Parks and Recreation

Don't be too quick to discount the social question when it comes to homeschooling. I realize it is an overused and often times belabored point, but social opportunities are a big deal to many kids, sometimes, more than the parents even realize.

It can be pretty easy to make opportunities for making friends, but, like almost everything else in life, it starts with intention.

When you are making your plans for math, reading, and other academic endeavors, do not forget to plan for friends. We all need friendships to enrich our lives. I have tried to be intentional in giving my children the chance to giggle over silly jokes, learn hand clapping games, and discover the fun of playing in the woods with their peers.

Make sure you schedule some down time to meet new friends and cultivate the old ones. Plan a summer movie date and invite the others in your homeschool group, meet in the park for play, or invite a new friend over for some summer fun in the backyard. In the hustle and bustle of our homeschool years, it can help to schedule this down time on your calendar. Yes, actually write in days that are "black out dates" for free play with other children. This is a valuable part of the growing up experience. While you are at it, make sure to include new people in your homeschool group who are looking for a chance to fit in. Model for your children how it looks to build community and value other people.

It can be tempting to become an island in the hectic pace of home education, but take the time to meet friends and influence people. You will be glad you did.

Musings at the End of Our Homeschool Year: A Journal Entry from May 24, 2015

The children and I had a lovely day full of ordinary things yesterday - like so many days before - passed in a happy, busy, good-natured way of being together. I enjoy my children more than can be expressed. They are authentic people who are kind, smart, possess a sense of humor, and are generally charming. I am sure I must be partial in my assessment, but in all honesty, they are excellent human beings and friends.

This is really why I homeschool. We enjoy each others company and we all work towards the mutual building up of each other's strengths, the pursuit of dreams and desired skills, the chipping away at our faults, and the shared dream of a better, kinder, more peaceful world.

I can think of no way I would rather spend my time, vitality, and resources - than in providing for the mutual acceptance, improvement, and inspiration of my family and my community. 

In this way, it matters not whether we, as a family, change the world - or, perhaps I should say, come to see and touch the change we have wrought upon it. We have changed ourselves, and in doing so, have made ripples on that great cosmic pond.

It is more than enough.

Keeping Homeschool Records in Reverse

Our homeschool is really a social and educational experiment. I use it as my test kitchen for all sorts of ideas and to test out theories.

So, I feel like we are a mixed bag of homeschooling. We unschool sometimes, school with structure in some things, have a Waldorf flavor to most things, and certainly trust the children to tell us what they want to learn and try to provide ways to make it all happen. 

We started "back to school" at the end of July. My son was ready to start "counting days" again and I like to start early enough on the 180 day countdown that I can take breaks when I want to. 

We decided that the Midlands Homeschool Convention seemed like a good first day kick off. There were interesting workshops to attend, things to see, and educational opportunities abounded. Also, my son was leaving at the end of the weekend to spend some time with relatives in two different North Carolina cities the following week. Both of the households he was visiting are full of homeschooling cousins. So, I knew the visits would include museums, iPad camp, lots of nature stuff with my sister, and some serious phys. ed. with my brother. Also, what better way to start school than to let the teacher have three days back followed by five days off again. 

This year I am trying to complete my record keeping at the end of each month. I have tried everything from day to day, week to week, and just throwing everything in a box and panicking at the end of the year. I do detailed lesson plans for his Orton Gillingham reading instruction and he has a computer program for his math. His other subjects are usually done in a block schedule style. But, for the end of July, I decided to rely completely on unschooling.

His aunts and uncles posted photos to facebook during his visit. I used those for my photo documenting as well as photos I had taken here during the convention. I feel it is a good practice to snap a pic of homeschooling activities. It is an excellent record keeping device, jogs your own memory about what you did, gives you lots to choose from if you make yearbooks on Mixbook or Shutterfly at the end of the year (as I do), and also gives you good memories to stay up late and cry over when the get older. (Okay- tell me I am not the only one to ever do this!??)

When my son returned home, we had a debriefing. He told me all the cool stuff he had done and I converted it into a table of required subjects that were covered. It is a very simple table in Word. Here is the result:

July 2014 Homeschool Journal

Days of School Completed in July: 8

Dates: 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31

Topics explored and activities:

Math	Science	Social Studies	Reading/Literature	Writing	Physical Education
Apple iPod camp for three days	Nature Study at Raleigh Park with creek	Explored Art Museum in Raleigh	Battle of the Books practice *See list of books read for July	Made an iBook	Nature Walk
Using iBooks program on iPod	Natural History Museum in Raleigh to watch medical work being done on Poisonous Dart Frogs	Explored the town of Raleigh with particular notice of wildlife – saw a deer in the wild	Percy Jackson Book Day – Had a party for homeschooling friends to culminate finishing the Rick Riordan books.	Used a storyboard to plan a creative writing assignment	Dueling with balloons and nerf swords game with friends
Multiplication review	Butterfly exhibit, Sloth exhibit, milkweed snake study, turtle exhibit, spider exhibit	Volunteering: Dog Walking in Huntersville, NC	Participated in activities to increase comprehension. Made bead necklaces to symbolize different Greek gods	Helped to make a flyer for a non-profit event – instructed in use of graphic design	Lap Swimming Four Days Basketball time
Computer Skills lesson	Used powerful microscope to study animal biology slides at the nature lab center	Compared and contrasted civic green spaces in NC and SC - Discussion	Compared Greek and Roman gods (names, etc.), made laurel crowns, played Medusa game	Keyboarding Practice	Diving Lessons
Math apps on iPad	Examined real animal skins to compare and contrast vole, rabbit, mole, mouse, a wolf, fox, coyote, black bear, and raccoon	Explored Huntersville, NC – Took notice of neighborhood layout – mental map	Completed Reading: Sarah, Plain and Tall Ralph S. Mouse Hank the Cowdog The Million Dollar Shot Best School Year Ever Dealing With Dragons Tuck Everlasting Big Nate Flips Out Big Nate on a Roll Big Nate in the Zone	Brainstorming for story ideas	Triathlon appropriate for age from chart – Biking, running, and swimming
Sold bracelets made on loom for a profit – worked on business plan for future sales	Attended 2 auto care workshops and completed quiz work on the topics covered – got hands on lab work with a real car	Explored convention exhibits and discussed different religions and viewpoints that were present	Talked to a comic book expert at a convention and looked at vintage comics	Small motor practice with handiwork – made bracelets on loom	Skateboarding session in park

I like this format, as it covers all required subjects for our state and is simple and quick to type out. I will have lesson plans for other weeks that are put together prior to the week, but for our homeschool kick-off, records in reverse worked great. 

What does it take to homeschool? How do I get started?

I often have people ask me how to homeschool. When you start something new, it can be difficult to see what it looks like and to interpret that into personal action. Where do I start? Do I order curriculum? Read twenty books about homeschooling? Order a chalkboard and a globe from Amazon? 

There are entire books written about how to homeschool. Some are very good and helpful. There are numerous articles, blogs, websites, and support groups. But, I am going to break it down to the very first crucial steps to homeschooling. The core of successful homeschooling is that it is a lifestyle. It will take time to bring this new way of looking at the world and at education into your home. It will take time to adjust your thinking to a new paradigm. Give yourself that time. Don't worry that you must have all the answers this week or that you must decide on your child's learning style by Saturday. First and foremost, homeschooling is a journey that you take with your child. Take some time to think about what that journey will look like, what to pack, and above all, count the cost. 

Homeschoolers spend a lot of time with their children. A LOT of time. Take a look at your home life. Do you enjoy spending time with your children? Are you able to instruct them and coach them through tasks? Are you able to be with them for the majority of the day, the week, the month, the year and enjoy it? This may seem like a simple question - but more than what kind of curriculum to use or which group to join, this question can make or break your homeschool experience. Don't despair if your answer is no. Are you willing to work at it? Are you willing to spend time taking an honest look at your home life and working together with your children to create an environment conducive to learning? No home is perfect, but you will all be happier if you can create an environment that includes what you and your children need to get along well with each other. This is perhaps the first and most important step to homeschooling.

When you homeschool, you are the one calling the shots. You must be able to take responsibility for creating your own program. There are many options and you can certainly use a program that lays everything out for you, a computer based curriculum, or a satellite school. But, at the end of the day, you must decide what is best for your child. This can seem overwhelming to new homeschoolers. If you are used to having a school or a teacher tell you exactly what to do and when, the new freedom can feel... well, free. Freedom is a great thing, but it can feel scary at first. Give yourself time to adjust to this brave new world. You really can do it, but you will need to put in some research time on the computer, reading books, and/or talking to other homeschoolers. You are now a teacher as well as a parent. You will need some teacher planning time, some time to invest in your own learning, and down time to rest and rejuvenate. Make sure you have a realistic expectation of the time and energy this will take on your part. 

Finally, homeschooling does cost money. There are certainly ways to reduce the cost, but it is not free. For one thing, there will need to be a parent at home and guiding the homeschooling. My husband and I have always worked and homeschooled. It can be done. It is not easy. We have worked schedules that we could arrange around having a parent home and, some years, we have also had to hire a caregiver. I will not go into all the details, but you will most likely have to limit your career choices or at least one of you will. There are certainly careers that will work well with flexible schedules, but not all jobs are conducive to flexibility. Some of you may have an adult in the home that can financially support a stay at home parent. Still, that parent is loosing the option to build their career while the children are homeschooling. This is something to take into consideration when you decide to homeschool. 

You will also have to purchase materials. You can limit your spending by making great use of the public library, going to used curriculum sales, shopping for used items online, and even swapping materials in your homeschool group. But, you will spend some money on curriculum, books, microscopes, instruments, sports equipment, and more books. You will also spend some money on classes, museums, field trips, and co-ops. The amount each family will spend will vary greatly, but a general rule is that if you need to cut corners on time, expect to spend a little more money. 

I absolutely love homeschooling. I have homeschooled both of my children for their entire education to date. I have a high school and a middle school student and we love our homeschool life. I really believe that anyone who can look up answers and read can homeschool their children. But, you must be willing to look up answers. When I am helping new homeschoolers get started for the first time, these are the things I wish they knew. There are amazing benefits to homeschooling - you just have to be willing to put in some elbow grease. 

Homeschooling in a time of Colitis

It has been a long time since my last entry. Sometimes life is interrupted by unforeseen circumstances - in this case, ulcerative colitis.

We have lived with ulcerative colitis for a long time. My son was diagnosed with it at three years old, for seven years he has had times of remission and times when the disease was active again. When times are good, he has enjoyed long periods of feeling energetic and healthy. When the disease flares up, times are difficult.

He has been on daily medications since he was three years. He also takes probiotics, vitamins, and eats a careful, colitis-friendly diet. Despite our best efforts, there are still flare ups.

This fall has been a long, hard battle with ulcerative colitis. It first started up again in September. We have tried many things and searched out possible reasons for why things can't seem to calm down... but we are still fighting the good fight and my son is still in the midst of pain, stomach issues, and the uncertainty of what each day will be like. It is hard for anyone to suffer from an illness with chronic pain, but for children, it can be especially challenging. It has been awhile since I have posted an entry here. Life with colitis has taken up most of our time this school year. We are now trying an infusion treatment to see if it can bring him some relief. I hope to get back to posting more soon. I hope I will have more to say about parenting and homeschooling during times of illness. At this moment, I am still pretty tired and too much in the midst of the struggle to write much.

This Week in Math

This week we are reviewing addition and subtraction using what we know about place value. We are also brushing up on our times tables and skip counting.
The lessons are very open ended and my son loves working math problems, so this is something that he enjoys quite a lot.
I am hoping to keep the math syllabus neat for the possibility of selling it when we are finished.
I copy the problems on to the blackboard or on to graph paper and he works them with a good will.
He can copy the problems as well, but dyslexia causes this to be a bit of a challenge. The writing is a bit slow and it is difficult for him to keep them lined up well for place value accuracy.
We vary what we use to write the problems on. The white board, the computer, the blackboard, paper, his main lesson book, or even a slip of a napkin at the coffee shop. I find that the math work is very portable and fun to do when waiting about town.
My biggest issue is getting him to add from the ones column over. He tends to do this type of problem in his head and then write it out without showing work and beginning with the highest place value spot. I am happy he can work these using mental math, but, in the interest of making good habits for harder math problems in the future, I encourage him to use the proper order and go from right to left when solving these problems.
He loves math and will do math problems for just about as long as I can keep coming up with them.

Wrapping Up Week One of Oak Meadow 4th Grade

This week we have reviewed our math facts, been on nature walks, sketched fruit from different angles, learned about the seven laws of drawing perspective, read the first five chapters of Stuart Little, examined library books on South Carolina topography, began planning our landscape/topography project by drawing maps, learned about types of maps, reviewed our basic grammar, and focused on some new sounds in our reading program.
I am sure there are other things I could add, but that seems like a pretty good list.
We have made good use of the main lesson book this week. I would like to see us add some daily summaries next week as suggested in our syllabus.
Today, on our second day of The Woodland School co-op, my son's class had some time to play games together. It was raining outside, so recess was on the screened porch with games to play. The weather was unseasonably cool for Columbia in August. I was very grateful for the break from the heat. It made me think of fall and good things to come.
Today we added in the music component of the curriculum. We are fortunate to have a music teacher in our co-op. She is teaching them the recorder, voice, percussion, and other musical lessons.
This week we will be doing some more detailed work on our topography project. I still have not decided if we are going to try and build the box or just use a plastic bin for the assignment. I would prefer the wooden box and the experience of making it, I am just not sure we will have the time to get that detailed with it.

Music class on the screened porch in the August rain.

Game time with friends at The Woodland School

 

Merging Oak Meadow with Materials Created for Dyslexic Students

I have a son with dyslexia. Dyslexia is often misunderstood and causes many children to feel like "aliens" in a world where everyone seems to know the code, but they can't crack it. I know this, because my son tells me all about it. He used to feel alienated and could not understand why he felt "different" from other people. He would say things in unusual ways, was particularly observant, keenly intelligent, but could not seem to remember his letters or how to make them form words. I was perplexed by this. I had been a tutor to children in housing projects in inner cities, taught kindergarten for years, and worked in the children's room at the library. I had read to him in utero.  What was going on?

As time went on, we had him tested. He was diagnosed with dyslexia. If any of you have ever had your child diagnosed with anything, you will identify with the sudden frenzy of reading and studying I did on dyslexia. I read everything I could get my hands on, attended workshops, went to support group meetings, local advocacy groups, watched documentaries, and sought out expert help. I am summing up a few years here, but trust me when I say, I earned a degree in dyslexia from the school of self help.

When you first have to make changes to accommodate special needs, there can be a pendulum swing phenomena. My studies brought me to the Orton Gillingham method. This is a very scientific approach to multi sensory teaching for dyslexics. It is far too much information to go into here, but it involves a systematic approach to teaching reading through multi sensory techniques. I took some training classes and got started right away.

Slogging through phonics is hard work. I knew that in my fervor to help him, my pendulum was swinging towards much more structure and academics than I was really comfortable with for a second grader. He wanted to read so badly. He tried so hard. The work was quite strenuous and he began to say he didn't like "school". This really presented quite a dilemma for me. I am solidly in the camp of delayed academics for children, with plenty of time to enjoy unstructured play, handicrafts, and time outdoors. It had been a shock to me to realize that we needed to embrace the structure of the Orton Gillingham lesson. It was the fear that was driving me now. The fear that this precious child of mine would somehow miss out on crucial things because he couldn't read. I was also missing the gentle pace of the Oak Meadow curriculum and the creative aspects that we had so enjoyed in first grade.

It was in the third grade year that my pendulum began to balance and we finally hit our stride. I was now more of an "expert" at the multi sensory lesson. I felt more comfortable with setting a slower pace. I cut back on the time we spent in reading instruction and added more creative elements and unit studies that he chose the topics for. We began to enjoy "school" again. We were able to use Oak Meadow and substitute the reading instruction with his Orton Gillingham lesson. I was able to come up with appropriate accommodations for the lessons as needed and we began to feel comfortable with dyslexia. I say that we felt comfortable because, for me, it had felt very uncomfortable, very foreign, and very intimidating. The diagnosis of dyslexia left me feeling inadequate and so uncertain about my homeschooling. For my son, I believe that the diagnosis was both a blessing and a burden. He finally had a reason as to why he felt like an "alien" as he describes it. He had a learning difference. His brain saw things just a bit differently than most of us. He also felt the things that many dyslexics go through. He felt like he was "dumb" and that he wouldn't be able to do the things that other children did at his age.  When friends were reading chapter books and discussing them, he was still struggling with very simple readers. On the other hand, his skills of observation were very acute and didn't rely on the written word. He had developed ways around reading.

Third grade continued. We did unit studies on snakes and bugs, we struggled through the Merrill Readers, we went to the museums, we broke out in a sweat over consonant blends. My son discovered Calvin and Hobbes and suddenly, just like that, there was a breakthrough in the code. I could see it happen. It was like a switch coming on and the letters suddenly aligned into something comprehensible. He stayed up late to read Calvin. His light would stay on till we had to make him turn it off. We drove down the street to a constant wonder-filled voice that read us street signs and billboards. It was a miraculous.

Reading is still hard. I don't want to give the impression that he suddenly read on grade level or that he took up War and Peace, but he is READING. Was it the multi sensory instruction, the thousands of pages read to him by his mother, father, and sister, the freedom to choose his own books and topics of study? Was there one element that brought it into focus or was it a cocktail of literature and systematic study?

I strongly believe that dyslexic children need instruction that is tailored to their specific need. I continue using an Orton Gillingham style of reading instruction and provide accommodation as needed. I believe the success we have enjoyed comes from my son's hard work, his determination to read, his thirst for knowledge, and the drive of his family to build bridges for him to travel on. In my work with the public, I see many children who need special instruction, but are not able to receive it. (There are many reasons for that, but this is not a blog post on how we can work towards that end, although it is a fabulous topic and one I spend a lot of time on.)
What I can do here is point you, my fellow traveler, towards some resources that have helped us on our way. I can also assure you that it is possible, and highly desirable, to merge a creative curriculum with systematic instruction.

The program we use for language arts (reading and writing) is called PAF, or Preventing Academic Failure. It is an Orton Gillingham based program. The teacher manual provides excellent information on the layout of a solid lesson. The lessons are laid out for you and easy to follow. The program uses the Merrill Readers, Explode the Code, and Stepping Up books. The program can be used for several years depending on where you start and how long it takes to complete.

I also use pinterest and creative bloggers to find materials to help me practice certain skills. For example, when working on "bossy r", I made games and activities to help reinforce the differences in the ar, ir, or, ur, and er sounds.

Now that we are in fourth grade, we are reading our first book in the Oak Meadow syllabus, Stuart Little. I was delighted to discover that my son can read a page or two at a time of this book without getting too overwhelmed. So, we take turns reading. We have also used audio books for required reading. Journal entries can be dictated. He can tell me what to write and I record it in his main lesson book for him. He can also copy a few sentences or trace things to label. He then illustrates the page. There are many ways to make a creative, meaningful, and scientifically sound program at home for your dyslexic child. It is not always easy. It does require hard work and patience on both the part of the child and the parent.

I hope that if you have a child with special educational needs, that you will find your stride. There are many valid and excellent choices for you to choose from. If you choose to homeschool, I hope you feel empowered knowing that you can find the resources you need to move forward. Homeschooling with learning differences is challenging and wonderful. Enjoy the journey!

Observation and Discovery - Sketching Fruit in Our Main Lesson Books

Today we practiced our observation skills by examining fruit and then sketching it in our main lesson book. We passed around the banana, apple, peach, orange, pear, and kiwi. The children commented on the different ways to describe the fruit. Then we cut them in half and observed them from a different perspective. The children sketched the fruit from the side, the top, and then the middle.
We also took a nature walk and observed the land (contours, plant life, etc.).
We read the book, Seven Blind Mice. It seemed like a perfect fit for talking about observing things with our senses. They are also reading Stuart Little for the next three weeks.
We reviewed grammar terms, practiced for "Battle of the Books" this weekend at the library, did self-portraits in our journals, and had a pleasant first day of school. The children will continue doing activities from the syllabus this coming week at home. Next Friday we will do some more work on the topography project.

First Week of Fourth Grade - Oak Meadow Style

As I was planning my lessons for fourth grade this year, I came across this in my Oak Meadow syllabus, "This curriculum is not intended to be a rigid set of guidelines. It is a tool to help you enter into the subject matter in a creative, experiential way. Use it accordingly, adding and subtracting as best suits your child's needs and interests." (Oak Meadow Fourth Grade Syllabus, Introduction)

I like to see this kind of creative license mentioned in a curriculum syllabus. I prefer hands-on, experiment based learning, and Oak Meadow offers a perfect blend for our family of prepared lessons and open-ended creativity. So, it is with great excitement that we begin the fourth grade program this week. My daughter will also be doing Oak Meadow, but she will be doing the high school curriculum. I plan to try and post about our progress in each.

I read ahead a few weeks in my syllabus to get an idea of how to plan the first weeks of school. This program uses the main lesson book, a blank book for capturing the written work of each student. We have used main lesson books for many years and I LOVE having a written record of the student's work in book form. It is a portfolio that builds itself. I ordered some of the main lesson books Oak Meadow sells for this purpose. I like the onion skin between the pages to keep the work safe from smears. I also like the size of the pages and the quality of the paper. The information in the syllabus about journaling is excellent. I plan to have journaling time daily that will go into one of these main lesson books.

The first big assignment is the topography project. This idea lends itself to studying maps, your local landscape, and a bit of local history. Because I work in the Children's Room at our local library, I can always find fantastic books to bring home on the topics we study. I will try to remember to post our book lists as we go along.

Friday is our first day of our Oak Meadow co-op. The 4th graders will be going on a nature hike of the property to observe the land. This is the beginning of their topography project research. We plan to examine some books about physical and topographical maps. We are going to look at a tray of items and then draw a "map" of the items on the tray. Hopefully this will help them think about how it might feel to "look down" on something and draw what you see. We have plans to look at google maps of the area to give us an idea of what an aerial view would look like.  There is much more going on this week, art, music, math, geometry with fruit, cursive practice, reading practice, etc., but this gives you a little peek into the fourth grade life. It looks like it will be a great year! Here is a sneak peak of the fourth grade co-op class for Friday:

Book to read aloud to the group for discussion: Seven Blind Mice by Young

Journal topic for Friday: perspective

Book to read at home and prepare a book report project (3 week project): Stuart Little by White

 

 

 

Homeschool Portfolios

 

It is time to get the portfolios cleaned out and ready for a new school year. Portfolios are our record keeping method of choice. Keeping samples of projects and papers is perfect for charting progress as well as providing well documented keepsakes. I suggest ordering address labels from a site like Shutterfly. I ordered those shown above when they were running a special and I got one sheet free. Simply choose a template, put in a photograph of your child, add your school name and the year and/or grade. This gives you a set of stickers to label items for your portfolio. If your child does a shoebox diorama, label it with your portfolio sticker. Not only will you have them labeled for display at homeschool fairs, library exhibits, or wherever your homeschool group showcases their work, you will also always have it labeled for your homeschool records. It is amazing how much children change in one school year. I enjoy having the photo on the sticker to go with the project. The children can also use their stickers to decorate notebooks or items they take to homeschool co-op. Of course, these stickers are great for children who attend traditional school as well. What better way to label their belongings and keep track of the artwork that comes home? You can always make these at home with your printer, but when they are on sale, Shutterfly is a good deal and I like the quality.

Enjoy! 

Farmer Boy

As a child, I had an obsession with the Little House books. I read them repeatedly and dreamed of petticoats and covered wagons. We played Little House all the time. When I did my chores, I pretended to be Laura Ingalls. It made the chores much more fun.
When my daughter was younger, we read the Little House books together. I even made her a prairie dress, bonnet, and pinafore. It was over the top cute.
I have a long time love affair with the books. (Though I must admit, my obsession is only with the originals. I have tried, but can't get into the series books that were written later. I am a sucker for the originals only.)
So, it is with great pleasure that I picked up Farmer Boy to be the next read aloud for my son. This is another book that gets high ratings from me to be read during the nine year change. Almanzo begins the book as an eight year old and turns nine right away.  His adventures and struggles are perfect for the third grade Waldorf child and they fit so well into a main lesson about farming.
The detailed descriptions of life in this time are charming and addictive. You find yourself wanting to eat pancakes and make things by hand!
This book is chock full of opportunities to blend in handiwork with literature. From making a tin can lantern to braiding a whip - from making homemade candy to growing a pumpkin - there is no shortage of activities to tie in to the story.
As I write this, we have tin cans in the freezer. We are going to use a hammer and nail to punch designs in the side. You simply wash out a can and fill it with water. Take the label off. Put it in the freezer till it is frozen through. In the meantime, use the can label to cut yourself a piece of paper that will fit around the can. Draw a simple design on the paper. When the water is frozen, tape the paper around the can and use a hammer and nail to poke holes in the can following your design. The ice should keep the can from becoming misshapen. Also poke two holes near the top so you can add wire to make a handle for your lantern. Allow the ice to melt and you have a lovely punched tin can lantern. Add a tea light candle and enjoy!
Farmer Boy is full of opportunity for history, crafts, and life lessons.
I have been delighted to discover that the Little House books can be just as much for boys as for girls. Give it a try!

Charlotte's Web: The Right Book at the Right Time - Stories for the Nine Year Change

Bedtime story time has evolved from year to year at my house. My children are now 9 (almost 10) and 14. I believe that bedtime rituals are still just as important as ever - including the bedtime story. During the school year, we used the Oak Meadow Folk Tales book for most bedtime stories. I wondered if my son was still enjoying the nightly ritual or if, at nine years old, he was growing out of it.
Imagine my delight when a mother of one of his friends came by to see me one and day and asked if I could tell her what folk tale book we had been reading. She had heard my son telling her son about it in the car when she was taking them on an outing recently. She reported that my son had gone into great detail about the stories and the candle we lit when we sat down to read. Her son had later asked to begin this ritual. Apparently, nine year old boys still love bedtime stories!
I was amazed that he had shared this with a friend. Not only did he love the ritual, he felt confident about sharing it. I have to admit that my storyteller heart rejoiced.
As the school year wound to a close, I realized that there were several books that I had hoped to read aloud that we just had not been able to squeeze in. With the farming theme present in the third grade year, I decided we just couldn't leave off without reading Charlotte's Web. I knew he had heard it read aloud when he was younger and his sister was listening to it, but I love that book so much, I decided to try it and see what happened.
Thus began a sweet and tender time for a mother and son in the midst of the nine year change. Each chapter is so real and so in tune to this time in a child's life. I could feel the authenticity of it as we read aloud each night before bed. As Wilbur matures and understands the facts about life, as Fern changes and leaves her barnyard friends behind - thus is the life of the nine year old. There are so many parallels in this story to the struggles of being nine. Children feel keenly this "dying" of early childhood and rebirth into the older child. Something about turning "double digits" is a rite of passage. I know that he had heard the basic story before and even remembered bits and pieces from hearing it read aloud years earlier. But, there is a magic in hearing the right story at the right time, an affirming of your inner life that you do not get from other tales. I felt privileged to watch it unfold. I urge parents not to push children to grow up too soon. Do not rush to read a book just because they "can" read the book and do not give up on bedtime stories. There is a magic in a story candle lit in a darkening room. A spell that weaves around the child when the story is a perfect match for the age and stage. This is the "sweet spot" of children's literature - bibliotherapy at its best.

Magical Math the Waldorf Way

Math has a bad reputation. For many of us, the memory of math class is not something we recall with fondness. There are a few math nerds out there (my sister, for one), and I salute them. But, for the vast majority of homeschoolers I know, math is, if not the enemy, at least an uphill battle.

When my youngest was in first grade, I got a taste of Waldorfish math when I ordered the first grade curriculum from Oak Meadow. This curriculum included charming stories about the math gnomes and their adventures. Each gnome had a name (add, multiply, subtract, and divide) and a symbol. I made my son a set of plush math gnomes from some felt and wool. They were cute and cuddly and a huge hit. I bought a bag of glass marble type things from the local Dollar Store to be "gems" for the gnomes. He loved this arrangement and was quite happy to play with them and do the hands-on math the curriculum suggested. I can't say enough good things about the story approach to math.

My son is dyslexic and has struggled to master reading, but working with the math gnomes helped him explore math and make sense of it in his way and time. I have spent time online looking at Waldorf math stories. There are many fantastic stories available as well as making up your own. As a storyteller, I love to memorize or make up math stories to use in lessons. Christopherus curriculum uses math squirrels instead of gnomes. I love the idea of woodland critters as math story characters!

So, what is meant by a "math story"? When I first came to Waldorf education, I can remember wanting to know what a math story looks like. Here is an example of a math story and how you might use it to teach the concept of Roman numerals.

Once there lived a very young shepherd. He was a very responsible boy and had been chosen by the villagers to take care of their sheep. Each morning he would take the sheep to the pasture to graze. The sheep would wander all over looking for the choicest bits of grass to munch. The shepherd was very careful to keep a close watch on his sheep. He would stand on the little rise and look to the left and right keeping a constant count of how many sheep he could see. There were 12 sheep in his care and one day he devised a game to keep up with them. He took a little handful of sticks and made shapes to count his sheep. When he counted the sheep to the left of him, he would put the symbol he had made to his left. When he counted the sheep on his right, he could put the symbol for them on his right. In this way, he was able to keep track of his sheep from morning to night. The symbols that he used are I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII.

After telling this story to your child, you could provide a peg person shepherd, 12 cotton balls for sheep, and a little handful of sticks. Your child could then expand the story by making the Roman numerals out of sticks and acting out the shepherd and sheep story by putting a handful of cotton balls on each side of him and then make the number with the sticks. Your child could then copy the numerals into their main lesson and possibly add a picture of the story. Using stories to teach math is a brilliant way to help math concepts "stick". This example was only one of many ways that Waldorf math is magical. Waldorf Essentials also has a wonderful geometry resource that we use and love. Make an appointment with yourself to explore the world of Waldorf math. Rediscover math with your children and make it magical!

Making Fairy Houses

Meal Planning, Homeschooling, and Allergen Free Recipes

If there is one hill I find I hard to scale in my homeschooling journey, it is meal time. I have a child with celiac disease and severe allergies to wheat, oats, peanuts, tree nuts, and seeds. I have another child who is gluten intolerant and my husband has celiac disease and is allergic to dairy. Yikes! What is a Mom to do? It takes time and budgeting to make sure safe meals appear on the table. We can't stop by the local fast food drive-thru or order pizza delivered - even on days when I would love to have an easy option. I remind myself that the children will probably be much healthier over all without eating out much and then I dive into planning our meals. Right now I have a three week system for each season. This means I make three weeks of meal plans for summer, fall, winter, and spring. Then we rotate through the three weeks of menu's for the summer months and then switch to the fall menu's and so on. This seems to work pretty well and I keep an open mind for special circumstances. For instance, my son's birthday is this coming week. I printed out a blank summer menu plan and revised this week to include his favorite snacks and his birthday meal picks on his special day. You can also plug in festivals and special events this way. I highly suggest coming up with a three (or four) week meal plan and then rotating them. A little work at the beginning can save a lot of sitting around wondering what to fix for dinner. I also shop sales by picking up doubles or triple of items we use a lot and saving them for the right week.  I am working on putting my grocery lists in the file with my menu's, so I can just print them out. Right now I am still just looking at the meal plan and jotting down what I need for the week. This isn't a brilliant and complicated meal planning idea, but it is a little something in my tool box of organizing my year. Bon Appetit! 

The Good Ole' Summertime

Here is the children's seasonal corner for summer. We have done some cleaning out and organizing and now we are putting things in order for the new school year. Some lessons have resumed to keep skills fresh, but "school proper" is set to officially start in August. Today Addie and I went over all of her classes and planned out her course of study. We both love school supplies and organizing. Things are moving quickly to a new school year, but some summer fun still remains. We celebrate Whit's birthday this month! Plans are coming together for a day of fun and frolic summer style. We are going to the summer movies tomorrow with friends. The theater has movies for a dollar on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the summer. Whit still has camp to look forward to at the end of the month. Plenty of summer remains, but we take time to get things ready for a great new year of homeschool.

The Rhythm of Planning Your Homeschool Year

There is an old saying that says if you aim at nothing, you will certainly hit it. I used to think that sounded boring, that if you always planned out what you would do and what you were aiming for, you might miss some essence of becoming that comes from being able to live in the moment and take a new path at any given time.

Now, I recognize that aiming for something means you can amble towards a destination, but still stop and smell the flowers (or even take a new path) on the way. One of the big obstacles to living life intentionally is thinking that things will just fall into place and that you will have the energy and inertia to make your intentions into a reality. I have found, that for me, too much of daily life comes at me and before you know it, I am living in a hurried state and have wandered into the busy-ness of things and have left my true intentions behind me.

Thus the need for planning. I am living a rhythm of planning right now. I marked off the last two weeks of June and the entire month of July as my planning season. This doesn't mean that I sit around planning all day, instead it means that I have slowed the calendar down for my family. We are not accepting as many play dates and activities right now. The children are still down for summer camp for a week in July, but we are careful to keep our interactions down to one or two things a week for the rest of the time.

I use this time to read and to think and to make notes. For the last several weeks, I have read ebooks on Waldorf education, listened to audio files and videos of lectures and conferences, and have surfed the internet for inspirational blogs and photos of the main lessons, daily rhythm, and age and stages that this year holds for me. I have also been doing some reading on the temperaments and how they relate to adult/child interactions. I haven't crammed the information, but have bitten off bite size pieces. I read and then make a few notes. Then I sleep on it. The next day, I may read my notes again and think about how to incorporate this into my life this year.
After a couple of weeks of mulching like this, I took out my calendar and wrote in all of the solid dates for the fall. I wrote in appointments, meetings, festivals and celebrations, etc.

Next, I have started looking up the main lesson topics in my library catalog and making a list of resources for each topic. I have also taken note of resources I already own and purchased a few things. 

Now I am ready to move to the next stage. I plan to spend the next couple of weeks planning out my main lessons and putting it all into my planner. I will still allow myself room to roam a bit, but I have found that in order to make my house and school run smoothly and keep the intentionality to our days, we need some planning and we need rhythm.

Whit is Published in Kids In Print!

Whit was published in the yearly Kids In Print publication put out by our local library. His story about Talgres the Squirrel and how he saved his animal friends made page four!  Needless to say we are very proud of our budding author. Here he is at the book signing and reception with the graphic novelist/cartoonist, Chris Schweizer. He is also pictured here with some friends from our homeschooling group. Pictured from left to right is Blake (published for his photography work), Whit (my favorite author of wildlife fiction), Haylee (a budding poet), and Shelby (published for her artwork).  I would say he has a great circle of friends! Congratulations Whitman, on a fantastic literary beginning!

Watercolor Recipe Cards (aka What to do with all that artwork)

My children are prolific artists. They turn out quite a few masterpieces. We hang them on the walls, the refrigerator, and wherever else we can find a space. Here is the latest idea I had on how to use their art in the everyday and preserve it for years to come.

I cut their watercolor paper into half pages and used them for recipe cards! They are lovely and unique and perfect for perking up my kitchen. I am having them laminated. I will punch a hole in the corner and put then on a ring for easy access. I plan to hang them on a hook over my counter. The laminating will ensure they stay safe from splatters and stains.

These wet on wet paintings were done using the method described in Painting with Children by Brunhild Muller.
I always recommend real art supplies for children. A few real supplies and quality paper are better than flaky paint and cheap paper. There really is a big difference. Invest in a few good items and watch the art unfold!

*This would make a great gift for grandparents, etc.!*