A place to chronicle what we're learning along the way. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 25 Dec 2006 00:30:00 -0600 Mon, 25 Dec 2006 00:30:00 -0600 The day in pictures (using my new camera!). Christmas Eve morning after church Evening - waiting to open jammies and book(s) present Little one and her new "princess" slippers Middle one getting ready to open his jammies Oldest opening his "skateboarder" pjs and Peter and the Starcatchers book Everyone on the couch reading (in their new pjs!) And a smile before bedtime http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/259102/ Mon, 25 Dec 2006 00:30:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/259102/ I received this email last year from a loop I'm on (Sizzle Life) and it brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. I was thrilled to see it in my inbox again today and thought I'd share it here. FYI - A "sizzler" is a high energy, easily distractible child (or adult ;-)). I'm blessed with at least two and possibly three of them. :-)  This email loop has been a wonderful source of inspiration and encouragement in dealing with these types of children on a day to day basis. The site is owned by Carol Barnier, author of "How To Get Your Child off of the Refrigerator and on to Learning." I can't get the link function to work so here are the urls for the site: Sizzle Bop home - http://sizzlebop.com/index.htm info on joining "Sizzle Bop" loop - http://sizzlebop.com/join.htm info on Carol Barnier - http://sizzlebop.com/Carol.htm And, finally, here is the email: Just a few great reasons to be thankful for the Sizzler in your life.* You will possess the truly worthwhile quality of being far less judgmental of the rest of the world as you will daily wish such grace to be bestowed upon you. * You have become a virtual encyclopedia of stain removal techniques.* You know that just as a survival-specialist knows that you can go a very long time without food, you have further discovered that you can go very long, in fact years, without being permitted to complete a single sentence or thought without fatal damage to brain function. (Impaired function...yes, fatal damage, no.) * You will never develop the unattractive, smug look of a parent who believes they have this parenting thing completely under control. * When you actually get a peaceful and quiet moment, it feeds your soul in ways it never would have before, when you took it for granted. * Your home zings with sound and energy. * The siblings of your Sizzler will be tougher in ways that they would not have been had they had a quiet and compliant non-sizzling sibling. That toughness or empathy may serve them very well in the life they will live. * You have, by far, the best stories when moms and dads share about the funny things kids do. * You will never stop learning...indeed, constant discovery will join your daily routine...such as can a small child, indeed, fit through a laundry chute? (Answer: Yes, with some tugging from mom to accomplish release) Can a 7 year old make it completely from the back of the house, through four rooms to the front of the house with her feet never touching the floor. (Answer: Yes, and even more amazingly, with only one item knocked over in the process.) * Hyperfocus can be your friend. While this quality can be a nuisance when a certain objective grasps your child’s attention and won’t let go, there are other times when you benefit. Our workroom and his Lego collection both have been radically organized (almost ridiculously organized) when this boy got the "bug" to get it all together. * You will always be given opportunities for self-improvement. Indeed, had you never had this child, you might never have known you had a temper in need of....um....well....tempering? * Some couple, somewhere, longs profoundly for a child and would gladly hand away all their worldly possessions to obtain exactly the sound and noise that fills your home. * You don’t have to tell this kid to get up and get more exercise. * Aside from all the frustrations this child feels deeply, he also loves deeply, laughs deeply, cares deeply and mourns deeply. Seeing that kind of depth of feeling in this child is a privilege not unlike seeing a piece of art that takes your breath away. * You know (even when others can’t see it,) that this child’s passion and energy will one day take him to great achievement. And it’s always nice to be in on a secret. It is a privilege to live with and laugh alongside these unique and precious children. Take a moment this week to take stock of all the blessings this child brings to your world. And most important, make sure this child knows that you see blessings in them as well. If you have a reason to be thankful that you'd like to share, please send it in. Have a thankful Thanksgiving. From your friends at Sizzle Bop! www.SizzleBop.com http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/242205/ Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:20:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/242205/ Several weeks ago we went to our local library to hear a talk by Butch Harrison, Florida Cracker. A few months ago I read a wonderful historical fiction book, A Land Remembered, about three generations of the MacIvey family and the pioneer life.....in Florida. I loved learning about the "real" Florida and was fascinated with what life was like here so many years ago. So when I read that a real live Florida cracker was scheduled to speak at our library, I jumped at the chance to hear more and share the experience with my children. Other than a reporter from the local newspaper and her photographer, dc and I were the only people to come to the talk. I was saddened no one else saw the benefit or was willing to take the time to learn some history of their state or hear some great storytelling. Sigh. Anyways, their loss was our gain as we had Butch all to ourselves. He had my boys enthralled as he pulled all kinds of interesting things out of his croaker sack and told one story after another of his life. Along with having grown up the son of a Florida cracker and spending his childhood days out of doors, he spent 20 years as a guide in the everglades. He also has spent time photographing the outdoors as well as leading hunting and fishing trips. He's also quite a history buff. He was a wealth of information and my dc walked away with a living picture of what the "real" Florida is like. After his talk he took us outside to crack his whip - much to my boys' delight! He explained that the "crackers" got their name from the sound that the whip they used to drive cattle made. CRACK! The photo above is right afterwards when I asked if we could take a picture with him (notice little one holding the whip!). We left having learned a lot about the "real" Florida and feeling like we'd made a friend. Another neat benefit was having my dc interviewed by the reporter and being featured along with Butch in the newspaper article. They made the front page of our local newspaper - my dc couldn't get over seeing themselves in the paper. They used the same shot as above (the photog. snapped a shot for himself as I took mine). http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/223305/ Thu, 9 Nov 2006 22:45:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/223305/ This is what I saw as I turned to see what book middle was reading aloud from this afternoon. He wasn't just reading aloud though, he was reading to his sister who'd picked the book out and asked him to read it to her. This brightened my day on so many levels. It's always a pleasure to see my children with a book and my heart swells with pride and thanks when hearing oldest and middle read being the one given the privilege of teaching them to read. But seeing little one cuddled up to middle as he read to her was especially sweet. There's no part of our homeschool experience I've loved more than reading to my children. Sharing a book together and all the laughs, tears and inspiration a story can bring. But more than that, there's a closeness that reading together brings that's hard to put into words. It's the physical closeness - a hand around my shoulder or holding my hand, my little one on my lap and/or my boys snuggling under my arm while I read. And then there's the mutual giving - them giving me their time and the privilege of sharing a story with them, me giving them my time and abilities - and the bond that's made, the significance we give to and feel from one another as a result of the exchange. And as I heard middle diligently reading and saw little one's head on his shoulder, I knew they were not only sharing a good story but were sharing in that closeness with one another. That indeed is sweet. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/216898/ Mon, 9 Oct 2006 13:05:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/216898/ Inspiration struck after we watched an instructional video on some simple watercolor techniques. We pulled out all the watercolor supplies and paper, turned on some classical music and painted for nearly an hour. Oh yeah, I could get used to this! I'll try to take some pictures of the final products and post later. Here's some individual pics: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/215114/ Thu, 5 Oct 2006 21:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/215114/ Exploring a poet or two per semester. We jumped into poetry last year - reading from several collections during teatime and also following the weekly assignments in the Sonlight schedule. We really enjoyed ourselves and expanded our knowledge and appreciation of poetry. Desirous to build on that foundation, I decided to try the Ambleside Online schedule for poetry study (in addition to Sonlight scheduled poems). The schedule for year 1 is Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, Now We Are Six and When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne and  Oxford Book of Children's Verse by Iona and Peter Opie. Year 5 is Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. We started with Milne and When We Were Very Young with middle one using this book: Image from Amazon.com We love this book. It is a delightful collection of Winnie-the-Pooh, The House on Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six with charming illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard. Middle and I (and often oldest and little one too) have had a great time reading these poems together. We usually read 2-3 poems on Wednesdays and 4-5 on Fridays. We're just a few poems away from finishing When We Were Very Young and will probably start on Now We Are Six next week. Here are a few of our favorites: Puppy and I I met a man as I went walking; We got talking, Man and I. "Where are you going to, Man?" I said (I said to the Man as he went by). "Down to the village, to get some bread. Will you come with me?" "No, not I." I met a Horse as I went walking; We got talking, Horse and I. "Where are you going to, Horse, today?" (I said to the Horse as he went by). "Down to the village to get some hay. Will you come with me?" "No, not I." I met a Woman as I went walking; We got talking, Woman and I. "Where are you going to, Woman, so early?" (I said to the Woman as she went by). "Down to the village to get some barley. Will you come with me?" "No, not I." I met some Rabbits as I went walking; We got talking, Rabbits and I. "Where are you going in your brown fur coats?" (I said to the Rabbits as they went by). "Down to the village to get some oats. Will you come with us?" "No, not I." I met a Puppy as I went walking; We got talking, Puppy and I. "Where are you going this nice fine day?" (I said to the Puppy as he went by). "Up in the hills to roll and play." "I'll come with you, Puppy," said I. Jonathan Jo Jonathan Jo Has a mouth like an "O" And a wheelbarrow full of surprises; If you ask for a bat, Or for something like that, He has got it, whatever the size is. If you're wanting a ball, It's not trouble at all; Why, the more that you ask for, the merrier-- Like a hoop and a top, And a watch that won't stop, And some sweets, and an Aberdeen terrier. Jonathan Jo Has a mouth like an "O" But this is what makes him so funny: If you give him a smile, Only once in a while, Then he never expects any money! One day after reading poetry, middle asked if we could read Winnie the Pooh as well. We finished it a week or so ago and went right on to The House on Pooh Corner. I was able to get it on cd from the library and we've been enjoying listening to it. Besides, my Pooh, Piglet, Owl and Eeyore voices just weren't that great --- Jim Broadbent does a *much* better job! Oldest has read several poetry collections by both Longfellow and Kipling so far and definitely preferred Longfellow (remember the "Let's skip the Kip" poem?). I shared one of our favorite Longfellow poems in another post (The Blacksmith). We'll probably move on the Whittier or Dunbar in the coming weeks. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/215106/ Thu, 5 Oct 2006 20:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/215106/ I'm going to make a boat.....a ferryboat. That was middle's out-of-the-blue announcement as he burst into the playroom. And off he went as fast as he came in. Thirty or so minutes later he came back in with his ferryboat - a pencil box with Matchbox cars in it (a ferryboat, remember?) taped (lots of tape - middle loves tape) to a shoebox. Can I see if it floats? Can we put it in the pool? Images of "Will It Float" (a segment on the David Letterman show) flashed through my mind as we made our way out to the pool. Middle was confident of his design (oldest didn't give it a chance) and I thought there was something to learn either way (well as long as middle didn't get too upset when his cars got wet!) Here's the proud boat maker seconds before the launching. And here's the launch: He put it in and then screamed "It floats! It floats! It worked!" We then speculated about why it worked - was it the cardboard? air under the cardboard? Five minutes, ten mintues, twenty minutes later it was still floating. It never did sink. Several hours later (still floating!), middle decided to take it out, remove the cardboard (it was in pretty bad shape) and out of sheer curiosity, put the the pencil box in by itself. And guess what, the pencil box floated too. Well up until little one splashed some killer waves and water got inside. Then they had fun sinking cars. :-) All in all a neat experience. I love that middle had an idea, thought it through and was creative. I loved his enthusiasm and curiousity. I loved the learning experience. And I love to see those wheels a turnin'.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/209822/ Tue, 26 Sep 2006 23:00:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/209822/ I've shared about how much we're enjoying poetry this year. I've shared about the lovely conversations about life issues we've been having. I've shared some of our favorite poems. I felt it only fair to share this conversation oldest and I had the other day too. Me: Did you read out of that poetry book yet (Selected Poems by Rudyard Kipling)? Oldest: (said w/ a sigh) Yeah, I did. (said w/ a sudden spark of enthusiasm) Hey mom, I got a some poetry for ya. Me: You do? What is it? Oldest: Let's skip the Kip. Me: (laughing) Ok, I get the message, son. So, as of now, we're "skipping the Kip." He gave it a fair shake, got some exposure and formed an opinion. I'm happy with that. And I'm happy that I'm happy with that. A few years ago I wouldn't have been. Yeah, Mom learns too. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/209806/ Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:15:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/209806/ A few weekends ago we took off for the country to attend the grand opening of a new city park - Camp Milton Historic Preserve. In keeping with its Civil War history, the opening featured Civil War re-enactments, musket and cannon demonstrations and informational talks on activities of the times. Here are a couple of pictures from some of the displays: And here are middle ds and dd observing how to work an old sewing machine, which btw, was a work of art in and of itself. And here are dc inside the educational center. A beautiful building inside and out - looks like an old barn on the outside with a great big old front porch and is filled from floor to ceiling with the wood you see in this picture. And here are some outside shots along some of the trails: The camp is the mid-point on the 14.5 Rails to Trails (converted railroad corridors) greenway. Doesn't this lovely path just beg to be traveled? It was tempting but after having already been outside for a few hours in mid-90 temps, we decided to pass. But when cooler weather finally comes (it will, won't it?), we'll be back. I'm dreaming of a cool, autumn stroll through the scenery. And here's a picture of my hot and sweaty dc after a day of walking, observing and learning! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/209110/ Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/209110/ I just found out from the LivingMath loop I'm on that Bookcloseouts.com has several living math books on sale right now. We just finished the last set of Math Start readers I  bought at the beginning of the year so I thought this would be a good time to replenish our supply of Math reading books. I bought nine books for just over $50 (including tax, handling and shipping). I saved more money than I spent (all but one book was 50% off, one was 60%). A little math on the Math books. :-) Here's the titles I ordered: Pigs Will Be Pigs, Pigs on the Move, Pigs in the Pantry, Pigs in the Corner and Pigs on the Ball (all by Amy Axelrod) - stories about a pig family that focus on different aspects of math. Arithme-Tickle and Scien-Trickery (J. Patrick Lewis) - math (and science) puzzlers, riddles and rhymes. Millions to Measure (David M. Schwartz) - we read How Much is a Million by this author and loved it. This is book focuses on measurement and its history. Mathematickles (Betsy Franco) - math poems all focused on the seasons. If you decide to order, please use the link to Bookcloseouts.com on the  LivingMath site. Using the link helps support the site - spend some time there and you'll see it's a much deserving site. I also highly recommend the yahoo group - a great source of information and encouragement. Off to wait for the UPS man. :-) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/204726/ Mon, 18 Sep 2006 22:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mom232004/204726/