The Art of the Brick - Cincinnati Museum Center

The Art of the Brick is the special exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center right now. Philip had some time off yesterday so we decided to take the boys and go. It is a bit pricey - but was well worth it! Artist Nathan Sawaya uses Legos™ to recreate both masterpieces of art and original creations. His attention to detail and his use of dimension, color, and shadows are incredible. My boys are not into art but they are into Legos ™ and this was a really good way to introduce them to famous pieces in a medium they are attracted to. Pieces like The Starry Night by Van Gogh
 

Monet's San Giorgia at Dusk



What we found is that most of the pieces were best viewed from a distance with slightly squinted eyes to get a better image. Like the Mono Lisa.

   
The boys all really liked the recreation of the Rose Window in Notre Dame.



One of the largest creations was a replica of a Moai on Easter Island. The boys say it had 75,749 pieces....or something close to that.



The largest replica was a T-Rex skeleton with over 80,000 pieces.



Some others that we enjoyed were: Flying Cincinnati Pig.....you would have to live in Cincinnati to understand. Well.....actually I live in Cincinnati and I still don't understand entirely.

 

Fun day! Maybe a new use for the tubs of Legos™ around here?

School....Schoool.....School.....and more school.

When you homeschool it's not uncommon for that to be all you get done. This year there are 21 subjects over 4 grade levels, and then there is German (for Allan), Spanish (for Daniel), music, piano, art, and PE. So though my house is rarely in the shape I'd lik,e and laundry is not always washed, dried, and put away all in the same day - at least school is going well.

One of their favorite science experiments this month was growing bacteria on agar slides. If I had it to do over again, I'd double check to be sure that the person who washed their hands used soap and warm water. From the amount of bacteria on the handwashing slides we came to the conclusion a lesson in proper handwashing technique was in order......eewwwww.......

 We made our annual trip to the KY Wool Festival again this year and the boys chose to get a funnel cake instead of cotton candy - they were very impressed!

 You'd think Allan was already on the sugar high!

When not in school or otherwise occupied with practice or study - it's REALLY important that boys be outside expending their energy. They asked if they could dig a hole in the garden, ...I said yes...I didn't realize they were going to dig a bunker. 

But that's okay....as long as they fill it back in. 

Sometimes when I get my camera back I realize they occasionally do things that I don't want to know about. 

Stephen has entered the world of eyeglasses and patches but he's done really well and I'm thankful. He also lost another tooth......that we got to keep this time. The front tooth missing in this picture had to be removed by the dentist.....which is a whole other story that still makes me cringe every time I think about it. 

Our chickens began doing their molting thing when the days started getting shorter so egg production dropped way off. I got the light working in their coop and now production this week has reached 10 eggs a day so we're on the right track (chickens need 14 hours of daylight to sustain egg production). When they started back up they laid some really funky eggs, like this one: 

That had to have hurt! 

This week one day we heard the chickens making an awful commotion while we were doing school and we discovered a hawk was sitting on the gate to the run (at first we thought it was an owl). They were pitching an absolute fit! 

Philip was busy this week with the HLC accreditation for the grad program visit, Aldersgate Forum and now this morning he's speaking at Youth Convention. We're ready to settle into the slower pace of fall....my body is already wanting to start into hibernation with the early evenings! 

"End" of the School Year

Homeschooling is a bit different when it comes to "start of school" and "end of school".  Our school year started last July with a more casual start and then when daddy started back to school, it marked the beginning of our structured school year.


Stephen is still finishing Kindergarten. He's really struggled with phonics and I'm not going to rush this process. A few weeks ago he was having a particularly challenging day and he finally put his head down on his arm at the kitchen table where we were working and said, "Mom, by the time I get done with Kindergarten I'm going to be an old man"! Thankfully this third time through he's doing much better and we're hoping to graduate him the first of September.

The last month of school they had some special events that made "summer fever" a little less severe. They had the opportunity to learn and play a little basketball through our Christian school connected to the college. They enjoyed it .....as much as children who know nothing of basketball can. Before Daniel's first game he said, "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do"! I had to laugh but he wasn't the only one. Here are some clips of their first games.

Allan is number 9.

Daniel is number 2.

I'd heard some really good things about the art classes at the Lively Learning Lab so we decided to give it a try since art is one thing I have a hard time to find the time and energy for. The teacher was phenomenal! Very upbeat, positive about every stroke of the brush and did such a great job of breaking down the steps so that all of their artwork was done on their own and it turned out well. It helped to build their confidence while encouraging independence.

Watercolor:

Acrylic:

Silhouette:

And Chalk:

They enjoyed every class and I was impressed that they did so well.

We'd planned for Friday, May 29th to be our last day but the boys wanted to finish the courses they hadn't been able to finish. So after a two week break (which the teacher has needed!) they will work on those at their own pace while I continue to work with Stephen. Plans are to start up the first of July again - the boxes have already arrived.....but I've not finished cleaning and organizing from last year - that's part of my "to-do" list for this month and then I can organize next year's materials.

Snow, Homeschooling, and Drama

The week before Thanksgiving we had a wonderful wet snow that was perfect for sledding and building snowmen. My boys spend HOURS outside when it snows and though the mess makes extra work, I'm so thankful that they enjoy it so much. 

Yesterday it was fun to be out an about during a sleeting/slush squall - it was so pretty and helped break the dreary rainy spell we've been having.

Daniel working on a model of the earth's parts.

Fall art projects are about to be put away.

One of Allan's most detestable subjects this year is spelling. The other day he was struggling with his assignment and he slipped out of his chair onto the floor. His spelling paper was on his chest and his hands were clasped over his heart. With a pained expression he said, "Tell dad I loved him!". We all hooted and I thought once again, "I don't need girls to have all the drama I can handle."

We gearing up for Christmas and looking forward to the school break and having time together as a family. Hope you all have a good week!

For Fellow Ohio Homeschoolers

Every year I get a call or two from  homeschooling mommies here in Ohio asking questions about the law, what the requirements are for filing, ect. So....I decided to sit down as I'm filling out this year's paperwork and do a tutorial that I hope will be helpful.

This is the Ohio Homeschooling Law:
A Legal Analysis can be found here. This simply means that any parent with a high school diploma can teach their child at home provided they agree to provide 900 hours of education in the areas required. If you have any further questions about the specifics of the law feel free to contact me.

What has to be filed each year:
Every year the following must be filed for children ages 6-18:
A parent must provide an annual notification to homeschool to the local superintendent which shall 
include (Ohio Admin. Code § 3301-34-03(A)):
a. School year for which notification is made;
b. Name and address of the parent, and full name and birth date of child;
c. Name and address of person(s) who will be teaching the child, if other than the parent;
d. Assurance that the homeschool will include the required subjects listed above (“except that home 
education shall not be required to include any concept, topic, or practice that is in conflict with the 
sincerely held religious beliefs of the parent”); 
e. A brief outline of intended curriculum and list of textbooks or other basic teaching materials; 
“Such outline . . . [and] list is for informational purposes only”; and
f. Assurance of hours and qualifications.

Step One: Part A
Every year you homeschool, a letter must be sent to your school district stating that you intend to homeschool. The letter will include the information listed in a-d and f written in typical business letter style.

 To see my sample letter click here.

Part B. 
What is a bit confusing is letter "e" which states: A brief outline of intended curriculum and list of textbooks or other basic teaching materials; “Such outline . . . [and] list is for informational purposes only”  The "brief outline" is not the same as "Textbooks or other teaching material". These will be two separate lists.

The "brief outline" is simply the scope and sequence of the curriculum that you're using. In my case, I simply print of the Scope and Sequence pages from the BJUP website . If your curriculum publisher doesn't have anything listed online, they should be able to send you a printed copy that you can use for filing purposes.

Part C. 
The "list of textbooks" is simply that. The following subjects have to be covered every year for every grade:
Language, reading, spelling, writing, geography, history of the 
United States and Ohio, government, math, science, health, physical 
education, fine arts (including music), first aid, safety, and fire 
prevention. Ohio Admin. Code § 3301-34-03(A)(5).

For each of these there needs to be a list of materials you intend to use to teach the concepts. Now, a question I get asked a lot is, "Do you teach Ohio history every year? What about fire, safety, and first aid?" Our curriculum (history and science) touches on each of these areas every year to varying degrees. What I try to do is just take a week to spend some extra time going over fire safety and prevention, and every time they get hurt we go over first aid care. I do use a health textbook as my launching point and go from there. So, I don't teach them as individual courses but I try to be thorough enough that they have more than a cursory introduction to those subject areas.

A sample textbook list can be found here.

Part D. 
Also needed at the time of notification is one of the three assessment options permitted by law. This is necessary if you're child is older than 6 and completed a grade. For example: All my children have been 6 years old going into first grade. But because reporting is not needed for work done before 6 years old, I don't send in any reports from kindergarten. When I file for first grade there is no assessment forms. When I file for second grade then I send the reports from first grade at the same time.

The most common forms of assessment are portfolios and standardized test scores. I'm a tester for BJU Press Testing and Evaluation Services  and have found it so easy to just print out my reports from my account and put them with my other paperwork. Another option is to provide the assessment from your previous year's portfolio.

Step Two: 
Once you have compiled your
1. Letter of Notification
2. List of Textbooks
3. "Outline" = Scope and sequence
4. Assessment report
then you're ready to mail it to your school district. You'll want to address the letter to your school superintendent and may need to call your district to get this information.

After the school district receives your information, they have 14 days to notify you of any missing or incomplete reports and you have another 14 days to resubmit. Any time that I've neglected to include some item of information my school district has been quick to get back with me. But I try to always have my paperwork mailed by the first of August. If you mail it later, it may take them longer because of the work-load they have with students starting back to school.

I hope this helps - feel free to leave feedback on areas that need to be expanded, anything I missed, or any questions. Hope you have a Happy Homeschool Year!

Homeschooling this week

Homeschooling has had it's moments this week -
Daniel is learning the concept of compound words. But my examples were not convincing to him. He understood "sunshine" and "rainbow" but then I gave him a list of words and he had to tell me if they were compound words or not.
Neighbor - "neigh" - sound a horse makes, "brrrrr" - sound you make when you're cold. Comfort - "come" and "fert" - what you yell when you throw a ball .....    ?????? Then he burst out laughing!

Stephen was sitting here in the school room repeatedly pressing his hand against his ear. I asked him what he was doing. His eyes got big and he said, "What's that squitchy sound in my ear?"

We made puffy paint snowmen (shaving cream mixed with glue and sprinkled with iridescent glitter) and even took a half day on Tuesday to play in the snow.

Trip to the Zoo

We joined a homeschool group from THINK (Teaching Homes In Northern Kentucky) to have a Cincinnati Zoo field trip. I used to be able to go to places and within two hours my guys were done and we'd come home. Now we're having to come home because mommy is done!

Picture with the resident Sumatran Rhinoceros.

Allan with a Takin.

 Daniel with a camel.

I think this is what did it - we took four rides in a row and my stomach just whirled afterwards.....ugghhhhhh.

 Mr. Manatee came right up to the window.

First Two Weeks of School

For anyone who homeschools, they know the first four weeks are hard.......and the last four weeks are hard. Every year I mentally go into "Survival Mode" for the first month. This means every other activity other than homeschooling is kept to a bare minimum so we all don't burn out. Thankfully, this year wasn't as difficult as some others - in fact we've had some very delightful times.

Allan is working on nailing down his addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts to 12 so that Math can go more quickly. He'll soon be there! I found this nifty Kindle book that works like flashcards for multiplication (now why didn't I think of something like that!). He's also working diligently on his Typing Skills so that he doesn't have to do so much physical writing when it comes to his longer compositions. Many an idea has been lost or greatly edited between the brain and the fingers so he has to write as little as possible.

Daniel is very diligently working on his phonics and reading but Math, Science, and History are "easy". He, like his brother, doesn't enjoy the physical process of writing so I think he'll soon be starting Typing Instructor too.

Stephen just started Kindergarten this week and thinks he has this "school thing" down pat! Today he finished and said, "That was short, I think I'll do today's next day's work (tomorrow's work)" and he did! He's so tickled that now he gets to watch Mrs. Lawson and Hopscotch just like his brothers have.

We've spent the last two weeks in music studying and listening to Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. Earlier this summer I had allowed them to watch the old cartoon version and they thought it was hilarious - which it is but I wanted them to appreciate it a little more than just for the funny antics of the cartoon characters. So I found the Vancouver Symphony doing a fine job with both the music and the story line and had them watch it. I quite surprised at how much they enjoyed seeing the instruments being played once they knew what each instrument represented and it gave them room for their imaginations to take over - so that they were acting it out as they listened. We finished by listening to the Classics for Kids program on the piece to round out this study.

Since it's the beginning of the year, we're sticking to crafts for art during the first few weeks instead of formal art instruction. They're all on such different levels that it's going to take me some time to get my head together to make our art curriculum work for all three of them. And it may not work - we'll just have to see.

And this year for PE we found a program specifically for homeschoolers and so we're giving it a whirl to see how things go.

Busy, busy days but such fun to be learning together!

First Day of School

It's that time of year - Allan entered 4th grade, Daniel is finishing 1st grade, and Stephen is starting (in 2 weeks) Kindergarten. I read this article the other day and got excited all over again about being involved in Christian education. What a blessing!