The Science Fair

Gavin and Ben both brought home First Place ribbons for their age group in their science fair today! (Do I have to admit here that they were the only ones in their age group to show up?) I was quite disappointed in the lack of ‘show’ for the CHEC Homeschool Science Fair. But I think after this “dry run” we are ready for the bigger state-wide (public, private, and home school) science fair next year.
There were only five participants in the fair. One each from K, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth grades. Projects were judged by Science Majors at Mississippi College and were judged on eleven different criteria.
Gavin did well, receiving highest marks for “inventiveness” and in “planning and executing”. His weakest aspect was in research.
Ben actually received the highest score of all the participants, however there was no “overall” winner since the age span was so wide. But how great is it that of all the elementary aged kids a Kindergartener actually scored the highest! He scored well in each area, only losing a point here and there. And the reasons for losing points aren’t clear.
I am very proud of both boys for working so hard on their projects! Anyone who is interested in the details of the boys’ projects can just email me and I can send you the nitty gritty.

We Are Finished

Our school year has come to a finish! But instead of jumping for joy my kids are disappointed that we aren’t moving forward right away with all of our new books! It has been a really great year, I think that is evidenced in the fact that the boys want to keep on going. The picture above shows the boys with their cerficicates that I gave them on our last day of school.
NOTE: Beginning with this blog there will be a link to place comments at the end.
This time of year is one that I use to reflect on the year that we’ve just finished, to assess our progress, and set new goals for next year. I don’t issue grades and report cards because I just do not feel that it is necessary at this point. Being a homeschool teacher gives me the advantage of knowing each and every day where my kids’ strengths and weaknesses lie, so issuing report cards is not beneficial to anyone.
That being said, I think each of my kids are A+ kids. The boys have both faced their challenges and made fantastic progress this year.
This was Gavin’s third grade year. He began the year struggling to write even the simplest of coherent thoughts. However, with a daily journal and consistent practice in both creative and summary writing he ended the year with an extensive research paper on Henry Ford. While he still resists writing most of the time he is able to get his thoughts out and onto paper in a more organized fashion.
Math also proved to be a challenge for Gavin this year, his first year using Singapore Math. Very challenging word problems as well as a “mental” approach to math slowed him down a bit and seemed to affect his self-esteem. We added another math program recently, Math U See, and are using this new program in addition to Singapore. I have seen his self-esteem rebuilding and he has more confidence in his work again. I will continue to use both of these math programs. Singapore really challenged him, and I like the approach the program uses. I think the two programs compliment each other extremely well, each filling in gaps left by the other.
Gavin excelled in reading, vocabulary, and grammar. He has read numerous books on his own, each tied to the current time period in history we were studying. In addition to the readers we shared man other read-alouds together. Our journey began in the earliest days of recorded history on the Americas and continued through to the time just before the Civil War. We traveled with the slave Esteban, sailed with Columbus, came across the Atlantic on the Mayflower, rode with Paul Revere, watched Eli Whitney invent the cotton gin, journeyed with Nathaniel Bowditch, and enjoyed many, many other adventures. I have learned so much this year about our nation’s history that textbooks never taught me in public school or college.
Benjamin has just completed his Kindergarten year. Ben’s biggest challenge this year wasn’t necessarily academic. He began this year having difficulties with focusing and paying attention for any amount of time. After a while we worked out a schedule for Ben that included shorter periods of school time. Knowing that I was only going to ask him to sit for fifteen minutes or so at a time helped Ben to focus better.
He began the year barely recognizing the letters of the alphabet and is now reading short controlled vocabulary stories. His confidence is building greater and greater with each word that he reads. He is able to break down words into individual sounds so that he may spell them when they are dictated to him. Ben enjoys dictating stories to me and will often tell long drawn out details as I type for him. His creativity is quite expansive.
Ben’s strongest area is math. He has a firm understanding of numbers and how they relate to each other and new math concepts are absorbed easily for him. Math games and challenges are a part of each of his days. We even incorporate math into his daily chores now. (If your interested in how I do this just ask:) )
As you can see, both boys have had a great year and have made a lot of progress. Thanks to each of you who helped make this year a success.

Still to come: The science fair is next Friday, April 20!!

Science Fair Preview

The boys have been hard at work this week on their science fair projects. The picture above is a ‘sneak-peek’ at Ben’s Project. Can you guess his Science Fair Topic? The experimenting part of Ben’s project is finished, and I expect Gavin will finish tomorrow. Then we begin the task of putting it all together for the display. The science fair is April 20. I’ll be sure to post more pictures and updates about how their projects do.