What Kind of Home Educators Are We?

When asking myself the question, "What kind of home educators are we?" I find myself in pit of confusion. I mean I know what works for us, however, I have never found a label for it and over the years I find there are more like us that are not. I find it truly hard to pigeon-hole educators into a single slot – Charlotte Mason, Classical, Waldorf, and Montessori or are you unschoolers or traditional text book users? We each are simply a collection of what inspires us to do our best and be our best for our children. When you first begin you try this and know it will work – right? Then you realize that maybe it's not the right fit for your child or children and you try another avenue because you are seeing that all things don't fit every child or even your own style of understanding. Over time you collect, use, discard and keep what works, thus your educational methods become a composite of various types blended together. Also there is that living life factor that truly gives shape to the true value of your children's education – dare I say it – true education isn't about papers, pencils and books – but you knew that, right? But to be honest this was an important fact that came with the years for me I didn't start out that way. It was a fact I learned by watching my boys and seeing how each of them learned and retained information the best.

 One child liked Classical methods and buried himself in Greeks and Romans when he was young and now he is a true just give me the facts kind of guy. Another flourished with unschooling methods and is a genius with building and mechanical things and his ability to look at a simple machine and see what is out of place is amazing. He is also our family advocate for anything rebuild, recycle and be "Green." The youngest is a true Charlotte Mason child. He loves to be read to, draws & paints pictures of animals and plants. He has love for nature that is unending – not matter how creepy. Then there is the thread that weaves this all together for us as a family Waldorf.

 It is through Waldorf that I learned to create a rhythm for our year, months, weeks and days. A true rhythm for life. It seemed to take all the loose ends over the years and weave them into a beautiful blanket that covers us with love, peace, hope and happiness. It has given us a pace of moving through our days that that lets us breathe – there is no more hurry scurry, got to get this and that done that drew us to tears in the past. It has simplified and brought true mindfulness to our lives. Each child, although their interests are varied and each learn in a different manner also learn from each other so there is a little extra thing going on every day to enrich their knowledge of the world around them. We try to live, eat, and celebrate by the seasons which has turned out to be great fun and learning experience all in itself.

 If you are using the wrong method for the child you can spend all the money in the world on curriculum and they will not learn a thing and be miserable in the process. True learning happens when we like and even love that which we are learning about- it doesn't matter how I go about teaching the 3 R's just so that there is a connection made in a way that my child can understand it.

This year the Classical child enters 8^th grade and wants to know more about the world globally, its cultures and missions work. The "Green" unschooler is in grade 5 and into inventors and their inventions and our little Charlotte Mason man is in grade 2 and is r learning about the plants and bugs, animals and poetry with a lap book here and there. I use to tremble at the thought of three different grades and teaching methods but now I see the calm and centered learning experience that each child has and how well they learn in having their own special world to share with the family. I see the wisdom of how learning needs to be structured for some and for others they simply need to be guided. The full potential of each child lies within himself and our (hubby & I) task is to find what they need to bring it out to share with the world. That's what kind of home educators we are.

Kody's Cookbook

A couple of years a go my mother and I made a cookbook for Kody. It had favorite family recipes that were used often and still are. The recipes were simple and uncomplicated. It is a book that every one now uses.

Play Dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons oil
3-4 drops food coloring

Mix the water, oil and food coloring together in a medium sauce pan. Add the remaining ingredients. Put it on the stove over medium high heat watching it and stirring, until it is a nice consistency. It will become very difficult to stir and clump together. At this point turn it out of the pan on to the counter and knead it. Cool and store in a sealed container or zip-lock bag to keep it from drying out. ( This is the first recipe that Kody helped me make when he was 3, it was in his preschool curriculum manual and he is now 14 and making it for his little brother.)

What Kept Our Little Guy Busy This Week

He put together a few puzzles, played the Somebody game and matched the Wildlife Lotto cards,

built a book tower,

watched a cement truck unload across the street,

sewed a zipper in the top of T-Bone,

did a floating egg experiment,

drew a dragon on the chalkboard,

made drums and played music with his cousin,

did a rainbow experiment,

and caught 13 American Lady butterflies in the backyard.

That Boys Innards!

Last week the boys finished up their Human Body study. Kody used Sonlight Science 5 that we ordered and he finished in 17 weeks. He read all but the History of Medicine and Dry Bones and Fossils. Which didn't surprise me. When we did Core 1 when he was in third grade and Collin in Kindergarten we blazed through it finishing in 20 weeks. Seemed pretty pricey for only half a year curriculum so we didn't order again until this January. It seemed a better fit for him starting Junior High since he is now an independent learner.

 

 

Anyway back to That Boy's Innards - the younger boys followed along with Kody using books on their levels the past few weeks.

 

 

 As a review I had them draw their younger brother on the chalkboard and color in and label the body parts.

This was their official finished boy's innards.

Joseph looked at the pictures in What Happens to a Hamburger after I read it to him. Kody read The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body aloud to the boys. Joseph was really impressed with the 25 feet of the intestines in the adult body.

He had to get the tape measure and marked it out across the schoolroom and living room floors with chalk.

Caught Joseph explaining to Grace (our new kitten) how the food works its way through his body.

Kody finished up his reading

and so did Collin

then they both copied the labeled boy from the board onto paper for their science notebook.

Thrift Shops and Learning Resources

Since we follow a 12 week on and 4 week off schedule we will be out of school through December. However, I have learned over the years that when the boys aren't working on anything that long that isn't constructive for the mind - the mind tends to slow down in its function. Miss Mason was on target when she tells us that a child needs Something to Love, Something to Do, Something to Think About. With this information on the back burner of my memory I began searching for something that I thought the boys would like to do but still be learning. But I kept drawing a blank. Then I made a trip to the thrift shop with my mother and Edmond (our oldest son). Edmond and and I searched the shelves of games and toys for educational treasures and BINGO!!! Here's what we came up with.

 A complete 1979 Science Fair Kit - 150 in 1 Electronic Project Kit for $2.49. What a deal - did anyone see me dancing in the aisle? The boys have seen these in homeschooling catalogs for $50 and up so it was always out of our reach. So this is a real treasure for them.

We also found a Science Fair AM Short Wave Radio Kit for $1.49. I'll read to them from the Usborne Internet-Linked Science Encyclopedia on Electricity and Circuits and we'll check out the links for more information as we move through the holiday season. A very relaxed schedule for Wildwood Academy and they don't even know it!

I found a wonderful Curious George Paint Set for $1.49 and My First Book of Time with large fold-out clock for $1.00 for Joseph. The paint set was perfect timing since he's in his "George stage" and we are reading through The Complete Adventures of Curious George.

Last year about this time hubby and I found at the same thrift shop a Thames & Kosmos Chem C1000 Kit for $4.98 (retails for $89),Thames & Kosmos Elementary Microscope Set for $11.49 (retails for $100) and a new copy with dust jacket of The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay. Both of the kits were never used - still in shrink wrap so they were used for Christmas presents. We have truly been blessed in finding wonderful items for our homeschooling life at this thrift shop over the years.

Sandbox Counting

Last weekend we went to the thrift shop and Joseph found a bag full of plastic eggs he bought for 25 cents. He's a big spender!! He is learning the value of the money by earning and spending his own. He does chores for granny which she pays him in return. Last week he helped his brothers mow the grass and he earned $3.00.

I asked him what he wanted to do with all his eggs (now that our hens are laying full force now he has an obsession with eggs and birds) he said, "I'm going to play with then in the sandbox, have egg hunts and fake the chickens out by putting them in their nests."
 

Well, I had to have him take them out of the nesting boxes because one of our Buttercup Ladies kept sitting and sitting on a couple of the crazy things. Bless her heart, she was trying to hatch them. He and the boy next door, grabbed a couple of our baskets and took turns hiding and hunting eggs until dark a couple of nights.

Today I was sitting outside while he was playing in his sandbox and he began making little houses in a rows and counting them. Each time he made a new one he would say, " I had eight little houses and I made one more and now I have nine. Isn't that cool ?" He worked his way up to twelve, adding as he went.

 

Then he wanted me to check to see if he spelled his name correctly, sometimes he puts his e before the s. But today it looks like he did a great job! you never know where a kid will go with a 25 cent bag of eggs.
 

Then it was time for a little snackie (this kid has a built in clock that goes off every day at 3:00), his choice today was dill pickle chips and dry Autumn Wheat Squares.

 

All right he's got a little snackie, he's kicked back and what else would a person watch but ----

 

 

Curious George.

Magic Art Turned Into Chemistry

This is what the boys done for extra activities this last week. It was an idea I found at Flipflops & Applesauce. It started out as a craft activity for Joseph and the older boys thought it sounded neat and wanted to try it out.Then it turned into a full blown set of chemistry experiments they tinkered with all week.

It was Puffy Paint that you make, paint a picture and put it in the microwave for a few seconds and presto - you have puffy art! Joseph thought this was magic, however the older boys had to explain it to the bare bones. Bottom line it was simple baking in the microwave.

This lead to the boys pulling a couple of books from our shelves - The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions 1 and 2 by John E. & Danita Thomas. That sent the boys on a scientific adventure - Dryer Lint Clay, Spray Chalk, Applesauce Cinnamon Dough, Peanutty Play Dough, and World's Best Bubbles.

But the favorite was Coffee Dough, it dries to a stone look finish. This turned into and excursion. My hubby drinks coffee but he tossed the grounds out daily. Sw we had to plan to save up the grounds until we had enough - then a light bulb came on! Let's go to Starbucks, they give away free grounds for people to use in their gardens. So we went, we got and we returned home with more grounds than you can imagine.It's sitting outside drying out really good so I can package it up so they will have it to make more coffee dough.

I didn't get pictures of the coffee dough sculptures because my rechargeable batteries are getting me fits - don't want to charge any more :( Any who, Joseph is wanting to try the clothespin dryer sheet butterflies he also saw when we were at Flipflops and Applesauce.

The recipe for Puffy Paint can be found at flipflopsandapplesauce.blogspot.com - a note here if you use this recipe really watch it in the microwave since they tend to work at different levels. It only took ours 15 seconds to puff the paint. Below is the recipe for Coffee Dough.

 

Coffee Dough -1 cup coffee grounds, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup water

1. Mix coffee grounds., flour, and salt together in a small bowl.
2. Add water and stir until the mixture turns into a consistently of a stiff dough.
3. If the clay is to sticky, knead in more flour.
4. Let the coffee dough air dry or bake them in the oven at 200 degrees F. for 45 minutes. Larger sculptures may take longer to dry.

The Day It Got Quiet

The other day I was cleaning house and I suddenly noticed that the house was SILENT! You know the quiet when everybody is involved in something and usually with three boys it never turns out good. I began going from room to room - if I call out to them they would all scatter. This is what I found: the three of them were so engrossed in a website I found for them about dinosaurs. I forgot I had left it on earlier before they got up to make notes for our dinosaur study. This occupied them for the entire morning.

Here we are again with the all favorite coffee dough making volcanoes.

Latter in the afternoon Joseph finally got to his gumdrops and toothpicks project he kept yapping about after seeing it on the Flipflops and Applesauce Blog. He's building single story and two story houses.

Be warned if you try this at home - it's sugary good fun but messy. Sticky, sticky, sticky.

Curriculum

This was wrote in my daily journal back in April:
My decision for this year’s curriculum was very difficult. There were so many good options for the boys out there, however, I find most very repetitive of what we have covered and what they have learned on their own. Surprising enough they have taught themselves more than I ever could of covered. I often find things that I decide to cover have very little interest to them so they grasp some of it but very little. When it comes to what they like I watch them drowned themselves in the subject – from reading, watching videos, DVD’s, listening to CDs, Making books, drawing pictures, playing computer, play station, board games and outdoor play.

The problem is that Kody’s intense interest in one thing seems to revolve around one thing what seems forever – the middle ages for a year and a half – of course I under stand that this could turn out to be a life long interest. But I would love for him to find other areas that he is just as passionate about. He has settled into eras of history and major wars and weapons broadly but noting as specific as he did with the middle ages. He has shown a serious interest in cooking in the last year and says he has a desire to perhaps become a chef in the future.

Collin for the most part seems to be coasting on Kody’s coat tails. I mean he does what ever Kody does and nothing really of his own choosing. He soon becomes board with what is being done and walks away. He has an extreme interest in building things, how mechanical things are put together, scrapbooking, and repairing broken things –these are areas that Kody has no interest in. Collin has very little interest in learning how to read, which at his age (10) I believe he should be, however I know every child is different and I could be wrong on this.

Joseph is still too young to truly find his serious interests of life. He is the typical little five years old. Digs in the dirt, collects nature objects, plays with the dog, and picks flowers. He is, however, showing a growing interest over the last couple of years for bugs and birds of any kind. He will find a bug of sorts and simply watch it for a very long time – then tell me what it had done. He will catch one and study it with a hand lens and try to draw and color it exact and when he can’t get it, it upsets him and he asks for help. He is very interested in their detail and colors. He does the same with birds but he’s not so obsessed. He also likes to take flowers apart to see how they are put together. He use to think they were all the same but by taking them apart he has learned that they may be similar but each type is different. All this on his own! He has not had any formal learning except in the area of basic math and some letter sounds.

All the boys are interested in any type of scientific experiment. Their handwriting is somewhat legible but very messy and spelling is horrid. The older two have finally memorized multiplication tables (I know some say this isn’t important to stress, however, I find that as math goes on- to have this in your memory bank as soon as possible makes it much, much easier and less frustrating for the child.) Each child is on above grade level with math but need help to get there with their language skills. This will be a major point in their goals for this year. We all have benefited from a more relaxed method of schooling than the gota’ get this done today that we have followed in the past. Home education is truly a less is more thing – at least for us. The boys retain so much more when given time alone with a subject to let it simmer for awhile. 

Grains/Bread/Yeast/Mold

The majority of our curriculum is Charlotte Mason, however, when the boys are in need of more hands on stuff we pull our volumes of KONOS off the shelves and jump into a unit. These are the best investment I ever made. They are so full of everything hands-on. They are christian based but they are very do-able with out the religious reference. This year we started out with Grains, Yeasts, Molds, and Bread Making. This turned out to be a royal hoot, especially with the making of the bakers hats.The boys really did gain lots of new knowledge here.

Wheat farming from field to store, drawing the stages of seed growth from their own growing seeds, the parts of the wheat stalk, the mapping of where in the US it is best for wheat to grow, designing and making of their own baker's hat, reading & copying recipes on bread, baking their own loaves of bread, making their own butter (all right, I added this one - what's fresh bread without fresh butter!), mold experiments and notebooking their observations, making vocabulary cards on new words they ran learned. Whew! It was busy.

Needless to say fun was had by all. The following are pictures of the boys bread baking day.