New York Mom Blog
We went on a Maple Sugaring field trip last week, and learned how to collect sap and boil it for maple syrup. My son even got to do a taste test between real maple syrup and store bought syrup – he liked the store bought syrup best! He came home excited to tap our maple trees, but I’m pretty sure we have silver maples, not sugar maples.
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When people find out we homeschool one of the things they are always curious about is college. Many people know someone who has homeschooled for a few years, but homeschooling all the way through and sending a child to college is still unusual. My oldest has never been to school, and is a senior this year. We have spent the last year going through the college decision process, and we have learned a lot.
One of the first decisions my daughter had to make was what kind of college to apply to. At first my daughter was planning to go to a community college for the first two years and save money. Then she started attending the local community college part-time, and realized she wanted something different. We live 45 minutes from the closest community college, and the drive gets tiring fast. Every day she goes it takes at least 1 1/2 hours out of her day for the commute, more if the weather is bad. Plus with the price of gas going up daily it isn’t as cheap as it seems at first.
My daughter tried an online class last summer. Online education is a great option for saving money and time, since there is no commute and no gas to buy. Unfortunately it was too hard for my daughter to stay motivated without seeing the teacher in person. This kind of education is best for a dedicated, self-motivated student, which I’m sure is why it is so popular with older adults returning to college.
So in the end she applied to eleven traditional 4 year colleges. She probably didn’t need to apply to that many, but we were worried about how colleges would view her because of the homeschooling. There were no issues though, even with the state schools. My daughter’s grades and test score are good, and that is what the colleges care about. She was admitted to all 11 colleges, and now has to make the hard decision of which one to attend!
Applying to college as a homeschooler means lots of paperwork for the parent, but we found that the colleges were quite receptive to admitting homeschooled students. So I’d encourage parent’s who want to homeschool to keep good records during high school and not stress about the process. Start early and explore all the options and realize that homeschooling doesn’t limit your child’s opportunities.
Disclosure: I am participating in the Homeschool and Online College Campaign organized by American Muslim Mom. I received compensation to facilitate this post. However, the views and opinions are my own.
Today we have record cold temperatures. The temperature is –12 degrees, and not going up. While we sometimes get temperatures that cold during the night it is unusual to see it in the day time. So I figured we should take advantage of the weather and do some cold weather science. So I had my son bundle up and head outside. First we took a cup of boiling water and threw it in the air. The water droplets were supposed to turn to snow, and sure enough it worked. Not all the water turned to snow, but enough did that it looked really cool.
Then we got out bubble solution and blew bubbles. The bubbles froze before they hit the ground and became ice bubbles. Then they kind of collapsed on themselves and turned into shards of ice. Five minutes was about long enough to finish our experiments, and about as long as we wanted to be out there.
My son has been learning about Ghana as part of our study of folktales around the world. We recently did a fun art project to make Adrinka cloth.
Adrinka is a traditional hand-printed fabric made in Ghana. To do our project we used instructions from PBS Kids’ Africa, and it turned out very nicely. He picked the “Moon and Star” design from the PBS website to use to make a print.
First he drew the design on an eraser, and then cut it out with a craft knife.
Here is how it looked after it was all cut out. It looks more like a flower than a star, but that is how the design he was copying looked too.
Then he used black paint and stamped the design onto paper. He found out that using a paint brush to put the paint on worked better than dipping the stamp into the paint. I liked this project because it was relatively simple and we were able to do it with things we already had around the house. But even though the concept was simple it held his interest, and I think he learned from it.
Simple Homeschool has been running a series detailing different bloggers homeschool days, so I though I’d join in. My homeschooling this year has run very smoothly, partly because of the ages and temperaments of my kids. My oldest, Grace, is 17, and a senior. She mostly works independently, and is only doing two classes at home, Algebra II and Latin. She also does a chemistry class at a co-op and 2 college classes, but those don’t involve me. My middle daughter, Eleanor, chose to attend the local high school, so I only have to help her with homework. My son Robert is in 6th grade, and he is diligent and works quickly. So we have been able to add in quite a few outside activities this year. We don’t necessarily have “typical” days, but here is how things went on Wednesday.
I get up at 6:30 to make sure Eleanor gets up and gets on the school bus. Then I have time to check emails and blog until the kids get up. On Wednesday there is a homeschool gym my son goes to sometimes, but it isn’t a structured class, it is just a chance to run around a gymnastics center with his friends. Today it is snowing, so I decide it is not worth braving a snowstorm for.
9am – 11:30am
I let Robert determine the order he does his subjects in, with the requirement that math and language arts have to be done before lunch. Today he decides to start off with a spelling test, and then we do language arts. Right now we are doing a unit study on folktales around the world, as a break from the more grammar intensive program we were doing before the holidays. We work on that together, and go over his math assignment. Then he goes off to read a biography of St. Thomas Aquinas for religion, complete his math problems and do his history reading.
He doesn’t really need me for any of that, so I start Algebra II with Grace. Grace does not like math, and it seems like every time she gets a college acceptance in the mail she becomes less and less motivated. But we are three chapters from the end of the book, so we struggle through a Trigonometry section and she goes off to her room to complete her problems. Her community college classes don’t start until next week, so she has a light load right now.
11:30- 12:30 pm
After Robert finishes his work it is getting close to lunch time, so I send him outside to shovel the steps and tell him it is his turn to cook lunch. He protests, but ends up making macaroni and cheese for us. After lunch Grace snow blows the driveway, and Robert takes the dog out to run in the snow.
12:30-2:30 pm
Then it is time for Robert’s Latin and science. We are using Lively Latin, and it doesn’t take very long for him to complete. For science he is studying chemistry, and we are using a curriculum called The Elements. Today we are learning about metals, and for an experiment create a replica of the first battery using pennies, aluminum foil and napkins. We can’t get it to actually work, but we have fun making it anyway.
Grace is still working on the driveway, and then goes on Facebook while waiting for me to be available for her Latin lesson. She should practice piano, but she doesn’t.
2:30- 5:00
Robert is done with his schoolwork by now, so he finishes up a clay project he started at a co-op on Monday. Grace and I go over her Latin lesson and then get set up for a major art project. She has to create a project for a college scholarship competition in a few weeks, and is planning to make a mixed media collage. Today she is painting paper in various colors to use in the collage. We clear off the dining room table, cover it with a shower curtain and make a huge mess. Of course Robert has to paint too, and Eleanor gets home during this and joins in.
Our Wednesday evening are usually very busy, but the snowstorm changes that. I decide it is too snowy to go to Eleanor’s ballet class, Robert’s Boy Scout meeting is cancelled, and Grace is not scheduled to work. So we have an unusually quiet afternoon and evening, and paint lots of pictures.
Thanks to Mommy Parties and Dig-it Games, I was able to have a party based around a new computer game, Roman Town, by Dig-it games. As a homeschooler I am always looking for educational games to enrich my children’s schooling, so I was glad to get the chance to test this game out.
This game was developed by an actual archaeologist, and is designed to give kids a a first hand look into Roman life. In Roman Town you explore the 3D rendered town of Fossura, which is a real town that was destroyed in 79 AD by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. As the kids explore in the computer game they find artifacts, which include pottery, bones, coins, paintings. Then they play games that bring them to life. They are able to solve mysteries and discover the details of daily life centuries ago. Now both my 17 and 11 year old are studying Latin, so learning more about Roman history fits right in with our curriculum.
We had some kids come over for a party and try it out. I was also sent a bunch of stuff to go with the game, including Roman Town beanies and water bottles. As you might expect the kids loved getting “prizes” and they all especially loved the beanies. None of the older kids would let me take their picture in the beanies, but they were wearing them too!
We loaded the game up on my lap top and the kids took turns playing. It was a little awkward having them take turns with the computer game, because no more than 3 or 4 could really interact with it at one time, with one playing and the others watching and offering suggestions. The kids enjoyed the game and like discovering the artifact and putting the puzzles together. Their favorite part was excavating and finding the artifacts. They tended to skip over the parts that explained what the artifact were, but I think was partly because there with a bunch of kids around it just wasn’t a great environment for reading the screen and learning. We had some word searches and puzzles for the kids to do while they waited their turn, and of course we had snacks too.
The game was most popular with the 12 and under kids. The older kids found the game too educational. I guess they were looking for more action and less explaining! I thought the game was very well set up, it has good graphics and is very interactive. I’d recommend it for kids ages 7-12, unless you child is really into archaeology, in which case they’d probably enjoy it at any age. I think this game is going to make a great, fun addition to my son’s Latin studies.
You can buy Roman Town online, and Dig-it has provided me with a 20% off with coupon code BLOG20, which is valid through 1/31/11.
Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the game for review purposes. All opinion are my own.
My son was on a robotics team this fall, and recently participated in a big competition with First Lego League. This was very fun, and well worth the time and effort that he put into it. The theme this year was “The Body Forward” and the teams were supposed to design a robot to complete certain medical tasks. Robert’s team, the Bionic Heros, got a late start, and didn’t form until October. They still were able to do a great job, and their final score put them 12th out of 29 teams. There were a total of 400 possible points in the contest, and his team was very consistent, and scored 80, 95 and 85 points in their three competition runs. The kids picked which tasks they wanted the robot to attempt, designed it, and programmed it all by themselves. It was a great experience in both design and working as a team.
I was very impressed with how organized the competition was. There were so many teams and so many activities and yet it ran very smoothly and was lots of fun for the kids. Clearly the volunteers who ran it put a lot of effort into organizing the competition. It was held in the gym of a local college, and they had the competition tables on the floor and the teams set up around the walking track on the top.
Most of the teams had team shirts, and brought buttons and candy to hand out. My son had a wonderful time walking around and collecting souvenirs from all the other teams. He came home with his shirt covered in buttons and stickers.
As part of the competition the teams also have to do a presentation on a medical topic, and explain how they designed their robot. This was a great opportunity for the kids to get experience with speaking in front of groups and being put on the spot with questions. I’d definitely recommend the First Lego League contests to any kid who loves legos. It can be expensive, but if you can find a community group, school or company willing to help sponsor the team it is worth doing. Robert’s team is going to stay together and do some spring competitions, so hopefully the experience they gained will help them do even better next time.
I posted in November that I had gotten a set of cards from Pear Tree Greetings to decorate and send to soldiers as part of Operation Gratitude. Here are the cards that were colored by some children in a local homeschool co-op. They turned out really cute, and hopefully they will brighten the holidays for some soldiers overseas. I guess Pear Tree sent out over 100,000 cards to be colored, so this was a successful program.
Elmer’s is running a contest to see what people can create out of an Elmer’s Trifold Board. The projects are being compiled at the Can You Top This website for everyone to see. When I decided this sounded like a fun pre-Thanksgiving project for the kids, so I went to Walmart and bought a board. When my homeschooled kids saw me walk in the house with it the first thing they said was, “But I don’t want to do a science project!” Once I assured them we were going to cut it up and make something, not document a science experiment they were relieved, and we started brainstorming ideas. We decided to go with a Turkey Centerpiece, created out of the tri-fold board and an old basket I had gotten for free. The project ended up costing $5 to make, $3 for the board and $2 for feathers. Here is what we did.
Tools and Supplies:
Directions:
It is kind of a cross between a peacock and a turkey! We filled the basket with our left over Halloween candy and put it in our picture window, so everyone can see it as they come to the door. We thought about using it as a centerpiece for Thanksgiving, but since we are going to my mom’s for dinner I was worried I’d be cleaning feathers out of the car for the next few months, so we will leave it here as a window decoration.
My daughter’s college applications are (mostly) complete and submitted, finally! This has been a huge undertaking, and the process took much longer than I expected. Since my daughter is homeschooled I had to write:
My daughter still has 2 short supplemental essays to write. It turns out two of the colleges she is applying to require an extra essay from homeschoolers, a fact we probably should have realized much earlier in the fall. But other than that and following up with her teachers to make sure the recommendation letters actually get mailed she is finished, and I have three years before I have to worry about it with my next daughter.