Field Trip :: San Diego Archaeology Museum

Field Trip :: San Diego Archaeology Museum, originally uploaded by islandj.

The kids had a field trip today at the San Diego Archaeological Museum. There was a lecture, followed by many hands on activities. The kids participated in a dig (and thoughtfully had to determine what the item was, what it was used for, and where in the community of the ancient person it might have come from), they formed their own clay pinch pots, and made cordage (twine bracelets with beads).

But best of all, at the end of their time, the docent brought them outside and they picked through easy to find owl pellets (the museum has an owl box right outside the building). The types and quantity of bones that each child found was astonishing, and maybe a bit disturbing (I really don't like owl pellets, oddly enough). They love every minute, and didn't want to leave, even as the rain was beginning to pour down. Of course, then they found out that we were headed to the Wild Animal Park, with four other families... they managed to hop in the car pretty quickly!

Week Seven Wrap Up

Botany :: Clay Flowers, originally uploaded by islandj.

Another oddly stable week that was hard to fit everything into. I find it such a strange thing that the less we have outside the house, the more likely it seems we are to complete everything we plan to. Alas, there it is. Our week was good. We worked hard, completed notebooking pages, played at PE, ran at running club, learned about Georgia at state study, read about Ancient Assyria and India, baked up a storm for all kinds of things, did oil pastels and made clay models of flowers.

Sage completed her study of creation in her pre-k class, and it is amazing. When my camera returns, I'll take some photos and include them - I am in awe of how she expresses herself on paper, without any words.

Siena continues to delight in all the things she is learning that have a creative bent to them. She loves botany, and that Mrs. Cliff comes up with such fun ways to engage with it. She is infinitely patient with writing - and will narrate to me way longer than I want to write, and then happily rewrite it in her own handwriting. She's a joy to teach, often, and stubborn and frustrated with other things, just like the rest of us (let's not talk math this week). Oh, wait, yes, lets, she finished her math text and workbook, and is PROUD of herself, as she should be!

Sterling is finding his niche, and struggling through these (very) beginning stages of moving from boyhood to young man hood. He doesn't enjoy the process of writing, but prefers to do it all himself (no dictating to me first to make sure spelling and grammar are correct). In fact, much of how he learns is by taking the bull by the horns and going for it, no matter how hard it is to spell and remember all the writing rules. Once those are down, he will be formidable! Meantime, we continue to work on the character training side of his education - giving 100% even when you think the subject is "boring," and being willing to work even when it feels repetitive. He'll get there, and he too is a joy to teach.

Week Six Wrap Up

State Study, originally uploaded by islandj.

Ah, a quiet and calm week! We had rain, so PE was cancelled. Our friends had the flu, so Fine Arts was cancelled. No field trips. No special plans. It was a quiet and refined week, and it was much needed as we hit the six week mark (I find we can do about 5 weeks of steady, hard going school, and then everyone needs a break. Probably 4 weeks would be better!).

This week we got caught up and recaptured a bit of our routine. I also discovered that, once tired and ready for a break, it is harder to fit into five normal days what we managed to race into three days the week before. Such is the ebb and flow of it all.

Our times together at the couch are by far the sweetest of our days - reading great literature, beautiful picture books, and having impromptu discussions of what we have just read. I have a blended mix of history, bible, picture and literature that we read throughout each day and week, and it makes for a flow of thoughts - nothing is really designated as one thing or another - it is all just reading time, and full of thought and interest.

Our seat work time is not always so easy - writing and spelling and math can become tedious, and requires an entirely different kind of thought pattern. But they soldier on, having their victories and their skirmishes. It's good work.

Sage began officially this week, using a Kindergarten program that my friend bought for her daughter, but which was more suited to a precocious pre-K girl like Sage. She is beyond delighted, eager to sit down, and disappointed when after thirty minutes the time is up and the subject exhausted. I like her style.

Though there were no extra things, our regular routine still keeps us hopping. The kids studied New Jersey in state study, horses for nature study, dissected a flower (fascinating!), learned about Columbus's time on the sea, reviewed history, read, read, and read. Siena is learning about area, Sterling about mixed numbers. Sage is learning her numbers.

One thing that has gone particularly well this term has been our extra activities, including cooking, baking, and art. Siena has had dedicated drawing and watercoloring lessons, and with apples coming out our ears (and state study related snack to make each week), we've been busy. That has made all the seat work effort worthwhile, at least for me.

Next week... another quiet one. WooHOO!

Nature Study :: Apples

Nature Study :: Apples, originally uploaded by islandj.

So, yesterday was all about picking and eating and playing in the rain. Today, we got down to the delightful business of really inspecting our apples - we compared Empires and Jonathans, drew sketches of their exterior/interios, discovered the star in the middle, and then ate, ate, ate more apples (and a bit of swedish apple pie, which was so. very. good). I love that we can have a bit of nature time on one day, a time which is fully relaxed and pleasant, just looking about us and catching what is caught naturally. Then we come together again, and we can focus in a bit more on what we might learn from it - taking what we casually experienced in our "time in nature" moments, and carefully teaching a few (never many, never too in-depth) interesting bits about whatever it is - in the case of the apples, noticing the star inside, seeing the difference in apple shape, the texture of the fruit, the thickness of the skin, the taste. Each week we all learn something, and it makes us eager to learn more about the next thing.

Week Five Wrap Up

DSC03214.jpg, originally uploaded by islandj.

Another busy, crazy week!

We had a field trip on Wednesday, to the Agua Hedonida Lagoon, which the kids just loved. And then on Friday, we joined our nature study friends for a field trip day out to the apple orchards. It was fabulous. We even met for a few hours this morning (Saturday) to catch up and finish up our botany and apple study. So much flexibility - so many options requiring it!

The kids continue doing well, and we are grateful. We also had our first charter school meeting this week. Once every 5 or 6 weeks, we meet with an ES (Educational Specialist) at our charter school, showing her the work we have been doing. She evaluates us, and passes that along to the department of education auditors (have they nothing better to pay for and do? Sorry, off my soapbox now!). It was a good meeting - and preparing for it even better. I love knowing that once every 5 weeks I'll be forced to gather all our materials, make sure everything (soon to add this blog to that list) is up to date, finished and filed, and prepare the kids for sharing what they know with another adult. Siena had a terrific conference with the ES, going through her work notebook subject by subject, sharing what she knew, answering extra questions, and feeling very good about all she has learned. Sterling's time was cut rather short (the ES was running very behind, and we had state study to get to), but I think that was fine with my quieter boy. I'm looking forward to seeing if there is any feedback from her.

I'm amazed at all we are doing and what the kids are learning from it. I am beginning to trust, more and more, in the process, in the joy of just reading and letting the kids make relationships of their own - doing an appropriate amount of written work/worksheets/projects to make it interesting and build written/verbal skills, but not focusing on any "result." The real result ends up being that they ARE developing relationships with the material - making connections that show up days, weeks and months later, and tickle me each time.

Field Trip :: Aqua Hedionda Lagoon

Field Trip :: Aqua Hedionda Lagoon, originally uploaded by islandj.

Another field trip week - this time, a truly unique experience hosted by the nature club at a local lagoon. The kids had several stations to explore - traditional medicinal herbs, an archaeology dig, tooling and branding leather, and learning about vandalism and painting on rocks. This was a no-siblings allowed field trip, so Sage and I go to sneak off and have some mommy-sage time, so I don't know much more about what they did. I do know that when I picked them up, they were all animated and couldn't stop talking about all the things they had seen and done. Sterling even asked if we could have another field trip there! That's the best recommendation of true learning I know.

Week Four Review

P1040151.JPG, originally uploaded by islandj.

Holy Busy Week, Batman!

It is amazing to me how much we can squeeze in, when we need to. We had Monday off, as we were driving home from our camping trip in Jalama. Thursday, we had a field trip the Museum of Making Music. Friday we had a turbo long nature study. All this on top of PE, Fine Arts Tuesday, Running Club, and Natural Fridays! It was a busy week!

And yet, the kids did really well. We had some very tired moments - Thursday after the field trip, all we could manage was tea time, and several hours of reading (aloud, with audio books, and alone). We had to let some things slide - no computer reading program, we didn't do "extra" math as we usually do, and when in doubt, we did the most important and didn't bat an eye when we did a bit less elsewhere. That's part of what homeschooling is about. But for the most part, we did do everything a normal week should hold!

I was telling Chris yesterday that I see improvement in areas already. Sterling doesn't do particularly well in Writing With Ease (a program designed to help them, well, write with ease - using verbal narration, copywork, dictation and eventually, writing your own narration) - he does fine, but nothing special - but I have seen an improvement in his other narrative writing (to which we shout - Huzzah!). Siena is finding more strength this year, greater ability to slog through something challenging, and together we are finding methods that work. A great example is spelling - she really struggles with it, and we have found a way that makes her feel successful, just a few words at a time (and again, a resounding Huzzah!).

Sage continues to be a wild card, and I am hoping to get a pre-K program put together for her in the coming week, so that she has some focused "school" time which can help settle her during other times. She never wants to be left out, but really, no four year old wants to sit through long history readings, ones without pictures!

In other subjects - Botany is moving into seeds and their lives, geography continues to follow Seabird around the world and into the South Pacific, we finished our initial study of ancient egypt and listening to wonderful old literature about it (Peeps into Many Lands: Ancient Egypt), we built lego pyramids and mummified lemon slices. Sterling finished his Math workbook, and keeps playing the First in Math program to accumulate "points" for our "class team." Siena amazes me with her ability to articulate what we are reading about, and her willingness to write and write and write. And then draw, color and paint!