It’s been two years since I first set up this blog and as I read back through the original posts I’m amused to find that while the kids are now two years older (11, 9, nearly 7, and nearly 5) our homeschooling has not hugely changed. We’re not doing as many lapbooks anymore, mostly due to my own lack of prep time and the fact that we really miss having another family to lapbook with.

Right now our focus is on the 3Rs – Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. Our science and history is incorporated into daily life and into our reading. This last summer we did our “Summer of Science” and had a lot of fun with it. We may do it again. Not sure yet.

This is the first year I’ve had four students, and that’s been an interesting adjustment. Thankfully Kate (11) is mostly self-teaching and Esther (nearly 5) and Zachary (nearly 7) are very close in cognitive development, so we are able to co-teach them together.  Generally speaking Josh (9) and Kate are able to work together while Esther and Zachary work together. But mostly I prefer we get to do activities all together and just have fun with them. What a joy.

Anyway, after a two year break, we’re back to blogging!

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The last five days have been a flurry!  I started back at school (University of Phoenix Online) after a two month break. We started working on our Polar Habitats lapbooks using the resources the HOAC online co-op pulled together (WOW!). And, we’ve been arranging the inspections and such for the house we’re buying here.

Lapbooking has been interesting this time, because Essy (3) has insisted that she must also do a lapbook at the same time.  She colors when the others write and glues when the olders glue.  I’m not sure I bought enough glue sticks though – she’s uses an entire glue stick every day! Sticky Girl!

Last night we watched Antarctica:IMAX and The Endurance. The IMAX movie showed amazing photography of the landscape, animal and ocean life, and to scientific activity that goes on in Antarctica. The Endurance was about Shackleton’s expedition in 1914 to cross the continent of Antarctica.  Twenty-seven men set out, but their boat was trapped when the ocean around Antarctica froze. The movie used original photographs and journal entries to take us through the experience. All twenty-seven men returned from the trip, but not before withstanding amazing feats for perseverance, faith, and survival.

About half way through The Endurance, Kate (9) says “We’re learning more about people in this one, instead of conditions.”  

I just looked at her, amazed.  Then asked, “So they are wearing parkas – why?”

“It’s cold”

“Okay, that’s a condition. What happened to their boat?”

“It was trapped when the water froze.”

“Okay, that’s a condition…”

She rolled her eyes at me, but got the point.  Even in movies that are about people and their journey and even in historical fictionalized movies, we can learn a lot about what’s happening around them as well as what happens to them. Something else I’ll have to work with her.

I find myself thankful today for training.  I worked until 5 this morning and had to get up with Essy (3) four times between 5 and 9 this morning.  But my Kate and Josh were able to pick up the slack and help out this morning so I could cope with  my world.  Kate made breakfast – toast and dealt with snack.  Josh helped entertain Essy. But most importantly they set the tone for a quiet morning, helping the youngers adjust their demeanor for a more peaceful household.  I let them know early in the day that I had worked late and was very tired and they knew, from past experiences, what my expectations would be for the day.  

We have found by setting expectations when one of us (including the children) don’t feel well that we have a more peaceful house, but on days like today, I fully appreciate the peacefulness of it.  We all harmoniously went about our day -  doing school work this morning, watching a family video, running essential errands, and playing quietly. This evening, Kate and I spent three hours watching a PBS documentary on Ben Franklin, while the boys played and Essy napped.  What a blessing a little quiet makes on day of little sleep.

I’m not sure people around here shop en masse with their children. Or maybe it was just that we were at an office supply store and the kids were excited about office supplies.  Who knows. But we got some interesting looks today.

All of our lapbooking supplies are in storage – way in the back of the storage unit. So we needed to get some new supplies to hold us for the next month. Afterall we have three lapbooks planned.  We picked up some more ink for the printer -  goodness knows I go through a lot of it – and then headed over to the paper.  

We needed colored paper (24#) and card stock. So there was the debate over the pastels or the AstroBrights.  Finally pastels were decided upon, because they didn’t have the card stock in AstroBright. (That’s okay we have lots of that in storage).  The lady there gave me an odd look when I had the kids make all these decisions. Oh well.

Then we headed over to the file folders, but the kids got caught up on the way. They found those expanding folders with all the slots and thought they would make great tools to hold school work and art papers.  I had to pry them away and tell them we’d come back and look at folders after we picked up all our supplies.

So after we found a small pack of colored file folders, we were off to find the tape and glue.  The coolest thing was the double tape dispenser with regular tape on one side and double-sided tape on the other.  No more searching for the right tape dispenser.  Since double-sided tape is our tool of choice for attaching mini-books to our lapbooks, we had to pick up extra rolls of tape. But Josh insisted we needed extra rolls of regular transparent tape as well. (He uses it for paper crafts.) 

Then we were off looking for glue sticks – finally found those next to the school supplies.  “Look mom! Schoolwork books!”  A lady passing by looked twice at them.  They had to look through the workbooks to see if there were interesting ones.  And I deferred the sticker requests by letting them know that Michael’s sticker isle was the next errand we needed to run.

After oohing and ahhing over calendars (and making a selection or two for mom), we finally revisited the expanding folders.  Everyone (including me) got one for their school work. Cool ones too – with handles.  

The checkout lady just smiled at my attempt to keep the kids away from the candy – conveniently positioned at Zach (4) and Essy (3) eye level.  And finally we made it out of the store. I never ever thought I would have such an excitement filled trip to the office supply store :)

I tried a new technique today. I gave Kate (9) the task to come up with a preschool activity revolving around shapes for the youngers, and to come up with a craft for them. She was to work with the preschoolers (ages 3 and nearly 5) while I worked with Josh on his reading.  As predicted Zach (the nearly 5 year old) bailed out, but Essy (the 3 year old) was really into the activity Kate came up with – sorting circles and triangles into separate boxes and coloring a picture using different color markers.

When Kate was Josh’ age I was able to spend a couple hours with her each day on what she needed, but I haven’t been able to give Josh (7) that same attention. But he is now ready to move on with his reading and needs additional one-on-one help. So my task is to guide Kate into other activities that occupy her so she doesn’t interrupt Josh’s work.  Today’s method worked, though I can’t do that everyday.  Tomorrow I’ll give her something else to do, probably a longer, and more difficult math assignment. We’ll see.

On the positive note, Josh did great at his reading lesson today.  In the past he’s struggled with blending, but today he got it and was able to complete the lesson enthusiastically. Wow!  All in good time.

At dinner tonight, I reminded the kids that tomorrow we start “School” again. Their daddy told them that he wanted them “to work hard so they can get caught up”, citing their break from formal school work.  So, the kids are off and going… Literally.

After dinner, they set about making up worksheets for themselves and doing them.  Josh played is adding game that he likes: making long addition sentences adding two numbers together like this 2+2=4+4=8+8=16….  Kate made up her own multiplication quiz and then proceed to go through one of her fairy books and make a list of words to study and learn to spell.  

As I read from the original, unabridged The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, they worked on their own version of homework. It had me questioning what I was needed for. After all, there they were making up their own learning adventures.

But then I remembered – I’m the guider, facilitator, the person who introduces them to options, the one who reads aloud until my throat is dry, and the one who answers the endless questions (or at least helps find the answers).  My job is not to force feed them information for them to parrot back another day, but to guide them in this world and in their education. I’m there to ensure they have the tools they need to succeed. I’m there to adapt their curriculum to meet their learning styles and needs.

I make suggestions – like the fairy books Kate is always begging me to get for her. At first glance she said no, but changed her mind and decided to try the first one.  Now, I can’t keep her in them fast enough. Not everything I suggest takes, but when it does… well…It’s a good thing.

I facilitate interests. Like Josh’s Electricity passion. I’m the one finding the books and experiment kits  and doing the reading out loud for him.  I could go on, but I think I’ve reminded myself now.

Next week we start back to our formal school work after a two month “unschooling” break.  I call it an “unschooling” break because essentially that is what we do during these breaks. The kids are free to explore whatever interests them while we take a break from our formal school work.  There’s no worksheets, workbooks, lapbooks, or anything else.  Instead the kids just do life and do what strikes them.  And amazingly enough, they accomplish a lot!

It’s like a decompression time. This time we were moving from the North Coast of  California to Houston, Texas.  It’s been a time of activity and change. We simply couldn’t add the daily stress of doing formal school work.

Instead, Kate read 7 books, wrote her own stories and a recipe book (which she gave me for a Christmas present), drew and characterized a dozen fairies, listened to 5 of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books on CD and relistened to Eragon and The Lost Years of Merlin audiobooks.  

Josh reviewed all the alphabet sounds using Zach’s Leapster Letters on the Loose game, played video games, listened to the same audio CDs as Kate, plus the stories I read a loud.  

They made up their own math games, quizzing each other trying to find math problems they couldn’t answer, often while swinging on the playground. As Josh put it “I just like playing with math”

During this period we drove through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, experiencing the difference in landscape, climate, and weather. We discussed the aquaduct that snakes through central California, as we saw it and we saw the vast farm lands that feed a great portion of the United States.

Josh scouted for desert plants from his car window. They remarked on the mountain formations that were different than the tree studded ones they were used to. They played in the snow in New Mexico, dispelling the notion that the desert is always hot. They threw snow balls in northwestern Texas.

Since being in Houston, they’ve commented and compared the differences between living in a city and living in a town vs. living in the rural setting we moved from.  We’ve been caught in a lightening storm – something that they had never experienced. Using their knowledge of what materials conduct electricity they figured out where they needed to be to be safe from the lightening.

When I start to fret that they haven’t cracked their reading workbooks, or progressed in their math program, I have to remind myself that while those formal materials were left untouched these couple months, their minds were active and learning and more importantly – EXPERIENCING.  

What a blessing that we have the ability to set aside the books to just EXPERIENCE our learning.