Our little homeschool, as you may have guessed from reading here, is unique. At least I like to think so.

It isn’t that our “approach” to education is terribly unique. Lots of people are relaxed, eclectic, hands-on, unschoolish, whatever, home learners. I see it more and more every day, people loosening up, handing the educational reins over a bit more to their kids. Tweaking things until they fit just right. So, nothing groundbreaking happening here in the educational theory department by a long shot. We did not invent the idea of following a child’s interests, of tailoring teaching methods to a child’s learning styles, of learning through living life and following passions.

What I DO feel is unique about our homeschool is  how all that plays out here in real life. Where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.

Because we, each of us here at Lapaz, bring to the table our own unique set of talents and challenges, interests and abilities, our homeschool is out of necessity going to look very different from any other. We are a unique combination, the bunch of us, in a unique set of  circumstances, the combination of which is not to be duplicated anywhere else on earth. And so our homeschool, being a mad blend of all that, is one unique concoction.

(“Thank heavens!” some might say, and I’d be apt to agree, LOL!)

But anyway, my point in all of this is that our unique situation means that we make choices of materials that may or may not resonate with other homeschooling families.

Case in point: Here is what Superboy just finished reading.

The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself

It is the autobiography of Rodney Mullen- an excellent book, well written, and very readable. Superboy blazed through it in a day and one long, late night.

In our school, I “count” it as history.

And why not? Isn’t history the story of people and events that influence the future?  Well, Rodney Mullen is profoundly influential in the lives of many, many people worldwide, young and old. He has a great life story of overcoming some profound obstacles to achieve his dreams. He was innovative, passionate, and driven and earned his place as an all-time great in his sport. I mean, he pretty much invented the ollie, for goodness sake! I consider that historic.

But what is more important, is that Superboy considers it historic. It is history that is relevant to him, right now.

And by respecting his choice of historical reading I am telling him that the study of history doesn’t have to be the way I learned it- an endless parade of  empires and battles, rises and falls, dates and places strange and distant, as dry and dusty as books hidden away on a library back shelf. Instead, I am telling him history can be living and breathing, close to home, and as relevant as his very own skateboard.

Because of this book we had some great conversations.

One was about Y2K  and the apocalypse that wasn’t (imagine, that craziness is history now!) because in the book Rodney Mullen shares how it haunted his thoughts for a time. I shared how that big hullabaloo was handled in our household(totally ignored) and by folks I knew (stocking up on survival foods).

Another conversation was about the age-old parental dilemma of encouraging talents in our children (like a young Rodney Mullen or Shawn White, Leonardo DaVinci or Joshua Bell) vs preparing them for reality (we can’t all be Rodney Mullen or Shawn White, Leonardo DaVinci or Joshua Bell, right? Some of us have to get real jobs…) How does a parent know which way to go?

History can be pretty personal. I want him to see that. To understand that history is about real people and the choices they make.

And armed with this much more intimate view of history,I think there is a much greater chance he will continue to want to learn history, to enjoy it and not close his mind to it, or write it off as irrelevant the way I did at his age. Hopefully the Romans and Greeks, the Medicis and the Minuit-men, all of those iconic historical figures will also become his companions, in time.

And with that in mind, I’d love to open the comments to suggestions for history books that you love, the ones  that make history alive for you.

I know, it is really TODAY, but we are going to observe it tomorrow since today is Sunday.

To be honest, we don’t usually do anything special for Veterans day. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate veterans and soldiers and the enormous sacrifices they have made and continue to make to this day. But other than just talk about Veteran’s day and what it means, we’ve never really done much. I think it is just due to lack of inspiration on my part and the unfortunate proximity to other major holidays which, right or wrong, command more of our attention.

This year I intend to do better.

We will begin by doing a little study of the history of Veterans Day using info from here. That document contains great historical info, plus a description of the Veteran’s Affairs Seal, which we will draw and color. The littles will paste pre-cut stars and stripes to make American flags, and then Superboy will demonstrate proper flag folding technique (also in the above-linked document) to the little ones. They will practice by folding paper flags. They may also do some coloring pages from here. And there is tons of stuff here that we could choose from.

I may adapt some of the ideas from Michaela’s fantastic Memorial Day Lapbook as well.

Because Superboy’s current interests lie in the Civil War, we will be watching together the movie Gettysburg (during the littles’ naptime) and reading the Gettysburg Address.

We will look at and discuss data from all of the US wars (see also here)

We will also be discussing the Iraq War and looking at that data.

(Note that the official name of this war, according to the Department of Defense is the “Global War on Terror” and includes operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We will certainly be discussing the appropriateness of this name in regards to each of those areas.)

We will continue by learning about Martinmas, the Feast of St Martin of Tours, patron saint of soldiers, baking horseshoe cookies, and making paper-decorated glass lanterns.

And if we get only a small percentage of that actually done, I will be thrilled!

Superboy and I have been enjoying using Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything as our science and history text this year. We are currently reading the parts about scientists trying to figure out the age of the earth, geologic time, rock strata, and fossil hunting. Fascinating stuff, but it took me the longest time to come up with a hands-on way of interacting with this particular material. I thought of making a wall timeline and having the kids make pictures of different things to put up on it, but that just didn’t seem to have enough pizazz to elicit much interest from the kids.

So I thought, what really is the main attraction to this area of science? Why does every kid go through a stage of wanting to be a paleontologist? Well, of course there are many reasons, but the short answer is… the fossils.

Fossils are just cool, there’s no denying. What kid does not dream of taking a shovel and pick, heading out into the desert to unearth something ancient and mysterious? Heck, I still think it would be awesome!

Unfortunately we don’t live in an area that has fossils to be readily found, or that would be my first choice of activities. And travel is not really an option right now, or we would head west.

So, I had the idea that we would do the next best thing and make our own fossils! The kids leapt at the opportunity!

First we got out a bunch of books and perused the pages to become familiar with different types of fossils. Then Superboy made a list of the different fossils they would like to make and the supplies they would need. Then it was time to begin! Bring on the Sculpey!

I really love how they worked together on this project, with JBug asking questions and Superboy sharing what he had read. They each used the pictures in the books to create their fossils and worked very hard, taking care to make them look accurate, and adding much detail.

Once they were satisfied with the clay models, we put them in the oven to bake:

Then came the amazing part, painting them to make them look like the real thing. I think they ended up with some pretty great results! Here is the finished collection:

Here are some close ups:

Superboy’s “ammonite” (it looks so real to me!).

His “Crinoid” ( this took a long time to make!).

JBug’s “trilobite” (not bad for a 6yo!).

Superboy collected some leaves from a ginkgo tree at the park to make this one.

And JBug did the fern.

It was fun experimenting with different materials to see what kind of impression they made in the clay. We finally settled on some seashells to make the majority of this “fossil fish“, which was a combined effort of Superboy and me. I couldn’t help myself as the kids were having so much fun I had to get in on it, too!

And in the collection picture you can there there is also a “raptor claw,” a “mollusk” and a representative of the Ediacaran fauna, all of which turned out wonderfully well.

Oh, what fun!!!!And relatively simple, too.

The next step is for Superboy to make cards for them all describing each fossil, where it would have lived and when, and interesting info about them. And then we will have our own little fossil museum to enjoy!

Well…sort of!

One of the things we love about Alaska is the wonderful cultural diversity of its people. Here in Kodiak, one afternoon’s activities brought us face to face with several cultures that are very new and fascinating to us.

First stop today was a shop filled with wonderful Japanese imports.

I drooled over the beautiful sushi and tea sets, Superboy marveled at the gorgeous engraved samurai swords, and Jbug delighted in the many lovely jade Buddas. I was keeping an eye out for small, inexpensive items to purchase for our continent boxes and I think I have a few ideas. I will likely go back tomorrow and make some surprise purchases.

Next stop: we wandered into a Thai grocery. What a fascinating place! Just walking down the aisles and looking at the food items is an education in cultural diversity! The woman in the shop noticed us “ooh”-ing and “ah”-ing over everything and came to talk with us about the different foods we saw, many of which were (quite logically) seafood related. Many varieties of seaweed, squid, shrimp, exotic fruits and root products…just marvelous! We were in an adventurous mood and up for trying something new, so the kind shopkeeper helped us to pick out a few items to try. Superboy chose a bag of tiny dried shrimp in the shell, JBug chose a jar of coconut gel cubes in syrup, and I picked out a can of jack fruit, sugar palm, and some dried pickled mango.

The shopkeeper advised that the dried shrimp were often used for adding flavor to scrambled eggs and that some roasted, mashed eggplant would add nutrition to the dish as well, so we picked up a lovely little purple eggplant to go! She also advised that the coconut gel cubes and the fruit were excellent in milkshakes, so we popped over to the grocer for some vanilla ice cream and an extra gallon of milk! Tonight’s dinner should be an adventure in eating!

Our next stop: The Alutiiq museum.

This lovely museum houses artifacts and cultural items of the native Alutiiq people of the Kodiak Archipelago. We learned that this culture has existed here on these islands for well over 7 thousand years! Wow! Since they have no written history, we know very little about them and so archaeological evidence is very important, along with their rich oral history. Sadly, this culture, like so many indigenous cultures is slowly fading from existence as the elders die and their knowledge is not passed on to the next generation. Luckily, there are a few who are working hard to see that it does not die out altogether. JBug was very inspired by their short documentary on the Horseshoe Cove Archaeological site and is excited to learn more about archeology. “When we find these things, we have to take care of them, and learn from them, Mommy!”   Well said, JBug!

Though not quite so ancient as the Alutiiq culture, Kodiak also has a long history of Russian settlement. Alexander Baranov established a trading post at St. Paul Harbor in 1792. Kodiak became the first capital of Russian America and was a major fur trading center for many years. Around town are many reminders of this Russian heritage. Among them is our last stop, the Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox church. It was founded in 1793.

Don’t let the humble exterior fool you! This place is gorgeous!

We had never been inside a Russian Orthodox Church before, so we were not sure what to expect, but this place was just amazing!

The icons all around the wall were so beautiful!

(sorry my photos do not do them justice)

Candles were everywhere, and there was the impressivly decorated reliquary housing the relics of St Herman himself!

(front view with carvings)

(top view)

Here are just a few of the many fascinating icons, some with relics attached.

St Herman of Alaska

St Innocent, Apostle to Alaska:

St Peter the Aleut:

And this absolutely glorious icon made of silver:

It was all so jaw-droppingly beautiful!

All in all we had quite the world-wide experience, all with a simple walk around town!

Having seen so much today, we decided to leave the rest of our world travels for tomorrow, when we visit the Mexican import store, the Baranov Museum of Russian culture (to view their amazing collection of matreshka dolls), and the US Coast Guard base!

And for now: Camiku Tang’rciqamken! (Alutiiq for “see you later”)

Superboy is continuing with his mini-unit on Japan. Today’s topic: Kanji

You’ll never guess which one he chose to learn first. Wait…maybe you will!

“Karate” of course!

But it is a lot harder than it looks to get them looking right. After much practice he finally decided he had it down well enough to copy it into his Japan mini-book. The book should be done this week and I will put pics up then. It is so cute!

Tomorrow’s topic: Sumo!

Where does he come up with this stuff? And who in her right mind would allow it!?! Encourage it, even?!!!
Oh, yeah. Me!

Here is the answer to yesterday’s puzzler: What is that boy up to now?

His assignment was to research methods and then build a miniature wattle and daub cabin.

And this is called “wattle” because….?

Note the intense concentration as indicated by the tongue sticking out!LOL! The texture, according to research, has to be just right.

Who said all that bread dough kneading wouldn’t come in handy?

Superboy has never been one to be  afraid to get his hands dirty! But does he have to enjoy it quite so much?

I said “hands” dirty! Oh, well, slather on that “daub” and wait for it to dry. Then please go take a shower, dear boy we are going out for seafood tonight!
That’s all for now. Superboy is gone camping this weekend.  More construction updates next week! Thanks to Kris Bordessa for the idea, from her Colonial Projects book (see sidebar for link).

We had a little extra energy around here friday, so we decided to put it to good use!

Put a little bit of heavy whipping cream in a jar, add a couple of clean marbles to speed the process along…

Shake it with all of the enthusiasm and energy three children can provide…

And in no time you have beautiful home-made butter! It’s almost like magic!

Verdict? Yum!

Well…sort of!

Superboy has been busy in his Living History Corner lately. Here are a few of the things he has made:

After reading Little House In the Big Woods, Superboy wanted to make some Johnny cakes seasoned with pork cracklins. No problem. He followed a recipe in My Little House Cookbook for Buttermilk Cornbread and added some cracklins.

It turned out very yummy!

Superboy did not care for the taste of the cracklins, but Squirt and JBug were happy to eat it all gone!

Friday Superboy read about Native American and Colonial toys in his Colonial American Projects book, and chose to make a simple ring and pin game and corn husk dolls. I decided I’d join him on the corn husk doll making, as I hadn’t done it since I was a kid and it looked like fun. We used the instructions here.
Trimming the corn husks:

Braiding the arms and legs:

Finished products! He made the boy and I made the girl, of course!

On the right is the ring and pin game, which is actually much harder to play than it seems. Or maybe it is just me because I am just so talented that way…

His “Paddle to the Sea” boat is coming along nicely-nearly done. I will wait until it is done before posting pics.

Note: although Superboy is wearing the same shirt in all of the pictures, I assure you they were not all taken on the same day. It just happens to be his current favorite (why??) and so he wears it ALL THE TIME. Boys, ugh! Was that TMI?

I have been meaning for awhile to get around to posting about how I plan school around here. I’d like to start with Superboy, since I have been writing alot about the littles lately.

If you saw my earlier post about our new learning stations, then you know how things are set up around here. Basically, Superboy has different stations set up for different subjects, with books and materials needed for projects related to that subject. Superboy and I discussed awhile back that he wanted to do American history for the rest of the school year, and we decided that we were also going to start in on biology pretty rigorously. I decided Superboy also needed a break from unit-studies and notebooking for awhile, and a return to project-based learning. Though he will still keep notebooks, they just will not be as intensive as, say, his sailing one was.

That decided, my planning simply consists of going around with a stack of index cards in my pocket so that when a project idea occurs to me or Superboy, I can jot it down. Then when Superboy finishes a project in a subject, I just tack the next index card up at the appropriate station and he gets to work. It really is that simple!

Here are some examples of index cards in my stack right now, arranged by learning station:

Geostation:

Find out about the different kinds of volcanos, then sketch them in your geology journal. Make models of the different kinds, showing their differences. Make a museum-type display of your models, with info-cards listing facts about each kind. Mark ten volcanos on a map of North America. What kind are they?
Read about seismographs and how they work. In your geology journal sketch out a plan for a seismograph made of everyday objects. Build it and test it out.

Research how soil texture is determined. Print up a copy of the Soil Texture Triangle, laminate it, and put it into your geology journal. Go out and take 5 soil samples from different places, bring them in and determine their texture (ask Mom for help with this).

Build an outdoor kiln. Make bricks out of the soil from your samples and fire them in the kiln. Which sample made the best bricks? Why do you think this is?

Make a big batch of salt dough. Design and build a model of an imaginary island. Include as many land/water forms as you can. Bake it and paint it. Add vegetation, a village, roads, fields, etc. Where on earth would it be? How will its location affect the types of animals and plants that live there?

Get your rock tumbler going again. Make a page in your Geology journal for each type of rock you decide to tumble. Take before and after shots and add them to your pages.

Nature Center:

Follow the directions on the Protozoa hatchery kit and start your protozoa. Read about Kingdom Protista in your biology file. Practice your identification cards. Look up root words and make cards for them. Look at prepared microscope slides of protists and draw them in your science journal.

Use Sculpey clay to make models of 4 different protists. Make info cards to go with each model.

Go out and collect branch tips (twigs) from several different kinds of trees. Read about parts of a twig and how to identify a tree by the twig. Sketch a couple of the twigs in your nature journal, label parts. What kind of tree are they?

Make a mud print of a dog’s paw and a cat’s paw. Draw them and study their differences. Other than size, how can you tell them apart? Look up coyote tracks and bobcat tracks in your track ID book. Are they similar to the dog and cat tracks? What about bear tracks?
Language Lab:

Imagine that the mountain behind us is actually a volcano. It is about to erupt. What ten things would you grab as we make our escape? Explain your choices.

Imagine you have been shrunken down to the size of a protist. What will your day be like? What will you do? What will you eat and how will you survive?

History Corner:

Begin reading “Paddle to the Sea.” Make your own “Paddle to the Sea” out of wood, add a clay figure. Test its seaworthiness in the sink before you launch it in the creek. On a map, trace the route your boat will take, assuming it makes it to the sea. Make a list of all the waterways it will travel.

Read about making colonial/ native american toys. Make a few, including a cornhusk doll (or two) for your sister.

Make a small leather pouch. Read about Native American medicine pouches. What will yours contain? Why?

Read about wattle and daub construction. Make a miniature wattle and daub hut (perhaps a birdhouse?) using traditional materials.

Begin your American Presidents booklet by watching episode 1 of “The Presidents” DVD. Take notes and fill out an info sheet* on each president in the episode as you watch it. Photocopy portraits from the Presidents fandex cards to add to your fact sheets. (*Include years in office, major accomplishments, a quote, and an interesting fact.)

Well, that’s all of the ones I can think of right now. I have some math projects in mind, but have not written them up for him yet. He is currently working on a project making graphs for all of the data in the book “If the World Were a Village” (see link in sidebar). I should have his next project written up by the time he finishes that one.

Keep in mind that these projects can take anywhere from an hour or so to a couple of weeks to finish, whatever pace Superboy sets, and he has several going at a time, which is why I like to keep them at least a little related to one another.
But, anyhow, that is how I plan. It’s not perhaps how others do it (or maybe it is, I don’t know), but it is working for us. Superboy gets up in the morning and gets to work happily and he is learning alot, and that is what matters to me.
Hopefully I will be able to post soon about how our typical day goes, just because some folks have asked.

It’s been awhile since I posted any samples of Superboy’s writing. But this one is pretty good, I thought, so I’d like to share it here.

As part of his American History studies, we read some and watched a movie about Benedict Arnold and what a fascinating man he was. Then I assigned Superboy this essay topic to ponder and write about. The title is a quote from George Washington, when he heard that his trusted General Benedict Arnold had betrayed him.

“Can Anyone Be Trusted?”

Lucifer, Judas, and Benedict Arnold are the three worst traitors of all time. In fact, their names are synonymous with betrayal. But who was the worst of the three? If I were to rank their betrayals from worst to least my ranking would be Lucifer, Judas, and then Benedict Arnold.

Lucifer was one of God’s highest angels. He decided he was so high he did not have to serve God any longer. Many other angels joined Lucifer in his rebellion. God sent an army of angels led by the archangel, Michael to defeat Lucifer and the bad angels. They were banished from heaven and driven into Hell. To this day his betrayal is the worst because he created evil in the universe, he caused the war in heaven, and betrayed God.

I name Judas second. Judas was a friend and disciple of Jesus. He betrayed Jesus by giving him up to the roman soldiers for the cost of 20 pieces of silver. Although he did betray Jesus and it led to his crucifixion, it was part of Jesus’s plan to die, rise from the dead, and save humankind. So there were some good results from Judas’s betrayal.

Benedict Arnold is last in rank. Benedict Arnold was a hero in the revolutionary war and a friend of George Washington. In fact Washington thought of Arnold as a son. But Arnold became bitter because he thought he was being treated poorly by the Continental Congress. He planed to betray George Washington and give up West Point to the British. But his plan did not work when a British officer was captured carrying Arnold’s plans. Those plans reached George Washington and Arnold escaped to enemy lines by a British ship.

Although these traitors all did terrible things, because of whom they betrayed and the results of their betrayal I rank them in the following order: Lucifer is the worst of all so we give him the name, “Father of Evil.” He is followed by Judas who betrayed Jesus leading to his crucifixion. Least of all is Benedict Arnold who betrayed George Washington and whose plans were discovered and failed.