Thursday, April 04, 2013

Poem in Your Pocket!



Do you remember when you started loving poetry? Do you remember when you forgot about that love? The first poem I ever memorize was Fog by Carl Sandburg;

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on. 

I remember learning what siting on your haunches meant and then getting up from our desks and doing it. I think it was second or third grade. 
When I was 9 my dad bought me Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I loved that book! It still lives on my living room bookshelf.  Now my kids love it!
In high school I fell in love with The Bard so my kids are subjected to that too!
Well April is national poetry month and just this week I learned about a totally fun day to go along with it! April 18 is Poem in your Pocket day! So keep a few short ones in your pocket and share them!! Here is a cute printable to write your favorites on to share!!
I love the idea of a Common Place journal, I've kept one on and off for a few years for poems that strike me. 

I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks;
And what a wave must be. 

I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in Heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given. 
~ Emily Dickinson 

Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Day of Our Homeschooling Life!!


It's been a while since I've given a peek into our day and since Simple Homeschool put out an invitation I thought I'd join in! So welcome to our Wednesday!

Our mornings are slow, I am not one of those mamas who get up early and get things done. Too many years of sleep depravation is my reasoning but really Im just not a morning person if anyone is going to talk to me! ;)

This day is one where Dan is home, he travels frequently but when he is in town we often get days with him home all day. This was difficult for us the first few years of homeschooling, but thankfully we have found a rhythm that Dad fits into and can also slip out of.
Our morning starts with a warm breakfast, blankets, and heater vents. We also take care of animals, giving the cats attention and waking up the bunnies. Which is not so hard on this beautiful sunny morning!
Legos in the morning, Legos at night, LEGOS ALL DAY LONG in our house!! But I find it a gentle way for the kids to transition from morning time to schooling time so you'll often hear me suggest it! And yes there are legos all over my house!!!

Just before the call to come together my oldest comes to me with Cookie his rat who seems to have a mass, he also brings his rat book. So we take a timeout to check on her, read about rat ailments and call the vet to get an appointment. I love that his first go to was a book! 


Every morning I write out all that we would like to accomplish for the day, my kids like having all the information at once and I like that I don't get asked 20 times what else we are going to do! Its all right there! Our family schooling time is by far the largest chunk, but the kids do have some individual things that we do.

We have quite the mixture of homeschooling philosophies here in our home! A little Waldorf, a little Charlotte Mason, a little TJed, and a little crazy all mixed together!! Its great! I am a firm believer that your philosophy/curriculum should serve your family not that you should be a slave to your philosophy/curriculum. We start our day with a Waldorf-ish verse and a scripture we are memorizing. After everyone memorizes the scripture we go out for a fun family activity. Today our family study activities will be after our individual work because of their length. But usually it is done right after our scripture.

Jake learning how to read Fahrenheit and Celsius on a thermometer...

Fern writing numbers...

Leili acting out our story of the week with finger puppets (Little Red Ridding Hood)...
Brother and sister are drawn to the puppet theatre like magnets!!

Riley is reading Matilda and LOVING it! This is a picture that just makes my mama heart go pitter-pat. This guy, my first born threw me right into trusting in schooling. Reading just did not click for him when society says it should. But we took the leap of faith in just trusting that he would get it when he was ready as long as we did not squash his innate love of learning! Now I have to tell him to stop reading and go to bed!!


Our kitchen table turned into math central today and Dad was the central command! Whew! One day off for Mama in the math dept!!

Beautiful Fern LOVES writing notes and now she has found she LOVES writing numbers!!

Leili is being like Little Red Ridding Hood and baking muffins for the family, she chose Coconut Banana! 
Usually Fern prefers to wait for me to do her reading with her, but Little Bear just could not wait!

I have a couple volunteer responsibilities and since today dad is home I run out all by myself for a quick visit. Dad finishes up the school work for the morning while I am gone.


Leili's muffins came out great! Riley played the piano! And lunch was made! Wahoo!

After lunch we watch a great National Geographic video on volcanos, geology is our family study for science/nature study right now and we are enjoying learning about volcanos (and my family is realizing just what a geology nerd I am...)!
After our video some friends come by for a short visit then after that we head over to the nature center across the river. Today we not only enjoy the warmth of the sun and the beauty in our own back yard but we also had a winter nature scavenger hunt! We found everything except an icicle but we are NOT complaining!! 
Cub and Boy Scout meeting end our night and now it is good night!
Thanks for stoping by!!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Roy G. Biv


It WILL be stuck in you head so listen at your own risk!!
Recently while looking for a multiplication chart to print I happened across a great site! 
In the multiplication area of his site he says, 
"When I was growing up, my dad hung a huge periodic table of the chemical elements on the wall. It was in the dining room, and it was so big, you couldn't miss it. It listed all the elements, and their names, and some of their chemical properties. Now,

  • My dad never drilled me on it,
  • I never studied chemistry beyond high school,
  • I never made an effort to memorize it.
Nonetheless, years later, I can still remember the names for the symbols, and the symbols for the names!"

So two things happend 1. I printed out the multiplication tables (as a rainbow), laminated them and turned our hallway into rainbow mathematics land. And 2. I started looking for a huge periodic table to put above the piano!!! Makes some serious sense to me!!!!

I also wanted to share a couple links:
&

Happy January!!!!