5/30/2012

I made a few phonics flashcards today for Seneca. We just went over them twice and then Seneca lost interest for the time being. Seneca chose out two books for us to read together tonight. She chose Colors as well as The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. After I read to her, Seneca then "read" The Very Busy Spider. She was using the pictures as her cues and her memory to recite back the story.
Earlier today, I filled up a used bread bag with colored water. After that, I filled up a small ziploc bag with corn syrup, blue food dye, and artsy gems for some more sensory fun! She loved both bags and even when the water bag had a leak, we had fun squirting the water out of the hole.

Sidewalk Astronomy

I have been getting email updates about events for a local sidewalk astronomy group, but I have never been able to attend any of the events. Well, this past Saturday, we finally went to one. I told Liam and his friends that we were going to X Beach City Hall. Of course, they heard "beach." So, we decided to make it a beach day followed by planet gazing. Best laid plans though..... In any event, by the time we got everyone (Liam, three of his friends, Seneca, and I) ready to go, it was just about sunset and I wanted to get to Sidewalk Astronomy right at sunset. So, we skipped the beach (for the time being.)
So many generous people set up beautiful telescopes and allowed other people there to look through. The kids saw the gasses surrounding the sun. They saw Venus in one telescope. Venus looked like a crescent moon. The kids and I got to see the moon in several different telescopes. The moon is either in light or in dark, no in between. And the kids and I got to see Saturn in one telescope! Afterwards, the boys said to me that they were disappointed about not going to the beach, but the sidewalk astrononmy thing was awesome. "Can we go again in September?"
From now on, I will certainly make an effort to attend the X Beach City Hall set ups. There are other set ups around town, but this one is the closest to us.
After leaving, we did stop at the beach for about thirty minutes. No going in the water, but the kids dug in the sand and I did get my feet wet. :)

Library ForgivenessWeek Plus New Card Equals Lots of Learning!

Thanks to our local unschoolers group, I found out that this past week is fine forgiveness week at our local county libraries in exchange for non-perishable foods to be donated to the local food banks. So, we went shopping and brought in some food donations and got my oldest daughter's slate wiped clean! Yay! It wasn't entirely her fault. She was much, much younger when she got her library card. Her dad and step-mom got it for her, then there was all this confusion as to whether what she checked out was at her dad's or my house. Anyhow, it was so many years ago now, that there is no way of knowing.
Seneca and I spent a little time at the library. She found a puzzle in the kids' section and was only all too happy to work on that. She chose out a book on Jaguars. So, I had to get a library card. Even at 35, I'm actually excited about getting a library card. :) I picked out a book for Liam on Film.  He says he wants to be a filmmaker.  He was reading his book last night and loving it. 

          I read the Jaguar book to Seneca last night. It is full of beautiful photographs of Jaguars. Many of the photo captions in the book identify exactly where the photo was taken. After reading, Seneca and I went over to our map on the wall. She pulled up her little stool and stood on it. I pointed out Belize, Peru, and Brazil to her. My goal isn't for her to know where Belize is, but rather to give her a sense of place and a feel for the essence of geography. She can point out Florida on a map. In fact, she saw how close Belize looks to Florida that she asked if we could drive there. (LOL) I showed her that the blue on the map meant water and that we would have to fly. (Ok, I know we could, in theory, also take a boat. However, our reality is that we would fly in a plane IF we were to go to Belize.)
Speaking of maps, Seneca can point out Florida, Maine, and Saudi Arabia on the map.
Seneca spent some time drawing a picture using both block crayons and stick crayons. The picture itself was very abstractionist. There was no set object or person, but rather an experience in colors. Seneca is not used to block crayons and she was experimenting with technique. I am very excited to use block crayons with her next year for her Waldorf curriculum, but for now, it is more appropriate that she becomes comfortable with the medium itself.

The day before yesterday, Seneca and I played shopkeeper. She helped me to cut out squares of paper for play money. I then wrote $1, $5, $10 on different squares. I was the customer and I would buy a shell or a crayon from her. A shell might cost $5, I would give her $10, and would instruct her to give me a $5 that she was holding. In another scenario, the shell is $3, I give her $5, and I instruct her to give me back two $1s. The idea is not to teach her subtraction, but to show her math in action. The point is for her to be able to relate subtraction to something real and tangible to her own life when she does start to formally study it.

Impromptu games of Improv and Duck Duck Goose

After playing outdoors, I told Seneca a new fairy tale.  I told her the fairy tale of the The Poor Miller's Boy and The Cat.  Seneca then made up her own fairy tale about a magical horse and a castle.  She used shells as props for jewels.  The story didn't always "make sense," but I didn't tell her that.  I just loved my chance to be in another magical world.  I have to appreciate her eye for detail in her story.  When talking about a carriage, she was sure to include "the man who opens the door and the man who stands behind the carriage."
    She has been watching her brother draw in his sketchbook, so she wants one too. Only, her way of expressing it is, "I want a checkbook."
  Today, Liam learned about St. Francis of Assisi.  He also reviewed his math skills.  He continued to work independently on sketching.
    Yasmeen has been hard at work writing an essay on the Cuban Missile Crisis. She is a BIG fan of the Kennedys.  She has a gift for working well with words and transforming her knowledge into descriptive and well-flowing words on paper.  

Our New Chalkboard!

Unschooling Moments

  I am beginning to realize that the value unschooling is often grasping a concept.  Sometimes we can hear an idea, say yes, that sounds good in theory, then move on.  Today was one of the those days in which I was able to allow the concept, or the theory, of unschooling work for our benefit.  Now, to be clear, this was not a total unschool day.  Liam did take notes on the Magna Carta from off our new chalkboard.  We did discuss the connection from the Magna Carta to the Mayflower Compact to the US Constitution.
   However, afterwards Liam had a complete a total unschooling day and it was perfect. He knew what he needed and he pursued hit.  Liam is, generally speaking, not an artist.  For that matter, neither is anyone in our family.  However, Liam spent the day sketching.  Mostly, they were simplistic projects, but he approached each sketch with reverence.  My son usually resists doing anything artistic.  But this was all his doing, under his own guidance.  He even had fun!  We all know the value of creativity and art, so I won't write on that subject.  My point is that I did not stress out that we weren't working on more academic work or that it was taking too long.  I was able to just let him BE and I was able to BE OKAY with that.
     As for Seneca, our day was filled with play dough, phonics books curled up together on my bed, suncatcher painting, and she was a great helper around the house.  She got to use a sponge and soap to help wash the doors.  She also played "Memory" card game.  Yesterday, it was imaginative play with stuffed animals and puzzle time!

Seneca's Saturday 5/11/2012

Water-slide bouncy house fun today! Seneca went to a birthday party today. Afterwards, we read together from her Starfall phonics series. She is doing well with memorization skills, but she still struggles with remembering words when she sees them in new places. For example, she can read the word "can" if she had memorized a story. She doesn't always recognize the word "can" when she sees it another book. So, of course, she is not really reading, but keep in mind that memorizing and recalling little books verbatim is still a very important pre-reading skill.
She painted her birdhouse some more this evening. We both painted suncatchers together. Seneca put together her Fox in Socks puzze, which she hadn't done in a while. She always amazes me with how well she does. I give a little guidance, but really very little.
Tonight, I put on our VHS of The Aristocats. I still want limited screen time, but she did have a very busy and fun day without using any electronic devices. Oh wait, I did let one online Dora game slip in though. I need study time, so I concluded that The Aristocats (and yummy almond chocolate milk) would keep her occupied; and we all need a little Disney classic in our hearts.

A Lesson on Scapegoating

Yesterday was a great natural learning day. Liam was watching the miniseries Holocaust (with Meryl Streep and Michael Moriarity). He then came over to me asking about how something like the Holocaust could happen. We then had a discussion on the role of scapegoating. I explained to him how scapegoating is used throughout history to maintain or achieve power. I used the current example of how many Americans are scapegoating illegal immigrants. For that matter, some are scapegoating all immigrants/foreigners.
I also discussed the role of economics when it comes to war. For example, my father kept asking himself what does Afghanistan have that we want? He knew very well that the Taliban and Al-Qaida were just the perfect excuse to invade, but what did America want? Then, he said he read about the oil pipeline in Afghanistan and he got it instantly. I told my son this anecdote in a hope to really help him absorb the lesson "follow the money." I kept repeating, and even wrote on the chalkboard, "scapegoating" and "economics."
We then went into a conversation about how Iraq and Saddam Hussein were blamed for 9/11 when they had nothing to with it. Again, we see scapegoating (they are Muslims, from the Middle East, etc.), and we see economics...OIL.
Later in the day, he read a chapter on feudalism in the Middle Ages. This portion of the day was not part of his self-directed learning, but rather what I assigned for him to complete.

Civil War Websites

Civil War Websites
civilwar.org
http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/index.htm

"Deadliest Warriors" on Spike TV

"Deadliest Warriors" on Spike TV
Crazy Horse vs Pancho Villa
Napoleon Bonaparte vs George Washington
US Army Rangers vs North Korean Special Ops
Joan of Arc vs William the Conqueror
Hannibal vs Genghis Khan - Liam saw this episode as unfair as Khan was hundreds of years later and had more advanced weaponry.
French Foreign Legions vs Gurkas
Ming Warriors vs Musketeers
Saddam Hussein vs Pol Pot
Spartans vs Ninjas
Persian Immortals vs The Celts
US Navy Seals vs Israeli Commandos

   Liam noticed the bias of the show and that the American, when an American is featured, always seems to win.  The show pits two historical figures against each other in battle.  Through a study of weapons of the time, injuries caused by said weapons, and knowledge of each historical person or group, a panel of experts determines who would have won.  The adversaries are pitted against each other in a computer simulation five thousand times.
  I am sure many people would object to the war nature of this series.  I belong to a congregation that helps young adults fill out Conscientious Objector forms and believes in non-military solutions.  Why then, would I not object to my son watching a program featuring confrontation and battles?  Well, my answer is that because my children have been raised in a family and congregation that teaches non-violence, they can easily watch programs that have violence in them and feel no need to absorb that violence into their soul.  They can easily distinguish that this is a simulation and it is NOT REAL.  I'm not trying to suggest that all other children raised in mainstream households cannot distinguish between real and fantasy. I am suggesting that since no glorification of violence of ANY kind is around my kids, then what they see on the screen remains on the screen. 

Momma's Waldorf Crafts

Hat I crocheted

Scarf that I knitted.   Cast on 20.  Row 1 Knit, Row 2 Knit One Yarn Over, Yarn Over (to add 2 stitches) repeat all down row.  Row 3 Knit 1, drop off, drop off ( you are dropping off each yarn over)  Row 4 Knit the row.  Repeat until the scarf is the length you desire.

Me with the gnome that I knitted. Seneca loves this gnome. The pattern is available as part of an e-course in Waldorf Homeschooling called Thinking Feeling Willing from waldorfessentials.com

Unschooling with a conch shell

Seneca had an awesome unschooling moment today.  She was holding a shell from the beach when she asked me what kind of shell it was.  We then went to google images for "types of shells." Seneca typed in the word shell as we sounded it out.  She learned that s-h makes the "sh" sound.  We compared Seneca's shell to pictures of other shells and determined that it was a conch shell.  I then read briefly about conch shells on wikipedia.
  Seneca and I went over to her craft table and got out her lesson book.  She worked on phonics skills as I guided her to sound out and write the words conch shell.  She still gets a bit confused on the short a versus the short e sounds.  We also worked on writing lowercase n and lowercase h.

Islam Studies for 5/1/012

     Liam continued his studies on Islam using A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 6 from A Little Garden Flower (http://shop.beaconmama.com/A-Journey-through-Waldorf-Homeschooling-Grade-SIX-Curriculum-215.htm). The presentation of Islam in this curriculum is thorough and sensitive to its subject.  Mrs. Nielsen not only covers the basics of Islamic beliefs, but also explains to the parent-teacher the reasons for the customs of Islam.  As somebody who has lived in the Middle East for fifteen years, I can say with a lot of confidence that this program both covers the subject in an appropriate academic fashion and covers it with a human understanding.  Mrs. Nielsen does not shy away from presenting to her audience the common ground she finds with the followers of Islam and herself as a Christian woman.  The curriculum also offers topics for further study by the pupils of her program.  The program is both concise and informative.
     Liam also watched more of the PBS documentary "Empire of Faith."  For writing practice, he wrote the Five Pillars of Islam.