Sunday, September 28, 2008

Moving Beyond The Page Update

Madeline has been working on the "Moving Beyond the Page" curriculum this year.  We have been progressing slower than the curriculum lay out, mostly because Madeline wants to spend more time on the lessons.  The curriculum lends itself well to discussion, and we tend to spend time expanding on the topics in the curriculum.  We were recently talking about needs and wants. One of the "needs" Madeline listed was, of course, a home.  This lead to a discussion about different kinds of houses and shelters people live in around the world.  We ended up searching the internet for pictures of homes around the world.  Here are a couple of the websites that we found that were interesting:

http://www.shelterpub.com/_wonderful_houses/wh-book.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/


Saturday, September 27, 2008

Headsprout Complete!

Madeline completed the last lesson of the Headsprout Reading Program, episode 80.  She was very pleased with herself, and is now happy to read aloud to anyone who will listen!

Friday, September 19, 2008

What is Homeschooling?

There are so many different ways people homeschool. Some people are unschoolers, some do a more traditional school-at-home type of program, some use pre-packaged programs from an accredited school, some use online schools, and some are eclectic. Within these groups, there are those who focus on classical education, some who provide education with a religious focus, some who use a Montessori approach, and others who prefer a Waldorf approach. And, there are several others that I have not listed here. It is difficult to define exactly what homeschooling is. I think that most of the people we come across, who do not homeschool, have the view of a school-at-home approach. They imagine homeschoolers sitting down each day and conducting the exact lessons that woud take place in a traditional school, only at home.

The reality is that homeschooling allows a freedom in learning that is not available in the traditional classroom setting. We are free to learn what we want, when we want. We are free to explore dinosaurs, if we so choose, for as long as we are interested. We are free to take field trips when we want, where we want. Learning is a journey, not a task to get finished so that we can go out to recess. Homeschool allows us to draw on the interests of the girls to help them develop a love of learning - actually, I think children are born with a love of learning, we just have to nurture it and watch it grow. While we do have probably a more school-at-home approach, and we do pay attention to the state and national education standards, we also enjoy the freedom that homeschooling allows so that we can explore everything we want to.

Homeschooling is also a way for us to ensure that our children learn through an instructional approach and at a level of that is appropriate for each of them.  We are able to tailor the instruction and the instructional speed to each child. While traditional schools are forced to use one curriculum and attempt to differentiate it for individual students, we can use different curriculums for each child, and even change curriculums within the course of a school year if one approach is not working well (which we have already done, a couple of times).

Instead of going away to school all day, sitting at a desk, returning home (exhausted), eating dinner, doing homework, going to bed, then getting up and doing it all over again, learning is a much more continuous process and a much less exhausting process. There is no start and no end to learning. We can learn about deserts at 7 am or 7 pm, depending on when the mood strikes us.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Homeschooling Comic

I just found this website, which contains a homeschooling comic as well as a blog to go along with it.  Just for fun!

Schools Are For Fish

"It Must be One of Ours!" - A Monarch Update

Since we released our first Monarchs, the girls have been on the lookout for more.  We have had several Monarchs come and lay eggs in our milkweed plants.  Some have even made their way into our house so that the girls could watch more develop and change into butterflies.  Our milkweed plants have now been eaten bare and grown back several times, and our garden has hosted several chrysalides.  

The girls have developed a real interest in and concern for these small creatures.  Madeline even points them south now that it is getting cooler when she releases them so that they know where to go on their long migration.   Whenever we see a Monarch outside the girls inevitably yell, "It must be one of ours!"  Learning about Monarchs has definitely caused the girls to take a great interest in them, and has hopefully inspired them to have a greater respect for all living things and take ownership in caring for their environment and the people and things that live there.






Friday, September 12, 2008

Building a Community

Madeline is truly enjoying the Moving Beyond the Page curriculum!  She was so excited about working on this project, and was so proud when it was finished!  This curriculum is certainly holding her interest.  I am so pleased that she does not have to sacrifice her creativity.   She is engaged and learning!


Thursday, September 11, 2008

Fort McHenry

Okay, to be truthful we really only went to Fort McHenry because Bill really wanted to go.  In the end, however, we all found it fascinating (except for Hailey who slept through it).  The girls were so curious about where the soldiers slept and ate, and what all of the areas were used for.  The size of the cannons and cannon balls was amazing!  Despite the modernization of the harbor, it was easy to picture the history that occurred there!







The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore

While in Baltimore we also took the opportunity to take the girls to the Maryland Zoo.  They were able to see lots of animals, which was different than most trips we take to zoos.  We seem to either go on days that are too cold for the animals or too hot for the animals.  The day we went was quite warm, but the animals were out and about where we could see them - well, all except the giraffes.

We spent the first part of our trip in a section of the zoo that seemed to be pretty typical.  The girls got to see elephants, penguins, camels, chimpanzees, gorillas, crocodiles, etc.  Then we moved to another section of the zoo which contained animals that were native to Maryland.  This was by far the highlight of the trip.  This portion of the zoo was set up with a lot of hands-on activities for children.  Madeline, Isabella, and Hailey pretended they were birds, in two different types of nests, hopped across child-sized lily pads, climbed like bears, and wore "turtle shells".  They all agreed it was a great trip!












Saturday, September 6, 2008

The Fire Museum of Baltimore

We took the girls to the Maryland Fire Museum during our trip to Baltimore.  The girls really enjoyed seeing the old fire equipment.  The museum has a separate children's room where the girls were able to dress like fire fighters, "drive" and climb on a real fire engine, and see how an emergency response system works.  Here are some pictures from out trip.

Madeline liked seeing the different vehicles that have been used by firefighters throughout history.
 
Hailey tested out some old buckets for carrying water.





For more information on the Fire Museum of Maryland, you can visit them at http://www.firemuseummd.org/