An old archaeology friend of mine commented on my latest facebook pics (album titled 'Homeschooling'), and wrote "do you live in Eden, or what?" Well, I realized in that moment that the images I present to the public, either through facebook, or here on the blog, could be seen as overly 'Pollyanna-ish'. I mean really, I'm not going to post pictures of a constipated crying child, my ugly moments of frustration and fatigue, or the piles of laundry that I can never conquer- just to name a few. That could be it's own blog altogether! Obviously, not all days are sunshine, beaches, and gardens, and happy go lucky children. As like many families we follow the ebb and flow.
Yes, we have some rough days. I am learning, finally, that these are the days that I need to limit our schedule in order to create as much calm and stability- things my children thrive on. Me too. This business of getting lunches ready, clothes together and on, finding shoes, no not those ones, THOSE ones!!!, getting in and out of the car a zillion times, rushing here to there, blah blah. It is a story all families know. On days when our family, or a certain individual is feeling tender, I slow us down. WAAAAY down. This is another benefit of homeschooling- changing the speed when need be. Picking and choosing what feels right.
My First Year Homeschooling and Lessons Learned:
We've come a long way. I'VE come a long way. Back in September I had 100% confidence in our reasons WHY we were choosing to homeschool BUT I had NO confidence in my abilities as a 'teacher' and what our 'school' would look like. I felt the weight of the responsibility of it too. Would Lauren progress at a 'normal' rate, would she fall behind, miss out on her other peers and the whole school experience, etc... ?
But I am happy to report all these fears quickly dissolved. It only took a little while to see Lauren blossoming, and learning, and exploring and questioning and as her confidence built, so did mine. I am gaining more confidence in my abilities to stay organized (not my strong point) and in my teaching. Lauren is such a keen and driven child, that she actually gets me motivated.
We start the morning lessons just after breakfast. I have Tibetan bells that I ring three times. This signals 'school time'. I ring the bells to end our session. The duration varies every day. And of course, many days go by where the bells just don't ring (i.e. no work at the table!). So far the kids love this routine.
The only small hiccup I faced was when my expectations got in the way. For instance, when I had an exercise or activity planned, and it fizzled, or when Lauren didn't want to do it (not often, but it did happen). Or, when I saw Lauren start to catch onto something new and big, and she withdrew from it. I am learning that there is a fine line in gently pushing her (to build confidence) and letting things go and coming back to it later when SHE is ready. Early in the year, I was anxious about letting things go, but now I know not to sweat it and concepts click when the child is READY. You seasoned homeschoolers are thinking "Duh!!!"
The other challenge to our year was keeping the 3 year old Matthew happy and occupied during our morning lessons. We struggled for many months. Some days he'd be happy with the activity I'd set up for him. His station was always next to the table on the floor. An elaborate layout of water filled containers, soap, eye droppers with food coloring, or paint, or car washes, coin polishing, tinkering bits, etc..... Trust me, I went to great creative lengths to keep him occupied. But I slowly learned that there was not much I could do- it was a matter of him feeling isolated. Of course I'd offer him a seat at the table for drawing, writing, cutting, pasting, or whatever- he always answered with an emphatic NO!!! Until recently. Not sure what happened but he's now sitting at the table, writing letters in workbooks, writing his name, drawing like crazy (race cars of course) but race cars in cities and towns, with drivers, and trees, and mountains, and whatever else he comes up with. Can't tell you how happy it makes me to see him discover expression!! So already next year is looking that much easier at our homeschooling table!!!
I must thank my daughter too. So keen and enthusiastic. A joy to be around. Watching her grow, and now her brother's, makes me appreciate what it is we are doing here and why it is so important to their future.
Now onto the nuts and bolts of our learning adventures, for Julie's reading pleasure :) This will be a picture summary since my note taking stinks lately. (at your home visit Julie you can see the workbooks Lauren is working through- I won't list it below.)
And here we go...
First off, I must mention that as of April, Lauren can read. It just clicked. Wasn't I just saying that? www.starfall.com was the catalyst for this. All our phonic work from the years before just clicked during exploration of this site. No stopping her now. Very exciting for all of us. As a mother, this was way more exciting that watching her crawl or walk for the first time. For me, it's a biggie. So proud of Lauren. Reading is such a wondrous thing.
Lauren's first violin recital in April. A night to remember. Lauren showed no stage fright and it was an amazing evening of young talent. Denny Goertz is an incredible teacher. Later I asked Lauren if she was nervous. She thought about it and said "yes, I was. Then I just looked down at my violin and felt o.k." Cool.
Above are pics taken from a Spring Leaves' Wednesday when Kim lead a thoughtful activity at Mortimer Spit. We constructed a mandala in the sand, and got to explore various stones and crystals. We discussed intuition and feelings, and had an opportunity to send intentions or hopes into the healing circle. Lauren had a nice timing bonding with Ebony and Taeven.
On Fridays, Lauren has been taking semi-private dancing lessons taught by Wendy Soares. Gracie Mae is also in the class. The two girls are very keen, and of course this is appreciated by Wendy. Wendy says Lauren has something special, and her intuitive movement is beautiful. Yeah, I know. :) Wendy wants to keep teaching the girls through the summer. I think the three of them are enjoying each other's company immensely.
We visited Dave at work one morning. He called us all excited about the tadpoles living in the rainwater on top of the pool cover at Currents. Dave was in the process of pumping this water out, and thought the kids could do a rescue mission. Tadpoles? I'm in!! Always wanted to do this as a kid, but never did. This was MY turn too!! The kids got the skimmers, nets, and I brought along sanitized containers to catch the tadpoles in. That morning we researched how to care for them, release them, etc. in preparation for keeping tadpoles. A science lesson, right? Well the kids eagerly scooped and explored. They found every water bug imaginable but no tadpoles. The critters Dave thought were tadpoles were this:
Cool nonetheless. Later we looked it up online. The name of this incredibly agile and fast swimmer escapes me at the moment. At any rate, a fun morning!
Mother's Day project at the school with Spring Leaves. Fun. Lauren's comfort zone. And I love my little purse she made me. Of course it is storing HER tidbits and is somewhere in her stash of things. It's the thought that counts. :) (I would love the opportunity for more sewing classes for Lauren. )
Matthew is increasingly confident and happy at school for Spring Leaves' gatherings. He has made a connection with Cedar, and plays alongside the other children more and more. His confidence continues to grow at Montessori where he has some good buddies now. Lauren continues to LOVE Montessori too. Fantastic social time and they count down the days till Thursdays. Anne does music, movement, art, and printing lessons too.
Our Saturna visit. Very short, but it introduced the kids to my favorite childhood pastime. Log raft building. I've been waiting for this!! What an incredibly beautiful island, and while we didn't experience the Saturna Ecological Education Center's full glory, what little I heard and saw, it seems wonderful.
GARDENING:
We've been up at the Limberlost almost everyday for a couple of months now. Working really hard to reclaim the very old garden that was once loved many years ago, and expanding the garden area with deer fencing. The time spent there has been magical for me and the kids and my mom. The first couple of weeks it took the kids some time getting comfortable, and staying amused- go figure. But now they can spend all day up there and happy as ever. We set up a tent, a cooking area, and have everything we need for a home away from home, and a school away from home too!
Schooly lessons through gardening:
-exploring wells, and observing wells being pumped into cisterns via sub-pumps, hoses, powered by a generator. Lauren is in charge of running the hose to the blue watering barrel, and gives the thumbs up when the sub pump is pumping. Her and Matthew have their own part of the garden they are responsible for watering.
-planting seeds
-picking spinach and eating it! Lauren's face lately is green with drippy juicey spinach goodness. And this is the kid who HATED eating green things. She has made salads the last two nights. SO COOL!! I'm thrilled that my kids are learning this food/earth connection.
The old part of the garden. Rich earth lay waiting to be turned over. Fence post holes seen in the mid-ground of photo. Fence and gate are now completed.
home and school away from home
Lauren's drawing here is a Limberlost lesson on the water cycle. There are three wells on the property. Lauren and discussed how the water got there, and that lead to a water cycle discussion. While i was gardening I asked her to go in the tent and draw what we just talked about. And here it is.
We planted seeds in cardboard egg cartons, some had shells in it. A cool way to 'hatch' little seedlings. Went online thinking I had discovered something new. Ah, nope!
We transplanted all our seedlings, but our recent visits to the garden have shown that some have perished. Too wet? Too cold? We are all learning together on this one.
The dog is smiling but Lauren is not. What a terrible mom snapping pics in the middle of a very tragic moment for Lauren. Here Lauren is mourning the loss, or should I say, the release of four dear friends. See picture below.
Here is Nippy, Alice, Carrie and ... can't remember the fourth. These furry critters came home in a jar from Montessori. Lauren fed them leaves, making sure they had air holes in the lid and watched their journey around the jar. The next day, she dumped them out. Carrie, the biggest one, wasn't looking so hot. Stiff actually. I explained that she did a fantastic job at looking after them, but perhaps it was time to release them back to nature. Bravely she found a spot outside and said a tearful goodbye to her friends. Cried for a long long time. What a tender heart she has. And how I can relate.
Cross stitch. Well, I think we should call it Free Stitch. "It's an abstract" she says.
And here he goes....
loves being doctor. Found this Melissa and Doug doctor outfit and he'll doctor you up. Brings a very gentle side out of him, nurturing. Band-aid everywhere.
Math.
Last night was music night.
Art 'class'. Jessie came over to paint and decorate picture frames.
Playing house- in a shower.
Lauren making dinner. Using Romaine and spinach (from our garden) to make almond butter raisin wraps.
My beautiful, passionate, tender hearted boy.
My intuitive, artistic, joyful daughter.
Stay tuned for more adventures in our homeschooling adventures. I have a feeling there will be one more entry before the year end...
Thanks Julie and for anyone else reading this. (a VERY rushed entry)
Over and Out.
Joanne
