Dapper.

Um, this is Micah's new look as of Saturday. 

The kid decided he needed to dress better and dug around to find this tie, which he wore with a blue polo shirt and brown pants on Friday. (I was completely in the dark about what would have brought this about and had decided to just go with it. ;) That evening, Nathan figured out that Micah's been inspired by the school uniforms at Hogwarts.)

Since then, he's been examining his look. I had to get out the white polo shirt in order to get the blue one off him so I could do laundry. (He was so delighted when I handed it to him, lol.) Then he remembered he had this black vest from my sister's wedding almost three years ago, and finally he made Nathan find the coordinating black slacks. Personally, though, I think the clincher is the slicked down mohawk and the serious attitude, lol.

He's now asking whether he looks good enough to go to a party and telling his brothers that they dress like slobs.

Cracks. Me. Up. ;)

Yesterday

Yup. Spring time snow + no hyper-extended toe for Asher = an afternoon of sledding!

I didn't manage too many photos this time around, but we had plenty of fun!

(Isn't Noah hilarious?) ;)

A plan?

My brain hurts. Since the start of 2013, I've been doing a LOT of thinking about our homeschooling. Part of this has been about the grander long term plan and part of it has been about the specifics of what curricula I want to pursue next. I tend to do this second part annually about now. ;) Between all that and the homeschool convention/used book sale that I attended recently, whoa. 

But. I think I'm finally getting a grasp on things and nailing down plans.  

For the most part, the primary shift in thinking this time around has been a more deliberate focus on each boy individually...on what his strengths are and how to build on those to get him prepared for the long term, not just for next year. 

(Note, this has always been our intention, obviously. In practice, though, it's easier to have all three boys in the same curricula...so, even though I do pick and choose different programs by subject, I've tended to have the boys using the same materials...just at different levels. This has served us well so far, but it's time now to start separating more...)

This means, as of right now (and I completely reserve the right to change anything at any time, lol), that I've been re-evaluating much of our current curricula here in the middle of 6th, 4th and 2nd grade. Here's where things stand:

(Please feel free to stop reading here. ;) I know that this is incredibly dry and unexciting. But. I like having a record here of what I'm doing and what I was thinking and know that some other homeschoolers get something out of reading other people's plans...I know I do, lol.)

MATH: This is a big one. Up until the start of this year, all three boys used Singapore Math's Primary Math program. It was great for Noah and Micah and okay for Asher. Noah finished thru level 6B, Asher thru 4B and Micah thru 3B (though he pretty much also did all of level 4 on his own just for fun). This past year, we switched to Teaching Textbooks. (See my explanation here.) It's been great for Asher, but not as much for the other two. Really, though, I've loved being able to just assign them their lessons for the week and leave it to them to get them done.

But...each of them has a very different math aptitude and needs differing types of instruction. I've gotta suck it up and deal with that, even though it's going to mean more time on my part, dealing with multiple curricula instead of just one.

So. We're slowly figuring things out. :) For Noah, we switched back to Singapore Math...using their Discovering Math program for the last month or two. Next week, though, I think we're switching to the Art of Problem Solving Pre-Algebra, with hopes/plans to finish that before fall. (For the record, I like the Discovering Math program and think it's dandy. I just think that switching to the Art of Problem Solving now will make the transition when we start Algebra easier. I may, actually, blend the two together.) In addition to that (and on that same timeline), we may do Life of Fred Pre-Algebra 2 (having done Pre-Algebra 1 last year and having done Fractions and Decimals/Percents prior to that). Next year (seventh grade), then, our plan is to tackle the Art of Problem Solving's Algebra curriculum, supplementing with their Counting & Probability and Number Theory half way through the year. That will hopefully give him a solid foundation to test into some high school classes for eighth grade at Early Colleges. 

For the time being, I think Teaching Textbooks 6 is the right fit for Asher and am going to leave that alone. (Yay!) I've added in Life of Fred Fractions just on the side for fun. Next year, we'll do Teaching Textbooks 7 and Life of Fred Decimals.

For Micah, I thought about switching him back to Singapore Math but am leaving him in Teaching Textbooks 6 along with Asher. He's flying through it a little faster (and could use more challenge) but enjoys the program and being able to do his math on the computer. I know that eventually he's going to need to pass Asher up and change programs but have decided that it's not necessary to tackle that quite yet. He's only seven...he's got time. ;) To provide a bit more challenge (and fun), though, I've started supplementing that with Beast Academy because it will hopefully force him to actually have to think about some of his math. (I contemplated just switching to Beast Academy alone, but it's new and their production timeline won't keep up with Micah.)

(For a small hiccup, Asher decided today that Micah's Beast Academy is way more fun than Life of Fred. I have to admit that it was. ;) We were using Blockus pieces for his assignment. And maybe this different way of looking at math is a good fit for Asher. Hmmm. Going to have to think more about this...I'd been trying to supplement with different programs to keep the competitiveness/comparison at bay a bit. Thoughts?)

SCIENCE: We've been using Elemental Science's Intermediate Earth Science program this year. It's been okay. I like that it's teacher friendly but don't know that the boys have really been gaining much that they didn't already know. (They have, though, enjoyed some of the experiments...particularly those that involve chocolate, lol.) Even those experiments that aren't "exciting," though, have been useful in illustrating a point well. So. We'll finish this program up but are accelerating the pace to finish soon...there just hasn't been enough material to spread it out as much as it's called for.

To round out the school year (and just for a change of pace), then, I'm going to start Human Body Detectives with them (got a great deal through Homeschool Buyers Coop). For next year, I just bought Ellen McHenry's The Elements and Carbon Chemistry and am hoping to be able to take the time to do more of the experiments and delve more in depth. I picked up this book, too. 

(Yes, I realize that I'm still doing science with all three boys together. ;) I can't figure out where I'd separate them out and haven't come across an actual science program that will last us more than a couple years anyhow. I'm working, though, on having them do differing levels of work with each lesson.)

WRITING/GRAMMAR: Language arts may kill me. ;) Okay, not really. But. I've definitely had the most trouble finding language arts programs that work for us. This year started with Michael Clay Thompson. Then I tried to do my own thing. Then I started Growing With Grammar and Winning With Writing. 

For next year, for writing, we'll be leaving Winning With Writing. It wasn't horrible but was a bit too formulaic and repetitive for us. Instead, I'll probably mash up some combination of Writing With Style 1, Killgallon, Writing Magic, Bravewriter, and IEW's Rockets theme pack. (Oy!) Altogether, I also just need to do a better job of working writing into all the other subjects. If y'all have any other recommendations...definitely let me know!

For grammar, I thought I was going to switch to Hake Grammar. It seems similar to Growing with Grammar but a bit more rigorous, and I like that it uses passages and sentences from literature and history rather than fluff for their examples. I even found a great deal on the exact books/levels I'd need! But. Then, I got an email mentioning another grammar program, Analytical Grammar, and it just resonates with me. So. I'm going to really push through that with just Noah next year. I'll give the younger two the year off from grammar and then hit it with them the year after that using their three year plan.

(For the other portions of language arts, I'll likely just continue as I have been...assigning a variety of books each month and using All About Spelling. We'll finish levels 6 and 7 next year.)

HISTORY: Thankfully, history is working just fine and we'll just stick with that. :) So, next year we'll do Story of the World volume 3 for world history and continue working through The Story of US for US history (we'll have covered books 1-3 this year and I'm still thrilled with the deal I got buying these used from another homeschool mom!). I'm also going to add in Critical Thinking: US History...because it sounds cool. ;)

Whew. Okay, that's enough for now. :) Working on implementing all this stuff and a few other things. Excited. :)

Pi times 21

Happy Pi Day! As those who have followed this blog for awhile may know, today is also the anniversary of the day Nathan and I first met. Yup, twenty one years ago, this is what we looked like:

(Well, okay, not exactly 21 years ago. This photo was taken about a month after we first met, but I'm fairly certain it's the first picture of the two of us.)

In any case, to celebrate, we played hookie yesterday morning. (Yes, technically that means we celebrated on the 13th instead of the 14th; but, when your three sons are at LEAP all day only once a week, you take advantage, lol.) We did some window shopping and had a lovely lunch...but mostly, we played at Fort Fun! 

We started out with a game of "lava golf"...wherein you attempt to NOT touch any of the green portion of miniature golf courses because said green portions were still wet from melting snow. It was actually rather entertaining and definitely more fun than "normal" ol' miniature golf:

Also, the water features were rather frozen still. Which meant that Nathan got to take this shot off the top of the layer of ice. ;)

Then we went on the go karts...because, to my recollection, I've never been in a go kart before:

Did I mention that we had the place pretty much to ourselves? When you go in the middle of the week during the school day just after the place opens, it's pretty deserted. :)

We also went down the big slide a number of times, tried out the shooting gallery and had another round at the go karts. It was awesome and the weather was perfect...just a little chilly but sunny. Oh, here we are at the top of the slide:

And that was our celebration of having met twenty one years ago. ;)

My office

As promised (once upon a time), here are before and after pictures of my office. 

(Click to enlarge.)

Not a huge difference, I'll admit. But it feels heavenly. Basically, I sat down and actually went through all my scrapbooking stuff and weeded stuff out. I also realized that I was able to store everything much more efficiently once I stopped trying to keep things separated out as before...back in the day when I needed to be able to track where everything came from (which manufacturer or program I'd received the supplies from so that I could accurately credit them). So. Don't worry. I still have a good portion of the stuff...it's just better stored now. ;)

(Still, yes, whether or not we'll end up having a spring garage sale remains to be seen, lol, though I did already donate a few bags to a worthy cause, Kenna's Kards. Nathan and Noah met this lovely young lady not long ago at a local presentation featuring some young entrepreneurs. Nathan was impressed enough by her that he's helped her with her new website. Go check it out!)

We then took out the wire shelves and got new lovely IKEA shelves and, voila, I now have enough room to store all the homeschool related piles on the ground and desktops and can see the floor. It's awesome. As a treat, I even splurged on that cute clearance stool. ;) (You can't see it well in the "before" pictures, but I'd been using a cheap plastic stool that I found at Walmart years ago for a buck. Asher's now happily using it in his room.)

I still have a few more little tweaks I'm planning to make, but am mostly just so happy. It feels fabulous to be able to actually use my office...and it's always refreshing to purge. ;)

(says she who also tackled the kitchen last weekend with Nathan's help/reluctant agreement, lol, and weeded out a huge box of stuff that was just taking up space and making storing things difficult, lol)