Week 5: International Homeschool Spirit Week

743 hours
I called last week a wash, but let's give it like 5 hours
743 hours
-5 hours
738 hours to go

EEK. . .I've been a bit slack about posting and there's just no way I'm going to go back and remember what we did two weeks ago! On Sunday we had a drive through KY, all the way through TN and into to AL! That ended up being a fun drive, the girls did pretty well, really, the scenery was gorgeous and at the end of it, homemade chicken curry and DEAR DEAR friends! We spent a couple of hours catching up, the girls made instant and new best friends, and then we hit the road again and headed back to Nashville.

Sunday was a long drive. . .one of the COOLEST things on Saturday was. . .well, besides crossing two states lines, was driving through Clarksville and seeing "Wilma Rudolph Parkway."  I forgot she was from Clarksville, but I was able to excitedly point out the sign to Alani and then show her the second sign as we passed the actual parkway. . .she was pretty jazzed about that, since she LOVES her "Wilma Unlimited" book!

We swam back at the hotel and engaged in the nightly ritual of reading Little House in the Big Woods. . .which was so comforting as I took this final leg of the journey home with my two sweet girls and no one else. Then we snuggled down and fell fast asleep.

On Monday we headed to the pool for another 30 minutes before getting ready and checking out. Then we headed to downtown Nashville for a few hours before our 6pm flight. I was so excited to find that the TN state Capitol has a museum with a 100 years of Girl Scouting display, and it's free. We decided this would be our Monday activity. Monday kicked off "International Homeschool Spirit Week" and I was bound and determined to be part of it. The first day was "homeschool away from home." Is there any better way than to be 1200 miles from home? I think not! We hit the Nashville Farmer's Market, which includes an indoor food-court, Greek for lunch. Then walked the GIANT set of stairs up to the Capitol Building, only to find that it is closed for repairs until January! UGH. We waited on a friend who was supposed to meet us there, saw a statue of Jackson and Adams and read about James K. Polk and his wife, as well as the Catholic Church building.

We headed to our plane. On one of the flights Alani again poured over the safety card. I drew her another map of where we'd been, charting our course on the back of the SW in-flight service napkin, again and she worked on her Singapore Math workbook for about an hour. She did some Singapore math, which she LOVES and I think this is going to be the right math for us.  I said "Alani, do you want to do some schoolwork?" And she scrunched her nose and whined "No" and I said, "Oh, I thought you could do some math."  "MATH?  MATH?  I LOVE math!  You didn't say it was math!" Well, okay then. . .there's apparently "school work" and "math."  :) . . .homeschooling on a plane is DEFINITELY homeschool away from home!

In all of that I'd say we had a good 5 hours of school type work which included history, geography, the arts, math, healthy living and physical education :) We even stopped to ponder some funny looking acorns for a bit and stomp on them to see what the seeds looked like inside. . . science? I think so!

Getting back into the groove for the rest of the week was kind of tough. Tuesday was "comfy cozy" day. . .when do we NOT spend most of the day in our jammies? Tuesday evening was a tea for our new Girl Scout Daisies (2 have been added to our troop).

Wednesday. . . I took a new morning charge, so we spent all morning Wednesday getting the house cleaned up (after getting home at nearly midnight on Monday I couldn't even deal with it on Tuesday, though I did a little to prepare) . . .only to learn they'd be coming the next day. The girls worked on some crafting, which basically included lots of glue (it took four days for the white glue on Airi's project, to dry completely) and various colors, sizes and shapes of pipe cleaners/ fuzzy sticks. When Airi went down for a nap, the kitchen was so clean that I was able to let Alani freely "cook" up concoctions while I worked on dinner AT 1PM!!! It was like a solid hour or more of cooking and creating! Wednesday afternoon Lila and Clarissa came and then ice skating followed by small group. We missed "Crazy Sock Day."

Thursday was "Crazy Day" and we tried to dress the girls in silly patterns. I had to put nearly as much effort into cleaning the house on this morning, again, it's insane how easily it comes undone. Then we met with H's parents and sealed the deal. Alani practiced her violin a couple of times this day and there's really no telling how many games of "Sorry" she had engaged her father in by this point, as we'd been without a TV (toddler broken) since Tuesday evening. The game of Sorry is a great tool for math and strategy. Thursday evenings are pretty chill around here. I created Airi's Halloween costume, we were all in love, then I walked in the other room to start on Alani's and Airi decided she wants to be the same thing as her sister this year. . .argh!

Friday was "twin day." It's not tough to dress the girls alike :) We had Mr. H for the first time on Friday. The girls did all of the hard work and had a blast. We went to the park much earlier than we ever do, and before we knew it, 3 hours with this handsome little guy were over! Alani's violin teacher had to cancel on account of illness, so what we did in the evening, I can not remember, but by this point we were still not letting our girls know that they could watch all of their favorite shows on the computer yet, so games abound.

We played a lot of Ring-o-Flamingo during this week as well, a game the whole family could enjoy together. And each night we were still going strong with Little House in the Big Woods.

I set Alani to work on computer games a couple of times, but really, with the house cleaning and the new charge and the unpacking and getting back in the groove, we were lucky to get in ONE day of violin practice.

Saturday was a FOUR hour learning experience. We snagged free tickets to the new Museum of Natural History, free tickets to museums of your choice were available through the Smithsonian. You had to pre-order the free tickets, but it was a great opportunity to check out our new museum. I asked at the front how long it takes to get through and was told "about 2 hours." It took us FOUR! Four FULL hours! I was SO thankful that too many people were apparently home watching football games to come out and enjoy a free day at the museum, because it meant that there were not BILLIONS of people there. It was actually a little quiet, busy, but not bouncing off the walls busy. Plenty of room to move around, enjoy exhibits, do hands-on stuff without lines of people or small children shoving. SO wonderful and such a neat experience.

It's possible, in the future, we might consider a membership here. For now, it was a great springboard for considering which avenue to go with science. Alani was too busy trying everything out. . .but it wasn't overwhelming, which was wonderful. No one cried the whole trip. . .amazing, considering Airi was three hours overdue for a nap by the time we left!!! Maybe this week we'll revisit some of what we saw and Alani might be able to consider and decide whether she wants to learn about dinosaurs, plants, animals, land, water, bugs, solar system, rocks. . .it was full of 1st grade science options :)

What a very very full week! Just now, reviewing it, I hadn't realized there were so very many learning opportunities or hours in this week!

19 hours in my estimation, though actually there were more!

Wait. . . wait. . .we came home from a super long day at the Museum, put Airi down for a nap and I tested Alani for placement for her math. She got all of the answers for the 1b section, but I had to talk her through a lot of it. I didn't even test her for 1a, because I know she can breeze through it. So we're going to start at 1b and hope that's a good fit.

I'm soon going to have to break this down into daily blog posts about our learning, because I hope it will become more focused, but also because there are photos I want to share and extras I want to write. . .maybe I just have to keep that for my personal blog :)

20 hours!

Week 4: Homeschool Away from Home

765 Hours to go
-22.25 hours in week 3
743 Hours left (I'll round up)

Sunday Alani worked on a Girl Scout Project with her Grammy.  They also played countless games of yahtzee and checkers.  I should count all of this time.  Game playing, especially for a 6 year old, is a great way to learn decision making, quick counting, multiplication, addition, strategy, and with Yahtzee she also got to practice writing her numbers.  But I can't tell you how many countless hours were spent playing one of these two games.  She played checkers with her Grampa, her Grammy and her cousins.  She also ran around with an old friend for a few hours and we had church.  I count church for "school" hours because it includes history, singing, and craft time, as well as listening to stories, memorization, copywork. . .church has it all, really :)

Alani did violin practice twice while we were in IN . . .oops!  But that probably totaled 30 minutes, since she had a lot more to practice this time around.

Monday Alani spent about 30 minutes doing a presentation and in discussion with a group of women Grammy gets together with for bible study.  I would say that 30 minutes of presenting something she'd partially memorized, oration, public speaking. . .that's ALL learning time in my book.  Then she watched an educational animal DVD for an hour.  More game playing.  Coloring.

As I watch this school year unfolding before us and realize that this year I am discovering so much about who I am as a mother/teacher and how we will work together as a diad and triad as well, I feel that I'm falling in line with my OWN way of doing things :)  I am seeing so much wisdom in recent information I've read which states that until the age of 7, free-play is the greatest learning environment for children.  And information that a friend has shared about one of the "most intelligent" (how that's quantified, I'm not sure) cultures in the world, not starting formal schooling until about age 8.  I've talked to other friends who homeschool and don't start until age 7.  I've watched my own daughter change from a child I thought would be completely unteachable through anything other than arts and crafts, eight months ago, into a child who proclaims that she LOVES math and school and become a believer in myself that we CAN do this without as much pain as I thought it would cause, because I'm waiting on my own child's readiness.

I don't have to hold her back where she is strong and at the moment, I don't have to push too hard where she is not, because she will become more ready to be pushed, as time goes on.  I am trying to take more opportunities to deliberately teach her things of the world when we are out and about, things like money management, decision making, but also "that's the sign for bathroom." :)  And she seizes opportunities to figure out the world, for instance, she spent about an hour pouring over the safety card in the seat back pocket on the airplane. . .that's important stuff.  She knows how to order her own in-flight beverage, without fearing speaking up, saying what she wants, or feeling she shouldn't speak directly to adults with authority on things she understands.  She might speak quietly to a group of women about her Girl Scout project, but she CHOSE to do that project, at this time, even when she knew that part of it meant presenting to a group of women she didn't know well, and she was public speaking, even if quietly.

Funny as it is, as I feel myself doing the "unschool" thing, all of the material that appeals to me comes from Well-trained mind.  But even then, I do not have to follow a rigid schedule of schooling, even when choosing a classical education. . .we can adapt ANYTHING to our life, our way of learning together.  I've been acquiring books slowly due to cost or sharing with other families.  And each time I learn a little more.  I actually learned this bit in week 5, but while I'm backtracking and sharing thoughts, I'll just share here.  The "first language lessons" book was the first book that told me, straight out, 1st graders are not actually physically capable of large amounts of copywork!  Writing with Ease eluded to it being difficult, and I was approaching it much like the Violin, it feels weird to hold something that way or in that position or tuck your elbow under, but your mind will begin to take over for your muscles and fall into place and those muscles will build up in a way that it becomes natural for them.  The same with writing, right?  Nope. . .apparently the 6-8 word copywork sentences in Writing with Ease were supposed to give me the clue that that's about as much as I should even expect from my 6 year old. . . PHEW!  I just thought she was whiny :)

While in IN, we really didn't do any focused school work.  We read Little House each night, by request from Alani.  She played a thousand games of checkers and Yahtzee, practiced her violin twice and played with her cousins a lot.

Back on Track

Tuesday it was cousin time, game playing and Build-a-Bear.

Wednesday it was a carnival that her Grammy and Grampa put on, with a mad-hatter tea, and swimming in the evening (Physical education, strategy, playing well with others).

Thursday it was more Build-a-Bear and then a nature walk with the cousins (who are also homeschooled, quite separately from our decision to do so).  The nature walk was probably the most school-like activity that we did during the trip, well, the Indiana part of the trip.  And wouldn't you know it?  MORE game playing with her Grammy :)

Friday we headed to Kentucky. . .there was probably a geography lesson in there, but between "she touched me" type comments, mom not having the appropriate snacks (though I had like 12 options) and needing stuffed animals from the trunk, necessitating pulling over on the side of the highway. . .I just let the geography lessons slide.  We did end up at an old 1880s settlement after dark, so again, there was probably something historical to share there, but I didn't :)

Saturday was a wedding . . . it was lots of playing with a favorite Miss Rae and being REALLY helpful, and riding in a limo three times.

Though there were learning opportunities this week, we'll call this week a wash, because I honestly could not count up the hours spent playing checkers and yahtzee and listening to stories from her Grammy about her own past (okay, I don't know if Alani was around for those. . . but I was sure learning a thing or two).