Simone's Second Story

I really need to get those books that have a space for a drawing, and lines for whatever you want to write.  Simone likes to make up stories.  Here is the second one she created.

"There was a princess named Gigi and a queen named Simone.  They went to the moom and saw aliens.  They played together and they became best friends.    The End"

Handwriting Without Tears

When I went to a Great Homeschool Convention in Los Angeles, CA, I was so impressed when I saw the Handwriting Without Tears books.  I liked that their space for writing was smaller than what I've seen before.  I also liked that they have manipulatives! 

One thing I didn't like, however, was how their "B" looks.  I saw a video on their website demonstrating how they teach kids what the Upper Case B looks like.  I'll be blunt. It looks like someone squashed it with a rolling pin.  I wouldn't want Simone to write her B like that. 

So, I'm going to make my own manipulatives.  If I can do it under $32, which is what Handwriting Without Tears charges for just their uppercase letters, then I'll have come out ahead!  I'm going to get some foamcore at Michael's with the 40% coupon I received in the mail.  Then I'm headed to Home Depot for some 80 or 120 grit sandpaper.  I read in Talkers, Watchers, & Doers: Unlocking Your Child's Unique Learning Style that kids who are kinesthetic learners do better when the objects they're playing with have more texture. 

Wish me luck!

Homework

Guess who loves homework!  Here's a hint:

Yes!  Simone loves it.  Last Friday night, she was so alarmed that she didn't have to do it.  To calm her down, I told her I would make some for her.  She was satisfied and actually quite eager.  She wanted to look at the worksheet before it was ready!

It may be that she loves all the coloring she's doing with her homework.  Her class is learning how to read the words for colors.  Either way, I'm going to foster her enthusiasm!  I'm quite enthused myself in that I get to work with Photoshop to put these exercises together.  I couldn't find free worksheets online that seemed worth the printing of our paper.  Well, they were worthwhile, but they just weren't what I had in mind. 

Ok, I just wanted to do something creative and deemed all other sheets unworthy. 

Where Have We Been?!

I just realized that the last time I wrote on this blog was 1 year ago!!!!!!  Quel horror!

In the last year, we've left our home in California for our new station in Tampa, Florida.  It wasn't a simple move in that we bought a 1970s 35'-long bus that we are converting into our RV / homeschool-on-wheels, stayed in Minnesota for 1 month (doing the initial bus conversion), took a road trip from MN to FL, and found a new home 4 days after we arrived. 

We've always known that Simone should do some conventional schooling before we start homeschooling, but for a moment I thought we might have to begin earlier than expected.  Our new home is in a somewhat impoverished area.  The statistics for success are not high with WestShore Elementary, but things like that don't really matter to me when we're talking about Kindergarten.   What solidified our decision to send Simone to public school was what we experienced during her physical. 

The local military base offered free physicals, something Simone would have to complete to get into the Florida school system.  She hadn't had time to do her 5-year well check so we thought this was an excellent opportunity to kill 2 birds with one stone.  The first part of the exam is to check Simone's visual health.  She had to do an eye exam with pictures and symbols instead of the regular one with letters because she was entering Kindergarten.  Simone     would      not      do      it.  She just outright refused to even tell me what symbols she saw.  I knew very well she could recognize her letters, but she didn't even want to do that.  I knew that she had inherited her father's introversion, but even her father responded when spoken to when he was little. 

My thoughts when Simone refused to do the eye exam, "Oh no.  I'm not prepared to homeschool her so soon!!!"  I only thought for a moment that she should definitely go to public school to learn communication and socialization.  For sure I thought Michael would want to shelter Simone, his mini-me, and homeschool her right away.  But I was surprised by his reaction - he agreed with me that she should go to school to correct this extreme aversion to strangers. 

She was quite nervous her first day, but that quickly dissipated over the next couple of days.  She in fact told me one afternoon, "I wish I could stay in school!"  She seems to be the quiet and reserved one in class, but she is so happy to see other kids and to play with both boys and girls.  She also loves to recite the rules that her teacher creates for the kids.  Sometimes she comes home and wants to play "teacher," in which she instructs Max and me on how to learn different activities.  Part of "teacher" is disciplining us!  I can feel the surge of power is exciting Simone. 

We are stationed in Tampa for the next 2 years and we were thinking that Simone should do public school for 2 years.  But with my conviction to do Classical Homeschooling, I'm thinking I might want to just do one year.  The 4 year rotation of this pedagogy begins at 1st grade and it would be a logical place to start.  But then again, I could just afterschool with things she doesn't get at public school.  Things like the history that begins with the Ancient Civilizations. 

Our schooling journey is ever indefinite!