It has been such a long time since I updated here, and so much has been going on.  Long story short we have had so much happen in our lives that this fell by the wayside along with any structured instruction.
 
We had to evict our tenants, who were family members.  We spent a month cleaning up from them, and trying to make repairs.  We got new tenants in this summer, and have been steadily working on our side as well.  We have turned our downstairs bathroom into a pantry closet, and our kitchen closet now has pots and pans and such, like a giant cabinet.  I now have a sink in my kitchen!  Which is amazing!!!  It saves me so much time, and I love it.  Next up is to put a bathroom in the old pantry.  We also have had a lot of work in the garden, which has also fallen by the wayside in the past few, ridiculously hot, weeks.  We have been harvesting some, but a lot of the plants have had troubles this year.  Next year will be better. 

We have been making frequent trips to the Science Center, CJ's new favorite place.  We had coupons and just decided to go one day, and the kids loved it so much we bought year passes.  We go at least once a month and the kids look forward to it so much, and it always teaches them something new.  It helps drive our science instruction by showing us where the kids' big interests are.  Last week we went to Southwick Zoo, and the kids thought that was amazing too.  They prefer zoos and museums to carnivals and amusement parks.  The Southwick Zoo, though, also has some kiddie amusement park rides, and they let you bring in your own food.  I would love to go again. 

Rich and I went to a homeschooling conference, but were underwhelmed.  We went to a few workshops, only one of which I thought was a good use of our time.  It talked about book discussions, and how to get kids to really get the most out of what they read, and what we read to them.  It was practical and appropriate information, unlike several other workshops.  We did enjoy the vendor area, which gave us some ideas on building and buying curriculums.  I still haven't decided if I want to buy one or not.  The kids are ahead on what they need to know by grade level, but physically are not.  They can't do all the writing associated with a first grade curriculum, but are beyond what most kindergarten curriculums include.  So we are still deciding.  For now, I am building what they need, and doing it as we go.

We instituted a new routine recently.  I prepare some activities or worksheets they can do independently each day.  I put it all in a binders on their desk with whatever they will need.  Each day after breakfast and cleaning their rooms they do that independent work while I do some chores and clean up from breakfast.  This gives us more time to do fun things together like board games, and crafts.  We still try to go to the library once a week, do computer work, listening centers, and cooking projects. 

It has been such a crazy crazy spring and summer, but we are all looking forward to this "school year".  I don't think we are going to be taking summer breaks as most schools do.  The kids love learning, and over the summer kept doing science projects, brainquest workbooks and other learning activities on a daily basis.  I just felt a little out of control with it, no planning ahead, no thoughts as to my goals.  From now on I want our learning to be a little more intentional.  Next week I will post some ideas and plans I have for the year, along with some of our resources.  Thank you for joining our homeschooling journey!

Kids in the Garden

So with several days of nice weather we decided to play outside and prep the garden beds for planting.  It was of course a lot of work, which we wanted the kids to take part in.  They weren't too keen on the weeding, so I told them the story of the Little Red Hen.  That is the tale where the hen plants, harvests, and grinds the wheat alone, uses it to make the bread by herself because her friends didn't want to do the work.  Of course they wanted to eat the bread and she told them no, since they didn't work at all at making it.  Both CJ and Eliza didn't need me to explain the story.  They told me that meant they needed to help weed in order to help do the fun stuff like planting the seeds and eating the vegetables.  They understood that it is important for them to be a part of the work.  After that they weeded almost an entire garden bed by themselves, and did it so well.  The whole rest of the time we were out there, they helped us by bringing us tools, turning the water on, and helping in a myriad of ways.  I love that I didn't even have to explain the reason I told them the story, that they were intuitive enough to understand the story as it was told. 

It is amazing to me how fast this year is going, and it is so full of memories like this.  Every day they learn so much and become so much more grown up than I can ever expect.  They are so happy, healthy, smart, and hard working.  They get so upset when we don't have time to do school activities in our school room.  We always do something.  We have listening centers, computer work, library, art projects, cutting practice, lacing practice, all kinds of prewriting activities.  We do play dough, coloring, even yoga most days.  They just crave learning, and it makes me incredibly proud and happy.

Pictures of Our Updated "School Room"

I know these are long overdue, but as things get crazy I forget to take pictures, then it is a mess and I don't want to take pictures.  But alas here they are.

This is where we put more bookshelves.  These are only part of the kids' books.  They also have many in their rooms, and downstairs in the living room.  Also a couple of the new cabinets, which I LOVE!  They hold their centers, educational toys, puzzles, craft items, and any other learning material I or they can think of.  The space on top also holds crafts in progress and centers that are often changing.

More with the cabinets and drawers.  They can now get their own paper, crayons, puzzles and stencils.  I can also get to my laminator, three hole punch and post it notes so much more quickly and easily.  One drawer holds their educational videos and tv games, as they call them.  Another holds their cds and listening center activities.

Here we have our fire safety posters, an amazing Coral Reef Food Web poster, thank you Megan! and a center I made to introduce them to money, showing most of the American coins and bills. 

Our new calendar, thanks to Tiffany, who always finds us cool stuff at Staples.  We write up our appointments, keep track of the weather, and what our special projects/themes are for the week and individual days.  This helps keep me on track.  On the small gray board I wrote everything we try to do daily: alphabet, counting, writing our names, coloring, calendar, practice our phone number and address, etc.  Whatever we feel is really important.

This is our rotating nursery rhyme center.  I took this amazing book of printables out of our library called kindercenters, and they are all kindergarten skill centers based on nursery rhymes.  I change them every two weeks or so, and it is a great independent activity for them.  This one is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and it focuses on patterns.  The kids love it.

So that is our new and improved work space.  I have spent a lot of time organizing it in a way that is easy and efficient. I find it is so much easier to teach and learn when the space is conducive to it, and all our materials are easy to find.  We have been getting so much accomplished since we improved our space.  I also love having several independent and educational activities at hand for the kids whenever I am busy making dinner, doing laundry, or any other things that require my attention.  It has made a huge improvement to my ability to manage lots of things at once, as all us moms need to.

I have on my to do list this week to post pictures of the school room and update.  It has been crazy lately.  I have been doing a lot of reading about homeschooling and sort of figuring out where to go from here.  I realized why I hated teaching in public school, because it doesn't teach children the way it makes sense to teach children.  I love being able to adapt our learning to the styles and needs of the kids, and encouraging independent learning.  It is sort of like a mini Montessori.  I am so thankful to have the ability to do this, and to feel like the whole reason I went to school for teaching culminates in my confidence to teach my own children.  Teaching license isn't needed to teach your own kids, but for me it really made me feel like I could do it, I really had the confidence to make the attempt.  Best decision we ever made!  More later in the week on pictures and specifics of what we have been learning.  :)

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. . .