An Eclectic Homeschool Journal

Zachary and Kate (and Josh's arm) celebrating the end of a successful waffle making session. We made a batch to eat that morning, which Josh is stirring, and made two bags of mixes to have for later mornings when we are in a hurry. All three kids love to help cook, but there isn't always time to coach them through the process. Hence - the pre-made mixes.

Subject: Math and Science  

Kate standing underneath our latest home improvement project. We found these little planters at The Dollar Tree store. Kate and Josh picked out the flowers and purchased them on their own from Pierson's garden center. Then Kate and I mixed up the potting soil and planted them. Kate helped determine where the planters should be placed. She's pretty thrilled the results - especially since Daddy commented on them immediately when he came home. :)

Subject: Science and Math  

Kate and Josh collborating over a game on the PollyPocket.com website. Kate's computer is not hooked to the internet, so she is using mine.

Subject: Technology 

Joshua working on a picture in MS Paint. He is using my tablet PC as his was recharging.

Subject: Language Arts and Technology 

Joshua leveling off the flour for a batch of play dough. He measured all the ingredients for three batches - one we were making right then, and two into bags for future use.

Subject: Math 

Josh counting the drops of red food coloring needed to make orange play dough.

Subject: Math and Science 

Josh mixing the colors to get just the right hue of orange.  

Joshua kneading the warm play dough. The recipe we use requires it to be cooked on the stove and then kneaded for a few minutes to get it to the correct consistency. This is one of his favorite parts! 

Joshua holding the two batches of play dough he made. The plastic silverware are part of an elaborate story he enacted with the orange play dough. 

Joshua collecting rain water from a puddle. 

Rainwater being transported to its new location. 

Joshua pouring the rain water into its new location - an upside down sandbox. He then tipped the upside sandbox to watch how the water moved but the mud stayed.

Subject: Science 

Kate writing her first journal entry. She has since purchased her own journal with a lock and in the course of two days has made six entries!

Subject: Language Arts 

Esther playing with rice and measuring spoons, while Kate did her school work.  

Today, Kate finished all of her formal schoolwork in less than an hour! A friend's mother called and asked if she could come spend the afternoon with them. Kate was eager to go, so she agreed to finish her school work before she went. Spelling, writing, math, and reading were all completed in 50 minutes!

What makes this even better is that Kate was learning two new skills today - how to use re-group in multiplication (e.g.:

123
x 4
---

and journal writing. She even took extra time to do two journal entries!

Joshua is in seventh heaven, because he and I spent an hour cooking together and he's been able to jump around on the trampoline while watching the Food network (he loves to watch cooking shows!)

After meeting another new homeschooler today at play group, Kate has become concerned about the welfare of children who go to school. She's heard that not all children who go to school know what is "right" and has concluded that the government should take a serious look at this. Her solution is that all children should take a year off school to homeschool and spend more time with their parents - to learn what is right. And that parents should take a year off work to learn what is right and teach it to their children.

I'm not really sure how to respond to this one. As a parent, I'm pleased that she thinks behavior and attitude are more important than academics and that she correlates spending time with us as important. But on the other hand, I know that this is a much more complex issue. I did remind her that many children who go to school DO know what is right. But agreed that many do not.

Our nice, quiet days at home are now over for a while. I'll miss them. I'm clinging to Fridays as a necessary day at home - for everyone to recharge. I'm hoping that come late Spring the kids will scale back a bit, but for now - here's what they are trying this semester:
- Gymnastics (see the pictures below!)
- Karate on Mondays and Thursdays (Initially, just Josh wanted to go, but when Kate watched a class she decided she really wanted to try.)
- New Song choir for Kate on Tuesdays. She attended the first session this week and came home so excited.
- Swimming Lessons on Thursdays. Many of their friends are in the same classes...Yeah!

And of course we have our regular playdates with friends (where friendships are really built!!) and Kate's Keepers of the Faith (aka Keepers) group.

The Keepers group made blackberry cobbler and cherry pie this week, working toward their baking badge. It was fun to fellowship with the other moms and watch the girls learn new skills. I've never made pie before so it was good for me too!!

Despite the busy schedule of activities, we're happy that we have the flexibility and downtime the rest of the day. It is only through homeschooling could Kate have the energy to explore her interests in this manner. I'm also thankful that the homeschool groups up here organize multi-age/level classes, so they can have lessons at the same time!

This straddle jump attempt yeilded Josh his first sprained ankle. He handled it well and was able to go back to class after a few minutes on ice. That afternoon, his sister played nursemaid and made sure he had ice and properly catered to :) 

Josh practicing at gymnastics. 

Kate on the tumbletrack at gymnastics. 

Zachary in front of the new interactive kitchen the kids recieved for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa. Today Kate played restruant using this kitchen, the food it came with, and my dishes. Zachary and I were her customers. So far all the kids have loved playing with this. 

With the start of the new year, we started new activities:

Last week Kate and Josh participated in a community service activity with their playgroup. In December the group made lap blankets and last week they wrapped and gave the blankets to members of a local nursing home. Over 100 lap blankets and muffs were distributed. Many hands make light work!

This week Kate and Josh started a new Gymnastics class at Aircata (www.aircata.com). The focus is on trampoline and tumbling skills. Kate asked me to bring the camera next week, so maybe we'll have pictures.

Kate had her first dissection class yesterday. Each member of her class dissected a fish, while their teacher dissected a shark. Since Kate is interested in sea animals, this was very exciting for her. She had hoped that she would get to take out the eye, and she did! Her fish was a female, so she was able to see the eggs inside the fish.

Next week, swimming lessons start.

This weekend Kate decided we needed to find out how tall giraffes are - up close and personal. And, she wants to swim with Dolphins. So we are on a search.

So far our brief web searches have yeilded a variety of possibilities near family. Check out the giraffe links on our Travels with Kids blog (http://www.travelswithkids.blogspot.com/). If you know of possibilities, please let us know. I'm looking at a field trip here.

Kate is currently fascinated by "How many hours, minutes, and seconds are in a year". But last week when she started asking how many were in two years, I created a spreadsheet to calculate it for us. The numbers are actually rather amazing:

In one year, there are
365 days
8,760 hours
525,600 minutes
31,536,000 seconds

In two years, there are
730 days
17,520 hours
1,051,200 minutes, and
63,072,000 seconds.

Fun with math!

Zachary pretending that the play dough knife is an airplane. He loves helicopters and airplanes! 

Early morning building with the new Fiddlesticks set. Esther is waiting patiently for her opportunity to dump the bucket out.  

Josh about to blow Dandelion seeds. In the end, the seeds weren't quite ready so they didn't scatter as much as he wanted.  

Esther taking another pass at the kittens. 

Esther trying to charm her way out of trouble. We are attempting to tame a litter of feral kittens. She was being chastised for chasing the cats.