Navigating Uncharted Waters

Erik is like preparing for and riding out hurricane Ike each day. such huge hormonal fluctuations.
He is Pre-AP for English, Science, Algebra, and Technology. it is the first time that he has had a curriculum that really pushes him to his limits academically. He is reading freshman college lit books and doing analysis.

his time management is still under development. we are in the middle of Forming and Storming each day.
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm

Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing - Leadership skills
Learn how to guide your team through the difficult early stages of team formation.


Magnus, I really do not see us making it another week. I really thought I could this, but I just do not see it happening for us. it is A LOT of tedious work on my part and I am not seeing the need. he is checking in with me every couple of hours with some new tidbit.

a morning for Magnus:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/making-stuff.html#making-stuff-stronger

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365050209/
NOVA | Ground Zero Supertower
Engineers race to complete 1 World Trade Center as they grapple with the final challenges.

http://video.pbs.org/program/american-experience/
American Experience
Watch American Experience videos on demand. Stream full episodes online. American Experience, TV’s most-watched history series, brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

Monday we are going to spend the entire day at the Museum of Natural Science, and the first monday of each month for the next year. Two hours of khanacademy every day for math and computer science.

Since he has tested out of reading three times now he is now working on the classics.. Lord Of The Rings... is currently in his kindle

Not unschooling, but very 'targeted learning' for Magnus

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365050209/
Is School Enough?
Filmmaker Stephen Brown examines self-directed education.

http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/152207/ is on my planner for next week
Ecoregions of Texas (EPA)

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/geo/pics/ecoregionsoftexas.jpg Ecoregions denote areas of general similar

http://www.nutrientsforlife.org/teachers/grant-application just sent my request off for this resource, so that will be next month's activity
Nutrients for Life Foundation
Our curriculum provides plans for a variety of experiments to get your students enthusiastic about soil science. These experiments require extra supplies that your school may need to purchase.

http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/content/texasecoregions/
Texas A&M Forest Service - Trees of Texas - Eco-Regions
For further information on Texas Eco-Regions please visit:Texas Parks and Wildlife - Map of Texas Ecoregions U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Ecoregions of Texas

Magnus is technically on vacation, since he already logged 60 hours in July / August in Math and 60 hours in Science / Social Studies, so he is just puttering through his days for last week and this week. then we will come back hard starting 9/9/13

He has at least that much literature time as well. Year round seems to help with staying in groove. Lots of short frequent breaks.

the calendar that we are using
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5HC0Xa_Tw0halVEQmhhRUFIbFk/edit

We do super block scheduling. two hours a day of math (no books), two hours a day of social studies (no books), two hours a day of science (no books), two hours a day of literature. the science / social studies are the 'fun' to help with the fact that he really does not like the math component. but he has 'failed' the staar 4 years in a row, so it is time to just beat that out, when we left public school, it was due to not being able to read, we overcame that. now the math must take priority. we did it the k12 method with lots of math and even NML 5 days a week and lots of study island, but their method failed to work for him, so I am going back to trusting my own judgement of knowing his learning style that is not even part of the curriculum at k12.