't allowing that - right now.  My hope is that once the sports program concludes and I'm done planning this fundraiser that we'll be able to take more of those things in. 

 

And I think I might just need to keep reminding myself that it's only our very first month and I've heard many times people say that the first year is really about finding your groove and what works and what doesn't.  Regardless, I must say that I'm very happily surprised with how much I'm loving it and how easily we are transitioning in.  I wasn't sure that I would be able to be the 'teacher' Mckenzie would need and I guess it might be too early to tell but my gut is telling me that this was exactly the right move for us.

Leaf Classification Chart

And here is our Leaf Classification chart which Mckenzie worked really hard on.  We did work on it together because it was a big job but he really did all the 'work' work.  He did a great job and it looks terrific!  We've since printed up all the above leaf photos and attached them to the poster (where the blank space is).  He also did a crayon rub of every single leaf and there were 35! 

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Today, we had less time to learn because he had his first day participating in the sports program offered through the local College.  Sounds like he had a good time though.  Hand ball and tag were the two he mentioned.  I wasn't there to watch as we carpooled with another family, but I'll probably stick around next time. 

In the morning we did Social Studies and worked on a brief overview of the USA.  It's the same thing as a few weeks ago when we focused on Canada, covering topics of Culture, Environment, Government, and Economy.  Then we follow up by drawing and colouring the flag for that country.  We didn't quite finish the flag but we'll work on that tomorrow.

We also did Math Whizz and I'm happy to see that he really seems to be grasping some of the concepts which have previously been challenging.  I'm still a bit unsure of how that will translate into real world scenarios but I may be getting ahead of myself.  Right now is the time to focus on ingraining some of the basic principles and gaining confidence which will in turn translate into real world success.

And finally we tackled the assigned homework for tomorrow which was filling in the blanks of sentences with "juicy" adjectives. 

Thanksgiving

 

 We were away over Thanksgiving so we didn't really do much work other than reading and the odd time on Math Whizz.  But we did a few extra curricular activities that we wouldn't have been doing at home.  Mckenzie spent lots of time perfecting his archery (I thought I had a photo - I guess I was wrong).  He was really good.  He also went ATVing, we took a 'field trip' to a corn maze, haunted house and went on a tractor ride. 

The day after we got home it was right back to school, which is where I borrowed this treasure from; the skull.  It was a happy surprise for him when he got home, even though we're not working on anatomy, I knew he'd like it. 

Today we worked all day on a leaf classifying project.  It's almost complete, just have to get some photos printed and attached.  I'll post photos of it next time.

Classification is Very Very Tasty

We've begun the second chapter in Science:  Classification, more specifically living things.  We did collect another big bag of leaves on our walk today but alas, it disappeared without a trace, so we went a much tastier route.  CANDY!  It's a pretty good motivator for school work on a Friday night.  I was going to wait till after the weekend but he was eager to get to it, as you can imagine.

Mckenzie came up with six different ways to classify the candy: types, colour, size, packaging, shape and taste.  We'll use this for math as well and another day we'll graph the categories.  (I scribed for him)

 We also did reading and another chapter report/overview of "Stranded" by Jeff Probst.  It was pretty basic. 

We did the math train again and this time he did 49 questions.  Little brother was a good cheering team because he got to reap the rewards alongside Mckenzie when he hit his mini goals.
 
And earlier in the day we began the classification chapter and we came up with four different classification systems.  We also did a quick review of the characteristics and needs of all living things.  The candy classification came tonight. 

We also began learning sign language, but shhh, it's supposed to be our little secret.  We used a DVD from the library.  We learnt a handful of basic greetings and courtesies.

He did some biking today since the weather was nice, well, not raining. 

And now he's reading his Percy Jackson book, The Sea of Monsters.

Overall it was a very full and productive day.

Yesterday he was at the school.  Seems like he's enjoying it.  And Mr. Not Interested In Sports scored 3 goals in soccer!  He was pretty proud of himself although he tried not to show it.  I was pretty proud too. 

Tuesday & Wednesday

 Yesterday, Tuesday was the very first day of home school at the actual home school centre.  I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of how he'd feel about it but he was actually excited.  He told us he had a good day, that he liked it but of course couldn't really tell us much about what he did.  Working on the details has and continues to be a challenge.  Telling us he did music isn't enough.  When it comes to writing I tell him to dazzle me with details but it's almost like he doesn't see the details at all, or if he does they seem so obvious or trivial that he doesn't even register them as being important.  I'm not sure either of us are understanding the others point of view on this. 

Today:  Wednesday
Here is an example of just that.  Our Picture of the Day.  It's a lesson on inferring, basic writing skills, grammar and punctuation, etc.  It's a fairly painful experience - for me.  It takes a lot of time and a lot of hint giving to elicit much work. 

 After a break and some lunch we tackled some Social Studies.  We'll be using what we read in the text book and making a bit of a project with it.  There's a lot of talk of the global village and the parts that make the world the place it is. See below. 
We started with Canada.  We won't be doing anything too in depth, just covering some basics, getting a feel for the subjects and the Countries.  Each time he will pick a new Country of his choice and we will write down a few facts under each category, then he will draw and colour/paint their National Flag on our giant poster.  By the end it should be a very colourful poster.

 We used the Internet as our source and in some cases just brought up images to get an idea of what 'culture' or 'environment'  is like in Canada. 

 I scribed for him as he did lots of writing earlier in the day and we needed to finish the task in a somewhat timely manner.

 The final step, drawing and colouring the flag, while listening to The Hobbit on CD.  Looking good!