blogger's block

October 17, 2005

I have to admit I haven't been too inspired to blog lately. We had a wonderful visit with Mom & Dad and I think mom may blog about it. I will soon, don't worry. I'm bummed about not having our digital camera. We're using my parents old 35 mm. I took a roll to get developed last week so I should be able to post some photos soon. I'm not as enthused about blogging when I can't post photos.

We've had a rainy week here. Started last Saturday and has rained off and on for a whole week. Yesterday was particularly bad. We had a low key week, returning back to normal after mom & dad's visit. If such a thing as normal exists.

We have discovered a climbing wall at Bates, which is a godsend for our son and his climbing enthusiasm. He literally climbs the walls at home and so we've been making weekly visits to the climbing wall at Bates. I have to say he's doing awesome. You can just see the wheels turning as he figures out what holds to grab onto, where to put his feet etc. He's a strong little guy too and fairly fearless (not always so great). Gotta say, I love him to bits and everything "boy" about him.

We are looking forward to a couple harvest parties this month. Next Saturday is the Bean Threshing at Willow Pond, where we have our farm share. This is such a blast. Then the following week we are having a Harvest Housewarming at our home. We haven't hosted any big parties since moving to Maine, the closest have been kid's birthdays. I can't wait to celebrate with our friends the blessings God has given us. This truly is a thankful season for us. So, I'm busy planning this and having fun doing so.

This week we plan to go to Open Gym, especially considering all the rain. Visit Daddy at Bates (a weekly outing). Celine has her 2nd riding lesson on Tuesday and on Wed morning we take a homeschool tour of a local bakery. I'm going to attempt a firmer schedule with the kids and myself this week as well. Mostly, trying to have a chore time in the morning so that the kids learn to take more responsibility for the daily care of the household. This is a very important aspect of their schooling for us. We want our whole family to work together in the household tasks and for the kids to learn how to care for their own homes. This is challenging for me because it's easier to do the jobs myself. But it's worth is because not only do we want to train our children for their own futures but also meaningfully involve them in our lives. We want our children to feel needed in our family and that they have important contributions to make.

Along that line, Celine has furthered her culinary skills this past week. One of her favorite dishes is fried rice. The kids often help me cutting vegetables & tofu but this time I worked with Celine through the whole process. She chose the ingredients and learned (hands on) how to cook the rice in the rice cooker (we didn't have leftovers to use). Then I helped her cut up the veggies (the onions & garlic) and gave Brienne a few items to cut, she didn't want to be left out. Celine was in charge of the stirring and deciding when it was done. Afterwards the kitchen was a disaster - thanks to Brienne's attempted clean up efforts that left tofu and broccoli bits all over the floor. But Celine was very proud of her accomplishment. As we sat and ate our lunch we all genuinely praised her efforts and later during the meal, in a very uncharacteristic way, out of the blue she told me she loved me. Celine is not very demonstrative this way so this kind of surprised me but it showed us how much she valued the time I spent doing this with her.

This is one of the things I love about homeschooling. The ability to schedule your time the way you want to meet your family's goals and live out your values.

Well, I guess I didn't have a blogger's block afterall. I just needed to sit down and write.

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Karen on Oct. 18, 2005, 4:17 a.m.

I commend you for the important life skills you're teaching your children. Everybody wins. I'm so proud of you all.

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becky on Oct. 21, 2005, 3:36 p.m.

I am interested in learning more about this home-schooling program you are using. It's important for children to have the opportunity to learn how to cook, clean and know how a home functions. How do you introduce basics in school like math, reading, sciences, and so on? I know with a lot of home-schooling it's an hour to three a day of just those lessons and then there is time for field trips, life skills like household chores and so on. From what you've told me your approach to home-schooling is less structured but I am just wondering how so and if so how do you still teach basics of school.

Your babies are so grown up from the sounds of it!

Just two weeks ago, Christy's little girl(age 10) was able to test her cooking skills when there was no one else to make supper. It was a complicated recipe, some sort of chicken with creamy sauce, Christy was prepared for a less than perfect meal but when it was all said and done Mackenzie had perfected it.

So many parents never take the time(and time it does take) to teach their kids the simple life skill of cooking, and home maintenance. So good on you Renee! A bonus of being a stay at home Mom is being able to teach our children these things too. Thanks for sharing about what Brienne is doing, she's so little but she still is able to help, sometimes I forget that little ones can help out with big jobs too.

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- renee on Oct. 31, 2005, 3:37 a.m.
  
  Becky,
  
  We don't use a program at all. There are so many different ways to homeschool. Each family I know does it a little differently. Philosophically we are on the relaxed/unstructured end of the homeschooling spectrum. I don't know that we'll always been on this end but it works well for us at this stage of our homeschooling adventure.
  
  The only structured program that we were doing was a learn to read program with Celine called 100 Easy lessons. We've gotten 3/4 the way through and Celine can basically read now except that she is so afraid of taking risks and being wrong. I'm a perfectionist myself so I can understand where she gets this from. But the whole reason we are homeschooling is to give our kids a safe (emotionally, physically, spiritually, intellectually etc) environment to learn in so it's a bit of a mystery why she's afraid to fail - we never grade her or judge her work??? Needless to say, Celine was no longer enjoying the lessons so we've quit for the time being.
  
  So, how do our kids "learn the basics"? Through everyday life. Our kids are learning how to read, do math and basic scientific concepts through cooking, doing house chores, going on nature walks, visiting the library, being read to, making art projects, playing music, riding horses, etc... They are learning all the time.
  
  For example this summer they opened savings accounts. They earn money through the week for things over and above regular chores or just because. They are learning how to count their money before making a deposit and learning about earning interest. This isn't because we do a math curriculum but because we "do" real life. They learn about fractions when they cook with 1/4 cups and 1/2 cup measures. There are just too many examples to name. Almost any activity they are doing they are learning something. As a homeschooling parent my job is to capitalize on those opportunities - to teach when the moment is there. Also our job is to provide a rich learning environment so our kids are exposed to ideas, beauty, language, arts, music, nature, their community, science etc....
  
  So, practically I don't have a school time of the day. We have a daily routine involving chores, errands, projects, meals (prep & clean up), reading, outside play etc... The learning happens in all of this. Also Daddy will often sit down and teach quick little mathematic concepts - 10 minutes here and there. The latest was the greater and less than symbols. Maybe as they get older and are studying particular subjects or concepts there will be more structure that way. But this is how we do it now and we like it this way.
  
  If you're interested in reading more about this approach check out Home Education Magazine, they may have at Edmonton Public Libraries http://www.homeedmag.com/
  
  Also, Mary Hood's book The Relaxed Home School http://www.elijahcompany.com/books/maryhoodbooks.htm
  
  There's lots of others but these 2 come to mind. I think that about sums it up without writing a book myself.
  
  reply
  - becky on Oct. 31, 2005, 4:33 p.m.
    
    I love it! Teaching doesn't come naturally to me, that's probally why I am so intrigued by this approach. Thanks for explaining more about it. I'm sure your kids will be so thankful when they look back years from now and see how wonderful learning can be.
    
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