'Sup?

Well, ever since school started it feels like lots and not much at the same time. We keep plugging along with school. We have had fun things to do, but not so many that I feel overwhelmed. I can't quite get everything done on my to-do list everyday, but I get enough done that I feel satisfied.

Here is what we've been up to lately:

Bleaching my hair blonde

Making Movies

Going to the pumpkin patch ( yes, they have them in Hawaii)

Writing and acting out plays

Participating in Laie's Fall Break play

Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit

Celebrating Kali's 10th birthday

Taking gymnastics classes

'Sup with you?

WritingGuide.com: a review

I was recently ask to review the Individualized Writing Course offered by WriteGuide.com. This company offers courses from one to twelve months in length. Students enrolled in the course work with their own private writing teacher via email and work on projects of their own choosing. I chose to try out the month long course.

Originally, I was going to just use the course for my 12 year old, but the company allows the option of more than one student sharing a writing consultant, so I decided include my 10 year old as well.  The catch is that the student(s) can only send one email to your writing consultant each day, so I had to keep track of whose day it was to sending their writing to the teacher.

Here is how the program works. The writing consultant begins by sending one email to the student and one to the parent. The consultant asks about the student and discusses what type of writing will be done.  You can choose any kind of writing. The consultant can help with a writing curriculum or project that you are already doing or the consultant can put together a writing plan.

Since we were just doing a month long course, I decide choose one of the project options listed on the website and I had my girls each do a personal essay. After my initial correspondence with the teacher, I only ended up emailing her one other time (more on that later). The teacher worked directly with my girls in choosing a topic and working through the writing process.

I really liked how the writing consultant drew ideas out of my girls by asking them questions. Here is an example of a message sent to my 10 year old who was writing a personal essay about why she dislikes pizza.

Hello! Thank you for your message and list of reasons you don’t like pizza. For next time, let’s build a paragraph about the sauce. Do you like tomato sauce on pasta, or do you dislike it on everything? In your paragraph, tell about why the sauce on pizza bothers you. How does it feel when you bite into it? How does it make you feel after you taste and feel it? Use examples of times you have touched or tasted pizza to bring the paragraph to life.

The teacher also taught my 12 year old about metaphor and personification and encouraged her to use it in her essay about why she likes water. During the editing process, the writing consultant will correct and teach grammar concepts.  My 12 year old learned about using commas after introductory clauses. 

One downside to this program was the scheduling.  And it was really my fault.  I inadvertently scheduled the course the month that my parents came to visit for a week. The girls did some writing during the visit, but we did miss a few days. This was the other time that I emailed the teacher. Then the last week of the course fell during our local public schools fall break.  We took the week off school to participate in a community play.  I completely forgot about the writing course - oops.  By the time I remembered, the course had ended. 

Another downside, is the cost. A one month course is $75 and goes up to $800 for a 12 month course.  The one month course isn't bad, but I can't imagine anyone spending even the $630 for a 9 month course.  But as Lee at Home Scholar always says, "Spend money on your weakness."  Writing isn't a weakness in our house. I have a pretty good grasp on writing and my husband is a professor who teaches academic writing for a living. If writing is a weakness though, WriteGuide,com is less expensive than Brave Writer's personalized writing help.

I would recommend this program to anyone who is struggling to teach writing.  A month or two month long course could really help walk the student and you, as the parent, through the writing process. I would also recommend this program for anyone who is working on an important writing project, such as a college essay and needs help with revising and editing. 

I felt terrible that we missed the end of our month long course.  The girls were very close to finishing their essays. I helped them complete them though and  I think they turned out really well.

My 10 year old's essay

My 12 year old's essay

for Braeden

Two years ago today, one of my dearest friends lost her 10 month old son.

I can't imagine the grief that she experienced

that she is still experiencing

yet I am inspired by her strength

and the strength of other women that I have known who have lost children

I am grateful for the faith that I have

in a life after this one where these mothers

will be reunited with their little ones.

Please don't stop by my house at 11am

As you may have guessed, homeschooling can reek some serious havoc on an otherwise clean house. Most nights I am able to get my house cleaned and straightened up after the kids go to bed. I enjoy sitting around in my clean house for just a few minutes before bedtime. But then morning comes and the mess begins. By 11am it looks like a tornado has come through. At lunchtime, I tidy up a bit and the kids help clean up when we are done with school for the day, so the house is not a total disaster.  But at 11am, the house is a complete wreck. So if you are planning to stop by unannounced, please come by at another time. Unless you want to feel better about your own housekeeping...

at night after the kids are in bed

11am

at night after the kids are in bed

11am

at night after the kids are in bed

11am

at night after the kids are in bed

11am

A Future Fashion Designer?

My oldest daughter made these dresses out of tissues, yes, that's right, tissues. 

Didn't you hear? 

Kleenex dresses are all the rage this fall!

Dust Gatherers

As I typed out my curriculum purchases and mentioned that I thought the Writing With Purpose books might be dust gatherers (I am pretty sure now that I have them that they will be...), I thought about the other curriculum that I have bought that have turned out to be dust gatherers.

Now it's not to say that these products aren't any good.  One family's dust gatherer might be another family's favorite curriculum. Here are the curriculum purchases that haven't gotten much use in our house.

The Usborne Internet Linked Science Encyclopedia - I bought this at the same time that I bought The Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History .  I have used the world history one more because it is used as part of the Story of the World curriculum.  I just haven't found a way to work this into our school.  I have kept it around for the 5 years since I bought it. I keep hoping I will find a use for it in our homeschool.

The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading - I bought this because I thought I needed to do more phonics with my oldest after we finished Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons.  We had finished 100 Lessons and she was just reading easy readers for about a year, but when she was almost 8, she hadn't made the leap to chapter books, so I got worried.  Shortly after I bought this book, something clicked and she has been a voracious reader ever since.  I sold the book at the end of the school year.

Many Math extras - When my oldest was in 3rd grade, we struggled with math.  Eventually, I discovered that part of the problem was the curriculum we were using (Abeka) and part of it was that she simply needed to solidly memorize her multiplication facts before we went any farther in math. But before my realization, I bought A LOT of math extras to try and help/spark interest in math.  These included a dominoes book, a geoboard book, Mia Math CD rom, Peggy Kaye's Games for Math, and Family Math. The girls played the Mia Math game a couple of times.  The rest I don't think ever got used.  Oh, I read Games for Math and Family Math from cover to cover and took notes, but I don't think I have ever actually used them with my kids.

Art Basics for Children - I don't think this even had time to gather dust.  This was one of those purchases where I wasn't able to get a good sense of what it was just from looking at it on the internet.  I sold it almost as soon as I got it.

Basic Not Boring Spelling  - I should have know better than to buy something designed for public school kids (And I should have remembered when I bought the Writing with a Purpose books this year...).  These workbooks were, well, boring.  I think my older 2 did 2 pages each before we stopped using them.

Hands on Equations - I bought this when I still thought I would use all of the math extras.  And hands on that sounds great, right?  We haven't gotten to algebra, yet, but I doubt we will use it.  There is just not enough time in the day/school year for all of the "great" hands on things.

Math Wrap Ups - These were used a few times and now just sit on a shelf.  We got slightly more use out of the states and capitals wrap up when my older 2 were learning those.

Winston Grammar - I bought the Basic teacher's manual and the cards used and acquired the Advanced level teacher's manual and student workbook.  I haven't used either of them.  They are too teacher intensive.  Kind of like Right Start (which I used for a while, but then sold and switched to Singapore). They are very hands on which is nice, but you know how it goes with hands on stuff...  Growing with Grammar is working really well for us, so I doubt these will ever get used.

Lyrical Science - I have the texts and CD's for Life Science 1, 2, and 3, and Earth Science, but I have never used them.  They seem like a good idea, but I can't seem to figure out how to use them in our homeschool.

Nitty Gritty Grammar - I think I needed to add something to an Amazon order to add up to $25.  I read it, but I doubt I will actually use it.

Number Jugglers - I bought this just last year. Did I not learn my lesson when I bought all the math extras several years ago?

Quarter Mile Math - Another one that seemed like a good idea, but my kids were bored by it.  The whole point was to make learning math facts more interesting, so I gave up making them play it after a couple of months.

But like I said, one person's dust gatherer might be someone else's treasure.  I am actually trying to sell the Winston Grammar and the Quarter Mile Math. If anyone is interested let me know.  And if anyone is interested in anything else on this list that I haven't already sold, feel free to make an offer on those too.

The Many Faces of Arwen

Arwen has been borrowing my camera a lot recently and when I look at the pictures afterwards (deleting most of them), I find a bunch of self portraits.  Here are some of my favorites:

Bunny Arwen

Sassy Arwen

Upside down Arwen

Grumpy Arwen

The End