September's Almost Here

Can't wait for September to come - although this summer has been pretty awesome.

W is still having a blast with camp.  This week is called "Camping Week".  They've included so many crafts, recipes, activities, barbecues, and even marshmallow roasting.  Next week is called "Carnival Week".  It's the last week.  The whole week will have a carnival theme - and then they're having a real carnival on Friday.  I'm so pleased at the whole thing, how it was run, the incredible creativity involved, and the price was so reasonable.  I'm really going to try to continue keeping him on a busy schedule once camp is over.  He thrives on that.  So far we have 3 weekly group classes and 2 early days at the park lined up.  I'm pretty sure he'll be at the playground almost every day in the early evenings.  And I'm still looking for more things to do.  He is so not made to be sitting at a desk for 6 hours a day - which is another reason I love AO and Charlotte Mason.

Speaking of which, I ordered 10 more books for AO Year 3 from a used book site.  Each book was $3.50 and shipping is free.  I'm so excited to get this year school year started.  Yes, we have a bunch of Year 2 stuff to finish first, but hopefully we can knock that out in a month or 2.  I know W is going to enjoy this year a lot. 

J is out at her friend's summer house til Saturday.  They got there Wednesday and went to the Splish Splash water park with the development.  On Thursday she spent the day on the beach with all the kids out there.  She went on a speedboat and even successfully tried knee-boarding!  After the beach, the kids went in the pool, had dinner, then had fun at a teen bingo night.  I'm not sure what they're plans are for today, but I know they're getting back early-ish tomorrow.  J's dance team is performing at that St. Jude fundraiser.  Call time is 5pm and they probably won't be out of there til after 10pm.  I'm working, but B bought a ticket so he'll be staying there the whole time.

J's high school dance orientation is coming up at the end of the month.  There, she'll get her locker assignment, ID card, and learn what to expect and how to be prepared for her first day.  Once school starts, I know she'll have 2 ballet classes & 2 modern dance classes every day (4 periods = 3 hours).  And I'm not sure how these will be broken up, but she'll also have Dance Survival Skills (nutrition, anatomy, injuries), Math, Global, Science, English, & French.  And lunch is in there too, somewhere.  A regular day begins at 8:00am and ends at 4:09pm.  A letter we received stated that she'll be in one of the 2 "D" classes.  D class??!  I worried that she did badly on the placement test or that they looked down on homeschoolers.  I mean, I know she's smart enough for the "A" class - I'd even settle for the "B" class.   Then when I turned the letter over (yeah, I didn't know there was a back page until I looked at it again a few days later.  Sigh), and I saw that "D" stood for "dance". 

K is still in training at her new job.  She already got a tentative fall schedule, so it looks like she's hired.  She loves it.  She gets to make juices and smoothies all day and gets a free meal too.  The menu is full of healthy organic wraps and bowls with brown rice and lots of greens.  I'm loving that K is not only eating healthier there, she's learning how to live that way all the time.  So, the other day a girl from one of her favorite TV shows walked in to the store.  K was so excited.  She talked to her for a while and the girl said she'd definitely be back often since she only lives a few blocks away.  K got the ok from her to keep the receipt with her name on it, LOL.

Fall Schedule

So, here's what I'm looking at this fall as a schedule for us.  I'm a list and schedule maker and I like having a guideline to use as a goal.  We probably won't stick with this 100% ( or maybe even 75%, lol) but it's nice to have something to try and keep me on track:


6am    A,B, & J up and dressed
6:30    Drive B & J to the train
7am    K & W up and dressed
7:30   Drive K to school
8am    Breakfast
8:30    AM Routine (Laundry, Beds, Dishes, Bathroom)
9am 
           Mon:  Dust, Windex, Wipe ceiling fans
           Tue:   Sweep, Mop bedrooms
           Wed:  Wipe moldings, doors, baseboards
           Thu:   Clean out fridge, Scrub tub
           Fri:     Sweep & Mop living room and stairs
9:30    W - Academics
           Mon:  AO Reading, Spelling, Writing Strands, Read to me, Poetry, Copywork, AO Reading
           Tue:  AO Reading, Spelling, Dictation, Read to me, Poetry, Copywork, AO Reading  
           Wed:  AO Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Read to me, Poetry, Copywork, AO Reading
           Thu:  AO Reading, Read to me, Poetry, Sign Language, AO Reading
           Fri:  AO Reading, Spelling, Writing Strands, Read to me, Poetry, Copywork, AO Reading
11am
           Mon:  Math
           Tue:  Math
           Wed:  Math
           Thu:  Leave for Homeschool group class
           Fri:  Math
11:30 
           Mon:  AO Reading
           Tue:  AO Reading, Latin
           Wed:  AO Reading, Latin
           Thu:  Traveling to class
           Fri:  Snack
12pm
           Mon:  Nature Study
           Tue:  Artist Study, Typing
           Wed:  Composer Study, Greek Alphabet
           Thu:  Quick lunch before class
           Fri:  Leave for science class
12:30
           Mon:  Lunch
           Tue:  Lunch
           Wed:  Lunch
           Thu:  Homeschool class
           Fri:  Science class
1pm 
           Mon:  Track and bike riding
           Tue:  Track and bike riding
1:30
            Wed:  Leave for science co-op
2pm
            Wed:  Science co-op
            Thu:  Lunch
2:30
            Fri: Lunch
3pm
            Tue:  Food Shopping
            Fri:  Food Shopping
4:45
            Mon:  Leave for work
            Wed:  Leave for work
            Thu:  J - Dance
            Fri:  Drive K to work
5pm    
            Tue:  J - Dance
            Thu:  Pick B up at train & drive to work
            Fri:  Drive W to scouts
5:30
            Mon: Work
            Wed:  Work
            Thu:  Work
            Fri:  Scouts
10:30   PM Routine (Clear table, wash dishes, sweep/swiffer kitchen, clean sink, 10 min pickup)
11pm   Bed
          
                   

Happy Birthday

J turned 14 years old yesterday!  What an amazing day.  It started the night before when she asked if she could open her present at midnight.  We were so excited  about her gift that I ran and got it from the car.  We got J an Asus netbook (highest rated one on consumer reports).  She was almost in tears.  I found a netbook to be way better for her than a laptop right now.  It does almost all the same things anyway - it's just smaller and doesn't have a disk drive (which doesn't matter, because you can download anything with just a serial number now).  She's hardly put it down since.  It has a built-in webcam, is surprisingly quick to load, browse, and watch videos, and I've already downloaded a security suite. It's perfect to do schoolwork on with excellent portability and battery life.  It's a beautiful matte (no fingerprints!) burgundy color and I threw in a soft case for it.  (We gave K the same one - as an early birthday present - since she'll need it when school starts.  She was even closer to tears than J was since she's been asking for one for 2 years.  The girls were both so happy for each other and spent the next 2 hours - yes til 2am - testing out all the features together).  So in case any of you out there have kids who are constantly asking for a laptop, check out a netbook -also knows as a "mini" - instead. :) 

So, one of J's best friends put together a little surprise party at her house yesterday afternoon.  My job was just to get J there by 1.  6 friends were there - which is pretty good since it came together in less than a week, lol.  J was really surprised.  The house had purple birthday decorations all over and the kids had pizza, J's favorite snacks, and a Carvel cake. 

In the evening, the whole family went out for dinner.  My parents and sis and B's aunt (MIL is on vacation) joined us.  It was so nice.  We did cake and candles there.  Mom gave her a CHI hair straightener and a few Capezio leotards for school.  I still have to buy a bunch more leotards and tights for school.  K needs uniform shirts and pants and I still haven't gotten the back to school supplies yet.  School starts in a month.  Yikes that went fast.  I better get moving with that.

Organizing

I'm getting everything together for the new school year.  I have just about everything for AO Yr 3 - W's 4th grade.  I have one more book order to make and the total for that is about $65.  I cleaned out my whole china cabinet and the bookshelf in my bedroom.  I have 4 knee-high piles of books to give away.  I have to get them out of here.  I hold on to books way too long.  I'm just going to post it to my homeschool groups that they will be laid out tomorrow on my porch and they're free for the taking.

My china cabinet has been the best place for me to keep all my homeschooling stuff.  I got rid of the good dishes long ago (good dishes? hahaha) and replaced them with a huge array of novels, workbooks, reference books, and supplies.   Here's what it looks like with the doors open.  In the second picture, I labeled what's what:

This is in my dining room.  Since W does everything either on the couch or at the dining room table, This is also a prime location.  Going through every bookshelf in the apartment (there are 4 more, lol), I found I have almost all the books for AO Years 4-6 as well (thankfully, many books carry over to the next year). 

W has camp until August 27th.  It's so much fun for him that I'm ok with putting off what we didn't finish from AO Yr 2.  Actually, we are doing some stuff on the weekends, but I'm going to try and squeeze in more wherever I can.  Last night he read to me - the first few pages of Superfudge.   This book is right on grade level for him and he breezed through it.  I was stunned.  He hasn't done any formal reading with me all summer and he just read better than he has all year.  He finds the book really funny so far, so we'll keep with it...twaddle or not, lol.   I say it's because he's been doing a lot of read-to-me all year from the AO living books.  And of course my flawless collaboration of flash cards, phonics workbooks, and the HoP Master Reader.  But who knows.  Maybe it all just clicked for him.   The following dyslexia symptoms were in full bloom at the start of the last school year. 

Reading:

• can read a word on one page, but won't recognize it on the next page.
  
• knows phonics, but can't—or won't—sound out an unknown word.
  
• slow, labored, inaccurate reading of single words in isolation (when there is no story line or pictures to provide clues)
  When they misread, they often say a word that has the same first and last letters, and the same shape, such as form-from or trial-trail. they may insert or leave out letters, such as could-cold or star-stair. they may say a word that has the same letters, but in a different sequence, such as who-how, lots-lost, saw-was, or girl-grill.
• when reading aloud, reads in a slow, choppy cadence (not in smooth phrases), and often ignores punctuation
  
• becomes visibly tired after reading for only a short time
  
• reading comprehension may be low due to spending so much energy trying to figure out the words. Listening comprehension is usually significantly higher than reading comprehension.
  
• directionality confusion shows up when reading and when writing
  b-d confusion is a classic warning sign. One points to the left, the other points to the right, and they are left-right confused. b-p, n-u, or m-w confusion. One points up, the other points down. That's also directionality confusion.
• Substitutes similar-looking words, even if it changes the meaning of the sentence, such as sunrise for surprise, house for horse, while for white, wanting for walking
  
• When reading a story or a sentence, substitutes a word that means the same thing but doesn't look at all similar, such as trip for journey, fast for speed, or cry for weep
  
• Misreads, omits, or even adds small function words, such as an, a, from, the, to, were, are, of
  
• Omits or changes suffixes, saying need for needed, talks for talking, or late for lately.

Spelling:

• Their spelling is far worse than their reading. They sometimes flunk inventive spelling. They have extreme difficulty with vowel sounds, and often leave them out.
  
• With enormous effort, they may be able to "memorize" Monday's spelling list long enough to pass Friday's spelling test, but they can't spell those very same words two hours later when writing those words in sentences.
  
• Continually misspells high frequency sight words (nonphonetic but very common words) such as they, what, where, does and because—despite extensive practice.
  
• Misspells even when copying something from the board or from a book.
  
• Written work shows signs of spelling uncertainty--numerous erasures, cross outs, etc.

He still exhibits all of these - but now it's way less frequently.  He has learned to stop and catch himself most of the time.  This does slows him down a smidge, but he seems to have full comprehension.  Interestingly enough, he has no dyslexia symptoms in the other categories listed on the site:  handwriting, directionality, sequencing steps in a task, rote memory, telling time, math, or attention span.  Only reading and spelling.  The site lists some particular strengths in dyslexic people and W has all of these:

• artistic skill
• athletic ability
• musical ability
• mechanical ability
• people skills
• 3-D visual-spatial skills
• vivid imagination
• intuition
• creative, global thinking
• curiosity   

Well, the main thing is that each month he is becoming a better reader.  It's good that he still loves AO, because I really love it, too.  I know it has helped W not only with his reading, but it has really fostered his love of learning and boosted his confidence in himself. 

Dance Challenge & K's New Job

Today is K's first day at her new job!  It's at a wonderful juice bar/health food place about 10 minutes away.  She'd frequented the one near her school, fell in love with the place, and loved most of the menu - including several smoothies and lunch plates.  I'll admit, the food is awesome.  Another one just opened closer to home.  She'll have paid training all summer, then work 4 or 5 days a week after school and on weekends.  She gets free meals and drinks - and tips!  She's ready to start saving for a car.

Also, we just got back from a fabulous 3 days in NJ at an Ultimate Dance Challenge.  J took tons of master classes including:  technique, jazz, lyrical/contemporary, afro-fusion, musical theater, floor barre/ballet, & hip-hop.  Thursday was a mini-competition.  There were 10 studios there bringing about 35 numbers.  J's team brought 4 group numbers (no solos or duets).  One of their groups won overall high score of the day!  It was great!  This number started with about 12 kids (both the older and younger teams) and the whole thing had to be restaged for the 5 kids on J's (younger) team.  They pulled it off with only about 4 rehearsals.  I love that this group works so well together (they've been a team since they were 7).   Then only 5 groups were chosen for Friday's dance-off challenge.  TWO of J's group numbers were chosen!  Out of the 5, they ended up taking 2nd and 4th place.  I was so proud of them.

The hotel was nice.  W spent most of the time in the outdoor pool (thankfully we had great weather).  K brought one of her best friends and my mom joined us as well!  Since we didn't do a Nationals this summer, the 3-day dance challenge was a perfect substitute. 

The rest of  J's August consists of:   her birthday, an orthodontist appointment, a St. Jude's fundraiser, a bunch of new choreography, and her dance orientation for high school.  W has camp til Aug 20th then we'll be finishing up any leftover 3rd grade stuff.   And K will be working and getting ready for her senior year.

Life is so good.

Planning

Summer is going so fast.  It's already the end of July.  J started her summer reading for high school and chose The Outsiders to read first.  She's still not much into reading, so thankfully that book seems fairly lightweight - and it's on the list.  The next book she's going to read is called The Glass Castle.  That one is mandatory and a project will be due.  We're getting ready for her dance challenge next weekend.  Then she starts working on a performance for a fundraiser that's in August, and then she starts on her new dance solo for the upcoming season.  This year she chose "lyrical" and she was lucky enough to get an excellent choreographer who is flying in from California for only 3 days.  J will have a total of 5 hours over 2 days working with him.  She's so excited.

Camp is still going strong for W.  He gets to be active and busy all day with lots of other kids - and he's wiped out tired by 9pm.  I'm glad he's on a good bedtime schedule now.  Once school starts for both girls he'll have to start getting up early anyway.  I'll be driving J and B to the train and then K to school.  I figure it might be better to get an earlier academic start with W, too - that means more of the afternoon free to play and go places!  I plan on being more active in the homeschool groups this year and I want to get lots more Manhattan time in.  There's still so much out there we haven't experienced yet.  W doesn't know how he's going to like homeschooling without J, but I plan on making this year extra special for him.

I'm trying to figure out which IHIP I should send in next month.  I have my general, all-encompassing one I always use and I have my Ambleside Online -specific one.  It doesn't really matter, although I may need more of a quarterly with the latter.  Ugh.  Not sure what to do.

Beautiful Blogger Award

What a nice surprise to be given the Beautiful Blogger Award!  I want to say thank you so much to the wonderful mom over at Eclectic Homeschoolers. 

There are 3 rules associated with the Blogger award.

1.  Add a link and note of thanks to the person giving the award.
2.  Pass the award on to the bloggers whose blogs you love (15 tops)
3.  Share 7 things about yourself.


I'd like to pass along the award to:

1. Blessed Life - A great blogger and personal friend who lives life to the fullest and has taught me how very special a family really is.
2. What's On My Mind - Awesome words from another friend who reflects on how the normalcies of life can be so interesting and fun.
3. Majikfaerie - A wonderful free spirit who lives in Australia with her beautiful family.  I love reading about their adventures.
4. Nurtured By Love - A talented family I enjoy reading about so much.  This mom was one of the first bloggers I came across while finding my own homeschooling journey.  She showed me that not only can this be done, but done well.
5. NYC Homeschooler - Another good friend who loves NY almost as much as I do, lol.  I enjoy reading about what cool project her kids will come up with next.
6. A Mother's Journal - a great blog to get lost in.  This mom is using Ambleside Online with her daughter and knows how to bring it all to life in such an inspiring way.

And 7 things about myself:

1. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology
2. I won a karaoke contest once
3. I hate my hair
4. I love scary movies and roller coasters
5. I can waterski
6. I love birds more than any other animal
7. I can spend hours in a bookstore

Camp Update

So, as nervous as I was on Thursday when W started camp, things are going incredibly well.  I had a huge knot in my stomach leaving him there that first day.  One of the counselors is a 4th grade teacher and gave the usual fixed smile "ohhhhhhhh" after our answer to "where does he go to school".  I just hoped it wasn't going to be like sitting in a classroom for 10 hours.  I went down to see the main camp area and saw that W was already given breakfast (cereal, milk, juice) and that it was nice and cool in there.  The 4th grade teacher made sure he moved down to sit next to some of the other kids.  I walked out of there a little worried.  It sucks being the new kid. 

I told W that if he needed me at all, for any reason, he could tell one of the adults he wanted to call me.   By noon he still hadn't called.   I knew that they played outside in the water at around 12:30, so I drove over and inconspicuously parked across the street from the playground area.  I watched W for about a 1/2 hour.  I know, I'm crazy.  But I wanted to see how well he was getting along with the other kids and that he was having fun.  He seemed to have made quite a few friends and looked like he loved being there.  Ok, good.  I can go home and relax now, lol.

He came home raving about his day again on Friday (no, I didn't spy on him again, lol).  Then he talked all weekend about how he couldn't wait for Monday.  I'm actually very happy that he loves it.  Gone are the days where you can just let your kid run wild outside, not see him all day, and then call him in for dinner.  I grew up in that time of carefree fun and it was great.  Unfortunately, nowadays, we are more aware of stranger danger and what could happen, and how frightening it is when your child is out of your sight.  You could live in the city or the most rural woods - someone could be watching your child, waiting for that moment he's alone, and then just snatch him away.

I am grateful to have a place W can go where it's fun, he has friends, and he is safe.  He's already hugged me and thanked me for letting him go there (and hugged and thanked MIL for finding it for him).  Too bad schools aren't run like camps.  Imagine how great schools would be if they allowed for more freedom, more fun, more outside time, more cool activities, more socializing time, more socializing with different age groups, snack time in all grades, and making learning enjoyable.  What a concept, huh?

Day Camp

W will be starting day camp tomorrow!  I've had the kids in camp over the years and they've really loved it.   I guess with all the high school stuff and next year's homeschool curriculum and the girls' endless summer plans it slipped my mind this year.  Thankfully, MIL found one in walking distance with the perfect price.  It will be from 7:30am to 6pm.  They provide meals and a full day of cool activities, including water play, academic competitions, movies, and cooking class.  W is an early riser, so that works out.  B will take him in the mornings before work and pick him up when he gets home.  W is so excited and is looking forward to it. 

We will still be doing as much academic stuff as we can.  I'm not worried about finishing this curriculum before autumn.  Camp is just what he needs right now.  Friends on the block and the playground are great, but when it's too hot (it was 103 the other day) or no one's home, W has a hard time knowing what to do with himself.  We go places, do crafts, cook, and he still does his cartooning, claymation, and weapon-making, but after a few hours, he's bored.  He's the kind of kid who loves being on the go and keeping busy. 

So, he starts tomorrow.  He didn't even want to wait til Monday, lol.  Tonight I'll pack everything he needs:  sunscreen, swim trunks, extra shirt, plastic bag for wet clothes, some snacks, and water.  I hope he loves it.  He can then do the whole 6 weeks.  Wish us luck!

Summer!

Summer is here in NYC.  It's so hot.  The kids are keeping busy throughout the days and I just prefer to stay indoors with my air conditioner on, lol.  K went to a water park called Splish Splash with her friends yesterday, the beach a few times, and will probably go to the movies tonight.  Her last day of school was Monday.  She chose all her classes for senior year.  It looks like this:  Trigonometry, AP Literature, Government & Economics, Astronomy & Forensics, Latin, and Yearbook.  She did very well this year and is already planning for college.

J has been spending lots of time with friends.  They usually hang out at the park, running through the sprinklers, and watching the boys play basketball.  They all had a great game of dodge ball going the other day, too.  Sometimes they grab a bite to eat at a nearby diner or catch a movie.  Today she's taking advantage of the heat and spending the day in her friend's pool.  Summer dance classes are in full-swing.  Tuesdays she takes ballet, tap, and lyrical, Thursdays she takes contemporary and hip-hop, and now on Mondays she's part of a class based on the show "Glee".  Her dance team (her immediate team of 6 members) was just notified that based on their platinum first place performance at one of their competitions this year, they won a full scholarship to 8 hours of master classes and free competition fees to an "Ultimate Overall Challenge" in NJ in July.  It's like a mini-Nationals and is spread out over 3 days.  Needless to say, the studio owner is thrilled and we are all so proud of them.

W is spending his summer so far doing what he loves best - going to the playground and playing Nerf Gun Tag with his friends on the block.  Auditions for a summer musical are coming up and he is looking forward to that.  It will be 2 weeks of rehearsals - 2 hours each day, 5 days a week - with 2 Saturday shows.  He was in this program last year and loved it.  J may join again, too, with her friend Amanda, but she's right at the age cutoff and besides, she'll be dancing at a fundraiser for St. Jude's Childrens Hospital that same day as the performance.

W will also be finishing up AO Year 2 all summer.  We took a lot of time away from our schedule, so it's time to catch up.  We have a lot of fun with it and W enjoys it all.  We really only spend about 2 hours each morning on academics.  The rest of the day is his.  I want to try and get to Year 3 by autumn.  I ordered a few books already, like Writing Strands 2, Simply Grammar, The Story of Inventions, and Science Lab in a Supermarket.  Those cost about $68 total.  I only need to buy 2 more books on the schedule - American Tall Tales and The Princess and the Goblin.  Then I still need to buy about 8 of the "free reading" books (all the others I either have already or downloaded free on my Nook).  I can get those for a few dollars each, though.  So I probably won't spend more than $150 on his total 4th grade curriculum.

Loving life here in NYC.

J's Series Finale

It's that time of year again for the annual assessments to be mailed in.  Yes, I still use the same format that's in my sidebar from 2005.  The highlights are fun to add, because I go back to September in my blog and make a note of most of our classes, activities, and trips.  Having it all here makes things so easy.  J's assessment was hard to write.  Where I normally put "J will begin ____ grade in September __", I put that J will begin 9th grade at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts in September 2010.  Wow.  That was the last bit of homeschool paperwork I will write up for her.  I didn't have to put that.  I've always liked to, just to make sure the district and I are on the same page with what's going on.  This time, though, it was more for a sense of closure.

I remember when I was first considering homeschooling.  At 8 years old, my daughter started to hate to be taught anything, became indifferent to anything new, and 4 teachers told me she had ADHD.  She was in a great gifted school and had tons of friends, but was not the same kid she used to be.  Where was her bubbly personality?  Her enthusiasm?  Her zest for life?

Gone. 

Homeschooling gave me my daughter back.  She started becoming her old self in only a matter of a few months.  I knew it was the right thing to do.  She taught me so much in our 5 years at home.  I learned to see life through her eyes.  Life (all of a sudden) became fun and exciting again and full of incredible things to experience.  And we tried to experience it all.   I will treasure every moment of it.

This new chapter in J's life is something she's more than ready for.  She's spent over 5 years becoming someone who is confident, independent, and ready to take on any challenge.  Since she was 3, her passion has been dance.  It's what she eats, sleeps, and breathes.  Acceptance to a high school where she can live her passion is the ideal finale to these incredible years of homeschooling.  She is living her dream and I can't ask for anything more.

A Buncha Dance Stuff

The big dance recital was last night!  J was in 9 numbers and W was in 1 (the 20-minute long musical theater piece).  It was a nice 3 hours and went very smoothly.  J's "baby" class that she assists in every week aren't babies anymore.  They are all about 8 years old now and don't need someone in the orchestra pit to guide them through their performance.   J made sure, though, that she was close by and watched them from offstage.  She's so proud of her "babies".  Afterward, we all went out for wings, sliders, pizza, and drinks with the dance families.   

K took a bunch of Regents exams last week and is just about finished with her junior year of high school.  She's really looking forward to being a senior.  I love that she knows exactly what she wants to do with her life and is making plans towards it.  But for now, K plans on a lot of beach-time this summer.  As a matter of fact, she's out in Long Island with a friend on the beach today.

J is going to her friend's 8th-grade graduation party this afternoon.  This friend also got into a performing arts high school (not LaG), for drama.  J is getting more and more eager to begin high school.  We were watching So You Think You Can Dance and a guy in the top 11 went to LaG (as did Tyce Diorio).  Later in the show, a couple danced to a song by Kelis (who went to LaG).  It seems that every day, we come across someone else famous who went there.  So, J is more than excited.  She's ready to start some summer reading now, too.  One book is required, but she can pick others from a list of over 50.

Summer dance classes start Tuesday.  J will be taking all advanced levels of Ballet, Tap, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Hip Hop twice a week for 6 weeks.  She also wants to take some summer workshops and classes at a few places in Manhattan.  In high school she will have 2 ballet classes and 2 modern classes (3 hours total) every morning.  They don't mess around there, lol. 

We adopted a red-eared slider turtle today, too.  It's 3 years old and huge.  B went out to buy a bigger tank, lol.  We named him Herbie.

Bittersweet

W's morning academics are going so well.  I love that time with him. We're planning on using the whole summer to finish AO Yr2.  I can't find the TT math CD, so we've just been using the workbook.  We both actually like it this way. If we use this program again, I may only buy the workbook.  I've already started accumulating some Year 3 books.  A bunch of them carry over from Year 2,  I found 11 that were free and I've already uploaded them to my Nook, and I only have to buy about half of them.  I don't think I'll spend more than $100.  I'm already looking forward to next year.  Having W as my only homeschooler is going to be so much fun.  It's going to be weird not having J here, too, and I think he's starting to worry about that.  

J has officially come to the end of her home education.  Technically, she's still mine until September, lol, but our academic time is complete.  She has summer reading to do for school and of course I'm here to always help with schoolwork, but she is no longer a homeschooler.  I will be writing up her final 4th quarterly and annual assessment in a week or so.  Yesterday she went to her new school and took a math placement test with all the other incoming freshmen.  This is to see which math class you belong in.  J thinks she did ok, but prefers not to be in any honors (accelerated) classes.  She hasn't been in school in 5 years and the unknown is scary enough without it having to be an accelerated unknown.  She can go into honors (and then AP classes later) anytime if she qualifies, though, so she'll see how the first half of the year goes.  So, J joins the rest of the schoolkids who have over 2 full months of summer freedom before school begins.  She's more excited about this than anything ever.

Group Dance Shots

I took these from the website of one of J's competitions.  They were just put up this week and I plan on ordering these shots.  I just couldn't wait, so I posted these right from the website.  These are 3 of J's group numbers.  They are comprised of the 6 members of her team, so they are always in the "small group" category.  The other 3 groups she was in comprised of her team with the older team's (ages 15 & 16) 6 members, and that's in the "large group" category.  Those haven't been posted on the comp's website, yet - but I'll probably find some great shots to order from those as well.  Yes, that's a huge watermark in the middle of each one, lol.  The actual prints come out much clearer, too.  But you get the idea...

 

Union Square Greenmarket!

On Friday we met up with the homeschool group for a class all about the Union Square Greenmarket.  This is a huge outdoor farmer's market with tons of fresh produce, meats, cheeses, honey, juices, homemade breads, desserts, and snacks, organic flours, wines, and even t-shirts and artwork.  Our instructor talked

about what a farmer's market is and how it differs from a supermarket.  She went over the broad varieties of foods coming straight from the local farms.  There are so many farms all around the city - in Long Island, Upstate NY, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Connecticut.  We saw stands from all those places.

The instructor took us on a little tour around the square and we stopped at one stand to ask questions.  This stand had lots of different fresh goat milk cheeses.  The kids were generally interested in how they milk goats and how the cheese is made.  I loved it.  I learned a lot.

We finished up the class by tasting some fresh goat cheese on homemade pretzels.  W loved it, J thought it was interesting, and I needed another couple of tastes before I knew if I liked it or not, lol.

For about an hour or so afterward, W played in the Union Square playground with his friends.  I got to relax and chat with some moms.  Then W, J, and I headed to the Forever 21 across the street and picked up the dress K wanted, then across the park to Barnes & Noble.  A few days earlier I decided to cash in all my Amex points for some B&N gift cards and buy myself a NOOK.  That's right.  I bought something for ME.  So, that day at B&N I played with the Nooks on display, knew it's exactly what I wanted and bought a cute cover for $40.  (Later that evening, my B&N gift cards were delivered!  B had to drive K to a semi-formal dance at her school, so I told him to swing around to the bookstore to get my NOOK!!!).

The kids and I then had a quick lunch and I had the ridiculous idea that it would be no problem to walk the 30 blocks to Times Square.  I did it all the time as a teen.  Ok, that was dumb and we should have taken the subway, lol.  But we got there in about 25 minutes anyway.  We went back there because J wanted to meet up with a friend of hers who lives over there.  We ended up visiting the Toys R Us store again and the Hershey Store.  It's Fleet Week in the city and uniformed military were all over the place.  We thanked every one of them we passed for their service to our country.  Then we got on the subway and were home in 20 minutes.

King Tut!

Today we met up with a bunch of homeschooling friends to go see the King Tut exhibit in Times Square.  It was a beautiful, unbelievable display of over 100 pieces.  The Discovery Times Square Exposition was a darkened, dramatic maze of about 10 rooms that began with Tut's great-grandparents, then his father, then the rooms dedicated to the boy king himself.  Black-and-white photos from the 1920s were enlarged and showed the original excavations.  It was so cool to see the piece in the photo was the one that you were looking right at.  We saw many shabti (small statues that were to do labor in the afterlife), jewelry, small chairs, alabaster containers where innards were kept, makeup and fragrance jars, and the crown, necklaces, and dagger that was placed with King Tut when he was mummified. 

Afterwards, we all walked around Times Square and visited the new M&Ms Store.  It's a huge store with 3 floors of everything M&Ms.  On our way to go eat, we happened upon The Naked Cowboy and took a bunch of pictures with him.  He's a NYC busker who wears only white briefs, cowboy boots, and a guitar.  10,000 people a day stop to take a picture.  Then we had a fantastic lunch at Bubba Gump's right on Broadway.  We 7 adults were at one table and our 15 kids were at 2 other tables.  I had a blast with everyone and the prices were really reasonable - not bad for Times Square. 

We said our goodbyes and the kids and I headed across the street to the big Toys R Us.  Almost every time we're in Times Square, we just have to visit that store.  There were a lot of toy demonstrations going on - everything from a motion-detecting hover craft to Squirmle.  A guy dressed up as Iron Man was there and the new Candyland section was all redone.  J found her way into the big Barbie Dreamhouse again and W was floored at the number of Nerf guns they had, lol. 

The subway home was quick and we are all exhausted from a really great day.

I've Gone and Done It

I created a new IHIP. After 5 years of using the info from the worldbook site, I created an IHIP based on a more specific breakdown of what we will actually be using. I figured, since now we do use a curriculum that we love, the IHIP doesn't need to be so general. I would still recommend the general format to anyone who isn't sure what they may use or who just wants something easy that's in compliance. I'm just in the mood to try something new. It will be for 4th grade for W starting in September and is based on Ambleside Online Year 3 for 2010-2011. I've always kept an outline like this for my own records, along with a calendar listing what we actually accomplished each day. It won't be as easy to just copy and paste with this one, but it may give you ideas on how to create a more tailored outline for yourself. I've kept the overall format the same, but I'm listing specific books and programs from the AO3 curriculum. So in a sense, I did do a copy and paste - just from a different website. The outline for Health is kept from worldbook.com.  It is also still all on 1 page. I streamlined the methods/tools paragraph (at the end) to fit us better as well. From the beginning, I've always been firm on doing what's easy for me, as far as the homeschool correspondence. Matching up my own outlines and learning logs with what I send to the district is, in fact, easier.


I've left the general 4th-grade IHIP in the sidebar. I've added a general 8th-grade IHIP as well, since 7th & 8th grade reporting are a bit different than what's required for 1st-6th grades. I've added my new AO-based IHIP into the sidebar. The rest of the paperwork stays the same for now. I'm still sending the same quarterlies, annuals, and LOIs. The new AO-specific IHIP is still detailed enough to allow for the rest of the paperwork to be minimal - which is how I like it.

Sample IHIP (AO Specific) 4th-grade

INDIVIDUAL HOME INSTRUCTION PLAN


NAME OF CHILD:   W
DOB: ______   GRADE LEVEL: 4   SCHOOL YEAR: 2010-2011

ADDRESS: _____________   DATE MAILED: ___________


QUARTERLY REPORTS WILL BE MAILED ON: 11/15/10, 1/30/11, 4/15/11, 6/30/11

W will be using various methods/tools for 4th-grade instruction in all the subjects specified in Sect. 100.10 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. The corresponding subtopics may include and shall not be limited to:

ARITHMETIC
Teaching Textbooks 5 (Sabouri) & Life of Fred Fractions (Schmidt)

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Writing, Phonics, Spelling, Grammar: Transcribe favorite lines from the Shakespeare play and scheduled poetry we are reading. Two perfectly written lines every week (in cursive). Written narration chosen from literature (1-2 per week, may be in cursive or manuscript). Draw a narration chosen from literature. Start Dictation, work up to one paragraph by end of year. Writing Strands 3 (Marks): two pgs weekly. Online typing tutorials. Simply Grammar (Andreola)
Poetry: William Blake, Sara Teasdale, Hilda Conkling, & Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1 or 2 poems per day, discussed and may be used as copywork.
Literature Read-Alouds and Independent Reads: Tales from Shakespeare (Lamb), American Tall Tales (Stoutenburg), The Heroes (Kingsley), The Princess & the Goblin (MacDonald), Children of the New Forest (Marryat), The Jungle Book (Kipling), A Little Princess (Burnett), The Water Babies (Kingsley), At the Back of the North Wind (MacDonald), Men of Iron (Pyle), Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland (Carroll), Through the Looking Glass (Carroll), The Bears of Blue River (Major), Swallows and Amazons (Ransome), Unknown to History: Captivity of Mary of Scotland (Yonge), Caddie Woodlawn (Brink), On the Banks of Plum Creek (Wilder), The Little White Horse (Goudge), The Saturdays (Enright), English Fairy Tales - and more (Jacobs), King of the Wind (Henry), The Four Story Mistake (Enright), Then There Were Five (Enright), The Wheel on the School (De Jong)
Foreign Language: Greek Alphabet, Sign Language

SOCIAL STUDIES
World & American History: Our Island Story (Marshall), This Country of Ours (Marshall), A Child’s History of the World (Hillyer). All history readings will be narrated. We will also correspond history readings with a timeline or century book and map.
Biographies: DaVinci (Landmark), Bard of Avon: the Story of William Shakespeare (Vennema & Stanley), Squanto (Ziner) or Landing of the Pilgrims (Daugherty)
Geography: A study of Marco Polo

SCIENCE
Natural History and Science: Handbook of Nature Study (Comstock), Secrets of the Woods (Long), Science Lab in a Supermarket (Friedhoffer), The Story of Inventions (McHugh) or All About Famous Inventors & Their Inventions (Pratt) or War Inventions (Gibson). We will do various science experiments and go on weekly nature walks, keeping a Nature Notebook. The Nature Study schedule is as follows: Summer/Fall Term - reptiles. Winter Term - flowerless plants/crops. Spring Term - fish and amphibians

HEALTH/SAFETY
Personal and mental hygiene, Dental health, The body and its functions, Skeletal and muscular systems, Care and proper use of the body, Principles of digestion, Basic food groups, Good nutrition habits, Diseases, Safety, Substance abuse

MUSIC/VISUAL ARTS
Art:  Picture Studies focusing on 1 artist per 12 wk. term and reading his life story from biographies found at the local library. . We will be studying: Term 1 - Albrecht Durer (Italian Renaissance). Term 2 - Caravaggio (Italian Baroque). Term 3 - not sure yet. Drawing from nature and narrating tales with drawings. Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks
Music Appreciation:  Listen to 1 composer (specifically) per term and reading his life story from biographies found at the local library. We will be studying: Term 1 - Beethoven (Classical/Romantic). Term 2 - Vivaldi (Baroque). Term 3 - Chopin (Romantic)

Instruction methods/tools may include and shall not be limited to: reference materials (atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, globe, maps, videos, the internet), hands-on activities, projects, newspapers, magazines, frequent field trips, group classes, activities, & workshops, research, games, creative thinking, predicting/forecasting, gathering facts, CD ROMs, abundant art/craft supplies (clay, paints, crayons, pencils, sketch pads, chalk, charcoal, pastels, animation software, building materials, etc.), free play, structured sports, conversations, and real life.

Primary instruction to W will be provided by ______________________, his parents. Supplemental instruction will be provided by others, as necessary.

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I borrowed some of the wording from another AO mom's lesson plan.  I like the way she describes what they do.  You can find her blog post HERE.  And here's a few words about this specific AO-based IHIP.

Sample IHIP 8th Grade

INDIVIDUAL HOME INSTRUCTION PLAN



NAME OF CHILD: ____________

NYC Student ID: (optional)   DOB: ______  GRADE LEVEL: ___   SCHOOL YEAR: __________

ADDRESS: ___________________________

DATE SUBMITTED: _________________



QUARTERLY REPORTS WILL BE MAILED ON: 11/15/__, 1/30/__, 4/15/__, 6/30/__

_____ will be using various methods/tools for 8th-grade instruction in all the subjects specified in Section 100.10 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. The corresponding subtopics may include and shall not be limited to:

Mathematics

* Maintaining skills in fundamental operations* Factoring and products* Sets and simple sentences* Numeration systems* Using fractions and decimals* Ratio, proportion, and percent* Equalities and inequalities* Simple formulas and equations* Graphing an equation* Powers and roots of rational numbers* Polynomials* Metric and nonmetric geometry* Pythagorean Theorem* Scale drawing* Right-triangle trigonometry* Customary and metric measurement* Permutations* Probability statistics* Statistical terms* Mathematics of insurance, banking, and taxes

English

* Independent reading, * Literal, inferential, and evaluative reading skills, * Literary terms, * Novel, short story, narrative poetry, * Nonfiction, * Biographies of great Americans, * American poets and storytellers, * Creative dramatics, * Listening and speech activities, * Advanced dictionary work, * Extended vocabulary, * Figures of speech* Spelling* Infinitive, participle, gerund, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, direct and indirect object* Kinds of sentences and their parts* Functions of sentence elements* Writing simple business letters* Report-writing skills* Improving skills in using basic reference sources* Inductive and deductive reasoning

History and Geography

* Our African, Asian, and European backgrounds* Exploration and discovery* Growth and development of the United States- Colonial life* Struggle for independence* U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights- Westward movement in America* American Civil War* Reconstruction* U. S. as a world power * Meaning of democracy* Our American culture* U. S. political system* U. S. economic system* U. S. government* U. S. geography* Advanced map and globe skills

Science

* Scientific method* Scientific nomenclature* Scientific measurement* Ecology and environment* Conservation* Composition of the earth* Ocean, atmosphere* Weather* Water and its uses* Weathering and erosion* Recycling of resources* Magnetism and electricity* Heat and light* Forces in liquids and gases* Wave, mechanical, electrical, and nuclear energy* The earth's movement* Newton's three laws of motion* Machines* The atom* Periodic table of elements* Compounds and mixtures* Chemical changes* Astronomy* The universe and Milky Way* Space and space travel

Health

* Grooming* Functions of the body* The body's utilization of food* Types and functions of foods* Environmental hazards* Community sanitation and health * Health care services* Sexually transmitted diseases* Accident prevention, safety, and first aid* Mental hygiene* Substance abuse

Music/Visual Arts/Phys. Ed./Practical Arts

* Wide exposure to all forms of music* In-depth studies of composers and artists* Private vocal lessons* Arts and crafts* Art technique* Structured group dance lessons (tap, jazz, lyrical) 8+ hrs. per week* Free play indoors and outdoors* Practical arts* Library skills* Sewing* Knitting* Cooking* Banking* Budgeting* Running a household* Entrepreneurship


Instruction methods/tools/resources may include and shall not be limited to: reference materials (atlas, dictionaries, globe, maps, encyclopedias, non-fiction books, videos, the internet), workbooks, worksheets, hands-on activities, experiments, science lab, projects, newspapers, magazines, frequent field trips, group activities, classic/contemporary literature, research, journal/narrative/essay/poetry writing, games, creative thinking, predicting/forecasting, gathering facts, written peer correspondence (pen pals), music CDs, CD ROMs, piano keyboard, abundant art supplies (clay, paint, crayons, pencils, sketchpads, felt, chalk, charcoal, pastels, etc.), structured group dance classes and competitions, free play, conversations, and real life.

Primary instruction to _____ will be provided by ________________, her parents. Supplemental instruction will be provided by others, as necessary.

PLATINUM Lining to an Early Black Cloud

This weekend was the last dance competition of the season.  J had all 8 of her numbers in one day.  It moved along well and there was plenty of costume change time.  There was 1 awards ceremony in the evening.  All of J's numbers scored a Platinum or X-Treme Platinum - which are the highest given.  Our studio had at least one number in the top 10 (most in the top 5!) in every category.  It was a great day and a lot of awards were won.  J's solo placed in the top 10 and she won a scholarship to one of their fall dance workshops! 

The day didn't start out so well, though.  We woke up to find my car's front side window was smashed in.  B went out to check and noticed nothing was taken (EZ Pass, GPS, airbags, etc), so we were ok.  Then J reminded us her dance shoe bag was on the front seat.  Yep.  That's what was taken.  What are the odds that her dance shoe bag would be stolen on the day of her competition?!  It certainly doesn't look like a purse,  but I guess desperate people don't care.  In a matter of 1 minute I thought up a few plans to get us through the day - Which friend has the same size feet, who is not in a certain number, who else could she borrow from, how far is the dance shop and can we make it there and back in time.  As I'm trying to figure out how to keep my cool in the process, B came back in stating that he found the shoe bag down the block with all the shoes throw into someone's yard.  W had hopped the fence and B called out where each shoe was.  W retrieved them (they were everywhere)  and B matched them all up.  Every shoe was accounted for.  Stupid thieves.  I hope that bag stunk up to high heaven when he opened it -10 pairs of a teenager's dance shoes, after a whole dance season, are not a bed of roses, lol.  The window is being replaced on Tuesday morning at no charge.  Except for that little bit of panic and inconvenience, all is well.