Colin has been doing well in baseball. They seem to use him as catcher more than the other kids, so it's nice to see him in a particular role. For blastball last year, it was pretty much chaos. This year they're learning the basic rules and it feels like we're watching a real game, although they don't keep score yet.
They still hit off of a tee, but Colin usually smacks it off just fine, so he'll be ready for real pitching soon.
The weather has been a mixture of stormy and beautiful, often going back and forth all day. A big project I've been working on is building a little pond. The sound of running water is really peaceful! Of course, after all the rain lately, dirt from the rocks has been washed into it and clogged the filter. Alas there it sits until I can bale out all the water and clean it out!
We added a few other things around the yard this year. We've had the gnomes forever, so when we saw the gnome door, it seemed perfect for our Red Oak.
We also found a mermaid to hang out at the pond. : )
Chloe was inspired to make her own pond and decorated it with floating dandelions.
No matter what Hannah does outside, mud is quickly involved. Her pond turned into a mud bath for dolls, which are now permanently outside dolls.
The kids helped me mulch the beds and put a few new things around the yard. I'm most pleased with the deck being more usable and prettier than it has been.
Chloe was set on getting this picture taken. It's a mystery where the pose comes from.
Every month I decorate a new calendar page for the kids to use. They are consistent about marking it off and keep up with events much better with their own to look at. Hannah requested to take care of April. I love how she started 1 at the beginning, which makes logical sense, but then realized it didn't quite work that way and fixed it herself.
Keeping Colin busy during school while having him still learn- and in his hands-on way, is always a challenge. Pinterest always helps me out. Here, I gave Colin parts of a flashlight and told him to "fix it." Well that's lasted about 3 minutes. He figured out the battery arrangement pretty quickly.
Here he has bowling pins in the hallway. He was supposed to record how many pins he knocked down each time. It was really just number writing practice disguised as a game. The girls tried it with addition and multiplication, but they kept getting super easy numbers, so we'll call it gross motor skills practice for them : )
This one worked out better than expected. Globs of play-do with toothpicks stuck in them. I started some Froot Loop patterns that he finished. Then he made his own patterns. Chloe has been particularly pleased with this one and she keeps going back to it to make more designs.
Colin has finally shown interest in reading so I began him on the same Hooked on Phonics program that worked for the girls. He's hit his stride and is proud to read many 3 letter words. Another idea I saw on Pinterest was to make these egg words. He liked that a lot and it gives him independence and more hands-on activity.
We're finally back on track with our Five in a Row books. During Lent, I might have mentioned that we alternated science weeks and badge weeks. Well, it turns out we're happier with a little more structure than that provided, and I think only 2 kids completed a badge out of the many we began, so we'll pick that back up later. But it feels good to get back into a comfortable schedule. Last week we read
The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco. On the first day, we simply read it and visited Polacco's website where she talked about how long her process is in order to complete a book- about a year and a half from conception to the bookshelves. In the book, the characters join one another one by one to chase after a bee to find its bee tree. One of them frequently says "Klondike" and has just returned from the Yukon. This seemed unusual at first, but we figured it out in the end. I checked out some books about the Klondike gold rush, which I found completely fascinating. When I read about a topic in depth, I feel like I'm able to give them a pretty interesting "lecture" in terms I hope they'll absorb along with a few pictures. This particular day, we had school at the library, which was really peaceful :)
After discussing the sacrifices, intentions, and physical journey the thousands of people made to get into that region, we discussed 2 things- 1. the Bible verse about storing your treasures in heaven. Most of the men did not strike it rich. And many who did, still died poor or unfulfilled. Was it wise of them to focus on such an adventure? Was the adventure itself worth it? Now that the girls are older, they have a lot more insight and it turns into a great discussion- life lessons! 2. We talked about advertising. Many people rushed for the gold because they saw ads making it sound like a sure thing. We discussed- how accurate is advertising? What tricks do they play on us without actually lying? The girls each chose a historic picture and advertised for the Klondike.
Silly me took awhile, but I put two and two together and realized one of the catchiest commercials from my childhood actually combined Klondike and clever advertising. We watched one of the commercials and found Klondike bars at the local drugstore. I thank the internet for telling me which stores carried it then mapping my way to the nearest one. So efficient for my last minute ideas!
So in the end, we figured out that the character in The Bee Tree is calling out Klondike, not only because she had just come from her own expedition, but because they were all chasing after another kind of gold- honey!
Honeycombs afforded us the opportunity to talk about hexagons and one of my favorite art projects from school- tessellations!! We followed some YouTube instructions for how to cut and tape your own original shape. The girls did quite well with it. (Colin colored a printed tessellation). Once I showed them that the shape could also be decorated, they went with their favorite thing to draw. They almost never draw anything else- faces. Hannah chose a pattern of happy face/monster face. : )
I have officially decided to quit teaching horn. I simply need more personal and family time in life as the kids are growing so fast. The teaching requires a lot of driving and rescheduling so there's extra time involved. I'm constantly on the go, and even though I do homeschool the kids, I'm missing many things in their lives I would rather not. I will still perform, but teaching is the most consistent obligation during the week and would free us up the most- as much as we can be freed up! But it was so, so difficult to make that decision because I've been at this school for many years now and have taught their students from beginner level to graduation. This means I hand the kids their horn for the first time and I see them later succeed at auditions and solos and by their senior year become quite good little players and on their way to other things in life. I become very invested in them along the way, and since I teach at their homes, I know their families quite well, too. Our lessons aren't just about learning horn, they're about the love of music and how it relates to everything they'll do in life- from how to balance their attention, how to problem solve, how to be efficient, how to express themselves positively, how to persevere, how to work as a team, the list goes on forever. So even though it's going to be tough to let go, I will keep in touch and like to think I had a small hand in a few kids' lives that will be part of the "village" that raised them. Here I am at their concert with one of my really sweet students at who would probably win the most improved award. : )
In the same building as their concert is an art gallery. I noticed that several elementary schools had artwork on display. I brought the kids back the next day so they could have some fun looking around and decide if they wanted to try any of the projects they saw.
Usually, I walk around and point everything out and make sure they see this or that. This time I told them to each go their own way, stay quiet, and really take their time. At the end, they pointed out several projects they liked and we took a picture so they could try them out later.
I was especially pleased when the girls were excited to spot several tessellations. It really connected them to other kids in that moment.
Hannah also pointed out this onomatopoeia she liked. Happily, it worked right without our lesson and was already on the agenda. There were several onomatopoeias in The Bee Tree. The girls thought of their own and did a similar project.
Hannah definitely got the right idea with hers, but Dax and I had to chuckle at the word paired with the rather bloody look of the paint.
The Bee Tree actually takes place in Michigan, so we found it on the map and read a few facts about it. The flag is quite complicated, but Hannah made it work haha
Finally, I gave them their biggest project, which was independent research. This seemed like quite a feat for Chloe as a first grader, but I figured what's the harm in a challenge? We talked about what research was and how to go about it. We decided books were the first "go-to" and then to look for any real life opportunities to learn. I looked up the possibility of visiting a bee farm or honey plant, but they were either too far away or too pricey. Then I showed them some sites they were able to look up on their own to find information their sheet asked for. They have a section of the computer that is their own and is content blocked. They were able to find all their facts with minimal help, so at the least, I feel like they have some confidence in finding basic information.
One of the final lessons in the book is that reading can be just as much of an adventure as real life- as sweet as honey. The Grandpa drops a bit of honey on his granddaughter's book and has her taste. Chloe really wanted to try that : )
That wrapped up The Bee Tree. We've tried to make it to the park a couple of times when school lets out for the day. They see their friends often, but this is an opportunity to meet different kids and interact. Whether it's from homeschooling or just their personalities or a mix of the two, I've found the kids have no qualms about introducing themselves and getting along with other kids of all ages wherever we are. They simply haven't experienced being made fun of or ostracized and haven't had to fit into a clique, so they have no idea that another kid won't be anything but a potential great friend. So far this has worked well for them (hopefully that will last) and other kids respond positively to that. They generally introduce a game and are all pals in no time. I know many kids make friends easily, but I was super shy as a kid, so it feels great to see them waving goodbye to kids by name and making plans for "next time."
We were proud of Colin and his spring program at school. He's recently shown more interest in music in different ways. He's usually very guarded and modest about certain things like performing (or getting dressed!) but he sang along fine. I love seeing all the colorful little outfits and hearing the cheerful songs. There are so many wrongs in this world, so let's enjoy the simple and beautiful things!
Just like his sisters before him, Colin had an array of art work in the hallway he wasn't quite sure he made haha!
Here are some other happenings in the last while... Hannah excited to try the mac and cheese at a new barbecue place that opened up. She's very particular!
A friend of mine and I are thinking about hiking the John Muir Trail in California. Sadly, it sounds like just another one of my ideas I cook up and never complete. However, I do have a few great things happen from ideas and that's worth all the ones that don't work out. Also, we seem to have stayed interested in this for quite awhile now and are reading up on it pretty often. She's an avid outdoorswoman so we aren't coming at it from nowhere : ) I did find this book to get me started in our area at least. Now to find the time...
Dax had a birthday, but wasn't feeling up to visiting our favorite restaurant. So we did another favorite thing of his and walked around the ever busy town square and visited the shops. If you ever want to people watch, that's the place to go! I also went to the square's theater production of Rent, which our good friend is conducting.
We love the local candy store and it's weird masks.
On Dax's actual birthday, we were invited to a swimming birthday party for a friend's little boy. Chloe even poses for the camera in water! The girls were pretty proud of going down a loopy slide they've been weary of. Now they can't wait to go back.
Around here, I need a lot more pitching in. The kids are better about completing little tasks, but there's so much more. They're also very interested in earning money. There is a particular system I want to use when they're a little older, but for now, there are certain things I just don't want to do around here I can delegate. I bought little wooden shapes and labeled them with jobs and the amount they're worth. They can pick a job anytime. When they complete it with adult approval (they get 1 chance to improve it) they drop it in the dropbox. At the end of the week, I empty the box and pay them. I've seen several in the dropbox this first week, so I hope this lasts awhile.
We've started our second week back with
Henry the Castaway about a boy who imagines a river adventure in the jungle. It generally touches on the topic of explorers, so it's time to introduce the kids to Christopher Columbus. We'll also learn about Magellan and Lewis and Clark. There were countless books in the library of course and at first I opted to give them one written for young kids. However, I'm getting better about realizing sentence structure and vocabulary doesn't have to be simplified for the kids to get the most out of it- in fact, quite the opposite. So I chose a book that had more quality, interesting writing than the others, and they all followed along fine. I supplemented the non-fiction with some live action haha. We had a globe to refer to also. We had a monopoly ship to represent Columbus's three ships and of course 2 kings and a queen for Portugal and Spain.
I put a gold and some spices in the Indies, where Columbus thought he had aimed and landed. The kids found this particularly entertaining. I also certainly did not leave out the wrong doings of Columbus! We had a terrific lunch debate about whether or not he should be so famous or be called a hero and have his own day.
With Chloe, my stance was that he was not a hero. She had to argue the opposite. She said he was because he discovered a new land and was determined enough to stick it out in Spain for several years before he got the money. He was also brave because it was a difficult journey and quite a task to get 90 crewmen. We did this back and forth a few times, and I was impressed with her quick thinking!
With Hannah, I argued that he was heroic. She said he could not be since he had killed and enslaved so many natives. I said that soldiers in war were called heroes and they killed people. Wasn't that the same? She decided it was not the same because soldiers are paid. Of course I mentioned that Columbus was also paid. She then said that soldiers were paid and fighting for their country whereas Columbus was only doing what he did for himself, and that means he can't be a hero. I thought that was pretty good reasoning : )
We then read the first 3 chapters of Pippi Longstocking, a definite favorite from my childhood. I love reading something unrelated because suddenly, we notice that things
are related
. Pippi had spent her life at sea with her father and she had spent time in Portugal, so we noticed these little connections with our Columbus lesson.
Other than allllll of that, we're enjoying the weather.
Till next time.
