Mediated Blog Update

Those of you who regularly read my blog may have noticed that my blog has not been so regular lately.
Sorry about that.
The long and short of it, is that I have had to take on a job for the present. I am still able to homeschool during the day, but the demands of working outside the home, keeping up the house and pouring into relationships are about all I can do right now.
So, the blog is temporarily on hold.
However, because I am committed to Mediated Learning and all that it offers us as homeschooling parents, I am keeping it up for those of you who still use it as a reference or for ideas on how to mediate certain things.
I encourage you to use the many resources here on this site.
Keep checking back every once in a while.
I will not be in this season forever and once it is done, I will have a lot to write about. 
And a lot more time to do so.
Blessings to you.

MATHtermind

Well, it's happened.
Just as it always does. 

Remember my little post about us going back to our last spot of success in math and picking up from there.
Well, a few days of games and what not and my girl decides she's ready to tackle the multi-digit multiplication again. 
Her father and her have a tet-a-tet about the basics of this complex approach to math.
And within a few minutes, she's off and doing the math problems as happily as can be.
Solving them correctly and humming while she does!

Mark my words. 
Write them down.
Tattoo th-  --nevermind.

If you are having trouble in an area of learning with your child, go back to your last place of success. Camp out there for a few days. Remind your child how competent they are. Give them confidence to face the next step. And when you are ready for that next step, break the problem down into smaller pieces. And tackle it one bite at a time.

Go back to go forward.
Quote me on it.

Just don't use it as words on my tombstone.
It will make no sense.

I Just Want My Program Plan to End

I have been trying to write my Program Plan for three weeks now.
Remember my little post back in the day where I made Program Plan writing sound like something any clown could pull off. 
Well, stick a red rubber nose on me and send me to the circus because, apparently, I should take up juggling.
It`s easier than writing Program Plans.
(But I`ll refuse to work for the circus as a clown...because look at the shoes that come with the job. Puh-lease. A girl has got to have some standards.)


Anyway, here is my stumbling block.
It`s the actually GOAL Planning part.


I decided that tonight was the night.
The final performance at Cirque de So-Crazy-Mom.
``Tonight,`` I declared to myself, ``I finish my Program Plans.``


To get started, I distracted myself by listening to my favourite Luke Bry*n song: I don`t want this night to end.
Wrong choice, my friends.
I should have took the tune to be foreboding and telling.
Because....after writing and tweaking and pulling up every possible word I can use to describe the methodology of learning at my house, I am most certain of one thing:
Luke Bry*n--I want this night to end.
In fact, I want my two hours back.
I can`t pull this thing together.


It`s not that I don`t have goals. It`s just that they are all character based. And I don`t really have academic goals. I mean, I unschool. Everything is about learning unfolding at my child`s pace and following their interests. We don`t use curriculum, and for the first time I wished we did. Just so I can write:
The goal of this year in science is to Finish Book A of the Amazing Curriculum Book of Science.


I am floundering, my friends.
I am panicking.
I have my hands up. And it`s nothing like Luke Bry*n`s song. 
It`s not a happy dance.


I realize that putting this out there sounds like I`m certifiable.
Or misguided.
Or just plain not very good at the paperwork end of homeschooling.
I`m ok with that.
I have alternatives. Just start the trapeze show and buy yourself a bag of popcorn. Me and my red nose will be right there.


So, if anyone knows how to write goals for those who don`t follow curriculum then leave me a comment.
Teach me.
I`m sure all that is involved here is me unlearning the `school-y` ways of doing things and approaching this from a different angle.
And if you can teach me, I promise that you will get a front row seat when I perform a unicycle ballet to Luke Bryan`s song at my next circus performance.


Thanks!

Going Backwards to Move Forwards

We brought out the math books lately. 
I've learned (FINALLY!) that we should go back to our last place of success.
For us, our last success was double digit multiplication. 
When I brought it out, we started looking at the problems. Everything was rusty and slow moving for my eldest. So I went back to the beginning of multiplication tables.
And it was there that my daughter realized, "Maybe I need more practice with the 1 to 12 multiplication tables."
So we made a goal to practice and play games for the next two weeks and re-master the multiplication tables.
And that's what we're doing. 
I'll let you know what happens in two weeks.

A Much Improved Mind

I was reviewing my old blog today  and found this post.
This post was written before I learned about Mediated Learning and critical thinking skills. It takes you deep into the caverns of a mind that was not fully understanding the many roles that cognitive functions play. 

This is a journey into my mind four years ago. I am much improved now. 
I think.
It's a hard call. I'm typing this while avoiding the laundry pile's staring eyes.
Enjoy!

Almost daily, I feel as though I spew out the mantra: "SuperGirl, come back here please and finish what you started." Day in. Day out. Same song, same audience. Every time I walk into the room and see a heap of stuff on the floor, bed, bathroom sink, or entryway I start my familiar aria.

My house has gone to pot...but this time it is my own doing.

I am a walking contradiction to my daily tune.

I blame the heat...because if I couldn't blame the heat I'd have to admit that I am not a tidy person and the A type personality inside me would never let me say such things out loud, so, it's the heat's fault.

I have proof:
Can't sleep at night.

I have no air conditioning and last night it was a balmy 17 degrees at 1 am! 1 am! I may have the fans going and every window in this apartment open but I'm still wide awake at 2am because the place won't cool down! There I am listening to the whirring sound of the fan and wondering about the person who said that white noise will help you sleep (Complete load of bullocks in my situation).
So, lack of sleep.

A complete and total point against me. That's one.

When I did get to sleep, I woke up at 5 am to the birds singing and my bedroom/living room/kitchen (I live in a one bedroom apartment) blazing with the glorious light of dawn.

Of course, all of this was courtesy to the open windows.

Windows that had to be open, may I remind you, so that I could sleep at night.

So, I wake up exhausted and unable to think straight. That's two points against me. And this is how this whole "house going to pot" got started.

Started putting away the dishes as the girls ate breakfast, suddenly realized that I was starving and knew that I couldn't face my day without...hanging my laundry out on the line. Came back downstairs and checked the weather. 8:25 am and it is 25 degrees out and heading towards 37 degrees!
I start putting the dishes away (again) and realize that this is the best time to change plans and go to the lake and sit in the water.

Start packing up to go and remember that my children's fingernails need clipping.

I get the nailclippers and immediately understand this to be the perfect moment to blow bubbles outside while I empty out the van to clean it.
It would seem that these two particular activities don't mix all that well.

I bring in screaming, pouting children who are wounded over the fresh loss of bubble juice to the heat scorched grass. I'm scratched and reminded that I need to clip their nails. I set them down and realize that I have not called my friend who has just had a surgery. But ten minutes later, I'm back to the realization that my wildcat children need their fingernails clipped as I am literally clawed off the phone.

With new, short nails, my children purr and play as I frantically stuff the necessities of beachware into my bag (take 5 minutes to reconcile whether rubber boats and a raincoat would be overpreparing. Settle on not taking them but leaving them on the growing pile of things I'll do later tonight once the kids are sleeping).

We go to the beach.

It's great.

It's sand.

It's sun.

It's summer fun.

Yay Beach Parties!

I reminisce about my fave day last summer spent on a beach in Arkansas with my sister's family, a close friend, my girls and my mom. Ahhh, this is summer.
Then I return home, I open the door and a bomb has gone off in my house...almost literally.

There are signs of every place I've been today:
dishes not put away and put away in peculiar places (cups in the cereal storage bin, huh?)
nail clippers on the kitchen table
At least 4 glasses of water that are half full (or empty) evidence that at some point I thought that if I hydrated myself I may think clearer
a spilled over laundry basket with clothes on the bed. A clever little reminder I set up for myself so that the moment I got home I would remember to take my hanging underwear off the clothesline
left out condiments used to make the beach picnic
a growing pile of things I imagine I will do once:

a) I regain my sanity

b) make the decision to refuse to add anything more to the pile and

c) realize that somewhere deep inside the pile is my frying pan that I put away absent-mindedly this morning somewhere between hanging laundry and being starving

This is ridiculous.

I haven't finished anything today.

It's a miracle I've made a complete sentence come together and end in a conclusive way.

What kind of role model is this?

How can I be an example if this is my thought process?

How can I survive this heat if I have to wade knee-deep through my house?

How can I --oh, is that a chip? I would really like a chip right now.

Several, in fact.

But before I do, it would seem like now is the perfect moment to work on that scrapbook I started in 2001.

The Blue Car

I wrote this poem a while ago and found it today. I feel like sharing:

The Blue Car


Burnt, charred embers
leave marks on my hands
Easily washed off
with the grit of the sand
that stood under your feet
as you stood on my soul
Helpless and lame
Completely unwhole

Rhonderdons blooming
Stars shining the same
Blues music was booming,
To a tune that was slain...
eking a place in my head
For the swallows to sit
For the swallows, a bed

Drip-drops of the coffee
that I never drink
Sing songs of the melodies
that I never think

Questioned the running of time
through the land
of wheat that blows grandly
while slips through my hand

Wondered at silence
Why nothing was said
Sealed up like drum
That beat in my head

Rhythms stopped rhyming
And moods stopped their sway
Time hands stopped ticking
The moon slipped away

Frayed ribbons
Black hats
Scuffed shoes and dark shades
Under the blue car
that drove far away

Thanksgiving fun

Some turkey-lurkey-doo type of fun of late:

A mom and son turkey handprint painting

pumpkin patch faces

Nature walks and our findings

Crazy gourds

A Turkey Gourd

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Pirate Cake

This is the cake that I thought had a conspiracy against me. 
It's a pirate cake. It was hard to make. It was not as easy as it looks.
It was devoured in mere moments...delish!

Workshop 3- A Focus on Reading

If you have recently attended Workshop 3, here are some things to get you off to a quick start:

Remember the Core & Criteria

(click here to read a post on the CORE)

(click here to read a post on the CRITERIA)

Use Process Questions

(click here to read a post on Process Questions)

(click here to read a post about an experience using process questions)

Remember the Phases of the Mental Act (Thinking)

Click here to read about the Phases

Focus on strengthening the following Cognitive Functions

* Exploring a New Learning Situation

click here to learn about this cognitive function

*Defining the Problem

-click here to read a post about DTF

*Data Gathering-

-click here to learn about DG and how to mediate this cognitve function

*Select Relevant Clues

*Elaboration of Cognitive Categories

click here to learn about ECC and how to mediate this cognitive function

*Perception

-click here to learn about Perception and how to mediate this cognitive function

*Mental Field

The ONE thing you can do to improve your child's chances of reading

click here to find out

Remember that Reading Problems can be caused by:

-environmental causes

-physical causes

-perceptual: dyslexia

-detecting reading problems

TOOLS TO USE

Items found in your workshop notes to help:

Observation Sheet

Process Questions

(click here to review the Process Questions)

Human Figure Drawings

(Click here to review a Human Figure Drawing)

Reading Placement Test

Detecting Reading Problems

Review Videos

Attend Future Workshops

Dynamic Assessment

Recommended Reading and Resources

BOOKS

The Gift of Dyslexia

How the Brain Learns to Read

WEBSITES

icelp.org

FOR YOURSELF

*Believe that change is possible

*Make an honest commitment to become mediational

*Be willing to put other things aside in order to mediate

Something about today

Something I said today: I think this cake has a conspiracy against me.

Something I heard today: Oh, you can't hurt my feelings. I only have one left and I'm saving it for a special occasion.

Something I did today: Reprimanded a friend for buying cigarettes

Something I smelled today: the night air, sprinkled with stars and filled with crisp life

Something I tasted today: My daughter's birthday cake

Something I read today: the final pages of the novel Joy for Beginners

Something I remembered today: That I haven't written a post on goal setting

Something I offered today: Links on past posts to appease my readers

Quick! Look busy, Louis is coming!

Using Luke 2:52 as a guide to goal setting-pt. 1

Using Luke 2:52 as a guide to goal setting -pt. 2

Enjoy

It's 1 am, foo', I ain't posting no post

So, that whole Goal Post I mentioned yesterday that I said I would write. It ain't happening.

There. I did it.

I broke blog etiquette and didn't write as promised.

Last I checked the world was still intact.

All things considered.

Perhaps tomorrow.

No promises ;)

The Skinny on the Big Fat Program Plan

For those fortunate enough to live in this area, you need to complete a Program Plan.

This is a plan that outlines what you will do for the coming school year in your home.

Dear Government,

Here is my Program Plan:

Life...as it unfolds.

Thank you,

5 minute mom

A great idea but, in reality, we all need to have goals. And so, it just makes sense to have a Program Plan.

Last week, (King) Louis and Joyce, facilitator's extraordinaire, put on a workshop on the HOW-TO basics of How to Write a Program Plan. I was very grateful for this because I handed mine in last March.

It was due at the end of November.

Let this mean nothing to all of you about how efficient and on top of things I am.

A mere blip on my map.

Really.

Honest.

Well, anyway, for those of you building your FIRST EVER Program Plan I will attempt to divulge the secrets.

For those who want something really elaborate and amazing, you should probably go over to Cindy Rushton's website and hear an audio or two about pulling your life together. I can't offer that here.

Instead, I present to you: THE BARE BONES ESSENTIAL TO PROGRAM PLAN WRITING

Now, word on the street is that the first thing you need to have is a FAMILY VISION statement.

What that is translated to mean to me is a long conversation with my husband about what we want our family to look like.

This is a two hour conversation at my house.

I am on a deadline and so I schedule a talk for next week and get on with the planning....because here is a little unknown secret that I am going to give you for free.

I'm not even going to make you give me your email address in order to get it.

Are you ready?

Plans can change.

Plans are adaptable.

Plans are FLUID.

Yes, I wrote FLUID. Write it down because in about six months it will replace "iconic" as the new catch phrase that is tossed around on the net and in benign interviews with celebrities commenting on their co-workers.

You heard it hear first. Got that?

So, the point here is this:

If you can't squeeze in a chat with your main squeeze right away, go ahead and make the plan. You can always go back and adjust the plan to suit the Family Vision.

Just Make the Program Plan.

Don't use the unwritten Family Vision as an excuse not to get something in writing.

I find that it is more productive to make up the plan and share it with my husband. He then offers insight, affirms decisions and points out new goals.

We work better when he has something concrete in front of him to base the discussion on.

Make the changes once you have your Family Vision and then SUBMIT the final copy.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy

What I am about to unveil to you is not the actual plan that Louis and Joyce presented...this is how I interpreted it. This may work for some of you. For others, you may wrinkle your nose in disgust and head on over to Cindy Rushton's to find out who she is.

THE BARE BONES ESSENTIAL TO PROGRAM PLAN WRITING:

Start by praying and asking God for wisdom, then

1. Pick a child who is currently being homeschooled

2. Write down their strengths and weaknesses and abilities

3. Looking at the weaknesses, identify the character issues that need to be strengthened (diligence, initiative, excellence, etc.)

4. Take stock of what it is you need to be successful? What IS keeping you from being succcessful? How can their strengths be used to fortify the weaknesses?

5. Pick your subjects. Or, in my case, categories. I don't like seperating subjects because all of our learning has smudged edges that blend together like a charcoal drawing.

I choose categories like: Literacy, Numeracy, Nature, Community, etc.

You can chose Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Spelling, and all the other subjects, if you are so inclined.

6. Under each category write down your goal and the resource materials you are going to use.

7. Assess- write down how you will assess their learning (observation, tests, performances, etc)

TA-da. that's it. Seven steps to a new Program Plan.

In the words of Inspector Gadget, "Wowsers!"

Join me tomorrow when I will be discussing Goals and How to Recognize One.

Although, I'm sure by then, it will have a snazzy title.

Ciao!