Our Goals for 2012-13

This is going to be an unusual school year for us.  Or, should I say, even more unusual?

;-)

We will be adding a toddler to our family sometime after the first of the year.  We'll definitely take a month or more off to bond with him and give the entire family some time to adjust--only, we don't know when he'll arrive, how he will react to us, or what his medical needs will be.  Try planning around that!

The next two care packages, ready to go!

And this is a testing year for both of my kids.  We don't normally do much test prep, but I do want to give the kids a fighting chance to do well. 

So...I decided to "frontload" our academic year a bit.  We are starting earlier (August 14) and taking on a bit more daily work than we did last year.  Once Little Guy arrives and we are feeling up to it, the big kids can go back to their more relaxed schedule, and they'll have a little more freedom to follow the rabbit-trails that they invariably find!

Knowing me, I have over-thought and over-prepared, but here is the plan for our academic year:

Math

As usual, math is our most eclectic subject.  I hate to think of how much money I have spent over the years on various curricula that just didn't work for us...I finally got wise and invented my own, using ideas from The Mailbox, Teacher Filebox, abcteach, BrainPop, Teachers pay Teachers, Family Math, and Challenge Math.

Card games and other math games, many from TpT.

We play a lot of math games.  In fact, many games reinforce math skills, even if they aren't officially "educational."  In addition to S'Math, Mythmatical Battles, math facts bingo, and other games, my kids like Monopoly, Minotaurus, Domination, Uno, and Othello.  We used to avoid worksheets like the plague but as the kids are getting older, the concepts are getting more complex, and those practice sheets seem to be the only way to really make them stick.

We still do lots of hands-on math, though.  For skills reinforcement, I really like The Mailbox and teacher-created games from TpT.  For practical, real-life activities, I get lots of ideas from Math Wise, Hands-On Math, and a fun book called Math in the Garden.

After Little Guy arrives, the kids will switch to Teaching Textbooks, one of my favorite ready-made curricula.  If only it had been around when I was a kid (along with personal computers, CD Roms, and legal homeschooling!) ANYWAY...we used it a couple of years ago and my kids were able to do the lessons almost independently, so I'm hoping that will be true for 7th and 5th as well.

Never underestimate the power of Angry Birds stickers to transform ordinary flash cards!

Science

We are beginning the year with a (homemade) unit study on cells and DNA.  Then we're going to use Ellen McHenry's The Elements: Ingredients of the Universe.  Chemistry is not my strongest subject, so I am very grateful for Ellen McHenry, as well as Gonick & Criddle's Cartoon Guide to Chemistry.

Better learning through chemistry...

If we still have time before the end of the year, we'll jump into Discover the Oceans: The World's Largest Ecosystem.  Honestly, my kids are such science sponges, I almost don't have to plan anything "official" but I do enjoy doing science with them!

Letters, Language, and Literacy

We're using Grammar Voyage this year, with some supplemental games and practice sheets from Teachers pay Teachers and The Mailbox.  I like A Sentence A Day for punctuation and spelling practice.  We also discuss punctuation and parts of speech as we read together.

 

The LL&L shelf: grammar activities from The Mailbox, grammar books by Ruth Heller, Mad Libs, articles I saved for text studies, and books for reader response activities.

  I prepared our literature units about a month ago (so proud that I was organized enough to get it done early!)  Our spelling and vocabulary words come from our literature units.  The kiddos will continue studying German this year (their choice) but we're hoping to learn some basic Korean as well, since their little brother is coming from South Korea.

Lots of great reading ahead!

History

We use Joy Hakim's A History of US, along with great living books on whatever topic we're studying.  We read together, discuss the events, add dates and illustrations to our timelines, and do as many hands-on projects as possible.

  

Some of our resources from last year...we'll do quick review before moving on. 

I found a decent used textbook to use for our state history, but I'm only using it as a basic outline (and to educate myself, since I didn't grow up here.)  The best way to do state history, in my opinion, is to get out and visit as many museums and historical sites as possible! 

We've already started our history studies for this year, at the kids' request!

All the Other Stuff

We do Atelier art and occasionally I sign the kids up for an art class at our rec center.  This year I'm hoping to add some informal artist studies to the mix.  Something easy, like just reading a library book and then making something in the artist's style.

Super continues to enjoy guitar lessons.  Dude tried piano and wasn't crazy about it, and we are between drum teachers at the moment but I'm hoping to get him back into music soon.  Their P.E. consists of hiking, swimming, karate, going to the climbing wall, and walking our rambunctious dogs!   Neither of them enjoys team sports, which is OK with me, but Dude has mentioned wanting to try track and field at some point. 

Two more resources that I really love!

I used the word "goals" instead of "curriculum" in the title of this post because in most cases we cobble together many different resources to invent our own curriculum.  We use a bit of every homeschooling style, too.  That's the beauty of the learning lifestyle: you can customize every day to fit the child, the season, and the circumstances.

 

We're looking forward to a great school year!  Good luck to all of you, and have lots of fun learning with your kids!

Advice for a Young Utahraptor

If you happen to be a young Utahraptor living in the Early Cretaceous period, you'll need lots of important skills to make it through each exciting day.

For example, this Astrodon may look like a yummy lunch, but you'll need to use cunning and teamwork to down one of these ten-ton dinos. 

 And if an Acrocanthosaurus moves in on your hard-earned meal, it's best to just move on.  I know, I know. Utahraptors are tough, but trust me.  You are not tough enough to take on this megasized predator!

 

 Don't worry...there will be other feasts, like this iguanodon.  Just watch out for the thumb spikes!


In addition to hunting skills, you will need to be flexible.  Occasionally you are going to face something unexpected, like a flood.  Your best change of survival?  Learn a new skill on the spot!

 

We are loving Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker!*  Told from the point of view of a female Utahraptor, this fascinating novel is definitely our favorite family read-aloud this year.  We have cried for Raptor Red's lost mate, rooted for her when her survival was on the line, and laughed when her curiosity got the best of her.  All while learning about the amazing creatures of the Early Cretaceous.**

  

One more word of advice, Raptor Red.  If you happen to meet one of these armor-covered guys...don't even bother.  He's not worth the broken teeth!

 

*If you've seen Jurassic Park II: The Lost World, you might recall the character Dr. Robert Burke, who met his unfortunate end in the jaws of a T. Rex.  That character was (somewhat loosely) based on Dr. Bakker!   

**The best part of all: Super got to meet Dr. Bakker today! He was very friendly, but instead of just talking about his own book, he asked her what else she liked to read.  They ended up discussing the Warriors series (and, because he never talks down to a kid, Dostoevsky!)  Thanks, Dr. Bob!

Oops!

:-0

UFO Solar Baloon

We had to do this experiment in between rainstorms!  Fortunately we had a few sunny hours on Saturday, so we were able to use the power of the sun...

 ...to warm up the air inside the balloon.

 

It got warmer and fatter...

...then lifted off the ground!

 Up...

 ...up...

 

...and away!

Hope you're having lots of fun this summer!

Behold the Awesomeness!

The literature units for 2012 -2013 are DONE!

And they are all organized in these nifty little hanging bags!*

(Trumpet fanfare...)

Inside each bag: the novel, a vocabulary list, vocabulary activities, and a literature unit with author information, discussion questions, and enrichment activites.  The units are mostly from Teachers Pay Teachers or Currclick.  (BTW, If you are planning to read The Island of the Blue Dolphins, there is a fantastic novel study available on TPT, and it's FREE!)

We're using The Arrow for The Midwife's Apprentice, and some good, basic vocabulary sheets from TPT.   (Just search "vocabulary graphic organizer" and you can choose from a ton of different formats, some free and some a dollar or so.  This is probably obvious to you, but for some reason I never figured it out until I was putting together this year's units!) 

I'm a firm believer in getting familiar with new vocabulary before reading the book, so I made various puzzles and activities using the tools on ABCTeach.  You can make crosswords, word finds, word shapes, and lots more.

Next year our spelling words and our vocabulary words will be the same.  We'll also use them to study prefixes, suffixes, and root words.  And many of our writing activities will come from literature studies.  (I tell my kids all the time: if you want to be a writer, first be a reader!)

 We're starting the year with The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes.  After that, I'll let the kids take turns choosing the next book.  We certainly won't get through all of these, but I made more than we need so there would be plenty to choose from.  The choices: A Single Shard, The Egypt Game, The Breadwinner, The Door in the Wall, Dominic, The Magician's Elephant, Seedfolk, Harris and Me, The Island of Blue Dolphins, Pictures of Hollis Woods, The Indian in the Cupboard, Danny the Champion of the World, The Midwife's Apprentice, and Esperanza Rising.

That should keep my little readers busy for quite a while!  And anything we don't use this year is ready for the next!

*In case you're curious about the organizer above, it's called a Clip-A-Zip and I can't remember where I got mine.  I just looked it up on Amazon and there is no way I would have paid 45 bucks for it!  Are you kidding me?  Really Good Stuff offers a similar organizer; however you have to buy the bags separately.  You homeschooler types are so creative--I'm confident you could find a clever way to make a similar system if you wanted one! 

Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, KS

 Remember when Kansas was a big shallow sea?

 

 

Yeah, me neither!   

We weren't around to see it then, but lots of fascinating (and some terrifying!) creatures called it home.   

This handsome fellow is a Mosasaur.  His toothy grin probably swallowed fish and other aquatic animals, unlucky birds, and other Mosasaurs.  Try this site for lots of cool details about his teeth and bones.

 

And this lovely lady is called I-Will-So-Totally-Bite-Your-Leg-Off-Without-Even-Trying.  OK, not really.  I forgot to take a picture of her sign so I don't remember her name but she's clearly not one to be trifled with.  

(Update: Dad informed me that this is the same fish as the one below, Xiphactinus.  As far as I'm concerned, the above is still completely valid.)

 The Sternberg museum is one of our all-time favorite places.  Here is (a replica of) Mr. Sternberg himself, making a very important discovery...

 

And here is the same discovery, all cleaned up and displayed on the wall.  This particular Xiphanctinus was busy digesting his lunch when he died and began the slow process of fossilizing.  How unfortunate for him, but fortunate for us!

The museum also has an extensive collection of dinosaur bones and recreations.  This Carcharodontosaurus (shark-toothed lizard) was doubtless an impressive hunter, and is only surpassed in size by the Giganotosaurus (hella big lizard.)

Not everyone sported big, flashy fangs though.  Who needs fangs, when you've got a cool pair of wings?

Of course, no dinosaur museum would be complete without something that frightens small children.  My kids love waking up the motion-activated T-Rex, but they always check for stray toddlers first.

 

We had lots of fun at the Sternberg Museum.  Hope you're having a fun summer, too!

Caldwell Zoo, Tyler, TX