Learning In (Real) Life

This month, to replace the grade 8 Optics lessons (Science 8), her teacher, John Gair, challenged her to do her research and construct a telescope. I asked her to read the Optics unit in her Science 8 text book, she did some of the reading offered on D2L, and then had an inspirational talk with her dad about how they could build a telescope together. After finding the instructions on the internet, picking up a few supplies, including a couple magnifying lens, they went to work together to build a telescope. Next week she will take the telescope to Mr Gair to show it off and answer his questions.
Below are photos of her trying to find the focal length between the 2 lens, and her dad helping measure.

First, I just realized that some of the dates on my posts are wrong. Not my fault, but technology’s. Blame it on Edublogs.
Feb 10, 2012 – (how I dont trust the dates of Edublogs anymore) Renee is 13 and half way through grade 8; Alannah 15 and half way through grade 10…..if you were to measure their grades by a typical brick ‘n’ mortar school year, that is.
Alannah has been a self-motivated, independent learner for at least a year now, probably closer to 2 years. Her grade 10 year has been difficult for me to watch. She is in her own glorious world of learning at her own pace, and enjoying the copious quantities of time she can put into her music, both academically and extra-curricular, while working her way through grade 10 courses. We’ve come to the realization that completing grade 10 in June is certainly, 100% impossible for her. The workload is enormous, and combined with an enthusiastic desire to perform and write music and complete music exams, June will not be her end to grade 10. I’m battling in my mind WHY our Ministry of Education puts such a heavy load on our grade 10 students….where is the room for Spark ? I suppose grade 11 and 12 will be, in comparison, a lot more…shall we say….FUN ?! But I have to remember to stay focused on learning, rather than comparing it across the months like kids in a brick ‘n’ mortar school. Talk about having to disenthrall….it’s difficult to let go of what we know from our own experiences.

Renee has been struggling with motivation for the past 2 years, and while I remember some of this struggle during this age with Alannah, it seems deeper and more difficult for Renee and myself. I am certain much of it is because my time with her has been far too limited, and there’s a degree of guilt that I will always have about this. We’ve argued daily for months over incomplete school work, and it’s been difficult to watch her flame slowly die out. Today, while at the office, I received an email from her that was simple, but enormous at the same time because it had a tone of motivation that I have not seen in her for about 2 years: “Mom, I decided what I want to do for the heritage fair. I want to do Fisheries and Oceans and the Coast Guard.” She had taken the initiative to do some research without me pushing her, and although a week ago she wasn’t interested in the Heritage Fair, today she found a passion to take her there. When I arrived home, I also found she had completed 75% of her math worksheet I had left for her. What a nice ending to the week for Renee and I. I am only hoping we are onto something that has re-lit her fire and mine.
She needs stay motivated, and I need to remember I sometimes have to get out of her way.

I just took a moment to re-read and reflect on some of the first posts I put on this blog.  Last summer when, referring to our schedule-less days,  I wrote “I crave some of the normality in our lives”.    How, at this very minute, I would love to have the power to recreate that emotion within me.   Instead,  I’m tired right down to my toes and would give nearly anything right now to throw all of our schedules out the window.   I’m sinking in math lessons, a history fair project, language arts projects, a group study about Ancient Greece, experimenting with learning in a virtual world, cello lessons, violin lessons, upcoming concerts, swim club 4 days a week, kids who need new clothes because they dont believe me when I tell them they can wear their too-short jeans as capri pants this spring, meals to plan and create, a house to keep clean, and a work schedule that has yet again increased.         

My babies both gained another number to their age yesterday.  Happy 12th Birthday, Renee.  Happy 14th Birthday, Alannah. 

Just a week before the 25th of December, our house already looks like Santa has already been and gone.    Our birthday plans to meet up with friends on Mt Washington for a day of tubing was believe it or not, snowed-out !  Too much ice on the mountain’s road and high winds kept us grounded at sea level instead.  After a visit to Blockbuster, the girls began a movie marathon with their girl friends while I quickly threw enough together to throw  a last minute birthday party.   So after hopping out of bed this morning, I was greeted to the aftermath the party…wrapping paper and ribbons on the living room floor, a few unwashed dishes, the girls’  now unwrapped gifts placed under the Christmas tree, and the dining room table covered in lego pieces, Renee’s new Star Wars Lego kit !    

So, my absolute favourite day of the year, December 18th, has come and gone again for another year and both my babies are another year older. I love you, girls, and I’m so proud of you both. And darn it, still so proud we had you both on the same date.

I’ve welcomed a bright change in the weather this past week as the temperature dropped enough to receive the season’s first snowfall in our area.   What a beautiful weekend.   It was a girls-only weekend as Dan took part in 4 different ocean dives, and enough snow outside accumulated to create a Winter Wonderland that has been very warming, of all things.   When the cool temperatures began earlier this week, I was motivated to pull out the spools of thread, pins, needles, the iron and a few samples of the cheerful fabrics I had stashed away.  I managed to combine one of Renee’s math lessons with my quilting….pretty good multitasker, eh?!   This sewing is the first bit of creative time I”ve had for myself in well over 2 years.  Returning to a business frame of mind on Monday will be extremely difficult.  Hmmmmm…..maybe I might find an excuse to be absent ?  
Also this week…. we spent an evening and a day in Victoria, listening to economists speak about their views on the construction economy on our island, and watching a very, very cool Imax movie about the Hubble Telescope.  I think you can guess which I preferred….I wish I were an astronaut !   I was absolutely taken with this documentary of the astronauts who spent 2 weeks in space repairing the Hubble in May, 2009.   Their courage, bravery and dedication was just as far out as the cinematography it displayed of our solar system.   Like they said in the film, it was like performing brain surgery with oven mitts.  My mind keeps going back to the only female astronaut in that crew…..what a Woman!   

This was also the first trip to Victoria we’d made in well over a year.  It was great to return. 
Thank you for the motivation…..to get to space, that is…..or okay,  I”ll settle for a good homeschooling week ABOUT space !   Oh, and must sew a couple lap quilts to keep us warm on that expedition.   Must also contact a few customers to keep the money coming in, and count a few dollars……in between the trip to space, that is.

It’s  still two steps forward, and one step backwards.  Every time I feel organized and like I’m doing well with directing my kids’ homelearning, something knocks me off balance, distracts me, punches me in the gut.   I’m not sure my children feel it the way I do,  but I admit that I’ve felt it so much the past two years that I’m beginning to feel numb to my own emotions.  It’s sometimes confusing being adorned with so many hats:  the hats of a wife, a cook, a business woman, a teacher,  a housekeeper, a mother, a friend and sister.  Where is the hat that distinguishes myself from all of these roles ?   That hat the gives me time to be just me and nothing else ?   I think if I dig far enough in my closet…way, way back beyond the dusty darkness that falls behind the dresses that have been hanging untouched for the past 5 years, I might find that hat crushed between layers of old shoes, boots, and purses that I thought I gave away years ago, and possibly sitting next to my children’s old baby blankets I keep tucked away.   I know when I find it, MY hat will be layered in dust, its colour will have faded like a pair of old blue jeans, and the threads that once tightly bound it together will be loosening to the degree that its entire form will be somewhat softened, making it completely unsure of  its materialistic self.   But I suppose that when I DO find it, the one thing that will remain unchanged is the fact that it is still MY hat.  No matter how unfashionable, or tattered, or unrecognizable,  it will still be MY hat.  And I will have the choice to either refreshen it, take it as it is, or trade it in for an entirely new one.

It’s the second week in a row that my kids and I seem to be falling into a routine.  Finally.  We’ve still some bugs to sort out….but I’m beginning to feel organized and that we’re all moving forward.  Finding time for ME is still a difficult thing, but I’m working on that goal next.

Last spring, I started to incorporate a weekly goal sheet into my kids’ lives.  It’s something that I and my husband do with our business, and it worked so well for me that I decided my kids MUST benefit from it.    I am just now asking my kids to start writing on their weekly goal sheets again.  It goes something like this: 

First, at the beginning of the week,  they are asked to  list 4 goals they wish to accomplish during the next week.  One of those goals is allowed to be non-academic, and in fact, nothing to do with NIDES or their school work (could even be “get even with my sister”)

At the end of the week, they answer these questions/fill in the blanks:

1.  ”Mom, I need your help with….”     if they had problems accomplishing any of their goals, they write down in this area what they need my help with and where.

2.  “My brightest achievement this week was….”     fill in the blank

3.  “My main challenge this past week was ….”   fill in the blank

4.  “Something I learned through reading, watching t.v., a DVD, being with my friends, doing my school work, or just living my life was…….”     fill in the blank

5.  “On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the lowest), my motivation to complete my school assignments and to learn this past week was……”

6.  “My days were balanced well with school work, exercise, music, family time, time with friends and alone time”.     I ask them to rate each from 1 to 10.   This gives me an indication if they need more “mom time” or more time with friends, more time alone, etc. 

At the completion of these questions, I talk to them individually and review their notes.  I help them decide where they can improve, and help them celebrate their accomplishments from the previous week. 

So, here we go…..time to incorporate this again into our lives.  Thank you to our very good friend and mentor, Ron, for sharing this idea with us.   :>

July, 2009

I likely don’t need to write much … the photos say it all.  Summer has been fun so far.  To make it extra fun, I have thrown in some math and science lessons (on the rainier days).  

Four indications it must be the month of May:   the days are longer,  the broccoli is sprouting, the kids have re-assembled the backyard trampoline, and our drive for formal math lessons and writing practice is nil.   As much as I love the arrival of spring each year, I curse it for the exhaustion that comes with it.

This spring, it is particularly easy to decide that time off is  more important than struggling our way through lessons that will take us no where.  Exept for a few online lessons in a virtual world, which seem more like play than work,  we are bidding farewell to the formal learning of grade 5 and grade 7.  Adios.  Au revoir.  Ariviodisi. Ciao.  Blowing goodbye kisses on our palms and tossing them into the wind. 

Lap books … a chance to cut, paste, work with rainbows of colour and interesting paper prints.  It’s a chance for the kids to turn what they’ve learned into a creative, fun keepsake. 

We spent most of the afternoon today cutting, pasting, reading and writing poetry, and gluing shapes upon shapes. 

The farewell to a couple of projects that have been stretched out far too long have recently given us the strength to welcome our next units of studies: the human body (Renee) and Greece (Alannah). Last Friday I awoke with a hungry determination to spend the day doing nothing but focusing on my girls’ homelearning. The day was a refreshing one, without being concerned about an ounce of office work and instead dedicating myself to showing my girls the way through the end of their science units on Marine Protected Areas, sustainability and our environment.

Sadly, it’s been a very long time since I’ve had the chance to spend an entire day entirely focused on homeschooling my daughters. This past Friday has reminded me of what real life opportunities I have missed with my kids in the past few months. We spent Friday making cinnamon buns, adventuring through math lessons, I took turns doing one-on-one lessons in sentence construction to help finish their current science projects and listened well during their piano, violin and cello practices. While Alannah was putting her opinions on Marine Protected Areas into constructive words, Renee was producing a Google SketchUp of her vision of an environmentally-friendly house with an accompanying description of its features. And by 4:30 pm., both girls were outside, playing make-believe in the fresh air and enjoying their animals in the late afternoon daylight ! (when did the sun decide to stay up past 4:00?!!)

Forget the lessons on dividing fractions, and let the toboganning begin!   As Alannah clearly pointed out to me yesterday, it is very important to be outside playing in the snow rather than doing math and science lessons simply because we can do science and math any day of the week, month or year, but it seldom snows enough to make toboganning runs and snow angels!   I had a hard time arguing the point with her, and so I settled for a math lesson during the time the time the snow gear is hanging to dry and the hot chocolate is being sipped.   Amazingly, during the warm-up time, we had two straight hours of dividing, adding, subtracting and reducing fractions before the urge to head back out into the snow hit again.  Tomorrow, we will be using food manipulatives, as our fraction lesson will consist of dividing birthday cakes into several equal pieces !   Happy Birthday, girls !  

CLICK HERE TO HEAR RENEE PLAYING “SNOW FALLING” (piano):  renee-piano-dec-10-20081    

(Grandpa:  turn up your volume all the way…ask Grandma how!)

‘Tis the week of piano concerts, cello rehearsals and extra violin practicing.  Our recent snow fall set the scene beautifully for Renee’s piano concert this weekend (click on the icon above to hear Renee playing piano), and has made it somewhat difficult to get Alannah to her cello rehearsal.  Thank goodness for father’s with four wheel drive trucks !   Our house has been full of excitement with the anticipation of upcoming birthdays, and baking sugar cookies while watching our backyard being transformed into a magical winter wonderland. 

We’ve switched back to using the Math U See curriculum.  Here is Renee, excited to be doing today’s lesson on equivalent fractions !  

On the evening of Halloween, I went out as an angel with my friends. One of my friends was a fairy and the other two were Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We trick or treated on our street and on Kingfisher. We received a lot of candy and ate a lot! Before trick or treating, we ate dinner! It was really fun going trick or treating. After we went trick or treating we ate some of our candy. One of my friends ,Ashleigh, ate a lot of her candy! Ashleigh is four and she had the most candy in her bag at the end of the night!!! Her bag was half way full. Another one of my friends ,Natalie, ate most of her Smarties and Kit Kats. Natalie didn’t want to leave at the end of the night but Ashleigh was really tired. My sister was trick or treating in her friends’ neighbourhood and watched a scary movie. When my mom and I went to pick her up, I watched some of the movie. My mom talked to the adults and then we had pizza! I could only eat two little bites of the pizza. We left after watching a few minutes of the second movie. The first movie was called Slither and the second one was Zoolander. The second movie was a comedy but the first was a horror movie. I was so scared. The evening was quite fun and scary at the same time! I love Halloween!

Painted Turtle  (Chrysemys picta belli )  by Renee gr 5

Painted turtles live in the wetland areas of British Columbia. The turtles live in the Okanogan, Kamloops, The Creston and Nelson areas, Vancouver to Hope, Williams Lake, Southeast Vancouver Island, and the Sechelt Powell River Area.

They usually live in muddy areas such as ponds, marshes and small lakes. Their nests are usually 150 metres from a pond, swamp or lake. They need warm dry slopes with no plants to lay their eggs. Basking areas are rocks or logs in the water.

Male turtles are an adult at 4 years. Females are adults at about 7-8 years. Turtles mate in the spring and females lay big clutches of 6-18 or usually 12-13 eggs. They lay eggs once a year. The eggs hatch in August or September, about 70-80 days from when they were laid . The young turtles stay in the nest until May or June.

Turtles eat earthworms, larvae, snails, frogs, tadpoles, aquatic insects, many fish and aquatic plants. Scientists think that the turtles eat more plants as they get to be an adult.

The painted turtles live about 20-30 years. When they are full grown they are the size of normal sized dinner plate. They can dive up to 2 meters deep and they can stay under water for almost an hour. The baby turtles that try to make it to adults usually don’t reach it and five turtles make it to adulthood. The turtles that don’t make it to adulthood die.  Some threats to these turtles are alteration or destructions of wetlands, cars running over them, human disturbance and people catching them for pets and for their shells. 

Painted turtles live in British Columbia and their lives are endangered.

References:

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/sir/fwh/wld/atlas/species/turtle.html

Three things I love doing are: Playing with my Littlest Pet Shops, playing outside and playing with my friends. 

I like playing with my Littlest Pet Shops because they are easy to take downstairs. My sister can also play with me to!

I also love to play outside because I can do so many things! I can ride my bike, play with Major and play almost everything! I love to play outside!

I love playing with my friends like Elysia, Deirdre, Lana and Rya. Three of my friends live in Qualicum and one of my friends live in Comox! I went to Deidre’s house once and she came to my house two or three times! My friend Elysia and I can’t even count how many times I went to her house and she came to my house! Rya and Lana haven’t been to my house yet and I haven’t been to their house either.

I love to do all of these things but my favourite one is playing with my friends!

Aaaaah, the sight of fallen maple leaves and the refreshing feel of cool autumn breezes is upon us.  My favourite time of year.  We returned to “the books”  in the middle of August, and then, after a few distractions, returned back to them again.   We’ve had one of the best Septembers ever.  We are strongly motivated, excited and full of energy.  Maybe it’s all the sunshine, or maybe it’s refreshing new attitudes that has renewed us.  I love this time of year when we’re all so eager to learn.  Alannah has even done a couple of extra projects on her own will without an ounce of guidance from me.   She’s working with two new music teachers and has even began to learn a new instrument.   Alannah’s challenge this year will be to keep up with the academics while committing 12 plus hours each week to music lessons, practice and recitals.  Renee’s challenge will be the acceptance of having to spend many more hours each week with social studies and science topics while still finding time to do what kids do best…play.   My own challenge continues to be juggling the extracurricular activites, school work, household chores, work schedules and (hopefully) play time without losing balance.   In amongst all this, this year I plan to find an answer to the question:  why do they call it HOME learning when we are almost never at HOME ?   

Ah, the glory of the schedule-less summer !   Well, maybe less schedule but certainly not entirely without a schedule.  It’s the end of July and I have had my fill of my kids’ empty time slots.  My mind, body and soul are ready for some of the soothing familiarity of our regular routine — swim club, piano lessons, violin lessons, riding lessons, e-class days.  I admit it:  I am craving a wee bit of normality in our lives.  The kids are screaming at each other, the weather has turned a greyish tint, and although I’m busy running back and forth from the office to home…every bit of me wants to drop everything and learn with my children again.  Perhaps I’m desperate to get a head start on the coming school year, as I have high hopes of it being better than our last year’s struggle and can hardly wait to greet it.   I know it’s there…so let it begin ! 

And so we have.  We’ve begun this week with essay lessons and math review.  The kids complained before the lessons began, but found themselves in a happy world once their minds were immersed in it. 

With the business taking what seems like every bit of me lately, I don’t know where I’ve found the time to begin this happy craziness again, but I have.   I am looking forward to being fully immersed over the next couple of months into human anatomy and marine biology as my own work schedule diminishes and my role as mom / mentor comes back into play.  I’ve been working full time, and the kids have been in day camps … I miss my home, I miss my daughters,  I miss all the creative learning, and mostly, I miss listening to my young vioinist, pianist and cellist playing until their hearts (and mine) are content.  Perhaps this means it’s time to begin planning our learning months that lie ahead … something I’ve attempted, but have never done well at.  I have realized these past few months the importance of having those planned lessons  amongst the impromptu learning days.  Let the planning begin !

misc-photos-withrenee-on-piano-amazing-grace2

It’s been 2 entire days of saying “yes” , and so far, I am thrilled with the results!   Although I blew it once today by saying “no” (it was a safety issue…it doesn’t count!) , and nearly blew it a second time while in the grocery shopping, I am better at this than I had anticipated. 

Unplanned, Renee had her choice of dinner tonight while grocery shopping(“Can we have pasta?”  – “YES!”).    She also nearly  managed to place a 2.35 litre container of ice tea powder in the grocery cart.  My first response was “No way, that’s ridiculous.”  But I quickly corrected myself and said, “Yes, you can get that ….  IF you trade it in for a smaller container.” 

And there was not a complaint.    

Every now and then I look at my life with my children and realize we have lost sight of the positive things in our life.   Lately, it seems everything has been a struggle between myself and my kids.   Maybe the long, rainy winter months and grey skies have something to do with it, or maybe it’s something that I have done that has reflected on my children.  Perhaps it’s all in our attitudes.   Or maybe it has to do with the busy schedules we all keep.  Or  it’s having to listen to the constant arguing between my daugthers that has created a soreness inside my ears.  Whatever the reason for our struggles this year, it has come to an end.  With my kids learning at home, there has to be more boundaries and more help around the house or we drive each other out the door.   As they say, “out with the old and in with the new”.   

My good friend, Charlene, has indirectly challenged me to say “yes” to my children for an entire week.  She did it for an entire month with her children.  Considering her children are much younger than mine, and she is a much stronger willed person than I, I think I should be able to say “YES”  for a week.   I think the first step is to not blow my cover with my children….if they figure out what I’m up to…they will quickly be ruling the house, and soon the entire neighbourhood.  

 I’ve began this morning with Alannah’s question of , “Can I make crepes for breakfast?”  

“YES! Go ahead!”  

It followed by Renee’s desire to have whipping cream and chocolate sauce and sprinkles and bananas and brown sugar on her crepes, as she pulled them all from the cupboards and placed them on the kitchen table.  Hmmmm….I was hoping more for fresh fruit.  But there must be a “yes” in there somewhere….

“YES, but it would be a much wiser choice to have just , say, whipping cream and chocolate sauce and bananas and put the sugar and sprinkles back in the cupboard.”   

 It worked.  Not a whine, not a complaint, not an eye was rolled.  There was a smiling little girl gulping down crepes that her sister had not only cooked for her, but had served right to her plate.  I believe I even heard the words, “Thank you, Alannah.”   Twice. 

Yes, I think we’re off to a good start…not bad for 2 little girls who have spent days, weeks, months, driving me crazy with their constant fighting and arguing, tears and screams at each other.   I hope we can hold onto this positive mood as we move to accomplishing the school work I have planned for today. 

Yes, there will be challenges in my week of “Yes”.    But can I do it?  

YES, I CAN CAN !