First Day of Class - Kindergarten and Third Grade

Homeschool Report 2: Too much fun???

This is homeschool report two, take two. Malcolm erased my previously written paragraphs with one fell swoop. It took an hour to write and a split second later - gone. It should really be harder to erase things.

I digress...

Is it possible to have too much fun? All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, but what about all play? Does it make him an under-educated, immature idiot?

I ask because the boys and I have been having LOTS of fun lately. We have enjoyed several field-trip Fridays, one field trip Thursday, and lots of down time between studies. One thing I really appreciate about home-school is the freedom. The boys do have on campus classes Monday - Thursday but they start and nine am and the latest day is Wednesday when Aiden gets out at one. Since there is no "homework" there is lots of time for fun. We have gone swimming (at noon), to Bohart Entemology Museum, the farmer's markets, the park, on bike rides, walking, and, my personal favorite, a trip to Murphy's in Calaveras.

Erik (my husband) does quite a bit of work out of town and we (the boys and I) used travel with him frequently. In fact I could probably just say we travel frequently. We usually go somewhere every month. Aiden starting school made mid-week trips like this a little harder. Fortunately, he was enrolled in year-round school so we still had the "off-months" of October and May/June to travel. We also had February, but February weather is kind of crappy all over so that is not such a great month for travel. Unless you are going to Florida. February is the ONLY month to go to Florida - no crowds, no bugs, nice weather, and really good gator sightings. Seriously, February in Florida is awesome. This school year the schedule changed to some ridiculous combination of a year-round and traditional school calender. Long story short - we lost October vacation. This was a major factor in my decision to keep the boys home. What can I say, I love to go somewhere, anywhere. Even with all the kids.

Anyway, about Murphy's... In Murphy's there is a creek that runs through a public park. It's a really nice creek with a little swimming hole and some fairly nice "beaches". On this trip, I decided to take the boys down to the creek to play. We got sandwiches from a near-by deli, walked down to the creek, and set-up headquarters on one of those fairly nice beaches. The boys had a BLAST. Well, Aiden and Sean did anyway. Gavin was a little cranky until after he had a nap in the stroller. They found a wooly bear caterpillar that they brought home and fed. They embellished an existing rock dam making the water deeper on one side and faster over the water fall. They saw water bugs and very small fish. They made leaf boats and raced sticks. They swished through reeds and played in the mud. They had FUN. We all had fun.

Was it a lesson? This all took place on a school day during school hours. Did they learn anything? We talked about dams - why people/animals make them, how to make the dam hold back water better, and what purpose they serve. We talked about bugs - their habitat, how water-bugs stand on water. We discussed why the fish weren't in the main part the creek and why they swam away whenever we leaned over them. We came home and Nana used the Internet to find out how to care for our captive wooly bear. Just FYI - wooly bear caterpillers eat weeds and can be put it into hibernation by storing said caterpillar in tupperware in the refrigerator crisper drawer until spring. Unfortunately ours died before we could. I got to sit by the creek on the sand under the shade of a tree and watch my boys play. I didn't have to do all that much although I did help a little with dam fortification and point out the fish and waterbugs. I also initiated the conversation regarding the purpose of dams - but that was just talk. I can do that all day. Really.

I am looking forward to more of these learning vacations. Maybe I should call them learnations. We are headed to Washington DC and other points East this fall and I am already talking about US history (civil war, slavery, colonization), geography, and national symbols. They may not know everything, but they will learn something and, I think, they will have fun doing it.

While we were there, sitting and playing, a little boy crossed the bridge above. The boy, looking down at my boys, said to his father: "I wish I were down there." I am so glad I have and am taking the opportunity to let my kids play and explore. I still don't know how all this will turn out but they will have memories of something other than a classroom. At the very least we will have stopped to smell the roses.

Gavin Gettin' Down

Homeschool Report 1

We are entering (actually are 1/2 finished with our third week) of the great homeschool experiment. I have thought about posting many times over the past weeks and only just now made it to the computer.

What can I say? This homeschool thing is both easier and more difficult than I anticipated. It is easier because now I fight with Aiden about the math, writing, and reading work over a period of 4-5 hours. Previously all the frustration (on both sides) was packed into a 2-3 hour period after school but before soccer, dinner, and bedtime. I also feel that I have more control over the consequences of his inaction. I used to feel horrible about taking away his free time (read: obsessive LEGO playing) because I knew he'd used up all his energy just behaving in class. It was hard for him to sit and do the same (or very similar) tasks for 6 hours a day and then come home and do more of the same (or very similar) tasks. Now I KNOW that he has plenty of time to do the things he really likes because we complete all his work in a 4-5 hour window. Thus there is no homework. No homework = no fight and everybody wins.

Being a trained educator would make this ALMOST effortless and I have come to appreciate teaching's finer points. For example - I have no idea how to write a lesson plan. It's really fairly difficult especially if you have very little idea of what kids should be learning in kindergarten and third grade. I did print out the California state standards but those are a little foggy since they are written for... educators. In some areas my expectations are way too high and in others I underestimate my kids' ability. I also put in quite a bit of prep time both at night and first thing in the morning. I now fully appreciate how hard it is for teachers to both teach and babysit. I would hope that most school age kids would behave better than a two-year old but I believe there are similarities. Most probably don't need feeding or diaper changes (!!!) but kids who require a lot of attention are draining and distracting. Additionally (pun intended) I am afraid of math. I'm terrified that I am going to be resonsible for turning my boys into number idiots. Maybe it's genetic?

Now before you all get concerned about my kids' future and potential for menial labor, I do receive the advice and monitoring of a certified educator. She goes over my less-than-stellar lesson plans, looks at my kids' work, and asks them questions to ensure that they are learning something. They are also able to take classes that are not offered in regular school. I have both boys enrolled in Tae Kwon Do, music lessons, music appreciation, and grade level classes. I am doing my best to expose them to some Spanish (car tapes - Spanish works by osmosis right?), art, and science. We are trying to do field trips every week. Sean has learned how to write his name and knows most of the numbers 1 - 10. Aiden's reading and writing have vastly improved over last year and we are making progress in math. I think.

I have asked Aiden whether he prefers home-school over school-school(or as I like to call it - go away school) and he changes his mind every other day. Today he preferred home-school. Sean, very emphatically, prefers staying home. Weirdo. I do find that we are less rushed even though we're doing more, dinner is on the table by 5:30 more often, we don't go through Macaroni and Cheese like we own Kraft stock, and that there is A LOT less yelling. We have decided to give this home-school thing a year and then re-evaluate our choices. My main goal right now is to not lose ground.

Will home school come out on top? Will I be totally grey in June? Will I have four boys? You'll have to stay tuned - even I don't know the answers. Except the last one. I will have four boys. Definitely four boys. Phew. One out of three isn't too bad - 50% right? ;)

Wisdom of Boys

My boys (Aiden and Sean) have taken to calling all their stuffed animals teddies. The "teddies" have been very involved in all kinds of games and pretend play lately. Erik and I accepted this teddy label as just an easier way of saying stuffed animal and just realized the rationale behind the saying: if you have a teddy BEAR than naturally you would have a teddy HORSE, teddy OTTER, teddy SHARK, and teddy ALLIGATOR. We think that President Roosevelt would be honored. :)