My wonderful son surprised me today. He started his guitar lessons today with great results. Even though he didn't have his own guitar, which we've ordered and it should be in by next lesson, he was able to use the teacher's guitar and play the first song. He impressed them and certainly impressed me. We ordered him a blue 3/4 size student guitar and he will have lessons weekly on Wednesday 3:30-4pm. I am very pleased and will get my guitar back from the folks soon so I can learn with him. I am quite musical too and want to learn with him.
Our schooling has gone well this week. We enjoyed an afternoon of schooling, as this morning I wasn't feeling well. We sang our circle song, reviewed our new song as we learn one new song a week that we'll eventually perform in November, read about dinosaurs going to sleep, did our workbooks, and ended with a science experiment that wasn't successful but fun.
This afternoon I bought a six sided puzzle for Avery and Nahni to enjoy and a birdhouse kit for Ethan to build tomorrow. We are learning about Egypt tonight with a presentation including homemade food by our cousin Katie Jeanne. I am excited!! And I hear the dessert is stellar.
Ethan and Avery will also have a monthly visit with a local folk musician to learn about folk music and whatever else he has up his sleeves. I have missed my dad's musical influence with my kids and wanted to find someone to help fill the gap and Drew H. is the man. He is good with kids, loves his music, and is passionate about life. We are also enjoyed our theater workshop with Marcia. The kids are developing their play and will perform it in October or November. I'll let her decide. They love their hour with her and it's a win win for us all as it gives them something to do and me time with Nahni or to myself, always on the sidelines though.
I am seeking an artist to come and play with the kids, teach them something either I suck at or just don't like to do (some things I love but suck at, other things I just loathe doing). I like having people come here, and we have a wonderful setup for most activities.
Namaste
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Welcome Fall
Last week we began our fall schedule. It has been a good two weeks. I feel accomplished, something I didn't feel but two or three times total last fall semester. I am doing my blending of curriculum and tending to what we need for the day and season. We are not in Itasca, which was on our weekend schedule. The weather is wonderfully rainy and allows for us to have an evening home. I didn't schedule work this weekend so I am happily home with the four kids (Konnor is here) and the hubby. And the skunk dog.
Okay, I'm rambling.
Today Ethan worked on handwriting, reading, art, and creative construction using my yoga blocks and legos. It was a mostly pleasant day, and everything got done with fun. I like days like that.
We have a new computer, a Mac Mini, that we use for basic functions. I am happy to have a little computer with no noise other than happy sounds that we want to hear. The other one sounded like a jet engine.
Okay, I'm rambling.
Today Ethan worked on handwriting, reading, art, and creative construction using my yoga blocks and legos. It was a mostly pleasant day, and everything got done with fun. I like days like that.
We have a new computer, a Mac Mini, that we use for basic functions. I am happy to have a little computer with no noise other than happy sounds that we want to hear. The other one sounded like a jet engine.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Our new year has begun. I have all my supplies necessary to begin. We visited Ikea and got a new desk and shelf unit that allows for me to be super organized, which I need for flow. We have three stations set up, one for computer, one for art, one for mixed media. We also got a new big soft rug for happy feet and hands as they play in our school area. I feel so excited and we have had a great start to our week. Each day has 3-5 subjects, and I'm blending curriculum and other materials to make a fuller experience for us. We ordered science and math materials from Delta Education. We are ordering more art supplies for our needle felting fall project and other art/craft projects. We have a friend coming in every Monday starting mid-September doing a theatrical/drama class with the kids and Ethan will start music lessons in September as well as Tae Kwon Do. Avery will not be going to ECFE's day program but will attend their Monday evening program with either Ryan or myself. Nahni has her own little table with two chairs and while we did our workbooks today she laid on her belly looking at her books. It was so cute.
I am delighted to have a good start to our new year. I am delighted to have enough funding to make our schooling fuller, more hands-on and fun (and doable). I am honored to have my children want to school with me. I do not feel stressed by this opportunity and am glad I've been at it for four years. It gets better with every year.
Avery is doing kindergarten level work, Ethan 1st-3rd grade depending on the subject. Nahni is absorbing and dancing with us.
Over the summer Ethan's reading light went on and he's reading up a storm. It's awesome to see his progress and this will help me considerable this year.
Out trip to Minneapolis was wonderful. We visited Como Zoo and enjoyed all the very active and lovely animals. We loved the giant lilly pads outside. We swam three times and no one drowned. It wasn't a big pool but we had fun. Ryan and the kids rode the light rail from the city center into the mega mall while Nahni and I enjoyed Ikea. Then we visited the fish at the Underwater world and finished our experience with a long and wonderful visit at the science museum. It was a busy but fantastic time. I am so glad we survived with smiles.
Next week we visit Itasca State Park. We'll get the camping trailer ready next week and make sure we're good to go every other way. I love Itasca and am so excited for the kids to meet the ancient ones in the woods and to dance in the head waters. It will be magical!
Mahalo
I am delighted to have a good start to our new year. I am delighted to have enough funding to make our schooling fuller, more hands-on and fun (and doable). I am honored to have my children want to school with me. I do not feel stressed by this opportunity and am glad I've been at it for four years. It gets better with every year.
Avery is doing kindergarten level work, Ethan 1st-3rd grade depending on the subject. Nahni is absorbing and dancing with us.
Over the summer Ethan's reading light went on and he's reading up a storm. It's awesome to see his progress and this will help me considerable this year.
Out trip to Minneapolis was wonderful. We visited Como Zoo and enjoyed all the very active and lovely animals. We loved the giant lilly pads outside. We swam three times and no one drowned. It wasn't a big pool but we had fun. Ryan and the kids rode the light rail from the city center into the mega mall while Nahni and I enjoyed Ikea. Then we visited the fish at the Underwater world and finished our experience with a long and wonderful visit at the science museum. It was a busy but fantastic time. I am so glad we survived with smiles.
Next week we visit Itasca State Park. We'll get the camping trailer ready next week and make sure we're good to go every other way. I love Itasca and am so excited for the kids to meet the ancient ones in the woods and to dance in the head waters. It will be magical!
Mahalo
Monday, August 11, 2008
Mid-August Already
Time is indeed rushing past as the speed of August, a month that seems to disappear even before it begins.
Today we deepened into the exploration of the mississippi waterways. We colored the states that touch the river and talked about where the river begins. We will deepen into the adventure through our book, the Might Minn over the next few weeks before our visit to Itasca.
This week we'll chart the flow of the mississippi in Minnesota and note where we'll cross it on our upcoming trip.
Today Ethan began writing a bionicle book. It's great. He's also creating illustrations that indicate a storyline developing from still images. Like a jedi attacking a droid. Ethan is constantly building and because of his hands-on approach to learning I'm ordering science kits that are all about hands-on learning methods to understand the subject. Each kit has several activities and comes with all the materials needed and in its own little storage box. Nutshell kits from Delta Education.
I haven't enrolled Avery into ECFE's preschool and don't know if I will. She comes home from the wonderful Wednesday activities all ornery but she has fun. I know she will do fine without attending the ECFE program but we can still make the final decision before the end of August.
I'll be getting a new desk this week at Ikea during our trip. I will have 25 cubbies for organization, which I desperately need for our craft materials and paperwork and homeschool materials in general, and a desk that can be used by three people at the same time including computer usage. I am SO excited. I am an organizational nut. I need everything in a space, labeled if possible, and easily accessible. Flow. Sometimes flow takes effort to get it there but once it's there, whee!
It's time to get back into the flow beyond the mind-suck computer screen. Blessings!
Today we deepened into the exploration of the mississippi waterways. We colored the states that touch the river and talked about where the river begins. We will deepen into the adventure through our book, the Might Minn over the next few weeks before our visit to Itasca.
This week we'll chart the flow of the mississippi in Minnesota and note where we'll cross it on our upcoming trip.
Today Ethan began writing a bionicle book. It's great. He's also creating illustrations that indicate a storyline developing from still images. Like a jedi attacking a droid. Ethan is constantly building and because of his hands-on approach to learning I'm ordering science kits that are all about hands-on learning methods to understand the subject. Each kit has several activities and comes with all the materials needed and in its own little storage box. Nutshell kits from Delta Education.
I haven't enrolled Avery into ECFE's preschool and don't know if I will. She comes home from the wonderful Wednesday activities all ornery but she has fun. I know she will do fine without attending the ECFE program but we can still make the final decision before the end of August.
I'll be getting a new desk this week at Ikea during our trip. I will have 25 cubbies for organization, which I desperately need for our craft materials and paperwork and homeschool materials in general, and a desk that can be used by three people at the same time including computer usage. I am SO excited. I am an organizational nut. I need everything in a space, labeled if possible, and easily accessible. Flow. Sometimes flow takes effort to get it there but once it's there, whee!
It's time to get back into the flow beyond the mind-suck computer screen. Blessings!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Upcoming Adventures
I'm working on getting two field trips put together for my family- one to the Twin Cities for a trip to the Science Museum and maybe Komo Zoo and the other to Itasca. We'll be going south to the Twin Cities August 14th-16th and will take in the Star Wars show at the Science Museum. We're also working on local history and will go to Itasca and camp two nights to enjoy the outdoors and the special perk of the Mississippi headwaters. I'm excited and looking forward to seeing something new with the kids.
Monday, July 28, 2008
End of July
We're back into our full groove and have had a wonderful day. No meltdowns, no stubbornness. It's a wonderful start to our full schedule.
We're using the curriculum again, and are repeating some of the last week we left off on. We are covering word families AR, AS, AT this week, and I can see the change in Ethan's reading from just a few months ago, it's much better. We started our day off with our morning circle and learned a new song and movement to the song- Oat Peas Beans, everyone participated and seemed to like it (imagine me and the three kids holding hands and walking around in a slow circle and giggling as we sing the song). We also did a few of our favorite Enki songs before closing with our morning poem. We did the word family AP with a letter matching activity. We then reviewed our spanish vocab, hello, goodbye, thank you, please, you're welcome, colors and numbers, and time of the day. While Ethan built his morning lego creation after the spanish portion, we covered several questions in one of our quiz booklets and then we took the mid-morning off for lunch and play. This afternoon we've gathered flowers, learned their anatomy and colored them in our daily lesson book. We will finish the day with a science experiment determining which items will float. Because we take off Tuesday and Thursday we do more Mon-Wed-Fri. This fall we'll do full days and weeks. The kids are coloring now and are settled into their afternoon flow nicely. Time to prep for the science activity.
Pt. 2
Prep for the project included going around the main floor and finding items that will be fun to explore their density. I choose a feather, a stone bracelet, a lego man, a wooden wheel, a cork stopper, and a small pink stone. I also created a chart with six rows and three columns- Items, Float or Sink. We're about to go in and while we're having our afternoon snack, explore density.
We're using the curriculum again, and are repeating some of the last week we left off on. We are covering word families AR, AS, AT this week, and I can see the change in Ethan's reading from just a few months ago, it's much better. We started our day off with our morning circle and learned a new song and movement to the song- Oat Peas Beans, everyone participated and seemed to like it (imagine me and the three kids holding hands and walking around in a slow circle and giggling as we sing the song). We also did a few of our favorite Enki songs before closing with our morning poem. We did the word family AP with a letter matching activity. We then reviewed our spanish vocab, hello, goodbye, thank you, please, you're welcome, colors and numbers, and time of the day. While Ethan built his morning lego creation after the spanish portion, we covered several questions in one of our quiz booklets and then we took the mid-morning off for lunch and play. This afternoon we've gathered flowers, learned their anatomy and colored them in our daily lesson book. We will finish the day with a science experiment determining which items will float. Because we take off Tuesday and Thursday we do more Mon-Wed-Fri. This fall we'll do full days and weeks. The kids are coloring now and are settled into their afternoon flow nicely. Time to prep for the science activity.
Pt. 2
Prep for the project included going around the main floor and finding items that will be fun to explore their density. I choose a feather, a stone bracelet, a lego man, a wooden wheel, a cork stopper, and a small pink stone. I also created a chart with six rows and three columns- Items, Float or Sink. We're about to go in and while we're having our afternoon snack, explore density.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Mid-July
Well, my son is an emotional wreck after having friends over for three days and two nights. He just had all of his privileges taken away and I'm completely fine saying no.
For schooling today Ethan attended the Terrific Tuesdays activity at the fair grounds and made a fish necklace, 2 paper boxes, and had a good time. Avery and Ethan also played the dice game this afternoon and worked on a mosaic with me for art. That's all my son would do and it was with difficulty. We're going to purge this week and remove 50% of our toys and de-clutter and de-stress. Clutter=stress.
Avery has been busy using scissors on everything she shouldn't. We're working on cutting skills and she has them galore. They will be entering flowers into the fair and hopefully get a prize. Or at least the joyful satisfaction of entering an item and seeing it on display.
I'm quite busy this week with work and getting ready for the fair. I look forward to a quieter week after the fair.
I find it difficult to get Ethan to do much these days. I think he's run amok with the summer breezes.
For schooling today Ethan attended the Terrific Tuesdays activity at the fair grounds and made a fish necklace, 2 paper boxes, and had a good time. Avery and Ethan also played the dice game this afternoon and worked on a mosaic with me for art. That's all my son would do and it was with difficulty. We're going to purge this week and remove 50% of our toys and de-clutter and de-stress. Clutter=stress.
Avery has been busy using scissors on everything she shouldn't. We're working on cutting skills and she has them galore. They will be entering flowers into the fair and hopefully get a prize. Or at least the joyful satisfaction of entering an item and seeing it on display.
I'm quite busy this week with work and getting ready for the fair. I look forward to a quieter week after the fair.
I find it difficult to get Ethan to do much these days. I think he's run amok with the summer breezes.
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