March Madness and Mars

So, for those who do not know, this Homeschooling Mama is a Hoosier girl. Having actually been an extra IN the movie, Hoosiers, having a Daddy who was a star basketball player with a full ride basketball scholarship to Purdue University (which he turned down to pursue a calling to the Ministry), and basically growing up under a basketball hoop, I stole many moments from class to check out the scores. I spent a lot of time staying up with my friends on FB because most of them were actually watching the games. I even discussed with another homeschool mom how we could work watching the games into our curriculum. Of course, once Indiana University was out of the running, I kind of lost interest in March Madness, so we turned our attention to astronomy, particularly Mars. We have been playing around with an amazing curriculum from Apologia that I fully intend to delve deeper into as we journey. We have the Exploring Creation book on Astronomy and have enjoyed adding it to our regularly scheduled science program.

I will admit, however, that Kadoodle doesn't get a whole lot of science in her day as we spend the majority of our time working on learning to read and the basics of math, but we do dabble a bit one day a week in subjects such as History and Science. Now, before you go reporting me to the Homeschool Police, keep in mind that this is Dickson Academy and as the headmistress, I am inclined to spend more time on subjects that are more necessary at the age of my students. A six year old who has a need for intense concentration on phonics and math doesn't need as much science as one who can read on a third grade level. That's the beauty of homeschooling. I can focus on what they need. Boo, on the other hand, has to be pulled away from Science and History on a regular basis for two reasons. One, so she doesn't finish all of her curriculum by the end of March and two, because she will not do any grammar or math if given the choice.

Speaking of math, as an aside, we made a decision at the beginning of this semester to put the A Beka 4th grade math aside in favor of some great workbooks from Singapore Math and a Kumon Division and Scholastic Fractions. Her frustration with math has diminished greatly and she is flourishing with the new books. See, flexibility is such an important part of school, wherever it may be. We also made a decision to put Kadoodle's spelling book aside. With her need to catch up on so many basics she did not learn in Kindergarten, we decided to focus more on phonics. Interestingly enough, she has gotten much better in phonics once we culled out spelling. We will pick it back up later in the year, but for now, we decided to wait.

Anyway, back to the planets. I love Apologia's curriculum. It is SO easy and so interesting for me as well. We have learned all sorts of stuff and in a few weeks the girls will make their own informed decision on whether Pluto is a planet or not. As for me, just because you change the definition of a planet does not change Pluto's planetary status. But I'm old fashioned that way. One of these days I'll be telling my grandkids, I'm so old I remember when Pluto was actually a planet.

Back to the Apologia Exploring Creation series...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book! I love the way they incorporate scripture. I love the Notebooking Ideas. We made our own notebooks this time instead of purchasing them. What? The book said we could. We also got some cool ideas from some friends who happen to be doing the same book in their co-op. We have really enjoyed playing with this book and learning all the great things about the world God made for us. I love the Creation reinforcement in several of the chapters. I love how they biblically AND scientifically explain creation and use both scripture and science hand in hand to prove what we already know to be true. I also love the way my girls constantly ask me, "Is today a science day?"

They are learning! They are grasping this new knowledge and they are thriving in their own environment. And yes, they are also wearing their pajamas because we homeschool and we like to do school in our pjs. That's part of the fun of homeschooling. And no, before you ask, I have not yet put on my high heels to teach.