Not Just a Toy

I bought this little gadget on a whim last summer, but I never posted about it. I got it out this morning because the kids wanted to look at the insides of the flowers that are blooming.

It's a zOrb digital microscope. I bought it on Amazon. The price fluctuates considerably, and the blue one is usually the cheapest. I caught it for less than $20. The microscope plugs into the USB slot on the computer. You can either continuously view the images on the computer screen or push the button on top to take pictures. We've had a lot of fun.

Wild Thing's Eyelashes

Feather

Blue Jeans

Finger

New School Year

Bradford Academy is a year round homeschool, so the old year sort of morphs into the new. The kids get their new grade designations when their classes change at church.  This year all three are having formal lessons. Here is this year's lineup.

Princess Pink: Kindergarten

Phonics Pathways, Saxon Math 1, Italic Handwriting B, Bob Books, Abeka Readers, Apologia Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, and tagging along with Tapestry of Grace Year 3

Wild Thing: Second Grade

Phonics Pathways (just a few more pages), Italic Handwriting B and copywork, Saxon Math 3 followed by Singapore Math 2, First Language Lessons, Spelling Workout A, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, and Tapestry of Grace Year 3 Early Grammar

The Crafter: Seventh Grade

Rod and Staff Grammar 6 (we have 3 chapters left) followed by 7, Singapore Math 6b followed by Life of Fred Fractions and Life of Fred Decimals and Percents, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, Spelling Workout F and G, Drama through Christian Youth Theater, Mavis Beacon Typing Instructor, and Tapestry of Grace Year 3 dialectic level

Standardized Tests

The Crafter and Wild Thing take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills next week. Yearly testing is required in our state beginning at age seven. It will be Wild Thing's first time.

We work through a test prep book each year to prepare. We always find interesting holes in the children's educations. For example, this year Wild Thing had to complete the poem "I was walking by the lake. There I saw a black and yellow __________." His choices were a picture of a duck, a picture of a rabbit, and a picture of a snake. Poor Wild Thing was so confused. He asked if the duck was male or female. He was thinking drake. I said that my instructions didn't say anything about the duck and to go with the one that he knew. Sigh.

The Crafter needs to brush up on her emoticons. I kid you not. She was supposed to identify the one for being bored. On a serious note she also needs review her literary terms and some basic government. 

Next week shall tell the tale of how my homeschooled scholars measure up against the rest of the country. They may not do so well in "social studies", but I know the real story, and my son knows what a drake is.

Grimm Is Truly Grim

Wild Thing's literature in Tapestry of Grace has been Grimms' fairy tales.  My knowledge of fairy tales consists largely of Little Golden Books and Disney versions.  This has been my first exposure to the originals which were collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 19th century.  They are much darker than the sanitized versions of popular, cartoonish  story books.
The versions that TOG recommends are beautifully illustrated and true to the originals.  There are some disturbing elements though.  That's why you must ALWAYS preview reading material.  Did you know that Rapunzel was expecting twins when the witch threw her out of the tower?   That caught me off guard.  I ended up slightly editing the story.  Hansel and Gretel contained gruesome descriptions of how the old hag intends to butcher and boil the children.   I had to do a bit of editing here, too.  I wasn't able to get the suggested book for Rumpelstiltskin from the library, so I used Librivox.org to find an audio version.  Rumpelstiltskin literally tears himself in two with rage.

And here is where the trouble started.  After we listened to one story, the kids wanted another and another.  We listened to Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel.  Everything would have been okay if we had stopped with these, but curiosity got the best of us, and we listened to The Red Shoes.  Oh my!  The poor girl asked someone to cut off her feet to be rid of the endlessly dancing shoes.

The moral of this story is always preview.  Always.  We have handled these dark stories by discussing how life was harder when the stories were written and trying to discover a lesson to learn.  I'm glad that TOG puts cautions for parents into the weekly preview, but there is no substitute for parental vigilance.

Tapestry Fog

Sometimes you read something and think  "Nah, that won't happen to me."  Well, it happened.  I succumbed to the "Tapestry Fog".  It's a condition that affects new Tapestry of Grace users and lasts for about four weeks.

Symptoms of  "Tapestry Fog" begin when those shrink wrapped packages of paper arrive.  It's often mistaken for giddiness over new curriculum.   A sense of total elation accompanies the trip to Staples to purchase new, quality 3-inch binders.   The victim trembles with excitement as she assembles each unit.

Then the victim begins searching for the books that make TOG work.   The victim has no budget left for additional books because she spent it on TOG itself.  There's a feeling of panic as the victim realizes that very few of the suggested books are available through the local library.  The feeling is compounded when said library institutes a $2 fee for each interlibrary loan request.

Then it's time to plan lessons.  There's a feeling of uncertainty over which level to place each child, but a decision is made.  Then the questions begin:  Which books do we read for history?  Shouldn't we read as many as possible?  What day do we do geography?  What exactly is the Loom?  When are we going to find the time to follow all of those links?   If we do all of this, when are we going to do math?  If we do all of this, when are we going to eat?

The victim is now officially overwhelmed as the Tapestry threads seem to unravel each time she touches them.  There is no order, no direction.  The victim wails, "Dear God, what have I gotten us into?  I can't do this."  The fog has claimed another homeschool mom.

A week goes by.  Books are read.  Work gets done.  Maps get colored.  Hands on activities are completely omitted.  Prayers are said.  Week one ends up taking two weeks to do.   But then something happens.  The victim notices that the books are scheduled to last more than one week.  (It did say week 1 of 3 in the notes, but a victim of Tapestry Fog doesn't always notice such things.)  Week two brings a confidence to read one biography aloud for the family instead of having two biographies on two levels.  Week three finds the victim with no recommended books on inventors, but dad steps in and shows how to test batteries with his voltmeter.  Lego inventions are built.  Teacher's notes, encyclopedias,  and websites substitute for books.

Then it happens.  It is week four.  It's time to study Thomas Jefferson and Lewis and Clark.  But now there is no panic.  The fog has lifted.  Choices are made.  Projects are planned.  Library books are checked out.  There is no panicked rush to do every single thing in each thread in one week.  There is no urgency to do even do each thread.  The former victim of Tapestry Fog is now a cautiously confident Tapestry Mom.  She is capable of seeing TOG as a buffet where one picks and chooses what to do.

This mom could have saved herself a lot of trouble if she had done a little more research (Tapestry Blog) and lot more praying.  Once again I took it all on myself instead of letting go and letting God.

 

Books for Weeks 4 and 5

I Must Brag

Congratulations Crafter!!!

She earned a Silver Medal on The National Mythology Exam!

Glitter Graphics

Dem Bones

Some Assembly Required

Princess Pink with the Skeleton

Science Planning

We have finally (almost) finished Exploring Creation with Botany from Apologia.  We did not enjoy it as much as Exploring Creation with Astronomy.   It started off strong, but all of us fizzled out with it.  It's time for something new, so we are getting ready to start a study of the human body.  This is the first subject that I intend to do with all three children at the same time.  I am blending three different programs in hopes to appeal to the strengths of each child. 

Lyrical Life Science combines information with music.   Princess Pink is very musical.  I hope she enjoys the songs.  This book also contains the most in depth information, so it will form our spine.  The Crafter is the only one who will read the text.  We will all try to learn the songs.  This program came highly recommended from friend who has graduated two of her children.  Her oldest daughter said that she used the songs to help her with her college biology class.

The Body Book has plans on how to make a model of the entire body.  I think the Crafter will enjoy this one.

Blood and Guts has lots of experiments and hand-on activities.  This should appeal to Wild Thing. 

Wish us luck.