Learning to Learn

One of the single most important lessons I want Casia to gain in the course of her education is the skill of learning to learn. I think so often we are focused on what material our kids need to know, which subjects they should study and which skills they need to acquire. But I can tell you that I personally have forgotten so much of what I once learned (although, thanks to homeschooling Casia, I'm getting a refresher course). Historical facts have been lost, technical scientific terms confused and I don't even want to talk about my inability to do integrations and derivatives anymore! But the one accomplishment that I did gain through schooling was the ability to teach myself new skills, implement new knowledge and gain further understanding of topics that interest me as an adult.

I went to a private university in Upstate New York starting out majoring in science and then adding a very interesting course of study called Health and Society. Basically it was an amalgam of history, philosophy and sociology with some anthropology and political science thrown in, all related to health and allied fields. It was a topic that interested me, but short of attending Public Health School, I'm not sure what I can do with that degree. So do I regret spending a small fortune and four years of my life studying a subject that I'm not likely to ever use? Nope. Not a whit. Why? Because I learned more in college than I did in the whole rest of my educational experience combined. I learned that if I want to know something, I have to read about it, ask questions, share opinions and get feedback. I don't know why it took me so long to learn this life lesson, but I never truly learned it, even during my four years at a decent suburban high school. 

As I look back over my own educational experiences, I see a lot of spoon feeding and regurgitation. The teacher stood in the front of the classroom. I heard the teacher talk about a subject. After several days of the teacher repeating said information a few times, I was given a test and I answered based on the information given to me by the teacher. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with this system if the ultimate goal is to have students leave school with a certain amount of knowledge (knowledge I've already admitted to losing after years of non usage), but I want my children to become adept at garnering information that is pertinent to their life and work. I want them to see learning as something they do in their life, not just a something they do in school.

I think that I learned how to learn in college, not because it was 'higher education' or because I was paying big bucks for it, but because the attitude of the professors was different than the attitude my teachers had held before. There's a reason they call them professors and not teachers. They aren't actually there to teach. Oh, they give you a bunch of reading material and they have lecture and office hours for questions, but mostly, they point you in the right direction and they leave it to you to either learn the material or not. I could show up to class without having read the assigned pages, but you know what? I wouldn't have understood most of the discussion. They did not reiterate the reading, they built on it. They clarified it, but they did not simply stand in the front of the room and recite the information I'd just read (well, most of them didn't). They didn't even care *gasp* if I showed up for class or not. There was no pulling me aside and asking me why I didn't attend Tuesday's lecture or why I hadn't put in my best effort on my last paper. If I didn't do the work, it was reflected in my grade. And you know what? It was an extremely good motivator for me. I realized there wasn't anybody holding my hand through the material anymore. I was now the one teaching myself what it is I wanted to learn. It was a truly eye-opening experience and extremely rewarding. 

Since graduating from college I have continued to educate myself on a variety of topics. When I was an administrative assistant at a hospital working under a federal grant program, we were faced with the need to collect a lot of data on our patients, but we didn't have any database with which to do it. The people before me would simply manually flip through paper folders looking for the records they needed and write their reports by hand. I knew there had to be a better way, but I was not very computer savvy myself. None the less, I got myself a book on Microsoft Access Database programming and with some help from Jacob, I built them a database. It worked well and they continued to use it even after I left their employ.  

Later, after Casia was born, I wanted to do some volunteer work and get out of the house for a while every week. I joined my local fire department and became an EMT. I loved going to my EMT class and loved working on an ambulance. I had to quit when I was pregnant with Garrett because I just didn't have the time any more, but I don't regret the experience.

And about five years ago, I became interested in photography. First, I mostly just wanted to take better pictures of my kids. But soon, I was interested in taking pictures of nature and architecture. I didn't know anything about photography, so I started reading about it. I got books out of the library, I read blogs and articles online, and I got out there and started practicing the techniques I was reading about. Within a year, I was brave enough to enter my work into an amateur photography contest (thanks to some prodding by Jacob) and I won! It gave me such a boost of self-confidence, I started to daydream about becoming a photographer some day. Jacob, ever so much more confident than I, started nudging me in that direction. He bought me a digital SLR camera and encouraged me to start my own business. I did zounds of research, spent a lot of time practicing and building a portfolio and less than two years after discovering an interest in photography, I had started my own fine art photography business. I am mostly part-time, selling at art shows and galleries, but it's still a job that I love and I continue to put work into learning how to be a better photographer and also a better business owner.

When we started having trouble finding an academic fit for Casia, I started exploring the world of gifted education. I read dozens of books on the issue, looked into all the alternatives available to us and in the end, began to focus on homeschooling. This led to another round of investigative work. I knew absolutely nothing about it! I went from zero to homeschooling in a few months and I felt confident in our decision and my ability to teach Casia primarily because of all the time I put into learning about homeschooling. I read books about it, talked to people who were doing it, and look at all the research that had been done on the subject. Again, I used my skills in learning to learn to aid me in yet another endeavor. And when I think about my goals for Casia and her education, I keep coming back to this idea that education is less about teaching and more about guiding; guiding her to the resources that she needs to teach herself.

With four years of public school under Casia's belt, she was heartily entrenched in the spoon feeding- regurgitation method of learning. I had all these lofty ideas of how we were going to cover certain topics, and how it would all play out, but when I asked her to select a book on Ancient Egypt, read it and then write down what she learned, she wasn't able to do it. She didn't know what I wanted, even with many explanations. She wanted me to tell her which book to read and then read it with her. She wanted me to ask the question so she could answer and show she understood it. She wanted me to tell her exactly what I expected her to write. I realized then that I would essentially have to start at the beginning with Casia. And the sad part about this is that when Casia was little, before she started school, Casia was already learning to learn. She did it naturally and I instinctively knew how to help her through it. She would show an interest in a topic. She would ask me questions until she exhausted my knowledge and then we would make a trip to the computer and/or the library and she would get her fill of information from other sources. Later that day, or a few days later, after processing all her new found knowledge, she would tell us what she learned. We would discuss it. We would bring up points that she hadn't thought of yet and she would also surprise us with her own unique perspective. This was never something I thought about while we were doing it. It all seemed so natural. Casia was curious and we went from there. She learned lots of information that would be considered educational and lots of skills she would later need in school, like reading, writing and math. But all the while, she was an active participate, nay! the propelling force, and I was just a compass, making sure she didn't lose her way. 

So how do I regain that drive to learn for knowledge's sake? How do I fan that flame that was beginning to extinguish? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I know I need to encourage her to take baby steps back in the right direction. I know I need to have higher expectations than those placed on her previously. And I know that I need to hold her accountable for her own education in order for her to feel that she has a stake in it. I also need to boost her pride and self-confidence in abilities as she gains them to encourage her own personal growth. With all this in mind, and knowing that I don't have all the answers and that I'm learning as I go as well, I decided to start her re-education with one subject, with one step, and to take it from there.

Enter biology. Casia's previous science education was haphazard. The water cycle in first grade, butterflies in second  and magnets in fourth grade. Little snippets of information, in short little bursts, to get the kids interested but no real connection to anything else they were studying. I picked biology, in part because I had the textbook already, but mostly because Casia showed a lot of interest in animals and the human body. I thought a complete course in it would help fills the gaps of what she'd picked up from various readings and give her the depth that she really craves and the structure that she lacks.

When I first started using the biology text book with her, we read it together. I would read aloud and have her read some of it aloud as well. I gave her typed up notes on what we'd just read, we talked about it and I answered her questions, helped her study and then she took a test. We did that for a few chapters, until I was sure she was getting the hang of it. Then we switched to, Casia read a chapter independently and I gave her notes on the chapter. We talked about it and I answered all her questions. Again, I followed up by helping her study and giving her a test. When she became quite competent with that, she then learned to take her own notes on the chapter. Now she reads the chapter, takes her own notes, we discuss it and I answer questions and then she studies the material with my help and takes a test. My goal is that by the end of the year, she will read the chapter, take her own notes, we will discuss it together and I will answer her questions, she will study independently and then take the test. She is getting there! 

She has shown so much growth and has learned so much. And I don't mean about biology, but yes, she has learned that too. I mean that she has learned how to read a text book. She now knows how to extract the key information from pages of detailed descriptions. She has been getting better at asking questions, figuring out what she understands and what needs clarifying. Casia has also learned how to take a test without a single multiple choice question. She has learned how to write short essay answers on her tests. And she is well on her way to being able to study material independently without having to have my reassurance that she has mastered the topic. She has shown great progress and I am so proud of her. I do believe she is once again heading down the road of learning to learn.

Taking It Year By Year

It was about a year ago this month that I started to seriously consider homeschooling for Casia. She wasn't getting a good fit in the local public school, private school wasn't a financial option for us and we were in the process of moving but didn't know when that was going to happen. At the time, homeschooling was starting to look more and more like the best solution for Casia's short term academic needs.

I say short-term needs because this year has been a big experiment. We didn't know what to expect. We didn't know if it would be successful. And we didn't know if Casia and I would even want to continue after the year was out. And for the last few years, Jacob and I have held the attitude that we would make educational decisions on a year by year basis. This was one of those decisions.

Two years ago we were faced with another decision for Casia's schooling. The public school she was attending recommended a grade skip from 2nd to 4th grade. They basically told us that they were out of options to challenge her and this was their solution- we could take it or leave it. It was an extremely hard decision to make. I wasn't against grade skipping, but I wasn't strongly in favor of it either. I truly felt that keeping her in her grade, but providing some differentiation would be the best solution. She learns faster than the average child, which is why she was so academically advanced in the first place. Putting a grade higher would temporarily provide a challenge, but she still learns at an incredible rate, and once she caught up, she would be with kids that are a year older and she still wouldn't be challenged properly. 

At the time, homeschooling wasn't even a consideration, although now I wish it had been. Back then, we were coming off a horrible year of school for Casia and we were desperate for some challenge for her. So we went ahead and agreed to the grade skip. In retrospect, I wish we'd pulled her out of public school and kept her in her original grade. Now she is in 5th grade. Next year she will be starting middle school at only nine years of age. She's also short for her age and looks about six, maybe seven on a good day. If she stays in her grade (which is my intention) she will graduate from high school and go off to college when she is 16 years old. When I think of that, I have regrets over making that decision to push her forward. I'm sure she will be ready, academically at least, and hopefully she'll be mature enough when the time comes, but I do regret that lost year.

This year we have seen a lot of change for the family. We sold our house, moved three states away and we've been living in a rental property while we wait for our new house to be built. We move again in two months. We've also changed the make-up of our daily routines. Jacob now works from home. Garrett goes off to Kindergarten every day and Casia is homeschooling. There has been a lot of adjusting, for everyone.

So this is the time of year that we start to consider our options for next year. Jacob and I talked about exploring the local middle school as a potential opportunity for Casia. We talked about setting up appointments with the administration, checking out the classes she would be able to take and looking into extra curricular activities available at the middle school level. Hopefully there should be more options available in middle school that were not available in elementary school. The idea is that this would give us some choices. Something to consider. 

But the truth is, I don't want to send Casia to a brick and mortar middle school. With a strong, unyielding passion, I just do not want to do it. She is so young. The grade cut-off for this district is September instead of December, so Casia is technically two grades ahead of her age peers already. She's still academically advanced for her grade, so to accommodate her needs and provide an appropriate challenge, she will need to be placed in upper grade classes for math and science at a minimum. If they even agree to do this, she will then be in classes with kids that are up to four years older. With every fiber of my being, I just don't want to send her off to the local middle school.

What's more Casia doesn't want to go to middle school. She remembers walking the halls of the middle school when she attended her advanced 6th/7th grade combined math class. The class was held in the middle school, but designed for 5th graders. She was in forth grade (after the skip) and she was 7 years old at the time. She hated when the class let out and she had to make her way to the bus to head back to the elementary school. She didn't like being physically pushed around by the bigger kids (nothing intentional, but no one noticed her; she was so small). She also worries that in middle school, she is going to get a lot of negative attention because of her age, her size and her academic abilities. She isn't likely to make a lot of close friends because the older girls won't have a lot in common with her. She's afraid she'll be an outsider.

And besides all that, Casia also loves homeschooling. When I asked her what she likes best about it, she replied that she loves being able to go in depth on topics like she was never allowed to do in school. She loves the science experiments, art projects and special assignments that, for the most part, get completed during the school day. She doesn't have homework to interfere with her playtime. And most importantly to her, she gets to learn at her pace. When she's ready to move on, she does; there's no waiting for others to catch up.

I personally think that our homeschooling experiment has been tremendously successful. Not just adequate, but actually beneficial. I have seen a great changes in Casia's attitude about school and learning. She reminds me more and more of the young Casia, before the four years of public school, who used to dive into topics that interest her, spend hours on projects that challenge her and looks at new information with eager eyes, not tired ones.

She has fewer moods swings, and when she does, it's usually for reasons that we can pinpoint. When she was in school, we dealt with all sorts of temper tantrums, negativity and frustration from Casia and neither Jacob nor I could figure out the why behind it. I'm not sure Casia really knew the why herself, she just knows that now she feels happier. She enjoys school again and looks forward to learning. 

So for now, the decision to continue to homeschool through next year has been made. It's working for Casia, it's working for our family and it's working for me. I can honestly say that I'm not even curious to see what the local school has to offer. I'm happy with what we're doing. I'm confident that Casia is doing well. And I'm relieved that we've made the decision and don't have to have a long drawn out process in front of us. 

New Writing Curriculum

I have been coming up with writing assignments for Casia  this school year in an ad hoc fashion. I wanted to combine it with history, so she did a book report on a historical fiction novel. I wanted to make sure she could write an essay with supporting points and assigned her a topic idea I got online. I thought it would be good for her to write about something she learned during her ancient Greece unit and she picked to write an essay on Greek mythology. All of these have been good assignments to strengthen her writing mechanics and enhance her planning skills, but they've lacked a cohesive strategy. It wasn't that I was unhappy with curriculum, it's just that I wasn't completely satisfied with it either. 

I wasn't actively seeking a new source, but I very serendipitously discovered this box set in a discount bin at the local grocery store. It was $6. Tough to beat that price. 

It's not an actually curriculum, but rather a guide with writing tips, geared towards preadolescent girls. It's part of a Littlemissmatched's series and it's called The Writer in Me!. I picked it because Casia is always telling me about how she wants to be a writer when she grows up. She already has a story line (long enough to fill multiple books) running through her head. She just lacks the ability to put those ideas down onto paper. I started encouraging her to write her story awhile back, but she really struggles. I think it's too overwhelming. She's been typing it up, but will only get a couple of lines down at a time. She doesn't seem to make much progress and I thought this might be able to help her. 

If you can get past the fact that it actually sounds like a preadolescent girl talking, using phrases like 'bestest', 'incredibly incredible' and 'awesomely awesome', it has some really helpful strategies for better writing. It breaks down key elements like character, setting, and dialog into some very accessible lessons. For each topic it suggests an activity. The kit even includes little notebooks and journal to make it more fun (what 9 year old girl doesn't like to have a small notebook?).

Each chapter focuses on a different genre: the short story, poetry, playwriting, etc. and they each bring a different aspect of writing into focus. Casia has completed three of the activities for the first chapter on writing short stories. Her first assignment was to use an old picture to help set the stage for a story. She did an adequate job with it, but lacked some of the details to really establish the setting. Casia has a tendency to want to get to the action of a story quickly, so this was a challenge for her, but I think she's leaning the importance of developing the setting to give the reader more perspective.

In the second assignment, Casia had to use dialog to help capture someone's character. Again, she struggled a bit with it. This is where I realized that her tendency is to summarize her thoughts and move on instead of relishing in the details. So for her third assignment, she had to write a short story where a single emotion was the driving force. In the book, the example of Poe's The Tell-tale Heart is used, so Casia and I read that before she began. I stressed that she needed to slow the story down and use a lot of imagery to help convey her ideas. With this lesson, Casia really took it heart and came up with a really good story of two girls riding the bus home from the last day of school. Each girl talked about how she was planning on spending her summer. She used some great imagery and description to contrast their views of a perfect summer. I think she's really starting to get it and I look forward to reading more of her stories.

Perfectionism

Normally, I don't classify Casia as a perfectionist. In Kindergarten, she was entirely happy with her quickly scribbled pictures and could never understand her teacher's desire for her to "color inside the lines". With craft projects and holiday cards, she'll whip up something quickly without giving a second thought to mis-folded papers, misspelled words, and the dog hairs stuck under the tape. But something happened in the years between 1st and 4th grade where Casia learned that in school, the measure of a good student is getting 100% on all assignments.

I get it. I remember being in school and being furious with myself if I missed a question and ended up with a 96%. But as a parent, and now as Casia's teacher, I have a much different perspective on the issue. 

She doesn't get an official report card, so grades aren't a necessary function for that bureaucratic task. My husband and I are now the sole judges of whether Casia is learning sufficiently in quantity and quality, and since we are also the ones with first-hand perspective to see these results (through her written work and through conversations with her), grades are not required for us to make that determination. So why grade at all? 

On one hand, test scores can be a quick way to establish how well a student has mastered the material. You can see trends over time, comparisons between subjects (is she doing well in math but needs more work in science?) or even to evaluate between students. If you have a whole classroom of kids, it can be quite valuable in determining which kids are getting it and which aren't. But not all tests are created equally. Not all students respond the same way to being graded. And not all grades are a true reflection of learning. And isn't learning, after all, the point of education?

When we started this homeschooling journey, I decided to assess Casia's progress in much the same way that traditional schools do. She takes tests, hands in homework and has writing assignments. Some of these receive grades, in part, as a measure of how well she grasped the assignment, but  primarily because she has grown to expect a numerical value to be placed on her output. She likes it. She demands it. But now I am really starting to question the benefits of this. 

From the start, I warned Casia that my grading is going to be different, and by different, I mean harder, than her last year's teacher. At first she balked at that. But then I reasoned with her that multiple choice tests, particularly for a student who excels at test talking, is not the best measure of her knowledge. It's more a measure of her ability to guess well. If you don't know something, you have a 25% chance of still getting it right. And her teacher last year would always make at least one (but sometimes two) of the choices so utterly ridiculous that if you were actually reading it, you'd never select those choices, increasing you guessing odds. 

It's been an adjustment for Casia, but she has transitioned well to fill in the blank, short answer, and short essay test questions. Until today. Today was the test in Biology on cell respiration. I knew when I wrote the test that it was hard. We had covered a lot of material and I knew she had really studied and would do well on it, but I did warn her that this was going to be more difficult than previous unit tests. 

It's a challenge figuring out just how much to teach and test Casia. Academically, she is is far more capable than her nine years would lead you to believe, but still, she is young. I have to consider depth versus interest; strike a balance between what she can achieve and what she needs to know. I saw her languish in public school where the expectations were far to low for her to ever live up to her potential. She wilted for lack of stimulation. While homeschooling, I've seen her interest grow as her knowledge is broadened which leads to more desire to explore deeper. It's really a wonder to see her flourish when she is actually given a chance to spread her wings. But she is still conditioned that school should be easy, spoon-fed, and for her to always receive those 'perfect' grades.

So today, when she scored only an 87% on her science test, she was in tears. She felt like she had failed and was convinced she did horribly. All this despite my handwritten notes on the top that read "Awesome Job!" and at the end explaining, "This was a really hard test and you did a great job. I am so proud of you!" I knew even as I was correcting the test that this was going to be a hard grade for her to see. I comforted her and tried to explain that I wrote the test knowing that it was hard, but I needed to give her a chance to show what she can do. I could have made it really easy, multiple choice even, but even if she got a perfect score, it really wouldn't have shown me how much she really understood of the concepts. That an 87% that she had to work for is actually better than a 100% that came to her easily. Both Jacob and I tried to instill in her that the learning is way more important than the grade and that this test shows how much she truly knows. We stressed how proud we are of her. 

I'm not sure how much of our words of wisdom sunk in. I'm dreading the next test, both writing it and having her take it. But I don't want to take a step back and intentionally simplify it just to boost her self-esteem; a self-worth that is resting on a superficial number. But I don't want her to feel like a failure either. So I believe the real lesson today is to focus on accomplishments and not an arbitrary number; to stress the hard work that went into a task and not the label placed on the final results; to feel self-assured that our knowledge can not be simply measured but that it's acquisition should always remain our primary educational goal.

(I'm providing a copy of her test. When I filched these diagrams off the internet, I hadn't been planning on posting them on my blog, but here's the credit to their creators: Diagram 1 came from BioAP site and Diagram 2 came from School Notes by Jane Arkinstall.)

Cover Your Eyes!

For the past three weeks, Casia has been studying Ancient Rome. This is right on the tail of her Ancient Greek unit, and there is so much overlap, I think it's helping bring history into perspective. Rarely do these events happen in a vacuum and it's great that she gets to see how something she learned previously fits into this puzzle of history. 

We had such success with the videos bringing life to history during our Greek unit that I'm relying heavily on them this time around as well. We watched this very cool documentary by Nova called Secrets of Lost Empires II: Roman Bath. In it, a team of historians, engineers and architects try to recreate an actual Roman Bath. Casia loves architecture, so this really appealed to her. 

Another great film that covered an essential Roman study topic was a BBC production called Colosseum: A Gladiator's Story. It tells the story of a famous gladiator, Verus, who went from slavery to freedom and also includes a few details on the building of the Colosseum. 

We also started watching a video series produced by the History Channel called Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire. This is a very thorough (and by thorough, I also mean long) depiction of the entire history of Rome. The first 3.5 hours of disc 1 (of a set of 4) felt like it left little out. I fell asleep at one point (but I was sick that day, so I'm sure that was the reason) and on many instances I caught Casia watching the clock. She also asked how long until all the fighting stuff was done. Sadly, I had to inform her that most of ancient Rome's history involves killing and maiming, even in politics. All that being said, I do think it's an extremely well done series (though very violent), I'm just not sure it's right for Casia. 

So I decided to look elsewhere and found this other series. It's by PBS and Rome's history is encompassed in four short 55 minute episodes. Sold! (That's figurative, we watched it for free on Hulu.) It's entitled Empires: Order from Chaos. There was a bit of overlap between this and the other video, but since it wasn't very long, we just kept plugging along. That is until it got to the point at which it started talking about the reasons Augustus Caesar decided to banish his daughter, Julia, from Rome. They started by reading some translation of Ovid's poetry of love. Fortunately, even with Casia's advanced reading ability, she completely lacks any worldly knowledge to have made much sense of the very graphic lyrics (and I, hating the idea of censoring educational sources, but still a mother sitting next to her 9 year old, began talking loudly over the narration). As if it that wasn't bad enough, all of a sudden, they flashed images of ancient Roman mosaics depicting... well, let's just say my hand was up in front of her face faster than I could spurt out the words, "Cover your eyes!". 

It was PBS! I so wasn't prepared for this. Afterwards, I mentioned to Casia that I thought maybe we shouldn't watch the rest of this series and she suggested going back to the other one. I asked, "So you liked that one?" And she replied, "I liked it better than having your hand over my eyes and having to stick my fingers in my ears singing 'la-la-la-la-la'."

Not Ungrateful, Just Forgetful

I mentioned in a previous post, that Casia and I are working on having a more positive outlook, and to that end, we have started writing in our Grateful Journals. Garrett has even started joined in the activity with us. He says what he is grateful for and I type it into his electronic journal. 

The first few entries I really needed to work with Casia on the point of the journaling. Phrasing like: it would have been, except that, and despite are not great ways to start a positive feeling. But she has absolutely been making progress. She no longer sits there several minutes after I'm done trying to think of something to write about. In fact, she usually has her idea right away now, and that's serious progress. 

Around the house, I have definitely noticed a change in the atmosphere. Casia has been a tremendous help with chores, even volunteering for some. She and Garrett have been getting along better, and overall everyone seems more cheerful. Now I'm not sure that I can credit all this to the grateful journals, but I can't exclude the possibility that it's helping either.

The hardest part for me is remembering to set time aside for journaling. I'm trying the strategy now of doing it right after our daily quote. Previously, it seemed to get lost in the daily mix. It's not a lengthy task and could fit anywhere, but somehow I managed to overlook it.  It's not that I'm ungrateful, I'm just forgetful.

Daily Quote

I feel a little lukewarm about the importance of cursive. I rarely use it and Jacob hasn't used it since elementary school. I can't think of many pros to teaching it other than I want her to be able to read other people's handwriting. 

Benefits or no, since September, Casia and I usually start our school day with a daily quote. I use online sources to find interesting lines on such topics as leadership, effort, education and following your dreams. This started as a handwriting exercise where I read a few sentences aloud and Casia writes them down, in cursive. The daily quotes are also good listening exercises. Casia tries to correctly spell and punctuate the sentences as well and we then discuss the meaning. So though I'm only so-so on the advantages of cursive, I've been finding many benefits with the daily exercise. Her cursive has now improved to the point at which I'm willing to say, she knows enough, now let's move on. 

Since the fall, Casia has been using a Mavis Beacon computer program to teach her typing. It took her several months to learn the locations of all the letters and punctuations, but she can now touch type, at the speed of about nine words per minute. But it's a start! So I've switched from having her write the daily quote in cursive to having her type it. It's going well so far. We're only doing one or two sentence quotes but I would like to move up to paragraphs as her speed improves.

In addition, I started Garrett on this activity (although he prints instead of writing in cursive or typing), at his request, several weeks ago and he has stuck with it. In fact, he really likes it and works very hard at improving his printing. It's a great way to start the school day because they both genuinely enjoy the activity, especially getting to do it together.

Ancient Greece

This year, Casia has been studying history from the beginning, the very beginning. I choose to do this for two main reasons. The first was because her general understanding of history was non-existent. Early American History, the Renaissance, and Medieval times were all lumped together with no concept of how long ago they happened. The other reason was because Casia already had a strong desire to learn about the ancient Greeks. She is very familiar with Greek Mythology having been reading about it on her own for the last three years so the chance to learn about the history and culture of Greece was very appealing to her. 

I didn't start with ancient Greece, however, but started with the Egyptians (after a brief unit on prehistoric humans) and worked up to the Greeks. It's hard sometimes for me to figure out the best way to approach subjects, but this made the most sense to me since the Egyptian civilization predated the Greeks. I had intended after a unit on ancient Egypt, to have Casia study Mesopotamia, and continue in a more roughly chronological order, but after about two months of studying Egypt, I ended the unit and switched to Greece because she was anxious to get to the Greeks.

I have to say, there is such a wealth of videos and books available on this subject. The difficulty wasn't in finding resources, it was in picking the best fit for Casia's interest level and academic abilities. Since we don't have tv at our house (well, no tv service like cable; we do have actual televisions and a dvd player,) we decided in January to get Netflix. Previously, I had been going to the public library to pull our videos. It was cheap, accessible (we were there every week anyway for books) and had a decent variety, but it was just that much more I had to keep tabs on for due dates. We still use the library, but I am loving Netflix. In addition to the one dvd at a time that we get, we can instantly download videos which is perfect for a non-planned video (like on a sick day). I use the videos to supplement both history, language arts and science. 

The best videos we watched were: a three video series by PBS called Greeks: Crucible of Civilization, Nova: Secrets of the Parthenon, and National Geographic: Beyond the Movie: Alexander the Great. Casia read more than a dozen books on the Greeks on such topics as temples, mythology, culture & art, history, and biographies on influential figures like Aristotle, Archimedes, Alexander the Great and Thales. She also learned about Cleisthenes, Pericles, Socrates and Plato. 

We combined some history and language arts in this unit. Casia wrote a 500 word essay on Greek Mythology. Since it's a favorite topic of hers, I thought Casia would have plenty to say about it and she could focus on improving her writing skills. We worked particularly on editing, opening and closing paragraphs and on providing sufficient and appropriate details to back up her main points. She chose to write a comparison between Greek and Egyptian Mythology. 

In addition, Casia read Plutarch's Lives, the section on Alexander the Great. She and I both read Homer's Odyssey (okay, it was a reread for me but it had been a long time). At first it was really hard for her to get into it, but as soon as Odysseus appeared in the story, it started to pick up. By the end, she couldn't put it down and it earned a nine out of ten on the Casia Scale. I was glad to have an assigned reading for her that's actually around her reading level. I find that in history, the books she reads to garner information on a topic are at a lower reading level, but provide the appropriate depth of content she requires. The books at her reading level tend to be too dry to capture her interest and I feel she actually gets less out of them for that reason. So turning to historic literature seems to be a good alternative. We are looking forward to getting the movie Odyssey (waiting for it on hold from the library) and watching it as a special treat. Casia and I had a little competition to see who would finish the book first; the winner gets to pick the movie treat and have a soda. I guess I'll be drinking water.