Geocaching

While on vacation with a borrowed GPS, we have tried out the "sport" of geocaching. We have found 3 caches so far today. I think we have found a new family hobby. What a blast!

Life Is Learning...

It's been over a month since I blogged, but it certainly hasn't been that long since anyone in our family learned anything!

My dad got out of the care center and came to live with us in late April. Life's priorities got turned upside down. It didn't make quite a 180 degree change in our house, but it was huge. I was able to be on the computer very little. We left the house seldom, because he wasn't able to be home alone. Hopefully my boys learned a little bit about how people and relationships come before schedules and appointments. My dad is back in the hospital now, so we are freer to go places, but there are certainly drawbacks again, not the least of which is the health concerns that precipitated him going back.

My in-laws were here for 4 days last week. It was also the weekend of the local homeschool convention. The time was okay with me; we were able to spend some time together, but not too much time.

I bought the next level of Math-U-See, even though we aren't ready for it yet. I'd rather buy it now and save shipping charges than wait until we are ready to start it. I also got a set of 4 audio books. They'll be good for in the car on our vacation later this month. And I got A Record of the Learning Lifestyle for record keeping of non-curriculum stuff. The author noticed my shirt (Life is Learning, Learning is Life, Everywhere, All the Time) and said that was her philosophy, too. We chatted for a while, and I decided that her record keeping book would be more useful than the menu planning board I was going to buy at a different booth.

Since yesterday was the beginning of a week and the beginning of a month, I decided to start our official First Grade year. DS1 is now a first grader. We started keeping track of things again yesterday, and we even read "school books" and did some MUS today. Now I just have to get around to becoming official with the state and registering. I told DS1 that he can help me and DH pick the name of our homeschool.

Storynory: Free Audio Stories for Kids

Storynory: Free Audio Stories for Kids - this site was recommended by a homeschooling friend. I want to check it out later.

Farm Life: 1880s style

We went on a field trip to Old Cowtown Museum with our Sonlight group last Friday. DS1 really absorbed the information in the farmhouse. When we were outside, he kind of got the short end because some of the taller kids in our group didn't step back and let the smaller ones up close to the table where "Mr. Farmer" was showing the different kinds of grain, before and after grinding. He got a good look at the farming implements, animals, and in the barn, though.

DS1's favorite parts were looking in the magnifier at the shells "from back east" and playing cat and mouse. DS2's favorit part was seeing the "giant claw" in the barn that was used to lift bales of hay, straw, and grass. My favorite part was seeing the 1880s toys.

By the end DS2 was getting pretty wiggly and inattentive, but DS1 was still with it. One of the other moms commented that she could just see him soaking up the information like a sponge.

I think the group really enjoyed the trip. Next year I'll offer to organize one again, and we can see "Daily Life: 1870s City Living."

Socializing

For the second day in a row we have had some another homeschooling family over to our house for small group interaction. Both days went well overall and included lunch here. Yesterday's family was an 7 yr old girl, a 5 yr old boy, and their mom. Today's family was an 8 yr old boy, a 5 (almost 6) yr old boy, a 4 yr old boy, and their mom. Today was much louder.

We have also met a single family at a park recently. They were a girl who is older than my boys, a boy younger than my boys, and their mom. That went well, too, even though it was a little chilly.

Even though I like the park days with the big group, I like the one on one family get-togethers better. My boys will play with the other children more instead of just playing on their own or with each other. It's really nice that I'm starting to feel like we have friends instead of just acquaintances within our homeschooling group.

So much to discover!

DS2 said that today while watching turtles in the Amphibian and Reptile house at our zoo.

DH took the boys there last Sunday afternoon while I napped, for my "Easter present". He considered applying the admission price to a membership but didn't do it because he wanted to check with me. It can be done after the fact, but only the same day. Oops. Today after church we went again. This time we went straight to Member Services to get a "household" membership. $85 for 2 adults & all the kids in the family for a year. Perks include free admission, some members-only events, discounts for the store & educational classes, and 50% off at reciprocal zoos (including Boise, where Grandma & Grandpa live).

First we hit the restrooms, then watched the flamingos, then to the children's farms (Asian, American, and African), then to the penguins during feeding time (great zookeeper commentary!), then DS2 announced that he wanted to see the reptiles. Going into the Amphibian and Reptile House is a pure act of love for DH. He really dislikes that place, especially the snakes. I stuck with DS2 and DH stuck with DS1. As we rounded a corner to a glassed in dessert, I pointed out a salamander to DS2 and he commented about seeing the turtles. Then he said, "So much to discover!" I couldn't stop grinning after that!

I haven't been enthusiastic about getting a zoo membership because going involves a lot of walking, and it is usually hot or rainy or crowded (if the weather's nice) or I just get tired. However, I'm really glad that we did. It will certainly be a great bonding time for the fellas, and if I tag along once in a while, that will be good too.

This and that

Several times in the past month I have thought, "I ought to blog about that," but I haven't. It's been a crazy couple of months.

We bought a house Feb. 1, after seeing it for the first time on Jan. 14. Those two weeks included lots of "field trips" to businesses to take care of the paperwork. Phase 1 of moving happened on Feb. 9 with a moving truck, 2 pickups, a jeep, and a trailer, and a second trip with the moving truck (and about 10 wonderful friends). We have been making trips to "our old house" and "Grandpa's house" to sort, toss, and move things, as well as picking up Grandpa's mail. We have met a multitude of contractors for estimates for some repair and remodelling. Last week the boys got to watch "the builders" (as they call most construction workers, contractors, and laborers) remove and replace a door at Grandpa's house. Except for the electric hack saw being too loud, they enjoyed watching that project. When we finally get a contractor chosen for the renovations here, I think they will be interested in watching that transformation, also.

I talked with DS1 about me wanting to have some "school time" each day. He liked that idea and chose after breakfast, before play time. So I wrote out an untimed schedule for us. We haven't had any "school time" yet though, because something has preempted our mornings every day since we made the schedule below.

Wake up time
Get dressed
Breakfast
School time
Play time
Lunch
Play time
Snack
Play time
Supper
Play time
Put on pajamas
Story time
Sleep

We have it rough, don't we. :-)

A few of the interesting things that have happened lately include:

• Zome


• Watching a St. Patrick's parade in person


• sidewalk chalk


• playing on the sand hill and dirt hill next door where they are building a house


• following geese (with a duck call) into a wheat field and getting 2" of mud caked on our shoes


• 30 minute free trial games on nick arcade


• putting together an entertainment center (using a screwdriver and a hammer)


• playing with complete strangers at a playground


• playing soccer in Grandpa's back yard


• climbing a chain-link fence without assistance


• shopping


• reading the first 4 books in Fun Tales without assistance, on the first try

Reading & Counting

Both boys are reading quite a bit now. DS1 prefers to have me read if I'm sitting with him, but today he read Can You See What I See (it's like "I spy") without asking for help even with me close by. I pulled out Everyone Poops and read it to them this afternoon for the first time. DS2 read it after dinner, only asking me a few words. DS1 helped with some of the words, which was great! Some of the time they both read the page aloud at the same time. That was fun to hear.

DS2 and I counted to 1000 today. I started by saying, "Let's count by tens." Me:10 Him:20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1and10 (a pause) what comes next (a smaller pause) 1and20 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 100and100 what's 100 and 100 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400 500 (a pause) what hundred comes after 500 600 700 800 900 10-hundred what's another name for 10-hundred 1000! Mom and son were both happy at the end of that exchange!

Measuring, Math, & more

Today we did a lot of measuring. We're looking at houses, so I had the tape measure out to measure furniture here and rooms when we go looking. DS1 measured many things around the house and learned about inches, feet, and combining them. We also talked about ages of babies being in months or years or a combination.

In my last post, I commented about YEA changing structure. As it turns out, YEA is changing a little, but the format is still almost the same. Several of the founders and original "leaders" will be stepping out of leadership and into member status. They have gotten burnt out somewhat, and YEA doesn't match their dream any longer, but it does fulfill a purpose for those involved. Thus HANCK (Homeschool Activity Network - Central Kansas) was born. It's the umbrella/resource group now, and YEA is still for weekly classes, with occasional parties and park days.

Other than the measuring today, homeschool has been primarily "life skills" for us for the past month. We have visited relatives out of state, which included 4 airplane flights, going through security twice, visiting with seatmates, sharing video games (DS1 and an 18 yr old boy), and almost a week at Grandma's and Grandpa's. We have visited a relative in the hospital several times, which involves attempting proper hospital behavior and extra personal hygiene. And we have visited 9 houses in our house hunting adventure; some were empty, but some were still occupied, so we had look around while still respecting their things.

YEA is evolving again

Every semester that our co-op, Young Explorers' Academy, has been in existence, it has changed. I believe this is good, because it gets better each time. Some things need to stop and others need to start. For the past few days, we have had an online discussion about changing things again (even from what the new 2008 plans were). Today, someone posted a link to Our Non-directed Support Organization in Home Education Magazine's online edition. This appears to be very close to what we are working toward right now. It is less group structure and more "Hey, I'm going to do this, who wants to join me?"

Chess

The boys played a game of chess against each other today. Originally DS1 and I were going to play, and DS2 was going to help me, but really they were playing and I just helped DS2 if he tried to move a piece illegally.

Some interesting observances:
DS1 wanted to put his white queen on the right, instead of on the left (on the white square). I don't know why.
DS2 called the knight a "jumping horse."
DS2 called the rook a "castle tower."
They correctly use the term "capture."
They know that a pawn captures diagonally but moves only straight forward 1 square and that it can move 2 squares only on its first move.

The game ended in a draw because a new Wonder Pets Christmas episode on TV became more interesting than the game. We moved it with the intent of continuing later, but a game of "rolly catch" knocked over too many of the pieces, so I put them away.

Mind The Gap

This article, Mind The Gap: Watching For 'Holes' in Your Child's Education points out that everyone's education has gaps in it compared to someone else's education. As homeschoolers, we have the opportunity to ignore "the gap" and just enjoy learning.

She suggests making a list of the things you want to make sure your child doesn't miss. She states that if your goal is to allow your child to become an autonomous, self-directed learner, then following a curriculum and agenda created by the state (or anyone else) is counter-intuitive.

She believes that the essentials are learning to read, learning to write, and learning (consumer) math and how to manage money.

I liked this article and will be reading more from Local Homeschool.com!

High Achiever, Gifted Learner, CreativeThinker

A discussion on the Sonlight forums led me to this article, High Achiever, Gifted Learner, Creative Thinker, which distinguishes characteristics of the three groupings of learners listed in the title. I can see how I fit into all 3 of them at different times in my schooling years. There are some good points to consider regarding the different perspectives. It will be good to keep this information as a reference as our homeschooling progresses.

Zome

I recently ordered Zome's Naked Structures Bundle for DS1 for Christmas. It's recommended for age 6 & up, and I think he will really enjoy it. He plays with our Magnetix-like set quite a bit, and often builds things that fall down because they get too heavy.

What a great couple of days!

Yesterday afternoon we had an adventure riding the city bus. We walked 1.5 blocks to the bus stop, rode to the downtown transit center, walked about 3 blocks to the Central Branch of the city library, spent 30-45 minutes browsing and doing puzzles in the children's room, checked out, walked back to the transit center, rode the bus back to our street, then walked home. Total time, just under 2 hours. The boys were very excited, handled being around strangers quite well, and stayed with me (with 1 exception) without running off or fussing. DS1 commented about the bus not having seat belts, so I explained that the poles were to hold onto if it got bumpy (we were at the back where the seats are in a U shape).

Today we made a treasure hunt for DH for his birthday. It started by DS2 playing with a roll of unused tan wallpaper and calling it a treasure map (a la Backyardigans and/or Dora). I suggested that we make a treasure map for Daddy for his birthday, so we discussed how many places (Dora style) and what would be at the "X" (Backyardigans style treasure). We settled on 4 places between starting in the living room and finishing in the kitchen. Each stop would have something hidden for DH to find. We chose the rooms and drew the map, then we went shopping for a present. They chose a package of animal balloons with a pump. DH likes making animal balloons, but we have misplaced our squeeze-ball pump, and our balloon stock is old so they break often, so this was a great choice (plus it was inexpensive). Then they each chose a bag of candy, DS2 selecting candy corn, and DS1 selecting Smarties. At home we wrapped those 3 presents in left over confetti pattern kitchen wall paper. They hid them in their room (stop 1), we took all the birthday cards and hid them in the basement (stop 2), I "hid" the DaVinci Code on the boys' library bookshelf (stop 3), and put DH's gift from me on our bed under a blanket (stop 4), the treasure was in the kitchen... pizza in the oven and a brownie birthday cake with a powdered sugar message.

When DH called to let me know he was on his way home from work, I warned him to expect to be greeted by 2 very excited boys and not to plan on any downtime immediately. As the boys explained the map and treasure hunt, I put the pizza in the oven. It was very hard for DS2 to not spill the secret locations, but he did pretty well not telling what was hidden in each room. It was a birthday that will not soon be forgotten!

Unwrapping the Gifted

I stumbled across this blog, Unwrapping the Gifted, today via a list on someone's blog, via a link in someone else's blog, via a forum post. [Don't you just love how hypertext linking leads to interesting things?] Although she is coming from a teacher-in-the-public-schools perspective, I can really relate to many things I have read so far. Her blog is young, having only been started this past August, but it is full of a fabulous perspective on education for gifted children.

It's very timely that I found this today. We went to a playgroup that my neighbor hosted this morning. I dropped the boys off as a babysitting trade. When I returned about an hour later I was able to chat with three of the moms present. DS1's age came up, and I told them he was 5, that we homeschooled, and that he was in kindergarten. That answer was accepted without the shock that I was expecting, which was nice. One of the moms asked what led us to decided to homeschool. I answered that the primary reason was so that we could individualize his education, with traveling any time and enjoying being with my kids being secondary reasons. I didn't want to say, "because I don't want them to be bored stiff in school or become tutors for the other kids just because they already know stuff (like DS1 was practically doing in his daycare class when he was 3)," but I could have. Then the hostess interjected that she had been bragging on them to her friends (the other moms). We talked a little bit about educational styles (Montessori, Waldorf, and even unschooling), the co-op we're in, the magnet elementary school that is 2 blocks away, and the hostess admitted that she is considering homeschooling her son (who is almost 3). It was great to be able to talk casually about homeschooling in a completely new environment (meaning not at a co-op meeting or homeschool park day) and not feel like I needed to defend myself.

Music is great for memorization - and fun

I didn't buy the CD to get DSs to memorize Bible verses. Really, I didn't. However, repetitive listening to enjoyable songs results in learning the music and words. A couple of months ago I got tired of "Daycare songs," and "Choo Choo LaRoo" and a couple of other CDs that we've had for years, so I bought Sing the Word from A to Z from Sonlight. It's part of the Core C Bible program. (We sort of use Core B as our reading materials, although we don't follow any sort of planned structure or schedule.)

Today when we got to the end of track 26 on Sing the Word from A to Z cd in the car, I ejected it to go back to track 1 quickly. (Tracks 1-26 are with words, tracks 27-52 are instrumental only.) DS1 said, 'No mommy, I wanted to see if I could guess the songs and sing them.' So I FF'd to 27 and he did! He sang 'All have sinned,' 'Believe in Jesus,' and 'Children Obey Your Parents' before we got home!

Last night, during the first 26 tracks DS2 was even singing along some of the time.

I know they don't understand all of the words, and some of them even get pronounced wrong, just like learning a song from the radio, but it makes me feel good to know that 1) they like singing, 2) they can sing in tune and with the right rhythm, 3) they are learning some Bible verses, and 4) I'm learning some Bible verses also.

Secular Homeschooling Magazine

I found Secular Homeschooling Magazine on the internet today. Issue #1 has sold out but is having a 2nd printing. There are 2 full articles online, as well as the table of contents. The editor has a blog, Diary of a Mad Editor, which is enjoyable to read also.

"Secular Homeschooling Magazine is a non-religious magazine that reflects the diversity of the homeschooling community. Its readers and writers are committed to the idea that religious belief is a personal matter rather than a prerequisite of homeschooling.

This magazine is for any homeschooler, religious or not, who is interested in good solid writing about homeschooling and homeschoolers."

YEA today

This is the 2nd week in a row that we have intentionally gone to YEA! late. If DS1 is not signed up for a 9:30 class, then I am going to continue with this timing. I have been able to keep up with watching DS2 so much better, and both boys seem to enjoy the time more and not get so crabby by the end. Last week we arrived right at 10:30 for DS1's class. Today we didn't arrive until about 11. They played for about 40 minutes, then we had lunch. At 12:00 DS1 went to his cookie baking class, and I facilitated "construction and demolition" (building things with giant cardboard box blocks, then knocking them down). I was really pleased to see the kids cooperating and helping each other to build a really tall tower by the end of the hour.

During our lunch time, after DS2 was finished eating, he went over to a chalk board and WROTE HIS NAME! This is the first time he has ever done that without any help (or any prompting). I was so excited! The letters were very clear and neat, even the 'R'. And me without my camera. :-(

DS1 also made a "growing up" step. (Or maybe this was a mommy "letting him grow up" step.) While the cookies were in the oven, his class went out to the playground. He stopped on the way out and told me he was going. I let him, even though I thought there was not going to be an adult with them. Most of the kids in the class were 7-12. I think there was one other 5 year old. The playground area is fenced. After a few minutes, I went out to check. I was right, no adult. The girls were all outside the fence playing an "untangle" game, and the boys were all inside the fence climbing on the equipment playing some kind of make believe adventure. DS1 was on the slide. He hasn't joined the bigger boys in their adventures yet, which is fine with me. I asked him to promise to stay inside the fence (and not run laps around it, like he likes to do) unless an adult was out there also. The next time I saw him, he was bringing me a sample cookie from the kitchen.

DS1 is also becoming more outgoing in regard to speaking to others. He asked one of the moms to watch DS2 for us while we got the boxes out of the car; he told his teacher "thanks"; he asked her to push him on the swing after I said I was going inside; and he asked an older girl to push him later, too. DS2 interacted with the other kids on the playground more, too. It's really nice to see them interacting with other people more instead of clinging to me or even playing alone.

Leaf Collection

The leaves in this photo are labeled as the boys described them to me as we collected them playing in the park and on our walk home. Left to right they are yellow, pinkish-orange, red, greenish-brown, yellowish-white, green, orange, looks like a cocoon, yellow with brown spots, brown, pink on back and yellow on front, small, biggest of all. (Color distortion is due to camera with no flash.)

I love homeschooling... this afternoon we did things that could be classified (if one cares to classify) as seasons, botany, colors, physical education, safety, recess, math, music, weather, language arts, and social interaction.