I can honestly say that I have learned a tremendous amount in the past four months of homeschooling, mostly on what works for us, or what doesn't. I stopped writing in a daily log in December to see what it felt like just to allow for flow, and I prefer the journal because I like the sense of accomplishment that comes upon reflection. I decided that the Enki curriculum isn't working for us, and will keep it to use should Avery want to home school. We're now going with Oak Meadow's first grade curriculum. Before Christmas break Ethan took reading and math placement tests and tested well unto first grade (and then some) and I feel he is ready for more than what the kindergarten curriculum offers. He knows his letters, can read, and does addition beautifully. He is also ready for more science and math than the Enki curriculum offers. I also need a daily/weekly format to the lessons, giving us more time to play than to create some sort of curriculum based off of Enki's open format, and then I can weave in my creative touches here and there to make it even more fun. This morning I ordered the first grade curriculum from Oak Meadow. It should come next week. I look forward to learning with him through this new curriculum and feel it fits our family lifestyle better, and personal needs. I need some structure that I don't have to provide. I like being able to flow and embellish.
To Ethan, I feel we did the best we could, or the best I could this first semester. I feel ready to take our homeschooling to a new level of learning, filled with fun, excitement, and challenge, because we're ready and we like to grow. I am so glad we're homeschooling and I look forward to starting the new year with a new grade and a new flow, in joy!
I feel quite good releasing the Enki curriculum. It just didn't work for us. It was too much material, too little organization, and just not my style of learning. I feel really good! And the great thing is that I can use the stories, songs, and fingerplays in addition to the OM curriculum.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
A Beautiful Day
We've had a good week so far. Monday was an adjustment day, letting the kids settle back into flow after a busy weekend abroad. I always find it best to begin a week with gentleness rather than force.
Tuesday we did three simple activities- Morning movement focusing on feeling the music and letting our bodies respond. We used three different music selections, classical, beatles, and sean paul. Quite different. Then we read a beautiful book written by a native american chief about thankfulness to the earth and all sources of abundance, and then we created an abundance basket on paper and filled with with fruit representing what we were thankful for. We don't do turkeys around here as the turkeys are really irritated by this holiday and are asking us to shift towards other foods, grains and legumes they say. That was it for the day, and the rest we played and sang and created whatever came to mind but nothing structured.
And today was beautiful. We did our morning yoga and flowed into storytime with our hand puppets and theater. We all took turns making up stories with our favorite hand puppets. The kids love eating their friend puppet and Ethan is dearly fond of the alligator puppet. I love the sheep. It's really silly looking. From there we played cagola, a balance game where you have a boat deck and with the roll of the die you place one or two items on the deck to keep it level, or in my case to shake it up! From there we went into re-reading the blessings book we read on Tuesday and painted pictures of abundance using tempera paints (lovely colors). Then we shifted into making words and I am quite impressed with Ethan. He's now able to hear what I'm asking him to spell and can make the letter sounds beautifully and he is reading, small words and in limited amounts of time. There is no rush to read for it seems to come naturally if the opportunity is there. We worked on _ot and _at word series. (hot pot cot dot....) I love watching him figure it out and get it and it's usually the first time now. Lunch happened with daddy and then we went back in and played with some of our new toys- I got avery a veggie set for her kitchen and these veggies can be cut in half (velcro attachments), so we made soup and smoothies and had a great time working with colors and ASL. Then we painted again, as I wanted to paint a picture to use up more paint (I was a little generous with the pouring). And we all are wearing silk capes because they came today too and somewhere in there we played with carded wool and yarn and talked about where wool comes from (I'm going to get a drop spindle to make our yarn). Now they are taking quiet time while I rest at the computer getting my emails and online stuff completed. I should be doing laundry but Nahni's asleep and computer time is better when she's napping.
From my favorite online store I got 6 play silks for creative play, luscious colors of greens, yellow, purple, and blue and all 100% silk. I can't get 100% silk anywhere in town so I went online and found a lovely store. I also got lots of other goodies there, like beeswax crayons that are so yummy smelling you want to eat them. Imagine crayons smelling that good! We also got watercolor paints for wet on wet watercolor painting, which we'll do tomorrow or Friday. (I won't take breaks like public school does because we don't school from 8-3). We also got the most beautiful unsealed (meaning yummy smelling) pine art caddy to hold our scissors, markers, pencils, pens, and glue sticks. I can smell it five feet away so I had to mention it. I've made some well-thought out purchases in the past few weeks for our homeschool supplies. I've looked at hundreds of items and made some careful selections for art supplies, dramatic play, games, and other tools. I got Ethan a marvelous tanagram set with magnetic shapes and pictures to inspire layouts and structure (Ethan does quite well without them).
We have such an abundance of books that I don't need to get much when it comes to most subjects. I did get a movie and book about faerie houses for the kids for Christmas. I have everything I want to really do a damned good job of educating my children combining modern and ancient wisdoms. I finally feel really settled into what was my vision for this year. I don't feel I could've done it without the accessories that I carefully selected. I have a vision for my children, for our lifestyle, and we are getting so much more into the flow of that vision, every day. It's thrilling! Truly, to live the way you want to live, to be the person you want to be. I am thankful to all the universe for the abundance of my life and for the gifts to make this possible.
So, this is my homeschool thanksgiving post. I am so thankful and honored to be homeschooling. I love working and playing with my children as we learn and grow together. They are awesome little ones, big ones, and I am so blessed to do this dance we do, every day. Namaste
Tuesday we did three simple activities- Morning movement focusing on feeling the music and letting our bodies respond. We used three different music selections, classical, beatles, and sean paul. Quite different. Then we read a beautiful book written by a native american chief about thankfulness to the earth and all sources of abundance, and then we created an abundance basket on paper and filled with with fruit representing what we were thankful for. We don't do turkeys around here as the turkeys are really irritated by this holiday and are asking us to shift towards other foods, grains and legumes they say. That was it for the day, and the rest we played and sang and created whatever came to mind but nothing structured.
And today was beautiful. We did our morning yoga and flowed into storytime with our hand puppets and theater. We all took turns making up stories with our favorite hand puppets. The kids love eating their friend puppet and Ethan is dearly fond of the alligator puppet. I love the sheep. It's really silly looking. From there we played cagola, a balance game where you have a boat deck and with the roll of the die you place one or two items on the deck to keep it level, or in my case to shake it up! From there we went into re-reading the blessings book we read on Tuesday and painted pictures of abundance using tempera paints (lovely colors). Then we shifted into making words and I am quite impressed with Ethan. He's now able to hear what I'm asking him to spell and can make the letter sounds beautifully and he is reading, small words and in limited amounts of time. There is no rush to read for it seems to come naturally if the opportunity is there. We worked on _ot and _at word series. (hot pot cot dot....) I love watching him figure it out and get it and it's usually the first time now. Lunch happened with daddy and then we went back in and played with some of our new toys- I got avery a veggie set for her kitchen and these veggies can be cut in half (velcro attachments), so we made soup and smoothies and had a great time working with colors and ASL. Then we painted again, as I wanted to paint a picture to use up more paint (I was a little generous with the pouring). And we all are wearing silk capes because they came today too and somewhere in there we played with carded wool and yarn and talked about where wool comes from (I'm going to get a drop spindle to make our yarn). Now they are taking quiet time while I rest at the computer getting my emails and online stuff completed. I should be doing laundry but Nahni's asleep and computer time is better when she's napping.
From my favorite online store I got 6 play silks for creative play, luscious colors of greens, yellow, purple, and blue and all 100% silk. I can't get 100% silk anywhere in town so I went online and found a lovely store. I also got lots of other goodies there, like beeswax crayons that are so yummy smelling you want to eat them. Imagine crayons smelling that good! We also got watercolor paints for wet on wet watercolor painting, which we'll do tomorrow or Friday. (I won't take breaks like public school does because we don't school from 8-3). We also got the most beautiful unsealed (meaning yummy smelling) pine art caddy to hold our scissors, markers, pencils, pens, and glue sticks. I can smell it five feet away so I had to mention it. I've made some well-thought out purchases in the past few weeks for our homeschool supplies. I've looked at hundreds of items and made some careful selections for art supplies, dramatic play, games, and other tools. I got Ethan a marvelous tanagram set with magnetic shapes and pictures to inspire layouts and structure (Ethan does quite well without them).
We have such an abundance of books that I don't need to get much when it comes to most subjects. I did get a movie and book about faerie houses for the kids for Christmas. I have everything I want to really do a damned good job of educating my children combining modern and ancient wisdoms. I finally feel really settled into what was my vision for this year. I don't feel I could've done it without the accessories that I carefully selected. I have a vision for my children, for our lifestyle, and we are getting so much more into the flow of that vision, every day. It's thrilling! Truly, to live the way you want to live, to be the person you want to be. I am thankful to all the universe for the abundance of my life and for the gifts to make this possible.
So, this is my homeschool thanksgiving post. I am so thankful and honored to be homeschooling. I love working and playing with my children as we learn and grow together. They are awesome little ones, big ones, and I am so blessed to do this dance we do, every day. Namaste
Monday, November 5, 2007
Ethan's Birthday and Letter A
It's Ethan's 6th birthday today! We're having a great morning of schooling. We celebrated Ethan's birthday by morning movement and story time, focusing on Ethan's favorite songs and showing him the scrapbook I made when he as a wee bairn. He really liked the pictures of him as a baby, as well as the ones of Avery, for she made the cheesiest faces. After story time Ethan and Avery wrote and drew pictures in their "About Me" books, to commemorate Ethan's birthday and their overall development and interests. I just whipped one out using MSWord this morning and they seemed to enjoy drawing pictures of people. We took a break and danced out in the snow, for it's the first snowfall today. Ethan's been playing with his new birthday toy, a large bionicle, and Avery's been playing with her kitchen. They also decorated more of the kitchen today with the red and blue streamers that we used yesterday for Ethan's family party. Lots of streamers everywhere now.
And then we regrouped and did more desk work with 6 pages in his workbook- finding shapes hidden in similar shapes and then the letter A. We're starting our letter set as well. It's also letter writing day and we'll be making thank-yous for the birthday gifts.
We're resting now and it feels good to rest. Nahni is resting. Ethan is resting. Avery is coloring. She just finished resting. We had a very busy weekend, with three visits to Brainerd Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Lots of driving. I'm not going to do more schooling after we make the thankyous because Ethan has cousins coming over. We'll have a ceremony tonight honoring the Spirit of Ethan's birth and my becoming a mom. I like to always keep a spiritual influence in their world, as it's a huge part of mine.
And then we regrouped and did more desk work with 6 pages in his workbook- finding shapes hidden in similar shapes and then the letter A. We're starting our letter set as well. It's also letter writing day and we'll be making thank-yous for the birthday gifts.
We're resting now and it feels good to rest. Nahni is resting. Ethan is resting. Avery is coloring. She just finished resting. We had a very busy weekend, with three visits to Brainerd Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Lots of driving. I'm not going to do more schooling after we make the thankyous because Ethan has cousins coming over. We'll have a ceremony tonight honoring the Spirit of Ethan's birth and my becoming a mom. I like to always keep a spiritual influence in their world, as it's a huge part of mine.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Remembering
I've misplaced my daily teacher's log so I'm making my entries here for this week.
Monday 10-15-07
Movement- new cd
Round and Round, Winds of October, My Little Pony, The Mill, Sailor Boy, Recorder Song Autumn, Wild Goose Flight, Trip Trip Trap, My Little Pony, The Cool of Autumn
Story Time- On The Farm by Kathryn Smith, The Wild Little Horse by Rita Gray, The Farm Book by Jan Pfloog
Many Paths Home School outing to Meadow Farms to learn about natural horsemanship. Ethan rode but Avery didn't. Ethan liked the horses and the ride but wasn't as interested in what the trainer was saying. Avery wants a baby horse and liked the horses but grew tired quickly. I would recommend a trail ride next summer for Ethan and I if possible. I enjoyed everything.
Art- Puff Ponies- We came home and settled in before making puff ponies- a 3-d stuffed horse out of paper. Ethan and Avery decorated, stuffed and Ethan stapled his while I did Avery's. They were very keen on the idea of a puff-person and played with their puff ponies that evening.
ECFE- Avery and Ethan attended and made faces with hats as well as painted and had daddy time.
Tuesday 10-16-07
Movement- Adaptation of The Wild Little Horse into an adventure using the puff ponies as visuals and recalling the movement patterns of the trot and gallop from Monday's field trip. A trot has 4 beats and gallop 3. Ethan trotted and galloped around the sofa and participated in the entire adventure of Little Horse with his puff pony. It took a while to get into our groove.
Storytime- A book about farm animals playing and I don't have it anymore because it was an ECFE book and Winter on the Farm adapted from the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Ethan and Avery both want to take care of animals and would like to have a farm.
Art- We took out our big drawing tablets and Ethan drew a big barn and horses. Avery drew a cat. We then created a barn on drawing paper using glue and craft sticks. Before Ethan created the barn he made a landscape for the barn, grass, corn and a blue sky. He then made his own barn after I demonstrated two styles of barns with the sticks. He wanted to make his own style. At first he put the glue on the sticks and then he put the glue on the paper and the stick on the glue. He drew the outline of the stick with glue before placing it. Following the completion of the barn he colored and cut out a horse. He colored the horse blue. The horse was pasted on the paper next to the barn. I only guided the overall project steps but not any of the placing of items nor color choices. Once the barn dried Ethan colored it red and blue.
Letters- While I made lunch Ethan made words using the word whammer. He found the letters for LOG, TAX, DOG, CAT, ARM, and his own word- DIE, which thrilled him. He sorted the vowels from the consonants.
Avery went to ECFE from 1-4pm.
During her absence, Ethan sorted three decks of flash cards into four categories-colors, shapes, objects (with the object word rather than the object color or shape), and numbers. From there we made our own sorting game using colors, letters, and purpose. He also learned about pent-hex-oct shapes, cones, cylinders, and cubes.
Ethan also took out the addition flash cards and worked on that while I started the stick ponies project.
The stick ponies were made out of one of my dad's sweatshirts with yard for hair. After picking up Avery from ECFE we ran our errands to the bakery, the hardware store for the dowel, and silbaugh's for the fluffing (stuffing). After we came home we stuffed the ponies and added the dowel. While Ethan was at Tae Kwon Do I glued the dowels in and tied them shut. We'll add ears and eyes tomorrow using felt and glue.
Ethan attended Tae Kwon Do and learned round house kicks. He will get a white belt in November. He likes the class and does well. Ryan says the class is a good class overall, ages 4-6.
We didn't go to the library but we ran errands. Tomorrow is storytelling day and tea time with Marcia. We'll add features to our horses, bake and create stories about our horses using farm and landscape pictures.
Monday 10-15-07
Movement- new cd
Round and Round, Winds of October, My Little Pony, The Mill, Sailor Boy, Recorder Song Autumn, Wild Goose Flight, Trip Trip Trap, My Little Pony, The Cool of Autumn
Story Time- On The Farm by Kathryn Smith, The Wild Little Horse by Rita Gray, The Farm Book by Jan Pfloog
Many Paths Home School outing to Meadow Farms to learn about natural horsemanship. Ethan rode but Avery didn't. Ethan liked the horses and the ride but wasn't as interested in what the trainer was saying. Avery wants a baby horse and liked the horses but grew tired quickly. I would recommend a trail ride next summer for Ethan and I if possible. I enjoyed everything.
Art- Puff Ponies- We came home and settled in before making puff ponies- a 3-d stuffed horse out of paper. Ethan and Avery decorated, stuffed and Ethan stapled his while I did Avery's. They were very keen on the idea of a puff-person and played with their puff ponies that evening.
ECFE- Avery and Ethan attended and made faces with hats as well as painted and had daddy time.
Tuesday 10-16-07
Movement- Adaptation of The Wild Little Horse into an adventure using the puff ponies as visuals and recalling the movement patterns of the trot and gallop from Monday's field trip. A trot has 4 beats and gallop 3. Ethan trotted and galloped around the sofa and participated in the entire adventure of Little Horse with his puff pony. It took a while to get into our groove.
Storytime- A book about farm animals playing and I don't have it anymore because it was an ECFE book and Winter on the Farm adapted from the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Ethan and Avery both want to take care of animals and would like to have a farm.
Art- We took out our big drawing tablets and Ethan drew a big barn and horses. Avery drew a cat. We then created a barn on drawing paper using glue and craft sticks. Before Ethan created the barn he made a landscape for the barn, grass, corn and a blue sky. He then made his own barn after I demonstrated two styles of barns with the sticks. He wanted to make his own style. At first he put the glue on the sticks and then he put the glue on the paper and the stick on the glue. He drew the outline of the stick with glue before placing it. Following the completion of the barn he colored and cut out a horse. He colored the horse blue. The horse was pasted on the paper next to the barn. I only guided the overall project steps but not any of the placing of items nor color choices. Once the barn dried Ethan colored it red and blue.
Letters- While I made lunch Ethan made words using the word whammer. He found the letters for LOG, TAX, DOG, CAT, ARM, and his own word- DIE, which thrilled him. He sorted the vowels from the consonants.
Avery went to ECFE from 1-4pm.
During her absence, Ethan sorted three decks of flash cards into four categories-colors, shapes, objects (with the object word rather than the object color or shape), and numbers. From there we made our own sorting game using colors, letters, and purpose. He also learned about pent-hex-oct shapes, cones, cylinders, and cubes.
Ethan also took out the addition flash cards and worked on that while I started the stick ponies project.
The stick ponies were made out of one of my dad's sweatshirts with yard for hair. After picking up Avery from ECFE we ran our errands to the bakery, the hardware store for the dowel, and silbaugh's for the fluffing (stuffing). After we came home we stuffed the ponies and added the dowel. While Ethan was at Tae Kwon Do I glued the dowels in and tied them shut. We'll add ears and eyes tomorrow using felt and glue.
Ethan attended Tae Kwon Do and learned round house kicks. He will get a white belt in November. He likes the class and does well. Ryan says the class is a good class overall, ages 4-6.
We didn't go to the library but we ran errands. Tomorrow is storytelling day and tea time with Marcia. We'll add features to our horses, bake and create stories about our horses using farm and landscape pictures.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Still Here, Still Having FUN
We are having very good days and learning is fun. This week and possibly the next one or two we are weaving our days around the concept of midieval times. On Monday we learned about catapults, knights, castles and the organization of land surround castles. Yesterday we learned about dragons and caves. Today we're still working with Dragons and will make handpuppets and because it's story day we'll make story books by drawing the story about a dragon, whatever comes to their minds. We'll also make caves again and play with popcorn and make a popcorn dragon, on paper. (but a 3-d one would be cool)
I keep a daily log that I enter all of our progress in, what songs we do (which all have moment patterns), workbook pages, story books, and all activities.
We are having a successful fall. I look forward to every day and what might come by letting my heart and my kids guide the process.
I keep a daily log that I enter all of our progress in, what songs we do (which all have moment patterns), workbook pages, story books, and all activities.
We are having a successful fall. I look forward to every day and what might come by letting my heart and my kids guide the process.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Today's Adventure
We began later in the morning because of the great storm that rolled through about 3am and woke up all up.
Our day always begins with song and movement. I burned a new cd and our songs we did today were Round and Round, Sailor Boy, My Little Pony, Trip Trip Trap, Wild Goose, Autumn Recorder Song, The Mill (new), The Apple (new/fingerplay) and Come Celebrate and The Cool of Autumn. (celebrating the equinox)
We read about the loons migration and breeding and will hopefully go to Sand Lake tomorrow to see the loons close up.
We set up three new bird feeders, two window ones and one for thistle. The birds took two days to find the seeds in the old feeders. We filled them on Wednesday. We took a lot of pictures of the leaves and the birds with our digital camera. I'll post some later tomorrow or next week.
We watched an Eyewitness video about birds. For our afternoon we played outside, drew birds in our daily journals, and played more. We've all got colds and took it easier today. Ethan didn't feel he could concentrate on his workbooks so we left that for another day.
And now I'm off to teach yoga.
Our day always begins with song and movement. I burned a new cd and our songs we did today were Round and Round, Sailor Boy, My Little Pony, Trip Trip Trap, Wild Goose, Autumn Recorder Song, The Mill (new), The Apple (new/fingerplay) and Come Celebrate and The Cool of Autumn. (celebrating the equinox)
We read about the loons migration and breeding and will hopefully go to Sand Lake tomorrow to see the loons close up.
We set up three new bird feeders, two window ones and one for thistle. The birds took two days to find the seeds in the old feeders. We filled them on Wednesday. We took a lot of pictures of the leaves and the birds with our digital camera. I'll post some later tomorrow or next week.
We watched an Eyewitness video about birds. For our afternoon we played outside, drew birds in our daily journals, and played more. We've all got colds and took it easier today. Ethan didn't feel he could concentrate on his workbooks so we left that for another day.
And now I'm off to teach yoga.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Today's Efforts
If I do what feels right for the day, we have such fun days. If I do what thinks right, I break down quite early on and nothing flows well. Go with feeling.
And today was a feeling day. I woke up feeling good. We started our day when it felt good. We moved in a way that felt good. We danced to songs, tramped around the couch and played ponies and sang our fingerplay songs. We read about geese flying south for story time and drew a picture in our daily journals. We took a break outside before lunch. After lunch we went outside and put birdseed in the feeders to attract the birds for our bird themed week and came in for afternoon focus. We did five pages in Ethan's math workbook, made a chain garland out of five fall colors and made a color tapestry by weaving strips of paper together. We hung the garland in our livingroom. We cleaned up and ate a snack and are back outside watching for birds.
Avery and Ethan want to catch one.
I think we had a really good day. It felt good. It felt like flow. I can do these kinds of days. Do what feels right and things go really well.
And tonight we go into brainerd to run errands.
And today was a feeling day. I woke up feeling good. We started our day when it felt good. We moved in a way that felt good. We danced to songs, tramped around the couch and played ponies and sang our fingerplay songs. We read about geese flying south for story time and drew a picture in our daily journals. We took a break outside before lunch. After lunch we went outside and put birdseed in the feeders to attract the birds for our bird themed week and came in for afternoon focus. We did five pages in Ethan's math workbook, made a chain garland out of five fall colors and made a color tapestry by weaving strips of paper together. We hung the garland in our livingroom. We cleaned up and ate a snack and are back outside watching for birds.
Avery and Ethan want to catch one.
I think we had a really good day. It felt good. It felt like flow. I can do these kinds of days. Do what feels right and things go really well.
And tonight we go into brainerd to run errands.
Making Choices
I've come to realize that we're already living an enki lifestyle and a lot of the material in the guides are for families coming from very disconnected lifestyles, or with special needs children. If I just let the guides sit unused I feel that we will have a successful school year regardless of their use. The material is at the heart of why I chose enki, the activities, stories, and crafts. I love the songs, movement, projects, stories and the spirit and heart behind everything. I love being able to weave what I want into our days and weeks and months and feel very flexible and confident in my approach.
But yesterday was another matter. Every now and then I need to have someone listen to my concerns and help me see my path. I needed help yesterday. And help came. Friends are such treasures.
But yesterday was another matter. Every now and then I need to have someone listen to my concerns and help me see my path. I needed help yesterday. And help came. Friends are such treasures.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
And So We Begin
Our Enki daily schedule will follow this outline-
10am- Movement
10:30- Story time
11:00- Story Work and Creative Play
12-noon Lunch
12:30pm- Rest
1:30- Afternoon Adventure
In there I have 11 books worth of curriculum and material to weave. The titles are- Folk and Faerie Tales, Nature Stories, Community and Festival Songs, Learning through Movement- Seasons and Skills, Learning through Movement II, Seasonal Crafts, and five guides.
I will go through the materials tonight, again, and choose what I want to focus on for Harvest for September's theme. We're coming into harvest season and tomorrow and Tuesday we'll begin to decorate our house with Fall Colors. We'll also have a starting ceremony tomorrow to begin our homeschooling adventure. I have offered my home to a guest from out of state to do some private sessions and we'll be gone on an afternoon adventure when she's here. I think we'll go to a fun park and play and talk about the colors we're starting to see in the trees and flowers. Maybe we'll go on a nature walk. The poison ivy is less. :)
Lots to choose from. I'll post my choices in this week's reading, craft, and movement activities when I have my list.
10am- Movement
10:30- Story time
11:00- Story Work and Creative Play
12-noon Lunch
12:30pm- Rest
1:30- Afternoon Adventure
In there I have 11 books worth of curriculum and material to weave. The titles are- Folk and Faerie Tales, Nature Stories, Community and Festival Songs, Learning through Movement- Seasons and Skills, Learning through Movement II, Seasonal Crafts, and five guides.
I will go through the materials tonight, again, and choose what I want to focus on for Harvest for September's theme. We're coming into harvest season and tomorrow and Tuesday we'll begin to decorate our house with Fall Colors. We'll also have a starting ceremony tomorrow to begin our homeschooling adventure. I have offered my home to a guest from out of state to do some private sessions and we'll be gone on an afternoon adventure when she's here. I think we'll go to a fun park and play and talk about the colors we're starting to see in the trees and flowers. Maybe we'll go on a nature walk. The poison ivy is less. :)
Lots to choose from. I'll post my choices in this week's reading, craft, and movement activities when I have my list.
A Week Off
We took last week off from anything homeschooling. Labor Day weekend we visited the MN Zoo and learned about all kinds of animals. Ethan's favorite animal at the zoo was everything. He got a stuffed Raccoon that he calls Cutie Pah or Cannon Boat. (yes) Avery got a wolf that she called an otter. (yes)
Thursday, August 30, 2007
My Gratitude
Thank you to my dearest friend, Karlene, for helping me to be giant in my heart. Thank you for taking the time to listen, and to ask the right questions to help me see the greater picture.
Our Thursday
Sun. Sun. Sun. Glorious SUN!! For the past two days our source of light and heat was out to bless us with its golden rays of joy and life. We spent about 4 hours outside today, and the kids are still outside. During our time outside the kids went on an "Adventure", where they donned their backpacks and set off in general direction seeking adventure. Into the woods to lands unknown. Thankfully I know every inch of land to the south and east of our property so an adventure is okay as long as I can hear them. I didn't go with and they were never out of earshot. Should they get so, I would find them. I have excellent woods sense, being a logger's daughter. (thanks dad!)
We watched Pocahontas this afternoon with discussion about conflict resolution and words like savage. It's a decent film, and I like the spiritual aspect of communicating with Nature. I know it's nothing like what really happened but it's still a decent movie. After the movie we started making our dreamtime pillows, out of felt at first and then less dense cotton. The felt we made into triangular shapes, creating a pattern and then cutting a second piece from the pattern. The felt was too dense for the stubbed needle so I found other material. Instead of a triangle we used rectangles and started sewing along the sides. The kids wanted to finish their projects later so they're put away in a labeled bag until next time. When they are finished, we'll turn them inside out and fill them with herbs and batting and put them under our pillows. Avery's will need some resewing but Ethan was doing really well at staying near the edge and keeping a straight line.
This evening we made a sinful sunshine cake with a yellow cake base with mandarin oranges and chocolate chips. We ate dessert before dinner. Sometimes it's the best way to have your cake and eat it too.
We watched Pocahontas this afternoon with discussion about conflict resolution and words like savage. It's a decent film, and I like the spiritual aspect of communicating with Nature. I know it's nothing like what really happened but it's still a decent movie. After the movie we started making our dreamtime pillows, out of felt at first and then less dense cotton. The felt we made into triangular shapes, creating a pattern and then cutting a second piece from the pattern. The felt was too dense for the stubbed needle so I found other material. Instead of a triangle we used rectangles and started sewing along the sides. The kids wanted to finish their projects later so they're put away in a labeled bag until next time. When they are finished, we'll turn them inside out and fill them with herbs and batting and put them under our pillows. Avery's will need some resewing but Ethan was doing really well at staying near the edge and keeping a straight line.
This evening we made a sinful sunshine cake with a yellow cake base with mandarin oranges and chocolate chips. We ate dessert before dinner. Sometimes it's the best way to have your cake and eat it too.
My dream
Before me I saw two pools. The one on the left was formed out of a raised concrete square with rounded corners, but the shape was obviously a square. The walls were two or more feet high and the pool was contained. The water look sterile, like it was chlorinated and it was all one color. There was nothing surrounding the pool, just the pool alone.
The second pool was a natural pool, with natural edges and you could walk right in, no barriers. The water was different shades depending on where you looked. There was movement to the water, gentle ripples. And further down from where I stood there was nature surrounding the pool, trees and grasses.
To get into the first pool, you had to step over the barrier. I couldn't do it. The concrete was rough and uninviting. The water looked dead and it felt toxic. However, I could stand with my feet bare on the edge of the natural pool, the earth soft beneath them and the water gently lapping at my toes. All I could see was growth and peaceful contentedness within the space of this pool, and felt that there was no end to this pool's possibilities. It was alive.
Which pool would you choose? I made my choice.
The second pool was a natural pool, with natural edges and you could walk right in, no barriers. The water was different shades depending on where you looked. There was movement to the water, gentle ripples. And further down from where I stood there was nature surrounding the pool, trees and grasses.
To get into the first pool, you had to step over the barrier. I couldn't do it. The concrete was rough and uninviting. The water looked dead and it felt toxic. However, I could stand with my feet bare on the edge of the natural pool, the earth soft beneath them and the water gently lapping at my toes. All I could see was growth and peaceful contentedness within the space of this pool, and felt that there was no end to this pool's possibilities. It was alive.
Which pool would you choose? I made my choice.
Comparison
I am a comparison shopper. Yesterday was the public school's open house for all grades. We went. I wanted to know what Ethan would be getting if he went to school there- who his teacher would be and who would be in his class. The hardest part, for me, was discovering that his two best friends are in his class. The two boys he talks about all the time. And there were a lot of his friends from his ECFE in this class. I know the teacher and think she's great. And I liked the general feel of what would be his time in class should he go.
Initially I wasn't going to bring him there, because I knew he'd want to go. I knew he'd want to be with his friends. And would get excited about going. The class size is reasonable, 18 kids. The layout is nice. And the teacher is great. And he'd share a locker with his best friend, Konner.
So, we came home and talk about it. Why would I want to homeschool after all that?
I remember last year, how just after 2 half days a week my son became someone else. I remember that even last fall certain behaviors stared showing up that eventually were explained by who was in his class and what he did at school. There were the expected things like potty language and competitiveness, but there were also the unexpected behaviors like a nervous response and negative behavior towards Avery. By the end of the school year, he was less affectionate, less kind overall, more aggressive, and in general more obnoxious. He stopped hugging me, and singing throughout the day. He delighted in picking on Avery and making her react. And it all went away by the end of June.
I was surprised by how much he had changed. I'd almost forgotten how wonderful he could be....and how my definition of wonderful had to change to when he was in school, because I still loved my son and wanted to feel that he was wonderful. I delighted in his art work, and his stories of friendship and play, and all his new skills and songs. But I was greatly saddened by his behavioral changes.
Because of this, and knowing my son, we went to school, to see and compare. I needed to know what he'd receive. And now I know. My heart is still for homeschool. My head is questioning my decision to bring him there in the first place simply because of the strain it put on him. I knew we'd be challenged by going because he'd like it so much. I needed to know. I needed to see him in that environment and be able to know that if I kept him home that I wouldn't be breaking his heart by keeping him away from a part of his world that he loves. What he loves is the socializing and the flow of that kind of learning. He likes the colors, the name tags, the learning centers, the unknown. He likes the playing and the singing and overall learning. And he'd be great in public school.
My husband agrees with me that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to education and that what he knows is just a part of who he is, rather than the most important part. And overall I know that we'd loose a lot of quality by having Ethan attend public school. Quality of his life, in behavior and time. Quality of our lives, in having to work with the behavioral changes and seeing him less.
I am a stay at home mom for a reason. I choose to make my children my priority. I am keeping my work schedule very low now to be able to tend to their education. I am making my home into a space with different learning centers to give Ethan a taste of the public school style. We found a fantastic curriculum with wonderful lessons and activities. And we'd get so much more from homeschooling than public school could ever give, because we'd get more quality of life, and that's what we need for a lifetime of successful being. I want to homeschool.
Initially I wasn't going to bring him there, because I knew he'd want to go. I knew he'd want to be with his friends. And would get excited about going. The class size is reasonable, 18 kids. The layout is nice. And the teacher is great. And he'd share a locker with his best friend, Konner.
So, we came home and talk about it. Why would I want to homeschool after all that?
I remember last year, how just after 2 half days a week my son became someone else. I remember that even last fall certain behaviors stared showing up that eventually were explained by who was in his class and what he did at school. There were the expected things like potty language and competitiveness, but there were also the unexpected behaviors like a nervous response and negative behavior towards Avery. By the end of the school year, he was less affectionate, less kind overall, more aggressive, and in general more obnoxious. He stopped hugging me, and singing throughout the day. He delighted in picking on Avery and making her react. And it all went away by the end of June.
I was surprised by how much he had changed. I'd almost forgotten how wonderful he could be....and how my definition of wonderful had to change to when he was in school, because I still loved my son and wanted to feel that he was wonderful. I delighted in his art work, and his stories of friendship and play, and all his new skills and songs. But I was greatly saddened by his behavioral changes.
Because of this, and knowing my son, we went to school, to see and compare. I needed to know what he'd receive. And now I know. My heart is still for homeschool. My head is questioning my decision to bring him there in the first place simply because of the strain it put on him. I knew we'd be challenged by going because he'd like it so much. I needed to know. I needed to see him in that environment and be able to know that if I kept him home that I wouldn't be breaking his heart by keeping him away from a part of his world that he loves. What he loves is the socializing and the flow of that kind of learning. He likes the colors, the name tags, the learning centers, the unknown. He likes the playing and the singing and overall learning. And he'd be great in public school.
My husband agrees with me that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to education and that what he knows is just a part of who he is, rather than the most important part. And overall I know that we'd loose a lot of quality by having Ethan attend public school. Quality of his life, in behavior and time. Quality of our lives, in having to work with the behavioral changes and seeing him less.
I am a stay at home mom for a reason. I choose to make my children my priority. I am keeping my work schedule very low now to be able to tend to their education. I am making my home into a space with different learning centers to give Ethan a taste of the public school style. We found a fantastic curriculum with wonderful lessons and activities. And we'd get so much more from homeschooling than public school could ever give, because we'd get more quality of life, and that's what we need for a lifetime of successful being. I want to homeschool.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Tuesday's Efforts
In the morning, we began our schooling efforts after 10am, which is when things settle into our daily groove- post breakfast. We kept the morning (and day) simple by doing exercises with bean bags- passing them through our legs and circling them around out waists and overhead, as well as tossing them up and catching them while counting the times tossed. We sorted by color, letters, shapes and numbers (as we have three sets- numbers, letters, and shapes). A lot of this was for Avery's skills but Ethan had fun. We finished by tossing them back into their box using both arms to gain greater ambidexterity.
Ethan and Avery took mid-day to play in their room and with their building toys. After lunch we made banana bread- Ethan worked on cracking the eggs and Avery helped mash the bananas and mix the batter. Then we did collages and cut images from my old massage magazines and made our own magazines. Avery's good at cutting out images and pasting. We had practice yesterday at Marcia and Becky's house.
And that was it. We kept it low-key and fun.
I'm really getting into the Enki curriculum. I am still reading reading reading about Enki teaching methods and all the nuts and bolts (easy reading but still heady). And I feel confident in being able to modify it to suit our family's needs. It's going to be a fantastic year.
We'll homeschool Monday-Thursday with Friday being an off day for travels and errands. Or keeping it open to be the make-up day. We'll homeschool from 10-3, give or take, letting the day be about fun, play, flow, and healthy living. A lot of our overall day counts towards the Enki style of homeschooling, but the focus hours are from 10-3. I am not ready to do anything before 10, even if I'm up at 6am like I was today. 10 am is when I kick into to teacher mode and 3pm is when we need to rest and get personal space.
This weekend we're going to the MN zoo and whatever wherever else floats our boat in the twin cities. We'll be going with Ryan's family and staying at a hotel with a great pool. I'm looking forward to a short vacation (of sorts) with the kids.
Ethan and Avery took mid-day to play in their room and with their building toys. After lunch we made banana bread- Ethan worked on cracking the eggs and Avery helped mash the bananas and mix the batter. Then we did collages and cut images from my old massage magazines and made our own magazines. Avery's good at cutting out images and pasting. We had practice yesterday at Marcia and Becky's house.
And that was it. We kept it low-key and fun.
I'm really getting into the Enki curriculum. I am still reading reading reading about Enki teaching methods and all the nuts and bolts (easy reading but still heady). And I feel confident in being able to modify it to suit our family's needs. It's going to be a fantastic year.
We'll homeschool Monday-Thursday with Friday being an off day for travels and errands. Or keeping it open to be the make-up day. We'll homeschool from 10-3, give or take, letting the day be about fun, play, flow, and healthy living. A lot of our overall day counts towards the Enki style of homeschooling, but the focus hours are from 10-3. I am not ready to do anything before 10, even if I'm up at 6am like I was today. 10 am is when I kick into to teacher mode and 3pm is when we need to rest and get personal space.
This weekend we're going to the MN zoo and whatever wherever else floats our boat in the twin cities. We'll be going with Ryan's family and staying at a hotel with a great pool. I'm looking forward to a short vacation (of sorts) with the kids.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Home School Curriculum Reviews
In my Enki discussion group, there are a lot of families that have tried other curriculum and ended up with enki because of several reasons- mostly a lot to do with their children's learning styles and family needs. www.homeschoolreview.com provides a good overview of a zillion different homeschool curriculum and it explains in better detail why we chose enki. I love that each curriculum has personal feedback, pros and cons.
I'm all fired up to homeschool. Our path includes but limits the use of the computer and tv as teaching tools. I don't want my kids to be without computer skills but I want to limit their sedentary time to educational/family videos and the occasional splurge of an educational game. Ethan's on the computer maybe twice a week now, rather than every day when he'd wake up (which was when he was in pre-school). I'd come downstairs and find him playing a game that he'd saved and he had to get off because I don't think being on the computer first thing in the morning is always ideal because it's not healthy. (needless to say this morning is different for me, but I am doing my homework as a teacher). Since he settled back into his personality, he rarely is drawn to sitting at the computer. Instead he busies himself with books, legos, and his stuffed animals or goes outside. He is back to himself and happy. I find him singing more, and being kinder to Avery. He is more respectful of others. I am happier too. I love having my kid back.
I'm all fired up to homeschool. Our path includes but limits the use of the computer and tv as teaching tools. I don't want my kids to be without computer skills but I want to limit their sedentary time to educational/family videos and the occasional splurge of an educational game. Ethan's on the computer maybe twice a week now, rather than every day when he'd wake up (which was when he was in pre-school). I'd come downstairs and find him playing a game that he'd saved and he had to get off because I don't think being on the computer first thing in the morning is always ideal because it's not healthy. (needless to say this morning is different for me, but I am doing my homework as a teacher). Since he settled back into his personality, he rarely is drawn to sitting at the computer. Instead he busies himself with books, legos, and his stuffed animals or goes outside. He is back to himself and happy. I find him singing more, and being kinder to Avery. He is more respectful of others. I am happier too. I love having my kid back.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Home School Agenda August 19-25th
Tuesday and Thursday
-Songs connecting us to our bodies- If You're Happy, Hokey Pokey, and several Laurie Berkner songs, incorporate Laurie Berkner DVD
-Body movement and expression through movement, telling a story with our bodies- will use a few books to help (ones on gardening/farming, space adventures and so forth)
-Fingerpaints and self-portraits, exploring textures and colors- connect to emotions
-Anatomy- working on understanding the many layers of human flesh and bones and organs
-Drawing our bodies on a long sheet of paper and filling in the bones and organs from memory or visual aids
-Eye Witness video on human body
Thursday or Friday-
-Bluegrass festival in Pine River 1-2 hours
-Songs connecting us to our bodies- If You're Happy, Hokey Pokey, and several Laurie Berkner songs, incorporate Laurie Berkner DVD
-Body movement and expression through movement, telling a story with our bodies- will use a few books to help (ones on gardening/farming, space adventures and so forth)
-Fingerpaints and self-portraits, exploring textures and colors- connect to emotions
-Anatomy- working on understanding the many layers of human flesh and bones and organs
-Drawing our bodies on a long sheet of paper and filling in the bones and organs from memory or visual aids
-Eye Witness video on human body
Thursday or Friday-
-Bluegrass festival in Pine River 1-2 hours
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Getting into the Flow
After a wonderful weekend in Duluth, we're back home and getting back into our flow. On Saturday while in Duluth we visited the GLA and took a ride on the pizza train. Grampa Nathan got a bunch of tickets for us, for which we are very thankful. It was a beautiful day.
Because of being gone for four days, today's schooling was low-key. I am tired and wanted to have fun with no stress. We started off today with movement, focusing on soccer skills and group movement. Ethan learned how to control a small ball with only his lower torso and improved his aiming skills by means of a small goal area (Nahni's saucer and the couch provided the goal). He worked on speed, aim, and overall control. He was quite pleased with his progress. Afterwards, Avery joined us in stretching- hands to toes, toes to nose, knees to nose and variations on such, singing variations on The Happy and you Know it song, and group movement focusing on direction and speed. We then sat down and read a simple book and finished out the morning with several pages in Ethan's three workbooks and Avery working on tracing skills.
This afternoon they played outside and are now resting. Tonight they will go to the lake house and play for a few hours while I work.
Next week is buckle down week, with Ryan and I actively defining what we want for our homeschooling goals and better understanding the Enki cirric. I am starting to use the guidelines and will modify as I desire. I trust my intuition when it comes to modifying what my kids need. I am still hopeful that we are going on a trip to S. Dakota for a 1.5 weeks in September but finances and Ryan's work will ultimately determine that. We also have our first homeschool co-op meeting tomorrow and will set up gathering times for the new few months. I am interested in getting more families aware of our existence and am looking into submitting a press release to local papers. This is to be discussed tomorrow. I'm also looking at getting a business card for networking. I like business cards.
Much of my initial homeschooling will be creating some sort of flow. I am not good at regular anything other than eating and sleeping. Each day is different and that's what I prefer. However, I feel the need to create more predictable form for the kids, as they might prefer that over my flow. But in the light of structure, less is ideal but some over none. Finding the balance. So, I am going to find the balance, of all flows, including the input from our new cirric. Always dancing.
Because of being gone for four days, today's schooling was low-key. I am tired and wanted to have fun with no stress. We started off today with movement, focusing on soccer skills and group movement. Ethan learned how to control a small ball with only his lower torso and improved his aiming skills by means of a small goal area (Nahni's saucer and the couch provided the goal). He worked on speed, aim, and overall control. He was quite pleased with his progress. Afterwards, Avery joined us in stretching- hands to toes, toes to nose, knees to nose and variations on such, singing variations on The Happy and you Know it song, and group movement focusing on direction and speed. We then sat down and read a simple book and finished out the morning with several pages in Ethan's three workbooks and Avery working on tracing skills.
This afternoon they played outside and are now resting. Tonight they will go to the lake house and play for a few hours while I work.
Next week is buckle down week, with Ryan and I actively defining what we want for our homeschooling goals and better understanding the Enki cirric. I am starting to use the guidelines and will modify as I desire. I trust my intuition when it comes to modifying what my kids need. I am still hopeful that we are going on a trip to S. Dakota for a 1.5 weeks in September but finances and Ryan's work will ultimately determine that. We also have our first homeschool co-op meeting tomorrow and will set up gathering times for the new few months. I am interested in getting more families aware of our existence and am looking into submitting a press release to local papers. This is to be discussed tomorrow. I'm also looking at getting a business card for networking. I like business cards.
Much of my initial homeschooling will be creating some sort of flow. I am not good at regular anything other than eating and sleeping. Each day is different and that's what I prefer. However, I feel the need to create more predictable form for the kids, as they might prefer that over my flow. But in the light of structure, less is ideal but some over none. Finding the balance. So, I am going to find the balance, of all flows, including the input from our new cirric. Always dancing.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Our Week
Tuesday was mostly a play day. We had company for most of the morning and spent the afternoon playing and settling back into our groove. We played a few board games and weeded our garden.
Wednesday Ethan made it to his Wonderful Wednesday and cut out yellow star shapes and pasted them on black paper. We spent the mid-day at the HDT campus working on our spiritual growth through the open heart drumming circle that I host twice monthly. Our focus was to grow our own energy as well as the energy of the campus. It was another open day, of play and being outdoors and celebrating the summer warmth and beauty.
And today- we had a good day of homeschooling. We started the day off with morning movement guided by the book "Snail's Journey Through the Jungle" by Emma Less. It's a story about a snail who goes on a grand adventure through the jungle and on the way meets all kind of animals and has fun challenges. We were able to act out everything. Following morning movement, we worked on our numbers and dexterity skills by creating a long line using the alphabet blocks and measuring it when it was done. It measured 99 inches long. Ethan then learned how to jump and record the distance using the block line as his starting point and placing a block down where his feet landed and measuring the distance between the two. His first jump was 2 ft. 8 inches, the second 3 ft. and the third 4 ft. 2 inches. Following this he made shapes using the blocks and made a square 20 blocks wide by 20 blocks high. He then sat in the center and so did Avery. They played more outside before lunchtime.
In the afternoon we went to Brainerd and selected a new bike and gear for Ethan and Avery. Ethan got a new big boy bike and a helmet and protective pads and a horn, and Avery got a helmet, pads, and a horn as well. Our goal was that this evening Ethan would go over to the lake house to learn how to ride without training wheels. When I got home from teaching yoga I found Ethan managing to ride in a successful line without falling over. He is on his way.
We'll be visiting Lake Superior this weekend and gathering stones to make a rock garden at home. We will also be making our stepping stones. We were going to do that this morning but got involved with going to Brainerd. Lots to do! So much fun!
Wednesday Ethan made it to his Wonderful Wednesday and cut out yellow star shapes and pasted them on black paper. We spent the mid-day at the HDT campus working on our spiritual growth through the open heart drumming circle that I host twice monthly. Our focus was to grow our own energy as well as the energy of the campus. It was another open day, of play and being outdoors and celebrating the summer warmth and beauty.
And today- we had a good day of homeschooling. We started the day off with morning movement guided by the book "Snail's Journey Through the Jungle" by Emma Less. It's a story about a snail who goes on a grand adventure through the jungle and on the way meets all kind of animals and has fun challenges. We were able to act out everything. Following morning movement, we worked on our numbers and dexterity skills by creating a long line using the alphabet blocks and measuring it when it was done. It measured 99 inches long. Ethan then learned how to jump and record the distance using the block line as his starting point and placing a block down where his feet landed and measuring the distance between the two. His first jump was 2 ft. 8 inches, the second 3 ft. and the third 4 ft. 2 inches. Following this he made shapes using the blocks and made a square 20 blocks wide by 20 blocks high. He then sat in the center and so did Avery. They played more outside before lunchtime.
In the afternoon we went to Brainerd and selected a new bike and gear for Ethan and Avery. Ethan got a new big boy bike and a helmet and protective pads and a horn, and Avery got a helmet, pads, and a horn as well. Our goal was that this evening Ethan would go over to the lake house to learn how to ride without training wheels. When I got home from teaching yoga I found Ethan managing to ride in a successful line without falling over. He is on his way.
We'll be visiting Lake Superior this weekend and gathering stones to make a rock garden at home. We will also be making our stepping stones. We were going to do that this morning but got involved with going to Brainerd. Lots to do! So much fun!
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
In Our Town
Our focus this week is what happens in our town.
On Tuesday-
Ethan- He made a layout of a town, mostly ours, out of building blocks. We discussed what goes on in our town- stores, houses, school, HUG, and who does what in our town. We spent a lot of time outside playing as well.
Avery- She joined in with Ethan constructing a town out of blocks and played hard outside.
Today- Thursday
We are featuring one aspect of what happens in our town- the Post Office.
We are writing letters to various friends and family members and will address and send them off this afternoon or tomorrow. I made a bunch of simple letters for the Post Office experience. I wrote Dad, Mom, Avery, Ethan, or Nahni on the front of each letter. To help Ethan and Avery better understand what happens to the mail, I created a simulation of post office and postal workers. Ethan had to pick up the mail in the morning, sort it at the post office, and deliver it to the appropriate houses. He enjoyed it so much he did it twice. We talked about what happens at the post office, and how letters are sorted, because letters need to go far away sometimes and how that happens.
We did a few pages in our workbooks- matching sounds and other objects, number sequences, played outside and for quiet time we're watching an Eyewitness video on insects.
Tomorrow we'll play store.
On Tuesday-
Ethan- He made a layout of a town, mostly ours, out of building blocks. We discussed what goes on in our town- stores, houses, school, HUG, and who does what in our town. We spent a lot of time outside playing as well.
Avery- She joined in with Ethan constructing a town out of blocks and played hard outside.
Today- Thursday
We are featuring one aspect of what happens in our town- the Post Office.
We are writing letters to various friends and family members and will address and send them off this afternoon or tomorrow. I made a bunch of simple letters for the Post Office experience. I wrote Dad, Mom, Avery, Ethan, or Nahni on the front of each letter. To help Ethan and Avery better understand what happens to the mail, I created a simulation of post office and postal workers. Ethan had to pick up the mail in the morning, sort it at the post office, and deliver it to the appropriate houses. He enjoyed it so much he did it twice. We talked about what happens at the post office, and how letters are sorted, because letters need to go far away sometimes and how that happens.
We did a few pages in our workbooks- matching sounds and other objects, number sequences, played outside and for quiet time we're watching an Eyewitness video on insects.
Tomorrow we'll play store.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Fishin For Trees
For our homeschool efforts today, we created a shopping agenda and went to Brainerd to accomplish our mission. Our list of items included fishing poles, flash cards, notebooks, and markers. We were able to find everything we needed at Target, our store of preference. We went to the HUG campus to see Ryan and tried out our fishing poles. Ethan's been asking for one for a few weeks, and mostly because the thought of fishing makes me sad, I didn't get him one. But it was time and Ethan and Avery spent the better part of an hour learning how to cast, with and without instruction. Ethan managed to catch a few trees, and Avery caught the fence and the playground.
Tonight we are going to the in-law's lake home and will get in more fishing practice, this time for real fish. The lake has at least four varieties of fish- Bass, Northern, Sunnies, and Perch. The odds are in our favor to catch Sunnies.
The flash cards purchased are excellent for solo and group play. Good illustrations and a diverse assortment. Notebooks are 10/$1 and a hard deal to pass up. We usually buy two or three packs a year because the kids love to fill them up or dump them in purple pools. We also got two foam clocks to help Ethan learn how to tell time. (one for me and one for him)
This evening Ethan and Avery learned how to roll pie crust but weren't able to much more than observation. I didn't have enough for their own mini-pies but will when I make pies in the future if I can get better equipment. Our rolling pin doesn't roll well and the surface was too sticky so everything was tricky to get a good crust shape. But with a trip to Kohl's I can fix that! They have wonderful non-stick rolling pins and I can find a new non-stick rolling pad to minimize the mess and maximize convenience.
Update- Ethan and Avery had a good time last night learning how to catch fish, none of which were caught. They used some sort of meat as bait- grilled sausage, and Ethan had several successful bites. On his line he used a hook and plastic worm and a bobber. He might have had a fish if he was gentler about setting the hook. Every time a fish would take the bait and the bobber would disappear, he would jerk the line hard several times, rather than once or twice. But the entire time I was there he got better and better. I think they'll be back outside today. We also had a painful lesson about the nature of bees, primarily walking through their home and what happens when someone does that. We practice ahimsa and bees are not bad, they just do what they have to.
Tonight we are going to the in-law's lake home and will get in more fishing practice, this time for real fish. The lake has at least four varieties of fish- Bass, Northern, Sunnies, and Perch. The odds are in our favor to catch Sunnies.
The flash cards purchased are excellent for solo and group play. Good illustrations and a diverse assortment. Notebooks are 10/$1 and a hard deal to pass up. We usually buy two or three packs a year because the kids love to fill them up or dump them in purple pools. We also got two foam clocks to help Ethan learn how to tell time. (one for me and one for him)
This evening Ethan and Avery learned how to roll pie crust but weren't able to much more than observation. I didn't have enough for their own mini-pies but will when I make pies in the future if I can get better equipment. Our rolling pin doesn't roll well and the surface was too sticky so everything was tricky to get a good crust shape. But with a trip to Kohl's I can fix that! They have wonderful non-stick rolling pins and I can find a new non-stick rolling pad to minimize the mess and maximize convenience.
Update- Ethan and Avery had a good time last night learning how to catch fish, none of which were caught. They used some sort of meat as bait- grilled sausage, and Ethan had several successful bites. On his line he used a hook and plastic worm and a bobber. He might have had a fish if he was gentler about setting the hook. Every time a fish would take the bait and the bobber would disappear, he would jerk the line hard several times, rather than once or twice. But the entire time I was there he got better and better. I think they'll be back outside today. We also had a painful lesson about the nature of bees, primarily walking through their home and what happens when someone does that. We practice ahimsa and bees are not bad, they just do what they have to.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Froggie Went a Courtin
For Ethan- We did our math workbook- focusing on ordinal numbers and story sequences, and the phonics workbook- focusing on the letter Z and an entire alphabet review. We then made a puzzle using a page out of Your Big Backyard magazine. Ethan cut out the pieces, six in all, and put it back together. He also put together a Dr. Seuss puzzle. We also worked on good balance by carrying a 1 cup measuring cup filled to the brim with water over to the counter. It took three tries and he was successful 2 of the three times. He also spooned in the muffin batter and had to make them even amounts. We worked on his reading skills and read 2 short stories from the "Now I'm Reading" level 1 series. From the "Fun with Nature Take-Along Guide" we also read about several frogs and toads that we can find in our area. Ethan and Avery both went on a nature hunt during the rain and reported hearing bats and seeing frogs.
For Avery- She painted in her painting art book using watercolors. She also used stickers to embellish her work. We also danced to a song by Laurie Berkner- Froggie Went A Courtin, and created hand and body gestures to the song.
Yesterday I purchased our Enki Kindergarten curriculum and a subscription to National Geographic Kids. Also, I am starting a homeschool cooperative called Many Paths that will meet twice a month for classes and a third time specifically for socializing. The classes will be in the afternoon or evening and each month one will be a hands-on project for liberal arts/science/math and the other class will be for phy-ed. The group will be run primarily by myself and my friend, Becky Stanton, and will focus on activities guided by the children's interests and the children and parents themselves, and will go beyond the religion being the basis for homeschooling. It will honor the many paths of spirit, education, and lifestyles. Hence the name.
Ryan and I are going to create a mission statement for our homeschool, an overall statement and an individualized one for each child. I will make frequent updates with this information as way to record our experience and progress.
I've been homeschooling Ethan for the past two years, mostly supplemental. I feel completely prepared and extremely excited to go full-time and homeschool throughout his entire educational experience up to college. As for homeschooling all my children- I will go on a per child basis and determine each child's path following pre-school. Avery will begin ECFE in the fall and go once a week for three hours, without us. During that time we will visit the Library and have our story time. Ethan is old enough to make good use of our library.
For Avery- She painted in her painting art book using watercolors. She also used stickers to embellish her work. We also danced to a song by Laurie Berkner- Froggie Went A Courtin, and created hand and body gestures to the song.
Yesterday I purchased our Enki Kindergarten curriculum and a subscription to National Geographic Kids. Also, I am starting a homeschool cooperative called Many Paths that will meet twice a month for classes and a third time specifically for socializing. The classes will be in the afternoon or evening and each month one will be a hands-on project for liberal arts/science/math and the other class will be for phy-ed. The group will be run primarily by myself and my friend, Becky Stanton, and will focus on activities guided by the children's interests and the children and parents themselves, and will go beyond the religion being the basis for homeschooling. It will honor the many paths of spirit, education, and lifestyles. Hence the name.
Ryan and I are going to create a mission statement for our homeschool, an overall statement and an individualized one for each child. I will make frequent updates with this information as way to record our experience and progress.
I've been homeschooling Ethan for the past two years, mostly supplemental. I feel completely prepared and extremely excited to go full-time and homeschool throughout his entire educational experience up to college. As for homeschooling all my children- I will go on a per child basis and determine each child's path following pre-school. Avery will begin ECFE in the fall and go once a week for three hours, without us. During that time we will visit the Library and have our story time. Ethan is old enough to make good use of our library.
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