lisamoe | Entries tagged with homeschool

Jesse called me a few minutes ago to beg to be in another Theatre Arts class this fall. He's already enrolled in one, but I caved and said he could do another one if he'd call out there and find out if the classes were full yet and if he could talk his grandma into taking him an extra time a week. Dingo is enrolled in a theatre class also and we're getting him signed up for soccer, plus both boys are going to be in a boys gymnastics class down at Reed Park again and are going to go to a homeschool PE sort of class at Whiteside Park too. All that, along with Campfire and Cornerstone will probably be just about enough classes for the fall. They can sign up for individual special events, but I don't think we're going to need any more ongoing obligations.

Jesse has looked over the PASS skills for 4th grade and decided that he wants to knock those out first (he's already through a lot of them of course) so that he can concentrate on his own interests the rest of the school year. We're very willing to follow the kids' interests as far as what they study in depth, but we always make sure they finish the year having completed all the PASS standards for their grade level in addition to whatever else they studied. Jesse is still very interested in geography, other cultures, creative writing, and math, so I expect he'll be doing a lot of those this year.

This is Dingo's first year of school and I expect he's going to want to work on math too (he seems to like it a lot) and on simple astronomy, science and learning about animals, which seems like enough for a kindergartner, since he's already pretty much done with his kindergarten PASS skills. He needs to work on his reading and writing, but we didn't push that with Jesse and probably won't with Dingo either. Jesse reads and writes fine now, but was slow getting started with it and I think Dingo's going to be the same way; he'll get there when he's ready. I don't want to nag him about reading until he ends up hating it. Both kids love to draw almost incessantly when they're not doing something else and I can see constant inprovement in their drawings, so I think we have art class covered for now.

Sounds like a busy school year, no?

I saw this in the k-2homeschool community and it really struck a chord with me. Thanks

wifeymom! Hope you don't mind me reposting it.

How to Answer the Socialization Question Once and for All by Marsha Ransom

I am beginning to tire of the many articles, essays and responses I keep running across on what has become to be known as the "socialization question."

Homeschooling families, please listen carefully: What people refer to as socialization is a non-issue! It has become a buzz-word among the Official Homeschool Nay Sayers Society. When someone asks you the question ("What about SOCIALIZATION!?"), I suggest you begin by asking them, "What do you mean by socialization?" They will more than likely proceed with some variation on the following theme: "You know, having your kids spend time with other kids their age. Hanging out with their friends, stuff like that." At that point do not, under any circumstances respond with, "Oh my little Susie gets plenty of socialization! She's in 4-H and Awanas, and Sunday school and HomeSchool band and she volunteers at the nursing home etc.etc. etc. In fact she has so many opportunities for socialization that I hardly have time to teach her some days..YaDa YaDa YaDa." Why not? Because this is not what socialization really is!

Here is a more appropriate response: "Oh, I think the word you are looking for is socializing. Socialization is actually defined as the process by which the norms and standards of our society are passed from one generation to the next. I've never really thought that a complete strangers six-year old child would be a good source of information on the correct standards of behavior in our family and in society as a whole. As for socializing, I remember from my school days that it was something you weren't supposed to be doing during class!"

We do not have to defend homeschooling based on false assumptions, false accusations, and false information. Please stop telling others about all the opportunities your kids have for "socialization" and start gently exposing them to the real issue here-- a lot of what kids learn from other kids in social situations is simply living according to "The Law of the Jungle." In our family, we have a higher set of laws to follow and I bet your family does too. Next time, don't be afraid to say so!

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Today was Cornerstone's annual Field Day. We cooked out burgers and dogs and had sack races and prizes and water balloons and bubble machines and s'mores and watermelon and just everything you could want in a picnic. It wasn't even that hot out, especially in the shade. Awesome day. We called

dragontamerbrat and her kids to go with us since we knew they'd be out and about near the picnic today. I think they had a good time too. I can't believe how grown up her older girl is. When we got home I set the boys' new wading pool to fill up and I can hear them in it right out by the front porch happily shrieking away. I think it's been a good day for the kids and really, not a bad day for the grownups either. :-)

A sampling of solving for x from Jesse's math worksheet today

3x - 3 = 33

6 + 5x = 21

6- 2x - 3x = 6

-2 = 4x- 5x + 10

-101 = 6x + 4x + 9

7 - 5x + x = 7

-2x = 6 -7x = -57

-19 = 2x + x + 5

He did a page of these and he had to do a couple over (because of inattention, not because of not understanding the process) but got them too after being told to redo them. I think he's doing pretty well for a third grader.

Yesterday we took the boys to the Oklahoma History Museum and to Frontier City. Frontier City was having their annual homeschool day and it was quite a good time. We rode a couple of nice roller coasters, the train, the log ride, the roaring rapids and a variety of round and round rides. Dingo rode a lot of kiddie rides too, and the tin lizzy cars. We spent part of the time with some other families from the Campfire group and that went well. We didn't leave the park til 9:30 last night and the boys were happily worn out and we were all soaked to the skin from the water rides. Was fun.

Today we've just been cleaning. Well, Jesse and I are cleaning. Dingo is mostly being sent to his room periodically for interfering with the cleaning. I promised Jesse if he'd actually help on the house I'd make pancakes for lunch, so he did and I did. He's been helping me sort and fold laundry and went around the whole house finding and washing out cans and bottles to put in the recycling. Maybe we'll go to a movie in a while.

I am kind of excited about sending the boys to summer camp this year. I didn't go to sleepaway camps when I was a kid, but I did go to day camp at various places and I always had a good time. There are so many camps now. I don't think there were that many choices when I was little. I always went to the Westside YMCA camp where they had swimming, canoeing, arts and crafts, horseback riding, hiking, traditional camp stuff. I also went to the art camp at Johnson Atelier (now Waterworks) a few years and that was just the highlight of my summers. We did printmaking, papermaking, masks and drama, raku pottery, pottery wheel, drawing and painting. I used to love art, clear up til I married my first husband. He was an artist himself and was very lukewarm about my talent, so I pretty much dropped it, thinking he must know, though when I look back now, my work looks pretty good to me. ANYWAY, I digress, as usual.

So the kids and I went through the list of camps in Tulsa Kids today and picked out some that they want to go to. Dingo wants to go to CampFire camp at Okiwanee, which is your traditional arts and crafts and hiking sort of thing, and he wants to go to soccer camp. Good choices for Dingo, I think and he'll be able to do both as the weeks don't conflict. Jesse wants to go to musical theatre camp at TheatreArts. They get to learn voice, movement and acting, and get to be in productions like The Lion King and Annie. He and I are both really excited about this. I tried at first to interest him in art camp like I went to but he just wasn't excited, and you know I want him to do what he loves, not what I love. He just LIT UP when I mentioned the theatre camp. I even called and talked to the lady there about it and she was very helpful. Jesse's been in a couple of short comedic plays that his Dad wrote and really enjoyed that. I think this is going to be a great experience for him.

Well, last night was not as filled with inactivity as I might have hoped. I ended up taking Mom and the kids on a 2 mile hike up Turkey Mountain, going out to the Tomato Man and buying tomato plants and sheep poop, driving the kids to Bixby for fruit (our fruit stand closed early, so we had to go to Albertsons, blah) and then taking the boys to a Chinese buffet. Not that we should be eating out, but no one ever claimed I was fiscally responsible. Fortunately Davey only eats rice, so he's cheap to free depending on the buffet.

Today we have Cornerstone (our homeschool activity group) and Jesse and I are supposed to be going to the ballet. If he hates it I told him we can leave early though. Tomorrow I think we might go to the zoo if it's nice and then in the evening, Mom, R, Jesse and I and maybe some friends are going to a muder mystery comedy at TU.

For those interested, the tomato plants we bought were: Brandywine, 1884, Yellow Sweet 101, and Brandywine Cherry. I think I'll go get a few more varieties soon. And maybe some sweet peppers and Johnny Jump Up violas.

Tonight we went to the PAC to see Hairspray. Most have you have likely seen the movie if not the play, but if you haven't, in a nutshell it's a comedy about a fat but talented girl who manages to get on to 60s dance show and wants to integrate it with her black friends, while also getting the cute guy and having the best hair. It was fabulous by the way, and Jesse pronounced getting to see a Broadway musical "the very best night of my life" so I guess it was worth the $50 to get him a ticket, though now I may have to get him acting lessons too, but that's another story.

Anyway, in the car on the way over, I reminded Jesse about the civil rights struggles of the 50s and 60s and how it used to be before that, to make sure he would understand that theme in the show. In the course of that, I told him that he could ask my Mom what it was like back then when she was a kid and about any protests she remembered from the 60s or anything since she lived through those days. He then asked me, in all seriousness, "So back then, was Grandma a black kid or a white kid?" Speechless for a moment, I answered, trying not to laugh, that Grandma was a white kid. THEN he asked me if he knows any black kids. So I told him which kids at his Campfire (who he has known for four years!) are black and he looked at me like I was nutty. You know, other people don't register on him the way numbers and facts do, but that was a little weird even for him. Gotta love that kid though. :-)