Schedule

Here's today's. The prelude which isn't noted includes brushing teeth, eating breakfast, and cleaning and caring for animals. The first two listed items will likely take place gathered around the little wooden table under the giant oak trees. The little field trip will be a visit to our town's little veterans memorial and will be today's Veteran's Day history. The cards for Papa continues the study of the holiday and will be today's writing activity. I love my days of learning and doing with these three amazing children.

Summer pics (was supposed to post in summer)

Luke's building decorative crosses. This one is for me; he made very individual ones for each family member. He's awesome!

Construction zone around here. They're building and measuring like crazy! Yay math!

Animals: science, responsibility, work, fun! Loving it! Yay outside space!

Model railroad museum and regional history

She does ballet. He does photography. He took this pic & hundreds more. :-)

Reading reading reading

This is the first day of "summer" and they got their school supplies out and busies themselves for hours.

Military equipment at the fair.

Goat milking at the fair.

We were moving. He's improvising.

Pre-K graduation 

My serious ballerina 

Music time with a family expert

Baking & measuring 

Sweetness (& writing for real purposes) 

Giant bubble science

My artists. Big brother idea and initiative!

Love good books! 

US geography tracking Granny & Papa

Leveling the yard. Engineering.

Just skip down to the sign pic... We are observing so many species of birds in our own yard!

Spelling with Legos. Cool big brother.

Incredible! We'll make the most of it! 

History lesson with GG's 90th.

We also visited a local historic gold mine, had plenty of beach science, rode a historic train and more .... But some pics fall through the cracks. We schooled pretty good over the summer without even trying. :-)

Oh, just found one of the mining pics!

And we're off

September, routine, tiny-space barn living, homeschooling.... We're doing it!  

Summer was filled with SO much work and moving and projects. However, there was a lot of learning mixed in there too. I actually blogged and posted twice over the summer and just discovered that both of those never actually published but are still listed as draft. .... There will be two summer oldies (hopefully) publishing out-of order following this post. 

The first week of homeschooling has confirmed what's been in my heart for years --- scary or crazy or no space, this is most definitely what I am supposed to be doing with that credential and masters degree. For the first time since my classroom days, I feel like I'm in my groove. What better classroom to run than one where I can focus solely on my own personal little treasures and invest in these three that I've been granted stewardship over? Of course, the third of those three is a two-year-old and can be a bit of a distraction. I've been telling myself and the older two that he is probably less distracting than 20+ classmates. Today our dear little distraction added a needy fever and some throw-up into the mix, while his older brother threw himself into a horrible attitude about school as he compared himself to his younger sister. Thankfully, she had no drama to contribute today. Today was quite a day; the previous five first days were much more idealistic. Good and bad; mud, sweat, cheers or tears, we're off!

My sweet needy one today. Whenever he gets hurt, he gets the "brrrrrr" (ice pack) from the freezer. Today he just laid it right on his cute little tummy.

Routine

I love routine, schedules, knowing what to expect and my children do well when all is as usual and running according to a predictable routine. As we prepare to move, again, we are at a point of transition where attempting to cling to our routine has become futile. I suppose it's nice that this closely coincides with the end of the school year, when summer is beckoning and threatening the establishment anyhow. We are split between two homes- the current where laundry and other necessities loom and require my attention constantly -and the near future where my husband is most of the time, and play and preparation and anticipation and time as a family have already moved in. We are riding out this school year doing the bare minimum of the provided materials. My focus is completely on getting the barn ready and then getting moved and (hopefully) settled. The materials and curriculum for fall sit in boxes. I long to have a place to spread all of it out and muse over it and eventually plan and prepare and chart my own course for my dear kindergartener and second grader. I hope to be settled and have a place to do just that by mid summer. And although I don't actually believe in stopping learning for arbitrary breaks, this summer, I will attempt no "schooling" til September. I must focus first on the barn, the move, and making it through the remainder of this school year; and only after we are settled in the barn with lots of shelves will I next focus on charting the course; and finally in September, we will embark. I drive myself crazy trying to jump ahead while living out of boxes, it is a short drive with our regular routine completely out the window. I write this to tell myself it is all okay; Planning can wait til August, routines get messed with when one moves or summer invades, and it's all okay! Pressure off! I want my eyes on the prize of fall. In fall we will establish new routines, set lofty goals, have a fresh beginning with new resolutions. We will be settled and have the time and space to tackle these. We will not only be back on track, but be on new and surer tracks. We will thrive. 

--- and here are some encouraging statistics I saw this week that I want to save for a rainy, need encouragement kind of day--- http://www.collegeathome.com/homeschool-domination/. (Not so fond of tile/subtitle, but the numbers are so good and echo true in my experience working with a vast array of homeschoolers.)

April Learning Snapshots

Off to church with Bible. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Gymnastics Olympics. Gymnastics skills, performance skills.

Ocean life

Concrete. How it's made & uses.

Ballet

Building skills, estimating

Easter, meaning & crafts.

Workbooks- not our fave but a little part of learning & practice.

Cooking, measuring, following directions.

Engineering with water, waterways discussion.

Zoo, a normal activity. This visit's focus on gorillas.

Types of native flowers.

Sharing, public speaking skills.

READING

Life in the Barn was Very Good

Life in the barn was very good- night and day, winter and summer, spring and fall, dull days and bright days. (E.B. White)

I found inspiration in the final pages of Charlotte's Web as we read it again this week. The passage continues . . . . It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat of the sun, the passage of swallows, the nearness of rats, the sameness of sheep, the love of spiders, the smell of manure, and the glory of everything.

The first sentence made it onto the old fence board and sits in my city house for now to direct and color my perspective as we embark on this huge undertaking. I look forward to the day I can find the perfect spot for it in the barn. The passage makes me remember that the glory of life is in the ordinary, the day in and day out; that my attitude and perspective will determine what life in the tiny barn will be. And this morning Tom Petty reminded me, "there aint no easy way out." The barn maybe tiny and I may have to fight not to shut down at the thought of moving twice in a year, but yet, there is something special about a tiny barn filled with memories; about an acre with old oaks and boulders, about climbing children, and perhaps garrulous ducks and chattering chickens and wagging tails and wild doves.

It is also timely that there is currently somewhat of a small living spaces trend. At least in thought, people are quickened by the idea of boiling it all down to the essentials, bucking against materialism, only having and needing to clean and care for that which is truly loved or needed, being efficient and cost effective. I've been reading these blogs and googling the endless images of brilliant solutions for small living spaces. I want to only have those things I need or love. I want to be organized and focus on relationships and our fabulous outside space. I want to embrace the cozy, secure, intimate atmosphere, and the charm and natural character that the barn so easily fosters. But none of this comes naturally to my actual physical skills. And while an acre of trees and animals and nature is very well-suited to homeschooling, tripe-digit inside square footage does not mesh with my triple-digit book collection (that I do love). Yesterday the final line of advice on a blog I read was, "See it as an exciting challenge and not as an impending nightmare. It is what it is!"

It is a challenge. It is impending. "There is no easy way out;" isn't this true for everyone in one area or another at one time or another throughout life for anything that's actually of value? I will not go through life looking for the easy . . . . that's certainly not the thought pushing me towards homeschooling! I want the best. The barn property has become a family project and is hard work. The last few days I have loved watching my kids work hard and especially watching my oldest working alongside his dad. He is working hard, coming home exhausted, learning so much, and finding joy in seeing the progress. My natural self is overwhelmed and wants to dread. I have to make a concerted effort to focus my perspective rightly and meet this challenge with excitement. I thank God for technology and the motivation in Instagram-ing to record and easily see the fruits of the labor, for encouragement in the words of E.B. White read just when I needed to hear them, for Tom Petty showing up on my Pandora this morning, and for the numerous people who have chosen this path on purpose and shared advice and photos all over the Internet. I will choose to TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD.

Arrivals

Here's what's shaping up for fall.

I will review 1B with Luke over the next few months & start him in the fall on 2A. I will begin Liv in 1A. (Oops the 1B didn't happen over summer, starting with review in September)

Lots of writing, drawing, & fun paper

I will likely order more of the 1-2-3 Draw themes. Great little articles on each ocean animal & the kids love following the drawing steps... Some fun & easy science. I thought Luke would be excited to read Stuart together, given his love for EB White's other novel, but for now he pleaded for another round of Charlotte.

Hopscotch, sight words, journals.

Multiplication DVD, math facts songs

Art & music - a start. Will also include plenty of listening. Luke is interested in learning the flute or violin, actually he wants to learn the whole orchestra but told me he'd start with one of those two. The violin teacher I talked said he's too young....would love to find a good Suzuki method teacher but that didn't happen.... The flute teacher recommended starting with a recorder.... So that's the plan.

History in the form of trains & planes & coloring. These modes of transportation will hopefully dovetail nicely with some of our historical fiction. . . Mazes because they love them!

We'll try out the Magic School bus science set.

A very small sampling of the books on the menu. Much of the menu I have in a box somewhere.

Some of it was just so tempting they couldn't wait! They're loving this fraction game!

History will start with historical fiction & student-interest topics. We will build on these topics through library books, research, field trips, map activities, videos, discussion, etc. We will also study history as related to holidays throughout the year. And finally, we will learn some US geography using puzzles & activities pictured.

Language Arts will be reading & writing & reading & writing & more reading & writing. Sight words displayed & referred to. Student independent reading & read alouds with discussion & some tie-in to story elements. Writing for real reasons- stories, articles, letters & editing/spelling/grammar all within the context of writing.

Math will be the only textbook. Although down the road, I'd love to incorporate & even focus on math classics, writings of

Mathematicians. For now I'm going with Singapore. In all I've seen, I find it to be simple & straightforward but at the same time focused very much on the concrete, contextual why's & not just on the "do this." Place value charts, base 10 cubes, manipulatives, real world measurement via cooking & working on a barn addition & more, fraction & other games, & memorization by song to be included.

Science will be student-interest, grandpa-interest, dad-interest based, nature walk inspired. Caterpillars & tadpoles are on our front porch right now. This month grandpa built a battery with Luke from lemons & dad panned for gold with him & taught him to identify the local minerals that showed up in the pan. Science ideas seem to spring up on their own left & right. We will run with these through research, books, videos, discussions, and hands-on projects. Visits to the beach and mountains will bring fresh ideas. Additional learning comes through the drawing ocean life book, reading highlights & zoo nooz magazines, trips To the zoo, etc. We will try out the Magic School Bus kit on germs. We will try various experiments from a few other books as needed to spur on the student, grandpa, & dad interest.

There will also be Bible, art, music, physical activity, life skills like safety & household chores...... But much of those seem to be so much a part of home anyways, I'm not sure how much will get categorized as homeSchooling in my mind.