Adventures in Mama-Land

  So did I mention we’re homeschooling again? At least for the summer.  Does that make me the kind of wannabe / poseur I hate?  Or an earnest parent trying hard to make something work during weird, transitional times… I’m not sure what the answer is, but I thought I’d share a quick update on how things are going this summer with our “homeschooling / summerschooling” plans.  (It was originally going to be quick – sorry!!) It remains to be seen whether we’re going to do this long-term.  But the truth is, it feels very good.  Very, very good. In some areas, we’re picking up exactly where we left off.  But mostly, things slipped a lot during the year.  The only area in which both kids are further ahead (besides Hebrew!) is math. I had a few clear criteria before we started:

(Or, how I secretly want to continue homeschooling once we arrive in Israel… but you knew that already, didn’t you?) I wasn’t sure where to post this, and actually began posting it to my aliyah blog , but decided it was more homeschooly, so now I’m switching it to here. Homeschooling is legal in Israel, but we have already decided we cannot do it – and, more importantly, that it’s in the kids’ best interests to go to school.  I posted about this before (apparently in July 2011, so we’re probably due for an update) but I will sum up the 3 main reasons: Socialization – not in general, because homeschooled kids DO socialize, but they will need to make friends fast and although there are chugim (extra-curricular activities), youth groups, shul, and homeschooler get-togethers,  school is the best way to do that. Language – I want them to learn Hebrew immediately.  School is perhaps a brutal way to do that, but it’s fast and everybody says they become fluent within months...

  In an effort to raise my kids to be total morons, I long ago renamed the simple “bingo dabber” as a “dot-dot marker” and like most baby names for things, it seems to have stuck.  These ones are actual name-brand Do-a-Dot Markers , which look  more wholesome because they have the name of the colour written on them, but really (shh) – any brand, even the dollar-store ones, will do. I use these with Gavriel Zev when (we need) / (he wants) to work on something and he doesn’t feel like writing, which is almost NEVER.  He is starting to draw, and will trace a letter that I have drawn, but really would rather not if he doesn’t have to… so I don’t push. Because of how much Naomi and I have loved doing Explode the Code, I bought the three “pre” books – Get Ready (Book A), Get Set (Book B), and Go for the Code (Book C) – a while ago and was waiting for the right time to start… which arrived a while ago, like back in October, I just haven’t had a chance to mention it....

While Naomi Rivka was out at ballet class yesterday, Gavriel Zev enjoyed some happy one-on-one time with mama.  He’s been working well in his phonics book, Get Ready for the Code , lately, but yesterday I decided to skip it so we could work in our Math Rods ABC Book, the Cuisenaire Rods Alphabet Book .  The book hasn’t been as wonderful as I’d hoped; really, you could create your own rod drawings for a kid to fill in pretty easily.  But he still enjoys using it from time to time, and it has some basic instruction-following steps for filling in the letters (“now fill in the letter with only RED rods; count how many you used”) that he’ll do if I push him gently into it. I made a crocodile for him, while he worked on the one in the book:   Honestly, he really doesn’t like most of the pictures in the book.  But the alligator captures his imagination every time.  I think we’ve done the A page more times than any of the others put together.  He also did...

A couple of people have been asking on the boards, as I was at this time last year, how to transition from phonics to spelling.  The assumption out there in education-land seems to be that phonics is baby stuff and spelling is how big kids learn.  Maybe they’re thinking of BOB Books and their ilk.  Since our disappointing experience with Spelling Workout earlier this year, and our return to Explode the Code, I have realize that this popular perception is not necessarily the case.  Why would they make Explode the Code books all the way up to level 8 and beyond – at least to a Grade Four level – if phonics becomes irrelevant (or less important) the minute a child is reading somewhat successfully? In fact, it’s only now that Naomi’s reading fairly well that the phonics rules are starting to make sense, and Explode the Code guides her gently through understanding and navigating the maze that is spelling in English. The only thing I really liked about Spelling Workou...

What is going on ?!?  These days, it seems like “school time” has to be stolen furtively from “everything-else time.”  We are barely getting anything done because of catching up with all the million other urgent things that must get done NOW.  Okay, you might not think yesterday morning’s “me-only” Pilates class wasn’t urgent… but that’s only because you haven’t seen the shape of me lately.  Shudder. Let me just tell you, it is NOT the same to make up “class” time in the afternoon that we missed in the morning.  First thing in the morning, Naomi Rivka is complacent, attentive happy to sit in a chair.  I suspect many people are.  First thing in the afternoon – nope!  For one thing, by the afternoon, she is probably already in the middle of a million projects.  Even if it’s something as simple as a Barbie getting married, or a series of drawings she’s working hard on.  Just take me in front of a firing squad of unschoolers for steering h...

This is probably our last “normal” school week for a couple of weeks because of Sukkos next week and all our fun exciting Chol HaMoed (holiday) activities.  NOT that it was a normal week… do we ever really have one of those?  Does anybody? Here’s what we’ve been up to this week! We sure DO love chumash!  Elisheva created this picture while she was waiting for Naomi Rivka to go get dressed when we finished up our work for today. Naomi can now read pessukim (verses) 1-4 of Lech Lecha (in case you don’t know what this is… Bereishis/Genesis, Chapter 12; it’s known as “Lech Lecha” after the first two significant Hebrew words; oh, and in case you didn’t know, “chumash” = Torah = pentateuch = five books of Moses). She has mastered 18 of the Bright Beginnings flashcards, and I just added 6 more, bringing us up to 24 words in her “official” Torah vocabulary.  Unofficially, she probably knows quite a few more, but I like doing them systematically with the flashcards. Hmm...

Haven’t done one of these in a while… Chelle in NZ very kindly tagged me from her blog , and it looked like fun. Here are the questions! 1. One homeschooling book you have enjoyed Most influential has probably been The Well-Trained Mind , by Susan Wise Bauer, if only because there’s not a single Charlotte Mason book that I have absolutely loved cover to cover (though When Children Love to Learn is very practical and helpful).  Oh, and did I mention Biblical Home Education , by Ruth Beechick?  It’s a Christian perspective, but very helpful in terms of figuring out the basics of homeschooling. (wait a minute… did it say ONE book???) :-) 2. One resource you wouldn't be without The computer! 3. One resource you wish you had never bought None have been so bad that I have regretted owning them.  Kind of annoyed at Elemental Science, though, as I mentioned last week … and Spelling Workout was also a flop.  Chalk it up to “Living n’ Learning!” 4. One resource you ...

We cut and cut and cut and cut and pasted…   (I discovered this cool cut-apart skeleton in the sample pages for Pandia Press’s Real Science Odyssey, Life (Level 1).  You can download the full sample here , if you’re interested.  See below for why I was looking at science curricula (hint:  I bought a new one, but in the end, it wasn’t RSO). We drew… (ugh, the strange-looking BOY made from the word “boy” in Draw Write Now, Book 1 – I have been dreading this lesson for months, but at least it’s over now and we can move past it) We learned Chumash…  (see how much she HATES colouring things in???)  (but she does enjoy colouring the “leftover” words with a rainbow pattern even though it takes forever sometimes for her to fill them in).  The book she’s using is Bright Beginnings.   …And SO much more! We are doing and ENJOYING the following Evan-Moor daily worksheets, which I print off from TeacherFileBox:  Daily Science, Daily 6-Trait Writin...