Field Trip

Today we went on our first homeschool field trip. It is monarch butterfly tagging season at Botanica. The Sonlight Mom's fellowship group organized a trip. We had about 30 kids. DS1 didn't want to go in after we got up to the gate, but I talked him into it after he saw the rest of the group gathered around a table watching something going on. It was butterfly tagging. Our group tagged 4 butterflies. Then we split into age groups, each with a separate guide, and had an hour (or so) tour. Both boys did really well holding my hand all of the time, staying on the path, and not touching the plants. By the end, DS1 was eager to "follow our leader" ahead of me and DS2, and talked with her some also. They both liked feeding the fish, too. Interestingly, after our tour guide dismissed us and we were on our own, DS1 started acting up a bit and didn't cooperate when it was time to leave.

After finding our car using the emergency button because it was in a different section than I remembered, we went to United Methodist Urban Ministry's Klothes Kloset to donate a lot of clothing. It was 80 pieces of kid's clothing from me and my sister, plus about 10 pieces of adult clothing from my dad. Then we played at Hyde Park. I'm trying to get us to visit all of the local parks that have playground equipment. The city's web page says there are 76 playgrounds located in city parks. I think we've been to 14 so far.

SouleMama

SouleMama ... file this under "Blogs I Like".

Unschooling in People magazine

Ren's Family in People Magazine May 2006 is a scan of the People article entitled Is This Any Way to Learn?. It explains unschooling fairly neutrally. It includes two positive unschooler references (Ren Allen's family and Aidin Carey who attends Harvard). It has some comments from education administrators about their concerns, particularly for kids without family and community support. Overall, it was quite positive toward unschooling.

Gifted Kids Speak Home

Gifted Kids Speak Home... for future reference to read.

Photo Periodic Table Posters

Photo Periodic Table Posters ... very pretty posters of the elements. Wow! Save this one for later (when we have wall space, not necessarily when the boys are "older").

My "Roll Call" on SLUnschoolers

I have 2 sons, ages 4 and 3. I have the Pre-K IG and most of the books. I also have Math U See Primer and many many other books.

Primarily we play, read, watch cartoons, and play computer games. Both boys are quite proficient at finding "their" websites (Nick Jr, Playhouse Disney, PBS Kids) and navigating around to a wide variety of games, in addition to the CD games we have. Last night's favorite was Reader Rabbit Thinking Adventures.

We go to a playgroup most Mondays and some Wednesdays. I try to take them to a park on days we don't go to playgroup. Our homeschool group has half hour "Enrichment Classes" on Fridays and there are some preschool level ones, so we are trying that. The boys were excited to go but sat and watched most of the time. I think as they get used to that group of kids they'll participate more.

A few weeks ago while I was watching the MUS teacher DVD, DS1 came over and watched with me. So I got out the blocks and his workbook and he did 2 or 3 lessons. We haven't gotten it out since, though.

States and Capitals

50states.com - States and Capitals is a resource for information about all 50 US states. I got the link from an ebayer.

Enrichment Class

Friday we went to our first "Enrichment Class" with WIHS. The first one was called "Music and Movement" and was doing actions (including running around buzzing like bees) to some pre-school songs. Both boys watched from the sidelines. The second class was "Shape Man Pete" where the kids were given a piece of construction paper for the background, glue (stick - in our case), and a variety of colorful construction paper shapes to make whatever they wanted. DS1 wasn't interested, but DS2 made a nice abstract piece. We could have left it to be hung on the wall next time, but he decided to take it home to show Daddy.

Even though neither boy participated much, they didn't want to leave. I suspect next time will be better. They are still getting used to this particular group of kids.

Bembo's Zoo

Bembo's Zoo makes animals out of the letters of their names. It's really cute.

Educational Philosophy

"Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere. Every part of that education has a connection with every other part. If it does not all combine to convey some general view of life, it is not education at all." (G.K. Chesterton, The Common Man ).