As you may recall, last summer we dove into the world of caves and had alot of fun (and shhhhh learned a bunch, but don't tell the kids). This summer's topic has been selected and it's a good 'un.
Egypt.
Ancient primarily, but we'll do a little bit of "then and now" to keep it real too. Today was the 5th day of summer vacation and we had done no Egypting yet, so we were overdue.
A few hours later, after a trip to the library, the thrift store, and Mama's makeup box, we had...
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Friday, June 17, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Virtual School
Henry has been doing Connections Academy online public school for two weeks now and I thought I'd give you my initial reactions.
Pros:
*We can schedule our days as we like. Unlike regular public school (afternoon kindergarten - ick!) we can schedule school around our family instead of the other way around.
*Fun art projects. I love art, but doing art with kids too often seems like sooo much work that I tend to shy away from it. But when it's an assigned project, I have no choice, right? And it's been fun. Interesting projects, but not TOO involved, and much better than what he was doing at his last school.
"Art" project at his last school...
And from this school...
If you're wondering, that last one is a rocket ship yarn sculpture launching in my kitchen.
*Accountability from the teacher. As you may have guessed, getting things done and staying on task is not my strong suit. We've gotten alot more done these last two weeks since I have to submit our hours and check off lessons as we do them. It's helpful for me to have that external motivation. It seems to also motivate Henry to have another adult who is checking up on what he is doing. Could certain other adults in the house play this role? Sure. Do they? No.
*Ability to skate through boring stuff. Since I am the one facilitating the lessons, we can fly through easy or boring lessons, just doing the bare minimum, and we can take the time to really delve deeply into the things Henry is more excited about and really enjoys. We can take things more at HIS pace.
*It's public school. So when I tell people what he is doing for school, they are generally pretty interested and positive.
Cons:
*It's a LOT of work. Henry has a lot of lessons to do each day. And a decent amount of prep work is expected from me too. It can get pretty tricky to get it all done with the baby slowing us down. And some of the stuff seems like "fluff" that I would skip if I were the one in charge of lessons planning instead of the teacher.
*It's public school. So they have lots of requirements on hours, attendance, lessons that need to be done (though some lessons are marked optional), etc. And some of the lessons are fairly unimaginative. It does give alot more flexibility than traditional public school, but it's NOT homeschool.
So, I think the final word today is that while it isn't perfect, and I'm not sure we'll still be doing it next year, it seems to be a really great option for us at this juncture in our lives.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Our School Year: Take 2
We've had a big shift in our schooling scenario, so I should probably bring you all up to speed on what's going on here in the mire.
The day has finally come that I NEVER thought I would see (and frankly, hoped not to see). All of my children (Ivy excepted) are in public school. It makes me both sick and excited at the same time.
First, Violet is in the same preschool she has been in all year - no change there. It is the local school district preschool, meets once a week, and is very fun and low key and play-based. She enjoys going and I like her teachers - two thumbs up. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Next, Henry has been withdrawn from our local school and has been enrolled in a free public virtual school. I didn't really like Henry's kindergarten class from day 1, but at first he was having a good time and so that was good enough for me. At five years old, I'm not too concerned about academics, I just want him to have fun learning. But as the year went on, the newness wore off, and the schoolwork was continually not very challenging, Henry began to loathe going. And as a person who never liked the school to begin with, I had a very hard time forcing him to go. I can put the smack down and be firm with my kids when it is something I believe in, but forcing him to go to a boring school every day just for the sake of attendance really rubbed me the wrong way. So I let him stay home. Often. That was kind of our compromise. He didn't have to go every day, but he did have to go fairly regularly. It worked for us until January when the principal threatened to turn me in for educational neglect. I just cracked up over that one! He had finished the end of the year objectives a couple of months into the school year and wasn't learning anything new most days and I'M the one who is neglecting his education? She informed me that he had missed approximately 40% of the school days so far and she was concerned that it was detrimental to his education. I informed HER that if he can miss 40% of the classes and still master all of the work then there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with how they are running that class. And I withdrew him.
My hubby is pretty pro-public-school so my compromise with him was that I enrolled Henry in an online virtual public school.
I have heard from many homeschoolers that they really don't like the virtual schools because they aren't very flexible and many people just end up dropping out and homeschooling instead. Fair enough. But for us, I think it is the right choice for the rest of this year. It keeps peace between me and hubby, makes my homeschooling job easier since the lessons are all planned out for me and the supplies are provided, and Henry will be able to work through the coursework as fast as he likes. No waiting for the rest of the class to "get it" before moving on. So for now, I think it will work - I'll keep you updated on that one.
Lastly, Mitchell is enrolled in a big fat brick-and-mortar public school (NOT the same school we took Henry out of). Complete with bells, cafeteria, desks, and a crabby school secretary. That is a decision I was very torn over. In a lot of ways, it felt like giving up on him. I feel like I could have kept homeschooling him, and we could have been successful academically, but the cost to our family dynamic and our relationship troubled me. In the end we decided to give it a try and just see how it went. He's been there for two weeks now and so far so good. The teacher and principal both have been very responsive and seem to be more than willing to try to make the experience a good one for him. It is a special school-within-a-school program so it has more of the small school feel that we are used to from our former private school. They also incorporate skill groups and multi-age classrooms to both make sure that kids are getting work at their particular skill level and also to develop a sense of community among all the classes. For him particularly I also think that the structure will be good. It is something that is highly recommended for kids with ADHD and something I have absolutely no talent for. I feel like this is something I can live with, at least for now, and it seems like Mitchell can too.
I have no idea where any of the kids will be for school come September, but it feels good to be in a place where it seems like everyone fits.
The day has finally come that I NEVER thought I would see (and frankly, hoped not to see). All of my children (Ivy excepted) are in public school. It makes me both sick and excited at the same time.
First, Violet is in the same preschool she has been in all year - no change there. It is the local school district preschool, meets once a week, and is very fun and low key and play-based. She enjoys going and I like her teachers - two thumbs up. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Next, Henry has been withdrawn from our local school and has been enrolled in a free public virtual school. I didn't really like Henry's kindergarten class from day 1, but at first he was having a good time and so that was good enough for me. At five years old, I'm not too concerned about academics, I just want him to have fun learning. But as the year went on, the newness wore off, and the schoolwork was continually not very challenging, Henry began to loathe going. And as a person who never liked the school to begin with, I had a very hard time forcing him to go. I can put the smack down and be firm with my kids when it is something I believe in, but forcing him to go to a boring school every day just for the sake of attendance really rubbed me the wrong way. So I let him stay home. Often. That was kind of our compromise. He didn't have to go every day, but he did have to go fairly regularly. It worked for us until January when the principal threatened to turn me in for educational neglect. I just cracked up over that one! He had finished the end of the year objectives a couple of months into the school year and wasn't learning anything new most days and I'M the one who is neglecting his education? She informed me that he had missed approximately 40% of the school days so far and she was concerned that it was detrimental to his education. I informed HER that if he can miss 40% of the classes and still master all of the work then there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with how they are running that class. And I withdrew him.
My hubby is pretty pro-public-school so my compromise with him was that I enrolled Henry in an online virtual public school.
I have heard from many homeschoolers that they really don't like the virtual schools because they aren't very flexible and many people just end up dropping out and homeschooling instead. Fair enough. But for us, I think it is the right choice for the rest of this year. It keeps peace between me and hubby, makes my homeschooling job easier since the lessons are all planned out for me and the supplies are provided, and Henry will be able to work through the coursework as fast as he likes. No waiting for the rest of the class to "get it" before moving on. So for now, I think it will work - I'll keep you updated on that one.
Lastly, Mitchell is enrolled in a big fat brick-and-mortar public school (NOT the same school we took Henry out of). Complete with bells, cafeteria, desks, and a crabby school secretary. That is a decision I was very torn over. In a lot of ways, it felt like giving up on him. I feel like I could have kept homeschooling him, and we could have been successful academically, but the cost to our family dynamic and our relationship troubled me. In the end we decided to give it a try and just see how it went. He's been there for two weeks now and so far so good. The teacher and principal both have been very responsive and seem to be more than willing to try to make the experience a good one for him. It is a special school-within-a-school program so it has more of the small school feel that we are used to from our former private school. They also incorporate skill groups and multi-age classrooms to both make sure that kids are getting work at their particular skill level and also to develop a sense of community among all the classes. For him particularly I also think that the structure will be good. It is something that is highly recommended for kids with ADHD and something I have absolutely no talent for. I feel like this is something I can live with, at least for now, and it seems like Mitchell can too.
I have no idea where any of the kids will be for school come September, but it feels good to be in a place where it seems like everyone fits.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Ceta-cular!
This week Henry has been showing a sustained interest (read as: asking about it multiple days in a row) in whales. It started with a picture of mine that I unearthed from one of our moving boxes of a whales tail at sunset. He was wondering what it was and I told him. Then he started carrying around the plastic blue whale from our bath toy bin and asking a lot of questions about whales and the ocean as we drove around dropping off Mitch at school and picking him up (Mitch and school is a whole other post I will share later). Yesterday he was asking a lot of good questions about blue whales. I knew that blue whales were the biggest animal on earth, but that was about as much as I could tell him. Most of his other questions I just had to say, "Hmmm.... I'm not sure, that's something we should look up." So today we started looking them up. I stumbled upon a fantastic interactive page on the National Geographic website that tells all about blue whales and compares their length and weight to all kinds of fun things like a space shuttle, a T-Rex, and a tank. We also watched an animation of how whales feed. There is a lot of fun information on the site and we didn't get to it all so hopefully we will be back another day to learn more (or if he doesn't want to, I'll go on there myself, it's a VERY cool site).
Here are some of my favorite things we learned today:
*A blue whale's heart is about the size of a Mini Cooper! And if you are particularly agile, it's major arteries are big enough for a person to crawl through.
*A blue whale weighs about the same as 2,660 people. About 100 people can fit in its mouth. We had fun talking about who we would have to throw on the scale to reach 2,660 - our church, all our friends, all our family members, his class, Violet's class, Mitchell's class, and still we wouldn't be able to tip the scale our way!
When we were at the Science Museum last we needed to take a little break for Ivy to nurse and then crawl around a bit and found a lovely little book nook to rest in. While we were resting we read one of the books they had out called "How Whales Walked Into The Sea". A VERY interesting book that I highly recommend and one that I'm thinking we need to add to our personal collection because I really want to reread it. Did you know that whales were land animals first? I didn't until I read that book to Henry. He and I were both pretty awed. The natural world is just FULL of truly amazing stuff.
Here are some of my favorite things we learned today:
*A blue whale's heart is about the size of a Mini Cooper! And if you are particularly agile, it's major arteries are big enough for a person to crawl through.*A blue whale weighs about the same as 2,660 people. About 100 people can fit in its mouth. We had fun talking about who we would have to throw on the scale to reach 2,660 - our church, all our friends, all our family members, his class, Violet's class, Mitchell's class, and still we wouldn't be able to tip the scale our way!
When we were at the Science Museum last we needed to take a little break for Ivy to nurse and then crawl around a bit and found a lovely little book nook to rest in. While we were resting we read one of the books they had out called "How Whales Walked Into The Sea". A VERY interesting book that I highly recommend and one that I'm thinking we need to add to our personal collection because I really want to reread it. Did you know that whales were land animals first? I didn't until I read that book to Henry. He and I were both pretty awed. The natural world is just FULL of truly amazing stuff.
Monday, January 24, 2011
What's Cooking Mama?
A few months ago we went to the Science Museum of Minnesota and had our first interaction with "The Collector's Corner". For those of you who have never heard of this, it is an area of the museum where they will issue your children points for bringing in various interesting nature specimens. With these points they can buy other nature items like shells, crystals, dried bat wings, and all kinds of other stuff that children treasure. The rules are, you can't bring in anything stinky, sticky, or from a bird (too many protected species). I knew this because I had spotted it on other trips to the SMM, but this was the first time we brought anything in.
The kids brought in some pieces of a wasp's nest that the kids found when our fix-it guy pulled down the ceiling of the porch. In exchange, Violet got to bring home a geode, Henry got a large bumblebee pinned to a piece of styrofoam, and Mitchell decided to save his points for something bigger and better next time.
Points are awarded based on a couple of factors. First, you get more points for items that are rarer. So milkweed pods would warrant more points than acorns. Next, you get more points if it is in better condition or is a full specimen. A perfectly preserved luna moth would fetch a higher price than a June bug wing. And finally, the part that I, as a parent, like best; the more you know about the item, the more points you get. So if you do research about your item and can tell the museum staff alot about it, you get mega points. If you don't know anything about it, that's fine too, then they'll tell you about it and it's a learning experience, but for the big points, you have to do your own footwork and reading. And the way to earn the big kahuna of points? Write a report about your item. The better the report, the more points you get.
So naturally, after leaving the museum with their new treasures, the kids were pretty jazzed up to find more stuff to trade. Right away they trapped a dying mystery bug on our livingroom floor and saved him up to trade. No interest in writing a report though (darn!). After that they kind of forgot about it until one day Mitch looked out the window and said, "Hey mom, I think Annie's eating a dead baby rabbit, you want me to go check it out?"
I called the dog in and sent him out to inspect the remains. He and Henry were overjoyed to discover that it was not a baby rabbit, but was actually some kind of large leg. With fur. Ewww. Where the rest of the animal was I didn't know, I just hoped it wasn't in the yard. They brought it in and said, "Can we keep it?"
"Can we keep it?!?!" I replied, "Ick!"
"To trade at the Science Museum!", they pleaded.
I sighed, of course I couldn't say no in the face of SCIENCE! So I bagged the thing, brought it inside so a dog or other critter wouldn't run off with it, and then promptly forgot about the frozen limb.
Until today.
Yesterday and today my mom kept asking me about a smell in the mudroom. First I thought it was the bin of cloth diapers. Or the pee sheets in the hamper. Or the disposable diapers in the garbage. All of which we took care of, but the aroma lingered.
I was looking for a screwdriver today when I spied the garbage bag on the shelf and the lightbulb went on - ding! That was our smell. The big old dead leg.
I knew what had to be done. This wasn't my first foray into bone preservation. For Henry's fourth birthday he wanted a dinosaur party. For those of you who have never attended one of my parties, I am a pretty big party buff. No Chuck E. Cheese birthdays for us! Half of the fun for me is planning and executing elaborate themed parties, and trying to find unique activities for the kids to do. Anyways, dinosaur party. So one of the activities for Henry's dinosaur party was making imprint fossils and we had various shapes for them to press into their fossil clay, including bones. Some fried chicken from the grocery store was called into service after dinner one day to be boiled and bleached for the purpose.
Later that summer we found a deer jaw just lying around in the trail at Grandma Beccie's cabin. We brought that home too and gave it the boil and bleach treatment. It now graces our mantle amongst other, less morbid items.
But back to the story at hand. This big old leg, which appeared to be a deer leg (judging by the size and the bit o' fur that was stuck to it, though I am by no means a forensic zoologist), needed to be dealt with. So I secured Ivy in her high chair with some bananas rolled in oatmeal powder (to make the slimy suckers easier to pick up)...
...donned my rubber gloves...
I started water boiling in my biggest pots...
...and then chopped the deer leg into two pieces. I have two pots boiling going there because our stove kind of sucks so I wasn't sure if it could actually get the large pot up to boiling and keep it there. So I got the smaller one going as back-up, and chopped the leg in half hoping it would fit in the pot. It didn't...
...but at least the big pot did get boiling, so I used 'em both. Perfect timing because at this point Ivy finished her bananas and wanted to be picked up.
Once I had wiped up her banana-y face and cleaned up my mess, the scent of dead leg was giving way to the only slightly less odorous eau de cooked leg. And I heard the pitter patter of little feet. I looked up to see two bright faces staring at me and Mitch asked, "Whatcha cooking? I'm hungry, it smells great!".
Ummmm....
Do you think it reflects poorly on my cooking that the smell of long dead wildlife boiling on the stove brings my children running, expecting to be fed?
Mitchell said he was SURE he'd eaten something that smelled like this before. I said I was SURE I had never served stinky old boiled leg before.
After much stinking and scrubbing and boiling and soaking we got three pretty cool pieces of bone out of the deal. Science Museum, here we come!
The kids brought in some pieces of a wasp's nest that the kids found when our fix-it guy pulled down the ceiling of the porch. In exchange, Violet got to bring home a geode, Henry got a large bumblebee pinned to a piece of styrofoam, and Mitchell decided to save his points for something bigger and better next time.
Points are awarded based on a couple of factors. First, you get more points for items that are rarer. So milkweed pods would warrant more points than acorns. Next, you get more points if it is in better condition or is a full specimen. A perfectly preserved luna moth would fetch a higher price than a June bug wing. And finally, the part that I, as a parent, like best; the more you know about the item, the more points you get. So if you do research about your item and can tell the museum staff alot about it, you get mega points. If you don't know anything about it, that's fine too, then they'll tell you about it and it's a learning experience, but for the big points, you have to do your own footwork and reading. And the way to earn the big kahuna of points? Write a report about your item. The better the report, the more points you get.
So naturally, after leaving the museum with their new treasures, the kids were pretty jazzed up to find more stuff to trade. Right away they trapped a dying mystery bug on our livingroom floor and saved him up to trade. No interest in writing a report though (darn!). After that they kind of forgot about it until one day Mitch looked out the window and said, "Hey mom, I think Annie's eating a dead baby rabbit, you want me to go check it out?"
I called the dog in and sent him out to inspect the remains. He and Henry were overjoyed to discover that it was not a baby rabbit, but was actually some kind of large leg. With fur. Ewww. Where the rest of the animal was I didn't know, I just hoped it wasn't in the yard. They brought it in and said, "Can we keep it?"
"Can we keep it?!?!" I replied, "Ick!"
"To trade at the Science Museum!", they pleaded.
I sighed, of course I couldn't say no in the face of SCIENCE! So I bagged the thing, brought it inside so a dog or other critter wouldn't run off with it, and then promptly forgot about the frozen limb.
Until today.
Yesterday and today my mom kept asking me about a smell in the mudroom. First I thought it was the bin of cloth diapers. Or the pee sheets in the hamper. Or the disposable diapers in the garbage. All of which we took care of, but the aroma lingered.
I was looking for a screwdriver today when I spied the garbage bag on the shelf and the lightbulb went on - ding! That was our smell. The big old dead leg.
I knew what had to be done. This wasn't my first foray into bone preservation. For Henry's fourth birthday he wanted a dinosaur party. For those of you who have never attended one of my parties, I am a pretty big party buff. No Chuck E. Cheese birthdays for us! Half of the fun for me is planning and executing elaborate themed parties, and trying to find unique activities for the kids to do. Anyways, dinosaur party. So one of the activities for Henry's dinosaur party was making imprint fossils and we had various shapes for them to press into their fossil clay, including bones. Some fried chicken from the grocery store was called into service after dinner one day to be boiled and bleached for the purpose.
Later that summer we found a deer jaw just lying around in the trail at Grandma Beccie's cabin. We brought that home too and gave it the boil and bleach treatment. It now graces our mantle amongst other, less morbid items.
But back to the story at hand. This big old leg, which appeared to be a deer leg (judging by the size and the bit o' fur that was stuck to it, though I am by no means a forensic zoologist), needed to be dealt with. So I secured Ivy in her high chair with some bananas rolled in oatmeal powder (to make the slimy suckers easier to pick up)...
...donned my rubber gloves...
...and tried to ignore the stink. Next I busted open the bag in the sink to see what exactly we were dealing with. I knew what it looked like a couple days ago when it was frozen solid, but I wasn't sure what i'd find today. Luckily it looked fine. Like a dead leg. Not too gross, just a bit smelly.
I started water boiling in my biggest pots...
...and then chopped the deer leg into two pieces. I have two pots boiling going there because our stove kind of sucks so I wasn't sure if it could actually get the large pot up to boiling and keep it there. So I got the smaller one going as back-up, and chopped the leg in half hoping it would fit in the pot. It didn't...
...but at least the big pot did get boiling, so I used 'em both. Perfect timing because at this point Ivy finished her bananas and wanted to be picked up.
Once I had wiped up her banana-y face and cleaned up my mess, the scent of dead leg was giving way to the only slightly less odorous eau de cooked leg. And I heard the pitter patter of little feet. I looked up to see two bright faces staring at me and Mitch asked, "Whatcha cooking? I'm hungry, it smells great!".
Ummmm....
Do you think it reflects poorly on my cooking that the smell of long dead wildlife boiling on the stove brings my children running, expecting to be fed?
Mitchell said he was SURE he'd eaten something that smelled like this before. I said I was SURE I had never served stinky old boiled leg before.
After much stinking and scrubbing and boiling and soaking we got three pretty cool pieces of bone out of the deal. Science Museum, here we come!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Mr. Independent
I am very proud of Mitchell today. He wanted cookies today and you know what he did? He made them himself. At first he wanted us to make them together, but I was in the middle of a math activity with Henry and Violet and said I wasn't in the mood to make cookies. I told him if he wanted cookies he could make them himself though. So he did.
He threw a bit of a fit at first because he wanted help reading the box and I wouldn't come in the kitchen, but eventually he brought me the box, I gave him a few pointers, and away he went. That all by itself was an accomplishment. Often, when he tries to do a big project, as soon as he comes across a bump of some sort, he gets derailed and moves on to something else. I didn't think he'd actually make the cookies all by himself without me at least directing.
Imagine my surprise when not only did he make cookies, but he was also very benevolent in involving Henry and Violet in helping him AND they cleaned up all the mess when they were done! He almost got distracted after the first batch went in the oven - 8 minutes is a looooong time for a kids with ADHD (or any kids!) to wait - but he managed to make it through and when they came out he was there to smell and taste and prepare another pan to go in. After they were done, there was great feasting and I was the proudest mama in town.
He threw a bit of a fit at first because he wanted help reading the box and I wouldn't come in the kitchen, but eventually he brought me the box, I gave him a few pointers, and away he went. That all by itself was an accomplishment. Often, when he tries to do a big project, as soon as he comes across a bump of some sort, he gets derailed and moves on to something else. I didn't think he'd actually make the cookies all by himself without me at least directing.
Imagine my surprise when not only did he make cookies, but he was also very benevolent in involving Henry and Violet in helping him AND they cleaned up all the mess when they were done! He almost got distracted after the first batch went in the oven - 8 minutes is a looooong time for a kids with ADHD (or any kids!) to wait - but he managed to make it through and when they came out he was there to smell and taste and prepare another pan to go in. After they were done, there was great feasting and I was the proudest mama in town.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Our Day In Pictures... Minus the Pictures
I REALLY gotta find my camera. Or my mom REALLY needs to find the charger for her good camera. Aye me, the pitfalls of moving. Instead you get to use your imagination.
:::As a pink and orange dawn approaches over the dark, bare trees, three tousled blonde heads are just barely visible poking out of a pile of blankets. They may have been punching each other the night before, but when night falls and the boogeyman calls, the day's arguments are put aside and three little towheads snuggle together on the extra twin mattress in Mama and Papa's room.:::
:::Ivy smiles and drools from under a surgeon's hat that droops low over her eyes. The kids are including her in their game of pretend (you may call her Dr. Baby) and she is so pleased that she doesn't even try to take the hat off even when she can't see anymore.:::
:::Henry's shaggy blonde head is bent over the multiplication board as he puzzles his way through the twos table. His brow is furrowed in concentration as he carefully counts out unit cubes to check his work.:::
:::The frosty sky lights up the carpet in front of the bay window in the livingroom and frames a chubby cheeked little girl playing with Grandma's special dolls. Moments later a smiling little boy joins her game and together they saddle the rocking horse.:::
:::Clouds of breath rise from two bundled, red faced boys as they cross the back deck, engaged in some kind of adventure and impervious to the cold.:::
:::The whole family packs into the small study like a litter of puppies in a cardboard box; some rolling on the floor in play, some working together to play Timez Attack on the computer, and Mama sitting on the chair, surveying it all and blogging.:::
:::Mama reaches high on the wall to tape up a piece of brown grosgrain ribbon that has now been dubbed "The Timeline". It doesn't exactly match the decor, but everyone's excited to have it up and add things to it. It's a little heavy on the ancient history since Mitch decided it should go from 10,000 BC to 2,500 AD, but that's okay since everyone loves ancient history.:::
:::A snowy and jolly Papa comes home from work bearing gifts like a hardhatted Santa. Three bright faces peer into a cardboard box to find... our encyclopedia! Cheers erupt.:::
:::Four children and a Mama and a Papa eat chicken and rice and animatedly discuss possibly learning a foreign language as a family. Everyone chuckles at the thought of busting out into Russian while having guests over for dinner.:::
:::The stove timer beeps, announcing that the late-night adult-only cookies are done, as a tired and whiny jammied little boy stands on the stair landing with his Spiderman pillow and blankie, grousing about noisy siblings.:::
:::As a pink and orange dawn approaches over the dark, bare trees, three tousled blonde heads are just barely visible poking out of a pile of blankets. They may have been punching each other the night before, but when night falls and the boogeyman calls, the day's arguments are put aside and three little towheads snuggle together on the extra twin mattress in Mama and Papa's room.:::
:::Ivy smiles and drools from under a surgeon's hat that droops low over her eyes. The kids are including her in their game of pretend (you may call her Dr. Baby) and she is so pleased that she doesn't even try to take the hat off even when she can't see anymore.:::
:::Henry's shaggy blonde head is bent over the multiplication board as he puzzles his way through the twos table. His brow is furrowed in concentration as he carefully counts out unit cubes to check his work.:::
:::The frosty sky lights up the carpet in front of the bay window in the livingroom and frames a chubby cheeked little girl playing with Grandma's special dolls. Moments later a smiling little boy joins her game and together they saddle the rocking horse.:::
:::Clouds of breath rise from two bundled, red faced boys as they cross the back deck, engaged in some kind of adventure and impervious to the cold.:::
:::The whole family packs into the small study like a litter of puppies in a cardboard box; some rolling on the floor in play, some working together to play Timez Attack on the computer, and Mama sitting on the chair, surveying it all and blogging.:::
:::Mama reaches high on the wall to tape up a piece of brown grosgrain ribbon that has now been dubbed "The Timeline". It doesn't exactly match the decor, but everyone's excited to have it up and add things to it. It's a little heavy on the ancient history since Mitch decided it should go from 10,000 BC to 2,500 AD, but that's okay since everyone loves ancient history.:::
:::A snowy and jolly Papa comes home from work bearing gifts like a hardhatted Santa. Three bright faces peer into a cardboard box to find... our encyclopedia! Cheers erupt.:::
:::Four children and a Mama and a Papa eat chicken and rice and animatedly discuss possibly learning a foreign language as a family. Everyone chuckles at the thought of busting out into Russian while having guests over for dinner.:::
:::The stove timer beeps, announcing that the late-night adult-only cookies are done, as a tired and whiny jammied little boy stands on the stair landing with his Spiderman pillow and blankie, grousing about noisy siblings.:::
Monday, December 13, 2010
Don't Push Me!
This last week or so I've been learning a lot more about homeschooling. As you may have noticed, we've been struggling lately. I have tried everything I can think of to make homeschooling a positive, inspiring experience for Mitch, and I keep coming up short. I tried some different curriculums, a stricter schedule, a more relaxed schedule, focusing on the basics and letting the rest go, trying to be more well-rounded in our learning, doing hands on things, doing more bookwork, you name it.
I was feeling pretty frustrated and incompetent. And I'll go ahead and say it, I was considering that maybe Mitch's special needs were more than I could handle. Maybe teaching him was just always going to be a battle and by positioning myself as the teacher, I was inviting many more arguments and meltdowns into our home and our relationship than need be.
But then I had a conversation with a certain wise farm mama and I realized that maybe I was being too pushy. I had tried everything I could think of to make him learn, but I hadn't tried NOT making him learn. At least not since this summer, when we weren't "technically" homeschooling yet. Over the summer our "cave lessons" were a big hit with all the kids. We were just exploring something intriguing and not doing English or Math per se. But lately I've been more panicky and worrying about what will happen next year if we get him back into his Montessori school and he's fallen behind. I'm forgetting to just live a day at a time. So with that in mind, instead of trying to make Mitch learn, I tried to make myself see the learning in what he was already doing. I tried to get back to my Montessori roots and "follow the child".
So where did I find his "school"?
He and Henry have spent plenty of time learning about physics by building and knocking over towers made out of various materials...
Lots of great storytelling going on, even if none of it makes it to paper just yet. Dress-up is a game the whole family can agree on.
He loves videography and was receptive to my requests that he storyboard his scenes instead of just screwing around with Grandma's camera (though that's fun too).
He discovered the computer game "Timez Attack" (a great free multiplication game) and I had to kick him off of it eventually for fear his eyeballs would melt from staring at the screen for so long. He got discouraged at level 3 because it was getting too tough for him and so he decided to delete his profile and start all over at level 1 so he could get more practice. Cue the angels singing "Gloria"...
And tonight he fell asleep rereading "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". I think I can live with this.
It also seems like if I set out things that I'd like him to work on, enticingly displayed on the shelf, he gets around to asking about them or taking them down eventually, in his own time. I'm usually just not that patient. I need to work on that. So, going all Montessori on y'all again, I need to work more on preparing his environment and putting all kinds of 3rd graderish work close at hand and work less on "teaching" him anything.
Everyone did like our themed lessons over the summer though so I asked Mitch if he'd like to do some more of those again and he said yes. So at Mitch's suggestion I'm working on getting some car and truck lessons going.
I'm also praying more. Dear God, I'm at a loss with this boy, show me what to do with him (or not do with him as the case may be). And I feel like He's answering.
I was feeling pretty frustrated and incompetent. And I'll go ahead and say it, I was considering that maybe Mitch's special needs were more than I could handle. Maybe teaching him was just always going to be a battle and by positioning myself as the teacher, I was inviting many more arguments and meltdowns into our home and our relationship than need be.
But then I had a conversation with a certain wise farm mama and I realized that maybe I was being too pushy. I had tried everything I could think of to make him learn, but I hadn't tried NOT making him learn. At least not since this summer, when we weren't "technically" homeschooling yet. Over the summer our "cave lessons" were a big hit with all the kids. We were just exploring something intriguing and not doing English or Math per se. But lately I've been more panicky and worrying about what will happen next year if we get him back into his Montessori school and he's fallen behind. I'm forgetting to just live a day at a time. So with that in mind, instead of trying to make Mitch learn, I tried to make myself see the learning in what he was already doing. I tried to get back to my Montessori roots and "follow the child".
So where did I find his "school"?
Lots of great storytelling going on, even if none of it makes it to paper just yet. Dress-up is a game the whole family can agree on.
He loves videography and was receptive to my requests that he storyboard his scenes instead of just screwing around with Grandma's camera (though that's fun too).
He discovered the computer game "Timez Attack" (a great free multiplication game) and I had to kick him off of it eventually for fear his eyeballs would melt from staring at the screen for so long. He got discouraged at level 3 because it was getting too tough for him and so he decided to delete his profile and start all over at level 1 so he could get more practice. Cue the angels singing "Gloria"...
And tonight he fell asleep rereading "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". I think I can live with this.
It also seems like if I set out things that I'd like him to work on, enticingly displayed on the shelf, he gets around to asking about them or taking them down eventually, in his own time. I'm usually just not that patient. I need to work on that. So, going all Montessori on y'all again, I need to work more on preparing his environment and putting all kinds of 3rd graderish work close at hand and work less on "teaching" him anything.
Everyone did like our themed lessons over the summer though so I asked Mitch if he'd like to do some more of those again and he said yes. So at Mitch's suggestion I'm working on getting some car and truck lessons going.
I'm also praying more. Dear God, I'm at a loss with this boy, show me what to do with him (or not do with him as the case may be). And I feel like He's answering.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Blood in the Water
It's tough to feel like you can't be honest. Like you can't reach out for help when you need it. But that's how I feel to a certain extent about homeschooling. While I do have people I can go to for support, there is also a large group of people who I feel like I need to put on the "happy face" for. People who pooh-pooh homeschooling and think it's ridiculous. People who are convinced we could never pull it off. When they ask me how it's going it's frustrating that I can't be honest. Whenever I AM honest and say how tough it is, it's like dumping a gallon of blood into shark infested waters. They attack. Mostly in a very passive aggressive way, but still. When I'm feeling bad about how homeschooling is going, the last thing I need is someone rubbing my face in the fact that they "told me so" and asking me if I'm going to send Mitch to public school now.
And our personal experience aside, the last thing I want to do is give these people more ammunition for their "Homeschooling is Bunk" mindset. Even if homeschooling doesn't work out for us in the long run, it doesn't mean that it's a bad idea in general. Regardless of how my kids end up being taught next year or the year after or the year after that, I will always think that homeschooling is a very valuable educational option for families. So I sometimes feel like, besides preserving my own dignity, I also have a responsibility to preserve the "face of homeschooling". And so I hide how I'm really feeling and how things are going.
I am usually a very up front, honest, and open individual. So this is a new thing for me, this hiding, and I don't really like it at all. But the alternative, getting torn down for our choices, is something I like even less. So for now, I'll smile and nod and say "Everything's great!" and give examples of what our best days look like.
Homeschooling families - have you dealt with this scenario in the past? How have you approached it or come to terms with it?
And our personal experience aside, the last thing I want to do is give these people more ammunition for their "Homeschooling is Bunk" mindset. Even if homeschooling doesn't work out for us in the long run, it doesn't mean that it's a bad idea in general. Regardless of how my kids end up being taught next year or the year after or the year after that, I will always think that homeschooling is a very valuable educational option for families. So I sometimes feel like, besides preserving my own dignity, I also have a responsibility to preserve the "face of homeschooling". And so I hide how I'm really feeling and how things are going.
I am usually a very up front, honest, and open individual. So this is a new thing for me, this hiding, and I don't really like it at all. But the alternative, getting torn down for our choices, is something I like even less. So for now, I'll smile and nod and say "Everything's great!" and give examples of what our best days look like.
Homeschooling families - have you dealt with this scenario in the past? How have you approached it or come to terms with it?
Monday, November 22, 2010
We're Heeeere!
I've been missing in action for quite a while now, but the move is DONE! Well, in the sense that we are living fairly comfortably in the new house anyways. Our old house is still full of miscellaneous stuff that we still need to move either into the trash, the Goodwill pile, or boxes to bring over, but the heavy lifting is done. Besides the physical move, we've also been having quite the homeschool journey as well. More and more of my ideas about what to teach and how to teach just keep flying out the window.
Mitchell just keeps rebelling against any attempts on my part to TEACH him. Though now that I think about it, he's been that way for the last eight years. Even as a toddler and preschooler, if you tried to show him something, like say how to hold a baseball bat properly, he would always say either "I already KNOW how to do that" or "I don't want to". He always wants to do things his way. Partially out of orneryness I guess, but also because he has so darn many ideas about the world and how it works and how it SHOULD work that he doesn't have time for anyone else's ideas. And I suppose he's been "spoiled" by his last five years of Montessori schooling (in a good way).
I was having a really hard time finding anything that would let him have the level of independence he was used to. There were some computer based curriculums, but those were pretty spendy and I don't think he would have allowed himself to be chained to a computer either. But God watches over us and a book that I put on my PaperbackSwap
wishlist a long time ago arrived in the mail. It was Elizabeth G. Hainstock's book "Teaching Montessori in the Home: The School Years". It has been a lifesaver! Not only does it tell me how to introduce the different activities, it also gives me tips on how to make or buy the Montessori materials I need cheap or free.
So far for Mitchell i've just gotten together the materials for the multiplication board and the multiplication summary sheets, but my plan is to try to make at least one new material a week for Mitchell and also for the rest of the kids. Watching Mitch work on math happily and excitedly (and independently!) inspired me to start introducing Montessori works to my other children as well.
We've already been doing a pretty good job with our Montessori baby I think. She uses the potty, has toys of all different materials, eats the kitchen utensils, and doesn't wear restrictive clothing so she can move and groove on the floor with the best of them. Last week I started introducing some cursive to Henry and he's just eating it up. My goal is to slowly but surely increase my collection of Montessori preschool and elementary materials so by the time Ivy is ready for them, i'm ready for her too.
That's the bummer about being the oldest I think - you are always the guinea pig. But you also get to be the teacher too. Mitchell has taught me sooo much about what it means to teach, what it means to be a mom. He took all the ideas I had about kids when I was a high school babysitter, how I was going to parent someday, and just ripped them to shreds. Sad kind of, but i'm older and MUCH wiser now thanks in no small part to him.
Mitchell just keeps rebelling against any attempts on my part to TEACH him. Though now that I think about it, he's been that way for the last eight years. Even as a toddler and preschooler, if you tried to show him something, like say how to hold a baseball bat properly, he would always say either "I already KNOW how to do that" or "I don't want to". He always wants to do things his way. Partially out of orneryness I guess, but also because he has so darn many ideas about the world and how it works and how it SHOULD work that he doesn't have time for anyone else's ideas. And I suppose he's been "spoiled" by his last five years of Montessori schooling (in a good way).
I was having a really hard time finding anything that would let him have the level of independence he was used to. There were some computer based curriculums, but those were pretty spendy and I don't think he would have allowed himself to be chained to a computer either. But God watches over us and a book that I put on my PaperbackSwap
wishlist a long time ago arrived in the mail. It was Elizabeth G. Hainstock's book "Teaching Montessori in the Home: The School Years". It has been a lifesaver! Not only does it tell me how to introduce the different activities, it also gives me tips on how to make or buy the Montessori materials I need cheap or free.So far for Mitchell i've just gotten together the materials for the multiplication board and the multiplication summary sheets, but my plan is to try to make at least one new material a week for Mitchell and also for the rest of the kids. Watching Mitch work on math happily and excitedly (and independently!) inspired me to start introducing Montessori works to my other children as well.
We've already been doing a pretty good job with our Montessori baby I think. She uses the potty, has toys of all different materials, eats the kitchen utensils, and doesn't wear restrictive clothing so she can move and groove on the floor with the best of them. Last week I started introducing some cursive to Henry and he's just eating it up. My goal is to slowly but surely increase my collection of Montessori preschool and elementary materials so by the time Ivy is ready for them, i'm ready for her too.
That's the bummer about being the oldest I think - you are always the guinea pig. But you also get to be the teacher too. Mitchell has taught me sooo much about what it means to teach, what it means to be a mom. He took all the ideas I had about kids when I was a high school babysitter, how I was going to parent someday, and just ripped them to shreds. Sad kind of, but i'm older and MUCH wiser now thanks in no small part to him.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Getting Started "For Real"
The move to our new house is looming over us - just two weeks away. I was hoping to wait until after we moved to really start homeschooling in earnest, but when school started for Henry and preschool for Violet, it seemed like it was time to dig in a little with Mitchell too. Our old school ended in May so it had already been a long summer.
I felt prepared though. I had chosen a math curriculum and an English curriculum and decided to do more unschooling and child-led learning for the other subjects, so we got started. It seems to me like things have been going well this last week, but there has been a certain theme that has carried through our week and continues on as we start this week. And the theme is "That's not how my other teacher did it". It seems like everything I try to do with Mitchell, he's comparing me to his Montessori teacher. And let me tell you, those are quite big shoes to fill. I feel really bad that he's had such a good educational experience and now I'm not living up to that. I thought I would be a good teacher, and I do feel that I'm doing a decent job, but it really hurts that I can't offer him the kind of teaching he is wanting right now. I'm doing my best, but I'm just not Montessori trained, and while I have a pretty good grasp of what goes on in a primary classroom, I'm not as familiar at all with what they do and how they do it in an elementary classroom. He wants me to give him fewer, shorter lessons and then let him work independently, but I just don't have things set up that way here now. Frankly, I don't have anything "set-up", we're working out of a box as everything gets packed for the move. But even worse, I have no idea how to set up a framework for homeschool where he can be hands-on AND independent like he was at his Montessori school. It seems like for the most part, the hands-on type of things require more parent involvement, and the independent curriculum are all on the computer or are heavy on the workbooks.
Henry too is not having a stellar start to the school year. Already I'm communicating frequently with his teacher about his behavior. Typical Henry stuff, nothing too dramatic, but still. I am also not very impressed with the coursework. They are starting out the year with their letters and numbers and shapes and friendship skills. Henry covered all that in kindergarten (though you can never practice friendship skills too much). It seems like they will be getting to some topics that will be new to him soon, but he too is lamenting the loss of his old school. He misses the practical life activities and thinks it is ridiculous that they don't get to bake in kindergarten. He vacillates between saying school is awesome and saying it is boring and he doesn't want to go. As long as I keep getting the "awesome" answer regularly, we'll stick with it, but I'm predicting I may be homeschooling both boys much sooner than I had originally planned.
I'll keep searching for the right fit for us, educationally, whether it be finding the right curriculum or finding a way to get the kids back into their old school, but right now I'm feeling pretty discouraged. It has not been our best "back-to-school".
I felt prepared though. I had chosen a math curriculum and an English curriculum and decided to do more unschooling and child-led learning for the other subjects, so we got started. It seems to me like things have been going well this last week, but there has been a certain theme that has carried through our week and continues on as we start this week. And the theme is "That's not how my other teacher did it". It seems like everything I try to do with Mitchell, he's comparing me to his Montessori teacher. And let me tell you, those are quite big shoes to fill. I feel really bad that he's had such a good educational experience and now I'm not living up to that. I thought I would be a good teacher, and I do feel that I'm doing a decent job, but it really hurts that I can't offer him the kind of teaching he is wanting right now. I'm doing my best, but I'm just not Montessori trained, and while I have a pretty good grasp of what goes on in a primary classroom, I'm not as familiar at all with what they do and how they do it in an elementary classroom. He wants me to give him fewer, shorter lessons and then let him work independently, but I just don't have things set up that way here now. Frankly, I don't have anything "set-up", we're working out of a box as everything gets packed for the move. But even worse, I have no idea how to set up a framework for homeschool where he can be hands-on AND independent like he was at his Montessori school. It seems like for the most part, the hands-on type of things require more parent involvement, and the independent curriculum are all on the computer or are heavy on the workbooks.
Henry too is not having a stellar start to the school year. Already I'm communicating frequently with his teacher about his behavior. Typical Henry stuff, nothing too dramatic, but still. I am also not very impressed with the coursework. They are starting out the year with their letters and numbers and shapes and friendship skills. Henry covered all that in kindergarten (though you can never practice friendship skills too much). It seems like they will be getting to some topics that will be new to him soon, but he too is lamenting the loss of his old school. He misses the practical life activities and thinks it is ridiculous that they don't get to bake in kindergarten. He vacillates between saying school is awesome and saying it is boring and he doesn't want to go. As long as I keep getting the "awesome" answer regularly, we'll stick with it, but I'm predicting I may be homeschooling both boys much sooner than I had originally planned.
I'll keep searching for the right fit for us, educationally, whether it be finding the right curriculum or finding a way to get the kids back into their old school, but right now I'm feeling pretty discouraged. It has not been our best "back-to-school".
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
I think we just might be okay...
Last night I got one of those rare glimpses of how siblinghood SHOULD be. One of those moments parents dream about but rarely happen in real life.
I did a fairly adequate job of putting everyone to bed last night. They got a bedtime snack, a story, AND got to pick where they wanted to sleep. Henry picked Ivy's bed in the basement (Ivy picked the cosleeper in our room), Mitchell picked the couch, and Violet picked the floor in her room. I find that when I have the guts to go ahead and let them sleep wherever they want, they usually fall asleep pretty fast. It's annoying when they pick to be in our room or the livingroom because that kind of puts a damper on mine and hubby's nighttime "adult" activities (no, no, not THOSE adult activities, I mean like eating Kempswiches and swilling Dr. Pepper while playing cribbage). I am pretty sure though that Mitch picks the livingroom for exactly those reasons. He likes to eavesdrop on us and beg for some of our snacks. Henry hasn't realized what kind of things his parents do at night so he picks the basement so he can be closer to us when we go to bed.
Anyways, everyone got tucked in bed and Mitchell informed me that he was really going to sleep in Violet's bed (since she wasn't using it anyways) but that he wanted to stay up and read on the couch until she fell asleep because she's annoying and loud (a fair evaluation). So Henry toddled downstairs and fell asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, and Mitch started looking for a book. I had already packed up a few boxes of books so the picking was slim.
He turned to me, pointed to a faux-leather bound volume and asked "Is this a book of poetry?".
I looked at the title, shocked, "No buddy, that's not poetry, that's Edgar Allen Poe. Actually I think there are a few poems in that one, but mostly it's short stories." This was like a dream come true. I LOVE literature and poetry and all things related to the English language, but so far it seemed like Mitch was only interested in stuff like "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" (which I am fairly certain may have been written by the devil? I hate those books, but hey, at this point i'll go for anything that gets him to do some independent reading.) I looked through what was left on my shelves and found a large volume of American poetry and handed it to him.
"I like poetry", he said. "When I read the words it makes music in my head like a song."
"Well," I said, "Songs are just poetry with music added to them, so you're right on there." I pointed to a couple of poems in the book that were also songs - The Star Spangled Banner and America The Beautiful.
We sat down on the couch and he perused the poetry book while I sat next to him and worked on my knitting. He then decided to write his own poetry and invited me to help him (I enthusiastically agreed). Here's what we came up with together...
A possum, A blossom
A piece of cherry pie
A seashell on the shore
Just like a star up in the sky
Bright as a firefly
I was so proud I could burst. When I was a teenager and imagining what my kids would be like, what motherhood would be like, THIS is what I imagined, not all the other stuff.
After he got bored of writing poetry he asked me when we were going to start homeschooling and I said "Whenever you want." He decided he wanted to start right then. He made himself a math folder to keep his work-in-progress in, then asked if he could work on teaching Violet to read. Violet certainly wasn't asleep (she kept poking her head out of the door and looking at us) so I said "Sure, go ahead". He asked her if she wanted a lesson and she was bouncing up and down and grinning as she said "Yeah!". They went into the kitchen and Mitchell helped her spell some simple words like mom and dad with the magnetic letters. Then they called me in to see and I watched Violet put m-o-m on the fridge. It was adorable. After they tired of that, the hubby tucked Violet back into bed and we taught Mitchell how to play Pente. He did pretty well on my team (we battled Daddy) but then I played Daddy on my own a few rounds to show Mitch how to kick someone's butt at Pente. After a bit we tucked him into bed on the couch and went outside in the garage to have a beer in private, but it was really a great night. The kind of night that renews my faith in my kids and in my ability to mother them. Maybe I haven't completely screwed them up yet. Maybe there's still hope for our family :-)
I did a fairly adequate job of putting everyone to bed last night. They got a bedtime snack, a story, AND got to pick where they wanted to sleep. Henry picked Ivy's bed in the basement (Ivy picked the cosleeper in our room), Mitchell picked the couch, and Violet picked the floor in her room. I find that when I have the guts to go ahead and let them sleep wherever they want, they usually fall asleep pretty fast. It's annoying when they pick to be in our room or the livingroom because that kind of puts a damper on mine and hubby's nighttime "adult" activities (no, no, not THOSE adult activities, I mean like eating Kempswiches and swilling Dr. Pepper while playing cribbage). I am pretty sure though that Mitch picks the livingroom for exactly those reasons. He likes to eavesdrop on us and beg for some of our snacks. Henry hasn't realized what kind of things his parents do at night so he picks the basement so he can be closer to us when we go to bed.
Anyways, everyone got tucked in bed and Mitchell informed me that he was really going to sleep in Violet's bed (since she wasn't using it anyways) but that he wanted to stay up and read on the couch until she fell asleep because she's annoying and loud (a fair evaluation). So Henry toddled downstairs and fell asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, and Mitch started looking for a book. I had already packed up a few boxes of books so the picking was slim.
He turned to me, pointed to a faux-leather bound volume and asked "Is this a book of poetry?".
I looked at the title, shocked, "No buddy, that's not poetry, that's Edgar Allen Poe. Actually I think there are a few poems in that one, but mostly it's short stories." This was like a dream come true. I LOVE literature and poetry and all things related to the English language, but so far it seemed like Mitch was only interested in stuff like "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" (which I am fairly certain may have been written by the devil? I hate those books, but hey, at this point i'll go for anything that gets him to do some independent reading.) I looked through what was left on my shelves and found a large volume of American poetry and handed it to him.
"I like poetry", he said. "When I read the words it makes music in my head like a song."
"Well," I said, "Songs are just poetry with music added to them, so you're right on there." I pointed to a couple of poems in the book that were also songs - The Star Spangled Banner and America The Beautiful.
We sat down on the couch and he perused the poetry book while I sat next to him and worked on my knitting. He then decided to write his own poetry and invited me to help him (I enthusiastically agreed). Here's what we came up with together...
A possum, A blossom
A piece of cherry pie
A seashell on the shore
Just like a star up in the sky
Bright as a firefly
I was so proud I could burst. When I was a teenager and imagining what my kids would be like, what motherhood would be like, THIS is what I imagined, not all the other stuff.
After he got bored of writing poetry he asked me when we were going to start homeschooling and I said "Whenever you want." He decided he wanted to start right then. He made himself a math folder to keep his work-in-progress in, then asked if he could work on teaching Violet to read. Violet certainly wasn't asleep (she kept poking her head out of the door and looking at us) so I said "Sure, go ahead". He asked her if she wanted a lesson and she was bouncing up and down and grinning as she said "Yeah!". They went into the kitchen and Mitchell helped her spell some simple words like mom and dad with the magnetic letters. Then they called me in to see and I watched Violet put m-o-m on the fridge. It was adorable. After they tired of that, the hubby tucked Violet back into bed and we taught Mitchell how to play Pente. He did pretty well on my team (we battled Daddy) but then I played Daddy on my own a few rounds to show Mitch how to kick someone's butt at Pente. After a bit we tucked him into bed on the couch and went outside in the garage to have a beer in private, but it was really a great night. The kind of night that renews my faith in my kids and in my ability to mother them. Maybe I haven't completely screwed them up yet. Maybe there's still hope for our family :-)
Friday, August 6, 2010
Into The Earth
This summer we have been considering homeschooling for the fall and so have kind of been dabbling in it a bit this summer. The topic we have more or less been pursuing is caves. I must say, we've had alot of fun with it and I feel it still has even more to give us. Mitchell doesn't tend to sustain interest in things very well, but he has been pretty interested in all our cave related activities so far and we've had some great discussions that he was a full and willing participant in. In case anyone else is interested in learning more about caves, I'll put up the links and resources we've used at the bottom of the post.
As part of our "cave lessons" Mitchell and I visited Mystery Cave. Last summer we toured Crystal Cave as a family and that was good. It was an interesting tour, but Crystal Cave is very much a show cave. Mystery Cave on the other hand, has a wilder side. It has a 1 hour tour which is for all ages and is handicap accessible. I think it's great that they make things so that people in wheelchairs can participate too, but frankly for me handicap-accessible=boring most of the time. And if you can bring babies, you know it's not going to be all that fun. But Mystery Cave also has a 2 hour "rustic" tour which is not handicap accessible and not suitable for children under 5. Now that right there makes it sound more tantalizing.
We were not disappointed. The 2 hour Mystery Cave tour goes into a part of the cave that has no lights and natural cave floors (as opposed to the leveled and smoothed floors in the more tame section of the cave). There are parts where you have to duck your head, walk stooped over, and tread carefully so you don't slide down muddy slopes. And the only light comes from your flashlight. It was great!
The entrance is this little concrete shed in the middle of the woods. If you didn't know it was the cave entrance, you might wonder WHAT in the heck was going on when you saw 20 people squeeze into this little shed and not come out for 2 hours. We saw stalactites, stalagmites, trogloxenes (bats), helictites, flowstone, an underground lake, and enough breakdown to make the whole thing feel just a little bit dangerous. I came out of that one definitely feeling a bit of awe at the geologic processes that make up our world and I think Mitchell did too.
Try these resources for some cave exploration of your own!
As part of our "cave lessons" Mitchell and I visited Mystery Cave. Last summer we toured Crystal Cave as a family and that was good. It was an interesting tour, but Crystal Cave is very much a show cave. Mystery Cave on the other hand, has a wilder side. It has a 1 hour tour which is for all ages and is handicap accessible. I think it's great that they make things so that people in wheelchairs can participate too, but frankly for me handicap-accessible=boring most of the time. And if you can bring babies, you know it's not going to be all that fun. But Mystery Cave also has a 2 hour "rustic" tour which is not handicap accessible and not suitable for children under 5. Now that right there makes it sound more tantalizing.
The entrance is this little concrete shed in the middle of the woods. If you didn't know it was the cave entrance, you might wonder WHAT in the heck was going on when you saw 20 people squeeze into this little shed and not come out for 2 hours. We saw stalactites, stalagmites, trogloxenes (bats), helictites, flowstone, an underground lake, and enough breakdown to make the whole thing feel just a little bit dangerous. I came out of that one definitely feeling a bit of awe at the geologic processes that make up our world and I think Mitchell did too.
Try these resources for some cave exploration of your own!
- Caves in the bible : (Joshua 10:15-19 RSV) (John 11:38-40 RSV)
- Netflix has an interesting Nova documentary available to watch instantly on the computer, Extreme Cave Diving
- Dissolve sugar in water to watch things dissolve firsthand, like the rock does when caves are created. We looked at the sugar first with a magnifying glass and talked about its properties - hard, grainy, squarish crystals - then add lemon juice to make lemonade!
- When looking at lava tube caves, we talked about where they would most likely be found in the united states (near volocanos). We looked at a great interactive map of US volcanoes.
- Some things that are less related to caves but are still directions that this exploration has taken us: echolocation in other animals than bats, volcanos, 1920's gangsters (courtesy of the Wabasha Street caves), mines and other man-made tunnels
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Workboxes, eh?
I have been doing alot of research on homeschooling lately because when the financial aid information came back from the kids' school, it was not so favorable this year as it has been in past years. I am definitely going to homeschool Mitchell this year because besides the money factor, he has so far been pretty unsuccessful at handling a classroom full of kids without medication. I haven't been very happy with the side effects of his medication so if I am able to homeschool him meds-free, I think that would be the best for him. So we'll give it a try. As for the other two, we are still in negotiations with the school, so only time will tell how that will turn out.
So as I was doing this homeschooling research, I stumbled across the concept of workboxes. It is a way to encourage independent work by setting out 12 boxes with 12 different activities for them to do. It is also a way to get organized and gather your supplies and whatnot ahead of time, so that would be GREAT for me. I found a lot of detailed information about workboxes here.
I think this would be great for me because it would force me to be prepared and organized instead of constantly digging for supplies at the last minute. And I think it would be great for Mitchell because the visual of all those full boxes becoming empty boxes would help him gauge how much he has done and what he has left to do. And when I get distracted by the baby (as babies often do) he can keep working without me because he will know what needs to be done.
So i'm adding plastic boxes to my back-to-school supply list - i'll let you know how it goes!
So as I was doing this homeschooling research, I stumbled across the concept of workboxes. It is a way to encourage independent work by setting out 12 boxes with 12 different activities for them to do. It is also a way to get organized and gather your supplies and whatnot ahead of time, so that would be GREAT for me. I found a lot of detailed information about workboxes here.
I think this would be great for me because it would force me to be prepared and organized instead of constantly digging for supplies at the last minute. And I think it would be great for Mitchell because the visual of all those full boxes becoming empty boxes would help him gauge how much he has done and what he has left to do. And when I get distracted by the baby (as babies often do) he can keep working without me because he will know what needs to be done.
So i'm adding plastic boxes to my back-to-school supply list - i'll let you know how it goes!
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