V is for Victory

I feel quite virtuous today.  I accomplished a lot, and spent a lot of time actively engaged in educational activities.  We wrote the letter V on the carpet, and they both did well writing it, since it is fairly easy to make the shape.  We sang the sound at least 5 times.  We wrote our letter poster.  The kids were really excited about this, since they had so many words to list.  They listed victory, vegetables, very, van, veterinarian, Valerie, vowel, vanilla, veal, vacuum, Vincent Van Gogh (yes really), vapor as in water vapor which makes clouds, Vermont where Grammy and Poppa went on vacation, hey vacation starts with v too Mommy!  I kid you not.  So to explain, Van Gogh they know because we have a print of my favorite painting in the living room.  Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, and one day when they were asking about it we talked about art, artists, and the artists that did the pictures we have in our books and on our walls.  They really liked the Van Gogh book I showed them, and they remembered his name.  CJ really loves The Scream by Edward Munch which we also have.  Eliza says her favorite is Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali, though she just calls it the funny clocks.


We worked on vocabulary in depth today, introducing lots of new words.  We used pictures and letter cards to reinforce vocabulary words they already know, and to reinforce the letter sounds that go with them.  CJ is getting really good at reading many sight words.  We used letter blocks to make and read v words, van, vat, vet, veal.  Then heal, real, and lastly read.  They had trouble with veal but sounded out and read the others.  CJ came up with van then helped me spell it.  After a few they were done with it, but when we revisited it later in the day they had retained what they learned, and we read and made the words again.  It was so exciting for me, and really validated for me what we have been doing!

After watching Dinosaur Train CJ told me all about velociraptors and their feathers.  Later on they told me everything they had learned about volcanoes and how they erupt.  We even reviewed weather, and they remembered how clouds are formed from water vapor.  It was a veritable science party!  While we worked on a matching game, matching upper to lower case letters, then separating vowels and consonants we listened to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, one of my favorite pieces of music.  I love that when the kids listen to a piece of music they are able to identify instruments, violins, drums, flute and piano.  Any instrument they know they are usually able to identify by sound.  After the letter matching game we used color and shape cards to identify shapes inside of other shapes, and counted shapes in designs.  We played Memory with four sets of matching cards.  I then had the kids sort them into groups, and explain the attributes they used.  They had to tell me what are the same about items that go together, and what is different about the two groups they made.  One group ended up being vehicles, which I explained was a word that means something that moves people or things from one place to another.  We listed all the types of vehicles and I explained the term transportation.  I used this to tell them about our upcoming trip to Old Sturbridge Village to learn about how transportation worked a long time ago, before cars and vans like we have today.

So for breakfast we had vanilla homemade yogurt with vanilla almond cereal and vanilla milk.  Vegetable bites were for lunch, radish, zucchini, broccoli, cinderella squash, carrot, red pepper, green pepper all coated in parmesan cheese and flour batter, baked till crispy.  Vivid colors, full of vitamins and very delicious.  For dinner we had veal, and I know that offends some people, but we love it and so do the kids.  We had veal cutlets with mashed potatoes, gravy, and vibrant green and yellow squash and salad with vinegar.  I thought about making vindaloo, but needed something easier than Indian food tonight.  The kids helped me and Rich vacuum the house, since of course V is for vacuum.  

I even spent some time talking to the kids about voting, and what that means in our country.  I explained virtually every V word to the kids that I could think of, with varying results.  The voting info sort of put vague confused looks on their faces, but explaining vessels and vehicles made sense to them.  They pretended to go on a Viking Voyage on the ocean.  They used their steering wheels to veer all over the living room, I mean Viking boat.  Towards the end of that venture their volume level was a little too loud, and they were so tired they started to vacillate (which means to waver) on their feet.  We read several new books and they went right to sleep.  I would say they were vehemently verbose today, i.e. they talked nonstop, all day to the point that I was surprised they still had voices by bedtime.  I think I will pay a visit to the virtual world now and play some mind numbing video games.  Time to veg out and relax with a vodka tonic.  Oh yeah, life is a wonderful journey.

U for Unbelievable

So today was unbearably hot, unbelievably tiring, and the kids still feel ucky.  I started again today with my weight watchers.  I paid attention to what I ate and started exercising again this morning.  Pretty tiring.  Tonight's entry will be short I think.

CJ was excited when he realized underpants starts with U.  He loves wearing big boy underpants.  Eliza was thrilled when she realized that her favorite Backyardigan's character Uniqua's name begins with U.  CJ met his goal of counting to 100 this weekend.  He also counts by 10 up to 100.  Eliza is now counting backwards from 10, because I do it all the time when the microwave is counting down.  We counted things all around the house today.  I even showed them counting by two.  They thought that was pretty cool.

So we had to do some grocery shopping yesterday, and went to the orchard market to get some apples and peaches.  Tomorrow I am canning homemade fruit cocktail flavored with pineapple sage and mint.  While there we saw some farm grown carrots.  CJ walked over to them and asked, "Have you ever seen anything like that in your life, those carrots are unbelievable!"  They were the size of my arm!  If you could have heard him, with his little stuffy nose.  Hilarious!  Eliza was disappointed that she wasn't allowed to take bites out of the apples and tomatoes. 

So we went outside and looked at things upside down, and described them.  It was so amazing to hear their observations.  They played geologist in the sandbox.  They used their empty watering cans to "water" all the seeds they planted last week.  Eliza told me, when I asked her what she was doing, "I am watering the seeds Mommy.  You know they can't grow without water and sun, and I want to eat the food we planted."  You could just hear the tone of voice, it sounded like duh, you should know that Mommy.  Unbelievable.

We ate upside down muffins for breakfast, unagi udon soup for lunch, and ultimate corndog casserole for dinner, as I was running out of easy U ideas.  Everyone was so tired today.  We spent a lot of time reading together, and making the U sound all day.  We sang all the bug songs from their cd, and ran around the house dancing.  All great fun stuff that encourages their physical and mental development whether or not they are considered lessons.  They absorb so much from everything they see and hear.  I spent some time looking at the Walktober activities that will be offered this year.  The kids are finally at an age that they can do the walks themselves without strollers.  There are some super activities this year at an alpaca farm, a turkey farm, and observation walks designed for kids ages 3 to 6.  There is even a trip to our local buffalo farm with free chili!  Daddy will love that one! 

Pretty soon it is time to go upstairs and relax.  Long long day has been unreal.  My brain is working so hard to find U words, and the only one I can think of is ukelele!  That doesn't really help right now.  Good night gentle readers, and thank you for spending your time here with me!

T is for Tired

Today was terribly tiring.  I got a lot accomplished.  I canned pickled cherry tomatoes, pickled dilled green beans and kohlrabi pickles.  I cleaned the kitchen.  We worked on writing.  We talked about tons of T words.  We made zucchini bread and tropical treat bread.  We even organized toys.  Tough considering the kids still feel crappy.  Totally successful day.

The kids slept late since they are still pretty sick.  Then we had toasted tomato and cheese sandwiches, with tomatoes on the side for brunch.  For dinner we had tomatoes on salad, roasted tomatoes and tomatillos, and tasty Tuscan chicken.  The kids kept saying everything was terrific and tasty. 

Today they played with all their wooden toys and puzzles.  CJ has a tool box and decided to run around with the screwdriver.  He said he was pretending to be a man who uses a screwdriver to fix everything, someone who rides in a TARDIS.  Oh yeah Mommy, I am Dr. Who.  Totally rocked!  So we talked about television and tools, and toys, and what is real and what isn't.  Eliza already explains to me that her friend Dahlia (little pink dolly) isn't real, but is still her friend.  She is pretend Mommy.  So we talked about all types of things in the house being real or not.  They really amaze me. 

I am looking forward to the zoo after Z day.  I am prepping the kids for it, telling them that they are going to need to look for animals for each letter.  They are getting excited to see giraffes and elephants.  Eliza is especially looking forward to the Polar bears.  We read lots of T words in our books.  That was the extent of explicit teaching today, and I am okay with that.  The kids were remarkably happy today considering their noses won't stop running, and they keep coughing and sneezing.  Today was a time for snuggling and reading books, and working in the kitchen together. 

Tomorrow Rich is working so we will be spending some time with Memere and Pepere, perhaps going to see the turkeys at Ekonk Hill.  Assuming of course, that the kids are better by then.  Eliza was really pale today, and needs to spend some time outside.  We played for a while in the yard today, but they need to get out of the house.  Being sick and stuck inside pretty much sucks.  We need a field trip.  Seeing the farm animals should be fun, and the kids will love it.  And it means turkey pot pie for dinner.  Yummo!  Tonight I am too tired to do much more writing, but thank you for reading and have a terrific weekend!

S is for Sick

Yup, everyone except Rich is still sick.  We have several friends moving this weekend, and I am not going to be able to help.  Rich will have to go alone.  Last night Eliza had a major tummyache, and was very uncomfortable.  CJ keeps coughing and sneezing.  I have a sore throat and am just tired.  Luckily I was able to take it easy yesterday since I did so much cleaning and laundry the night before.  I was too tired to update last night, I had such a terrible migraine.  I don't usually get them, so I knew I was really getting sick.  Today we will spend a lot of time with orange juice.  Today I also need to do some canning.  I am making kohlrabi pickles and dilled pickled green beans.  Yummy!  Tasty stuff.  Lucky for me neither thing is too difficult to make. 

So we spent a lot of time just coloring in the play room, coloring on the easel on the front porch, and cleaning up dried out play dough.  We talked about all kinds of S words, watched Sesame Street, watched Leap Frog Letter Factory and found S words in their board books.  We listened to Stellaluna and Sebastian and his Roller Skates on Storyline Online.  Thank you guys for that awesome link!  They loved Stellaluna and we had to read it twice.  I asked them what they learned about fruit bats, and they told me they are nocturnal and herbivores.  I was thrilled.  We talked about how it is good to have friends who are different from you and how we can learn from our friends.  I don't know how much sunk in, but it is something we will revisit often.

We made silly faces, and the kids told me lots of silly jokes.  We sang all their favorite songs.  We practiced the S sound, made our letter poster and wrote the letter in the carpet.  Both of them are getting better at allowing me to assist them in tracing, holding their pencils and showing them what the expectations are. We practiced a little bit of writing, and matched some letter cards.  Eliza slithered like a snake on the floor, then decided she would draw one on her paper.  Awesome!  Most importantly we sat and played together, and relaxed.  Hopefully everyone will feel better today.  For breakfast we had strawberry milk and pancakes with strawberries and syrup.  Lunch was squash soup.  Dinner was smashed potatoes, steakburgers (grilled hamburger patties), salad, and sauteed spaghetti squash with sauce.  Oh my goodness super delicious food.  Then we had to have some soft serve with strawberries.  Helps with the sore throat don't you know. 

I feel like I have just been spinning wheels over the past few days.  With everyone feeling icky we haven't made any progress.  I think I am just expecting too much from myself.  They are still babies, and they are not going to school, or even at that age yet where they should be.  I am just afraid that I will sabotage my own efforts if I don't stick to a schedule of some sort.  Silly I know, but I was so used to the public school system, that I really need to get out of that mindset.  I am saddling myself with those thoughts, and need to realize that the beauty of homeschooling is that the kids and I can work to our own strengths and interests.  We can spend time on things that they need or want to learn.  We can work around our schedules, and not have to stop a project due to the clock.  We can just put on the kids' safari hats and dig for fossil shells all we want, and that is such a marvelous thing.  They absorb so much, and teach me so much.  This is a sweet sweet life, and I feel so satisfied.  Thanks for reading!

R is for Reminder

So I got a reminder today of why I am homeschooling.  A friend of mine who is a first grade teacher in town was telling me about her new classroom.  Two local elementary schools closed last year, including hers.  She is going to have 10 more students than she did last year, and her paperwork is swamping her.  They are still using extremely outdated computer systems, which crash all the time, and the budget is so tight the teachers are taking forced unpaid furlough days.  It is quite ridiculous what is going on in this school system.  Most of the kindergarten teachers in the district are new, with class sizes of 23 to 28, no paras in the classroom.  Remembering that type of classroom environment makes me really feel like homeschooling is a great choice for us.  I know I say this a lot, but it was such a hard decision to make, and I like to remind myself of why we made it. 

So today we spent time with the letter R.  Eliza was so funny about it during dinner.  We were discussing spaghetti squash for tomorrow and she said we couldn't have that because today we were learning R.  Woohoo!  She knows what we are doing!  It was very exciting for me, because it is hard to tell how much she picks up, since she is so much younger than CJ, and less likely to show what she is learning.  They both came up with many R words for their letter poster, and were excited all day to identify R foods.  We reviewed all the letters we have done so far, reading all our words on the letter posters and writing the letters in the carpet.  We practiced holding the pencil and writing lines and circles.  They improve a bit every day.  I guess the most important part of all of this is to be consistent and provide lots of opportunities for learning.  We color or write every day.  We have fun with play dough every day.  We read books and words every day.  We count and sort and have conversations about weather every day.  We work in the garden and talk about animals.  So even when I think I haven't done a good job with education we have still spent time improving their minds.  That makes me feel better.

Their colds are better but we are all still feeling kind of yucky.  We are snuffly and cranky from feeling this way.  At least they had reasonably good appetites today.  We had raisins and rice cakes for breakfast with regular milk.  I couldn't think of any good R foods for lunch so we had fruit and peanut butter sandwiches.  For dinner we had roast chicken, rice pilaf, roast squash and some yummy non R foods.  It took a long time for CJ to even attempt to eat any of his dinner.  He got the hiccups and then got really ridiculous and silly.  At least they are still happy when they are sick. 

We talked about animal types and about animals we will see when we go to the zoo.  We made some predictions about what we will see and we talked about what our favorite animals are.  We sang Old McDonald with every animal sound we could think of.  Their favorite was a frog, because ribbitt starts with R.  Our main activity today was reading though, since it is my favorite R thing to do, and it was a good quiet thing to do while they still felt icky.  I also needed to get the house cleaned today, so they spent an hour watching Super Why and Backyardigans, since my obnoxious cable box decided not to record Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street. 

The really ridiculous part of the day was when the refrigerator decided to overheat the compressor and turn my ice cream into milky soup.  It seems to be working now, but now I am worried about having to replace it.  Not fun.  R for repair person?  Certainly not a word I want to deal with. 

My brain has turned to rice pudding, and I need to rest my weary eyes and body.  I am going to read a novel with a ridiculous plot, something to relax me.  Hopefully tomorrow my brain will have switched back on and I can provide a more interesting read, in the mean time, thank you for visiting!

Q is for Quirky

The kids are still sick today, but much better.  More snuffling but less sneezing.  And we actually got around to some educational activities and we didn't watch much tv.  I think of this as a successful day.  CJ woke up before Eliza, though they usually wake up at the same time.  So he and I did the quilt, which he was excited to realize is a Q word.  Q is a very difficult word to explain the sound of since it technically blends two letter sounds into one.  /kw/ is not an easy concept, especially since it must always be paired with a u in our language.  Yikes! 

Well CJ did a great job on identifying the sound and tracing the letter in the carpet.  He and I added some words to yesterday's letter poster, and did today's while Eliza continued to sleep.  Then CJ and I had some time alone so we worked on holding the pencil.  He is unbelievable improved since we got him the fat pencils with the grips.  I positioned the pencil for him and he did his work all on his own.  He did 4 pages that I had created.  Two of them were matching upper to lower case letters.  One was matching numbers to a picture that shows that number of shapes.  The last was matching a letter to a word that begins with that letter.  I read the directions, had him tell me what he needed to do and then he did it all by himself.  He got them all right, and he drew good lines all by himself.  I was so proud.  The only thing is he doesn't like to cross lines he already drew, so he ended up making a crazy line that went around things instead of straight to the picture or letter.  All things considered I still consider it a successful lesson.  Eliza woke up from her nap before CJ so I had some time to spend alone with her doing the same thing.  She instinctively knows how to hold the pencil correctly and has amazing fine motor control.  Her only problem is since she is only two, she has difficulty focusing on what I want her to do.  She is easily distracted.  She requires a lot more encouragement and assistance.  She is able to do so much, and she knows so much that sometimes I forget how little she really is.  She identified all the letters I showed her in upper case.  She identified almost all the lower case, and was easily able to correctly identify the letters that started the names of the pictures.  She also completed the number page with no problems at all.  She really amazes me every day.

So meals today were difficult seeing as the kids still were feeling punky.  We had peach raspberry quick bread for breakfast.  We were going to have quinoa for lunch, but they only wanted fruit.  For dinner I planned quiche, but nobody wanted to eat quiche, so we made some chicken tenders with macaroni and cheese, and a really big salad.  Not Q but everyone ate, and it was easy.  I spent a lot of time on the computer today checking out a website called readinglessons.com.  It has free lesson plans, resources, and song pages.  It sets up daily lesson plans, in a certain order to build upon each other.  It has 5 weeks worth of lessons to prepare kids to read.  It works on phonics, spelling, sounds, and physically writing.  Cool resource.  It also links up to readinga-z.com, which though expensive, was an amazing tool for me when I was a public school teacher.  This is from a website called kididdles.com which I found when I was looking for all the verses of The Ants Go Marching.  One of CJ's favorite songs you see.  It has all kinds of free downloadable or printable lyric pages, or pages with the musical notes on it.  Some even have work pages to go along.  There is even a part where they will sing it to you and your child.  I have used this website quite a bit and will continue to do so.  And no, no one is paying me to say this.  I just really like it and think some others might find a use for it.  Forewarning, there are several religious songs in addition to familiar children's songs, so if this bothers you, don't visit.  My spiel for the day. 

CJ and Eliza are very quirky, in case I haven't mentioned it before.  It drives CJ bonkers that I pull my shirt over my nose and mouth when I am tired.  He keeps trying to pull it back because he can't stand that it isn't where it is supposed to be.  If I say the wrong word in a song he quite quickly corrects me, or anyone else he thinks made a mistake.  He laughs all the time, and thinks everyone is great.  He finds joy everywhere, and is always interested in learning new things.  Eliza loves pink, and tells me so daily.  She has a smile that makes your heart melt, and loves to be silly.  She understands irony and sarcasm.  She has more expression than any other toddler I have ever seen.  She is not afraid of anything, and thinks that she and Mommy are the two most beautiful people in the world.  She speaks like a 6 year old, and is never afraid to try anything.  CJ prefers to be perfect at something before he does it, Eliza would rather make a mistake than not try it.  CJ figures out a way around things, Eliza figures out a way through things.  They work together remarkably well, and they absolutely adore each other.  They share and they fight, and they are so sweet and caring it brings tears to my eyes.  They see so much in the world every day that blows my mind.  They sing and dance better than their Daddy ever will, but they still love to hear him sing to them.  I know I will never be able to give them every opportunity they deserve but I will do my damnedest every day to try.  I will show them love and patience, and quiet contemplation.  I will never quit, and teach them to persevere as well.  I will quell their fears and support their interests and teach them to reach for every goal.  I will show them my quirky nature so they are not afraid to be different.  I will quiet their doubts with the knowledge that they can do anything they want in this world, if they are willing to work for it.  Most importantly I will instill a love of learning, and a strong sense of family values.  All the quintessential tools for education, and for a productive and happy life.

P is for Precipitation and Pink Noses

August 23, 2010

Today was a rather difficult day.  We spent P day with PBS kids and tissues.  The kids and I are sick, and keep coughing and sneezing.  We had lots of late nights over the weekend, and Sunday night Eliza never slept because she did not feel well.  We are all tired and spent the day in pajamas and sweatshirts.  It was rainy and cold today.  We had the windows open and there was so much wind through the house, and it was lovely.  We watched Sid the Science kid and they talked all about rainy days, so we talked about how rain happens.  We learned the word precipitation, and they were so excited that they learned a new P word.

Since everyone was sick we really spent most of the day with orange juice and PBS.  The kids were so tired they barely wanted to play.  Every time they sneezed they freaked out and ran to me to wipe their very pink little noses.  It took us till bedtime to do our letter poster for the day.  But we still talked about the sound, and found lots of P words on tv and in the books we read.  I told them the story of the princess and the pea, and they thought that was great.

Breakfast was pancakes with home canned peaches.  Lunch was leftover pulled pork pizza.  Snack was peanut butter on perfect oat bread and popcorn.  Dinner was pot roast with potatoes, and princess squash, a variety actually called Cinderella squash softer and sweeter than butternut.  The kids at least ate really well.  They had a long bath followed by lots of baby vaporub and we all just snuggled on the couch under a blanket and watched a movie before bed.

There wasn't a lot of overt educational activities today, but we stuck to our routine even through being sick, so I am pleased.  The kids never get sick, so on the extremely rare occasion they are, they really are quite sick and unable to do what they normally do.  So today was all about making them comfortable.  Eliza was so stuffed up she couldn't even sing.  Most of the day she kept climbing in my lap and asking me to hold her and kiss her. 

While we weren't exactly "schooling" today it was a perfect day to be home and comfy together.  We played and talked and sniffled and sneezed, but still had a good time together.  We carried around Eliza's Penelope the penguin all day and taught her all our P words.  We used the potty, and CJ hasn't had an accident since last week.  His diaper was totally dry when he woke up this morning.  Eliza used the potty 6 times, but still went a lot in her diaper.  We are making lots of progress.  Hopefully Q day will be quiet and everyone will feel better.  Thanks for reading!

O is for Opportunity

Every moment of the day is an opportunity, for education, for observation, for fostering independence.  I try to take as many as possible and use them to our advantage, and some I just evaporate into really fun video games with the kids.  Some days that is as important as sitting and teaching explicitly.  Today I just spent time on the floor with the kids, looking at flashcards and naming what we see.  We named all the letters, and spelled words.  We talked about sounds and all of the letters we have done so far.  We counted toys and flashcards and shoes and socks.  We counted fingers and noses.  We played with their alphabet toys and CJ sounded out his first words on his own.  And I wasn't doing anything but playing with them!  CJ picked out three letters, d b and a.  I arranged them into a word and asked him what the sounds were. /b/ /a/ /d/ bbbb aaa ddd.  Bad, Mommy that says bad!  I replaced the B with the M.  He repeated the process, and did the same for had and pad.  He sounded them out with some encouragement but no assistance.  I was flabbergasted.  Outstanding!

O day started the same as usual.  Find letter on quilt, write in carpet, (which they loved since it is just a circle!) and make our letter O poster.  They came up with some great words too.  Orangutan, outside, over, orange, orzo.  They found O all over the place today, in all their books, on their word cards and on TV.  It was a very satisfying day.  We made orange oatmeal and had orange juice.  For lunch we had balsamic Orange chicken with Orzo.  And dinner at Memere and Pepere's house was Onion soup, salad, and Omelets with toast.  Then Orange pineapple ice cream with Oreos.  The general consensus was outrageously good! 

I spent nap time cleaning and making some educational tools.  I finished the flashcard deck to match lower and upper case letters, and made worksheets for the same thing.  I made papers where the kids can match a letter to a picture that begins with the letter.  Four to a page so they don't get overwhelmed.  I accomplished a lot today, which feels very edifying after a very grueling week where I completed very few projects.  I cleaned up our bedroom and started knitting Eliza a pink and purple blanket, because those are her favorite colors and she is very upset when she is not wearing them.  I knit one for CJ quite awhile ago, and have been unable to finish one for her, so I am hoping by fall I will have it ready for her.  I even got the tub and both bathrooms scrubbed clean!  Woot!

CJ had no accidents today, and even when in a diaper when we were away from home, he never went in it.  Eliza went on the potty several times today, and I am so proud.  Unfortunately she also had a major temper tantrum because I told her she needed to leave a toy at her grandparents' house.  She can be so obstinate that it can be very frustrating and sometimes even amusing.  She was literally kicking and screaming, and it was all I could do to not laugh, because it was like looking into a mirror.  I used to be the same.  My mom started laughing and told me payback is a you know what!  Oops!  At least she is fairly easy to calm down most times.  She will be a terror when she is a teenager.

When we walked outside to the car tonight the kids saw the moon.  They told us, as they usually do that it is a giant boulder in the sky.  I asked what shape it is, and Eliza told me it is a sphere.  CJ said that sometimes it looks like a crescent but it is really a sphere Mommy.  REALLY?!  But is it a waxing or waning gibbous?  Seriously, I am going to have trouble keeping up with them.  But that challenge is so fulfilling and so important.  I feel so privileged to have this opportunity to educate and support them.  I feel overjoyed to be allowed to do this.  Now if only I can keep their minds occupied and keep mine from frying, we might make it through the weekend!

N is for Nuts

Nuts.  Pecans and walnuts for breakfast.  And nuts, as in, am I totally insane to be doing this?  Nuts.  Some days, like yesterday I think I am totally bonkers to be attempting to homeschool.  What happens when I feel like crud?  Not much in the way of education I assure you.  There will be no sub coming in to keep the kids' minds occupied, there is just me.  Whoa responsibility really weighs heavy there sometimes.  But then I look at CJ and Eliza, and listen to them converse with each other and realize that I made the choice long ago, before I consciously thought about official homeschooling.  Someone told me something about parenting and homeschooling and it rings true every day.  A new mom wanted to know how she would know if she was doing it wrong.  The older, experienced mom said you are, you always are, deal with it and move on.  Moral of the story, just do the best you can, because that is more important than doing it right.  My kids already know that I am their teacher, and that means something special, it means I am putting them first, and that I think they are important.  That means so much to them, even at this young age.

So today was far more educational than yesterday.  We spent a lot of time working with numbers and counting things around the house.  We went outside and were entomologists, looking at all the insects, comparing and contrasting what we saw.  Of course the kids had to wear their new safari hats to be scientists.  Awesome.  We worked in the garden and picked some veggies for a special picnic dinner.  We went on a nature walk at the park for dinner.  We brought nacho noodle salad and some yummy cookies.  We looked all around and talked about what we saw throughout the park.  We identified some mammals from the park, and identified several types of birds including Canada geese and mallard ducks.  Again we talked about how they were the same and how they were different.  The kids had such a great time, and ran around like crazy, therefore went to sleep easily.  Score!

We had nuts for breakfast and Nicoise salad for lunch, which brought about some discussion of other countries.  The kids were a little confused about that, but extremely interested.  I then taught them to count and say the alphabet in French.  They already know how to count to 10 in Spanish.  And CJ shocked me today by counting backwards from 10 by himself, all the way to zero.  I realized it is because I always count down with them when we are microwaving their milk.  Every little thing helps strengthen their number sense and word knowledge.  They remember EVERYTHING!!! 

CJ never had an accident on the potty, and though he was wearing a diaper at the park, he told us he had to go when we were leaving and he held it till he got home.  Nifty neato, huh?  Sorry, running out of N words!  We spent some time coloring this morning, but no writing letters, except in the carpet, as we do every morning.  We cleaned up the play dough, and did some cleaning.  They played with their alphabet toys, and sang all the songs they know, and we danced and played and had a nice day.  Nothing is as satisfying as happy intelligent kiddos.  They need constant support to grow, and lots of chances for independence.  Having nerdy parents helps too!

M is for Mommy

August 18, 2010

Again, sorry with the late post, I felt so sick last night, and my wrist was in such pain I didn't even open my computer to check email.  I went to bed early after watching a bit of TV, and today I feel much better, more ready to type and think and teach.

So M day was discombobulated to say the least.  My cousin and her two boys were supposed to come over but they had car troubles, so it was a no go.  That sort of messed up the day to start.  Then Mommy not feeling well meant that things were a little less organized.  We spent a lot of time outside being paleontologists in the sandbox, and they told me all about the types of dinosaurs they know about.  They know so much.  We talked about marsupials, mammals, and amphibians, and the characteristics that are associated with each animal type.  Eliza loves telling me about marsupials.  When we got up we sang all the letter sounds, and found the letter M on the quilt.  We drew the letter M in the carpet, but we didn't do the letter poster till before bed.  We talked about M words all day, and the kids came up with some great ones.  We played with the play dough for awhile but did no assisted writing or coloring, as my wrist hurt too much to do it.  We did spend some time matching upper and lower case letters.  And Rich had gotten the kids some flashcards of all types.  We used to shape ones to talk about shape attributes.  The color ones were great, the kids matched the items of the same color, sorted them.  We matched the color names on the back, spelled the colors and talked about the pictures that showed the color.  I had them tell me other things that were the same color.  CJ's favorite color is orange, and Eliza's is pink, so we had to add pink cards since they did not include them in the set.  We used the number cards to order.  We found the card with a picture of one thing first, two things second, and so on to number 20.  Then CJ messed them up and did it himself, using the number rather than the picture.  He can read numbers up to 50 consistently.  He also recognizes the number 100 since it is in many of his books.  We found M in lots of their books and made M with our fingers and hands.

We made mocha milk and mini muffins for breakfast.  They ate a ton of them!  We ate some leftover macaroni and cheese for lunch.  Dinner was mushroom crusted pork, and vegetables mornay, which is just a fancy was of saying in a cheesy milk sauce.  We had M & M's too, because it is M day of course!  The best part of the day though, is this is the first day CJ has had no potty accidents!  He is doing it all by himself too.  He pulls his pants and underpants down, fixes the potty and sits down.  He goes, only needs help if I need to wipe him from poop.  He empties the potty, wipes the seat if he dripped on it, and even washes his hands.  All I have to do is watch to see if he needs me.  This kid like independence.  He does things in his own time, always has, I think always will.  Eliza wants to use the potty a lot, and does pretty well sometimes.  But lately it has been, I pooped in my diaper I need to use the potty.  She doesn't seem to understand the potty is for BEFORE you go in the diaper.  I just am so glad to be changing fewer diapers, which means I have to wash them less.  I am so ready to be done with the cloth diapers during the day.  Still at night and nap of course, but we are making huge strides.

One of the best things the kids told me today was their favorite M word is Mommy, because we love Mommy and she loves us, and she is amazing.  And Eliza said I was beautiful too.  If only you could hear her say it though, she sticks her head out and bends a little and says BEE-U-tee-ful!!  With lots of emphasis and smiles.  How can any day be bad when I get to be Mommy to them!  Some days it is a miracle that we all survive the day, but it is so worth it every time they learn something new, and every time they ask a good question or tell me how much they love me.  I wore a Sesame Street T shirt yesterday and CJ told me all of the friend's names.  I asked where they live, and he told me.  I asked him if Sesame Street is a good place to live, and he said yes, but do you know what place is the best place to live?  I asked him where, and he said here Mommy in our house, because you and Daddy and Eliza are here.  How awesome is that?

L is for Love and Laughter

August 17, 2010

First off, I was unable to update last night because I have messed up my wrist somehow, and was in too much pain to type.  I have a brace today, and it seems to be helping.  Moving on . . .

L day was interesting.  Rich took the day off, so I could have a little time to myself.  He also had to fix my grandmother's dryer.  So he did that early, while I got the kids up and worked on our letter routine.  CJ loved that L is an easy letter to write in the carpet.  We worked on drawing small straight lines with out new fat pencils and grippies.  CJ did great with letting me help him, and he seems to be improving on holding it.  He drew a few lines himself and I could see an obvious improvement.  While Eliza does a great job coloring, she does not really want to draw small straight lines, though she in improving with following directions.  She is doing well with recognizing lower case letters up to e, but a bit of difficulty recognizing others.  She knows every capital letter, and most of the letter sounds, so we are going to be playing a matching game with the lower case letters today. 

When we made our letter poster Eliza told me her favorite L word is love, because I love you lots Mommy.  I almost cried.  CJ said I also like the word laughter, because that means we are having fun together.  They were so sweet yesterday.  We used some Brain Quest cards for 3-4 year olds, and the kids did so well.  The only one they had difficulty with was a question that asked what two things in the picture go together.  There was an addressed envelope, scissors, a stamp and a paintbrush.  I know that the stamp goes with the envelope, but they thought the scissors went with the paper.  So we talked about how the mail works.  I showed them a letter I needed to mail, and let them put the stamp on, so they were excited. 

We reviewed what we know about marsupials and mammals today, and they surprise me constantly with how much they remember.  A good part of the day I spent doing stuff alone, while Rich took care of the kids and meals.  He made us yummy lemon pancakes with blueberries, and cottage cheese with fruit.  For lunch he cooked some lobster ravioli we had in the freezer, with some lettuce salad.  We made lemon bars for dessert, and we made Indian spiced Lamb meatballs with Indian rice with Lentils for dinner.  Absolutely lovely meal. 

Because Rich was home all day and I spent some time alone things were just a little strange.  We had such a good time when we were all together, the kids spent so much time laughing and giggling.  You can see how much we all love each other, and it makes for a very happy day.  L day was fulll of learning, but few actual lessons.  Unfortunately I messed up my wrist and have been wearing a brace, and it hurts a lot.  So I am going to leave to start M day muffins.  More to come.

K is for Kryptonite

Today did not start out well.  First of all Eliza has the diaper rash from h e double hockey sticks, and she is teething, large teeth in back.  When I was taking CJ's diaper off this morning he got so excited about his Cars underpants he accidentally punched my eye.  It watered for at least an hour, and still hurts.  I had lots of stuff I wanted to do today, and very little got done.  The phone never stopped ringing.  Things kept falling over.  My grandmother's dryer died, so she had to bring wet laundry over for me to dry.  A friend of mine had major crisis, and I had the headache that wouldn't quit.  Some days I feel like Supermom, today it was Supermom meets her Kryptonite.  I wanted to break something. 

At least the kids were great, and happy all day.  And since it was K day, I got lots of K day kisses.  That helped a lot.  Unfortunately with all the stuff that happened, their education time didn't happen.  We did play Candy Land together for the first time.  They know all their colors and they did so well following the directions, I was blown away.  They really loved it so I told them we can play again tomorrow.  Eliza got a little bored moving her piece, but I helped her with it, and she stayed engaged almost the whole game.  CJ understood how to move his piece, and really enjoyed playing, especially since he won the game.  Mommy kept getting the character cards that sent her backwards instead of forwards!  It was a long long day and I am exhausted!

We made the alphabet we have studied so far with their letter blocks, and watched Sesame Street, where there was a kangaroo!  We talked about kangaroos being marsupials and what that means.  We named other marsupials and reviewed what mammals are.  CJ is also quoting Dinosaur Train daily, so he explained to my grandmother, his great grandmother that a pteranadon is a pterosaur, which is a reptile that flew that lived during the Cretaceous time period, and they were carnivores.  He knows so much about dinosaurs it is scary.  He explained that troodons are omnivores like we are, except they aren't alive anymore.  Eliza said omnivore means they eat meat and plants.  Unbelievable the two of them..

So we were unable to spend any amount of time working together with writing, or play dough today.  But we spent a lot of time talking about K.  We tried to have kiwi, but the store was out of them yesterday, so we had Kellogg's Corn Pops with raisins and peanuts.  For lunch we had kitchen sink food, which was a little bit of a lot of stuff.  Kind of a bad joke on my part, all but the kitchen sink kind of thing.  Bad I know.  For dinner, we went to my parents' house and I brought kielbasa, creamed kale, and kohlrabi and carrot casserole.  All the veggies came from the garden.  This weekend we harvested all the kale and did a lot of canning, so it was a very productive and actually enjoyable weekend.  For those who don't know kohlrabi is an awesome easy to grow delicious cruciferous veggie, and the kids love it!  Raw or cooked it is excellent. 

It took us a long time today to get to our letter poster, because the morning got so crazy, but the kids did a super job on it.  They immediately started singing the letter sound song this morning when they woke up, and they were looking for K all day.  I just really wish I had been able to spend more time working with them today.  But tomorrow is another day.  Tomorrow we will spend time holding the new pencils we got, and drawing lines.  We will work with play dough.  We will use the flashcards I made, and we will talk more about animal types.  Eliza was watching Sid the Science Kid at Memere and Pepere's house today, and saw a whale.  She told Meme and Pepe that whales live in the ocean and breathe air.  When I asked her what type of animal a whale was she told me mammal.  I asked her what other animals are mammals and she said we are, cats are and so are alpacas.  My parents were astounded.  So was I, as usual. 

I will now go spend a little time cleaning my disastrous kitchen, and doing my own laundry.  Less diapers to wash and dry since both kids have been using the potty a lot.  CJ has had very few accidents wearing his big boy underpants, and I could not be more proud.  I guess he was ready.  I am ready for this day to be done, and for me to go to sleep.  I can't even think of some good K words to finish off this blog, so I know I must be quite tired.  Tomorrow is L day, lots of love and little joys!  Back to Supermom, the one who can stop tears, and heal boo boos, the one who can leap tall kiddos and cook three meals at once.  Kryptonite gone!

J is for Joy

CJ and Eliza are the light of my life.  Every moment they bring me joy, even when they cause me so very much frustration.  Today there was frustration due to two days without naps, so they were a lot cranky.  But the joy of them climbing up next to me on the couch to hold my hand and tell me they love me, that is the most amazing feeling in the world.  The joy on their faces because they knew all the letter sounds we have done, precious.  The pride because they have been using the potty all by themselves, priceless beyond words.  They just rock my world.

They did way better than I did coming up with J words today.  For some reason my brain had a lot of difficulty coming up with any good words, until several people assisted me via Facebook.  This is a complete juxtaposition (Thanks Sue!) from most days.  We watched Go Diego Go, and immediately they said that Jaguar begins with J, can you write on the letter poster right now?  We reviewed the letter posters again, and they really enjoy using all the words they have found.  They especially like to rhyme words.  Unfortunately they have also found one I don't like.  I try very hard not to use profanity in front of them, but once in a while I say shiza, which is sh** in German.  The kids are so quick with recognizing rhymes that they immediately knew that shiza rhymes with Eliza.  So they ran around chanting shiza Eliza, shiza Eliza, like maniacs.  I just sort of bowed my head in shame.  And pride that they recognized the rhyme so quickly!  Hope none of the neighbors know German . . .

Anyway, moving on.  We read every nursery rhyme and fairy tale we could find with J in it.  They retold Jack and the Beanstalk to me again.  We acted it out, and pretended to be all the characters.  We pretended to be Jack be Nimble, and we jumped over a candlestick I made out of paper.  We tried jumping jacks, and looked for pumpkins in the garden so we can make Jack-o-lanterns at Halloween.  We ate jelly crepes for breakfast, peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch, and we were supposed to have jambalaya for dinner.  But we had Chinese food instead, as nobody felt like cooking.  Long week, what can I say?  We did have some jell-o for dessert.  I had forgotten to make it, but realized I had some fruit and gelatin cups in the pantry.  Score! 

While it wasn't as J intensive as I would have liked we had a productive day.  CJ correctly counted to 69, which is the highest he has counted so far without assistance.  Eliza successfully waited for directions, and recognized her name on her workbook, for the first time without my help.  I think she reads CJ's name and just takes the other one, but it is absolutely progress.  Eliza has also used the potty every time she needs to poop except over night.  CJ has continued to use the potty and wear big boy underpants, with just one accident today, and that was because he was in his high chair and I was using the potty.  He loves the independence and freedom that comes with this.  Eliza is teething like crazy so finds it hard to concentrate on anything except food or coloring, so she spent a lot of time on the front porch coloring on the easel.  CJ prefers to pull his page down and draw on the ground.  We had a game where I blew bubbles, and every time I blew one that floated away they had to jump.  They loved it and did very well.  They were so tired by the time they went to bed, I think they were asleep when their heads hit the sheets. 


Whenever we go in the car we sing the A says /a/, the A says /a/, every letter makes a sound the A says /a/, all the way through to whatever letter we are on for the day.  We sing it every morning while we get dressed, and at least a few times throughout the day.  I think this is really helping them recognize the letter sounds in words.  We also talk about the other sounds letters make, and the sounds pairs of letters make when they cooperate like CH says /ch/.  They really seem to understand better than I could have expected.  They amaze me every day.  I made the letter flashcards today with an old deck of cards and some computer sticker paper.  26 letters, upper case and lower case makes 52 cards.  Easy.  We matched the upper to lower case letters up through today's letter.  I even drew a line for the bottom of each letter card so as to not confuse b, d, p and q.  I think next week I will find some more sticker paper or sticky labels and make some picture flashcards to match letter sounds, cat for C, dog for D for example.  I might even take some pictures with the digital camera to use on them. 

I am jubilant that it is Friday, as we have a fun weekend planned.  Friends coming over to make and can salsa, and to teach us to make sushi.  Since Rich doesn't like raw fish it will include a BBQ chicken sushi option.  Very jubilant!  It will be a jovial time in the Hansen household.  The kids are quite thrilled about the sushi, as that means they get to use their special animal chopsticks and bento boxes.  My crazy little foodie babies!  Joy is the perfect word for CJ and Eliza, and our homeschooling journey.

I is for Interest

Today was an interesting and happy day.  Good friend Kelly and her 8 year old daughter Gillian came over for a good long visit today.  I call this social interaction education day.  We all had such a great visit and the kids were ecstatic.  They had a lot of difficulty when it was time for their good friend Gillian to go home.  Gill is so great with the kids, and is so considerate of them.  She loves to play with them, read to them, color with them and teach them all sorts of games.  They even brought them chairs that are their size that Gill has outgrown and a CJ size Scooby Doo fishing pole!  That will be used when we go camping in September.  Can't wait!

Kelly helped me can salsa, and we had some wonderful adult conversation.  I know so few parents my age besides Kelly so it was very uplifting to have a visit.  We share a lot of ideas on child rearing and education, so it is invaluable to have a supportive friend with like opinions.  It was also so refreshing having another older child here to keep the little ones busy, while I was able to talk with an adult in another room.  I really needed that adult time.  I feel so much better.

As for I day, we started the morning routine just the same, and we practiced all the sounds we have learned so far.  We looked at our letter posters and read all the words we had written and added a few more.  I pointed out the lower case letters to Eliza in more detail.  She seems to recognize more of them today.  They colored on the easel outside, and CJ practiced writing his name.  His C's are pretty good.  J looks a lot like C.  But he is becoming more interested in the writing every day.  We didn't work in the workbooks today.  Tomorrow will be a quiet day with no canning or major projects, so I think we will do some intensive work on writing and letter sounds.  I am going to make the flashcards that I didn't get to today, and start some work with numbers.  I also want to spend some time working with their animal flashcards.  They love naming the animals, and I want to discuss habitats and animal types with them.  I think this weekend I will spend a little time on the computer making a template for their animal alphabet book we are going to make after our visit to the zoo.  I like to plan ahead a little.

The coolest thing ever happened today.  I was putting CJ's socks away this morning, and he told me he needed to look in the drawer.  I let him, and he pulled out  underpants and said he needed them.  I asked him why and he said no more diapers today.  He wore big boy underpants all day except nap!  And only one accident late towards the evening, after not sleeping at all at naptime.  He used the potty by himself, all day long!  I am so proud, and really hope this lasts.  Eliza used the potty more today too, since CJ was doing it.  No more diapers, here we come, slowly but surely!!!

So we ate icy juice for breakfast, iced tea with lunch, and Italian bread, Italian meatballs and pasta for dinner.  Then Rich went to get ice cream, because I was not letting I day go without ice cream!  I was having some difficulty coming up with many I foods.  And I wasn't about to eat chocolate covered insects, which is what the kids suggested.  YUCK!  At least they are intrepid adventurers, me not so much!  When I got CJ out of his crib I had barely said good morning when he told me it was I day, I says /i/ and icky and igloo start with I!  It was incredible.  The important thing is that the kids are showing more and more interest in learning, and my friends are showing lots of interest in what we do.  This keeps me and the kids challenged, interested and intelligent!  The kids are showing individualism, independence, intellect and an incorrigible attitude.  And I love every interesting minute!

H is for Hectic Homeschooling (DUH!)

The title today, total no brainer!  Which is good because my brain has turned to oatmeal this evening.  The kids kept me crazy busy, and have been very needy and whiny today.  I shouldn't complain since we have fewer of those days than most, but it was still a very tiring and hectic day.  They were excited to be doing a letter that starts our last name, and that is for happy.  They told me this morning that happy was their favorite word, besides love.  How can you not want to hold them and give lots of kisses and huggas as Eliza and CJ refer to them.

Same start to the day.  Find letter on quilt, write in carpet, make letter poster, practice sound and sing the song.  I think CJ knows the sounds for every letter already, except maybe x and q.  Eliza is having some difficulty remembering a few, and is totally stumped with lower case letters.  She can however draw some fairly controlled straight lines.  CJ is doing much better today about letting me help him hold the crayon.  I can't quite figure out what he is doing wrong, but I can't seem to get his little hand to curve around a writing utensil correctly.  I have ordered some of the special pens Diana suggested, now just to wait for delivery.  Tomorrow we are going to the store to get some giant pencils and rubber grippies to see if that helps. 

So yesterday we talked about goals, and today we set them.  I told them a goal I had for the week, and a goal I had for today.  I told them how I was going to work to achieve my goal, and how I would feel if I achieved or completed them.  We then set goals for the two of them.  For CJ his large goal is to count to 100 with no mistakes.  I know this sounds like a big task for a 3 year old, but he already counts to 50 with no mistakes.  But when he gets to 59 he always says fifty-ten next.  So that is his goal.  Eliza really didn't want to set one, but she has been obstinate and argumentative all day.  We finally settled on listening to directions before starting something.  A pretty obscure goal for a two year old, but it was the only one she would agree to today.  Tomorrow I hope to change it to something like I will practice my letter sounds every day.  My personal goal today was to finish making peach-mango-lime jam, and to make fennel relish, seeing as we have a glut of fennel in the garden.  I told the kids that I needed to do the dishes, clean the stove and go get the canning equipment in order to start working at my goal.  So I showed them that I was working on my goal, and that I couldn't play a game with them until I finished part of it.  I finished canning, and have 9 beautiful shining jars preserved for future use.  The kids were so excited that I completed my goal, they told me I did a great job, and gave me huge hugs.  It was a precious experience.

We played hopscotch, talked about hippopotamus and helping, and we tried to be happy all day.  We talked about the weather, which according to CJ was very hot and humid.  We ate toast with honey, hot soup (a stretch I know, but I forgot to thaw the hotdogs), and ham and pasta casserole with harvard beets.  We hit a ball with a stick, and the drum with the drumstick, these are the only hitting we are allowed to do.  Eliza practically hyperventilated when she ran into CJ and fell over her horse toy.  I shouldn't laugh when my kids get hurt, but it was pretty hilarious.  Especially since it involved so many H words. 

I worked with each of them individually in a new workbook that reinforces prereading activities.  The first page consisted of identifying letters A to G, and circling a pair if the capital and lower case matched.  CJ did phenomenal, made no mistakes, even on b and d.  He made clear lines circling the letters, though I wouldn't call them circular.  This is a dramatic improvement.  Eliza didn't even want to tell me the letters she saw.  When prompted repeatedly she was able to identify capital but not lower case letters.  My goal tomorrow is to spend more time showing her the letters.  I think I am going to take an old deck of cards and some sticker paper and make some alphabet flashcards, so they can match the capital to the lower case.  Next week I am going to make a set that has pictures to match to the letter sound that the word starts with.  I love the computer for these kinds of projects.  Lots of cool pics and clip art graphics are available, so it is easy to make workpages and flashcards.  Plus I can use less generic words and pictures than in flashcards you buy ready made.  This fall I am going to make the kids a board game that is simple and reinforces all the concepts we are working on.  That used to be one of my favorite projects when I was teaching in a classroom.

The kids have really settled into our new routine, and it is becoming easier for me as well, so today we added in some new activities.  We listened to CDs that came with various books the kids have.  We have a Tigger and Pooh Shapes and Colors double sided board book.  The CD reads the book to them two times, prompting them to look at the next page, and at the end asks them questions about the pictures, colors and shapes.  They both enjoyed it.  Tomorrow we will do the Disney Princess counting to 10.  They also listened to some kids songs by Sandra Boynton that have a book to match.  This was a wonderful gift from my Dad's cousin.  She always sends perfect gifts.  She seems to always know what the kids like and what I like them to have.  Which is strange since she lives in Oregon!

The kids also spent a large amount of time playing with play dough today.  I folded and put laundry away while they shaped and flattened and made carrots and cookies out of play dough.  They love to show me their creations.  Eliza tells me that she made a cookie, but I can't eat it because it is only pretend.  Of course an hour later, when I am changing CJ's diaper, she decided to eat it anyway!  Thank heavens it is non-toxic.

Tonight's post is very long, so I will end it here.  Hectic homeschooling is how our house thrives now, and I feel like we have a happy time of it.  Thank you for reading this and for helping this blog become a reality and a haven for my scattered thoughts.  I am hopelessly long winded but feel much better having this community of parents helping me.

G is for Grace

There have been several people lately who have openly questioned my decision to homeschool the kids.  Rather than showing support they point out what I can't provide the kiddos by homeschooling.  They won't socialize with other kids.  Translation:  they won't learn every way to use a swear word in kindergarten.  They won't be exposed to other children.  Translation:  they won't get colds, flu, stomach bugs or lice every week.  I know I can't provide what a large school system can, but I really feel that what I provide will be better, healthier and more in touch with their needs than any public school system ever could.  Granted they won't have group phys ed and learn soccer in first grade, but they will learn to hike and enjoy the outdoors.  They won't learn to raise their hand to ask a question, but they will learn to ask thoughtful and insightful questions, as well as where to find the answers.  They will learn how to take criticism gracefully, without rudeness.  They will learn to control their tempers and be responsible for their own actions.  They will learn to use good judgment, and to not judge others.  And they will learn this because I will instill it in them each and every day. 

I know there will be some holes in their educational experience, but I will supplement this with dance classes and library programs.  We will take advantage of programs that cater to homeschooling families and we will go on lots of field trips.  We will form hypotheses and do experiments, and we will do it in a way that strengthens the kids' love of learning and keeps them challenged.  I know a public school could not do this.  I see everyday the impact this decision has on our lives, and on their intellect.  Rich and I never doubt our decision, and openly, but kindly tell the naysayers so.

So letter G.  We read Goldilocks and the Three Bears again.  We also read about the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk.  Later in the day I had the kids retell me the stories.  We talked about the G words in them too, but we really worked on detail recall from the stories.  I was totally amazed how well they were able to tell me the stories, in the right order, with lots of detail recall.  They totally amaze me every day.  CJ even remembered all of Fe Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!  They even retold it to their Daddy after Goodnight Moon tonight!

They came up with so many words for their G letter poster and found lots of items in the house with the letter G.  They did not want to try writing the letter though, not even in the carpet.  They were a little Grouchy!  We stuck to the ever present routine, letter quilt, carpet writing, letter of the day poster.  They did fine with that routine, but were a little off for every other project.  Though CJ is building an alphabet with his blocks every day.  He finds all the letters we have done so far, adding each day, and puts them on the floor or hutch so that we can see all our letters every day.  Unfortunately there are only 24 of the blocks he is using, so I don't know how he will react when we get to Y!

When Eliza got up from her nap she told me she was grumpy, and she needed to color a rainbow to make her happy again.  So after she did this (CJ was still napping) we took a new workbook, and I showed her where I wrote her name.  She recognized CJ's name on his book, and I repeated the spelling of her name so she would always know which book was hers.  We practiced tracing some straight lines.  I had her stand right in front of the table, and I sat behind her, and I held her hand like a pencil.  I assisted her in the first few attempts, supported her hand for a few more, and then let her try on her own.  She enjoyed the activity.  I stopped after just a few rows, and wrote on the page the date, and that I assisted.  Tomorrow we will try to finish the page.  When CJ awoke I did the same for him.  However, CJ was very frustrated after just two attempts, because he didn't want me to hold his hand.  We stopped so I could explain why I had to hold his hand, and he seemed to improve the attitude, but still wasn't ready to do much more.  I told him we would do it again tomorrow morning.  I really need to get him to feel comfortable enough to try.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

So we talked about German words like gesundheit, gutenmorgen, gutentag and gutenacht.  We also talked about how G makes two sounds, /j/ like in giraffe and /g/ like in gorilla.  We played games all day and listened to the G sounds on various toys.  They are getting really good at identifying letter sounds in the words they hear.  When they went to bed they were getting excited about H day tomorrow.  For food today we had grapes and gingerbread for breakfast, Greek salad (and soup) for lunch, and galumpkies for dinner.  Galumpkies is the Polish word for stuffed cabbage with kielbasa.  One of the kids' favorites, they ate a ton.  They were drooling all day knowing that the galumpkies were in the crock pot.  I loved that dinner was practically ready so I had more time to focus on the two of them. 

We talked some science today after we discussed the weather, hot and humid by the way.  We talked about growth, and how seeds grow.  They told me that the magic beans in Jack and the Beanstalk could not grow that fast in our garden (hey another g word Mommy!) because seeds take time to grow into plants.  They need lots of sunlight, water, love and weeding before they grow.  And even after we see plants we have to wait till we get food from them.  I am telling you pretty much verbatim what they told me. 

We also talked about goals today.  I told them that my goal was to get the house clean by the end of the week, and to make jam tomorrow.  I told them that tomorrow we would set a goal for school for each of them.  I want them to think about a goal, and then we will talk about how to achieve it.  I want to build this into our routine, setting and working towards a personal goal.  It might be to pick up toys in their bedrooms every night before bed, or to learn all about a brachiosaurus, but I want them involved in the process.  I also want them to see me setting and working to achieve my own goals.  Education is in a large part, showing by example.  They parrot everything we do, good and bad, so I am trying to give them good habits to imitate. 

Being a homeschooling mom is forcing me to improve myself in many ways.  I am starting to show more grace under pressure than ever before.  My temper is more even, and I am not letting the dirt in the house get the better of me.  I am taking control of my life, and of my kids' education, and there is something amazing in that.  I feel more confident, and more awake than I have in a year.  This is affecting how effectively I teach CJ and Eliza, and how efficient I am in finishing projects and housework.  I just feel like I have been able to get more done, and to not worry when little things go wrong.  I giggle a lot more.  I grieve less.  I give in to the temptation to dance and sing around the house.  I gallop like a horse for the kids, and I give compliments more freely.  To quote Eliza, "Goodie, goodie, goodie."  And to quote CJ, "Welcome to my life, it is a Great one!"

F is for Fantastic

What a day!  It was too hot and muggy to go outside.  We opened the door and CJ said, "Mommy, I think it is too humid to go outside today."  I just sort of looked at him, in astonishment.  Eliza said, "That means the air is heavy and hard to breathe."  So instead we played Follow the Leader all around the house.  It also meant that CJ played Follow Me on my ipod.  All day.  Over and over and over and over.  I hear it even when there is no noise now.  It could have been worse.

They slept late this morning, but we stuck to the routine.  I say that word a lot, but I really think it is the backbone of beginning education.  CJ was so excited for F day, and Eliza was also once she realized that F was the first letter in friend.  She told me her best friend is CJ, and oh yeah, Mommy and Daddy too.  We spent more time writing the letters on the carpet today, and we reviewed all the sounds from last week.  We talked about vowels and consonants again, pointing out the vowels on his quilt.  We sang all the sounds we have learned so far.  We reviewed all our letter posters and put 18 words on today's F poster.  They came up with so many.  Later in the day they were talking about the word funny, and I said something was humourous.  We talked about words meaning the same thing and we listed funny, humourous, hilarious and comical as words they know that mean the same thing.  I explained that synonym is what you call words that mean the same thing.  We spent half an hour listing synonyms for words they know!

Still working with CJ on holding the crayon.  It is difficult, because once you place his fingers correctly he won't leave them in place, and he does not like me to help him hold it to learn how.  He wants to do everything himself, but he wants to do it perfectly.  We will continue to encourage him to ask for assistance, and to be a little more gracious in accepting help.  Eliza needs to work on waiting for and following directions.  She gets so excited that she starts doing something before she knows what she is supposed to do, and if I give her all the directions at once she gets confused and overwhelmed.  So we are working on breaking steps down and doing one thing at a time, and doing what Mommy is asking.

So the only time we ventured outside today was to help Daddy pick some fennel from the garden to flavor the fish we were having for dinner.  We had fresh fruit for breakfast, finger sandwiches with fresh veggies for lunch, and fish, fennel, french fries and carrot fritters for dinner.  And we had to listen to Follow Me while we ate!

I was so tired today that I ended up not working as much with the kids as I wanted to.  I spent a good part of the day playing Follow the Leader, and of course we read books, finding F words.  The kids found the letter F on their letter blocks and we even spelled a few simple words with them.  But I really wanted to get more accomplished today.  At least I got the laundry folded!  The kids were great helpers, sorting the clothes into 4 piles, one for each member of our family.  They matched up socks and outfits.  At least until Eliza decided it was more fun to play with the clean blanket.  I wore a shirt today with a lot of writing on it, and both of the kiddos were able to identify all the letters and their sounds from my shirt.  They did a fabulous job finding the letter F today in all sorts of places.

Rich (my hubby!) went to a store today and found some getting ready for preschool workbooks that work on tracing skills and letter recognition.  They even come with a cd, so I think we will break those out tomorrow, and see if the gold sticker rewards will help Eliza pay attention to directions.  I also think that we will not turn the television on at all, even for Sesame Street.  Instead we will listen to Goldilocks and the Three Bears on our storybook cd, and any other G stories I can find.  Plus we need to walk down the street so I can vote in the primary.  I can't wait to try and explain elections to them!  Tomorrow we get serious, and add more time each day devoted to more educational activities.  We have a LeapFrog toy caterpillar that has 26 songs, names colors and explains each letter sound.  I am going to incorporate it into our morning letter discovery routine.  A little more each day, figure out what works and what doesn't.  That is what this is all about.  It is a journey after all, not a destination, and the journey is fantastic!

E is for Exhaustion

August 6, 2010

So today was an exploration of E.  Another difficult letter.  We talked about vowels and consonants, and when CJ asked what they were and what they did I was a little unsure what to tell him at first.  So I finally explained it as vowels are like the heart of words, they make the other letters work together.  Consonants are the arms and legs.  They are important but they need the heart to make them work.  CJ seemed to understand it.  I spent the day explaining all the sounds of the letter E.  Not easy!

So CJ loves writing in the carpet and today he wrote his name, which of course only consists of two letters.  Later in the day he tried writing his name on paper, and he just has so much difficulty holding the crayon properly.  Next week that will be our goal.  For Eliza, next week's goal is to follow directions.  I used the worksheets I made to see if they can match numbers to pictures and capital to lower case letters.  They both knew the answers, but Eliza just used the paper as a coloring page, no matter how many times I asked, encouraged or cajoled her to follow the directions.  CJ drew the lines but they were so light they were hard to see because he can't hold the the crayon tightly enough. 

So more on working the routine today.  Find letter on quilt, draw in the carpet, make letter poster, come up with words, and eat E foods.  For breakfast we had french toast, with eggs in the batter.  We had no E foods for lunch, because I didn't want to have eggs for every meal, and had trouble coming up with other E foods.  For dinner we made eggplant ratatouille, and fried eggs on top.  The kiddos really loved it.  I am looking forward to F day, since there are a lot of F foods we love!

We played some Excellent outside games, working in the garden, playing in the sandbox, and on the slide.  They we listened to some music and danced on the kitchen floor, which CJ and Eliza call the dancing floor.  They love Follow Me by Uncle Kracker, and now they both know how to make the ipod player play the song again, so we listened to the same song for an hour and a half!  They danced and had a wonderful time.  They were so tired by the end of the evening.

I was also exhausted by the end of the evening.  But I really needed a little time to unwind and review the week, so we sat outside on the porch with a beer and some music.  We talked about goals for next week and what we both think we need to work on.  It was quite enjoyable.  I was so exhausted today with the kids that I spent a lot less time today actively working on the letter E.  We still sang songs, and stuck to the new routine, I just didn't push it the way I have the rest of the week.  Next week my goal is to be more organized and active about the lessons.  I figure one slightly lazy day is ok, but I can't make it a habit. 

The kids loved finding E words, especially since there are so many sounds the letter E makes.  They had a tough time at first, but they loved using their elephant plates and eating, and using the word excellent all day.  They ended up making up tons of rhyming gibberish words that start with /e/ too.  It was hilarious.  One sentence was something like, "Everybody eats eggy endwiches."  They had us laughing so much.  Off to enjoy the weekend.  Taking the weekend off to work on science and not letters.  Going to play some math games and some rot your brain video games with the kids.  Rich got them an M&M wii game that they can play with their own remotes.  Fun family activities!  Have a great weekend everybody!

D is for Dirty Diapers

Well the kids are adapting well to the new routine, and are doing phenomenally well with letter sounds.  They are able to come up with so many words that begin with the letter of the day.  They enjoy discussing the weather of the day, and are able to identify all kinds of shapes all over their environment.  I just wish we could get rid of the darn diapers.  A child as smart and advanced as CJ really should be out of diapers.  He poops only in the potty, but pees in his diaper all the time.  And today he threw a fit every time I tried to put him on the potty.  I had to change his bedding twice today!  Dirty diapers are frustrating.

Moving away from Mommy complaints, they did great today.  We played a Ducky matching game that their grandparents gave them last Christmas.  We also learned an ABC game I bought at Kohl's that said it is for 3 year olds.  It is a little bit too complicated for them just yet.  Not to mention CJ is at an age where he thinks he is always supposed to win!  I never really left that stage so I can't say too much.  : )

We made our letter D poster, wrote on the carpet, sang letter songs, and practiced all the sounds we have learned so far.  We reviewed the weather and what we learned about mammals.  They were able to explain that our cat Logan is a mammal because she has hair, and doesn't lay eggs.  They watched Dinosaur Train on PBS while I finished canning the peaches and peach spread I started yesterday.  They seem to remember everything they watch on Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street, it is quite amazing. 

Aside from the squabbles about the potty it was a pretty productive day.  When Rich got home he took them to the craft store for awhile so I could finish some stuff up in the house, and they looked all over the store for the letter D, and they were so excited about it.  When they got home we used the pipe cleaners (now called chenille stems) Rich bought, we used them to make shapes and letters.  They really enjoyed that.

We made baked whole wheat coconut doughnuts for breakfast.  The kids helped me measure everything and mix up the batter, and even fill the pan.  They were delectably delicious!  We talked about what a recipe is, how to measure ingredients, and how to prepare for cooking.  Always wash our hands so the germs stay away from the food, and how to read the numbers on measuring spoons and cups.  They are both wonderful helpers in the kitchen and they love to do it!  For lunch we had dill chicken and couscous, as I was running out of D food ideas.  We had Chinese Dumplings for dinner, since everyone was too hot and tired to cook. 

I spent their naptime working on the first few installments of this blog, and developing some materials for tomorrow.  I looked through several preschool workbooks I have bought at BJ's and Walmart, and made a few of my own.  I used MSWord to make a simple worksheet so the kids can match capital/upper case letters to their lower case counterparts, just by drawing a line.  They love doing matching activities, so I figure I can use that as a simple gauge of how they grasped that part of the learning this week.  I also used the same format to do a number to picture match.  The number one to one red hexagon for example.  Next week we will spend some time with simple sight words.  CJ already reads 5 or 6 words consistently, and Eliza recognizes just the word love.  What a great word to start out knowing. 

I think the word we used the most today though, was destroy.  Eliza kept destroying CJ's Lego tower.  CJ destroyed one of his board books, albeit accidentally.  Logan destroyed one of Eliza's coloring pages.  And I destroyed the kitchen with cooking.  Tomorrow should be a little bit less crazy.  I think I will go enjoy a daiquiri now, loving the letter D!

C is for Challenge

August 4, 2010

First I want to tell you something funny the kids told me.  I always joke and ask, "Who loves you most?"  They usually say Mommy and Daddy.  Today CJ told me that Mommy loves him most, because she is going to be their teacher.  This was after we read Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See.  Eric Carle is their favorite author currently.  At the end where it asks about the teacher Eliza told me that Mommy was her teacher, and sometimes CJ.  This just made me a little teary-eyed.  They both informed me then that crying had the /k/ sound and began with C. 

More routine development today.  Find letter on the quilt, write the letter in the carpet (another C word), make a letter poster, and identify the C foods at breakfast.  The kids are great at remembering all the parts of the routine that we added.  Today we also talked about how letters pair up and Cooperate to make new sounds.  Especially /ch/.  Cheese, chicken and chew.  C makes 3 sounds, which is easy to remember since it is the third letter of the alphabet.  And they both know first, second, third, fourth, all the way up to tenth. 

We started talking about weather today, and we are writing on the daily calendar what the weather was.  Today was cloudy, perfect for C day.  We talked about what activities you can do with different types of weather.  Can you fly a kite in the rain?  Can you go to the beach in the snow?  Can you take a hike when it is sunny?  They were very funny when I asked a silly one.  They even got me laughing out loud. 

They also told me that circle is a C word, and that led into a discussion about properties of all shapes.  They identified circle, square, rectangle, trapezoid, triangle and rhombus, with no help from me at all!  I guess I have been doing more homeschooling than I thought already.  They saw the letter C in CJ's nameplate on his wall, in the toy wrenches at the workbench and on the cold water faucet on their play kitchen.  They saw a C in a toy shaped like a half circle, and they loved finding C in all their books.  C foods were easy to find in the garden today.  Cauliflower, carrots and cabbage all found their way to the dinner table, along with cheese crusted chicken.  They were vibrating in their highchairs they were so excited over C night dinner.  Their grandparents even came to share in letter C dinner.  Crisp made from peaches was the sweet end to the evening.  It is a stretch I know, but just wait till letter Z foods!  Of course today with the letter C, we also spent time cooking, cleaning, and canning peaches!  No wonder I am exhausted!

They seem to be really enjoying this adventure, though Eliza had her first full blown temper tantrum today.  She was mad that I wanted her to leave her pants around her feet on the potty.  I think she woke the neighbors down the street with the amount of screaming and crying that went on.  This was then followed by CJ's total freak out about trying the cabbage for dinner.  I was totally ready when it came time for my favorite C words, crib for kids and cocktail for me!

In all seriousness though, I am looking forward to the far more simple letter D tomorrow.  It is slightly less daunting than the complicated letter C.  Hopefully there will be slightly fewer temper tantrums too.  Wish me luck!

B is for Blogging

August 3, 2010


So we started the day the same as yesterday, establishing this new routine.  We found the letter B on the alphabet quilt, and drew the letter B in the carpet.  I think the most important part of starting this homeschooling journey is to make it part of our daily routine, and to keep the kiddos excited about it.  To do that today we kept singing the letter song, and the alphabet, and we kept reviewing what we discussed the previous day.

When I tried having them write in the shaving cream, CJ told me he was freaking out and he started to get extremely mad.  He really REALLY hates the shaving cream apparently.  Well no shaving cream for the rest of the week.  I think Thursday we will try using the bath crayons to write letters in the tub.  I am trying to integrate the letters and numbers into each and every part of our day.  For breakfast we had bread, butter and blueberries.  After breakfast we read jack and the Beanstalk, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  The kids yelled B every time I read a B word.  They loved this!  They then found the letter B in several of their own board books.  They told me that book was their favorite B word.

After reading time we went to the garden to identify some B foods we could have for dinner.  They helped me pick beets, broccoli and beans.  We picked some Bok Choy (CJ's favorite veggie) to make some soup for lunch.  CJ loves all veggies, but Eliza isn't as huge a veggie eater.  She will however eat ANY vegetable if I make a pureed soup.  So we had Bok Choy, ginger and garlic soup.  They declared it the Best lunch ever!

After their nap we started talking about animals that began with B.  We talked about bears, birds and bugs.  I pulled out their animal flashcards, and we talked about what is the same and different with the animals we saw.  We especially talked about what makes a mammal a mammal.  They like that we share traits with other mammals like alpacas, since that is their favorite animal.  We used a magnetic habitat board someone gave them for Christmas.  They were able to choose which animals matched to each habitat.  One was the ocean, another the farm, and the last was grasslands.  They were excited to see the barn because it was yet another B word. 

They even asked me which animals were carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.  I kid you not, these are the words they used.  They asked if any of the animals on their board were nocturnal.  They were able to tell me that Logan, our cat, is nocturnal, as is the skunk that lives nearby.  They told me that nocturnal means asleep during the day and awake at night.  They scare me sometimes with how smart they are. 

What I really liked about B day is that B is a simple letter, with really only the one sound.  So much easier than the vowels, or tomorrow's letter C.  Yikes! 

Homeschooling: The Journey Begins

August 2, 2010

First let me explain my kiddos.  CJ is three, counts to 60 and has known and recognizes every letter of the alphabet for more than a year, both capital and lower case.  He does simple addition and subtraction, and understands more than any other toddler I have ever met.  Eliza is two, counts to 40, knows and recognizes every letter of the alphabet, and is already trying to color inside the lines in her coloring books.  I am an unemployed certified teacher with some issues with the local public school system.

This combination has led me over the past year to decide to homeschool my babies.  The local public school will have kindergarten class size of more than 20 next year.  I know what would happen if my kids, who are well behaved and very smart, were in that classroom.  I know what I would do with them, put them in a corner with some books, and some projects, and leave them alone so I can focus on the kids who need me more.  I have done this, and I don't like to admit it.  But this is the problem with public schools.  I WILL NOT let that happen to my kids.  They are so smart, they really need to be challenged.  So we have decided to be a homeschooling family.  My husband is fully supportive of this decision and has decided that when the kids are a little older he will take a large part of the responsibility in teaching them science, since that is his largest interest.

Once I had officially decided I was going to homeschool, I formulated a plan.  Since CJ and Eliza are so smart, and so far ahead I decided to start the first week of August.  So the past couple of months I researched through all my school stuff and found the state requirements for each grade level, and the basic curriculum from two different school systems.  I signed up with a homeschooling organization locally and planned how I would start.  The kids love music and singing, so I integrated that into each day.  The beginning of our journey is more about being conscious of doing activities that create a learning environment rather than just watching television or reading with no purpose.  I wanted the kids to understand that when Mommy is your teacher things are different, when I ask you to try something it is because I want you to learn about it.  We needed to change from activities being kid driven to Mom/Teacher driven.

I started with planning 26 weekdays, of letter of the day.  Today was A.  When the kids got up I had them both find the letter A on CJ's alphabet quilt.  Then we sang "The A says /a/ the A says /a/, every letter makes a sound the A says /a/".  Of course they thought that was great.  Then we drew the letter, capital and lower case in CJ's very plush carpet.  We went into the playroom and I drew the letter on computer paper and they dictated A words to me, to write on their letter "poster" to hang in their playroom.  At breakfast they had to identify the foods that start with the letter A.  Applesauce, big hit.  After breakfast I put shaving cream in their highchair trays so that they could practice making shapes and letters.  Eliza loved playing in the cream, but was not very interested in making any shapes.  CJ was able to make a few lower case a's very well, and one not so great attempt at a capital.  I was thrilled!  Unfortunately he can't stand the feel of the shaving cream, as he does not like to be yucky or dirty unless it is from the sandbox or garden.  Next we cleaned up and went in the yard to find A words, and work in the garden.  We migrated to the shadier front porch where I had set up their easel (which looks like an A from the side!) and they colored on the easel while I read them several books.  They were asked to identify and words that start with A while I read and they did a super job.

By the end of the day though, I realized how difficult A is, since it makes so many more sounds than just a-a-a-apple.  We had some almonds with lunch, and while the kids napped I relaxed a little on facebook and planned what other A activities we could do.  After the kids awoke, I found myself speaking as many a words as possible, and they noticed right away!  We identified body parts, animals, foods, and household items that all start with the letter of the day.  By the time they went to bed at night they were so excited for the second letter B day!

My plan is at the end of the 26 days, right after Z day, we will go to the zoo.  We are going to take a clipboard with the alphabet, and the camera, and we will find and snap a pic of animals for each letter, and the kids can make their own animal alphabet book!  Luckily hubby is helping me with that one!  Next month we are also going to visit Old Sturbridge Village, since they have a special day only open to homeschooling families.  This is going to be an exciting and rocky journey!  Can't wait to see how they do with B!