Di is FOUR today! Who really cares about school when your only daughter is turning FOUR? She slept in a bit longer than the rest of us (what's new?) and so Gus and I took the opportunity to assist the fairies that visited us last night and left some special gifts in the front garden. The red bud tree was sprinkled with little pink gift bags holding treasures that would appeal to a certain little girl. They also left a few pieces of candy hidden in the rocks. Oh those sneaky fairies.
When she did wake up, she called for me and I went to her room where she was lying in bed trying to gain full consciousness. I told her happy birthday and she asked,
"Am I four?"
"Yes."
"Am I four right now?"
And then she stood up on her bed and looked down at her body in amazement. Then she stretched her little arms up as high as they would go and looked up at them. She wondered how high she could reach now...could she reach as high as her shelf by her bed? She thought she probably could. (no). It was quite possibly the most adorable and magical moment I have ever witnessed. The wonder of being FOUR.
There was a new dress. And a tiara. And all the packages from those fairies.
And then I had to run out the door to the NICHE homeschool conference. I am so glad I went. Even if I had to miss that amazing day of being four. Really, I missed very little of it as she had day camp that morning, I had lunch with them at noon, and then she napped and I was home by 5:30 to celebrate with grandma and grandpa. Then there was another new dress...that arrived that very day from Hawaii...hand-made just for her. And there were so many more new clothes including a Darth Vader costume from Nana Kathy. Life is good.
And so there was no school today. And tomorrow I shall blog about the conference in an effort to condense my notes and THROW THEM AWAY. No more stray paper around here! (ha, a girl can dream).
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Day 5, 7 June, 2012
Violin, First Language Lessons and another chapter in Junie B. Jones. A quick day that is looking forward to a very busy weekend. Head spinning.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Day 4, June 6, 2012
Wednesdays are always hard. Hard to fit in any sort of formal school time with mornings taken up with Bible Study. The kids love going and playing with friends at church so much. And I love the change of pace. But it really cramps school for the day.
Augustine was again reticent to practice violin today, so I told him to set a time and we would do it then. (Rather than expect him to positively respond to my, "get your violin out" approach). This worked well today. I really believe in giving kids a bit of control this way. And it would work well in a lot of situations if I could just work enough margins into our day to have time to allow them to set their schedule. This kind of leads me to a thought that has been knocking around in my head for awhile. That is the idea that education should simply be a provision of good soil in which the student can flourish. Not a revolutionary thought by any means, but something I can use and hang my hat on. Something that stimulates my imagination in a way that I'm inspired to think outside the box of traditional curriculum with lots of worksheets guidelines. I need to put a lot more thought into it. It is not an unschooling thing, really. I don't know exactly what our "good soil" looks like. I think I'll probably start with a lot of concrete resources, throw them together and let them "compost" or break down in whatever way seems natural to us. Infant thought. Tiny preemie infant thought.
So violin practice went well. He composed his first song yesterday with mom. She wrote it down for him. It's 16 notes long. Very cute. Certainly not part of a traditional lesson plan to allow the student to compose before they really even master Twinkle, but I suppose that's a big part of what I mean about providing good soil and just letting them grow.
Oh, the song is titled, "Violin cabbage down..."shoot. I forget the rest of the title. I'll have to include it in another post.
We read more Junie B. Jones. He was reluctant, but a can of Limonata did the trick. I think I love the idea of making reading time special by including special treats. This will become a ritual, I believe. Hope it doesn't turn into a burden for me!
After a bike ride through the cemetary and running around outside like mad catching fireflies and playing with neighbor kids, the children came in for a late night lettering session. Dinah really began to own her work, practicing the alphabet with the help of some indented, ruled paper. She was so proud of her work. I'm excited to see this interest in writing. I guess we have another scholar to teach, now. *Sighing a happy, tired sigh*
Augustine was again reticent to practice violin today, so I told him to set a time and we would do it then. (Rather than expect him to positively respond to my, "get your violin out" approach). This worked well today. I really believe in giving kids a bit of control this way. And it would work well in a lot of situations if I could just work enough margins into our day to have time to allow them to set their schedule. This kind of leads me to a thought that has been knocking around in my head for awhile. That is the idea that education should simply be a provision of good soil in which the student can flourish. Not a revolutionary thought by any means, but something I can use and hang my hat on. Something that stimulates my imagination in a way that I'm inspired to think outside the box of traditional curriculum with lots of worksheets guidelines. I need to put a lot more thought into it. It is not an unschooling thing, really. I don't know exactly what our "good soil" looks like. I think I'll probably start with a lot of concrete resources, throw them together and let them "compost" or break down in whatever way seems natural to us. Infant thought. Tiny preemie infant thought.
So violin practice went well. He composed his first song yesterday with mom. She wrote it down for him. It's 16 notes long. Very cute. Certainly not part of a traditional lesson plan to allow the student to compose before they really even master Twinkle, but I suppose that's a big part of what I mean about providing good soil and just letting them grow.
Oh, the song is titled, "Violin cabbage down..."shoot. I forget the rest of the title. I'll have to include it in another post.
We read more Junie B. Jones. He was reluctant, but a can of Limonata did the trick. I think I love the idea of making reading time special by including special treats. This will become a ritual, I believe. Hope it doesn't turn into a burden for me!
After a bike ride through the cemetary and running around outside like mad catching fireflies and playing with neighbor kids, the children came in for a late night lettering session. Dinah really began to own her work, practicing the alphabet with the help of some indented, ruled paper. She was so proud of her work. I'm excited to see this interest in writing. I guess we have another scholar to teach, now. *Sighing a happy, tired sigh*
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Day 3, 5 June, 2012
Junie B. Jones! Yay! I got him to read a chapter from Junie B. Jones for read aloud time! It was easy and fun. Lots of laughing over the funny way she says things. I don't know why he didn't want to read more. It's just not what makes him 'tick'. Oh well. We will finish the book (and continue browsing the wildlife of North America). A reader will develop eventually.
We also worked on a couple First Language Lessons. It's stuff he already knows, but not completely. Hard to push through, but he's a fairly good sport. I figure it doesn't hurt to be thorough with this fundamental stuff. Once he knows it, he'll know it forever.
Mom stopped by and they worked on violin. He's trying to get Happy Birthday ready for Di's bday on Friday. It's coming.
We tried to read more Wildlife after lunch, but I kept falling asleep. Oops. So that was that!
We also worked on a couple First Language Lessons. It's stuff he already knows, but not completely. Hard to push through, but he's a fairly good sport. I figure it doesn't hurt to be thorough with this fundamental stuff. Once he knows it, he'll know it forever.
Mom stopped by and they worked on violin. He's trying to get Happy Birthday ready for Di's bday on Friday. It's coming.
We tried to read more Wildlife after lunch, but I kept falling asleep. Oops. So that was that!
Monday, June 4, 2012
Day 2, 4 June, 2012
Di has day camp all week and little man is struck with fever.
School was saved (sort of) when a friend stopped by and took Gus to the library to sign up for the summer reading program. The kids spent the rest of the day playing with friends and taking a short walk with dad. Gus read to me from the North American Wildlife guide. He chose the Peregrine Falcon. He is fascinated by this book and will spend a lot of time and energy trying to sound out its many long and complicated words. When I was his age, I was devouring Ramona books. As much as I'd like to snuggle up and listen to him read of Ramona Quimby's mishaps to me, I think I'm going to have to be content with learning about the fauna of our great continent.
School was saved (sort of) when a friend stopped by and took Gus to the library to sign up for the summer reading program. The kids spent the rest of the day playing with friends and taking a short walk with dad. Gus read to me from the North American Wildlife guide. He chose the Peregrine Falcon. He is fascinated by this book and will spend a lot of time and energy trying to sound out its many long and complicated words. When I was his age, I was devouring Ramona books. As much as I'd like to snuggle up and listen to him read of Ramona Quimby's mishaps to me, I think I'm going to have to be content with learning about the fauna of our great continent.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Day 1, 1 June, 2012
So I think I'll write a post about the name of this blog later. Suffice to say, yes, I did rip off Virginia Woolf. It, no doubt, won't be the last time. And although pretending to be anything like her would make me fraudulent beyond belief...she does inspire me so.
So let's jump right in and say, it's Day One of Homeschool, the Summer Session. Yesterday was the last day of public school. A kindergartener no more, Gus was a bit sad to not be donning his pack and heading off to school this morning. Fridays were his only full day of school (being duel enrolled and spending all other mornings at home with me and Saxon math) and it seemed a sad way to end the week with not even a short day of school, but no school at all. So he declared it to be school at home. Not just homeschool, but school, in the formal, speak with deference to your teacher, sit up straight, recite all together now, school. And since I had already planned a trip to the strawberry patch, the teacher joyfully announced a field trip. Students scrambled to get dressed. Water bottles were filled, diapers were checked, last minute breakfasts scarfed down, and we sped away to Nevada, Iowa, to the Berry Patch Farms where pick your own strawberries is not a chore, but a treat and an adventure.
They were amazing little harvesters! Not one complaint as they followed the rules and stayed, mostly, in our designated row. Little man sat perched in his pack and shrieked until he was awarded strawberry after warm, fresh strawberry. He ate the WHOLE time it took us to pick our nine pounds. And you can't really pay for what you eat in the field (that's value)! The kids so easily slipped into 'farm mode' upon arrival. This is what they've learned to be at my folks' house. They are very self sufficient and agreeable when in farm mode. They don't always listen perfectly, but what's new? Here is a great shot of them being perfectly agreeable with each other. This level of harmony mostly occurs outside.
Ok. Not super sure how the photos load up in this mobile blogger app. We will just let it be what it is.
To finish. The field trip was a roaring success. My mom stopped over after school (her school) and played with the kids and gave Gus a violin lesson. He is trying to learn to play happy birthday for Di's b-day in one week. It's so hard to convince him that it is time for a lesson but once he gets into it, he enjoys it so much. He stays so fully engaged and is obviously not only listening, but activating his imagination and really digesting what she has to teach him. How to get past that initial stubborn streak. I just don't yet know.
And to really finish, I should note that we used the car trip to listen to some zydeco music and Audible books. (Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones and Matilda by Roald Dahl).
A super full day.
And now I'm off to bake a strawberry pie...
So let's jump right in and say, it's Day One of Homeschool, the Summer Session. Yesterday was the last day of public school. A kindergartener no more, Gus was a bit sad to not be donning his pack and heading off to school this morning. Fridays were his only full day of school (being duel enrolled and spending all other mornings at home with me and Saxon math) and it seemed a sad way to end the week with not even a short day of school, but no school at all. So he declared it to be school at home. Not just homeschool, but school, in the formal, speak with deference to your teacher, sit up straight, recite all together now, school. And since I had already planned a trip to the strawberry patch, the teacher joyfully announced a field trip. Students scrambled to get dressed. Water bottles were filled, diapers were checked, last minute breakfasts scarfed down, and we sped away to Nevada, Iowa, to the Berry Patch Farms where pick your own strawberries is not a chore, but a treat and an adventure.
They were amazing little harvesters! Not one complaint as they followed the rules and stayed, mostly, in our designated row. Little man sat perched in his pack and shrieked until he was awarded strawberry after warm, fresh strawberry. He ate the WHOLE time it took us to pick our nine pounds. And you can't really pay for what you eat in the field (that's value)! The kids so easily slipped into 'farm mode' upon arrival. This is what they've learned to be at my folks' house. They are very self sufficient and agreeable when in farm mode. They don't always listen perfectly, but what's new? Here is a great shot of them being perfectly agreeable with each other. This level of harmony mostly occurs outside.
Ok. Not super sure how the photos load up in this mobile blogger app. We will just let it be what it is.
To finish. The field trip was a roaring success. My mom stopped over after school (her school) and played with the kids and gave Gus a violin lesson. He is trying to learn to play happy birthday for Di's b-day in one week. It's so hard to convince him that it is time for a lesson but once he gets into it, he enjoys it so much. He stays so fully engaged and is obviously not only listening, but activating his imagination and really digesting what she has to teach him. How to get past that initial stubborn streak. I just don't yet know.
And to really finish, I should note that we used the car trip to listen to some zydeco music and Audible books. (Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones and Matilda by Roald Dahl).
A super full day.
And now I'm off to bake a strawberry pie...
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