For my 5 year old’s math lesson, he was asked to draw 3, 4, and 5 sided polygons.  He asked why he had to start out with a three sided polygon, and before I could answer him, my 7 year old told him that the reason is that there’s no such thing as a two-sided polygon.  Three-sided polygon is the smallest polygon.  My ever-so-knowing older son continued and said that even God can’t draw a two-sided polygon.  Hahahaha. . . he went.

Well, he was certainly right, but I decided to take a step further.  I simply couldn’t let this topic drop.  I proceeded to ask him a very difficult question.  If God is omnipotent, all-powerful, why can’t he draw a two-sided polygon?  My boy proceeded to show me that it’s impossible to draw it because in order for it to be a polygon, it has to have straight lines and they have to close up.  I concurred but pressed the question again.  Since God can’t do it, doesn’t this mean that he’s not all-powerful?  He answered no.  Whew!  I’m glad he answered no.  My boy went on to say that a two-sided polygon is impossible and God is still powerful.  I decided to drop my devil’s advocate persona and told him that he was absolutely right.  There is no such thing as a two-sided polygon because it simply doesn’t exist.  This does not prove nor demonstrate that God is not omnipotent.  Too often we set up our premises wrong and then draw the conclusion that God is not omnipotent.  Before we reject God’s attributes, we need to take a long hard look at our presuppositions and assumptions.

See? I told you polygons and God’s omnipotence relate.  I’m glad I had this conversation with my son.

If you’re a regular In-N-Out customer, you most likely know about their secret menu like animal style burgers (grilled onions with extra lettuce and tomato) or protein style burgers (burgers wrapped with lettuce instead of buns for the Atkin diet folks), etc.  These interesting twists to these burgers came from the customers and In-N-Out is happy to accommodate and allow these customizations.

The kids had their hands in slicing potatoes:

Don’t under estimate this little beany of ours.  She may be small, but she can smash that potato masher down and hard.  She surprised the employees there.

After the tour, In-N-Out was very kind and generous in letting us order anything we wanted to eat for FREE!!!  Here are the kids enjoying their meal.  By the way, I got a burger too because I was a chaperone.

Even though my five-year-old is already reading and knows a lot of sight words, I’m using the Dolch words for his spelling lessons.

For those who are interested in teaching your children Dolch words, you can check out Mrs. Perkins’ Dolch Words.  This website contains different forms of the Dolch words, activities, worksheets, and games.  Happy learning and reading!

After I grade the test, I give the test back to my son and tell him to rework all the missed problems WITHOUT my help.  He is to redo the problems on his own, and if he gets the problems correct, he earns half of the point back.  If he is not able to get the problems correct second time around, I step in and help him work through it.  In this case, no additional credit is given.

In my son’s last test, he got 16 correct out of 20 problems.  I circled the 4 wrong answers and gave it back to him to rework on his own.  He got 3 correct, but couldn’t figure one.  His final score was 17.5 out of 20, and how this was calculated was based on the original 16 problems he got correct plus the three problem he reworked, which was half point each:  16 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 17.5.  The percentage was 88% with a grade of B+.  As for the problem he couldn’t figure out, I worked with him and explained the steps.

I really like this grading approach because it forces my son to figure out where he went wrong.  He is more careful these days because he knows that he has to rework the problem if he gets it wrong the first time.  This method works so well that I decided to use the same approach for his regular homework assignments as well.

I got this “right answer only” grading from Ask Dr. Callahan, and you can read about it in the below links:

What is Right Answer Only? (A video explanation)

Why Grade Right Answer Only?

How do I Grade Right Answer Only?

Please note, Ask Dr. Callahan’s math program is targeted towards high schoolers and not elementary students.  However, I find the “right answer only” grading is beneficial for the elementary students as well.  I follow Dr. Callahan’s grading method mostly with the exception that I don’t have my student fill out a separate sheet explaining why he missed the problem.  I believe elementary math is simple enough that if he is able to get it right second time around, he has already figured out where he went wrong, thus eliminating the step to explain why he missed it the first time around.  I think it is beneficial to explain why when math gets more complex in the high school years.

Whenever I read to my kids, I try to read with pizazz, i.e. with dramatization.  Reading with dramatization isn’t something I learned from a class or something I’ve known all along.  Rather, it’s something I’ve learned along the way as a mom while teaching and interacting with my children.  Nowadays such pizazz comes quite naturally, only because I’ve had years of practice.  I find that reading stories without dramatization is so boring, but adding a little pizazz makes the characters and the story in the book come alive.  Reading in such a manner also helps teach children how to read out loud.  They learn when to pause, when to breathe, and which words or phrases to emphasize.  I’m already seeing the fruits of such technique in my oldest whenever he reads out loud to the other kids.

If you want to learn how to read with pizzaz, here are some tips I learned along the way:

• Assign a different voice for different characters.  I use a higher pitch voice for girls and a lower sounding voice for boys.  I usually have two different voices because more than that would be too cumbersome to keep track of.
• Read fast or slow depending on the situation.  Try to go with the flow of the book.  If something exciting is about to happen, read a bit faster to signal that something extraordinary is about to happen.  If the story is about a lazy Sunday afternoon where people are relaxing or strolling along, read at a slower pace so your readers get the idea that the setting is happening at a slow pace.
• Bring the characters out with attitudes.  If the character is angry, read it with anger.  If the character is happy, read it with cheerfulness.  If the character is sad, read it with great sadness.
• Act out the characters in the book.  When the main character is mad about something, I may act out the character’s anger by my facial expressions such as pouting or huffing.  I may even stomp my feet or cross my arms to show my character’s disgruntled state.
• Give your characters accents.  I admit that I’m not good with accents, but my husband is quite good.  Recently we’ve been reading books where the characters are from England.  Very naturally, my husband reads with British accents and mannerisms (granted to an actual Brit they’re probably fake, but I think they’re pretty good).  Only use accents when you know how to do it right, otherwise it may come off as condescending or demeaning to other cultures.  I’m not good with this one so I pretty much stay away from accents, unless it’s Chinese accents!
• If all that seems too much, listen to and emulate professional storytellers such Jim Weiss, whom we love to listen to!  Many of his stories (adaptations as well as original works) are available from our local library on CD.

Q:  Have you thought about peer-to-peer socialization for your children?

Yes, a lot!  I have much to say specifically about socialization.  Putting children in traditional school isn’t the only way to get socialization.  Children can socialize with other children through church functions, sports, clubs, family gatherings, etc.  As for our family, we feel the local church community to be a crucial environment for socialization for our children.

Peer-to-peer socialization isn’t the healthiest form of socialization because based on my observation, many peer dominated groups tend not to be able to interact with people outside of their age.  Socialization is defined by one’s ability to interact with the society, which is made up of people of different ages.  Being in an age segregated group is not real life because much of our lives require that we interact with other age groups.  I find that most people have a difficult time integrating in their church and work upon graduation because they had just spent their entire life in an age segregated environment, i.e. school.

As we think about socialization, I want my children to be able to interact with people of all ages.  Even though our children’s ages range from 1 – 7.5  years, the people they interact with on a regular basis are men and women in their 20’s.   They also have friends of their age too.

Q.  What role does your husband have in your home school?

He is the principal and my substitute teacher.  Even though he doesn’t know all the kids’ schooling in detail, he’s very aware of where they’re at academically.  Whenever I need to be away, he’s able to step in and help teach a lesson or two.  He also goes on field trips with us.  He’s a very involved dad who often dispenses insights, teachings, and comments throughout the day.

Q.  How do you teach children of all ages at the same time?

The first thing we do is circle time where everyone gathers in a circle to start the school day.  Currently we’re doing history and Chinese in our circle time.  Afterward, the oldest two remained at the table to do additional school work.  The youngest three are free to play in the same room.  I don’t send them away because I don’t want them to mess around in another room where I can’t keep an eye on them.  In addition, I want them to be in the same room so they can hear the lessons being taught even though they’re not active participant.  Kids pick up things more than we give them credit for.  By having them in the same room also conveys to them that they are important to me and that I don’t want to send them away.

Of course the younger kids can be a distraction while I teach the older ones.  In such case, I tell them to lower their voices or go to the opposite corner away from us to play quietly.  If both scenarios fail, I tell them to sit quietly and read.  The younger ones are non-readers so they “read” by flipping pages and looking at all the pictures.

These were all the questions that were asked by the group.  If you have other questions, let me know and I’d be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

How did you decide this schooling option was best for your children?

There are three reasons why we chose to homeschool:

1. A Natural Means of Discipleship: Our first priority as parents is making them disciples of Jesus; so we chose the schooling option that we felt was the most natural way to contribute to that goal.  In other words, for us, homeschooling as an extension of discipleship – teaching them both “academic subjects” and Biblical wisdom: the fear of the Lord.
2. Custom-Tailored Education: We can customize education for each child.  If the child is advanced, I can accelerate the program.  If the child is slower than “average,” they’ll never know it, because I’ll move at their pace.  If the child has a special need, I can slow down and not have the child be labeled or stigmatized as he/she might be in a traditional school.
3. Cultivating a Love for Learning: It allows us to provide a broader education for our children and integrate learning into all of life.  Schooling is not limited to merely ABCs and arithmetic, but things like practical skills, and learning everywhere we go (even on vacation).  It helps us to cultivate in our children a love for learning in all of life.

What are the joys and challenges with this type of schooling for your children and for you as a parent?

Joy for me:

• I’m learning together with my child
• I know exactly what their educational needs are
• I’m always there to shape their character
• I love seeing the fact that they love to learn and that their minds are always hungry

Joy for the kids:

• They become very creative because of the relaxed environment
• They love to learn and are motivated
• They aren’t confined to classroom learning for the better part of a day.  Formal “sit-down” learning usually doesn’t last more than an hour or two per day for grade-school children.  My “no sitting down” requirement is very appealing for my boys.

Challenges for me:

• Homeschooling is very time consuming
• Multi-tasking with different ages, esp. young ones who are pre-school, can be a challenge; in addition to having to keep a home.

What are your goals and dreams for your children and how does this schooling option help to fulfill those dreams?

Our overriding goal is for them to know and love God, and to live to their fullest potential for Him.  Homeschooling gives us the opportunity to integrate training them in academics with training them in the Lord.  And of all schooling options, home education affords us the most time to learn what our children are like, so as to best direct them for their future decisions, vocations, etc.  Homeschooling is an excellent way to fulfill our goals because we are always together helping, training, and shaping their souls.

More to come. . . .

• Date of the field trip
• Location of the field trip
• What did you see or do there?
• What was one thing you learned?

I make sure my child completes the questions in complete sentences.  Upon completion I filed it away in his Second Grade School Record portfolio.  For our home school, the goal is to go on one field trip per month, and this also includes family vacations.

Here is the photo journal of our day:

Learning about jellyfish and plastic pollution in our oceans in the Discovery Lab:

Here are the Leafy Sea Dragon seahorses at the new seahorse exhibit.  Notice how they look like leaves — this is how they camouflage and avoid getting eaten.

Baby seahorses.  Did you know that in the entire animal kingdom, only seahorses have babies through the father and not the mother?  Interesting, isn’t it?  I love learning along with my children.

After a long day of fun and learning, we finished it off with yummy ice cream sundaes at the Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop on Cannery Row.  It was a wonderful and delicious way of ending the field trip:

To keep it even more interesting, we count up all the cards.  This is great because he now gets to do addition.  I have my boy lay all of his cards on the table, face up.  He is to look for cards that have sums of 10 or 20.  Once he locates a set, we can quickly add the numbers together.  After he adds up his pile of cards, he gets to help me add up my pile.  We then record the score on a piece of paper.

To keep the game going, we go for another round or two or three or till we drop.  After round two, we add the second round score to the first round to get a new total.  Next, we go for another round and then add the new score to our previous sum.  We keep repeating this process until we reached a previously agreed number of rounds.  Now, whoever gets the higher number after all the rounds WINS!  My kid loves this game and so do I.

I love the fact that he gets to do multiplication and addition (both double and triple digit addition) at the same time.

We use all the cards except the Joker card.  Ace is equal to one, Jack is 11, Queen and King are both 12.

For most of us, if given a problem such as “Jimmy has an apple, Annie has an apple, how many apples do they have?” and then asked to draw it out, we’d come up with a picture of two apples with maybe a plus symbol between them.

Not so with our 5.5yo boy, who can take 10 minutes not simply to depict the math, but the entire scene:

After he drew the above, I asked him, “Where are the dimes?!!”

He simply pointed at the very small little rectangles (3 on “Weston’s” table, and 2 in his sister’s hand).

Hilarious.