Saturday School

For most kids, that would probably seem like a punishment. So I was nervous about giving the kids the news that this year we'd be having school on Saturdays. But with Dan having Thursdays off, we decided it'd be better to take the day off with him. I think many homeschooling moms can relate to just how much work actually gets done on Dad's days off. So instead of fighting it, we'll just enjoy the day with Daddy. The kids took the news about Saturday school surprisingly well. My oldest said he thought it'd be much better having a break in the middle of the week rather than two days off in a row. So that's that. They just want to know if they'll be allowed to play video games on Saturdays still (usually only a weekend treat) or will they be able to play on Thursdays now too?

Almost Autumn

Today is the first day that I really sensed the beginning of Fall. The sun was shining and it was still warm outside, but the air was cool enough that a few of the kids pulled on pants today instead of shorts. We even had to close the windows last night while we were sleeping since it just got too chilly, even with big blankets. But it turned out to be a beautiful day!

Our kindergarten lessons have been about Apples (a typical Fall theme I suppose) and today we talked about trees and read a sweet story about a little boy and his tree. Afterwards, G decided she really needed to get outside and take care of her Pear tree (her birthday present a few months ago) She had a little help from her little sister.

We realized it was too nice outside to eat lunch indoors, so we decided on a nature walk and a picnic lunch in some nearby woods.
M found this hidden trail and suggested it might be a good place to set up camp.

Turned out it led to the perfect spot: By the water After eating lunch, we went on a short hike. I was surprised to notice that mid-way through the hike the two sisters who usually bicker the most were holding hands. :-)Hmm, wonder what lives in here. We spotted an egret in the middle of the river. Too bad it was too far away for a good picture.Here they are again: The kids played by this small stream, crossing back and forth again and again. I think they could have done this for hours.

While they were all busy playing and exploring, Babybird sat on the picnic blanket enjoying everyone's leftover juiceboxes. You can just see that guilty look in his eyes. :-)

It was a great afternoon and I'm looking forwards to lots more like it now that Fall is almost here!

A Better Day

I'm not sure if it was the changes I made in our daily schedule or the baby's long afternoon nap (probably both), but school was a lot better today. Everyone got their work done, chaos was kept to a minimum (so was the mess!) and best of all everyone seemed happy. I know I should be the tough mom and not let it bother me, but I really don't like it when the kids complain about school. I don't mean it irritates me. I mean it upsets me. I feel guilty and sad and just want for them to love school. In no way does this mean I am going to make it easy for them. Definitely not. I know that at times it's going to be difficult or challenging, but I hope it's challenging in a good way. I just want them to love learning and I know that most of the time they truly do. In fact, I think that is one of the things that makes this whole homeschooling thing so enjoyable for me. I have kids who are naturally eager learners. They always have been. It's never been difficult to get them to read or write or anything really. And of course they're entitled to have a bad day or to let me know when there's something they don't like. I don't just want their feedback, I need it. I know that I understand their learning styles more than a stranger would, but the children are the ones who truly know how they learn best. So, M says more workbook pages please, she gets more workbook pages. G says she wants more hands-on projects, so today was a hands-on day with less writing. I try to listen to their learning needs and I'm doing what I can to meet those needs. So anyway, I'm glad we had a good day today. Nobody complained, a lot of learning was going on, and everyone was smiling. That makes me a happy mama.

Back in the One-House School-Room

It was our first day back to school today. It was only okay. I think the kids enjoyed it for the most part. But they also seemed a little unsatisfied. I made it an easy day because I just can't see starting off with tons of bookwork and writing on the very first day. But I don't think it was enough for them. They were disapointed to be done just shortly after Noon (we started at 9 a.m.) And it was just plain stressful for me. I kept having one kid or another asking "now what..." while a baby was crying and a toddler was whining and my brain was spinning....ahhhhh...

This is what we accomplished today...
The day started off quite nicely with Circle time for the little kids. I made the big kids join in today -and only today- because it's the 1st day and our first story was about a family of 7 seven kids who learned that they need to work together to be a strong happy family- obviously I wanted all of them to hear that.
Next, we did our Morning Verse- something we used to do when the big kids were smaller and I decided to revive now that I have little ones in the schoolroom again. We stretch our bodies, signal our brains to transition from playtime to schooltime, and give love to the earth all at the same time. It's a lovely thing.

Then listened to our song for the week, a cool rendition of This Land is Your Land sung by Willie Nelson and bunch of other cool old folkies. After that, the biggest kid went on the computer to try out his new French program. And the girls and I read about the House that Jack Built and then went on to build our own houses. This is the house the 3 yr old built. I love that she wanted to add curtains...

After lunch and a quick visit from Grandpa, we did some History review with a cool video that did a nice recap of what we learned last year. Well, E and I thought it was cool. M thought it was boring and kept asking if it was almost over because "we already learned all this stuff last year (groan)" Yeah, that's why it's called review...but anyway.... then it was on to Math. The girls were very excited to look over all the groovy manipulatives that came with the new Math program I ordered. We had fun with those and got through the lessons while working to keep the smaller chokable toys out of BabyBird's mouth because he really wanted to taste every single one.

I was ready to call it a day by that point, but they were so not ready to wrap it up, so we went over the first Latin lesson of the year and looked through our new flashcards. I ran out of ideas after that and told them they'll just have to wait until tomorrow for more. Clean up and go outside already.

I think it's going to take us awhile to find our groove again, but I'm sure we'll be fine.

The Last Lazy Days of Summer