Week 6 probably

I had a somewhat horrific run on Sunday. Since I had run the 10K in Merida last sunday I figured I was up for another 10K. It was warm (77F with 89% humidity IIRC) and I wore short sleeves for the first time this year. We've been hammered with one norte after another lately and I've been in shorts and long sleeves so it was nice to finally strip down a little. I had a good 5.5 miles and then I just wanted to stop. I was super nauseous and D.O.N.E. so I kept going for another 1/2 mile to get my six in and threw up. Jamie says I need nutrition before I run - I can't run on an empty stomach and 1/2 a scoop of Cytomax. So, I'll try more Cytomax and/or a banana on Tuesday.

I had an awful first 3 miles today - my legs felt like lead and it was 82F/77% humidity but felt cooler for the first 2 miles than Sunday. Somehow I was able to suck it up for the 4th mile and hammered out an average 10:45 pace. That last mile hurt like hell but I was really glad I hammered it out. Got up to 168HR too!

I've been finding some local runs - a 10K on the 31st in Merida and another on Feb 7th. I'm also close to picking my marathon to shoot for and thus, arrange my training. I had some dreams of an Ironman or even 1/2 (I think I could probably phone in the swim and bike but the run would kill me) but I think I'm just going to focus on the marathon this year and maybe do the 1/2 Ironman in Cancun. I'd much rather do Cozumel (prettier and better spectators) but I really don't know if I'd be able to do a full Ironman AND it has a $525USD entry fee!!!!

I also really need to pick a training program - I know what I'm doing this week (same as last week, probably; 4 on Tuesday, 2 on Wed, 4 on Fri and 6 on Sun) but I really need to get that in gear also.

Dusting off the old blogger

I'm starting to wonder why I've separated the blogs (hopalog and this one) and can only figure that I don't want to clutter the blog with running stuff. Because that's pretty much all this will be about is running.

I recently decided to train for a marathon. Well, first I decided a 1/2 marathon would be good. Then I figured, what the hell, why not go for broke? I'm only at 4mile runs anyway, so it's not a big deal yet. No pain yet. We'll see if I can stay injury free and then whether or not I actually go through with it. I once did a 1/2 Ironman length triathlon but that was some 25 years ago. I started running as an exercise I realized I enjoyed, that would help me lose weight. I lost about 15kg by December 2008 and kept it off last year (through running and watching what I eat). I probably have 5-10kg more to take off but now I'm just maintaining. I really thought I could just keep running as exercise, but found I enjoyed the challenge of adding more mileage. I then ran a 10K as a spur of the moment thing (Jan 10th) and had such a fun time that I decided I wanted to do more.

So I'm looking at training programs and trying to pick a marathon that I might like. I'm leaning towards Mazatlan, DF and now see that Acapulco has one (but so far, little info). I'm doing a base buildup (basically training for a 1/2) of 16 weeks or so and am currently on week 5. Well, it is a bastardized training program as I'm jumping in at week 5 or so. I also haven't picked one training program and I know everyone says to just PICK ONE and stick with it, but I haven't yet.

Yesterday was my first foray into running 2 days in a row. Seriously, I've never run consecutive days. I know most runners do 5 days a week but I'm not sure I'd be injury-free if I did that. I'm not really into Galloway either; I don't like the idea of walking while I run but more importantly, I HATE how I feel when I walk/run. I've done it when doing the C25K program and it really messes up my stride, flow and head. Course, if I ever get to mile 20 of a marathon, I might be feeling differently.

I know I should be doing some core today but it was just too cold at 70-75F. Yikes! I also need to figure out WHAT to do for core exercises. :)

Girls' schedule

Daily (M-F) : Math (Singapore), Sissy reads from a book and alternate days does ETC, Ellen does Reading Game and/or ETC, copywork, read one Chapter from "Summer Moon"
Monday, Wed, Friday: FLL (we ended on lesson 5), read from "Tales of Ancient Egypt".
Wednesday: Chemistry Pre Level 1 (we've done chapters 1 and 2), read TM and get lab ready, world culture (India)
Tuesday, Thursday: SOTW/History (see link), read from Gilgamesh epic (3 books)
Saturday: Art (Artistic Pursuits - we have already done Units 1-3), world culture (India), geography

Updated Pikey daily flow

• He will start on his own with Teaching Textbooks. He generally does at least a page of work; I shoot for 30-45 minutes of dedicated work. If he is not using the computer, but the workbook, remind him to check his answers.
  
• He will journal (you need to remind him) nightly. This is a private journal.
  
• He or I will read the daily Writer's Almanac. Pike then does dictation or copywork from WA. I use either the "I Have a Dream" speech or a piece of history from the WA or a poem he particularly enjoyed. After dictation discuss the punctuation and any new grammar you might have come across and introduce any new punctuation and/or grammar ideas which come about from the dictation.
  
• I read a chapter from a living history book relevant to (right now, "The Cat of Bubastes") the period of history we are reading about.
  
• Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday we are using the Susan Bauer book as the history spine. As I read I frequently summarize and ask him questions to see if he is understanding and getting it. When something piques my interest (or his) we'll also discuss that too. After each 5 chapters of Bauer's book do a written timeline and character summary - who was in power where and when charted and who begat whom so the history is easier to follow.
  
• For Spanish I speak Spanish all day MWF and we are doing as much from "So You REally Want To Learn Spanish" (SYRWTLS) as he is up for. I supplement SYRWTLS with Sr. Jordan. You need to prepare daily the day before.
• He will read from a book he chooses daily that is usually relevant to either current world culture or history (right now "Golden Goblet").
  
• Sunday he adds critical thinking to the mix. We are working through "The Art of Argument". He also does Art (choose a project from the Artistic Pursuits book) and world culture. We are currently working on China.
  
• Monday he does no daily work but does an art project of his choosing.
  
• Tuesdays he does Geography. Right now he is working on Asia. He picks an area of Asia and reads the information about each country and then plays the game to identify each country. Each couple weeks I have him go back a week and see if he still recognizes where that week's countries are. We also work on the "Geography Through Art" book. You should prepare for this the day before. We also work on a writing assignment this day (from Bravewriter) and history spine.
  
• Wednesday we work on Chemistry (Real Science for Kids Chemistry 1) and he picks a science experiment (if he wants to, in addition to the experiment from the RS4K Chemistry 1) and we read and discuss Sociology. He picks from the World Religion book, the "Teens with a Courage to Give" book or the "Save the Children" book. Today is also a World culture day.
  
• Thursday we do Sociology (see Wednesday), History Spine and world culture.
  
• Friday he takes the day off daily subjects. He and Jesse watch a lecture from the "Ancient Cultures" DVD and do Friday Freewrite (Bravewriter)
  
• Saturday he does critical thinking and History spine.
  

getting back into the swing

After Jamie leaving in February (to be with his dying mother), visit from my folks, sisters and their families, we're getting back into the swing. thankfully I have this blog to see what we're supposed to be doing. :) The last family left yesterday and Jesse and Pike (and maybe a girl, not sure) said they wanted to start back to school today. This morning Pike says it feels "good" to be back at his math, so I'm seeing that as a good sign. Jesse wants to start TT7 from the beginning and we'll see what he's going to do.

Science

I have quite a few materials for science and this is what we're trying out. So far, no clear-cut winners but I just started with the girls today and Pike has his pick of books but seems to simply gravitate towards a simple experiment.

I've looked at Noeo and RS4K and simply reading books and think we'll try a mixture and see what works best. We'll start first with chemistry and then biology and then physics (depending on how chemistry works out).

For the girls, we're going to try Real Science 4 Kids Pre-Level I Chemistry. We've done Chapters 1 and 2 and will do lab 2 this week. I wasn't really impressed with lab 1. I also have two volumes of the "moon" books on order, Winter Moon and Summer Moon, and hope the girls enjoy them.

I'm going to try RS4K Level I Chemistry with Pike in addition to his pick of a science experiment. We have the Earth Science VanCleave book which I'm not all that impressed with. Pike likes it for experiments but I'm not sure he's actually seeing anything from it. Google Books has some of the engineering book and we much preferred it so we'll see about that too. We also have the following (that he hasn't really looked at) Science Experiments You Can Eat; Chemical Chaos; Blood, Bones and Body Bits, as well as 2 TOPS books and one more Sonlight science experiment book. None of these have really resonated with Pike though. I'm hoping the RS4K, Tiner's History of Medicine and a Usborne book I have on order will flesh things out.

Boys Africa

African culture to come

Boys Japan

Read "Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun"
Read "Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes"
Consider "The Rape of Nanking" but not for Pike
Read "Japan: The Culture"
Read "Japan: The People"
National Geographic overview
National Geographic videos
Japan music

hmmm...need to find more resources

Boys China

(after India - China)
read PRC book (ordered 1-Feb)
Read China History from Usborne World History
Read The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen
National Geographic overview
National Geographic videos
China music
Explore constructing rice paddies
Photos of the Forbidden City
Sightsee in China
Read about Chinese New Year
Explore Mr. Donn's Ancient China site
China map project (maybe)
Read China History or this site and this site
Explore China site
Explore The Great Wall or Great Wall
Read Homesick My Own Story (China)
Read Yung Fu of the Upper Yangtze (China)
Watch The Last Emperor (ordered 2-Feb)

Materials I STILL need to purchase

1. decide between PLL and FLL for Sissy.
   
2. ETC 1 for Sissy
3. GRFTC A, B, C for Ellen
4. Singapore 1B WB for both girls
5. some Spanish curriculum for the girls (First fun with Spanish DVD, stuff here, stuff here, Puertas Abiertas $135, Clase Divertida $70 @ HC)
   
6. SYRWTLS and Latin for boys
7. Spanish for Children? for Pike
8. LOF for Pike?
9. Ghandi (DVD) for boys 11.99 Amazon
   
10. A Passage to India (DVD) for boys.
11. China DVD for boys (The Last Emperor? $19 Amazon)
12. Gilgamesh The Hero for Pike 6.74 Amazon
    

Daily flow with Pike (for Jamie)

• He will start on his own with Teaching Textbooks. He generally does at least a page of work; I shoot for 30-45 minutes of dedicated work. If he is not using the computer, but the workbook, remind him to check his answers. I am watching to see how he does with fractions and decimals to see if we're going to need the "Life of Fred" books.
  
• I then encourage him to get something to eat. He generally refuses. :)
• I then read the daily Writer's Almanac. Jesse usually likes to participate in this. If something piques my or the kids' interest, we'll investigate it further. Pike then does dictation. I use either the "I Have a Dream" speech or a piece of history from the WA or a poem he particularly enjoyed (right now, "The Raven") After dictation discuss the punctuation and any new grammar you might have come across and introduce any new punctuation and/or grammar ideas which come about from the dictation.
  
• I then encourage him to get something to eat. By now, he might entertain the idea.
• We then move to history. Right now I include both Living History and the history spine. As I read I frequently summarize and ask him questions to see if he is understanding and getting it. When something piques my interest (or his) we'll also discuss that too. Read from "Gilgamesh The Hero" (I have this book on order) and then a chapter (or whatever works, depending on him) from Susan Bauer's "History of the Ancient World". At this time I also add some world culture - we're finishing up with India and then we'll move to China. For now, finish the book, "India: The Culture". You need to prepare for both items daily. After each 5 chapters of Bauer's book do a written timeline and character summary - who was in power where and when charted and who begat whom so the history is easier to follow.
  
• By now, he will probably definitely be ready to eat something. Also encourage him to take a little lap around to get his body moving and the blood flowing.
• We then move on to Spanish. I use a number of sources for this. If he feels like a video, we pick one from Sr. Jordan. We are also working on Chapter 2 of Spanish for Children. He seems to really like this book. I am going to order it for him. I have many other resources if this doesn't seem to work for him. I am thinking of also ordering Spanish from Galore Press. We do verb conjugation and are currently working on what infinitives are. You need to prepare daily the day before. I have decided to go with SYRWTLS instead of SFC and am having him go through a Sr. Jordan video (or two) a day. He is also using LingQ to go over vocabulary and words until SYRWTLS arrives.
  
• by now he definitely needs a break.
• He will read from a book he chooses daily (right now "Eragon") and also will read a chapter from a book I pick out for him (right now "Snow Treasure"). It is getting to the point that it is rare that he actually does this.
• In the evening I read from a Living History book, right now "Yung Fu from the Upper Yangtze".
• Sunday he adds critical thinking to the mix. He has links I've sent him along with the "Red Herring" book. I am hoping to eventually add "The Art of Argument".
• Monday he and Jesse watch a lecture from "The Joy of Thinking". He also does his art project (that we started on Thursday) on this day. He applies what we talked about on Thursday. He takes this day off his daily stuff so that is all he does on Monday. You need to prepare for this the day before.
  
• Tuesdays he does Geography. Right now he is working on Asia. He picks an area of Asia and reads the information about each country and then plays the game to identify each country. Each couple weeks I have him go back a week and see if he still recognizes where that week's countries are. When he is about 1/2 way through Asia, start with the "Geography Through Art" book. This should start next Tuesday. You should prepare for this the day before.
  
• Wednesday he adds a science experiment (I have at least 4-6 books for him to choose from) and we read and discuss Sociology. He picks from the World Religion book, the "Teens with a Courage to Give" book or the "Save the Children" book. We also read one chapter from VanCleave's engineering book and discuss. We will probably add another science day in the coming months using the Usborne Science book (on order).
  
• Thursday we do Sociology (see Wednesday) and discuss an art project. Right now we're disucssing Van Gogh and a self-portrait. Sources for art projects are here, here, and here. We also have the Artistic Pursuits book. You need to prepare this the day before and the week before.
  
• Friday he takes the day off. He and Jesse watch a lecture from the "Ancient Cultures" DVD.
• Saturday he does Friday FreeWrite. We are now discussing descriptive writing and following along with the Writer's Jungle (red binder in the trailer). He also does critical thinking this day. You need to prepare for this the day before. In the next 2 weeks I would like to add reading "How to Read a Book" outloud as well as another day during the week of creative or directed writing.

More stuff that works

We have been using Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech for copywork and I am really loving reading it over and over each day. It has been especially lovely for me, reading his words over and over daily.

Jesse has decided he very much wants to go to university. He has asked for help getting started on his multiplication tables.

The TLC lectures we picked out are really very much over the boys' heads. But we're going through with them; they're already picking some stuff out of them.

Singapore Math is an excellent fit for Ellen - she is very much a natural at manipulating numbers.

Materials that are working

• Singapore Math for both girls. We're doing 1A now, about 3 times a week.
• Explode the Code 1.5 for Sissy. She does about 1-2 pages about 3 times a week. I'm hoping to get ETC 1 for Sissy soon.
• I'm hoping to get Get Ready for the Code for Ellen. Right now she plays Boggle.
• Headsprout for both girls. They do one lecture about 3 times a week and sometimes more.
• Teaching Textbooks for Pike. He works on about 30-40 minutes per day for Math 7.
• The Learning Company's The Joy of Thinking for both boys. We watch one lecture weekly.
• Susan Bauer's The History of the Ancient World for both boys. We read a chapter a day.
• Sonlight's Core 5 historic fiction. I read from one of the books daily. Right now we're on Yung Fu of the Upper Yangtze. We'll be moving to Core 6 books soon.
• Sr. Jason's Spanish videos (he is actually Sr. Jordan but I keep calling him Sr. Jason :))
• Rocket Spanish lessons 1-4 (just the trial so far but Pike is enjoying it). I'm also looking into Spanish for Children, LosMas TV, Learning Spanish Like Crazy and others.
• Geography once a week with Pike. He's never had any geography exposure and enjoyed the Geospy game to learn the continents. We're starting with Sheppard Software to learn different countries along with a little country information. It's a little dry but he is so far ok with it. We'll supplement that with Geography Through Art. We're starting with Asia.
• Reading the Writer's Almanac daily and Pike does dictation from either the poem or the content of the Writer's Almanac. Jesse just listens.
• Both boys are really enjoying Critical Thinking with the Red Herring book. Link to come.
• The girls are enjoying SOTW 1 and CHOA (I'm reading it online) but get a little bored with Story of Mankind sometimes.
  

We're doing other stuff and stuff to come but these are just the things that are working well and they are enjoying.

January

Well, we now have a schedule to work on.

Sissy wants: (starting Tuesday)
Reading Game: 3-4 times a week. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Math (Singapore 1A): 3-4 times a week. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Handwriting: 3 times a week. Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday
Art (Artistic Pursuits K-3 book 1): Wednesday, Sunday
SOTW1: on science day with boys
literature: daily
Spanish: daily
ETC: 3 days week.

Ellen wants: (starting tomorrow)
Spanish: daily
Reading Game: daily
Math: daily
Handwriting: Monday, Sunday, Tuesday
Art: Wednesday
literature: daily
ETC: daily

Pike wants: (started today)
Daily:
copywork or dictation
Math (TT7)
Writer's almanac
independent reading
I read History to them
I read an "Every Kid" book
Spanish (videos right now and then Destinos)

Sunday he'll add Art (Artistic Pursuits 4-6 book 2) and Critical Thinking (A Case For Red Herrings and maybe The Art of Argument after that or Mindbenders)
Monday he'll add watching one episode of the TTC Joy of Thinking DVD course
Tuesday he'll add Geography and Tuesday Tea Time
Wednesday he'll add Science Experiments and memorization
Thursday he'll add sociology (World Religion book, Teens Courage book) and memorization
Friday he'll add Friday Free Write and sociology
Saturday he'll add critical thinking

Jesse is still undecided but before Xmas said he wanted to do math and Spanish. I also got The Art of Argument and Calligraphy for him. We'll see.

Girls October and November

Read SOTW Intro and Chapter One.
Next to read A Child's History of Art chapter 1
Do painting project making paints from natural materials
Next to read the Archeology book we have (and have read ad nauseum),
The Dinosaurs Before Dark insipid book

Start a timelines project: Timeline of a year, timeline of our family
Talk about history - have girls define "history" and "archeology"
History
S: old times, story; your history, when I was growing up
E: making friends and other stuff, my life
Arch
E: people that find stuff that's been left behind by other species of people (missed and then she changed to nomads) that so they moved (she had something about wheat in here and agriculture then moved to Archeology) and then tall vines growed over then so that you can't see them and then people chopped down the vines and found the ruins that the people were (missng words on my part) eat and they find left behind toys and left bowls behind

Make a history of my family book and personal timeline to the extent they want to

Explore geography http://interactives.mped.org/puzzler383.aspx
Explore Africa through stories
Explore Asia, Europe, South America, Australia and Antarctica through stories

Play Geospy game
Pick out and view pictures from all continents

Boys India

Read India history from Usborne World History
National Geographic site
Finish A Concise History of India
Use This Link to flesh out any other Indian topics
Consider Kipling's Kim or at this site
Explore Hindu Gods
Explore Los Banos India Studies
Read A Passage to India or get the film
BBC Ancient India site
Finish India the Culture
Finish India the People
Video of Indian railway
Videos of Mumbai slum (mostly slum)
Video of life in an Indian village
Explore website
Explore Oxfam website
Explore tsunami site
Finish Daughter of the Mountains (India)
Finish Food and Nutrition for Every Kid (try to read this at least 3x week?)
Watch Ghandi (ordered 2-Feb)

Things I want to add to our "schedule"

Wordless Days - where the kids capture the day in a photo.
Art (waiting on supplies)
(me) read WTM for ideas

Boys September

So, I have been lax with planning material for the boys because I thought we'd be starting much later and we probably still will.

September
Finish Master Puppeteer (Japan)
Finish Commodore PErry in the Land of the SHogun
Read Born in the YEar of Courage (Japan) Pike
Read The House of the 60 Fathers (Japan) Jesse Pike
Explore the culture, feudal system and city of Edo in virtual tour

order this book and find someone to scan pages in until I can get the book myself

Continue to read Tales of a Korean Grandmother (Korea) for TTT
Read The Kite Fighters (Korea) Jesse Pike

(after China)
maybe we should start in on Ancients and let these books be readers
Finish Glorious Age in Africa
Read Journey to Jo'Burg (Africa) Jesse Pike
Read Island of the Blue Dolphins (California) Pike
Read Around the World in 80 Days Pike
Read Water Sky (First Nation) Pike

Start WJ Dictations
Start WJ Communication Game
Continue TTT
Continue FF
Continue Copywork

Continue Teaching Textbooks

Add Art day weekly (waiting materials)

week of Sept 22
week of Sept 29
week of Oct

Girls dip into Egypt and Mesopotamia

yikes, I need to totally re-do this I think but my brain is full...

Science for the Girls
Storybook of Science
Seed Babies

Story of Mankind (SOM) Chapters 1-3
create a timeline

SOM chapter 4
SOTW Chapter 2 (Egypt)
SOTW AG for chapter 2 until I get a hardcopy
Usborne ILWH pages 114-117, 134-139 and quicklinks
send postcards
CHOA Chapters 2
Read at least to page 7 of History of Religion (pdf on black drive) or up to page 12

SOM Chapter 5-6
SOTW Chapter 4 (Egypt)
SOTW AG
Tut's Mummy Lost and Found
Explore Mr Donn's Egypt
Read up to page 12 of History of Religion

SOTW Chapter 3 (Egypt)
SOTW AG for chapter 3 until I get a hardcopy
A Place in the Sun
Classical Kids: An Activity Guide (don't I have Egypt already?)
Ancient Egpyt Treasure Chest (not sure)
when bored don't forget Storynory

SOM Chapter 7-8
SOTW Chapter 5, 6 (Mesopotamia)
SOTW AG chapter 5, 6
Gilgamesh the King trilogy
Usborne ILHW pages 111-113
use quicklinks for Usborne book
CHOA Chapter 3
Explore Mr. Donn's Mesopotamia site
History Pockets Mesopotamia ?

From Unschooling to Homeschooling

I have decided to start this blog up again but it will be our homeschooling blog. I'll be changing the links and posts and stuff but I'll keep blogging day to day stuff at http://www.hopalog.com. Don't want to buy another domain name just for homeschooling.

I'll write a post about why I've decided to give homeschooling a try after years of radically unschooling but for now I need to brain dump.

I might come back and update this with the above journey. That would make sense.