Groupie

Reluctantly, I joined a home school group earlier this Fall.  Reluctant because there are so many reasons why the fit is wrong for us.  I also assumed being a groupie would  inhibit our schedule flexibility.  After giving it a go during the first session, I think it's worth doing.  Alexandra has the opportunity to meet other home school kids regularly, join them on the occasional field trip,  learn some history, and I am exposed to other home school parents, each with their own unique approach.

The group meets biweekly and we attend two classes one afternoon a week.   Her two history classes are fifty minutes each with a 30 minute social break between.  Her first class discusses history through classical music and the other is biographical, focusing on a single historical figure and the world that surrounded them each week.  

Admittedly, I am a fairly lame participant in that I always have my boys with me while she is in class so I can't be too helpful and because of Vic's travel schedule, I am never able to attend parent organizational meetings.  I knew when I joined that my participation would be limited yet it still bothers me a bit since I usually strive to be less lame.   I have resolved that I don't need to be completely involved in everything we choose to do.  It seems overly obvious now that this thought has been transcribed from my nervous stomach to the screen.  However, it's simplicity supports my recent sweeping decision to make more meaningful choices about how I spend my time. I have tried to invest my time tactfully but I was overwhelmed today by the need to take another look... My search for the 25th hour begins, again.

Seasons

FALL

WINTER

SPRING

SUMMER

We studied the seasons with our unit on weather.  We spelled the seasons, discussed weather trends associated with each season and dressed Barbie and her friends appropriately for an outing during each season.  Elliot was sick during this week and so he was around wanting to participate so out comes the playdough.  I asked Alexandra to create something to represent each season.  I was taking fingernail polish off using cotton balls and she started incorporating them, as well as a sunflower from an arrangement, into her displays.  At the end, she was very proud and through her discussion in deciding what to make demonstrated that she understood the concepts we had learned.
From here we circled back to WHY do the seasons change.
  

The Cutest Weather Girl

We have dedicated the last few weeks to the study of weather and seasons.  We integrated lots of measurement; temperature, rain gauge, wind speed, humidity, etc. We talked about which months are in what seasons, different types of precipitation, how weather impacts activities, apparel choices and a bit about geographical differences in climate variation (Why doesn't it snow at our house?).  After all of the leaf rubbing, graphing of colored leaves, and identifying which clouds may predict what; she was charged with the task of creating and performing a weather forecast of her own for Sunday and Monday (which happened to be Halloween).  This is the posterboard she created to keep her on point during her presentation.  Notice the umbrellas for the trick or treaters =)  She was nervous but after many trial runs for me, she performed well in front of her brothers and Baba (Dad).

Why Halloween?

In an attempt to capitalize on holidays as a "teachable moment" and also to somewhat de-commercialize certain american holidays for our children, I wanted to begin researching the historical roots of days we celebrate.   I want my children to learn the meaning of thoughful intention, beyond simply effort.  I want my family to have traditions with meaning not empty annual rituals.  Also, I think that if we encourage this type of questioning, perhaps they are more likely to recognize certain hiccups as opportunity not barriers.

I couldn't think of better event to begin with, then the most amorphous holiday to me: Halloween.  This historically honoring yet morbid festival is now associated in popular american culture with costumes, cobwebs and candy, lots of candy.  Why costumes, why cobwebs and why all the candy?  What I have gathered so far from minimal reading is that the history of modern Halloween is muddled and spans the globe: Italy, Sweden, Japan, Australia, Ireland, etc.  There are no shortage of theories and details mixed up in this cauldron of customs.  It seems to be a stew composed mainly of two types of celebrations: end of summer/harvest and 'day of the dead' type holidays.  I have listed those I find most noteworthy as follows:

1.  END OF SUMMER Festivals, the earliest being the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds.  Another of note is the Celtic/Gaelic festival of Samhain which translates approximately as "summer's end", during which they customarily bobbed for apples.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     2.  Festivals DAYS HONORING THE DEAD are another obvious and necessary historical ingredient.  The earliest being Mayan.   The Roman festival called Parentalia to honor ancestors is usually noted (although it was a 9-day celebration in February). Another was the 16th century Scottish celebration of the day before Solemnity of All Saints ("All Saints Day" for all saints known and unknown - interesting), also called Hallows Day or Hallowmas, thus the day before was called All-Hallows-Even("eve"), which is thought to be the origin of the term "Halloween".

WHY PUMPKINS?  While I had assumed that pumpkins were associated with the harvest component of Halloween, it seems that it is the American default for the historical use of Turnips... which need I mention are not definately not orange.  I admit there would be a void for me if the warm orangeness hue was missing from Halloween.  The carving of jack-o'-lanterns developed from an earlier custom of carving turnips into lanterns as a way of remembering the souls held in purgatory (during one of the numerous culturally significant holidays honoring the dead).  American pumpkin carving was first (early 1800's) associated with harvest generally, not becoming specifically Halloween oriented until the late 19th century.

WHY THE COSTUMES?  Trick-or-treating is thought to orginate from medieval practice of souling, when the poor of Ireland and Britain would go door to door on Hallowmas, receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls' Day.  Similar traditions for dead souls have been noted as far south as Italy.  In more modern times, especially in Scotland and Ireland, it was called guising.  It was recorded in Scotland in the late 1800's where masqueraders in disguise visiting homes in hopes for fruit, cakes or money, while carrying lanterns made of hollowed turnips.  Guising expected more from the children than just a costume as they were normally expected to offer some kind of song, story or trick to earn their favor.  Such a practice was noted in North America nearly one hundred years later.

WHY SO SCARY?  Morbid imagery that we have come to adopt with Halloween certainly has historical roots in cultural festivals honoring the dead but creative imagination expressed in literature and film (think Frankenstein, Dracula) has added much to the excessive shock value of this morbid imagery and of course the honor part is missing entirely.
WHY THE BACK-LASH?  So, because I can't help myself, I offer my comment on negative connotations  of Halloween as I blame them for scaring parents into keeping children home on this harmless day of fun.  There are some who have latched onto this secular celebration as an opportunity, but there is really no basis for this and I don't feel it warrants further discussion.  I suggest people to look up.  I think the honoring of our ancestors is a message worth passing on.

Given all of this lovely dry information listed above, please don't misunderstand me!  I would never ever ever disallow my children to participate in Halloween events or make any judgement on doing what I have done on Halloween all my life... dressing them as a golden garden fairy, astronaut and a monster so we can ask neighbors for too much candy which I have no intention of actually letting them eat.  The children love the festivity and enjoy going door-to-door collecting compliments for their costumes most of all.
In summary, my intention is not to over-romanticize the past but hopefully integrate a little history on the children as they prepare to be over-sugared, laughing with friends and costumed in glittery fun while roaming the neighborhood (with supervision close behind =).

Merging of vapor. Water vapor

Our new unit focuses on weather.  We began by talking about what weather is and how we can measure to describe more accurately and of course, how weather affects our environments (bridge from last unit).  We discussed precipitation and the different types.  Of course, we are lacking in hands-on learning since Florida only gives us rain.  Lots of rain lately.  We stationed a thermometer on the porch and a rain gauge in the garden, which we visit each day and add their measurements to our calendar board.  I was planning to chart these readings but they have been too consistent to have any educational affect on a chart.  It was hot and rainy... Yep, still hot and rainy.

She was very interested about the catalyst of rain: what made it rain at a certain time and how it came out of the cloud when it did.  I thought we should address this question with an art project that you see here.  I did draw the cloud white and she corrected me.  I was informed politely that if it was to rain, the underside of the cloud would be gray.  The technicolor dots are water droplets, joining together until their weight makes them fall as rain drops. This will be her first entry into her bare book for this unit.

I haven't had must to put into her book so far this unit.  I'm thinking a story would be nice.  Not sure if I mentioned it before but she made up two stories about animal habitats which I transcribed into her keepsake book.  We both enjoyed reading her voice on paper.  Maybe she could come up with a story about a day in the snow.  Since she has never actually experienced snow, but she wants to so very badly, it will be a perfect way for us to capture her expectations of snow.


When I look at this project now, it jumps out as a symbol of our collaborative ability to find what I think is our rhythm for homeschooling.  All my fragmented ideas and scribbles seem to be finally taking shape more naturally.  I am also becoming more familiar with my resources which affords me increasing flexibility (and lower anxiety) as unplanned things occur.  Of course, this warm and fuzzy feeling pushes me ever forward in the search for best resources.  I have a long list of websites, apps and books I haven't gotten to try yet.  There are so many incredible material online but most of the cutie websites aren't too inspiring.  Lots of sifting, skimming and trying to do.  I will report back.

Khan Academy is the ultimate resource!

playdough math!

This Monday I thought we would mix it up and get more creative with our math.  We began with our morning calendar ritual.   I ask her what is the date today and she should answer with the day, month, date and year... that is our goal anyway and we are getting there.  We have pieces for each answer that I let her choose from a basket and add to the calendar so that she is always identifying the numbers and words that apply.  I never did find a calendar that was clean enough and still had what we were looking for so I ended up picking up some laminated cut outs from Michaels and Target and gluing them to an old magnetic white board we had.  I then glued some magnets to the backs of the numbers, etc.  You get the idea.  She loves the calendar.  In fact, the calendar, including weather, was the only component of school she was concerned about loosing.

On Mondays, we usually work from her mathematical reasoning book with addition using object groups, even/odd numbers, ordinal numbers, etc.  She came upon a number line in one of the exercises and perked up at it's logical method.  She likes it tidy.  So, I thought it was my perfect opportunity to pull out KHAN ACADEMY!  If you don't know about Khan Academy, please stop right now and go to www.KhanAcademy.com.  When I first found it, I had goosebumps.  Really.  It's amazing in its simplicity, philosophy, technology and the fact that it is completely free and not infested with adds and pop-ups makes it irresistible!  Trust me on this, you need it.  There is a beautiful story of its founding to read on the website but I'll try and sum it up.   The founder believes that knowledge should be available to everyone.  The Gates Foundation has invested in the idea, no nonsense.  This isn't a websites for the kiddies either.  The content begins with basic addition and goes through calculus, high level economic concepts, you name it.  In compliment to the extensive, and very organized, lists of topic videos, there is an adaptive software module with questions to practice the skill discussed in the video.  You set-up a free account or use one you already have, I think you can go through facebook, but I used a google account and it will track your progress.  I think you can also access all the tools without having an account, as a guest, really cool for those who don't want to commit. 

We watched the first addition powerpoint presentation together on the TV.  Then I got playdough, number playdough stamps and asked the girls to make three mathematical statements that were true.  Granted, they had previous exposure to the topic but the video showed them some alternative ways to think it out.  I went to the kitchen to make lunch and returned to a wonderful surprise!  They had worked together and ended up with great equations!  Yay!  More importantly, they were practicing without realizing it and having fun all the while.  The difficulty came in when I asked them to squish up their work and pack it up... they wanted to save it forever.  Secretly, of course, so did I.

We will definately do that again!

Don't ever do a bus tour!

We boldly took three small children to the Space Center, where we had never been before.  We arrived around 10am and had tickets to a bus tour at 11:30.  In that time before the tour began, we realized how extensive the property was and looked forward to parking the stroller for a bit and having the bus take us around.  They should have warned us!  Don't ever get on that bus with children, trust me on this!  Our poor guide was a real enthusiast but nobody caught the jokes and we were stuck on that bus for nearly three hours; no standing, no eating, no talking.  Yes!  Medieval torture.

When we finally escaped from the bus, I was headed straight to the car but my husband convinced me to try a couple more exhibits.  I am so glad that I did.  When I block out the nightmare of the bus, it was really great.  In fact, there was so many things we didn't get a chance to do, I will definitely take the children back next year.  Alexandra got to meet an astronaut, ride on a space shuttle simulator, experience many hands-on exhibits, sample two of the three IMAX theater shows (my favorite was one dedicated to the Hubble telescope!), take a break at the playground, and walk in a field full of rockets that towered over us like redwood trees.  I stopped in the gift shop on a mission to find some good materials.  They did give me a discount for being a home school parent =)  I was able to find what I call "factual storybooks":  "The Big Dipper" by Franklin M. Branley, "What's out there?" By Lynn Wilson, and "Meet the Planets" by John McGranaghan.  I think these are highly appropriate for the Kindergarden level because they convey the nuts and bolts, themes and facts using a story that she will love to hear over and over again.

I am also excited to announce that these books each use weather as a way to connect the child this ominous topics.  They can see the seasons changing and the sun moving in the sky.  I predict that connection will help this material seem relevant.   In summary, THE SPACE CENTER IS A MUST DO for whoever can get there.  I am a Floridian and I feel guilty that I haven't explored it before.

MY TOOLS

Speaking of tools, I thought I would begin a list of my resources and books.  I did lots of research before I committed to any of the materials and so far, I have not been disappointed.  I do have many materials and lists of websites, etc. which I haven't had an opportunity to try-out yet, so I won't include them in my list until I can count them as a recommendation.

Here is the rough outline of what I use and how we use it:

RESOURCE:  Moving Beyond the Page (core curriculum, Ages 5-7)
   OVERVIEW:  Incorporating all state and national standards, I liked this unit-based curriculum because it it cross-curricular.  Meaning that it doesn't separate out the subjects but covers subjects (Science, English, Social Studies, History, Math) using themes, or in this case, themes within four "big ideas" or concepts: Environment, Similarities and Differences, Patterns, Change.  Within each of these concepts are 3 units and 10 lessons within each unit, some lessons take a day, others two days and each unit has a final project.  For example, we have nearly completed Unit 1: Habitats and Homes of the first Concept: Environment.  Unit 2 is weather.  It was difficult to find a curriculum that I though was creative, innovative and thoughtful as I wanted.  Prior to finding this curriculum, I had resolved a list of 12 themes I thought would be best for us which I could organize materials into.  Thankfully, I didn't have to re-invent the wheel.  I did want to keep my list so I merged those topics with the units of Moving Beyond the Page. In making this list, I thought about what places and resources we had handy and, of course, her interests: Animals, Space, Government, Health, Cooking, Travel, Insects, Art, Family, Gardening, Beach and Florida. Most topics I was able to line up with the units rationally, the loosest association I made was my "Space" topic (we are only 45 minutes from the space station!) I could match only with the weather unit... a stretch, but I think it will be alright.
  FREQUENCY: We have been doing 4 lessons per week, on average.  My goal is to complete 5 each wk.
  WEAKNESS:  I do LOVE this curriculum but (only a small but) I wish the book list was more extensive.  We have been supplementing and borrowing from the library.


RESOURCE:  "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Siegfried Englemann (Reading)
  OVERVIEW: This book was recommended to us by other homeschooling parents.  The lessons are short, 10-20 minutes each.  The style is extremely straightforward and gives you an unmistakable narrative of how to instruct, correct and reward her work.  Although it took Alexandra a week or so to get used to the style of the book now she really does well with it.  She prefers to mix everything with bits of drama and discussion and this system is no nonsense.  Just lovely!  Her confidence is amazing and she attempts to sound out all kinds of words.  She tells me; "Just give me a minute, I know I can do it".  What more can you ask for?
  FREQUENCY:  We have been getting in approximately 5 lessons per week.  She is pushing to do more, which is wonderful but 5 is also a good pace.
  WEAKNESS: Because of its intense approach, it really does require complete attention from us both.  Thus, when the boys are around, it gets tricky.

RESOURCE: Mathematical Reasoning, Level A (Grade K) by The Critical Thinking Company
  OVERVIEW:  Each time we work with this book, Alexandra remarks on how much she loves Math.  I did not see that one coming as she is very creative.  This book has lots of puzzles and a great way of easing into concepts.  Alexandra was identifying even and odd numbers with no problem last week after the instructions asked her to identify which groups could be partnered up and which groups had singles.
  FREQUENCY:  I set a pace of 11 pages per week, based on the length of the book.  She completes a weeks worth of math in one sitting and wants to do more because she thinks it is fun.  I have found myself using math as a reward for completing her handwriting!
  WEAKNESS:  It seems to be easy for her but I have little basis for comparison and I am certainly not complaining about this surprising enthusiasm for math!


RESOURCE: "Building Thinking Skills" (Grades PreK-1) by The Critical Thinking Company
  OVERVIEW: This book is comprised of Hands-on puzzles, using manipulatives, designed to develop higher order thinking and critical thinking skills for reading, writing, math and science.  I consider it logic for kids, an introduction to the art of figuring it out.
  FREQUENCY:  We use this book together with another child Alexandra's age who spends Mondays with us.  I think once a week is good.
  WEAKNESS:   It is good to have a buddy because the puzzles can be redundant.  When they get fidgety, its nice to switch it up and work together.  There is a lot of shading a coloring so far and I have let them use crayons, markers, sparkly markers...


RESOURCE: Handwriting Without Tears (1st Grade)
  OVERVIEW:  I have a teachers guide and a notebook for each Alexandra and her buddy.  It gives gimmicky (I don't think that's a word) ideas about how to form letters and breaks them into groups as such.
  FREQUENCY: We do handwriting everyday is some form, but we only use this method once per week.
  WEAKNESS:  It is still handwriting and while Alexandra's handwriting is decent, she is not a fan.  She still makes mistakes with letters not used often and is very impatient with mistakes.  
    




 

Tools

She learned to use a ruler and now the world has words with meaning and length!  She enjoyed to measure and compare tools we collected from around our home.  I asked her to bring me five tools.  She returned with a sparkly sandal, a plastic cup, a napkin, a broom and a dustpan.

Today was especially productive.  She is anxious to get through her reading book and insisted on doing two lessons again today!  Her attitude makes all the difference for us.  Today she was 100% sunshine.  We are approaching the end of our first unit and have begun to talk about her research project.  I asked her to think about which animal she would like to learn more about.  She loves animals.  I know it will take her a few days to decide.  In the mean time, I suggested I help her write another story in her Habitat book as a practice.  She liked that idea and wants to come up with a story about a zebra who wanders into the wrong habitat - should be interesting.  Hopefully, we will get started on that tomorrow.



  

Field trip

Yesterday we walked over to the Marine Science Center to learn more about aquatic habitats.  It's close by, so we have been there numerous times.  However, this visit was different as we arrived with purpose.  Alexandra was a scientist for the day.  Her assignment was to choose two habitats and study what animals lived there and how they get what they need (water, food, shelter) from their respective aquatic habitat.  She chose the touch tank with the sting rays and the (fresh water) turtle tank.  We took pictures and she asked questions to gather the information she needed.  I make a sneaky book purchase while the children were at the touch tank and used it as the grand prize for the quiz question on the walk home.  I asked Alexandra what was the biggest difference between the turtle and ray habitats and the reason why they can't be together... we walked halfway home and I thought she had ignored me, then she said "sting rays live in salt water by the beach and the those turtles need not-salt water".  Wow, I was impressed.   It turned out to be a very educational, quick and super-fun day together!

This morning we used our new "Field Guide to Florida" by the National Audubon Society to identify the names of each kind of ray and fish in the touch tank and each of the turtles and fish in the turtle tank.  We printed a picture of her favorite "funny faced turtle" (diamond back terrapin) and we will glue it in her Habitats book we've been making with a story about the turtle.

This afternoon at co-op Alexandra learned the box-step in her 'History through Music' class and discussed Pocahontas in the 'People in History' class coming home with a paper tepee and coloring page of a period British sailing ship.

It was a beautiful day in homeschool land
  

Graphing

It's a bead graph.  Today we learned about graphing, spring boarding from a pictoral graph which used animal crackers (doubling as snack).  The x axis listed a few of the different habitats we've been covering and on the y axis were numbers of animals per habitat.  That came very natural,  then we brainstormed together on how to create our on graph with things we have around... lots of beads!  And here it is.

We also attended the homeschool group at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, (which I couldn't give enough praise for!).  For one hour and a half they talked about the scientific method and conducted an experiment with a rubberband-propelled wooden car, double-rubberbanding was the variable tested.nd, the each verified that their Hypothesis had been correct, it went further with two.  They charted the results and we then scribbled out a graph from the chart when we got home to tie our day into a neat little bow.  That worked out.

According to "Mr. Luis" at the museum, the MOAS now offers lots of educational resources targeting the young ones, even working with a class to improve their standardized test scores that comes over 14 times each year.   Their schedule is worth a look:  http://moas.org/calendar.cfm

Today I also bought tickets for a show at the Peabody that is all about the human body, including nutrition.  After checking out the website for "Slim Goodbody", I can't imagine making the subject more appealing!   http://www.slimgoodbody.com/tour_dates/

She's reading!

We took our first field trip (which doubled as her Baba's birthday trip) to Animal Kingdom in celebration of our Habitats and Homes Unit.  We observed a savanna habitat up close as the giraffes grazed past our rooms' balcony.  There were guides abound to answer questions about her favorite antelope and what the zebra's were eating.

This week, Alexandra has begun to READ!  It's truly magic to watch her sound out the words and see her grin when she registers its meaning.  I have some early reading decodable books that have simple sentences and she "reads" them proudly to her brothers.  She has been reading words off papers laying on the kitchen counter, and everywhere.  The wonder on her face is priceless as the words around her are all becoming available to her as if someone has dropped the curtain.  

I have added a new co-op class to her Friday afternoons called "People in History".   The multi-level class discusses history through the remarkable people who shaped our past.  She is excited to join her friends in that class.

Lately we have been very busy.  Admittedly, we are usually very busy but Alexandra has had unusual trouble controlling her temper.  The most troubling about it is that I know she wouldn't be acting this way in a formal classroom setting where her filters would be heightened.  Thus far, I have responded with the knee-jerk approach of taking away privileges, which seems to be thickening the negativity in the room.  Thursday is a restful day where we don't do school and her brothers are home with us all day.  I am trying to determine a comprehensive reward system to capitalize this free day... Maybe I could ask her to list some activities she wished we could do more often, put them on paper and into a box for her to draw from when she reaches a certain point on some kind of chart.  I want to focus on the harmony between us and promoting our partnership so she will resist less .  I know she values our one on one time so I want to appeal to that.  Hmmmm...

By the seat of my pants

We are doing a lot.  Accomplishing more than doing, more than worksheets.  Truly.  Alexandra and I have established a new and different trust base, thus we are beginning to see attributes of the other with new eyes.  Trust and respect are paramount among my goals so this makes my heart giggle a bit.  Alexandra loves to learn.  I just caught her up way past her bedtime, two hours past, copying all the words to one of her recent favorite books and quiet as a mouse.

As with most things in my life since children I can already feel that my plan is coming unraveled with my homeschool regime.  However, my understanding of our capacity and the material has developed exponentially more than the unraveling thus the 'flying by the seat of my pants' thing is going well.  More than that, I have found that there are things I can ask of her that buy time for me to plan so that the planning and schooling is happening within the same window... making this woman very happy.  Handwriting practice, some math and critical thinking worksheets, etc, prove overwhelmingly helpful.  A welcomed surprise.
On Monday, the critical thinking class with Alexandra's little buddy went well.  They were very giggly and Alexandra broke to tears in the beginning thinking that the other little one was stealing me away.  I assured Alexandra she held my whole heart and the friend was here for her.  She had trouble concentrating the first time but we completed a good amount of work and I think they will find their rhythm soon.  As planting season comes quickly upon us, I was thinking we may move out to the garden to plant, measure, graph and map new vegetables in our garden.  Maybe some fresh air will help us navigate the day better.  Helpers in my garden wouldn't be too bad either.

I have created an award system with star shaped post-its that are beginning to frame my white board.  Each time she exhibits extraordinary effort or progress, I record exactly why I'm so proud and display it on the board,  She glows with each one posted.

I should take pictures and post some.  Some time I will have a moment to work through how to make that happen.  I prefer blogs with pics... I wonder if I can send them from my phone?  Hmmm

Getting to Work

Tomorrow begins our first full week of homeschooling and Alexandra couldn't be more anxious.  I cherish her genuine enthusiasm.  Monday we will begin, joined by another homeschooled kinder-gardener who lives nearby.  Together, we will start on our critical thinking curriculum which is mainly puzzles designed to train their little minds in the art of figuring things out.  I look forward to giving her these higher order thinking skills and she loves puzzles so no problem there.  The remainder of the time, I thought I would let them choose from several games I though up, including practicing writing numbers with fingerpaint, measuring/counting ingredients for snack-time cookies, etc... on second thought, maybe I will let them choose one each - who says no to cookies.

I will be back from dropping the boys around 9 and need to leave to pick them up at 1... plenty of time.  I may need more plans...Perhaps we can do some physical education and work in some swimming.  It's simply too steamy for me to supervise much else!

Butterflies

Tomorrow is Alexandra's first day of Kindergarten!

Our schedule has changed, again.  I finally did decide to join a local co-op for one "Learning through classical music" class, which my lovely neighbor will help teach.  I have made an effort throughout my planning this summer to construct a rhythm with highlights throughout the week for her.  This music class is Friday afternoons with some other little girlies we know.  A fun end to her week.

As of this moment our plan is to have schooling four days per week; not Thursday and short reading lessons six days per week (she insists).  Thursday will be field trip day, boys in tow.  Wednesday afternoons at the children's museum for their home schooling program/activity.  Gymnastics twice weekly and I am still searching for a convenient piano teacher.  The timing of each day is the biggest variable right now, as I can't know how long it will take us to move through material until we do - or don't - as planned.  It's a loose plan, a flexible framework.  Tomorrow, we will work on the main curriculum and reading.  Friday, I plan to do the first math lesson and Monday we will begin the critical thinking book.  I have chosen "Beyond the Page" which is a hands-on unit study based system that integrates most subjects (except Math and Reading) into daily fluid discussions that are all organized within four big ideas: Environment, Similarities and Differences, Patterns and Change.

I have planned many surprises to make it extra special, hopefully memorable!  We begin with the study of Habitats and Homes; her environment.  The book has us mapping rooms in our house... I plan to really get into the discussion of vocab words as we decorate her doll house (unfinished wood) with wall paper, rugs and art.  Dollie environment.  What's not to love.

Last bits of summer

As I feel the summer winding down, we've started talking about getting into a new routine with our homeschool schedule and, for the boys, making new friends at preschool (three mornings per week).  This summer was filled with family and friends visiting, bar b ques, beach days, traveling... all the best stuff.  However, the irregularities of it all have shown up in the behavior of the children. 
We are taking one last family trip to the mountains and then hoping into our new routine... a design in constant progress!

Meet & Greet

Good Afternoon and happy Sunday.  Welcome to my very fist blog post!

Finding a starting point is always the hardest part of anything important to me.  Having three children in five years have taught me tons of lessons... most prominent among them lately is that I have finally began to dwell less on the details and rely more on my instinct.  My list of goals is long and my time ever-so-short these days.  One of my most lofty goals is how I find myself writing today, Homeschooling.  

What to expect:  Insights, ideas, resources, plans, and priorities of a MODERN HOMESCHOOLING Mommy.

My "modern" approach for schooling at home is secular, humanist, family-oriented, and community based.  My hope is to encourage our creative and strong-willed daughter, with all her curiosities, to look toward her world with moral strength and an open-mind. 

Through homeschooling I strive to establish an environment of learning for my daughter which is creative yet structured, free-thinking yet classically educational to give her an edge and most importantly to nurture the spark I see in her eyes.  Having used such seemingly conflicting adjectives, I should mention my perspective on most of what life is may be described as purposefully fresh and every shade of gray.  More simply, I find such labels 

limiting, loaded and problematically over broad.  I do wish the mommy clock would grant me more 

(guilt-free) time to wade through academia, read more and enrich my vocabulary.  For now, 

I use labels in stacks or juxtaposition for clarity, like poetry sprinkles for sentences.