Spring

When you see the purple periwinkles
And hear birds' sweet songs ring,
It is spring.

When you watch lizards scamper
As does most every living thing
It is spring.

When the warm breeze dances
And the robin comes north to sing
It is spring.

When crocuses and snowdrops
And daffodils come up, bing!
Then it is spring.

Copyright 2009  Michiko Gibson

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For Botany, we have been doing Leaves, a perfect topic for fall. DD spent a week making a poster/giant lapbook entitled “Why Leave Change Colors”. It's so cool. I learned so much too about pigments like xanthophyll and anthocyanin. Like did you know that while oranges, yellows and browns are already in the mesophyll part of the leaves, reds (and purples) are not? I used to think that when the chlorophyll fades away, all the colors are then displayed. But no, not the reds! To put it simply, the red pigment (anthocyanin) is produced when water no longer flows into the leaves and glucose in the leaves no longer flows out of the leaves. ( Around fall, the Lord dictates that the leaves from deciduous trees form a little scab between the branch and the petiole). Cold nights and lots of sunshine in the day promote the red pigment to thrive. And then when the chlorophyll decays, yeah, you see all the marvelous reds!

God is truly magnified in fall (as in ALL seasons).

And to celebrate fall, I'm going to share two fall poems my daughter wrote recently.

'Nippy Fall Weather' was written in late October when the weather became cooler after a long hot summer. She was sitting on the porch thinking. That was also the day I decided to just not do school and relax.

               Nippy Fall Weather

When the chilliness of fall is in
the air,
Leaves turn colors
Everywhere.

The air that blows
Is cool and fresh.
And then you can take a
Nice deep breath.

The air gets nippy,
Then we're told
To get out coats, scarves, and hats
Because it's getting cold.

Asters are growing
In a pot, the yard, a bin,
And then we go outside
And bring them in.

But soon winter is coming
It will be chilly.
So enjoy right now
When it is only nippy.

Fall 2007 Copyright Michiko Gibson

"Rainbow of Leaves" was written sometime last week. We were doing school in the kitchen when she said she felt like playing in the yard. Ah, a chance for me to check my email so I said sure! And while she was outside, she wrote this little charming poem as well as another one about her 'baby' brother.

(II) Rainbow of Leaves

            Brown leaves, orange leaves, purple, yellow, red.
            They float down gently   
            And land on my head.

            Red leaves
            And purple leaves,
            What a pretty scene!
            And it is so beautifully
            It seems like a dream.

            Yellow leaves   
            With orange leaves.
            Green leaves
            And brown.
            They float from the treetops  
            Down, down, and down.

Fall 2007 Copyright Michiko Gibson

She was not inspired to write a fall poem in 2006, but two falls ago (2005), she wrote the following which I thought was lovely. I remember that evening well. She said she was going to write something on fall  for her then monthly newsletter, the Honeycomb.She went to the bathroom for a while and  when she came out, she took a piece of paper and wrote out the following.  :)

            Fall

            Fall is a time
            Of crisp cool air,
            And little fall flowers
            Everywhere.

            The leaves are falling
            The birds are flying too.
            Right beneath
            a sky of blue.

            Squirrels are scurrying,
            Getting food.
            Just like us
            Getting winter wood.
            Bears are getting
            In their dens.
            Ready for the chilliness
            That winter sends.

            Fall 2005 Copyright Michiko Gibson

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This is a cool link for art ideas when you need some inspiration. Enjoy!

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One of the favorite things we enjoy doing during the Holy Week is to revisit the Passion hymns. We love reading and learning more about these hymns from Passion Hymns for a Kid's Heart by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni E. Tada.

This morning, we read the chapter on “Man of Sorrows!” from that book for our devotions. We also sang the hymn. After that, we read a little book, The Story of the Empty Tomb (an Arch Book) and then at the request of my nearly 4 year old son, we dramatized the it. Josh wanted to be the angel and Jesus. My daughter and I took turns being Mary.

Later on my dd continued with her copywork based on the hymn “What Can Wash Away My Sins?” and we spent a good portion of the time refering to our Bible on prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. We referred to 6 prohecies in the OT and how the six were fulfilled in the NT. I asked my dd why it was important to know that the OT was fulfilled in the NT and she said that would help us when we witness to people about God. I thought that was a good answer as I remember the first time I read about how the prophecies in the OT really did come to pass in the NT. I was around 17, and that just blew me away...

I must say Josh really is beginning to enjoy drama. Last night we acted out Balaam and the Donkey. I was Balaam (boy, did I have fun) and their daddy was the donkey. A very good donkey I must say. Josh was the angel and my dd was the audience. And this morning, while he was playing with his blocks, he built the city of Jericho and of course we had to go round and round the city till I was dizzy.

Oh, homeschool is FUN!!!! (amongst other things...)

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Entitled Jesus:The Life-Giver!, the 8-day devotional starts on Palm Sunday and finishes on Easter Sunday.  It explores through scripture the new life Jesus came to bring us. Each day contains a short devotional, an application to think about, and a prayer. By Easter, readers will have gained a much deeper appreciation for what Easter's all about and what the good news of Jesus' resurrection means for us each day.

The devotional comes with an activity for children. Children make their own paper flower gardens which reinforce and bring the true message of Easter to life. The kit includes all the supplies (except glue and crayons/markers) necessary to complete the garden. The little objects the children glue onto their flowers each day as well as the color backing of the flower all help reinforce the devotional's message. The devotional kit is designed to be an easy-to-use, meaningful way for the entire family to prepare for Easter.

Use this code YS0703S and get 10% off your order. Check out this LINK. 

We plan to use this devotional for our evening devotions so daddy can get to enjoy the sweet craft too!

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If your child loves owls (like mine), you will find the following sites useful and fun!

ENJOY!!!

http://www.theowlcam.com/

http://www.owlpages.com/

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/programs/birds/features/index.html

http://magazine.audubon.org/backyard/backyard0201.html

http://www.carolina.com/owls/index.asp

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I woke up this morning panicking as I wasn't prepared for my guests. They were supposed to arrive around 2.00pm. I wanted to make chicken soup for dinner but when I took out the chicken from the fridge, it had not completely defrosted. There was no more bread in the house (what was I thinking!) and I really needed to vacuum the great room. The washing machine was humming and suddenly I felt deflated as I thought of the basket of clothes still not folded. I should have had been more organized. I decided to check my cousin's e-mail again and lo and behold, they were arriving the next day! Tomorrow! Now, this was one mistake I liked! My spirits were lifted! It was like I was given an extra day!

And since it was such a lovely fall day, the children played outside. We also examined the fallen leaves, what's left of our small vegetable garden, counted the number of plants in our flower-bed and then we did some school in the backyard too.

What a difference a lack to stress makes to the school day.

DD sure enjoyed her seatwork today! For history today, she wrote out:
"Conscience is our most sacred propetry" James Madison.
We discussed stewardship and how important our conscience is. 

Hopefully I won't feel panicky when I wake up tomorrow morning.

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Our “Listening Better” re-training program began today. With my children, humor and laughter work best whenever we want to teach them something challenging.

So what did we do?

The first thing I did was to encourage her with God's Word.

Each month, we learn a psalm by heart (admittedly, my daughter fares better in this area than I!). This month, we're learning Psalm 19. We discussed Psalm 19:7 today. We enjoyed learning how wonderful God's law and testimony are. It converts the soul; it makes the simple wise! We sang the familiar praise song, “The Law of the Lord”. We reasoned out together that unless we listened to and obeyed God's Word (law, testimony, statutes, commandment), our lives would remain untouched; unaffected. We discussed examples; and took turns giving illustrations. I told her how important it was for her parents to listen to God's Word; and likewise how important it was for her to listen to her parents now. By learning to listen well to us now, she will be better equipped and trained to listen to God when she is older. We prayed about her need to listen better.

Next, I reminded her of the practical lesson we had not long ago.

That was something I made up called, “THE EYES HAVE IT!”

I was desperate to help her have a better attitude. I wanted her to obey cheerfully; to do tedious chores without a disgruntled look. Sure, attitudes begin with the heart, and we had already addressed that. She now needed some hand-holding in getting rid of her bad habits I had allowed to creep in.

Anyway, “THE EYES HAVE IT!” merely meant she had to smile with her eyes (and heart).

Each time I called out, “THE EYES HAVE IT!” she would give me that special smile from the heart that was to be reflected in her lovely eyes. I wanted her to understand that we might not enjoy doing something, but if we had a good attitude about it, that task would not seem so daunting. Attitudes are simply habits of the heart. One can choose to have good or bad attitudes. It's a choice.

The morning I explained to her (and then we practiced) what I meant by “THE EYES HAVE IT!” she had to work on her soroban (Japanese abacus) problems. As soon as she saw her abacus, her usual need to protest first before working on the task began to well up. I cheerfully called out “THE EYES HAVE IT!” She tried not to groan and flashed me her most beautiful smile instead. I said, “Let's see you work on those problems with that wonderful smile. I need to go to the kitchen now, but I'll visit your eyes once in a while and I want to see them smiling.” That tickled her. So I'd pop in and out of the kitchen unexpectedly to “check” on her. I'd count the twinkles in her eyes. I'd peer real closely to see if her eyes and smile “matched”. It was all very funny and fun to her, and she sailed through the problems with nary a groan.

After that, and many other similar “lessons” later, she found that she could change her attitude about the most tedious chore or task. On my part, I have to retain my sense of humor and be extra loving when she struggles to smile. She still has a long way, but I'm gratified to see much improvement lately.

Anyway, I digress...back to our “Listen Better” re-training session, LOL.

So after setting the foundation based on the Word of God and reminding her of “THE EYES HAVE IT!” principle, I gave her the following instructions:

1. When I call for you, drop whatever you are doing.

2. Look at mama.

3. Show me “THE EYES HAVE IT!”

4. Wait for me to give you instructions.

5. Then do it! Keep that twinkle in your eyes!

I made all the initial instructions fun and funny. Like I called her name several times in a row with instructions such as “Give me a hug,”, “Come for a kiss,” “Stand on one leg, “...that kind of thing.

We had a great time and she and her brother wanted more!

When we got down to serious matters, I made sure I didn't discourage her. So I chose to call her name when she was not in the middle of something intense. I have allowed her to slip into her bad habits. I cannot expect changes overnight.

Just as our Heavenly Father is so patient with us, we need to be patient with our children.

Tomorrow, we'll continue with this “training” session.

I'll write more about her progress when time permits.

I really need to blog about the soon to be published eBook though. Maybe tomorrow as it's now getting late, LOL.

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February 17-20, 2006

Hosted by the National Audubon Society & Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

If you family likes birds like we do, you might be interested in the annual birdcount! Take part by visiting

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc for easy-to-follow instructions and local checklists.

You can take part on one, two, three, or four days, so you still have plenty of time to participate!

Have fun!

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I want to thank several of you who left comments on my last blog! I really appreciate what you had shared!

Last week was actually not a good time to conduct that experiment as I had a dental condition (was in pain unless I took an aleve) that necessitated a root canal on Thursday. So it wasn't your normal week. But then, I don't really know when home school families have “normal” days or weeks so perhaps last week was as good as any week to do night school!

My conclusion?

I quite like it!

My daughter loves it!

My son probably loves it!

My husband is unsure.

I liked it as it was really less stressful for me in the mornings and afternoons. I didn't feel that I had to get “that out of the way” first. I could spend more time with little Josh without thinking that he was interrupting us. The children got to play without me having to break up their game. I think the times they spend together now are precious in further developing their sibling closeness and love. They learn so much about sharing and resolving conflicts when they get to play together for a long time. I think Josh learns a lot just by playing with and observing his older sister too. I was able to prepare my lessons during the time they were playing. I could cook and do the house chores without feeling like I had to be “doing” school.

Since I had already told my daughter that she had to practice her violin before daddy came home and that she had to cheerfully complete a few daily chores in the afternoon should we do school at night, I was glad to report that she complied more willingly in those areas.

During the week, she has two outside activities in the afternoon. Violin on Monday and ballet on Thursday. Usually on those days, school is very rushed, at best. With night school, I didn't have to worry about getting another thing done before getting ready for those activities. I really liked that!

The main disadvantage to doing school at night was my own tiredness. Sure, my daughter was excited and ready to do something, but on most nights, I was simply tired. Okay, the dental pain didn't help, but some evenings I told my husband I just wanted to sleep myself when I put Josh down to bed.

But with some adjustments, I think I just might continue to do school at night for a while.

In another post, I might describe the things we had done last week. For now, I'm just too tired to write more, but thought I should to encourage all of you wanting to try it out to just give it a shot. You will find your balance just as I'm trying to find mine.

As with everything else, there is no easy solution to challenges we find ourselves in. But not attempting something different may mean we are not getting closer to a possible solution, even if it's not a perfect one.

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I'm going to try this out for a week and see if it works.

My dd is a night owl. She was one as a toddler, still is one, and I guess she always will be one.

She has produced some of her best stories and poems late at night. She can sit and work on a project with nary a squeak or squirm when the rest of us are thinking of slumber-land.

But when we try to do school in the late morning or afternoon (it can never be early morning; she is a night owl, remember?) we usually see a battle of wills. Too many distractions, her little brother wants to play with her or he needs my attention. Then I get distracted too because I like a neat house and all the major meals (my children are little Hobbits; they eat no fewer than 6 small meals a day) prepared before I sit down to do anything, including school.

So, this week, we're going to do school after dinner.

Yes, after dinner.

After all the dishes are washed; after little Josh is nicely changed and has his teeth brushed; after my daughter has played and read all she has wanted during the day, after most public school children are getting ready to go to bed, we will start school.

Afterall we don't need 3-4 hours (she's only 8!) for school; and during the day, she still reads and helps out with the laundry and other chores, “teaches” her brother, observes nature and helps with the garden...and all these do count as “school”. And a non-negotiable is doing our Devotions and Character Study after breakfast, so if nothing else, we still have had done what's most important.

So this week, I'm going to just give it a shot and see how much more peaceful our home can be if I just go with the flow and let my motherly instinct be my guide.

One thing is for sure, my daughter is very excited and happy about this!

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It looks like I've come to a cross-road as far as my home-school journey is concerned. I love the Christian Classical/Charlotte Mason approach I've been adopting but lately the Principle Approach seems to be beckoning me. I've decided to devote a new blog to trace my journey.

Hope to see some of you there!

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When I was exploring the different approaches to home-schooling, the Christian Classical Approach attracted me most.  I also gravitated towards Charlotte Mason’s works.  Before Michiko was 3, I thought these combined approaches would work out best for our family as they gelled with our family philosophy of education and lifestyle.

I read different books describing the Classical Approach. They included “The Well-Trained Mind” (TWTM) by Jessie and Susan Bauer, “Designing your Own Classical Curriculum” by Laura Berquist, and “Teaching the Trivium, Christian Homeschooling in Classical Style” by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn.  Of all the books and articles I have read on teaching classically, Bluedorns’ approach struck the best chord in me.

The Bludorns limited their meaning of “classical” to include only
what is of good form and lasting value (classical), and which conforms to a Biblical standard within a biblical worldview (Christian). We must be careful to “carefully sift everything which is classical in the humanist sense through the critical screen of the Scriptures, and we must give whatever passes this screening a new meaning within the Biblical worldview.” (Teaching the Trivium, page 31).

I liked that.

I also appreciated the methodology. Classical learning follows a particular pattern called the Trivium - which consists of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric.

The students learn the grammar of each subject (that subject's "particulars").

They then learn dialectic, or the relationships of these particulars to one another, and then go on to learn rhetoric.

While cautioning that families should not try to recreate the classroom at home, the Bluedorns highlighted why families should follow the Trivium methodology: academic achievement, creation of a self-teaching student, and the Biblical basis of learning.  

For a good review of this book, you might want to visit Martha Robinson’s massive review site. She has TONS of reviews!

What has kept me relatively stress-free (most of the time anyway) as far as home educating Michiko goes was the Bluedorns’ section on “Ten things to do with your children before age 10.”  It doesn’t matter which method or approach of educating your child is. The list of ten things helps keep things in perspective.  I have this list on my fridge for a few years now.  

You can download the Bluedorns’ list and article (which has been enlarged into a chapter in their book) here.

Basically, the Bluedorns believe that force feeding academic studies before ten is not an effective use of our time. Of course the exact age differs from child to child but they suggest that when the child is around ten, he becomes developmentally mature enough to handle areas that are more academic. Hence, they suggest that the academic focus can be deferred till after ten. Before ten, the focus should be to build a good moral foundation for later academics.

I hope you find their list useful as you plan, prepare and start school. It sure has helped me to keep the main thing the main thing.  

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 My daughter has been badgering me to “start school.” She does not know that every day is “school."

When her cousins reject her friendship, she’s in the school of hard knocks.

When she forgives them and continues to care for them, she is learning what it means to be Christ-like.

When she helps me with the laundry and other chores, she's learning about home economics.   

When she says no to food she cannot eat because of her allergies, she is being schooled in self-discipline.

When she plays with and reads to her brother, she is in mommy-training school.

When she writes letters to her friends, real and imaginary, she is in a language arts class.

When she draws and colors, makes up stories and pretends, she is honing her creative skills.

When we play store, clip coupons or cook together, she is doing math.

When she makes choices, she is thinking, and learning about consequences.

When she spends hours on origami, she's learning about spatial relationships and geometry.

When she frolics in the yard and shouts with joy when she spies a new wildflower, she is doing yet another nature study course. 

When we have guests or cook for another family, she is learning about service.

When she and her daddy are star-struck, the world of astronomy becomes real.

When she quietly plays with her paper-dolls, she's empowering her imagination.

When she narrates to me, for the hundredth time, a favorite story or an event, I know she needs no written tests.

When we pray together, she is learning more about a personal God who cares and answers prayers…

So I’ll start keeping records from today, for yes, we started "school" TODAY! (HELP!!!)

But deep down, I know that plans and records are just that.

They are important (mandatory!) They are good bench-marks. I try to like them for they help me chart the course and navigate the unknown seas. I know it will be fun to look back one day to see what the children have done formally.

But then, ordinary events and every day experiences are also important learning experiences. Perhaps even more so as they are relevant to living. To life.

So if I  walk down the path of thinking that I’m a dismal failure because nothing seems to be in order, or I"m not doing enough (whatever THAT means), I’ll remind myself of what I’ve just written (one of the good things of having a blog.)

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