Reminders of why i want to homeschool

Reminder Reasons of Why I want to homeschool
1) No saying Pledge of Allegiance

The Six Swans

       This week we have been working on the fairy tale, The Six Swans by the Brothers Grimm.  On Monday I told her the story. On Tuesday, I re-told her the story and then we listened to it on story nory.  Storynory.com is a website of free stories to listen to.  On Wednesday, Seneca told me the story of The Six Swans and I wrote down her narration in her lesson book.  A few times, I would prompt her with questions to help her remember the story, but all in all she did quite well.  I was going to have her practice writing some  s words, but she became so frustrated and angry when she felt her writing wasn't good enough.  I tried to re-assure her that she was doing a good job. In truth, she really was doing a good job.  She has perfectionist tendencies at time.  As a mom, those can get to be annoying.  I don't tell her that though.  She did calm down and took to cutting out construction paper to make shapes and forms.  Cutting is such an important fine motor skill and one that leads to developing writing skills.
     She has been digging in her grandma's side yard today and yesterday. She collected and washed off some rocks to share with me today.  I hope that can counter some of her time spent on tv, though I do try to be sure that she is watching PBS Kids if she is watching tv.
     We continue to play mini math games with mancala pieces. We call the pieces fairy or gnome jewels.  We did a pattern sequence together on Wednesday using the different colored pieces.  She did well with continuing the pattern.  She also drew some patterns of her own.

Seneca had an impromptu tea party with her grandma's porch bears.

digging in the dirt on July 19, 2012

The Road to Seneca Falls

  This is the book that I mentioned earlier under the post about Seneca's name.  I had met the author of this book by coincidence.  Of course, I told her that my daughter was named Seneca after the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.  The next time that she was in Florida, she brought this book as a gift for my daughter. There is even a signed inscription to my Seneca.

       I had recently been trying to get some information on the role of Quakerism in social reform movements as well as some history of Quakerism.  There is vast information on the internet, but I was having trouble finding what I was specifically looking for.  Then, along came this book with an entire chapter on Quakerism within the families of many of the reformers.  There was even a brief mention of Unitarian Universalists, which is what we are.  

      It is so interesting to read the sections of family raising within a liberal context.  I think about the families that I know, mostly through the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and I see the similarities between us and the families in this book.  We are trying to give our kids a holistic upbringing that values human dignity and respect for our planet.  That is being very simplistic of course, and the exact issues are very different from 150 years ago, but the essence is the same.  

     I am very interested in visiting the Friends Meeting House again soon. I also need to get back to the UU Church as well.  (I've been out of the loop on many things dealing with a bad leg.)  Quakerism and UUism are often considered to be very complimentary to each other.  It is quite likely for one to meet a UU Quaker.  

       I will post some more thoughts on my readings of The Road To Seneca Falls as they come to me.

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Seneca-Falls-Elizabeth-Convention/dp/0252071735/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342716299&sr=1-1&keywords=the+road+to+seneca+falls

Journal Entry

July 11, 2012

            Seneca wanted me to re-tell the story of Snow White by the Brothers Grimm.  As I did, she acted it out.  This version is more detailed than the Disney one.  The wicked queen makes two attempts against Snow White before using the poisoned apple.  Seneca seemed to like all the times that she got to pretend to faint.

            Seneca is becoming a bit grumpy when it comes to lesson time.  She had lots of fun with acting out her story, but she hasn’t wanted to do her form drawing lately.  She did some forms today, but I wanted her to calm down and focus on just one form.  I gave up on that fairly quickly though.  I had hoped that we would do some phonics words today, but she wasn’t having it.  We did however play more make believe and she played with a mancala board and pieces.  

            Seneca heard me speaking to her brother about nocturnal animals and she piped in that she remembered that Jaguars were nocturnal.  She said that she remembered learning that from her library book.

            I’m struggling at times between wanting to introduce new concepts and lessons to her, but at the same time making sure that we have time to review lessons that we have already done.  I know that she gets more out of repetition at this time.  However, as she gets closer to potentially entering kindergarten, I want to be sure that has progressed along as well.

            I’m thinking about only adding on a few more fairy tales to the ones that I tell her.  My curriculum book for her is full of many fairy tales, but I am leaning toward telling less and then repeating them throughout the year. 

seneca

seneca

10 Things You Now Get to Keep with Obamacare

Mushrooms After Rain

  For anyone who either lives in Southwest Florida or has been following the weather news, you may know that it had been raining here - a lot.  As in Tropical Storm Debby has meant days of rain and more rain.  For Seneca, this meant go outside and get soaked!  I assure you we are in a safe area and the times when she was playing outside, there were no high gusts of wind.  The gusts of wind did occur during these days, but not at the specific moments when she was outside.
     Yesterday the raining here had stopped and we could see its effects on our neighbor's lawn - mushrooms!  Seneca has recently been quite enthralled by mushrooms after learning that gnomes live in mushrooms.  So, for her, a great kingdom had just sprouted!  She went and got one rather large mushroom with a very round and smooth top, not like the typical mushroom we often think of.
  We spent some time exploring this mushroom of hers.  She compared the different textures  on it. Then, she held it up and said, "It's the sun!"  We also figured out that it could be a wheel, a gnome's home, or a table.  She then washed her hands thoroughly after so much mushroom touching.
       From there, I decided to tell her the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  Now, I had pretty much remembered the story, but I was really second guessing myself on my memory of it.  I decided I had better look it up on the internet.  Fortunately, I found a site which re-told the Norwegian folktale.  It was a good thing because I had forgotten the nuances like the "trip-trap, trip-trap" each goat makes as he crosses the bridge.  I re-told her the story before bedtime as well.

June 16, 2012

   June 16, 2012
  Seneca and I listened to The Grimms' The Sleeping Beauty on storynory.  It is a free resource of audio books.  After that I read three books to her.  We read Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski, I Know A Rhino by Charles Fuge, and The Carot Seed by Ruth Krauss.
   We did form drawing after reading time.  Seneca walked a straight line. I drew a straight line on Seneca's back.  Seneca found a crayon and a pencil and held them up as straight lines.  She practiced drawing the straight line form on scrap paper.  She then put her first entry into her Main Lesson Form Drawing book.
  Seneca painted with home made paint from flour, corn syrup, water and green food coloring.
     Then, it was outdoor playtime with friends.

  We re-read The Carrot Seed at night just before dinner and ate pot roast with beef, potatoes, onions and lots of carrots.

Homeschool debate in my head

     Today, Seneca chose out three books for me to read to her. They were The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, Fox in Socks by Dr. Suess, and Corduroy by Don Freeman.
  I read an article today that said that a child's intelligence was more greatly affected by having the same stories read over and over again.  This helps strengthen their memories. That is not to say that they don't learn from a library book which is read and then exchanged, but that the type of learning from repetition is different.
  In the meantime, I have to learn some more fairy tales to recite to her.  She enjoys hearing the ones she knows, but she is eager to hear some new ones.  I have  a collection of fairy tales, but now I need to really get some new stories down in mind before I can bring them to her.  Before learning about Waldorf education, I had never considered the role of story telling in regards to language acquistion.  However, as is pointed out in Waldorf articles, the child must really depend so greatly on their own imagination to fill in the images when I story is told rather than read.  This helps develop listening as well as visualization skills.  In our world of ipads, iphones, and instant images, we have lost so much of the basic skills of simple foundational learning. 
  Right now, I am really on the fence as to whether I should homeschool Seneca or just send her to public school in the Fall. She will be entering kindergarten this Fall.  On the one hand, my oldest daughter did great at public school kindergarten and at learning to read.  I think Seneca could benefit from being in a class and having lessons presented. She is a very social child.
  On the other hand, I worry about not being able to meet her needs emotionally.  She has older siblings who will be in an advanced program at their school and I'm in school as well.  Not only do I want to be there for Seneca, I also want to be there for my other children as well.

5/30/2012

  I made a few phonics flashcards today.  We just went over them twice and then Seneca lost interest for the time being.  Seneca chose out two books for us to read together tonight. She chose Colors as well as The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. After I read to her, Seneca then "read" The Very Busy Spider.  She was using the pictures as her cues and her memory to recite back the story. 
    Earlier today, I filled up a used bread bag with colored water.  After that, I filled up a small ziploc bag with corn syrup, blue food dye, and artsy gems for some more sensory fun!  She loved both bags and even when the water bag had a leak, we had fun squirting the water out of the hole. 

Sidewalk Astronomy

I have been getting email updates about events for a local sidewalk astronomy group, but I have never been able to attend any of the events. Well, this past Saturday, we finally went to one. I told Liam and his friends that we were going to X Beach City Hall. Of course, they heard "beach." So, we decided to make it a beach day followed by planet gazing. Best laid plans though..... In any event, by the time we got everyone (Liam, three of his friends, Seneca, and I) ready to go, it was just about sunset and I wanted to get to Sidewalk Astronomy right at sunset. So, we skipped the beach (for the time being.)
So many generous people set up beautiful telescopes and allowed other people there to look through. The kids saw the gasses surrounding the sun. They saw Venus in one telescope. Venus looked like a crescent moon. The kids and I got to see the moon in several different telescopes. The moon is either in light or in dark, no in between. And the kids and I got to see Saturn in one telescope! Afterwards, the boys said to me that they were disappointed about not going to the beach, but the sidewalk astrononmy thing was awesome. "Can we go again in September?"
From now on, I will certainly make an effort to attend the X Beach City Hall set ups. There are other set ups around town, but this one is the closest to us.
After leaving, we did stop at the beach for about thirty minutes. No going in the water, but the kids dug in the sand and I did get my feet wet. :)

Getting the essence of lessons without being academic

  Thanks to our local unschoolers group, I found out that this past week is fine forgiveness week at our local county libraries in exchange for non-perishable foods to be donated to the local food banks. So, we went shopping and brought in some food donations and got my oldest daughter's slate wiped clean!  Yay!  It wasn't entirely her fault. She was much, much younger when she got her library card. Her dad and step-mom got it for her, then there was all this confusion as to whether what she checked out was at her dad's or my house. Anyhow, it was so many years ago now, that there is no way of knowing. 
    Seneca and I spent a little time at the library. She found a puzzle in the kids' section and was only all too happy to work on that.  She chose out a book on Jaguars.  So, I had to get a library card.  Even at 35, I'm actually excited about getting a library card.  :)

   We read the book last night.  It is full of beautiful photographs of Jaguars.  Many of the photo captions in the book identify exactly where the photo was taken. After reading, Seneca and I went over to our map on the wall. She pulled up her little stool and stood on it.  I pointed out Belize, Peru, and Brazil to her.   My goal isn't for her to know where Belize is, but rather to give her a sense of place and a feel for the essence of geography.  She can point out Florida on a map.  In fact, she saw how close Belize looks to Florida that she asked if we could drive there.  (LOL)  I showed her that the blue on the map meant water and that we would have to fly.  (Ok, I know we could, in theory, also take a boat.  However, our reality is that we would fly in a plane IF we were to go to Belize.)  
    Speaking of maps, Seneca can point out Florida, Maine, and Saudi Arabia on the map. 
  Seneca spent some time drawing a picture using both block crayons and stick crayons.  The picture itself was very abstractionist.  There was no set object or person, but rather an experience in colors. Seneca is not used to block crayons and she was experimenting with technique.  I am very excited to use block crayons with her next year for her Waldorf curriculum, but for now, it is more appropriate that she becomes comfortable with the medium itself. 
   The day before yesterday, Seneca and I played shopkeeper.  She helped me to cut out squares of paper for play money.  I then wrote $1, $5, $10 on different squares.  I was the customer and I would buy a shell or a crayon from her.  A shell might cost $5, I would give her $10, and would instruct her to give me a $5 that she was holding.  In another scenario, the shell is $3, I give her $5, and I instruct her to give me back two $1s.  The idea is not to teach her subtraction, but to show her math in action.  The point is for her to be able to relate subtraction to something real and tangible to her own life when she does start to formally study it. 

 

I want to be the ducker.

  My three kids doing improv on the front porch followed by them playing "Duck, Duck, Goose."  In the words of Seneca, "I want to be the ducker."
  After playing outdoors, I told Seneca a new fairy tale.  I told her the fairy tale of the The Poor Miller's Boy and The Cat.  Seneca then made up her own fairy tale about a magical horse and a castle.  She used shells as props for jewels.  The story didn't always "make sense," but I didn't tell her that.  I just loved my chance to be in another magical world.  I have to appreciate her eye for detail in her story.  When talking about a carriage, she was sure to include "the man who opens the door and the man who stands behind the carriage."
    She has been watching her brother draw in his sketchbook, so she wants one too. Only, her way of expressing it is, "I want a checkbook."

Our new chalkboard!

Portrait of Seneca age 5 2012

5/11/2012

Water-slide bouncy house fun today!  Seneca went to a birthday party today.  Afterwards, we read together from her Starfall phonics series.  She is doing well with memorization skills, but she still struggles with remembering words when she sees them in new places.  For example, she can read the word "can" if she had memorized a story.  She doesn't always recognize the word "can" when she sees it another book.  So, of course, she is not really reading, but keep in mind that memorizing and recalling little books verbatim is still a very important pre-reading skill. 
    She painted her birdhouse some more this evening.  We both painted suncatchers together. Seneca put together her Fox in Socks puzze, which she hadn't done in a while.  She always amazes me with how well she does.  I give a little guidance, but really very little. 
  Tonight, I put on our VHS of The Aristocats. I still want limited screen time, but she did have a very busy and fun day without using any electronic devices.  Oh wait, I did let one online Dora game slip in though.  I need study time, so I concluded that The Aristocats (and yummy almond chocolate milk)  would keep her occupied; and we all need a little Disney classic in our hearts.

Mademoiselle Artiste from January 2012

Mademoiselle Artiste in the shirt she tie-dyed and her pink braid.



Ta Da!

Unschooling with a conch shell

  Seneca had an awesome unschooling moment today.  She was holding a shell from the beach when she asked me what kind of shell it was.  We then went to google images for "types of shells." Seneca typed in the word shell as we sounded it out.  She learned that s-h makes the "sh" sound.  We compared Seneca's shell to pictures of other shells and determined that it was a conch shell.  I then read briefly about conch shells on wikipedia.
  Seneca and I went over to her craft table and got out her lesson book.  She worked on phonics skills as I guided her to sound out and write the words conch shell.  She still gets a bit confused on the short a versus the short e sounds.  We also worked on writing lowercase n and lowercase h.

4/30/2012

 Both yesterday and today, Seneca made her own puppets.  She drew pictures of people and then cut them out. She gave her puppets the names "Riding Hood" and "Starla."  Today, she sang Selena Gomez's "Love you Like A Love Song" as part of the puppet show.  I also made another "fairy creature" for Seneca to play with. The pattern came from A Little Garden Flower'sThinking Feeling Willing program.  
   Seneca also colored with block crayons.  I read "An Egyptian Cinderella Story" to her.  Seneca retold the story of her birth using simplistic illustrations that I had made.

Legoland 4/26/2012

Seneca making a birdhouse on 4/19/2012

Projects from 4/8/2012 and 4/10/2012

Seneca's Name

  Today, I met a woman who wrote a book called The Road to the Seneca Falls Convention.  Seneca was specifically named after the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. I then found out that the newspaper published by the movement was called The Lily.  How perfect that my Seneca is Seneca Lily.
    I had first learned of the Seneca Falls Convention in my women's studies class in high school.  I later did a presentation on it for AP History.  When I was doing my research for the project, I thought that Seneca would be a great name to give to my future daughter.
  I just about gave it to my first daughter as a middle name, but I didn't follow through with it.  Now, I am so glad that I didn't.  My older daughter has a beautiful Arabic name to reflect her heritage from her father.  And, I did get to name a daughter of mine Seneca and use it for her first name.  In truth, I chose Lily for her middle name because Stargazer Lilies are my favorite flowers, but what a happy coincidence!

Ahh...The Florida Life

Eden Farm 3/30/2012

Waldorf with Academics

                                                                                                                                      3/27/2012
  Seneca worked on her phonics lessons.  Phonics lessons, for us, consist of  reading and sounding out words in the Starfall series.  The focus was on the short e vowel.  Phonics time is short and sweet and was done curled up together on my bed.
        Seneca played with her doll afterwards.   I love watching her care for and nurture her doll. She feeds her doll in a "highchair" then lays her down in a doll-cradle.  Seneca loves to cover her doll in the blanket that I had knitted.  The act of playing with the doll and her toys is just as important as her phonics lessons.
    Her imaginative play time is her sacred time to be in the world (or Kingdom) of childhood.  Rudolf Steiner lectured and wrote extensively on the Kingdom of Childhood.  Although we break with strict Waldorf education by doing phonics time at age five, I do try to keep much of the magic that Waldorf offers. Sometimes, it is as much for me as for her.  I can watch her play with her toys and have this deep sense of both reverence and joy.  Much of my joy comes from knowing the value of learning through play and being able to know to appreciate these times.



  

Homemade Detergent and Shampoo

One of the things that I try to do for the family is to encourage a more holistic lifestyle. I don't always succeed. However, I will consider last night a small victory. A new batch of laundry detergent was made. Seneca and her friend had their hair washed with homemade shampoo and conditioner. Now if I can just get around to buying and setting up a clothes line..............
Laundry Detergent Recipe
1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm and Hammer washing soda
1 bar of grated Kirk's Castille Soap
We made a batch of powdered soap this time around. I'm still working on perfecting the art of homemade liquid detergent. For one thing, I need a 5-gallon bucket.

Shampoo
2 tbs baking soda
2 cups of water
The actual recipe is 1 tbs of baking soda to 1 cup of water, but I feel that doubling the recipe is more effective. Of course, you can adjust this based on the length and volume of your, or your child's, hair.

Conditioner
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
I like to keep the water for both and shampoo and conditioner very warm, but not hot. Regular temperature water goes on the head feeling very cold. Just be very careful, especially with kids, to test the temperature of the warm water before applying it.

I haven't been successful in making dish detergent, so we will continue to use Seventh Generation Dish Detergent available in our supermarket. Yes, our corporate owned supermarket. I said I was trying friends, not always succeeding.

3/24/2012

        Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss was read to Seneca. She then worked on a Fox in Socks 24 piece puzzle.  Playtime in the park and playtime at home with her friend Aiden.  We reviewed some phonics words together.  She was about to try to write some words, but the task of writing in lines is a bit daunting for her. She traced some three-letter words onto tracing paper.  She did write out "cat," but other words will wait for another time.  Painting today with homemade paint. This time the paint was from baking soda, vinegar, corn syrup and flour.  The recipe calls for cornstarch, not flour, but we just went with what we had in the house. Oh, and food coloring.
  At the park, Seneca climbed on some boulders and we felt the texture of the rocks together.  I showed her an embedded shell in one of the rocks.  I wish I knew more about identifying types of rocks.  For now, all I can give her is a sense of observation through sight and texture.  I think at this age this is appropriate, but I am unsure of how to guide her in nature observations as she gets older.  I can't tell what most trees, flowers, rocks, etc. are myself.
    Later in the evening, Seneca took apart and reassembled her puzzle. We also read Horton Hatches An Egg by Dr. Seuss, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, and Time For Bed Elmo. We read from our phonics books featuring the short vowel u.

Seneca at Manatee Village Historical Park

3/19/2012

For phonics tonight, we read letter u books from the Starfall series.  Tonight, we are roasting marshmallows!  And Seneca worked on her puzzle too.

Lowery Park Zoo

  Seneca and her siblings went to Lowery Park Zoo as part of a local homeschooling group.