Portfolio Time!

We love making portfolios and meeting with our evaluator. We keep a log starting July 1 of time spent on "school" subjects and a list of books and materials. I am more of a backwards planner than anything else, inclined to let life unfold and then journal about it after the fact. This means we get to March and realize that we have done a deep dive into colonial American history but neglected music history. Marko realized he only did about 25% of his math program. Handwriting and copywork fell to the wayside for 2 of the 3 kids. Laurel spent enormous amounts of time working on a fiction project but we didn't study many novels together, as we had in the past. We went to a ton of museums....Johnson Space Center, pretty much every history and art museum in Pittsburgh, a really amazing little collection of folk artist Alice Moseley in Mississippi, and of course, the "living" museum that was biking the C&O towpath and Great Allegheny Passage. How cool that we followed the path that George Washington took and it goes right past our house. My mom put together anatomy lessons for us, but we haven't done the required fire safety yet.

What I like about the checklists is the visual representation of how we spent our time and how easy it is to see what we didn't do. Marko got to work on his math and quickly caught up. I gave a few copywork prompts to see how their handwriting was (abysmal) and decided to order some workbooks from Handwriting Without Tears. Laurel and I brainstormed about some ways to do more literature study, and started thinking about ways she can socialize more with her peers and also start taking some formal math and science classes with labs. She invited a friend over for a bike ride, and then accepted an invitation to meet some other homeschool teens at the library. We happened to get an email on fire safety from our new apartment management, and decided to take a minute to review the features and also talk about escape routes and memorize our new address.

Each kid writes a letter to our evaluator to be included in the portfolio. I love seeing what they thought were the most important things that happened this year! I write a little summary about their current knowledge and skills and what we plan to work on next. There is no "below or above grade level" - just an honest assessment of what each of us did and some thinking about what we would like to do next, with an eye towards balanced living and learning. I also like that M and I can participate in a similar process along with the kids....we don't make portfolios, but we do decide what are the things we want to focus on in the next few months (bike rides! swimming! making a batch of soap!) and things we want to be done with (working on the house!)

Roadschooling Our Way

Roadschooling is my favorite....it's not without its challenges, but I think the unique and diverse learning experiences we get out of it are worth it. I'm learning how to do this better all the time. 

Where should I go?

Pick a location...it can be anywhere! A lot of people want to aim for national parks, and yes, these are among the most spectacular places to visit, but they are 1) crowded and 2) very far apart. I advise that you instead aim for a region that is within your comfort zone for driving distance, weather and budget, go there for at least a week or two and explore everything slowly. Trust me, it won't matter what you pick...there are amazing things everywhere. 

How do I find things to do?

Scope out the big and small museums, county and state parks, regional foods, Native American tribal councils, libraries, hiking paths, and fairs or festivals. I love the Adventure Lab app that goes with the Geoaching app and find it well worth the $36 a year subscription fee. You get walking tours for many locations that give you something to do and also point out some historical or geographical points of interest. We will visit a coffee shop and get the local paper to see what events are going on. When we stay in private campgrounds there are sometimes seasonal residents there who will host potlucks or other social events and you can find out from them what is going on in the area. 

Will there be a test?

Definitely not. We don't have grades in our homeschool. They get scores on math and then find mistakes and resubmit until they know it. For social studies and science they will write a few essays or do a big project throughout the year, but I have found quizzing them to be a waste of their time and mine. We talk about what we've seen and write down questions that we have, which often shapes the next adventure. We use maps and a timeline to orient ourselves.

How do you know what the kids are going to learn?

I really don't. We have some guiding questions....who used to live here? Do they still live here? If not, what happened? This can apply to any species. The physical science is often the reason behind things coming and going. We read signs and look at museum exhibits and usually end up with a lot of questions and then look online and watch videos or read articles. This morning we turned on a livestream from NASA, thinking we would see the view from the International Space Station, but instead it was a panel discussion on contributions of African Americans to NASA and related agencies. Those historic markers you find on the side of the road are usually pretty barebones in their description but if you search for youtube or visit archives.gov you can dig deeper into the story. 

How much is enough?

Sometimes I panic that we are not doing enough....but don't fall into this trap. Leave space for thinking about things. We like to hike or fly kites. Not every second has to be filled with acquisition of new information. Our society has become way too rushed and we complain that our kids have difficulty with transitions. I spent years trying to figure out how to sweep children along with maximum efficiency, but I have since changed my mind about this approach.  I slashed the fat from our schedule several years ago and then kept slashing until we found a place of equilibrium. When we are at a good place with our schedule my kids have zero problems getting ready and out the door. I learned about backwards planning from Julie Bogart and having a daily reflection period for sketching or jotting down a few notes about what we did has been game-changing. Trust the process. Slow down and what you've done will almost always be enough. And if it wasn't enough, you don't have to consider it a personal failure, just incorporate what was missing the next day, the next week, the next year.

Does it cost a lot of money?

It can cost whatever you want it to cost. Many museums have a free day. Getting a membership and visiting one place many times while you are there may be more cost effective and a richer experience than rushing through a bunch of different ones. Reading historic markers is free. Libraries are free and will have interesting highly localized collections. If you stay at state parks, programming there is usually free. The junior ranger badgework that national parks offer is free. Camping is a pretty low cost way of travel once you have equipment. Sometimes it's worth it to pay a tour guide or museum admission, but you don't have to cram your trip full of these experiences. 

DITL Mid-Year

I started the day with granola and coffee and then did a few chores until the kids woke up. M went running with friends. When Max got up, we snuggled on the couch and I read a chapter from Winnie the Pooh. The kids made themselves breakfast and we went to my parents' house to visit with their cousin, who is about a year and a half and really starting to talk and run around a lot. He's so much fun. Then we went to a playground that has a super big slide and a ropes course. It wasn't super warm, but it was sunny. On the way to our stops today, we continued listening to the History that Doesn't Suck podcast, an episode about the Battle of New Orleans and Andrew Jackson. When we got home, Laurel made lunch for the kids and I went for a walk with M to the grocery store and coffee shop. When we got home, I read another chapter of Winnie the Pooh while everyone ate lunch together. After lunch, Laurel went to work on Khan Academy. She's planning to take an algebra placement test in a few weeks and wants to finish the 7th grade math curriculum before then. She's taking a Brave Writer class on nonfiction writing and read the message board for that class. Her topic is red tailed hawks, so she had her eye out for them today, but we didn't see any, which is actually kind of unusual. Then she composed a reminder email to her aunts for book club next week. The book they are reading is A Snake Falls to Earth, which I recommended to her (and she loved it!) so I feel pretty happy about that. The boys played a version of multiplication war. Years ago when I was teaching algebra to high school students who really hated math, I came across this blog post with ideas for expanding on the classic card game, and it was life changing. After War, they did a few workbook pages. After all that, I doled out some Girl Scout cookies. 

Now it's gaming/tv/social time. Marko and Max usually log on to a google meet and play Minecraft with a few other kids and Laurel usually watches tv with one of her friends, or will do a video chat with them. Or, if our next door neighbor is home from school, they will go for a walk. During this time, I rest, exercise, do chores or catch up on homeschool paperwork (or write a quick blog post to remember how life is in the midst of an unexpected move/construction/new job....actually pretty calm and manageable, thanks to homeschooling). 

Galveston Island

 We came down to the Gulf Coast to celebrate M's birthday with some Mardi Gras festivities, enjoy winter beach time and learn about space exploration. For the first part of our trip, we caravanned from one parking lot to another with my parents, putting in long days in order to get out of the cold, and luckily we got to Galveston Island just in the knick of time to avoid ice storms. The weather was cool and rainy on our first few days, but the sun eventually came out and we are enjoying the beach and pool now. I bought a membership to the Houston Space Center to allow for multiple visits and we still haven't seen everything there. We also did some Adventure Labs in Galveston (this is an add-on to the Geocaching app where it leads you through a guided tour - usually walking, but sometimes driving - to see noteworthy sites). We learned about the businessman and philanthropist, Henry Rosenberg and ended the tour with a visit to the library he funded, which also had a rare book collection with a 500 year old book (!) and an exhibit of photographs from the devastating 1900 hurricane that killed 1 in 6 residents of the island. We ate kolaches, crawfish boil and king cake. We got a new single line kite and are flying our dual line stunt kite on the beach a lot. 

We are staying at a KOA Holiday here in Galveston. It's newly updated with concrete camping pads (great for rainy weather - no mud!) and full hookups. There is a lazy river pool, a regular pool, a hot tub, laundry, hot showers, a trampoline and a playground. Our site backs up to a marsh and we have spent many evenings sitting around our campfire and listening to the birds. Definitely a luxury setting for us! M is working during this trip, so having wifi or good cell is important. I also like this campground because you can walk right across the street to get to the public access beach and it's all houses down here so the beach is never crowded.