The Tempest

Arielle's last literature assignment was to read Shakespeare's The Tempest. Her teacher advised her to get a side-by-side version with the original text next to the modern English. I don't know that Arielle tried reading the original at all. She is a voracious reader but likes ideas more than poetic words.

Her writing assignment was to choose a scene and set it in modern times and re-write the story. What a struggle this has been for her! Arielle is a good writer. Last year our evaluator told us that one of her papers would fulfill a high school requirement, and she was only 12 then. She is good at research papers or any task that requires logical thinking. She is one who likes worksheets and writing that is concrete and well-defined. This assignment has been a challenge. She doesn't like to create characters or stories.

Liana is on the other end of the spectrum. She hates worksheets and any assignment that confines her to a set parameter. She had one lesson that required her to write a story from three pictures. She did not like this at all. It was boring and pointless to her. But an open-ended writing lesson that gives her the liberty to create exhilarates her. Right now she is working on a novel about two friends during Civil War times. This was not an assignment, just something she wanted to do.

We all think differently and learn differently. I can't wait to see how God will use my two daughters' unique gifts as they grow to be women.

Another Great Book

The girls and I love audio books for the car. I used to think we don't really travel enough to hear a whole book, but that's not true. We spend more time on the road than we think. We just finished Newberry Medal winner Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. This version was read by Hope Davis and her rendering was delightful.

This is not a Christian book, but it is well-written with a multi-layered plot. It is funny, tender and heart-breaking all at the same time. Serious life issues arise in the story and they gave opportunity for some discussion. The vividly portrayed characters are unforgettable.

It is not for early elementary ages. Liana is eleven and I wouldn't recommend this for a child younger than she is.

Science for Arielle

Arielle says she hates science. Supposedly, no topic interests her. Two years ago she was with me at a homeschool fair and we met the author of a new science curriculum and Arielle decided maybe she would like to try chemistry. (She was thinking bubbling, messy, exciting projects.) She did not like this book.

In the elementary years, when kids are just exploring science topics, I think it is good to let them choose what interests them. One year Liana was very interested in birds and we studied Jeannie Fulbright's Flying Creatures. Liana had a lot of fun and we did science without complaint. Not so with Arielle.

Last year I decided it was time for more serious science and I bought Jay Wile's General Science . It looked intimidating, even to me. Then our evaluator recommended we do something else for the 7th grade year. (We will use General Science this fall for 8th grade. Somehow it doesn't look so scary now.) The evaluator sold us a short, one semester book called Earth's Waters. By the time Arielle got to oceanography, she admitted it was a "little bit interesting."

My goal was to start both girls with Jeannie Fulbright's new Anatomy and Physiology in January. We were a little late, but we did start and have finished the first chapter. Arielle is reading it on her own and then we do the projects all together. FINALLY! I think we hit on something. Arielle actually said she likes it! And this is a girl who claimed she wants nothing to do with anything medical.

So what makes this science different? The book is written in a conversational tone, but it doesn't talk down to the kids. The first chapter is a brief history of medicine and then a study of cells and the function of the organelles. The girls made a cell diagram and labeled the parts. Then they made a model of a cell with gelatin and candies. That was a big hit. They also mummified an apple to get an idea of how bodies were preserved by the Egyptians. We bought the notebooking journal too. It has fun ways to interact with the text, including lapbook ideas and crossword puzzles. Over the course of the year the girls will make a model of themselves and then add on the body systems with transparencies. They already started this by cutting out a picture of their heads and gluing them to a paper doll body.

We're off to a good start! Today we are de-calcifying some chicken bones.

Hospital Field Trip

For National Heart Month, we visited a hospital's cardiac unit as a field trip. The girls were not at all interested in going, but a friend had invited us. Years ago when I was a nurse I never wanted to work with cardiac patients, but I was fascinated by the new technology and quite impressed with how patients are diagnosed and treated.

The best part of the trip was a demo in progress in one of the surgical suites. A mannequin was lying on the table, draped as a patient would be in actual surgery. The heart catherization monitor, along with an exposed leg, was set up for the visitors to see and hold. The actual person who runs the heart-lung machine was there to demonstrate, and a model of a heart was visible, just as it would be in surgery. Kids could step up to the table and actually touch it. A surgical nurse stood by her table of instruments to explain how they were used. It was all quite amazing to me. As for the girls, well, they made it clear they have no interest in the medical field. They think all things medical are "gross."

Great Books

I got an e-mail from Amazon. They have a feature called "Essential Books" for children. You can search by age for supposedly great books for kids. I haven't checked it out yet. But it reminded me of two books Liana and I would recommend for their lists. Together we read two delightful William Steig books.

The first we read was Dominic. I'd never heard of this book until my son Dominic sent me a link for it. It sounded like a fun book, even more so because the character of Dominic in the book sounded a lot like my Dominic! Both Dominics get restless and go off to explore the world. We got the book from the library and loved it so much that I bought it for Liana for her birthday to keep forever.

I also bought her Abel's Island and we just finished it yesterday. This book has a mouse character who is stranded on an island for a year and learns a lot of lessons about life and himself during his time of loneliness and hardship.

Both books should be read aloud! The language is rich and clever. The themes are timeless and the characters lovable. Dominic and Abel grow and discover and learn and develop. The endings of both books make you clap and cheer. Read them! I just ordered another Steig book called The Real Thief. Liana and I don't want the adventures to end.

Sick Day

This blog is so neglected. The days go by in a blur and I often don't take time to reflect. We are busy with school, but it is hard to stop and think exactly what we're doing and then compose a blog entry. Liana had to take the California Achievement Test last month, so we spent some time preparing for that. We had lots of snow, which meant lots of time outside shoveling. January went by in a whirlwind. Today we have howling winds, literally. It is cold, and two sick girls are lying around on the furniture moaning and complaining--fever, headaches, sore throats. Poor babies. So, of course, no school.

But I've been busy today: cleaning the guinea pig cages, ironing, washing and folding clothes, making soup, vacuuming, doing dishes, and tending to my girls. I read two chapters of Abel's Island to Liana, but she is too sick to much enjoy it. So the day is quickly passing. How do I have time to do homeschooling anyway, I ask? We did no school work, yet I was busy all day. If we'd done school work, those chores would not have been done. So how does one do homeschooling AND chores? Well, in my case, it's near impossible. School comes first, so you can imagine what my house looks like on a normal day. Today, it looks pretty good, except for the blankets and tissues and trash bins alongside the sofa in the living room.

Year End Reflections

The past few months have been overwhelming with lots of interruptions while I try to keep my daughters on target with their education. As 2010 draws to a close, I think back on where we are and where we are heading.

The postcard project was a big disappointment. Within days my girls sent out dozens of postcards. A few trickled in back to them, but they came so slowly that the girls lost interest. Many we did receive were not "real" postcards but ones that were ordered on-line without a real picture of the area where the family lived. Also, the children did not write the postcards, as my girls did, but general info was pasted on the card. They weren't personal at all.

Liana has to take the California Achievement Test in January. She is stressed about it. She hates being timed and noise bothers her when she is working. In our state, I cannot administer the test. It has to be given by a certified teacher, so the homeschool co-op at our church offers this service every January. Liana doesn't pay attention to detail, so she doesn't notice misspelled words or punctuation errors. We have been steadily working on her Teaching Textbooks math program but I don't feel it is up to par with some other programs. Arielle has to take the test next year for 8th grade. I think I will give it to her at the end of this year as a practice so we will better know what to expect next year. (Tests I administer cannot be turned in to our school district.)

We did not reach our goals in science. Arielle had a short book on the study of the earth's water that our evaluator suggested to gently direct her to more serious science next year. We still have a few more weeks to go. Liana is almost finished with Zoology 3, which she has enjoyed. I want the girls to both complete these books so we can do Jeannie Fulbright's Anatomy all together for the rest of the year. Next year Arielle will tackle Jay Wile's General Science.

We spent the past few month studying South America. This has been a great adventure mostly because we ended up learning the story of the five missionaries killed in Ecuador in the 1950's. Arielle read an excerpt from Through Gates of Splendor and she read the book Bruchko by Bruce Olson, and then we watched End of the Spear. I am fascinated with this story and the outcome of this tribe who became Christians. Then Liana and I watched a recent documentary about these people and I read Steve Saint's book End of the Spear, which is a much more detailed account of what happened after the spearing. Highly recommended! We have just a few countries left to study in South America and then we will go back to American History, post-Civil War. That doesn't seem quite so exciting.

Arielle has her second literature class next week. Her assignment: read an autobiography or biography and write a short summary of the book. Then interview a live person in the same profession and tie it in to the story. That's why she read Bruchko. Today she is interviewing a friend of mine who returned from a misson trip to Peru this year.

Our home is filled with music again! Arielle got a guitar for her birthday and Liana got a violin for Christmas. Liana will have some lessons from a friend of ours who is a professional violinist, but Arielle is learning on her own and doing quite well!