Homeschool Confidential 3

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And What About the Girls?

Kaya is doing great in "Preschool." It is a bit more work and not as involved as Aden's was, but she is still having fun and we do something together nearly every day. She is slowly learning her sounds of the letters, but she doesn't show off like Aden did. She will whisper the sounds to me, or make a game of it later in the day.

Right now she watches Dora the Explorer, a very new development, and she will whisper the answers to Dora as well. Shy? Yeah, a bit!

Sophie is just being Sophie. But she is probably more astute than the other 2 were- nothing gets past the child! And if one of the other kids do it, then she must too, no exceptions! She is really talking now, in full albeit short sentences - "Off the table, Nella!" or "Where's Mommy?" and "Wash hands, mommy!"

 

Her favorite thing now is coloring. A few weeks ago, she picked up a pencil, held it better than the other two ever did, and just started coloring - pencils, crayons, markers, with what ever she could find. She likes to hold a small pad of paper and walk while she "writes" so Craig thinks she looks like a reporter! Hahaha!

 

How Time Flies . . . 7/26/04

Here we are on the fringe of a new school year, and I have to sit back and think to myself- can it be true? Are we really beginning THIRD GRADE? How have the past 4 years of school (from preschool onward) passed so quickly and so smoothly? How have we lasted so long?

It is interesting at this juncture because it seems that our family has to take seriously what we are doing. No longer is this just a “fun thing that may pass, a phase. Aden is nearing upper elementary, so it seems our families are resigned to what we are doing. And how are we doing?


Well, given our busy schedules, I have not had the time to chronicle our escapades as much, but the end of second grade (and preschool) was fun-- the kids got to experience a spring out in the "country" and all the events that has entailed. As such, I think our unschooling summer has been more rewarding than anything else. The kids have learned how to garden -- both for landscape and for food. They loved picking blueberries all summer. Our neighbors dog had puppies and my kids got to be there to see the actual birth. The same neighbors have chickens and a miniature horse, so they have enjoyed feeding the horse apples and helping collect eggs.

Aden's big news is that, with the help of the neighbor's pool and a set of goggles, he has learned to hold his breath under water for a long time, and with that, swim! I guess it is no fun just sitting under water; you gotta move . . .

Kaya's big news is that she is learning to read! It has been a very different trip than with Aden -- she already knows all the letters and the sounds they make, and putting the sounds together to make words is very easy for her. Now if she will stop “making up" parts of the sentence she thinks works better, we will be in business.

Here is looking at year five!!!

I never Thought of it that way - 2-14-05
Here we are, homeschool one in 3rd, one in kindergarten, and one soon to be in preschool. Even thought I had done barrels of reading and research, I never quite realized the differences I would encounter in my children.

WIth Aden, everything is a game. He learns so much as long as we put it in a game format. Any rough edges, and we make a game to better learn the material. Kaya, the kindergartener, is on a completely different plane.

It's easy to read about how all kids learn differently, but it is quite another matter to see the actual effect of it! Kaya draws, sings, and dances. She thinks everyone should win the game, so games do not hold as much interest for her. But give her a set of markers, and we are good to go. Aden was not a "sit and color" type guy, but sometimes, with Kaya, I feel I need to put a limit on art time! As opposed to games, we do a lot with color and song. She writes her letters in blue, green, pink, or what ever suits her fancy, then she colors and draws all over her paper to accentuate the writing.

Also, since she is so into art like this, her writing is fantastic! She wrote a 5 page letter to santa this year, and she's only 4! Albeit, the spelling was interesting, but I know that Aden is not a writer in that scope. Concise is the law he lives by in writing. In fact, this was a point of contention with the hubby and I the other day. There was a sign on Aden's door about knocking, and my hubby stated that we really need to work on Aden's writing if that is the level he is at. I asked, what sign? knowing Aden has not written any signs for his door. Hubby replied, the "knocking" one. I burst out laughing. Gosh, honey, I replied, give Aden more credit than that! He didn't write it, Kaya (the 4 year old) did! Hubby's eyes lit up. Well then, he said, have her keep up the good work. Funny, he mistook the 4 year old's writing for an 8 year old.

We are building great memories!


April 27, 2005

Today was a banner day for our family. For the first time, Sophie, the youngest, has asked to do "school" with us! For so long she couldn't even be bothered with sitting with us to color or play. SHe had to be off and running! This is so unlike her sister who has been doing "school with us since before she was 2. Lately, Sophie has been drawing and coloring, mostly drawing her family - "This mommy, This daddy, This Sophie!" So today, when she ran through the house announcing she wanted to do school too, I was ecstatic. Then I learned another aspect of homeschooling -- three kids at one time is HARD!



IT SEEMED LIKE A BUST - 6-22-2005

This year has been a rough one for us. I did the math and figured that, since the very first of this year, we have only done "school" consistently for one month - April. All the rest of the months were interrupted by illness (Jan, Feb, March), Vacation (May), and a death of a close relative - Papa (June).

While these are all valid reasons for not getting anything done, it is heart-wrenching. It makes this year feel like a complete bust. We are so far behind that we are still doing school at the end of June and will likely do a little bit each day for the remainder fo the summer to be ready for next year.

As I was lamenting this one afternoon, I spoke to a good friend who also homeschools. Her youngest is now 15, so she has some great experience that I lack. I told her all we had really done consistently so far this year was read. She said, "It sounds like your kids learned two very important things this year: to care for others, especially those we love, and to love reading. It sounds like your kids learned a lot this year."

They did learn a lot this year.


Pooh Party Bonanza! - 2/24/2006

My baby turned 4 today - well, not really, but she will on tuesday and we celebrated her fourth birthday today. We had a Pooh party. It seemed fitting that my baby's last baby party would have such a baby-ish theme. As a result, I went all out this time. THe walls of our huge kitchen were splashed with sky-blue sheets upon which we hung pooh characters. We had pooh games, pictures with pooh, a pooh craft, pooh storytime, and a pooh pinata. We even had a beehive cake complete with fabric bees buzzing round. Then she opened her mountain of presents, got everything she could have ever wanted, and I think she didn't stop smiling the whole day. She absolutely glowed. What a difference from her demeanor four years ago. My baby is four.