Library Days

I love our library visits. I love the way the children all disappear into their own book worlds as soon as we arrive. (Except Sam. He sat still with a book for a nanosecond and spent the rest of the visit tearing around and playing on the little kiddy slide thingy) The older three all take out armfuls of books which they read in the car on the way home, and the rest of the afternoon at home is usually very quiet.

I haven’t been reading much lately…too much else going on with getting the house painted and getting rid of stuff, and packing boxes ready for our move. It’s still looking like a few months away, and has taken longer than we initially thought, but there is no particular hurry…apart from my own impatience.

On Clean-ups, Babies and Underachieving

OK. So I’m in the middle of a big clean out -  thanks to Socrates. That is if I understand what he actually meant. Maybe I got it wrong? Nevertheless, I’m in the process of reducing the stuff in my life. It’s a messy process.

Between looking after and theoretically educating these four kids, there isn’t many long chunks of time available to work uninterrupted on a project. I rarely can get something started and finished at one time. And in this case, it’s a bigger job than I anticipated.

Here you see our cupboard as it was. Just a photograph on an ordinary day. I just opened the doors, stood back and took the shot.

Yep, rather messy. But it’s staggering just how much stuff is crammed in there. I pulled it out and got started sorting it. Here’s what our room looked like after two hours hard at it:

This doesn’t show the extent of the mess. There was hardly carpet space to walk on. It’s still not finished, but there are several more bags of clothes in the back of the car to give away, and some stuff listed on Trade-me (like ebay but better. So there.)

Once it’s done I’ll post after photos.

If you look closely you’ll see there is a baby in the cot. He noticed something was up, and would not go to sleep. Here he is in all his chubby, dribbly, cuddly, gorgeous baby-ness. Sitting all by himself. He’s just started crawling too (shuffly, but gets around ok).

Oh, and being the veritable queen of overcomitting myself, tomorrow I have booked the kids into some education thingy. Actually I don’t really know what it is. It’s a bus or something that drives around to schools to teach the kids stuff. Which seems kind of silly to me…doesn’t the school teach them stuff? Anyway, a bunch of home schoolers have booked it for the day so I thought we’d join in. Apparently the session is about Air to Live.

But here’s the thing: it starts at 8:30am. Which is about the time I normally start to think about getting out of bed. And it’s a 25 minute drive away. And we have to be there 10 minutes early. And it’s at a school, where there will be eleventy hundred frantic mothers trying to drop their kids off, so we’re going to have to park a million miles away. And the thingy is actually only for the older two so I’ll have to keep Ryan and Samuel occupied for an hour. And now at 11:36pm the night before I’m starting to think I was crazy to have even considered it. And I haven’t actually mentioned it to the kids at all. So if I DID happen to um… forget … or something…well they wouldn’t really be disappointed or anything. And anyway, I’m sure I can teach my kids that we need Air to Live. Duh.

Creating an Education That Nurtures Creativity

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong you’ll never come up with anything original” ~ Sir Ken Robinson

I loved this video. It’s worth the 20 minutes or so to watch if you are passionate about your children, their dreams, their education, and your own creativity. (And he’s funny)

It’s not Little House on the Prairie

Like most home schooling mothers, I have had times when I’ve questioned our decision to home school. With the arrival of our fourth child this year as well as a few other things going on in our family life, thing lately have been rather hectic. I’ve had more than a few bad days and last week hit a wall of frustration, tiredness and feeling overwhelmed by all the demands of home life, parenting, and being with small people all day every day. (Well almost).

Some days it looks like this

In the height of the emotion (with copious weeping and feelings of despair) I dramatically stated that something had to change and it was time to consider sending the kids to school. Hence the weeping. Firstly I felt like a failure. (Why do I perceive not coping as outright failure?) And secondly I felt heart broken at the thought of giving up on this home schooling thing. Silly me ought to know better than to even broach such an important subject while I was an exhausted emotional wreck. But I did. I started to think about it. And it made me sad. Not because I’m anti-school, (although admittedly I don’t really like them) or because I can’t bear to be separated from my children (I know they’d be fine, and I’d enjoy the space). I was sad because I love so much about home schooling.

I’m passionate about the lifestyle, the freedom they have to pursue things they enjoy, the different people they meet, the natural and real way they can learn, and the fact that in these fleeting years of having young children, I get so much time with them. Time you just can’t get back if you miss it.

Anyway, I decided that school would provide a good break for me, but would add other stresses. Like 5 early mornings a week, and afternoon pickups. And homework (ugh). And a busy energetic boy having to sit down and listen and be still for longish periods of time. What would he be like by the time he got home? The same amount of energy, condensed into the time between school pick up and bed time? KABOOM! And you know what? None of all this was about their education. I’ve always said I wanted to be intentional about it and not just send them to school because everyone else was, or to keep them home because we always have, but to choose what is best for them, and for our family.

Where is this going? I don’t know… I can’t remember my point. Maybe there isn’t one. Just that I went through all this and decided that for now they will stay at home. They are learning. We are growing together as a family. And I’m loving seeing them growing in empathy and kindness. I’m growing too. Each time we’ve had a new baby, there has been a stretching time. It adds a whole lot of extra pressure and demands on the family. But it’s that pressure (and the ensuing crisis) that forces us to grow. To create space for each other. To share more and help each other. I guess that’s what family is about. And that’s what we’re working on at the moment.

Emma Creates

Last night D asked Emma to be quiet..(she’s quite a chatter box) and she found it very difficult. So he put a timer on to see how long she could last without talking. She lasted 1 minute 47 seconds. She tried again and got the hang of it and it turned out that a lengthy enforced silence resulted in this beautiful creation.

Me & My Family & Friends

I love how Jodi and I are looking rather androgynous and Emma is clearly a beautiful princess. (PS I have her permission to post this)

Another Home School Day

Just a wee update on what we’re getting up to.

Ben’s maths work. He’s using Math-U-See, Primer. He’s very confident and likes to work at it a page a day or so.

And his phonics book. This has ended up being a bit redundant because he’s taught himself to read (with a little help from me) and is reading beyond this level now. It will still be good for learning to write though, so he does a page or two from time to time.

And maths today morphed into multi-level car park construction. Emma and Ben’s initials are on the top.

And finally Emma’s writing book.

Just A Picture

I used to have a home schooling blog, but don’t have the time to maintain it. I have imported all the posts to this one because I still want to record the kids achievements and learning. Here’s a picture Emma painted yesterday.

These ‘School’ Days

I’ve been missing you blog!

So, where have I been? Well since adding a fourth child to our family things have been rather busy. I get the impression it’s going to be busy for a while yet! He’s a fabulous little chap. Feeds and sleeps well most of the time and doesn’t give me any trouble. He’s growing up far too fast though… which makes me a little sad.

Still homeschooling. We’ve taken a bit of a different approach this Term. Samuel was just a couple of weeks old when the school term started and for the first two or three weeks we did all our workbooks and chores, and made dinner and did washing and shopping and everything else that is required to run a household. But there was a problem. I was shattered. I found myself grouching at the kids to get their school work done, and they didn’t want to. It’s such a yucky place to be. Learning wasn’t fun for any of us. And to reference a great quote by Albert Einstien, schooling was interrupting our education.

So….we stopped. Ha! We are taking it seriously easy this term, and possibly next term as well and giving our family plenty of time to adjust to a new baby. Also we have a couple of rather urgent home projects to work on. Now we are quite unschooly, which I have a sneaky suspicion is going to remain a feature in our educational approach. (Click the link to see what I mean by unschooling – scroll to the bottom)

How do our days look now? A late start to the day generally, somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30 depending on how much sleep I’ve had. The kids are usually up before me, and D gets them started on breakfast. After breakfast the kids are supposed to help with dishwasher and clearing the table, followed by getting dressed and making beds etc. This is a work in progress and some days one or two of them scarper off to the garage to watch cartoons or play computer.

From then on we just follow our interests or go to whatever activities we have on that day. The kids are spending more time I the computer / dvd’s than I’d like but I’m trying not to stress about it and know that gradually we can change that. Apart from that, Ryan who just turned 3 helps with dinner nearly every day. I don’t really enjoy cooking with children, but he loves to help and he’s learning. Emma (7) reads and reads and reads. At bedtime we have to make her turn off the light. Sometimes as late as 9:30 or 10pm. Benjamin (5) has also taught himself to read this term. I spent $23 on a phonics book for him and he got bored after about 5 pages but is reading well anyway. He’s got an inbuilt confidence because he’s seen Emma learn to read. I love it that because he’s not at school, he doesn’t know that sometimes children find it hard to learn to read. He’s just gotten on with it.

We go to the library when we feel like it. Each week the kids go to swimming lessons, and have a big play at the pools. Emma still does ballet, and we go to a sports group too arranged by the home school network.  We are starting to make some new friends too and next week after sports, the kids are going to get to ride a horse owned by one of the other families there.  We bake sometimes and try home science experiments. Emma wanted to grow stalactites and stalagmites using baking powder in solution and string. She got the idea from a book she loves called 101 Science Experiments for Kids. All suitable to be done easily at home.  It’s taking up too much space on my kitchen bench but it was so fun to try. From time to time we will write a letter or card to someone. Emma helps make the shopping list.

Today we visited a friend who held a ‘Tonga Day’ at her home. Other home school families joined in…I think there were 17 children ranging in age from 9 weeks (my bubba) to about 7 or 8. A Tongan friend of my friend dressed the mums and kids up in traditional wear. We made Tongan lunch together and made posters of the Tongan flag. We spotted Tonga on the world map and looked at photographs. While we worked on lunch the kids milled around and came and went, but our Tongan friend told us stories about her family, and Tongan culture. We saw her open a coconut (with a knife…which beats my ‘drill a hole, drain the milk and hurl coconut at concrete’ approach), and grate it. This was later squeezed by hand in to a watermelon and pineapple drink. The kids all got to chew on some sugar cane. We watched her prepare all the food, which we later ate from banana leaves together. We tried taro, cassava, green bananas, and chop suey. After lunch she danced and sang for us. What a fantastic day.

And occasionally we pull out some workbooks, and maths.

There’s a whole lot more we could be doing, but at the moment its more important we get some simple things done. The first is a happy home, peaceful and joyful and in order. Then some good healthy food everyday. A home clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. Some good books, some busy bodies, some stimulating conversation. Ideas, friends, and fun. And here another quote from Einstein:

“It is, in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail.  It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty”

~ Albert Einstein
US (German-born) physicist (1879 – 1955)

Before I go, some links that I’ve enjoyed lately, along these home schooling lines:

I could really relate to  this article: Escaping the Homeschool Matrix - Steve Walden

Loving this blog: Simple Homeschool

Oh dear

You poor, sad, sorry, and neglected blog. I have let you down.

We are gearing up to the beginning of 2009! This will officially be E6′s first year of home school and we’ll be taking a bit more of a dedicated approach this year. Last year was a year of finding our feet, seeing what works for us and what doesn’t.

E6 is excited about her new books. We are going to use some A Beka books for Language, and Math-U-See for maths. I like the visual and hands on learning in this curriculum as well as the lesson plan and instructional dvd for me! I feel more confident knowing that I’ll have help to teach maths. It’s one subject that I feel you really don’t want to mess up, given that it’s sequential and builds concept upon concept.

When E6′ s new books arrived, B4 was quite disappointed he didn’t get any. He’s very keen to learn so we’ll probably get some books for him to do as well. He’s keen to learn his numbers, and is confident with learning his letter sounds using the Jolly Phonics books we used with E6 last year.

E6 is still reading a lot. She is a capable reader and reads chapter books comfortably. I haven’t heard her read aloud much lately though so when school starts I’ll include that in our week in a non-pressured way to make sure her vocab is alright. I have a feeling she skips over tricky words…I’d like to help her grow rather than skip them. She’s a champion though! I’m so proud of her!

Brought to you by the letter ‘B’

This is a one of those waffling nothing kind of posts so feel to wander off if you get bored.Okay? But there’s a poll at the end, so skip the boring bits and go vote and comment! Oh, and did anyone notice that the last 7 posts all started with ‘B’? Or is it just me who notices things like that.

It’s 2:17 on a Friday afternoon, and I still haven’t done the dishes. Or the washing. But! I have just blitzed! the house. Well almost the whole house…I have cleaned three rooms, moved a bed, a bookcase and all the toys and vacuumed behind all the furniture in the bedrooms. You see….I’ve been creating a Play Room! No photos….because the boy is sleeping in there.

I’ve moved the single bed from R19months’ room into the big kids room. That room now has their bunks and a single bed, and a tall boy. I’ve moved all their toy drawers and boxes into R19months’ room which is now a play room except for when he is sleeping in there. The idea being that when he is big enough for a bed he’ll move in with the other two. Three kids sleeping in one room may sound crowded, but it a largeish room and if you just have the kids and their clothes it’s fine. All their toys and books will be in the other room.

So even though the rest of the house is a tip, it feels good to be clean and tidy in our bedrooms. A move around is always refreshing and inspiring. The older two are now having fun with the extra bed, and with long lost toys rediscovered.

The tidy up, clean up, get organised, get control of this disaster zone called my house bug has bitten me and I’m not finished yet! I’m taking a quick break and then it’s off to the kitchen, lounge and vacuum the rest of the carpet areas. If I have time I’ll also clean the bathroom and toilet and then I’ll feel like a million dollars ready to start the weekend!

Another piece of happiness is that we have our exemption. The one I was stressing about … That is, an exemption from the requirement to enrol E5 in a public school. So the application that I was so worried about has been approved, post dated to her birthday and has arrived a couple of weeks early. So we are officially home schooling now….the government has given us permission to teach our child. Pfft.

Oh, and in other news. I have a job interview on Wednesday. Eeeek! It’s been a while since I was in work mode… I’m planning to go back to work for a shift a week (nursing) for now, perhaps two in the future. We really could do with the extra money, and also if I leave it too much longer I will have to study again to keep my skills up to date. The advantage of nursing is that I can work shifts when D is home to look after the kids. Actually, it’s essential really….I don’t think child care centres take nearly 6 year olds! Wow. So I’m going to be working again.

I want to add a poll. Just because I can. And I’ll be the first to answer. Yes! I have secret ambitions. I’m a dreamer and I want to change the world. Or part of it at least. How about you? And don’t be shy to comment!