Along the little path

On a mama's message board I'm on, someone asked how we can make childhood magical. I've long wanted to create a miniature garden. So, gathering twigs, I lashed them together with hemp to make a little fairy cabin last night.



This morning, I assembled a wide garden pot "little" garden. with a pebble path and multiple cuttings from my moms "steppables" plants, some lobelia and moss.



Kostya was delighted.

I'm going to add more plants as I have the time, but right now, I want to get the roots established a bit better. I'm working a roof as well as some little surprises so stay tuned.

Jen D.

PS: I have to apologize for my horrible pictures. I have our old camera at the moment and left the nice one at home.

Parking Cereal Boxes

Boys were "bored" today and I had some stuff to get done so I cut a cereal box into a parking garage for each of them to park cars in. Ivan promptly destroyed his but Kostya kept asking me to put enhancements on it (a ramp, door, window, etc).

Bread Rising

It's one of our happy moments each day to have a fresh clean loaf of bread for our sandwiches. The boys don't do much at this point, just push the "on" button on the processor and watch it fly around the processor bowl. Then they get to punch it after it's risen.

So we had a discussion about yeast/sugar and made two cups with one having cold and one having warm and rechecked 5 minutes later to see the warm water yeast/sugar mixture had risen the most.

Bread recipe?

5 cups any type flour (wheat, white, etc.)
1 TB yeast
1 TB sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 c water

Throw it all in a processor with a dough blade and let it fly around until it forms a ball. Let it go a few more minutes. Take it out, throw it in a large bowl, cover with a clean towel and let sit for an hour. Punch it down, take it out, knead it and throw it in a bread pan. Let rise for another 10-15 minutes in a warm place. Throw it in the oven (pre-heated) at 375 for 23 minutes or until nicely brown on top and hollow sounding on the bottom. Throw it on a cooling rack and try not to eat it until it's mostly cooled.

Below are the pictures of our bread adventure.

Pythons - the whole story

Each week, we pick an animal to study. Kostya has to help me research it, look at pictures, color a picture of one and then tell me some stories about it.

This week, it was pythons. Here are the most important points, as per Kostya.

Pythons come in green, black/brown/white, albino, and yellow/brown/white/gray.

They have a forked tongue, two eyes and can be up to 35 feet (longer than TWO of our Suburbans together).

They live in jungles of Asia, Africa and Australia

They eat pigs, deer and sheep.

Here's Kostya's rendition of the python's color. Below the picture are his stories about pythons. Before I sat down to write what he would say, I could hear him in the other room practicing what his story would be about.

It starts with a python snake driving a monster truck. He runs over another snake that wants to eat him. Then a superhero comes in and cuts up the python. And the snake is the superhero's pet. And the superhero unlocked the cave he was in.

And then the next story:

A big rhinoceros and the superhero shoved out his big monster gun and shot the rhinoceros's' eye, like, "BOOOSH". And then the next day, he heard a "Voom, Voom, Voosh" and it was a monster truck and another superhero shoved out his gun and shot it. A lion was driving a monster truck and the motor went driving over a big huge monster python who was THIS big and THIS high.

Out of doors

It was really hard moving here. The boys were used to being outside ALL day and moving here, we were suddenly stuck inside an apartment. We've looked and looked for a place to get outdoors and explore. SIX months of looking. And here it is!

Husband and the boys have been taking drives to give me a break with the baby. We recently moved our old horse to a new pasture. They went to check on her and took a new road to explore. Four miles into it, along a ridge, they came across miles and miles of logging roads, open to the public for foot traffic. With trees in various stages of growth, it's a perfect place to explore. It gets bonus points for being "paved" in rock so rain hikes are not out of the question, even for the littles.

I can't wait until I'm healed to go exploring with them.

Click on the picture for a full large view. All the hill in the background and the trees beyond that are ours for the exploring!

What's the weather?

Twelve branches. Twelve months. Each day, we wake up, throw open the window blinds and check the skies. Then it's to the Weather Tree we go.

Cloudy days get red leaves
Rainy days get blue leaves
Sunny days get yellow leaves
Snowy days get white leaves
Foggy days get green leaves

Whatever it is when we get up is what we put. Some days, we have three or four weather types, but still, it's what the sky is when the sun comes up.

We're in Oregon. It's January. Surprisingly, our January branch isn't covered in blue leaves. This is proof to my mom who is convinced there's nothing but rain here. See? There's FOUR yellow leaves!

Puzzled?

Puzzles. Kostya has liked puzzles since he was only 18 months old. He was a pro at the little Melissa and Doug puzzles during that age. During a Thomas the Train obsession, the puzzles were put away. They were just reintroduced when my mom was visiting and thought Ivan would like them. She then went out and bought TONS of puzzles from thrift shops for Kostya. This one was very exciting for him because it had a racecar on it. He does about 50% of the work and is SO proud when he's done.

I wish I had more hours in my day to just sit and do puzzles with him all day. I do think when we move, we're going to have a special puzzle "table" that we can put in a safe place when we're not working on it.

Fish Tanks and Peanut Road Apples

We're celebrating Hanukkah as a family this year. Today, we brought home a little 2 gallon or so beta tank for Kostya. He was thrilled.

This is his first nature study. We went to the dollar store and bought a small set of notebooks and he chose a blue one to record his information about the fish. Here's what he and I decided to put in the first entry:
December 13, 2009
Name: "Monster Truck Water Fish" (nickname "Monster")
Breed: beta
Color: blue body and top fin with red bottom fin
Gender: male
Fed today: Yes

Tomorrow, we're going to talk about habitat and the things that Monster lives with.

For Christmas, the kids' grandparents bought Kostya a small set of plastic horses with saddles and bridles. They came in a box with a background resembling a stable. Also came with bucket, brush and pooper-scooper. Ivan has been thrilled to have access to peanuts to put in the "stable" and scoop up to put in the bucket and eat.


Note the wires sticking out of the box. Those were put there by Kostya to be "Holiday Lights" for the barn celebrations.

Cats, Cacti, Quacks, Cars and Crossings

What an interesting walk today. We were treated to the sight of our friend, Lucky walking towards us. He's the grey kitty that looks like our cat, Zippy, who's still in California. We also met this very friendly calico kitty that tried to follow us as we were heading home.



While Kostya was petting Lucky, I looked across the street and swore I saw some ducks in a front yard. I knew we had to investigate and after spending a few more minutes with Lucky, we crossed the street, but the ducks were gone. A man was sitting on the front porch. I asked him if he'd seen some ducks around and he laughed and said they were his. When he was a kid, his dad worked the mill and was always bringing home baby ducks. So, as he's gotten older, he ran across a duck baby that was injured and raised her. We met her (name escapes me) and her other duck buddies.



There was an amazing row of blooming cactus along the right-of-way. LOOK at those colorful flowers and long sharp spines.



We cross the railroad tracks twice on our walks and wanted to take a picture of the switching track this time.



The blackberry bushes are FULL of blooms along the creek and Kostya and I have been talking a lot about picking a lot of blackberries on our walks once they show up. Kostya liked looking at the little green baby berries.



This car struck his fancy and he thought it would be a good picture as well.



And lastly, a dancer flower and a worm we saved from being squished.



We are going on a car trip tomorrow. I'll be sure to post pictures. Not sure where we'll end up.

Thanks for reading.

Three years old and the great outdoors

It broke my heart. He came to me crying after a particularly difficult morning where his brother had been tormented, knocked over, pushed, hit a few times, among other things. I'd raised my voice several times.

And through great big tears, he said, "But Mommy, I've got to get out of this apartment. I hate this house. I want to go back to Californi-i-a-a." And the sobbing started. I realized that this little three year old, who'd had free reign, was suddenly cooped up in a little apartment with no freedom and was aching to run, to explore, to imagine. And he was stuck here, prisoner to my allergies, 1st trimester exhaustion, and stress of moving.

So, we're starting small, trying to eat one meal outside each day, get out for a meaningful activity each day, whether it be sand-play, walking, playground, or all three. But it still breaks my heart, that we moved here, that he is trapped inside when all his little body wants is to get out.

Jen D.

Walks in the new 'hood

I told Kostya that today, we were going on a walk and he could take pictures. He has a used Canon Elph we bought from a friend for a mere $30 around Christmas. He's fairly careful with it and it has survived quite a few drops.

So, we set off from our apartment.


At each intersection, Kostya got to decide which way to go (until I noticed he was getting tired and started giving two options, either of which would have gotten us home). This was the first intersection and he wanted to take a pic of the yellow hydrant.


Kostya's fascination with trucks showed up in this montage of vehicle photos. He was very proud of his monster truck photos.


I try to point out various flowers and landmarks. Kostya loves dandelions, but these were REALLY tough ones to blow seeds from so he took a picture of me trying.



He liked the way this evergreen looked and wanted to remember it.



What trip would be complete without a picture of little brother, looking ever so solemn, as usual.


We went through a tire yard and he was SO pleased to see this monster truck tire. See? Doesn't he look ecstatic? :giggle:


This tree had some wicked cool branches.


And all the treasures we had when we got home.

So, recently on an online community I'm on, we discussed Charlotte Mason's expectations for pre-schoolers as far as time spent outside. In one of her discussions about this, she said

Possibilities of a Day in the Open.––I make a point, says a judicious mother, of sending my children out, weather permitting, for an hour in the winter, and two hours a day in the summer months. That is well; but it is not enough. In the first place, do not send them; if it is anyway possible, take them; for, although the children should be left much to themselves, there is a great deal to be done and a great deal to be prevented during these long hours in the open air. And long hours they should be; not two, but four, five, or six hours they should have on every tolerably fine day, from April till October. Impossible! Says an overwrought mother who sees her way to no more for her children than a daily hour or so on the pavements of the neighbouring London squares. Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them. A journey of twenty minutes by rail or omnibus, and a luncheon basket, will make a day in the country possible to most town dwellers; and if one day, why not many, even every suitable day?

So, we're trying to get Kostya out at least for one or two hours a day if not more. I wish we could get him outside for three or four but it's hard with a 10 month old that crawls/walks everywhere and eats everything. So, we went on an adventure around our house one day.

We live in the rural area around a town of 12000 people or so. The house sits on about 2 acres, all bushy and tree-filled. We can walk openly onto our neighbors' land as well, without consequence. On this day, we went for a walk towards the road.



It's rained a lot recently. A wheelbarrow full of sand gave us a lilliputian land where the rain had washed the smaller granules away, leaving the larger pebbles on little sand towers, like the tufas at Mono Lake.


Of course, such things wouldn't interest a 3 yr old but BOATS will :) There were six boats we passed, of which only two were seaworthy. The two usable boats were my family's canoe and a speedboat we are storing for a friend. There was also an old boat my husband bought for $10 and has yet to restore. The neighbors have two old boats on rusting trailers. Then we stumbled upon this old wooden beauty.


I tried to get a picture of the deer we disturbed as it was bedded down in a thicket but it moved too quickly. It was just a little too early in the season for turkeys as well so we didn't get any pictures of those. We did, however, practice looking for rattlesnakes with a stick since we do have them in the area. Kostya spent most of the walk with a branch, tapping various rocks, saying, "Tap-tap-tap. Is there a rattlesnake here?" Pause. "Nope, no rattlesnakes here."

We ended our walk sitting on the little 7 foot "cliff" above the road guessing what kind of car was going to come around the corner before we saw it. Our next plan is to take a picnic lunch there some day when the ground is dry.

So, outdoors doesn't have to be complex. But it can be some work and some dedication to making SURE it gets done.

The Goodwill in our lives

Kostya had a birthday and we went on a date on Monday. Our favorite place to go is thrift-shopping and this day was no exception. So off we went to Goodwill.

Most of what I do at Goodwill consists of pawing though the back of the shelves looking for stuff I can count as "homeschool" stuff for him. I've come back from Goodwill with a goldmine in the past. This trip was no exception. Here are the yields from my trip.
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It started with a small board with knobs for Kostya to hang stuff on. We couldn't figure out where to put it. On a whim, I carried it into the hallway and it struck me that it would look good under our bulletin board. I mentioned it to my mother and she said, "Oh, I have an idea..." Then, it exploded on us. My mother insisted that we needed to paint the hallway. Well, I mean, it was a bit dingy and kinda a cream color and would look better with a white paint job. My mom LOVES to paint so whenever she gets the excuse, she runs with it.

On a Sunday morning, we were sitting there and I suddenly jumped up. "That- um, I know- I have an idea." I ran outside and picked up the wooden screen door frame we'd been keeping for some project we hadn't yet thought of. I hauled it inside, dust and all and showed my mom the partitions. "See, we can put a chalkboard in the big area. We can put a white board in this smaller area and we can put a display case here." The idea was born. While pregnant, I put four coats of paint on it, swirly green and blue.

We convinced someone that he needed to help cut boards and a full 9 months after we started this project, it actually came to fruition and we had it on the wall. Some colored chalk and funky colored white board markers and we're set to go. Well, almost. We still need to mount the plexiglass for the display case but here's what it looks like (ignore the map hanging down over part of it, please).

[IMG]http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/winchesterruger/homeschool/IMG_7858.jpg[/IMG]
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Structure

I have a hard time with structure. Kostya has never been one to HAVE to sleep at a certain time or eat at a certain time. We have generally had naps anywhere from 11am-3pm after he cut down to one nap. We NEVER eat at the same time and his bedtime varies greatly. So, I guess I'm saying that structure bothers me.

I read something about 3 year olds a month or so ago and it really struck me that I needed to change. Basically, it said that 3 year olds need to know what is going to happen that day.

So, I thought about it a bit and came up with this:



I'm still working out the kinks on how to use it. I was originally thinking it would be a GREAT idea for him to put all the little trains up as we do them, but then realized that he got too carried away with the trains so I think in the morning, we'll get out the ones we need and put them all up in the morning so we can kinda plan our day out.

I am also working on a Noah's Ark one for my nephews. I'll post pictures of that when it's done.

My Philosophy on Unschooling

I firmly believe that, in unschooling, there is facilitating in the way that Charlotte Mason would agree with. Exposure is absolutely key in both types of schooling. With Charlotte Mason, there is more of a framework. With unschooling, I feel that as parents allowing to our children to have this type of learning environment, we still have responsibility to provide variety and require our children and ourselves to grow beyond our knowledge. Using the books and readings that amblesideonline lists, is a way to GIVE our children the idea of wings. Allowing them to fly beyond that is where the two schooling worlds separate and further personal-interest study can either be schooling (as per unschooling) or free-time pursuit (as per Charlotte Mason).

With the Charlotte Mason model of nature appreciation for children, many of the early activities DO become delight-driven/unschooled and promote a love that can later be structured, if needed, or left, depending on the personality of the child. For instance, on a nature walk with my three year old, I show him oak tree leaves and lichen. He seems uninterested. The next day, while out on a walk, he begins his exploration with, "Will we see leaves?" I tell him we will. "Will they be oak leaves?" I tell him that we will see some oak leaves. He picks up an oak leaf and names it. Then picks up another leaf, not an oak leaf. "What's this one?" "I don't know. Shall we find out?" "Yes." So we take the leaf home and look in our identifying book and learn the name.

I'm not a believer in a pure radical unschooling model because I do feel that children need some sort of established structure, something that helps them bend to a direction they would not naturally travel without guidance. I see a direct link between parents who lack self-discipline having children who lack self-discipline. I also see parents who have self-discipline with kids that do NOT. I believe the latter example is where a failure to communicate and address this absence of self-discipline occurs. I think the Charlotte Mason model comes into play to prevent such a problem by way of making things such as poetry a part of daily life to foster appreciation, encouraging fluency in another language to expose children to cultures they may not otherwise pursue or even be aware of, etc.

I find that radical unschooling (where children have no guidance or imposition of self-discipline in study) and simple unschooling (when children are both delight driven and intentionally exposed to encourage further study as well as consciously guided through the things that they not pick up naturally) often get lumped into a box together. I find them distinctly different. The division of time that you mention several times in your paragraph as far as the specific activities one uses as "school" time versus "free time" is what made me say what I said. My view of schooling is that LIFE is school, not just the interests of my child at the moment, but both the simple unobstructive guidance I provide towards certain subjects and the time I allow a child to wander and explore on their own. I don't divide the time up into "school" and "no school" time frames AND I don't label what we do during the day as "school" even though some might think it is. It is somewhat delight-driven, somewhat unfocused, but still facilitated towards many of the ideals of Charlotte Mason as stated on ambleside.

Thank you for reading so far. I wanted to be clear as to how I am proceeding school-wise and would love feedback

My Philosophy on Charlotte Mason

I recently spent some time talking about my philosophy on how a learning environment should be created. I have been called an eclectic in terms of plans. I enjoy the idea of unschooling and also have been exposed to a Charlotte Mason schooling.

This is what I personally take from a Charlotte Mason education.

Kids are STRETCHED beyond their current level of understanding. To read abridged books, simplified text, things that come down to the child's level do not STRETCH the child higher. Instead of meeting children where they are at, it challenges them to reach and understand the level higher than that. If you believe that your child doesn't "get" things, try giving them the benefit of the doubt and read them Dr. Doolittle, original version. We read that to Cameron at 15 months and he still remembers the characters, even if he doesn't remember the text. After reading and pushing his literature comprehension, we find him at a much higher verbal level than most kids his age. I don't know how much of this is personality because he's our first, but we look forward to seeing how this repeats with Elijah.

Charlotte Mason also relies on recitation, poetry/scripture memorization and copy work to improve language skills. I support these things to a degree, without being pushy or obnoxious about it. We are incorporating memorization in our daily without making it "school" for Cameron, just simple things.

I like that Charlotte Mason gives a non-traditional Christian educational view of how to facilitate children learning.