Patronus’ Classroom
The kids have been working hard and are doing great! This post is dedicated to Mr. Whittier’s students, who are following our trip as part of their schoolwork, and to all our kid friends back in the states, like Luke, Nicholas M., Kelli, Christina, Chase, and more! We know you are all working hard as well! Those of you who didn’t like school should skip this one and go see our Gallery, which has fun pictures of Chris and I on boats as children.
As I mentioned in our last Boatschooling post, we are following the curriculum of our school at home in New Jersey. I have a little bit of latitude to adjust the lessons as needed and, of course, add lessons that tie into our trip. Here’s what the kids are doing:
Spelling: All three children are using the spelling curriculum used in the Ho-Ho-Kus school. Each week, they get a list of words and we practice them all week. When they are comfortable with their list, we take a post-test to check their learning. I have fun trying to make up funny sentences with the words as I read them out loud. The lists are based on the vowel operating in each word (ie. Short “u” sounds, “r” controlled vowels, etc). Practice may include writing the words in alphabetical order (I’m trying to undo calling it “ABC Order”. Who started that, anyway?), writing a dictated paragraph, or writing sentences. They don’t practice dictation at their school, but I think it is a great idea. Not only are they practicing their spelling and punctuation, they are also honing their listening skills. Learning to write quickly and with precision will give them practice for taking notes in high school and college. One fun way to practice spelling was when I had Porter write his words in the sand on the beach in Martha’s Vineyard. He had a great time doing it and I loved seeing his cute little hands making the letters with a stick that he found.
It’s a little hard to concentrate on schoolwork when your classroom is sailing under a cool bridge.
Vocabulary (Bryson): I have a set of vocabulary workbooks that are a stretch for him. They seem to be at an 8th grade level, but the exercises are varied and interesting. I find that Bryson does better when he is challenged, so I think this will help fight off boredom. Since I am there to help him, he is not getting frustrated. He is even starting to use some of his new words in his writing and speaking.
Counting and Sorting Coins for Math
Math: We shoot for two pages in their Math workbooks each day. Bryson is gifted in conceptual and factual math but the 5th grade curriculum gets more complicated and focuses on reading the directions, checking your work, and avoiding little mistakes. These are all areas that he is working on. I don’t have the answer key for the workbooks, so to check their work each day, I have to do all the problems myself. Adding and multiplying 4 digit numbers, measuring angles, remembering what a scalene triangle is, and those “rule boxes” end up taking up a lot of my time. Porter’s and Reese’s math is much easier to correct (I should hope so). So far, Porter is doing well, but reading an analog clock is still confusing to him. Reese does well in math, but it is a source of frustration for her, so I have been focusing on boosting her confidence with it. A week hasn’t gone by when she hasn’t screamed, “I hate math! This is so dumb. I’m never going to get this!” Sometimes Chris tries to jump in to give her a different approach (he WAS a math major in college, after all) but she gets just as frustrated with him. Baby steps…
- Visiting Paul Revere’s Home in Boston
Social Studies: Our general social studies curriculum for all three kids is comprised of visiting museums, seeing new places, meeting people, and learning about new cultures. Some special topics we have explored so far are visiting the U.S. Naval Academy and the Portland Fish Exchange.
Bryson also has a textbook from school and will typically read a chapter and complete the corresponding pages in his workbook. His textbook work will ensure that he covers the same topics that the rest of his peers will study, which is Ancient Civilizations. I look forward to tying in to his textbook work when we visit ruins and historic sites along the way.
Reese’s curriculum covers the U.S. Constitution and Immigration. We look forward to completing an extensive project on the latter, which will hopefully complement the project that the students at the HHK School will do. I hope to be able to send Reese’s project in to her teacher so that it can be included in the presentation of Immigration Day at their school. We will rely on Aunt Carolyn to teach Reese all about one of her favorite topics, the Constitution, via Skype!
- Our Salt vs. Fresh water egg floating contest
Science: Our science curriculum is based on the topics that are covered in 1st, 4th, and 5th grades in New Jersey and include: buoyancy, microscopic structures, light and solar energy, animals, plants, weather, properties of matter, rocks and minerals, water, and wetlands. But our everyday science curriculum is experiential. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, we point out science concepts, ask science questions, talk about how things work, look up new animals we see, visit museums, do experiments, and find experts to teach us something new. Experiments and field trips so far include: making our own bubbles; floating an egg in salt vs. fresh water; learning to use our new barometer; getting trained by a mechanic to understand, maintain, and fix our generator; visiting the Block Island Power Company; going to the Long Island and National Aquariums; making a pulley; visiting a 400 year old rum distillery; and visiting the Annapolis Maritime Museum to learn about oystering in the Chesapeake Bay. Recently, we were treated to spotting a Bald Eagle on the Intracoastal Waterway. It was awe-inspiring to see one outside of a zoo, and there is nothing like it.
Reading: Bryson and Reese are reading a variety of books from all different genres and are doing book reports on them. In the beginning of the year, the reports have been fun and engaging, including a video biography of Blackbeard, a book report in the shape of a person, and a “charm bracelet” Character Sketch book report. Later in the year, I will work with them to write more formal book reports in order to deepen their understanding of themes and inferring meaning. I will also have them read books together with me so that we can have “book group” meetings.
I’m not sure which one of us is having more fun!
Porter likes reading the morning message and filling in the weather.
Porter is doing very well with his reading. He fought against it through most of Kindergarten, but he turned a corner right before we left on our trip and now he is reading beginner chapter books. He loves reading together with me on my bunk in my cabin. We snuggle up together and take our time. I love how he turns the page and really inspects the illustrations before he starts to read the words. We are practicing different decoding skills, such as sounding out the words, breaking up big words into smaller parts, and using context clues to figure out what a difficult word might be (we use that one a lot because I like saying “context clues”.).
All three children have a reading log to keep track of the books they have read. Bryson and Reese write a short summary of each book in their log. Porter and I make a big deal about writing in his log after he finishes a book. We write down the title but I also use that time to remind him how to find the name of the author, how many pages each book has, and other “parts of a book”. We talk about whether or not he enjoyed the book and I “test” him by asking him questions to see if he understood what he read.
- Reading about fun Science facts
Writing: Well, I have it “Hard. Super Crazy Easy. Hard”. Bryson is a man of few words when it comes to writing. He is not into details, fluff, or descriptors. “Answer the question as briefly as possible” is his motto. Actually, a better motto is simply, “Brevity. Good.” I am trying to come up with topics that really engage and excite him as well as conjuring up writing assignments that are more interesting than just “Write three paragraphs about…” So far I haven’t found the magic words to make him love writing, but I am working on it. Part of the problem is that he doesn’t enjoy actually handwriting words on paper. He finds it laborious, especially when I ask him to write in script. I might have him do some writing projects directly on the computer.
Math on the Lido Deck
Reese is a different story. She is a storyteller, an illustrator, and a designer. She is constantly writing new stories, adding to old ones, writing letters to her friends, writing blogs about our trip, and drawing pictures to go with her writing. I love to read her narrative writing and will have her practice additional types of writing throughout the year, including poetry, persuasive writing, and non-fiction.
Porter is also a reluctant writer, but in the past few weeks I have found ways to engage him. We created a “writing book” and each day we find a new topic to write about. One day we wrote all about “Mommy”. One day we learned the Cub Scout Promise and wrote it in his book. Another day, we cut out a giant heart and he wrote about things he loves inside. I got a lot of ideas for writing from the amazing first grade teacher at our school, and I plan on using ALL of them.
Translating my Morse Code messages for a whole-boat scavenger hunt
Handwriting: Porter and Reese both have handwriting workbooks that they use to practice every day. Porter is, of course, still practicing manuscript letters and Reese is practicing script. Her writing is so impeccable that from a distance, you cannot tell the difference between her handwriting and the samples in the book! She, of course, will finish a page and look at it in disgust, exclaiming, “My descenders are not slanting the way I want them to! This is IMPOSSIBLE!” I wonder from whom she got that trait?
I have to watch Porter as he practices, and most nights I fall asleep still chanting, “straight across on the e, start your letters from the top, a g starts out as an a….”
- The Morse Code messages lead them to Swedish Fish hidden under our conch shell!
Phonics: Porter has a phonics workbook that is painful, boring, and slightly below his level. We are steadily plowing through it, but I might look around to see if I can find an alternative. It is definitely helping, but sitting with him as he completes the endless, repetitive pages is like watching paint dry. I am practically asleep after the first two pages of “fill in the ending sound of the pictures you see below” or “circle the pictures that start with the sound of n”.
- Our “Cracker Fat Chart”
Health: Mrs. Buksar, their health teacher, supplied us with five units of study each. The “Body Shop” pamphlets are self-contained and just have to be read, understood, and filled out. The kids have each done two so far and topics include: the Digestive System; Bones and Muscles; and Feelings. We extend the units by discussing them all together and doing experiments. For the Digestive System, which explained “Types of Fat”, we pulled out all the cookies and crackers on the boat and checked the fat content as well as the type of fat. Reese used her math skills to make a chart to display her findings. We all agreed that Fig Newtons, while lowest in fat, are still the tastiest!
- Porter loves playing our dice tally game on the bed, first thing in the morning
Spanish: We have a laminated fold-out pamphlet with common Spanish terms on it, but that is the extent of our Spanish curriculum so far. I am hoping that we will get some language immersion practice on some of the islands in the Caribbean. If not, I will have to beef up this part of the curriculum later this year. Apparently, my brain can only hold two languages in it. When I learned Swedish in college, it pushed out the years of High School Spanish that was hidden in it.
Reese helps Porter with his schoolwork while visiting Grandpa and Mary in Martha’s Vineyard
Music: We started recorder lessons this week here on Patronus. I am SOOOO excited. In case I haven’t already bragged about it six times to you before, I was in the All-County Recorder Ensemble on Long Island back in the 1980’s. I am like the world’s biggest recorder geek. Bryson has already had a year of recorder at school, so he and I will work with Porter and Reese, and before long, we will start our own band and do recorder recordings and sell CD’s to fuel our cruising kitty. Or maybe we’ll just get the kids to read music, cover the holes completely, and not blow too hard through a wind instrument. But I can dream, right?
The kids practice twisted high lunch on the beach…Beautiful!
Gym: Funny. The ocean is their swimming pool. The kayak and stand up paddle board are their weight lifting machines. And climbing all over the boat, inside and out, is their gymnastics routine. Add to that miles of hiking each week, miles of walking to laundromats, museums, grocery stores, and up and down docks. Then throw in five foot holes dug in the sand and swinging off the boom. Then take away television, Wii, and a couch. I think I can probably skip a formal physical education program…
Besides the fact that he is responsible for navigation, boat handling, and mechanics, here is the Top Reason why I am the teacher (and etiquette coach) and not Chris:)
One night we were talking about Kate Middleton:
Reese: “What’s a Duchess?”
Chris: “Someone from Dutchland.” (as he shovels meatballs and spaghetti in his mouth with both his fork and his knife.)
In our next post, we will each write a little bit about some of our fun field trips! Learning while exploring the world around us is our favorite way to find out about new concepts and meet new people.
