Swim Success

Two kids in the pool, self sufficient. That was my goal this year when I put Sparkle and Glitter in swim lessons this May.

Last summer the girls would constantly cling to Wander or me, even when wearing full flotation. So, we could only go to the pool when all four of us could go, and it was no fun for Wander and me. As a result, we hardly ever went to the pool. I wanted more for this year.

After two months of lessons at a local swim school, we've finally reached my goal.



Sparkle can swim for short distances, coming up for air. She can also back float for short distances. She can jump in from the side of the pool and swim back to the edge unassisted. She is tall enough to stand up in the shallow end of the pool, so she doesn't need flotation. She is still afraid of the deep end of the pool.

Glitter can jump in and swim, but hasn't figured out how to come up for air on her own yet. She can back float on her own for a few seconds, although she needs help getting into position. During swim lessons she didn't have any flotation, but we usually put floaties on her at the neighborhood pool.

The big test, however, was having Wander take both girls to the pool without me. Could both girls have fun and stay safe? Could Wander enjoy the water without two kids constantly clinging to him? Would the lifeguards let the girls roam on their own? (According to pool rules, non-swimming children must be within arm's reach of an adult when in the water.) Yes, yes, and yes.

This past week, the evening routine has revolved around the pool. If the kids clean up their toys before supper, Wander takes them to the pool after supper. They stay there until bedtime, and then they sleep well, having worn themselves out at the pool. I get to stay in air-conditioned comfort playing with Python.

Here's the girls with their first swim instructor.

baby to go with that quilt

Remember that baby quilt that I made earlier in the year?

We finally got to meet the baby. Here's the cutie and his family.


Here's my cuties holding their cutie.

Morning Music

For music appreciation I do "morning music." During the week Sparkle, Glitter, and I have breakfast together and listen to music. My current system is easy-peasy and works for us.

Some weeks I check a CD out of the library. We'll listen to the same CD every morning for a week. So far the CDs that I've picked tend to have stories with them. We've listened to several of the Classical Kids CDs (Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery, Mozart's Magic Fantasy, Mr. Bach comes to Call, Hallelujah Handel). We've also listened to a couple of the Beethoven's Wigs CDs. We're curently listening to Peter and the Wolf. I find that the first morning I'm a little lost when listening, but by the end of the week I can follow along the story and recognize bits and pieces of the music.

Peter and the Wolf has been particularly nice because of the way the musical instruments portray the characters in the story. The CD we borrowed starts by playing short selections of music, and the narrator names the musical instrument and character it portrays. Before listening to the CD, I thought that the story was related to the boy who cried wolf story, but it isn't at all.

On the days when I don't have a CD from the library, I have Themes to Remember, volume I. Since I own this CD, I loaded it on my iPod. The selections on this CD are really short, so we listen to all the "themes" for a particular time period to fill up breakfast. The kids like looking at the pictures in the book while listening to the music.

On days when I just want something different, we'll listen to something else on my iPod. When Sparkle's dance recital did "Sleeping Beauty" we listened to the bit of Tchaikovsky I have. Around Sparkle's birthday, we listened to the song that my brother composed for her. She really liked that.

home on Wednesday

End of an era.

For the past five years, Wednesday meant playgroup. I started going to our church's playgroup when Sparkle was one year old. When Glitter arrived, I brought her along as well. Playgroup was a routine part of our lives. If I ever babysat on Wednesdays, I just brought the other kiddos along. I picked the preschool program for the girls in part because it was a Tuesday/Thursday program and wouldn't interfere with playgroup.

However, this whole last year we've been slipping away from playgroup. It just got too hard to homeschool Sparkle while also taking a huge chunk of time out of the middle of the week. We kept arriving at playgroup later and later each week. Then in the spring, the girls and I got sick, and there were some holidays, and we ended up not going for a few weeks.

It has been many weeks since we last attended playgroup, and the girls no longer ask for it. It's sad in a way, but the schedule also seems to flow better for me. It was really hard to make it to playgroup this past year with Sparkle in kindergarten and towering over the other kids. Next year would be even harder with Sparkle in first grade.

Libraries are cool

I'm at the library using their free internet access.

The girls are enjoying a free show, courtesy of the summer reading program.

We just got a beautiful hardback book for free, also courtesy of the summer reading program. I just had to read 10 books to Glitter. When Sparkle has 10 books on her reading log, she'll get a free book too. (I'm sure she's read the equivalent of 10 books already, but she tends to read partial books, and then not tell me about any of them, so they don't make it to her log.)

We're all enjoying the free air conditioning in the summer heat.

I'm so glad that both of the girls were willing to go and sit in the show without me. Sparkle was a bit reluctant to let me outside, but I pointed out to her that by my staying outside, another little kid would get to see the show. She doesn't need to know that my other reason is that I want to play on the computer.

Berry Picking

This morning I woke up and decided, let's go berry picking!

There is a local blueberry farm about a half hour's drive from home. Every year that we've gone it has been more and more crowded as more and more people find out about it. I decided that a Friday morning would be best because we would beat the weekend crowds, yet the berry bushes would still have a chance to recover from the previous weekend's pickers.

So we had a quick breakfast and loaded into the car. It was 9:30am when we left, which is insanely early for me to make it out in public on a non-school day. It was a fairly quick drive and the weather was nice. About half an hour later we were on the dirt road leading to the blueberry farm. A suspicious number of cars for the time of day were headed in the opposite direction, and many of them contained kids. I took it as a warning sign that many berry pickers had come before us and were already leaving. I told the girls that it would be hot and crowded, and maybe not many blueberries.

The next warning sign was that the street leading up to the berry farm was jam packed with cars parked on all sides. I wearily parked the car after the last car and got the girls trudging towards the entrance. As luck would have it, we were almost to the entrance when I noticed several parking spots closer to the entrance were open - perhaps left by some of those cars we had seen exiting earlier? I made the girls walk all the way back to the car so that I could move it to the closer parking spot. I explained to a confused Sparkle that it would be easier to make the long walk back to the car when we were fresh, rather than after standing in the heat picking berries.

Once inside the farm, we each got a bucket and we headed down the rows of bushes. We hiked past the front bushes which were already picked clean, in search of berries. At first I didn't see any berries and considered just going home away from the heat. However, Sparkle convinced me to press on. Eventually we found a cluster of trees with a few remaining berries. I told the girls to pick and eat as much as they liked (which the farm allows). I don't think that their buckets ever held more than a dozen berries at a time. I tied my bucket to my fanny pack and started to "become one with the tree." The berries were so sparse and I'm so short that the only way to get a decent amount of berries was to immerse myself in the branches to pull down the topmost branches and pick from them. The girls were a bit luckier - they managed to squirm between the bushes and find a "blueberry forest" where they entertained themselves.

I let the girls roam and pick and eat freely, while I concentrated on filling my bucket. Occasionally I'd call out "Marco" and have the girls answer "Polo" to make sure that they hadn't wandered too far. Mostly, I could hear them playing that the "blueberry forest" was their home, and the branches their roof, and Sparkle was the mama and Glitter was the baby, and Sparkle foraged for berries to feed into baby Glitter's eager mouth.


There was an occasional breeze, but the day was hot. I was glad that I brought the sippy cups for the girls in my fanny pack. It was much easier than toting a wagon. The girls downed both sippy cups and never had to go potty. I was also glad that Sparkle's hair was up in a pony tail, and my was up too. (Glitter's hair is too short to put up.)

Glitter eventually got too tired, even though Sparkle would try to find her shady spots and bring her berries. Fear of hot, tired, cranky girls let me to abandon plans of filling my bucket, and we left after picking for about an hour and a half. I bought my three fourths of a small bucket full of blueberries, and the girls carried out an unknown amout of blueberries in their tummies.


Apparently the girls had eaten quite a bit because neither one was hungry, even though it was lunchtime. I had brought fixings for peanut butter sandwiches, but decided to just pile into the car and crank up the air conditioning. We made it home and then Sparkle made the pb&j sandwiches in cool comfort.

Next up - naps for everyone so that we'll have energy to enjoy the free concert tonight.

DORA Online Reading Assessment

As an end of the school year activity, I had Sparkle take the DORA (Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment) test at the Let's Go Learn web site.

I got the test through homeschoolbuyers-coop, for $15 plus a $1 service fee. You can take the test within minutes of placing your order. The results are available immediately. The test took about an hour for Sparkle to complete. (I gave her the test during Glitter's naptime to reduce distractions.)

The DORA test is criterion-referenced, rather than norm-referenced. That means that a student's scores are reported as grade level equivalents, rather than percentages. Most states that require testing for homeschoolers require a nationally normed test, so this test wouldn't satisfy that requirement. Fortunately, I'm not required to test Sparkle; I just did it for us.

DORA is a computer adaptive test. It chooses which test questions to present based on how well the student does on previous questions. The test covers kindergarten through 12th grade. Thus, you can test out-of-grade level.

The test has several sub-tests. For high frequency words, word recognition, and word analysis (phonics) the computer says a word and presents four written choices. The child has to click the word that was said. For Phonemic awareness, the computer gives instructions, and then four talking heads say different answers, and the child has to click the head that said the correct answer. For oral vocabulary, the computer says a word and presents four pictures. The child clicks the picture that best represents the spoken word. The spelling section is the only part that isn't multiple choice - the computer says a word and the child has to spell it using an onscreen keyboard, or the actual keyboard. For reading comprehension, the child reads a passage and then answers multiple choice questions based on the passage.

Overall, I was pleased with the testing. Sparkle assumed it was a game, even though I told her it was important to do her best. The test results helped me because they put her asynchronous development into concrete terms.

I'll do a few things differently whenever I have Sparkle take the test again. (1) On the timed portion of the test, I'll make sure to tell Sparkle that it is more important to go fast than to click the bouncing fly in the exact middle. (2) I'll make sure that Sparkle has more practice using a computer mouse so that she won't have errors due to poor mouse skills. (3) If Sparkle gets tired again, I'll save the reading comprehension section for another day.

Lunchtime listening: redoing Jack & Jill

We finished "A Little Princess" at lunchtime listening. I found myself getting a bit teary-eyed at the sad parts, even thought I've known the story for years.

Next I decided instead of moving on to a new story, we'd revisit one we've heard before. I figured that these stories are so rich that they bear listening to over again. The girls chose "Jack and Jill" by Louisa May Alcott. It has 24 chapters, so we're set for another month or more. Glitter picked it because of the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill went up the hill ...."; she didn't remember the story at all. Sparkle did better. She actually remembered that it was about a boy and girl that went sledding and got hurt.

I was reminded of one of the reasons that I chose to start repeated listening by a library book I just got: "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. Malcom Gladwell has probably influenced my homeschooling more than an other non-homeschooling author. In "The Tipping Point" he explains the success of the tv show Blue's Clues. In a nutshell, kids pay attention to, learn from, and enjoy things that they understand. Children repeatedly watch (and learn from) Blue's Clues because the show has layers of meanings. With each viewing the kids understand more and more of the show. Older kids get bored and tune out because they don't get the same revealing of extra meaning with each iteration.

Quality literature has that same richness of layered meaning. By reading or listening to the story over again, we can extract more meaning and enjoyment from it. The first time we listen we get the general gist of the story - the plot, the characters, the setting, etc. With repeated listening we can give more attention to the nuances of the story, the literary devices, and other choices the author has woven together to form a pleasing whole.

Summer Plan

We've transitioned out of the school year and will be starting summer activities next week.

For June, we've got ...
Monday: ballet class
Tuesday: summer reading program & swim lesson
Wednesday: currently open
Thursday: summer reading program & swim lesson
Friday: library & nature walk

In July, ballet and the library will continue. Swim lessons and the summer reading program will end, but there will be a week of Vacation Bible School.

I don't know what August holds.

I survived my first year homeschooling

A friend posted a kindergarten analysis on her blog, and I thought, "what a great idea." So, here goes.

I thoroughly enjoyed homeschooling this year, even though I ended up completely ditching my original plans. This was our first year homeschooling, and it was an experiment. At the beginning of the year, we didn't even know if we'd continue past kindergarten.

Last summer, I had everything planned out. For English, we'd finish "The Reading Lesson" and then move to "Spell to Write and Read." For math, we'd do RightStart Math. Then we'd snuggle up with a book and do "Five in a Row" for social studies, science, and art. Short and simple. Sounds good, right?

The first part of the plan to go was "Five in a Row" (FIAR). It didn't even make it to the official start of school. I had tried doing a couple of books in the summer before school started. Sparkle loved listening to the picture books, but didn't want any part of the discussions. I also didn't want to put in the effort for the extras that make FIAR fun (extra books, crafts, activities). So I put all the FIAR manuals and books on a shelf for later and decided that it would be okay to skip those subjects for kindergarten.

We finished "The Reading Lesson," but "Spell to Write and Read" (SWR) only lasted about halfway through the year. Both of us hated SWR's lengthy process of dictating new words. I never used any of SWR's enrichments. Even though (or possibly because) Sparkle is a natural speller, I had trouble tracking and reviewing misspelled words. I also learned about studied dictation. I ended up switching to a homegrown spelling program of word analysis, copywork, and dictation. That program has since expanded into a language arts program.

"RightStart Math" lasted the longest. We're still using it, although I am looking for something else. We finished Level A in mid year and then continued to Level B. I still struggle with not knowing what we're doing for math until I open the book. Math is one of Sparkle's weakest subjects.

Throughout the year, I picked up and dropped several other curriculum and activities. Some lasted a few days, others lasted weeks or months, but I ultimately dropped all of them in mid stream. Drawing with Children, Mark Kistler's Draw Squad, Charlotte Mason picture study, Chinese for Children, Sonlight Kindergarten Core, McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader, What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know, index card timeline, geography coloring sheets, me writing down Sparkle's dictations, drawn narrations.

The school year ended very differently from how it started:

Journal. Every day Sparkle draws a picture and writes a few words in her journal. I'm not involved at all, except to admire the results.

Daily worksheets. I got math drill worksheets from the internet and math word problems from "The Math Lesson". The McCall Harby book provides reading comprehension. We'll move on to the McCall Crabbs book when McCall Harby is done. We finished the Kumon tracing and maze books developed fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. I threw in some critical thinking worksheets for good measure. Sparkle does her worksheets (mostly) independently, and then I go over any corrections with her.

Memory Work. I went through half a dozen different memory work systems. They all were too cumbersome until I found Anki. I connect the computer to the TV and just go through the deck. Once setup, Anki is really easy to use and maintain. Anki is so easy that I've moved everything that involves memorization or review to it: spelling phonograms and rules, musical notes, social studies and science terminology, telling time, prapers, and Chinese vocabulary. Going forward, as we cover science and social studies topics, if any of them are in "A Dictionary of Cultural Literacy," I'll add those topics to memory work and not worry about the rest. Anki rocks!

Homegrown Spelling / Language Arts. I love my new spelling and language arts program. Spelling isn't Sparkle's favorite subject, but it is her best. Every day we do dictation, copywork, word analysis, and writing original sentences. Each day, Sparkle fills up one page of wide ruled paper, writing on every other line. Going forward, I'm looking to expand the language arts program by incorporating aspects of KISS Grammar.

Math. We're still with RightStart Math, but I'm starting to shop around for a different math curriculum. RightStart Math is working, but it doesn't feel "right" either.

Artistic Extras. For drawing, we've been slowly, slowly, slowly using "I Can Do All Things." For piano, we've been working slowly, slowly, slowly through a mix of Pianimals and songs from some other beginner books. If we did these subjects daily, Sparkle would probably learn more, but I'm lazy. Sparkle does plenty of drawing practice on her own time. She doesn't practice piano on her own, but might if we get to some songs she likes.

Chinese. I was working through Chinese for Children, but it wasn't working for us. Listening to the same lesson over and over got too boring. But we couldn't move on until the old stuff was mastered. I'm waiting for a new breakthrough in what to do. In the meantime we're just treading water by reviewing vocabulary in Anki. If I can easily incorporate audio in Anki, I think we'll be good to go.

History. We've been on again, off again going through Story of the World 1 (Ancients). History is Sparkle's favorite subject, even though we don't do anything but look at books. She reads the selection from SOTW. I read the corresponding part in the Usborne Ancient World book while Sparkle looks at the pictures. We look at the maps in the activity guide. I get library books from the lists in the activity guide, and Sparkle reads any that catch her interest. We might look at our pre-printed timeline.

Daily Enrichments: "Morning Music" is me playing something from my iPod or a music CD from the library during breakfast. We've listened to several of the Classical Kids CDs and I've started Themes to Remember. "Lunchtime Listening" is an audio book, usually from LibriVox during lunch. "Bedtime Book" is me reading a chapter book on the nights I put the girls down. Sparkle gives spontaneous narrations for Lunchtime Listening and Bedtime Book. If there is a CD in the boom box, she'll occassionally play it during the day.

Weekly Enrichments. Monday is the trip to the library, followed by a nature walk in the adjourning gardens. Tuesday is poetry teatime, a la BraveWriter. Wednesday is ballet. Over the summer, ballet will be on Monday, so our library trip and nature walk will be on Friday. In the fall, ballet will be on Thursday and we'll have homeschool group activities on Fridays, so the library & nature trip will change days again.

******************

There is no way that we could have started the school year doing even half of what we did at the end. Sparkle has really grown academically over the year, both in terms of what she can do and in the ability to focus on a task.

Sparkle started out reading above grade level, and she continues to be a strong reader. She is on the verge of making the transition to chapter books. One thing holding her back is her inability to use a bookmark.

Sparkle no longer needs to think about how to form the letters when writing. She is working on spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and most importantly, holding a thought in her head long enough to write it down.

Sparkle has moved away from needing physical objects to represent small numbers (under 20). She understands place value if she thinks about it. She can mentally add numbers within 20 and subtract within ten. On the abacus, she can add numbers up to four digits long, including trading.
Sparkle's drawings now include more than one object, and she sometimes colors them in. Arms and legs now have width, instead of being sticks. She also draws a greater range of objects - houses, mummies, and animals, although her favorite subject is still the family standing in a row.

Sparkle's narrations show greater understanding of the subject matter. Instead of parroting back whatever words she remembers, she is starting to pick out main ideas. She is also starting to be able to recall events in order - instead of telling about the end of the story and moving backward, she now starts at the beginning of the story and moves forward.

Other areas. Sparkle can read and play the notes in shared middle C position. She can read about 30 words in simplified Chinese characters, and make simple sentences of her own. She is learning to swim. As she is tall enough to stand up in the pool, she no longer needs flotation. She performed in her first ballet. She can make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by herself.

I've been blessed with such a wonderful child to parent and teach. Amazingly enough, most of her day is filled with playing with her sister.

Arg. Wrong Blog

This blog is for recording my family life. This blog is primarily for me to look back and see what happened in my life. A side benefit is that friends and family can see what the girls are doing.

I have another blog where I put my personal musings (mostly a lot of complaining).

I hate it when I accidentally post to the wrong blog.