End of Week 1: Kicking It Off Right

It's been a great start to the year.  We've gotten so much done!  I can't believe the strong start we've had.  Somehow I always think we're going to just slink into the year, not making much effort to really get into it, and that's what we always end up doing.  Slowly we start adding more until we're in full swing, but then we have periods of slacking and not getting through as much as we'd intended, paired with an all-out scramble to catch up once we fall behind.  It's getting everything done, but it's more than a little stressful.

Creeper working hard on his phonics

This year has been different.  We took a week off before really getting into it, but we jumped in and completely committed, straight from the start.  I'm really impressed at our ability to progress through our lessons and just keep going.  I wasn't expecting such a smooth transition.  Normally getting the kids back into the school routine results in resistance and struggles, but this time it was smooth sailing.

I started with attempting to make a schedule for the kids, but that went out the window fast.  It seemed like things didn't want to sit in the blocks they were assigned for, and with the kids doing lessons by Skype with our aunt, that made it challenging.  I think that one was on me, though.  I just wanted to be organized.  In my head there was just so much to be done, but as it turned out, it wasn't nearly as much as I thought it would.  Science and history, which I thought would be long and involved were both pretty easy and quick, at least where I was involved.  Getting their language arts done simply flew.  The only subjects that took a little more time were phonics and math, which I knew would be more time consuming anyway.

Bear's first copyork!

This year was Bear's first year doing copywork, and the first time we've decided to do any significant practice of copywork.  Pinkie and Link have done copywork before, for a co-op we used to go to, but they would only do it once a week.  Now Bear and Creeper are doing copywork three times a week and Link is doing dictation twice.  I expected them to find it boring, but they're really quite enjoying it.  Better still, they love the sentences coming from their literature.  I think that's their favorite part!

Already I'm seeing improvements in their handwriting.  Between the copywork and all of the writing for their phonics programs, they're really starting to become a lot more careful and neat.  This is especially obvious for Bear, who used to hate writing neatly.  He liked to treat his writing like it was a form of art, but that gave it the impression of being almost hieroglyphic in nature.  It was sometimes hard to read.  Creeper's work wasn't always the easiest to read either, which didn't help.  I have a feeling their copywork will be far different between the beginning of the year and the end of the year.  I even took pictures to compare at the end of the year.

Bear's first copywork of the year

Creeper's first copywork of the year

This was really exciting for us.  This is the first year we're going to have something significant to compare at either end of the year.  We've never been all that into portfolios, so we haven't kept a lot of work samples.  Most of what we've kept has been workbooks so the kids can see how far they've progressed.  This time things are different.  They're going to have two things to hold up and compare, which is going to be a lot of fun for them.

Creeper doing his literature by Skype

The biggest success of the year so far was getting things started up for Skype.  They're loving those lessons.  I think this is fantastic because it's not just a chance for them to have some educational time with someone other than me, but it's also a chance to build a relationship with another member of their family.  They get exposure to a really good reader as well.  I'm loving this Skype arrangement.  More importantly, the kids are loving this whole Skype thing.

This is also just a really funky way to homeschool.  It's given me the idea that we may want to start budgeting for some other online classes, maybe through something like Outschool.  There's something special about having a chance to work alone in my little office without any distractions, and have someone's attention just on them.  I think they'd love doing classes online this way too.  It could be something to think about for our future in homeschooling.  Maybe we'll have to consider getting them each on an online class for their birthday or for Christmas.  That could be so much fun.

Link working in the comfy chair

In other news, while this is the first week of homeschooling for Link, it may also be the last solid week of homeschooling for Link.  We just got word back that he's off the waiting list for the charter school we've been looking into for him.  While it makes me sad to think of how much I'll miss out on with him being in school, I can't help but think how good this will be for him.  The school has a reputation for having a great program, with lots of support for special needs.  It's entirely science and technology based, which is really Link's thing.  Most of all, it means he'll have a chance to make some really good social connections and make some friends, something that's been kind of lacking in his life right now.  Without a car our opportunities for socialization are limited, and he's really of an age where he needs to expand his social circle.

It's going to be an interesting transition for us, should we decide this is the best path for Link.  He's super excited and ready to go back to school.  He wants friends his own age and a big social network.  He's already a morning person, so getting him up and out the door shouldn't be hard, and adapting our lives to work around when he's on and off the bus shouldn't be hard, but it's going to be a very different dynamic only having two at home.  It will be a big change for almost all of us.

All of us except Pinkie.  She's already back in school.  Her first week back was in her landscaping shop, and apparently it was wonderful.  She's looking forward to a great year there, though we're not sure how great it will be yet.  We won't know what she really feels until she gets into her academic week at the vocational school, which happens when she goes back on Tuesday.  So far it looks like it should be a good year though.

Pinkie has really taken off on her own this year.  She started volunteering at the local food pantry over the summer and plans to continue on one day a week throughout the year.  She's moving on into an honors class.  She's decided it's healthier to walk to and from school, so she's been doing that because she wants to stay in shape, which is especially important with her shop.  She needs to stay strong and capable.  In some ways it's hard to believe we're one step closer to her being out in the world, but at the same time, it seems right.  It's going to be a hard change when she's finally off to college or living on her own.

But this is only the first week of school.  We've had a couple victories, things the kids are wicked proud of, particularly Bear.  He's feeling especially accomplished this week.  We've even caught on video two very special moments:

Bear reading Mac and Tab (Primary Phonics)

This is Bear reading his first phonics reader, Mac and Tab, done by Primary Phonics.  I have to admit, when I first learned about this program I wasn't in love with it.  In fact, I kind of hated it, but Creeper was doing okay with it, so we kept with it.  Now that I'm seeing the incredible impact it's having on the kids' ability to read, I'm really pretty impressed with it.  It feels like we're really making progress with reading, and this program has so much to do with that, especially with the readers, which are right on target and perfectly timed with the levels.  I couldn't ask for more!

Bear recites "from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"

Also, this is another huge accomplishment.  The kids are all going to be memorizing poems this year, even Link, who has decided to continue with his poems even after he goes back to school.  Bear was the first one to have a poem due, and he did wonderfully!  He's so proud of himself and I'm so proud of him!  This year is going to be full of poetry for the kids, which is fantastic because they're totally loving the memorization and are so excited to show off to the world!

Haircuts by Daddy

In an unrelated to school front, Bear decided he was sick of having long hair (as I'm sure you've noticed in the second video), so he wanted his hair cut.  His cute new style was given to him by his dad, and it turned out great!  More often than not our idea of haircuts are clippers by the sink, or paying someone else to do them, but this worked out really well.  We may have to do more haircuts by Daddy!

Now Bear says he has "princess hair, like Mommy," which I think is the cutest thing.  It's great that we've been able to give him a new style for his first year in an actual numbered grade.  He's no longer a little kid anymore, he's a first grader!  Now he has more of a big kid style to go with it, or at least that's how he feels.

As for going forward, we're really excited about continuing our work for this school year.  We've got some really great stuff coming our way as the year goes on.  The plan is to keep at least weekly updates, possibly more often if we're up to fun and interesting things.  It's shaping up to be a great school year already!

First Day Down

It's morning, and that means I'll be getting into it soon, but I figured I'd at least pop on and give a little bit about how everything went yesterday.  After all, it was the first day of school!

First Pinkie went back to her high school, which was great.  I guess she was in shop for her first day, which meant she didn't have terribly much hard stuff to do, but talk about starting off on the right foot!  Shop is her favorite, so that was a perfect way to start the year!

As always, she started off the first day of school late, apparently.  I guess she's taken to walking to school, which is good!  It's definitely healthier for her than just taking the bus!  She didn't really talk about it much, but she was in a good mood the whole day, so I guess that's a sign that her first day went pretty well.  At least there were no complaints.

This is going to be a more challenging year for her because she's got her first honors class.  It's going to be interesting to see how it goes once everything hits full swing with academics again next week.  I have to wonder how much that will change how she feels about school.

As for the rest of them, it was a rough start.  Bear fell to pieces somewhere around lunch time.  He didn't get much sleep and that resulted in a really rough spot for him.  I ended up carrying him to bed and staying with him until he was sleeping, so he didn't finish his work.  It was frustrating, but at least he hit the big points.  We got through his literature, history, and science, which left us with only the subjects we've been really going hard at to get on track.  Having one day off isn't really going to hurt him at this point.

Creeper did great for his first day.  He kind of broke down on his reading at the end of it all, but it was a long day.  I can't blame him for just being done with the whole thing.  It's a longer day than we've had in the past couple of years, so it's going to be a challenge for him.  Plus, it's an adjustment with a new routine and a new curriculum.  He doesn't love the idea of having to do more work, but we're getting through it.  At least he knows some of it is fun because his science had him drawing space yesterday.  That was a lot of fun for him.  It worked out pretty well!

For Link, I think, it was the hardest.  He wasn't even done with his work on the computer until almost five, and then he still had his math, phonics, and science to do, as well as some more reading.  As it stood he didn't finish his math.  We didn't even start with his science until this morning, and he's finishing his reading now.  We're going to see how this is going forward, especially once babysitting starts.  He's not going to want to work once there are more kids in the house.  I'm hoping we can just start finishing his day by 4:30.

But that's our start to the week.  I'm wondering how things will go from here, but I'm thinking now that Bear is more well rested it's going to make all the difference.  I have a feeling there's going to be some adjustments we need to make, but one we get it settled out it'll all be just fine.

It's Only Been, I Don't Know, Forever?

We're back!  We're moving!  And it's about time to start school again.  No, I'm not kidding, we start school tomorrow.  I already have the stack of books sitting beside my chair for the first two weeks and everything.  All we need now is the schedule to be tacked to the wall and we'll be good to go.

So what's coming up for us this year?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  This year we're going to be starting a whole bunch of things on the homeschool front.  We've kind of scrapped our old unschooling ways in favor of more involved pursuits.  However, it's going to be a really fun year and I think the kids are going to absolutely love it!

But before we get to that, I'm going to talk about Pinkie.  This year is going to be Pinkie's sophomore year in high school.  Yes, high school!  She's studying landscaping at our local vocational school, and she's in love with it.  Part of that was being able to drive a tractor, but most of it is her love of working outdoors and being involved with plants.  It's always been a thing of hers, ever since she was pretty little.  She's always been into plants and animals.

But what about the homeschooling crew?  We're checking out a new program (well, new to us) called Build Your Library.  It's a secular literature-based curriculum, so basically everything we need.  I found it through a group called Secular, Eclectic, Academic.  I don't remember how I encountered them, but I used them to vet out other literature-based programs available.  While I have to say I wasn't worried about "truly secular" curriculum by their definition, I think I definitely found my home with Build Your Library.

So, why did I choose this one?  I'll be honest, I loved some of the book selections and I got excited that the creator chose things like The Hobbit and some other more modern titles.  It also helps that it wasn't a small fortune to purchase the books (though my aunt did do us a huge favor and got most of them for us used!)  As I explored the curriculum and learned more about the creator, I got more and more excited.  The woman who put it all together is really my kind of person.  She loves to read, but she's also into fantasy and science fiction, and we even watch some of the same shows.  She reads comic books, too, and goes to the local Comic Con.  There's definitely something appealing about a curriculum written by someone that's my kind of people.

Truth be told, I wasn't even looking for a curriculum when I started finding them.  People just started referencing them and I got curious.  This resulted in me checking them out, and then finally starting to really get drawn into the idea that these kinds of curricula even exist!  Next thing you know I was trying to figure out in the budget how I was going to afford to provide one for my kids, and then the whole idea of unschooling went right out the window.

Against what everyone recommends, I've decided to do a different level for each of the kids.  This is in part because of my own personal discomfort at the idea of having them work off "grade level" and instead having to modify the whole thing to make it appropriate for all of their skill levels.  On top of that, there's something nice about being able to give them each the individualized attention of their own plan and assignments.  Yes, it's more work, but I think it will result in each one of them getting a little bit more individualized attention.

So this year Bear is going to be in level 1.  That means we're going to be studying the ancients in history.  This is paired with some great literature, including a couple books that actually tie into the history, something that must have been challenging to find.  It's hard to find a book that appeals to that age level and matching that period of history.  There isn't a ton of lit written in that period.  This is all put together with a nature study, which seems like a really good "introduction to science" kind of thing.  Finally, we'll be adding our own math and phonics, sticking with what we're already doing, since it works so well for us.

Creeper gets to study the middle ages, though we're going to be including a little bit of a gloss-over for the ancients.  We've done it before, but it's been a little while, so this will be a review.  More than anything I wanted to get the timeline figures up there for him so he can have a full timeline when he's finished.  He's also got a great lit selection, which I've really been enjoying.  Science for him will be broken up into Earth science and space.  It should be a fun year.  Also, he'll be doing the same math and phonics, just like Bear.

Finally, there's Link.  He's doing the first level of American history.  I could have had him work on grade level, but as one of the things they learn is the 50 states, half in each year of American history, I thought we should start at the beginning.  His books are pretty good too, and they provide the link between his history and science.  For science he's doing biology, and it seems like there's a little bit of emphasis on diseases, which should be fun because I'm highly interested in infectious disease.  It all just packages together so neatly!  This is also going to be his last year in the elementary math books, as next year he's going to be doing pre-algebra.  We're also going to be working on finishing out his phonics curriculum, so that should be one thing to mark off the list.  I still can't believe he's already in middle school!  They grow up so fast!

And we're not homeschooling in isolation during the day either!  My aunt is getting some time in with the kids via Skype this year, which is huge.  Now, I'm not excited about this because it means I have a little less to worry about every day.  Yeah, she's taking some of the burden on history and poetry and almost all of lit.  However, this is a chance for her to build a strong relationship with the kids!  When they grow up and think back about their family, they're going to remember all those times working on the computer with their aunt.  She's a great, engaging reader.  She's always ready with funny comments to keep things lively.  The help with homescooling is just an added bonus.  It's also great to be able to have a resource who used to work in education and knows tips and tricks that I'd never even thought of before.  I don't know what we'd do without her insight.

Okay, time for a little nostalgia...  Thinking back about my aunt helping me out, I keep going back to the same thought over and over again.  Years back, when I was still pretty young, she made me a collection of poems.  She illustrated the book and everything.  I had that thing for years, and my parents might even still have it in their basement somewhere.  It was my favorite thing to pull out to read, and I still have one of the poems, a very short one, memorized.  It's one of those things that stuck with me for years.  Having my kids work with my aunt, it feels like it's that kind of thing, only less physical and tangible.  They may not have had a book to pull out and look at, but they get to see and talk to their aunt daily, which is great.  When they grow up they may not have memories of a collection of poems she made, but they'll remember reciting the poems they memorized to her.  They'll have memories of the books they read together and all the conversations they had.  They're going to be close, and that's wonderful.

But that's basically it for our planning this year.  I'm sure I'll have more to write after we've kicked off the year, which is tomorrow!  I still have things to do to get ready, like writing up narration cards and getting all of that sorted out, but we're almost there.  It's down to the finer details now, and anything that doesn't come along perfectly smoothly will be sorted out as we get rolling.  These first couple of weeks are going to be a challenge, but we'll get there, and it's all going to be so much fun!

Winter Break

What is winter break for?  In this house it's not for a break.  I decided to take some time out of our leisurely boring schedule of lazily doing nothing of any consequence to work on some stuff with the kids.

Creeper has really been struggling with school.  He does really well with the math, but the reading and writing is a little more trying for him.  Instead of having a carefree winter break, we've been working on some school stuff.

Of course, this really makes me think about the whole situation with school.  If I'm having the kids do all of this work at home, would it be possible to just homeschool them again?  Would this be the best option?  It's something that's been really tugging at the back of my mind.

Since it's winter break, I'm not worrying about that too much right now.  My main goal is to get Creeper back on track, which seems like a productive use of this break from school.  I'm glad he's able to get some work done, even though winter break is half over.  It's good to feel like we're accomplishing something for all this time off.

Then there's Bear.  We've been doing some work together outside of the computer.  I've got to admit, Bear has been trying my patience on the peaceful parenting thing.  I'm trying to get away from using tactics like time out, but it's not easy when Bear is so worked up over the past week.  It's been pretty crazy around here.  It makes it hard for Bear to concentrate and focus.

Still, Bear has managed to get some good work in.  We've started working with the workbooks Bear got for Christmas.  This has been trying with the lack of focus and the suddenly hyper behavior.  We've had to work hard to keep focus and stay on task.  Overall, I'd say we're making some pretty good progress.

Today we worked with some tracing lines, drawing lines along a path, and (as you can see here) tracing letters.  Bear seems really eager to learn these skills.  If Bear could keep a little more chill and focused, I think we'd be making some pretty good progress, but that wouldn't be Bear, now would it.  Instead we've been plugging away, trying to work on focus and attention span along with getting the work done.  I think that's maybe the hardest part of this whole thing, the attention span aspect of it all.

This whole thing has me considering the homeschooling thing with Bear too.  So far we've been doing pretty well.  Most of what we've been doing has been on the computer with Time 4 Learning.  I'm also considering Starfall, which Bear loves the free version of, and it can be played on all of our devices.  Now we're adding in more workbooks.  The whole thing is coming together pretty well.

All of this has my mind set to homeschooling.  There are a lot of reasons for this, many of which I don't feel belong in this blog, but the root of it all is that it doesn't seem to be working out for my family.  The long and the short of it is wondering if perhaps this is where our lives are taking us again.  It's a lot to consider, and definitely not a path I'm ready to jump onto now.  For now I'll be happy with doing our vacation work and calling it a day.

Getting It Done!

There are so many things that need to get done in this house.  Most of them involve some sort of struggle or fighting.  No one wants to do chores.  No one wants to help cook.  No one wants to take out the trash and recycling.  Most of all, no one wants to do homework.

It's been a constant struggle since school was started to get the kids to do their homework, even the good students when it came to homeschooling.  Once the kids got home from school, they wanted to do fun stuff.  They've been doing school all day.  The last thing they want is to do more school work, especially Creeper.  He gets home latest of the kids (4 pm) and still has to do homework.

As I'm sure you can imagine, the last thing he wants to do is homework, so we try to work someplace fun to work.  The other day it was on the bed in my room, which seems to be his favorite place to work.  This gives him a great chance to have a little more control over his working environment, so as much as he has to do his work, he can at least have some say in how.

How long it takes him to do his work varies.  He's pretty good with math, so that takes him almost no time at all.  It's the writing that ends up being rather time consuming.  He takes a full half hour to do his work on a good day, an hour on a bad day.  It time for me to make dinner by the time he's done with his work.

Still, in spite of it all he manages to get all of his work done most days.  When I'm in charge of his homework he does every page.  When he's left to do it on his own he makes some excuse about how he was told he didn't need to do it.  Then he leaves his homework at home instead of putting it in his bag.  It's been a struggle to get the assignments complete and in school on the day they're due.  It seems like he'd rather not have to do the assignment at all if he could at all help it, and I don't blame him.  It takes him so long to get it done, then has to do his reading on top of it, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes either.

Today was also another great adventure.  We went out to meet a friend at the train station today.  That led to an interesting walk home, and a wonderful snack of donuts and fritters.  Pinkie was with us after a trip to the ER yesterday.  She wasn't hurting too bad so she opted for the walk.  It reminded me of what things were like when we used to homeschool.  We always used to go on the grandest adventures.

I miss the days I went out with all the kids to the library or just out for a walk.  We used to have all sorts of adventures, or moments like this tree hugging one here.  It was fun having them all along, and it actually meant getting out of the house more.  We had so much more to do all the time, which helped.

I'm looking forward to more days when we can get out of the house, especially when the weather gets nicer.  It's going to mean we have more freedom to go out, though that's a long ways off.  I really miss having the freedom to do that any day, but I think we'll just have to make more of our weekends.

That's one thing I miss about homeschooling.  The name was so misleading.  We were almost never home.  We were out having adventures, hiking in the woods.  We had so much more to do.  I miss that.  It was so much better than being stuck in the house all the time, waiting for this bus or that one.  True, I was able to go back to school easier once the kids were in school, but my class availability is extremely restricted because I can't even leave my house until almost 9 and have to be home by 2.  That means cramming all my classes into the morning.  It's been a good week, but it's been frustrating too.  I really miss homeschooling and the kids do too.

Theater Arts and Imaginative Play

For those of you who have followed enough to know I'm teaching at the co-op this semester, I had my theater class.  They're good kids, and there's some serious talent there.  Of course, I'm also learning the hard way that dealing with kids and acting, they can be a handful.  It's not always easy to think of ways to get them to pull it in a bit.  It's also hard to get them out of their imaginative play zone and into the zone of acting.  I think in some ways I really have my work cut out for me!  That's not a bad thing.  I'm not an incredibly experienced drama teacher and most of the kids I've worked with before have some theater experience, even if it is just putting on plays in their living room.

Over the past few years I've noticed that kids play a lot differently than I did when I was younger, and I think that has a lot to do with the results I've seen in my theater class.  I was always kind of weirded out by these trends, though I'd never thought it might be my background (no matter how brief) in theater that might have something to do with it.  My sister and I have been putting on plays since we were old enough to come up with the idea of acting out our own versions of movies.  I did some acting in school too.  Even so, the way these kids play is nothing like the way these kids play now.

It was a couple of years ago when I noticed a huge trend in kids and their play that just seemed awkward.  Kids would tell each other, "and then you did this" and the other kid would immediately respond, almost as though one kid were story telling the whole play session.  Another common one is, "and then I started doing this."  I remember when I was little I never did things like that.  I never told other people how to react to the things I did in play.  I never explained my actions either.  The only things I ever said were to describe the props and the set we were using.  "Hey, look at this!  We've just stumbled upon a labyrinth!"  In reality it would just be the bushes in our front yard.  I would declare that a stick was my sword and other things of that nature.  Often times other "characters" in our play would come up to me and say, "Hey, what are you doing?" if they didn't get what I was acting out, but most of the time it was pretty obvious.  I'd never realized it before, but our play was full of pantomime.

That's actually one of the biggest problems I'm having with my theater class.  They don't seem comfortable with the idea of just sinking in to the roll and acting it out.  More often than not they feel compelled to narrate everything they're doing instead of just doing it.  They're not comfortable with the idea of pantomime.  It's awkward and uncomfortable in a way I never imagined.  I always thought acting things out would be the most natural thing in the world for kids with active imaginations.  Simply acting things out seemed the most natural way to play.

I don't think this new form of play is good or bad.  It's just what it is.  All it means is I've got a lot of work ahead of me in order to get these kids thinking the way actors really think.  I might have to get creative on coming up with ways to encourage the kids to act things out, not tell us what they're doing.  It's not going to be easy either.  Some of these older kids have been playing the way they've been playing for years and it's hard to go and change that routine.  I've got to realize that I'm not just trying to teach these kids a new skill, I'm trying to re-engineer the whole way they play.  That means I've got a lot to think about in activities to get these kids to have a new perspective of the way they interact in an on-stage kind of setting.

It's given me a lot to think about and noticing the problems I'm running into, I think I'm developing a good plan of action for the rest of the year.  I somehow see a lot of pantomime exercises in the future, as well as narration because it's not so easy to listen and do what you're told when you've got all these ideas bursting forth of what should come next.  I'm really excited to watch these kids grow because I'm already looking at a very vivid group of personalities.  I'd like to think I'm as excited about this as the kids are!

String Bowls, Theater Class, and Marshmallows

Yup, it's a co-op day.  How can you tell?  Probably by the interesting title to today's post.  I'm sure that's a pretty dead give-away.  I always write about interesting things on co-op days, which is probably why I love them so much!

I think the highlight of the day for me was helping a class full of boys make string bowls.  I would love to show you a picture of Link's string bowl, but I can't.  First, it's not done yet.  The glue needs to dry before it's finished.  It's also going to be entered into the art exhibit that all the other kids are getting to put something in.  You wouldn't believe how excited Link is to have something in "a real arts show"!  You'd think he was having his work displayed in some fancy New York gallery.  Of course, it's probably about the same to him.  He's never had his artwork on display before.  On top of that, he gets to have his artwork there just like his sister.

We also learned something about Link today.  He doesn't like messes.  We were making the bowls with string and glue, which meant the kids had to get glue all over their hands.  Link went the extra mile to get it on his sweater and his pants.  I guess it's a good thing that stuff washes out!  Unfortunately, he spent the whole first half of the project too squeamish to really get his hands covered.  Who knew Link would be so weird about a little glue on his hands?

My daughter came home with a page full of marshmallows.  It was supposed to be an atom, but I guess everyone though that it looked more like a man sitting in a chair.  It's pretty great how she's learning things like that in school.  When I was her age I don't think I had any idea what an atom was, never mind what they might have looked like!  It's amazing just how much they're doing.

Both the kids are very excited over next week.  They're going to be painting.  Nothing says fun to my kids like busting out paints.  I bet they're very excited to get a little bit messy on that front.  I know paint is a kind of messy Link won't be too squeamish about.  He loves it!

Now if only I had more of an idea of what Sander was doing.  I have to say, I'm really relieved not to be in the nursery the whole time again, but at the same time, I'm also really sad about it.  I loved spending my time in the nursery with my little one, but I also love the break.  I'm sure it'll be good for him to work with other adults than just me all the time too.  Maybe it'll encourage him to break away from his usual routine and get interested in something new.  After all, he's daddy's little man and mama just doesn't cut it sometimes.

I really can't wait until next week.  I'm starting to think I'm just as excited about the co-op each week as the kids are!  It's really been a lot of fun and it's working out to be great for all of us.

Lazy for Homeschooling, Yet Somehow Still Productive

You know what we did for homeschooling today?  That's right, nothing.  We didn't work on writing.  We didn't work on reading.  We didn't talk about math.  Link didn't even read the e-mail from his grandma about the cool stuff she's got to say on the subject of germs.  We did absolutely nothing, yet I think it was perhaps our most productive homeschooling day ever.

Why do I think that?  For starters, my daughter actually read.  She didn't really read much, but she was sitting next to the baby I take care of after just having fed her (because she loves being helpful) and my youngest brought her one of those boxed sets of books.  He wanted to "read" them.  However, I guess he decided they were boring when they were no longer in their box, so he just walked away.  That's when my daughter decided to do something incredibly out of character for her.  She picked up the first book and started reading the first chapter quietly to herself, asking questions when she came across something she just didn't get.

What was this book that had her so captivated?  The book was Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure! from The Flat Stanley Collection Box Set.  We'd parts of the books before, though most of the time we'd never finished them because she just wasn't interested in finishing stories back then.  She liked to read half a book and then start something new.  However, this time she was plowing through it like a champ.  Who knew she'd just pick it up and read it for no reason at all?  I'm so proud of my Bunny!  She's actually reading!

Link didn't do anything overly educational, but he did a lot of "creative writing" type practice.  He was sitting by himself just making up stories.  I'm not entirely sure who he was telling or if he was telling anyone at all, but it was amusing to see him sitting there, quietly telling stories without any toys or physical action going on.  I wouldn't be surprised if I had peeked in to see him holding a book, but I didn't bother to check on him.  I didn't want to interrupt him.

My littlest one decided today would be a good day to color.  He finally started using his Easel and his Crayon Rocks that he got for his birthday.  I can't tell you how much he loves them.  It took him a while to actually start using them.  Crayons weren't so much his thing, but he's discovered that these are just perfect for him to hold.  He had to ask the other kids what colors each crayon was before he could draw with it and was incredibly proud of what he'd done.  He's finally starting to sink in to something a bit artistic.  We knew it wouldn't be long!

It was a very relaxing day, aside from the points with a cranky baby, but it was nice.  It's good to feel like we've really accomplished something, even if we haven't really done much at all.  Even I got to do something since the book I'd ordered came in today.  I'd ordered Theatre Games for Young Performers to help me with my theater class at the co-op.  Since I just got it, I couldn't resist paging through it and came up with some great new ideas for my theater class, and a few things I'd forgotten from my own theater games from when I was in school.  Even I couldn't avoid learning without even really meaning to!  It's wonderful.

I kind of wish every day could be like today, casual and relaxed, yet everyone is filling their day with incredibly educational things.  It would be perfect.  I keep hoping that some day my kids will really take control of their own education, but that's still a while off, I think.  However, it's days like these that really make me think that letting the kids work towards their own educational goals, even if it's just half the time, could be a realistic goal for our family.  It's amazing how productive time that's not scheduled for work can be when you just let it happen.

It's Co-op Time Again...

Ah, the co-op!  I forgot how much I missed all the crazy bustling of activity.  There's something about the bustle of kids from place to place and all the cool things they do at the co-op.  I wish my kids would actually tell me what they're learning, but they'd much rather tell me about other things they do.  However, I know they're learning from peeking in on their classes and helping whenever I'm needed.

The little man didn't go to the co-op today, but he was missed.  He decided he wanted to have a hang-out day with Daddy, something the two of them haven't had without the other kids around in a good long while.  I think they needed their boy time.  However, it looks like he's going to have a full and fun class of other kids his age.  I'm sure he'll really like that.  He might not have enough interest in the other kids to care that he's seeing his "friends" again at this stage, but at least he'll be seeing the kids he's spent so much time playing with in the past, and a few new faces!  I'm sure he'll be very excited to have other kids to play with this year.  He's much more interested in interacting with other kids these days.  I have a feeling he'll be handing out more than a few hugs!

Sadly, I didn't get to see much of what Bunny Boo did in her classes, but I was teaching her theater class, so I got to see that.  Those kids are a riot!  Some of them were more into it than others, which is normal early on.  I don't think any of them really knew what to expect.  I know they all thought there was going to be a lot of acting, but with kids with a variety of skill levels, it's hard to gauge what they're ready for.  Besides, I don't want to get them tied down to script acting.  Kids have great imaginations for improvisation!  Some of that class really is a riot.  The one lone boy definitely stands out, and not just because he's a boy!  He's a brave one and isn't at all intimidated to get up in front of the classroom full of girls and act out his scene.  They're going to be a lot of fun and I can't wait to see how their skills all develop.

After that Bunny Boo disappeared for chemistry and art appreciation.  I can't say for sure how either of those classes went.  Bunny Boo isn't much for sharing (at least not until months later when she starts telling me all about molecules and atoms), so I didn't hear much about it.  However, the art appreciation class sounds wonderful.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to see any of her artwork until after the co-op.  They're keeping all their artwork in class so they can be a part of the local arts exhibit.  Apparently all the schools enter exhibits, so they thought it would be nice if the homeschoolers could do their own thing.  I can't wait to see the exhibit!

Link's classes were so much fun!  He learned about viruses and bacteria today in his science class.  Their snack was in the different shapes of bacteria to help them remember.  Then they made viruses as their craft.  Link's virus is a little virus version of him.  It even has a sword.  Then he went on to his global arts class.  They made quilts out of squares of fabric glued to pieces of cardboard to represent the North American tradition of quilting.  I think it was a wonderful project.  They also got their passports so they can travel to other countries for the rest of the co-op.  Next week they're traveling to South America.

Another mom mentioned to me after everything was over that her relatives didn't agree with her choice to homeschool, but she made a great argument for it.  Kids in schools around here aren't getting to take art and theater classes.  Kids her son's age aren't exactly taking chemistry either.  These kids are having a chance to experience classes they'd never have a chance to take if they didn't go for private instruction, and they're learning to work with kids of a variety of ages.  It's a wonderful experience.  I can't imagine having them do anything else!

Time Flies...It's Going to Be Co-Op Time Soon!

It didn't dawn on me until today that the co-op is sneaking up on us.  We've had so much going on lately that we didn't even stop to look at the calendar beyond the date!  A week from Monday will be our first day back to the co-op, and I can't even begin to tell you how happy that's going to make me.

The co-op is good for our family for a lot of reasons.  It's not just good for the kids, but for the whole family.  We all enjoyed the experience last time, but we didn't get to make it through to the end for a variety of reasons.  This time our luck should be much better.

Socialization is the biggest and possibly most obvious reason for loving the co-op.  You hear everywhere that the big concern with homeschooled kids is the social aspect.  They don't get the interaction with other kids that most kids get in school.  Now, I remember back when I was in school we were always told that school is not a place to socialize, but I do get it.  Most classes have kids work together on projects, there's interaction in the form of class discussions.  Things like gym class offer a chance to work as individuals and teams, but still be social.  Then there's recess and lunch where kids get another chance to interact.  Homeschool kids aren't exposed to that.  While they do enjoy play dates, park days, and "afterschool" activities like classes and sports, it's good to have another chance to get out there and be social.  The co-op is just one more excuse.

At the co-op, the kids get a chance to learn things they're not learning at home.  Both of my older two are going to have an art class this year.  Bunny Boo is going to have the second part to her chemistry class.  Link is going to have a science class too.  My littlest is going to have some arts and crafts project during snack time, or so I've been told.  Link will have P.E. and Bunny Boo will be taking a theater class.  While a lot of this is stuff they could do at home or through other classes and activities, it's still good for them to get out and spend time with other homeschool kids, make friends with other kids who understand what it's like to be homeschooled.  It's also good for them to take classes that are designed for the co-op, so they travel from class to class with their friends and learn from other moms, moms that aren't me for a change of pace.

It's good for me too.  I'm getting a chance to teach a class this semester.  I'm going to be teaching theater.  It's been a while since I've done anything with theater, so it should be fun.  I can't wait in some ways, but at the same time I can only imagine how teachers must feel on the first day of school facing a whole bunch of kids they've probably never met.  It's exciting, but scary.  Thankfully, I think the class will be fun for everyone.  It should be a good chance to adjust to teaching a class with something a little more loose and fluid than a more standard subject, like science or history.  Theater is great because you can just go with the flow rather than follow a lesson plan.

Going to the co-op is an excuse to get out that I can't really talk myself out of.  It's not free, so I feel a lot worse about missing out on it.  It's easy to make excuses not to go to something when it's free.  I can't count the number of times I've said "I'll go next week" about park days when we were low on gas.  Most of the time we could work gas into the budget, but it was an excuse.  "We need to put gas in the car and we really didn't plan for that.  We'll just go next week."  However, I always made sure we had the ability to go to the co-op if it was at all possible.  We'd already paid for it, so it was far more worth it to find the money for the gas we needed to get out there.

The homeschool co-op has also been a great place for me to socialize.  I get to talk to other moms, which is great because I often don't get a lot of social time myself.  A good deal of the people I know are a lot of drama.  They've always got some problem or another in their life, which makes them so much less fun to be around.  These moms are so refreshing.  We talk about kids, learning, traveling, and so much else.  It's relaxing to be around them.  Sure, I'm sure they have their own dramas, some of them possibly with the other moms at the co-op, but they don't really show it on the outside.  It's not exposed for the world to see, which allows the environment to be calm, a place where I feel like I can let down my guard and really be myself.  I know I look like the odd one out with dreads and piercings, especially when most of these moms tend to be so conservative on the outside at least, but none of them seem to judge me, or if they do I haven't noticed it.  I just get to feel like a normal person, even if I am a little more obvious and outlandish on the outside.  It really seems to be a place where what's on the inside matters.

The kids love it too.  They can't wait to go back.  The co-op has given Bunny Boo incentive to read.  Link has started to work on his writing skills, even if he is just starting with his name.  The littlest isn't really at the point of caring too much, but he's starting to become really social.  I'd like to think that he's going to start making friends at the co-op this year, or at least other kids his age that he likes to pal around with.  He doesn't play with others so well yet, but he's getting there.  The co-op really has encouraged him to work on his own communication skills.  I bet part of it is learning from all the other kids and seeing what they can do.

Then there's the simple mark of growth.  I know when we go back everyone's going to be at least a little bit taller than the last time we saw them.  Some of them might even seem a good deal more grown up.  Especially the little ones are going to show a noticeable difference in the way they talk and how clearly they express themselves.  It's going to be especially striking for my own kids, to see how much taller they are when standing next to the same tables and chairs, or on the stairway.  I know they've all grown from the way their clothes fit and everything else they do, but the things at home are a hard mark of growth.  They're around this stuff all the time, so their slow progression of growth isn't as noticeable as it would be in a place they visit less often.

I just can't wait until we're back at the co-op.  It will feel so good to get back, even knowing it means getting up early to get everyone dressed and fed.  It will mean fixing our current lack of routine.  Baths will go back to being on regular nights instead of the "whenever's convenient" thing we've got going on now.  Bed time will be enforced instead of this, "oh, I forgot and got dinner started late, so I guess everyone's going to bed late".  It's been easier to have a schedule with the little one I'm caring for during the day around.  She makes remembering to have lunch on time easy, and most days I start dinner not long after she leaves, but with nowhere to go in the morning it's a lot harder to be motivated.  It's funny how having somewhere to go on a regular day makes it so much easier to build a schedule.

As much as I can't believe it's almost time for the co-op to start again, I'm also shocked at how fast time has flown!  It wasn't all that long ago that the year started, or so it seemed.  Now we're already about to dive into the co-op.  I somehow seemed to think it was so much father away.  At least it's something we're all eagerly anticipating!

And We're Back...

The beginning of the year is always a rough time for us.  It's not so much that we've got bad things happening.  It's more that we've got so much going on that it's hard to actually get everything done, or anything done for that matter.  I'd almost rather have winter vacation lasting all winter long than summer vacation, which in Texas doesn't even last the whole summer.  Of course, things will be what they will be.

Every year Christmas greatly distracts from getting back into the swing of things.  For the next several weeks the kids want to do nothing but play with their new Christmas toys.  Books are cast aside and ignored until later.  Games occasionally get played, but more often than not, they don't really have much patience to play them.  There's too much else to distract them.

Chesh and I have our own things to worry about.  The beginning of the year always brings new considerations, like financial planning for the year and tax returns.  Every January we take stock of what we've got and what we'll need so we can plan for the rest of the year.  Generally some of tax returns get spent on clothes for the kids.  We like to save something for the older two since their birthdays are in the spring.  It's a lot of time spent looking ahead.

This year we've had another distraction from it all.  I'm working as a nanny again.  I'm watching my friend's precious baby girl.  I have to admit, it's really nice to have a baby in the house again.  I forgot how wonderful and sweet they really are.  She's been fantastic, but babies require a lot of attention, so this has dragged us off course a little more as we attempt to establish a new routine that now includes getting up before a soldier has to be in training in the morning, and having her here all day.  We're finally starting to settle in to that as well.

Homeschooling took longer to get back in gear this year than usual.  Thankfully, now that we're hitting the school work, we're hitting it hard.  Bunny Boo has been hitting the math hard of her own accord.  She's been telling everyone how much this plus that equals, even starting to toy with doing triple digit math in her head.  She's only really good at doing addition in her head at this point, but we're getting there.  Our next step is going to be deeper math, but we're getting there.  She's been doing a little bit of writing, mostly copy work from books.  We're trying to reinforce spelling and proper structure to her letters.  She's been picking up books way below her level, but she's been reading them without a fuss, so I consider that progress.  She's been reading her little brothers, which is also good for them.  She's very excited about that and it's inspired her to keep on reading.

Link-boy, the great adventurer, has decided he's ready to buckle down and do some school work of his own.  He's been working on writing his name as his big focus, though he needs a lot of help with it.  If you don't watch him like a hawk, he gets all sorts of side-tracked.  He's been working on reading with Bunny Boo.  He's already proven he can read a little bit, so I can only hope that teaching him to read will be much easier than it was with his sister.

Little man, the littlest of our lot, has decided it's time to start talking up a storm.  While this isn't really doing school work by learning to talk, he's definitely making progress.  Our goal for the longest time has been helping him to better communicate because he gets so frustrated.  Thankfully, he seems to be learning.  He's got simple things down like "please" which sounds more like "pleesh".  He can ask for some things he wants. For most things, if he can't figure out how to say it, he can at least give us a hint with his own made-up sign language.  We've made a lot of progress!

It really feels like we're finally getting back on track, and making more progress than we have in the past.  I have a feeling this year we're going to be kicking off this year far better than we have with any year in the past.  We're actually on-target for once!

Theme for the Year, Useful Gifts

It's that Christmas time of year again.  Everyone is out shopping.  In our family we don't really do much of a gift exchange with the adults.  I usually exchange gifts with my partner, but that's about it.  However, kids are a very different story.

This year we've decided to go for a break from traditional.  I was originally going to hand-make all of my gifts this year, but that ambitious goal turned out to be too ambitious for me.  I figured that would cut down on consumerism, but the truth is I'll still end up buying things to make the present.  It's not like I have a sheep to sheer, then wash the fleece, card it, spin it, knit with the yarn, and some time in the process, dye it with home-made dyes that I grow at my own home.  The consumer process does happen in there, and while home-made gifts are typically the best, I honestly think there should be a some value placed on time.  Right now, it's something I just don't have enough of.

That being said, I wanted our Christmas present theme to be useful items.  Now, I know I'm going to be expecting some toys for family.  No matter what you say, nor how much you beg people not to, there are always going to be people who insist on giving toys to kids.  I've decided I'm not going to fight it.  More importantly, it's good for kids to receive toys for holidays and birthdays.  How else will they end up with new toys as they outgrow the old?

Every year my aunt has always been fantastic with flooding our house with useful things.  She sends us crayons, markers, and pencils.  There's been drawing paper, workbooks, and coloring books.  There's been crafts to decorate with and lots of other stuff to inspire creativity.  She sends books, which are always good to have.  There's so much variety, but I noticed that most of it has been useful, at least for the older two, even with a good number of toys sprinkled throughout.

Because of my aunt's inspiration and looking at my children's insane number of toys, I decided this year it's time for something different.  Last year Santa was a huge hit for bringing games to the whole family.  This year he's planning the same.  They encourage family time, togetherness, and fun.  However, this year our family is focusing on things that can inspire outside interests, and we're going to carry that through birthdays and everything.  It means knowing a lot more about my kids than what a kid of their gender and age would like.  However, it's totally worth it.  This is what makes gifts that wow.

Taking my daughter as an example, we can see what appeals to her quite easily.  Archery would be a good direction to choose.  She loves it.  She's been begging me for her own bow and arrows ever since she shot her first arrow.  She's all about art, always wanting to draw, paint, color, or otherwise create masterpieces.  I want to pick something that will appeal to those interests of hers.

My older son is really into art and music.  He likes to sing and make music on anything he can make noise on.  He loves to draw and paint too.  I want to encourage him in those fields because he needs to have interest in something other than toys.  He's got to start developing his own tastes.  He also loves science, but finding science stuff for his age isn't something I'm particularly good at.

The littlest one is really only into making messes right now, so it's hard to pick things he'd like.  He's good with coloring and seems to like the idea of painting.  Anything he can squish in his fingers is also good, so soft clays may not be a bad choice either.

I'm starting to realize that my kids have very limited interests.  They haven't experienced life as much as I might wish.  They don't really have much of an idea of what they might like to be when they grow up because they haven't experienced enough to know.  My daughter wants to be an artist and my older son wants to be a rock star, but how do they know for sure?  They haven't really had a chance to dabble in other areas of life.  Maybe my older son will always want to be a rock star, or a musician of some kind.  Maybe my daughter will always want to be an artist, but at least I hope I can open up some other options for them so they know for sure.  More importantly, if they do decide to keep those career choices, at the least maybe they'll know what direction within those careers.  Maybe my daughter will decide she wants to be a painter, an illustrator, or a potter.  Perhaps my son will want to grow up to be a classical guitarist or a musician with the orchestra.  We won't know until they get there.  All I can do is take this time to give them as many opportunities to explore as possible, and Christmas is just as good of a chance as anything else.

I feel pretty good about this Christmas.  I feel like I'm finally doing something better than just getting toys and leaving it at that.  I'm hoping that they find it as wonderful of a Christmas as I'm planning it to be.  After all, if I can't get away from consumerism, I might as well use the holiday season as a time to help my kids advance their own goals or find new areas of exploration in life.  There are plenty of people to make sure they have toys.  I know them better than anyone else, so it really should be my job to pick out the things that will inspire them this year.

My Little Artist (and Maybe Writer)

Just this week at the playground after the co-op, the girls were hanging out and working on art projects.  I had no idea what they were doing, and didn't want to bother them, so I just let them be.  My youngest was a handful enough given he didn't want to eat, drink, or do anything.  He was just miserable.  I just hoped my daughter wasn't imposing herself on the older girls too terribly much.  No one seemed to be complaining, so I didn't even think to ask her about it.

When we were leaving, my daughter said, "We were making ATC cards.  Can I finish mine when I get home?" I had no idea what these ATC cards were.  She was holding out a little piece of card stock that she was drawing on.  I had no problem with her finishing that when she got home.  It was just another drawing, right?

The past few days she's been doing nothing but drawing.  I'm a little afraid she's going to run us out of art supplies in the house!  While I've got two boxes of crayons, some colored pencils (though the pencil sharpener is MIA), and a bunch of markers, we've been going through paper incredibly fast.  I don't know if I can keep up with it!

Not only is she drawing pictures, but she's coming up with stories to go with them.  She told me the other day that she wanted to be a writer some day.  I told her she couldn't just illustrate her books.  She'd have to tell the story too.  Maybe that will inspire her to work on her other skills too.  She's starting to become a really creative story teller!  Unfortunately, that means she's going through paper even quicker to keep up with her stories.  I wish I had an infinite budget for art supplies!  I'd keep her going as long as she's got interest!

My daughter isn't the best artist.  She's constantly complaining that she's not as good of an artist as the other kids in her class.  It's understandable.  They've probably been working on art projects a lot longer than she has.  We haven't spent much as much time on art as maybe I'd like, mostly because of how fast they go through paper!  She's also younger than a lot of the girls in her class, and I don't give her any solid direction.  I want her to draw what's in her mind, not what I tell her to draw.  If she wants to draw a bunny, I want her to show me what it looks like to her.  If she's going to draw a sunset, I want to see how she sees a sunset.  I don't want to tell her how to do it or how to improve her skills because I want her to come to it naturally.  If she asks me for help, I'm not going to tell her to figure it out on her own, but until she asks me for help, I'm not going to step in.  I always hated when my mom criticized my art, and while it did make me a better artist in the long run (not that I ever got all that great), I don't want my daughter to go through those feelings of rejection.  Instead, I'll try and give her as loose instruction as I can, giving her the general idea and then letting her figure out how she thinks it will work.  She doesn't need me cramping her style!

So the other day when they were all out there, they were working on something they called ATC.  I had no idea what they were talking about, but when I got an e-mail about the homeschool play group on Friday, it was mentioned again.  The house we're going to has a pool, plenty of space for kids to run, and there would be craft supplies because they want to do ATC again.

Having no idea what ATC was, I had to check it out.  For all I knew it could be like all the kids in one class busting out in the songs from choir that they all knew.  It could be some religious thing that my daughter was sure to miss out on, simply because she isn't raised that way.  I wasn't sure how I felt about her getting involved with anything I didn't know about, religious or otherwise, mostly because I want to be aware of what she's doing and what she's getting into.  Being something the co-op kids do, I couldn't imagine it would be all that bad, but it's got to be better than the trends towards those teen pop stars like Taylor Swift or that Justin Bieber kid.

As it turns out, ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  There's another version called ATEO, which is Artist Trading Editions and Originals.  Basically they're little trading cards that the artist decorates with the media of their choosing.  They can hand these cards out for trade or sell them for a profit.  The general idea seemed to be that these are small samples of your artwork to be shared among friends and other artists.  The cards can be purchased in packs, or they can be cut by hand.  Generally they're made of some sort of card stock, but it looks like there's all kinds of materials available on the market.

I'm thinking when I save up a bit of money I may need to get my daughter some cards to work on.  They're small, quick projects and the girls from the homeschool group all seem to do them.  This would be something she could share with them while working on her art skills.  She could hand them out to friends or send them to family.  They're just the perfect size for sharing.  They may be a little bit on the expensive side when compared to the cost of drawing paper, but I think it'll be worth it in the end.

My little artist has come so far, from not wanting to do anything with art for so long to living for it day by day.  We're going to have a lot to work on, and she'll have plenty of new opportunities to work on her skills in the future.  I've already got tons of ideas on what new art projects we can do.  Now I just need to find the infinite budget so we can do them all!

When Kids Ask Why?

I was thinking the other day about philosophy.  How many people actually study philosophy at some point in their lives?  It's come to my attention that not many have.  If so few adults study philosophy, then why would I ever imagine kids would get the same experience?

Philosophy for children may not sound like a brilliant idea.  Given many adults I know haven't studied philosophy, one can imagine that children wouldn't either.  They certainly don't teach it in the school systems around here, at least not at the elementary level.  It's just not really viewed as a child's subject.  It's not what people expect their children to be learning.  The focus should be on more useful things, like reading, writing, math, and science, you know, stuff they need in the real world.  Those subjects prepare a child for college or university some day, but philosophy?  It just doesn't seem to fit the bill.

Once upon a time, philosophy was considered a great topic for all ages.  Philosophy encourages the student to think deeper on any subject at hand.  Of course, "the student" really referred to any philosopher, given the general concept of philosophy encourages the constant pursuit of learning and greater, deeper understanding.  The whole subject is about expanding one's consciousness, learning to look deeper.  It's not so much about learning what to think, but how to think.  You can never stop learning new ways to think!

Looking at philosophy that way, it's not surprising that children would take naturally to it.  By nature they are rather curious creatures.  Many children, especially those that haven't been indoctrinated into a strict structure of expectations, want to know the details of everything.  They're likely to want to know how things work, why people do the way they do, and what the greater meaning of things in the world around them is.  Can you blame them?  Everything is deep and interesting to them, and the study of philosophy just appeals to their natural curiosity.  They're encouraged to think for themselves, come up with new ideas, be creative, and explore things as deeply as they possibly can.  I'm surprised so few people are interested in teaching philosophy before university and college!  It's something I would think could appeal to many parents!

Of course, allowing kids to question "why" all the time opens the door to very frustrated and annoyed parents.  Constant questioning from children can be daunting.  It can be frustrating to adults to have constant pestering about why this works or why people do this in the way they do, but it's good for the kids.  If we want creative and innovative children, which most people do, these aspects should be encouraged.  There does come a point where the parent is so tired and frustrated that they just need to put an end to the questions for their own sanity, but I have to wonder if that's as common as many parents seem to think it is.  I can't count the number of times I've heard parents gripe at their children to just go play and stay out of their hair.  We're not the most interactive culture.  Many parents are more focused on their own needs than the needs of their children, which isn't all bad.  Unfortunately, the more acceptable that behavior becomes, the more we stunt our children's ability to learn, question, and be genuinely curious.  We want our children to be innovative, creative, and successful, but how can we do that when we're constantly putting our kids off to meet our own needs?  Perhaps kids need another outlet, a philosophy forum or other engaging group activities that will allow our children to expand their own minds and feel comfortable with questioning and coming up with new ideas.

All of this stemmed from something my daughter's philosophy teacher said.  (Yes, my daughter is only eight and studying philosophy!  Isn't homeschool wonderful?)  She was talking about an exercise they did about being nobody.  Being somebody means having all these labels and expectations put on you.  Being nobody removes you from that pressure and allows you to spend your time going through your life and doing what you believe is right pretty unharassed by society.  My daughter was one of two kids that thought perhaps it would be better to be nobody.  I have to wonder if any of their thoughts on the subject will change by the end of class.  Then she mentioned that my daughter asked a really good question, "What does happy really mean?"  I had to stop and think about that one myself.  What does happy really mean?  I think I'd have a difficult time expressing that myself.  How many eight-year-olds would think to ask that question?

Perhaps this is something that warrants more thought.  I might just have to start thinking about getting more philosophy books myself so my daughter and I can keep having intelligent conversations on the subject.  I think it's time to change my Amazon settings over to store credit!  I have a feeling I've got a lot of learning to do in order to keep up with her curious mind!

Today's History Lesson

My daughter has finally found a love of history!  It's inspired her to read!  Yesterday I mentioned that my daughter had come home to read Sam the Minuteman.  Today she asked if there were any more stories about Sam.  Unfortunately, there are none that I know of.  We decided to take a step further and branch off into other books about the time period.

Today we searched my daughter's book shelf and found a couple of books that she might find interest in.  She decided she wanted to learn more about what life was like for someone like Sam.  Right now she's reading about what girls did in colonial times.  We found that in If You Lived in Colonial Times.  She's found a couple things in that book that she wants to know about in that book.  I have a feeling this is going to inspire a whole lot of learning about history, which is extra exciting for me.  This is a subject I care a lot about.  On top of that, If You Lived in Colonial Times has plenty of information broken down into nice, easy segments.  My daughter can pick and choose what she's interested in finding out about at any given time and only read the parts she feels like learning about.  It's an excellent way for her to find something that's interesting to her.

I have to say, I really like this series.  The kids only have three books from it that I know of, but I'm thinking we may have to try and find more.  I know they have a whole number of books, some of them overlapping in time periods a good deal.  It seems like a good way to give just enough information on a period of history to encourage curiosity without going into too much detail.  The focus on daily life and normal things also makes these books a great supplement to other books about similar periods of history.  It's a great help for our history lessons, and I love it.

I'm thinking since we're working with colonial history and the American Revolution, it might be time to start looking into other books that would inspire my daughter to keep reading.  The American Girls have Felicity, which is about colonial times and the American Revolution.  I'm sure we could find those books at the library.  I though we had them, but apparently we don't.  I'm sure the library would have at least a few more books that may be of interest, though from everything I hear the Killeen Library doesn't have the greatest selection when it comes to American history, at least beyond Texas.  Still, it's one more adventure that can come out of all of this history love.  Perhaps we're going to have to make weekly or bi-weekly trips to the library.

Finally! The Homeschool Co-op!

Today was the first day of the homeschool co-op.  I have to say I'm a little disappointed that it's now only down to one day every week and a play group that's moving to Fridays.  It would be great for the kids to get out and see their friends from the co-op more often than simply three hours one day each week for class and however long the play group lasts.  Even so, it's good for them to be out with other kids, especially other kids that homeschool.  I'm sure they won't feel so strange once they're no longer the only homeschooling kids they know!  It's good to feel like maybe you've got somewhere you belong!

We had a pretty good day, in all honesty, all of us, not just the kids.  I had no idea what to make of anything when we arrived.  Being a pierced, tattooed (okay, so it's only one) mama with dreads I'd already felt pretty out of place, especially not being Christian.  The whole thing sets up in a church and apparently a large number of the older kids are all in choir at the church together.  I felt like I might not find a good place to be myself here, but at least the kids would have a good time.  Isn't that what mattered?

As we walked in we were greeted by another mom that directed us where to go.  There was a pretty sizable group there.  I felt very out of place with all the other moms there, and my kids seemed so unprepared.  All of the kids had backpacks.  They'd all brought their lunches.  I had no idea I was supposed to have them bring bags, lunches, or any of that.  I'd thought about packing lunches, but I'd decided better on the idea since we had places to go afterwards.  I didn't realize that they ate lunch at the playground and played for a good while afterwards, otherwise I definitely would have been more prepared.

Off on one side of the room there was a gaggle of girls playing hand games and doing other things I found quite familiar from my days in Girl Scouts.  My kids stuck by me, which I was grateful for because I didn't know anyone either and I felt just as lost and out of place as they did!  The other kids were mingling in the room and some of the oldest of the bunch moved out into the hall being overwhelmed by the chaos of it all.  It was kind of nice to see so many kids out and playing.  It looked like my daughter's group was mostly girls, which was good for her, and my son's group was a small number, four boys and one girl.  We got a look at the class sheet and I tried to figure out where I belonged in all of it.  It was highly confusing, but I figured if we'd just wait, everything would come to order.

As the families started to evacuate the room I felt a little concerned.  Someone had asked me if I wanted my youngest to be taken to the playground for outdoor play.  She assumed I would.  I told her I'd be okay with taking him myself.  I was pretty free to wander around that first period, so I wanted to make sure I was there until he really got into his comfort zone.  He's never really spent much time at a playground and he didn't know any of these people, so I'd help him feel comfortable.  I had almost given up hope on finding where the older two belonged when it seemed like the only group left was made up of the groups my older son and daughter were in.  Those two groups went together to the gym, which was great because my older son, who is normally as timid as a mouse and quite the loner, would at least have his sister there until he was a little more comfortable, and I would be with him by the second class.

So off my older two went to the gym while I went out to the playground with my youngest.  He was surprisingly timid, given the usual boldness with which he usually takes to playgrounds.  He's usually ready to run around and investigate everything.  I let him go do his own thing and tried to take his sippy cup so he could play, but he clung to it with a death grip.  I attempted to pry it from him, but decided to give up hope as soon as I realized it wasn't going to work without him crying.  Thankfully it wasn't long before he'd ditched the cup to climb on a car made of wood, metal, and old tires.  It wasn't long before he was proving just what an adventurer he could be.  He climbed all over the structure and even went down the tallest slide (though it was on my lap) and seemed to have a grand time of it.  We just found out the other day that he's still a bit chunkier than he is tall, so I think all the exercise of climbing and running around outside every week will do a good bit to make sure he's just a chunky baby and doesn't end up on the unhealthy side.  It might also do good for his constant desire to eat every time he so much as thinks there might be food nearby.  At least now maybe he'll be more inspired to adventure than eat us out of house and home.  He's going to be a strong one with all of that getting out and playing.

Apparently P.E. in the gym for the other two was a good deal of fun.  I just feel it's too bad I didn't get to see the games they were playing.  From the sounds of it, they all had a lot of fun.  My poor older son looked absolutely exhausted by the time he met us inside for the sign language class.  It was a sure sign that he didn't get enough sleep last night.  We need to tailor our schedule to getting them to bed on time a little better.  They all looked pretty wiped when I got them out of bed.

The sign language class was short, and I guess we're going to combine it with the kinder-music class for the littlest ones, so I'll be able to spend that time with both my boys that period, or at least for part of it.  The kids in the sign language class seemed to think it was pretty fun and wanted to be in on the music and songs too.  I thought the sign language was great.  I think we might start working on using it a bit more around the house.  As much as my littlest is a little too young to be working with baby sign and I should be focused on language skills, I think it couldn't hurt.  Sign language is a useful skill and you never know when it might come in useful.  It never hurts to know a different language because you never know when you might need to know it.  Well, in their case, it may not truly be seen as another language, especially since deaf people aren't incredibly common, but it's always good to have the knowledge.  Plus, as the teacher pointed out, it's a great way to be able to ask the kids if they need to use the potty or anything else from across a crowded room or across the playground.  It's definitely got it's uses.  My poor son didn't really seem to be paying attention.  He looked around like a zombie while eating his snack and didn't even try most of the signs.  I thought he was just tired and he would probably be like that all day.  I was a little disappointed, but it was understandable.

After that I watched the littlest kids play while my older son was learning about the body and my daughter went to chemistry.  I felt bad because I didn't get to sit in on what both of them were doing, but I got reports in on my older son.  They were singing, dancing, had show-and-tell (which I wasn't prepared for in the least, so I felt a little bad), and they made little paper bag puppets.  They apparently had a great time.  I also apparently didn't have to worry about my shy, exhausted middle child.  I guess he was participating and was quite involved in everything.  Here I was thinking he would be spacey and exhausted the whole day, but apparently he just needed a bit of a snack to perk right up!

My daughter through all of this didn't seem interested in telling me anything.  At the end of it all she showed me her folder where she had two poems by Emily Dickinson and an imagination drawing they did.  She was supposed to write a poem, but her writing skills are definitely lacking.  She's got a lot of work to do there!

We decided to stay and play when everyone was having lunch.  Most of the kids just got up and played instead of eating.  My kids had a blast.  My son did have an accident in the playground, but he wasn't the only one in his class to have an accident.  It's hard.  They're still so young and they've got so much to distract them from using the bathroom when they need to.  I can't entirely blame them.  Next time we'll just have to remember to work on it, and work on making sure there's always a spare set of clothes packed, just in case.

After it all I found out just what an impact the homeschool co-op had.  Not only do I feel different, but so do the kids.  I'd met some really cool moms that are involved with things I wish I could be involved with.  They raise their kids the way I wish I could raise mine.  It was a huge breath of fresh air and felt like a step in the right direction.  On top of that, my exhausted middle child proved he learned something in his sign class by showing his sister all the signs he learned in class today.  My daughter said she needed help writing for her class, so she decided to come home and read a book.  She picked up Sam the Minuteman, read it, and had all kinds of questions.  More importantly, she actually retained a lot of what she read!  She wants to work on writing too, so I think we may do some of that after dinner while I'm cleaning the house.  I've never seen her sit down and read an entire book without complaining, never mind cruise through it!  I guess she didn't have the right incentive!  On top of it all, both my younger two came home exhausted.  My youngest son tried to climb into his own playpen to sleep, so I picked him up and put him in.  My middle child climbed up on his bed while we were gathering the laundry up and pulled a blanket over him.  He said he was tired and needed to take a nap.  He took a nap when he was tired without me even having to ask him!  And me?  I'm cleaning the house, got the laundry together, and it feels like my life is finally going to start going in the right direction.  I'm so incredibly calm right now, even with everything going on.  I can't wait until next week to do it all again!

So now it's time to start dinner, a little later than planned, but that's okay.  All the kids need baths and showers, because they got pretty dirty playing that hard, especially outside.  I think they may all sleep well tonight and tomorrow we're going to be off to a brilliant start again.  I already know my daughter has a million questions about the American revolution, which is good because it's going to be so much easier for her to learn about it now that she's starting to find drive to read.  My aunt sent her a lot of books on colonial America and the Revolutionary War, which is fantastic because that's something my daughter and I can really share a love of.  She's branching out and isn't as stuck on just one thing, art!  I have a feeling my middle child is going to be a lot more inspired to branch out and learn new things too, and we can keep practicing his sign language.  Hopefully we can get into doing a lot more and really start getting into a routine that makes all of us happy, something we can all gladly work with, and get a lot more done in our days!