Today, E and L had auditions for a local musical theater production. This is E's 4th year and L's 2nd year doing this show, which is several songs from a variety of different Broadway shows each year.
For the auditions, the kids can sing something as simple as "Happy Birthday" or any song of their own choosing. If they want a solo part, they are encouraged to audition with the song they want to sing solo in the show.
So E choose Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better from Annie Get Your Gun which is one of the songs they are doing in the show this year, and will somehow be modifying it for multiple kids solos. It has a male and female part, so I said I'd do the male part with her for the audition.
I have not sang in front of an audience since I was about 10 years old and would occasionally sing at church. I don't consider myself a singer. I do sing to the kids, but my voice makes my babies cry. It must be something they get used to with time, since my kids can tolerate it as they get older and even ask me to sing with/to them. Still, I was more than happy to put myself out there in front of a few judges to help E out. Plus, I've been having a lot of fun practicing it with her.
After we did her song, one of the judges exclaimed that I should audition too! The first words out of my mouth were, "Oh, no, I don't sing!"
I was just thinking the other day about how I am usually up for learning anything new and I hope that is a trait I pass on to my kids. They just started violin lessons, and without making a conscious decision that I was going to learn too, I found myself practicing the warm up they learned in class, and looking up how to play an easy song online.
My struggle with becoming an expert at anything has never been feeling incapable of learning a skill, but rather that I feel confident that I could learn just about anything and therefore the possibilities are endless. Choosing something to devote myself to takes time away from the other thousand things I could be learning.
I often say to the kids, "I don't know how, but we can find out."
I would most definitely do this show if I wasn't going to be helping two kids with hair, makeup and costumes, and if I had more childcare available for Z and A. It would be fun! I did drama in high school and loved it, especially improv, even though I'm not particularly spontaneous or funny. My bits may not have been the most entertaining for the audience, but I had fun! This show is more singing and dancing than acting, but *I know I'd learn something new* and have fun doing it, thus the appeal.
So why say "I don't sing," and shut down the director's compliment? Well, because in our society, that's what you do. I see it all the time- people are afraid to be proud of the things at which they excel, and even more hesitant to give consideration to the possibility that they just might be capable of doing something they've never done before. I don't really believe that "I don't (or can't or can't learn to) sing," but that's what one says to be politely self-depreciating.
I realized that if I hope to pass this trait on to my kids, I can't respond that way. I could have just said, "Thank you!" or "Maybe some day I will," or "Not this year, but that would be fun!"
When I'm gone, I want my children to say, "She never said 'I don't know how,' but said 'I haven't learned how yet."
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Drive to Collect Donations to Help Animals
E has been working on a doing a drive to raise money for the local animal shelter
and a horse rescue. She wanted to do something to help animals, so we called the animal shelter to see if she could volunteer, but they said she was too young. So we googled for ideas of ways kids can help animals, and came across the idea to do a drive to collect donations.
She called the animal shelter and horse rescue and asked what they need. Then she presented her idea to 4H and asked them to make it a committee. Then she did a presentation for the Humane Society and asked them to help. She wrote a letter to businesses to ask them if she can put collection boxes in their locations, went to their locations, talked to the owners/managers, told them her idea, and got permission to put the boxes in 3 businesses. Another business owner heard about it and offered to let her put one there, and of course there will be one at our county 4H office.
Yesterday, we went shopping for all the box decorating supplies and the kids on the committee, including L, met to decorate the boxes. E typed up the lists of what the animal shelter and horse rescue said they need, I formatted it, and we posted them on the boxes.
Today we went down to the newspaper office, and she told one of the reporters all about the project, so we're hoping it will be in the paper next week. The boxes will be up for the whole month of April, because it is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. So I'll post an update after that with a tally of what gets collected!
We also went down to the animal shelter today, so the girls could see the animals they are collecting donations for. Those poor dogs will probably be really glad to get some new blankets and beds! Other than that, they look like they are cared for well, and we were glad to hear that even though they are not a no-kill shelter, they do work with various rescues to try to either adopt out or transfer the animals before even considering putting them down. The girls REALLY wanted to take home one of the adorable kittens they had.
She has learned so much from doing this:
Public speaking/presenting skills
Cold calling skills
Making a plan and implementing it
Typing and writing (spelling, reading)
How shelters/rescues work
Volunteering
Working with others
Finding a way to make something happen when the first idea doesn't work out
She called the animal shelter and horse rescue and asked what they need. Then she presented her idea to 4H and asked them to make it a committee. Then she did a presentation for the Humane Society and asked them to help. She wrote a letter to businesses to ask them if she can put collection boxes in their locations, went to their locations, talked to the owners/managers, told them her idea, and got permission to put the boxes in 3 businesses. Another business owner heard about it and offered to let her put one there, and of course there will be one at our county 4H office.
Yesterday, we went shopping for all the box decorating supplies and the kids on the committee, including L, met to decorate the boxes. E typed up the lists of what the animal shelter and horse rescue said they need, I formatted it, and we posted them on the boxes.
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| Not sure if the other kid's mom is ok with her picture being on a public blog, thus the editing. |
Today we went down to the newspaper office, and she told one of the reporters all about the project, so we're hoping it will be in the paper next week. The boxes will be up for the whole month of April, because it is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. So I'll post an update after that with a tally of what gets collected!
We also went down to the animal shelter today, so the girls could see the animals they are collecting donations for. Those poor dogs will probably be really glad to get some new blankets and beds! Other than that, they look like they are cared for well, and we were glad to hear that even though they are not a no-kill shelter, they do work with various rescues to try to either adopt out or transfer the animals before even considering putting them down. The girls REALLY wanted to take home one of the adorable kittens they had.
She has learned so much from doing this:
Public speaking/presenting skills
Cold calling skills
Making a plan and implementing it
Typing and writing (spelling, reading)
How shelters/rescues work
Volunteering
Working with others
Finding a way to make something happen when the first idea doesn't work out
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Banning Technology
I've seen a few things going around lately about banning technology from
kids, for all kinds of fearful, hyped up reasons. I just wanted to
share a few of the neat things technology has allowed in our lives
lately. Last night, my kids got to play a video game with their uncle
who lives 2 states away. They do this every few weeks, and it's really
neat, because they probably wouldn't know him otherwise. Just talking
on the phone can be awkward between a single guy and little kids, but having the video game to connect over meant at least an hour of conversation.
Also, my mom and my aunt are on a trip through Italy right now. The kids and I are able to "follow" them with google earth. Starting from the San Fransisco airport, tracking their path to Germany and then Italy, seeing the B&B where they are staying, the art museum the visited, the walk they went on, etc. has all been really neat. Plus when my kids ask a question I don't know the answer to, I'm able to pull up pictures, videos and answers in 2 minutes flat.
L loves coloring in pictures on an app on the phone and then being able to play it back, so I can see the process she used. We can play board games on free apps without the expense of buying them or the mess of cleaning them up. They can stay connected with family by writing emails back and forth. All of my kids have favorite tv shows and video games that bring laughter, questions, conversations, and a way to unwind into our home.
Could we survive without technology? Well, based on the fact that E played outside with friends for, literally, at least 8 hours today and L and Z did the same for at least 4... yes, I think we'd manage. But I can't imagine why would I want to take away these amazing modern resources for learning, connecting with people, and entertainment.
Also, my mom and my aunt are on a trip through Italy right now. The kids and I are able to "follow" them with google earth. Starting from the San Fransisco airport, tracking their path to Germany and then Italy, seeing the B&B where they are staying, the art museum the visited, the walk they went on, etc. has all been really neat. Plus when my kids ask a question I don't know the answer to, I'm able to pull up pictures, videos and answers in 2 minutes flat.
L loves coloring in pictures on an app on the phone and then being able to play it back, so I can see the process she used. We can play board games on free apps without the expense of buying them or the mess of cleaning them up. They can stay connected with family by writing emails back and forth. All of my kids have favorite tv shows and video games that bring laughter, questions, conversations, and a way to unwind into our home.
Could we survive without technology? Well, based on the fact that E played outside with friends for, literally, at least 8 hours today and L and Z did the same for at least 4... yes, I think we'd manage. But I can't imagine why would I want to take away these amazing modern resources for learning, connecting with people, and entertainment.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Clay and Embroidery
The girls have been making lots of things with home made play dough and clay lately. They have a lot of fun making the play dough, for which I use this recipe for cooked playdough.
These are the most recent creations made with clay:
E made a doll complete with a dress, a hat, hair, and jewelry. It's hard to see what L made, because it's blurry (D's phone has a terrible lag time when taking pictures), but it is a turtle.
L asked to learn to sew a few months ago, and we've made doll clothes and pillows. Then she wanted to make a teddy bear, and we're about 70% done with that. I don't know much about sewing, so I'm learning as I go so I can help them. The other day, I pulled out the very limited embroidery supplies that I have. E made a person, L made a window, and Z got the hang of going in and out without tangling up the thread.
These are the most recent creations made with clay:
E made a doll complete with a dress, a hat, hair, and jewelry. It's hard to see what L made, because it's blurry (D's phone has a terrible lag time when taking pictures), but it is a turtle.
L asked to learn to sew a few months ago, and we've made doll clothes and pillows. Then she wanted to make a teddy bear, and we're about 70% done with that. I don't know much about sewing, so I'm learning as I go so I can help them. The other day, I pulled out the very limited embroidery supplies that I have. E made a person, L made a window, and Z got the hang of going in and out without tangling up the thread.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Chess
E, L and I have been playing a lot of chess lately on a windows app. Then today, this story popped up on facebook, about a teenager in Uganda who has become known as the Queen of Chess. She started out at 9 years old, walking 2 miles to learn to play chess and get a bowl of porridge. She became so good that she represented all of Africa in 2010 at an international competition.
It's so cool how something as simple as playing a board game with the kids can lead to finding something inspirational, learning about a different culture, a new place on the map, hearing another language, seeing that not everyone is as privileged as we are.
Plus the learning in the game itself! This girl says that as she played chess she learned to think ahead, plan her moves in life, and overcome challenges.
It's so cool how something as simple as playing a board game with the kids can lead to finding something inspirational, learning about a different culture, a new place on the map, hearing another language, seeing that not everyone is as privileged as we are.
Plus the learning in the game itself! This girl says that as she played chess she learned to think ahead, plan her moves in life, and overcome challenges.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Pencil Sketching
E and L learned some pencil sketching techniques from their great grandma
who is visiting my parents this week. L was especially interested, and
they sat together for at least an hour just drawing and talking. They
drew lakes, mountains and trees, and they made paper dolls. L has continued to make more paper dolls at home.
Their great grandma is an excellent artist, and my parents have several of her paintings hanging up in their living room. She showed us how just recently, she was showing another grandchild how draw rocks in a lake, and when she made a mistake and erased it, a new way to draw rocks dawned on her. She's been drawing for 70 years and she's still learning, not afraid to admit it, and she showed the girls her new technique. That was cool!
 |
| E's waiting for me to get her more paper, not drawing on a book! lol |
Their great grandma is an excellent artist, and my parents have several of her paintings hanging up in their living room. She showed us how just recently, she was showing another grandchild how draw rocks in a lake, and when she made a mistake and erased it, a new way to draw rocks dawned on her. She's been drawing for 70 years and she's still learning, not afraid to admit it, and she showed the girls her new technique. That was cool!
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
E's First Official Not-School Year
I have posted one thing in the entire 8 months of 2013. One! I keep thinking that I want to get back to blogging, but then catching up seems like such a BIG JOB that I put it off. And the months tick by. And I think of something I'd love to write about, but it will seem so weird coming on the heels of nothing. So, I put it off.
But here I am! I'm going to do a summary of E's first official not-school year, then get back to regular writing.
__________________________________
In order to comply with state regulations (and just because I like to remember these things) I write down the things we do every day that are educational. More accurately, I write down the things that I show state acceptable proof of education, and many, many things that the kids learn that I can't quantify or qualify or see exactly how their gears are turning figuring that thing out or saving that bit of information for later, don't get written down. So this is the bare minimum facts and timeline, yet missing lots of intricate details, stories, pictures, and conversations. I do have some of those, but I'll post them separately. This is from the middle of October until now. These are all things that came up in the course of real life, no curriculum, no guide of what she "should" be learning. Just living life, following interests, doing things, going places, bringing the world to them and them to the world, having conversations, asking questions, observing, playing, thinking, being.
I think around 80% of what is here, L was doing with us. She was either just observing/listening or actively participating. Some of it she understood just as well as E and some of it I did with her more on her level. I don't have to officially register her with the state until next year, but I am going to writing down more of what she does this year anyway just for my own records.
E's First Grade Year:
Animals:
Eyewitness Explorer's Bird Book
Discovery Channel Prehistoric Oceans
Looked up info on mustangs
Discovery Channel Tiny Creatures
Discovery Channel monitor lizards
Looked up info on beta fish and cat fish
Dogs don't see in color
Looked up spiders we found
Rabbit's babies are called kittens
LIFE documentary on flying fish
Looked up info on dolphins, sharks and horses and piranhas
Discovery Channel Deep Sea Creatures
Looked up Asian vs. African elephants- videos, pictures
Dinosaurs- apatosaur, t-rex, tricerotops
Read article on wolf with GPS- lone wolf wandering around CA
National Geographic Flying Snakes
Other snake videos
Videos of whale sharks
Videos of great white sharks
Dinosaurs book
Saw tarantula, cockroaches, stick bugs, rabbits, turtle, frogs, porcupine and more at Discovery Museum
Looked up sheep herding dogs- videos, info
Videos of trick riding and dressage
Hike- saw/discussed gopher holes which led to discussing rattle snakes
Book and videos on baboons
4-H presentation on bees, bee hives, life cycle of bees, drones, workers, benefits of honey, pollination, saw bee hive up close.
Hike- saw/discussed beaver dam, trees cut by beavers, size of beavers, tails, how they swim
Found rollie pollie, made habitat, looked up food and how to care for it, fed it, kept it for days
Dinosaur book
Fed rollie pollie, looked up more info, extoskeletons
Turtles- indoskeleton, saw pictures of skeleton
Discovery documentary on anacondas- tortoise, vipers vs. constrictors, kaiman, baby anacondas, tree snakes,
Discovery documentary on rattle snakes
Gilah monsters- venomous,eat eggs and small animals
Komodo dragon vs King Cobra book
Looked up wolf spiders
National Geographic documentary on tarantulas and other spiders
Found false black widow, looked up black widows- nat geo short videos
Took online spider quiz
National Geographic video on bird eating spiders
Meerkat Manor
Looked up lady bugs- different colors, eat aphids
Books on fossils, dinosaurs
Saw horse behind mechanics shop- talked with owner about gender, foal, chestnuts, horse's eyesight, what they eat
Austin Stevens show King Cobras
Austin Stevens show Snake that killed Cleopatra
Austin Stevens show Komodo Dragons
Caught small bull snake, discussed vipers vs constrictors, tongue sensing heat
Caught wooly bear caterpillar, looked up what they eat, cacooning, life cycle, difference between moths and butterflies.
Watched part of monarch butterfly documentary
Crossword puzzle on endangered species- discussed why they are endangered, where they live- wolf, blue whale, komodo dragon, tiger, polar bear, gorilla, black rhinoceeros, dolphin, crocodile, giant panda
Word search on animals that are extinct, discussed extinction
Hike- saw horses, discussed pony vs. foal
Development of chicken egg- pictures of real eggs and video animation
Queensland Heelers- how they got name, why they were bred, genetics of mixed breeds, what dogs teach their puppies
Anatomy of owl's necks- can turn heads 270 degrees
Lion prides- videos of lion's hunting, females hunt
Saw chicks and turkeys at feed store
Grandma gave booklet to identify reptiles and amphibians in North America- she wondered why there were no cobras in book, Grandma showed her North America, South America, Africa, India on map.
Wooly Bear caterpillar emerged from cacoon, released tiger moth into yard
Books on great white sharks
Noticed dog shedding winter coat
Frequently play with frogs in yard
Saw shells at library, got book on shells, identified different ones, discussed pearls/oysters
Saw goats at library summer reading program on farm animals
Video on snakes
Found neighbor's pet hedgehog in the yard- looked up what they eat, pictures, domestic vs. wild, protection from predators, nocturnal
Found eggs in dirt- looked them up, determined probably earthworm eggs
Looked up rollie pollies, what they eat, hermaphrodites, keep eggs in pouch
Looked up earthworms- body in segments, band near head, hermaphrodites
Looked up slugs- hermaphrodites, create slime
Video of sea slug that eats man-o-war tentacles
Wild Krats show on butterflies
Wild Krats show on earthworms
Wild Krats show on lizards
Anatomy/Medicine:
Discussed blood clotting to make scabs
Discussed dental fillings, infections
Human Body book- blood cells, immune system, bones, breaks, being paralyzed, nervous system, spinal cord, heart chambers, microscopes to see cells
Pretending to use anti venom for snake bite
Poser in doctor's office- identified galbladder, liver, stomach, small/large intestine, rectum. Discussed job of gallbladder, red/white blood cells, oxygen, immune system, iron in blood, foods with iron, cast iron pan transferring iron to foods,
Discussed ear infection- causes, white blood cells, how ear works, looked at pictures/videos of anatomy of ear, watched ear drum repair surgery and cochlea replacement surgery, learned about euschin tube and how blockage causes ear infection. Connected diamond mining on minecraft to diamond tipped tools used in surgery.
Played surgery squad- dental surgery, lasik eye surgery
Asked about layer of skin peeling off- explained/showed with paper, layers of skin dermis and epidermis
Looked up pictures of bones/cartilage in nose
Looked up difference between male and female pelvises
Made mine craft statue of skeleton inside skin
Asked what happens to roots of baby teeth when they fall out- looked it up and learned about resorption, watched video of wisdom teeth being extracted
Read human anatomy books- bones, muscles, cells, genetics, reproduction
Ed Heads game- knee replacement surgery, femur, tibia, patella, sterilization, anesthetic, cauterize, pictures of real knee surgery
Saw L get tooth filled, saw model of tooth with roots, veins, gums with gum disease
Played online game about x-rays, CT scans, MRIs
Magic Schoolhouse book- bus goes into Ralphie's body, blood, job of white blood cells, bacteria
Nobel Prize blood typing game- which blood types can give to and receive from other types
Astronomy:
Looked up solar system, nasa, rocket launch videos
Meteor Showers- watched it and identified north star, big dipper, north, south, east and west, big dipper, little dipper, Orion's belt, Cygnus, watched Swan Lake barbie movie which talks about constellation in special features.
Black holes- looked up what causes them, mass, gravity, played online Nasa game showing black holes, what would happen if caught in one. Cygnus constellation next to blak hole, feeds off star's gas creating disk, time changes in black holes
Reading/Writing:
Made Welcome Home sign
Wrote note "Welcome Home Dad from Ezabella, to Dad. I love you."
Wrote note "From Ezabella to Mom."
Thank you notes
Reading workbook- long e, long o
Dino game- typed name, entered b-day
Wrote in diary
Reading workbook-beginning sounds
Wrote grandparents names
Wrote "Incredibles"
Read "Incredibles movie, book, wallet"
Typed in website address, username, password
Read Foot Book
Read B Book
Read 1/2 easy reader book in doctor's waiting room
Wrote phone number
Read Foot Book
Read part of Big Sister Little Sister
Wrote recipe for salad she created
Typed email to cousin- sounded out most words alone
Looked for brussel sprouts in cookbook index- alphabetical order
Birthday card for Grandma- wrote "Happy Birthday Grandma. I love you. Love E...."
Dictated 2 pages for me to write in her diary then read it back to herself
Dictated a page for me to write in her diary
Read 3 sentence note I wrote to her
Read cake recipe
Wrote a letter to a restaurant
Read rhyming words I wrote- tooth, booth, loose, moose, goose, sing, wing, swing, bring
Wrote 6 words in notebook
Read list of things to do to get ready for day
Read Green Eggs and Ham
Verbally spelled words rhyming with stop after seeing stop sign- mop, cop, shop, top
Verbally spelled words rhyming with slow after seeing slow sign- mow, row, bow, arrow, tow
Read a few words in Bible
Read 1/2 of Llama Llama Mad at Mama
Read 1/2 of Say What?
Read Foot Book to kids at library story time
Read Go Dog Go
Math in Real Life:
Multiplication with chocolate chips
Math workbook- adding
Weighing/measuring baby doll- 16oz in a pound, measuring with ruler, inches
Fractions with burritos
Sorted Uno cards by number
Math flash cards
Days to BoB show- 20-2=18
Counted to 213 by 2s odd numbers
Odd numbers vs. even numbers
Boiled eggs 2x4=8
If we have 4 cups and 1 breaks=3, then figured out 3-1, 2-1, 1-1
Recited various addition facts
Considered looming hat to sell for $10- figured out 2 would be $20, 3=$30, 4=$40, 10=$100, 20=$200, 30=$300
Halves/wholes
Figured out 2+2+2=6, then I asked what 2x4 and 2x5 are and she figured those out
E helped L make signs on minecraft from 1 to 39- told her which numbers were next and how to write them
Used illustrations on paper to figure out $10=40 quarters
Workbook on counting money- used real coins and abacus to count/add
Adding with popscile sticks- 10+10, 20+20, 40+40, ways to add group of 5, 2+3, 4+1, 5+0, ways to add group of 16, 10+6, 8+8, 7+9
Math on paper 20+20, 40+40, 80+80
Used abacus to solve 10*10, 2*5, 2+5, 2*3, 2*1
Used abacus to solve 86+14, 100-14, 100-86
Math on paper while driving home from trip- added two digit numbers, added numbers requiring carrying
Verbal math problems while rolling ball back and forth on floor
Math on paper 14+13, 18+23, 27+45 had to carry numbers
Cooking/Food:
Made/canned apple sauce
Used lemon juice to preserve pears apples after cutting
Made canoli- watched instructional videos, found recipe, shopped for ingredients
Wrote recipe for salad she created- Debbie salad
Steak/beef from cow
Made pine needle tea from pine needles picked on hike- good source of calcium/vitamin C, grandma discussed scurvy in sailors from lack of vitamin C
Used nutrition data website to look up nutrition information on olives, apples, bananas, tortillas. Discussed calories, carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals.
Agave syrup- watched video on how it's made
Maple syrup- watched video on how it's made
Used nutrition data website to looke up nutrition information on beans, avacado and lettuce
Made cookies shaped like fossils
Sugar- watched video of how it is processed from sugar cane
Wanted to create own cookie recipe- discussed purpose of each ingredient and possible substitutions. Ended up with Chocolate Chip Cookies with Strawberry Jam. Used fractions/measurements while cooking.
Baked cake
Monstanto- discussion on GMO's, genetics, DNA, watched part of Monstanto documentary
Made apple pie- fractions, had 27 apples, needed 16, she wanted to know how many would be left over to eat, she solved
Discussed liquid vs. solid vs. steam
Library summer program- different kinds of seeds, how seeds grow, spouts,watched wheat ground into flour, planted own seeds
Library reading program- nutrition, skit on healthy eating, made slime
Directly helped several times with meal planning and grocery shopping, always involved in both
Cooked chicken in crockpot
Made pancakes with no hand on help- I was giving directions/measurements verbally from other room
Makes food herself- french toast, pb&j, fruit salad, quesadilla,
Saves recipes she finds on Stumble Upon
Vocabulary/Definitions:
Plains vs. deserts
Def. host, guest
Policy vs. law
Def. aristocrat, influential
Def. orchestra, composer, conductor, torch
Def. bay (3 different meanings)
Def. prize, awards, competition, judging
Def. rows, collumns
Contest vs. concert
Def. on par- she used in multiple sentences right away
Def. might, bask
Borrowing vs. buying, borrowing and paying interest
Def. revolutions (turns per minute)
Def. fertilizer
Desert vs. tundra
Low desert vs. high desert
E used the word "diagonal" correctly in a sentence when I couldn't think of it. Learned it from D while playing minecraft.
Def. tunic, cavalry
Def. martial arts
Def. nature
Def. repelent
Def. historical fiction
fiction vs. non-fiction
Def. courtyard, caravan
mule vs. horse vs. donkey
monologue vs. conversation
Def. invincible
Time/Space:
Gregorian vs. Hebrew calendar
Monthly observance of new moon and full moon- what makes moon wax and wane, names of Biblical months
First day of fall, winter, spring, summer- noticed, discussed season changes
Many instances over year of reading clock- when to leave, when activity is happening, when to come home from playing. Can read digital clock, is close to reading analog clock
Many instances of looking at calendar- days to birthday, what day is today, days till event, days until trip, days until holiday.
GPS- watched in car on trip- map, hours, minutes, seconds, counting down time/miles.
Daylight Savings
Microwave- minutes, seconds, seconds as fractions
Map of town at head of hike- where we were, where we were hiking, where our house is
Money:
Counting change- many times during year, went from not knowing names of coins to knowing names/values. Used abacus to add.
Saving money- saved for beta fish, saved for hair chalk, saved for baby doll, saved for rides at county fair. Many discussions/choices made about saving vs. spending now.
Purchasing- used own money to buy many things throughout year, added costs of items, saw value of cheaper things vs. more expensive things.
Trading game with Monopoly money- counting, adding, making change
Projects/Experiments/Crafts::
Home made bird feeders
4-H Favorite Foods Day practice presentation and actual presentation- made french toast, presented to judge how to make it, ingredients used, choice of toppings
4-H practice presentation and actual presentation- Debbie Salad. Made salad in front of audience, explained steps, ingredients and answered questions
Used loom to make hat, entered in County Fair and won 1st place
Mixed cornstarch and water- polymer
Recorded radio spot for non-profit- memorized lines, saw radio station and saw how voice editing equipment works.
Gravity experiment- cup of water covered by piece of cardboard turned upside down. Cardboard defies gravity due to air pressure
Used Movie Maker software together to make video of her doing "magic"
Camping trip with 4-H- lit fire with flint and steel, canoeing/kayaking, saw pioneer cabin- discussed building with logs by hand,cattle ranching, churning butter. Made survival bracelet from paracord- discussed uses such as fishing, making shelter and stitching wound.
Wrote secret codes with lemon juice- inspired by section on real female spies in Daring Girls book
Did fundraisers for 4-H and Best of Broadway- knocked on neighbors doors, took orders, took money, delivered products
Best of Broadway auditions, rehearsals and 6 shows. Performed 3 song/dance routines plus finale.
Pop Concert auditions, rehearsals and 2 shows. Performed 3 song/dance routines plus finale.
Geology experiment- made sugar glass, searched for various types of minerals in household items
Beading-art, patterns
Breaking rocks to see insides- geology
Message in a bottle-reading, writing
Body Trace- traced shape of body on butcher paper, made body parts out of construction paper, yarn, etc. skull, intestines, radius, heart done so far
4-H Box Social- bidding, counting quarters
Made home made play dough- used food coloring, mixed colors to make new colors
Made pretend boat from basket, broom handle for mast, cloth for sail, toys for anchor- vocab. mast, sail,anchor
Mock trial with family playing parts- vocab. witness, jury, judge, prosecutor, defense, misdemeanor, trial
Made home made bird feeders
Oragami- made butterflies and wallets- halves, diagonal, measuring, inches, folding
Began building doll house- made blue print on graph paper, bought wood, measured, watched me cut it, painted some pieces, still more work to do before finished.
Helped with bake sale for non-profit- community service, customer service
Made "Welcome Home" sign
Memorized 4-H pledge
Microscope- looked at fabric, bug, blood, dog intestine, finger, pine leaf wrapper, pen, Popsicle stick, milk, avacado, pepper
Holidays:
Purim- story of Esther- character, doing the right thing in difficult situation
Thanksgiving- history of day
Hannukah- story, audio book, books, Bible verses
New Year's- calendar
Passover- Biblical history, spiritual significance
Counting Omer- def. omer, spiritual significance, counting/writing numbers to 50
Places Visited In Person:
Discovery Museum- animals (above), planetarium, constellations, Jupiter, Orion's belt (can still find it in sky), Orion meteors, recent meteors hit earth, spiders sent to space, earth's diameter, space suits/helmets, mixing primary colors to make others, light spectrum- fragmenting light to see colors, planets
Sacramento- on drive saw train bridges, discussed. Discussed pressure in ears during elevation changes, five senses.
Veteran's Day Parade- sparked conversation on voting, soldiers, liberty, President/Congress vs. King/Queen
Hotsprings- where water comes from, what causes it to be hot, minerals
Lakes
Hikes- edible plants, plantain for bug bite, rails to trails, old train caboose, pollen,
River- increased flow during spring, discussed melting snow
Campgrounds
Bowling alley- adding scores
Movie Theater
Silver Legacy casino- saw old mining equipment- tied into mining knowledge from Minecraft
Radio Station
City where D's firefighting company is located
National Day of Dance performance in park
Home Town- navigated map of town to get to grandma's
DMV- telling time (what time is it, when do they close), worked on writing cursive and lower case letters while waiting
Fishing Derby- fishing, sunrise, worms, bait
Local history museum- saw wagon, lanterns (compared to minecraft torches, showed how wick/kerosene work), railroad tracks, history of logging in our town (connected to D's old job where they saw logging equipment/trucks), old mill (saw pictures at museum, drove by it on the way home) telegraph, volcanic rocks, hope chest, typewriter, pictures of how people dressed in earl 1900's, map of rails to trails
Grandma's garden- worms, compost, planting, harvesting, weeding
Places/Times Visited Through Books/Videos/Maps/Globe/Stories:
Colored map of Australia, looked up on globe
Looked up Peru info/on map
Mt. St. Helens/Mt. Lassen- learned about volcanoes, lava
China- Great Wall, vidoes of people/places, how they celebrate birthdays, location on globe, red eggs, Chinese dance, Year of the Rooster, movie Mulan
California- looked at map
Grand Canyon- how it was formed, pictures, location on map
Thailand- books and videos- farming, Budism, elephants, where on map, Bankok, villages. Friend visited there so she heard stories, saw pictures and saw friend's scrapbook.
Italy- where on globe, story of great great grandparents coming to America from Italy. Italian foods-canoli, lasagna, spaghetti.
France, Eiffel tower- saw in movie and mom pointed out
Various states/cities in US- looked at map to see where she and sisters were born, where we have lived, where we have visited, where D has gone for work
Spun globe and asked names of random countries several different times- Russia, China, Africa, Thailand, US, Canada, Mexico, Greenland, France, Congo, Egypt, England. Connected to other knowledge about these places.
Looked at geography book- learned facts about Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Turkey, looked up all on map. Also looked on map to find Asia, Europe and Africa
Found England on globe- discussed ancestors coming from England to America, church run government, religious freedom
Asked what is on the other side of the mountains- looked on google earth to see other side of mountains in all directions, zoomed in on local lakes, our house, D's job, nearby towns
Book of historical American art- slavery, civil war, George Washington, Abe Lincoln, sparked discussion of Barak Obama, def of President. Also in book- days before cars, trains across county, farming, oxen, carriages, wagons, harvesting, baling hay, fire engines pulled by horses.
Games:
Zoodles- strategy, puzzles, problem solving, math, reading/phonics, Spanish, matching, spelling, counting by 10s
Brain Quest trivia
Uno
Hopscotch- turned into adding game
Spy Game- problem solving, reading
Blue's Clues Scavenger Hunt
Yatzee-math
Puzzles
Hide and Seek- counting
Action word flash cards- read word, do action
Clue-strategy, problem solving, process of elimination, adding dice, reading
Kids' Scrabble- spelling, reading
Mine craft- def. of mining, craft, gold, iron, pick axe. Creative building, architecture, mined for iron ore/diamond to make pickaxes, planted wheat seeds, grew wheat, harvested, made bread, planted other foods, harvested, flint and steel,
Go Fish
Typing games and typing on word document
Rummy- strategy, counting/adding score
Online geography game
Monopoly- adding money, making change,
Big Farm game- points, reading numbers over 100, planting, harvesting, sowing, selling produce/eggs, mill, silo, compost, how much things cost, smart business practices, fertilizer
Degrees game- circle on paper marked with 0, 90, 180 and 360 degrees and numbers in between, call numbers for them to turn to face.
Crossword puzzles- writing, problem solving, critical thinking
Word Search
Activities:
Weekly ballet classes and two performances
Monthly 4-H meetings and other activities
Monthly 4-H dog club meetings and year end dog show
Best of Broadway rehearsals and shows
Pop Concert rehearsals and shows
Summer baseball 1-2 times per week
Library story time nearly weekly
MOPS a few times
Movement:
Learned to do splits
Learned to do hand spring (can almost stick landing)
Learned to do backbend
Yoga often with mom/stretches for ballet
Watched Tai Chi video to learn beginner moves
Videos of tango/waltz/foxtrot/belly dance- imitated steps
Videos of gymnastics and ice skating- imitated
Languages:
Hebrew- aleph bet, avinu, abba, tanach, Torah, Adonai, 1/2 of Shema, blessings over bread/wine
Spanish- movie Barbie Mariposa in Spanish with subtitles, Dora and Deigo episodes. From my knowledge or looked up online, counting to 10, dog, cat, cow, horse, other animals, mom, dad, sister, grandparents, other family words, various foods, rooms, clothes, basic phrases like I love you, hello, goodbye, I'm hungry, etc. Another mom at library store times speaks Spanish, did story time in Spanish, E remembered how to count to 6. American Girl book Josephina- gracias, sala, fandango, pueblo, tia, abuelito
Thai- counting to 10, thank you
Sign Language- The Joy of Signing book and online videos- alphabet, dog, cat, cow, horse, other animals, mom, dad, sister, grandparents, other family words, various foods, rooms, clothes, basic phrases like I love you, hello, goodbye, I'm hungry, etc.
Music:
Piano- practices occasionally (Mary had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, Ode to Joy), knows home keys for key of C, can do simple finger exercises, composed one song that I wrote down for her and choreographed ballet to go with it.
Nutcracker story/music/movie, recognized music on Sponge Bob episode, put on a living room play of Nutcracker
Cd of music by Bach
Listens to me play Fur Elise by Bethoveen memorized from childhood and re-learning to play other piano music
Lots of other classical and modern music of all types on cds, radio, pandora and youtube
Tv/Movies:
Too many to list and I didn't write down most because they wouldn't qualify as "educational" for the state. However, many of the interests, activities and conversations are sparked from them as well as things learned directly from them. Some that I made note of are:
Monk- watched a few episodes because of interest in mystery solving
Martha Speaks- lots of new vocab and lots picked up from other shows that aren't designed for that purpose
Avatar- sparked discussions/further learning on meditation, tai chi, kung fu, elements, blindness
Books:
Too many to list. Most animal and anatomy books are listed in those sections. This year I'm going to set up a Goodreads account for them so we can keep better track. E has not found a chapter book that she really enjoys. She regularly enjoys non-fiction books that are for older kids or adults, but not much fiction.
A few that she did like were the American Girl books about Josephina and one about frog ninjas, the name of which is escaping me.
A few others of which I made note:
Book on Annie Oakley, then looked up pictures/info about her. Learned more about her at summer reading program.
Book on Medevil times- parts on what they wore and becoming a knight, discussed gender discrimination, later connected minecraft flaming arrows to combat portrayed in book
Almanac- US holidays, Martin Luther King Jr., money, units of measurement, shapes, odd/even numbers
Other Discussions/Interests/Things we looked up:
Importance of wearing seatbelt
Trucks shipping food to stores after seeing bread truck in store parking lot
Frequently rhyming words for fun and saying opposites
Videos of airplanes/jets- aerodynamics, lift
Drinking and driving
Visit from Smokey Bear at Library- fire safety, not to play with matches/lighters, stop, drop and roll
Intro to my book The Slight Edge- sparked interest in setting goals, set goals for ballet performance, Hollywood Vibe show, dog show
Cookies called biscuits in the UK
Intro to Robert's Rules of Order at 4-H
D showed her how to tie bowman's knot
Looked up female ship captians
Memorized address, mostly from going into internet company and city hall to pay bills for me
Discussed finger prints, detectives
Dh showed them his fire fighting gear- turn out, breathing mask, gloves, demonstrated turn out's fire resistance
Documentary on box mills- steam,gears, branding plates, connected to lumber mill, boxes with Louis Lamour stamped on them connected to D's collection of same books
Adult's conversation about Native American's sparked E's questions- led to discussing Pow Wow we went to last year, what a pow wow is, looked up video of one
Workbook with myster story and questions to help solve mystery- critical thinking, problem solving, clues, evidence
Verbs/nouns- ing on verb means doing in the present, action vs. thing
Where to find fiction/non-fiction in library
Discussed living like Josephina in American Girl book- no running water or electricity, had never seen a piano, getting water from river, not knowing how to read
Watched Happy People documentary in Russian
Video on how sand is formed from granite- wind and rain erosion take sand to beach, quartz, iron, feldspar, micah, saw minerals up close in microscope, compared to her own quartz rock
Read about several female spies, Girl Guides codes/history
But here I am! I'm going to do a summary of E's first official not-school year, then get back to regular writing.
__________________________________
In order to comply with state regulations (and just because I like to remember these things) I write down the things we do every day that are educational. More accurately, I write down the things that I show state acceptable proof of education, and many, many things that the kids learn that I can't quantify or qualify or see exactly how their gears are turning figuring that thing out or saving that bit of information for later, don't get written down. So this is the bare minimum facts and timeline, yet missing lots of intricate details, stories, pictures, and conversations. I do have some of those, but I'll post them separately. This is from the middle of October until now. These are all things that came up in the course of real life, no curriculum, no guide of what she "should" be learning. Just living life, following interests, doing things, going places, bringing the world to them and them to the world, having conversations, asking questions, observing, playing, thinking, being.
I think around 80% of what is here, L was doing with us. She was either just observing/listening or actively participating. Some of it she understood just as well as E and some of it I did with her more on her level. I don't have to officially register her with the state until next year, but I am going to writing down more of what she does this year anyway just for my own records.
E's First Grade Year:
Animals:
Eyewitness Explorer's Bird Book
Discovery Channel Prehistoric Oceans
Looked up info on mustangs
Discovery Channel Tiny Creatures
Discovery Channel monitor lizards
Looked up info on beta fish and cat fish
Dogs don't see in color
Looked up spiders we found
Rabbit's babies are called kittens
LIFE documentary on flying fish
Looked up info on dolphins, sharks and horses and piranhas
Discovery Channel Deep Sea Creatures
Looked up Asian vs. African elephants- videos, pictures
Dinosaurs- apatosaur, t-rex, tricerotops
Read article on wolf with GPS- lone wolf wandering around CA
National Geographic Flying Snakes
Other snake videos
Videos of whale sharks
Videos of great white sharks
Dinosaurs book
Saw tarantula, cockroaches, stick bugs, rabbits, turtle, frogs, porcupine and more at Discovery Museum
Looked up sheep herding dogs- videos, info
Videos of trick riding and dressage
Hike- saw/discussed gopher holes which led to discussing rattle snakes
Book and videos on baboons
4-H presentation on bees, bee hives, life cycle of bees, drones, workers, benefits of honey, pollination, saw bee hive up close.
Hike- saw/discussed beaver dam, trees cut by beavers, size of beavers, tails, how they swim
Found rollie pollie, made habitat, looked up food and how to care for it, fed it, kept it for days
Dinosaur book
Fed rollie pollie, looked up more info, extoskeletons
Turtles- indoskeleton, saw pictures of skeleton
Discovery documentary on anacondas- tortoise, vipers vs. constrictors, kaiman, baby anacondas, tree snakes,
Discovery documentary on rattle snakes
Gilah monsters- venomous,eat eggs and small animals
Komodo dragon vs King Cobra book
Looked up wolf spiders
National Geographic documentary on tarantulas and other spiders
Found false black widow, looked up black widows- nat geo short videos
Took online spider quiz
National Geographic video on bird eating spiders
Meerkat Manor
Looked up lady bugs- different colors, eat aphids
Books on fossils, dinosaurs
Saw horse behind mechanics shop- talked with owner about gender, foal, chestnuts, horse's eyesight, what they eat
Austin Stevens show King Cobras
Austin Stevens show Snake that killed Cleopatra
Austin Stevens show Komodo Dragons
Caught small bull snake, discussed vipers vs constrictors, tongue sensing heat
Caught wooly bear caterpillar, looked up what they eat, cacooning, life cycle, difference between moths and butterflies.
Watched part of monarch butterfly documentary
Crossword puzzle on endangered species- discussed why they are endangered, where they live- wolf, blue whale, komodo dragon, tiger, polar bear, gorilla, black rhinoceeros, dolphin, crocodile, giant panda
Word search on animals that are extinct, discussed extinction
Hike- saw horses, discussed pony vs. foal
Development of chicken egg- pictures of real eggs and video animation
Queensland Heelers- how they got name, why they were bred, genetics of mixed breeds, what dogs teach their puppies
Anatomy of owl's necks- can turn heads 270 degrees
Lion prides- videos of lion's hunting, females hunt
Saw chicks and turkeys at feed store
Grandma gave booklet to identify reptiles and amphibians in North America- she wondered why there were no cobras in book, Grandma showed her North America, South America, Africa, India on map.
Wooly Bear caterpillar emerged from cacoon, released tiger moth into yard
Books on great white sharks
Noticed dog shedding winter coat
Frequently play with frogs in yard
Saw shells at library, got book on shells, identified different ones, discussed pearls/oysters
Saw goats at library summer reading program on farm animals
Video on snakes
Found neighbor's pet hedgehog in the yard- looked up what they eat, pictures, domestic vs. wild, protection from predators, nocturnal
Found eggs in dirt- looked them up, determined probably earthworm eggs
Looked up rollie pollies, what they eat, hermaphrodites, keep eggs in pouch
Looked up earthworms- body in segments, band near head, hermaphrodites
Looked up slugs- hermaphrodites, create slime
Video of sea slug that eats man-o-war tentacles
Wild Krats show on butterflies
Wild Krats show on earthworms
Wild Krats show on lizards
Anatomy/Medicine:
Discussed blood clotting to make scabs
Discussed dental fillings, infections
Human Body book- blood cells, immune system, bones, breaks, being paralyzed, nervous system, spinal cord, heart chambers, microscopes to see cells
Pretending to use anti venom for snake bite
Poser in doctor's office- identified galbladder, liver, stomach, small/large intestine, rectum. Discussed job of gallbladder, red/white blood cells, oxygen, immune system, iron in blood, foods with iron, cast iron pan transferring iron to foods,
Discussed ear infection- causes, white blood cells, how ear works, looked at pictures/videos of anatomy of ear, watched ear drum repair surgery and cochlea replacement surgery, learned about euschin tube and how blockage causes ear infection. Connected diamond mining on minecraft to diamond tipped tools used in surgery.
Played surgery squad- dental surgery, lasik eye surgery
Asked about layer of skin peeling off- explained/showed with paper, layers of skin dermis and epidermis
Looked up pictures of bones/cartilage in nose
Looked up difference between male and female pelvises
Made mine craft statue of skeleton inside skin
Asked what happens to roots of baby teeth when they fall out- looked it up and learned about resorption, watched video of wisdom teeth being extracted
Read human anatomy books- bones, muscles, cells, genetics, reproduction
Ed Heads game- knee replacement surgery, femur, tibia, patella, sterilization, anesthetic, cauterize, pictures of real knee surgery
Saw L get tooth filled, saw model of tooth with roots, veins, gums with gum disease
Played online game about x-rays, CT scans, MRIs
Magic Schoolhouse book- bus goes into Ralphie's body, blood, job of white blood cells, bacteria
Nobel Prize blood typing game- which blood types can give to and receive from other types
Astronomy:
Looked up solar system, nasa, rocket launch videos
Meteor Showers- watched it and identified north star, big dipper, north, south, east and west, big dipper, little dipper, Orion's belt, Cygnus, watched Swan Lake barbie movie which talks about constellation in special features.
Black holes- looked up what causes them, mass, gravity, played online Nasa game showing black holes, what would happen if caught in one. Cygnus constellation next to blak hole, feeds off star's gas creating disk, time changes in black holes
Reading/Writing:
Made Welcome Home sign
Wrote note "Welcome Home Dad from Ezabella, to Dad. I love you."
Wrote note "From Ezabella to Mom."
Thank you notes
Reading workbook- long e, long o
Dino game- typed name, entered b-day
Wrote in diary
Reading workbook-beginning sounds
Wrote grandparents names
Wrote "Incredibles"
Read "Incredibles movie, book, wallet"
Typed in website address, username, password
Read Foot Book
Read B Book
Read 1/2 easy reader book in doctor's waiting room
Wrote phone number
Read Foot Book
Read part of Big Sister Little Sister
Wrote recipe for salad she created
Typed email to cousin- sounded out most words alone
Looked for brussel sprouts in cookbook index- alphabetical order
Birthday card for Grandma- wrote "Happy Birthday Grandma. I love you. Love E...."
Dictated 2 pages for me to write in her diary then read it back to herself
Dictated a page for me to write in her diary
Read 3 sentence note I wrote to her
Read cake recipe
Wrote a letter to a restaurant
Read rhyming words I wrote- tooth, booth, loose, moose, goose, sing, wing, swing, bring
Wrote 6 words in notebook
Read list of things to do to get ready for day
Read Green Eggs and Ham
Verbally spelled words rhyming with stop after seeing stop sign- mop, cop, shop, top
Verbally spelled words rhyming with slow after seeing slow sign- mow, row, bow, arrow, tow
Read a few words in Bible
Read 1/2 of Llama Llama Mad at Mama
Read 1/2 of Say What?
Read Foot Book to kids at library story time
Read Go Dog Go
Math in Real Life:
Multiplication with chocolate chips
Math workbook- adding
Weighing/measuring baby doll- 16oz in a pound, measuring with ruler, inches
Fractions with burritos
Sorted Uno cards by number
Math flash cards
Days to BoB show- 20-2=18
Counted to 213 by 2s odd numbers
Odd numbers vs. even numbers
Boiled eggs 2x4=8
If we have 4 cups and 1 breaks=3, then figured out 3-1, 2-1, 1-1
Recited various addition facts
Considered looming hat to sell for $10- figured out 2 would be $20, 3=$30, 4=$40, 10=$100, 20=$200, 30=$300
Halves/wholes
Figured out 2+2+2=6, then I asked what 2x4 and 2x5 are and she figured those out
E helped L make signs on minecraft from 1 to 39- told her which numbers were next and how to write them
Used illustrations on paper to figure out $10=40 quarters
Workbook on counting money- used real coins and abacus to count/add
Adding with popscile sticks- 10+10, 20+20, 40+40, ways to add group of 5, 2+3, 4+1, 5+0, ways to add group of 16, 10+6, 8+8, 7+9
Math on paper 20+20, 40+40, 80+80
Used abacus to solve 10*10, 2*5, 2+5, 2*3, 2*1
Used abacus to solve 86+14, 100-14, 100-86
Math on paper while driving home from trip- added two digit numbers, added numbers requiring carrying
Verbal math problems while rolling ball back and forth on floor
Math on paper 14+13, 18+23, 27+45 had to carry numbers
Cooking/Food:
Made/canned apple sauce
Used lemon juice to preserve pears apples after cutting
Made canoli- watched instructional videos, found recipe, shopped for ingredients
Wrote recipe for salad she created- Debbie salad
Steak/beef from cow
Made pine needle tea from pine needles picked on hike- good source of calcium/vitamin C, grandma discussed scurvy in sailors from lack of vitamin C
Used nutrition data website to look up nutrition information on olives, apples, bananas, tortillas. Discussed calories, carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals.
Agave syrup- watched video on how it's made
Maple syrup- watched video on how it's made
Used nutrition data website to looke up nutrition information on beans, avacado and lettuce
Made cookies shaped like fossils
Sugar- watched video of how it is processed from sugar cane
Wanted to create own cookie recipe- discussed purpose of each ingredient and possible substitutions. Ended up with Chocolate Chip Cookies with Strawberry Jam. Used fractions/measurements while cooking.
Baked cake
Monstanto- discussion on GMO's, genetics, DNA, watched part of Monstanto documentary
Made apple pie- fractions, had 27 apples, needed 16, she wanted to know how many would be left over to eat, she solved
Discussed liquid vs. solid vs. steam
Library summer program- different kinds of seeds, how seeds grow, spouts,watched wheat ground into flour, planted own seeds
Library reading program- nutrition, skit on healthy eating, made slime
Directly helped several times with meal planning and grocery shopping, always involved in both
Cooked chicken in crockpot
Made pancakes with no hand on help- I was giving directions/measurements verbally from other room
Makes food herself- french toast, pb&j, fruit salad, quesadilla,
Saves recipes she finds on Stumble Upon
Vocabulary/Definitions:
Plains vs. deserts
Def. host, guest
Policy vs. law
Def. aristocrat, influential
Def. orchestra, composer, conductor, torch
Def. bay (3 different meanings)
Def. prize, awards, competition, judging
Def. rows, collumns
Contest vs. concert
Def. on par- she used in multiple sentences right away
Def. might, bask
Borrowing vs. buying, borrowing and paying interest
Def. revolutions (turns per minute)
Def. fertilizer
Desert vs. tundra
Low desert vs. high desert
E used the word "diagonal" correctly in a sentence when I couldn't think of it. Learned it from D while playing minecraft.
Def. tunic, cavalry
Def. martial arts
Def. nature
Def. repelent
Def. historical fiction
fiction vs. non-fiction
Def. courtyard, caravan
mule vs. horse vs. donkey
monologue vs. conversation
Def. invincible
Time/Space:
Gregorian vs. Hebrew calendar
Monthly observance of new moon and full moon- what makes moon wax and wane, names of Biblical months
First day of fall, winter, spring, summer- noticed, discussed season changes
Many instances over year of reading clock- when to leave, when activity is happening, when to come home from playing. Can read digital clock, is close to reading analog clock
Many instances of looking at calendar- days to birthday, what day is today, days till event, days until trip, days until holiday.
GPS- watched in car on trip- map, hours, minutes, seconds, counting down time/miles.
Daylight Savings
Microwave- minutes, seconds, seconds as fractions
Map of town at head of hike- where we were, where we were hiking, where our house is
Money:
Counting change- many times during year, went from not knowing names of coins to knowing names/values. Used abacus to add.
Saving money- saved for beta fish, saved for hair chalk, saved for baby doll, saved for rides at county fair. Many discussions/choices made about saving vs. spending now.
Purchasing- used own money to buy many things throughout year, added costs of items, saw value of cheaper things vs. more expensive things.
Trading game with Monopoly money- counting, adding, making change
Projects/Experiments/Crafts::
Home made bird feeders
4-H Favorite Foods Day practice presentation and actual presentation- made french toast, presented to judge how to make it, ingredients used, choice of toppings
4-H practice presentation and actual presentation- Debbie Salad. Made salad in front of audience, explained steps, ingredients and answered questions
Used loom to make hat, entered in County Fair and won 1st place
Mixed cornstarch and water- polymer
Recorded radio spot for non-profit- memorized lines, saw radio station and saw how voice editing equipment works.
Gravity experiment- cup of water covered by piece of cardboard turned upside down. Cardboard defies gravity due to air pressure
Used Movie Maker software together to make video of her doing "magic"
Camping trip with 4-H- lit fire with flint and steel, canoeing/kayaking, saw pioneer cabin- discussed building with logs by hand,cattle ranching, churning butter. Made survival bracelet from paracord- discussed uses such as fishing, making shelter and stitching wound.
Wrote secret codes with lemon juice- inspired by section on real female spies in Daring Girls book
Did fundraisers for 4-H and Best of Broadway- knocked on neighbors doors, took orders, took money, delivered products
Best of Broadway auditions, rehearsals and 6 shows. Performed 3 song/dance routines plus finale.
Pop Concert auditions, rehearsals and 2 shows. Performed 3 song/dance routines plus finale.
Geology experiment- made sugar glass, searched for various types of minerals in household items
Beading-art, patterns
Breaking rocks to see insides- geology
Message in a bottle-reading, writing
Body Trace- traced shape of body on butcher paper, made body parts out of construction paper, yarn, etc. skull, intestines, radius, heart done so far
4-H Box Social- bidding, counting quarters
Made home made play dough- used food coloring, mixed colors to make new colors
Made pretend boat from basket, broom handle for mast, cloth for sail, toys for anchor- vocab. mast, sail,anchor
Mock trial with family playing parts- vocab. witness, jury, judge, prosecutor, defense, misdemeanor, trial
Made home made bird feeders
Oragami- made butterflies and wallets- halves, diagonal, measuring, inches, folding
Began building doll house- made blue print on graph paper, bought wood, measured, watched me cut it, painted some pieces, still more work to do before finished.
Helped with bake sale for non-profit- community service, customer service
Made "Welcome Home" sign
Memorized 4-H pledge
Microscope- looked at fabric, bug, blood, dog intestine, finger, pine leaf wrapper, pen, Popsicle stick, milk, avacado, pepper
Holidays:
Purim- story of Esther- character, doing the right thing in difficult situation
Thanksgiving- history of day
Hannukah- story, audio book, books, Bible verses
New Year's- calendar
Passover- Biblical history, spiritual significance
Counting Omer- def. omer, spiritual significance, counting/writing numbers to 50
Places Visited In Person:
Discovery Museum- animals (above), planetarium, constellations, Jupiter, Orion's belt (can still find it in sky), Orion meteors, recent meteors hit earth, spiders sent to space, earth's diameter, space suits/helmets, mixing primary colors to make others, light spectrum- fragmenting light to see colors, planets
Sacramento- on drive saw train bridges, discussed. Discussed pressure in ears during elevation changes, five senses.
Veteran's Day Parade- sparked conversation on voting, soldiers, liberty, President/Congress vs. King/Queen
Hotsprings- where water comes from, what causes it to be hot, minerals
Lakes
Hikes- edible plants, plantain for bug bite, rails to trails, old train caboose, pollen,
River- increased flow during spring, discussed melting snow
Campgrounds
Bowling alley- adding scores
Movie Theater
Silver Legacy casino- saw old mining equipment- tied into mining knowledge from Minecraft
Radio Station
City where D's firefighting company is located
National Day of Dance performance in park
Home Town- navigated map of town to get to grandma's
DMV- telling time (what time is it, when do they close), worked on writing cursive and lower case letters while waiting
Fishing Derby- fishing, sunrise, worms, bait
Local history museum- saw wagon, lanterns (compared to minecraft torches, showed how wick/kerosene work), railroad tracks, history of logging in our town (connected to D's old job where they saw logging equipment/trucks), old mill (saw pictures at museum, drove by it on the way home) telegraph, volcanic rocks, hope chest, typewriter, pictures of how people dressed in earl 1900's, map of rails to trails
Grandma's garden- worms, compost, planting, harvesting, weeding
Places/Times Visited Through Books/Videos/Maps/Globe/Stories:
Colored map of Australia, looked up on globe
Looked up Peru info/on map
Mt. St. Helens/Mt. Lassen- learned about volcanoes, lava
China- Great Wall, vidoes of people/places, how they celebrate birthdays, location on globe, red eggs, Chinese dance, Year of the Rooster, movie Mulan
California- looked at map
Grand Canyon- how it was formed, pictures, location on map
Thailand- books and videos- farming, Budism, elephants, where on map, Bankok, villages. Friend visited there so she heard stories, saw pictures and saw friend's scrapbook.
Italy- where on globe, story of great great grandparents coming to America from Italy. Italian foods-canoli, lasagna, spaghetti.
France, Eiffel tower- saw in movie and mom pointed out
Various states/cities in US- looked at map to see where she and sisters were born, where we have lived, where we have visited, where D has gone for work
Spun globe and asked names of random countries several different times- Russia, China, Africa, Thailand, US, Canada, Mexico, Greenland, France, Congo, Egypt, England. Connected to other knowledge about these places.
Looked at geography book- learned facts about Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Turkey, looked up all on map. Also looked on map to find Asia, Europe and Africa
Found England on globe- discussed ancestors coming from England to America, church run government, religious freedom
Asked what is on the other side of the mountains- looked on google earth to see other side of mountains in all directions, zoomed in on local lakes, our house, D's job, nearby towns
Book of historical American art- slavery, civil war, George Washington, Abe Lincoln, sparked discussion of Barak Obama, def of President. Also in book- days before cars, trains across county, farming, oxen, carriages, wagons, harvesting, baling hay, fire engines pulled by horses.
Games:
Zoodles- strategy, puzzles, problem solving, math, reading/phonics, Spanish, matching, spelling, counting by 10s
Brain Quest trivia
Uno
Hopscotch- turned into adding game
Spy Game- problem solving, reading
Blue's Clues Scavenger Hunt
Yatzee-math
Puzzles
Hide and Seek- counting
Action word flash cards- read word, do action
Clue-strategy, problem solving, process of elimination, adding dice, reading
Kids' Scrabble- spelling, reading
Mine craft- def. of mining, craft, gold, iron, pick axe. Creative building, architecture, mined for iron ore/diamond to make pickaxes, planted wheat seeds, grew wheat, harvested, made bread, planted other foods, harvested, flint and steel,
Go Fish
Typing games and typing on word document
Rummy- strategy, counting/adding score
Online geography game
Monopoly- adding money, making change,
Big Farm game- points, reading numbers over 100, planting, harvesting, sowing, selling produce/eggs, mill, silo, compost, how much things cost, smart business practices, fertilizer
Degrees game- circle on paper marked with 0, 90, 180 and 360 degrees and numbers in between, call numbers for them to turn to face.
Crossword puzzles- writing, problem solving, critical thinking
Word Search
Activities:
Weekly ballet classes and two performances
Monthly 4-H meetings and other activities
Monthly 4-H dog club meetings and year end dog show
Best of Broadway rehearsals and shows
Pop Concert rehearsals and shows
Summer baseball 1-2 times per week
Library story time nearly weekly
MOPS a few times
Movement:
Learned to do splits
Learned to do hand spring (can almost stick landing)
Learned to do backbend
Yoga often with mom/stretches for ballet
Watched Tai Chi video to learn beginner moves
Videos of tango/waltz/foxtrot/belly dance- imitated steps
Videos of gymnastics and ice skating- imitated
Languages:
Hebrew- aleph bet, avinu, abba, tanach, Torah, Adonai, 1/2 of Shema, blessings over bread/wine
Spanish- movie Barbie Mariposa in Spanish with subtitles, Dora and Deigo episodes. From my knowledge or looked up online, counting to 10, dog, cat, cow, horse, other animals, mom, dad, sister, grandparents, other family words, various foods, rooms, clothes, basic phrases like I love you, hello, goodbye, I'm hungry, etc. Another mom at library store times speaks Spanish, did story time in Spanish, E remembered how to count to 6. American Girl book Josephina- gracias, sala, fandango, pueblo, tia, abuelito
Thai- counting to 10, thank you
Sign Language- The Joy of Signing book and online videos- alphabet, dog, cat, cow, horse, other animals, mom, dad, sister, grandparents, other family words, various foods, rooms, clothes, basic phrases like I love you, hello, goodbye, I'm hungry, etc.
Music:
Piano- practices occasionally (Mary had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, Ode to Joy), knows home keys for key of C, can do simple finger exercises, composed one song that I wrote down for her and choreographed ballet to go with it.
Nutcracker story/music/movie, recognized music on Sponge Bob episode, put on a living room play of Nutcracker
Cd of music by Bach
Listens to me play Fur Elise by Bethoveen memorized from childhood and re-learning to play other piano music
Lots of other classical and modern music of all types on cds, radio, pandora and youtube
Tv/Movies:
Too many to list and I didn't write down most because they wouldn't qualify as "educational" for the state. However, many of the interests, activities and conversations are sparked from them as well as things learned directly from them. Some that I made note of are:
Monk- watched a few episodes because of interest in mystery solving
Martha Speaks- lots of new vocab and lots picked up from other shows that aren't designed for that purpose
Avatar- sparked discussions/further learning on meditation, tai chi, kung fu, elements, blindness
Books:
Too many to list. Most animal and anatomy books are listed in those sections. This year I'm going to set up a Goodreads account for them so we can keep better track. E has not found a chapter book that she really enjoys. She regularly enjoys non-fiction books that are for older kids or adults, but not much fiction.
A few that she did like were the American Girl books about Josephina and one about frog ninjas, the name of which is escaping me.
A few others of which I made note:
Book on Annie Oakley, then looked up pictures/info about her. Learned more about her at summer reading program.
Book on Medevil times- parts on what they wore and becoming a knight, discussed gender discrimination, later connected minecraft flaming arrows to combat portrayed in book
Almanac- US holidays, Martin Luther King Jr., money, units of measurement, shapes, odd/even numbers
Other Discussions/Interests/Things we looked up:
Importance of wearing seatbelt
Trucks shipping food to stores after seeing bread truck in store parking lot
Frequently rhyming words for fun and saying opposites
Videos of airplanes/jets- aerodynamics, lift
Drinking and driving
Visit from Smokey Bear at Library- fire safety, not to play with matches/lighters, stop, drop and roll
Intro to my book The Slight Edge- sparked interest in setting goals, set goals for ballet performance, Hollywood Vibe show, dog show
Cookies called biscuits in the UK
Intro to Robert's Rules of Order at 4-H
D showed her how to tie bowman's knot
Looked up female ship captians
Memorized address, mostly from going into internet company and city hall to pay bills for me
Discussed finger prints, detectives
Dh showed them his fire fighting gear- turn out, breathing mask, gloves, demonstrated turn out's fire resistance
Documentary on box mills- steam,gears, branding plates, connected to lumber mill, boxes with Louis Lamour stamped on them connected to D's collection of same books
Adult's conversation about Native American's sparked E's questions- led to discussing Pow Wow we went to last year, what a pow wow is, looked up video of one
Workbook with myster story and questions to help solve mystery- critical thinking, problem solving, clues, evidence
Verbs/nouns- ing on verb means doing in the present, action vs. thing
Where to find fiction/non-fiction in library
Discussed living like Josephina in American Girl book- no running water or electricity, had never seen a piano, getting water from river, not knowing how to read
Watched Happy People documentary in Russian
Video on how sand is formed from granite- wind and rain erosion take sand to beach, quartz, iron, feldspar, micah, saw minerals up close in microscope, compared to her own quartz rock
Read about several female spies, Girl Guides codes/history
Saturday, June 8, 2013
My Oldest is Reading!
I've been really lazy about blogging lately, but I posted this* on a message board and facebook page in March and just never transferred it here:
When E was 4, I blogged that I thought she was close to reading. She knew most of her letters and sounds and was very interested in trying. It didn't happen though. Her brain wasn't ready yet.
When she was 6, I thought she was close. She was skills-wise, but not time-wise. It has been a year since then.
We have never done a "reading lesson." We have never done a curriculum or workbooks. There has never been a single tear over trying to read and I've never pushed her.
I've read many books to her since she was a baby. We've paid attention to the words in our lives- on signs, cereal boxes, labels, video games and everywhere else. She's played Starfall and similar games. I've told her the sounds of letters as she has been interested. We've played with magnet letters and banana grams. She's played with a few workbooks, and when I say played I really mean just that. The workbooks sit with the coloring books in our house and are treated the same way- use them if and when you want. We've played a reading flash card game the same way. I just wrote some action words on index cars (play, dance, sing, etc) and when I'd hold one up, she'd read it and do the action. It has been a fun, totally optional game that L has enjoyed as well.
However, I've never once sat down with her and said or implied, "Now it's time to try to learn to read."
A few weeks ago, she read The Foot Book and half of another book that was at the doctor's office and I don't remember the name of it. Some of The Foot Book was memorized, but she also sounded out a lot of words, and started picking up on some sight words.
Then she didn't do anything reading related for weeks, which is typical. She often has a big interest in something, then drops it for weeks or months, then picks it up again with sudden, new skills.
Yesterday, she was looking for The Foot Book and we couldn't find it. Today, I found it and handed it to her. She read it and then asked for more books to read. I pulled out Green Eggs and Ham and she read the whole thing!. I helped her with a few words that couldn't be sounded out and she didn't know from sight,
but other than that, she figured it out on her own while I just sat with her.
Her reading was interspersed every few sentences with, "Mom! I'm reading! Hehe! Yay! I'm reading! Hey you know what's more fun than watching tv? Me learning to read!"
(And on that note, we don't restrict tv watching and she could have chosen to do that instead with no pressure to do otherwise. Her sister was actually watching a movie in the same room the whole time she was reading the book. She chose to read).
*I changed some grammar and spelling issues and added a few more details from the original post.
Update:
It's been about 3 months since I wrote that, and she has not done a lot of book reading since then. However, she is still doing a lot of reading related things. She has read parts of recipes to me while we cook, read signs and labels, and played reading games. She woke up one morning last week and immediately said she wanted to "play a game that will help me read better," so we did some sound flash cards. Yesterday and today, we saw signs that said "stop" and "slow" while driving, and E,L and I started playing a game figuring out how to spell words that rhymed with stop and slow, based on how those two words are spelled. So, since stop is S-T-O-P, they were able to figure out that cop is C-O-P and mop is M-O-P and so on with half a dozen other words. Since slow is S-L-O-W, they were able to figure out row, bow, arrow, mow, and tow.
When E was 4, I blogged that I thought she was close to reading. She knew most of her letters and sounds and was very interested in trying. It didn't happen though. Her brain wasn't ready yet.
When she was 6, I thought she was close. She was skills-wise, but not time-wise. It has been a year since then.
We have never done a "reading lesson." We have never done a curriculum or workbooks. There has never been a single tear over trying to read and I've never pushed her.
I've read many books to her since she was a baby. We've paid attention to the words in our lives- on signs, cereal boxes, labels, video games and everywhere else. She's played Starfall and similar games. I've told her the sounds of letters as she has been interested. We've played with magnet letters and banana grams. She's played with a few workbooks, and when I say played I really mean just that. The workbooks sit with the coloring books in our house and are treated the same way- use them if and when you want. We've played a reading flash card game the same way. I just wrote some action words on index cars (play, dance, sing, etc) and when I'd hold one up, she'd read it and do the action. It has been a fun, totally optional game that L has enjoyed as well.
However, I've never once sat down with her and said or implied, "Now it's time to try to learn to read."
A few weeks ago, she read The Foot Book and half of another book that was at the doctor's office and I don't remember the name of it. Some of The Foot Book was memorized, but she also sounded out a lot of words, and started picking up on some sight words.
Then she didn't do anything reading related for weeks, which is typical. She often has a big interest in something, then drops it for weeks or months, then picks it up again with sudden, new skills.
Yesterday, she was looking for The Foot Book and we couldn't find it. Today, I found it and handed it to her. She read it and then asked for more books to read. I pulled out Green Eggs and Ham and she read the whole thing!. I helped her with a few words that couldn't be sounded out and she didn't know from sight,
but other than that, she figured it out on her own while I just sat with her.
Her reading was interspersed every few sentences with, "Mom! I'm reading! Hehe! Yay! I'm reading! Hey you know what's more fun than watching tv? Me learning to read!"
(And on that note, we don't restrict tv watching and she could have chosen to do that instead with no pressure to do otherwise. Her sister was actually watching a movie in the same room the whole time she was reading the book. She chose to read).
*I changed some grammar and spelling issues and added a few more details from the original post.
Update:
It's been about 3 months since I wrote that, and she has not done a lot of book reading since then. However, she is still doing a lot of reading related things. She has read parts of recipes to me while we cook, read signs and labels, and played reading games. She woke up one morning last week and immediately said she wanted to "play a game that will help me read better," so we did some sound flash cards. Yesterday and today, we saw signs that said "stop" and "slow" while driving, and E,L and I started playing a game figuring out how to spell words that rhymed with stop and slow, based on how those two words are spelled. So, since stop is S-T-O-P, they were able to figure out that cop is C-O-P and mop is M-O-P and so on with half a dozen other words. Since slow is S-L-O-W, they were able to figure out row, bow, arrow, mow, and tow.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Canning Pears
A few days ago, the girls and I canned pears at my mom's house. My mom did some canning when I was a kid, but I wasn't interested in learning at the time. Now that I'm older and have the need to feed my family, I was excited to learn! The girls enjoyed helping as well. They peeled pears and spooned them into the jars. They ate a ton of them too, of course!
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| E, L, Z and myself canning pears. |
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| The finished product! |
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Our Miserable Failure on Learn Nothing Day
Today was Learn Nothing Day.
Naturally we failed at today's objective, but of course that just proves the point. ;)
This morning:
E made a new friend and got her phone number. She started drawing bees which is a new addition to the recent skill of drawing pictures that look like more than abstract art.
L was introduced to the word "trick riding," at the park while she stood on the back of the bouncy horse thing.
So, nothing too extraordinary, but of course there are all those connections being made in the pathways of the brain that I can't see to report.
This afternoon:
Yesterday, dd1 discovered that she could make this whistle thing she has sound like a variety of birds. Except, we didn't really know exactly how enough birds sound to try to mimic them. So, this afternoon, I found this bird website for the girls. They got to see and hear owls, eagles, blue birds, doves, and more. We were at my mom's house and she mostly helped them with the site. They talked about birds that are nocturnal, what owls eat and eagles eat, and they got to hear some stories about eagles and owls with which grandma had close encounters.
We also watched a video at my mom's house of a guy singing Leaning on the Everlasting Arms the way it might have been sung if it had been written in the '40s, '50s, '60, '70s, '80s, and '90s. It's funny, and the girls got to hear the variety of music styles from the different time periods.
Some other things we did today from which there was learning or at least connections in the brain being made:
We rhymed words
They looked at books
They ate strawberries from grandma's garden and helped her water it
They played pretend games with each other and kids at the park
We played with the dog
They watched a movie
Learn Nothing Day is not just for kids either! I failed miserably as well though.
I learned there are Blue Birds of Paradise in Australia, that sometimes middle age white guys *can* rap (kind of... watch the video), that strawberry plants produce more during their second year and beyond than the first year, and I'm sure many other things that were just so effortlessly processed by my brain that I can't even recall them but the information or skill is now stored for later.
Naturally we failed at today's objective, but of course that just proves the point. ;)
This morning:
E made a new friend and got her phone number. She started drawing bees which is a new addition to the recent skill of drawing pictures that look like more than abstract art.
L was introduced to the word "trick riding," at the park while she stood on the back of the bouncy horse thing.
So, nothing too extraordinary, but of course there are all those connections being made in the pathways of the brain that I can't see to report.
 | |||
| A picture E took of some flowers outside the newspaper office today. The girls have been taking lots of pictures and videos the last few days. |
This afternoon:
Yesterday, dd1 discovered that she could make this whistle thing she has sound like a variety of birds. Except, we didn't really know exactly how enough birds sound to try to mimic them. So, this afternoon, I found this bird website for the girls. They got to see and hear owls, eagles, blue birds, doves, and more. We were at my mom's house and she mostly helped them with the site. They talked about birds that are nocturnal, what owls eat and eagles eat, and they got to hear some stories about eagles and owls with which grandma had close encounters.
We also watched a video at my mom's house of a guy singing Leaning on the Everlasting Arms the way it might have been sung if it had been written in the '40s, '50s, '60, '70s, '80s, and '90s. It's funny, and the girls got to hear the variety of music styles from the different time periods.
 |
| Baby Z coloring |
Some other things we did today from which there was learning or at least connections in the brain being made:
We rhymed words
They looked at books
They ate strawberries from grandma's garden and helped her water it
They played pretend games with each other and kids at the park
We played with the dog
They watched a movie
Learn Nothing Day is not just for kids either! I failed miserably as well though.
I learned there are Blue Birds of Paradise in Australia, that sometimes middle age white guys *can* rap (kind of... watch the video), that strawberry plants produce more during their second year and beyond than the first year, and I'm sure many other things that were just so effortlessly processed by my brain that I can't even recall them but the information or skill is now stored for later.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Bacterial Cells
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| E's drawing of a bacterial cell |
E stepped on a nail a few days ago, which prompted a discussion about Tetanus. Since then, she's been asking a lot of questions about bacteria, so today I went online looking for something that would show her the structure of a bacterial cell. We found some videos, including one that showed step by step how to draw one. She followed along and drew the cell, and I labeled it for her. Then we found a game where she had to match the label to the part, and then it did some fun graphics.
I'd still like to find a more fun game about bacterial cells or cells in general, so if you know of one, send it my way!
While looking for those videos and games, we found one that involved introducing herbivores to a grassy environment, and then introducing predators to the environment, and watching how the presence of the different types of animals influenced each other. L really liked that game.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Reading- Oh SO close...
I'm not sure when to make the official announcement that E is reading. Right now she can recognize some sight words, and she's getting better and better at sounding things out. We frequently have conversations like:
E: Mom, how do you spell bat?
Me: Buh- A- Tuh. What letter says Buh?
E: B
Me: What letter says A?
E: A
Me: What letter says Tuh?
E: T
Me: So, how do you spell bat?
E: Oh! B-A-T!
She's sounding out letters- like Cuh- A- Tuh, but then to combine them into CAT is a little harder for her. Sometimes she can do it, and sometimes she needs help.
So I wonder, when schools say kids should be reading by first grade or whatever, are they really reading? Can they pick up a book, even an easy one, and just go? Or are they reading like this?
I wonder, not because I'm comparing her to what schooled kids are doing, but because sometimes I hear homeschooling/unschooling parents with kids at her same reading level express concern because their state's school standard website says kids their age should be "reading." That sounds like really, truly, reading, but somehow I doubt that is what is really happening. Sure, some kids are. But I think many, many others are where she is or reading even less. Homeschoolers tend to get concerned lest their child be "behind," but I'd rather focus on my child, who she is, and where she is than focus on her in relation to anyone else.
I've also seen some parents get their kid to this point without doing much formal teaching and then say, "She so close! Now she needs some direct instruction to just push her over that hump." I find that sad, because I think if they would just be a little more patient, they'd see natural learning in progress. I've read of many unschooled kids who have a great amount of confidence about their "learning to read," as opposed to their schooled/ schooled-at-home peers who were "taught to read."
Personally, I'm excited to watch her develop at her own pace. I'm always here to help her, encourage her, and support her, but I'm not running out to buy a curriculum NOW, that's for sure!
I've also found it interesting how much linear time and how little cumulative learning time it has taken for her to progress this far. What I mean is that I'm pretty sure if you searched the archives of this blog, you'd find a post from when she was around 4 years old where I thought she was pretty close to reading. Having never witnessed a child learn to read other than myself, I thought that knowing the names and sounds of most of the letters was "close." In linear time, it wasn't, because her brain wasn't mature enough to grasp the concepts that it now is. That has taken 2 or 3 years, and who knows how long from now until she is really able to just pick up any book and go. On the other hand, the amount of time that we have spent actually doing reading related activities, has been very little compared to what she would have done in school. Other than me reading to her, which we do almost every day, she doesn't spend a lot of time writing letters and words, learning letter sounds, and sounding out words. She goes on kicks where she'll spend half an hour a day for a few days or weeks, then not do any of it for months while she's busy learning other things.
It's all really fascinating to watch. I think I'll wait until she reads her first whole book or something before posting the official "She's reading" post. But she's SO close!
E: Mom, how do you spell bat?
Me: Buh- A- Tuh. What letter says Buh?
E: B
Me: What letter says A?
E: A
Me: What letter says Tuh?
E: T
Me: So, how do you spell bat?
E: Oh! B-A-T!
She's sounding out letters- like Cuh- A- Tuh, but then to combine them into CAT is a little harder for her. Sometimes she can do it, and sometimes she needs help.
So I wonder, when schools say kids should be reading by first grade or whatever, are they really reading? Can they pick up a book, even an easy one, and just go? Or are they reading like this?
I wonder, not because I'm comparing her to what schooled kids are doing, but because sometimes I hear homeschooling/unschooling parents with kids at her same reading level express concern because their state's school standard website says kids their age should be "reading." That sounds like really, truly, reading, but somehow I doubt that is what is really happening. Sure, some kids are. But I think many, many others are where she is or reading even less. Homeschoolers tend to get concerned lest their child be "behind," but I'd rather focus on my child, who she is, and where she is than focus on her in relation to anyone else.
I've also seen some parents get their kid to this point without doing much formal teaching and then say, "She so close! Now she needs some direct instruction to just push her over that hump." I find that sad, because I think if they would just be a little more patient, they'd see natural learning in progress. I've read of many unschooled kids who have a great amount of confidence about their "learning to read," as opposed to their schooled/ schooled-at-home peers who were "taught to read."
Personally, I'm excited to watch her develop at her own pace. I'm always here to help her, encourage her, and support her, but I'm not running out to buy a curriculum NOW, that's for sure!
I've also found it interesting how much linear time and how little cumulative learning time it has taken for her to progress this far. What I mean is that I'm pretty sure if you searched the archives of this blog, you'd find a post from when she was around 4 years old where I thought she was pretty close to reading. Having never witnessed a child learn to read other than myself, I thought that knowing the names and sounds of most of the letters was "close." In linear time, it wasn't, because her brain wasn't mature enough to grasp the concepts that it now is. That has taken 2 or 3 years, and who knows how long from now until she is really able to just pick up any book and go. On the other hand, the amount of time that we have spent actually doing reading related activities, has been very little compared to what she would have done in school. Other than me reading to her, which we do almost every day, she doesn't spend a lot of time writing letters and words, learning letter sounds, and sounding out words. She goes on kicks where she'll spend half an hour a day for a few days or weeks, then not do any of it for months while she's busy learning other things.
It's all really fascinating to watch. I think I'll wait until she reads her first whole book or something before posting the official "She's reading" post. But she's SO close!
Snakes and Worms and Snails- Oh My!
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| L with her bug catcher she got for her 4th birthday. |
L has a thing for bugs, snakes, frogs, and pretty much anything creepy, crawly and slimy. We got her a bug catcher kit for her 4th birthday. It has the containers with air holes and magnifying glasses to see the bugs better. She's used it just about every day.
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| A snail L caught. |
Today L caught a snail and put it in her bug catcher.
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| L with a HUGE worm she found in the yard. |
A few weeks ago, she caught a frog. Unfortunately, it died, since she has not yet learned to be very gentle with them. She just grabs them and holds on tight. She frequently comes to me with a handful of bugs she wants me to hang on to for her, or spiders she's caught by the legs that she wants to keep.
I wish I had a picture of the big bull snake D caught on the day of the eclipse! It was 4 feet long- bigger than L. It escaped the terrarium we were keeping it in, and D was trying to catch it with a stick. L ran up to it, grabbed it around the middle and held it up. "Here daddy, I got it!" she said.
I love watching her love of all things crawly, but I get a little concerned. We've showed her the difference between a bull snake and a rattle snake, and we've shown her pictures of black widows. Still, she's so young, that I don't think she'd remember or have the impulse control to stop herself if she saw either one. At least she's having fun though!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Play Revisited
I've been thinking about play lately - what it is, how important it is for kids to do, and mostly whether or not it's important for adults to do with them. My thinking on the subject was feeling muddy and undefined and I never like that feeling.
I have had several different stances on what I believe about whether or not I should be my child's playmate. My thoughts have ranged from The Continuum Concept
beliefs (that parents should not play with children, but should always be invite them into the adult world) to the Playful Parenting
beliefs (that children use play to navigate their emotions and lack of power in the world and that parents should be part of that process).
In a recent message board conversation, I expressed that I believe in a Continuum Concept model with a grain of salt. In other words, I believed that children are hardwired to want to come into the adult world and learn what we do. That play is very important for them, but their interactions with us should be of them moving into the adult world, not us moving into their world of play. But I say "with a grain of salt" because I remember when I only had one child and was pulling heavily from the Continuum Concept beliefs. In some ways it seemed just the way it should be, but we lacked the strong and constantly available community that the tribe in the book had. My child needed a playmate and I (or my husband) was often the only person available.
As the conversation progressed, the other moms expressed their beliefs about play and started defining just what play is.
Some believed that it is very important for parents to play with their children and had fond memories of their parents playing with them.
Some believed that play is a child's work and they loved interacting with their children in other ways, but not through play.
Some would say "I don't play pretend or play with barbies- I hate it. But I will play basketball or soccer with them."
Others would say, "See basketball and soccer is exactly the kind of play I can't stand. But I will do board games and crafts."
I think everyone agreed that getting on the floor and playing blocks or pretend or dolls with a young child is play, but there was no real consensus about things like sports, board games, arts and crafts, reading children's books or having a conversation about an imaginary scenario while folding laundry.
Some of the moms who initially said "I don't play," later conceded that they do, actually, do things like the above that are considered play by some people. I was one of them.
I have been focusing on unschooling for so long, that I haven't really thought much about play or if I "should" be playing with my kids or what that entails exactly. My focus has been on exploring the world with them and connecting with them, regardless of whether that looks like play or adult activities.
I went searching for my old blog posts on the subject and I found this post titled Playful Parenting vs. Playing By Heart, where I compare and contrast the two books by those names. It was kind of weird reading my own post and thinking, "Huh, yah, I guess I was clear in my thoughts about it at one point, but I forgot!"
That post is a bit more focused on competitive vs. cooperative play than where my mind is focused now, but this still resonates with me:
A lot of the book (Playing by Heart: The Vision and Practice of Belonging
) was about how original play connects people and
builds relationships rather than tearing them down. It's not something
we do in our free time, it's something that is a part of the way we can
live. It brought me back to all the reading I've been doing on mindful
living and meditation. Original play is another aspect to staying in
the moment, present and aware. It's living life right now and seeing
all the joy and the beauty right in front of us. Experiencing that joy
and playing with that moment and the people in it, is original play.
This is unschooling! Just as real life is not divided into the subjects of math, science, and history, it doesn't have to be divided into work and play. It doesn't matter if arts and crafts are considered play or part of moving the child into the adult world! Are they connecting you and your child? Is your child having fun? Are you doing them as a part of a rich environment, in which you are following her interests and expanding her world? If the answer to those is yes, than she is learning. If she is learning than she is that much closer to functioning in the adult world.
That doesn't mean you have to LIKE every form of play either! It's ok to say "Pretending I'm my child's puppy dog makes me want to rip my eyeballs out." Don't think you have to do it to be a "good mom." But find a way to facilitate the things that are important to your child. That might mean playing those games you hate for a while, especially while your child is young, especially if they are an only or first child. Focus on the connection between you and consider that your reaction might be fear of connection itself. Or find your child a playmate (even another adult!) who likes that form of play. Or connect with your child so much in ways you both enjoy that they are genuinely ok with you saying that you don't want to play that particular game.
I no longer care whether I'm "one of those moms who gets on the floor and plays" or "one of those moms who never plays, but connects in other ways." I connect with my kids in ways we both enjoy. I stretch myself to do things that I don't particularly enjoy in the name of connection or their learning. I'm not afraid to say that games like Chutes and Ladders make me want to run screaming from the room. I'm glad that I pushed myself to do it some with my oldest, to get past my fear of connection. I facilitate the play I don't prefer in other ways.
Above all, I will live life focused on relationships and learning, and not divide it into work and play.
I have had several different stances on what I believe about whether or not I should be my child's playmate. My thoughts have ranged from The Continuum Concept
beliefs (that parents should not play with children, but should always be invite them into the adult world) to the Playful Parenting
beliefs (that children use play to navigate their emotions and lack of power in the world and that parents should be part of that process).In a recent message board conversation, I expressed that I believe in a Continuum Concept model with a grain of salt. In other words, I believed that children are hardwired to want to come into the adult world and learn what we do. That play is very important for them, but their interactions with us should be of them moving into the adult world, not us moving into their world of play. But I say "with a grain of salt" because I remember when I only had one child and was pulling heavily from the Continuum Concept beliefs. In some ways it seemed just the way it should be, but we lacked the strong and constantly available community that the tribe in the book had. My child needed a playmate and I (or my husband) was often the only person available.
As the conversation progressed, the other moms expressed their beliefs about play and started defining just what play is.
Some believed that it is very important for parents to play with their children and had fond memories of their parents playing with them.
Some believed that play is a child's work and they loved interacting with their children in other ways, but not through play.
Some would say "I don't play pretend or play with barbies- I hate it. But I will play basketball or soccer with them."
Others would say, "See basketball and soccer is exactly the kind of play I can't stand. But I will do board games and crafts."
I think everyone agreed that getting on the floor and playing blocks or pretend or dolls with a young child is play, but there was no real consensus about things like sports, board games, arts and crafts, reading children's books or having a conversation about an imaginary scenario while folding laundry.
Some of the moms who initially said "I don't play," later conceded that they do, actually, do things like the above that are considered play by some people. I was one of them.
I have been focusing on unschooling for so long, that I haven't really thought much about play or if I "should" be playing with my kids or what that entails exactly. My focus has been on exploring the world with them and connecting with them, regardless of whether that looks like play or adult activities.
I went searching for my old blog posts on the subject and I found this post titled Playful Parenting vs. Playing By Heart, where I compare and contrast the two books by those names. It was kind of weird reading my own post and thinking, "Huh, yah, I guess I was clear in my thoughts about it at one point, but I forgot!"
That post is a bit more focused on competitive vs. cooperative play than where my mind is focused now, but this still resonates with me:
A lot of the book (Playing by Heart: The Vision and Practice of Belonging
) was about how original play connects people and
builds relationships rather than tearing them down. It's not something
we do in our free time, it's something that is a part of the way we can
live. It brought me back to all the reading I've been doing on mindful
living and meditation. Original play is another aspect to staying in
the moment, present and aware. It's living life right now and seeing
all the joy and the beauty right in front of us. Experiencing that joy
and playing with that moment and the people in it, is original play. This is unschooling! Just as real life is not divided into the subjects of math, science, and history, it doesn't have to be divided into work and play. It doesn't matter if arts and crafts are considered play or part of moving the child into the adult world! Are they connecting you and your child? Is your child having fun? Are you doing them as a part of a rich environment, in which you are following her interests and expanding her world? If the answer to those is yes, than she is learning. If she is learning than she is that much closer to functioning in the adult world.
That doesn't mean you have to LIKE every form of play either! It's ok to say "Pretending I'm my child's puppy dog makes me want to rip my eyeballs out." Don't think you have to do it to be a "good mom." But find a way to facilitate the things that are important to your child. That might mean playing those games you hate for a while, especially while your child is young, especially if they are an only or first child. Focus on the connection between you and consider that your reaction might be fear of connection itself. Or find your child a playmate (even another adult!) who likes that form of play. Or connect with your child so much in ways you both enjoy that they are genuinely ok with you saying that you don't want to play that particular game.
I no longer care whether I'm "one of those moms who gets on the floor and plays" or "one of those moms who never plays, but connects in other ways." I connect with my kids in ways we both enjoy. I stretch myself to do things that I don't particularly enjoy in the name of connection or their learning. I'm not afraid to say that games like Chutes and Ladders make me want to run screaming from the room. I'm glad that I pushed myself to do it some with my oldest, to get past my fear of connection. I facilitate the play I don't prefer in other ways.
Above all, I will live life focused on relationships and learning, and not divide it into work and play.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Review of Zoodles
My girls have been playing on Zoodles and they really like it. Here's my review of it.
It pulls games from a wide variety of sites, so I don't have to search for games. It finds them!
Each kid gets their own account and it customizes the games according to her age.
It opens up in a window that takes up the whole screen, so that is the only thing the kids can click on. This is great, because they can't accidentally go to any other websites or mess up any settings.
Along those same lines, once they choose a game, even though it's on an external website, they can only play THAT game. If they want another game they go back to zoodles and pick from the list of games.
Some things that I find to be useless (and maybe even harmful for a parent trying to deschool) is the emphasis on dividing the games into subjects. It creates reports for the parents showing what skills or subjects the child has been learning according to the games they are playing. The parent also has the option to promote certain subjects, so if you think your child isn't playing enough math games, you can make those the only games they see. This is the part they charge for, however. The membership also includes more games and stories, which might make it worth it if my kids get bored of the games and stories available on the free version.
All in all, it's a great site that I wanted to pass on! But if you are new to unschooling, and really excited about the educational controls on it, please read here and let your child play the games she wants just for fun.
It pulls games from a wide variety of sites, so I don't have to search for games. It finds them!
Each kid gets their own account and it customizes the games according to her age.
It opens up in a window that takes up the whole screen, so that is the only thing the kids can click on. This is great, because they can't accidentally go to any other websites or mess up any settings.
Along those same lines, once they choose a game, even though it's on an external website, they can only play THAT game. If they want another game they go back to zoodles and pick from the list of games.
Some things that I find to be useless (and maybe even harmful for a parent trying to deschool) is the emphasis on dividing the games into subjects. It creates reports for the parents showing what skills or subjects the child has been learning according to the games they are playing. The parent also has the option to promote certain subjects, so if you think your child isn't playing enough math games, you can make those the only games they see. This is the part they charge for, however. The membership also includes more games and stories, which might make it worth it if my kids get bored of the games and stories available on the free version.
All in all, it's a great site that I wanted to pass on! But if you are new to unschooling, and really excited about the educational controls on it, please read here and let your child play the games she wants just for fun.
Friday, December 16, 2011
When did you learn THAT?
On Tuesday, while we were in the car with my mom, E said "Z-O-O spells monkey." I told her that it didn't and she immediately said, "Oh! No! It spells zoo!"
I had no idea where she had picked that up. She tried to explain to me that it was from this electronic game that says the name and sounds of the letters when you push the buttons, but I couldn't remember it saying how to spell any words.
Yesterday, she was talking to someone at the bus stop and said, "Y-O-Y-O spells yoyo." Again, I had no idea where she had picked that up.
Last night, she showed me what she was talking about when she said she got it from this electronic game. Each button has a letter and a picture of something that starts with that letter and the name of the picture. I had never really noticed the names of the pictures, which are in much smaller print than the letters themselves. So this is where she got the spellings of both zoo and yoyo!
The interesting thing is that not all of the pictures are clear. For example, the one that says zoo shows a monkey, which is why she said monkey, but somehow she also knew it was supposed to be representing a zoo. I asked her if she would like to see some other pictures with captions and she said she would, so I'm going to try to find something with simple pictures and captions with them.
I had no idea where she had picked that up. She tried to explain to me that it was from this electronic game that says the name and sounds of the letters when you push the buttons, but I couldn't remember it saying how to spell any words.
Yesterday, she was talking to someone at the bus stop and said, "Y-O-Y-O spells yoyo." Again, I had no idea where she had picked that up.
Last night, she showed me what she was talking about when she said she got it from this electronic game. Each button has a letter and a picture of something that starts with that letter and the name of the picture. I had never really noticed the names of the pictures, which are in much smaller print than the letters themselves. So this is where she got the spellings of both zoo and yoyo!
The interesting thing is that not all of the pictures are clear. For example, the one that says zoo shows a monkey, which is why she said monkey, but somehow she also knew it was supposed to be representing a zoo. I asked her if she would like to see some other pictures with captions and she said she would, so I'm going to try to find something with simple pictures and captions with them.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Radical Tuesdays- Making Plans
Last week a mom on a message board was asking about unschooling. In responding to her post I stumbled on expressing a thought that I wanted to expand on:
You can't plan what someone else will learn.
This is the fundamental flaw with schools and curriculums. The system is set up around a plan that the student will learn X and then Y and then Z all "on time." If the student doesn't, they have "failed." This so-called failure is inevitable because you can't plan what someone else will learn.
Unschoolers recognize this, but sometimes think the answer is to stop planning *anything.* Sometimes they are afraid that if they are planning lots of things, someone might think they aren't really unschooling. Sometimes they are afraid that they are misunderstanding unschooling if they make plans to do things.
Granted, a huge benefit of unschooling and homeschooling in general is the freedom from being held to the school system's arbitrary schedule. Part of unschooling is deschooling yourself and realizing that you don't HAVE TO schedule your kids every waking moment. For unschooling to work, it is necessary to drop the fear that if your kids are happy playing all day that they aren't learning. Because they are!
On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with making plans. I make plans for myself and my kids all the time. The difference between the types of plans I make and the types of plans influenced by schoolish thought or the use of curriculum is that unschoolers shouldn't be making the mistake of thinking they can plan what their kids will learn. It's impossible! It is perfectly ok, however, to make plans of things to do, places to go, people to see and all kinds of things to make life fun, interesting, rich, and to borrow from Sandra Dodd- SPARKLY! You can't plan what someone else will learn, but make life interesting and they WILL learn.
Here are some things I take into consideration when I'm making plans:
1. Motivation. Are you planning a trip to the zoo because your child loves animals or to expose her to something new? Or are you going to use the plaques in front of each exhibit for a "reading lesson" and come back and do a "unit study" on her favorite animal? You can't plan *what* your child will learn from the zoo, but you can plan to take them, enjoy the time with them, and trust that they are learning whether you see it happening or not.
2. Enjoyment. Is this something you think your child might enjoy? Or is it something that all the "good homeschoolers" do? If you have a choice between a Lego Convention and a Science Museum, don't choose the Museum if you know your child loves legos, just because the museum is more "educational." On the other hand, don't scoff at the museum if you think your child will enjoy it just because it looks "schoolish."
3. Cost. If you pay for an annual membership or 3 months of classes and your child doesn't like it, are you going to force them to go to get your money's worth? Or feel resentful if you let them drop out? Either make sure you can gracefully handle their decline or only pay for a little bit at a time.
4. Flexibility. If you make plans to go somewhere, even if you are excited about it, be willing to change your plans if your child isn't interested. On the other hand, I have heard of parents asking their three year old "Do you want to go to the museum?" and then being disappointed that she doesn't want to go so they never try it. She doesn't know what it is that she is declining! A few days ago, we went to the Discovery Museum. My kids have never gone, so I didn't ask if they wanted to go. I told them a few weeks ago that we were going and when. I have mentioned it a few times since then and tried to explain what it is. On the day of the trip I woke them up and said to get ready, we're going. Once we got there, if they had been bored or overwhelmed or not enjoying themselves for any reason, we would have left (or in this case, sat in the car and waited, since my mom was our ride and visiting with her other grandchildren). Part of unschooing is exposing them to new things, but if they aren't enjoying themselves, it's time to be flexible and let it go. Also, my kids know that they can tell me they don't want to do something and I won't make them. They usually go along with what I plan, but last week their grandma was going to take them to do something (still undecided and vague at that point) while I went shopping. E had been sick and said that she didn't want to do anything with grandma except lay on her couch and watch a movie. So I called my mom and let her know, no big deal.
5. Over Scheduling. I have seen some new unschoolers try to match school hours with their activities thinking that all those "educational things" are a substitute for classroom learning. It's ok to make some plans. It's ok to have periods of busyness if everyone is enjoying it. It's also important to have down time and for kids to have lots of time to play, and to deschool to the point that you are no longer comparing what you are doing to school.
6. Personality. Is your child an introvert or extrovert? A trip to the zoo might be more fun with a group for your extrovert. It might be more better for your introvert to go with just the family and take your time and look carefully at every animal.
7. Tune into your kids. Most importantly, figure out what works for *your* kids, not some theoretical child of the same age, not the kids in your homeschool group, not how your child was last year, but your child right now. Some kids need to know about plans way in advance, some don't mind spontaneity. Some like to go somewhere every day, some prefer to stay home most of the time. Some like crafts or reading about a subject, some like videos. Whatever you are doing, rather than worrying about planning what your child is learning, ask yourself is my child having fun and is this making life interesting?
And on the flip side, if you and your kids do fine just waking up in the morning and winging it, that's great! This is addressing the fear that making plans is somehow anti-unschooling, but if you do fine without plans, don't feel like you have to start making them.
Also, if you or your child are still deschooling, maybe don't jump into making a bunch of plans just yet. Let there be plenty of time to recuperate and decompress and then only add in plans if your child is ready and enjoying them.
You can't plan what someone else will learn.
This is the fundamental flaw with schools and curriculums. The system is set up around a plan that the student will learn X and then Y and then Z all "on time." If the student doesn't, they have "failed." This so-called failure is inevitable because you can't plan what someone else will learn.
Unschoolers recognize this, but sometimes think the answer is to stop planning *anything.* Sometimes they are afraid that if they are planning lots of things, someone might think they aren't really unschooling. Sometimes they are afraid that they are misunderstanding unschooling if they make plans to do things.
Granted, a huge benefit of unschooling and homeschooling in general is the freedom from being held to the school system's arbitrary schedule. Part of unschooling is deschooling yourself and realizing that you don't HAVE TO schedule your kids every waking moment. For unschooling to work, it is necessary to drop the fear that if your kids are happy playing all day that they aren't learning. Because they are!
On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with making plans. I make plans for myself and my kids all the time. The difference between the types of plans I make and the types of plans influenced by schoolish thought or the use of curriculum is that unschoolers shouldn't be making the mistake of thinking they can plan what their kids will learn. It's impossible! It is perfectly ok, however, to make plans of things to do, places to go, people to see and all kinds of things to make life fun, interesting, rich, and to borrow from Sandra Dodd- SPARKLY! You can't plan what someone else will learn, but make life interesting and they WILL learn.
Here are some things I take into consideration when I'm making plans:
1. Motivation. Are you planning a trip to the zoo because your child loves animals or to expose her to something new? Or are you going to use the plaques in front of each exhibit for a "reading lesson" and come back and do a "unit study" on her favorite animal? You can't plan *what* your child will learn from the zoo, but you can plan to take them, enjoy the time with them, and trust that they are learning whether you see it happening or not.
2. Enjoyment. Is this something you think your child might enjoy? Or is it something that all the "good homeschoolers" do? If you have a choice between a Lego Convention and a Science Museum, don't choose the Museum if you know your child loves legos, just because the museum is more "educational." On the other hand, don't scoff at the museum if you think your child will enjoy it just because it looks "schoolish."
3. Cost. If you pay for an annual membership or 3 months of classes and your child doesn't like it, are you going to force them to go to get your money's worth? Or feel resentful if you let them drop out? Either make sure you can gracefully handle their decline or only pay for a little bit at a time.
4. Flexibility. If you make plans to go somewhere, even if you are excited about it, be willing to change your plans if your child isn't interested. On the other hand, I have heard of parents asking their three year old "Do you want to go to the museum?" and then being disappointed that she doesn't want to go so they never try it. She doesn't know what it is that she is declining! A few days ago, we went to the Discovery Museum. My kids have never gone, so I didn't ask if they wanted to go. I told them a few weeks ago that we were going and when. I have mentioned it a few times since then and tried to explain what it is. On the day of the trip I woke them up and said to get ready, we're going. Once we got there, if they had been bored or overwhelmed or not enjoying themselves for any reason, we would have left (or in this case, sat in the car and waited, since my mom was our ride and visiting with her other grandchildren). Part of unschooing is exposing them to new things, but if they aren't enjoying themselves, it's time to be flexible and let it go. Also, my kids know that they can tell me they don't want to do something and I won't make them. They usually go along with what I plan, but last week their grandma was going to take them to do something (still undecided and vague at that point) while I went shopping. E had been sick and said that she didn't want to do anything with grandma except lay on her couch and watch a movie. So I called my mom and let her know, no big deal.
5. Over Scheduling. I have seen some new unschoolers try to match school hours with their activities thinking that all those "educational things" are a substitute for classroom learning. It's ok to make some plans. It's ok to have periods of busyness if everyone is enjoying it. It's also important to have down time and for kids to have lots of time to play, and to deschool to the point that you are no longer comparing what you are doing to school.
6. Personality. Is your child an introvert or extrovert? A trip to the zoo might be more fun with a group for your extrovert. It might be more better for your introvert to go with just the family and take your time and look carefully at every animal.
7. Tune into your kids. Most importantly, figure out what works for *your* kids, not some theoretical child of the same age, not the kids in your homeschool group, not how your child was last year, but your child right now. Some kids need to know about plans way in advance, some don't mind spontaneity. Some like to go somewhere every day, some prefer to stay home most of the time. Some like crafts or reading about a subject, some like videos. Whatever you are doing, rather than worrying about planning what your child is learning, ask yourself is my child having fun and is this making life interesting?
And on the flip side, if you and your kids do fine just waking up in the morning and winging it, that's great! This is addressing the fear that making plans is somehow anti-unschooling, but if you do fine without plans, don't feel like you have to start making them.
Also, if you or your child are still deschooling, maybe don't jump into making a bunch of plans just yet. Let there be plenty of time to recuperate and decompress and then only add in plans if your child is ready and enjoying them.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Inevitable Monday- Tornadoes
On our walk to the bus stop, E saw some leaves swirling around in the air. I said, "That's like a little tornado!" Of course the girls wanted to know what a tornado is, and I reminded them of Wizard of Oz and how Dorthy got caught up in a tornado.
The rest of the walk, we were running away from the tornado! We had to hurry to get away before the tornado got us. "Let's go hide somewhere safe!" the girls yelled. "We need a storm cellar!" I said.
"What's a storm cellar?" they asked. I compared it to their grandma's basement, but told them that her basement has one side open to the outside, because she lives on a hill. People who live in places where there are real tornadoes often have basements that are completely underground. They hide in their storm cellars so that if the tornado picks up their house and carries it away, they will be safe.
"What places have real tornadoes?" they asked. I told them that there are tornadoes in the mid-west, but that didn't have much of a reference point for them. Since we got home I showed them the mid west on the globe and we watch some youtube videos of tornadoes.
Tornadoes led to whirlpools.
What topics came up at your house today? What connections happened?
The rest of the walk, we were running away from the tornado! We had to hurry to get away before the tornado got us. "Let's go hide somewhere safe!" the girls yelled. "We need a storm cellar!" I said.
"What's a storm cellar?" they asked. I compared it to their grandma's basement, but told them that her basement has one side open to the outside, because she lives on a hill. People who live in places where there are real tornadoes often have basements that are completely underground. They hide in their storm cellars so that if the tornado picks up their house and carries it away, they will be safe.
"What places have real tornadoes?" they asked. I told them that there are tornadoes in the mid-west, but that didn't have much of a reference point for them. Since we got home I showed them the mid west on the globe and we watch some youtube videos of tornadoes.
Tornadoes led to whirlpools.
What topics came up at your house today? What connections happened?
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