Coop Science Fair!

For six weeks, our coop met on Friday afternoons for 2 hours of PE, art, and this season, Science. Since it was Mother R's idea to have a science fair, MotherR ended up teaching it. Such is what happens to people who have a popular idea.

The focus was on the scientific method--you know, lite stuff. Each week we explored another step of the process. If you've forgotten, it goes like this (with small semantic variances): Problem, Research, Observation, Hypothesis, Experiment (within which lies Materials, Procedure, and Data collection), Results, and Conclusion.

The kids in my group were between 3rd and 6th grade. We had lots of fun (I think) doing experiments and discussing the progress of our projects. I made sure we made messes and blew things up. But in the end, I was not sure if the fair would fly or fail.

MeiWei was very gung ho with a hypothesis of her own making after a subject near and dear to her heart: doing laundry. She postulated that clothes hung outside would fade at the same rate as clothes in the dryer.

The materials were purchased: a half dozen t-shirts in an array of colors, cut up into pieces that would be divided between line-drying and machine-drying. But after a couple of loads, the scientist ran into weather problems that prevented collecting enough data. The trending forecast was not good. With a week to go it was time to bail.

Experiment 2 was out of a God-send of a book entitled Last-Minute Science Fair Projects (Scholastic): When Your Bunsen's Not Burning but the Clock's Really Ticking . She chose (with a little urging by Mom who thought the mommies would be interested) "Young and Lovely: Does Vitamin E Really Prevent Aging?" Three rose petals were treated to either a dip in water, a smear of vitamin E oil, or plain old air and then baggied.

Sho' nuff! After several days the "E" petal was still fresh while the others had shriveled to brown little wormy things.

Research showed it's best to apply topically, so I'm headed to that health food store and get me some youth in a bottle!
Like MomR always says, "You never stop learning!"

Learning To Sew!

MeiWei had her first experience with the sewing machine a year ago when she made a Christmas present of a patchwork polar fleece dog blanket for Mr. Bingley (dog print natch). Mr. Bingley loves it and carries it around to show to visitors.

Right off the bat, MeiWei showed such considerable skill with controlling the speed of the machine that she "seamed" (haha) ready for something more advanced.

We decided on flannel jammie bottoms, otherwise known as lounge pants by lazy teens. MotherR, using her 30 years of sewing knowkedge, wanted a really simple pattern and found it in Simplicity "It's So Easy" # 2738 (CLICK HERE to order from Joann.com.)

She picked out a very loud, surprisingly pink, not-surprisingly puppy print which she planned to hem in glittery pink ribbon.

She finished the pants in three sessions of about an hour each. (I had to force her to stop--not the usual routine.) She then went on to make the matching button-front top, trimmed in more glitter ribbon and heart-shaped buttons. Here she is with her runway escort in the pants:

Next project: making them for gifts!

All The Way Home

Everyone asked me when we were in the "paper chase" stage of adoption whether I would homeschool this one like I had the older one. My resolve not to was strengthened the more I got to know MeiWei's head-strong ways.
    "If I homeschool her, at the end of the year one of us will wind up dead, " I would lament. (Note to social workers: it would be me by a self-inflicted wound with a Sharpie. Please do not prepare a file.)
     But the decision was clear: if she didn't get out of the classroom now, the damage might be irreversible. But what did MeiWei want??
     One day, we were driving around and I brought up the homeschool topic. (Driving around is always a great time to embark on topics of giant proportions and remain seemingly casual about them. It was while driving around that Tai-tai made the connection--haha--about how babies are made.) MeiWei knew that Tai-tai had been homeschooled, so I thought I'd test the waters and see if it would interest her. I used the journal episode as a springboard.
     "You know if I was your teacher, I'd let you write whatever you want, " I reflected.
     "OH, MOMMY! WOULD YOU PLEEEEAAASSSEEE BE MY TEACHER????"
      I guess it was settled then.
  

The Way Home

As the frustrations and the dots mounted, we investigated all possible alternatives. Expecting the school to push desks apart or raise walls between classrooms was probably expecting too much. (The classrooms were doubtlessly designed around the plan of clustered desks to conserve real estate: education per square foot.)
    A suggestion was made that MeiWei could have a "study carrel" to work in the following year to help her distractedness.  (I always think of Steve Carrell who might have also been exiled to one when he was seven.) She could also have an assistant teacher assigned to her to help her stay on track.
    But kids being smarter than we give them credit for, she, if not her peers, would eventually be asking, "Why the special treatment? What's wrong with me?" Everyone- being-different-in-their-own-special-way doesn't hold up very well on the playground.
      After looking into all the private schools in the area and seeing our little life savings going down the tubes before she graduated high school, darling hubbie turned one day and said, "You were the best teacher Tai (big sis) ever had. Why don't you homeschool this one?"
    I must say I got a knot in my throat, even though I had a knot in my stomach as well at the thought.
  

Background to Homeschool Part 2: Why MeiWei Can't Do the 3 R's

Now there was the math curriculum to be dealt with.
     It was deemed logical to introduce a subject, work on it for three days, and then introduce a new subject that had NO BEARING ON THE PREVIOUS SUBJECT!
    Not: Count by 10's, then Count by dimes, then count by 5's, count by nickels, etc. More like: Count by 10's; fractions; addition facts of 3 and 4. In the space of ten days. Huh?
    So MeiWei is getting farther and farther behind. And developing that all too familiar song of "I hate math." Who wouldn't?
    Another peeve was the introduction of Spelling. This was, after all, first grade. These kids were still learning how to FORM THEIR LETTERS! What is the sense of cramming spelling down the throats of little kids who barely know how to write? So every night there would be spelling homework. Always the same rote lesson too. Monday: copy all the words;  Tuesday: alphabetize; Wednesday: use in a sentence; and on and on. You knew what day of the week it was by the spelling homework.  If any of those kids was blissfully thankful the following month that she was able to remember how to correctly spell a word she was using in her "journal", I'll eat her report card.
     Speaking of the journal, what's the point of that?? Well, it would be fine if they had been allowed to write whatever they wanted (scrawl would have been a better description). But there was a Format! (All hail the Educational Powers-That-Be.)
     The Format was, on Monday, to write a sentence stating whether they had a good or bad weekend, another sentence stating what they did, and then a concluding sentence. This consisted of summarizing that they had had either a good or bad weekend. How's that for creativity? And being persuasive?
   So when MeiWei, the reluctant, left-handed writer, was finally inspired, in February, to write about a subject dear to her--horseback riding--she acknowledged that it had been a "bad" weekend. She explained that she had been riding. She further explained that it was bad because she had fallen off her horse. Then the expected summary.
    THIS entry was lambasted. Why? Because--gasp--she had given a supporting argument (that dreadful extra sentence about falling off the horse) for her declaration that it had been a bad weekend! The teacher actually drew a big line through it  and marked "Follow the FORMAT."
    So from then until the end of the year she only churned out Formatted entries. And boy were they boring.