Week 8

This week I didn't open the curriculum. We schooled everyday, but the curriculum has been very repetitive for Ethan's level. Instead, I had him build a solar powered hoist for small objects, learn division, start reading the Twin Towers, and work in his workbook. I think the key to homeschooling is the balance of keeping growth and opportunity high while providing stability through familiarity. Ethan is a bright child, I want him to learn more of his passions, spend as much time reading as he wants to, yet to have good clear handwriting, and be able to understand the basics of working within structure, even if it's a limited experience.

We are all doing better this year than ever before. I modified our schedule to help reduce my stress and keep us happy.

Monday- Oak Meadow, nature studies, music
Tuesday- Guitar Lessons with me, Workbooks, exploring building/enginnering and other subjects like metaphysical studies, Art
Wednesday- Oak Meadow, Pioneer Studies, Baking
Thursday- Workbooks, Art, ASL or Spanish
Friday- Oak Meadow, Field Trip, Book Report

The areas I am still weak in are nature studies and book reports. I started this last year and never mastered it. Everything else comes easily. I love reading but loathe writing about it. I love nature but don't care to do much beyond walk and enjoy it. I need to find a meaningful way to connect us to these subjects.

And that's our update. We are in week 8 of the year. Things are going well and Ethan will test in January to asses and tweak what needs tweaking. We may move into another grade level if he does well enough. And then again we may not.

All areas of their skills are improving except Ethan's drawing skills. They still stink. But I love his little stick figures regardless. Avery's art is much more stylized and appealing. However, this is common between most girls and boys up to about 3rd grade.

And then Nahni just does what she does, read, follow us, sing and dance, and pout whenever she doesn't want to join in. She is a joy.

New Year, New Focus

We started our first week of fall schooling for our 2009-2010 school year. We battled a mild to moderate flu bug this week so lessons were at a gentle pace. Our schedule looks like this-
Monday- Oak Meadow Curriculum (OM), Nature Walk, and Music (songs and fingerplays)
Tuesday- Avery has School Readiness from 8:10-12:30, Ethan has workbooks and Guitar Lessons
Wednesday- OM, Field Trip (library), Art/Bake, Pioneer Studies
Thursday- Avery School Readiness, Ethan gets to have a morning off or catch up with lessons, ASL
Friday, OM, Muzzy (Spanish), Avery Workbook, Avery Music Lessons

Oak Meadow- second grade and kindergarten
Music- Fall will be Enki songs (very fun and easy fingerplays) (winter will be from Putumayo)
Music Lessons- Ethan will study the guitar, Avery Piano or lap harp

We'll have daily activities following the main lesson, and afternoon art time. We'll have more art and indoor fun in the winter. I'd prefer them to play outside right now and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Our yard has a lot of chicken poop monsters leaving little poop piles everywhere but they're still fun to have and we love being out with them and the bunnies.

We're still using material from Enchantedlearning.com and I'm getting new storage furniture for them at Ikea this weekend to give them playing surfaces. We'll be creating needle felt dolls and landscapes this winter as well. I'm ordering more supplies from Etsy.com and atoygarden.com.
I also am creating a playroom for them in the basement. I reorganized my art space last week when I was feeling good, and next week we'll finish by installing a new sofa bed (essentially a futon), and organizing their toys into a rotational conditional use system. I just need the energy to finish it. They'll have a trapeze bar and I'd like to get them some pod chairs to give them privacy and a sacred place to enjoy (womb chairs I call them). I have 1 hanging chair that might work if we can get it installed.

Our schooling space upstairs works nicely- I might get a round table for schooling so Nahni can sit with us and move the 2 red tables down stairs and the current schooling table over at the window for a nature table. Nahni wants to join us and the current table only seats 2.

Nahni's schooling consists of ASL, colors, letter and number recognition, counting, creating, and playing playing playing.

Ethan's focus is whatever he's interested in (robotics is high on his list), music, creativity and understanding the world around him. He loves google earth and educational videos on youtube. He's fascinated by science and building. I'd love to get him a space set up outside with tools and machines so he can create and learn away.

Avery loves art and is very adept at learning whatever she's presented with. She's into drama, dance, and wants to learn gymnastics and ballet. We'll see what brainerd has.

And so, long post but that's the start to our year. Things are looking good!

Back to Blogging

I needed to take a leave of absence from many things, including my sanity at times. It has been long winter, partially because of the layers of viruses that have come to reside in our lives.

I must admit, my schooling efforts have been incredibly paltry since mid-February. I have been sick and seasonally depressed. It makes for a very challenging approach to home schooling.

Today we are creating our March calendar. It's already the 10th. We are working on Reading, writing to uncle seth, and will make a mess shortly for our science project using H2O and corn starch. Eveyrone's favorite textured mess.

Our weekly calendar looks like this-
Monday- Music, Math, Muzzy (Spanish), Reading
Tuesday- Art, Workbooks, Book Report, Calendar, Reading
Wednesday- Science, Games, Letters to Seth, Reading
Thursday- Reading, Birds, Nature Walk/Journal, ASL, Reading
Friday- Baking, Reading, catch up

Science Subjects- Astronomy, Animals and Plants in Winter
Reading- Special Stories include Grandmother/Grandfather folk stories from around the world

We are still doing Tae Kwon Do, guitar lessons, and Ethan's been attending after school activities through comm ed- Club Invention, and one about birds, both very successful. Avery has started dance lessons through comm ed too, on Tuesdays.

I am anxious for winter to leave, this current cold bug to leave, and my happy sanity to return.

Florida was mostly successful. I'll write an update about it another time.