Cable

We got cable again after not having it for a couple of years. I can't remember how long it has been. So for the past two months my brain has been on hiatus and I've been watching so much tv that my brain just started working again today. Crazy, right?! For awhile I kind of had an idea of what to post about but it seemed dumb so I didn't do anything. Then I realized that show with William Shatner is all about the guy just repeating what his father says to the world.

So that's what I've been doing. I've been watching stupid tv shows. And some awesome ones. I've really enjoyed Sanctuary this year. Castle is fun, but I've been figuring out the mysteries quickly. I've wanted to watch Burn Notice but Peter doesn't me to watch it without him and he's a season behind. Hawaii Five-O has been great fun. I just love it! Scott Caan is such a good actor. I love that they made him a father that really loves his daughter!

We're busy with school around here. I think that we will finally start doing so writing work in a few weeks. Samuel is almost completely done with his math for the semester. He is really starting to enjoy geography. Micah is doing really well in grammar and Wordly Wise. Abraham loves math and is really enjoying the addition of Life with Fred to math work. He gets very emotional when he doesn't do well on a test, but we are working on instilling the idea that failure is part of the learning process. Esther is loving playing with dinosaurs as though they are dolls.

So that's what has been going on around here.

Am I a helicopter parent?

I wonder if people think that we are because we are homeschooling. I wonder if real helicopter parents have kids who make satelites out of magnets. Sure, it's to destroy the enemy and maybe a planet, but I surely didn't help him. I realize the kids will need to be able to fail, and learn to get over those failures. But right now they are spending plenty of time creatively making up a world of their own. They often spend three or four hours a day playing. Kids use what they have learned and reinforce it within playtime. Dr. Stuart Brown from the National Institute for Play has recognized the importance of playtime in a Time magazine article:

managers at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) noticed the younger engineers lacked problem-solving skills, though they had top grades and test scores. Realizing the older engineers had more play experience as kids — they'd taken apart clocks, built stereos, made models — JPL eventually incorporated questions about job applicants' play backgrounds into interviews. "If you look at what produces learning and memory and well-being" in life, Brown has argued, "play is as fundamental as any other aspect.'' The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that the decrease in free playtime could carry health risks: "For some children, this hurried lifestyle is a source of stress and anxiety and may even contribute to depression." Not to mention the epidemic of childhood obesity in a generation of kids who never just go out and play

There is also concern from teachers that kids never learn to do their own work. Well, I can say that my kids do all their own work. I'm sure not going to it for them. As I write this Abraham is finishing his report on invertebrates. It may not be spelled completely correctly, so my decision is whether to have him correct it or let it be. I do sincerely struggle with this point. Is this when I should let go, or should I help him to understand that the work isn't done until it's perfect. But I also don't want to swoop in and fix it for him. With math I have them keep working on a problem until it is correct. That is how is works out in the world, you keep at it until it's right. Well, this may be a mental burp, but just the thoughts whirling around my head.

On another subject, Esther has learned how to say "down" and "thank you." And they actually sound like the words. Amazing, right?! Okay, so not so much. But I am happy that she is trying to communicate.

Homeschooling

So we started school a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had the umph to take pictures, even if the camera was here. But it isn't because Daddy has to use to bring home the bacon. So the pictures will have to wait. I guess you all will live. BUT if you can't let me know and will take some pictures STAT with my handy-dandy phone.

Anywho, things have been going okay. I am not at all organized as far as planning our time within the day. I wonder if I should have an overall plan. At this point we hit the books and stop when we've hit all the subjects. We haven't started science yet, but I am going to incorporate that next week. So it will be history on Monday and Wednesday, then science on Tuesday and Thursday. With Friday afternoon off field trips, or playing. Right now the kids are playing, no field trip this week.

Yesterday we went to the library because the kids WANTED to go. Isn't that wonderful? I was happy enough with the request to go on a whim. I was more than a little disappointed with the selection again, but I need to keep in mind that we have lived in college towns until now. So in short, I done got over it. Hello interslice will you take my money? Okay, then we can have copies of kids versions of Gilgamesh, the Odyssey and the Iliad. I will have to use them for Esther anyway. But Abraham found other "fun" reading books. Micah found some books on foxes. We couldn't find any on polar bears. We were trying to find out what regions polar bears live in. Is it only North America? We may go see if B&N has any good polar bear books. And Samuel discovered Wishbone. And Esther cried because she can't read.

Next week I will try to think about having a schedule, but I am not going to have my mouth make promises my brain can't deliver.

Odds and ends

Last week when I decided to start eating a diet without comfort food I realized that I would need to write about to keep myself accountable.  This week has worked out pretty well.  I have made dinner every night except Wednesday because we had Logos.  And they make healthy food, so I didn't feel bad.  I have had some not so good food come out of my kitchen.  I had a hard time getting the pork chops right, which I used to do quite easily.  That tells me how lax I have gotten about making real food.  Another thing I noticed is that my husband enjoys even my bad food.  The kids, not so much!  But we are learning together.  I made some lentils, which honestly I don't have a love for.  However I will be making them again.  Peter really enjoyed them, I liked the squash I put in them and a small amount is filling.  Last night I made a yummy kale and avocado salad.  I think that it might make a weekly appearance on my meal plan, at least for myself.  The kids even ate it.  I made chicken to go with it, but for myself I don't think I will.  

I have decided on most of the curriculum that we will be using next year.  Right now my concerns lay in art and music.  We don't have a piano and I have not an artistic bone in my body.  I think I will seek out an art class for the kids.  Thanks for all who encouraged me on our quest!  I didn't even get a your crazy comment, but that may be due to the fact that not many read here. Oh, well, C'est la vie and que sera, sera.

Other exciting news

Now that Peter is home we have decided to let people know some other news.  No, we are not having another child!  We have decided to homeschool the kids next year.  Exciting, right?!  I know it will be tons of work and I am going to get a huge I told you so from various people, but I can deal with it.  And plenty of questions like are you crazy and the like, but I'm up for those too.

Samuel and Micah are excited.  Abraham is aprehensive, mostly about not having as much socializing available to him everyday--all day.  It will be a challenge, but I am looking forward to spending more time with the boys and getting to see them learn.  We decided to use The Well Trained Mind model of classical education.  I am also excited to learn along with the kids.  There many things I didn't learn over the course of my public education and my unfortunately shortened, unfinished college education.  One day I'll go back, college was fun!  We are not in this to get our kids ahead of schedule or keep them completely protected from the world.  For awhile I thought about afterschooling, but by the time the kids got home they didn't want to sit still any longer and needed the time to get outside and play. 

Right now I am trying to decide on curriculum.  It's hard because there is so much good and interesting stuff out there.  I am currently trying to figure out language arts.  I think that science will be just as hard to decide on because that is the main subject the kids will want to do. 

So if you want to tell me I'm crazy, that's fine, but it won't change my mind.