September 2018

First big hiking trip:

Our first stop was the Grand Canyon. When we arrived around 2pm, we immediately went to the rim, to take a look. The views were breath-taking. Crowds were everywhere, on a weekday. We walked to the museum, which happens to be at one of the bus stops, and took part in a ranger program along the walk of time. The walk of times is fabulous. Sample rocks and the time period from which they were formed was displayed and some information was included.  The ranger did a fine job narrating, as well as involving the children in the presentation, and answering the many questions the group had.

That evening we saw an Elk. On this trip we ended up setting camp in the dark under the headlights of the car. Our neighbors were not pleased, but hey, that's life!

The next morning we drove to the rim, and took a 1.5 miles hike down the Bright Angel trail! It was lovely coming down, and super difficult coming out. Thankfully, on the trail a bit past the 1.5 mile marker was a ranger who advised me to head back up. I thank her.

The very same day we headed to Zion National Park. We stopped at Page, AZ to grab some lunch, and continued straight to the canyon. The park is mesmerizing. The drive from the entrance to the campsite is beautiful. You can easily view all the main types of formations, along with some of the inhabitants of this wonderful place. We were thrilled and at awe. As the night before at the Grand Canyon, we set up camp in the dark, but our neighbors this time around were quite forgiving. That evening was nice and warm, but windy, very very windy.

The next morning we ventured into the canyon for some hikes. Four trails were closed so we hiked the Watchman (moderate), the Weeping Rock (easy) and the Emerald Pools (lower, easy). We took advantage of the bus which takes the visitor to 9 sightseeing spots. We also enjoyed the 22-minute video at the museum center. On the way back from the Emerald Pools we stopped to dip our died feet in the cool Virgin River waters. Then back at camp, we took our tent down and embarked towards park number three.

But before we even had a chance to leave Zion, we stopped many many times to observe the wild life. Wild Turkeys. Mountain Goats. Deer fighting and competing for territory and females. And of course, we stopped to look once again at the rock formations!

The drive to Bryce Canyon National Park was about 2 hours. It seemed longer because we drove a lot in the dark. But we did not make it all the way to Bryce. We stopped at Hatch which is 20 miles away from Bryce. I had rented a cottage for 2 evenings. Bryan was starving by the time we arrived, so we had dinner in the cafe across the street. Possibly the only cafe in the entire small town. The food was phenomenal.

Then we slept.

The next day, my oh, my, we went to what was, for me the highlight of our trip.

We stopped at the visitor center, got some guidelines on what to hike and got going. We went down the Navajo loop, around the Peekaboo loop, and back the Navajo loop. The Navajo loop is steep up and down. The Peekaboo is up and down the entire time. This was plenty of hiking for us. Coincidentally, we met a friend of mine, just as we were emerging from the Peekaboo trail and about to head up the Navajo trail. Friends make climbing out of a steep canyon easier. Thank you. Bryan had a friend to chat with. I had a friend to talk to, and Sophia hung around to listen to our stories.

The plan was to head to the visitor center. Watch the 22-minute informative movie; fill the junior ranger activity book, and go home. But on the bus we met a family which was talking about how beautiful the night sky over Bryce is, and that in the evening there would be a program with telescope viewing. So we changed plans. Instead of heading home, we went to the lodge for dinner, caught the last bus to the visitor center, drove to the amphi-theatre where the night program was supposed to be, and participated. We learned a lot about the universe. The kids and I participated in some demonstrations. Bryan won a lollipop.  Then we viewed Jupiter, a constellation, and Saturn! We were exhausted but delighted! And at 11pm we were back at the cabin, and slept soundly that night!

Optics

The plan is to explore optics. We are going to use Explore Light and Optics. We are going to also talk about one of the first real scientists, Ibn Al Haytham. There is a large historic component to his research and the methods he settled on.

We have all the materials for an in depth study of optics but as I am also eyeing mechanics we are going to just go over the fundamentals.




History

We are embarking on a over-encompassing study of history. We are starting of world war 1. No particular reason besides that I want to talk about how stupid the war was and how trust and misinformation and miscommunication has a lot to do with history. We are also going to talk about some of the first true historians and travelers-Herodotus and Ibn Battuta

Fun

We are going to use one-way valves to make a model of the heart and super soakers. Who does not like super soakers!

Music

Back in the swing of things. Sophia has two dance classes, one piano and one violin class. Bryan has one piano class. Sophia's first violin teacher told me that kinematic exercises are good for establishing rhythm and feeling for steady beat.

Homeschool

History, Science, Math, and Portuguese are in my court this year.

In History this year we are going to cover African Kingdoms, European Navigators, Conquest, New World, Slavery, Early US history, Civil War, Reconstruction, Great Depression, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Cold War. I am taking a very liberal approach to US history, meaning that I will avoid lies at all costs. It will not be a pretty tale.

In Science my focus will be on mechanical and electric devices for computation. We are going to talk about Turing machines and transistors a lot. I am studying this material beforehand. It is fascinating.

Math we are going to do a heavy review of what we learned last year, and we will slowly plow through some new material.  Sophia will begin Geometry and is already working through PreAlgebra.
Bryan is finishing the third grade Beast Academy books.

Portguese is a joint effort between me and their teacher in Michigan. I expect to have both reading and speaking more this year. We are also going to work on learning more verbs and tenses. At the moment we are reading O BGA, and the next book lined up is Nicolau Volta Aos Aulas.

First Grade-Third Grade

It is September. New School year has begun. Here are our short term and long term plans.

Ballet Girl is in third grade. 
She is an independent reader and will be tasked with reading one required book per month (my choice) and anything else she chooses. My goal with this is to keep her engaged at least to some extent with well written and meaninful books. I will also ask for short book summaries, as well as short discussions about the interesting points in the books.
Writing will be primarily devoted to spelling and dictation in the first half, and to retelling of a familiar story in the second half of the school year. For spelling we will finish review the AAS3 she forgot, finish the remaining portions of AAS3 and move into AAS4.
Grammar will be addressed as nuances are encountered. I plan to incorporate grammar with the learning of bulgarian and portuguese. We will mainly be concerned with the tenses this year.

On the math front, Ballet girl is beginning with BeastAcademy, series 4. We finished the assessments for BeastAcademy series 3, and are reviewing some of the points she has forgotten. So far so good. My plan is to move through the BA4 series; to drill units conversions, especially squares; to drill the associative property of multiplication. We will definitely touch on some number theory, geometry and algebra. I will prepare her for the math challenge competition this year. We will start in earnest in October.

Portuguese is the emphasis this year. I am going to stick to individual and group instruction each day. We will finish Vamos falar portuguese and Salpicos 3. I also hope to go over most of tenses exercises in Brazilian Portuguese Grammar book 1. Listening will imporve through read alouds and youtube movies.

Bulgarian will be on a secondary stage for the first half of the year. I am putting portuguese and math ahead for the moment. However, we will refer to its grammar during portuguese lessons, and we speak it daily.

This year we will take it easy with piano.No rush to finish the book by the end of the year. I want it to be a fun and easy piano year. There will be no competitions unless she asks for it. Violin is a slightly different story. I suspect that by the end of the year the first book will be completes, and there will be a recital. I think that the teacher has a solid grasp of timing and expectations, and will help with the heavy lifting. I don't know why the piano book graduations turned out to be so stressful.

Sports will be represented by swimming lessons in the fall, gymnastics in the winter and nothing in the spring. For now, at least. We are planning a trip abroad.

Sunlight boy is in first grade. 

The emphasis for him this year is learning to read fluently in English. He can sound out words, and is already improving. We abandoned the Bob Books and went to AAR 1 which has worked great for us for the summer. We will stick with it and continue onto AAR 2, along with any other school related work.

Spelling is secondary, although he is picking up the basics fairly well. I have started with AAS1 but we will stop, go, review as needed, not as dictated by the school. I don't have expectations on that front.

Math will be interesting. We are still reviewing Grade 1(Challenging Word Problems-Singapore Math-Common Core Edition) material that he knows. He is getting better at some of the quick computations. At the moment we are focusing on time, recognizing time to the hour and half hour. We will start reviewing Grade 2 (Challenging Word Problems-Singapore Math-Common Core Edition) next month and hopefully start on Grade 3 (Sinfapore Math primary books) material in January. I do not plan on preparing him for the math challenge competition at his school. If he quaifies, he qualifies-if not, oh well!

Portuguese means daily 1-1 and group session. We are going over a book teaching reading, but we are mostly using it as a simple way to learn to listen and understand. We are also going to stick with read alouds and movies as primary sources of communication.

Bulgarian will be maintained once a week, through some short reading exercises. Once English is at a comfortable level, then I will upgrade bulgarian to reading twice a week.

Piano continues as before. He is most likely going to finish book 1 this year and have a recital. I think the review for the recital will be easier because we are constantly reviewing songs. I have lower expectations of him at this stage than I did of his sister, because he is not well coordinated yet, so I hope to not be as stressed as I was before.

Sports will be outdoor play, swimming in the fall and gymnastics in the winter, with the low possibility of soccer in the spring.

We are going to attend some classical concerts, but the venue has moved and is not as close as it was before. We are also going to see two kids' theatrical performances at the Beverly Arts Center. This year we will keep it simple. We over did it last year I think.

We have not read any particulary interesting read alouds recently. I highly recommend Mouse Called Wolf, and Leonardo DaVinci by Diane Stanley.

Springtime and blossom all around

Ballet girl took part in the Music Connection's second solo contest. She performed Sonatina in G Major by Beethoven and received a perfect score and a wonderful review. All students whose performances were excellent were invited to a Honors Recital. This was a very happy occasion.

Sunlight boy should have performed as well. His performance of French Childrens' song was judged only one point shy of perfect. He has become a very good audience member and has been cheering for his sister most of his life, so we do not have any dramas.

Both kids are advancing very well and are way on their way of making good music. Sunlight boy is half way through piano Suzuki book 1. Ballet girl is one song from completing piano Suzuki book 2, and she is making astounding strides in violin Suzuki book 1. All teachers are raving about the kids' efforts and results. I am too. Music education is a wonderful opportunity to learn discipline, to learn that good effort equals good results, to learn to be critical, and to learn to deal with hard moments. Music is a wonderful way to make good friends and to avoid going down the wrong path.

The highlight for our spring is music. May will offer two opportunities for performance (IMA competition and Annual Bulgarian Piano Festival), and June will offer two more (Guild and End-of-year recitals). Then we will settle in the calmness of summer.

We will be spending the summer in the midwest. Portuguese family camp and Portuguese Youth camp for the young lady in Bemidji, MN. My folks will spend a week in Bemidji with the young man as well.

Some other updates:

1. English:
• Ballet Girl is an avid reader. She devours books of any kind. When she listens she listens with understanding and offers a lot of questions and logical commentary. She is a few lessons shy of completing AAS 3. I think we will finish AAS3 during the first weeks of school in August. I am focusing on review of what we have practiced to date. She is also very interested in writing original stories. I happened to come across a Usborne, write-your-own adventure story book while visiting Seattle. This book has served us well, and have offered us the basis to discuss the structure of short stories and also books. Quite informally at this moment but sufficient to set the stage for future discussions.
• Sunlight Boy is reading well as well. We were reading the Bob Books and reached the fourth set when I decided that it is better to switch him to AAR1. I am glad I did. The level is quite simple and offers us the opportunity to practice the essential building blocks of reading. I am seeing the young man starting to read in his head. I am hoping that this level will bring him to reading with understanding and expression, and will help him to decode better. So, we are going simple for the rest of teh school year and the summer. I think that in first grade, we will go with AAR2. I bought it for Ballet girl because I was overwhelmed when I realized that I may have to teacher her to read, but she did not need it; she was a few levels ahead of AAR2 when she began first grade. However, with my slower reader we will take full advantage of AAR2. The boy is also beginning to spell phonetically. We may or may not start AAS1 next year. Depends. AAS1 worked for my daughter but the child has to be ready. He needs to  be a strong reader first, and then we will work on the spelling.
2. Art:
• Ballet Girl loves art. She draws, she builds sculptures, she loves chalk now that the weather is on her side. She expresses herself very confidently with art. 
• Sunlight Boy loves art too. It is the new great activity he discovered in Kindergarten this year. He has been coloring, drawing, cutting, molding. He made himself a sword by drawing it on paper, cutting it and taping it to a stick from a game. He also made a terracotta warrior from cardboard boxes, and has been punching this thing for days. I have always said that boxes make the best toys! His imagination is wild. He gets inspiration from movies, books, conversations. Earlier in the month he asked me to make a copy on the printer of one of his favorite characters. I did. He cut the image and used some cottom balls which he taped in the back of the image, and then taped another piece of paper behind that. This was a stuffed super hero toy! This child is amazing. 
3. Math:
• Ballet Girl is advancing really well. She is a few problems shy of completing Beast Academy 3C. The plan is to move through Beast Academy 3D before the end of the summer. The only thing she needs to work on is not panicking when facing a problem she has not seen before. Once she puts her thinking cap she can tackle the problems very easily. 
• Sunlight Boy is also making great advances. I am holding him a little back at the moment. He is very close to doing 2dx2d multiplication. We are currently covering fractions. Over the summer I am planning on covering with him challenging first grade challenging problems; formal addition, subtraction and multiplication strategies; and mental math tricks. 
4. Portuguese

1. Ballet Girl has been interested in speaking for a while. She has no problems remembering conjugations of verbs. The grammar she gets easily. She is also reading quite well. I will continue to read through our textbook with her, continue covering grammer and will download all Carrossel episodes she wants on her Kindle. 
2. Sunlight Boy is also doing well in portuguese. He is not readily interested, but he understands a fair amount and reluctantly repeats. He is close to finishing one textbook and I will move him to the next level.
5. Sports: There is no time for sports. I am relying on plenty of free time in the park and in the garden. I will try to enroll them in soccer in the summer for a full week, and hopefully, there will be an option to enroll them for weekday-only games in the late summer/early fall. During June the kids will be in a full-day summer camp near the house. In July they will be away to MN for a week. Hopefully, during the first week of August they can play soccer again. The rest of the time will be pool time:).
6. Cultural Activities
• We have been attending a lot of events. Locally we like the Illinois Philharmonic. 
• We recently went to a Bulgarian Folk Festival. We did not expect to sit through the entire three hour event, but we loved it and we sat through it.
• We also watched The Producers, a very funny musical, quite relevant to the political campaign that is happening in the US.
• We also saw a few movies this month. We watched Zootopia which we loved. It was very clever and the first movie Ballet Girl was able to make connections between references and the real world:). She, I and a friend also watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, which was funny and light-hearted, nothing spectacular, but definitely not crude. How could we miss the jungle book?! Yes, we saw it the first week it came out. I loved it. It was mostly true to the book, and the visual effects were wonderful. I still need to sit and talk to the kids about the meaning of the story. Maybe one day we will rent it from the library, watch it and discuss it. I recommend the Jungle book and Zootopia.

This month our read-aloud time has focused on Lunch Money, Tools of Ancient Greece and Simple Machines. We are also going to read about the Librarian who measured the Earth and Archimedes.

I love Tools of Ancient Greece. It is a book I will have my kids refer to later on when they themselves get to explore the ancient world. I view our current exploration as a very nice sneak preview, but probably the real learning will happen in a few more years. Simple Machine is wonderful because it really well explains a lot of physical concepts which again will become more approachable at later grades, but this is a fabulous foundation. 

Lunch Money is a book I adore. First because it offered a wonderful illustration of principles of story telling that were discussed in the Usborn's write-your-own story book, and also because it is a very thoughtful read. We talked a lot about money, how money are made, how money is being used, what money really means. We talked about competition, price, value, charity, and many other concepts. As with all learninig, I have learned that unless a topic is encountered many times and discussed from many viewpoints, the topic is not really learned and understood. Hence I again see this book as one of the many books we have used to think about money.