Splash into Reading this Summer

Summer is nearly here,

and with it come

Summer Reading Programs!
They come in all shapes and all sizes,

and for many gifted children they can be a real snore.

I know that my children can walk in to the local library,

fill out the card to join,

and walk in the next week with the whole Summer Reading Program Done,

having not broken the proverbial sweat.

Yes mine are readers.

They read and read and read.

These programs are designed to get children who are not readers to read,

as well as reward the reader who does

so as to encourage the reading

that they don't one day decide to just

stop reading...

ok well...

if you too are looking for another

Fun and perhaps MORE challenging

SUMMER READING PROGRAM

for YOUR child

as I always am

check out

The Old Schoolhouse's

Splash

into Reading

There are levels for younger children as well as for older children

it is a 10 week program,

one in which YOU help YOUR child set some goals

meaning...

it can be as challenging

as NEEDED :)

ha ha ha

I LOVE IT ALREADY

perhaps splash is just what your under challenged gifted reader needs...

SPLASH

Jessica Hulcy

Jessica Hulcy,

author and publisher of Konos

homeschooling curriculum,

has been in a terrible car accident

and the family is asking for prayer.

Please click on her name or photo to learn more.

Rosetta Stone LATIN for FREE???

So perhaps you have been wondering WHAT we use to learn French for our trip to France? Well, the same thing we use to learn German! Rosetta Stone of course! We add additional supplements, because, well, I AM the supplement Queen, but I want to address Rosetta Stone right now, because they are offering an opportunity to WIN something ... CHECK this OUT

Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.
This is a $259 program (and believe me it’s worth every penny!)This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.
To win this most excellent Latin program copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR link to the contest from your facebook page and/OR email the information to your homeschool support group – Then go to the original page http://Jeneralities.com and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post. And good luck!

A good fieldtrip Now and Again!

I happen to be a HUGE David Macaulay Fan! His books are so detailed, so well thought out for the more inquiring mind, even for the not so inquiring mind. Frankly he goes through the trouble of answering questions that no one else bothers to answer. He does NOT have ALL the answers, sometimes he leaves you with more questions than you could imagine, but that is all part of the wonder, the delight that we call LEARNING.... that we desire in the process that IS Education....
As Yeats said.... Education is NOT the filling of a bucket, but rather the lighting of a fire... I am indeed paraphrasing.. the POINT is still the point, and Macaulay, is a fire starter. Seeing as we were on our way to France I packed many of my Macaulay collection leaving behind things such as ....well Ancient Egypt, we rather don't need the pyramids RIGHT now... This week I decided to really delve into the book he wrote called Cathedral. I plan on re addressing it further next week. We read it, chatted about it, and THEN, we went walking to our local Cathedral HERE in Lyon... we don't have any in America... none quite this old, built around the same century Macaulay is writing about anyway! What was fun too, was the "imaginary Cathedral" written about in this Caldott winner, is indeed located in France !!!

What I had the children do, was to locate certain things from the book, I wanted them to find for me... Reason we will do further work NEXT week? Well, I didn't make it challenging enough, and left the book at home. I went from my fallible memory, on what I THOUGHT were important... the Rosetta window, the Arched doorways, the Flying Buttresses, things like this, but David gives far more details the children told me, and we COULD make quite a game out of it IF only MOTHER would TRY a little harder... I thought I WAS trying... Thankfully they are sweet children :) really, and eager to sprinkle grace, and go after the game again next week! Wonderful!!! Above is one of the 3 doors See how large the door is compared to the people... Please note that I will not change the zoom of the people for the Rosette window.

We estimate the Rosette window is about 3 people tall, perhaps four, it is difficult to tell for certain, because of the height, because we do not know the average height of the person at the time it was built... Isn't it magnificent?

Here is my attempt to show the gargoyles.... Not grand I know, but it would seem they were water spouts, like gutter spouts, so when the rain ran, it would appear the water was shooting out of their mouths... Spewing sort of... I wonder what the Biblical reference for creating these creatures on a House of the Lord IS exactly...... David left the children wondering that ...

This was a special Clock.... we heard a rumor that there is an astronomical clock located close by, but we are uncertain as to where, and this does not appear to us to be it... we are uncertain, if anyone of my readers can tell if it IS that would be most helpful.. As my French gets better, I am sure I will discover where that clock is... If this is indeed THAT special clock, I will inform YOU... Otherwise, let us note.... there IS a clock on the church!

There is a priestly looking man atop of the church blessing it, or so it would seem... I wish my zoom was better to determine all the fancy things upon the church... My son informs me he can zoom on the computer and google what things are... well that is helpful.

The church with it's well before it... From here you can see the Tri doors... Inside would be the LARGE opening with the two more narrow openings but still airy thanks to the flying buttresses!

This is part of the original very first church of Lyon. It is a ruin that was discovered, and the year slips my memory..

The flying buttresses taken from the side of the church! How exciting to have read in David's book HOW these were constructed, How a church like this could take at LEAST 100 years to build, where as I believe this on took over 200! Amazing the perseverance of the Saints.... to hold fast to the dreams of their forefathers, to stay true to their parents and grand parents and great grandparents generations.... so Odd so foreign in our day, when each man seems to live for self.

here is a close up a a gargoyle or some such creature spitting out the water at the well. The well was four sided, each side having a creature spewing fresh cold water.

Here is the original baptismal place. It was excavated when they found the original church. I thought this was pretty neat! It is enclosed in glass protection, I was able to get my lens in the opening.

The children thought this was terrific. So wonderful to read a book like this one and then to go explore history of something like it and dissect it, hunting it down like spies or something... It was grand. I have no intention on heading to Egypt any time soon. But I do have his book on Castles... so, perhaps.... we need to do that soon too...

Is there something you could explore with your blessings, some grand adventure that awaits you? Is it time to find some living books, and build a fire in the hearts of the children in your life?

May education be like a bonfire in your life this season.... may your whole family gather about you, may the roasting of marshmellows commence before summer is over!

Traveling with these Gifts abroad!

Well, here we are in the Gastronomical Delight of France, that IS Lyon. It is such a pleasure to be here. Such a wonderful opportunity, we are so glad to embark upon! I highly recommend traveling with your children whenever an opportunity presents itself, Carpe diem! We have with us no electronical toys to amuse them, other than their laptops for school, and old fashioned CD players to listen to their music... (we are still so uncool as to not have ipods..... oh well) Yet still, their is little grumbling, little irritation, little but anything but enthusiasm and eagerness to embrace this beautiful experience! This is a view of Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) as looking across the Saone River!

Things one learns when visiting other cultures! In America we have traveled a bit... We learned in some places in the south, you can buy boiled peanuts at stands; we learned some places in Chicago sell Hotdogs at street vendors; we've been to places that sell, gyros, popcorn, and here in Lyon France the THING that is all the rage, is CREPES!!!!!!!!!! yes! Buy a crepe and YOU choose your filling, sugar, or jam... razzberry, blackcurrant, pear, apple, apricot, who KNOWS what else... and it is quite fun just to stand on the street and watch one of these men make their crepes... rather mesmerizing... It took a few days for us to feel brave enough with our French, but we finally had one each, and OOO la la! Delicious! A MUST have if you ever come to Lyon! The kids were amazed at how he did it, how fast he did it, and how wonderful the flavor... a new flavor each time perhaps for one, and the same EVERY time for the other? I do not care, they are so happy, and it was only $2 Euro each

Here are some photos of a Medevil festival that was held this past weekend in Lyon, they put on quite a production, and it was not just held in this square but through out the whole of Vieux Lyon, there were many political proceedings, people being tried, fake executions, gypsies, artisians, things to buy, and many many people dressed up acting their part... It seemed as if nearly the whole town were in on playing some part or another! The children really absorbed so much! They were so excited to see things that they had only read about in their books ALIVE in the very place they had read about!

Here is one of the Renissance dances! I am amazed at how many connections are being made in the minds of my children, the sights the smells, the colors, the music, the sounds of the French language and the many other languages being spoken about them; the feel of the cobblestone beneath their feet.. all connecting with the countless books, history and literature read over months and months, turning into years and years...... all coming together in these moments.... I am so thankful!

Some fancy men with flags doing some fancy French thing... It is a shame my French is not better! But perhaps it WILL be! All the same, were learned much, and were glued to the proceedings!

Here is a view from the Roman Ruins of the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere. It was actually built in the late 19th century... disappointing I know...

Here is a photo of the time we went to the open air market! So much to see so much to learn! This really gave the children a different idea of food, where it comes from, and different ways it is bought and sold. The Walmart way of life is but ONE way, and as much as we try to tell this to our children, there is nothing like bringing them to a culture that simply LIVES differently than we do.

Here are the photos of the Roman Ruins. Here I let them explore.... I followed behind, but NOT all together too closely, keeping my REI whistle around my neck, incase I felt as though they or I were lost. Here all their reading, and re reading of David Macaulay's books and various others, really kicked into HIGH gear, as the children began telling me what they had found, what certain things were, why things were laid out the way they were... It was like the flood gates of their minds had opened and the words could not pour out as fast as the thoughts.... We will definately be coming here again and again, picnicing, walking, till they can be here and talk in complete rational sentences ... breathing between words....

Funny that later this past weekend my husband had some collegues from work come and stay with our family in the city. They wanted to see the ruins, it was raining in a bit of a downpour by the time we got there, and some of us decided not to go up and explore, but to stay down below and enjoy the view from a somewhat sheltered spot. The two older of my children however, volunteered to take the one American gentleman who was so interested in history up for a guided tour.. I don't think he expected QUITE that guided a tour... He couldn't believe all the things the children showed him, the tunnels, the secret spots, the chambers, the inner rooms, nooks and spots he simply would NEVER have seen. He hasn't STOPPED talking about the tour they gave, and thinks they'd make grand tour guides... :)

Fear NOT traveling with your gifts, they JUST might amaze you, even IF you have to make a routine out of your day ... (I DO), even if they have health issues (YOU SHOULD just see the medicines we had to bring, the dr note too !) It might not be as impossible as it seems... perhaps ... worthy of prayer and consideration anyway...

For us, these trips have become a way of life... always a bed of roses, thorns and all!

home "schooling" abroad.....

Vie va La France!!!!!!!

We are preparing to leave our wonderful home, our comfortable haven, our hectic all to busy "American" lives, for the great big wide world out there. Our lives as of now, are busy with much packing, cleaning and preparing, for life abroad....
and not just any life...
no
life in France....
and not just life in France,
not just 1/4 a year in France,
but
home educating 3 crazy fantastic kids, with a quench to see, to experience, to read and to discover everything there is to learn. How exciting and maddening is this? VERY!!!

First off packing for readers isn't easy.... especially now with weight restrictions on the airlines. I confess we are SERIOUS readers.
Readers of Math,
(as previously mentioned, not only do we DO math, we READ it as well!)
Readers of History
Readers of Literature
Readers for leisure
Readers to research
Readers of our Faith
Readers
pretty Charlotte Mason style readers....
Readers with ferocious appetites.........
So we got ALEKS on our computers to help out a bit...
and
Rosetta Stone to help with German and French!
Spelling, and the wonderful world of http://www.amblesideonline.com/ to help with MUCH of our literary needs....but
readers still read books,
and books we have a plenty, many many books, and put together they weigh a bit... tricky very very tricky... what to bring, what to leave behind.... to be.. or not to be with a particular book............

but it will work out in the end. What i find MOST interesting however, is how MANY folks offer advise to you, when they discover you are traveling on an extended trip, or out of the country... However the sheer volume of opinions on an EXTENDED trip ABROAD, is simply staggering.... yet very little of it helpful... because I have not "bumped" into many people who have traveled on extended trips.... or been out of the country for more than a couple weeks, or who have done either while home educating, eclectic, gifted kids.... yes, I have met some.... who have met one or more of those criteria, and their counsel, I CHERISH!!!!!!!!!!! Another blessing is, that we have done many extended trips for 2 or more months away... and experience... is quite helpful... Don't get me wrong, there is MUCH for me to learn, much that I do not know, and I long for good advise, but some, is simply funny.... some advice given to me, does not take into account who my children are..... and that is something as a mother I must always consider... always.

For example there is the all to frequent..."perhaps you should stop schooling while you are away...." I would heartily agree for a trip of 3 weeks or less; but that would not constitute an extended trip abroad. THAT is a vacation. :) Do people really do this? For 3 months? Do they imagine children coming home from a 3 month "vacation" sometime in July and suddenly desiring to stay indoors to do pre-algebra, history, and some Shakespeare? Mine will want to come home and HAVE a mini vacation, time with friends at the beach, in the pool, at their grandparents house, time to ride their bikes, skateboard with friends, time to just breath, before the crisp autumn air hits their faces....... which in our neck of the woods will come sooner than imagined.... no, taking that amount of time off, would mean summer in doors, chained to a desk.... NOT a healthy place for lively, sunshine loving explorers like mine!

I wondered also at this suggestion..., would you stop eating because it is extended trip.... I think perhaps this is simply a difference with gifted children... books, knowledge, math, computers, it is food for them...Do some children desire a complete BREAK from thinking, learning and discovery? Mine seem to do it all even in their imaginations, even climbing a tree! They often seem like starving children; have a great piece of literature at your disposal to toss their way when the hunger grows, there is a meal for them, some "comfort food" to bring safety and security, we will need that overseas...some semblance of the idea that... "we are still us, even if WE are in this strange NEW place with different food, different dress, different music, and different words and sounds."

Sure, we will be delving into French culture, eating French cuisine, seeing all the French museums, going to the parks, and all the many historical places; we hope to make many French friends, and learn to speak their language, understand their plights, and come away really knowing something about the people of France; the heritage, the history, the heart of this ancient land. Yet in the midst of that, there need be some normalcy, something comforting, from their own home, and "school"; something that is safe, familiar, recognizable, to come to each day, or even every other day...I hardly plan on being the strict teacher demanding eight hours of lessons each and every day...

What I hope to offer my blessings, the MENU so to speak.... :)
Math (living and virtual via www.aleks.com and Life of Fred http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html)
Literature & History (some books & www.amblesideonline.com )
Geography (BEING in France, having Maps & www.amblesideonline.com has some great resources !)
Art/Music (Being IN France, The Teaching Co.'s Great Courses http://www.teach12.com/ )
Writing (I have each of the older children doing daily journals of our "family adventure" on their own "safe" blogs, )

With no intention of doing EVERY subject every day, I think this "Menu" is a good one, a very feast, with all the basic "academic food groups", for ferocious yet finicky eaters..... add in some Culture, literally LIVING History, (some history in the making) along with getting to see Roman Amphitheaters, Gothic Churches, going to places we have only READ about, walking in buildings from Before the time of Christ our Lord... Museums, fabulous food, a new language and culture; frankly, this shall be the TRIP of a lifetime, an Academic Adventure of a magnificent magnitude, and many memories in the making.....

but with just 8 days to go, till we are "leaving on a jet plane", I best get back to packing! :)
Hope you stop by for our Academic Adventures as we continue to live gifted................

Life of Fred

There are a few of you out there who know me outside, in the sun, in the wind, in the fresh air; who know the color of my hair, the gate of my walk, the sound of my voice, and know what my blog readers will learn right now.... I have a math addiction, along with my children....

It goes way back. I used to love math... I was in "advanced math" classes as a child... tested well (beyond well) or so I am told ... by my mother... in mathematics.... and then disaster. It really only takes one bad year, one train wreck of a teacher, one awful curriculum, one bureaucrat, put it all together and you really will turn a gifted kid on their heads....
It was college before I liked math again.... It wasn't until I was homeschooling my kids before I found my LOVE for math again....
and so
I am a little Math crazed...

it is ok, because, It is THEY who are the driving force. It is their hunger that feeds me, and is awakening in me a desire to play at numbers. Solve the problems, challenge myself a little.

It was perhaps my own awful experience that drove me to never rely too much on any one curriculum. To never be apathetic when it came to the universal language of mathematics, music on paper, science made sense, theory proven fact.... never allow apathy.... and so, I have about 5 curriculum's in my home....

And many "Living Math Books". What is a "living Math Book".... I suppose, though I confess I have NOT actually done the proper research to be "certain"; that it was probably inspired by the Biblical times, even the Greeks and the way they taught, and most likely rekindled by the Charlotte Mason approach to education. In a nutshell, the concept of bringing to the child a story, so "alive" so delightful, inspiring, that it ignites learning, ignites a desire to learn more. Living Math books take the math concepts and put them into stories, that bring the math alive, help them to know what the radius is, the diameter and circumference, NOT because they memorized it, NOT because they did 100 problems reinforcing the "concept" but because they read a story that was so wonderful, perhaps so funny, that they simply KNOW what is what, and will know forever.

I have many such books lining my math shelves, and we read them, and enjoy them. I was always sort of sad at the thought that NOW that my children are becoming so advanced in their math, while still so young, would no longer have the opportunity to learn advanced mathematics in this way. It seemed to me that their minds learned these early concepts so well, the books brought SO very much to the table of their minds, linking concepts, bridging gaps, it seemed a shame that their would be no such blessing with pre-algebra, algebra, advanced algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, etc.... so sad....

Then I discovered........... THE LIFE OF FRED by Stanley Schmitt http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html
Oh the delights of my mind!!!!!!!!! I researched, I read reviews, I read sample pages, I could BARELY believe my eyes............. I bought the whole set!
Fractions
Decimals
Algebra
Advanced Algebra
Geometry
Trigonometry
Calculus
Statistics
and YES there are books to go along with the books for additional problems.........
It is wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wonderful wonderful

as you read along a day in the life of Fred, mathematical problems arise, which you (the student) need to solve.... Fred is in the first book just 5 1/2 years old, and a professor at a University. He is a really gifted but adorable little boy! Each book appears to be 1 day in the life of Fred. By the last book, if I think I understand it correctly, Fred will be 6 years old.

While my children could have started farther along, I really wanted them to "meet" Fred at the beginning. So we began with fractions. A rather fun review! But what I was NOT prepared for was just HOW much is covered in the LIFE OF FRED that is not covered in the other materials we use.... again just PROVING to me that no curriculum has it ALL :) They still were able to get through 1/2 the book in just 3 sittings, so I am comfortable that it IS a review, but they are not bored, and can NOT wait for the next time with FRED!

Really, it is rather funny... "mom, when can we read Fred"..... "mom, is it almost time for Fred?"
... "oh MOM, please ONE, just ONE more chapter, PLEEEAAASE!!!!!!!!"
who am I to say no to children so desperate for more .... math! :)

What do we do, well, we snuggle on the couch, they each get pencils, and notebooks, and I read, but they read along. When we get to a part that says "your turn to play", they start doing the problems and when those problems done (all done in story format, or in correlation with the story), they tell me the answers and I tell them if it is right or wrong, if wrong....just try again!
Every few chapters is a "bridge", which MUST be crossed before they can continue.... The author has allowed 5 opportunities to cross the bridge, which is about 10 challenging problems. The review is worked into the process beautifully!

Mr. Schmitt the author mentions in his book, that if your child finishes successfully all of these books, they ought to test into their Jr year of college.... (all the books not counting statistics)!

For those of you worried about ALEKS.... :) We ARE using Aleks as our core curriculum, and shall continue to as we move to Europe to live for the next few months. Fred is my supplement... And may become my core eventually. I just needed "something" that was ALIVE, so math didn't become sterile for them, or for me........... Aleks is great!

ONE negative comment with Aleks....... if you the parent find yourself in a situation where your child is ill, for a week or more, and you come back to Aleks, and your child needs to take an assessment (a TEST), you do not have the privilege of postponing it so that they might spend time reviewing, remembering, or re looking at work previously learned, to study...... if they do poorly, they will just be put back several levels, which for a 2E kids who has frequent bouts with illness can be VERY emotionally trying. There is NOT a lot of grace with Aleks. So have them take good notes in a book, or help them to take good notes for review....One must be the energizer bunny, and just keep going and going and going.......... Something to consider :)