Update

A lot has changed as the kids have progressed in their schooling.  We are embracing a very eclectic mix of traditional schooling, unschooling, Montessori elements, inspirations from Waldorf and many other types of homeschooling methods.  On a fairly daily basis the kids are responsible for their "binders" which includes a few activities to be completed with their dry erase crayons on page protectors.  There is a calendar to fill in, graphing the weather, writing the date, day of the week, number of that day in words, filling in a digital and analog clock for the time they are working, a thermometer in Celsius and Fahrenheit, and drawing appropriate clothes for the weather.  They also need to roll a die that has a die inside, essentially two dice in one, and make a number sentence.  They recently started doing negative numbers in those.  They never cease to amaze me with what they know.  In their binders I usually put a reading page/activity, a math page/activity, and a coloring page/activity.  Some days this is all done in 15 minutes, other days a couple of hours depending on their moods and attention level.

In addition to their binders we take frequent field trips.  We currently have memberships to Mystic Aquarium, thanks to an amazing Christmas present from my parents, Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, the CT Science Center, the Florence Griswold Art Museum, and we have a reciprocal children's museum membership through the Children's Museum of Southeastern CT.  We take all kinds of trips, and we take advantage of free classes through Otis library and the Connecticut College Arboretum.  The kids are finishing up a second session of science for homeschoolers through the CMSECT and we just joined CHEER, CT homeschool educators east of the river.  We are involved in a book club at the local homeschool store, the Curriculum Coop, one of our favorite places, God bless the McClearys for opening it, and are trying to become involved in a larger net of homeschool families.  I find the support of other moms and dads invaluable.

We also try to spend as much time outside as possible, and in physical activities.  Rich built the kids a mud pit in the yard, in addition to their swimming pool, water table, sand box, sand and water toy, and all the other crazy big toys they have out there.  We are also in the process of building a large outdoor scrabble board on our stone patio.  We take lots of hikes and did a service project as a family of setting up a Ranger Rick family geocache trail in Bozrah.  We are also getting into letterboxing this year.  We encourage a lot of nature play, and nature observations.  This is one reason we love Denison.  We spent an hour one day on one of the trails observing a vernal pool.  Before we became members I didn't even know what a vernal pool is, but it is a water feature that is seasonal.  Mostly occurring in the late winter to late spring, and it is a crucial type of wetland that is critical to many native species of insect, amphibians, and reptiles, as well as small creatures like fairy shrimp.

One of the other things that has changed is my keeping track of stuff.  I keep some major work from them, or things that really showcase something they have learned.  Daily I write down activities that they did that constitute school, even if it is only puzzles, playdough, and the magnet center.  I have been keeping track of their interests, and made a spreadsheet of what I want to accomplish by each grade level.  Unfortunately I am a little over my head as they charge far ahead of where I expect at every turn.  At some subjects they are in a second grade level, but there are still so many things they can't do because of their age.  It can be difficult to find appropriate materials for them.

We have tried to set up the house to be as conducive to learning as possible.  Rich built the kids a lego table, we have a marble run out on the train table, they have science learning centers, as well as books available, we take frequent trips to the library, and buy educational toys and tools all the time.  When we hear about good opportunities we take advantage, which is why we are often busy.  We went on a super discount day to Old Sturbridge Village, we took part in CT trails weekend, and CT Open House day, and we have crazy discussions at mealtimes.  One morning over family breakfast, we had a lesson on molecular and chemical structure.  I told Rich a joke I read on facebook, "Two men walked into a bar, one ordered h2o, and the other said I will take h2o too, the second man died."  Rich laughed and we had to explain that the molecular change between water and hydrogen peroxide changed it so much that it made it deadly.  We looked at microscopic pictures of the two molecule chains and the way they are written.  Quite a learning experience.

I will post pictures soon, as I really want to use this blog to capture memories and talk out my plans for the continuation of this crazy amazing adventure.  It is a marvelous journey to be sure, one that really is just beginning in earnest.  Can't wait to see where we go next!

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.