Eating Well

"Under the fence / Catch the sheep / Back we go / Off we leap"

Today Judd the Red Chicken had a treat. His favorite teacher (now retired from the public school system) teaches knitting, and so we have arranged for two knitting lessons a month (it's the last class we can add before I start donating plasma). He has wanted to learn how to knit for at least three years, so the stars certainly aligned for him on this one. In fact, he is so peacefully cheerful (THE balance one hopes for with a nine-year old boy... the other cheerful -- the explosive spastic kind -- makes me question the very principle of reproduction) that he agreed to teach The Girl how to knit once he gets it down. Makes me warmer inside than a cardigan and thick socks ever can. 

Here's what's brilliant -- other than that cute little rhyme that helps him remember how to create stitches, and a discussion on wool -- he's also learning MATH. Today the two knitters chatted about things like: "diameter" and "circumference." Fingers crossed that he will have to eat his words (those words being: I hate math and I don't agree that it's useful). If anybody can bring about word-eating it will be this teacher. She doesn't force-feed; she makes things appealing. 

I have some words to eat. I believe I documented here that I am leaving the kids to their own self-regulation when it comes to reading and submitting book reports. If they want their bank accounts to increase then they put the work in without prodding. I have stepped completely and totally out of it, and in so doing am providing a rich opportunity for success or failure... a lesson in self-motivation... an untainted case study in causal determinism. 

Except here's the thing: I really like reading the book reports. 

So I might have heard myself -- perhaps more than once -- maybe, sort of, almost providing the most modicum of modicums of encouragement to get going on the book reports. 

Now that I'm aware of it I'm going to totally snap back -- becoming once again the disinterested banker.

Here's why I'm hungry for more -- at the end of the form there are the questions: "What did you learn? What will you do differently?"

A snippet from the report on Ramona Forever:

"I learned that I should be nice to [Judd the Red Chicken] because it sounds tarribel when Beezus and Ramona fight so I should not do it."

From J.T. -- a tender book from the 70's:

"I learned that cats like bread. I think I'll not take a privete bathroom for granted." 

Glimpses inside my kids' minds -- it's what my son called his hot cocoa yesterday -- "the juice... no... no...  the nectar of the angels." 

We're All Wrapped Up

I'm kind of freaking out about math. I can't figure out how much is a "normal" amount that we should be doing. It's the one lingering insecurity that I have about the scheme, and I'm not sure if it's because math has always caused me angst (when I have those nightmares that are equal parts panic and deep sorrow about being in college and realizing that I was supposed to be going to class all semester and somehow I haven't been and now the semester is over and life doesn't seem to be worth living because for some reason I haven't been going to that class... it's always a math class), OR if it's because the kids really need more to stay on track. I'm also not sure if it's the most awesome thing ever, or lame that my life is so entwined with my kids' right now that I can't rightly figure out if MORE math is about me or them... 

Anyway, here's one more part to our curriculum puzzle -- Learning Wrap-Ups. The kid wraps the string from the first number to the answer and then back to the second number and then to that answer, etc. until the end. Then he/she flips it over and checks to see if the string's criss-crosses match with the pattern on the back. We have the multiplication set, and we like it well enough that I will probably get others. Its strength is that the student can practice independently and check his/her work in a way that is kind of fun. 

Today we had "school pictures" with a creative and patient photographer -- Maria Hunter. I highly recommend her if you are looking for somebody in the NYC-area who is kind with children in a genuine way (I can't stand the fake-enthusiastic voices that are tinged with irritation... not that my kids are ever irritating during a photo shoot... because that might mean that today I might have actually whispered threatening words into a sweet child's ear when I had had it up to my eyeballs with certain antics... I'm just saying that hypothetically if a kid were being irritating, Maria would be very cool). The concept is pretty fun and I will definitely share the finished product when it's ready... it has something to do with multiples... 

Practical Tidbit

There are a lot of online options that support home schooling plans. I'd rather we spend our screen time watching YouTube clips of Lenny and the Squigtones, or the awesome video of the Jackson 5 with Carol Burnett. That is how The World Wide Web can enhance lives and expand awareness.  

There is a program that I've decided to use to help subsidize with our Math lessons. It's called IXL. We have to pay for it, but what I appreciate is that, yes, it has lessons per grade, but it also has a section called "Standards Alignment." These are lessons that are aligned with each of the 50 states and the Common Core (cue melancholy, with a touch of sinister, music).

The format is basically just drill, drill, drill until they get enough answers correct to "master the skill." Being a Master gives them the right to click on a star and a little picture of an animal or something materializes (!!!). I'm not saying that it's fun or creative. I just think that it's a practical, if small, part of the puzzle. 

Adding It Up

Adding two numbers to arrive at the sum of ten.  

When researching important math foundation skills I learned that the more automatic this is, the better, and surprisingly many students are still actually counting each time (albeit quickly) rather than it being an automatic response.  Aside from our time-telling, this first full week was about playing various games to automatize this skill.  We had a quiz that they took daily and they timed themselves -- each subsequent day trying to beat, not each other, but their own best time.  The Sister created a fishing game and a bingo game -- both with the premise of a number being presented, e.g. 6, and their marker/answer being the other number -- 4 -- needed to reach ten.  Today at the Central Park zoo the kids made up word problems (e.g. "There were 2 Red Pandas.  The zookeeper got 8 more.  Now there are 10 Red Pandas.").  I won't say that by this point we were beating a dead horse because we haven't moved on to subtraction yet... ("There were ten horses...").  Actually, I can't say it because I saw The Girl's face crumble the first time she ever heard that phrase.  No matter how many times I said, "It's just a phrase..." She kept rebutting with, "It doesn't matter.  Why would anybody say something so mean?"  Dead horse beatings aside, I do feel confident that we can start incorporating other concepts into our math regime.

I'm happy to report that their first essay has come off well.  They wrote about their experience with the exotic birds at Bryant Park, and while there was some grumbling about the revision process ("What do you mean I have to write it again?"), they were both proud of their finished product.  

Today after the running club, my sister took the kiddos to the playground while I went and did some further shuffling about by myself.  I find these times critical to clear my mind.  Sometimes I'm able to chat with my older sister on the phone (she accepts the wheezing and gasping and provides creative insight and constant support), and other times I just zone out with or without music.  Today, listening to Jens Lekman, I was trying to sort out what the magic formula might be... What ingredients, what balance did I need to strike for my two little pupils to be successful.  I fully understand that 3 and 7 add up to the same solid, holistic ten as 4 and 6.  My concern is just making sure that I'm not offering a 5 and 6 and leaving them standing with a gangly 11... Or worse, 5 and 4 and coming up short.  Knowing that our plan is to go back on the grid in a year does keep me looking over my shoulder in a way that long-term home schooling families don't.  Those families would probably say something lovely and idealistic to me like, "But you're not providing the numbers -- you just hand them the tools and they unearth their own numbers..."  That's super nice, but come next September, my kids can't answer: "rainbow" when their teacher asks what 5 plus 5 equals.  

So here was my epiphany.  During the birth-preparation class I took before my first-born we had to play a little game with some cards on our very last night (after 8 awkward/lame weeks).  On each side of the card there were two different options (your own doctor/doctor on-call; natural/epidural; nursing/formula; healthy/not healthy; etc.) and we had to flip the cards over according to our preferences -- and believe me, the types that take those classes have some preferences.  Part two of the game was eliminating cards... if we had to take one choice off the table, what one could we give up?  One by one we eliminated cards until we were all left with a single card.  Despite the super strong conflicting opinions that had caused fire to flare in eyes, and arms to cross over bulges every mama was left with the same card -- "healthy." Today as I jogged I realized that nine years later the answer is the same... I can look at my options, and make my best choices, but I need to remember that the automatic answer needs to be: whatever helps us be emotionally healthy.  

Cross my heart: as I headed home thinking focus more on a creating a positive environment than an academic powerhouse I received my zen moment of confirmation.  I looked in the eyes of a passing largish, white tousled-haired dog and he smiled at me.  Hand to heaven.  

About Time

 

Tomorrow is the day all the public school kids here in the city start back to school.  We will be starting tomorrow as well.  My biggest concern is time management.  There is so much to fit in... So many opportunities for time to tiptoe past while we chat at breakfast, or sneak away when I stoop to put a load of laundry in... 

The kids have been asking for new watches for a while, so when we went to the Swatch store to get their great-grandma her birthday present we struck a bargain with them (note: she's a cool great-grandma -- she was the first person I knew who had a Swatch... a huge red one that she wore with her crisp white nursing uniform... the dress, the white hose, the weird little sort-of-hat...).  The deal: if they agreed to sign a contract with us  they could pick out a watch.  The contract:

September 2012

By choosing and accepting the gift of a new watch, I, ________, agree to become a master timekeeper.  I will continue studying and practicing with my clock worksheets without whining, when asked to find out the time I will cheerfully do so, when asked to keep track of time (i.e. during piano practice, or during my free time) I will do so accurately. 

Mostly, I promise to appreciate time and not waste it.  I will try to think of fun or interesting things to do when I have extra time, and even if I am doing something that I find boring, or hard, or absolutely horrible, I will try to find something positive about it so that the time is not wasted.  

(The drawback of our anonymity is that you can't see their "fancy" handwriting that they used to sign the contracts.  We will be working on cursive this year, but never will their signatures look as awesome as they do right now with flourishes and squiggles and tiny animals built in at every possible opportunity...)

So here's the first peek at our "curriculum" -- telling time.  I get that the kids these days might not "need" the skill, as most will be retrieving time via their cell phones, or computer screens, or the data-lens surgically implanted onto their corneas, but nonetheless, we are going to master telling time, and have started to do so.  

I've made a billion copies of sheets with blank clocks like this one, and created various exercises that fall into two categories: 

1) I draw the hands and they write the time
       a) straightforward -- they write where the hands are
       b) there is an additional instruction like: "in ten minutes" -- and they have to add ten minutes to the time that is drawn and write the answer
2) I write the time and they draw the hands
       a) 7:20
       b) "a quarter after eight"
       c)  "ten to ten"

Obviously worksheets are a total snooze... but it's a good entry point to the other time-related activities that we will be doing, and it's a concrete way for me to see what they are retaining and able to apply.  Their new watches have motivated them; they want to be able to tell time.  When they are wearing their watches (The Boy only takes his off to shower; The Girl forgets to put hers on until she's reminded by something), I make an effort to refer to the time in different ways,"Your lesson is at 9:30 -- where will the minute hand be?"  Also, they like that it helps them be helpful -- when I say, "I wish I knew what time it was..." they are excited to supply the answer.    

We will be using time keeping for the first few days to to get our brains tuned back into math.  It has addition and subtraction already built in ("What time will it be in twenty minutes?" or "What time did Dad call -- it was ten minutes ago?"); counting by fives is utilized; some simple fundamentals of circles are studied (I won't go quite so far as to call it geometry, but talking about "exactly across the circle is 30 minutes" is a start).  

The thing that I like most about time telling is that it's kind of ambiguous.  Often math gets this reputation for being more about exactness and less about critical thinking.  But the best mathematicians are creative.  I never made it to high-level math, but I did read A Beautiful Mind, and I was stunned to realize that math is so imagination-based... Telling time reminds us that at every level of math there is some finesse required. One must keep his/her thinking cap on because that hour hand is not always pointing exactly on the number, and the words that relate don't always match up (i.e. "a quarter to eight" does NOT mean that the hour hand is on the eight yet... tricky, tricky...).  

It's time, it's time...  These last few days have been overcast and dark... it's made me feel like summer is truly over.  The doldrums have been multiplying like bunnies because we haven't ventured out much since rain has felt imminent.  Last night when I asked the children what they wanted to do today -- their last day before school starts -- we laughed because most of what we usually cram in at the end will actually be a part of school this year.  So they settled on "watching movies until our eyes fall out of our heads" since there won't be much movie-watching once school starts... tomorrow we start (with or without eyeballs).