Homeschool Mother's Journal #10

In my life this week...

My life this week was nice and slow. We had some nice weather at the beginning of the week, so we played outside a lot. We planted our herbs in recycled containers this week. We got the breaks on our car replaced this week.  The house is messier than normal, and it is driving me nuts. I need to clean it up.  I started readingThe Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. So far I am enjoying the book. I like reading about how different families school their children. I don’t think that their plan as written will work for our family because I disagree with the order of her high school science education, but I am still getting some good ideas.

In our homeschool this week...

Little BBQ has really been enjoying reading. He is asking to read more books which makes me happy.  His attention span is growing by leaps and bounds. Little BBQ could barely sit through one book back in January. Tonight he sat through 5 books.  He was really into the Curious George series. George’s mischievousness reminds me a lot of Little BBQ.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We visited some friends this week who also homeschool. It was nice to let our sons play together. They played really well together. There was a lot of banter back and forth along with some role playing on both sides.

My favorite thing this week was...

My favorite thing this week was planting the herbs with Little BBQ this week. He diligently filled each container up with dirt and diligently put seeds into each container. It was really cute. Then he wanted the herbs to grow NOW so he got a fake flower and put it in one of the containers. I really appreciated the effort.

What's working/not working for us...

Little BBQ can not handle playing the Wii for even short periods of time. He gets too temperamental over the sword playing game. He has to win. He gets upset if he does not win. I took away the wii for the whole week. Since taking away the wii he has been behaving much better. We are still struggling to find a way to let him enjoy the wii in moderation. We have thought about letting him play the wii only on weekends. It seems even if the wii is around, then he just begs to play it all the time. When the wii is hidden, then he doesn’t ask about making my life much more pleasant with him.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

Does anyone else struggle with wii playing? How do you regulate playing time? How do you help you child cope with losing?

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

I have been doing some writing for Yahoo. I wrote several articles this week including one on noncandy inexpensive Easter egg fillers, another how to throw a graduation party on a budget, and ten weird things to do in Austin, Texas.  

Book: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

This week we continued on our gardening path. We read the book, The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. It was a cute book about a tiny seed that survives and thrives much longer than all of its other larger seed counterparts. One seed falls in the ocean, one seed grows to flower that gets picked, another seed gets stepped on as a small plant, and other seeds had other adventures. The book is a great spring board to discuss seasons and planting seeds. As our follow up activity for the book we looked at some seeds under a microscope.  We looked at flax, coriander, and chive seeds under a microscope. The coriander seed was the most visually stunning seed with its round shape and pretty markings on the outside.

Coriander seed:

Chive seed:

Flax seed:

Flax seed up close:

After we looked at the seeds under a microscope we planted herb seeds in recycled pots and plastic containers. We took plastic containers like milk jugs and cut the tops off and poked holes in the bottom. Little BBQ painted the pots. Then we planted flax, coriander, chive, anise, and lavender seeds in the various recycled pots. Little BBQ got a little impatient and wanted the flowers to grow NOW so he took a fake flower and planted it in one of the pots so he could have his flowers now.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 9

In my life this week...

We planted the spring garden! I am so excited about our garden this year. We planted carrots, spinach, Asian greens, lettuce, rutabaga, swiss chard, and peas.

In our homeschool this week...

We finished off our Cajun unit study. Originally, I thought that we were going to read a book on Mardi Gras, make a mask, and a king cake. Instead we ended up doing a unit study on Cajun people. This is our first year homeschooling. I call this our test year since my son is still in preschool and we don’t have to be strict on homeschooling. I wanted to experiment and see what worked for us.  I found that I really like unit studies. I like to have themes where everything works together. I like to coordinate the art projects with the books we read and the food we eat.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We didn’t go anywhere special this week except outside because it was finally nice outside! Our backyard is a little muddy still, but that is not a big deal.

My favorite thing this week was...

I really enjoyed planting my garden. I love being outside.

What's working/not working for us...

I started having Little BBQ do silent reading by himself on top of reading out loud daily. I give him the library book bin and let him choose what to read. He has been reading for twice a day by himself for 15 minutes apiece.  He sits on the rocking chair to read. Sometimes I can tell that he is reading the book to himself and sometimes I can tell he is just flipping through the books to the look at the pictures. Either way I am happy.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am beginning to plan our homeschooling for next year which would be pre-kindergarten. I think I want to do unit studies, but I am not sure how long I should plan for each unit. A week? A month? I think we are going to study the different states in the US. We are going to learn the geography, the history, and the culture of each state.  I think I was going to break the US up into regions for each unit.

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

This is a link to a recipe for pork saltimbocca from my cooking blog. It is an easy and delicious weeknight meals since you can’t have too many of those lying around. Also, a link to a homeschooling freebie a day.

Book: Mardi Gras: A Cajun Country Celebration

Originally I thought we were just going to read a book on Mardi Gras and make our king cake and a mask and be done with the holiday, but the book, Mardi Gras: A Cajun Country Celebration by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith, that we got from the library was so much more involved than just a cute story on Mardi Gras. This book was a children’s fact book on the Cajun people in general and where they come from, how they live, and their music. We found ourselves tracing their path of migration along our globe. Then we found ourselves listening to some Cajun music on Youtube. Our favorite group was the Savory Family Band. They played with all the instruments discussed in the book. This was the first time that Little BBQ saw and accordion. We made a Mardi Gras mask, a pointed Mardi Gras hat, a king cake, and finished off this unit with red beans and rice.  I am really proud of Little BBQ for getting through this book. We had to read it in very small chunks since it was above his comprehension level. We took about 1 week to cover this entire book, but I think the learning experience was well worth the effort.

Book: Doggone Dogs

Little BBQ has requested a project using clay, so I decided to use clay in our story time activity. Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont is quickly become one of our favorite books in our house. The book reads very quickly so even Miss Bubbles can sit through it, and it has a lot of fun rhyming words to keeps the rhythm of the book fast paced. The illustrations are very silly. Every time I read the book, Little BBQ notices something new about one of the illustrations every time making this book great to read over and over. This is one of the most request books in our house for read aloud, and Little BBQ enjoys reading this book silently. I love the versatility of the book. For our story time activity we make dogs out of clay. I showed Little BBQ step by step how to make the dog with the red clay, and he followed along with the yellow clay. Little BBQ is very proud of his dogs. He will not let anyone touch his dogs. I think I see more clay projects in our future.

Homeschool Mother's Journal- 8

This is my first week participating in this blog event. I like the journal style of the event. I think it is a great way to document the little things going on in our lives right now.

In my life this week...

We got a lot accomplished. We visited our friend’s farm and let our kids play together. We enjoyed a king cake together. On Wednesday we went to the library and checked out lots of new books to read. On Thursday we cleaned up the house, and I even vacuumed the stairs. We placed our seed order for our garden this year. It looks like we will be growing peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, mixed greens, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, and some herbs.

In our homeschool this week...

We were productive in reading, but Little BBQ is on a math strike. Instead of pushing hard I decided to back off and revisit the topic next week. Maybe he just needs some time off from math especially since he is only in preschool. Miss Bubbles, our infant, loves books. This week she started saying, “read it.” She loves a Winnie the Pooh book and a soft cloth book on kitties.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

This week we went to our friend’s farm. Thankfully it didn’t rain that day, so it was nice to drive on the unfamiliar country roads on a nice day verses a rainy day.  We enjoyed some ground beef and potatoes grown on the farm, and I brought a king cake to celebrate mardi gras. Miss Bubbles got to pet a dog. She liked to touch the dog, but she did not like the dog to sniff her back. Little BBQ got to see a horse, goats, chickens, and some cows.

My favorite thing this week was...

My favorite thing this week was visiting our friend’s farm. I got some much needed socialization. I enjoyed teaching one of the older boys about photography and using natural light.

What's working/not working for us...

Reading and doing an activity right afterwards seems to be working really well for Little BBQ. He has the attention span to sit through one story, but he loses interest if you try to read him several books at once like they do at the library story time. We can read multiple books in day this way. I need to stop saying, “let’s do math.” If I say these words, then I hear a resounding “Noooooooooooooo!” I think I am going to go back and revisit the book Math Arts because Little BBQ seems to be responding well to this type of instruction.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am really enjoying homeschooling. I am glad that I get the opportunity to teach my children and watch them grow intellectually.

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

My king cake recipe that I made this week. The photo was staged and taken by Andrew, a homeschooling student interested in photography.

A link to a free 3 month trial of homeschooling legal defense association (expires March 31st) that one of my friend’s sent to me.

Book: Imaginary Garden

Spring is here at is raining…a lot. With the warmer weather the kids and I are anxious to get outside and get our hands dirty in the garden, but Mother Nature has had other plans for us.  To quell our desire to be outside we indulged ourselves into fantasy land with the book, The Imaginary Garden, by Andrew Larsen. The book is about a little girl and her grandfather. The little girl loves her grandfather’s flower garden, but her grandfather moves to an apartment where he can no longer garden. To recreate the grandfather’s garden the pair decide to take a trip down fantasy lane and paint a picture of their ideal garden. As the season goes on the pair update the picture with more blooms.

Since we have already placed our seed order for the season, we did not need our seed catalogues anymore. Instead of throwing the seed catalogue away, Little BBQ was allowed to cut pictures from the catalogue and make his own imaginary garden.  I was nervous about letting him use big boy scissors for the first time instead of toddler scissors, but he did well with the transition.