Camian Academy

Today marked the day of our “new school” as Ani calls it. I wrote out a checklist for Ani this morning. She loves checklists so she was very excited that I made it complete with squares to put a check mark next to each thing as she did it. The top section was for things she needed me to do with her. The bottom section was for stuff she could do all on her own. I gave it to her a little after 8 and told her she needed to eat breakfast before school (otherwise she never would eat breakfast and her blood sugar would be all wonky by lunch time) and told her I’d be downstairs at 9 to do the top section with her and lunch would be at noon and reading time at 1, but otherwise it was up to her to complete her work when she wanted to. She happily took the list, ate breakfast (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that she had somehow convinced her brother to make for her), and by 8:30 had disappeared downstairs.

I went down at 9 and already Ani had done her free writing and was almost done watching the video for lesson 19 of Math-U-See Delta. Her writing prompt was “This weekend.” She wrote about how she stayed in a hotel and went swimming. So there you have it. Her favorite things about the homeschooling conference this weekend wasn’t the ice cream party or playing with Braeden (my midwife’s son who is exactly 6 months younger than Ani) or playing chess with another little boy or meeting the famous homeschoolers or anything like that. No, her favorite part was simply staying in the hotel and swimming. Next time we’ll have to stay a second night.

Together we worked on memorizing the chapter maxim and did 10 vocabulary flashcards (Latin). I gave her a spelling test. She misspelled 5 of the 15 regular words (people, breathe, beach, elect, meaning). She misspelled 3 of the 5 bonus words (reason, season, leaning). No her best test that’s for sure. I read About the Author, The Tell-Tale Heart, and Cask of Montillado aloud from Tales of Mystery and Terror (great illustrated classics). When I read that Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Raven Ani got all excited and said she loves The Raven (it’s on her iPod). Jamie thought that was funny since she often complains about listening to that one and says she doesn’t like it. I read 10 pages of the Illustrated Book of Mormon volume 5 aloud. Ani had a piano lesson. She did two pages of her lesson book, a page in her activity and ear training book, a page in her notespeller book, a page in her solo book, and a page in her technic book. She also got the certificate for the end of level A of the Alfred’s prep course. Ani is very pleased that she has completed the whole level and now can read music and play simple songs. She recited the Spanish alphabet. I finished up with her about 10:30. I told her she could do whatever she wanted for the rest of the day but she had to finish her checklist.

I don’t know what order Ani completed her work in, but about 11:45 she was completely done and hinting that if I had already written down the work for tomorrow she’d be happy to do it today. I told her she was welcome to do more math, spelling, or reading whenever she wants. She completed page 19A of Math-U-See Delta. She read two pages in the Usborne book and worked on memorizing the major Greek gods list. She recited the ancient Egyptian dynasties list for me since she has completed memorizing that one (history). She did two pages of Spelling Workout C. She read lesson 6 in the McGuffey Fourth Reader. She worked on memorizing the poem All Things Beautiful. She did lesson 43 and worksheet 28 of Rod & Staff English 3 (grammar). She worked in Rosetta Stone (Spanish).

Meanwhile, I talked to Cameron about the conversation he had with his Uncle Jim yesterday. He remembered most of what Jim said about the flightsuit he wears including that his uncle has to wear cotton underwear because if there was a fire nylon underwear would melt onto him (of course Cameron would remember that - he is such a boy and words like underwear and booby-trap are funny to him). He remembered a little about how the airplane flies and he remembered what Jim said about how the airplane stops, too. Cameron also played Fritz and Chesster (video game to learn to play chess) and made a heart-shaped design out of melty beads.

Ani is thrilled with having more control over her schedule and acting happier overall. She and Cameron even helped me put away the clothes when I did laundry this morning. I doubt every day will go this smoothly, but today was certainly a nice “honeymoon.” And considering she keeps sneaking upstairs with school books I have a feeling she is doing extra work.

Of course I chafe at the mere thought of a schedule. I’m 45 minutes late already for reading time. Oh, well. The kids haven’t mentioned it so I won’t either.

Books we read this weekend: (8 childrens books) How Do You Sleep? by Louise Bonnett-Rampersaud, Tootle by Gertrude Crampton, Here Comes Winter by Philip Hayden, Happy Birthday, Thomas! by Rev. W. Awdy, Dolphin’s Big Leap! by Kimberly Weinberger, Easter Bunny’s on His Way! by Brian James, Aloha, Scooby-Doo! by Jesse Leon McCann, and Huggly’s Pizza by Tedd Arnold

We went to the VaHomeschoolers conference this weekend. We learned two major things. One, Fritz doesn’t like crowds. They upset him greatly and doesn’t even want to nurse if there are too many people around. Individuals talking to him are fine, but crowds of people overwhelm him. Two, it’s okay that Cameron isn’t learning to read right now and there’s no point in continuing to try to teach him.

I went to a roundtable discussion on Gifted and Difficult. You know, Ani’s not really so difficult. In fact she’s rather easy. Cameron’s probably as gifted as his sister. He’s just different from her and while her giftedness is extremely easy to quantify by doing x grade level work, his is a little harder partly because he’s not reading yet and partly because he’s just plain not interested in school like she is. He doesn’t learn the same way she does. Jamie went to a session on right brained learners given by Cindy. Cameron appears to be a right brained learner.

And so we’re giving the kids more control of their own education, but in very different ways. Cameron is being allowed to pick any topic that interests him. I’ll read him books, find websites, we’ll go on field trips, whatever to learn about that topic to his satisfaction. And then he has to do a project to show something he learned. We don’t really care what the topic or project is, that is up to him. He chose airplanes for his first topic. My sister’s husband is a bomber pilot and has recently become Cameron’s idol. We were not surprised Cameron chose airplanes. We gave him some suggestions for his projects such as building models with legos or drawing or painting pictures. Cameron decided he wants to build models of airplanes with play-doh. Of course his project can be whatever he decides when the time comes that he is ready to make it and he can make more than one project if he so desires. We’ve already got plans to see if Jamie’s boss will let us look at his little airplane and my parents are planning to take Cameron to the Air and Space museum in DC and to make paper airplanes and fly them and various other things. This afternoon Cameron talked to his uncle and asked about the flight suit he wears and how the planes fly and how they land. It may not look much like “regular” school and it may be vastly different from what Ani does, but it is definitely learning. It’s time to stop throwing marshmallows at his head (see the quote at the top of Stephanie’s blog.)

As for Ani, because of what happened with her math on Friday and the fact that she is quite responsible and really into schedules right now, we are changing her school day quite a bit. Instead of me sitting at my desk and her at her desk for 3 or so hours a day about 9 every morning I will do the parts of school with her that she needs me to do with her (like Latin and spelling tests) and then she will have her list of things to do by the end of the day. We will have lunch at noon and reading time at 1 followed by quiet time, but otherwise it is up to her to get her list of minimums done. The warm-up will be changing to a creative writing prompt. We’ll see how that all goes. If it goes well after a month or so we’re going to start giving her the list with a week’s worth of stuff to do on Monday for her to have done by Friday. Eventually, in a couple or three years, I want to have her getting a month of work at a time. I do think given the way Ani is this little experiment will be a success.

We also told Ani that once she is done her work she can do special projects like Cameron. She is interested in learning about writing fantasy stories or about poets. She got excited at the prospect of writing to her favorite author, Tony Abbot, and of writing a fanfic based on the characters in his Secrets of Droon series. She also things reading lots of poetry and picking her favorite ones and researching the poets who wrote them and writing her own poetry.

The kids are both excited about the prospects of having school a little different. Cameron’s very glad I’m not going to make him keep trying to learn to read. He’s been so frustrated by my efforts. He does want to read but it really isn’t time yet for him. Whatever needs to click just hasn’t. Ani likes the idea of having more responsibility in her school work. And I like the idea of not sitting there for over three hours a day keeping her focused.

I decided to switch my homeschooling blog over to homeschooljournal.net. First there’s the peer pressure. All the cool homeschooling bloggers are here. Second I’ve never quite been able to reconcile being at homeschoolblogger.com with the fact that The Old Schoolhouse people run it. I’ve got issues with them and the Pearls and HSLDA. My conscience got the best of me so here I am.

We read 11 childrens books yesterday. We started school at 8:30 this morning.

Warm-up: Ani wrote that Mommie just had a baby on July 11th and he is fun to play with. His name is Fritz. So her assignment was to write about me and she ended up writing about her favorite person, her baby brother.

Math: I made a deal with Ani that she can do just the video and first three pages and if she does well on the test page she doesn’t have to do the review pages. She is very happy with that. So she did the test for lesson 18 of Math-U-See Delta today. I was upstairs when she started school eating breakfast and nursing the baby. By the time I came down to the school room she had done all but 3 problems of her test page already. I checked them and she had them all right except one and that was her thinking 6, looking at the number 8 in the problem, and writing 8 (48 divided by 8). It took her several minutes to do the last three problems because she kept insisting she didn’t know how and needed my help or approval for each step even though she had had no probem with the first several problems. I think I either need to not be down there when she is doing math or something. I pointed out she had done fine without me for most of the page and never needed my help and she said “Oh, yeah” and finished the last problem quickly.

Latin: We worked on learning the chapter maxim for chapter 11 of Latin for Children A.

History: Ani worked on memorizing the lists of ancient Egyptian dynasties and major Greek gods.

Science: I read about sleeping aloud and Ani narrated it. I read How Do You Sleep? aloud.

Language Arts: Ani took a misspelled words test. She did two pages in Spelling Workout C. She read lessons 4 and 5 in the McGuffey Fourth Reader. She reviewed all her parts of speech lists and poems she has memorized. I read the last three chapters of The Time Machine (great illustrated classics) aloud. Ani told me the synopsis and the kids reviewed it. Ani said she loved it (true), Cameron said he hated it (not true as he was fascinated by the story, but he was being contrary as usual when reviewing the great illustrated classics we read). Ani did lesson 42 including worksheet 27 of Rod & Staff English 3.

Religion: I read 10 pages of the Illustrated Book of Mormon volume 5 aloud.

Piano: Ani spent about 10 minutes practicing.

Spanish: Ani recited the Spanish alphabet and spent time working in Rosetta Stone.

We finished at 11:30. 3 hours of school today.

We read one chapter book and 10 childrens books yesterday. We started school at 10 this morning.

Warm-up: Ani wrote that Daddy is fun to play with and goes to school. She loves that Jamie takes college courses and does school just like she does.

Math: Ani did page 18D of Math-U-See Delta. It took her 1 1/2 hours. It shouldn’t have taken her near that long. I finally figured out for sure that if her math bores her she will take forever. She enjoyed and was challenged by the new long division stuff and so she completed those pages quickly. The review pages drive her crazy and that leads to her being extremely distractible. So I think we’re going to try skipping the review pages and only using them as needed. She always gets the answers right so she probably doesn’t need them anyway. We’ll do the video and three “new” pages and then the “test” page and see how that goes.

Latin: We watched the chapter 11 video for Latin for Children A.

History: Ani worked on memorizing her lists of ancient Egyptian dynasties and major Greek gods.

Science: We read about healing and Ani narrated it.

Language Arts: Ani took a spelling test. She got one of her regular 15 words wrong (human) and 3 of the 5 bonus words wrong (polite, coach, total). She read lesson 3 in the McGuffey Fourth Reader. She worked on memorizing All Things Beautiful. I read 3 chapters of The Time Machine (great illustrated classics) aloud. Both kids are loving that book. Ani did lesson 41 including worksheet 26 of Rod & Staff English 3.

Religion: I read 10 pages of the Illustrated Book of Mormon volume 5 aloud.

Art: We read about Henri Matisse and looked at a book of pictures of his paintings. Ani was a bit horrified that he painted so many naked people. She reminded me of me when I was little, around her age. I really wanted to sneak into an art museum at night and clothe all the naked statues. She made a story color collage and was so into it she even gave it a nice abstract name: Purple, Green, Red, and Blue Fighting. She was so inspired by the pictures of Matisse’s work that she made a little booklet of pieces she drew including her fighting one. This is huge for Ani since she tends to have trouble with being creative. Art is totally not her thing.

Spanish: Ani reviewed the Spanish alphabet and worked in Rosetta Stone.

We finished school at 1:15. 3 hours and 15 minutes today.

We read two chapter books yesterday. We started school at 8:30 today.

Warm-up: Ani wrote that Cameron is fun to play with but a little mean. They had just gotten into a fight before we went down to start school.

Math: Ani did page 18B in Math-U-See Delta. She declared it easy and happily raced through the problems in 11 minutes. She played on the Flashmaster, counted by 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s, did the 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s flashcards, and chanted the 2 times table. Later in the day she completed page 18C.

Latin: We did the three activity pages for chapter 10. We chanted the vocabulary for chapters 6-9.

History: Ani clapped when I got out the Story of the World volume 1. Thanks to that book she has truly developed a love of history. I read the part on The First Olympic Games aloud. Ani narrated it. I read a book called The Ancient Greek Olympics aloud. Ani worked on memorizing her lists of ancient Egyptian dynasties and major Greek gods.

Language Arts: Ani did two pages of Spelling Workout C. She read lessons 1 and 2 in the McGuffey Fourth Reader. She chose to read them out loud to Fritz. He likes it when she reads to her and I am always amazed when she reads the McGuffey Readers out loud how easily she reads all the words. She did dictation of “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents.” She missed one of the commas and spelled parents parints. I read three chapters of The Time Machine (great illustrated classics) aloud. Ani did lesson 40 in Rod & Staff English 3.

Religion: I read 10 pages of the Illustrated Book of Mormon volume 5 aloud.

Piano: Ani reviewed the flashcards. She’s got everything down cold except the names of the bass clef, treble clef, and grand staff. I’m amazed at how she can look at a note on the bass clef and know what it is. I can do that with the treble clef and only since teaching Ani how to play the piano have I learned how to figure out the notes on the bass clef. I still have to determine what line is F and count from there to figure out the note names.

Spanish: Ani reviewed the Spanish alphabet and worked in Rosetta Stone.

We finished school at 11:30. 3 hours today.

Later in the day Cameron actually did school. He usually doesn’t want to. He did 10 minutes (a long time for him) and did both math and reading. He knows how to write 1 and 2 and recognizes the letters c, o, and usually s. He knows what sound c, o, a, and usually s and occasionally t make.

We read one chapter book yesterday. We started school at 9 this morning.

Warm-up: Ani wrote that Fritz is wonderful to play with and smiles and laughs a lot.

Math: Ani watched the video for lesson 18 and did page 18A in Math-U-See Delta. She has finally reached long division, something she has been very much looking forward to. She played with the flashmaster, counted by 4s and 5s, and did the 4s and 5s flashcards.

Latin: We did the pages on grammar, sentence building, and noun jobs.

History: I read the part of Story of the World volume 1 on The Stories of Homer aloud. Ani narrated it. She recognized the story of Odysseus and the cyclops from a few months ago when we read the six volume set of the Odyssey retelling by Mary Pope Osborne. I read two pages in the Usborne history book and one page in the Kingfisher history book aloud. Ani worked on memorizing her lists of ancient Egyptian dynasties and major Greek gods.

Language Arts: Ani did two pages of Spelling Workout C. She read lessons 76, 77, 78, and 79 in the McGuffey Third Reader. This completes that book. She worked on memorizing All Things Beautiful. I read three chapters of The Time Machine (great illustrated classics) aloud. While I read Ani wrote interesting words I said in her little notebook. She did lesson 39 of Rod & Staff English 3.

Religion: I read 10 pages of the Illustrated Book of Mormon volume 5 aloud.

Piano: Ani did a page each in her lesson book, activity and ear training book, notespeller book, and technic book, and two pages in her solo book.

Spanish: Ani reviewed the Spanish alphabet and worked in Rosetta Stone.

We finished school at 12:15. 3 hours and 15 minutes today. Ani’s iPod Nano arrived while we were doing school. Now I need to put her memorization things and Latin chants and stuff like that on it so she can easily listen to them to review them without needing me with her. She likes the idea of it being “homework” to listen to them. It’s funny that a child who has never been to traditional school in her life is so interested in having homework.

My laptop is back from Apple and appears to be in good working order again. No more random shutting down!

On Friday we read one chapter book all together. I read 5 childrens books to Cameron after Ani left for an overnighter at my aunt’s house. On Saturday Jamie read three books to Cameron. We started school today at 10.

Warm-up: Ani wrote that she went to Aunt Susie’s this weekend.

Math: Ani completed test 17 of Math-U-See Delta. She used the Flashmaster. She counted by 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s and did the flashcards for 4s and 5s. I was almost done putting away laundry when she finished her math so I told her she could take a 5 minute break. She elected to use the break to first see how high she could count by 5s and when she got bored of that she read a couple pages in a Secrets of Droon book to Cameron.

Latin: We did two pages of working with derivatives. Ani had a bit of trouble making up sentences in English using the derivative words. She wanted to use the Latin words since, after all, we were doing Latin.

History: I read the part of Story of the World volume 1 on Greek Gets an Alphabet aloud. Ani narrated it. She made up her own alphabet. She loved that. She wrote out “My name is Anastasia” in her new alphabet. She reminded of her uncle (my older brother) since he used to make up alphabets and worlds to go with them. She worked on memorizing the ancient Egyptian dynasties and major Greek gods.

Language Arts: Ani took a misspelled words test and did two pages of Spelling Workout C. She read lesson 75 in the McGuffey Third Reader. She did copywork, copying “The baby is crying.” in cursive. It’s the only thing I could think of writing for her to copy at the time because, well, the baby was crying. She worked on memorizing All Things Beautiful. I read about the author and the first two chapters of The Time Machine (great illustrated classics) aloud. Ani did lesson 38 including worksheet 25 of Rod & Staff English 3.

Religion: I read 10 pages of the Illustrated Book of Mormon volume 5 aloud.

Music History: The keyboard’s batteries were pretty much dead and Ani could only play a couple notes before it would shut down and I didn’t know where the new batteries were so Ani did music history instead of piano today. We learned about Berlioz.

Spanish: Ani reviewed the Spanish alphabet and spent some time working in Rosetta Stone.

We finished school at 1. 3 hours today.