The Diosa Dotada Endeavor

Since I’ve decided to join the Secular Thursday madness, I figured my synopsis of Athena’s first year with Odyssey of the Mind would be a great way to start.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with OM, it is an international creative problem solving competition. This year, Athena participated in a Primary Team (K-2.) The Team took on the following problem:

The team is to create and present a humorous performance that includes a Surprise Party for a team-created character. The theme of the party is a surprise because it is being given for something that is not normally celebrated. Partygoers will give three gifts that help symbolize the theme of the party. The performance will also include an original party “noisemaker” that makes an unusual sound instead of a loud sound.

They met weekly, created their own story line, wrote a script and a song, built their own scenery, made costumes and rehearsed, rehearsed, rehearsed. Here’s the kicker. They did it by themselves. Their coach helped facilitate discussion and creative problem solving. But the parents were not permitted to render any outside assistance whatsoever. No suggestions, no feedback, no comments, no building anything for them. Nothing, but general encouragement. Go Happy Homeschool OM Team, go!

I figured I could easily handle that. Heck, I thought it might even be a nice change. Here was an activity Athena could throw herself into and I didn’t have to plan or facilitate a thing. Perfection in an otherwise jam-packed schedule. Until their solution began to take shape. They started with dinosaurs. Best we can tell, the original inspiration probably came with PBS’ new show “Dinosaur Train.” Many of the kids on the team had seen it and liked it very much, so they wanted to have a surprise party that involved dinosaurs somehow. Next, they made the decision to focus on carnivorous dinosaurs and incorporate meat into the story line. Sounds great, kiddos! Crunchy Mama is totally on board!

A few weeks into the season, one of the kids attended a great history class at the natural science museum about Pompeii. Enthusiastic to share all that he had learned with his friends, he told them all about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the people of Pompeii running to hide in caves during the eruption and the attempt by some to get away from the destruction by sea. It sounded like a great museum class that he retained oodles from! His rapt audience decided it sounded so awesome that it just had to be incorporated into their OM solution presentation. Their coach asked them if they were changing direction from dinosaurs to Pompeii. NO! they vociferously replied! We’re going to do BOTH! At the SAME TIME!

Err. Um. Sounds great, kiddos?

Now. In case it is in any way unclear, I regularly expend a great deal of energy spreading the message that the majority of homeschoolers do not live up to the popular stereotype most Americans are all too quick to plaster us with. Most of us are normal, couldn’t pick us out of a line up sort of folks who teach our kids actual science and history. Some of us own a Bible. Some of us have no idea where it actually is right this moment. Some of us read it every day, but don’t keep it on the homeschool curricula shelf. Some of us have six kids. Some of us have one. Most of us (even the ones that do believe in the co-existence of humans and dinosaurs) are not the nutjobs mainstream America thinks we are. Of course, you fine folks already know all this or I doubt you’d be here reading my blog. And if you’ve been reading over the past year or so, you already know all about my advocacy tendencies; frock with monumental effort to expand the public image of the American homeschooler.

So here is where I found myself. The proud parent of a member of the only homeschooled OM team in the region. A team that was energetically rehearsing a Surprise Party solution that involved dinosaurs, humans, exploding volcanos, a cave and a purple boat, a “surprise” rain of meat in the wake of the eruption resulting in the humans throwing a party (complete with hats) for the dinosaurs who devour the meat and accept presents from the humans, capped off by a rousing rendition of “Happy Dinosaurs, It’s Raining Meat” sung to the tune of “Happy Birthday.”

I spent the next few months with an imagination run amok. They rehearsed and I envisioned the countless sarcastic comments the judging panel might think about the Happy Homeschoolers and their cohabitating dinosaurs and humans. I viciously squashed every urge to even remotely mention the historical and scientific flaws in their presentation. I self-talked myself until I was blue in the hilarious internal monologue. That isn’t the point at all, I reminded myself. The creative problem solving, the cooperation, the self-reliance, the blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, they were all gaining and learning and growing and whatever was the actual point.

Then a news story began circulating about the utter brilliance that is the population of Texas. Apparently, half the state buys into cohabitating humans and dinosaurs already. It was likely that fifty percent or more of the judging panel might actually appreciate this performance as a factual presentation of prehistoric life. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or sorely disappointed at that thought.

While I was contemplating the karmic retribution of the limitlessly sarcastic universe, a truly wonderful thing happened. Athena, who’s idea of the ultimate torture six months ago was speaking in public, suddenly blossomed. She talked to me about being nervous. Talked. Did not sob hysterically. Just talked. We talked about that a bit and about what to expect at the tournament. We got her a peak at the room they’d be performing in once we got on site. And then, she did it. Without missing a step, she donned her costume and handled the nerves and her part brilliantly. As I watched the seven of them pull it all together, I didn’t care a bit about how anyone viewed our whole amazing team of little, wonderful, creative, brave, beautiful, feisty, and yes, home educated children.

Athena was beyond proud of herself. I got over myself. And the two of us went shopping for a hula hoop.

The End.

We learn year round and don’t really take more than a week off here and there in our house.  Even weeks off usually still involve plenty of reading, adventures in some sort of chemistry (even if it’s just cooking) and lots of art.  These pretty much reflect the passions of the children driving this crazy endeavor.  So even though we’ve been on holiday break for the past week, there’s been plenty of activity.  We’re back to a more formal schedule, heavier content and continued group learning opportunities on Monday, so I’ve decided to take a bit of time and evaluate.  What is working well for all of us?  What do we need to adjust a bit?  How are we growing and changing and how can we honor those changes better in our schooling ventures? 

I try to do this about three times a year.  My major evaluation and planning happens in late summer as we approach the turning of a completely new school year.  We do follow the traditional rhythm of beginning a new year in the autumn.  This is when I do the big curriculum shopping and make a loose plan for the next twelve months.  But I like to do a smaller evaluation around New Year’s and at the end of April as well.  I review the plan I made back in July and adjust wherever I think we would benefit from altering our course.

Athena is setting a faster pace through our chemistry materials than I anticipated.  Luckily, various relatives came through with an assortment of chemistry related Yuletide gifts that she went totally bonkers over and that will stretch our chemistry study a bit further.  A few topics we’ve ventured into are bleeding into physics.  In a perfect fit, our weekly co-op has planned for an entire month of physics fun in March.  And Athena has requested next school year, we shift focus to physics.  I appreciate the fact that she’s giving me eight or nine months notice on this.  (See above discussion about my planning compulsion.)  She continues to bounce between two math programs- Singapore Math and MEP- so she’s moving at a slower pace through those than I had guessed.  Plus she has some special topic workbooks she occasionally spends several days with, so her math study is really meandering along a very twisty path.  The important part of that is not the pace or even the direction.  It is the fact that she enjoys and gets great satisfaction out of her mathematical explorations.  I refuse to worry about pace right now.  We may or may not “finish” a particular level at a particular time.  She is making her way, gaining a deep understanding of fundamental mathematical principles (not just memorized algorithms)  and that’s good enough for me.  She is taking her time with history.  We spent a good bit of time using outside resources to dig into the early history and traditions of Islam.  Now we seem to be hanging out for awhile in Medieval China, Japan and Korea.  This is actually a fascinating experience for me since I have never had the opportunity to do an in-depth study of this time period in this region of the world.  As far as language arts are concerned, Athena is right where I anticipated with reading, grammar and writing.  Little adjustment needs to be made to her Program of Study for the time being.  She continues with the same resources and activities, just at her own pace, which although it differs with my estimates here and there, suites us all just fine.

Apollo and Artemis, however, present different challenges for me than they did when I planned out our school year last July and August.  The growth and development of three year olds set fairly accelerated paces in comparison to their big sister, so this isn’t totally unexpected.  Their interests in different things are deepening and geniune passions are really beginning to blossom. 

This afternoon, I asked Apollo if there was anything he really wanted to learn about next month.  “More math and magnets,” was the response I got, delivered with heavy amounts of self-assuredness and gusto.  No problem, kid.  About two months ago, on a whim, I pulled out the Saxon K Teacher’s Manual I picked up who-knows-where for about $5 years ago.  Turns out, Apollo really enjoys spending about fifteen minutes with me doing the step by step manipulative based activities contained in it.  I picked up Saxon K before I knew anything about any other homeschool math options and really didn’t think I’d go back to it.  But being a big curriculum hoarder, I had yet to get rid of it.  Good thing, because apparently Apollo wants more.  I can cover his magnet request pretty easily also.  I was thinking of digging Mudpies to Magnets, back out anyway so a bit more science for him should be pretty easy to handle. 

Artemis needs more art opportunities from me.  Yes, more art.  Since the Peacock Incident, the girl is on a tear.  She scored multiple art related gifts which helped bolster our supplies and also set a certain amount of material aside for just her use which will protect it from her enthusiastic siblings.  I’m planning on setting up a basket (where I haven’t worked out yet) just for her art supplies that she can access at any time.  My dear artist/art educator friend has agreed to be my educational consultant for Artemis.  She is continuing her work with Artemis during our little art co-op and scouting more curriculum resources for me.  I am extremely grateful.  My parents sent Artemis a fantastic book called, Looking at Pictures, which she has already curled up in my lap with several times.  Plus, poking around the blogosphere for more artsy goodness, I found Mommies Little Artist.  This is an outstanding blog full of high quality art ideas suitable for young kids.  Artemis and I are both looking forward to the January project focusing on the color wheel and checking out the January Artist of the Month.  We are registered for the homeschool art workshops at MFAH and we are planning on making Sundays a weekly venture to the art museum whenever possible, to visit the family Creation Station.

Our outside activities continue for the next several months.  We have our weekly co-op, our little art co-op, our second year with the coolest history club on the planet, park days, playgroup, Girl Scouts and volunteering at the produce co-op along with whatever other opportunies pop up.  I actually anticipate that we will be scaling back on outside activities begining this spring and extending into the following year.  Patris Maximus may be taking a company assignment out of state.  The Triad of Chaos and I will stay here, but visit him regularly for extended periods of time, taking various detours and side trips along the way.  This may very well preclude us being as actively involved in so many group learning opportunities for a year or so.  It will be a different experience, but a great adventure all at the same time. 

Please, stop back by to see how these various adjustments work out for us and to see if I stir up any other kerfuffles in the virtual world of homeschooling advocacy.  I’m planning on trying to get back into a Weekly Update rhythm when we return to our version of a normal routine next week.

We pretty much school year round and the summer is actually a great time for covering a lot of ground since it gets so stinking hot here at the peak of the season.  We’ve taken a couple of months in the air conditioning to wrap up our biology study and make it through the fall of Rome in the history department.  But I am now setting my sights on the start of next school year and beginning to really hone our initial plans for the 2009-2010 year which begins (for us) in August.  Athena and I sat down months ago and discussed what she might like to study next year, so we’ve had a basic plan fleshed out for awhile now (compulsive planner that I am, thank you US Army for that lingering disorder!)  I’ve spent the last few months reviewing various resources to fit Athena’s specific requests.  Keep in mind, that I usually try to over-plan.  I never know what sort of pace Athena is going to set through various materials, so I like to have an excess of resources, ideas and plans waiting in the wings for her.  At her age, if we don’t get to it all, I don’t stress about it.  Our goal is always the same– enjoy the passionate discovery of learning together.  Here’s what we’ve gathered to begin the year.

Language Arts:
We have officially abandoned Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer’s Language Arts resources.  Athena finds them less than inspired.  I find that they are less than ideal for highly verbal accelerated learners.  Instead, we’ve begun exploring Grammar Island.  I wasn’t really planning on pulling this out until August, but it attracted Athena’s attention, so we began to wander through it last month.  Michael Clay Thompson has a passion for language.  It radiates out of his material and into your very being.  It causes young people to delightfully discover pronouns around every turn in their daily lives and giggle with grammatical glee.  She’s hooked.  I’m hooked.  Who knew?  We will be using the entire Grammar Island series this year for grammar, poetry, vocabulary and writing.  For literature, we’ll be combining a set of plans I wrote myself to explore Caldecott Medal winners and our usual forays into the literature of the historical time period in our history studies.  I have always had a love of Arthurian legend and it will be fun to share that with all three kiddos this year.   Athena bounces between the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read materials and Progressive Phonics, a lovely comprehensive phonics program that is cost free, to move through advanced phonics.  We will continue this until we finish one or both programs this year or next.  I expect to play that by ear, for the most part.  We don’t do formal handwriting.  I hate, hate, hated that in elementary school and I feel like she gets plenty of practice in the every day writing she chooses to do, so I’m not going to waste her time with a whole page of nothing but F  f  F  f  F  f.  Blech.  We read a book that included a little girl studying for and taking a spelling test a few months ago.   Since then, Athena seems to have developed this idea that spelling and spelling tests are some sort of romantic notion she wants to try out.  (That must be her father’s genetic contribution talking!)  I picked up Natural Speller by Kathryn Stout, which is a slim volume that contains the bare bones of a spelling program from first to eighth grade.  So I’m planning to pull spelling lists for her from this when she wants them. 

Apollo and Artemis are still just having fun playing with the alphabet.  They like the Leap Frog DVDs and their alphabet blocks and puzzles.  If they want more than that, I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Math and Logic:
We’re finishing up Singapore Math’s Primary Math 1A and the 1A section of CIMT’s Mathematics Enhancement Programme from the UK. Probably just one of these sets of materials would be plenty, but Athena likes them both for different reasons, so we bounce between the two. We’ll start 1B with both and go from there. We do a lot of playing with math outside of any particular curriculum with various workbooks, read alouds and manipulatives. We also tried out Julie Brennan’s Living Math Through History lesson plans this year and they’ve been a gigantic hit. These materials walk you through weaving math, history and science together in a manner that really helps you see how the development of mathematics and science affected the human race and vice versa. We’ll continue these adventures through the early Renaissance by sprinkling these in and among our history studies as the year goes on. Athena also loves her sudoku and her matrix style logic problems. She’s enjoyed the Mind Benders books quite a bit.

History:
Using April Duritza’s Mosaic Ancient History lesson plans has really given me a feel for how to organize our history studies. This year, we’ll be continuing on mostly on our own. I’m still using Story of the World and the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History as our primary spines for the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Renaissance. But we’ll include lots of supplementary readings and resources, some of which I’ve purchased and lots and lots of which we’ll raid the library for regularly. A friend started a really fantastic History Club seven months ago that all three kids really enjoy so we will continue participating in that fun-fest on a monthly basis, as well as an autumn trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival’s School Days and several trips to the natural science/history museum and the art museum.

Science:
Athena made it very, very clear that this year’s science focus needs to be chemistry. So chemistry it is. I’m looking at using two main spines and supplementing with a few shorter resources on the side. I think we will explore Ellen McHenry’s The Elements on our own and also possibly in a group setting of some sort.  Depending on the pace we set through that, I also have her Carbon Chemistryin reserve.  I’m working out plans for a giant Periodic Table spreading across the foyer wall (which I’m sure Patris Maximus is just going to love and adore!) and I have a few trustworthy and attention-getting experiement resources that don’t require extremely expensive or dangerous supplies that I think we’ll get a great deal of mileage out of with any luck. Right now, I’m planning for a regular Chem Lab day for us to get a little hands-on learning in here and there.  We will also, no doubt, be spotted at Texas A&M’s annual Chemistry Week celebration this October.

Latin:
Athena had really taken to the Power Glide Children’s Latin this summer, so I’m now looking around for more Latin ideas. I got my hands on the 1996 version of a couple of levels of Latin’s Not So Tough so we can play with that and see what she thinks. I’m not ready to spend oodles of money on something else for the time being. I want to wait and see how long this interest in Latin continues and how intense it becomes. She asked me about Latin classes, so we might visit one in autumn and see what she thinks.

Philosophy:
I know what you’re thinking. Probably what a friend of mine said to me recently: “Philosophy for tots?!” But check out what this guy  says too for starters.  Then hit up your favorite search engine with “philosophy for children” and you’ll be amazed at the plethora of links to explore. I get a lot of these philisophical questions from Athena. Between her out of the blue “Why am I here?” type questions and her recent interest in Plato (because he taught women) and Hypatia (because she was a woman) I began to wonder if this might be a subject she’d like to explore more often. So when a used set of Philosophy for Young Thinkers popped up on a curriculum For Sale board for a steal, I figured it might be a worthwhile investment. We’re going to begin with the Kindergarten materials and maybe a few of the book modules from Teaching Children Philosophy and see what she thinks.

Misc. Other Fun Stuff:
We have some other odds and ends in the works. Athena wants to begin cooking more and has taken to writing herself chore charts, so we’re venturing into a bit of home economics/life skills fun here and there.  I’ve been chatting with a friend about maybe teaming up for some regular art adventures.  Also, we have our various co-ops and Athena’s second year in Girl Scouts.

Artemis and Apollo are once again, mostly just tagging along unless or until something really catches their eye.  Artemis has asked to break open the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read PreK box and I’ve obliged.  There are a few activities we’re planning on enjoying that will be targeted at their age group which I think they will really enjoy. They just like poking their noses into whatever Athena’s up to for the most part.  Athena says she’s looking forward to “lots and lots of reading, chemical reactions, and learning everything about everything.”  I’m just looking forward to getting to hang on for the ride.

Once again, my homeschooling BFF (read: Google) has got my back.  Last night I asked Athena what she wanted for our bedtime read aloud.  She brought me Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick.  This is actually a great living math/science sort of book, but not what I was expecting as before bed reading.  We’re waiting on the fifth Rick Riordan book though, so I think we have Greeks on the brain.  We agreed– one chapter.  Otherwise this bedtime reading thing can go on for hours and hours.  I flipped through a few pages and figured this would actually work out well.  It looked fairly short and I might even be able to spend a decent chunk of quality time with Patris Maximus after the Triad was finally snoozing.  Best laid plans.

 After a short section on Archimedes’ childhood, the author began listing a quick cursory overview of his most notable contributions to science and mathematics.   We reach the part about specific gravity and I am interrupted.  So hydrogen and oxygen are elements, right?  And they make water, right?   Yes, I say, getting ready to move on.  Can we make water?  I put the book down.  I asked her what she meant and she asked if we could get some air in two bottles from our recycle bin, sort out everything in one except the oxygen and in the other except the hydrogen.  Then we could mix them in the kitchen and make our own water.  I tried to explain that our kitchen isn’t that cool.  And that pure oxygen is flammable.  So why isn’t the air on fire then?  I was honest and told her I wasn’t totally sure, but that I think it has something to do with the fact that oxygen atoms don’t float around by themselves alone, that they bond with themselves to make more stable compounds.  (I still have to double check this so if anyone know for sure, feel free to give me a heads up.)  Can I see oxygen atoms, like with a microscope?  Not with our microscope.  Our microscope is cool, but not that cool.  So I told her about scanning electron and transmission electron microscopes.  Can I at least see a picture of those microscopes?  Sure kid.  Tomorrow.  We’ll check Google.  I asked if I should keep reading.    Yes, please.

 We managed to get through the rest of his major scientific contributions and began in on the mathematics.  Archimedes published on every subject in mathematics with the exception of algebra.  The book said that to do algebra, you have to know the concept of zero which the Greeks had not understood.  Okay.  So far, so good.  Then the book said that zero wasn’t understood and used for hundreds of years after Archimedes.  Athena had heartburn with this.  Nu-uh!  The Hindus used zero then, they just didn’t tell the Greeks about it.  I put the book back down.  I told her I am pretty terrible with dates and we’d have to check it out in the morning.  I agreed that zero first came into use in Ancient India and was a long time coming to the Western world, (see the fabulous Story of One by PBS and available on Netflix) but I wasn’t sure about the exact timing.  We can google it tomorrow?  Yes.  We can google it tomorrow.  (For those of you who are now waiting on the edge of your seat- there is actually a bit of controversy about this and zero may be a contemporary concept to Archimedes’ time or it may not.  Go forth and do a bit of googling yourself for the rest of the story!)

The situational humor of the end of the chapter was not lost on me:

But probably the most important thing Archimedes gave to the word was a logical way of thinking about [science and] mathematics.  Like his predecessor, Euclid, he had a way of taking things in order, step by step, so that he could prove or disprove his ideas as he went along.

This morning over breakfast we googled!  Enjoy!

Can You See an Atom?
Pictures of Scanning Electron Microscopes
MicroAngela’s Pictures Taken by a SEM
An Article on a Transmission Electron Microscope
Pictures of the TEAM 0.5 Transmission Electron Microscope

Artemis and Apollo (both 2.5yo) have recently begun requesting activities of their own during any period of time that Athena and I are doing any sort of focused work these days.  So I’ve had this in the back of my mind for a few weeks.  The other night I was dinking around on the computer, reading listserv email and googling random stuff, when I read something that directed me back to the Moving Beyond the Page website.  In general, I’m not terribly excited about their materials.  It seems like an awful lot of worksheets to me which I find ironic since I can’t sense much “moving beyond” those worksheet pages from the content on their website for early elementary children.  But when I clicked on their preschool page, its content did catch my eye.  They recommend using a program that I realized I already had stuffed in a box somewhere called Peak With Books.  I remember trying this book out with Athena and it not holding her interest.  I can’t recall exactly why now and I will admit it could have been my presentation and not the material itself.  I read through the suggestions at Moving Beyond the Page and got motivated to go hunt up the wayward book.  In due time, I managed to relocate it and began flipping through it with an eye to what Apollo and Artemis might enjoy out of it.  My kids love books.  I mean, they carry them around all day.  They often set a book next to themselves on the floor as they play with a different toy.  When I change their bed sheets, I often find books stuffed inside pillow cases, between matresses and walls and underneath blankets.  They play, eat and sleep with books.  Literally.  So I figured that a collection of children’s literature activities entitled Peak With Books might actually interest them a great deal. 

 Last week, I tried out our first week long literature study with the entire Triad of Chaos.  All in all, it was a rip-roaring success.  I even gained a new appreciation for my least favorite classic children’s book, Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon.  (I know, I know.  How could anyone not love that book, right?  But it bothers me to no end that a bunny has two pet kittens and mittens with thumb spaces and keeps his personal grooming articles next to old food.  Okay, end of rant, back to the real story here and my apologies to Ms. Brown for my obviously deep-seated issues.)  Whatever Athena found lacking in the material the first go-around didn’t stop her from being just as enthusiastically engaged as her younger siblings.  I had a captive audience all week.  We memorized moon related poetry, sang bedtime themed songs, wrote and illustrated a family good night book, created green room pictures of rhyming words and even did a little star-gazing.  

This week we had just as engaging a time with Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings.  We wrote thank you cards to Michael, sang some new duck songs, created pictures of ideal duck habitats and learned about how Mr. McCloskey learned to draw mallards so accurately.  We have had so much fun that I am really looking forward to giving a mouse a cookie next week and seeing what happens. That is, if I can convince Apollo to let the ducklings out of his pillow case.