religion

Last year I put off doing any religion in my homeschool. I figured that Sparkle was attending CCE classes at church, and that was enough for kindergarten and our first year homeschooling. This year I've felt pressured to do something for religion, even though Sparkle will be attending CCE again.

In my usual style of overdoing things, I somehow managed to acquire more books than I'll use. Over the past year I collected story bibles at several different reading levels, and textbooks from two different publishers. I kept putting off doing anything with them because I wasn't sure what to do, as I'm not comfortable teaching religion.

Then earlier this week, I decided to just start reading the kindergarten religion book to Sparkle. When Sparkle asked about the title of the book, I enjoyed pointing out that even though she wasn't in kindergarten anymore, it was okay for her to use a kindergarten textbook. (I don't want her to get hung up about grade levels.) Then we just read, cuddled up on the sofa. Sometimes I'd read a question and Sparkle would read the answer. We looked at the pictures, and Sparkle commented that the angel's wings looked like fish. The whole experience was far less stressful than I thought it would be.

Last free concert of the summer

We went to our last free concert of the summer. It was the Army Field Band and Soldiers' Chorus. Even Wander attended this time. We packed a picnic supper and ate on the lawn before the concert. Sparkle remarked that it was the best supper ever - not because of the food, but because we were eating outside. It beat our "pretend" picnic that we had in the front hallway for lunch one day all hollow. We didn't have to pretend anything, we could enjoy the breeze, watch the clouds, feel the grass, etc.



The music was good as usual. I didn't recognize most of the songs, but enjoyed them anyway. Glitter really had a blast. She spent almost the entire concert on her toes, dancing her heart out. Thank goodness she is short and didn't block the view of the people behind us.



I think that my favorite part of the music was when they did the Armed Forces Salute. As they played the song for each branch of the armed forces, soldiers and their families members in the audience stood. Normally we don't see or think about soldiers in our everyday life, but they really are all around us and people just like us.

After the concert we saw some neighbors who told us that the international space station and space shuttle would be in view. So we hung out for a few extra minutes and got to see two bright sparks zoom across the sky. Glitter was tired and unimpressed; however, we could tell that Sparkle was trying to grasp the concept that a tiny light in the sky was really a building in the sky.

Blue Hat, Green Hat, Safety Day

This morning I read Sandra Boynton's "Blue Hat, Green Hat" to Glitter. It is one of my favorite Sandra Boynton books. The little kiddies can't help but join in on the "oops!" at the crazy way the turkey dresses. On the last page the turkey jumps into a swimming pool fully clothed. Silly turkey.

After I finished the book, Glitter continued to "read" it on her own. A few minutes later, she came up to me with this conclusion. "Maybe it's safety day!" Of course! On safety day at swim lessons the girls jumped into the pool with all their clothes on. That explains why the turkey is jumping into the pool with all its clothes on. Now why does he dress funny on all the other pages?

First Grade Plans

This time last year I was excited about starting homeschooling and had all these plans for what to do with Kindergarten. Little did I know that I would change up everything many times over.


This year, I once again am excited to be planning the upcoming year. Once again, I think that I have a great plan. However, this time I know, and don't care, that the plan might go to pieces as soon as the school year starts.


Anyway, here's the plan for Sparkle:


For language arts we'll continue my customized program of dictation, copywork, and analysis. That covers spelling/phonics, handwriting, and grammar.


For reading comprehension we'll continue to use the McCall-Crabbs test lessons in reading.


For math, we'll continue RightStart Math, math fact drill worksheets, and word problems. I was looking at different math programs for a while but haven't found anything I like better.


We'll continue to use Anki for memory work and Chinese.


We'll do one "content" subject with narration per day: history, science, or other.


Glitter will continue The Reading Lesson, and Kumon Tracing.


Most of the schooling will be Monday - Thursday, and Friday is saved for activities with our homeschool group.

Of course, we'll still have morning music, lunchtime listening, bedtime book, poetry teatime, library visits, nature walks, and dance class.

Isn't that ironic

I've taken to reading to pass the time during Sparkle's dance class. Today I got a book about disciplining toddlers from the library today ("Raising Godly Tomatoes"). While I was trying to read it, two toddlers were running back and forth across the waiting room flicking the lights off and on. Every now and then their mothers would scold the them, but a few moments later the toddlers were back at it. I couldn't settle back to read my book until those families left.

When I recounted the story to Wander this evening, he graciously commented that those moms must have had a lot on their plates. Sigh. Shame on me for not being more understanding.

Glitter's Holidays

Glitter has recently become infatuated with the Christmas and Halloween.

Currently, when she wants me to read to her, it's been "The Night Before Christmas," "My Sparkle Pumpkin Book," or "Barny's Alphabet Soup."

At our last visits to the library she has chosen another version of "The Night Before Christmas" and "Spot's Halloween."

I hope that her taste in books changes soon.

Sparkle, growing up

Today was more educational for Sparkle than I expected it to be. I expected that today would be devoted to play. In the morning we joined a group of friends for open play at a place with giant inflatables for jumping on. While we were there Sparkle got thirsty, but I didn't have anything to drink. Instead I showed her the sign pointing to the restrooms and suggested that she follow them to see if there was a drinking fountain by the restrooms. I also made her look around to see how to return to the play room. (At church, she had to get up to go to the restroom and freaked out a bit on the return trip because she had trouble finding us.) Sparkle successfully navigated the maze of hallways to get her drink and return.

Then we returned home for lunch. Fridays is Sparkle's turn to make lunch. Usually she makes sandwiches, but today she didn't want to make sandwiches. I told her that lunch was up to her - she could make anything she wanted within her power and within reason. (And pumpkin pie is not an acceptable meal, even though at breakfast both girls begged for the pumpkin pie I made last night.) Sparkle wanted soup. After a bit of musing, I decided to let her try warming up a can of soup on the range. She opened the can. It was a pop-top, and bits of soup went flying when she opened it. She cleaned up the mess. She poured the contents into the pot. *I* turned on the range and shooed little sister away. She stirred the soup while I lectured about safety. Finally, she carried the hot pot of soup from the range to the table, with me hovering close by.

The next big learning experience was at the library. Last week I had picked up some Flower Fairies Friends books. I had heard that they were good books for helping young readers transition to chapter books. Well, Sparkle loved them and wanted more. So, I had her go up to the librarian and explain what she wanted. The librarian looked up the series and wrote down where to find the books on a slip of paper. I helped guide Sparkle (pointing out were the aisles were, the author's name on the spine, etc.) but she found the books herself. Then we couldn't find one of the books, and went back to the librarian, who discovered that the books were filed elsewhere. On a whim, I decided that for all that effort, Sparkle deserved her own library card, so I got her one, and let her check out her books herself on her own card. It took her three tries to get all of her books checked out properly (I checked the receipts), but she was really proud. (Now I'll have two library cards to maintain, sigh.)



After the library, the weather was not abominably hot, so we went to the park next door. We didn't have any of our drawing stuff, so we just checked out the Gardenia and then swung on the swing. We played the observation game while swinging. This is one of my new favorite activities for killing time while being slightly educational. We each take turns stating one thing that we see/hear/smell/feel. No repeats unless you're under 4 years old. It helps us notice details, put thoughts into words, and share with each other. By limiting it to one thing per person, we don't get bored waiting for our turn, and we don't get put on the spot for describing too much.

Sparkle's Birthay

I forgot to post about Sparkle's birthday.

On the day of her birthday, we had a simple celebration at home. I got a cake mix and Sparkle got to bake her own birthday cake. I was grateful that she wanted a bundt cake, as I have a horrible time trying to make a traditional cake. Sparkle is getting quite good at cracking eggs. After supper we had the cake and some ice cream for dessert and I played "Happy Birthday" on the piano.

We had her party at a local park. We also got a reservation for the community building at the park so we could enjoy air conditioning. Several of Sparkle's friends came, but I am lousy at building a guest list. After the party Wander and I remembered some other friends that we should have invited. By taking the party out of the house and to the park, we could have invited more friends, and I didn't have to come up with an activity to entertain the kids. (This was the first time our girls had a party that wasn't a home party.)

The weather was super hot, but the air conditioned building was nice. The kids would go play on the park for a while and the dads would supervise. Then they'd get hot and exhausted and come back into the air conditioning to cool off and have a drink. Then when they started running around the building too much, we'd shoo them outside again. The moms mostly holed up in the air conditioning, and everyone had fun.

The weekend before Sparkle's birthday party she got to attend a beautiful ballerina/tea-party themed birthday party. As much as I'd like that sort of party, I can't do that sort of planning. So, we just had the park, balloons, pizza, and cake.





Sparkle got lots of presents. I'm really impressed with presents she got. She got some flip flops which have become her new exclusive footwear. She got the game "Guess Who" which is a new favorite game. (I even like playing it with her due to the combination of thinking and luck involved.) She got a make-your-own-fairytale-book and some paper dolls. She loved the craftiness of both of them, and glued and sticker'ed and accessorized to her heart's content. She got some new clothes which have become her new wear-the-day-after-mom-does-laundry outfit.

Vacation Bible School

Sparkle is in Vacation Bible School this week. It's a morning program from nine to noon, so I have to get going in the morning a bit earlier than I'm used to. She gets to have fun with other kids and feel good about the church. In the car on the way to church, I coach her how to answer if someone asked her about her age, grade, or school. It probably won't come up, but I wanted her to have a ready answer just in case.

Meanwhile, I get some time to focus on Glitter. This morning Glitter got to do some pages from the Kumon Tracing book, we played a game of Command Cards, and she did a page in her reading lesson.

At the end of the week the parents got to watch the kids sing their VBS songs.

Happy Fourth

Happy Fourth.

The day started with Wander taking Sparkle and Glitter to the mall to play.
Then they had a lego-fest at home.
Then Wander made his traditional Fourth of July meal.
Then Wander took the girls to the pool.
Then they went to a neighbors for some fireworks. (There's currently a burn ban, so it was just sparklers and some fountains. Nothing aerial.)
Then we camped out in the living room and watched movies and fell asleep on the floor.
I got to enjoy my new toy. I really like it.

Anki - text to speech

I use Anki for our memory work. Or rather, I was using Anki, but we've been taking a break over the summer. Anki is still very much in development mode as it gets updated fairly frequently. I stopped updating as soon as a new release was out after getting burned with a couple of releases that introduced minor but very annoying releases. Then on a whim, I looked at the release notes for the latest release and found that a few releases back they had a new feature that I'd been wanting for a long time: text-to-speech for Chinese. I immediately upgraded.

As text-to-speech engines run, it's pretty bare-bones. It has a library about a thousand sound files representing all the syllables and tones in Mandarin Chinese. Then it finds the pinyin for each character and the corresponding sound file. You'd never mistake it for natural speech, but it's free and actually a fairly common way of automatically generating text-to-speech for Chinese.

So, now I'm in the process of adding audio to Sparkle's and my Chinese decks. This is just the breakthrough that I was hoping for when I was wondering what to do with Sparkle's Chinese studies. It's not nearly as good as a real live teacher, but a live teacher for her isn't doable for our family at this time. As long as I keep up my studies and stay ahead of her vocabulary and grammar wise, I think that we can limp along in learning Chinese for a while yet.

Individually Labeled Crayons

I got tired of broken crayons strewn throughout the house and finally figured out something to do about it. The girls already have their own labeled water cups for their exclusive use, and I decided to extend the idea to crayons. Fortunately Glitter has recently learned how to recognize her name, or at least distinguish hers from Sparkle's.

I got out two fresh boxes of washable Crayola crayons and individually labeled eight crayons from each with their names. For a while I considered getting kid name stickers to use. However, $15 for 100 was more than I wanted to pay. So, I used regular paper and clear packing tape. Sparkle wrote her own name and I wrote Glitter's. Then we went through the colored pencils and repeated the process. Finally, each girl got a labeled pencil box to hold it all.

I explained to both girls that they were to use *only* their personal colors and not to touch each others. Then I dumped all the pencils and crayons together and had them sort them out into their individual boxes to ensure that they could tell whose was whose.

We're on day three of the system, and so far both girls seem to accept the system and I haven't found any crayons on the floor. I hope that the results last.

A few years ago I would have thought individually labeling crayons was insane. I still think it's a little insane, but if it works, I don't care.

Getting kids artwork out of the house

When Wander he opened his satchel to find something for work, he pulled out instead a bunch of "artwork" from Glitter. It made him laugh.



The girls usually leave their artwork for Wander on the stairs next to his satchel. However, some mornings, he doesn't get around to picking up all the pieces of paper littering the stairs. Apparently Glitter wanted to make sure that her artwork made it in to work by stuffing all of her drawings into his bag.

New Spelling Database Program

I've got my spelling database program into a semi-usable state. It is written in python and has a command line interface, which is mostly a system of menus. It is very kludgy and I have to make sure that my input is formatted correctly. However, it looks like it is doing the job. I've used it for three days so far, and it is far superior to manually scheduling reviews of words.

I love the functionality of the program, but it seriously needs a robust gui interface. I separated out the data into a standalone database so that I can easily work on the program without affecting the data. It will take me a long, long time to build up a gui. In the meantime we can continue spelling lessons, and I'll take down the blog I was using for tracking spelling.

Least I be demonized for doing spelling lessons, with Sparkle during the summer, I've really scaled back the spelling. We're just reviewing words (no new words), and she does only a couple of sentences at a time, far less than she was during the school year. Hopefully we'll work through all the backlog of reviews of the words from last year and then start fresh in the fall.