I'm such a traitor.  I started this article ("Surprising Foreign Language Helps") right here in *this blog*, and I've gone and finished it and posted it over at my new blog.  It was kind of a toss-up as to where to put it, honestly.   If you're a homeschooler who is intimidated by the whole foreign language thing, please go take a look, even if my other blog usually isn't your thing. 

***

In castle news: Miraculous Corn.  That is to say, corn  that was:

1) Planted late.

2) Planted by a six-year-old with no supervision.

3) Came from the remainders of an old seed packet, way too few plants to give us the appropriate stand-size for proper pollination, says my gardening book.

4) Was knocked over twice by big storms, and *continued to grow* sideways.

1)  Smile
2) Say "Please" and "Thank you"
3) Use a nice voice
4) Follow instructions

My favorite place to go in Las Vegas is Red Rocks National Park.  I finally managed to sneak over this morning, and did a short hike with the kids.  The park faces east, so it is a lovely early-morning destination.  Rain last night (this is the rainy season) put fresh snow on the mountains, though we stayed down in the wide valley below.  Determined that Bun is still firmly in the toddler category, really not ready for hiking on her own.  

Went ahead and purchased an annual park pass, if I make three more visits before we leave it will have paid for itself.  This is not unlikely, as the park is pressed right up against the western suburbs of town (or, more accurately, vice versa), and only a twenty minute drive or so from my parent's home.  Read this afternoon that the visitor's center now has a working seismograph, so one of the these days we will have to time our visit for after the center's opening hours, so that we can do that.

Meanwhile I've been helping my sister get my parent's house ready for an up-coming move.  Not sure if I like de-cluttering other people's homes more or less than doing my own.  On the positive side, I am honing my skills so that perhaps I can be a better tosser-outer when I get back to my own mess.  On the negative, I keep finding stuff that I might like.  Hmmn.

Also finished reading Cacique and will review it in the next post.

We arrived safely -- thanks for the prayers.  The kids held up remarkably well, despite some delay and re-routing.  I was asked several times what my "secret" was.  My only guess is that when people see four very young children board a plane with just one adult, they begin to pray.  Even people who do not normally pray -- perhaps especially those people -- may well begin begging God for mercy.  And He came through.

Thursday we relaxed and recovered from the trip.  Visited with the cousins, and Bun took her first ever dance class, thanks to a very friendly local dance instructor, who doesn't mind the odd friend or relative tagging along with a regular student. 

Friday we went to Hoover Dam.  I'd never been there before.  Really neat.  The drive from Las Vegas out to the dam is just breathtaking, especially if you are the sort of person who loves mountainous desert landscapes.  Tour operators are friendly, and our large crowd of six-and-unders (free admission!) stayed suitably entertained.  Exhibits at the visitors' center at the end of the tour included several engaging kids activities that were not only entertaining but informative as well.  And I learned how electricity is made. 

Saturday we drove up to Mt. Charleston for a hike -- the weather has been too mild for snow, we were told.  Not so.  We played a little bit, scouted about, and came back Sunday properly outfitted.  Had a great time sledding, building snow forts, and drinking hot chocolate.  Truth be told, this is why I like to come to Las Vegas in February.

Today was quiet enough I had to actually break out school materials in order to gather enough educational activity to count it as a school day.  Did take the kids to a local park -- there are lots of great local parks in this city, though be mindful some neighborhoods are safer than others. 

Also started reading the novel Cacique by  bishop Robert J. Baker.  So far so good, but I will post a full review once I finish it.

Technically internet access is good, but free time is limited.  (Go figure, I'm busy visiting all those people I flew here to see).  Have been reading newspapers (not a normal behavior for me) so naturally there are six bazillion things I want to blog about.  May yet get to a few of them.  Am getting some strange formatting situations so my apologies if things appear weirder than usual.

Sister Lansatia, who was my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teacher in Avon, Ohio, taught me how to do leatherwork.  . . . She wanted to teach herself leatherwork, so she made it part of our classes.  I enjoyed it a lot and even made some money doing projects (wallets, eyeglass cases, and purses) for my aunts and uncles. . . .  Hope you have as much fun with the leather working tools as I did.

    Song of the Week is something I started this year (this past week, in fact), and it gives an idea of our approach to homeschooling.

   
        Mr. Boy’s first grade music curriculum looks like this:

                        Music: Per Student’s Interest.

In other words, I want the freedom to include music instruction and practice, and count it in my legal school days, but I don’t want to be obligated to complete a particular course of study.  There might be some year in the future when we include a plan for formal music training in his curriculum, but this is not that year – this year we are more or less unschooling for the subject.

Song of the Week, meanwhile, developed initially not out of the kids’ interests, but from my own.  There have always been certain songs that I enjoy, but can’t really sing on my own since I don’t know the lyrics.  And there are songs my kids request, but I can’t teach them because I don’t know the lyrics; and finally, there are songs I wish my kids knew, but I’ve never taught them.  In the back of my mind I would badger myself with you-really-oughttas.  I decided it was time to take action.

So this year I got the idea to pull out my handy calendar, and assign a specific song to learn each week.  Keeping with my Just-In-Time approach to life, I’ve only filled in our first three weeks so far, plus a few seasonal songs throughout the year.  I’ll fill in the remaining weeks as they occur, and I have a page in my school binder where I note down songs I’d like to include, whenever I think of one.

Last week was our first week of formal lessons.  In preparation I printed out the lyrics to our song (I used www.hymnsite.com), and in this case listened to the midi file over and over, because I needed to learn the tune as well.  I slipped the lyrics inside the transparent cover-thing on the back of my homeschooling binder, so that they would be right at hand sitting on my kitchen counter for easy reference.

I practiced on my own while doing dishes and so forth.  By Monday morning when I introduced the song to the kids, they had therefore already heard the song more than a few times, just from being in the same house as me.  
   
    On our first day of school, we all sat down around the kitchen table.  After a quick opening prayer, I sang the first verse and chorus for them.  Sang it again, and they joined in as the could.  Sang it one more time, and then we’d all had enough.  We moved on to penmanship.

Meanwhile, I discovered a couple problems with my planned approach: 

    1) I learned that first grade went much more quickly and smoothly if Mr. Boy and I just sneaked off to work quietly together while the girls were playing, rather than trying to include everybody in a one-room-schoolhouse model.  

    2) I learned that I had planned way too much for this year.   I needed to pare down our formal lesson time so we didn’t exceed a reasonable lesson length for a six-year-old.

So I switched to a new approach in the ensuing days: I sung my hymn aloud during my morning prayer and scripture time, which I take on the back porch overlooking the kid’s play yard.  The kids can join me as much or as little as they like.  I also sing the hymn around the house while doing chores, serving lunch, and so forth.  If the kids so requested I would have taken some impromptu time to teach them the lyrics -- but it appears this past week's selection wasn't all that interesting to them.

I reminded myself that this particular song was chosen because I personally wanted to learn it; if it were a song I thought my kids truly needed to know for themselves, I might re-prioitize it so that we sat down and memorized it together.  I also kept in mind that a song I introduce this year we can always choose to include in formal lessons in a future year, if it really is that important to us.

And so goes Song of the Week.  In future posts I’ll share our selections and how I chose them.