We have had a rough year.
My mom passed away in February, which, though difficult for my family and kids especially all in itself, created a cascade of change in our lives. By May we had uprooted ourselves and done a very quick move into a larger house that my father could join us in.
In March the child of another staff member at our church was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. My kids had grown up with her -- she was a permanent fixture in our lives -- and suddenly she was living at Children's Hospital.
As she deteriorated, many others on staff at our church lost family members -- our pastor's mother-in-law, our organist's dad, musicians losing in-laws and parents and siblings. Death seemed all around us, all the time.
A trusted protege of my husband's was then arrested for abuse of children. Our grieving kids had to answer uncomfortable questions and wrap their brains around the fact that someone they had known since he was fifteen ten years ago was not the person we all thought he was.
Another shoe dropped in June -- the infant son of another friend and church staff member had kidney problems that would require surgery. An easy one, but through physician error serious complications ensued and he was almost lost.
Our kids' close friend passed away in September, the lack of white cells in her blood leaving her vulnerable to fungal infections that ravaged her body.
I can't process this, how can my children? They are broken. They have a new and terrifying awareness of their own vulnerability.
Tonight, after participating in a beautiful and life-celebrating pageant at church, my 10 year old and two close friends clung to each other in the front pew and wept. Memories of the friend they lost and her upbeat zest for everything fun had overwhelmed them as they went through the Christmas tradition without her for the first time.
Grief is a strange thing. My youngest daughter and I are trying to ride it like waves, but in the midst of a happy moment we can be unexpectedly toppled over, pushed underneath and scraping our still raw emotions on the sands below.
At the same time, 2014 has had incredible moments -- my daughters were in a production of Les Mis with a Broadway touring cast and became part of a larger theater world, leading us to NYC this summer and into many incredible experiences.
My son spent a summer week at the AMNH in a program with 30 of the best young scientific minds in the world studying evolution and genetics. We didn't even know how amazing it was that he got in until we showed up in New York.
My dad is getting to really know his grandchildren, and vice versa, something never possible with the thousand+ mile distance.
2014 has not just been difficult for us but for unrelated circles of friends -- deaths, dark diagnoses, especially in children, accidents, suicides. Marriages in turmoil and families in crisis.
How have we managed school in this kind of year?
With ups and downs, like everything else.
My son is dealing with his grief by considering medicine as a field. Most of his self directed education this year has centered around medicine and it's history, but he has also developed and interest in philosophy and pondering the deeper and unanswerable questions.
My oldest daughter is doing concurrent work at the community college. She has thrown herself into studying psychology, and, unsurprisingly, she often has new insights on grief and upheaval.
My youngest has begun to seriously take on ASL in memory of her friend that grew up with it. Will this change the course of her life? Perhaps. At the moment she wants to be an interpreter because it was her friend's plan and she is determined to fulfill it for her.
We are learning not to waste time on things that are not vital, and we are closer as a family than ever before. We are focusing on things that are precious. We are looking at the world in new ways and we are accepting the waves of emotion that overtake all of us at odd times.
Our wishes of "Happy New Year" are going to be more heartfelt than ever before.
Peace out, 2014. This homeschool family is very ready for a new year.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Saturday, November 1, 2014
NaNoWriMo -- Day One -- and THE PLAYLIST
We have an interesting mix of creativity in our house right now! A murder mystery set in NYC in the 1950s (Cameron), a multi-generational fantasy story (Megan), an "our-world" fantasy centering around a new mermaid culture (Erin), my mystery set in an opera house (write what you know, right?) and my 85 year old father who moved in with us this spring has even joined in and is writing a memoir. His life is stranger than most fiction, anyway! Very cool!
Everyone made day one's word count, but Erin, the youngest, blew away the goal of 1700 and landed just over 3,000!!! She is putting the rest of us to shame! Megan passed the 2000 mark and Cameron and I landed just over the goal.
 | |
| Erin putting final touches on her character sketches |
The Writing Playlist!!!
This is a mix that will be my companion for the next thirty days, and choosing it is a vital part of my writing process! It will set the tone for my novel. It cannot be so complex musically that the bit of my brain that has to analyze music has too much to work at and can't "do it's thing" in the background, but has to be interesting enough and have complex enough lyrics to be a muse!
It has to have many different sounds but they cannot be so different that they are jarring on "shuffle," and I keep it on shuffle because I can't have that analytical part of my brain trying to remember what comes next in the album, either!
This year's list of artists, with all their albums for newer ones and favorites and some new for ones that have been around a long time, shuffled and played on Rhapsody!
Of Monsters and Men
Mumford and Sons
Muse
U2
Sting (including the Last Ship concept album!)
Depeche Mode
The Smiths
Imagine Dragons
The Police
Obviously I have a bias toward alternative/punk music! I find it energizing!
Music and.........
COFFEE! My best friends for the next 29 days.
Go! Write! WIN!
Friday, October 17, 2014
NaNoWriMo -- or, Proof That My Family is Fabulously Crazy
National
Novel
Writing
Month
(NaNoWriMo)
If you have read any of my posts, you may have figured out that my family enjoys learning and school and all the things that go along with it -- not saying we all aren't challenged by certain subjects, but overall the learning process is something that kicks along without many interruptions. Couple this with the fact that we don't know what to do with ourselves when we're not "doing school" and you have a family that feels pretty ahead of the game by mid-October.
So, this year we are going to turn our attention sideways for a month and dedicate most of our school time and energy toward a gigantic writing project: NaNoWriMo.
From their page (www.nanowrimo.org)
"National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel."
I have participated myself three times, and found it an incredibly rewarding experience.
(SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT!) One product was a young adult novel actually eventually worthy of a Kindle version, which can be found here: The Birdland Experiment on Amazon
:)
Why participate in NaNoWriMo with young people?
1) It is a good lesson in the reality that productive creativity (in any field) comes at the cost of hard work.
2) It is a project with a beginning, middle, end, and definite goal.
3) Whether the novel produced at the end of the month is a Hemingway or a Horrible Mess, writing will improve during the course of lots of practice.
4) It will teach not only perseverance but teamwork as we encourage each other through the creatively dry times and celebrate the successes!
I have found with any creative project that even though artistic and creative license can take over sometime during the course, detailed and intentional planning before the project is begun is the best assurance of success.
The planning process that will take place over the last weeks in October is as follows:
1) Brainstorm. Write down every topic that has ever crossed your mind as a good story and every character that you have ever thought would be interesting.
2) See which of these characters and stories will match well together. (For example, a swashbuckling 1700's pirate with OCD and claustrophobia may not be available for a sci-fi story taking place in the caves of a faraway planet... but who knows?)
3) Read the preparatory advice on the NaNoWriMo site and SIGN UP! (As they say, no one has ever "won" without starting...)
https://nanowrimo.org/sign_up
4) Write a (very brief) summary of what is going to happen in your novel. Just the beginning, middle, and end. Where we start, where we end up, how we get there. Very general.
5) The most important step!! Write a detailed outline. Plan how many chapters and basically what plot steps from there to here need to happen in each one. Figure out how many words need to happen in each chapter.
My favorite NaNoWriMo year was the one in which I planned the number of sections to coincide with the number of days in the month and knew what I was going to write about each day. (Then my characters took over and had stuff happen to them that I never expected! But at least I had a framework to get them back on track!)
6) Remember that you are about to write a ROUGH DRAFT. This is not a time to edit and it is not necessarily a time to flesh out past the number of words you have set for each section. The goal is a completed novel with a beginning, middle, and end. The rough draft may be the very short version! Go fill in the rest of Les Miserables or The Eye of the World or War and Peace in December, and fix your errors, find the perfect word, take out parts that just don't fit or insert those perfectly crafted dialogue zingers then also. Not in November!
(For your post NaNoWriMo crafting, I highly recommend "Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook" by Donald Maass. In it are lots of ways to bring an already completed novel to a higher level!)
So here we go! I am very excited to hear what stories are generated by my kids and if you or yours come along on this adventure please keep us posted in the comments!
More details on "How it all works" here:
http://nanowrimo.org/how-it-works
Go! Write! Win!
:)
Novel
Writing
Month
(NaNoWriMo)
If you have read any of my posts, you may have figured out that my family enjoys learning and school and all the things that go along with it -- not saying we all aren't challenged by certain subjects, but overall the learning process is something that kicks along without many interruptions. Couple this with the fact that we don't know what to do with ourselves when we're not "doing school" and you have a family that feels pretty ahead of the game by mid-October.
So, this year we are going to turn our attention sideways for a month and dedicate most of our school time and energy toward a gigantic writing project: NaNoWriMo.
From their page (www.nanowrimo.org)
"National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel."
I have participated myself three times, and found it an incredibly rewarding experience.
(SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT!) One product was a young adult novel actually eventually worthy of a Kindle version, which can be found here: The Birdland Experiment on Amazon
:)
Why participate in NaNoWriMo with young people?
1) It is a good lesson in the reality that productive creativity (in any field) comes at the cost of hard work.
2) It is a project with a beginning, middle, end, and definite goal.
3) Whether the novel produced at the end of the month is a Hemingway or a Horrible Mess, writing will improve during the course of lots of practice.
4) It will teach not only perseverance but teamwork as we encourage each other through the creatively dry times and celebrate the successes!
I have found with any creative project that even though artistic and creative license can take over sometime during the course, detailed and intentional planning before the project is begun is the best assurance of success.
The planning process that will take place over the last weeks in October is as follows:
1) Brainstorm. Write down every topic that has ever crossed your mind as a good story and every character that you have ever thought would be interesting.
2) See which of these characters and stories will match well together. (For example, a swashbuckling 1700's pirate with OCD and claustrophobia may not be available for a sci-fi story taking place in the caves of a faraway planet... but who knows?)
3) Read the preparatory advice on the NaNoWriMo site and SIGN UP! (As they say, no one has ever "won" without starting...)
https://nanowrimo.org/sign_up
4) Write a (very brief) summary of what is going to happen in your novel. Just the beginning, middle, and end. Where we start, where we end up, how we get there. Very general.
5) The most important step!! Write a detailed outline. Plan how many chapters and basically what plot steps from there to here need to happen in each one. Figure out how many words need to happen in each chapter.
My favorite NaNoWriMo year was the one in which I planned the number of sections to coincide with the number of days in the month and knew what I was going to write about each day. (Then my characters took over and had stuff happen to them that I never expected! But at least I had a framework to get them back on track!)
6) Remember that you are about to write a ROUGH DRAFT. This is not a time to edit and it is not necessarily a time to flesh out past the number of words you have set for each section. The goal is a completed novel with a beginning, middle, and end. The rough draft may be the very short version! Go fill in the rest of Les Miserables or The Eye of the World or War and Peace in December, and fix your errors, find the perfect word, take out parts that just don't fit or insert those perfectly crafted dialogue zingers then also. Not in November!
(For your post NaNoWriMo crafting, I highly recommend "Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook" by Donald Maass. In it are lots of ways to bring an already completed novel to a higher level!)
So here we go! I am very excited to hear what stories are generated by my kids and if you or yours come along on this adventure please keep us posted in the comments!
More details on "How it all works" here:
http://nanowrimo.org/how-it-works
Go! Write! Win!
:)
Monday, October 13, 2014
Where We Are Now
Amazing how time passes, isn't it?
Since last I wrote, I turned my attention to completing two novels, which took up any blog-writing time, have been working on the preaching team at our church, (more writing!) and moving along with my work as a vocal coach and musical theater/opera conductor.
However, homeschooling has continued to be a passion and something my family is dedicated to.
Today my son (now 13 years old and in 8th grade) and I had a conversation that began as a "why can't we all get along" and evolved into a treatise on religious tolerance while maintaining a deep faith that made my jaw drop. My children are not quite ready to emerge into a world filled with challenges I could not have conceived of at 10, 13, or 16 -- but they are getting close, and I believe that education with that goal in mind has helped and will continue to help them on their journey.
Cameron presenting his research on the evolution of photosynthesis at the Evolution Institute at the American Museum of Natural History this past summer in NYC.
20 kids were accepted into the program and only a handful were from America... We actually had no idea quite how amazing the program was or how exclusive when he applied -- we were looking for something for him to do while his sister did a musical theater intensive! It was an amazing experience which included extracting DNA from plants, using the museum's lab equipment and meeting and working with some of the world's top research scientists.
With one of his instructors, a leading Irish botanist!
Megan, now 16, and Cameron were about to start rehearsals for Phantom of the Opera as Carlotta and Piangi in the county office of education youth theater when we returned home, so a little intensive study was in order... We met Norm Lewis after seeing him as the Phantom in the Broadway production.
A friend we met when Erin, now 10, played Little Cosette in Fresno Grand Opera's production of Les Miserables, brought her onto the stage of Matilda after the performance. She is determined to spend time on Broadway stages with an audience out there as soon as possible!
At the American Museum of Natural History this summer.
As a homeschool, ours is a culture of curiosity and stretching into new experiences, not only tangible ones but academic experiences as well.
So what are we doing this year?
Let's start with this week and move on from there!
The fifth grader...
Math: Erin is using LifePac math for fifth grade as well as Singapore and Miquon to supplement and learn different ways of thinking about math. iPad games for multiplication and division facts are still a good practical thing as well.
History: The History of Us is a great series. She is reading it out loud in case of unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts. She'll finish book one this week. We are also using some LifePac American History to reinforce and write about it.
Reading: "Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims" and "Anne of Green Gables," which she is listening to on Audible. More about Audible when we talk about the High Schooler! I love this resource!
Language Arts: Journaling pages and writing prompts, LifePac Language Arts. Every week there is a larger writing assignment that relates to another subject. This week she will be writing plot summaries of "Kiss Me, Kate" and "The Taming of the Shrew."
Science: She will do a packet of experiments on Forces and Motion with her older sister leading her through it on Friday when Megan doesn't have any community college classes.
Erin is extremely serious about dance and takes ballet, tap, and jazz at a local school. Plenty of PE there but we also try to do strength training and swimming at a gym a few times a week.
The eighth grader...
Math: the Key to Algebra series. He is on the third book and factoring polynomials. Thank God for answer keys and YouTube help! Next year I send him to college classes! He is also doing "Classical Logic" from the Classical Trivium Core Series. I cannot say enough good things about this curriculum. More in another post about this and their Latina Christiana!
Science: He is reading "Exploring the History of Medicine" by John Hudson Tiner. This is firing up his imagination and fueling his already considerable love of science. He lost a friend to a rare bone marrow disease in the early fall and has been thinking seriously of medicine as a career ever since. Meeting the research scientists in New York last summer has opened his eyes to possibilities I think.
Reading: Cameron's first history unit was on the history of Japan and the novel Shogun is taking more tine than the history unit! A chapter a day for this literary project!
Language Arts: He has the 8th grade language arts LifePacs for grammar... Honestly not impressed for him but will keep using it for the moment. They are good for Erin. He and my oldest are using a 12th grade public school writing book as well. That works well, though obviously the 16 year old is writing at a somewhat higher level.
History: Cameron will finish reading "Abraham, a Journey Into the Heart of Three Faiths" this week as a first step into a unit looking at the history of the Middle East and how we got where we are today.
He is also doing a couple of selected LifePacs in the 9th grade series that focus on American Government and its structure.
The 11th grader...
Well I have started to give up on her...
Just kidding.
She is taking Algebra 2, Abnormal Psychology, and Ballet at community college. This is her second year as a "concurrent" high school student. The goal is for her to have an associate's degree and a state transfer certificate one year after high school. Looking good!
History: The Great Courses are on Audible!!!! They are phenomenal. Megan is working through a lecture series on Great Philosophers at the moment.
Reading: She began the novel "Obasan" by Joy Kogawa this week. A beautiful novel set in the Canadian Japanese internment camps.
Writing: the public school 12th grade course discussed above. Combo are and Contrast essay this week.
Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone Japanese.
She had a private dance class today with a young woman who is trading for vocal coaching.
Music:
We are all working through Tony Award winning musicals. This week is Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate." We watched the PBS telecast of the revival this morning on YouTube and tomorrow we will watch "The Taming of the Shrew" on which the musical is based. We are listening to the cast album during chore times and in the car. My oldest and I also watched "Evita" while I was writing tonight and she was doing homework.
Megan and Cameron are in rehearsals for Phantom of the Opera and Megan is in the Fresno Grand Opera Chorus. Erin is in the FGO Children's Chorus.
All three kids spend time practicing piano daily and I fit in music theory and sight singing when I can. Thank goodness they are all good at it... Being my own profession they can get short shrift in music when I am tired of it!
There! I have started! Looking forward to sharing more of our journey!
Since last I wrote, I turned my attention to completing two novels, which took up any blog-writing time, have been working on the preaching team at our church, (more writing!) and moving along with my work as a vocal coach and musical theater/opera conductor.
However, homeschooling has continued to be a passion and something my family is dedicated to.
Today my son (now 13 years old and in 8th grade) and I had a conversation that began as a "why can't we all get along" and evolved into a treatise on religious tolerance while maintaining a deep faith that made my jaw drop. My children are not quite ready to emerge into a world filled with challenges I could not have conceived of at 10, 13, or 16 -- but they are getting close, and I believe that education with that goal in mind has helped and will continue to help them on their journey.
Cameron presenting his research on the evolution of photosynthesis at the Evolution Institute at the American Museum of Natural History this past summer in NYC.
20 kids were accepted into the program and only a handful were from America... We actually had no idea quite how amazing the program was or how exclusive when he applied -- we were looking for something for him to do while his sister did a musical theater intensive! It was an amazing experience which included extracting DNA from plants, using the museum's lab equipment and meeting and working with some of the world's top research scientists.
With one of his instructors, a leading Irish botanist!
Megan, now 16, and Cameron were about to start rehearsals for Phantom of the Opera as Carlotta and Piangi in the county office of education youth theater when we returned home, so a little intensive study was in order... We met Norm Lewis after seeing him as the Phantom in the Broadway production.
A friend we met when Erin, now 10, played Little Cosette in Fresno Grand Opera's production of Les Miserables, brought her onto the stage of Matilda after the performance. She is determined to spend time on Broadway stages with an audience out there as soon as possible!
At the American Museum of Natural History this summer.
As a homeschool, ours is a culture of curiosity and stretching into new experiences, not only tangible ones but academic experiences as well.
So what are we doing this year?
Let's start with this week and move on from there!
The fifth grader...
Math: Erin is using LifePac math for fifth grade as well as Singapore and Miquon to supplement and learn different ways of thinking about math. iPad games for multiplication and division facts are still a good practical thing as well.
History: The History of Us is a great series. She is reading it out loud in case of unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts. She'll finish book one this week. We are also using some LifePac American History to reinforce and write about it.
Reading: "Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims" and "Anne of Green Gables," which she is listening to on Audible. More about Audible when we talk about the High Schooler! I love this resource!
Language Arts: Journaling pages and writing prompts, LifePac Language Arts. Every week there is a larger writing assignment that relates to another subject. This week she will be writing plot summaries of "Kiss Me, Kate" and "The Taming of the Shrew."
Science: She will do a packet of experiments on Forces and Motion with her older sister leading her through it on Friday when Megan doesn't have any community college classes.
Erin is extremely serious about dance and takes ballet, tap, and jazz at a local school. Plenty of PE there but we also try to do strength training and swimming at a gym a few times a week.
The eighth grader...
Math: the Key to Algebra series. He is on the third book and factoring polynomials. Thank God for answer keys and YouTube help! Next year I send him to college classes! He is also doing "Classical Logic" from the Classical Trivium Core Series. I cannot say enough good things about this curriculum. More in another post about this and their Latina Christiana!
Science: He is reading "Exploring the History of Medicine" by John Hudson Tiner. This is firing up his imagination and fueling his already considerable love of science. He lost a friend to a rare bone marrow disease in the early fall and has been thinking seriously of medicine as a career ever since. Meeting the research scientists in New York last summer has opened his eyes to possibilities I think.
Reading: Cameron's first history unit was on the history of Japan and the novel Shogun is taking more tine than the history unit! A chapter a day for this literary project!
Language Arts: He has the 8th grade language arts LifePacs for grammar... Honestly not impressed for him but will keep using it for the moment. They are good for Erin. He and my oldest are using a 12th grade public school writing book as well. That works well, though obviously the 16 year old is writing at a somewhat higher level.
History: Cameron will finish reading "Abraham, a Journey Into the Heart of Three Faiths" this week as a first step into a unit looking at the history of the Middle East and how we got where we are today.
He is also doing a couple of selected LifePacs in the 9th grade series that focus on American Government and its structure.
The 11th grader...
Well I have started to give up on her...
Just kidding.
She is taking Algebra 2, Abnormal Psychology, and Ballet at community college. This is her second year as a "concurrent" high school student. The goal is for her to have an associate's degree and a state transfer certificate one year after high school. Looking good!
History: The Great Courses are on Audible!!!! They are phenomenal. Megan is working through a lecture series on Great Philosophers at the moment.
Reading: She began the novel "Obasan" by Joy Kogawa this week. A beautiful novel set in the Canadian Japanese internment camps.
Writing: the public school 12th grade course discussed above. Combo are and Contrast essay this week.
Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone Japanese.
She had a private dance class today with a young woman who is trading for vocal coaching.
Music:
We are all working through Tony Award winning musicals. This week is Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate." We watched the PBS telecast of the revival this morning on YouTube and tomorrow we will watch "The Taming of the Shrew" on which the musical is based. We are listening to the cast album during chore times and in the car. My oldest and I also watched "Evita" while I was writing tonight and she was doing homework.
Megan and Cameron are in rehearsals for Phantom of the Opera and Megan is in the Fresno Grand Opera Chorus. Erin is in the FGO Children's Chorus.
All three kids spend time practicing piano daily and I fit in music theory and sight singing when I can. Thank goodness they are all good at it... Being my own profession they can get short shrift in music when I am tired of it!
There! I have started! Looking forward to sharing more of our journey!
Location:Visalia, CA
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