Tough times

We've been struggling for structure (have I written this before?) because it's been such an off year. The last few weeks have been challenging but productive. We're starting out every day with math & reading, followed by a break, then Story of the World (SOTW) or Five in a Row (FIAR). Whenever anything gets challenging Mane claims she's tired or she doesn't understand and wants to quit. These few weeks have been practice in perseverance. I'm insisting that she either go take a nap if she's that tired OR finish the work. I'm trying hard to avoid "school at home," monotonous drudgery of workbooks and assignments, but I do insist that math & reading practice need to happen. She doesn't balk at SOTW or FIAR...unless I try to get her to write something down or have a conversation with me. She wants me to read her stories and expect nothing of her. We've been doing that. Now I need to step it up. She's so proud of her school notebook when she actually puts work into it, but it's been like pulling teeth to get the work to happen. She's been in a slump. But, I guess, I have been, too...or, rather, one after another since November.

So, as I said, it's been tough but productive. It's been bumpy, but I'm seeing a trend toward more willingness to work, to have a Socratic conversation here and there, to look things up and write things down. I think we're seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. We've both needed to dig our way through.

What have we been doing? Well, Mane will be moving on to lesson 21 in math by the end of the week. She's finishing up the 2nd Hooked on Phonics chapter book. (There are 2 chapter books in the middle of the 2nd grade level.) She's very proud of her reading and actually told me a few days ago that reading goes better for her if she practices every day. AND she announced that she can't wait to read big chapter books on her own. This is a huge increase in motivation. I've been trying to pace her carefully to keep her from tiring and continue her feelings of success.

We've been reading The Gullywasher for FIAR. We found some National Geographics about Mexican cowboys and U.S. cowboys and looked at the pictures. One article about Mexican cowboys told of a pilgrimage that many hundreds of Mexican cowboys make to a statue of Jesus in the mountains each year for Epiphany. So, Mane & I asked Vespera & Niteo if they'd heard of this pilgrimage. They both had, AND Niteo ended up telling us about a bicycle pilgrimage that he made to a sanctuary with a statue of Mary in Juquila, Mexico. He told us about the journey and the other people that went, and he looked up youtube movies for us to watch about it. Then Mane took a picture with Niteo, and she wrote a little paragraph about talking with him in her school notebook.

Later we read a book about cowboys in the "Wild West" and listened to cowboy/cowgirl songs. Mane printed some pictures that she liked from google images for her notebook, and she drew the 4 major trails on a U.S. map that the cowboys(girls) followed to bring the cattle to market each year.

We dug out this timeline that I printed a long time ago for our history studies and marked several key events from SOTW that we've studied this year. We looked at where the Greeks fall on the timeline and began talking about the beginning of the Olympics.

Yesterday we watched footage of the torch relay for this year's Olympics. We watched the torch lighting in Olympia and talked about how the torch is lit using a mirror and the sun's light. Then we found Greece and Canada on the map. We found Vancouver, along with several other places where the torch has been.

The plan is to pick some Olympic athletes to follow and learn some things about them before the games begin. We'll record the opening ceremony tomorrow night (because we're going to be our with friends) and watch some on Saturday.

The week in review...

Mane has been picking up books and reading them ON HER OWN! Shhhhhh...don't tell anybody. She doesn't think anyone has noticed.

Mango spent some time doing math with Mane this week. It was good time for them. Mane loves to spend time with Mango, and he loves knowing what to do with that time. She took test 26 yesterday, and I think we're going to slow down again, reviewing the math facts, the rules and procedures. We only have 4 lessons left in Alpha, and we've got plenty of time to get them done before the end of the year.

On Monday we had a playdate with another homeschool family. The mom was my high school Spanish teacher. She now has a daughter just a year older than Mane, and they homeschool. The girls had a fantastic time together, and it was fun for me to catch up with my old (not so old) teacher.

Tuesday I did our taxes while Mane listened to All-of-a-Kind Family on itunes. Later in the day I took out our co-op newsletter and a free local magazine called Edible Twin Cities. Who knew you could homeschool out of these little publications? We read an article about the Schultz family farm. We buy Schultz eggs at the co-op. Mane saw a picture of Larry Schultz, and then went to see his name on our egg cartons! Then we read an article on maple syrup. The article had info about how syrup is made, as well as some statistics about the states where most maple syrup comes from, and the MN maple syrup producers.

Wednesday we went to Bible Study, and in the evening we went biking around the block. Mane has been outside for several hours every day this week, and we're all so happy for the warm weather and fresh air!

Yesterday we went to the MN Orchestra to see Casey at the Bat, a program on the connection between music and sports. Afterward we went to Chipotle for lunch and then walked down to the library where we found 2 bilingual books at the library bookstore, including The Gullywasher, a book we needed for Five in a Row. In the evening we read Albert, the book we're going to be rowing for the next week or so.

Today Mane took her scooter (and I ran along behind) to the doctor's office. We're still trying to sort out some allergy & arsenic issues. Since then she's been listening to On the Banks of Plum Creek on itunes.