2012 Summer Olympic Inspiration ~

We've all been enjoying watching the Summer Olympics from London, England.  These athletes are all so amazing.  The hard work and discipline they've put into training is admirable and inspiring.  There has been no short of inspiration around here! 

Honeybee has been dancing around twirling this homemade rhythmic gymnastics apparatus :)

We also had a floor routine exhibition. 

 Buck's been busy building lots of Olympic events with Legos  ~

Canoeing

Swimming

Pole Vault

Pommel Horse

Vault

It's been a fun couple of weeks of learning!

A Peek into July 2012 ~

We've been so busy living and learning that I haven't made much time for blogging lately.  The kids and I are enjoying this more relaxed style of learning.  God has given them all such beautiful gifts, some similar, some not.  I am learning so much more about them as I step back and observe.  More times than not, I am pleasantly surprised with how they are occupying themselves.  Sure we still have discipline issues and behavior checks.  Just because we are now official "unschoolers" doesn't mean we've stopped parenting.  If anything, we seem to be more involved! 

With all that being said, we are starting a new chapter in our lives, one that actually began back in December when we gave this unschooling thing a try.  I can't tell you how often HC & SB have thanked me for this.  You may think, "Of course they are since you've taken the book work away from them!"  But, I must argue that after a time of depressurizing they have found plenty to keep themselves busy.  Busy with God- given gifts, with plenty of time to hear God's still small voice leading them towards Him.

So here's a peek into what July 2012 looked like around here.

The House Cat ~

• Has been devouring Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland and has been following her steps in working on her novel.
• She was asked to sing for another wedding at our parish.  They kindly paid her a stipend with which she bought a Graphic Design Software package.  She is working on publishing an online magazine for high-schooled homeschoolers.  This will be by invitation only so let me know if you'd like to be invited.
• She continues to cantor, play guitar and piano, and write music with her sister.
• We visited her grandparents and learned to play Canasta with her grandmother.  We've played several times, with her and SB taking turns with the scoring.
• Had several game days with SB & friends.  Games played include Scrabble, Pictionary, Rummikub, Cranium, 10 Days in the USA, and Story Cubes.
• Books read ~ Tangled Skein (Bethelhem e-book), Beorn the Proud, Jedi Apprentice
• Sister Servants meeting.  St. Maria Goretti.
• Helping to deliver Meals on Wheels
• Helping to make fruit preserves with the ladies Altar Sodality.  These will be sold at our church's Oktoberfest fund raiser.
• Plenty of home economics including but not limited to cooking, cleaning, and caring for her younger siblings.  (no this doesn't include you SB:)

Snuggle Bug ~

• Helped to pick apples, pears and blueberries.  Made lots of Blueberry Cobbler for her daddy.
• Also learning to make fruit perserves for the church's fund raiser.
• Finished reading Life of Fred Apples book to Buck and Honeybee.
• Planned and led her Sister Servants of the Domestic Church meeting.  This month's saint was St. Maria Goretti.  She has about 12 girls in her group now and they have such fun when they meet.  We've found a great spot for her group and my Mom's Little Way group to meet now.  God is so good!
• She has really taken off with her guitar playing and is starting to teach Buck.  She also teaches me when I slow down for a moment and pick up my guitar.
• She is our go to girl always happy to play with Buck and Honeybee and fetch this or that for her mom and dad :)
• She is also working hard on her writing and plans to have an ongoing chapter book in HC's magazine.
• Of course, she and HC are best friends.  I am so thankful they are so close!  They enjoy sharing a room, listening to movie soundtrack music and both journal about their days before bed.

Buck ~

• Continues to constantly build with Legos.  He picked out The Lego Idea Book from the library.  I encourage him to make a pic of all of his creations and try to post the pictures on his blog.
• Watched a PBS special on repairing The Hubble Telescope and built a cardboard model of the Hubble.
• Reading books on Army Rangers, Green Berets, military
• Learning to play Rummy and keep score
• Computer games Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Jump Start 1st, 2nd, 4th grades, Artist.  Reader Rabbit 2nd grade.
• Games - Checkers, Connect Four, Ciphers and Codes, Scrabble
• Life of Fred Apples
• Blue Knights meeting with his dad on the power of the Rosary.
• The Magic School Bus - The Solar System
•  Leap Pad games, The Human Body, 2nd grade, 4th grade
• Altar Serving at Mass, reading along with the Mass prayers

Honeybee ~

• IXL math
• Reader Rabbit 2nd Grade
• Playing House with her Bitty Baby, Amy
• Learning to play Rummy
• Solitaire, Spider Solitarie, Checkers, Connect Four, Scrabble
• Reading along with Mass prayers, Altar Serving
•  Helping with the fruit preserves for church.
• Leap Pad, The Human Body, Hit it Maestro, 2nd Grade
• Playing librarian, school teacher
• Irregular Plural Nouns Matching Card game with Buck
• Singing, singing, and more singing
• Finished Life of Fred Apples with SB and Buck
• Helping deliver Meals on Wheels

And these are the things that made it onto paper...  I am truly staying Busy With my Blessings!

 

 



Learning All the Time ~

I've just finished reading the first chapter of  Learning All the Time by John Holt.  I sure wish I would have read this book a lot sooner!  It would have been a great baby shower gift.  This book is so insightful.  Mr. Holt explains so much of what I have been unable to explain to others about what I have seen happening with my children.  So many times I've been asked what I used to teach my children to read.  Sure, I have tons of phonics programs, but have yet to complete any of them.  However, my children can read.  I really started thinking about this when Buck was younger.  My older two girls were reading well and had been for some time.  Friends wanted to know how I taught them and well, I had a hard time answering the question.  I would say, "I really don't know..  I didn't really teach them."  I just read to them.  You know, that was some wonderful advice I got when I first had "the call" to homeschool.  "Just read to them," was the advice I was given.  So read we did.  We enjoyed life and lived and learned.
Over time I felt the need to add more and more "curriculum" to my older girls days.  After reading A Little Way of Homeschooling, I realized that I had fallen into the trap of  'filling their buckets and not necessarily lighting a fire' in their education.  This post tells more about that...

It's good to take time to re-evaluate the reason why you are doing what you are doing.  Write a Family Mission Statement - updating it from time to time as you grow along your journey. Our latest version ~

To live our faith through the gift of God's Holy Church and the Sacraments, staying focused on the reason we are here.  To live a life of charity and service, seeing the image of God in all His creatures and letting His light shine through us in all we do.

It's so easy to get caught up in what the world is telling you is important. But, how is God calling you???  We are focused on Heaven, not Harvard!  God has great plans for each of us, as he tells us through the prophet Jeremiah.

For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe!  plans to give you a future full of hope.  Jeremiah 29:11

Spend time in front of The Blessed Sacrament and He WILL tell you where He needs your family and what it will take to get you there!

A Day in the Life ~

Many people are curious as to what our days as homeschoolers/unschoolers look like.  No two are exactly alike and I like that! 

Here's some of what's keeping us busy today.

:Woke up early for Mass. Everyone was sleepy after a late night celebrating Snuggle Bug's Christian B'day with dear friends. 

:Mass and Miraculous Medal Novena.  Buck is so cute!  He loves holding the chapel door open for Father or just anyone and this morning he handed out the novena books as people arrived for Mass.  He's learning to be a good servant! 

:HC had a driving lesson on the way home.

:Breakfast for mom.  Snacks for the kids.  Ordered lots of books from  A Picture Perfect Childhood from the library for the rest of April.  Noticed today is the anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride.  HC read aloud Longfellow's poem from The Harp and Laurel Wreath and we discussed one if by land and two if by sea.

:HC went upstairs to work on Grammar (180 Daily Teaching Lessons) and Wordly Wise).  SB stayed in the kitchen working on another short story.

:Buck grabbed cardboard on his way upstairs and got started making iphones - I think.
(got frustrated due to the late night...  another talk on self control :)

:Googled "Unschooling Record Keeping" and found this site.
The big girls and I made daily log sheets from her example.  In a "perfect world"  we wouldn't have to keep records....

:Heard Buck and Honeybee playing Reader Rabbit computer game.  (Math, Science)

:SB came down and told me how proud she was of herself for figuring out a math problem on volume in her Life of Fred Pre Alg w/Biology book.

:The kids are in and out of the music room playing piano and guitar getting ready for a talent show at church on Sunday.

:Buck and HB watched Curious George and Martha Speaks.  (Science, Vocabulary)They are educational!!

:Big girls spent some quiet time in their room reading history books.  SB started Fingal's Quest today and says it's good. 

:Printed off more sheets to do with SB for Confirmation lapbook and for B&HB's First Holy Communion.  Both are only a couple of weeks away!  We are using Faith Folders for Catholics and loving them!

Buck and Honeybee are listening to this CD again!  They must really like it :)


:Laundry, dishes, cooking....

:Practice for Talent show tonight.

And whatever else God sees fit to throw our way!

~ May all we do today be pleasing to You and in accordance with Your will! Amen

A Considered Childhood ~

Elizabeth Foss, author of Real Learning and In the Heart of My Home has this wonderful statement on her blog.  Once I read it I knew she had said it all...

Thanks Elizabeth!

A Considered Childhood

As much as I am able, every day. I will ensure that my child will:

Live the Liturgy
Experience loveliness
Breathe deeply: Fresh air and Exercise
Serve others
Listen to, Contemplate and Exchange Ideas
Develop Expressive Skills
Practice Logical Reasoning. Math.
Receive Focused Attention and Affection.

Inside the Earth Study

We have been studying Earth Science lately. Not that I planned to, of course :) It's all part of this new land of "Unschooling."  It all began when Buck found this book

in the basket.  Some of you may know that he has not been like my girls who are always reading something.  Anyway, this was one of those books he asked me to read again and again.   And we did.  (By the way, I found this book in Maureen Whitman's For The Love of Literature.  I use this book for strewing good books about.)

How cool was it when this book

was on our history reading list? 

I found these pages on Enchanted Learning and ordered other books and DVDs from the library.  You can see which ones below.

Then we put these into a lapbook to keep for future reference. 

Honeybee drew this while Buck and I were working on the lapbook.  I'd say she had the idea of what was going on.  Notice the frowns ;)

We also worked an experiment in.  I had everything together and asked Dad if he'd perform the experiment for us.  He was happy to and I was happy he did.  (He's more 'science-minded' than I :)

First he added the baking soda (the base).

Then some dish detergent,

a little water,

and some vinegar (the acid) which had been mixed with red food coloring.

When the vinegar reacts with the baking soda, carbon dioxide gas is formed and the bubbles push the "lava" out of the volcano.  

Note:  I wasn't sure how messy this would be.  It wasn't too messy after all.  This pan held all of the lava flow.

Afterwards, Dad had a good discussion on chemical reactions with the rest of us.  After all, his dad is a chemical engineer! 

A Thought Provoking Quote ~

"Anything we put forward either interests them (our children) or doesn't.  If it's uninteresting, it's not going to be learned, really.  Somewhere  out there, there is a text, or approach, or idea, that can make that information interesting or worthwhile.  And we'd prefer to find that, rather than try to force some unwanted information on a child - because our fundamental objective is to keep alive their love of learning, and desire to learn, and to help them learn to find information they want."  taken from The Unschooling Handbook.

On the second night of the new year ~

I'm enjoying ~

A beautiful fire ablaze in the fireplace.  It's super cold outside.  We are all extremely blessed to have such a cozy dwelling!  My honey had the kids out helping collect the wood he cut down over the past few days.  We are so thankful to be living here!

Listening to ~

The House Cat reading tonight's book aloud to us.  What a pleasant voice she has.  I love seeing Buck and Honeybee snuggled up beside her.  She and Snuggle Bug both read aloud so beautifully.

Back to school ~

Well, not really....  we never actually stopped.

We are continuing to live a life of learning.  HC & SB are going to incorporate a little more "desk time" into the days we are here all day and don't have company.  (Wordly Wise, Science)   I'm looking into Teaching Textbooks and IXL for Math.  They both enjoy creative writing and spend lots of time on it.  I am proud of their work and the accomplishment of being published in the latest edition of The Homeschool Literary Quarterly.

Goals for January ~

Exercise

Eat More Fruits and Veggies

First Friday Mass

Look into starting a Blue Knights group for Buck

Little Flowers for Honeybee

Set a date for a Winter Tea for the big girls

Make time for Science Experiments with Buck

First Reconciliation for Buck and Honeybee

Most of all I pray to be open to Our Lord's Will in our lives.

I hope your year is off to a wonderful start!

Hearts for Home ~ Thanksgiving Week 2011

In today’s busy and aggressive society mothers at home are not given much encouragement to be committed to their role in being home. Here I encourage myself and others to commit to thinking about what 4-6 things we can do each week to bring our thoughts, prayers and actions to keeping our 'Hearts for Home'. ~

Happy Feast of Christ the King.  May He always reign as King of our hearts!

~

Tomorrow we are going to start our day a little differently.  The older girls and I are going to have a "Monday Morning Meeting" where we look at the upcoming week, talk about interests,  make notes and have a basic plan for the week. 
As I shared last week, I'm reading

A Little Way of Homeschooling, Thirteen Families Discover Catholic Unschooling.  I can relate to so many things I have read in this book.

Such as: "Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire." W.B. Yates

I don't think I'm a radical Unschooler but, I am definitely drawn to pursuing my children's interests and fostering a love of learning.  I think I'm more like the families toward the end of the book who are a combination of one or more methods.

I've got books ordered from the library and am waiting on Homeschooling With Gentleness to come in the mail.  I look forward to see where God is taking us with all of this.

~

My honey will have knee surgery on Tuesday.  Please offer a little prayer for his speedy recovery.

~
We are looking forward to having Granny and Papa, my honey's parents, to stay with us for Thanksgiving.  The girls and I will bake apple and pumpkin pies to go along with our turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese (for Buck), corn casserole, green beans and crescent rolls. 

~

We will also meet with some homeschooling friends for Little Flowers this week.  This is great for Buck since he has some good "boy" play time then too.  Our Little Flowers group is small and sweet and the big girls enjoying helping out.  We also have group time where everyone comes together for recitations.  This can be anything from poetry to Latin to Classically Catholic Memory work.

~

I hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving week! 

Don't forget to pick up your Advent candles this week  :)


Visit Cherished Hearts at Home for more weekly inspiration for keeping our
'Hearts For Home'