Blog Post #13 - 7^th Grade Afloat

9/18/15

31:51.26N  116.37.31W

Of all the things we did to prepare for this trip, by far the most daunting for me what homeschooling Nico. I was concerned about the curriculum, my ability to teach my own son and whether or not it would be effective. I searched on line for months to find the right program. It was not easy. The first thing I had to do and it took me awhile to figure out was to find secular programs that were not Christian based. The home school movement started and really got off the ground by Christians of various kinds that were frustrated with what was being taught in public schools and who wanted a more religious based type of curriculum. That was not for us. I had to find the right search terms and they were ‘secular home schooling programs’. Although I had taught for several years at the college level at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, I was not confident that I would be able to do it on my own without guidance. How was I going to decide what to teach, how would I keep records and what would I do about grades and transcripts? I was overwhelmed by the amount of information that was available on the internet. There are formal programs like Calvert, there are California programs that just mimic what Nico would be learning at his regular public school in Long Beach and there are private schools. There are also a plethora of blogs and websites dedicated to home schooling. After much research I found a school I liked called The Global Village School. It is an online K-12 international distance learning school that is accredited and provides grades, transcripts and a HS diploma. They have kids enrolled that are living in the US, China, Saudi Arabia and many other places.  Their focus is on raising a global citizen. Its emphasis is on courses that integrate the concepts of peace, justice, diversity and sustainability. They prepare students for college while nurturing their passion and enthusiasm for creating a better world and to making a positive impact. Right up my alley!   I scheduled an interview with a counselor just to check it out. I was on the phone with this woman for an hour and a half! She was amazing, very passionate and committed to teaching. She was a retired school teacher that had taught in public schools in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years. After I spoke with the counselor Nico and I drove up to Ojai, where the school is headquartered and met with the founder and director of the school. We knew we were making the right choice within minutes of sitting down to talk.

As it turns out until you hit the 9^th grade and grades start counting for college you have tremendous flexibility in what you can teach and still get credit for. You still need to include math, reading, writing, science and history but with a lot of flexibility in between. When I explained to Patricia what our situation was and that we were travelling around the world on a boat; it did not phase her one bit. She said that it was the perfect way to home school. She said she could tailor the curriculum to match where we were traveling. It did not make much sense to study the American Revolution when we would be travelling in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for the first 2 years of our travels. After discussing it at length with Nico and Jirig; I gave her some input on what I would like to include and then she came back to me with internet resources, suggested books and an outline for a curriculum. For example, one of the things I wanted to include was a class on world religions. I think it is important for kids to understand that there are many religions in this world and I wanted to give Nico (and myself as well) a basic understanding not only how religion is a part of our culture but also what each religion’s basic belief systems are, what are their rituals, books and relics? I definitely wanted to include a course on Oceanography and since we are going to be in the Caribbean we have to study pirates (and the slave trade, colonialism and the Age of Discovery). Yes, Piratetology is a word!

Here is a basic outline of the courses I have selected for the 7^th grade.

7^th Grade Curriculum for Nico Nersesyan

Classes Semester 1

World Religions

The objective for this course is to explore and gain a working and objective understanding of the world’s various religions. We will study the many different types of Christianity, Eastern Orthodox, Catholics, Protestant, Baptists, Lutherans, Quakers, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, Pentecostal and modern day Born Again Christians. We will study Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sufism, Sikhs, Confucianism and Native and Pagan religions. We will gain a working understanding of their religious books and rites as well as their prophets and saints. We will also study ancient religions that are no longer practiced. The objective is for the Nico to understand the many varieties of religions in this world, what they mean, how they practice and what are their symbols and their meaning. We want to study the origins of the world’s religions, the traditions, and sacred writings, forms of worship and major holidays and ceremonies.

Books:

1) One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship by Mary Pope Osborne

2) Great Religions of the World by National Geographic Society

3) World Religions: The Great Faiths Explored and Explained by John Bowker

History & Geography

We have tailored our curriculum to our travels so that what we are learning is relevant to where we are. We will be in Baja and mainland Mexico for the next year. Then we will sail down the Central American Coast to Panama and go through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean Sea. We want to gain an understanding of the history and the culture of where we are travelling. In addition to reading books, and conducting experiments we will also visit museums, cultural centers, go on nature walks and make observations of the ocean and its creatures. The Sea of Cortez was referred to by Jacques Cousteau as “the world’s aquarium” and we plan to take full advantage of that. Over 40% of the 4000 varieties of the plants and animals found there are unique to the Sea of Cortez.

Books:

1) Baja Legends: The Historic Characters, Events and Locations that put Baja on the Map by Sunbelt Cultural Heritage.

2) The Desert Islands of the Sea of Cortez by Stewart Aitchison.

3) The Forgotten Peninsula: A Naturalist in Baja.

4) A Brief History of Central America by Lynn Foster.

5) The Panama Canal: The Story of How a Jungle was Conquered by Elizabeth Mann.

Mathematics

We will be using a curriculum called Math You See. It is a manipulative based complete math curriculum that utilizes video instruction and interlocking colorful blocks and fraction overlays to teach math, along with a textbook and worksheets to provide the review and reinforcement. It provides a balanced approach to mathematical instruction by simultaneously emphasizing computation skills and conceptual understanding. This program is designed specifically for homeschoolers.

Spanish

As we will be travelling in primarily Spanish speaking countries for the next 2-3 years it is important that Nico be able to communicate. Jirig & I will also be learning the language at the same time. He and I have passable Spanish skills; we can order food, shop and get basic things communicated with the help of Google Translator. We have purchased a CD and video program called Fluenz. It is one of the most comprehensive tools for learning a foreign language on the market today. It is geared for tourists and travel so it is perfect for our needs. It comes on two DVD-ROMs and two audio CDs with five Levels of study, with thirty lessons on each level. These lessons mimic a classroom, and are headed by a tutor. The classroom enables the learner to feel motivated and encouraged to progress to the next set of lessons.

There are some fantastically useful functions, like that of the subtitles. You will ordinarily listen three times to a sentence, with the option of subtitles, which really helps to get the language into your head

The software recognizes voices very well and the playback function is also incredibly helpful in getting you to see exactly where your strengths and weaknesses lie. To hear your own voice compared to that of the fluent speaker really highlights exactly where you’re going wrong.

Sailing

Nico and I need to hone our sailing skills. We need to learn what sails to use when, what they are called and all the associated knots (there are a ton of them and Jirig knows them all!). We need to learn how to read nautical maps and understand the basics of weather. We also need to understand in detail all of the equipment on board, the VHF radio, the chart plotter, the anchor, dinghy and the life raft. We know the basics as we have been out on this boat hundreds of times but we need to be proficient in all of these things. We will start with Sailing for Dummies and also a book on reading nautical charts. Jirig will provide formal hands on experience for all of the above.

Books:

1) Sailing for Dummies

2) How to Read a Nautical Chart by Nigel Caulder - Nigel Caulder is a very well respected writer and sailor with many great books to his name.

3) Audio Sea Stories - provides many audio titles of stories of the sea.

Spelling

Nico needs to work on his spelling. We will be using a program called Spelling You See. It is from the same company mentioned above for Math You See.    The program progresses through five developmental stages.: skill development, word extension (syllables, prefixes, and suffixes), and derivational constancy (words related by derivation of origins that share common patterns). While SpellingYouSee builds on a phonetic base, it goes beyond that to help students also master irregular words and words borrowed from other languages that make spelling so challenging. This is visually based and will work well with Nico’s learning style.

All of the above will include creative writing projects. Every book he reads will have a book report associated with it. Nico likes adventure stories so he will be reading the following books this first semester:

Adventure Books:

1) Brian's Winter by Gary Paulson Nico really liked Hatchet and is looking forward to this book.

2) The Cay by Theodore Taylor.

3) Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

4) Shark Lady by Ann McGovern

Graphic Novels:

1)The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan - I want to see if Nico likes them and then I can buy more if he does. 

Nico is especially fond of audio books so we will include these in our studies whenever we can.

Classes Semester 2 - 7^th Grade

Oceanography

The objective of this course is to introduce Nico to the wonders of the ocean, the diverse array of creatures that inhabit the oceans and the seas and to the nature of the problems they face. We will place a special focus on the threats to particular animals, plants and habitats, as well as on specific issues like global warming, overfishing and pollution. We will also focus on success stories, recommendations for what can be done to preserve ocean eco-systems and a complete overview of the most endangered species of marina life.

Books:

1) Awesome Ocean Science by Cindy A Littlefield

2) Atlas of Oceans: Exploring the Hidden World by John Farndon

3) Oceans Unit Study by Amanda Bennett

4) Whales and Other Marine Mammals of CA and Baja by Tamara Elder

5) Science in Seconds on the Beach by Jean Potter

This class will also include:

Projects Wet and Wild

Project Wet K-12 Curriculum and Study Guide.  This was given to me by Nico's Science teacher as a gift before we left. The goal of Project Wet is to facilitate and promote awareness, appreciation, knowledge and stewardship of water resources through the development and dissemination of classroom ready teaching aides. 

Piratetology

The study of pirates. We will study the Age of Discovery, the early explorers, Magellan, Sir Francis Drake, Vasco De Gama, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Hernan Cortes (who discovered Baja), Juan Sebastian Del Cano and all the rest. We will learn all about the spice trade, and the quest for gold, silver and jewels and the resulting the exploitation and conquering of native peoples and of course all of the famous pirates and where they trolled their trade and why. How did pirates some about and why were they able to thrive? What happened to them? Finally we will study the modern day pirates of Somalia, Indonesia and Africa.

1) Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity by Adrian Tinswood.

2) Piratetology from Candlewick Press

3) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

4) The New, Comprehensive and Impartial History of Pirates by Dan Asfar

5) Real Caribbean Pirates: Rogues, Scoundrels, Heroes and Treasures

6) Blackbeard and Other Notorious Pirates by Peter Copeland

7) Explorers of the New World by Softkey Multi-Media

8) Spice Islands by Ian Burnett

MOD Design I - Creating a video game: From graphics to coding:

Youth Digital - MOD Design 1 with Minecraft Course – Kids learn to code with Java using Minecraft. I will buy this 12 week course from Youthdigital.com.  Their mission is to teach kids coding and design concepts by creating awesome projects with cutting-edge technology. Kids learn the fundamentals of Java programming by coding their own Mods for Minecraft® .For every item, block or creature they want to add, kids first design the graphics, then they modify real Java code to quickly program their new features. Students edit Java templates in order to learn the fundamentals of the language without getting bogged down typing hundreds of lines of code one by one. At the end of the course, they will have their own polished Mod that they created on their own. In the process, kids learn the most important concepts of object-oriented computer programming — such as how to instantiate new objects, call methods, define parameters, and run loops — all in the service of adding new features and functionality to their final project. As students develop their project, they'll use Minecraft® Version 1.6.4 for testing, but upon completion, their Mods can be easily exported for Minecraft® Version 1.8, where they can be shared and played with friends! Mod Design 1 is a unique opportunity for young students to learn Java in an exciting and meaningful way. They will not only come away with an impressive project to share with their friends, but also with a foundational knowledge of object-oriented programming.

We will continue Math, Spelling and Creative Writing and I will supplement reading books as the year progresses.

Nico loves adventure books so we will be reading the following:

Adventure Books:

1) Brian's Winter by Gary Paulson Nico really liked Hatchet and is looking forward to this book.

2) The Cay by Theodore Taylor.

3) Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

4) Shark Lady by Ann McGovern

Graphic Novels:

The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan - I want to see if Nico likes these.

Nico is especially fond of audio books so we will include these in our studies whenever we can.

All of the above will include creative writing projects. Every book he reads will have a book report  associated with it.

Nico and I started classes on 9/7. I was really stressed about it and did not sleep the night before. I typed out a precise schedule that included specific times for courses as well as detail on each subject. That was a little overboard. It took a few days but we finally settled into a routine. Nico and I are both night owls so I did not want to set a starting time too early. The first few days I set my alarm and got up at 8:00AM and woke him up at 8:30. It has now rolled to 9:00 and 9:30 which suits us much better. One of the things I love about this cruising life is not having to get up early. For 25 years I got up at 5AM every day and I will be damned if I am going to do that now! We do World Religions and Baja and Mexico history and culture on one day and then we do Math and Sailing on the next. We read, write and do Spelling and Spanish every day. It is working out amazingly well. He loves the math and spelling programs and is very excited about World Religions and Mexico History and Culture. It is a lot of work as I have to prepare the lesson, teach the lesson and then follow up with him on his work and correct it. It is worth it though. My son is excited about school instead of dreading it. We usually work from 9-9:30 until about 2:00-2:30 with lunch a 2 breaks included. In the afternoons I try to do something fun like go to the beach, ride our bikes or take him to a museum or cultural event. Because we are working one on one he gets much more instruction, support and attention than he would in public school. His former school had six classes a day and each class had 38 students. He is so much better off with home schooling. With the support and resources from the Global Village School and our counselor Patricia we have everything we could possibly need.

After the nightmare of the Baja Naval shipyard we moved to a new marina called Cruiseport in downtown Ensenada. If any of you have ever taken a cruise ship to Ensenada it is right next to where the cruise ships dock. This is a much more casual marina than the Marina Coral and there are many more cruisers like us that are either living aboard or are waiting for hurricane season to end to head south. It is truly an international smorgasbord of people and cultures. We lucked out and got a slip right next to a cruising boat that has four kids! One girl and three boys ages 10, 12, 14 and 16. It is the most amazing family. Guy and Joanie have been cruising on London Pickle for 8 years with their 4 kids. The youngest was in diapers when they left. They are the most interesting, generous and helpful people I have ever met. They are full of information and support. The kids go back and forth between our boats and come and go as they please. Every night there is a scrap soccer game in the parking lot. They use rocks for goals and a tattered old soccer ball. They love it. They ride their bikes everywhere and are very adventurous. I have never met more competent, self-sufficient, polite and well balanced kids in my life. They are exceptional. I have never heard the kids raise their voices or fight. All of the kids are capable of keeping their own watch on the boat with the 2 youngest, Henry and William, doing a watch together. That means they are responsible for running the boat while underway with no supervision from their parents unless it is an emergency. No child is allowed on the deck while the boat in underway. If there is something that needs to be done on deck their parents are called to do it. It is quite remarkable. We are blessed to have them as neighbors.

Jirig’s days are filled with boat projects. He is always fixing something, or varnishing, or sanding. He has never been a person to kick back and relax and the boat provides him with more than enough projects to work on. He loves it. I consider myself very lucky. I will never be one of those wives that complains that her husband never does anything but sit on the couch and watch sports. Jirig goes over the top to make Nico and I and our home very comfortable.

We have approximately one more month before we take off so all of the preparations, provisioning, repairing and cleaning are in full swing. We can’t wait to get started again. Daniel will be joining us for the cruise to La Paz and we may get one other person as well. We are thinking about taking a road trip and driving our truck down to La Paz so we will have transportation while we are there. We may sell it there when we are ready to head to Panama next spring. We have never driven the entire length of the Peninsula before and it is supposed to be spectacular. Of course I want to stop at every one of the 28 missions that were built along the peninsula by the Spanish from 1500-1850 and check them out. Jirig hates that kind of stuff but I love it and I want Nico to see them too. Maybe we will have to compromise and only see half of them……I love road trips!