Day 86 / 104 - Latin Graffiti Wall

Last week, my Challenge A students visited the Challenge B class for their Latin seminar.  While observing the class, I was even more convinced of one thing -- the most important Latin concept Challenge A students can (and should) master is the vocabulary.  Once the vocabulary words are mastered, it frees up the students to learn countless other Latin grammar concepts.

In light of that, yesterday I covered our sizable white board with Latin vocabulary words, color coding them by nouns, adjectives, and verbs.  Students would take turns at the board translating a word and then erasing it if correct.  This was similar to a review activity that I completed with my Essentials class last spring.

We have four more Latin seminars left this academic year.  I'm anticipating spending quite a bit of that time reviewing Latin vocabulary.

Day 85 / 104 - House for Sale

I've written about this before.  This is the second time, in our six years of homeschooling, that we've taking on the added challenge of transitioning our lives and selling our home.  If you have never experienced this, attempting to sell a home becomes a lifestyle.  Homeschooling is a lifestyle.  To those of you who have ever accomplished both at the same time, you understand why this situation warrants its own post in this year's annual portfolio.

Day 84 / 104 - Montclaire Sting Quartet

Every spring Classical Conversations Foundations students spend six-weeks studying the orchestra.  Often, we try to arrange at least one field trip to see a symphony during this time.  This spring, we opted to host a Quartet-in-Residence from the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra.  A large part of the quartet's mission is to bring classical music to children throughout West Virginia.

The Montclaire String Quartet played delightfully for our homeschool community on Monday.   The musicians educated us with a wonderful, up-close introduction to the string instrument family, covering many baseline musical and cross-disciplinary concepts.

Day 83 / 102 - Arrangement and Factorials

In my son's Math text, he's been studying compound probability.  Recent lessons had him drawing tree diagrams to list possible outcomes of events.  He loved this concept, and he desperately wanted to find a way to teach it to his Challenge A class.

There are five students in the class, and they often sit in the same five chairs.  He wanted the class to help him discover how many different ways they could be seated around the table.  He used what he had learned, as well as making his classmates rotate seats a few times, to show them that there were 120 different ways the 5 of them could sit around the table.

Fortunately, in his preparation, we came across the video above which taught us how to use the Factorial! button on a calculator.  My life has been revolutionized.  Plus, the video is a lot of fun.

Day 82 / 104 - A Gathering of Days

This was my son's least favorite reading assignment this year.  As a result, I made him complete every assignment.

This is unlike how I've responded to every other educational opportunity we've had through the years.  Usually, if my children don't like a book, I let them put it down and not finish it.  Or if they're not interested in a learning activity, I don't force them to become interested in it.  I put it away.  Learning should be fun and, for the most part, interest-based.

But, my son is now 13 1/2.  He's old enough to reason with.  Also, he's old enough to learn that sometimes we complete tasks because we have to, even if we don't want to.

My son despised this book.  (If you are unfamiliar with it, it's actually not half-bad.  It's a fictional journal of a New Hampshire girl in the 1830's.  It has a Little House feel without the phenomenal story telling of Wilder.)  It's not a long book, but it took him forever to finish it.  Often while reading, he would stop and complain.  Then we would have a conversation about what he didn't like about the story.  My response was, "Interestingly, with all your complaining about this book, we have discussed it far more than any of the other literature selections this year."

After reading a book, our curriculum has us spending three weeks on each piece of literature as we learn to write a persuasive essay.  The first week, we invent an idea to write about.  The second week, we arrange our thoughts,  The third week, we compose our essays.  We have related assignments to assist us with those three responsibilities.  For A Gathering of Days, my son completed every assignment assigned.

It was a victory for both of us !!

Day 81 / 104 - Memory Master Prep

About a week ago I gave my daughter the option of not becoming a Memory Master (even though she has earned this title more than once).  We've had much on the agenda this spring, and with my transition into Challenge A I simply have not kept up on her memory work like I have in the past.  Surprisingly, backing out of Memory Master was not a viable option for her.  I was shocked mostly because follow-through is not one of her strengths.  Also, there might have been one (or more!) arguments that ended with tears her first two times through the process.

I reasoned with her that if she was still up for the challenge, she needed to have the rest of the information mastered by the end of this week.  She's pretty confident with about 90% of the material.  Again, to my surprise, she has owned this.  Today, independently, she devised a color system to help her with her U.S. Geography, specifically the physical features.  She spent some time teaching herself what she didn't already have memorized.

There is quite a difference in the Memory Master process between a student who wants to become a Memory Master versus a student whose parents want her to become a Memory Master.  Once a student is old enough to own this process, the goal seems quite manageable.  I'm now excited to see her through this process over the next two weeks.

Day 80 / 104 - Carowinds

Amusement parks are always ripe with educational opportunities, none more obvious than Social Studies (of the people, not the subject).  We're excited to be within a stone's throw of a Cedar Fair park, and we look forward to visiting frequently over the next seven months.