BABY Robins!

There are at least three in the nest, but this one in front is the pushiest. I don't know how this little thing could STAND for a second and get a raw worm from its mom. It has eyes shut, I think, and is fluffy. Aside from the beak, it doesn't really look like a robin at all.

Juicy Watermelon

Cupcakes skillfully decorated by Elf and Emperor. I got the idea from little mini-cakes in the local grocery store. I had just made a couple extra little plates up when the mailman came by with homeschooling stuff. I was *so* glad we could brighten his day with a little sweetness. He has been our mailman since we moved in 14 years ago and we sure appreciate his careful driving and accurate delivery. :)

Self-Taught

Ok, I'm loading videos from YouTube, handing over gobs of frosting and other tools to Emperor and Elf, and telling them we need to start practicing for G's birthday next month. Final exam: the cake. Yes, I just spent $10 at the foo-foo "beyond" store on frosting squeezie bottles that are hard to clean. I have no idea why I just did that.

Checking In

It's been a very hard week here, so I'll leave some reading material for you as I pass by from the Kansas City Star. Yup, that's Emperor. The link is broken at the bottom of that page, but this one will show you that Happy Elf Homeschool beat some pretty respectable schools. Will catch up with everyone soon. :)

Lead Bank State Championship

We had a LONG day playing chess at the Lead Bank State Championship at the KCI Expo Center. We got to see some old friends from a previous chess league and socialize during the times between games. This is J and B, who later tied for first place in the K-2 Division. Emperor was the top player in the third grade division (he would have been in third grade were he in public school). And The Happy Elf Homeschool placed as the *first* K-6 division school. I hadn't even realized we were playing as a school as well as individually. Elf and Emperor have greatly improved their game since last year. For Emperor especially, this is a grand victory. Remember his last tournament? This was his year to shine. :)

More Public School Testing

Well, I asked for it. I don't want to throw Elf out there without any help next year. That means requesting special services. That means going through their evaluation process. That means answering questions on their dopey psycho McWeird tests. (Please respond "always, almost always, sometimes, rarely or never," as it applies to situations with your child in the last two months, mmkay?)

Sets fires.
Runs away from home.
Has difficulty making friends.
Bullies others.
Hits other children.
And so on.

Well, yay.

Last time I answered these questions when Elf was barely six, they decided to label my kid as "emotionally disturbed." Mostly because he ran away from everybody ALL. THE. TIME. because he didn't want to go to school. (Wonder why?) Problem solved on that since he's homeschooled, and we have trouble getting the kid out of the house now more often than not. It's almost as though he lives at school now. :)

But... what kid does NOT set fires with his parents? Even Emperor was hoping to spend money on matches at Wal-Mart just yesterday because he wanted to figure out some "experry-mints" to do in the kitchen this week with cooking oil and flour, and would it save time to just put the fire IN the bowl rather than baking things in the oven? (Sorry. I didn't let him get any matches. Bad mom.)

And what kid does NOT bully others? Elf used Emperor's baby nickname when they had a disagreement the other day. (THAT IS BULLYING. I've read the literature from the schools.) Patrick is a little more subtle about it and just calls him "Octavian" when he is upset. And (sigh), yes, Elf and Emperor got into a giant hitting match two days ago over who should get to read the longest, because one child had a long chapter in his book to read and the other child said it wasn't fair because he didn't get a long reading when HIS chapter was long last time... so... no fair...(smack, smack, shove...)

Dang, but if I check the "yup, he's bullying, and pretty regularly" box, they'll be looking for trouble and watching to see if my kid flashes some gang signs that first day of school. If I don't, but check the "Elf is perfectly behaved all the time, a most amiable child; never cross" box, they will think (rightly) that Mom is a big smartypants liar.

I wound up checking "rarely" on about everything and on "sets fires," I checked never. I reasoned that "setting" fires without parental permission is probably what they meant, not "lighting" them WITH permission.

Ok, ok. I need to adjust my attitude on this. Look at it rationally: D let me do things my way by homeschooling these last almost five years, and now it's time to send the kid off on the bus next year. I'm still allowing myself to get snarky about the McFill-in-Circle-Tests, though. Because they really ARE pretty dopey.

Maybe I need to look at it from the school's perspective, too. They're getting a new kid. I think if I were getting a new kid to watch along with 600 of his best friends every weekday, I'd want to know if I could expect him to light fires and punch the teachers out. But still.

What I've Been Doing

It doesn't look all that much effort was put into it. It just seems like a few stacks of books on a shelf, right?? But I've been going through stuff I have stashed away downstairs and bringing it up and organizing it. I've also been bringing down books and materials we're done with this year. I'm telling you, this process is still ongoing and it's been days. On display here is pretty much all we'll need for next school year except for math (which was being used at the time I took this) and art and an empty spot for "stuff I'm buying at the curriculum fair." It sounds as though other folks are organizing their homeschool rooms, books and materials at this time of year as well. :)

The King James Bible's 400th Anniversary!

It's coming up in May! Where are all the churches and homeschool groups celebrating this event? There are a great plenty of churches and homeschool curriculum providers who use the KJV - if not exclusively, then at least extensively - in their services and materials.

Is it falling out of favour? Too stilted, perhaps, to trot out of the closet and give an "anniversary" lookback as often happens with everything from Columbine to Columbus?

Whatever you may think of the translation and its accuracy or merits, it's had a profound effect on English literature and is the source of many idiomatic expressions commonly in use today. Here's a nice little website, complete with a ticker and a few handy links.

You'd think that Bible clubs and other organizations would be putting more out on this. But as one educational commenter noted of late, churches are moving away from longer passage memorization to short quips and quotes. Is it a cultural move from in-depth thought to a more sound-bite presentation of information? The author does not speculate.

For my part, I prefer the language of the KJV, but I honestly do NOT understand it all. I enjoy reading from two Bibles or using a KJV "parallel" Bible that puts two or more translations near one another. Any time you translate something from a foreign language, something must be lost or altered. Or the translator must choose between LITERALLY translating an idiomatic or cultural expression, or translating its actual MEANING to the original audience.

In short, I'm not freaked out about other versions of the Bible, but I tend to put more authority on the KJV simply because it has been around longer and withstood centuries of criticism from Bible scholars who know much more than I do on the subject. I also use curriculum that comes from some of the "KJV only" crowd not because I believe in the reinspiration of the KJV scriptures, but because the KJV curricula tend to be more in-depth and at least closer to where I stand theologically.

DONE.

We're finished with all our state-required hours for the 2010-2011 school year! We could sit around until JULY (or later, if we wanted a summer break!) and do NOTHING academic whatsoever. Oh, yeahhhh.

Meanwhile, our public school has to do SIX makeup days and one more day for every two missed hereafter. Can I just say that seat time requirements are silly? But I do vaguely understand the rationale behind them. Certainly you can't teach me all I need to know in second grade in three hours per year. So, some committee somewhere fuddles around and thinks of a nice round number - 174! - and requires schools to do that.

Really, I'm befuddled at the whole process. I don't know which committee meets or what their procedures are. It seems to me, however, when we began homeschooling that 1,000 hours seemed a heavy requirement for a small child. Now, progressing further, 1,000 hours doesn't seem to cover all that needs to be done in a given year. I'm sure the amount of time I feel necesssary will increase the longer I homeschool. But if I were to begin homeschooling Rose in kindergarten? I hardly imagine myself working with her for five or six hours each day on solid academics.

I see no differentiation in the DESE guidelines between first and 12th graders in terms of the number of hours required in a school year. But I DO see that it looks as though there is a four-day instead of five-day option. Wonder why no one has proposed doing that here? Would save a boodle on transportation costs, though the school day would be long and children who miss a day of school are really missing a day and a quarter (right? I'd think).

Theology of Rock Music

I have crossed over to the Dark Side. Elf and Emperor have now heard "We Are the Champions" by Queen and are singing, singing, singing the chorus. Especially the "no time for losers" part. They seemed so enraptured by this that I decided they could also listen to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. I let them listen separately so that I could interview them to see what they thought.

Emperor thought that the "lady" in the song symbolized old church, trying to buy the stairway to heaven. (I think he means the Catholic sale of indulgences.) He is not sure about the middle verses. He thinks the "rock" at the end of the song symbolizes Jesus and the True Church, which does not "roll."

The "west" described in the song is, of course, indicative of the decline of society. All the cultures (like the Elves in Lord of the Rings) go west at the end of their age. Just as we Americans went west and just look at us now.

Ok. Thank youuu, Emperor. Now for Elf. What, Elf, did you think about this song?

"Well," he wanted to know, "what exactly did EMPEROR have to say about it? Let me know that and then? I will tell you my answer." Nope. Tell you what he said after you tell me YOUR interpretation.

Elf sat quietly and did that Vulcan "pensive" pose before singing, "Oooh, it makes me wonder..." and that he has really absolutely no idea. The song was in English but it made no sense to him.

I'm not sure I can explain all this rock music, either, but if Elf is going to school next year, he probably ought to have heard a few songs through first so that there isn't too much culture shock. The only other rock song they know is "Oops, I did it again. I pooped on the floor and I peed in my pants." And... just that part of the song. Did I mention that I pulled them out of school in kindergarten and first grade respectively? Wonder what the kids listen to now.

Lord of the Rings

We've just finished reading Lord of the Rings. It took Elf about seven months, but we got through the trilogy in our nightly readings. Elf and Emperor are now memorizing the movie's famous speech of Aragorn before the Black Gate, embedded above. Too bad I don't know any Elvish, or perhaps the children would get some actual foreign language instruction. Only imagine the scholarships they could get with that talent. :)

How It's REALLY Done

Here's what our homeschool daily schedule REALLY looks like:

I wake up Elf and Emperor at 5:30 in the morning. They sleep in the same room with Woodjie, so they are not presently learning to use an alarm clock on their own. I come in and whisper at them and they go downstairs for breakfast. I usually take the blankets from their beds in the winter when they leave the room. They are cracking at the math by about 6 am, wrapped in their blankets and snuzzly.

Math must be first or it never gets done. Patrick and G do a semi-reasonable job at being *quiet* in the morning, considering they are teenage boys. They leave the house around 6:40 after lots of shushing from me and "you should have thought of that last night when you were arranging the things you needed for this morning"s.

Somewhere around 8 or 8:15, a little fluffy-headed blonde person shuffles out yelling, "Morning! Morning! Ah morning, Mommy!" and I help him do the potty thing and we get Rose up and dressed. I bring them downstairs to the table and spray Rose's hair with detangling spray and put it up.

Little children are eating breakfast in the kitchen in my line of vision and I am next to Elf at the dining room table, nagging him to get his math done and/or helping him with problems he is having. Emperor does his math by watching a computer lesson and writing all the answers to the workbook in a notebook (so I can use the workbook for someone else later). Then we check the answers. He needs help every now and then to go over a problem, but most of the time he is pretty much completely independent.

Then it's two chapters, silent reading, in the Little House series. Somewhere in there, Woodjie and Rose are done with breakfast and wandering about the living/dining area playing with their large house and people. After a while, I bring them downstairs and set up some toys and the TV.

Then I teach English or science or history while Steve finds all three pawprints. I do some lesson that needs supervision or direct teaching, something they couldn't have otherwise done independently. When I'm done with that, I'll be available, but concentrating on littles and the things they want to do. There is also usually another lesson or two in another subject that I have determined they can do independently that day. I just look ahead a little and figure it out.

Today our English lesson was about "Linking Verbs With Predicate Adjectives" and how to diagram sentences with them. Then I set the children off to do some writing on their own. Writing is a *weak* spot. I am working very hard on the spelling and grammar and the reading, hoping that will magically translate into superb writing. It hasn't so far. Elf and Emperor have some very cute ideas and have made new blog entries today about themselves. I helped Elf with spelling and combined a couple of sentences with Emperor, but what you read on the blog is about the level they are. NOT SURE how to improve it except for practice, practice and more practice.

Lunchtime. Bagels, peanut butter and squeezy jelly. It was a half-day today for Elf and Emperor work-wise today. But about a day each week (sometimes more, sometimes less) is a half day because I have appointments that cannot be rescheduled or avoided. Today, it was time to do Rose's IEP.

It was a mortifying experience.

I do NOT know how to get everyone together, to shape them up and make them act nicely. I reminded my children not to YELL about ten times (I am under-exaggerating). Then I was juuuuust making small talk and telling the process coordinator that I was amazed to see her TURN HER BACK on her four-year-old when I met her at her son's TaeKwonDo practice (Patrick and G were in the following class). I mean, even my older children would be out the door if I ever tried -

Where's Emperor?

OH, guess where he was? You know those new school security systems? How they don't let just any old person in? Well, he decided he would run out front and let everyone who showed up in. He can tell who is bad and who is not. He only let the good people in. Oyyy. Calmed that situation down and noticed that Rose smelled like overcooked broccoli and onions. *sniff* Yep. Took her into another classroom to change her. Left Elf and Emperor with the poor process coordinator. They probably think I'm a total loooooser by now because by the time I got back, Elf and Emperor apparently had told everyone about Greek mythology, family dynamics and ohhhh about 500 other things. They had sketch pads and pens (provided by staff who were prolly just trying to shut them up) and were drawing embarrassing scenes at our house, complete with children shouting at the table and being disciplined.

Later I got distracted - you know, trying to DO the stinkin' IEP already - and then figured out that Emperor had nosed in the nearby drawers, gotten a paper clip and was trying to pick the locks on the cabinets. Corrected the guy again... and while I was talking to him - WHILE I WAS SPEAKING AND LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM, he was digging in the trash and claiming to be hungry.

Yes. He was. I hate going to meetings.

Goodbye, J.

Today Rose had to say goodbye to J, her speech therapist. Rose will turn three in two weeks, and this was her last therapy session at home. J left us with a beautiful book and a hug, and we have her email address. I'm going to send her a link to this blog. Every now and then I do have a Miss Pretty Pretty update, and she'll want to see how the girl is doing. In other news, J started homeschooling her own son about a month or so ago. Please welcome her to the club in the comments; I hope she drops by. :)

The Elf

I've just emailed the director of special services in our school district, inquiring about the process to enroll a special needs child. I've asked in my email if there is a way we can transition him into classes slowly and not formally have him enrolled until next school year.

That, I think, should give us enough time for testing and maybe my helping to patch up the inevitable gaps we're going to find in Elf's schoolwork. We all have them, and I'm not following their curriculum, so there you go. I'm sure the school peeps will figure out that he can read and understand almost anything but has trouble spelling. Will that mean they don't think he's sixth grade material next year? Or will they want to hold him back? He can do simple sentence diagrams and tell you the difference between "let" and "leave." Please tell me that counts for something!

We had such an awful experience in the elementary school that that would mean he'd likely have another year at home if they wanted him to repeat fifth grade at the building where he was treated badly. Yep, I'm a picky parent, and if I don't at least get my way on the IMPORTANT things, well... I'm just gonna take my kid and go home.

There will be innumerable smaller things, unjust things, unfair things, that I'm going to have to learn to just deal with when Elf goes through them. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for that. Reminding myself that in this district, the people in the middle school were not mean to my older children.

Did I like or agree with everything they did? Um, no. They didn't do anything horrid, though. But it's been almost four years since my children have gone to this middle school. I hope things have not changed too much, or if they have, that they have all magically changed for the better.

In this era of reduced funding, maybe I am just fooling myself. But I sort of have to to get by. Elf is my very heart, but he needs to learn to have as regular a life as possible. And that's going to mean dealing with at least some unfairness.

I'm not really looking forward to it. D says it will be less work as I will have one fewer homeschooler, but this is not true. I will still be teaching all the same lessons AND juggling yet another school/bus schedule. I'm freaking out just thinking of the bus ride, let alone how the rest of the day is gonna go.

Here all I have done is email someone, and I'm already frazzled. :(

Homeschool Update - Core Subjects

General

Well, one worry off my list. The children can tell time IF THEY ARE WEARING THEIR GLASSES. I don't know why I didn't think of that solution sooner. They can also tell you their addresses, if you sit down and explain what an "address" is and give the example of 253 Main St. Every time. They still don't have their phone number down, however. BUT they know their last name, yayy for me. Emperor says it is not HIS phone number... so why should he know it... sigh.

English

The boys are pretty good at telling me the various parts of speech and drawing sentence diagrams, and somewhat good at making outlines. But their writing isn't at the level I'd like it to be. Perhaps I'm overly picky, but I'd think that a few paragraphs shouldn't be too difficult to write. It's like pulling teeth to get them to write even a few sentences. And I do try to make it fun, to help them post things to their blogs, and to have them read their work aloud.

One difficulty I have teaching my children in general is that I have no outside folks giving honest feedback. Thankfully standardized testing is not required for homeschoolers (and my children have never been tested MAP-wise), because that's not the "feedback" I'm looking for so much. More... are my children improving in their writing craft? Perhaps it's just me, but I don't see any improvement. I was an English major in college, and I can read the teachers' manuals. I'm just not sure how to foster improvement in writing specifically, how to target those writing assignments to be helpful. I can assign writing. I can help children revise papers. I know what I am doing. But how to convey that one ought write more than a few sentences at a time, or a sense of order in writing is difficult.

And Spelling! We're using this. We set aside the stuff I already have (for now) and are using the free website. Elf is very, very far behind in Spelling. About a second grade level. But he can read a good plenty.

Mathematics

We spend about two hours daily on math. We're doing MathTacular 4. Elf and Emperor take turns using the workbook and we watch the DVD together. Elf, because he is going to public school next year, is doing the Everyday Mathematics fifth grade curriculum. If I teach him nothing else except to write the FORMULA each and every time he solves a problem, I will be pleased enough. Frequently I find he can do the math work, but mixes up his formulae and/or gets confused because of the word problems.

Emperor is buzzing along in his pre-algebra work, but he does poorly when questions are not worded just-so. He knows the math. "Reducing" a fraction doesn't mean to render it in its "mixed form," however. He has trouble "rounding to the nearest hundredth" and the like. He can do the math part. It just bothers him to be less accurate. I'm telling him it's absolutely an accurate answer to the QUESTION, however. I am not sure if he buys it or not.

History

Wrapping up our Ancient Greece unit soon. They've enjoyed learning about some of the mythology especially. Persephone has been played by a stuffed Pikachu in their playtime on more than one occasion.

Reading

Oh, my goodness are these children reading! They're working on the Little House series during their read-alone time. There have been many Great Illustrated Classic stories Emperor has read to us. Still working on the Lord of the Rings - and have been since June - but it is a longer and more involved book and only Elf is reading it aloud. I've told him my goal is to have LOTR done by the end of January, but early February may be a more attainable goal.

Science

We've finished a unit on planets and are reading books from the library on all kinds of things! The children choose the books and I give them a bit of time to read and tell me about what they discover. We're finished with all the curriculum we purchased for the year, so why not?

Unless I should buy something so I can say that I'm working on something structured... but I do have my eye on some snap circuits because um, they'd be so educational. :)

Happiness Is...

There is nothing like going outside on a school day in your jammies for a picnic lunch. In January. Enjoy it while you can. :)

Aaah, Very Nice.

But it just won't work for me. Watching this video from edutopia, I felt like a total failure. This is exactly what I wanted my homeschool to "look like." Children cooperating and learning. Standing nicely or sitting in their chairs. Agreeing on the classroom rules and having some sort of idea, socially, as to how to get along with others. It looks like the teacher is doing a great job, but I'm guessing he is NOT teaching any autistic children.

Math as a social activity?

I'm a bit jealous. I admit it. Not saying I would trade my kids in for the world, but I'm jealous that this guy seems to have it easy. I'm letting a five-minute video totally sap my confidence.

But I don't know how to teach Elf not to cry and freak out over not getting the right pencil in the morning. How to teach Emperor not to constantly call out the answers to the math problems or just plain old chat, chat, chat WHILE working?

How can the children learn that bird squawk noises and the same three lines from the last Star Trek episode, repeated over and over to one another, is NOT something other children do?

These other children, bet you, can cross the street safely. Know not to tell strangers about the noble gases and the personality of Argon. Or the fact that there was a big fight in our house about grape jelly the other day and other details.

I'd be afraid of some of these strangers coming to my house to rob it were it not for the fact that my children STILL don't know their addresses and phone numbers, and they've lived here all their lives! AND they've forgotten how to tell time and tie shoes. I know, I know and I KNOW I spent a lot of time teaching them this.

But still, they know about five lines from every episode of Star Trek that they have watched, and they repeat it over and over to one another. I'm not complaining... exactly... so much as expressing my sadness and frustration that here I have been teaching these children diligently and thoughtfully - for years!- and Elf will show up in public school next year not knowing his address or how to figure out if someone is actually friendly or just being mean and pretending.

Elf is only just now starting to get the idea that he did NOT come from the Keebler factory. And some of those other children will be dating. He's a little more than a little socially behind, and doggone it, he's a cute little Elf. But they will eat him alive. G is begging us not to send him because they will "mess him up." So sad...

Ok. I'm just disappointed in myself, I guess. I don't know how I could have done much better in the overall picture (yep, everyone has spots they KNOW could have been better!). And my class is not like this guy's on the video. This film was shot during his first month of teaching these children... and look how they sit and pay attention. I've been working sooo hard on "sit and pay attention" that it isn't funny. For years, working... this is not funny.

I am left with the feeling that I don't have much time left with Elf at home, and no way he's ready to go to school next year, but D wants him to go. By the time he goes, he will have been home almost five years. D has been patient with me doing things my way, and he says it's just time next school year.

We've signed him up for social skills classes, and hope that helps. Chess league. Not having any family or community support really stinks at a time like this. :(

"School Refusal"

Have you ever heard of it?

Supposedly it's different from the out and out "truancy" insofar as it is a psychological disorder.  A psychological disorder that affects about 5 to 28 percent of all children at one time or another.  A psychological disorder for which "pharmacological" treatments and psychotherapies are available.  That's right.  Drug your kids and let them talk it out, but for Heaven's sake, send them back to school as soon as possible.

"Well-meaning parents can make things worse, psychologists say, by allowing an anxious child to miss school, attending school with them as, for example, a classroom volunteer—or home-schooling. Such accommodations send the message that school is too scary for the child to handle alone and the fear is justified."

Yep.   Interesting buncha hooey, especially since about 3/4 of the time, it's the school that wants you to do its work and make their day easier.  At least that's how it's working out around here of late.

Right now, I'm dealing with some umm... interesting school "refusal" tactics from my 15-year-old.  Though I wouldn't call his "school refusal" some sort of gibberishy medical term.  I'd call it "autism," and despite some good efforts from some good teachers, he has trouble in class.  He makes trouble in class, too, let's face it. 

But lately he's figured out that he can use his "breaks" as a way to get out of work, and that if he's really naughty, his mom will have to come and get him.  Under ordinary circumstances, I'd make home a place he doesn't really want to be sent when he does that... but for reasons I'm not blogging today, it isn't possible right now.  Just trust me on this, but it is a situation we have autism specialists assisting us with and I am obligated to go with their advice for this present moment for various reasons.

So... I kept telling the school that I'm sorry he did (whatever) or said (whatever), but if we keep calling Mom to pick him up and get him out all the time, this will only reinforce the bad behaviour and make it worse.  So guess what's happening?  Instead of learning that like it or not some hours, school is overall where we need to be right now, Mom is the get-out-of-jail free card he plays every trip around the board. 

What the school really needs to do is get its crap together and find a different class or a specialized aide, because you know what?  I do think SOME (not all!) the teachers are genuinely doing what they can but are either overwhelmed (G not being the only kid in class, ya know) or have not handled autistic children before in a high school setting.  This whole situation isn't fair to G, the teachers, or the other students.  I keep hearing that it's a new school, it's a small school, and they don't have the "resources."  Dang, but I've seen the district budget and they can hire "resources."

G is a nice guy, mind you.  But what started out as a "you can leave the room and walk for a bit if you are very overwhelmed" has morphed over time into an idea in his head that he is allowed to wander out during all tests and instruction time. 

And I love the guy, but he's not terribly realistic.  He can't read well at all.  We're talking first or second grade level here.  But now he says he wants to be homeschooled.  And why? Because homeschoolers go on to college at the age of 15.  Plus, he sees Emperor and Elf have most of the afternoon off.

Yeah.  Emperor and Elf are AT WORK before 6 a.m. and continue work until about 1 p.m. with a break for lunch.  And they read for a good part of the time at night.  I don't think G could hack it... I really don't.  And college at 15? I don't want to get all paranoid... but I think the school is feeding this mindset.

I get calls from the counsellor about "maybe G doesn't have to go all day."  I WANT to respond that "maybe" he wants to find G a job with no diploma, but I'm ohhh so diplomatic and just say that really isn't an option; he must graduate on time.  Or the very DAY AFTER I inform the counsellor about this potential heart condition, I get a call saying, "G is in the office with me.  We both think it's a great idea for him to join the basketball team!"

I mean... I know that the heart specialist people are not putting restrictions on him before the cardiology appointment, but at our last doctor visit (regular MD), they DID HEAR A MURMUR.  G is off at the park right now (that's regular activity), but I'm not letting him join the team.  I guess I just hear "rules" that way, even if it's the same amount of exercise, yk?

Speaking of rules, I was telling Emperor to stay out of the cashier's "space" because this area is her space.  "And see that invisible line?" I said as I gestured.  "Stay back from it."

"I can't see an invisible line!!"  Arg.  He was being serious, too.  Then when I told him he needed to use his imagination and just stay back from where the line WOULD be, he seemed exasperated that the ENTIRE WORLD had a set of unwritten but somehow clearly-defined-to-everyone-else set of rules that we all must follow.

I sorta feel like that today.  I am having difficulty communicating that I AM supportive of a good school environment and the other students learning, but that in the LONG RUN my picking him up from school constantly will be counterproductive.  Hoping that the situation resolves for G and for EVERYONE at that school.  I'm going to do my part, to be sure, but "waving a magic wand and curing" is not on the horizon this week.  Sorry.  We're going to have to work something else out together, the school peeps and I.

Chess League!

Who knew it was pretty much an all-boy thing? I didn't.

Elf and Emperor have been looking forward to this for months! They play at least one game a day and sometimes do puzzles online. So, I would never classify them as *serious* players, but the chessboard isn't gathering dust, either.

We're meeting up with some serious players. Is it just me, or are the suuuuper-serious players all homeschoolers? My goodness. We're playing with a kid who was kindergarten state champion and his older brother. They don't just play chess, they understand notation and have memorized chess scenarios by name. Wow, I'm a slacker homeschool mom. But they're extremely nice, polite folks and you just can't help but like them even if they do beat you every time.

We're a bit more evenly matched with the public school kids who are there just because they want to be. They're not serious players, but are going for the fun of the game.

One of them in particular seems to be very friendly with Elf. He looks - I swear - EXACTLY like Frodo in Lord of the Rings movies. Well, if he were a bit younger and rounder, anyway. I keep looking at him sideways, tempted to call, "Frodo!" and see if he answers. Really. If they ever do casting for "little Frodo," it would be a shame if he didn't audition. "Frodo" is a rather talkative and friendly fella and he and Elf have fallen into the habit of playing games together during "free" play time (as opposed to tournament game time).

They have innnteresting conversations. Here's one that happened after Frodo tried moving his rook diagonally last game:

"Um, you can't do that," Elf corrected him. "That's a rook."

"Yeah, I know," Frodo told him. "But did you know that the queen is really just a rook?"

"No, it isn't. It's a completely different piece!" Elf is pointing at the queen as if that would settle it.

Frodo picked up the queen and held it next to the rook. "No. The queen is just what the rook looks like after she gets plastic surgery and gets some boo-tayyy."

"Well, the rook can only move *this* way, so you'll have to pick another move." I think the boo-tayyy comment went right over his head. Just as well.

And another conversation:

"Where do you go to school at?" Frodo wanted to know.

"I do not go to school," Elf said crisply. "I am home EDUCATED."

"Oh," Frodo's brow rumpled. "Then you can never have a school team. You should totally go to (Junior High Name) with me. The KNIGHTS. We kick ass in chess club. KNIGHTS RULE!" Whereupon he tugs on his nearby friends. They get the "hint" and give him a high five.

Poor Emperor, though. He's not making friends there very easily at all. He is losing EVERY game. I know some of the younger players (he gets matched with them because he would be in third grade in ps) are the more serious, committed players... but much of his trouble comes from a lack of seriousness about the game. He jumps and moves at the same time. He isn't thinking strategically or stopping to consider that the other person ALSO has a strategy to win. I think the crowning blow was when he got beaten by the chess league teacher's five-year-old daughter. Who is too young for kindergarten this year.

Awww. Poor fella. But see, she is concentrating on the board. She goes to tournaments. She does workbooks on chess moves. I told him it's ok... he is learning and he's there to have a great time at the same time. I think this is a good experience for him on the whole, though, even if it is hard for him. He probably needs a few more weeks to get the hang of it.

But Elf? Surprisingly, he has a little peer group there. I think he doesn't understand about half of what they're talking about, though, but they seem friendly enough.

Mathematics and Homeschooling

Seems to me that every math textbook has an interminably long "review" period.  I would understand where a teacher, new to a class of 26 or so students, would need to go through a time of review to ensure that all the children are up to speed before proceeding with the year's work.  I also imagine that most textbooks are written with the public schooler or new homeschooler (who might need a review period before embarking on new material) in mind.

But I'm noticing especially now that Emperor is getting close to beginning pre-algebra that the seventh grade textbook is following a pattern of 1) long review period, 2) regular work, normal pace, 3) crazy-paced advanced "additional topics" section. 

Right now, we're in the crazy-paced advanced "additional topics" section.  It's nuts.  Within a week, the kid learned exponential notation, Pythagorean theorem, working with inequalities and using negative numbers in basic algebraic equations.  It just seems an odd sideways jump from probabilities and tax rate calculation, though I'm sure the textbook makers know what they are doing.

Much of Emperor's trouble, I'm discovering, is his difficulty in SLOWING DOWN long enough to write some basic information down.  He still can't seem to take a minute to line up his numbers before multiplying.  He was ok doing much of this in his head, but now we're at the point where (with decimals and whatnot) we really, really need to write our numbers down.  Apparently copying the problem onto another sheet of paper (lined, turned sideways so we can have "columns") is too much work.  It's better just to type answers into the computer without checking anything!  I guess "just knowing" the answer has worked for him up until now, but he had a period there where he would totally bomb grade-wise.  About three lessons have grades of 62-75.

I cannot IMAGINE setting this boy off on a multiple-choice test.  I know him.  He would fill in circles just because.  I made him back away from the computer (and hence, the permanent gradebook) and fill his answers into the notebook.  Then I checked them.  I was expecting a huge number of errors... but I didn't find them.  I guess getting away from the keyboard made him slow down? 

I'd be interested to hear what other teachers (homeschool or classroom) think and how they've worked to solve similar problems.