My Bathroom Selfie

So would you recognize me?  I had to edit out the camera and somehow?  Between that and the flash, I only have one eyeball.  Ok, good enough.  Those whippersnapper teens must spend HOURS on some of their self-portraits if this is the best I could accomplish in 20 minutes.

Homeschool Curriculum: Singapore Mathematics Grade 1

A peek inside Woodjie's workbook.

Singapore Mathematics teaches children concept by concept.  There are occasional reviews and tests, but for the most part the concepts are taught to grade level mastery one at a time.

The textbooks are re-useable, but each student should rightfully have his own workbook.  There are two workbooks and two textbooks per grade level.  We are finishing 1A and will move on to 1 B sometime in mid-April.  Because we started homeschooling around Thanksgiving, we will likely be done with this grade level around the beginning of September if we work through the summer. 

So we're a bit behind, but not terribly so.  I should rather spend a fair bit of time teaching the basic addition and subtraction math facts, and making sure the children can tell time and count their pennies and nickels before moving up to the next set of books.

There are answer keys available, but I don't need them for first grade work.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but the books are a bit smaller than you would expect.  I like that there are two workbooks for the year as larger workbooks tend to be unwieldy and it's difficult to write answers anywhere close to the binding.

Should Children Be Required to Write in Cursive?

Under proposed legislation, all Tennessee third graders must learn to read and write in cursive.  It sounds as though it's going to pass if no one bogs the bill down with other pet items. 

Not clarified in the article is the style of cursive to be taught - will just any do?

Do you have a favourite style of cursive?  I learnt to write in Connecticut and in New South Wales, Australia.  So my writing is sort of a cross between the standard cursive you know and this.  This is the only curriculum I've come across that uses capital A's and small r's like the ones I write.

One thing I could never quite get down was this concept of slope.  My writing tends to be straight up and down, no matter what.  I wonder what those special handwriting analysts would say about that.  Probably that I didn't pay attention in class very well. 

Homeschool Curriculum: LIFEPAC Science

Elf has great memories of using these when he was little. 

We've just begun Alpha Omega LIFEPACs for science.  What I like about them is that they're little, portable workbooks.  The experiments in the early elementary years are usually pretty easy to do. 

There are ten workbooks for each grade level.  There's no reason you couldn't get the set done in a school year, but we're doing ours a little more slowly and taking time to grow plants and take field trips.  I've found that little people need to have more time for play and art and fun things than children do in older grades.  That's why we're starting our second grade set now; I'm figuring it will take us well over a year to get this done.

And since this is my second and last set of homeschoolers,  we can write in the workbooks!  We went through so many odd machinations to keep the notebooks like new before.  It's going to be soo much easier just to write in the books this time around.  I think the children will enjoy being allowed to keep some of them in their own private collections when they are completed.

LIFEPACs are written from a Christian perspective, and our first booklet discusses which day all the various animals and plants were made, as well as the characteristics of living and non-living things.

Woodjie's book cover and Rose's handiwork.

Duncan: Schools Replace Mom

"The days of telling kids to go home at 2:30 and having mom there with a peanut butter sandwich, those days are gone."

Arne Duncan wants schools to be open year-round from 12 to 14 hours every day.  No more weekends off, kids.  The traditional American school calendar is "antiquated."

Would you like your children to go to school for 14 hours a day, seven days a week?  Only think of how much test prep could be done in that time.  Our children would be brilliant!

St. Patrick's Day is Too Catholic

So it's now known as O'Green Day.  Children will celebrate by eating green vegetables in the school cafeteria.  I swear I'm not making this up.

You see, St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day celebrations are just too religious.  All that green beer, shamrocks, crazy hat wearing and other shenanigans are... too Catholic, too Irish and not diverse enough.  And we all know children might be uncomfortable celebrating Valentine's Day since it was named after a saint.  And that love stuff is too Jesus-y.

So an elementary school principal just renamed all the holidays to include everyone. Valentine's Day is now known as Caring and Kindness Day. Awww.  I'm just feeling the tolerance and love here.  It makes me want to party on by eating a brussels sprout in the cafeteria!  Woot woot! 

How are YOU going to celebrate O'Green Day?

Fifth in State!

Emperor and I are finally home from the state tournament in Columbia, Missouri!  It got so icy we stayed at the hotel all weekend, played Parcheesi and Monopoly, and ate pizza.