learning period 5: 2018 - 2019

I have posted previously about how our charter follows learning periods. (Here is my post from learning period 4, which links to those before.) I shifted into posting monthly at the start of 2019, but since I was specific about subjects in these learning period posts and I started the school year this way, I am doing both to finish the school year.

This learning period, April and May, flew by. My word for the year is present, chosen, in part, because this was my eldest's 8th grade year, so I really wanted to soak up our time together before big transitions. Having spent most of the year addressing extra needs, high school tours and applications, and more, I have only now finally felt able to slow down and be present. Boo. In April, our kids went through state testing, which also took a small chunk of time and a fair amount of emotional bandwidth. 

 

Brown Mouse cut and sewed this knife pouch himself. He wrapped a cordage handle on the knife and put the whole thing on a belt he also made himself. This was one of several things that show his growing independence, capabilities, and interests the past few months.

Social studies: We wrapped up learning about the Great Depression through literature; Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz. We also took a tour on a tall ship, which opened conversation back up on many of the topics and the time period we studied earlier this school year.

 

Lala Bug loves fiber arts of all sorts. This doll outfit is one of a number that she made this year. She made the leggings (from an old t-shirt), then the dress (from an old sheet). She entered the dress in the county fair for judging. Her sewing creations have increased in complexity and speed of completion this year.

Language arts and Writing: In addition to using the Brave Writer Arrow guide alongside Esperanza Rising, there was writing for 4-H for both kids this learning period. In addition, Lala Bug was getting weekly support from a teacher at our charter school and Brown Mouse is still working through a reading and spelling support program called REWARDS.

Math: Teaching Textbooks for Brown Mouse and Khan Academy for Lala Bug. Both kids did the evaluation for ALEKS and Lala Bug liked it, so she will be using that over the summer for some support. We all like Math Antics videos for review and always games! A big highlight in April was participation in their first Outschool class. The one we chose was a math class for review of certain concept under the guide of designing their dream homes.

Science: During this learning period, we continued our nature exploration through 4-H and as a family on the weekends. We also enjoyed several science experiments using the DK Smithsonian books and Mystery Science. We found tiny Anise Swallowtail caterpillars on our fennel. We had to identify them because we have never had them before. We moved fennel and the caterpillars to our butterfly net house to raise. It is amazing watching them grow! Perhaps the highlight, though, has been following (on bird cam) a pair of nesting Peregrine Falcons from when they laid 3 eggs. Two eggs successfully hatched and the chicks are nearly ready to try their first flight now. This bird cam is especially meaningful to my two young birders because they even had a chance to go and speak with an ornithologist about these birds.

And finally, our charter is now finished for the year. Our family participated in and attended a sweet, personal graduation celebration for the dozen 8th graders. It was such a celebration of each child, homeschooling in general, and our charter community. I declared May 31 our final day of school. We still need to bind main lesson books and share them with family. We are ready for a break! That said, both kids will be having mini math and language arts lessons consistently through the summer and we will need to compile record books for 4-H.

Happy end of school year! How are you celebrating?

May 2019

May brings sun and sandy beach swims,

Before the summer fog rolls in. 

~Nicola

Dates of Interest:

May 1: May Day. We make and deliver anonymous May Day bouquets. (Above photo.)

May 12: Mother's Day

May 27: Memorial Day

May 30: Last day of school (for our charter and I think us, too, this year. Lala Bug graduates our charter this year. Lots of feelings!)


Homeschooling:

April was very off-kilter with, and following, testing. Our one consistent piece through the month was an Outschool math class both kids did and enjoyed. At the end of the month and heading into the beginning of May, our literature choice is Esperanza Rising, which fits in beautifully with our other studies of the Depression (and recovery, and World War II) time period and is poignant for us as Californians. It is a wonderful book!

Fifth Grader: We are continuing with our language arts (Brave Writer and REWARDS) and math (Teaching Textbooks and Key To series), but this month I want to be heavy on nature/botany for Brown Mouse.

Eight Grader: We are continuing with language arts (Brave Writer and one-on-one support from our charter) and math (Khan Academy and Key To series). This month I want to end with a focus on business and entrepreneurship with Lala Bug.

High school...we have a general plan in place now (link to post). Now, Lala Bug and I will begin to shape what her homeschool courses will be and I will dive a little deeper into making sure we are covering what we need to for all of high school, from the very beginning.

Self-care:

If nothing else this month, I am feeling a deep need for some alone time. The list of things I really want to do that would help fuel me seems rather simple; keep increasing my morning journal and exercise time back to what it was, drink more water, finish a couple books I am dragging through, and resume meditating and the anti-inflammatory diet. Ha! That is quite a lot, really.

Parenting:

M and I have gotten a little more time to focus on us, which is good. We can feel and see the growth, positive and challenging, in both our kids, and we are having to discuss and coordinate new limits within our parenting. I am working on not feeling guilty when setting a limit or frazzled when there is push-back to the limit. This is all normal and good.

Home life:

Usually, I am an autumn-cleaning rather than a spring-cleaning type of person, but I can feel my highly sensitive self is deeply needing to clear and clean. I know this won't likely be my focus until school and soccer season are done, but a little here and a little there helps!

Crafting:
Endless projects here...new baby and end of school year gifts being made, house and yard projects being worked, science crafts being done, and long abandoned projects being picked up and finished!

Have a lovely May!

(This post was inspired by Carrie of The Parenting Passageway.)

April 2019

April brings the flaming weeds,

as gold bursts from California Poppy seeds. 

~Nicola

Dates of Interest:

As a family that homeschools through a charter school, this month our kids participate in various forms of testing. In addition, we technically have a spring break, so our April schedule and activities will be a little different than usual.

April is Poetry Month!

April 15: Tax Day

April 21: Easter

April 22: Earth Day


Homeschooling:

Moving out of March, we have really been in an amazing homeschooling groove. I know this will shift this month because of testing, but I am really okay with that, because I am needing a respite from the regular "to dos" of homeschooling as I really tackle (and draw the kids into) some home clear out and rearrangement tasks. While the kids are testing, I will be working on our home financial management and taxes, so this has been part of our learning conversation.

Both kids are in an online class that pairs design concepts (something they are both interested in, in different ways) and math. So far, it has been a hit.

Fifth Grader: Not too much change, although I need to bring in more science, his love.  He is using Teaching Textbooks and Key To workbooks for math and we are using games to review, although between testing and the online class, we may make little progress. We are definitely not going to finish the Teaching Textbooks lessons by year-end. We are continuing to use REWARDS to support his progress with language arts differences and using Brave Writer Arrow guides for literature and language arts.

Eight Grader: She has been working through Khan Academy and Key To workbooks for math (although we will likely cover less of these with the online class and testing). A success has been discovering she really enjoys the math more on a pad with a rubber tipped pen. She is getting a small amount of outside support for language arts and math and is also doing the Brave Writer Arrow guides with us. She blurted out the other day "We don't do enough history!" That's her love, so we will do a little more this month.

We have been narrowing down options for high school next year and I suspect will feel settled in a decision by the end of the month. At the very least, the most stressful aspects feel as though they are behind us and some very good family and one on one parent-parent and parent-child conversations have happened now.

Self-care:

My priority has been sleep and personal reading. I have done well with these, but I still haven't been sleeping all that well. While I have been less successful at consistently being up before my kids (Lala Bug rises quite early these days) and morning exercise, we have been great at getting out into nature for hikes as a family on the weekend, and this really fuels all of us. My goals this month is to take a few minutes daily to write and/or meditate to process all that has been happening and also to finish another book. (I am reading several at once.) I would also like to re-kindle the challenge of a photo a day.

Parenting:

Parenting, as always, is about connection, empathy, play, limits, listening, and love. I am working on talking less and listening more. Patience, love, and playfulness are what is needed right now with the kids, as well as encouraging loving kindness and empathy between siblings. I think mostly, M and I really need to pour some time and care into our relationship. Spouse and self can be the last to receive care when kids, homeschooling, work, commute, home repairs, etc. feel so dominant.

Home life:

We are making more progress on clearing, cleaning, organizing, and re-arranging. We have continued to have a lot of rain and have had pauses as a result. The fence is now down, we need to clear out fence debris, clean up outside, and plant new seedlings. We need to finish clearing out a room and have the flooring we selected installed. I hope we can do this by the end of the month. I have a number of items to donate or sell to make space we desperately need.

Crafting:
So much creating has been happening here, especially building and sewing! I foresee it continuing, which is lovely.

Happy April! Share what is happening in your life!

(This post was inspired by Carrie of The Parenting Passageway.)

learning period 4 of 2018-2019

I share a little about our homeschool every couple of months when I write about the learning period that has just ended. We just wrapped up learning period 4, February and March. I wrote about learning period 3 here (with links to learning periods 1 and 2).

This learning period was calmer, smoother, more rhythmic, and quite productive. We are still in a state of uncertainty about next year and whether or not we will homeschool our current 8th grader for high school. My word for the year is present, and I admit, despite being more rhythmic and even connected, I am having a difficult time really being mindful of the present in the way in which I would like. 

Social studies: We continued with our American Girl history project and our study of the 1930s and the Great Depression coincided with historical anniversaries that relate so much and there were so many connections. Both kids were part of a Shakespeare class and performance this learning period, which included quite a few assignments for history and writing, including a final project for each student. Much was learned here about books and book making in Shakespeare's time and about the Globe Theatre and performing in the late 1500s and early 1600s. In addition, we went to a Monet art exhibit and that sparked a lot of learning and interest in art history for a bit.

Language arts and Writing: So much writing came out of the kids' Shakespeare class and for Brown Mouse, from his science class on physiology. Lala Bug is getting weekly support from a teacher at our charter school and Brown Mouse is still working through a reading and spelling support program called REWARDS, which he is having success with.

Math: Teaching Textbooks for Brown Mouse, Khan Academy for Lala Bug, games, and Key To... series workbooks for both kids. We are more consistent with math this year, but it still seems to be slow going.

Science: During this learning period, we continued our nature exploration, although more of it has happened from home, with 4-H, or as a family on the weekends, rather than our planned, dedicated nature study time on Mondays. There is so much change to witness in late winter and early spring (!), e participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count and have had a great time with experiments. We also covered some more chemistry and some physics. Brown Mouse also took an Exercise Physiology class through our charter school.

 

What have you been up to? I cannot believe we are now headed into learning period 5, the final chunk of the school year!

March 2019

March brings our 'coastal snow,'

as flowers bloom and white petals blow. 

~Nicola

Dates of Interest:

March is the month dedicated to celebration of women. We will be reading extra stories of strong and unique women during read-aloud.

March 8: International Women's Day

March 17: St. Patrick's Day

March 20: Shakespeare performances day in our world

March 21: Holi

Homeschooling:

Homeschooling in a little smoother as we begin this month. We are through the application process with our oldest for high schools and are now waiting, talking, and making decisions. I had not anticipated how much stress and anxiety my girl would experience from participating in this process. Change is inevitable and hard.

For both kids we are going to shifting back into using Brave Writer Arrow or Boomerang guides paired with literature. We had taken a break while steeped in Shakespeare.

Fifth Grader: Not much has changed since last month's post! He is working on weekly homework for his Exercise Physiology class, as well as his Globe Theatre project for his Shakespeare class. He is using Teaching Textbooks and Key To workbooks for math and we are using games to review. We are continuing to use REWARDS to support his progress with language arts differences.

Eight Grader: She just completed her Shakespeare project and is working on memorizing lines so she can be an understudy for a couple of other characters, if necessary. She has been working through Khan Academy and Key To workbooks for math and she is getting a small amount of outside support for language arts and math.

Self-care:

I have been tired. My priority has been climbing into bed at a reasonable time and reading a little before sleep. There are so many other self-care things I want to be doing, and if I am honest, I feel like I deserve. If I stop and consider, there are little things I am doing...a hot shower (alone for 5 minutes of thinking and meditation), light exercise, listening to podcasts, and nature time, among others, but it is the time I have alone that is most meaningful to me. Recently, my brother came for an overnight and took the kids mountain biking for the afternoon, so M and I had a little conversation time alone together before he went for a hike and left me alone in the house. I did some clean-up, but it still felt restorative because I was by myself. I really haven't been getting this kind of time much. It is so important to know these things about oneself!

Parenting:

Parenting, as always, is about connection, empathy, play, limits, listening, and love. I am working on talking less and listening more. Brown Mouse just went away for a couple of days for special adventure time with Grandma and Nonno, leaving Lala Bug to get some special time with us. It was what everyone needed.

Home life:

We are making very slow progress on clearing, cleaning, organizing, and re-arranging, but progress in baby steps is still progress. We have had a lot of rain and we can see where we may need to pause until it is dry enough for us to haul some things outside, but also that items like roof patching and fence securing are getting bumped up on the list. M and I are working to carve out time to really connect and communicate with each other about all. the. things; kids, schooling, home, work, future, finances. We are definitely at a point where we are both feeling worn and changes are needed. I feel the winds shifting.

Crafting:
Lala Bug's itch to knit has been rekindled. I am pleased to see her creativity re-blossom. M has been making some tools for his shop that haven't required power, since his finger is still recovering from the table saw. Brown Mouse has been working on a model Globe Theatre for his Shakespeare project. Me? I have been mending things and decluttering my crafting area, readying it to be packed up for a room rearrangement.

And just like that we slide toward spring! What is happening in your world?

February 2019

In February we say good-bye

to the migrating Monarch butterfly. 

~Nicola

Dates of Interest:

These are some of the days our family is celebrating this month or simply things we are taking note of or interest in.

Birthday celebrations in our family!

February 14: St. Valentine's Day

February 15-18: Great Backyard Bird Count

Homeschooling:

Just to keep it real; homeschooling is hard right now. We are simultaneously trying to address some learning and developmental challenges, while planning for the start of high school next year for our eldest. It is clear the combination is bringing up a lot of intense feelings, worry, and confusion for all of us.

Fifth grader: He is working on weekly homework for both his Shakespeare class and Exercise Physiology class, as well as his project for his Shakespeare class. His chosen topic is the Globe Theater.  He is using Teaching Textbooks and Key To workbooks for math and we are using games to review. We are continuing to use REWARDS to support his progress with language arts differences.

Eighth grader: She is working on homework, research project, and practicing lines for her Shakespeare class. She is getting a small amount of outside support for language arts and I am trying to work with her on math. Right now, we are focusing heavily on emotional health and skill building.

Self-care:

This has continued to be very difficult for me. Due to high needs parenting, I think I have gotten depleted enough that I really need some deep care to restore myself. I am trying for daily exercise and deep breathing. (A practice of 3 slow, deep breaths, in through the nose, hold, out through the mouth. Breath 1 is just the breath. Breath 2, expanding and stretching my body. Breath 3, thinking "what is important right now?" and focusing on that.)  I need to increase my water intake. My journaling has been spotty. What I think I really need to address next is a therapist or new listening partnership.

Parenting:

Parenting and homeschooling are all so deeply woven together! I have been saying yes just about every time Brown Mouse asks me to play our made up basketball trampoline game. Laughter, connection, and physical exercise are wonderful. With Lala Bug, I am making myself available when she seeks me out and I am working to reduce the corrections and increase the positive comments. Following M's power tool accident and subsequent emergency department visit (he is okay!), our highly sensitive girl has really struggled with us. Fear is a powerful thing to a sensitive being that is both both teen and young girl in one growing, changing mind and body.

Home life:

We have made expectations more clear, limits more clear, and everyone is helping a bit more. This is something we will continue to work on! We have done a couple more chunks of purging and I have a load to bring to the donation place, although you can't see the dent! We also did a deep clean of our bathroom (we have moisture problems during winter) and you can see the difference there!

Crafting:

Brown Mouse has been building. He got interested in earthquakes again and made a shake table and some buildings. He has also been playing with his Tinker Crates. (These were a birthday present from us. They come from KiwiCo. I have no affiliation and yes, I would recommend them.)  M had to take a rest because of his hand injury. Lala Bug has favored reading over crafting the past couple weeks and I have been deep in paperwork during my "extra" time. So little crafting has happened. Just typing that motivates me to put out some crafty "morning invitations!"

Happy February to you all. I know many homeschoolers dislike February, but it is one of my favorite months. I think of it as a "red" month, full of celebrations, picking up a little cheer after "blue" January. It has been wet and cold here. We even got snow here in coastal California last night! Be well.

(You will enjoy Carrie's monthly The Parenting Passageway post, here!)

learning period 3: 2018-2019

I have posted previously about how our charter follows learning periods. (Here is my post from learning period 2, which links to learning period 1 as well as other posts.) I shifted into posting monthly at the start of 2019, but since I was specific about subjects in these learning period posts and I started the school year this way, I am going to do both to finish the school year. (Note: I am writing this at the beginning of March, having forgotten to share about learning period 3, December 2018 and January 2019, so will back-date this to post it chronologically!)

December and January were what I would call heavy on learning but light on academics. We had a number of appointments lasting into December, the holidays, the move of the kids' beloved occupational therapist, high school applications, and some deep stresses and anxieties all affecting our homeschool. There was joy and learning (you cannot stop it, even if you try), but less documentation.

Social studies: We continued with our American Girl history project, had a fabulous hands-on field trip to a Native American history site, and during this learning period, we watched a number of documentaries that lead to a lot of big conversations. (I subscribed to Curiosity Stream when there was a $1 per month deal and we also really enjoyed the Netflix series Tales by Light.) Towards the end of this learning period, the kids began classes through our charter school. Both chose to participate in the Shakespeare class being offered. As part of this class, there are weekly homework assignments and a history research project.

Math: Teaching Textbooks for Brown Mouse, Khan Academy for Lala Bug, games, and Key To... series workbooks for both kids. We are more consistent with math this year, but it still seems to be slow going.

Language arts and Writing: This third learning period, both kids joined a weekly book group offered by one of our charter teachers. They read Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. This was a non-required precursor to the Shakespeare performance class I mentioned above. I used Brave Writer ideas as we read through Nine Gnome Nights by Sieglinde de Francesa of Teach Wonderment. Lala Bug is getting weekly support from a teacher at our charter school and Brown Mouse is still working through a reading and spelling support program called REWARDS, which he is having success with.

Science: During this learning period, much of the science we covered was through our nature studies; overwintering ladybug beetles, migrating birds, weather, earthquake exploration, and some chemistry.

Onward into learning period 4 already!

January 2019

My blogging friend Carrie, of The Parenting Passageway, writes helpful, inspiring, meaningful posts on a very regular basis. I read and nod along with so many. She often writes a post for each month discussing relevant dates and ways to honor and celebrate those days as well as the season itself. This month, she added what she and her children were covering in each grade she is homeschooling, as well as personal and home goals and activities. I loved reading it and thought it was a format of sharing I would like to try. So here goes...

In January we hope for rain

to fill our reservoirs again. 

~Nicola

Dates of Interest:

These are some of the days our family is celebrating this month or simply things we are taking note of or interest in.

January 1: New Year's Day - for our family, this is the last day of our holiday countdown and a day that M has off of work.

January 20: Total Lunar Eclipse - I am excited that the eclipse can be seen at a time our kids can be awake to see it! Rainy weather may affect us, but fingers crossed we get a glimpse.

January 21: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, observed

January 28: Journey North Mystery Class begins

Homeschooling:

After a very clunky few months, we are settling into a new and more predictable rhythm, which is very welcome!

Both kids are participating in a class and, ultimately, a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night right now. A lot of their lesson work stems from or is tied to this class, whether it be speech (learning lines), writing, or history.

Fifth grader: He is beginning to research and work on a project for the Shakespeare class. His chosen topic is architecture. I will help him narrow it down more as he explores his resources. He has regular/daily math he is doing using Teaching Textbooks and Key To workbooks. I am noticing some areas we need to review and/or gap-fill, so we are working on those, as well. He has learning differences with phonics, spelling, and writing, so we are using a program called REWARDS to support his progress in these areas.

Eight grader: She is also beginning to research and work on a project for the Shakespeare class. Her chosen topic is bookbinding in Elizabethan England. She is working on math daily using Khan Academy and Key To workbooks. We are also working through gaps. We have just gone through a lengthy evaluation for her and so are processing all we learned and making a plan for how to continue encouraging her strengths while adjusting assistance in the areas she needs more support.

Self-care:

My word for the year is present. My goal is to be mindful right now. A lot has happened in the past couple of years in our family that has affected my responses, reactions, and abilities to stay present. Also, we are having to do a lot more thinking and planning for educational changes next year. For various reasons, I have felt depleted and it has affected my health. So for self-care, I have resumed waking before everyone, getting a quiet cup of tea, and journaling. I have shifted my journaling prompts again, and having something fresh, helps. I am also getting daily exercise and M and I are re-establishing an at-home date night weekly.

Parenting:

One on one time for any of us (parent-child or husband-wife) has been ridiculously limited lately, so one of my goals right now is to make sure we are getting at least a little bit (that isn't connected to homeschool lessons). For Brown Mouse, this means remembering to pause what I am doing and join him in his play. For Lala Bug, it means joining her while she knits or crafts. And for M and me, it means those date nights I mentioned and a willingness to stay up later than my body likes, for at least one night a week, as his schedule and mine are a bit different. In addition, I have been mulling over Brown Mouse's social needs and supporting Lala Bug in building up the skills she will need for high school. We are still undecided about how/where she will be for 9th grade, so we have been touring schools and learning about the charter schools that serve homeschooled high schoolers.

Home Life:

I ended 2018 and began 2019 thinking a lot about my words for the years, shifting from happy to present. With my inner work toward happy came a foundation of work I needed to do around my expectations of others, limits/boundaries, and holding those limits with love. With a goal of being present, comes strength. All of that said, I have been doing a lot of inner work on my own needs, guilt, and what I am teaching my children through how I express all of this. Part of the result is that I am being clearer with the kids about the need for each of them to contribute more in our home, so I can be responsible for less. In addition, we are working towards some simple renovations (really, completion of projects started long ago) and a thorough purge and clean as we move toward re-arranging who sleeps in which rooms of our small house. This is long overdue and feels like a huge hurdle, so we are tackling a little bit at a time.

Crafting:

I simply don't have the time and energy I had when the kids were littler, to do the types of creating or writing I used to do. I know, it is a matter of how I choose to use my time. Right now, those pursuits are getting less of me. I have been reading for pleasure, I have been doing a tiny bit of knitting, and I have been taking photographs, which I love. Both kids are expressing an interest in photography, so I am considering signing us up for an online photo class. This would be something we could enjoy together, do in our own time from home, and also expose Lala Bug to online classes, which she will need to be familiar with in high school. We, as a family, have been crafting a lot, though. There was a lot of merry making leading up to Christmas and I have supported my very crafty children!

Well...so much January goodness. Although it is already mid-January, I have enjoyed sharing our plans. Maybe as we go along, I will also share what we actually did! If you care to share what is happening at your house, I would love to read it!

learning period 2 of 2018-2019

I really haven't been blogging much and when I have, it has been more of a documentation and sharing of our homeschooling than anything else creative or economical. I shared learning period 1 and "our 168" (hours per week) in October and didn't post in November at all!

I am back to share a little about learning period 2, which was October and November. Here we are in December and time is zipping by always more quickly than I would like.

October and November were filled with numerous atypical appointments. December, in addition to all the celebrations, will have its fair share of appointments too.  I love the winter holidays, but I am slow to get into them right now, because I am dragging a bit and worn from our inconsistent rhythm. I need to create something to look forward to in January, when appointments are done, new rhythm can be made, and that helps ease the bleakness I tend to feel after the holidays.

Can you tell we did a block on chocolate? I had intended for this to be more of a math block and began with Marsha Johnson's History of Chocolate guide, but one book lead to another, which lead to maps (we love Map of the Month) and history and science. So we did a little math, but we learned more about the history of the Americas, how chocolate was made originally, how it is made now, how it spread in popularity, and we taste tested various chocolates. We even made chocolate. This was a wonderful block!

Social studies: We studied the history and geography of chocolate. We studied early U.S. history a little more through various avenues...our American Girl 4-H project, reading Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, and through the Constitution class Lala Bug took through our charter school. The class had them exploring different parts of the Constitution, choosing a topic, writing a paper, and giving a speech, as well as multiple quizzes. Between her love of history and 4-H speaking experiences, Lala rocked the class.

Math: Teaching Textbooks for Brown Mouse, Khan Academy for Lala Bug, games, and Key To... series workbooks for both kids. We are more consistent with math right now and all I can hope is that it is enough. Brown Mouse took a math class through our charter, where they covered a lot about ratios and fractions and Lala Bug, of course, knit a lot and continued writing knitting patterns.

Language arts and Writing: We are loving Brave Writer for language arts and writing. This second learning period we read and worked through the Arrow guide for Frindle by Andrew Clements (just a fun book) and we are working through Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes right now. The Constitution class Lala Bug was in gave her the extra writing work she needed and for Brown Mouse, we are working through a reading and spelling support program called REWARDS, which he is having success with.

 

Science: Lala Bug took a personal interest, deep dive into the history of the U.S. exploration of space, particularly the moon, which, of course, covered a lot of science, as well. The interested began with the book Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon by Suzanne Slade, which was excellent. We also explored science during our chocolate block and Brown Mouse took a Nature Detectives class through our charter. He really enjoyed that and because of our weekly nature studies, he really got a chance to shine, sharing some of his knowledge with his friends and teachers.

Nature plays a big role in our homeschool, with time spent weekly exploring and monthly at the farm with 4-H. This past month, our state was heavily hit with devastating wildfires. The smoke from the fires blew our way and settled to stay for a couple of weeks. It affected our ability to be outside and made for some interested observations, recordings, and conversations.

Moving into December and the new year, I need to take some time to re-evaluate where we are and where we need to shift. We have toured several schools now and I have also attended more discussion groups about homeschooling high school. It is time for us to begin putting in applications for high schools and our family to sit down and discuss wants, needs, goals, and plans. Lots ahead of us!

another year bigger

Dear Brown Mouse,

Blink! Another year just flew by and even you are noticing that time seems to be speeding up. You just said to me, "Wasn't it just Christmas?" Last year, Buddy!

Everything I wrote last year, when you hit double digits, is still spot on. So much so that I was thinking to add some comments that I thought were new this past year, but...nope.

You, my friend, continue to be curious, adventurous, playful, sensitive, loving, and hilarious. You are the first to get wet, muddy, and messy, all in the name of fun. You still love science and building things, and the rest of us still have the joy of joining in your exploration and play. I love spending my days with you!

You light up my life, Boo. I suspect this coming year is going to be one of big changes. I can't wait to see where it takes us!

I love you so much,
Mama

learning period 1 of 2018-2019

The year before last (how was that so long ago?!), I shared about our homeschool year, one learning period at a time. We homeschool under the branches of a charter school that we love, and the charter follows us in two-month chunks, called learning periods. Learning period 1 was August and September. Here is a little snapshot of the launch of our year!

Nature study weekly; I had planned for Fridays to be our nature study and library day, but several weeks in, although desired and beautiful, it wasn't so smooth. Walking alongside me one week, my wise little guy says to me, "Mamma, what do you think if we do our nature walks on Monday mornings? Maybe they would be better for starting the week." And he was right! It doesn't matter what school or work we human beings head into each week, MOANday mornings tend to be hard. Nature walk has been a much gentler start to the week and we have cherished slower home rhythm on Fridays.

I am realizing that, while I am deeply inspired by Waldorf as my home teaching and parenting foundation, our best flowing "us-school" days are perhaps a little more unit study-like. (That term makes me cringe. I don't know why.) This year, I am using Brave Writer Arrow and Boomerang guides for writing mechanics and grammar, something with which we needed to become a little more consistent. I chose to start us with Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, the 1956 Newbery award winning biographical novel of Nathaniel Bowditch, written by Jean Lee Latham.

I could never have imagined the journey Nat would take us on. We were gripped by his story ("Just one more chapter, Mamma!") and how he quietly, yet deeply affected history. We were then hurled through time, backward from Nat to Galileo and forward from Nat and onto the west coast for The Coast Mappers and a tour of a modern ship, the one my brother works on. This one chapter book had us eagerly chasing math, science, history, writing, and language arts, and had the kids making connections and expressing curiosity and excitement with what they were learning. This is fuel for the homeschooling mama soul.

 Along with our read alouds and all-things-Nat, the kids did regular math lessons, another subject we had become inconsistent with. Brown Mouse is very happily engaged with Teaching Textbooks now. He worked his way through the free trial and into a full membership for the year. Lala Bug has been doing Khan Academy, supplemented with Key To... series practice booklets (which our charter school provides). It feels good to have math anchors without push back. I do think the year that I backed off and made math more about play and living experiences made a huge positive difference in math attitude now.

So much cooking and baking, below. Lala Bug got interested in and immediately skilled in baking cakes in the spring, and we always meal plan and meal prep for the week, so a lot of cooking and baking has been happening around here, particularly with September being full of birthdays.The praise "this is the best cake I have ever had!" is positive feedback Lala Bug has loved hearing, and since we are gluten-free bakers, that was encouraging to me.

Soccer is successfully and joyfully underway, 4-H projects and charter classes are beginning this week, and probably the most meaningful things we are doing right now is going through a series of appointments for the unique needs of one kiddo and health-related challenges I have been having. For this reason, alone, the success of our basic weekly rhythm has been so encouraging to me. We are now moving onward into learning period 2. We are studying chocolate and its origins, the constitution and natural history (both through our charter classes), and excited about the playful learning of 4-H.

I hope your learning year is starting smoothly and joyfully!

lift off, 2018-2019

Hello, September! I blogged about my home learning plans for this year a few weeks ago and we are now underway. We are transitioning in slowly. We have begun some activities already and some have yet to begin. This has been the smoothest start to the (home)school year of the last several. I had to pause to think about that after I wrote it, because it is unexpected, since we have entered this year with far more uncertainty than the past few.

Perhaps we were itching for rhythm or maybe just a good read aloud. Perhaps the smooth start has had more to do with my attitude about how I truly want this year to be or the fact that we had just come home from a deeply connected, nature filled week away. Regardless, the last two weeks have been a nice blend of gentle main lesson work and time to pursue interests. We began the year with some gifts, annual porch photos (heart tug), and a simple rhythm of weekly nature study, daily read aloud (Carry On, Mr. Bowditch...a beautifully written blend of history, science, and math), language arts work (Arrow guide from Brave Writer), and math. (We have transitioned to mostly online materials for math and are trying Teaching Textbooks through a a free trial. It looks like we might have one kiddo using Teaching Textbooks and one using Khan Academy this year.)

 Checking out Teaching Textbooks. And yes, that is corn on the floor in the background. Brown Mouse loves to drive his big trucks through it, playing that it is gravel. What you can't see is the laundry on the floor beyond that, waiting to be folded.

One of my biggest observations is that I have noticed almost no complaining about this rhythm so far, and both kids are more articulate about what they would enjoy and what would help them be more organized. I needed to see and feel this success and growth.  We love homeschooling, we choose it, it is a gift and privilege, but there are days/weeks/months/years when it is hard.

I am sharing some photos here, from our first couple of weeks. Those of you on Instagram might recognize a few of these, but I haven't shared them here. (You can request to follow me @nicolacreativelightless if you are an IG user.)

Over the next few weeks, we will have a clunky ramp up to our full schedule for the fall and early winter. Soccer games will begin and consume weekends, we have a differently wired kiddo undergoing some assessments to help us offer unique support, 4-H projects will begin, and charter school classes will begin.

I am looking forward to a happy year ahead. Regardless of how and where your kids are learning, I hope the shift into the new school year goes well for you all.

p.s. My friend, Amber of Hearth Magic, is hosting a free autumn blog series called Coming Home, starting tomorrow. I am honored to be one of the contributors. You can sign up to receive the series here.

planning: 2018-2019

I find myself somewhere I have never been before. Okay, I realize that is a ridiculous statement, given that each moment we live, we are living freshly, never having lived it before, but as I sit down to write about my planning this year, it looks and feels different for one very distinct reason.

We don't currently know if we will be homeschooling next year (see this post), and if we are, whether it will be one or both kids. So, as I enter this year, I feel different; uncertain, anxious to catch up, sentimental about the past, and (in an attempt to focus on something slightly more positive) determined to not get lost in the details this year, but instead focus in a playful way on the skills I think are essential and on exploring and taking advantage of the freedom of schedule that we have as home learners.

(I wrote about the path ahead back in January. Six months later, I have more information, but the only way in which I feel we are closer to a decision is to accept that we may not know which path until next year, when we take the first step. This post isn't about that. Does anyone want me to write more about that?)

I have spent some time the last few weeks thinking about the year ahead. For portability and ease of editing, I used Evernote for my planning. I can customize it to suit me and this year and I inserted a photo of my kiddos right at the top of my planning page, to keep them at the forefront.

As I thought about the year, I wrote a list of questions to consider as I think about my days with these two amazing, growing people.

How do I want our days to feel? (See the list below, explained in this linked post.)
What have we been doing well?
What can I remove?
What do I want to add?
Where are we struggling? What's hard?
What do we love?
What do we value? (I want to prioritize this!)
What are the strengths and weaknesses? How can I teach to strengths while addressing weaknesses?

I now have a loose plan in place, a good list of resources I can reach for, and an idea of the things I would most like to focus on. I will talk to the kids about my thoughts, but I need a framework for myself, and the truth is, my kids never have too much to say about what they are eager to learn. When we touch on something that sparks enthusiasm for them, it is clear. I want time in my plan to be able to pause and explore those interests. Our roots are still Waldorf-ish, but we have woven it into our own tapestry; our Us-school.

This year, we will still be part of our homeschool charter. My kiddos will do the weekly classes and activities, but due to a resource center move, I don't know if there will be additional classes they can participate in. (Lala Bug did math the last year or two.) Our family will continue to participate in 4-H, with Lala Bug co-leading a project. We will continue in our American Girl club (picking back up with the Civil War era) and to start the year, both kids will be in soccer.

As always, read aloud, games, the library, crafting and building, and nature study are also a key part of our homeschool. In addition, I want to pick back up on our Waldorfish Weekly Art class.

Because we school through a charter, we have to turn in monthly work samples for each child in 5 core subjects. At home, we can do these in any way, using any philosophy that suits us.

Math: I have used Making Math Meaningful teacher guides (for grades 1-5 and for middle school) to help me decide what to cover as I set up a Khan Academy classroom for each of my kiddos. We will be doing geometry through art this year and I am starting the year off with a block on chocolate, which is designed as a math block, although we will dip into geography and cultures as well.

Science: We will be having a weekly nature day again this year, using Exploring Nature with Children as a guide. We will also do some home experiments, journaling, and use Mystery Science again. I would like to focus on health/anatomy/physiology, botany, and some physics this year. A recent post from Carrie of The Parenting Passageway has me thinking how to explore oceanography, as well.

Social Studies: We will be using the library a lot for this subject. We will cover some ancient myths for Brown Mouse and American history (south and north) for both kids. (Primarily Lala Bug, but our American Girl kid club covers quite a lot of U.S. history, too, for both kids.)

Writing and Language Arts: I am putting these two together, because I am choosing some Brave Writer Arrow guides and writing projects this year. Because we have some dyslexic-like challenges, I am considering using a phonics and spelling support, as well, but I have yet to decide how I am going to blend this all together. Writing will allow the kids to practice print, cursive, and typing this year.

I have been grateful again this year for the Plan it Out course and community from Waldorf-Inspired Learning. (I joined as the first group over a year ago and her planning style suits me very well.) I also continue to dip in and out of Waldorf Essentials TFW. (I have been a lifetime member for 6 years.)

Perhaps this sounds like a lot to you. Perhaps it sounds like we have gaps. We ebb and flow (we don't do everything all the time) and as unexpected opportunities arise, we like to add in.

Are you a homeschooler who is planning? What is that looking like for you?