Creations

It's been a busy week, as usual, but we've been extra creative, I feel. First, here is a easy tie-on scarf dress that DD1 wore for a while. The second scarf was bigger than the first, so I kind of had to improvise, but I think it looked cute. Great, easy dress up idea. I got the idea from a pin on Pinterest.

Our second creation, which we just whipped up this morning was a pillow, idea by DS. The kids are all fascinated by the box of fiberfill that I keep under my sewing table, and DS suggested that we make a pillow out of one of his old shirts that is too small. I'm often reluctant, as he often comes up with hard to pull off ideas, but I said, "Sure, let's try it." So, I sewed most of the holes with the sewing machine, with all three kids looking on (11, 4, and 3) in fascination, and they stuffed the shirt before I sewed up the last sleeve. It was quick and easy, and it was great to see everyone working together. Next time, I'll see if one of them wants to try the sewing part :)

First Day of School

On a whim, we started school today. After I realized that planning was getting overwhelming, I thought that that maybe we should start things a little more slowly instead of jumping in headfirst with all subjects at once. I also haven't gotten all the supplies we need for every subject for the first few weeks, and it might be a while before I can. So, I thought why not start with what we can do?

The kids all agreed, so off we go!

I started Monday evening reading Peter Rabbit to my girls. Then, we did circle time while breakfast was cooking, and I made a grand discovery! I've got a budding singer on my hands. Lily (4) loved doing the rhymes Lucy Locket and Little Miss Muffett. She had the first memorized before the morning was over.

Ginny (3) tried them, too. They both sounded adorable! I had to really watch our candle, which we light at the start of circle time and blow out when it's done. Ginny is still a bit too young to realize that she needs to be careful, but it went all right. A.J (10). even joined us to blow out the candle together.

Ginny, posing while we did our drawing. She's a ham for the camera.

 After breakfast and cleanup, we did the drawing exercise, focusing on the letter A. My drawing was of a garden gate, as in the Oak Meadow Kindergarten Syllabus. Lily seemed a little intimidated by it at first, but I encouraged her, gave her a few tips, about filling up the page and drawing the A in the gate, and told about how the word gate has the long A sound. I love it that she took what I said and still put her own spin on it, filling up the page with A gates. Forget the garden! Well, the point of this exercise is to make the letters real and tangible to them, which her practice was certainly doing. Also, in the evening, we took a walk on our town greenway and looked for As in nature and made As with sticks. She brought home bunches of dry leaves and sticks to add to our yard. It seems we don't have enough :)

My version of the A gate, as a guide.

Lily's completed picture. It's hard to see, but it's covered with yellow A gates.

A.J. and I also began our exploration of Scratch, MIT's free software for kids to teach them computer programming. They have some videos on their web site that help kids get started. A.J. learned how to choose and delete "Sprites," how to change their colors, and how to use effects on them, such as swirl and brighten that are initiated by mouse movement or space bar clicks. He really seemed to enjoy it and had a big grin on his face. The videos really only served as a starting point; once he got the idea, he was off and running.

A.J. getting his first taste of programming.

A New Chapter

We have been homeschooling for five "official" years. My oldest, DS, 10, would be in fifth grade this year were he in school, and he has always been homeschooled.

Up until this point, you could have labeled us as either unschoolers or ecelectic homeschoolers. We've done various levels of structure, mostly on the low-structure side. The most we've done lately is a little Time4Learning every day. However, the kids are a little bit bored with it, truth be told, and they are craving more attention from me.

Thus begins my quest for more structure this year. Mostly, it's a way of kicking myself in the rear-end every day to make sure I spend some good time with the kids, seeing where they are (and not just what level of Diablo II DS has gotten to) and not getting to the end of the day feeling like it got away from me.

My life is full, jam-packed, crammed to the crannies, about-to-explode, full. I work 30-35 hours a week from home. I have three children, DS10, DD4, and DD2, who are all homeschooled. DS, in addition to being an all-around smart guy, also deals with Aspergers (a gift as much as a curse) and anxiety issues. He often has various "appointments" in our never-ending quest to get him/us help when needed. We attend group field trips, visit family/friends out of town, and are generally constantly on the go. It's no wonder that I sometimes wonder where my days have gone.

It's not that I don't think my kids are learning. They certainly do that every day with no help from me. But why not do it together more? If I have to pencil in quality time with my kids to make sure they all get it, then so be it! NOT doing it is not a regret I want to have.

So, how to reconcile our unschoolish ways with my desire for a little more structure?

I think I may have found the answer in Oak Meadow's homeschool curriculum. It is Waldorf-inspired, and as I commented tonight to a friend on Facebook: "it's got the spirit of learning that I've always believed in--using what they're interested in, not worrying about it so much if they're not, giving them different options for completing assignments, considering learning styles, and it's slow paced, which I'm coming to appreciate more and more." The curriculum is also heavy on the creative arts and the spiritual (though not religious), the latter of which I feel has been a bit lacking in our homeschool thus far.

Another thing I've decided to try this year is using an evaluation or portfolio at the end of the year for our state's proof of progress requirement. DS has scored very well on the tests so far, but to be honest, the stress and anxiety they cause are just not worth it. I'm sure would rather sit down and talk with an evaluator (a.k.a. another homeschool mother who is also a certified teacher and qualified evaluator) or not have to do anything (i.e., me creating a portfolio) than go through all that again. He'll have his share of tests, I'm sure, but these particular tests are so imbalanced (all that counts is math and reading) and arbitrary that I'm not worried about skipping them.

So, in that vein, I'm blogging again. I want to record our progress, our challenges, our creations, and use those records for either a portfolio or evaluation at the end of the year. In the meantime, maybe I'll entertain a few people besides myself and maybe even inform some or at least provide some options. I hope you'll join me.