Drama Free Zone

My daughter is now playing Volleyball for the middle school she would be attending if she wasn't homeschooled. Anyway she told me that one of the girls asked her if she was going to public school next year. She responded that she wasn't sure. Her 'new friend' responded with, "You should go here, but there's a lot if drama, too much drama!" Ok that was a nice wake up call as to one of the reasons we are on this journey. So far, my daughter has been more polite and less moody.  She gets enough sleep and doesn't have crazy pressure from peers at school. I think from experience she knows all about drama. She has had it every year since 2nd grade being in public school. Now here is the big question that follows...does being submerged into the girl drama teach her how to withstand it? I think she knows how to deal with and handle it well. Being that just last year it, (the drama), was around her bad! Is drama part of the 'real world'? Of course it is. Does drama have to be a part of her everyday life? Hmmm I don't think so. How much drama can one handle? I remember when we first started  homeschool was she told me, "Mom, I like not having to worry about whose going to be my friend today." Me too darling...me too. 

Taffy

This is Taffy, a dog who lives in the neighborhood. Her owner informed me that he and his wife have been married since 1953. 59 years!

Another week

This week flew by. Today Milalai was having a hard time with one assignment. Reading about the Oliver Twist novel out of what every 6th grade should know. I had her read to me, since she gets distracted easily. It worked out well. Now, Oliver Twist will be added to the growing list of books she would like to read. She is into Little Women and Hunger Games at the moment. She is taking her time with those. Also, I wanted to add she started her art class yesterday. She painted an abstract piece that should be finished next week. I got a peak at what she did and it looks really nice.

Art Museum

Math

 We decided to use Saxon math for our daughter. You can learn all about the Saxon math here.
We bought all the newest addition books as used through eBay to save money.  It was a smart move as books certainly can add up.

All you have to do is ask, then ask again.

On the homeschool website my hubby saw that some schools will let you borrow text books.  I called what would be our daughters public middle school and asked if I could borrow the same books they use in the classroom.  It took some haggling, some phone calls and a few weeks to get some answers. In the end the answer was no. They didn't have any extra books to loan out to me.  They said they were even short handed.
I called another middle school. I explained my situation and the lady I spoke with happily let me come by to pic up a English book and a Science book. They too, were low on the other books, math and history. However, she did let me know what books they use for math and history.
While there I asked her about the school which is well known for their Science program. She said they have a waiting list for students to get into that school.  I also asked her, out of curiosity, how many students were in each class.  She stated, no less than 30.

Social studies studying

Learning about homo sapiens and homo erectus on social studies. One reason I am enjoying homeschooling is I get to learn along with my daughter.

Rainforests

My oldest, the one I am homeschooling, read about extinction. Here is her summary:
"A lot of animals and plants are being extinct. Every year 27,000 acres of tropical rainforests are cut down or burned.  In 1995, it was estimated that in 2000, 80 percent of rainforest will be gone and the plants and animals will be extinct. Now it is 2012, so probably 95 percent is gone or almost gone. One of the rainforests was cut down to be used to mine tin. Everyday at lease 3 of the species are gone.  I think the extinction needs to stop. So my sister and I are going to make posters and hang them up so we can stop the extinction with plants and animals."
For this being her first homeschool report. I do have some critiques for her. Like, why there isn't any new starting paragraphs? How will you stop extinction through posters? What are some updated information of 2012 you can find out about extinction? I will repost her responses here when we get to it. For now its math time...

Volunteering

My younger kids are at a public elementary school. Today I had an opportunity to volunteer in my first graders class.
I felt sorry, not only for the teachers but the children too. The teachers have to plan ahead. If they dont, children are just sitting around waiting for the teacher to get their papers and such prepared.
I will be going back to help out because my son is in the class. So far I have tested two young boys with their sight words. While one boy knew all 1,000 with only 5 difficulties. The other boy had only the 1st page done. Knowing 65/100. With that being said. The boy who had the 1,000 words right is the one who sits in the back in a corner labeled as the 'trouble maker'. So boredom in the classroom leads to random outbursts and such. Totally understandable. 
I will continue to help as much as I possibly can. I am eager to see how many sight words my child knows and how much the other children know.
It's too much for one teacher to individualize the needs of every child in her class. I hope that other parents will and can volunteer so she can have more hands to help. 

Trying it out

My husband, myself, and daughter decided to give homeschooling a try this year. Many reason lead to this decision. This blog is to capture and define moments of what our journey is like for the next few months, (or longer), as I have every intention for her to go back to public school.