Another Couple of Months in Review

Life with teenagers has been a little discouraging lately. It isn’t all bad. The Goobs are all right, for the most part. But we all have our little quirks, don’t we? And when it comes to school, they’re just phoning it in. The worst part is that I’m this close to not giving a damn. THIS. CLOSE. They’re lucky I’m too (stubborn? insane? awesome? pick an adjective!) to let them suck. 

Look at those $13,000 teeth!

Math: JM completed lessons 42-74 in Saxon Advanced Math and did some SAT prep. Anemone completed lessons 48-60 in Saxon Algebra 2. 

These are blossoms from a jade vine.

Latin: JM translated 299-386 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline and completed exercises 31-40 of Henle Third Year Latin. He also took the National Latin Exam (level III) and earned a gold medal. Anemone completed exercises 324-332 of Henle First Year Latin. She also took the National Latin Exam (level I) and earned a silver medal.

Anemone stomps JellyMan every. single. time.

Greek: JM finished chapter 23b of Athenaze Book 2. Then he got frustrated and went back to the beginning of the book. He did chapter 16a this week. He also translated lines 1-10 of Xenophon’s Anabasis. Anemone did weeks 13-15 of Elementary Greek Book 2.

We finally tried California Pizza Kitchen. I liked the crust.

Logic: Anemone didn’t do any logic at all for several weeks, forgot an awful lot of material, then redid chapter 6 of Traditional Logic 2.

Anemone’s got new glasses to go with her new teeth.

English: JM read Beowulf and wrote a 5 page essay. He also read “The Monsters and the Critics” and “On Fairy Stories” by Tolkien and Cymbeline by Shakespeare. He worked through chapters 1-17 of The New Oxford Guide to Writing, and did some vocabulary/SAT prep. Also, he’s writing a screenplay for Script Frenzy. The goal is 100 pages; he has written 45 pages so far. Anemone is still working through Essay Voyage. She finished Bullfinch’s Mythology, read a good portion of Ovid’s Metamorphoses before SHE LOST JM’S FAVORITE BOOK OH MY GOODNESS THE DRAMA, and is reading The Iliad (Fagles translation). She’s also listening to the Iliad of Homer lecture series and the recording by Derek Jacobi. 

My new favorite bread recipe is a white/whole wheat/rye blend.

History: JM read chapters 10-11 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization and listened to lectures 1-9 of the High Middle Ages series. Anemone outlined some pages in her history book. (I don’t know which pages, exactly, because Anemone is asleep and I don’t feel like searching through her messy history binder.)

A hibiscus flower. Because they’re everywhere.

Science: JM completed chapters 6-8 of The Cosmos and watched lectures 28-40 of Understanding the Universe. Anemone has been watching the Joy of Science lecture series and continues to outline Science Matters.

JellyMan bought himself a ukelele! Hahaha!

Fine Arts: The Goobs had to quit piano lessons due to circumstances beyond their control, but they continue to play daily and we hope to start lessons again soon. They’ve taken advantage of the break by focusing on what makes them happy - JM is experimenting with jazz, and Anemone is playing Chopin songs that are much too hard for her. JellyMan has been busy with drama; fourteen hours or so every week on rehearsals, set building, publicity stunts, Latin translations, workshops, etc. Thankfully his tech job is over, but they’re doing it again this summer. Also, Shakesfest is coming up, and God only knows how much time that will take. Oh, and he’s editing Agamemnon - he and a bunch of friends want to film it this summer. Oh, and he saw Spring Awakening and The Importance of Being Earnest with some drama buddies. Anemone is dancing. Dancing, dancing, dancing. 6 dances, 10 classes, 17 hours. She also tagged along with JellyMan to The Importance of Being Earnest. They watched several Shakespeare movies, and watched the Playing Shakespeare series.

Another pretty island drive.

We’ve also been to the beach, the library, the hospital, the orthodontist, the optometrist, the barber shop, the grocery store, the post office, the mall, blah, blah, blah. Life. We’re living it.

Several MONTHS in Review

This toad peed in Anemone’s roller blade. I laughed.

Math: JellyMan completed Saxon Advanced Math and Understanding Calculus. But because of this and that and the other thing, we decided that he should take the rest of the year to re-do the Advanced Math book. He finished lesson #41 this week. Anemone is slowly but surely working through Saxon Algebra 2, and has completed lesson #47.

JM saw the Italian inscription on the inside of his Il Dottore mask and thought it was bad Latin. I laughed.

Latin: JellyMan translated lines 98-289 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline and completed exercises 9-30 of Henle Third Year Latin. He also translated many lines of Macbeth into Latin for his drama group to perform. (That makes me SO proud!) Anemone is struggling, and I’m not quite sure what the problem is - she knows the conjugations and declensions cold, but she has trouble applying that knowledge to the translation exercises. We’ll just continue going very slowly, and I’m sure she’ll work it out. She finished exercise #324 of Henle First Year Latin this week.

Greek: JellyMan completed chapter 22b of Athenaze Book 2. Anemone finished week 12 of Elementary Greek Book 2. Greek is hard, y’all.

Logic: Anemone completed chapters 3-6 of Traditional Logic 2.

These birds pooped all over the fence and The Goobs had to clean it up. I laughed.

English: JellyMan finshed Classical Rhetoric with Aristotle and wrote 1-2 essays every 1-2 weeks. Anemone finished Rod & Staff English 8 and is a few lessons into Essay Voyage. She finished The Hobbit and read most of The Jungle Books, and now she’s about halfway through Bullfinch’s Mythology.

Me: “Really, you guys? Really? That’s all?”

Anemone: “Well, I read all the Percy Jackson books. Oh, and The Pointe Book. Oh! And some of that other ballet book I got for Christmas!”

JellyMan: “I’ve been busy, you know! I reread The Art of War. And I read most of the Shakespeare Song Book. And Macbeth and Saturday Night at the Pahala Theater. And The Walking Dead comics. Hahaha!”

Anemone: “Oh, oh! I read those too! Hahaha!”

Me: “Har-dee-har-har-har.”

JellyMan: “And I started writing a historical TV mini-series.”

Anemone: “Yeah, and I read Jurassic Park. Twice.”

JellyMan: “Didn’t you read The Book of Lost Things?”

Anemone: “No.”

JellyMan: “But you carried it around with you for a month!”

Anemone: “But I didn’t read it!”

JellyMan: “Why won’t you read it? It’s great!”

Anemone: “I don’t want to read it! I don’t want to read it! Stop pressuring me!”

Me: “My eyes! My eyes!”

Awwwwwwww!

History: JellyMan read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, St. Augustine’s Confessions, The Rule of St. Benedict, and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. He also read chapter 9 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization and finished listening to the 24 lectures in the Early Middle Ages series. Anemone outlined pages 330-371 of DK’s History: The Definitive Visual Guide. We also watched a few history documentaries, but the only one I can recall at the moment was about the Greely expedition.

JM did an awesome Gloucester!

Science: I don’t want to talk about science, but I will. JellyMan watched lectures 13-27 of Understanding the Universe and completed chapters 4-5 of The Cosmos. Anemone got through four chapters of Miller & Levine Biology before we got sick of it yelling at us all the time. (Look at THIS! Now look at THIS! Wow! Hey, look, a rhino!!!) Now she’s outlining Science Matters. 

Look! It’s a princess!

Fine Arts: “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” - Inigo Montoya

Music: The Goobs are still taking piano lessons and practicing at least an hour every day. They had their recital in November; JellyMan played Clementi’s Sonatina Opus 36, No. 4 and “Imagine” by John Lennon. Anemone played Clementi’s Sonatina Op. 36, No. 3 and “November Rain” by Axl Rose. Ha! Hahaha! They also played a duet, but I can’t remember which one and nobody is home to ask. They were terrific!

They hate playing duets. I laugh.

Dance: The Goobs have continued with ballroom dancing lessons and have learned the bolero, the waltz, the samba, the foxtrot, and East and West coast swing. I LOVE watching them dance. JellyMan likes to spin his partners as hard as he can, and Anemone is determined to keep a full three feet of dead space between her and whoever she’s dancing with. And she wants to lead, dammit. Anemone is still spending about 17 hours per week at her ballet studio. Those hours increased substantially during rehearsals and production of The Nutcracker; she was a princess, and she was beautiful. BEAUTIFUL.

Drama: The Goobs went together to see a production of Oedipus Rex put on by one of the community colleges. JellyMan went to see The House of Blue Leaves at the University of Hawaii with his drama peeps. They also had a movie night at their theatre and watched an old version of Macbeth. He and his group put on a fantastic show in December, and they’ve had several master classes and workshops, including Mask, Shakespeare, Voice, Physical Acting, Stage Combat, TaKeTiNa, Slam Poetry, and Commedia dell’Arte. They also put in many hours making masks for their upcoming production of Macbeth, and they meet three times per week to rehearse. JellyMan has also been working about 16 hours a week doing tech at a local theatre.

What, no lightsabers?

Other Schoolish Stuff: The Goobs listened to me read about half of Bill Bryson’s Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States aloud before my voice gave out. (I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I HATE READING OUT LOUD. I always have.) The Goobs took their standardized tests and scored high enough that I can be an obnoxious braggart whenever I feel like it. JellyMan also decided to participate in the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad after watching a lecture series on linguistics, and Anemone has baked many cakes and cookies.

Other Not Schoolish Stuff: The Goobs got their braces off! Woo-hoo! Also, we’re debt free! AGAIN! Just in time to buy next year’s school books…

Two Weeks in Review (09/26-10/09)

The past few weeks have been pretty bad around here. I’m not schooling my Goobs—I’m schooling their doppelgangers. At least they’re cute.

Math: JellyMan finished lessons 106-111 of Saxon Advanced Math. Anemone worked through lesson 5 of Saxon Algebra 2.

Latin: JellyMan translated lines 64-98 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline and completed exercises 6-8 of Henle Third Year Latin. Anemone is still limping along in Henle First Year Latin. She has been working on exercise 301 for about a week now.

Greek: JellyMan completed chapter 18b-19a of Athenaze Greek Book 2. Anemone finished week 7 of Elementary Greek Book 2.

Logic: Anemone working on chapter 3 of Traditional Logic 2. It’s getting hard for her, and we have misplaced the answer key, so I’m having to figure out the answers to all her questions myself. Sigh.

English: JellyMan finished chapter 10 of Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle. We remembered that I had purchased the DVD lectures that accompany the course; we popped one in just to see if they were any better than the Traditional Logic lectures. They are! (The TL lectures simply restate what the text says; the CRWA lectures actually expand on the course material.) JellyMan also finished outlining his upcoming NaNoWriMo novel and read King Lear. Anemone did lessons 97-102 of R&S English 8, revised her report on the history of the polio vaccine, and continued reading The Hobbit.

History: JellyMan listened to lectures 7-8 of the Teaching Company’s Early Middle Ages. He finished reading Thomas Cahill’s Mysteries of the Middle Ages and started How the Irish Saved Civilization. He also did some reading in The Celts by Gerhard Herm. Anemone didn’t read any history because I’m a bad homeschool mom, but she watched two documentaries on the polio vaccine. (History? Science? Does it matter?)

Science: JellyMan watched lectures 9-12 of The Teaching Company’s Understanding the Universe and completed chapter 3 of The Cosmos. Anemone read sections 2.3-2.4 of Miller & Levine Biology and did some reading about molecular structure. Both kids watched two episodes of Medical Miracles.

Fine Arts: Both Goobs had two piano lessons and practiced for about 12 hours. They also spent two hours at ballroom dancing lessons. JellyMan spent eight hours at drama class. He also went to see Sunset Boulevard at the Diamond Head Theatre. He spent 35 hours working lights at his production downtown. Anemone got her audition letter - she is a princess in The Nutcracker! Apparently, the role of princess is EVEN BETTER than the roll of bonbon, so she is very happy. She spent 27 hours at the ballet studio over the past two weeks. Her shin splints seem to be healed. 

The Man said, “See all those kids? They should all be in school.” 

The Goobers said, “Yeah? So should we! Hahahahaha!”

A Week in Review (09/19-09/25)

I can’t believe this is only already the third week of school! We’ve made a few changes around here; the biggest one being that school does not start until 8:00. The Goobers like to start school early so they can keep their afternoons free, but a 0500 start time is just ridiculous. I’m tired of waking up to cranky Goobs, shoddy work, and a messy kitchen. No more.

Our favorite beach has man o’ wars, rip currents, sharks, a beautiful view, and plenty of shade.

Math: JellyMan did lessons 102-105 of Saxon Advanced Math. (JellyMan is doing 10 pushups for every missed math problem.  He may never be a mathematician, but he will have beautiful shoulders!) Anemone finished Saxon Algebra 1 and is happy to be moving on to Algebra 2.

This 6” praying mantis was hanging out right above the doorknob. I opened the door anyway.

Latin: JellyMan memorized lines 1-11 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline, redid exercises 2-3, and completed exercises 4-5 of Henle Third Year Latin. Anemone did a lot of review, plus exercise 297 of Henle Latin First Year.

This old theater is absolutely gorgeous inside.

Greek: JellyMan redid most of chapter 1b and completed chapter 2a of Athenaze Greek Book 2. Anemone completed week 6 of Elementary Greek Book 2.

Rainbows don’t suck.

Logic: Anemone finished chapter 2 of Traditional Logic 2.

Palm trees don’t suck, either.

English: JellyMan caught up on some rhetoric assignments he “forgot.” (I didn’t bother checking the stupid figures of speech worksheets because all he had to do was fill in the blanks. Classic rookie mistake. Homeschool Rule #1: Grade the work. Yes, all of it.) He also rewrote a paper. Anemone did lessons 92-96 of R&S English 8 and continued reading The Hobbit. 

Anemone likes to do pointe shoe repair in her dinosaur jacket.

History: JellyMan listened to lectures 4-6 of The Teaching Company’s Early Middle Ages, reviewed chapter 8 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization, and read half of Thomas Cahill’s Mysteries of the Middle Ages. He also started reading Livy, but that’s on his own time. Anemone redid her outlines from last week, then researched the development of the polio vaccine and wrote the first draft of a history/science report. (I even remembered to have her conduct a few telephone interviews. Homeschool win!)

We have a lot of wind here in Hawaii.

Science: JellyMan watched lectures 7-9 of The Teaching Company’s Understanding the Universe and finished chapter 2 of The Cosmos. Anemone read sections 2.1-2.2 of Miller & Levine Biology (if this book was written to make the student ask “Why?” over and over and over again, the authors did a stellar job. Honestly. Why not scrap the big-ass lizard picture so you have room to explain valence electrons?) and the relevant bits of Science Matters.

JellyMan looked cute up in his light booth.

Fine Arts: Piano lessons and seven hours of practice for both. The piano teacher asked Anemone to be the Master of Ceremonies for the recital (a surprise!), and Anemone agreed (a bigger surprise!). JellyMan spent 4 hours at drama class and 16 hours working the light booth. (I watched JM chatting up pretty girls the play last night, and being told I look amazingly young the lights were the best part.) JellyMan is also doing a lot of research on literary witches for his troupe’s Macbeth project. Anemone spent three hours observing technique classes at the ballet studio. She swears up and down her shin splints are healed, so she also danced for three hours. So far, so good. (This is the first time she’s had to deal with any kind of physical limitation. She hates it, but I’m proud of the way she is handling it - she only made us all miserable gnashed her teeth wailed kicked and screamed moped for a week!) The Goobs went to see a play presenting three of Aesop’s fables; JM’s drama teacher thought it might be helpful for her students to study the different techniques actors use when performing for a young audience.

JellyMan is kindly demonstrating a scuba sign for “sea turtle.” I’m not sure what Anemone is doing.

Unresolved Homeschool Problem of the Week: I’m so wrapped up in my 10th grader that I tend to let my 7th grader skate. Anemone has absolutely no problem with this, but it can’t go on indefinitely. She needs more of my time, whether she wants it or not.

A Week in Review (09/12-09/18)

Illness, angst, celebrations, injuries, appointments, beautiful beaches… honestly, why can’t anything ever be easy?

Math: JellyMan completed lessons 100-101 of Saxon Advanced Math and took a practice SAT test. Anemone did lessons 116-117 of Saxon Algebra 1.

Latin: JellyMan translated lines 32-63 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline, and completed exercises 2-3 of Henle Third Year Latin. Most of this will need to be redone. Anemone did some reviewing, and will do more reviewing next week.

Greek: JellyMan completed chapter 1b of Athenaze Greek Book 2. Most of it will need to be redone. Anemone completed weeks 4-5 of Elementary Greek Book 2.

Logic: Anemone completed chapter 1 and started chapter 2 of Traditional Logic 2.

English: JellyMan completed chapter 9 of Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle and took that practice SAT test. Anemone did lesson 90-91 of R&S English 8 and started reading The Hobbit. 

History: JellyMan listened to lecture #3 of The Early Middle Ages and completed chapter 8 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization. He will need to read it again. Anemone “outlined” pages 326-329 of her history book. It will need to be redone.

Science: JellyMan watched lectures 5-6 of Understanding the Universe and started chapter 2 of The Cosmos. Anemone finished reading chapter 1 of Miller & Levine Biology, but she didn’t understand what I wanted her to do about the end of chapter exercises and the study guide and the “mystery,” so we’ll be looking at those together.

Fine Arts: Piano lessons continue as usual, though I only noticed about 5 hours of practice this week. JellyMan spent four hours at drama class and 16 hours running lights for his show downtown. He also worked as an extra in a friend’s PSA video.  Anemone spent three hours dancing at her ballet studio. Unfortunately, she has developed shin splints, and has to sit out for two weeks. She’s still attending her technique classes so she doesn’t miss anything; she spent about four hours observing this week.

Next week will be spent mopping up the hot mess that was this week. Woo-hoo.

A Week in Review (09/05-09/11)

The first week of our new school year was okay, I guess. We had a steep learning curve - new schedules, new subjects, new textbooks, parent meetings, auditions, weird work hours, ballet emergencies, errands, appointments, blah, blah, blah, excuses, excuses, excuses. I’ll have a better handle on things a few weeks from now. I hope.

Math: JellyMan did lessons 97-99 of Saxon Advanced Math. Anemone did lessons 113-115 of Saxon Algebra 1. 

These are all pictures from recent hikes. This is where Anemone almost fell off a cliff. I saved her! So! Exciting!

Latin: JellyMan translated lines 1-31 of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline, and completed exercise 1 of Henle Third Year Latin. He also memorized the Ave Maria (I’m sure I had them memorize this years ago, but he says no), and reviewed the Pater Noster, Signum Crucis, and Doxologia. Anemone worked through exercise 296 in Henle Latin First Year.

Greek: JellyMan completed chapter 1a of Athenaze Book 2. Anemone completed weeks 1-3 of Elementary Greek Book 2.

JellyMan got his driver’s permit, and he’s doing beautifully - he navigated a tunnel with my eyes closed.

Logic: Anemone started the first chapter of Traditional Logic 2. 

English: JellyMan revised a few writing assignments from Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle. He read Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, and Writer’s Guide to Character Traits by Linda Edelstein We discussed the differences between a good story and an epic story, and how a scriptwriter might make an audience care about the protagonist of his movie. Short answer: you gotta save a cat. He also fell in love with Microsoft OneNote and is using it to outline his new novel. Anemone did lesson 89 of R&S English 8 and begged me to rescue her from the soul sucking evil that is Emma. Yeah. We’re moving on.

Anemone is costing me $20 a week in gel toe pads for her pointe shoes. It’s cutting into my Kindle purchases.

History: JellyMan read chapter 7 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization. Afterwards, he took a quiz and answered the essay questions on the support website. He also listened to lectures 1-2 of the Teaching Company’s Early Middle Ages. Anemone outlined pages 324-325 of DK’s History: The Definitive Visual Guide.

I made two pies. One was delicious and hideous. The other was bland and beautiful.

Science: JellyMan read chapter 1 of The Cosmos and answered the end of chapter questions. He completed an online quiz and virtual lab (which was a big, fat waste of time), and took an end of chapter test. He also watched lectures 1-4 of the Teaching Company’s Understanding the Universe. Anemone read sections 1.1-1.2 of Miller & Levine Biology. We’re still working out how to use the textbook; we bought all the support materials, and there is so much. “Look at this!” the book screams. “Now look over here! And here! Think about this! And this! Draw a flow chart! Make a concept map! Go online! Do the test! Watch the video! Draw a picture!” I’m willing to ignore the fact that I spent nearly $300 for the package and look for a book that is slightly less hysterical, but Anemone won’t hear of it. “I love this,” she says. “It is so easy!” Hmph.

I meant to have this post ready yesterday, but I was doing other things.

Fine Arts: Piano goes on for both Goobers as usual; one 30 minute lesson per week, 1 hour of serious practice per day. (I don’t monitor all the time they spend playing Guns ‘n Roses and Evanescence.) JellyMan is taking another stab at a music theory credit; he completed five pages of John Clough’s Scales, Intervals, Keys, and Triads and read pages 1-13 of The Understanding of Music by Charles R. Hoffer. He spent about 24 hours running the light booth at a local theatre production. (He’s getting paid! Woo-hoo! He’s using his first paycheck to buy screen writing software.) His Shakespeare troupe started back up again; he spent 4 hours at classes, and is busy memorizing the witches’ chant from Macbeth. He is spending more time holed up in his room with his guitar. I think he has five chords to his name now. Anemone spent 17 hours dancing at her ballet studio, and auditioned for The Nutcracker. She also spent a lot of time building a diorama of a library. 

My youngest child is now a teenager who wants to do THIS to her hair. She’s been texting a lot.

I meant to have Anemone memorize some sort of something, and I meant to exercise with JellyMan, and I meant to read to The Goobs during lunch (the Bible or Moby Dick or Don Quixote or some other such thing), and I meant to make cookies every day, but none of that happened. I’m not worried. There’s always next week!

Weeks in Review #35-40

Okay, I’m calling it. School year 2010-2011 is dead, and I’m glad. Glad, I tell you! We didn’t quite finish everything, but that’s okay. The beauty of homeschooling is that you’re never behind - you’re always where you are. Hahaha! Don’t listen to me; that’s just what I tell myself when we’re behind.

Anemone thought the fetal pig dissection from February 2010 was stinky.

Math: Oh, I don’t want to talk about math. But I will, because I’m all about being real and honest and transparant and all that. JellyMan did lessons 90-92. Then he made a C on a test. I was disappointed. He did lessons 93-96. He made a C on a second test. I grew irate. So JellyMan did lessons 61-96. Again. Anemone did lessons 90-96. Then she made a big fat F on a test. I was, shall we say, less than pleased. So Anemone did lessons 80-96. Again. Then she did lessons 97-112. Now they are both keeping a 90% average in self defense. Anemone should finish Algebra I this month, and I’m hoping JM will finish Advanced Math by October. Please, God. I’m so sick of Saxon Advanced Math.

She didn’t want to do it.

Latin: JellyMan finished Henle Latin Book 2, and made a 97% on the final exam. Anemone is almost done with Unit 7 of Henle Latin Book 1. Almost. Her pronouns are giving her fits.

Greek: JellyMan finished Athenaze Book 1. Anemone finished Elementary Greek 1.

I made her do it anyway, mostly just to laugh at her facial expressions.

English: JellyMan is halfway through Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle. He has produced several outstanding essays for this course! He watched some Teaching Company lectures on Shakespeare. He read Macbeth, The Tempest, Two Noble Kinsmen, and bits of Troilus and Cressida. He also read Lillith’s Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural by Howard Schwartz and reread his favorite bits of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. He also started planning for NaNoWriMo. Anemone did lessons 69-88 of R&S English 8 and read a few chapters of Emma. Anemone hates Emma. Emma is stupid. Emma should go read a book and mind her own business. And that Mr. Knightly sure likes to hear himself talk!

We were in the middle of a PCS, and had to do the dissection in a playground. People were staring.

History: JellyMan finished Desire of the Everlasting Hills and read Annals of Imperial Rome by Tacitus. “Argh! It cuts off in midsentence! They lost the ending! Nooooo! They’re always losing stuff!” Anemone worked her way through DK’s History of the World, stopping on page 323. I had hoped to reach page 361, but who’s counting??? They both watched several documentaries on the Roman Empire and read A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities by J. C. McKeown. That book certainly spiced up our dinner conversation!

JellyMan didn’t care, but Anemone was mortified.

Science: JellyMan completed Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide. He did not master physics with this book, but I’m hoping it was enough to get him through introductory astronomy. Anemone, um, Anemone, uh, she did… nothing. She’s reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson now, so I’ll just go ahead and count it. I’ve decided to scrap my “no formal science until high school, then use college texts for non-majors” plan and use a traditional high school textbook with her this year. She likes science, she wants to learn “real” science, and she seems happiest when she’s using a fill-in-the-blank sort of book, so I ordered Miller & Levine Biology. When it arrived, we both flipped through it.

Me: “Wow, this is stupid.”

Anemone: “Wow, this is great!”

We start Monday.

Fine Arts: JellyMan spent over 100 hours working backstage at the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival. His first show was The Tempest. He did curtains, some lighting, gophering, etc. His second show was Two Noble Kinsmen. He started out as the assistant to the stage manager, then catastrophe struck - he graduated to stage manager and ran the light booth for the last few shows. They liked him so much that they recommended him to the light guy for another theatre, which means he’s not around much on the weekends. He had two auditions for his Shakespeare drama class, and of course he was invited back for another year. He also went to see Henry IV, Part 2. 

Anemone has been dancing. And dancing. And dancing. Over the summer she got promoted, strapped on a pair of pointe shoes, and danced 20 hours per week. Her hours have been cut since the Hawaii school year stared, and now she’s down to 17 hours per week. Nutcracker auditions will soon be upon us! She also went to see JellyMan work the curtains and lights of The Tempest and Two Noble Kinsmen. She has started altering t-shirts to suit her, and likes to make miniature food out of fimo clay. (I’m trying so desperately to make it sound like Anemone is Doing! School! but. But, but, but.)

Piano continues on as usual - they both practice an hour every day. Well, most days. Their piano teacher is on vaction, so they’re slacking off a little. 

In other news, they went to see a juried art exhibit at the Honolulu Gallery of Art, and two other smaller local exhibits around town. They also saw Romeo and Juliet, a ballet featuring principal dancers from all over the country. I wish I could have seen it, but we could only afford two tickets. I hope they remember this when they’re picking out our nursing home.

I like this picture because Anemone looks like a bobblehead. Also, she can’t hide her fascination with internal organs.

Phys Ed: Hiking, mostly, and many trips to the beach. I had big plans for PE this year. We did all right, I guess. There was surfing. There was sailing. There was scuba. There was swimming. There was hiking. But there wasn’t as much of it as there should have been, because rolling around on the beach is much more agreeable.

Anemone is karaticizing the fetal pig. I don’t know why.

Okay, I’m ready! Bring on the new school year! 2011-2012 is going to be awesome! I say that every year, but this time I really mean it. I’m going to kick the living hell out of this school year, just like Anemone did to that stinky fetal pig.

Homeschooling my Goobers is endlessly amusing.

Weeks in Review #32-34

I don’t think this year is ever going to end. We might not make our 40 weeks this year - I’m slowly but surely losing the will to live. Need. Vacation. Soon.

Math: Both kids finished lesson #89 in their respective Saxon books. These books are just dra-a-a-a-a-a-a-ging on, aren’t they? But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel—if we are very careful to do math five days a week, we’ll finish up by the end of August. JM was so tempted to go back to the original plan of doing Advanced Mathematics over two years - lesson 90 was the agreed upon ending point for this year. He’s pressing on, though, and I admire him for it. They’ve both been doing very well lately; I’m very proud of their efforts.

Latin: JellyMan translated the first 165 lines of the First Invasion of Britain and completed exercises #187-206 of Henle Second Year Latin. Anemone finished exercises 256-263 of Henle First Year Latin. She’s having a little bit of trouble with the imperfect subjunctive, but I’m sure she’ll push through.

Greek: JellyMan finished chapters 12a - 13a of Athenaze. He’s having some trouble determining when he should use the aorist and when he should use the imperfect. (Judging by the google search results, he isn’t the only one!) Anemone worked through weeks 26-27 of Elementary Greek. I just discovered that she has been memorizing the Bible verses in Greek, but she hasn’t bothered to memorize the English translations. (Insert heavy sigh here.)

English: JellyMan finished Metamorphoses, then spent an entire week writing and rewriting a three-page essay. (That’s because I am just so unreasonable, dontcha know. Oh, my bleeding eyes!) He also finished the third chapter of Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle, wrote another episode of his miniseries, and started another novel. Anemone did lessons 56-68 of R&S English 8 and pretended to read Emma as long as I was in the room looking at her.

History: JellyMan read the first five chapters of Thomas Cahill’s Desire of the Everlasting Hills. He’s taking notes, but I won’t assign any essays for this book. Anemone made a few half-hearted attempts at outlining from the DK book. We watched a couple of documentaries and a few period dramas.

Science: JellyMan has completed sections 5-10 of Basic Physics. Anemone? I don’t know what Anemone did, but I know it wasn’t much.

I’m thinking about letting Anemone off the hook for the content subjects (history, science, and literature) after we hit 36 weeks. I never thought I’d say this, but a child has beaten me. 

Fine Arts: Piano goes on as always, but I think JellyMan might have hit a wall. He just isn’t getting any better, and judging from the quality of his practice sessions, he doesn’t particularly want to get any better. Oh, he’s passing his songs and progressing through his books, but he isn’t making music—he’s only pushing buttons. How important is it to keep going in a situation such as this? I think the money might be better spent on scuba diving, and the time might be better spent on languages or writing. On a brighter note, he has signed on to be a stagehand for a summer production of The Tempest. He went to his first rehearsal the other day, and is happy to be back in his element. He is also busy going through stacks of plays, searching for just the right monologue to use for his next audition.

Anemone now spends 13 hours per week at her ballet studio. She loves it, and I think I love it, too; her new schedule does not coincide with rush hour traffic, so I can drop her off and go home instead of hanging out on the roof. Also, she is pretty tired after three solid hours of dancing, so now we have three quiet evenings per week. :D That being said, I’m looking forward to August. We can’t afford the tuition for the three-week summer intensive, so we’ll get a little break. 

A break sounds lovely. A real break, not just an afternoon at the beach or the blowing off of one subject or another, or the odd dinner out. I’d like a week in which I don’t have to do or say or read anything. I wish I could go visit my mom.

And I wish I could go by myself.

Weeks in Review #30-31

These past few weeks have been almost normal. The Man worked regular shifts. There were no crazy scheduling conflicts, no impromptu field trips, no weekend scramble to finish forgotten assignments. Meals were on time, and nobody got sick.

Peaceful.

Restful.

Dull.

Math: JellyMan completed lessons 69-76 of Saxon Advanced Mathematics. Anemone completed lessons 72-79 of Saxon Algebra 1.

Latin: JellyMan completed exercises 175-186 of Henle Second Year Latin and finished translating Revolt Along the Seacoast. Anemone did exercises 247-255 of Henle First Year Latin. 

Greek: JellyMan completed chapters 11a-11b of Athenaze Greek 1. Anemone completed weeks 24-25 of Elementary Greek 1.

Hebrew: JellyMan didn’t do any Hebrew at all. I don’t think this completely self-directed thing is going to work out for him. Oh, well! There’s always college.

Logic:  Anemone completed the Traditional Logic I book! I haven’t graded her logic work since lesson 7 (I know, I know—I’m a slacker, but in my defense, the answers are all right there in the book!), so I used the final review chapter as a closed book, cumulative final exam. I didn’t even give her any warning. Bwahahaha! She made an 88%, and I’m counting it as a smashing success.

English: JellyMan read books 1-9 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (he completed the comprehension/essay questions from eNotes for the first few books, but it felt too much like busywork to continue) and finished How to Read a Book. He also finished lessons 1-2 of Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle. and wrote another ten pages of screenplay. Anemone did lessons 43-55 of R&S 8 and gave a fascinating lecture (her first major oral presentation!) on honeybees. She also read several chapters of Emma and answered a few essay questions (again, from eNotes - what is busywork for JellyMan seems just about right for Anemone).

History: JellyMan has been reading about the Roanoke colony, and Anemone is studying the industrial revolution. “Oh, so that’s why everything in Pittsburgh is called the Carnegie Whatever!” Oh, Anemone. When will you start listening to my field trip lectures?

Science: JellyMan completed chapters 1-4 of Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide. Anemone is reading The Coming Plague and is gathering materials for some sort of honeybee project she found in one of her nature books. We also watched a couple of NOVA episodes about Antarctica. It’s funny; The Man is the only one of us qualified to work in Antarctica, and he’s the only one who doesn’t think it sounds like a hoot and a half.

Fine Arts: Piano lessons continue, as well as daily practice. I’m wondering if I should encourage them to add a few minutes to their formal practice time. (Would anything over an hour be too long for kids who enjoy playing, but have no performance aspirations? Would an extra 10 minutes kill them?) Anemone has finally gotten her way; we’re paying for her to take unlimited ballet classes, so starting next week, she’ll be at the studio every day. (I hope she remembers this when she’s shopping around for nursing homes.) JellyMan watched Ian McKellan’s Macbeth, watched a few Teaching Company lectures on Shakespeare, and did a packet full of drama homework to be mailed back to his director. He’s been moping around the house ever since the cast party—it’s going to be a long summer.

I dipped Anemone in sugar, but she’s still sour.

Weeks in Review #25-29

Where have I been? I’ve been playing at being a hermit.

I am improving.  :D

Math: JellyMan has completed lessons 53-68 of Saxon Advanced Mathematics. He’s doing very well. Anemone has completed lessons 56-71 of Saxon Algebra 1. She had a rough couple of months, but she seems to be over it now and is moving right along.

Latin: JellyMan has completed exercises 128-177, has finished translating The Helvetian Drive to the West, and has translated lines 1-92 of Revolt Along the Seacoast, all from Henle Latin Second year. He has also finished all the readings in Lingua Biblica. Anemone has done exercises 228-246 of Henle Latin First Year. (Tressa, she bombed that 3rd quarter test!) I received their National Latin Exam results at the end of April; JellyMan earned a gold medal on the Latin II exam, scoring a 39 out of 40. Anemone took the Introduction to Latin Exam, and earned a purple ribbon and a certificate for a perfect paper! I’m very proud of them both.

Greek: JellyMan completed chapters 9a-10b of Athenaze Greek 1; Anemone worked her way through weeks 21-23 of Elementary Greek 1. 

Hebrew: I have no idea what JellyMan is doing in Hebrew. I do know that a Jewish kid in his Shakespeare ensemble has been coaching him on his pronunciation. 

Logic: Anemone has completed chapters 11-13 of Traditional Logic I.

English: JellyMan read The Birds and Medea and wrote three-page essays on each of them. He is also a Script Frenzy winner! He wrote a 103 page screenplay (based on the apocalyptic novel he wrote for NaNoWriMo) and is now 50 pages into a miniseries (I think this idea is actually marketable, so I won’t tell his secrets here). He began Classical Rhetoric With Aristotle, and has read chapters 1-10 of How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler. Anemone has finished The Deluxe Transitive Vampire and has resumed Rod & Staff English 8. She isn’t very happy about it, and I’m researching alternatives. She also read, discussed, and wrote about To Kill a Mockingbird, and has started reading Emma.

History: JellyMan has finally (finally!) finished The Histories; he also got through the first three books of History of the Peloponnesian War before he begged to be let off the hook. (I’m letting him move on to Rome, but we’ll come back to Thucydides at some point.) He finished reading chapters 3-5 of Spielvogel’s Western Civilization.  He has written a context page for Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Anemone continues to outline sections of DK’s History: The Definitive Visual Guide and has written several reports based on the historical figures in Famous Men of Modern Times. We also watched a few documentaries on ancient history, but I’ve already forgotten the titles.

Science: JellyMan has finished his geology course! He has a few video lectures to get through, but the reading and labs are over. Next week he’ll start Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide to prepare him for next year’s astronomy course. Anemone has just been reading whatever natural history book catches her eye. 

Fine Arts: The Goobs spent many, many hours rehearsing and performing. JellyMan did five performances of As You Like It and Anemone had two ballet recitals. I was very impressed by the quality of each of the shows—kids these days are just so talented! They’re still taking piano lessons and practicing for an hour each day, and they’re busy learning Civil War era songs for some youtube project they’ve cooked up. We also saw a few art shows.

 I hope you all enjoyed your week(s) as much as we did!