learning period 5: 2017

We homeschool through a charter (more here and here), which organizes us in 2-month chunks called learning periods. Here are my posts for Learning Period 1 (August/September), Learning Period 2 (October/November),  Learning Period 3 (December/January), and Learning Period 4 (February/March). Learning Period 5 (April/May), the final period of this learning year, is below.

Lala Bug contemplating a Monet, seen at an exhibit on our annual art outing with Grandma. Monet was 'playing' with paint to get the rippled light effect on that water.

Learning Period 4 felt full and engaged. Learning Period 5 felt inconsistent and heavily focused on trying to wrap things up while simultaneously prepping for and participating in testing while winding down the school year. It felt awkward. In addition, we had a lot of personal/family things happening during this time. In fact, it has taken me a long time to finish and publish this post because I am not even sure what we really did that I feel happy sharing!

Growth and progress definitely happened in spite of and because of all this, though.

Brown Mouse practicing typing and test taking (with new glasses!).

We covered a lot of subjects in non-traditional, non-Waldorf ways this learning period. Science was a lot of hands-on activities (eye related due to eye appointments) and in the field (nature!). Math was in the form of lots of math books for read-aloud and games and activities from Math Geek Mama. 

 Engaging science with Mystery Science.

We began an American Girl (Boy) Club with three other families during this time. Little Brown Mouse isn't the only boy and the group of kids, all homeschooled, are so engaged and seem to learn well together. I never thought a doll (with books series to go with each) would be the motivator for so much history and language arts, but this has been a hit. The history has taken us on rabbit trails, so our start with Kaya (Native American Nez Perce) lead us to be interested in Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa Sioux). The Birchbark House by Louise Erdich was recommended, so we read that and learned a bit about the Ojibwe. Then we talked about the differences and similarities. The was the source of copywork and other writing, as well.

The learning period felt short. The school year felt short. We didn't cover all that I had hoped we would, but maybe I never will. The years keep flying and I am feeling a bit stunned by it all. This year was one of tremendous growth. Bittersweet growth that has left me proud, yet reeling. Ages 9 and 12 are ones of incredible growth, particularly away from the parent, and I feel that. I am looking forward to a summer of mental rest. I know now from experience how much growth and knowledge can come from this rime of rest.

learning period 4: 2017

We homeschool through a charter (more here and here), which organizes us in 2-month chunks called learning periods. Here are my posts for Learning Period 1 (August/September), Learning Period 2 (October/November), and Learning Period 3 (December/January). Learning Period 4 (February/March) is below.

This learning period, for us, was guided by three main parts, from which all our subjects arose; Heal the World Book Club, Journey North Mystery Class, and Shakespeare.

Shakespeare is an upper elementary/middle school class offering from our charter school. While our charter school itself is large, we school through one of the satellite offices, so our experience has been intimate and supportive. One of the many perks is an annual Shakespeare class organized and lead by one of our amazing education coordinators (EC). The class began before winter break (several weeks before the other classes begin the winter session) and submerged us in our first exploration into Shakespeare and the Elizabethan era. This year, the EC adapted and directed a group of about 25 students in a version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was a perfect choice for our Lala Bug. This is the first class she has taken through our charter that has required consistent homework with deadlines and culminated in a larger project and, of course, a performance. I want to share more here about what Lala Bug did for her project. (Hint: You can see her working on it in the photos above!) I want to share photos of her performing as Poppy the sprite. I want to share more about how challenging this class was for her, and as a result, me. I want to share more about the growth that has come after the class was completed. I am bursting with pride! But out of respect for her, and for her privacy, the privacy of our family, and the other performers, I will limit myself to the photos above and below.

Every morning (and what has become a key part of our home learning), we have morning read-aloud. I keep a basket of books that I read aloud to the kids while they do some sort of hands-are-busy-minds-are-listening activity. While spring has definitely sprung now, we read and really enjoyed The Snowy Day in combination with A Poem for Peter in early February, when winter still felt like winter. We read books like these, science books, poetry, picture books that build on or introduce a theme we are exploring, and often we have a single chapter book going that is part of our learning.

So as part of morning read-aloud in February, March, (and April), we have participated in the Simple Homeschool Heal the World Book Club, which had all of us hooked! We have loved the books (all of which are chosen from Give Your Child the World), loved the extra information about the authors, countries the books are set in, and the charity that money is being raised for. The book for February was The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech and the book for March was Extra Credit, by Andrew Clements. (April, since it is April as I type this, is Rickshaw Girl, by Mitali Perkins.) From the book, my kids practiced copy work, we did the grammar puzzles offered, we explored the globe, and had incredible discussions about similarities and differences between our lives and the characters.

 

Another big part of February and March was Journey North's Mystery Class. It is a free weekly "class" that runs from the end of January through part of April, providing weekly clues and had us tracking sunlight changes in 10 (mystery) places around the globe. The kids use the clues and maps, science, and math to learn about and start to figure out where the mystery spots are. Journey North also provides a number of extension activities, including weekly journal activities. We have all enjoyed being geographic detectives with this class and Lala Bug asked to please do it again next year! 

And then, of course, other learning and other lessons sneaked in here or there. Above is math in a huge cardboard castle, gleefully built by an 8th grader in the charter resource center after a couple of the ECs saw it being discarded by a nearby business and couldn't pass it up as the play potential was too good. (Yes, our charter and the ECs are that wonderful!)

Below is the annual sheep shearing at our favorite historic farm. They demonstrate sheering with electric clippers and the older hand shears. "Click go the shears, boys, click click click..." It is amazing to watch and is an annual favorite, but I can see the changes and growth in the kids this year, despite this being Brown Mouse's year for farming. Both kids preferred watching the sheep dogs herding sheep, and all the while, I kept thinking of James Herriot's Dog Stories.

 

February and March brought rain to our little neck of the woods. Finally, rain. We have been in a drought for the past 5 years. That, of course, has lasting affects. But, in the little, local ecosystem of our family and garden, it means good fun digging in the mud for those of us who like that kind of thing!

This winter there were few blues and more engaged learning excitement. It was lovely!

a day in the life: 12 and 9

As with so many moments in my life recently, I feel as though I just wrote a 'day in the life,' but here we are, one year later from the last post of this detail.

Last year, I mentioned a drawn out stage of transition. It is now more clear to me that I will probably always feel this way, because, really, all of life is transition. Some changes take longer, some happen in leaps. Changes are still happening here and I am doing my best to roll with them and simply be present with my children for who they each are, right now. This feels more complicated than it should be! I am present, but I have many flashes of memories of days gone by and many moments when I find myself considering what lies ahead.

Some things remain steady. We are still a family of sensitive/highly sensitive individuals, some of us anxious, as well. However, we have made shifts in how we are communicating about and handling these sensitivities and so much growth has happened in our family as a result.

We have been homeschooling for 4+ years now and I feel comfortable saying that it is difficult to post a typical day, because they all have their unique qualities. At the end of the day, when we share our thankfuls, our 'roses,' and our 'thorns' from the day, we share something different each time. Yet, the seeds of our homeschool were Waldorf, and so my goal is to always have some consistent rhythm to our days and weeks.

Some of the outside activities that my kids participate in are 4-H,  homeschool charter classes and activities, dance, music, soccer, and occupational therapy. This is a lot and I already have ideas of what will change next year. For now, though, I am deeply content that I have been able to change the day and times of some of the activities to free up longer chunks of time. This week will be our first having Fridays free of commitments.

Morning:
My goal is to be up well before the kids, so I can get a cup of tea, journal by candle light, exercise, and start the day before I have company. I feel fueled when I get this quiet time alone. (I am introverted!) At some point in the week, I do bits of planning; meal planning for dinners (breakfasts have a consistent repeating pattern and lunches are leftovers), lesson planning for the week, book requests from the library, printing needed materials, pay bills, etc.

The kids generally wake as daylight breaks, so this is getting earlier and earlier as we move toward spring. They are welcome to do as they like to transition into wakefulness. They aren't required to help make breakfast. We all come together for breakfast, because it is our family meal of the day. Afterwards, Dada heads off to work and we move into morning read-aloud. The books that get read during this time are all chosen by me. I select books that cover materials I want to bring to the kids. I can cover any subject through read-aloud. (This idea is all over the homeschool Internet! Cait talks about it as Coffee and Books, Julie talks about Morning Routine. Good stuff this snuggly book love time of day!) My kids still love picture books (and they can be the perfect length for a bite sized lesson), so I use these to introduce or expand on something we are learning. As I write this, we have just finished reading The Unfinished Angel, by Sharon Creech, as part of the Heal the World Book Club from the Martin family of Simple Homeschool. The book was outstanding, as were the study guide, 'mad libs,' videos, and other extras they included. We had so many Big Juicy Conversations (a Brave Writer term) about this book. (And I have a special fondness for Sharon Creech because she taught my brother, and for this book, because there is a Nicola in it!) We selected other books about kindness and healing to go along with this chapter book. I also sprinkled in poetry and several books about seasonal changes and time zones, to go along with the Journey North Mystery Class we are participating in for the first time this year. (It is wonderful and there are so many additional ways we are exploring science, math, and geography with this project.)

At this point, read-aloud time winds down and we all get dressed and ready for the day. Simple chores are done by all and then we head out for a walk. I try to really get us moving at this point, because I have one child who clearly needs to get wiggles out and another who doesn't seem to, but stays so much better regulated with lots of exercise.

When we come back in. we come together for lesson time, usually at the table. We might say  a verse first, with a little movement, and the kids are both hungry! (One child takes care of the rabbit hutch and the other makes a snack tray. They trade back and forth daily.) We work on math, writing, and sometimes other subjects. We are working together most of the time, sometimes on the same material (at different levels), sometimes on the same overall subject, but different materials.

Afternoon:
My kids are always hungry, so they are ready for lunch. I am trying to reintroduce quiet time on the days that we are home, because I need it, and my kids need a lot of unstructured play time, but the reality is we are a little over-scheduled so there often isn't time.

Evenings: I could copy exactly what I wrote last year for evening time, because we haven't yet made room changes or rearrangements to adjust to growing kids, with needs for separate spaces (they share a room - small house!), but some changes are in my plans for this summer. We try to have dinner by 6pm, we snuggle again together on the couch for bed time reading, and the kids are ideally in bed by 8:30 pm or so. Often it is a bit later. Dada gets home from work around this time, too, eats, and joins us for read-aloud. We are allowing natural changes to allow Lala Bug to have a little longer to read alone or hang out with us for a bit after her brother is tucked in.  My sensitive kids still need their sleep time protected and I selfishly want them both in bed so I can get a little wind down time and Hubby and I can have time before bed. When their bedtime slides toward 9pm, I end up in bed late, too, and they end up grumpy.

Mondays: Most Mondays we have our morning routine. After lunch we often have a 4-H activity. One of the Mondays, the 4-H activity takes the place of our morning routine, too. Mondays, late afternoon, Lala Bug has ballet.

Tuesday: Just this week, we have made scheduling changes, so this post will go live before we have experienced the week as I am posting it. Tuesdays start with read-aloud, but in lieu of lesson time, we head to soccer and then on to occupational therapy for both kids. I will be sneaking in lessons (maybe in the form of games) after we get home.

Wednesday: Our homeschool charter classes or activities day. (Classes happen twice a year for 6-8 weeks per session. This is alone time for me! The remaining weeks of the school year are activities, field trips, or holidays) In the afternoon, Lala Bug has ballet again.

Thursday: Lala Bug has weekly math club and Brown Mouse has drum lessons. (He switched from ukulele a few months ago, same teacher.) I think this will also be our library day.

Friday: Effective this week, this is a free day! I imagine us deep diving into exploratory learning, recuperating from the week, and doing fun field trips on this day.

Weekends: Family (extended included) and house DIY time. Sometimes we go camping (with or without friends) or to the mountains.

And as is life as a human with children, the days is full of questions, conversations, chatter, interruptions, upsets, bathroom breaks, and all the time zipping activities that make me both grateful and exasperated with homeschooling. It really is a privilege and amazing ride!


What does a day/week in your homeschool look like?

Here is a little more about our homeschool:
A Day in the Life with 11 and 8 year olds
Our Educational Journey
All posts under Homelearning

52: 8

52 weeks of photos. A special moment during the week of February 19, 2017

learning period 3: 2016-2017

We school through a charter (more here and here), which organizes us in 2-month chunks called learning periods. Here are my posts for Learning Period 1 (August/September) and Learning Period 2 (October/November). I share about Learning Period 3 (December/January), below.

Social Studies:  During this learning period, which included December and January, we continued to explore celebrations of the Jewish faith for Little Brown Mouse. While Rosh Hashanah is among my favorites, I believe Hanukkah might be the kids' favorite. We made latkes and applesauce, read many books and stories, wrote poetry (Hanukkah haiku, anyone?), dipped candles, and each child lit a Menorah each evening. Lala Bug lit the Menorah she made in 3rd grade (how could that have been 3 years ago?!) and Little Brown Mouse made himself a new one using his hand drill and a piece of driftwood he found on a trip to the beach. We began to learn about Elizabethan England and Shakespeare for Lala Bug. (And Brown Mouse, because who can resist Shakespeare and his inventive use of language, invented language, and lyrical insults?) Lala Bug is participating in the Shakespeare class and play offered through our charter school each winter/spring, and this year they are performing A Midsummer Night's Dream. We have read various versions of the story, read many books about Shakespeare, watched a performance, and are immersing ourselves in Shakespeare fun. I remember seeing Shakespeare live in Oregon when I was about Lala Bug's age, so the memories are sweet right now.

Math: Lala Bug is enjoying the playfulness of the charter school math club she is in. It is making me wonder if I should be hiring a math teacher now! Mostly, this learning period, for both kids, we stuck with Beast Academy and the Key To series, as well as games!

Science: We mostly finished up a block on geology, did a short block on sound and light, and then spent January studying weather. Our weather has been fascinating, including thunder and lightning, hail, and a lot of rain, as well as sun and clouds. In the mountains, there has been a lot of snow.  We have enjoyed books, exploring outside, and we have been enjoying Mystery Science. For the weather block, Little Brown Mouse kept a weather journal and then charted the weather systems he observed. Lala Bug is finishing up a weather blanket she knit for her doll, with each color representing a type of weather, so the pattern matches the January weather, chronologically.

Writing: Writing continues to be tied into what we are learning. It is frustrating for Little Brown Mouse, although I can see that it is the mechanics he dislikes. When asked to dictate so I can scribe, he has a lot to say. I do believe it is time to carve out more time for both kids to practice typing.

Language Arts: I might have to refer to the writing paragraph above, with the addition of commenting that I have been working, slowly, through The Wand, from Brave Writer, with both kids, in large part because it is teaching phonics, grammar, and writing in a more systematic way than I had been doing previously. We have also be sporadically using Daily Grams, which are short and simple and help me catch gaps. We have been really enjoying the Little House series as a read-aloud and just finished The Long Winter. In January we participated in The Read Aloud Revival read aloud challenge and each kid read out loud for at least 25 days. It really boosted Brown Mouse's reading fluidity and confidence and it helped Lala Bug to read more loudly and enunciate a bit more.

In addition to the core topics at home, we incorporate lots of play and nature exploration, and 4-H still met for the community service project the kids chair. We gathered a group of volunteers and got out to plant native plants to prevent erosion and invasive plant species. Many activities were quiet or on hold through the holidays. We still managed to stay quite busy, so as we rolled into the new year, I have needed to re-evaluate our home school again!

52: 4

52 weeks of photos. A special moment during the week of January 23, 2017

 

 

learning period 2: 2016-2017

Better late than never...a post about our second learning period (October and November). Our first learning period post is here.

Social Studies:  A great resource for this year has been Give Your Child the World, by Jamie Martin. It is a book of books for a variety of ages, from all around the world. I probably should have mentioned it in my post for our first learning period, but I didn't think to. During this second learning period, which covered October and November, we spent a lot of time exploring our community, learning about government, and how to create change, all on a very simple level. The kids wrote to our local representative, commenting on traffic flow and safety in our neighborhood and asking for changes to be made to make things safer. We continued exploring the presidential election process and talked after the election about what we can do, locally, to support our neighbors and the issues we believe in. Also during this learning period, we read about, learned about, and celebrated some of the Jewish holidays, in keeping with Waldorf 3rd grade studies for Little Brown Mouse. When we covered this when Lala Bug was in 3rd grade, some of the celebrations resonated with me, and I have considered them each year. I love the idea of a new year, casting off one's wrong-doings, and asking for forgiveness of oneself and others during Rosh Hashanah. We also enjoyed apples dipped in honey and tossing our mistakes from our pockets. Lala Bug also grew in appreciation for American Girl recently, has shared the love with Little Brown Mouse, so many American Girl books have been read. We could do an entire year of American history with a certain set of the American Girl dolls!

Math: Lala Bug settled into math club this learning period and likes all the playfulness of it. She is using an online program as part of the math club, which we also tried at home. It is fine, but she doesn't like it as much as Khan Academy (which we use sporadically) and I really don't like using one more resource! Mostly, this learning period, we stuck with Beast Academy and the Key To series, as well as games!

Science: We got ourselves sucked into and somewhat stuck in a geology block this learning period. I say stuck because as I write this, it is actually nearing time to write a summary of our third learning period and we are still dipping our toes into geology. It has been fun to move in and out of geology exploration when you live in a place like California! Science has also been following interests; reading books (we are still enjoying an older series called Destinations in Science), exploring outside, and enjoying Mystery Science. For our 3rd grade farmer, we learned about and participated in harvesting corn (some of which we later gave as holiday gifts), and all of us enjoyed visiting clustering Monarchs after raising our own.

Writing: Writing continues to be tied into what we are learning, although Lala Bug really enjoyed the creative writing class she took this learning period, through our charter school. She worked on all sorts of ideas in this class and from it blossomed a girl who spent tons of time creatively writing on her own. She also wrote a suggestion-filled letter to American Girl and is in the middle of a couple of stories that have the potential to go from short to mini-novel. Little Brown Mouse likes me to scribe his stories and he is more and more full of them these days. He is also learning cursive.

Language Arts: I might have to refer to the writing paragraph above, with the addition of commenting that I have been working, slowly, through The Wand, from Brave Writer, with both kids, in large part because it is teaching phonics, grammar, and writing in a more systematic way than I had been doing previously.

In addition to the core topics at home, we incorporate lots of play, nature exploration, Little Brown Mouse was in a soccer club, both kids were in a soccer group, 4-H was active, and both kids took classes through our charter this learning period.

learning period 1: 2016

Home living, home learning...

I have over-thought and hesitated posting much about how we homeschool because we seem to be shifting and I don't feel as though we fit in any basket anymore. We are do-what-feels-right homeschoolers now, which looks a little like Waldorf (and feels like, for this Mama, at least, Waldorf at its roots), a little like nature schooling (Charlotte Mason-ish?), Brave Writer-ish, a little interest-lead, and a little mainstream.

While a lesson plan is helpful, I have learned that, for me, what I most use is a guide that helps me remember what I want to cover, how long I think it might take, resources I might like to use, and other activities and events I might like to include or might get in the way. Here is the plan I shared for this school year. I have already deviated!

 

We have just finished our first learning period of the school year. I don’t know that I have used that term before here on my blog, as I tend to go month by month. We school through a charter, which requires that each child have two work samples for each of five subjects (writing, language arts, science, math, and social studies) every learning period. Each learning period is approximately two months. We just completed our first learning period and I want to share a little about what we have been doing. I have blogged a little bit so far, here and here. (I should share that the charter has allowed me to try all sorts of different materials and resources that they have supplied. Some of what we are using now comes from our charter, but we are also budgeting for some items ourselves because they aren't covered by our charter.)

For Language Arts – I have been using the Brave Writer approach with both kids. With Little Brown Mouse, I am using the Brave Writer product, The Wand. His reading is improving steadily (in spurts), but I noticed certain aspects he hasn’t grasped well and The Wand is teaching me certain spelling and reading rules I didn’t know well enough to teach, so I am sharing these lessons with both kids! For Lala Bug, I am creating copy work from various books we are reading. Some of Little Brown Mouse's copy work comes from The Wand, some from other literature. All of us do free writing, we do semi regular poetry tea time, and we do daily read alouds together. For this time, I pull books I want them to hear, some chapter books, some picture books, all from a variety of subjects. Stories and literature play a large role in our homeschool. I do not assign reading. If there is something I want them to read, I read it out loud. Lala Bug is such a prolific reader, that sometimes I have to pull her away from reading, but the choices for that reading are not dictated by me. (That said, I will check out books and leave them to be discovered!) Both kids truly enjoy books and love our weekly library day.

For writing – This is also Brave Writer inspired. I am still learning my way through this, but I have one writer who is recovering from being reluctant, who chose a creative writing class through our charter, and is writing on her own a fair bit (and asking for my input)! The other is a reluctant writer who is willing to write little bits and pieces for copy work and free writing, which is also progress. He's got lots of stories and things to say, which I jot down when I am able. For mechanics (which is really the part of writing that is disliked here), I have begun teaching Little Brown Mouse cursive (using Handwriting Without Tears) and it has been a huge hit.

For science – During this first learning period, we learned a bit about the body and how humans grow and change through their lives, birth through old age. We also learned more about Monarch butterflies and their life cycle and we studied the moon (which touched lightly on some studies of astronomy and our universe.) I had planned to do some introductory physics this learning period, but we didn't get to it. We are using a variety of books (from our city library, our charter resource center, and our home library) and hands-on activities and explorations for science. The kids have really been enjoying Destinations in Science, an older story based science series, which we got from our charter resource center, but doesn't seem to be readily available anymore. They have continued to really like Mystery Science and we have also used a story set from Be Naturally Curious. I include nature study and exploration as part of science, which we continue to do naturally (something our family values), but I have really enjoyed the information, art, and poetry components of Exploring Nature with Children. It is well worth its price.

For social studies – I wanted to bring a little Ancient Greece to the kids, but for all her love of social studies, history, and geography, Lala Bug has had some resistance to learning about ancient civilizations. The timing was perfect, because the Olympics was a beautiful "in." We all really enjoyed learning about Ancient Greece through the lens of the Olympics. We read too many picture books and other stories to list them all. We enjoyed a version of Greek myths and the Magic Tree House Research Guide to Ancient Greece and the Olympics, both my Mary Pope Osborne. (So far, despite their popularity, the D'Aulaires myths books have not been a hit with Lala Bug.) When we came up for air after the Olympics, I shifted us into learning a bit about American government and the upcoming elections. We've read a smattering of books (we all spent a lot of time laughing out loud at The Kid Who Ran for President) and we have had a number of big juicy conversations. I am consistently amazed, pleased, and humored by how incredibly curious and bright our kids are. They have both asked some questions that have left me stumped and thoughtful.

For math – I had planned to bring review during this first learning period, and I have, but I am still having to tread carefully with math. My goal is to meet each child where they are and do so consistently. With math, I have a handful of resources and I am using what fits, when it fits. The following resources seem to be working well right now. I am using Making Math Meaningful, grades 1-5 for myself, as a teacher resource. I wish I had bought this earlier! With the kids, I am using a mix of materials, all fairly mainstream. Both kids always enjoy games for math, so I am trying to do more of those. (Games for Math and Family Math have been great resources.) Both kiddos are enjoying Beast Academy, we are occasionally using Khan Academy, Lala Bug enjoys math art (she's loving This is Not a Math Book right now), and for both kids (although it is primarily at Lala Bug's level), we are using Your Business Math, from Simply Charlotte Mason. (I learned about this from Kara Anderson. My kids chose the Sports Store math and one set is all I need for both kids.) I have and occasionally present Lala Bug with math from the Key To... series (which we are able to acquire through our charter school). She's not enjoying that as she once was, but it is very effective in teaching and slowly increasing the difficulty of important concepts, without having too much on a page.

Homeschooling isn't neat and tidy. It's here and there, with tears, with laughter, togetherness, wildness, fatigue, worry, excitement, enthusiasm, frustration, curiosity, exhaustion, and more, but it starts in pajamas, has rain dances and soccer balls tucked in the middle, and ends with hugs and snuggles. Not a bad way to learn.

right now...

I am so slow getting photos marked and uploaded and blog posts written. There is a part of me that thinks I should scrap blogging all together. (Hasn't everyone bailed for Instagram anyway?) Part of me just can't let go, but I can't seem to carve the time from all the other balls I am juggling. This is all to say I am weeks behind. While I did get a post up for sweet Lala Bug's birthday, I haven't shared much else recently.

That said, the days have been full and I want to get some of it down, so years from now, I can look back and think "those were the days!"

Our little family was separated for a time when M traveled to India for work. His absence was felt acutely by all of us for various reasons, but Skype, which I previously didn't like, was fabulous for keeping us all connected.  When he returned home, we were, of course, learning about India, so we had a lovely tea time with Indian tea, treats, and stories.

 

Lala Bug will still insist math is her least favorite subject, but I have been catching her in self-directed math moments. Above, "May I just have a few more minutes to work on this before bed?" ("This" is a mixture of geometric math and art in This is Not a Math Book by Anna Weltman.) Below, she is curiously tackling a math challenge sent home with her from the math club she is unwillingly attending through our homeschool charter. (She seems to be liking the group, despite being the only one who didn't volunteer to sign up!)

Misty bunny, just because she is so cute. When we got her, I thought she might be especially therapeutic for Lala Bug, yet at the moment, it is Little Brown Mouse who is totally taken with her and can be heard adoringly sharing about her cuteness.

Below, Little Brown Mouse is doing rec soccer. The kids' weekly soccer class that he has been in for over 2 years now has been outstanding. He really shows skill on the field and I love his team and coach. Really positive, supportive, low pressure, fun. Lala Bug really wanted to do rec soccer too, but there was no room for her age group when we applied (right before the season began). She was incredibly disappointed, but has been the best cheerleader and coach (to me on what is happening in the game)!

 The photo above is just to say I love our homeschool charter. This photo is one of the many fabulous activities that happened on a recent activity day. Salad dressing. The kids came home and made salad for snack!

 Below, the kids at play. (Well, they aren't in the photo, but this was their set up.) Honestly, I am not quite sure what they were playing, but they were content, amiable, and darn cute.

 

Above, he ran out of city blocks for his alphabet. :)

We have been studying the moon during September. It has been lovely. We've moon gazed, read various books about the moon, made moon phases from Oreo knock-offs (I never buy them. Ever. The kids were thrilled.), went to the space and science museum, sat on a hill and watched the full harvest moon, and more. It has been enchanted bonding and was especially sweet when M was in India and the kids realized we were all looking up at the same moon.