MamaSquirrel has posted some great ideas for doing elementary math without a formal math program.
How To Harness Metacognitive Decision-Making
To organize a homeschool co-op requires an awesome team of innovative planners. The e-mails keep flying as we attempt to generate dynamic problem-solving strategies. Our goal for the fall semester is to orchestrate learning intensive experiences that will encourage real-world critical thinking in our upper-level students, while at the same time maximizing developmentally- appropriate enrichment for our preschool and elementary communities.
Now you, too, can talk just like a school system bureaucrat with this handy-dandy Educational Jargon Generator. Have fun!
[Hat tip: Matthew Tabor.]
Spring, the Season for Planning…
Oops! No Alexandria Jones post this week. My writing time has been overtaken by the monster school supply catalog (“Mom, haven’t you ordered my books yet?!“) and by yesterday’s co-op planning meeting and today’s 13 (so far!) follow up emails.
Planning a homeschool co-op is a little bit like juggling kittens. No matter how careful you are, something is going to get scratched. Several of the classes I was hoping for did not draw enough interest in the public polling, but of those that remain, I would like my students to study:
dd#1 — drama, photography, sewing, Spanish, writing, guitar, and biology lab
ds — drama, photography, writing, Spanish, guitar, PE/health, and maybe biology
dd#2 — art, sewing, cooking, music, science, and maybe PE/health
[Wouldn’t you know it, not a single one of my kids wants to take any of their mom’s math classes. 🙂 ]
Problem: We only offer three class periods. And dd#1 plans to teach karate during one of those time slots.
Well, whatever else works or doesn’t work out, I sure hope we can get the lady who took these pictures to teach that photography class.
Homeschool Burnout? 10 Tips for Coping
[Rescued from my old blog.]
Spring cleaning has made my desk look worse than before. Nobody feels like studying. The kids would rather be outside, and their mom would rather take a nap. Sound familiar? It is our annual attack of homeschool burnout.
If you, too, are suffering from lethargy and can’t face another day of school work, here are some ideas that have helped me:
(1) Re-read the homeschooling books on your shelves, or get some new ones from the library. Try to read about one a month, if you can, to help get your enthusiasm back. And then read at least one new homeschooling book per year to help you stay inspired.
(2) Connect with other homeschoolers. Meet with friends for tea, or have a Mom’s Night Out while Dad babysits.
(3) Attend support group meetings. I find that after so many years, I let the meetings slide. I think, I already know everything they are going to say. But being with other homeschoolers is encouraging, and if you find out that you can help a new homeschooler with advice, that gives you a boost, too.
Introducing Alexandria Jones
It began with some 4th-8th grade friends who met in my dining room to work math puzzles and play games. At first, a few of the kids wondered how anyone could have fun with math. But we did enjoy ourselves, and Math Club grew until we couldn’t fit anyone else around the table.
Thou Surly Bat-Fowling Hugger-Mugger!
Here is another highlight from my “To blog about it someday” folder: the Shakespearean Insulter. What fun!
There’s no room for faith, truth, nor honesty in this bosom of thine.
It is all filled up with guts and midriff.Taken from: Henry IV, part I
And if you are interested in actually studying the bard, here are some links you may enjoy:
Shakespeare. Yes, again. And again.
Advice on teaching Shakespeare to children.Bardolatry
Many links to teaching advice, book recommendations, and more.
There is no reason to put off Shakespeare until your student reaches high school. My then-kindergardener enjoyed the Trevor Nunn version of Twelfth Night so much that she wanted to get her hair cut, “So I can pretend to be a boy.” This is homeschooling at its best: each of us learning at our own level — and loving it.
The “Are You a Homeschooler?” Quiz
It is spring cleaning week at our house, and I thought I’d do some virtual cleaning, too. So from a folder where I stuff the “To blog about sometime” websites comes this quiz. It claims to determine whether you deserved your high school diploma — Ha! There is no way I could remember anything from that long ago.
So tell me, what did the quiz really measure?
Twaddle-Free Math Handouts
For anyone who can’t make it to Peoria this weekend but is still interested in my math workshops — and just in case we run out of handouts at said workshop — I am posting my math handouts here. These are pdf files, so if you have a sluggish dial-up connection like ours (ah, the joys of rural life!), you can right-click and save each file as a download.
In Honor of the Standardized Testing Season…
[Feature photo above by Alberto G. (CC-BY-SA-2.0) via flickr.]
The school experience makes a tremendous difference in a child’s learning. Which of the following students would you rather be?
I continued to do arithmetic with my father, passing proudly through fractions to decimals. I eventually arrived at the point where so many cows ate so much grass, and tanks filled with water in so many hours. I found it quite enthralling.
— Agatha Christie
An Autobiography
…or…
“Can you do Addition?” the White Queen asked. “What’s one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?”
“I don’t know,” said Alice. “I lost count.”
“She can’t do Addition,” the Red Queen interrupted. “Can you do Subtraction? Take nine from eight.”
“Nine from eight I can’t, you know,” Alice replied very readily: “but—”
“She can’t do Subtraction,” said the White Queen. “Can you do Division? Divide a loaf by a knife — what’s the answer to that?”
“I suppose—” Alice was beginning, but the Red Queen answered for her. “Bread-and-butter, of course.”
“She can’t do sums a bit!” the Queens said together, with great emphasis.— Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass
…in other words…
If you could lead through testing, the U.S. would lead the world in all education categories. When are people going to understand you don’t fatten your lambs by weighing them?
— Jonathan Kozol
at Westfield State College’s 157th Commencement
Continue reading In Honor of the Standardized Testing Season…
The Case of the Mysterious Story Problem
[Feature photo above by Carla216 via flickr (CC BY 2.0). This post was rescued from my old blog.]
I love story problems. Like a detective, I enjoy sifting out clues and solving the mystery. But what do you do when you come across a real stumper? Acting out story problems could make a one-page assignment take all week.
You don’t have to bake a pie to study fractions or jump off a cliff to learn gravity. Use your imagination instead. The following suggestions will help you find the clues you need to solve the case.
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 