Blank Homeschool Planners

I'm spending part of my summer planning for next year. I've finally learned that we really do best when I have a specific concrete and finite schedule for us to follow. For some reason, just have a specific to do list will get my kids (or at least some of them) to plug away from one subject to another. When I try to be more free form, we tend to drift more than I'm comfortable with.

So I'm working on consolidating our various school lists and schedules into something that can give us more of an overview of what we are doing, not just for the day, but for a semester.

If this is something that you're working on, you might want to check out the Donna Young website. She has a number of planners and calendars that are blank and printable. She even has a section that helps you think through the homeschool planning process, from deciding what subjects to cover to scheduling them out. This can be pretty helpful if you've recently taken the plunge into homeschooling or if you find you are making the transition from elementary days with a focus on reading and early math to something more structured. Or if you have older kids, who like mine, haven't mastered the art of keeping a calendar and planning ahead, you might want to check out the high school subject notebook

This isn't to say that you need to have your day planned out in 15 minute blocks. We went for years with our whole schedule being a half page of paper with subjects listed and blocks to check. We just did whatever was the next lesson in each subject. But the more that I merge and tweak curriculum or create my own, the handier it is for me to have an overview of what I'm trying to do. My hope is that by working consistently through what I think we Need to do, I will have more free time in which to do what I Want to do without feeling that I'm neglecting something.

As with anything in homeschooling, your mileage may vary.

Yokosuka Youth Programs

Wondering what sort of programs for kids you will find at Yokosuka? Check out the new Yokosuka Youth Programs brochure. It has information on all sorts of groups from school clubs to youth sports to chapel youth groups. (Go ahead and accept the certificate. This is a quirk of some military sites.)

H/T: Our ever helpful Yokosuka School Liaison Officer (Thank you)

More Free Homeschooling Resources

Guest Hollow has several free curriculum and resources for history and science. In particular they have American history, the human body, pre school and elementary level science and supplements for the Winter Promise Sea and Sky curriculum (which explores ocean environments).

Lord of the Rings Literature Study

I found another good free literature study, this time for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page for links to the unit study.) This looks like quite a good basis for a middle school or high school exploration of the themes in the books.

I also found that Cliffs Notes are available for free online.

Free Science and Literature Studies

One of the exciting things about homeschooling is the number of families who are writing their own curriculum to suit a particular interest or area of focus. Sometimes this is tweaking of something already in print. Sometimes it is a full fledged series of books and activities. Story of the World, by Susan Wise Bauer, for example, started out as a series to fill a niche that she thought was lacking, that of a world history continuum for the elementary grades.

Even cooler is the fact that the internet allows some families to share their creations with the world at large and for other homeschoolers to benefit too. And it is great when some of what you find is available for free.

Little Blue School has several literature units that the author developed for use in her coop in Norfolk, Virginia (which almost makes me want to put Norfolk on the top of our duty station wish list).
Aeneid
Treasure Island
Elections
Novel Writing (This is a great breakdown of the parts of a novel, even if you don't sit down and write your own.)
Jungle Book

The blog Handbook of Nature Study has lots of resources for focusing your time outdoors. Barb sells some of her studies as inexpensive ebooks, but also has lots of nature study ideas that can be downloaded for free. Don't miss the Outdoor Hour Challenges and the free downloads on the sidebar.

I also found a blog called Fieldwork that was posting a series of lessons in marine biology/oceanography. She ended up only finishing 24 of the 34 she had planned, but I still think it is a nice resource. Something that I like about her approach is that it is hands on and could be used as a basis for exploring any seaside, not just the east or west coast of the US. That's something that has been important to me since we've spent the last decade living beyond the scope of most English language field guides.

A Rocky Road to Homeschooling

I think there may be as many journeys into homeschooling as there are families. Maybe more if you count the sometimes different journeys that moms, dads and children take. Some families homeschool because they've known homeschoolers and were impressed by what they saw. Some feel called to homeschool. Some don't like the idea of classrooms in general. Others are escaping a particular school situation but plan to return to school at some point.

I was thinking about these different journeys while I was reading a post by Harmony Art Mom. She is one of my favorite homeschooling bloggers, who has some rich resources in art and music appreciation as well as nature study at her other blog, Handbook of Nature Study. She has already graduated one child, has a couple in high school and one more right behind. So I thought it was interesting to read her description of how she started homeschooling. I think that the biggest take away point for me was that she didn't know everything or have a plan for every bit of the way when she started out. But she did decide that she was capable of doing her best and that her best would be an improvement for her kids. It is easy to look at where she is now, with systems in place for school work and incredible results and think that I'm not capable of that. But it really is largely about keeping your eye on the goal and just keeping on.

Yokosuka Area Attractions

I found some cool tourist brochures when we were out at Kannonzaki Park this weekend. There are several different guides, each on a theme (flowers, history, seaside attractions, etc). Turns out that they are actually produced by Coco Curry, a local chain restaurant. If you go through the website and use a translation program like Google Translator, there is quite a bit of local history and information on local Yokosuka attractions hiding here.

I even found a few Yokosuka area hiking trail maps like the trail over Takatoriyama (I think it starts at the Oppama station) or a trail around Taura that starts near the Yokosuka JR station.

Meigetsuin Temple in Kamakura

Another great temple to see hydrangea and iris flowers is the Meigetsuin temple in Kamakura.

To get to the temple, you head on the JR train to Kita-Kamakura, one stop past Kamakura. From there, you cross the tracks (coming from Yokosuka), make a right, and a pleasant, short walk until you reach the end of the street. Turn left and you'll run right into the temple entrance.

The fees into the main part of the temple are reasonable at Y500 for adults and Y300 for students. There is a fee for the "hidden" back part of the temple, another Y500 per person. If you like iris flowers, it might be worth going into once.

There are several varieties of hydrangea all over the temple grounds.

The historical aspect to this temple is interesting.

All in all, a beautiful temple.

Kris

Tamagoyaki on rice

I have a new hobby since moving to Japan. I like to shop!

My husband thinks I'm nuts, because I've never ever before enjoyed shopping. But, since arriving in Japan, I shop! I love looking in shops, in huge store, and even street vendors. I don't always buy, but I'm always looking.

There are so many things that are the same, but many more items that are so very different.

Soon after moving here I discovered a pan. A very strange shaped pan.

I found a recipe online and modified it (we have food allergies).

...and cooked.

Yummy!!!

Basic recipe

4 eggs

1/2 T oil (for the pan)

2 T sugar

1 T Soy Sauce

(we have discovered this serves 2-3 adults)

Tools:

Pan, basting brush, pancake turner, & cooking chopsticks (or fork)

If you want a step-by-step tutorial,

here is my blog post on the recipe.

Tamagoyaki on rice

Kris

Online Weather Course

I find that I have to work hard to keep feeding the science interests that my kids have. I'm not sure if this is because they are still in the "What's that" and "Why" stages or if it is the influence of science related TV shows like Mythbusters or if it's just because they like science. Whatever the reason, I am always looking for interesting science relate books and websites for them.

Today I found an online weather course from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, called Jetstream. If you dig a little into the Lesson Plan Overview section, you can find an outline of all of the lessons and quizzes for each section.

Within some of the lessons there are Learning Lessons which are weather related experiments or demonstrations. You might want to review the Learning Lessons for the modules to collect all of the items you'll need. There's nothing as annoying as needing something like balloons or thumbtacks in order to do some cool experiment and not being able to find them.

Hydrangea Time

June brings the hydrangea to the area. I'm sure you've seen them along the roads in all their incredible colors. The place to go, though, is the Hasedera temple in Kamakura, not far from the Great Buddha. I went up there yesterday on a photo safari and boy were we treated to a surprise of color. The temple was crowded, but it was well worth it. In addition to the hydrangea, there were also many irises in the ponds. I've been to the temple several times during different parts of the year, and I have to say this is one of the most colorful. I never knew there were so many different varieties of the flower. At the top of the temple, you can get a free fan with a map of the area and photos of the various varieties.

To get to the temple, you take the JR line to Kamakura then connect to the Endoshima Line and exit at Hase station. Exit the train station and go up the hill towards the Buddha, turn left at the Hasekannon intersection. The temple is at the end of the road--just follow the crowds! Entrance is 300 yen for adults and 100 for children 6-11.

World Cup Fun

At our house, we're getting antsy for the beginning of the World Cup. Geography, probability, statistics, even a little bit of political history and foreign cultures just naturally flow from watching the games. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

I don't know if any of the early games will make it onto AFN. But a friend of ours sent me a link to the broadcast schedule for the Japanese channels. If there is an X it means that the game won't be shown on Japanese tv. For late-night TV 3:30 is dated the day before the date is written as 27:30.

If you're looking for more educational tie ins, I found a world cup soccer lapbook project template and some projects that you could fold into a unit study.

Your Turn: What Would You Pack

OK Yokosuka Homeschoolers, now I'd like some help from you. Remember back when you had first arrived on base? Maybe it was in the middle of a hot humid summer or right before a typhoon lockdown. Maybe it was in the middle of a rainy winter or just before the holidays. You might have gone right into housing or had to stay in the lodge for months or settled into a Japanese house out in town.

So looking back at those days and being familiar now with what is available on base, what would you suggest someone pack or ship in their unaccompanied baggage? What homeschooling materials got you through the first weeks or months? Or did you concentrate on getting settled and let school wait for a few weeks? What did you make use of in base facilities rather than loading yourself down? If you could do it again, what would you do differently?

Birds of Yokosuka

I remember that one of the first things I saw out the window of the Navy Lodge our first morning in Yokosuka was a pair of cormorants flying just above the water. It seemed like something out of an exotic children's story. Then when my husband walked us around to show us the base, I couldn't keep my eyes off of the huge raptors that were perched on poles and buildings around the base. But identifying the birds here can be a bit tricky.

The library has a couple copies of Birds of Japan, which is sadly out of print and hard to find used. Birds of East Asia is a newer book, but it is both big and a little expensive for casual users. But I have found a nice website, created by a local geography teacher that includes a section on the birds of Yokosuka.

One of our friends printed the bird ID section as a handout for scouts who had to do some bird watching. It was nice to only have a few pages instead of a huge book. I have seen some other birds out at the campgrounds at Ikego, notably Common Kingfishers and Spot Bill Ducks. The section on the Yokohama Nature Sanctuary has pictures of these birds.