Let the Games Begin!

We have officially started homeschooling as of this week. March 18 was our first day, odd perhaps but why not? That's what homeschooling is about - right? - freedom.

Celosia School Year D Week 1 (March 17-21)                    3 weeks on, 1 week off (make-up)



MONDAY             TUESDAY             WEDNESDAY      THURSDAY

Language	Math	Science	Music	Physical Activity	Alternate Activity	Art
Read Diary of a Worm, pick something he wants to record	Number sheets with noodles, rocks, household items	Scientific Salad Dressing p. 16 1) Oil w/garlic 2) Vinegar w/herb	Review instruments p. 6-11 CYHI #1	Monday 10 -11 am Recess at school	Read about Scat and Tracks	Take pictures for diary (him, cat, dog)
Diary of a cat entry, Raising Rock Stars	Add one, subtract one with cars, candy, marbles, money	Solvent or Solute? p. 17 1) water w/sugar 2) water w/sand 3) water w/salt 4 water w/rocks	CYHI #3	Gymbo Thurs 3 - 4 pm	Make a scat and tracks book with labels, Caleb trace first letters	Take photos of scat and tracks
Diary of a dog entry, Raising Rock Stars	Math book activity	Perfume Chemistry p. 19 1) Alcohol and cinnamon 2) Alcohol and orange peel 3) Alcohol and rose petals	CYHI #2	Trampoline, Soccer, and Running		Gymbo Thurs 6-7 pm

Books:

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
Super Science Concoctions by Jill Frankel Hauser 
Can You Hear It? (for music/art appreciation)

That's the plan and we're about halfway through. We got off to a slower start since he was sick on Monday.

Building a Schoolroom, and other things

It's not for sure yet - we'll make the final decision on Monday - but it looks like we're going to build a second floor on our little house on our land (currently nameless). We hope to have two guest rooms, an office for the King, and a schoolroom. I am so excited. I told Raccoon today that he wasn't going to go to school, but that he would do school at home with me. "I want to start right now!" he said. Me too.

I finally got our books out of storage, and as I put them on the shelves I thought of all the possibilities for projects and units. Being surrounded by books helps me feel much more confident in my ability to homeschool. My husband is better at sneaking in learning though, having a puppet ask Raccoon to count to ten. He's been able to count for awhile, but skips 3. I finally heard him count correctly, something he never would have done if I'd just asked him to count. He hates to perform, especially if he feels like there's expectations or the possibility of failure. We'll definitely have to work on his perfectionism. It's an ongoing theme in our household for sure.

If we do build, it should be finished mid-June, just when a friend is leaving. I bought all of her shelves and a small table. I can't wait to set up a space just for us. In the meantime, we've just been doing a lot of hands-on things like play-doh, nailing boards together, painting, and playing outside.

I've been focusing on character traits like perseverance, kindness (to his sister and our cats), hospitality (having friends over and what we do and say with guests), and respect.

Our internet is very slow, which makes it hard to post pictures, but I got two to upload.

 

Our current home, 80 square meters. I hope there will be a second 

floor up there in a few months! I long for a space of our own.

My first time with two at the table. Raccoon is tracing his hand and Kitty is eating the crayons. 

That's pretty much how school is going for now.

Nap Time: to school or not to school?

I am an introvert. Naptime is blessed relief for me. But only my daughter, Kitty, naps. My son needs one-on-one time with me, but this eats into my solo time to recharge. I don't know how to balance this. I don't know when to do school with Raccoon, because Kitty is right there and very curious, all the time. This week, my husband goes back to work and school begins, for all of us.

Wish me luck!!!

Against the Forceful Tide

I just saw this phrase and I love it. Raccoon has always marched to his own drum, and I believe he will do amazing things if I can help him stand up to the pressures pushing him down, trying to get him to conform, to be less of what he is. Sometimes, it's me. I actually told him today, "We don't need to talk about that anymore," when he obviously did.

My homeschooling phrase of the year is - let it go.

I want to study him this year, even as we jump into learning together. I have so much influence in his life right now. I worry so much about him. I don't want him to give up. He currently wants to be an inventor. I love that, except when he decides that the perfect time to make something is two minutes before we have to be out the door. I could have just given him rolls of tape for Christmas. Really.

The Whole Picture

There's blog life...

...and then there's real life.

Year D... and Year A?

I may think up a catchier title since I'm no longer calling it Tot School... but this will do for now. This is probably going to be a boring post to everyone except me. The short version is that I'm trying to keep things organized between my son and my daughter so that hopefully I can reuse some of my homeschooling ideas from him to her (I can hear you laughing, I know, I know, as my mom would say, "the best laid plans of mice and men..." but maybe there will be a little overlap? Let me have my moment of peaceful dreaming please.) I think best out loud and I this blog is mostly for my own record keeping anyway, so here goes.

Raccoon is doing preschool stuff and Ducky (her blog name used to be Robin but I'm changing it to fit more with her personality) is in baby school, which means chewing on things and creeping around at this point. Since Raccoon is going to preschool twice a week, I haven't done any lesson plans for him and we've just enjoyed things as they've come. A picture post will hopefully be coming soon. Our lives are currently utter chaos as we live in the middle of a messy remodel project, but I am hoping, praying, that life will return to something more ordered in December... maybe January.

Okay, so into the nitty gritty.

Here in Celosia, planned learning starts around one, so Year D is Raccoon's fourth year and I'm going to call what Ducky does "Baby School" until she graduates to "Tot School" next fall (although I may link up sooner if I feel like what she's doing matches up) and Raccoon will start Year E, which will roughly correspond to traditional kindergarten for him. She is already trying to copy what we do, at nine months old, grabbing a pen or paintbrush and trying to scribble on paper (she loves it when I grab the end of the pen so she can actually scribble with her fist on the lower part). So I'm guessing, I know it's far out, but that she's going to be ready for some kindergarten things the school year that she is 4-turning-5.

Raccoon's birthday falls nicely for his Year to correspond with the U.S. school year, but Ducky's birthday is at the beginning of the calendar year, so I have to decide if I'm going to do her Years by age or try to match them to a school year. I just need a system I can keep straight! I'm sure this is tediously boring to everyone else, but it's the kind of thing I love - making up peculiar systems.

                 Raccoon                     Ducky
Year A      1      2010*                  turning 1    2013             baby school
Year B       2     2011                    turning 2    2014             Tot School
Year C       3     2012                    turning 3    2015             Tot School
Year D       4     2013                    turning 4    2016             Preschool
Year E       5      2014                   turning 5    2017^            Kindergarten
Year F       6      2015
Year G      7       2016
Year H      8       2017^

*Each Year starts in September (or October if we do a soft start to school after summer projects)
^Next planned furlough to U.S., summer through Christmas perhaps

Okay, so that makes this Year A for Ducky, which is what I needed to figure out, or if not then I was thinking of doing a year of "baby school" for her before I called it anything else. Then she'll move into Year B in September, 2014, at 19 months until 27 months. The things I wrote down for my son's Year B were actually towards the end of his Year, so I think I'll be able to crossover some ideas and activities by that point. And if she's more of a I'd-like-to-do-free-play-on-my-own kind of girl, hallelujah! Ha ha. But I suspect she's going to want to "do school" like her brother. We'll see. (Hello future self, reading this post, how are things going for you? Drop me a note and let me know how close my guess was.)

I originally was going to start on my picture post of things we've done so far this Year, but I couldn't get past the title. Hopefully a little thinking ahead will serve me well later. How I love making plans... :)

Full Body School

Those three words sum up my approach to tackling homeschooling with Raccoon. We are going to be living out in the country, which I haven't had much peace about due to the King's long commute to work, but as I think more about my son, it's going to be a good thing for him.

An obstacle course.

An outdoor gym/playground.

A garden.

Water play.

Animals.

Maybe we'll build a rock wall.

I have to find peace about this move. To trust the Lord that my mission right now is not somewhere out there, but right at home, three feet and two feet tall.

A great post about this? Carissa's Blessed with Boundless Energy. I especially love this quote, "Specifically, I have him do some highly energetic movement and some relaxing focused balance type work right before we begin any seat work. We have been going in this order and it has helped a lot." This gives me hope. The nuts and bolts of how to make things work in school for Raccoon, this is what I need. Raccoon's energy is a blessing when channeled properly and not so much when it heedlessly overflows.