Finally something harder mom!

This is what Jonathan told me today as we finally finished up all the review work on addition and subtraction and are finally onto multiplication. We touched on the concept briefly last year and he was excited by it and then very frustrated that we had to review all that boring stuff again with the new math course so we sort of raced through that and we are finally rewarded with the good stuff according to Jonathan.

Also I can proudly report that we have finally hit that magic 90% in Phonics so his Language Arts 2 is being ordered for him. Once we finish up this phonics (hopefully in the next 2wks), we won't be doing the concentrated phonics any more but will be simply working on improving fluency by reading together. A much more enjoyable way to go about it.

What a difference a year makes!

It's one of those things that really shows me that I really am doing some good with my boys and I'm not screwing up their education. This past week, Jonathan has been spontaneously reading all over the place. During history, science, and music he's been reading the questions he needs to answer to me before answering them! I remember his K year when it was soooo hard just getting him to put together the sounds to make a simple word. He just couldn't wrap his head around the concept (I think he's more of a whole language learner in a lot of ways) and we had so many days filled with tears because I couldn't figure out how to teach him and he couldn't figure out how to do what I was asking. Now he's gone through 1st grade and while we are still wrapping up the 1st grade phonics program through K12 since we started very slowly and took our time with it, it's amazing to see how far he's come. He's so much more confident in his reading, he's taking the initiative to try and read on a regular basis, and so often he does a great job of it too.

So here's to Jonathan, our newest reader!

Wow...miracles can happen

One of the biggest problems we've had with homeschooling is getting consistent effort out of Matthew. The other two boys are generally pretty good tho of course they have bad days but Matthew tends to just be able to dawdle for hours which usually ends up leading to all sorts of problems later on. This year I'm trying a reward system where every Friday we have either movie day or a fun field trip but the boys have to be caught up on their schoolwork in order to make it happen. This is the second week we are trying this after last week not getting to see a movie on Friday. Christopher has a yearbook meeting on Friday so we decided to try for Thursday instead.

Well, as of this morning it was looking very doubtful Matthew would be going to the Jelly Belly Factory. But he managed to rally today completing 2 math lessons, 2 spelling, 4 history, and a grammer test. It took all day and a few "mommy glares" but he got the minimum done that he needed to. Tomorrow before we leave he's got to finish some more math but I don't think it will be a problem. Jonathan managed to get everything done except for his phonics (which he can't do more than what he already has scheduled in a day) so he's looking awesome. We'll just do phonics tomorrow before leaving and he'll have the rest of the day off. Christopher managed to get some of his work for tomorrow done so again, he's looking good. I just hope Matthew will learn that dawdling doesn't pay in the long run. It's been a hard lesson to get him to learn and we are still working on it. I keep praying every school year that this will be the eyar he figures it out. It would make things so much easier on both of us.

School Motto?

So I was reading a friend's blog and she talked about how on one of her homeschooling boards, other members were talking about school mottos so she spent quite a lot of time trying to come up with one for her school. She was having problems with it and finally fell back on her love of Terry Pratchett and his saying “Personally, I think the best motto for an educational establishment is: ‘Or Would You Rather Be a Mule?’”. So there's her school motto.

I read this and after lmao, thought about it and what kind of motto our school has. It didn't take long before this one sprang into my head:

"The Davis Academy 4 Boyz...where education and insanity go hand in hand"

I think it fits quite nicely thank you.


And since it's Tuesday, here are the weekly bowling scores (check out that Nico!)

Nico - 84 300
Jon - 86 101
Matt - 64 48
Chris - 73 76

I was really impressed with Nico and Jon's second game. What was most impressive about Nico's is how he managed a 300 while not being anywhere near the lane. The Force is strong with that one. LOL

Today we learned...

about stomach contents, what makes a stomach more upset and prone to throwing up, what the contents of your stomach look like when partially digested, and what color your mother turns when she finds it in her bathroom sink.

Oh, yeah, gotta just love how a homeschooling mother can turn anything into a science lesson. LOL

And for the record, no, none of them got out of doing schoolwork today cause I'm just that mean.

The Mad Scientists

I had a pair of them today. Matthew did his lessons on atmospheric conditions but that is not what lies closest to his heart. He decided to go make muffins so he could at least make a mess (tho we were all praying for no booms). He mixed everything up and then started filling the cups and that's when I heard the cry of "Moooooom...I need help". I sent Christopher in since I was working with Jonathan and a few minutes later Christopher comes out with the bowl which still had about a muffin left in it asking me if that was good enough. I showed them both how to scrap the sides better and then saw that Matthew had literally filled one of the cups almost to overflowing, just to see what would happen. LOL We filled the rest like normal people and when they were done, Matthew got to see how his had overflowed and tried to escape it's fate. It couldn't tho and it was devoured easily by my little scientist.

Jonathan decided to do some saner experiments pertaining to our lessons on the scientific method and mass. We learned that a bouncy ball bounces higher (tho only slightly) than a model magic ball he makes himself and that the candle he made weighed more than the muffin, the JubJub, his pencil, Nico's car, or Matthew's toy dinosaur.

All in all, a good day for science.

Aphorisms

Today I'm turning over the entry to Christopher so he can share what he's learning about today, aphorisms.

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An aphorism is a literary device that is related to human life, like Ben Francklin's saying, "A penny saved is a penny earned," and "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," while Orson Scott Card changes it to "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man stupid and blind in the eyes." One of my favorite aphorisms on www.deimel.org/commentary/aphorisms was "The road to hell is paved with defective concrete." My mom would say to that, "The road to hell is a downhill, small single lane dirt road, with hairpin turns, leading to Solvang." Another is " you cannot smell the roses while talking on your cell phone." And my third and final favorite was, "We learn to walk before beginning to run, but we don't learn to balance on a bicycle before learning to ride." An aphorism I thought of myself is, "Life is like a comic book. Sometimes you're the hero, sometimes you're the innocent bystander."
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Ok, Jena's back...And see, that's what I love about homeschooling. I've used aphorisms my whole life without knowing what the actual name for them was and now I've learned that. Not only that but it was great watching Christopher get excited about researching these on the web and then sharing that with Matthew. Then he and I got into a discussion trying to come up with our own (my favorite out of that was when we were talking about bowling and came up with "sometimes you're the ball and sometimes you're the pin" LOL). It's those memories that I love and cherish and I hope my kids will too.

Bowling and Acting

Today was the first day of the fall bowling league for the boys. All four of them play with two in the bumper league and two in the regular league. At this point, we are half the league, literally. LOL They are going to draw up teams next week although if we don't get more bowlers we will likely do singles. I was happy to see how well Christopher and Matthew were doing despite the fact that we forgot their balls but they seemed to remember how to get the ball down the lane for the most part so that was good. Nicholas alternated between using the ramp and not. After a while of not using it I had to resort to begging and pleading in the name of finishing in less than 2hrs to get him to use it again. He tries so hard to be just like his big brothers but in this case, he can't keep throwing the 6lb ball down the lane for an hour with enough force for it to get there in under 5min. LOL

And here are the scores (just so I can watch how they progress):
Nico - 43 61
Jon - 66 112
Matt - 88 58
Chris - 68 64


And today was also the first day of Christopher's Young Actor's Workshop. He was very excited by the class and the stuff they were doing there. Apparently they will be doing a pirate themed Haunted House in Oct which should be a lot of fun. I'm hoping he'll do a blog entry on it tomorrow which I'll share here.

Add in a lunch at the park with friends and two soccer practices and it was a very full day. We still managed to get a bunch of schoolwork done and I think a good time was had by all.

An extra day

So I was dealing with the boys yesterday trying to get them, yet again, the importance of everyone in the family pulling their own weight. So much of that for them is in terms of doing their schoolwork promptly and with effort. To bring home a point, I started looking at how much time their extracurricular activities take out of the week and is time that I am not spending on other things. This is what we came up with:

Monday - 4 hrs between Kuk Sool Wan and therapy
Tuesday - 5 hrs between bowling, Young Actors Workshop, and 2 different soccer practices (that's if I don't have to pick up Matthew when his ends)
Wednesday - 2hrs for Kuk Sool Wan
Thursday - 4hrs between Park Day and soccer practice
Friday - 1hr for gymnastics
Saturday - 2hrs for soccer game

Add that all up and it comes to 18hrs per week minimum that we are out and about doing other stuff. We usually have 1-2 field trips per month plus errands and other things that come up for various things. Poor Nico gets to tag along on the bowling (which is adorable) and has gymnastics and therapy but really, very little for him and I always feel bad that he doesn't get to do much that is geared up for him. I'm planning on getting him and Jonathan into swimming and signing him up for Zoo classes once soccer is over but really, we basically already spend one full waking day out of the house every week. When I saw that, I realized "duh, no wonder I can never seem to catch up on anything around here!" I do think that helped to emphasis to the older boys exactly how much time is spent on things they enjoy and hopefully it brought the point home.

I do have to say tho, I look at that and wonder what the heck people are thinking when they ask me about "socialization". I always tell them that homeschooling would be soooo much easier if we were ever home to actually do school! LOL We are too busy using the world as our classroom some days to actually crack open a text book.

But you know what? I think it's the best thing and I'm learning just as much as my boys are and I do think we are all the better for it. Now if we were just home a little more often so I could take care of those other pesky matters...LOL

Responsibility

it's one of the core fundamental things that we strive to instill in our boys, both personal responsibility and communal responsibility. There are times, like this morning, that I despair of ever getting it through their heads. Then there are times, like this afternoon, that I think "hey, it's actually getting through to them".

Today I had a glimpse of Matthew's idea of being responsible. The child will not take phone messages because he hates to write but today when left home for 20min so I could pick up Jonathan from soccer practice, he called me to tell me that Kaiser had called confirming my appointment for Thursday. I consider this amazing progress considering Christopher just gives anyone who calls my cell phone number and Mark just totally forgets to pass on any message. Who knows how much better Jon, or *gasp* Nico, may eventually become?

Be careful with those b's & d's

So this week in spelling with Jonathan we are working on learning when to use ch and tch at the end of words. He had just filled in his sheet where it gave him the beginning of words and he had to fill in the appropriate ending. Then we go back and read the words. Of course, one of the words was d-i-t-c-h and he still has problems with switching his d's and b's. You can figure out what word first came out of his mouth. LOL

Start of the Home Ec/Life Skills class

So here's what I've done so far. I've typed up this list from the book "401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work at Home" by Bonnie Runyan McCullough and Susan Walker Monson. Obviously this is the complete list which includes basic skills that Christopher already has but I plan to use this list for all the boys so I left it as is and we'll just cross out what Christopher can already do. I also know that we will be making some changes to the list since it was originally drawn up in 1981 and there are some skills that are less necessary now (Chris doesn't ride a bike for example so bike maintenance is not relevant for him) and there are others that have become relevant. Any and all suggestions will be taken (tho not necessarily implemented) on what should be added or removed from the list if you so choose to make them.

Personal Care Skills
1. Put pjs away
2. Pick up toys
3. Undress self
4. Comb hair
5. Wash face, hands
6. Brush teeth
7. Dress self
8. Pick up books and arrange on shelf
9. Tidy up room and desk
10. Make own bed
11. Clean, trim nails
12. Leave bathroom neat after use
13. Arrange for own haircuts
14. Purchase own grooming supplies


Clothing Care Skills
1. Empty hamper, put dirty clothes in wash area
2. Put away clean clothes
3. Clean own drawers
4. Clean own closet
5. Fold, separate clean laundry
6. Hang clothes for sun drying
7. Fold clothes neatly, without wrinkles
8. Polish shoes
9. Wash clothes in machine
10. Operate electric clothes dryer
11. Clean lint trap and washer filter
12. Shop for clothing
13. Basic spot removal – blood, oil, coffee, tea, soda, etc
14. Waterproof shoes
15. Iron clothing
16. Hand wash woolens
17. Simple mending – buttons and holes
18. Sort clothes by color, dirt, fabric content
19. Take clothes for dry cleaning
20. Simple sewing


Household Skills
1. Clear off own place at table
2. Wipe up a spill
3. Dust furniture
4. Set table
5. Clear table
6. Pick up trash in yard
7. Shake area rugs
8. Spot clean walls
9. Wipe off door frames
10. Clean TV screen and mirrors
11. Feed pets
12. Clean toilet
13. Scour sink and tub
14. Empty wastebaskets
15. Sweep porches, patios, walks
16. Wipe off chairs
17. Know differences and uses of various household cleaners
18. Load and turn on dishwasher
19. Empty dishwasher and put dishes away
20. Wash and dry dishes by hand
21. Clean combs and brushes
22. Clean bathroom (total)
23. Scrub or mop floor
24. Use vacuum cleaner
25. Clean pet cages and bowls
26. Take written telephone messages
27. Use broom, dustpan
28. Vacuum upholstery and drapes
29. Water house plants
30. Water grass
31. Wash Car
32. Weed garden
33. Change bed linens
34. Replace light bulbs, understand wattage
35. Clean fireplace
36. Polish silverware
37. Replace fuse or know where breakers are
38. Oil Squeaky door
39. Change vacuum belt and bag
40. Trim trees, shrubs
41. Mow lawn
42. Polish wood furniture
43. Wash windows
44. Place long distance phone calls
45. Place collect calls
46. Unstop drain with chemicals or plunger
47. Install a lock
48. Change plug on electric cord
49. Scrub down walls
50. Wax a floor
51. Clean bathroom tile
52. Replace faucet washer
53. Use weather and all-purpose caulking
54. Know what to look for in home appliances

Cooking Skills
1. Know basic food groups and nutrition
2. Put groceries away
3. Make punch
4. Make a sandwich
5. Cook canned soup
6. Read a recipe
7. Measure properly
8. Make gelatin
9. Pack a cold lunch
10. Boil eggs
11. Scramble eggs
12. Distinguish between good and spoiled foods
13. Bake a cake from a mix
14. Cook frozen, canned vegetables
15. Mix pancakes
16. Read ingredient labels
17. Plan balanced meal
18. Select and prepare fresh fruits and vegetables
19. Bake cookies
20. Bake muffins, biscuits
21. Make tossed salad
22. Make hot beverages
23. Fry hamburger
24. Broil a steak
25. Bake bread
26. Make fruit salad
27. Clean frost-free refrigerator
28. Make casserole
29. Clean oven and stove
30. Carve meat
31. Plan and shop for groceries for a week
32. Defrost freezer or refrigerator
33. Cook a roast
34. Fry a chicken


Money Skills
1. Know monetary denominations
2. Freedom to use small allowance
3. Make change and count your change
4. Compare quality and price
5. Make savings or checking account deposit
6. Use a simple budget
7. Return item to a store properly
8. Write a check
9. Balance a checkbook
10. Understand what household bills must be paid; rent, electricity, water, telephone, etc.
11. Know how to properly use credit card



Navigation and Auto Skills
1. Know address
2. Know phone number
3. Clean interior of car
4. Ride bus or taxi
5. Oil a bicycle
6. Repair bicycle tire
7. Wash car properly
8. Read a map
9. Polish car
10. Fill gar with gas
11. Check oil
12. Fill radiator
13. Change flat tire
14. Fill tires with air
15. Drive car


Other Skills
1. Make emergency call such as ambulance, police, fire department
2. Learn to swim
3. Check book out of a library
4. Know emergency first aid procedures
5. Understand uses of medicine and seriousness of overuse
6. Plan a small party
7. Properly hang something on wall
8. Know differences between latex, enamel paint, wood stains, and polyurethane
9. Paint a room
10. Type
11. Change furnace or air conditioner filter
12. Contact landlord with problem and follow through
13. Organize spring house cleaning
14. Clean water heater and if gas, light it
15. Repair wall holes with putty
16. Shampoo carpets
17. Arrange for services such as trash removal or extermination

Meeting with the CAVA teacher

Our 4th teacher in 4 years. I swear, we aren't running them off! One moved up the ranks, one just wasn't a good fit for our family, and the last one left CAVA to take a job at her kids' school. Hopefully we can keep this one for a while.

Anyway, it went well. We signed all the bazillion papers that we have to sign every single time we change teachers (which is getting old) and she got her baseline assessments on the boys reading and Jonathan's math. Matthew did great on the 7th grade reading assessment (100% on comprehension) but she noticed that he tends to skip words and make substitutions on others tho that doesn't seem to affect his understanding. He'll actually repeat exact phrases back to you and gets into explaining it all when it's a subject he enjoys. Considering he scores advanced on both LA and Math for the State Testing, I guess it's not really a surprise. We turned in his Math5 Semester 2 Assessment so she didn't feel the need to test his math further (we needed to show her the test so she could order his Pre-Algebra 1). He also did a good job explaining what he learned about Art and Music so those new courses are getting ordered tonight.

Jonathan did really well on his math tho he's having some problems remembering multiplication and division. They don't spend a lot of time on that in 2nd grade tho so I'm not surprised. He did great adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers and adding multiple numbers. On his reading he scored right on the cusp of 1st/2nd grade which is great considering how far he had to come and how hard it's been for him. He's right on target so I'm totally thrilled with that and he's still working hard to finish up his Phonics 1. All-in-all a really good first meeting and the boys are doing really, really well. I always feel that they are but then I always doubt it when they are about to get tested. Silly really since they've always exceeded my expectations and done extremely well but still, I guess it's a mother's nature.

Now if I could just get them to settle down and work...

First Day's Craziness

We had:

• computer issues (couldn't find them)
• power issues (couldn't find those either)
• more computer issues (certain ones wouldn't connect to the internet sites we needed properly)
• lesson plan issues (mom hadn't gotten Christopher's put together yet)
• resources problems (4 kids all decided that they needed mom's attention at once, I foresee a lot more of that in the future *sigh*)
• and all sorts of other minor glitches

All in all, a typical first day. We still don't have some of the boys' materials from CAVA and I still haven't gotten over to a friend's house to pick up the grammar book she's going to loan us. I still need to put together the MOTH schedule to see if we can actually follow it (ask Mr. Chaos if that will happen) and the Home Ec and Teen Sociology for those with SCD lesson plans so we can actually document what we are doing with those.

But there is hope because:

• Jonathan got everything done but his science today including 1 math, 2 phonics, and 1 art (including the project)
• Matthew did get 2 history lessons (except for that pesky discuss with mom thing) and 1 science lesson completed and worked on a few other things
• Christopher did do his first lesson in LOTR and 2 lessons in math plus some work on his Teen Soc class
• We got to park day for 2hrs so the kids could run around and even met some playmates for Nico
• We went to Game Night and had a nice time playing new games and meeting with some of the new homeschoolers in the area
• Matthew made it to soccer practice and we finally know what team he is on
• Nico fell asleep in the car on the way home from game night so mommy can collapse

One day down, 179 more to go...

Opening the Academy Doors....

Well, I've decided that we always have a ton of school stuff going on and while that is part of our lives as well, I want to try and separate things a little so I can post tons of school stuff some place and if people aren't interested in school happenings, they don't have to read them. So with that being said....


Welcome to the Grand Opening of The Davis Academy 4 Boyz!

While I have joked for years that that's the institution I'm running, the reality has been for the past 3½yrs that my kids have been enrolled with CAVA, an online virtual academy charter school. As far as I'm concerned I have homeschooled them since I've been their teacher but I know that not all share that view. However this year is different. We have officially crossed over with Christopher into the full realms of homeschooling. I've researched some curriculum, we have come up with our course of study, and we are beholden to none. Matthew and Jonathan are still with CAVA for a variety of reasons but we are starting to make the break.

So I welcome you to join the full craziness of our first year of homeschooling our way. It will be an interesting journey but one that I'm sure will be filled with both exaulation and frustration, rapture and despair, high-fives and the feeling that banging my head on a wall would be more productive. But it should prove to be interesting if nothing else.

On to the journey....