Gracious Living

Today I discovered something about myself. I'm not a suburban wife and homeschooling mom. I'm really an heiress who is completely at home taking afternoon tea in the conservatory while gazing fondly through the windows at my palatial and immaculately tended estate. Seriously. And it only cost 50 cents to discover the truth.

We visited Cheekwood today with our good friends. As per the norm, we had a great time exploring the home and grounds. The sculpture trail was a big hit. We saw beautiful, thought-provoking artwork

mysterious animal tracks

giant theoretical music-making artwork

and generally had good times

If you live in the area, I encourage you to stop by Cheekwood; all month they are offering reduced admission. It was a great way to spend the day. And you might even learn something about yourself.

Holiday from Homeschool

When I mentioned to DD that today is Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I told her a little about the civil rights movement. I also pointed out that more kids would be attending our nature class today. She smoothly replied that I could not give her schoolwork today, as it is a holiday. She's not supposed to be this smart.

Today's nature session was about snakes (shudder shudder). A guest ranger from another local park came to talk about snakes and actually brought three snakes for the kids to "pet." She even let one loose on the floor to slither around. I remained calm externally, but I had my evacuation plan all worked out. Sadly, it did not involve waiting around for DD.

We spent several hours at the park, where DD got a valuable lesson in communicating with her friends. I got involved and complicated matters further, but as soon as I absented myself, the situation began to improve. Funny how that happens.

In spite of today's holiday, DD did manage to squeeze in some school work. She particularly enjoyed the Raindrop Number Sequence activity. Organizing the numbers 0-10 was not too challenging, but I did discover that she has difficulty identifying numbers above 10. We also made number and written flash cards through 25 so that we could play concentration, with the goal of matching the words to the numbers.

She's now working on an elaborate version of War with homemade flash cards. I'm now getting written instructions, as I don't understand how to play. Life is good.

A Truly Great Day

We finally had our long-awaited playdate with good friends today. We discovered that DD likes guns and swords. Who knew? She had a ball playing "boy games," as she calls them and planned their next playdate in the car on the way home.

I'm so thankful for the wonderful friends we've made and the encouragement and acceptance they offer us. It has made all the difference in our homeschool adventures.

Keep on, keep on, keep on workboxing

We had a great school session today. DD woke up late, around 8:00, so we scurried through breakfast, the baking of a promised loaf of sweet bread and even squeezed in a (short) run on the treadmill before it was time for school. I did a fair job of organizing the night before, but I still needed a few supplies that weren't already laid out with our school work. Big deal.

The overall theme of this week is patterns. She happily traced shapes, cut them out and glued them onto a piece of paper. We talked about the different attributes of each shape, blah blah blah. I told her that I felt certain she was going to love geometry and she informed me that, because she loved shapes so much, she was planning on becoming a shape scientist. I think this career has a world of possibilities.

I love the workbox concept because it forces me to be organized and prepared. I know if the day ever comes when the folders are empty, I'll be in serious trouble. That day may be Saturday.

Working the Workboxes

Ok, due to a major meltdown as a result of watching Bolt (think Snoopy Come Home plus perilous fire scene), we all got to bed later than usual. As a result, I did not get everything organized for our first day of workboxing (in other words, I procrastinated all weekend). However, things went swimmingly. She was already excited to do schoolwork, so she started the morning by grabbing her Solids, Liquids and Gases book to find the perfect experiment to launch school. She found it. She spent about 45 minutes testing which household objects would float and which would sink. I transcribed her experiment and asked her a few questions from the Scientific Method (boy, 5th grade was a long, long time ago). Once she lost interest in sinkers and floaters, we moved on to identifying shapes (lesson 1 from our first folder).

Although the lengthy science lesson derailed my tight schedule, I wasn't complaining. She was so enthusiastic and excited about learning. And one of the beauties of homeschooling is that we can pick up where we left off tomorrow. And I've already prepared...

You'll Pretend to be the Teacher?

We're going to start workboxes next week. I got really excited about the idea again after talking with a friend of mine. The concept is fairly simple; each subject area can be assigned a workbox (or folder, in our case) in which a daily assignment can be placed. Knowing that math is my Achilles heel, I decided to organize our workboxes around a particular math theme. I'm choosing to start with patterns. I found some really great ideas on the web; I'll pass them along if they work as well as I hope.

As I printed out all my worksheets this afternoon, I explained to DD that these were for our schoolwork and that we would begin next week. She seemed very excited by this news. "You mean you'll pretend to be the teacher?" Why, yes, yes I will. Just as I did for those few brief years I spent as an educator. Here's hoping my success rate will be somewhat higher...

Goals vs. Gaols or Reality Check

Goal (n) - the purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective

Gaol (n) - a prison, esp. one for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of minor offenses

I'm just saying...