Day 76 / 102 - Chick-Fil-A

My son worked at Chick-Fil-A last night, clearing and wiping down tables along with his Boy Scout Troop, in hopes to raise the funds necessary for a Gatlinburg, Tennessee spring break trip. 

Day 75 / 102 - American Sign Language

It might seem like a bit of an oxymoron to hear that my homeschool style is a little bit Classical, yet also encompasses a little bit of Unschooling.  However, an Unschooler's primary belief is that education is a greater undertaking than school itself, and children learn through natural life experiences.  It's child-led and self-directed learning, with the freedom for children to learn naturally.  For most people, it's the way we learn before we go to school, and it's the way we learn after we're out of school.  Actually, much of my homeschool style reflects this philosophy.  I've never been tied down by a text book, and I know my children appreciate that freedom.

I have several success stories of how I've seen this played out in our lives.  For instance, my son taught himself to write in cursive at the age of 7.  He wanted to learn, so with my assistance, and some tools, he taught himself.  In a week.  However, more recently, I've been impressed with my daughter.  Read on.

My daughter (who's 9) used to be a horrendous speller.  She didn't really want to learn, and I didn't want to push her.  I've never used a Spelling curriculum.  We read all the time (she's an excellent reader), and we've taught her how to use a dictionary.  I thought, either she will pick it up when she's ready, or perhaps she will always be someone who needs to use Spellcheck.  Because she is an excellent reader, she always knew when a word was misspelled, but she was unfamiliar with how to correct it.

However, several months ago, she wanted to learn.  She has begun writing some papers this year, and she wanted to know how to spell words without my assistance.  More importantly, she has begun writing notes and emailing friends, and I'm most certain she didn't always want to involve me, because she didn't want me to know what she was talking about. 

She was already familiar with, but this fall she mastered, the ASL alphabet.  It's rather impressive how quickly she can sign all 26 letters. (I think her record is under 5 seconds.)  At some point she made the connection that she could start spelling everyday words with her fingers.  Then she started spelling every word she saw.  Words off billboards, street signs, menus, out of books, off the cereal box, etc.  I kept trying to encourage her to learn some other ASL signs, rather than just the alphabet, because it would save her time.  She would respond with, "But Mom.  I don't really want to learn sign language.  I want to learn how to spell."  If you are in a conversation with her, watch her left hand.  It will most likely be moving at lightning speed as she's spelling several words from the conversation.

We've done a few other spelling activities (more in a later post) to help encourage her desire to learn.  I have to say, she now is an excellent speller.  I'm impressed with how far she has come in just a few months.  Yesterday she was begging me to have her take a spelling test.  She's memorizing the linking verbs (remain, appear, taste, become, etc.) and the parts of a volcano (magma, lava, crater, etc.) as part of her CC memory work.  I gave her 19 words from those lists.  Every word was spelled correctly!

Day 74 / 102 - Equation Complete!

We've spent a good portion of our Monday morning attempting to master this game.  Start with a deck of cards with the face cards removed.  Each player is dealt six cards.  They keep these cards throughout the entire game.  A 'Target Card' is then turned over.  Players use any of their six cards to create as many  expressions that equal the value of the 'Target Card'.  Players may use each card only once and must use at least three of their cards.

Above you can see that my daughter's hand included 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7.  Her 'Target Card' was 5.  Together we created the eight expressions listed, although I'm positive the list could keep going and going.  The game would continue with her keeping her hand, but receiving a new 'Target Card'.

Day 73 / 102 - Ice Skating at The Greenbrier

Yesterday we met some friends to ice skate at The Greenbrier, a luxury resort outside the town of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.  It became a resort community beginning in 1778, and has hosted distinguished guests throughout the centuries including 26 U.S. Presidents.  The property was impressive to view, and The Greenbrier definitely deserves being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Day 72 / 102 - "Animal People"

My children studied Domenikos Theotokopoulos (can you pronounce that?) also known as El Greco (1541-1614) this week.  He was known for drawing tall, solemn figures that appeared to be stretched out.  Their related assignment was to draw an elongated person by tracing cut up pictures out of magazines.

My daughter, doing what she often does with her art projects, decided this could be taken to the next level.  She began mixing figures together with parts from several animals and people.  This has kept her busy for a few days, and she has quite the collection.  Pictured are two of my favorites.  I asked her what she wanted to title this post and she said, "Animal People".

Day 71 / 102 - Homeschool Day at the Capitol

Yesterday we visited Charleston, along with homeschoolers across the state of West Virginia, to show our support for homeschooling.  Homeschool Day at the Capitol is an opportunity for us to educate our legislators on the value of homeschooling, as well as to build positive relationships with our lawmakers by meeting them personally.  Since our relocation here 7 months ago, I am surprised how difficult it is, legally, to homeschool in the state of West Virgina compared to Ohio.  Fortunately, I was able to communicate that to more than one legislator yesterday.

Of course, we had a little fun too, and pictured above are my children after our tour of the Governor's Mansion.  We visited the West Virginia Capitol Complex earlier this fall (here).  One thing my children were quick to notice was there was no bag inspection, nor metal detectors at any of the buildings or museums.  As soon as they mentioned it, I realized it myself.  In fact, yesterday we strolled right into the Governor's Mansion without anyone checking to see the contents of my purse.  And Governor Tomblin was at home during our visit!

Day 70 / 102 - Casablanca

I posted on Facebook a few weeks ago that a recently renovated theater opened in our downtown district.  They've been playing all sorts of classics or well-loved favorites on the big screen.  Last weekend, we viewed Casablanca.

I had seen it one other time, years ago.  In preparation for the film, as well as hoping to keep my 11 and 9 year-old children engaged throughout the movie, we did a little WWII history and geography research ahead of time.  It paid off, and my son especially tracked with the plot line throughout the entire film.

I loved seeing this on the big screen and have to admit it was a far better experience than trying to watch in on a VCR years ago.

Day 69 / 102 - Merit Badges

After we moved, we made it a priority to find a local Boy Scout troop for our son.  He had been moderately active in a Webelos troop in Cleveland, but we wanted to step up his involvement.  I have often said that one could make an entire homeschooling curriculum just from a scout handbook.

My husband located a troop, and my son began attending meetings last fall.  I have had very little involvement in the process, which makes me enjoy it all the more.  Of course he's enjoyed the social events, but yesterday he attended a day-long camp near Charleston where he earned his first two Boy Scout merit badges, Photography and Chess.

He had a ton of work to complete ahead of time, all of which he did on his own.  My favorite was his photography slide show, which he created with Legos, of course.  Enjoy the bank robbery posted below!

Day 68 / 102 - Fra Giovanni Angelico

Another artist we've studied this winter has been early Renaissance painter Fra Giovanni Angelico, an Italian monk.  He painted golden halos around a person's head to show an inner goodness shining out for all to see.  His halos were often made with real gold.  Gold metal was pounded into a very thin sheet called 'gold leaf', then glued onto the wall or canvas with varnish.

Our related assignment was to paint with 'silver leaf' or aluminum foil.  My children sketched a design on black paper.  They cut pieces of aluminum foil to fit some of the areas in the drawing and glued them down.  The foil was meant to look like jewels.  They finished the pieces by painting with metallic paints.  It was a great assignment!

Day 67 / 102 - Tales from the Odyssey

During my first year of homeschooling, I discovered that Mary Pope Osborne (author of the Magic Tree House books) had published many more books than just her best-selling series, of which we had always been huge fans.  For older children, she has retold Greek mythology, Norse mythology, medieval stories, mermaid tales, American tall tales, the life of Christ, and a series based on Homer’s Odyssey.  We have read all of the above, and I highly recommend each one.

One thing I wanted to accomplish as a homeschooler was introducing my children to the Classics early on.  We began with picture books, then early readers, then abridged versions, etc.  I wanted them to know the stories, so that when they began to really study the works (in high school and/or college), the stories would come alive and make even more sense.  I wonder how much more I would have enjoyed Literature had I known the story of Oliver Twist or Romeo and Juliet before high school.  With my children, I always try to study the related Literature along with the period of History we are studying at the time.

Since we are studying Ancient History this year, we read Mary Pope Osborne's Odyssey tale.  My children love this story.  This is the second time we've studied Ancient History and therefore the second time we've read through various versions of the Odyssey, as well as the Iliad and other Greek myths. I have to admit, I think the children's versions, with detailed illustrations, are quite enjoyable!