What homeschooling looks like

First, happy birthday to me!  Second, thank you every one for the birthday calls.  I love that I can count on one sure day a year when people call me and chat.  Though, by the end of the day I shudder when the phone rings... again... Phone conversations sort of suck energy out of me (in the same way Gauge sucks restful sleep out of me night after night...)

Anyways, one recurring question was "How's homeschooling going?"  And here's the answer: It's going just as well as it has been going for the past five years when I didn't even know that's what I was doing.  We read books, we play games with hidden educational value, we learn about the world around us...  In some instances I'm the definite teacher, but the best times are when I follow and assist in their own discoveries.

So here's what homeschooling looks like for us right now:

It's a camping trip when Gauge discovers he can make mud as well as his sisters.

It's fairy houses made out of nature and nothing man-made.  It's making that fairy house with a friend who has completely different ideas of how the end product should look.

It's stopping for lunch at Arches National Park on the way to visit family.  It's the discussion of erosion, the word arch and noticing the different dirt, rocks and plants along the trail.  It's listening to the German and Chinese tourists.  It's chatting with the fellow from New Zealand.

It's reconnecting with family at a time of year others are in school.  It's pulling dandelions from Uncle Geoff's yard and talking about how they're edible and how we don't have any that grow here in Safford.

It's teaching your sister's baby doll how to pick the ripe tomatoes.  It's watching a wild tomato plant spring up there in the first place!

It's fixing a broken broom with materials we have so they don't have to pay for it with their allowance.  It's catching the rain water in the swimming pool, then talking about how the dirt in the water eventually settles to the bottom to make the water look clear until Gauge splashes in it some more.

It's shoes caked with mud from walking and observing the world on a rainy day.

It's identifying the snake that greeted us when we got home this evening.  Cairn remembered learning about this sort of snake at the library.  More importantly she taught Cerise and Gauge to never touch a snake unless a mommy or daddy says it's all right.

It's playing games, learning to share and take turns.  It's enjoying each other.

At least for this year we aren't adhering to any particular style or curriculum.  I think kindergarten should still be relaxed and fun...  I thought that about many of my college classes too though.  We read.  Cairn is learning how to read.  We bring books home from the library about...  everything.  We enjoy the nonfiction books as much as the storybooks; the poetry as much as the prose.

Homeschooling is going well.

Colors!

So I randomly came across melted crayon art and was astonished that people were able to sell it.  But I also loved the bold, colorful look and thought it would be a perfect project to talk about colors, color mixtures, the rainbow and art styles!  And so we did it.

The Letter E

Ok, a quick post on our letter Ee week is in order.  If I didn’t you wouldn’t see the pumpkins the girls got to paint!
Monday was all about exercise.  We talked about how we take care of our bodies and as soon as Cairn mentioned running and playing I jumped at it and turned the conversation to exercise and all of its different forms.  I really tried to emphasize how when ever they play and move their whole body they are exercising… so exercise is active play.  And for the rest of the day that’s just what we tried to do.
We played with Ernie pretending to swim in this video:

Then we went outside to play a jumping, froggy, letter Ee game.  I drew a lot of lily pads on the patio with letters inside of them (mostly big and little Ee’s with a smattering of other letters).  The kids then had to jump only on the letter Ee to get across.  I even threw in some rules after a few hop throughs that they had to say if they were on a big E or a little e.  They loved it!
 


After snack they colored a revised worksheet and ran outside to hop some more on the lily pads.  Quite often they chose the furthest possible lily pad to jump to instead of little hops much closer – these frogs were amazing!







Wednesday we talked about another Ee word – emotions or feelings.
I stole some emotion-wrought faces from the internet (I can’t find the exact ones I used right now, but there’s a ton out there), cut them out and had them face down.  The kids took turns flipping them over and we talked about each emotion, and made the faces and sounds that go with it.  When we got through them all I asked which ones were good feelings and then what we do when we have the bad feelings.  That led into reading the book Mouse was Mad which is just a great book since it teaches small kids to be silent when throwing a tantrum… or it could teach parents that it’s ok to tell kids they’re throwing the tantrum wrong…  Anyways, mouse gets so angry that he stands absolutely perfectly still and that helps calm him down.
Then we did an activity that was such a hit with Cairn and Rebekah last year that I just couldn’t wait to do it again:  We had kids inside and outside looking at each other through the window.  They had to take turns making a face so the other could trace that emotion with a dry erase marker right onto the window.  They turned out some masterpieces!  And I really did try to get a photo of it, but none of them turned out… so you’ll just have to try it yourself to see what fun this activity is!
After snack time every one got to choose a little pumpkin to paint an emotion on it.  Well, that was the plan.  Once they had the paint and pumpkins they all decided to just paint it.  All.
Following are the painting pictures and the finished product, enjoy!

D for Dinosaur

Nastia taught this lesson.  Now, a word on Nastia: she types out her lesson plans completely and wonderfully.  I almost feel I should just post her lesson plan with a few pictures taken during the actual time because they are just that complete.  I keep meaning to at least type what I intend to do… but my lesson plans come out best as a few scribbles on a piece of scratch paper.  At any rate, because I feel posting her lesson plans would be cheating (and make me feel bad for not being able to do the same for mine) you’ll just have to make do with my brief synopsis.
D is for dinosaurs who don’t eat donuts.  That’s what I got out of the lesson (because my visuals were just to giggle-able to ignore)
She read Ten Little Dinosaurs, sang a dinosaur song (see below) and had clips from Dinosaur Train (Cairn’s second favorite show right now).  They talked about different kinds of dinosaurs… specifically herbivores and carnivores.  The kids (only Cairn and Nik this day) got to be a dinosaur and look for appropriate food.  Cairn was a T-Rex and looked for pictures of meat while Nikoli was an herbivore that got to munch on all the plants
For the activities they made letter D’s out of playdoh and stamped fossils into them, and made sandpaper letter D dinosaurs:

I like that in the background of the fossil D picture you can see the grass bouquet Cairn picked for me.

C makes different sounds

C is a difficult letter.  Have you ever thought about it’s different sounds?  There’s C that sound like K for Cairn.  There’s C that sound like S for Cerise.  Then throw in an h and it starts sounding like a Choo-Choo train. 
Wendy took this subject and I spent most of my time in the back with the babies so I can’t tell you how she taught it, but I can show you the maze she drew up for the kids to get the cat (k sound) to the circus (s sound):

She also had the kids make Halloween crafts (k sound): we painted egg carton humps black and stuck in pipe cleaner eggs to make spiders.

 

Cerise made one too, but had to occupy herself until one of the big kids finished and let her take the seat at the table:

I don’t know how she hasn’t fallen and cracked open her head with all the climbing she does!

Oh! And I can’t leave out the Ch activity!  The kids went outside to gather CHicken eggs to make CHocolate cupcakes.  While they waited for the cupcakes to bake they finished up some Halloween cards they started the other day: Paint a white foot on black paper, turn it upside down and its a ghost!  Very cute… sorry I don’t have a picture though!

Nocturnal Animals

After the lesson on our own night time routines (I know, I’m out of order!) we had a lesson all about nocturnal animals.  Here in the dessert this lesson is quite apropos since there are more nocturnal than diurnal animals.  I got a few books from the library and we looked at the pictures and talked about some of the different animals and the senses they use to navigate in the dark.

Before I talk about the rest of our activities, here’s pictures I hijacked from the Sonoran Desert Museum that show many of our desert animals in the day and the night so you can get a feel for how busy our nights can get!  I highly recommend going to their site (link in previous sentence in case you missed it…) because you can arrow over the animals in the pictures to find out their names (the Mule Deer is named Clancy… check it out!).

After that brief discussion we turned off the lights and closed the blinds so we could test some of our senses in the dark!

Owls: We played simple hide and seek in the dark.  The owl kept her hands in binoculars over her eyes because owls can see well in the dark and ‘flew’ around the room looking for ‘mice’ to catch and eat.  All of the mice hid under the kitchen sink every time.

Bats: Another version of hide and seek, the bat was blindfolded (even though they can see well in the dark they use echo-location to get around) and all the bugs stood still and squeeked until they were caught.

Fox: To practice using our sense of smell the kids got blindfolded and led to plates with…. stuff on them (Cheese, oranges, soap and rocks).  They then had to tell just by smelling whether it would be good to eat or not.

Raccoons: These critters have a great ability to feel around in the dark to find a tasty treat.  For this activity I filled a large bowl with water and put in some glass googlies, grapes and other random objects.  The blindfolded child had to reach in and find something to eat.

For snack time we got to eat all of our findings and then some.

To wrap it all up the kids got a dark blue sheet of paper with a moon and this sheet of nocturnal animals to color and cut out.

 

I had included the diurnal animals (that I can’t get to display just now) but just nocturnal was more than enough to keep them busy for the whole of their attention span.

More on B

For a quick add-on, here’s the homework worksheet the kids were sent home with.  Cairn loves when she gets homework because then she can be just like Daddy!
Now, for the worksheet… I found the picture of the clown on a few places online (I couldn’t tell you exactly where at the moment) then added a balloon and all of the letter B’s.  So cut out and match the big and little b’s then color!

(Cerise get’s mad when she can’t make the crayons sit just right in her hand… but look at how well she stuck the balloons on near the circles!)

Night time

Today’s preschool lesson was on night time.  Really we talked about this to prep for the next lesson on nocturnal animals.

We discussed the difference between night time and day time then read Goodnight Moon.  While reading we talked about how the rabbit knew it was night time, what he and the other things were doing and what they saw in the pictures… like the mouse that is on every colored page.

We then talked about what we do at night and play acted each step of getting ready for bed… putting on pajamas, brushing teeth, getting a drink, reading stories.  Then I told the kids that I used to stay up at night time to learn about the stars and showed pictures of the night sky.

During snack (carrots cut in circles and raisins) I encouraged them to make their own constellations while I showed pictures of some and told the stories behind them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our activity after snack was to poke holes in a paper and connect the ‘stars’ to make our own constellations.  They then dictated the ‘myth’ or story behind their own constellation.

Our constellations included a train, a turtle (that was also reported to be crocodiles and a mouse), a kite and a playground.

Bringing home a B

“Gifts for Mommy”

I’m bringing home a busy, buzzy bee

Won’t my mommy be so proud of me?

Oh I’m bringing home a busy, buzzy bee

Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz

 

I’m bringing home a bumbling brown bear

Won’t my mommy tear out all her hair?

Oh I’m bringing home a bumbling brown bear

Growl, growl, growl, growl, growl

 

I’m bringing home a big, black bat

What do you think mommy will think of that?

Oh I’m bringing home a big, black bat

Flap, flap, flap, flap, flap

 

I’m bringing home a baby brown bunny

Won’t my mommy think that I am funny?

Oh I’m bringing home a baby brown bunny

Hop hop hop hop hop

 

I’m bringing home a bazillion bed bugs

Won’t my mommy run give us some hugs?

Oh I’m bringing home a bazillion bed bugs

Bite, itch, wiggle, and squirm!

 

I’m bringing home a beautiful baboon

Won’t my mommy fall down into a swoon?

Oh I’m bringing home a beautiful baboon

Oooh oooh oooh oooh oooh

  The large letters Bb are colored then spread with glue and sprinkled with sand.  Then those little pictures beneath are words that start with the letter b.

All of the kids got to bring something that starts with the letter b to show and tell.  Cairn brought her princess Backpack.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

A little late in coming, but never late in telling…

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate day.  My neighbor asked me how I find out all of these strange holidays…  but really?  Who doesn’t celebrate Talk like a Pirate Day?!! It’s not like it’s something unknown like World Egg Day. 

Well this just happened to also be a preschool day.  And it couldn’t have come too soon. Meet Nikkoli. Nik loves to dress up.  Cairn loves to dress up.  Nik loves to play make believe.  Cairn loves to play make believe. This should work out well, right?

Wrong.  Nik loves to be a viking, a pirate, a dragon, a knight… He loves to use their weapons and fight the bad guys.  Cairn loves to be a princess… and that’s about it.  (I don’t know where I went wrong with her!)  Quite often they find themselves with the same toy, or at the top of the slide in two very different story lines.  Cairn’s in a castle and pirates aren’t allowed in the castle!  Cairn pushes Nikkoli.  Nikkoli is on a pirate ship and princesses walk the plank!  Nik pushes Cairn.

When Cairn an Nik play as themselves they get along great!  But their make believe selves clash… hard.

Nastia was so excited to have Talk Like a Pirate day as one of her days to teach, and I do believe she was the most qualified of the mothers to do it too!  She read pirate stories and sang pirate songs.  She had pirate ship cupcakes sailing the deep blue sea.  And had the kids make their own pirate captain hat, hook and parrot. 

Suddenly pirates aren’t so bad for Cairn…  Pirates sing.  Cairn likes to sing.  Pirates read silly pirate stories.  Cairn likes to read.  Pirates eat cupcakes.  Cairn eats cupcakes… and pirates can have pink hats!

 

 

The hopes are that these strong personalities will learn to play with each other and not end out hating everything boy or girl.  So far they’re getting better as the get to know each other more.  *Sigh* Will princesses and pirates ever get along?

Pirate songs:

“If you're a pirate and you know it”

If you're a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)

If you're a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)

If you're a pirate and you know it, then you'll hear the sea winds blowin’

If you're a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)

 

If you're a pirate and you know it, stomp your peg leg (stomp, stomp)

 

If you're a pirate and you know it, shout avast: Avast! (with arm movement)

“The Pirates Go Sailing”

The pirates go sailing one by one, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing one by one, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing one by one

They have some fun in the sun

And they all go sailing home

 

The pirates go sailing two by two, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing two by two, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing two by two

They sail their ship on the ocean blue

And they all go sailing home

 

The pirates go sailing three by three, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing three by three, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing three by three

They look for treasure and thar’ it be

And they all go sailing home

 

The pirates go sailing four by four, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing four by four, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing four by four

They found some booty but they want more

And they all go sailing home

 

The pirates go sailing five by five, yo ho yo ho

The pirates go sailing five by five, yo ho, yo ho

The pirates go sailing five by five

Walk the plank—now take a dive!

And they all go sailing home

Magnificent Me Paper Dolls

So here’s to playing catch-up in a grand manner!  Here’s a bit from the second week of preschool.
Nastia took the topic of Magnificent me to introduce the kids to each other and themselves.  Over the two days she taught she read stories like Chrysanthemum and On the night you were born.  She had All about me books for them to fill out with their favorite things ready to paste in collage style. 
And she prepared paper dolls  for the kids to dress – with all sorts of extra costumes!  And the kids were not the only ones enjoying the creation process…  Cairn made a pink and yellow dress then covered every bit of herself with stickers from the crown on her head to the little paper shoes on her feet, which were put on the wrong feet just like in real life!
When it was all done the paper kiddoes made quite a parade!  I love how every doll’s costume perfectly reflects that kid’s personality.  They are so unrestrained in being themselves it’s beautiful!     
And now for a few more shots taken that day…
Here’s Wendy and Timmy… I feel like I should have a picture of Nastia on this post, but I don’t have one ready at my finger tips.  So a short intro to Wendy at the tail of this post will suffice.
Wendy lives just around the corner from us and Cairn waves at their house every time we pass it.  Trevlyn, Landon and Callie belong to her.  She inspires me with the frequencies of her blog posts!  So if you feel like I missed something check her family blog out and be amazed with me! 
As a quick note… both Wendy and Nastia astound me with the pictures they take…  They always remember to do it.  I often have my camera near but don’t even think to record the event. These pictures are from Nastia’s camera… many of the pictures from Cairn’s birthday party are from Wendy… I don’t know what ya’ll would do without these lady’s pictures to keep you up to date!
Back to Wendy.  I met her… well the easy answer is at church, but really I was walking in the mornings with Sondae Hughes (married to Elder Johnny Hughes of my first area in my mission) and she talked about Wendy and her twins and going to play racquet ball and one morning she convinced me to knock on the door at the end of our walk… So there I was red faced and sweaty and there was Wendy in her pajamas and unbrushed hair.  It was a perfect introduction!

I love this shot of Cerise… Its says perfectly how the siblings feel about school…. well at least this is by the end of the preschool day.
All three of them get droopy eyed and start moving a little slower until they finally find the right mom’s arms to collapse in.  I’m not sure what it is about preschool that does it to Cerise.  The extra moms take the little siblings into the other room now during preschool and let them play (while we chat of course) so it’s not like there’s more to these mornings than other days, but every school day Cerise is out just before lunch where as every other day she doesn’t start slowing down until just after lunch.  Maybe I don’t play her hard enough on my own… or maybe grown ups talking just has that effect on her…  I may never know!