My girls were supposed to take the California Achievement Test with the homeschool co-op at our church. But they were both sick with high fevers that day--after all our hard work in preparing them! It was very discouraging. But why do I get so stressed over things like this? God always has a better plan. Since they couldn't be tested with the group, my friend came over today to test them. They were in their familiar home with a woman they know. It took away all their apprehension and I'm sure they did well.
My friend has two children she homeschools--her 14-year-old boy, recently adopted from Russia, and her 8-year-old daughter who is Liana's best friend. She put her kids in the car and drove halfway to my house. I put my kids in the car and met her at the halfway point. We then switched kids and went to each other's homes. I supervised her children in their school work and she administered the test to my children. When my girls finished, I drove her kids back to my house and we all had lunch together. Mom swap! I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her children. It was fun getting to know her son Jacob a little better. I found out he has a great sense of humor! He was very proud of the two math books he has already completed and wanted to show me his work. And little Julia was so eager to share her lessons with me. We read some books together and did an oral spelling quiz. It turned out to be quite a pleasant day--the Big Test Day I had dreaded for so long!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Lapbooks
Last summer at the SEARCH conference, I partipated in a mini-workshop on lapbooking. I was so excited about this method of teaching. I just knew the girls would love it. At the used book sale I found a FREE old set of World Book Encyclopedias. What a pain to haul them out to the car stack by stack, but I knew they would be invaluable for cutting out pictures for the lapbooks. Before school started I stocked up on file folders and card stock. Still motivated by the conference, Liana and I even started a lapbook on the orchestra. That was her latest craze. So what happened? Liana's excitement remained, but mine dwindled off. My creative ideas fizzled out. I just couldn't think how to put it together.
We started school and Liana occasionally asked when we were going to continue her book. I put her off. Too many other "important" things to do. Then one night, just last week, someone posted a question about lapbooks on one of my yahoo groups. Someone else sent some links. I checked them out. Then I knew we must get back to this idea. Why? Because it is very appealing to Liana, my right-brained, imaginative child.
I gave the girls an option--create a lapbook on one of the topics we are studying or a book they are reading. Arielle has been reading Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan. Something in history? How about the transcontinental railroad? Science? How about Isaac Newton? How about birds? Liana wanted to do birds. "But aren't we going to finish my book on the orchestra?" she asked. Arielle said she wanted to do birds too, although she isn't studying birds. (She was not so enthusiastic about this project.) She chose to do hers on woodpeckers since we have seen several in our yard this winter. Liana is doing hers on lessons from her book Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.
Liana LOVES working on her book. She cuts out pictures and glues them in. She draws pictures . She has her own ideas about what the book should look like and what she wants to include. She writes long descriptions of her bird topics. That is the best part of this project. Without complaining, she writes and writes. She is learning to organize her thoughts and express herself. I don't hassle her about spelling.
Arielle has already stalled out. She half-heartedly searched for information on woodpeckers. She wasn't interested in reading what she found. This lapbook thing is not her medium. Unless maybe woodpeckers just isn't her topic. Maybe she is too old for this?
We're beginning a study on Vincent Van Gogh. I can see this making a great lapbook. Maybe I can interest Arielle in this one. Liana will not want to do another one until her bird book is finished and yes, the orchestra book too. Infinite possibilities for lapbooks!
We started school and Liana occasionally asked when we were going to continue her book. I put her off. Too many other "important" things to do. Then one night, just last week, someone posted a question about lapbooks on one of my yahoo groups. Someone else sent some links. I checked them out. Then I knew we must get back to this idea. Why? Because it is very appealing to Liana, my right-brained, imaginative child.
I gave the girls an option--create a lapbook on one of the topics we are studying or a book they are reading. Arielle has been reading Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan. Something in history? How about the transcontinental railroad? Science? How about Isaac Newton? How about birds? Liana wanted to do birds. "But aren't we going to finish my book on the orchestra?" she asked. Arielle said she wanted to do birds too, although she isn't studying birds. (She was not so enthusiastic about this project.) She chose to do hers on woodpeckers since we have seen several in our yard this winter. Liana is doing hers on lessons from her book Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.
Liana LOVES working on her book. She cuts out pictures and glues them in. She draws pictures . She has her own ideas about what the book should look like and what she wants to include. She writes long descriptions of her bird topics. That is the best part of this project. Without complaining, she writes and writes. She is learning to organize her thoughts and express herself. I don't hassle her about spelling.
Arielle has already stalled out. She half-heartedly searched for information on woodpeckers. She wasn't interested in reading what she found. This lapbook thing is not her medium. Unless maybe woodpeckers just isn't her topic. Maybe she is too old for this?
We're beginning a study on Vincent Van Gogh. I can see this making a great lapbook. Maybe I can interest Arielle in this one. Liana will not want to do another one until her bird book is finished and yes, the orchestra book too. Infinite possibilities for lapbooks!
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