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Liam created this avatar of himself on Starfall, then went out to play with his scooter

I'm a voracious reader of other homeschooling blogs.  In part, I'm looking for some sense of community.  My blog is great for keeping track of our progress, but I want the chance to share ideas with other parents who have gone before (or are yet to come).  Last week, on Facebook, I read about a local homeschooling parents' involvement in Urban Homeschoolers.  A Google search and a phone call later and we were set to audit a couple of their classes in Atwater Village.

Urban Homeschoolers isn't a school, it's a resource center geared towards kids who are homeschooled or in a charter school and are looking for enrichment classes.  We asked to audit Natural Science, which promised to be very physical and Choir. 

Classes are grouped by age.  7-9 or 9-12 being Liam's range.  I decided to skew older, as the wee ones are a bit "zingy" with their energy and I was afraid Liam would have more trouble focusing.  It was a good call.  

The Science teacher, Mr. Guest,  is an experienced Waldorf teacher and he masterfully led the class through exploration of plant vs human life, ending with an indoor/outdoor encounter with ferns and designing and building their own fern plant out of paper. 

Liam was allowed to join in and seemed to be enjoying the tactile nature of the class.  At one point, he drifted to the chalk board, and I was afraid he was going to start drawing fonts or numbers, but instead, he started to write the key words that Mr. Guest was saying.  It was his way of connecting to the language.  Nobody seemed to mind in the least.

The next day we attended Choir with some seriously talented singers.  John and I were repeatedly impressed with the kindness, openness and easy, yet attentive manner of the kids we met.  At the end of Choir, I asked to register Liam for the rest of the semester.

This evening, I heard Liam say (out of nowhere), "I had fun with Mr. Guest."  As he rarely comments on anyone who isn't immediately present, that made me very happy. 

This afternoon, we returned to Riverside Drive to Coding Class, which Liam loves. 

I feel like we're finally creating a balance between Liam's amazing self-directed skills and connection to an outside network.  Outside we have: Tuesday nights - art, Wednesday morning - choir, Thursday afternoon - computer coding, Friday afternoon, natural science.  At home we have ST Math, BrainPop science and ESL, Mandarin, animation, and now Piano. 

I'll leave you with Liam's latest attempt at the Tetris theme.  

The Gift of Time

"It's HARD!"  I heard a lot of that over the past couple of weeks as we worked through the lessons on Area and Perimeter.  He'd get it, then lose it, then get it again.

What I love about ST Math is the ability to see the mistakes and keep working on it.  He's developed a lot of independence.  So much so, that he finished a level and went straight to the quiz, on his own.  While I hoped more had stuck, he only managed 40% on this level - an all-time low.  Since he got 80% on the pre-quiz, it also shows that he probably wasn't as careful with the language and making sure he really worked through all of the answers before making a choice - something I still have to remind him to do.   So he took the initiative, but rushed to finish and missed a lot.

In ST Math there is a little self-evaluation section where the student can rate how difficult, interesting or educational the unit was.  I watched him correctly assess that it was "Very Difficult,"  "Boring (he says that when it's hard and not moving forward)" and that he learned "A Little."

Fortunately, with a class of ONE, we can stay here a while, until he REALLY gets it.  Once more around the perimeter and through the area!

Autodidactic

Autodidactic: a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person. Origin of autodidact Expand. Greek. 1525-1535. 1525-35; < Greek autodídaktos self-taught; see auto-¹, didactic.

One of the reasons we decided to homeschool was that Liam showed a remarkable ability to teach himself in his strongest areas of interest.  The videos he's made were made on programs he taught himself.  We showed him THAT he had PowerPoint on his machine when he was about 4, but he was the one who figured out how to do not only graphic layouts, but play with it in innovative ways to create mini-videos (it's what inspired me to show him stop-motion).

A few years ago, we hired a talented and flexible piano teacher, and while Liam learned quickly, he showed no interest in practicing.  We took a break from formal piano lessons to focus on something he does non-stop, art.

 Lately though, he's found a program called "Synthesia," which is a piano training program (http://www.synthesiagame.com/).  

He started by searching for tunes he liked, watching them on YouTube, then going to the piano and playing what he remembered.  Then he took his iPad with him, setting it up as sheet music on the piano and followed along with the program.  
 

Recently, he's been playing songs on his desktop, and tapping on the screen - not to make the notes, but to match the left and right hands, something he's working towards, slowly.

Although my husband is a classical pianist and composer, and I am an artist, Liam shows no interest in learning from either of us, when he can find it on his own.  The best part is that, even though he wants to find and practice it on his own, he is asking us to come and watch him more and more.  He's feeling the need to share.  

Amazing what he can do, if we just get out of his way!

On The Road Again

When I was putting together a plan for this year's lessons, I decided to get us out of the house as much as possible.  Fortunately, there are plenty of great opportunities for exploration around Los Angeles.  And our new home is very near a Metro station, so I try to take advantage of it as much as possible.

Maybe, someday, Liam will have the focus to learn to drive a car, but at the moment, he's easily distracted by his favorite things, numbers and fonts!  So we take trips on the train (which he loves - more fonts and digital displays), and I take him through the process of loading the card, tapping it at the gate, looking for the right platform and getting off at the right station.

I know that his brain is always operating on two tracks at once.  During the trip, he's giving a running narrative of the fonts on every sign, with special notice paid to the number and type of digital displays.  After the trip, he remembers which train we rode and where.  I still need to remind him to board the train immediately, when the doors open, instead of reading the signs in the window, but he's getting the hang of it.  He's often the first one to notice the distinctive decor of each station.  I hope that the unique look of each stop will help him recognize them for future travel.

Last week, we visited the California Science Center to cap off our unit on body systems. 

They have a wonderful, permanent exhibit that shows how bodies function, including a show starring a 50 foot animatronic woman named "Tess."

  They also have exhibits which allow kids to pump blood and see how the respiratory system works in several different animals.  The best part is, the main part of the Science Center is always free, and with exhibits on habitat, space (including a retired Space Shuttle) and more, it's a fantastic place to visit in pieces, again and again.

Back at home, Liam has been enjoying his Chinese lessons.  This week, he learned a traditional poem.  After his teacher left, he somehow found a translation of it online (by himself) and we recorded him reading it in Mandarin and English.  He's a little excited.

Some days start out slowly, but later on, I'll find him on one of his educational sites, of his own volition.  I know he learns best when he can rewind and take things in pieces, even if it seems like he's just messing around.   If he's having fun, he'll play longer and more likely take more information in.

This learning experience is like a good road trip.  Have a plan, but be prepared to let it go and just enjoy the ride.

All Things Being Equal

Liam chose to pose with his ST Math program and make this face.  Such a boy.


The current math lesson is fractional equivalants.  What started out as a slog has finally clicked and Liam is zooming through the level.  It's a metaphor for how things are going lately.

The BrainPop science lessons were a great jumping-off point for the marine biology lessons that led to the filed trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific last week.  This week though, we moved on to human body systems and suddenly BrainPop was not my friend.  The movies are still cute, but the terminology was so technical and advanced, I could see his eyes glazing over a few seconds into the first clip.

So I scoured our bookshelves and jumped online, looking for a few different sources to cover the next few topics I had chosen in the BrainPop Health/Science series.

What would be meaningful?

When we took Jake in for his checkup this year, I brought Liam along.  He loved listening to the cat's heartbeat through the stethoscope.  To make the connection, I found this video online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIS3IwjfmY  (it has the recorded sound of a cat purring along with it's heartbeat and a cute, kitten slideshow).

Liam loved it.

 BrainPop Jr. has a similar series of videos, that are a little easier to digest than the material on BrainPop.

I also found this great series of animated videos from KidsHealth.org.  Liam liked it so much that after watching the video on the Circulatory System, he moved on to the Digestive System all on his own.  It also comes with quizzes and activity sheets.

As Liam would say, "SCORE!"

Going Skyward

With temps in the triple digits, cabin "fever" set in quickly.  A sudden failing of my prescription sunglass frames was a good excuse to make a run to the mall.  Burbank mall has indoor bungee jumping and Liam loves it.  He was yelling, "I'm going skyward!"

Otherwise, school is cooking along nicely.  Our weekly schedule includes daily math, science and language arts and weekly art and Chinese.  Art is actually a daily event, since Liam will revert to art at every given break, but he's enjoying his private lesson as well.

In the middle of his DIY.org stop motion camp we made a field trip to the movies, to see "Shaun the Sheep."  He loved this classic claymation with no dialogue.

On the way out of the movies, Liam stopped to play in this ad for "The Good Dinosaur."

Afterward we got to run around Universal Citywalk and play in the fountains.

We've built a set and characters and will soon storyboard an episode of "The Spiffyman Show."  We can use it to work on storytelling and build on his growing animation skills.

Yesterday, after two weeks of study in marine biology, we attended the special homeschool day at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

It was amazing to watch Liam enter the main hall, take in the full-size replica of a blue whale suspended from the cieling and shout, "Oh MY GOD!"  He also enjoyed petting the sharks.  Whenever he managed to feel one passing by, he'd say, "SCORE."  And he had fun providing a sound track for this shark tank (until the incredibly timed, but way-too-loud ending - see video). 

I enjoyed planning out the lessons on Brainpop  leading up to this field-trip. But the best part was watching the unplanned interactions.  Moving on to how bodies work and the next field trip to the California Science Center.

The Spiffyman Show, Episode 1 (Behind the Scenes)

Today, we finally made the armature (skeleton) for a claymation puppet.  I knew Liam would want to make a puppet of his character, Spiffyman.

First we had to break out the supplies.  A couple of weeks ago, we went to Michaels, and I bought oil-based clay, 20 gauge wire and a wire cutter kit with other tools. We got a cool Minion-themed cardboard treasure box to keep it all in.  It is his "animation box."

It was my first time building an armature, and I made it a little too long with wire a bit too soft.  Later we made him a back-brace!  Then it was time to add the clay.  I showed Liam how to build it up a little at a time.

Here's the finished puppet, with a 12 guage backbrace.  We need shorter puppets or stronger wire next time!

After he built the star of the show, we needed a background to shoot against.  Liam chose what he calls, "Spiffyman yellow."

Lights, Camera - ACTION

I left the room and this is what he created.  He says that the characters are all speaking English, but in reverse.  Here is Liam's first stop motion with an armatured puppet (and friends):

The assignment from his DIY.org camp was to animate a face.  We'll save the puppet and work on adding additional movement for episode 2.  Stay tuned!

  

Speaking of Language

Despite having difficulty in producing flowing, expressive language in English, Liam's fascination with the alphabet and number systems has led him to discover dozens of languages.  His ear is exceptional - native speakers hearing him rattle off the alphabet or count in Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Dutch and more, have remarked on how good his accent is.

He's taught himself a few words in Japanese and Spanish, but that's as far as it's gone.  We briefly took an after-school Spanish class, but it had become very popular and the class size didn't work out for him.

So I was intrigued when I saw a posting on our local "Nextdoor" site.  A young woman from China had just moved to the neighborhood to pursue an acting career and was offering her services as a personal assistant, translator and Chinese tudor.  I am an accent reduction coach.  Why not trade?  It turns out she had a double major in Psychology and Theater and had worked with kids on the spectrum before.  We set a date.

I can honestly say that this woman is wonderful.  She has great energy and Liam was really having fun.  She was surprised by how quickly he memorized (he only needs to hear or see something once).  She got through twice the normal lesson with him.  It was great to bring something and someONE new into the mix.

It looks like the beginning of something wonderful.

When I Wasn't Looking

Liam teaches himself new things daily.  Part of the goal of home schooling is to help him take his mad skills and learn to apply them to challenges set by other people.  The DIY.org stop motion camp gives him specific challenges to meet, and that takes him out of his usual comfort zone.  But he still manages to use the skills on his own.  I was looking for an older stop-motion video to add to his DIY.org page and found one he'd made totally on his own.  Yes, it's another countdown video, but the animation is really, really GOOD!

The graphite drawing class went well this week, so we'll continue to have an "away class" at Pastimes for a Lifetime studio.  And I chanced upon a Chinese tudor online who might make a nice addition to Liam's studies.  Sometimes other languages help us tune in more closely to our own.  And Chinese is a really cool language with an amazing writing system.

Liam built a short PowerPoint presentation each day, on the science topic we studied.  We start with a BrainPop movie (these are all from the "Diversity of Life" unit).  After the movie, we reviewed some of the fun questions and went online to find out more about a detail that interested him.

Here are the slides from this week's lessons (the font choices did not translate into the still slides - they're actually much cooler looking than this):

I like how he played with the word "amphibians"

Even though the language is a little advanced, it gives us a chance to look up words and do more research on concepts he doesn't get.  By reviewing the presentations every day, he has more chances to think about it.

We Google images to go with each presentation. Part of the fun is seeing which image he'll use to illustrate the slides

For reptiles, we focused on a reptile he'd actually met.  Mr. Scales was an albino ball python that came to the annual  Spring Faire at Liam's old school.  Kids could pet the snakes and they were up for adoption.  Liam really likes snakes.  I like them too, but I don't think I have the stomach to feed them cute, furry mice.  There was a lot of information on pet websites about ball pythons.

We made more presentations, but my favorite is the one on Mammals.  Mammals are differentiated by how they give birth - placenta, birth/developed in pouch or eggs.  Since Liam found my pregnancy and sonogram pictures so fascinating, this was a really fun presentation to put together.  I didn't have any songram pics of him to add, but we definitely spent some time talking about them.  And now - Mammals:

The "Birds" presentation was fun, just to see the juxtaposition of the world's smallest and largest birds:

Once again, it was fun to tie in the field trip to the text.  My apologies for the completely random way the formatting gets scrambled when turning the PPT into pics.  I'm sure Liam will solve this problem on his own very soon - when I'm not looking.

What Do You Know?

The constant challenge for Liam is to attach meaning - to anything.  It's very easy for him to memorize facts, but meaning is illusive.  I decided to take Liam's obsession with fonts and graphics and combine it with the search for meaning with his science studies.

We are using the BrainPop science films as a jumping off point for our science lessons.  Last week, we covered classification and used a field trip to a pond to search for types of animals.

Seeing that Liam's favorite  animal on the hike was a beetle, we started this week's lesson with insects.

To attach some meaning and interest to the lessons, I gave him the choice of creating a Word Document/Book or a Power Point Presentation with the title "I is for Insect."  He chose Power Point.  Each day, we added a page with some basic information about the insects we studied and then something that stood out to him about each section.  He was allowed to copy and paste text, then we'd review it.  For each slide, he had to do a Google Image search and choose an illustration.   In the case of bees, we also found a cool video produced by a beekeeper.

Here are the final slides for the Insect unit: 

Liam really hates flies and he has his own flyswatter.

Each day, we'd replay the entire slideshow and review what he'd added.  I really like the way this turned out.  I want to use this technique wherever possible.

Yesterday, I began his history text, The Story of the World,  with the first exercise in the accompanying workbook on personal history.  I pulled his baby book, my pregnancy book and all of the pictures I had of him in iPhoto.  He thought the pregnant pictures of me were hilarious. I hope that'll come in handy next week, when we talk about mammals and live birth!

Today we started a new, stop motion/claymation camp on diy.org.  He animated Bob the Minion counting backwards from 10 -1 in Minion speak.  He opened the "Minion Translator" to be sure he had the right translation and used his stuffed and plastic Minions for character reference.

It's been a good first two weeks (Even though I almost missed a recording session one day, when I got caught up in re-writing the science syllabus).  Somehow, we've managed to find our rhythm again.

Whaddaya know?