Unexpected Lessons

Teaching the kids at home means not worrying about what they will say to a teacher or another adult who might look at you funny.  Which is why Rich taught the kids at breakfast about ranged and melee weapons.  Today in the car CJ used lollipop sticks as swords, telling me that they were in melee combat.  Seriously.  Not kidding even a little bit.  I think it is funny some of the things that we teach them.

Sometimes Doing It Wrong Turns Out Right

I can't believe more than two months have gone by and I haven't posted a thing.  Things have been crazy and busy and hectic and exhausting.  So pretty typical.  We have been reorganizing the house and doing some minor repairs, moving furniture around, trying to make the house easier and less cluttered.  Because of this I haven't been doing much in the way of actual planning or overt teaching.  This goes against my teacher training, and makes me feel like I am not doing everything I can to be a great teacher or great mom.  However it hit me today, that really the kids are still learning so much.  They are breaking words into syllables, and are both writing their names. 

A wise person once told me that when asked how to know if you are "doing it right", meaning parenting marriage etc., the answer is always, YOU AREN"T!  You are never doing it "right" no matter how hard you try.  But doing your best and always showing your child that you love and respect them is more important than getting it all right.  I have tried to live by this, and remember that anything I try to do is better than nothing, and that no matter what I show my kids and husband love and respect.

Now to explain how the kids learned to break words down into syllables, picture us at family dinner.  CJ, Eliza, me, Rich and my parents.  The kids are singing "Shave and a Haircut, two bits."  They were replacing two bits with other numbers and words.  When they got up to seven they wanted to know why it didn't sounds right.  I explained that there were too many syllables, and I explained what a syllable is, a chunk of a word that has a vowel sound.  We then started finding out the syllables in everybody's names, and now they count syllables in all sorts of words.  And all because I listened to their question.  I respected them enough to pay attention and recognize a teachable moment.  Granted most dinners are not full of this insight on my part, but I am so glad that I was on the ball that night. 

Both of the kids are coloring every day, holding their writing utensils correctly and enjoying practicing letters.  Eliza writes her name everywhere and it is actually recognizable most times.  She wants to learn to do everything at once though.  She wants to learn to tie shoes, but isn't able to yet, and this frustrates her to no end.  Of course her over-dramatic whining about it frustrates me to no end.  CJ gets frustrated because his letters don't look perfect, or look all the same size.  I feel terrible how he gets upset about not being perfect.  I have never encouraged perfectionism, and don't expect it.  I make a point to say that all I want is best trying.  I want a good attitude and good listening, and to always try your best.  How else can I convince him that his efforts are wonderful, even if they don't look exactly perfect?  I praise both of them whenever they try and tell them how proud I am of their improvements.  I guess there are far worse things to complain about with a 4 year old than perfectionism. 

We count everyday, and both kids can count to 100, though Eliza needs help to stay with it.  They both add up to 10 easily, far more easily than I could ever hope.  CJ is even pretty good at simple subtraction.  They are both so interested in learning anything they can.  They love going to the library, however I feel that they get very little out of the classes there.  The teachers don't encourage question asking or prediction making about the stories.  I have always encouraged that because it is a sign of good readers to comment on the story, predict what will happen next, and ask questions that the story might answer.  I don't want them to just sit and listen without interaction.  I don't feel it is good for a group of young children to sit idle and quiet that long.  And I don't like my kids getting in trouble because the librarian won't let me come into the room to keep them quiet.  So I think we will not be attending the bulk of the library classes.  I just don't know what other types of classes or activities would be good to get them interacting with other children of their age level.  Any suggestions would be appreciated! 

I know I promised pictures of the new and improved school room, and I haven't forgotten.  We actually just finished adding more cabinets this week, so I will try and post some pics tomorrow after I clean up the aftermath of putting everything together, and reorganizing.  Tomorrow I am going to plan some autumnal and Thanksgiving themed crafts for the next couple of weeks.  Again, suggestions welcomed!  I promise to try and update more frequently.  Hope you are all well.

Prepare for a long rambling post!

I have been spending some time over the past week, amid hurricane preparation, cleaning the school room, reorganizing and utilizing our new cabinets and drawers.  Pictures soon, still charging camera batteries.  It has gotten me thinking about how I teach, and what I believe about teaching and learning.  I subscribe to many theories, though none fully.  I love the idea of Montessori teaching, letting students drive part of curriculum with their interests.  Though I believe the teacher has to have an important agenda as well as adapting to a child's needs and interests.  Otherwise they would simply avoid all the subjects they show no natural inclination for.  I think what I truly believe is in immersion learning.  When learning a new language the easiest way to learn is to go to that country and learn from them by being fully immersed in the culture, language, food and customs of that country.  This is also the best way to hold on to what you have learned.  I apply this idea to our lives.  We are living a homeschooling immersion.  There are constant opportunities to learn, and we have created an environment where learning is a priority, and wherever we are we are constantly asking and answering questions.  In addition my friends and family work with the kids too.  While staying with my cousin and my friend, his new wife,CJ asked my cousin what light is made of.  He explained to him about photons and electrons.  How awesome is that?  CJ keeps explaining to me that light is made of photons.  He knows that things are made of cells and atoms.  He asked if there are photons in our cells, and I said I don't think so because we don't create light.  So he made a hypothesis that glow worms and fireflies must have photons in their cells.  Now I have some research to do.  But this is a common occurrence.  No one dumbs down answers or tells the kids to stop asking questions.  Everyone in their lives tries to answer their questions and shows them how to find answers.  Immersion in learning.  I think CJ is reading so well because we have words, letters and books everywhere.  We read around our world.  We were in the car on the way to the library and passes a billboard.  It says "If you see something, say something."  It has the word something sitting on a bus seat.  As we passed CJ told me that the sign says something three times!  Indeed it did.  We then figured out the rest of the words while driving the rest of the way to the library.  We talk about sounds letters make in the car, as well as counting things we see outside.  We always ask the kids, how many toys is that altogether, or how many eggs do we have left if we use two for this recipe?  They are cranky if we don't keep their minds busy.  We take every opportunity to teach and learn.  Any new parents who have asked me about homeschooling, I have told the same thing, make your home a school, a lab, a library.  Make every place a place to learn.  Make it easy on yourself by setting up an environment conducive to learning and teaching.  Mostly this happens in how you interact with your kids.  It is a mindset and way of life, not just a place to go to do lessons.  We will stop what we are doing outside if we find some new insect or plant, and make observations, and I will tell them what I know about it, or go inside and get a book that can help us gain more information.  Sometimes I even bring out the laptop and google what they want to know.  The important thing is to make sure that their thirst for knowledge is quenched, but also that they learn that sometimes other things must take priority.  If I am in the middle of cleaning the bathroom, or making our dinner, they must hold on to their questions, and they will be answered when my task is complete.  When I am not doing anything important we stop and do it right them.  You need to find a balance between adult driven and child driven.  It should be child centered, not child driven.  Also set up routines and procedures that help learning and teaching go more smoothly.  Figure out what you want to accomplish, then make a plan on how to accomplish it.  Then break it down into small repeatable steps.  Let them learn a step completely before adding another.  I think this is where many people falter.  Children need structure, and support, but they also need independence, so you need to make sure activities are age appropriate and not too frustrating.  Give them a challenge sure, but give them the tools to meet it, and the constant support and encouragement they crave.  In addition, worry less about boosting their self esteem falsely.  Their esteem will grow with accomplishment and that is the way it is meant to be.  They shouldn't feel good about accomplishing nothing.  Nor should we as adults.  Not everyone should make the team.  Children should be encouraged to find out their strengths and relish them.  They should also be encouraged to find their weaknesses and to understand that they may not be great at everything, but the important thing is to try their best at whatever they do.  It is ok if they stink at kickball, maybe they will excel at tennis.  It is ok if they have trouble with multiplication, maybe they excel at writing poetry.  Find their strengths and exploit them, find their weaknesses and make them aware of them.  Give them a reason to work harder and to feel real accomplishment when they improve through hard work.  This long ramble to be continued, since the kiddos are awake and ready to start their day!  Thanks for listening. . .

We have been spending a lot of time deep cleaning the house, and putting new cabinets in the school room.  We have been organizing and getting rid of things in hopes of making the house less cluttered and easier to maintain.  Things are already starting to be easier on me and the kids.  I have piles of lessons and activities ready to grab and go.  Yesterday we started on identifying coins.  The kids easily identify pennies and quarters, still working on nickels and dimes.  We are using actual coins, pictures of coins and play coins.  We are also working on reading an analog clock.  They have totally mastered the digital clock.  Every day we spend time reading aloud, reading alone, dancing together, counting by ones, twos, fives and tens.  We talk about the date and day of the week every day.  We are going to the library once or twice a week, and watching less tv, reading more books.  We have reread every High Five magazine the kids ever got, and working together in the kitchen.  I am making the kids be more responsible for keeping themselves and their rooms clean, as well as loading their dishes in the dishwasher.  Spending a lot of time just working on daily routine, and making sure we all remember to brush our hair, brush our teeth and make our beds.  Each day we are getting more efficient and more able to spend time playing together, reading together and enjoying each other's company.  It makes life much more enjoyable.  Pictures of the garden and new schoolroom to come. 

Summer Review

The weather has been in the ninety degree range for awhile now, and I finally had to break down and have Rich put in the air conditioners, because we couldn't even focus long enough to do any sort of learning in a room that was 93 degrees hot.  Since the a/c's went in and the garden has started to flounder, thanks to an obnoxious and persistent woodchuck who loves leafy and cruciferous veggies, we have finally had some time to just sit together and do some real lessons.  CJ is reading all the time, though I am not pushing him when he has trouble, or when he really doesn't want to do it.  We want him to love to read of course.  We have been reviewing all the letter sounds, and the colors, and the shapes.  We have officially moved to identifying 3D shapes.  We have been spending time at the library and practicing counting.  Both kids can count to 100, by ones, twos, fives and tens.  They can consistently read a digital clock, since we practice that every day.  They have memorized the days of the week and months of the year.  They now know their birthdays, address, phone number and CJ knows Memere and Pepere's phone number.  One of the other things I have been focusing on is reading stories with all different cultures represented, looking at pictures of different ethnicities, and emphasizing that all people are the same in some ways even if they don't look the same.  I think this is something that they know instinctually, but I really feel it is important to reinforce it.  I have been spending their library class time looking through some homeschooling and lesson books at the library, finding some great preschool/kindergarten plans having to do with familiar nursery rhymes, and some great science combined with art projects that are age appropriate.  When I actually implement them I will post and add pictures.  I have simply been too tired and hot and cranky to want to post anything of substance, and I have been mostly disorganized and inconsistent this summer.  I am on the upswing though, getting back to normal, even though Rich now has a new work schedule.  He is home Tuesday, Wednesday Saturday, and works 10 hour days the rest of the week.  Hard to get used to, and the kids have been sleeping on a strange schedule.  My goal for August is to regulate the schedule and sleep patterns, as well as get back on my organizational track.  Also time to update learning centers and spend some time just playing word games and math games with the kiddos.  We all need it.  Their behavior is starting to show my lack of time and energy to spend with them.  So next month the goal is to make a new schedule that works for us and stick to it.  And read more together and play more together.  It will be a great month!

Two Parents, Two Kids, a Cat and a Chinchilla!

We are now the proud owners of an absolutely adorable chinchilla.  You have got to love Craig's List!  Free for the taking a few miles from our house was an animal that would cost us hundreds of dollars to buy, plus he came with all of his gear, cage, food and the like.  So we took a book about chinchillas out at the library the day we found out we would be getting him, and we learned all about these cool animals.  He is four years old, and the previous owners never named him.  We are thinking it is a him anyway, they didn't know the gender!  The kids named him Auryn Shelby Hansen, ASH for short.

And here he is!  He is so so soft!  We are learning so much about responsibility for pets with him.  He is far more maintenance than Logan, our cat.

And here she is, checking out Ash.  She hasn't gone after him a bit, and when Ash was rolling around in his ball while we cleaned the cage, they ended up napping together with Logan wrapped around Ash and his ball.

He is quite the interesting addition to our family, and the kids adore him.  Logan seems to like having another animal in the house.  We just can't believe our luck.  Even after this animal suffered through neglect he seems very happy and well adjusted.  We take him out and groom his fur nightly (since he is nocturnal) and let him exercise in his ball through the house.  Each night he gets a raisin for a treat, and he seems to love being around the kids.  He lets them pet his head and he even tries petting himself on their hands.  He isn't skittish, but is quite energetic.  We cleaned his cage really well, which I am sure hadn't been done in months at least.  We got him a wheel large enough for him, and a few other little things.  Dust for his dust bath, and a pumice stone for him to chew on and stand on.  He is so much fun to watch and we are all enjoying this new learning experience.

 Don't those faces just say it all?

Month of Crazy

So between gardening, heat, thunderstorms, school finishing for Mason's mom, and all the other million things, this month sort of got away from me.  We have been doing so much learning, but without much rhyme reason or organization.  Today we spent some time on patterns.  First with breakfast, we ate our fruit salad in a pattern, first melon, then cherry then apple.  We made patterns with sidewalk chalk outside.  We did a few worksheets identifying patterns, which CJ told me how to do it and all the correct answers before I even got the crayons out!  They did some more practice with the tweezers, and some scissor practice.  Tomorrow they told me that they want to do more school in the school room.  So I have some stuff planned.  We never did finish all the stuff for N and 14, so that will be on the agenda for tomorrow, and of course lots of reading.  CJ is coming along so quickly with the reading that it boggles my mind.  We can't even spell things to each other because he is able to figure almost any word out.  We are going to have to learn a new language to keep secrets from them!  I would really like to finish the alphabet by fall and to start on letter blends and more in depth decoding and phonics.  Their interest in learning amazes me, and I hope to get in some really great science activities soon.  Rich is going to start a new schedule, where he works 4 10 hour shifts and has Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday off.  He is going to be helping me with science, since it is his biggest interest.  I can't wait!

100th Post Today!!!

Today is my hundredth post.  Thank you all for reading all 100 long-winded and oft times convoluted ramblings.  I love chronicling what we do and how the kids are growing and learning.  This week we are back to "official" lessons, the letter N, number 14, Newt, Narwhal, and feelings.  We are also focusing on fine motor skills, using child friendly tweezers, lacing bead onto shoelaces, and other activities that encourage fine motor coordination, patience, and appropriate pencil holding.  Tomorrow we will spend a fair bit of time making feelings puppets and using them with our puppet theater.  In between cooling off outside in the sprinkler and baby pool, of course.  I am sure the kids will also be sneaking some of the bountiful berries growing in the garden!  Pictures to come.  Again thanks for helping me write 100 entries!

Belated Birthday Pics

It occurs to me that I never finished posting pictures of CJ's and Eliza's birthday party.  I was having computer issues, and then whoops it just slipped my mind.  Well I will remedy that right now.

 These would be the cakes I spent hours making.  Eliza wanted a butterfly, and CJ wanted a rainbow.  So I made both.  From scratch.  I know not my brightest idea ever.  But they were adorable, and the kids were thrilled.  That little white pile of frosting was supposed to be a cloud, and I used edible glitter on it.  It was generally decided to look more like unicorn poo than a cloud.  :)

 CJ and Eliza loved their new trikes though only now are able to start using them without a lot of help.  Our friends are so great playing with the kids, and helping them.

 All the kids crowded around when it was gift time, and everyone who came knows the kids so well, that they got perfect gifts.  They received several outdoor games and gardening tools, books, clothes and awesome stuff.  CJ was particularly excited for the Amazon gift cards they received, because it meant he could "go shopping on the computer."

And the ever proud grandparents, who can't stand to be away from them for more than a day or two.  They adore them, but sometimes that isn't so easy. 











And now pictures of CJ's actual birthday.

 Here he is blowing out the candles.  I would show you his birthday dinner, but it literally was the exact same thing that we had for Eliza's, as that was what he asked for. 

We went to an Easter Egg hunt at a local nursery on CJ's birthday (shortly before Easter) and the kids loved getting to hunt in the plants and meeting the Easter Bunny.  It was a pretty great day all around, good weather, and lots of good family time.  Who can ask for more than that?

What a Wonderful Weekend!

We had a beautiful weekend, weather wise and otherwise.  We spent time with friends, helped out some family, and enjoyed the weather and great food that came with the weekend.  On Saturday CJ and Eliza convinced Daddy and our friend Justin that they needed an obstacle course.  This made me happy since I know I should be doing more physical education activities, and this fit the bill perfectly.  He started with the word start in chalk on the sidewalk, then a math problem they had to solve first.  He drew boxes they needed to jump into, built planks up for them to climb up and walk across, things for them to crawl through and under.  He even used his traffic cones for the kids to run around.  It was great, and they had so much fun, they did it for literally hours!  We decided that once a week (or weekend) we would build one based on whatever gross motor skills appropriate for them. 

 Here CJ was explaining all the rules to Eliza.

 I love this picture of her, it really shows her adorable running and walking style.

 I was amazed at how well they "walked the plank" here.  They climbed right up, walked right across, and in the dozens of times they walked it, they each only fell once.

 Eliza had a little trouble with the squatting under the finish line.  I don't think she will be a master of the limbo.

CJ did a great job jumping right into the squares he wanted to.  By the time they went to bed they were exhausted and fell right to sleep.  Plus we all had so much fun doing this together.  What a great activity for us to do instead of watching television.

Vacation From School, Not From Learning

Generally children and parents have a summer vacation from schooling.  In our house I believe it will be a spring vacation.  I have spent so much time getting the garden prepared, planted, weeded and what not that it has left me little time to devote to true lesson planning.  I have taken the kids to several classes at the library, most of which were incredibly disappointing.  They have learned a lot about seasons, weeds, insects, plant types, etc.  Yesterday CJ was looking at one of my gardening books, pretending it was a scientific field journal.  He noticed that the word flowers was on it.  He asked me what the rest of the words said, and I told him he already knew them all, and he read to me the big book of flowers.  He even opened it and recognized some types of flowers we have in the yard.  We have been doing small learning projects like finishing a book of colors and shapes.  We have been reading, and measuring the water in our rain gauge.  We have been identifying clouds and insects.  We have done some projects involving recycling, and a lot of mini lessons focusing on feelings, and appropriate ways to show feelings.  They are getting to the age where controlling their tempers is becoming extremely difficult, especially since they aren't getting nearly enough sleep.  The more tired they are the less they are able to handle disappointment, frustration and changes in schedule.  Hopefully we will have a relatively quiet and restful holiday weekend.  The garden is officially planted, and all I have to do now is keep up with weeding and watering.  The kids love watching things pop up after planting.  They are helping their Memere with an herb bed at their house.  They helped plant the seeds, and helped fill the bed with soil.  When the seedlings are big enough they are going to help plant them.  I am sure they will also help eat them! 

We have already been harvesting parsley, oregano, chives, onions, leeks, scallions, thyme, cabbage, and greens.  So much of the garden was still strong when we uncovered, and many things reseeded themselves. 

It is wonderful to finally see some green everywhere and know that soon we will have wonderful food to harvest and flowers to make us happy.  Rich even built me an arbor to grow moonflower and morning glories.  We have it on the stone patio he just put in this year, where we go at night to have a fire and relax.  It will have an evening fragrance garden.  The kids helped me pick out some beautiful plants for that area.  

Here is where CJ and Eliza learned all about perennials.  They noticed when they started seeing strawberry flowers that they were the same as last year.  We also harvested some rhubarb and they learned all about how to can strawberry rhubarb jam!  They helped me measure the sugar and the fruit.  They loved tasting the results!

I think we will have some wonderful school time in the coming weeks as the work in the yard slows down.  I am particularly excited to start Eliza reading.  CJ is coming along so quickly that he reads everywhere.  Eliza sees letters and numbers, but really wants to start reading words.  What a joy!

Themes and apologies for my absence!

So again, sorry to be so sparse in my update duties, but the computer has been acting wonky when I try to update anything, and we have been working like mad in the garden.  I will be posting pictures soon of CJ's birthday, and of the new improvements in the garden.

I really want to talk a little bit about how important using themes to teach the kids has been to me.  Today we listened to the song Scarborough Faire on my ipod.  I love the song, and I am sure you all know it.  Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme?  Well I taught them a bit about what the song means, and we went into the garden to look at all the herbs, discussing that these herbs have been used by cooks and medical practitioners for centuries.  We looked up the herbs in a book and found out what people used to think they did, and what the herb names mean and stand for.  Rosemary for example was often given as a gift and means remembrance.  We are having Scarborough Faire chicken for dinner, using all these herbs from the garden.  We talked about how they grow, and how the plants are different and the same.  We tasted them all.  We learned the words to the song.  We even read a children's book that took place in medieval times to talk about how people lived differently. 

Recently I have also done themes for Earth day and recycling.  There was a recycling program at the library for the kids, which actually wasn't very good, but helped me form a theme for the kids.  We recycled newspaper and some seeds into plantable seed pods.  We recycled dryer lint by putting it out for the birds.  We found ways to recycle many items in the house to help us with the garden and other projects.  The kids understand what recycling is, and why it is important for the earth.  We read Earth day books, and watched Sesame Street Earth day movies.  We spent a few days talking about the Earth and how to take care of it. 

Teaching in themes makes it so much easier for me to plan lessons, and I find it makes the lessons stick with the kids much more.  This is mostly because we spend so much time with one topic and we learn about it in so many ways.  We integrate all subject areas into the one topic making it a part of our entire day and week.  This makes it seem important.  I even try to integrate topics into our games and play.  For recycling we made toys to play with using old discarded items.  For today we are playing ring around the rosie, a game that originated in medieval times.  There are so many ways to integrate and use themes in everything we do.  I also love the consistency it brings to our learning. 

That is all for today, and I will be posting pictures soon, as long as my computer allows it.  Off to plant some more seeds in the garden!

Babies are Growing Up

So CJ is officially 4.  These few years have gone so quickly.  I am sorry I have been so incommunicado, but things have been absolutely crazy busy around here.  Between Eliza's birthday, the birthday party for both kids, CJ's birthday, all of us being sick, AGAIN, and prep for Easter, blogging just hasn't happened in a long time.  This summer I will be much more on top of things.  Today I will be posting some pictures of the kids and their party, as well as of CJ's birthday.  One of CJ's birthday gifts was Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman, and he has already read most of it to me.  He is seeing words he knows everywhere he goes.  He even noticed a mistake I made on one of our posters in our school room.  I wrote nightime, and he pointed out that it should be nighttime.  A t for night and one for time.  While we haven't been doing formal lessons between spring cleaning and party prep and all the other stuff going on, we read together every day, and every day we learn something new.  We built a rain gauge that has been getting some use in the garden.  We have been studying the seedlings we have planted, and talking about why some do well and some don't.  We have been noticing the difference between different types of plants.  We have been learning about clocks and time.  CJ and Eliza can both read a digital clock, and have them in their rooms.  We are working on reading analog clocks, and they can identify hours, just not minutes.  We have been studying basic cloud types, since CJ was incredibly interested in them.

CJ is so far ahead of where Eliza is, and Eliza knows all her letter sounds.  Mason know all his letters and we are still working on the sounds.  Eliza and Mason have amazing fine motor skills, and can hold a pencil, crayon, fork or anything else perfectly with no help.  CJ still does not, but is improving.  CJ keeps changing between his right and left hand.  Mason is decidedly right handed, and Eliza seems to be ambidextrous, as she does equally well with both hands for most things. 



I am having some technical issues as of right now, so the pictures and remainder of this post will be postponed until tomorrow.  Sorry!

Happy Birthday Eliza!

So my baby has now turned three, as of 7:42 this morning.  So much has happened in the past year.  She is no longer wearing diapers except at night, she is feeding herself every day, she knows so much, and she converses like a child twice her age.  She is becoming a kind and empathetic little lady.  I am so proud.  Yesterday we went to a birthday party for Max, the son of some friends of ours in Easthampton Massachusetts.  Max turned two yesterday.  CJ and Eliza were so well behaved that I was astounded.  Even when we had to leave they handled it pretty well.  We had to explain that Max needed a nap, but what three and four year old wants to leave a place with a bouncy house and cotton candy machine?

On the long car ride yesterday Eliza got to plan the menu for her birthday.  She wanted toast and milk for breakfast.  I kept asking her, "Toast?  Are you sure you want toast?  I can make you something special."  "Toast IS special Mommy, and I like it.  You can put special birthday peanut butter on it."  Okay.  On to lunch.  "Macaroni and cheese with vegetables.  Because we are having mashed potatoes for dinner so we can't have them for lunch too."  Alrighty then.  What does she want for dinner you ask?  "Mommy I want mashed potatoes with butter in them."  (Picture her mashing potatoes in the air and cutting butter.)  "Yes I know how you like mashed potatoes.  What else do you want?"  "I told you, butter."  "No I mean with the potatoes and butter."  "OOOOHHHH.  I want chicken, and baby carrots, and a big salad with lots of teeny tiny sprouts.  And chocolate cake.  No ice cream, and no frosting."  "Really?  No ice cream or frosting?"  "No just chocolate cake.  I LOVE chocolate cake, Mommy!"  You got it baby girl!  I had to add a little bit of not exactly frosting, so I could turn her chocolate cake pink though.  More about that later.  While reading this encounter I want you to remember that Eliza speaks with her hands, A LOT!  Here she is with cake.

And a picture of her chosen dinner.

She even chose to add broccoli to the baby carrots, because she likes having two vegetables.  I asked isn't salad a vegetable, and she told me of course it is made from vegetables, but it is salad, and it doesn't count as a vegetable.

For her birthday she got two books, one she immediately identified as an Eric Carle book, a skirt and shirt, dry erase crayons for her alphabet whiteboard, a bouncy playground type ball with Abby Cadabby on it (she is from Sesame Street if you are unfamiliar with her), a new plate with butterflies, and a coloring book we made her.  We had to read the books before bed tonight.  And tomorrow she wants to use her new crayons.  I think she had a very happy birthday, even if it wasn't very eventful.  We are all sick, and my parents were too sick to come over.  We couldn't visit my grandparents, as we didn't want to share the germs.  Rich did stay home though, and that was nice.  We had a good day together, and look forward to many more happy birthdays.  CJ celebrates turning four in just three weeks!  Tomorrow we celebrate the letter M with M foods and M activities, and our weekly library class.

I have to tell you about the cake.  I made a bundt cake using the friendship starter and a recipe from a King Arthur Flour cookbook I have.  It makes a chocolate friendship cake.  I took that, adding a little espresso powder.  After it cooled I wanted to add a little something, so I found, again from King Arthur flour, a recipe for poured fondant.  I melted pink chocolate wafers, used to make candy, and mixed it with powdered sugar, corn syrup and hot water.  It makes this gorgeous pourable smooth thick icing that I then topped with colored candy coated mini chocolate chips.  As seen here:

Yummy!  Will be my go to cake recipe from now on!  Enjoy everyone!

Plans and Centers

The kids have been a little off lately.  Not themselves at all.  CJ threw a temper tantrum at playgroup last week.  Today was better.  Of course now everyone is getting sick and rundown again.  I made awesome lesson plans this week, and got some great books at the library to go with them.  What happened?  Life.  Kids were sick Monday.  We went to the library Tuesday.  Mason is spending a lot of time using the potty each day.  So all the lesson plans are not being finished.  We finally finished Tuesday's plans yesterday.  We are doing the letter L, number 12, leopard, llama, ladybug, shape is heart, gardens and weather.  Gardens and weather will continue next week, along with clouds, related to weather of course.  We will start a new letter number and shape though.  I also might start with telling time, as I found some great preschool age books devoted to that at the library.  It occurs to me that I have never shared my lesson plan format here, so here it is. 

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March 21

Do daily calendar, weather, letter sound song, review posters

Letter L

Write letter on whiteboard

Review and add to letter poster

Color letter paper

            Talk about words that begin with letter

            Do page in letter book

Number 12 dozen

            Write number on whiteboard

            Make number page for number book

            Count out number

            Color the number paper

Animals Llama/Leopard/Ladybug

            Activate prior knowledge of animals

            Read about animals

            Identify animal type, discuss features and habitats

            Compare/contrast to each other and other animals we know

            Make a Venn Diagram of the two mammals

Shape Heart

            Draw shape for them on whiteboard

            Find something that is the shape

            Color shape paper

Theme Gardens

            Discuss what a garden is

            List things that can be in a garden

            Read books The Gardener

                        This is Your Garden

                        My Garden

            Sing Garden Songs

            Observe our own garden and what goes in it, and what we do to it

Theme Weather

            Activate prior knowledge

            List types of weather and define

            Define the word weather

            Read weather book from Enchanted Learning

Read the Lorax and Helping Out Day

Play Chutes and Ladders

Introduce Lacing Center

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This is a typical Monday lesson plan.  On Mondays we always play a game.  On Tuesdays we always do a story on storyline online.  Tuesdays are light days since we go to the library now.  Wednesdays we do craft.  Thursdays are focused on tracing, and writing together.  Fridays we cook a recipe.  Fridays are also assessment day normally.  While these are not traditional lesson plans, it is enough for me to remember what I items I need to complete the days work, and to make sure I don't forget what I wanted them to learn.  I try and get everything out and ready the night before.  On weekends I put all my materials that are ready into folders labeled with each day of the week.  I also don't do everything all at once during the day.  We fit parts of the lessons in to different parts of the day. 

When planning I think about what I want them to learn from the activity, the purpose.  Then I figure out how to accomplish it, and find or create materials for it.  I have found some great resources in the past few weeks, which I will be posting soon.  Every couple of weeks I try to create and introduce a new center based on the types of activities that are age appropriate and would be introduced in preschool or kindergarten.  We have a matching center with several activities in it.  We have a color matching activity, a shape matching activity, a number matching activity, and a sorting activity that uses size, color and shape together.  I have a habitat matching activity and a food group one from the times we did those themes.  I always introduce the activity in a lesson and do it with them a few times before letting them do them alone.  I also don't let them play with them.  They can't take them whenever they want to.

I use some cheap plastic shoe boxes Rich found for a dollar at Home Depot, zippered bags, and items from around the house to create the centers.  I use Rich's label maker to label EVERYTHING!!!

This is their favorite at the moment.  I grabbed all types of things from the house in all different colors.  I wrote the color names on index cards in colored sharpie.  I added to it as we did colors during our lessons, and now that we are done with colors they like to use this all the time.

I like to add sorting activities that are part of what we are learning.  The habitat matching center has pictures of animals and different habitats that I printed from various websites and clipart.  The kids love placing the animals in their correct homes.  The food group matching center has the food pyramid, each group labeled on their own card, and pictures of all types of food.

I have a math center, science center, art and craft centers, shape center, and a lacing center that we started using this week.  It has some old shoe laces, plastic craft lacing in differing lengths with knots already tied, large pony beads, and some Dr. Seuss cardboard cutouts specifically for lacing that I found for a dollar at the craft store.  They love this center, and I love that it helps with their fine motor skills.  I also love that everything has its home, and the kids already understand how to clean the centers up and put it all back in its place.  I find that to be an important lesson in and of itself.  I will post some of my lesson plan templates within the next couple of weeks, and take some more pictures of how I have set things up to help stay organized and on track.  Thanks for reading, and I really hope you comment or send suggestions my way!  Happy Spring!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

So it has been a crazy, but good week.  The kids started a class at the library on Tuesday.  It is 45 minutes every Tuesday for 6 weeks.  All three kids go, and so does my cousin's daughter, so we were all able to go together.  Yesterday I took CJ, Eliza and Mason to the movie theater for their first ever cinematic experience.  They loved it!  We saw the Little Engine that Could.  Today we spent a lot of time outside, we watched a kids movie about Ireland, read books about St. Patrick and St. Patrick's Day, colored some pictures of leprechauns and shamrocks, my grandmother brought lunch over for everyone, and we listened to Irish music all day while we made Irish soda bread, Irish Tea Brack (a fruit bread) and corned beef and cabbage.  It was a busy and wonderful day.  I got to work in the garden a little and we all wore green.  I finally have been able to get lessons planned and printed so next week we get back into a normal school lesson schedule.  I have so much that I need to get done in other parts of my life that lessons have taken too much of a backseat these past few weeks.  I have done lots of teaching, using centers, books and other things, but not in the same format we had been doing.  Tomorrow we go to playgroup and play outside since it will be beautiful.  We will be planting some seeds in the garden, as there are a few things that can be planted now.  It is very exciting for all of us in the Hansen household.  More to come next week, including pictures!  Thanks for reading.

Dr. Seuss Weekend

Friday when at playgroup I picked up a flier for a local celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  The kids made Cat in the Hat hats at playgroup, and we read Dr. Seuss books all day.  My personal favorite is and always has been the Sneetches, so we read that three times.  Eliza's current favorite is Green Eggs and Ham, CJ's is Mr. Brown Can Moo.  CJ read part of Go Dog Go to me while at playgroup so Rich and I picked it up for his birthday this weekend.  All weekend CJ has been reading words he sees, or figuring out words we were spelling out loud.  Anyway, Friday night we went to Dr. Seuss' birthday party at a local community college.  Free.  They gave us pizza, cupcakes, a little gift bag for the kids, lesson plans, work pages, coloring activities.  They read to the kids, there were games, music, dancing, and the kids learned to play musical chairs.  There was face painting, which CJ and Eliza were totally uninterested in.  There was a kiddie pool filled with fish that have letters on them and they could fish for or "swim" in the letters to make words.  There was a lego table and several other things I am forgetting.  What a wonderful thing for the community.  I just wish it had been a little less crowded, or that some children and parents a little less rude.  Overall a great evening for the kids.  Ever since Friday the kids have been obsessed with reading their Dr. Seuss books, and watching the Cat in the Hat on the DVR.  I love it. 

Yesterday we went birthday shopping and picked up foam hats at the craft store.  We got another safari hat so Mason can have one, we got top hats, cowboy/cowgirl hats, yellow construction hats, and pirate hats.  Now I will make some eye patches.  All those hats and the stuff I bought to make a few more learning centers cost far less than some dress up clothes. The kids have such fantastic imaginations I wanted some more things to help them, but dress up clothes at the store are ridiculously expensive and these foam hats were ridiculously cheap.  Plus they adore them!  I also bought a few things to help me make some more centers.  I have some shoelaces and plastic cord with some large beads and cardboard shapes with holes.  The lacing center.  To make a math center I did a few things.  I made patterns on index cards and they have to choose the next item in the pattern.  I also did an addition center since CJ and Eliza are already adding things up on their own. 

I was telling my best friend about CJ reading, and he said to me, "So when we have kids we can pay you to be their teacher, right?"  The more I think about that, the more I like it.  I am thinking that in a few years when the kids need my undivided attention a little less I would like to take on a few more children and do this as a job.  I could limit it to 3 or 4 kiddos.  Turn the house into a mini home daycare/preschool.  I have to look into state requirements etc., but it seems like it could really work for me.  I could continue to educate my kids, but still be bringing in a little money, and I could be teaching other children as well.  I would be taking full advantage of my master's degree that took so much time and energy to acquire.  The part about teaching that I loved, minus the parts that make me nauseous, namely administration.  If anyone has any suggestions or information for me, I would be extremely grateful. I am thinking I could even take on 5 or 6 kids if I had someone work with me.

Plans for this week are to do some work with gardening as a theme, review seeds and plants, and plant a few seeds for the garden.  We have several books on this theme, and we will visit the library to get more.  Since my printer is dead, and the new one not here yet, we will be holding off on the next letter, number and shape.  We will review all the letter books we have done, and finish the kids number books.  We did number posters for each number up to 10, but wall space is in short supply, so each child is making a number book, with a page for each number.  They started them last week, but we still have a few to go.  I also have a snowflake bingo game, with numbers up to 10, that I would like to play with them this week.  I may also begin a letter book for each of them.  I want to spend some time getting CJ and Eliza to try drawing pictures as well.  For the first time today CJ drew a person.  A recognizable stick figure.  I was way more excited than he was.  I broke out the magna doodle, and their magnetic white board/chalk board combos.  I think having a variety of materials may encourage CJ to draw a little more, as he is apt to shy away from doing it.  Eliza will scribble on everything including books and walls if I let her.  I am also going to try having the kids write in shaving cream again, hoping that CJ will try it.  I will let you all know how it goes. 

Tomorrow we are doing our weekly cooking project.  Lemon friendship bread, as my grandmother gave me a friendship bread starter that needs to be used every week and a half.  Later in the week our craft project will be a kit someone gave us that is to make sand art in a bottle.  Since I do not provide enough opportunities for the kids to pour things themselves I thought this task would be a good one.  I need to figure out a cheap and fairly clean way to make the kids a water table.  Easy to make that outside in the summer, but this time of year inside, not so easy. 

My personal goal this week, is to post some pictures of the kids using the centers, to post more consistently, and sound a little less frazzled in those posts.  I enjoy writing this blog and conversing with people about our homeschooling experience, so it is important to me to make time.  I thank you for reading this and welcome any questions, insights, suggestions or comments.

CJ READ A BOOK!!!

Well, half a book anyway.  Mason and Eliza went down for a nap and CJ and I took out a book Rich bought him for when he starts to read, one that he has never heard or read before.  Cooking with the Cat in the Hat.  He read the first half of it to me!  I had to help him with the, and remind him how to sound out, but HE READ!!!  I am happy and proud beyond imagining, and I got a little teary after he finally went down for a nap.  He told me, "Mommy, reading is hard, but I really like it."  I told him that reading certainly is hard but it is such a wonderful thing.  He said, "I am so excited to read books all by myself Mommy, I can't wait!  I love reading!"  Melt my heart.  He was practically vibrating from joy and excitement every time he figured out a word.  How lucky am I?


In other news, Eliza has been in big girl underpants since Saturday.  She only is wearing diapers at nap and night.  It has been quite a week in our house!  So proud, and so weepy, and so happy all at the same time!  Eliza hasn't had any accidents since she started wearing underpants.  Just like her brother she just told me Saturday morning that she wanted to wear underpants.  We have been keeping her in dresses and nightgowns to make it easier on her, since all her cute little girl pants are not easy to get on and off herself.  Why do they think toddlers need skinny jeans anyway?  And why did my parents buy them?  But she is doing remarkably well, and I am so happy to be near the end of diapers.  Every day when she uses the potty, she says, "Mommy, I am so proud of myself!"  If only you could see the ecstatic little smile and her expressions.  She really is a character.  So this is a very happy week. 


Next week will be back to letter number and shape of the week.  This week is a book of tracing capital letters, more learning centers, making a number book using stickers, and a shape book.  We are doing review work, and using workbooks.  Next week I will be more prepared and less exhausted and sore.  I don't care if they watch TV all day tomorrow, Eliza is using the potty and CJ is reading!  Woohoo!

Reality Check

So I think the cold/flu has finally stopped kicking us in the teeth.  I am finally able to get through a whole day without coughing up a lung, or crying from being so tired and sore.  My neck still hurts, as I reinjured it in a coughing and sneezing fit, if you believe it.  The kids are finally able to spend most of a day without collapsing on the couch with a blanket.  These past few weeks really pointed out to me that I am not SuperWoman, and I can't do everything.  The uberclean house has become a disaster.  Meals were not well planned.  We watched way too much TV.  I just couldn't keep up with my normal pace.  We are all better, so back on track, but it it tough.  I want to get right back into it.  Unfortunately it is difficult to get right back into our routine completely so we are not starting a new letter number or shape this week.  We are spending a few days practicing tracing, reviewing letters and sounds, and just going over everything we have done so far.  Mostly because I have been unable to get together a weeks worth of schoolwork while feeling like I am going to pass out.  This week I will get everything back together, but in the meantime we are using all of our audio books, coloring books, and workbooks that people have given us.  We are reviewing all the colors, as we have finished them.  We are working on mixing colors, and what primary and secondary colors are.  We are spending a lot of time talking about all the animals we have studied, comparing and contrasting them, and seeing what we remember.  We even matched them up to their habitats on a world map!  I have letting the kids use the learning centers I made every day, since it is something they can do while I do dishes or fold laundry.  We sing a lot of songs, and listen to lots of music, read lots of books together, and we have been cooking together.  When we went to playgroup last week, the kids noticed a picture of the food pyramid, and they recognized it.  They were able to tell me all the food groups, and what foods belong to the groups.  I was so proud of all of them.  When I think about what the kids know, and what they say and do I am overwhelmed with joy and pride, and it really reinforces to me why I am doing what I am doing.  Some days I really think I made a bad choice, and I feel like a truck hit me, but then Eliza will tell me, "You know Mommy, my teddy bear is quite unlike a real bear."  And she will explain why!  CJ will sing the entire album of Here Comes Science and take the information and find real life examples of how he has learned from it.  The best thing though, is when they climb onto the couch with me while I am working and tell me how happy they are.  That is worth any bit of frustration or annoyance, worth any amount of work.  They are smart and happy, and I am so lucky to be able to be home with them.  Now that the weather is finally starting to normalize, and hopefully we won't be bombarded with a gigantic snow storm every few days, I am going to start planning some field trips.  I want to visit the Eric Carle Museum, the Dr. Seuss Museum, the Roger Williams Park Zoo again, Old Sturbridge Village, and several other places.  I want to get the kids outside and hiking this spring, as I miss it tons. 

On a completely unrelated note, we made quinoa and whole wheat spinach pasta last night, from scratch.  It was awesome!  I was so excited to try it, and everyone LOVED it!  Tonight is vegetarian night, and we are making white bean gratin, bruschetta, and leftover golden beets.  So looking forward to it!