Caley's Goals 2010-2011

Here are the main goals we will be working on next year for Caley. I purposely made these very general, which was difficult for me because I learned in grad school that a goal needs to be measurable and quantifiable. But for many of these goals I just don't know what to expect from Caley. It would be weird to require her to learn X amount of Bible verses and if she doesn't do it then she would have "failed" her goal. Not really my cup of tea. The whole beauty of homeschooling is we get to move at the pace appropriate to each child. Basically for next year my overarching goals (for Caley) are: Learn about Jesus, Get along with the siblings, Read Read Read, Have fun and enjoy learning!

• Learn and memorize Bible verses; teach to Amelia and Wesley
• Learn conflict resolution between siblings and familiar peers
• Show management of personal items; schoolwork for the day, cleanup after oneself, etc
• Continue to show interest and increased skill in reading; enjoy 2-3 types of literature (fiction, non-fiction, Bible)
• Enjoy reading her Bible , "read" to others
• Know basics about Jesus and the Gospel; be able to articulate and teach to Amelia and Wesley
• Independently wipe bottom after BM; wash and dry hands afterward
• Independently brush hair and apply a clip/barrette
• Prepare a simple breakfast or lunch (cereal and milk, sandwich, juice, fruit)
• Help with household tasks; empty dishwasher, sweep, sort laundry, fold laundry, put away own laundry
• Finish Saxon Math K book and pass assessments
• Write a letter to Grama independently (thank you, Happy Birthday, etc)
• Know full name, address, phone #, birthday
• Show appreciation/enjoyment of three types of music

And we're done!

The beautiful summer-y weekend combined with my parents taking the girls to Astoria this week means that summer is here and the school year is done! We did school last week and read a charming book called "Very Last First Time" by Jan Andrews. It's about Eva, an Inuit in northern Canada, who goes under the ice and walks along the seabed and collects mussels. We studied about arctic animals, talked about appropriate clothing for the season, counted and graphed goldfish crackers, did puzzles, read bible stories, and drew a spider that we had captured.

It was a fun week, but more importantly it was a fun and exciting year for our school! The countdown has begun for the fall when it will be officially Caley's kindergarten year and we will dive into this adventure we've been practicing for several years. I'm a little nervous. What if I don't have my lessons all planned out? What if she doesn't stay on track with the math schedule I've written up? What if it's raining and we can't do the outside project I planned? I think this adventure will be a continuous exercise in trusting God. I tend to feel confident when I've prepared as much as I can, instead of relying on God that he will teach me and the kids what he has for us! I'm excited for this adventure!

You might be a homeschool mom when...

...you find bugs and spiders in your house and get excited because it means you have a science lesson for the day!

...you get excited about going to Costco because it's a "field trip" to see the bakery and meat departments.

...you enjoy "school days" more than your kids because it means you can stay in your jammies all day.

...the iron is used for crafts instead of ironing.

...you stock up on paper plates and use them for crafts instead of eating on.

More Enrichment

In Sunday May 30th's Everett Herald, the front page article, Why more girls get the grades while boys struggle in our schools, caught my eye because it discusses the gender gap in local high schools. Girls have consistently higher GPAs over boys and the article suggests it's not because girls are smarter than boys, but that traditional high schools teach in a way more girls than boys can understand. Boys tend to be more active and need classes like gym and shop, which are being offered less at high schools.

To read the article click here.

This isn't a new or unique situation to Snohomish County. The bias against boys in classrooms has been noted before in The War Against Boys by Christina Hoff Sommers (which we have a copy of I've been meaning to read).

I enjoyed reading this article because it made me consider why we would continue homeschooling, especially for Wesley. It's hard to tell now how his temperament will be as a older child but I like the flexible nature of homeschooling in which if he (or the girls) need a break to run around the yard before doing their writing work, we have the option. Were they to be in a class with 25 other kids, it'd be less likely they could get their wiggles out before doing work they'd need to focus on.

Just some food for thought, and to keep this article in a place where I can find it again if I need to. ;)

Whatevs

Obviously managing three kiddos, keeping house, making exercise a priority, and doing school, keeping up with this blog has been difficult. We have been doing Five in a Row most weeks since I last wrote, and we are doing all kinds of learning in the Gerlach house. We took a trip to Astoria for 4 days for Spring Break, and it was a great trip too! I have been praying and considering what to do for next year and have a lot planned for Caley's kindergarten year. We decided to refer her for a special education evaluation with Mukilteo School District because of some concerns with her speech articulation, and depending on whether she qualifies will determine some of what we can do for her school next year. I am looking into working with a district north of Spokane so we can access state funds and be reimbursed for some of our costs such as piano lessons if we choose to do them. There are some legalities that need to be determined however, and I'm currently weighing whether the reimbursement is worth adhering to the state's rules. Such as, I'm not sure if I want to commit to a lesson plan for next year when it's our first official year as homeschoolers and we'll (I'll) be learning the ropes doing school and balancing the other two kids and such. I'd kind of rather keep things simple until I understand more of how this homeschooling thing goes.

However I have decided to use a unit study curriculum called KONOS which arranges the units by God's attributes. In the fall we will do a unit on attentiveness and study such things as hearing, ears and eyes, sounds and music, frontiersmen, and indians. To supplement we will also be using Saxon K Math three days a week and 100 Easy Lessons for phonics/reading. I'm not sure what to use after Caley's worked through the phonics book, but I for sure don't want to squish her love for reading, and may just assign her books to read and do spelling lists, etc. Still praying/talking/deciding on that one.

I'm also realizing how excited I'm getting about school! Field trips and books I can enjoy with my kids, seeing them love to learn, I can't wait! Just this week we were researching about Russia because our FIAR book was Russia when I went in another room and captured a housefly! I showed it to the girls and then suggested we draw a picture of it. I put it in a bowl and we each drew it the best we could. We had to look closely to see how many wings and legs the fly had. Instant science lesson that I couldn't have planned if I wanted to!

We have been reading some fun books that I need to at least list here so we don't forget. I would like to get several of them for our personal library.

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel- cute, cute book that almost made me cry!

The Glorious Flight- The girls loved saying, "Papabluray!" because the main character was Papa Louis Bleriot who flew over the English Channel

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World- this one was adorable! Caley and I acted out parts of the book and it made her little imagination take off! We also read the spin-off book by the same author "How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA"

Grandfather's Journey- We weren't as much into this one...

Cranberry Thanksgiving- This was a cute, cute story. It in they sing "We Gather Together" and it gave me the idea to open our school days next year with a hymn, either on the piano or on CD. The book also had "16 Men On A Dead Man's Chest" which the girls loved because lately we've been listening to pirate music in the car.

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear- This one took place in Russia and Caley knew the drill- find Russia on the map and color the Russian flag.