mommymita: Homeschool moments

We have experimented with many different flavors of homeschool. I have also struggled with maintaining an exact schedule. The demands of spring time farming with all the baby animals and baby plants has kept me totally occupied. So school time has happened right by my side as I work.

I am still growing into my confidence in this method.

On a day when I edged near feelings of neglect and failure I simply asked each child individually what they had learned that day.

The younger kids sung out their joy of dirt and the difference between sand, clay, aged manure and city compost. We had experienced another chicken loss that day and after helping dig a small grave 2 feet deep they explained to me the different layers of earth they had observed.

The kids are now experts, they have been playing in piles of dirt for weeks. They dug a giant hole that when filled with rain became irresistible. My sister Mary who is a speech therapist calls this "engaging in primary experiences".

Maryanna was quick in inventing "mud yoga" and Clara followed with "mud ballet". Henry decided a mud ball fight would be fun. When I explained that is was time smooth out the pile they cried and wondered if they could request a dump load for Christmas or their birthdays, just theirs, for playing and making mud. They think it would make for a great birthday party.

Peter has taken on the role of watering. He was thrilled when I brought home a soaker hose and was helpful in establishing a watering system for the gardens. We are considering ways to collect rain water and even setting up olla irrigation. He is constantly asking me questions about the plants that I wish I could answer, I simply say "I don't know, we'll have to just wait and see for ourselves". Besides caring for the garden Peter has been most occupied with knitting farm animals.

Past summers these two older boys kept their faces buried in books but now it seems they are more occupied with projects. They took to this chicken tractor that Paul built just like the boys in Tom Sawyer.

In addition to painting James has been focused on authoring an original fantasy series. So far he is 95 pages into it and any moment I accuse him of being idle he says, "I know it looks like I'm being lazy right now but I'm pondering the developments of the plot".

Meanwhile William has kept his hands busy with whittling. This he does as he sits quietly with the animals, always returning in to report some very subtle observation. He has also taken to observing the sky and while I was tucking in the younger ones one evening I heard a frantic call out for me, "mom, come quick". I ran expecting an emergency but instead shared the wonder of May 2013's full moon lunar eclipse. Already they are gearing up for the super moon expected this weekend.

Knowing our interest in the sky, our neighbors arranged for us to visit with their son in law who is a professor of physics and astronomy. During his visit to Michigan he treated us to a peak at the sun through a special telescope. George said "it looks like a ping pong ball".

Our field trips have been fewer than they use to be. But when another neighbor told us about the bird sales hosted by Michigan Bird and Game Breeders Association we could not resist. William is still begging for peacocks and Peter was disappointed not to find a runner duck drake but we were all happy about the new baby guineas. We also saw an assortment of doves, pigeons, emus, geese, turkeys and ducks. When we came to a table of peacock feather hair pieces and earrings I almost (like for two seconds) got tempted to bring home a peacock, good thing I didn't.

We are also really enjoying the company of other homeschool families. I am amused by their "hanging out", here I put them to work preparing a pot roast to feed 13 children. What we learned from this experience was when you double the amount of food in the dutch oven you should almost double the time for cooking. Their back up dinner was watermelon, popcorn, bacon and as many eggs as they could find.

They are also practicing a play that was written by one of the 11 year old girls. I am pleased by the way they have invited the 3 year olds to participate.

No day is without entertainment. Maryanna and Clara have formed what they call "the farm circus". They do all sorts of tricks, including a few that involve "Tainta" the chicken.

And there are certainly times where I demand normal school work. In an old picnic basket I have arranged a mobile classroom and bring it where ever we may just be sitting. Most recently it has accompanied us to the dentist and horseback riding lessons. In it there is a pack of addition and subtraction flash cards, first 100 word flash cards, draw and write journals, large print scriptures, recent copy of the Friend magazine, a few small dry erase boards and a teaching time clock.