The Homeschool Journal: Baby grows

In my life this week...I now have a toddler who can climb on everything, and he certainly thinks it's fun to do so.  He gets on the table and dances around with a big smile on his face.  I've had to take the chairs away from the table, and nothing is safe if there are chairs there.  It makes school, meal time, and crafting time quite the challenge.  Also, in the last week this cute little 14 month old has gone from baby to official into everything, no longer content to just sit back and take it all in toddler.  It's a good thing he's cute.

In our homeschool this week...I don't feel like we accomplished much, but I know we did.  We had a lot of spontaneous projects, and that counts for most of our week.  We use workboxes, and I filled them once.  It seemed to take 3 days for them to get through that school work.  But, even so, they did a lot of non-box work.  April made an oreo pie, we deconstructed a typewriter, we had an awesome nature study about pansies, we made it to the library, Aaron is working on a lego lapbook, and the legos were out just about every day for the boys.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice...Relax!  I find that if I don't relax, I'm rushing the kids through their day and it makes everyone unhappy.  Also, relax, while kids are learning.  Don't worry too much about all the things that aren't getting done.  Especially when it comes to housework.  Sometimes you just have to let it go.

I am inspired by...the homeschool co-op that we just finished a few weeks ago.  Rather than sign up for it again I was inspired to offer the same kind of "fun" classes for my own kids right here at home, and change them up every 6 weeks or so.  It was too much of a hassle with my little boys at a co-op, but I loved the idea of focusing on a certain subject for a "class".  So we are going to start Friday school where we have our fun school day.  I'm hoping to figure out stop-motion movie making for one of them.

Places we're going/people we're seeing...April had horse riding lessons.  We made it to the library, and we went on a nature walk.  We had some homeschool friends over too on the same day as horse lessons.  We are also excited to go to the spud race at church tomorrow, the kids get to make a car out of a potato and race them. 

My favorite thing this week was...Freezing pansy flowers in ice cubes and then letting the children take a taste of the pansy ice water.  They thought there was going to be a huge flavor change, and not taste good.  They were surprised, and had fun.  By the way, pansies are edible.  That was the whole reason we did that.  It was a fun lesson.

What's working/not working for us...having the tv off during the day works!  I just wish we could be better about it.  What's not working for us is most of Aaron's curriculum.  He's bored, so therefore he doesn't like to do school.  Although, maybe it's not his curriculum/school work.  He just likes to do his own thing, and getting him to do anything school related is still a struggle.  His math definitely needs a change too.  Trying to figure out how to get this Kindergardener more interested in learning and reading.

Questions/thoughts I have...Should we take a spring break?  We have had so many off days that I don't know if we should.  We have so much to catch up on.  I'd really like to get some spring cleaning and organizing done though.  Also, what should we do for next year? That is heavily on my mind lately.  I am eying Sonlight.  I've heard so many good things about it, and I'd love to have a more literature rich curriculum.  Don't know about paying that much for a curriculum though.

Things I'm working on...I have a little quilt that I started for Aric (my now 3 1/2 year old) when he was a baby.  I pulled it out and decided it needs to be finished.  I thought that I might just give it to Alex now that Aric is almost grown out of it, but Aric asked me if I was working on his quilt.  I couldn't tell him otherwise!

I'm reading...Teach your own by John Holt and Patrick Farenga.  This book has a lot of good thoughts about homeschooling, and has helped me to realize and remember some of the reasons I have chose homeschooling.

I'm cooking...Corned beef and cabbage for the first time.  I'm a little unsure about what to expect because I've heard it's fun to have at St. Patrick's day.  We are having it today because we will be at the spud thing tomorrow.

I'm grateful for...A husband that provides so much for us, and 4 wonderful kids.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

It doesn't look like much, but this oreo creme pie that April made was scrumptious.  The boys started ordering this for their birthday instead of cake.



Aaron and I worked together on his snap circuits, and he played with it for quite a while after we set it up.  This project was called the "screaming fan".  He liked how the sound and speed of the fan changed as he played with the switch.