School and Girls

My eight-year-old goes to regular, plain-old third grade. She likes being there and the year I homeschooled her with the boys was so unproductive that I felt like I had no choice but to send her to school. For the most part I'm okay with her being in school. It's a built-in community and there's a lot to be said for that. When we moved to the area we are in eleven years ago, we picked the area partly because there was a neighborhood school, so we've known a lot of the people at the school for a long time now.

Today was Crazy Sock Day at school. I got a call reminding us about that last night, so I told Annika. She has some pretty fun socks--rainbow striped ones that I thought she'd want to wear. This morning though she chose another pair of cute, long socks, but plain blue ones. I asked her why and she said that she just changed her mind.

That's fine. She picks out her own clothes--I have about a dozen better things to do each morning. But on the way to school she asked me three or four times if I was sure that it really was Crazy Sock Day. The poor thing was so worried that she would be the only one with crazy socks that I started to worry.

My sample size is small and she's my oldest girl, but I'm worried that her little spirit, that thing that makes Annika, Annika is disappearing because of school. I recognize so much of me in her that it's worrisome. I don't want Annika to take her cues from these other girls that don't have her best interest in mind. The little mind games are already starting in her third grade class.

So, what do I do? For right now, assume that homeschooling her is not an option. I won't guarantee that it never will be, but for right now she's staying in school. I feel like I've given her responses to the things she's already told me happen, but I can't anticipate everything. I want her to have the confidence to be goofy if she wants to be, to wear crazy socks on days that it's not even crazy sock day. I  want her to tell her friends that she's going to be whoever she wants to be, whenever she wants to.

School. It's crazy. And not cute like crazy socks.

Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak" and Pornography

A long time ago I decided not to get into arguments over the internet. If I feel strongly about something I'll say my piece and move on. I'm pretty good about following that rule, but sometimes I just can't let something go. Last night was one of those times.

A right-wing sensationalistic "newspaper" found out that some middle schoolers in Florida were assigned the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Some parents got upset when the realized that the book is about a girl that was raped between her eighth and ninth grade school years--she was 13 when the rape occurred. The book follows her through her ninth-grade year. It's a painful book to read; the girl is so young and the violation so major. But it's a well-written book. It's written in the vernacular of high-school students and talks about the cliques and hypocrisy that can exist in high school. It's clearly not the only book on rape and it's not at all a handbook on what to do after you are raped. It's a book that follows this one girl after she was raped.

The "newspaper" found great glee in calling Speak "child pornography (they used the words probably ten times in a short article.)." It pulled out quotes from the book that use the word "abortion" or "pissed." A group of homeschoolers got up in arms about this book of child pornography based on this article. It was soundly condemned and people that would consider letting their children read it were considered to be lax parents at best.

The thing is, none of these parents had ever read it. They probably hadn't even heard of it until the article was brought to their attention. When I spoke up and said that I had read it and there was absolutely no graphic retelling of the story and even if there had been, it was a description of a rape, their response was that talking about rape or sex in any way, shape, or form is pornography. 

This is wrong. I'm not saying that everyone should run out, buy the book, and hand it to their five-year-old. I'm saying that in the proper context and with guidance an 8th grader should be able to read this book.

Here's another thing about Speak. My copy of the book has an interview with the author at the end. She was asked if she had any surprising reactions to the book. She said that her most surprising reaction was from boys. They were surprised that rape actually hurt the girl so much. 

Let me repeat that. Boys were surprised that raping a girl actually hurt the girl. 

That is why we need this book. So that boys can see, in a safe place, that rape hurts girls. How in the world are we failing to teach boys that rape hurts? How in the world are we failing them that badly and how in the world are we failing our girls as well? 

For that reason alone I think that every boy and girl should read this book. It's fiction, I recognize that, but it's description of what this girl went through and will go through for years is spot-on. In Speak, Melinda literally cannot speak because of what was done to her. 

We need to speak up. Speak is not child pornography and if you use it as pornography it's a good thing to know so we can keep you away from our children. We need this book. We need to make sure our boys know that rape hurts. We need our girls to know where they can go in order to be listened to.

We need to do better. 

Week 1A

I've learned over the last few years that the first week of school never goes like I want it too. Getting back into the swing of things always takes longer than I expect or want it to. So last year I decided to give myself two weeks to accomplish the things I think should take one. It worked last year and it took a lot of stress off of my, so we did it again this year.

Annika and Emma both started at a local elementary school on Monday. Annika went there last year and is now in third grade and Emma just started kindergarten. You read that right...my baby is in kindergarten. So far I'm doing well, but just thinking about that is strange. I remember days that I thought I'd never see the end of preschoolers, potty training, and that chaos. And here I am, at the end.

The girls were really happy to both start and be back at school. And because we were friends with the principal (who is now gone) from the school, they got good teachers and classes. While I would like to homeschool the girls, I'm happy with the teachers they have.

Now to the actual homeschoolers in the family. Harry is in 7th (!) grade and Sam in 5th. As much as I can't believe I have a kindergartener, I really can't believe I have a 7th grader.

This is kind of an important year for Harry. Next year he will go to 8th grade at the local middle school and then onto high school at the school down the way. He's looking forward to school and I'm looking forward to new things for him, but I'm not thrilled that he's going to school. But it is what it is.

My plan for the year is to firm up his writing, continue in math, and do more science and history. Harry enjoys history, so he's working his way through Human Odyssey. We won't be doing a lot of projects and fun work because I want to focus on other areas. Science has always been a hodgepodge because Harry reads so much, so I'm not real worried about that. But I have printed some New York Times science page articles and the lesson plans that go with them. I want him to read those and we'll work on some of the projects and questions. Harry is technically doing Algebra I this year. He's actually working through So You Really Want to Learn Maths and the Key to Algebra books. And for Language Arts...we have a variety of resources to use. Like I said, I want him to work on his writing--he writes well but hasn't done much in the way of papers. We have the 4th level of Michael Clay Thompson's language arts program which includes a book called Advanced Academic Writing. AAW's lessons are meant to be a little more long-term than just write a paragraph and move on. They are designed to give Harry the chance to research and then write a longer paper. I think it'll be perfect for preparing him for more writing. He'll also work on Writing With Skill level 2 when it comes out and the poetry, grammar, and vocabulary in the MCT level.

I've already taught one child 5th grade, but that child is nothing like my current 5th grader so I get to start over planning again. I keep saying that Sam is incredibly smart, he just needs a way to let people know that. I've worked for a few years to build up his confidence and help him learn to make decisions. This year I'm requiring him to use these skills. I'm not letting him get away with not answering or not doing something. Of course I'm not an ogre, so there are incentives and other ways I plan to get him to do what he needs to. Anyway. He's using Math Mammoth 5 for math with a supplement on geometry and measurements. Language Arts is MCT level 3 minus the writing. I did the writing book with Harry last year and wasn't impressed. Instead he'll use Writing with Skill level 1. Science will be So You Really Want to Learn Science and history is History Odyssey. Sam likes projects where Harry loathes them.

They will be taking classes at the charter school. Harry has a full day there and Sam will take some classes there but focus again on pottery. He really loves pottery.

And that's the overall plan for the year. On to Week 1B...

Schedules

I'm working on our schedule for this coming school year and it's kind of frightening. I am homeschooling my older two boys in 7th and 5th grades and my little girls will be in school, 3rd grade and kindergarten. The boys have a day of coop type classes and Sam takes pottery as his main outside activity.

I knew it would be crazy, but this is one of my days:

Annika starts school: 8:45
Harry & Sam to classes: 10:00
Emma school: 11:50
Pick up Sam for pottery: 12:30
Drop him off at potter: 1:00
Pick Sam back up: 2:30
Drop Sam off for another class: 3:15
Pick Annika and Emma up from school: 3:25
Pick up Harry & Sam: 4:00

The rest of the days aren't quite so bad, but I will be driving to and from the girls' school at least three times a day, every day.

Good thing I like my car a lot.

Pack Meeting Sam

He earned a bunch of Activity Pins, Belt Loops, and Pins. (Different than the activity pins.)

Money Matter Badge Work

I spent a lot of time over the last month trying to find info on the Brownie Money Matters Badge, but I really didn't find anything helpful. It could be a very dry badge to work on but since we meet right after school, I wanted to make sure the girls would move around and have a chance to talk.

First we talked about things we need and things we want. I had some pictures, and the girls decided which side of the chart they should go on. There were some lively discussions over ipods and things like that, but in the end it came down to food, shelter, and clothing as strict needs and everything else wants. I made sure though to say that wanting things is not bad, neither is having things outside of food, clothing, and shelter.

I had created three "shops" using the pictures from the Brownie binder. One was a food shop, another had school supplies, and the third was for clothing. The girls were in three groups of three and they each had a Brownie Elf to take shopping with 30 Elf dollars." I made two rules, they had to buy something at each shop and they had to agree. I gave them three minutes at each shop, then they'd come to me, the cashier, to pay for what they wanted and get their change.

In the end each group fulfilled the requirements, but it was hard. One group could not agree to save their lives on what they wanted, so a leader had to step in and help. Another group wanted to only buy the treats at the grocery store. I hadn't given them specific rules about the groceries, but they actually took it upon themselves to buy healthy food, for the most part.

We came back together and talked about what was hard and easy and why it was so hard to stay in budget. This is the beginning of a larger discussion on budgeting. Our cookie sales are over and we want to discuss our bigger projects and activities for the next year. We also have dues money that is going straight into philanthropy. So the girls have a lot to decide.

Sam's Poem

Sam's assignment was to write a poem with end rhyme and apostrophe. Apostrophe is a poetic device where the poet talks to someone imaginary or absent. Personification goes with apostrophe a lot of the time, but didn't have to be present in this poem, although it is. Oh, and it was supposed to be silly.

Taco
By Sam Potter

Get into my tummy
Taco you are so yummy
Meat comes out every bit I take
The crunchy shell, not made of snake.
My life, the rest of it
I could eat tacos like you.

Notes on a Thursday Morning

It didn't start out as a good day. I hadn't "set us up for success" the night before. I let the kids play until dark, coming in only for dinner, which sounds good until you remember that Annika has homework each night and no chores were done by anyone. We all got to bed late for no good reason, so the morning was doomed by the evening.

One didn't want to do her homework, but had to. "I don't want to do my homework now. I want to do it yesterday." The wry grin didn't help, neither did my checking her spelling and realizing that she was lost on how syllables worked. The littlest chimed in with a declaration that she was "not going to clear her bowl!" and was promptly sent to her room. There was dallying over the dishwasher and conveniently "forgetting" to get dressed.

I tried chuckling over the absurdity of it all, tried to remember what it was like to be 12, 10, 7, and 5 and have all of your days planned by someone older according to their whim, seemingly not taking into account any of yours. In the end, I sent some children to their rooms to dress or calm down, another to please for the love of all that's good, get your shoes on, and another to practice piano. Because everyone knows that angry piano practice is the cure for a grumpy morning.

And then, one off to school with hugs and kisses, all forgiven on the drive and with discussions of Power Puff Girls and her own relative strength. Home to others doing their chores (probably because they believed the threat about boarding school this time). Another dressed and ready to begin the excitement of a new day. Finally clearing her bowl from the table.

And now...one is happily doing her mathwork under the watchful eye of a teacher that isn't me. Another creating an owl she read about in a book. Two others are "exploring" the new challenges of algebra and geometry. Humming, erasing, and the occasional "argh" echo through the room. I observe and offer a hand of help to my student-children, trying to keep us all moving forward. At least through tomorrow, when we get another chance to start better.

Meet the Austins and Algebra

I have been trying to get Harry to show his math work since he started pre-algebra. He can do math in his head a lot faster than me and he knows it, so it's bugged him that I want him to write it out. Last week I made him redo an entire page of work that may or may not have been right because there were just answers. (Before you think I'm super mean, he was told before he even started to show his work.)

Anyway, our night time read aloud is Meet the Austins. It's one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it over and over again and I really wanted a read aloud that I liked. In it, Vicky (the narrator) talks about going to her friend's house to check her math. She says, "...I find if I don't check my problems I'm apt to make silly mistakes in adding or subtracting that makes the entire problem wrong even if I've been doing it the right way."

Harry sat up in bed and said. "So, is that why you want me to show my math work?"

Yes, Harry, yes it is.

 Thank you Madeleine L'Engle.

I Wish I Could Quit You

Tis the season of curriculum choices. It used to be so fun to go through all of the different choices and think, "finally, I've got it. This is the perfect book/system that will teach the children the way they need and will keep them in their seats for more than a minute at a time." It's been long enough though, that I know there is no way they're going to stay in their seats so I don't even look at what's out there.

I realized the other day though that I spent the whole day talking and giving instruction. By the end of the day I was tired. Tired of hearing my own voice and of having to explain things over and over. I was ready to ditch MCT--too much talking, AoPS--to much looking over the book and asking, "do you understand why this is?", just too much.

So I decided that next year I wasn't going to do two levels of MCT anymore. We were going to go with WWS and be done with it. (Hang on, there's a point to this story.)

Yesterday Harry and I read in his World of Poetry (MCT Voyage Level Poetry) about what MCT considers "Funny Feet." The pyrrhic foot, amphibrach, and amphimacer apparently aren't well known in English poetry but might come up sometimes, so they are in the book. (Granted that I have a MS and have never heard of them, but that's okay.) For some reason the Funny Feet just seemed hilarious. We spent about ten minutes just saying the words. We absolutely cracked ourselves up. 

Then I read a similar chapter on meter in Sam's Building Poems (MCT Town Level Poetry) and he already knew everything because he had listened into Harry and I talking about dactyls and spondee. His assignment was to write four four-line poems using four different meters that included four of the same words. And after only a little hemming and hawing he wrote his first hilariously funny poem.

Later at the grocery store Harry came up and told me, "Hey Mom, you know what would be funny, a poem made up of only spondee with phyrric foot." 

After that we decided if we ever created our own superhero, his battle cry would be "Spondee!"

So, I will go ahead and order the next levels of MCT Language Arts. And just get used to the idea that I'll continue to spend the next few years explaining, cajoling, and giggling. Because really, it's worth it. 

SPONDEE!

So, He's Doing Okay

Earlier today I wrote a post that talked about making sure Sam is confident in his work. Well, about thirty minutes later we discovered that he had a writing assignment. It said to write a paragraph about something he already knew. Since this type of assignment comes around a lot, I thought it would be a good idea to list things he could write about for future reference. I told him that and this was his response:

"whew, Mom. That's so many things."

Somehow I think he'll be okay.

Poor Neglected Blog

I don't know why I don't write more here. I want to, I think about it, but the thoughts never make it onto the page.

So, here's where we are right now.

Harry: knee deep in American history. He's reading the Joy Hakim books this year. Sometimes he does the worksheets and sometimes he just tells me what he's read. Language Arts is a combo of MCT and WWS. He's not a fan of writing--I'm pretty sure he'd rather have a root canal, if he knew what one was. But through both of those he's becoming a better writer and learning not to hate it quite so much. Science--ah, my old nemesis. We were using Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. But...there's always a but. It wasn't getting done. So instead he's working on the science-related Boy Scout merit badges. Right now he's working on Reptiles and Amphibians and Gardening.

As for Math--he loved Math Mammoth. Unfortunately it doesn't go up through PreAlgebra. So he's been trying out different programs in the hope that something would work. We're lucky in that we use a charter school and they I'm able to check out and try some of the main programs. He tried MUS but neither of us like it. Next he'll use the Art of Problem Solving. I'm hopeful about this program. Since he's in 6th grade he has plenty of time to go through it slowly and really understand what he's doing. Until we get the AOPS books though, he's using Khan Academy. That's been interesting. I'm finding some holes that are good to get patched up and he's enjoying himself. So it's a win-win right now.

Sam: Oh Sam. The kid that doesn't realize that he's actually the smartest kid on the block. Unfortunately. So I'm still spending a lot of my time showing him that he knows more than he thinks he knows. So, for instance, he's been working on part of the whole in Math Mammoth 4. You know, what is 1/4 of 60 and problems like that. When they're presented like that, he has no problem. But when they are word problems, it gets trickier. Like I said at the beginning of the year--this is the year to build up Sam's confidence. To give him the tools he needs to know that he can do anything.

He's working on California history this year (4th grade, of course) and reading about American history. I have him doing a lot of art projects because that is what he feels like he excels at. Which is fine, but at some point our house will be declared a museum instead of a house, I think. He's doing belt loops and pins for his science, which has been very interesting. He's working on the Science pin and Astronomy pin. Language Arts is MCT. He has an aversion to writing too, but for different reasons than Harry. Sam just has too many ideas trying for space on his paper.

So...we're all fine. Things are working and we're in a groove. Annika's at school and while I have my little grousing issues, she's doing well. She's in a 2/3 combo class and it pulls the second graders up a bit. Which I think is part of my good feelings for her in school. She's being challenged every day and in a class of incredibly good kids. It's a great situation for her and makes me a bit nervous for next year.

Emma joined the charter school's Early-Admission Kindergarten program. That way she can go to classes once a week and have fun there. She has arts & crafts, math, and cooking. She's the youngest at the school but thinks she owns it since she's been tagging along with everyone for so many years. She really looks forward to her days there, and honestly so do I. Our house is so quiet. Harry, Sam, and I use that time to go in depth in math since there aren't any distractions.

Maybe I should write smaller updates more often. If you've gotten to the end here, congratulations!