Multiplication

We've been being introduced to multiplication in a sneaky kind of way the past couple of weeks, and the past couple of days we've been doing full-blown multiplication, all without memorizing the multiplication chart! That will come in time (probably sooner than later) but now she's learning it by drawing it out in grids and other visual ways and by using small shaped pieces to line it all up on her desk. She's enjoying all this playing!

She's been studying ecosystems in science, which is pretty fascinating for her. She's working on a report on jackals for the composition part of language skills, and whenever we finish that I'll print that here. We just finished up a unit in adjectives in the GUM (grammar, usage and mechanics) segment of language skills. She's working on test readiness in literature and Italy in history. She's been painting and making clay models in art and I have a photo or two of that to show. Music is hopeless because although she's quite musically inclined, I'm not and I struggle to figure out the simplest things I'm supposed to be teaching her. On one lesson this week I gave up on trying to teach "crescendo" to her from the book and the supplied music and found a YouTube video of a fascinating performance of the orchestra classic (and childhood love of mine) "Bolero." Ahhh, much better!

She went on a field trip this week to the Governor's Mansion and learned more about their pets than anything else I think. I keep hearing about the Beebes' dog Viper and the Clintons' now-deceased cat Socks. Her dad went with her on the trip and it seemed more interesting to him than her!

We are looking forward to a few days off this coming week!

More on independence and working ahead

We are making good progress with working independently now that we are very familiar with how all the lessons work. We learned something in our conference with her teacher last week — if she knows the subject matter well, it is okay for her to not complete each lesson in the unit or all of each lesson. We also learned something else. It is okay for her to work ahead. Being able to skip parts of some lessons has enabled her to do a little more catching up and working ahead. Here is a picture of her working with her teacher and the other kids in her class during the conference last week.

Earlier this week she did an entire unit of science in about an hour. It was something she had already covered in school and we were having fun so we kept going until we were tired of it! She really enjoys science. We did some extra work on spelling and language this week as well. With her not starting in the school until a month and a half after everyone else did she has a bit of catching up to do but a good portion of this material she already knows because she had it at school.

A friendly letter

My daughter was working on a short unit on writing friendly letters and she wrote a letter to her grandparents. They've received it by now so I'll share it with everyone else:

(Written just as she wrote it, with all the corrections made, notice the date :D)

Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2010

Dear Ma and Pa,

I want to tell you about how I am doing in school. I am doing very well on everything except math. I have a little trouble with it. I think it is because I don't like it as much as I do everything else. I do very well on everything, and because of that I get stickers on every worksheet almost! And best of all I'm home schooled. Well see you next time I come to your house or next time I write a friendly letter.

Your granddaughter,
***

Independence

Schooling at home is going great now that we are on our fourth week. She is really enjoying it and I'm learning how to do her school and my work at the same time.

A couple of weeks ago I spend a day or so working on improving her speed and independence, but quickly gave that up in favor of encouraging independence. Her pace is quite unhurried and I thought I'd gently nudge her into working quicker in areas where she knows the subject matter, but it didn't really work out that well. I know her well enough to know to back off before she got flustered, which happens easily when she is hurried. We'll pick that up later (I guess).

Encouraging independence is working out well and of course my being more familiar with how the program works helps in that area too.

She is going to speak with her teacher tomorrow for the first time and she's excited about that. In the meantime I have to make sure the computer has whatever programs it needs for the conference and that I know how to operate them.

She has a paper that she's been working on for about a week and when it is finished I will publish it here.

What I learned in third grade today

I learned a lot in third grade today. The lessons include:

1. It's very easy and kind of expensive to have a very impressive collection of whiteboards and pens. But you need them all.
2. Ditto on the "post-it" products.
3. Teachers ask for plastic baggies on the school supply lists because they are excellent for storing everything.
4. If your science lesson that you started yesterday during school hours didn't go so well then, it's probably not going to go much better if you resume it after school hours today.
5. Math is much more fun when you can play with cubes and cards while you do it. And had I been able to play with neat stuff during math class way back when, I might have learned something.

Lots of assessments!

My daughter had lots of lesson and unit assessments today and did really well on all of them! We have added a large whiteboard to our growing collection of whiteboards and it was really useful today for displaying the assignments and checking them off. Tomorrow I will do a better job of organizing it and making it look more cheerful.

The school day went really well but afterward we tried to finish up a science lesson from yesterday but could not. It had an unusually large amount of information and an uncharacteristic lack of materials for her to read and study so we are going to work through it the rest of the week. That one lesson is about a week's worth of information for a third grader and the school normally has not seemed to put very much in one lesson so the whole thing was kind of odd. I made her some study sheets and practice sheets and am looking for photos online. Until now the school has provided all the study materials she has needed and then some.

First day of school with books!

Today was our first day of school with books! Our books and other assorted materials came yesterday evening so we were able to have a full day of school today. We have student and teacher books for almost every subject, along with all kinds of other printed materials. She's got modeling clay, an impressive artist's kit, a tambourine, a scientist's kit with goggles and a thermometer (she's fascinated with both) and more little plastic colored shapes (for math) than a preschooler's toy box!

Class went well today but I'm going to have to tweak our schedule — we need to get started earlier and not take so many breaks and I have to start doing all my work in the evenings and at night. I think we should have all this ironed out by the end of the week.

First week of school

Our first week of school at Arkansas Virtual Academy has been a whirlwind for sure! We got a phone call on Saturday, filled out online applications that night, filled out paper applications and got more paperwork from their schools on Monday and dropped it off at the ARVA office in Little Rock, and fielded phone calls from school representatives that evening. We went from elation at getting the phone call, wondering whether or not the girls had been accepted for sure, to disappointment that only one got in, all within a few days' time.

A massive amount of documents and instructions was dumped into my email on Tuesday, and I spent the rest of the week trying not to drown in them. Earlier today I was finally able to catch my breath and finish all the training so they could put my daughter's lessons up for her. Just as I was finishing watching a million orientation videos she said she was starting to get worried about school and that she felt she was getting behind. I assured her that she was not behind and that I was almost finished with what I had to do so that they could give her something to do. Sure enough, at around noon today, they put her lessons up and we got started!

Here she is doing a math lesson about odd and even numbers. We used pennies for counters because her supplies haven't arrived yet, and some index cards from a math game at her old school (and some I made just for the lesson). We also did spelling and of course she did her other work that I gave her that she's been doing all week.

Testing

We did testing yesterday, an assessment in reading and math that will help my daughter's school know where she is on everything. It was not timed so she was not pressured to perform. She got out her scratch paper for math and was reading everything out loud. I think she did well and she seemed to enjoy herself. I hope it gives her teacher and school a better picture of her abilities than the standardized test she took last spring shows. She did not do well on that one as she does not respond well to time limits; they fluster her and she still doesn't finish. There was a lot that she did not finish and some things that she would have done better on had she not been under tremendous pressure. Her report card from last year shows all A's all year long and that does not jibe with the average (and a few below average and a few above average) scores on the standardized test. So for those reasons I'm glad she took this untimed assessment.

As for me, I feel as if a ton of bricks has been dumped on my head with very little guidance as to how to navigate through it all. I'm trying to learn my way around the website for her school but it's quite frustrating and terribly overwhelming as there is so much there and I'm not sure what either of us is supposed to be doing. I'm getting a little help from her teacher but it's not nearly enough. I do not enjoy this feeling of inadequacy on my part but hope that things smooth out soon. I would have liked to have received some training on how to get through all of this and how to teach my daughter but it looks as I will be figuring that out as I go along.

Happy are the merciful

Today is a reading and writing day for both of us, as I have a lot of ARVA documents to read and review today! My student wanted to continue reading a book she started at her old school. It's "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli, so we checked that out of the library this morning and she's had her nose buried in it ever since. I love to see her reading and enjoying it as she did not start out her reading journey with much love a few years ago.

Before we could get her book I had her read and copy the daily text and comments, and then write her own thoughts about it. It had to be done very neatly and with no spelling errors, as there is just no excuse for misspelling words you are copying. She did do it very neatly and only a couple of spelling errors so I let that slide.

The scripture for today is Matthew 5:7, "Happy are the merciful, since they will be shown mercy."

Here are her thoughts and personal application (spelling errors included):

Merciful is not getting mad when someone brakes your stuff or something like that. Here's how I can show mercy to my sister ***. When she brakes one of my things I'll just go on and say well I'll just get another one.

LOL this was funny because her sister doesn't break her things, she takes them. They take each other's stuff and use it without asking. Her brother is the one who breaks her things!

Purple Triangles

My daughter has been studying the World War II concentration camps in her gifted and talented class at school. She is continuing this today at home while we wait on our books and materials for ARVA to arrive. She watched the video "Purple Triangles," which was shown on British television as part of the series "The Human Factor." It is the story of the Kusserow family, who refused to renounce their faith during the war. They were Jehovah's Witnesses, at that time a small but determined religious group. Among all the groups tortured by the Nazis, the Witnesses were the only group who could have escaped persecution because they were given the chance to renounce their faith and "heil Hitler." Of the thousands of encamped Witnesses, the vast majority refused this simple act and suffered (and died) for their faith.

My daughter has learned quite a bit about other groups, including the Jews, who were held hostage by the Nazis during the war.

Here is what she wrote after watching the video today.

*****

PURPLE TRIANGLES

Jehovah's Witnesses in concentration camps during World War II wore a purple triangle on their chest so the people of Germany would know that they were Jehovah's Witnesses. The Kusserow family was special in Jehovah's eyes. The head of the family fought against Hitler who was the Nazi leader. But no Kusserows live here today. Hans Kusserow was the third in his family. The eldest of the family walked to house to house talking to people who liked to hear about the Bible. The Witnesses began to lose their jobs and their money. Willheim, Hans' brother, was thrown into jail. Willheim's lawyer wrote to the family about before he went to jail. Hans Kusserow was thrown into the concentration camps. But then he got out but I don't know how. One scripture in the Bible says “you must not kill.” Annmarie Kusserow, the oldest sister, was free but was still in some place in Germany. Then Hilda, the mother, and her daughters were released. Some Jehovah's Witnesses were murdered.

*****

We are an Arkansas Virtual Academy family!

We are now an Arkansas Virtual Academy family! My younger daughter has been accepted into the third grade in this school and my older daughter is on the sibling waiting list for the sixth grade.

This is a public charter school that is based online and done at home. As a public school it is tuition-free with all books and materials supplied and all the accountability in place.

The site is www.k12.com/arva.

We have created this blog to share some of our girls' work and progress.