So long to Summertime

It's the end of August.
Last night brought a cool front, along with some severe storms. We didn't have any real damage with the high winds and inch+ rainfall. The rest of the 10 day forecast has us in the low 80's... so just MAYBE we are past summer's heat.

Over the weekend, Mr C and I took Nickole to visit Glynna in OKC. I think they enjoyed getting to see one another. Tom had not wanted me to fill out an approval form for him for visitation, so he waited in the car.

Today was the (second) day of a new school week. I am trying so hard to keep things rolling along. I get frustrated when the simplest worksheets are viewed as a dissertation for a Doctorate degree. (By this, I mean that the worksheet is so hard it is just asking TOO MUCH of a 10 year old to write five sentences, or do a 12 word Word Search. TWO pages of math, with 20 problems on a page? I'm talking addition and subtraction under 100) "BUT WHY! WHY? WHY! Do I have to spell the words correctly?"

 The drama wears me out.
This week, I am (once again) trying a new approach. I choose videos and documentaries of subjects that need to be covered. Then I give her a related,  "close reading" short worksheet . Swap subjects before frustration sets in.

I ordered the 3rd grade level "Pace" workbooks for English. They will cover quite a bit of our missing materials/ learning gaps. It goes over correctly forming cursive letters, consonants and vowels, names of parts of speech. Maybe we can get through them quickly. They are supposed to arrive next week.

For math, I am still using free worksheets and drills, but going to start her on Khan Academy soon.
Hope your day is blessed.

Ho Gung

I was Gung-ho with all my ideas for Home School with Nickole. Since some relatives are 'uncomfortable' with the whole idea of home education, I had thought that something like Alpha &Omega 's Monarch Academy would be just wonderful. The work is assigned and, for the most part graded by computer. You can log in anywhere, no excess stacks of workbooks. Most kids LOVE being on the computer. The learning segments have bona fide teachers who present the material. I could show that Nickole really is enrolled in a school.

As it turned out, Monarch Academy is NOT a good fit for us at this time. Monarch Academy starts on a third grade level. Third grade assumes you have learned the basics you need to add and subtract, to read and at least print. I enjoyed our one-month free trial, but I have to find something that will work on Nickole's levels.

We have to go back and cover some basic necessities. We almost have basic addition conquered, and subtraction is coming right along. Yesterday, I discovered we need to cover Roman Numerals, consonants & vowels. Since we haven't entered into the payment portion of Monarch, I am OK with letting Monarch Academy go for now.

I hate to think of it as 'flying by the seat of my pants', but that is kind of where I am at. I hate to purchase a curriculum that's going to be gone through at a rapid pace. I'm sure that she will quickly assimilate the missing blocks of information once it is presented to her.

So, I am outlining a plan. I am using free and low cost options from a number of sources. We have Khan Academy available for math and a few other subjects. I have access to Scholastic "Teachables" through our public library. I have free "Common Core" worksheet generators I can use in Geography, spelling, and Math. I have YouTube! (Is there ANYTHING you can't learn from watching a video online?)

We will be going back and laying the basic foundation stones in math, and the mechanics of language. We will learn what cardinal and ordinal numbers are. We will learn about Roman Numerals, as well as Hindi-Arabic numerals.

We have begun "Atlas Adventures", based off a sticker book kids atlas from Aldi. (3.99). I decided we will start at the beginning of the sticker book. Nickole chooses one sticker from the shadowed outlines in the book, and puts it into place. Then, we come to the computer and look up more information about the item depicted by the sticker. So far, we have learned about Día de los Muertos, The Day of The Dead celebration; and The Golden Gate Bridge.
I choose several videos about the subject, as well as a basic search engine information spread. We watch the videos and read about the subject.
Next, Nickole goes into a blank Word document, and summarizes what she has learned about the topic. EDIT: I realized we need to print the original, unedited draft. This is attached to the final copy. This proves her progress. I follow up with checking her spelling, punctuation, and paragraph structure. I highlight words that need to be corrected, suggest edits, and mark punctuation points. Using the Word program eases the frustration of having to recopy the paper repeatedly as we edit.
Once the paragraph corrections are made, we print out a copy, and Nickole draws a picture to go with it. (It just occurred to me, I need to be printing out the raw documents as well, not just the finished product, so we can demonstrate progress.)
We look at the globe, and at the atlas to get the idea of where on the planet our topic is located.

This has been more of  theme of study than any particular "subject". Nickole is not only learning about the topic of the sticker, and where it is geographically located, but also grasping the main ideas of the materials, organizing thoughts into sentences, and sentences into a paragraph. She is learning computer skills. She will be gaining research skills. She will learn to spell correctly and soon move from paragraphs to essays.
In my opinion, learning HOW to learn is a vital step she needs to take in gaining an education. That hasn't been happening for her in the school system.

So maybe I'm not quite as gung-ho as I was a few weeks back. I have been frustrated and upset. This new direction has taken me from trying to force a quick paced catch-up, to more of a "start completely over" with the basics.
As advised by many, I am documenting, documenting, documenting. From the failures to the fantastics, the good, bad, and ugly all along the way. We are documenting the books Nickole has read, and the curriculum sources we have tapped as we struggle along.

Please pray for us in this journey.

Adventures in the Country

We had a number of beautiful, cool nights in July. We watched for meteors almost nightly. The windows were opened at night to let in a breeze much cooler than the AC could achieve.
During one night, I was awakened by our Guinea Fowl Alarm. The rooster joined in. There was much squawking and crowing, clucking and screeching. I got on my muck boots, grabbed a flashlight, and went to investigate. I found a raccoon inside the chicken pen. I ran back to the window of the bedroom and awakened Tom. He brought out the .22 and soon dispatched the offending 'coon.
My Little Red Hen was already dead. The Guinea was minus a good handful of feathers, and several of the other hens were off their roost.
Had the window not been open, I could of lost my entire flock.

The 'invisible fence' is still working! We have gotten okra and green beans! The tomatoes have given us all we can eat, plus several batches of tomato sauce and canned tomatoes. The peppers are starting to 'come on'.  The flowerbeds are hosting dozens and dozens of butterflies.
Between  the garden produce, getting Nickole started in school (and the daily work that entails), trying to stay on top of the house- I am absolutely exhausted.
Last night was no help.
Jaffa and I were returning from a walk. It was already rather dark when he found his very first black and white striped kitty in the driveway. Here is my Facebook account of that adventure:

Last night, I went out for my walk just before it was dark. Down my lane where it meets the road, I met a neighbor couple I hadn't met before. I joined them on their walk up the road. As we returned, it was getting fairly dark. Jaffa (our elderly beagle mix) was with me, and we headed up our lane.
Just ahead, I could see a smallish creature ambling along. It was too dark to make out what it was. At first, I though it was a bunny, or a cat. It had a bouncy trotting gait, not quite as big as our cat. Jaffa ran several yards ahead of me to trade backside sniffs/ chase off this intruder to our lane.
The critter very quickly identified itself.
I was yelling at Jaffa, "NO! NO! NO!"
He's 13 years old and this was his first nose to tail encounter with a striped "kitty".
As Jaffa rubbed his face and eyes in the grass and dirt, the little Stinker headed towards me. I backed up, and it kept coming.
*Not a threat, not a threat not a threat! please please please don't spray me!*
It didn't spray me. but there was enough spray in the air that I didn't miss out on my share.
I walked the rest of the way to the house, Jaffa trailing behind.
As I walked inside, I asked Tom to guess what animal Jaffa and I encountered in the lane?
He had no trouble guessing at all.
I went outside, and Tom gathered washing material. Peroxide, Dawn, baking soda, dog shampoo.
I got to give Jaffa a scrubbing. (Several times) before stripping to my skivvies and heading to the shower myself.
After the second shampooing, I had the idea to use coconut oil. I used that liberally, then shampooed twice more.
Jaffa was banished from the house. His bed and bedding, water and kibble all set out on the porch.
It has been YEARS since he has had to sleep outside.
He would alternate front and back doors, barking, barking, scratching, barking, barking to be let in.
I called him down a number of times. He seemed to settle in, and I went to bed.
Back to the barking, barking, barking.
(Good thing we live so far away from our neighbors!)
I knew Tom and Sam both had to be up to work early this morning.
I went and carried all Jaffa's stuff to the wellhouse. It has a window and screened door. I left the light on and latched the screen door from outside.
I called him off barking and tearing at the door.
I went to bed.
By midnight, the incessant barking had me up again.
I stood outside, and called him down every time he started. About 40 minutes later, he settled into whimpering and shaking.
Poor doggy. But he was still not coming inside. He had all the comforts of the house, except his people.
I went to bed, sometime after 1.
Little Miss Sunshine and Sleep til 9 decided that TODAY is the day to get up early.
She was out chatting up Umpaw and Sam by 5:30.
Granny is a grouch this morning.
Jaffa destroyed the wellhouse screen door, but didn't get out.
I have all day to test methods of removing skunky odor.
The coconut oil seems to have worked for me, I may start with that.
***********
And what has Jaffa been doing all day?
The cotton picking mutt has slept all day.
(Barking ALL NIGHT is hard work!)