Homeschooling 2008

I have been having a great time during our first 2 weeks of homeschooling. Ian's opinion of it changes depending on the subject we are currently working on. He loves our science, music, art, and spelling. Here are some pictures and samples of his work from this week.

Science

Before: One science assignment the whole first term. Although he did the assignment, he lost it and thus got a big goose egg on his report card for Science. Ian said that when they would run out of time, Science would get "bumped". Ian was wishing for more science experiments and experiences. He didn't enjoy just talking about science all the time.

Now: Ian gets to do a science experiment every day. He loves it and almost always comes up with more questions or other experiments we could do. "I wonder what would happen if we..." is a common phrase I'm noticing at the end of our science experiments. I love to see him excited about learning and discovering! In these pictures he is doing an experiment that illustrates solvents and solutes (Dissolving). He had 4 different solvents and tried 3 different solutes in each one to see what dissolved and what didn't.

Art

Before: Art scheduled once a week. Ian said that they would color pages or make really cool things that would find their way in his desk and then disappear. I never saw any of his artwork. :(

Now: Ian is learning Art concepts, being exposed to famous art pieces and artists, and creating on his own pieces of art. This picture was his first assignment - a self portrait. He has also drawn a "still life" and today he made an abstract drawing of a landscape. He has learned about the types of art: painting, sculpture, and architecture, and is learning now about how to identify representational, abstract and nonrepresentational artwork.

Jaeda loves to participate with Ian, of course. I try to include her as much as I can. She also drew a self-portrait as well. I know you can't see too well, but she gave herself white hair, which is very appropriate, and even included her "naked parts" in purple. I guess I should have explained to her that this wasn't a figure drawing class.

Composition

Before: Rick and I have been disappointed in Ian's journal entries at school for the last few years. He just doesn't seem to take any writing assignment very seriously. Most of his journal included one or two silly nonsense sentences each day. Many days the same silly sentences. "My cheeseball is named Bob". Now imagine this scrawled across a notebook page and a helter-skelter angle in bigger than kindergarten handwriting that is barely legible. For a kid that has so many words running through his brain at any given waking moment, we just felt this was laziness.

Now: Writing still has been like pulling teeth until today. We had a breakthrough with is Composition lesson on Prewriting: Using your Senses. He was to go outside and write his observations using all of his senses. This is what he came inside with. I about cried.

My sister, Jaeda sits by my side. It is starting to drizzle rain and it is

chilly outside. I smell the air. I smell roses - roses? In the fall? Wait, rose and pumpkin. Not just rose. It is getting colder and colder by the second, cold enough to snow. Jaeda keeps saying, "Big B little b, Buh, buh, buh." I love the outdoors.

The next part was to make observations using only one sense:

I see the mountains, I see the clouds. I see this book. I crawl off

the back steps and onto the cement. I turn around. I see Jaeda my

sister. The bright sun shines in my eyes through the thick clouds.

looking like they're going to snow any minute. Jaeda sits by me on the

cement singing.

Next he was to choose one object and write his observations about that.

I see a tree, a leafless tree indeed. I walk over, close to the small willow and stop. A cold air speeds by. It moves the leafless red and brown branches. I shiver and walk on. I slip off the weed and step in the mud. I grab a branch, hoping to feel the texture, but I slip again and brake the branch. A strong, cold wind whips by, making me shiver. I start to walk away, but first stop to look at the majestic willow. I move on.

He was so energized by this activity that he is now planning on writing a book. He took this pre-writing about the tree and expanded on it already. It's the perfect beginning for a book. I am so proud of him. I love to see him gain confidence, to learn life lessons from the fables we are reading, to see him succeed and be a part of those "a-ha!" moments