Reflections on our School Year

Today I was watching end of school and graduation pictures fill my Facebook news feed.  It made me realize that, as of this week, it’s been an entire year since all the kids came home.

I would lie and say, “I didn’t think I’d be able to make it without the support of the UMS,” but if you’re reading this blog and you know me, you know I’d be lying.  I was looking forward to the day that all four kids were home and I didn’t have to worry about any requirements than those of the state.

I have, however, learned a lot about myself and my children this year, and wanted to write about some things that worked and didn’t work for us this year.

Things That Worked

1.  Our switch in October to an interest-led educational format.  I realized at some point that trying to make the kids learn about things that they weren’t interested in was kind of like beating my head against the wall.  Why wouldn’t we do what we enjoyed? 

2.  Life of Fred math.  They don’t cry about math anymore.  Seriously.  Also the math concepts are solid.

3. Book club.  We joined a homeschool group book club in October, and the assigned books in the club actually drove a good bit of inquiry and learning.  It was actually when we read Mr. Popper’s Penguins that I completely abandoned curriculum.  Why shouldn’t we spend a whole month learning about penguins? 

4.  Morning Bible and Read-Aloud time. Morning read-alouds are my secret weapon. We all get to choose stuff to read, even me.  It’s been a great way to introduce books and new ideas, and even to suggest ideas.

5.  Leaving the television off until lunchtime.  Television and video games often spur creativity.  They also often suck away that same energy and creativity.  I’m not saying that we never play video games or watch television before lunch.  I’m just saying that we try and have a little time where our things to do list does not complete with media.

6.  A general routine.  Rose likes to know that she can predict what we’re going to do next on our days at home.  Firecracker would prefer no routine, but doesn’t do well when one is not in place.  I like a happy house and routine right now is a key.

7.  Covering less material, but doing it well.  You either get this point or you don’t   We seem to do better if we spend more time covering fewer things and working with our hands to create based on our learning.

What Didn’t Work

1.  Obsessive planning.  I just ended up spending time and money planning stuff that we never did because the interest either wasn’t there or didn’t get to it.  I’ve sworn off doing too much planning ahead.

2.  Morning journals.    I had such a vision of everyone sitting around in the morning and writing.  I think I might be the only writer in the house right now.

3.  Disruptive toddlers.  They are getting better, and we’re learning how to incorporate everyone into our day.  Sometimes, we still just have to stop what we’re doing and say, “Is doing this more important or is our brother/sister more important?”

4.  More attention to the oldest child than anyone else.  I admit it.  Firecracker is an attention sucker.  Also he only wants to do what he’s interested in and nothing else.  I’m considering including Rose’s interests into our studies as character development for Firecracker. (Also, he needs to be just a little more independent I’m pursuing his interests.)

5.  We didn’t do a great job at covering history this year.  It’s my fault for not strewing enough history stuff in their paths.

Overall we had a great year and I’m pleased with the kids’ progress.  Since we’re almost unschoolers, of course, summer break doesn’t really happen in our house, so we will be continuing on in our usual fashion.  However, I just wanted to stop for a moment and think about the past year, so that I can begin to set some goals for next year.

What We’re Doing This Week: May 24, 2013

This was a good week.  We got back into a regular rhythm.  We played.  We sang.  We did crafts.  We read together.  It was everything that makes me happy in normal week.

I will confess that until I started looking at the photos we took and the things that we did this week, I did wonder if we’d spent the whole week playing Plants vs. Zombies and watching Dora the Explorer.  Speaking of Plants vs. Zombies, Firecracker beat it today for what he says is “the first time.”

Rose picked up a new interest this week as well.  She had received a Lalaloopsy fashion design book for Christmas, but had never used it.  When I had some extra time to focus on her this week, I realized that Rose didn’t really understand how to use the stencils.  and the doll pictures together.  She’s definitely learned now, and has been designing up a whole pretend wardrobe for her dolls.

We’ve also worked some more on our Japanese New Year’s dolls.  We’ve been trying to cover the newspaper with red paint so that we can paint the dolls faces on.  The red paint I have is thin and doesn’t cover well, so we’re going to be working on them some more next week

Every day at some point I have two toddlers sitting in my lap for 30 minutes or more at a time wanting to do “Round and Round the Garden,” “Pat-a-Cake” or counting games on their hands.  The preschool years are starting again here.  I’m so lucky and some days exhausted.

I’ve been starting to work with Rose on some art journal pages.  This week, I showed her how to make firework flowers.

I’ve been seeing Firecracker’s army men everywhere lately.  He’s constantly using them for battle.

We talked about Jesus blessing the little children this week, and we did a water color of Numbers 6:24-26.  That worked out perfectly since we we’re in the middle of reading numbers during our Bible study time.

Firecracker’s worked with my Dad three days this week.  He’s learning to do “manly stuff.”  He’s setting fires, building  things, using a pocket knife and watching cars.  Once this week, at the end of the day, the other kids went over and played with him in a humongous dirt pile that my parents currently have at their house.  (They’ve dug out a basement where they’re remodeling their house, and have a lot of  extra dirt in yard.)

While Firecracker works, I’ve been spending some intentional time with the little ones doing crafts and stories.  This week we read Llama Llama Red Pajama and talked about the color red.  We also worked on a days of creation book.  The blue painting and cotton ball creations you see are from Day 2.  We also made coffee filter Earths this week, but our Earths are very green.  I think we got a little too crazy with the water sprayer.

 

We went over to my Grandmother’s on Sunday to celebrate her birthday.  :-)  We also found a really cool blue lizard this week.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen a lizard so pretty.

We’ve also played plenty, both with our toys and on our video games.

 

 

Saturday night, my parents kept the children while Hubby and I went and saw Ironman III.  It was an excellent idea.  We enjoyed the movie, and the kids look like they were much too busy to miss us at all.

 

 

We also finished one of our bigger parent-led projects of the Spring.  As a way to celebrate Easter with the kids, at the beginning of March, I downloaded the Jesus word cloud words from Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett.  We’ve been adding a couple of words a week since then.  The calendar that I showed you last week is what is going to take the place of this activity for the next couple of months.

 

 

Well, I guess that’s it for this week.  I can’t believe it but Firecracker has been working with drawing tutorials all week from this website but I have yet to snap a picture of it.  Most of the drawing tutorials he’s used so far have been from Plants vs. Zombies or Super Mario Brothers but this site is a treasure for him.

Linking up with:

• ihomeschool network
• Homegrown Learners
• Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Lincoln and Random Knowledge

We belong to Amazon Prime, and we often use Prime to watch videos on our Playstation.  It’s a pretty nice program.  We enjoy being able to stream Mythbusters, Phineas and Ferb or Dora whenever the mood strikes.

Every time we turn on the Amazon Instant Video program on our Playstation we see an advertisement for a new movie or television show.  Of course, we don’t often get to watch those as they are usually not “Prime.”

Lately, one of the movies that is often advertised is Lincoln.  We’ve seen the advertisement several times.  Yesterday, as the ad popped up, Rose came up to me and said, “Is that Abraham Lincoln?”

I replied, “Yes.  How did you know that?”  (I had my finders crossed that maybe she had read the word “Lincoln.”)

She told me, “Because he had a really tall hat, and he has a beard.”

She proceeded to go and get a five dollar bill out of her special drawer.  She asked me, “Is this Abraham Lincoln too?”

I replied, “Yes, and how did you get a $5 bill?”

She said, “The tooth fairy.”

I have to pause here and tell you that our tooth fairy only gives out $1, so I still don’t know where the $5 came from.  Hubby teased her about having a “rich tooth fairy,” and the subject changed.

I was thinking in my head that I was shocked that Rose had made a connection to Abraham Lincoln.  We haven’t talked much about the men on the money.  Firecracker knows a little about it, and he even throws out Abraham Lincoln as one of the presidential names he knows.

We’ve done no US History this year, and Rose is only 6 years old.  She may have talked about Abraham Lincoln a little at preschool, over a year ago now, but not enough that she’d be able to go and pull out a bill with his pictures on it in 5 seconds flat.

In fact, the only reference to Lincoln that we’ve made all year long was when we read  Civil War On Sunday.  She’s got a pretty good memory, and I was amazed at the way that she filed away a connection.

Since we are committed to an interest-led educational pathway, I often don’t know how the children are making connections as they add new knowledge into their knowledge bank until it comes out in the way that Rose’s knowledge about Abraham Lincoln came out yesterday.

However, I will say that I believe strongly in allowing those connections to form.  I think it was when I was reading Charlotte Mason that I learned that you can’t judge the connections that children make as they learn.  Instead you have to trust that those connections are made.

A friend of mine said a couple of months ago, “I believe that if you teach it, they will learn it.”  Can’ I take a minute and tell you that I believe exactly the opposite?  There’s no point in teaching a child somethings that they aren’t ready for or don’t see the value in.  You’re just wasting your time and your energy.

I’m always surprised and thrilled at the connections that the children make, and I’m always standing by, ready to add to their connections, ready to scaffold their learning to a new level.

These bits of knowledge that may seem random are really priceless to me.  They’re the evidence that the children are thinking and processing the things that we read, discuss and experience.  They are the proof that my children are learning how to learn.

Weary

Tonight I was reading part of Genesis 18.  A verse I had never noticed before stood out at me.

So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” (Gen. 18:12)

We have all heard the story about how Sarah laughed.  That wasn’t the part that was new to me.  What was new to me was the way Sarah said she was “worn out.”

I went to my KJV translation after reading the verses and read there that Sarah said she’d “waxed old.”  That was even more heartbreaking than the idea of being “worn out.”

Sometimes I feel weary.  Life seems to keep spinning faster and faster.  I often wish for a pause button. The day to day drudgery wears me out.

That’s when this passage from Isaiah comforts me.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall be exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.  (Is. 40: 29-31)

This was one of the first verses I memorized. My Mom had cross-stitched it, and when I was a child, it hung in our bathroom.  It’s been such a blessing to me to be able to recall these verses when I feel as if I can’t go on.

Sarah was worn out.  Even worse, God had promised her something long ago and she had “waxed old” waiting on his promise.

I read this verse, but then, I couldn’t help but notice that two verses later the Lord questions her and Abraham, asking, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

Our weary and worn out is often the passageway to a real work of God.  I often wonder why that is.  However, I have come to admit that sometimes the only time I let God work is when I’m too tired and worn out from trying to do it myself to keep Him from giving me a blessing.

Perhaps even more arrogant than that is the fact that often when I admit that I can’t do something on my own, it’s the only time that I am willing to acknowledge that the good work that has happened is solely the work of God.

Don’t ask.  I really am that stubborn and mule headed.

Sometimes when I wake up weary or with a headache, my sole prayer is “Lord, please give me what I need to make it through the day today.”  That’s the cry of the weary.  The blessing of God is what turns the weariness into laughter.  That’s when the miracle from God occurs.

What We’re Doing: May 16, 2013

This has been a very strange and long week for me.  My grandfather died on Friday, and much of my week has been punctuated by visitation, the funeral and family time.  Yet, there’s also been a steady of hum of projects and activities in the background.

This weekend was Mother’s Day.  I made some handstitched gifts for my mother, mother-in-law and my grandmothers.  I stitched some small blackwork motifs and mounted them on journals that I had bought at the dollar store for a personalized touch.

We spent some time with both sets of grandparents this weekend, and we also did the usual church thing.  It was a good weekend actually.  Hubby and I even went to Cracker Barrel and ate out with Owlet Saturday night.

I also made Owlet and Rose matching cardstock Sofia the First crowns and amulets.  Aren’t they cute together?

We had a lot of painting going on this week.  Firecracker began making some toilet paper roll ninjas.  He’s still got to go back and paint their faces and weapons.  Rose painted on a princess castle that she had gotten a while back and never colored.

Monkey and Owlet used their cars and painted on a racetrack.  I got the printable here.  They had way too much fun doing that.  Obviously, they had a bath very shortly after the painting was done

We started work on a paper mache project.  We’re still waiting for it to dry to paint.  We’ve been reading about the Japanese New Year celebration and we’ve decided to make some traditional daruma dolls out of paper mache.  Actually, Firecracker wasn’t so keen on the idea because he doesn’t like the mess of paper mache.  So, I was really pleased to see him actually participating in making them.

Firecracker and I started making some character profiles from his Ninja peg dolls.  I was the scribe, but this project is on hold until we finish the actual toilet paper ninjas.  He wants to add more characters and then write stories.

They also made Ninja a paper crown to wear.  He was unimpressed.

One of my favorite things this week was the picture that Rose drew of me and her holding hands.  She’s so sweet (even when she’s a little sassy).

AWANA finished this week with awards night.  I was very proud of Firecracker because he has finished his Sparks book every year and received the Sparky Award.  He did a little fist pump when he got his award.  He was so excited!

If you look closely at the bottom right hand corner of the collage below, you’ll see the flowers on my grandfather’s grave.  Imagine Hubby, four children and me at the funeral home, the funeral, the graveside ceremony, and eating with the family after the funeral.  It’s been a long and exhausting week on many levels.

If you look closely at the upper right hand corner of the collage below, you’ll see some Ninja and Princess stuff that the children have picked out to use for some summer learning.  I’m excited about it, and so are they.  One of the resources that I intend to use, but haven’t really discussed with the kids yet is Thriving Families’ Around the World in 60 Days.   I loved the map when I got it in the mail, and I think the lessons will be short and enjoyable for the kids (geography and Bible combined).  I just have to convince them of that now

I’m still trying to get them to finish the insect unit too, and we worked on it one day this week.  It’s a good unit, but we’ve lost momentum.  I’m thinking that if we don’t make any forward progress on it next week, I’ll just scrap it due to lost interest.  It’s the checklist person in me that likes to mark it completed since we’re so close to being finished.

The kids got to play with a turtle at my parents house this week.  They got to help Hubby try to train Ninja.  He’s still going in the house, but he killed a scorpion in the house, so I’m calling it a draw.

The kids have spent lots of time playing in the castle this week.  We only have one section of it still standing and the toddlers are really enjoying it.

They’ve also spent plenty of time playing on the Kindle and on the DS this week.  Firecracker has almost completed Plants vs. Zombies and he’s really into Lego Star Wars right now.  Rose has been playing on my Kindle, mostly a game called Ninja Joe and Plants vs. Zombies.  Monkey and Owlet have also been playing on the Kindle, but they’ve been playing Beck and Bo and Pepi Tree.

So, it’s been a good week, and I hope everyone else had a good week as well.

Linking up with:

• ihomeschool network
• Homegrown Learners
• Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Thankfulness: May 15, 2013

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last thankfulness list.  It’s really more because I’ve had a dark attitude the past couple of weeks.  Sometimes when bad things happen, you don’t immediately count it all joy.  There are some thank yous that are harder than others.

With that in mind, I have a really long list this time.  They’re not all easy things for me to be thankful for.  Like the way that life itself is messy and beautiful, my hard thank-yous and my happy thank-yous are all jumbled together.

228.  I was able to visit my grandfather’s house several times before he died.

229.  I was able to say good-bye to my grandfather while he was sleeping.

230.  Firecracker’s enthusiasm for directing the things that he wants to learn about.

231.  A solid afternoon of creating and working on projects.

232.  That my grandfather isn’t in pain any more

233.  One day there will be no death. (Rev 21:4)

234.  My grandfather loved his family

235.  My grandfather was a Christian

236.  One day there will be no cancer.

237.  One day there will be no pain.

238.  One day there will be no tears

239.  This song

240.  One day we will be with the lord forever (I Thes. 4:17)

241.  The death of a saint is precious to the Lord (Ps. 116:15)

242.  My memories of my grandfather’s voice

243.  My memories of my grandfather’s hugs

244.  Every second that I remember being with my grandfather

245.  The job I worked for most of my adult life.  I got to see my grandfather almost every single day.

246.  God will wipe away my tears (Rev. 21:4)

247.  The high compliment that Rose gave me this week.  She said, “We haven’t had school all week.”  In truth, Tuesday was the only day that we didn’t have school.

248.  Half-off pizza at Papa Johns from big Braves win.

249.  Mountain Dew

250.  Monkey starts climbing on my couch because he has sticky powers and can climb walls.  This makes sense to me since he also claims to be Spiderman.

251.  Seeing a food and remembering my grandfather’s love for it.

252.  The little things that I remember my grandfather liking and disliking.

253.  All the birdhouses in my grandfather’s yard

254.  My grandfather’s meek and quiet spirit….at least, that’s what he always displayed to me

255.  The roses that my children gave me for Mother’s Day

256.  Watching the kids giggle over a game on my Kindle

257.  A nap on Mother’s Day

258.  My kids having time to play with cousins

259.  Dinner out with just Hubby and Owlet

260.  Finishing making my Mother’s Day presents on time.

261.  Owlet’s joy in ice cream

262.  Seeing old pictures of my grandfather, especially the ones in his Army uniform, at the funeral home.

263.  That Hubby’s Dad was off work on the day that my Hubby’s car broke down on the interstate.

264.  That we’re going to be able to (barely) afford to fix Hubby’s car.

265.  My grandfather’s funeral was on a beautiful day.

266.  My grandfather is buried in a beautiful cemetery.

267.  The way Monkey ran to me during the six gun salute at my grandfather’s burial service.

268.  The way my kids attacked our new produce basket.  We’ve only had it 24 hours and half the fruit is gone.

269.  Firecracker’s absorption of science facts from Wild Kratts

270.  A normal day.

271.  Firecracker received his Sparky award at AWANA award ceremony.

272.  The fist pump Firecracker did when he received his Sparky award.

273.  The end of AWANA means that all of our activities are on summer break

274.  Owlet’s late night singing to me.

275.  A favorite song from my grandfather’s funeral

I always feel embarrassed when my real life is messy as if it shouldn’t be, but that is real life.  Since so much of my list this week was dedicated to my grandfather, who will always be my Paw, I thought I’d leave you with one of my favorite pictures of him.  This is from the last Christmas before he got sick with my older two sweet babies.

My main regret is that I don’t have a picture of him with all four kids together.  Even when I had a couple of opportunities at his house to get one, I didn’t want to hassle him for pictures  Lesson learned.  Don’t feel bad for bringing out the camera.

Impossible? Unusable?

My grandfather died on Friday.  I plan on working on a thankful list for this week to share with you the regular things that I’m thankful for as well as some of the things about him (and a few pictures of him) that I’m thankful for, so I’ll talk about that soon.  (This post may meander some.  Thank you for your grace.)

Today was his funeral.  My father and my uncle spoke.  It’s hard for me to hear my father speak about his father without feeling strong emotions swirling, but when my uncle spoke I heard some stuff that really related to some issues that I’m working through personally.  His first words he spoke were something like this, “Impossible?  I have told so many people that nothing is impossible with God.  I have read that there was nothing impossible with God so many times, but when I was told that my father wanted me to perform his funeral, my first thought was, ‘That’s impossible.’”

I’ve never doubted that homeschooling was impossible.  My degree is in education.  I thought for sure that I could do better than the school system.  It’s not pride speaking.  I am a teacher/facilitator at heart.

I’ve been mostly home with Firecracker for two years and with Rose for one.  Rose and I have not completely hit our stride yet, but now that I have two years invested in Firecracker (One through a UMS.  One completely at home.), I am beginning to see fruit.

I saw a glimmer tonight.  The kids saw a rabbit.  Here’s the picture they took.

 

Firecracker at first suggested that it might be a snowshoe hare.  I was understandable skeptical as snowshoe hares tend to have white fur.

Next, he told me it looks like a hispid hare.  I didn’t recall us encountering that variety before and had to Google it.  He had learned about it on Wild Kratts.  I found out that hispids are actually indigenous to Asia and not to North America.  We’re in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, so we definitely don’t have hispids.

We took a picture of the rabbit, and began to search for rabbits native to Georgia that match this rabbit’s description.  It appears to be an Eastern Cottontail.

This is the kind of organic learning that I wanted my children to have.  I wanted them to have an education that was interest-based and made sense in their every day life.  I never believed that having that was impossible.

However, I’ve often thought that funding a homeschooling life might be impossible.  Even when I think it’s possible, when I see a glimmer of hope, our car breaks, we have to replace the hot water heater, our computer dies, or someone has to have surgery.

I worry, and sometimes I lack trust in God because of money.  I realized tonight that I was like Abraham who laughed at God in Genesis 17 when God told him that Sarah would bear a child.  He thought that their age and Sarah’s barrenness were more powerful than God’s ability.

What my uncle spoke to in my heart today was the idea that something that he had seen as impossible was something that he was doing at the same moment that he was telling us that he believed that it was impossible.

I realized that I wanted to put my faith in God and do the impossible.  I want to be used by God.  I want to follow his leading in our home, and his leading is toward homeschooling.

I don’t want to be a grumbling Israelite and be ungrateful of the blessings that God has given me.  I want to trust that he sees what I need.

I don’t want there to be too of much of me in me for God to use me.  I want to see how big my God is.  I don’t want to see how big my problems are.

Sometimes it seems impossible.  Sometimes I feel like I’m unusable.  Sometimes I feel like it’s going to be my fault that our household sinks into a tailspin and we don’t make it financially.  Actually, sometimes I feel like everything bad that happens in my life is my fault, and I know that isn’t true.  (My father would remind me that the rain falls on the just and the unjust if he heard me say that!)

I sometimes think that God gave me the two babies so close together so that I wouldn’t be tempted to try and work and chase after more money.  Those two precious toddlers have been one of the biggest and most unexpected ways that God has changed my life and begun a real work in my life.  With fear and trembling, I realize that I must obey.

As I see God work more and more in my life, and as I see him bring me through more and more in my life, I am beginning to have a history of him rescuing me.  I begin to see the miraculous that happens to me every day.  Is anything impossible?  No.  Am I ever unusable? No.  Are my problems bigger than God’s power?  Never.

I just have to remember that he’ll take the areas of my life where I feel the most unable, the most unusable and he’ll turn those areas into the places where he can show his power.

That’s what he did with Abraham and Sarah.  He took an area that even the idea of God working in it made Abraham laugh, and he used it to show how powerful he is and how he always keeps his promises.

I can rest in the trust that he’ll do the same for me.  In fact, I can even glory in my infirmities because that’s where God has the most potential to show off his power.