Kindergarten!

We started this year's homeschooling on September 12th. Last year's pre-school was laissez-faire, mostly reading Sonlight's Pre-K 4/5 book list and memorizing catechism questions and answers. This year we're going about schooling a little more seriously: I have some concrete academic goals, we do at least some schoolwork daily, and we're adding more subjects.

But this doesn't mean I force the kids to spend the day seated, workbook in hand! On the contrary, I want them to have lots of time to play, especially outdoors. I've read lots about the negative impact of pushing academics too early, of forcing little boys to read too soon, etc. So this year is primarily about establishing some good habits; feeding the children's curiosity about the world; cultivating a love of learning; and furnishing their minds with interesting and beautiful words and ideas. How's that for high aims?

We do plenty of this on school days!

When she was here a few weeks ago, my mom gave me a blessed few hours to read and prepare all by myself. I took my Bible and Ruth Beechick's The Three R's and Language and Thinking for Young Children over to the library. These gave me the proverbial kick in the backside I needed to get over my perfectionism and just plan, schedule, and do--especially daily math activities.

Beechick is clear, down-to-earth, inspiring, practical, and empowering. I won't follow every idea she proffers, but I do appreciate her emphasis on my ability to teach my children lots without relying on formal curriculum. Despite being homeschooled myself, I felt a bit lost in the sea of good choices. There is so much I could be doing with the kids, so much they could be learning! Beechick's books helped me set some goals and figure out ways to meet them without overloading myself or the children. 

While this is technically Josiah's kindergarten year, and my goals are for him to learn certain concepts, the girls are eager to be part of everything, so they may end up about where he is academically. 

Abby

So what are we doing this year? 

1. Sonlight Core A - We found this discounted on eBay last year, when we were doing Sonlight's Pre-K 4/5. It's an introduction to "world cultures," primarily through read-alouds. The Egemeier's Bible Story Book is a step up in depth and difficulty from last year's simple, one-page summary stories. It's closer to scripture and lengthier, but the children love it and ask me to keep reading more each morning! 

I like Sonlight's use of Usborne books--Living Long Ago and The Usborne Children's Encyclopedia have captured the children's interest. So far we've read about the beginning of civilization, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and a bit about ancient Rome. (This is a broad introduction to world cultures--we're not going very deep yet!) Last night as we drove somewhere, Josiah told Jeremy, "The Egyptians shaved off one of their eyebrows when their cats died!" Apparently even the little details have stuck with him from these books!

The "fun" read-alouds are mostly chapter books, but the girls seem to handle them just fine. They loved The Boxcar Children, though I think Sonlight should switch it out for a better-quality book. Jeremy took on some of the reading as bedtime stories. He read them My Father's Dragon (a re-read for us) and is currently doing James Herriot's Treasury for Children. 

All of us enjoy Sonlight's selection of poetry! We're reading Mary Ann Hoberman's collection of poems The Llama Who Had No Pajama (that title poem Abby begs me to read every single day) and Arnold Lobel's Book of Mother Goose. What fun!

Josiah checks out a poetry book

2. Scripture and poetry memorization - We finished up Psalm 1 last week. I had the kids "present" it one at a time to the rest of us as audience--they were so cute! Now we're beginning 1 Cor. 13:4-8. Then I hope to do another psalm and probably Luke 2 near Christmastime. I haven't planned for the winter/spring yet.

The children can almost recite Christina Rosetti's "Who has seen the wind." Maybe we'll do Joyce Kilmer's "Trees" next--but I'm not sure.

Josiah and Lydia

3. Math - I looked over my mom's old Saxon 1 teacher's manual and nixed it for this year. Josiah needs a better grasp of counting, comparing, grouping, measuring, etc. before we launch into that, if we decide to use it. So for now I'm making up math curriculum as we go, based on Ruth Beechick's summary of first grade math skills. A friend gave me a bunch of colored plastic frogs to use as counting manipulatives. They've worked nicely in lots of homemade games to reinforce counting and work on some basic addition and subtraction. (Josiah always claims the green ones.) 

Lydia counting frogs

 Josiah likes to play "battle" between different colors of frogs

I purchased a set of dominoes on eBay, and I think they'll be worthwhile! Even with our short use of them, the kids can identify numbers of dots quickly and do some easy addition without really thinking.

We found pattern blocks at Goodwill awhile ago, and I found a book of pattern block puzzles on eBay, so we'll use those some, too. Our initial foray into the puzzle book proved more difficult than I anticipated. But I think the pattern blocks will add variety to our math activities and help teach shapes, even if the kids can't complete all the puzzles yet. 

Abby

Ruth Beechick emphasizes the importance of everyday activities in teaching a child math. I'm working to be more intentional about this: allowing a child to divvy up apple slices or cashews for snacks, letting everyone measure ingredients when baking, counting how many plates we need to set the table, etc. 

4. Reading - We haven't started this yet, but I plan to begin Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Josiah sometime in the next couple weeks. This instruction I'll probably limit to him for now, taking about 15-20 minutes a day and seeing how he does. We can stop if it's frustrating him or clearly beyond him.

I am working on letter/sound recognition with all three of them, and I'm using the Developing the Early Learner set of workbooks (quite different from your typical workbook). So the girls are getting some pre-reading instruction. They're eager to identify letter sounds and write their own names. They've been regularly asking me what various words would sound like if they began with a different letter. Lately they've latched onto "Peter Pan" as their key word: "Mama, what if it started with Z?" "Zeter Zan," I respond, and they giggle and repeat it. Now they'll say iterations of it to each other and laugh.

5. Botany - I bought A Beka's flower identification cards to teach some basic parts and names of flowers. I hope to do some "nature walks" a la Charlotte Mason when the weather cools off enough. 

6. Chores - When better to work at habit training than when they're still little and academics aren't much of a concern? I want to get a good handle on regular chores this year. Currently I have a breakfast helper, a housekeeping helper, and a dinner helper, each with specific jobs. Each child will keep that particular helper job for a week, and then switch. The girls are much more eager to help with chores than Josiah is! They often ask, "What else can I do, Mama?" Lydia even begged Abby to let her help with Abby's chore of emptying the small trash cans the other day.

Lydia

7. Manners - How to teach a plethora of mealtime niceties and polite societal conventions when some days all I seem to do is mediate one brawl after another? I want manner training to be positive vs. negative (encouraging and fun vs. lots of "don't do that"). I have yet to formulate a good plan for this.

8. Art and Music - I liked Sonlight's A Child's Book of Art in the pre-k curriculum, and I might use that again for some basic art appreciation. I plan to do some art projects scattered throughout the year (a daunting prospect for me . . . oh, the mess!), and I'd like to do some basic drawing instruction. All three have developed a real interest in drawing, especially Josiah, who spends hours on his detailed pictures, which are typically either Star Wars or Robin Hood themed.

I hope to find a good and reasonably priced Suzuki teacher with whom to start piano lessons. So far I haven't had much luck. 

I'd also like to do some music activities at home. We have a box of scarves, sticks, egg shakers, bells, etc., so ideally we could use those and learn some folk songs or work on rhythm with our Music Together CDs, Wee Sing books, and others. We sing before each meal, and I'm using that time to introduce new hymns. 

9. Extras - Josiah, Lydia, and Abby started swimming lessons in July, and we picked back up with them a couple weeks ago. Lydia especially really took off with her water skills--she seemed entirely fearless this summer and eager to dive deeper and swim further on her own. She regressed a little during our break and was fearful on our first swim lesson in September. But she seems to have recovered her confidence. "I'll be brave, Mama!" she tells me. And now she aims to be a swim teacher when she grows up. 

Abby started saying she didn't want to do swim lessons anymore while we were on vacation in August. This aversion turned into hours of wailing and passionate declarations of "I won't go! I wanna stay home and sleep! My belly hurts! I'm tired! I won't buckle my seat belt! I won't get out of the car!" on the day of our first swim lesson after the break. She got through it, but not without tears and some tantrums. 

I dreaded the next one, and sure enough, she launched into the whole shebang again. Thankfully--and in answer to prayer--the lesson ended happily! Even though she spent about 20 minutes of it crying on the teacher's back and resisting each activity, she cheered up and even jumped in by herself (no hand-holding) a couple times by the end. Hopefully we can finish out the next few (we'll end in mid-October when it gets too cold) with minimal resistance!

Josiah started speech therapy in July and will continue that indefinitely. He's reached the therapist's goals for saying "g" and "k" sounds correctly about 80% of the time, mostly without prompting. Now we're working on "s," "y," and final "r." 

That about sums it up for now! I wonder what I'll think of my plans and goals come May?

Early June

Although these pictures are already three months old, I'll post them anyway. How am I always so behind?

Just some sweet, messy-haired twins . . .

Lydia

 

Abby

And our lovely crop of tomatoes . . .

Sungold and Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes

Little cherries with some big ones (probably Champion and Early Girl) in a pail

Our garden is desolate now, except for a lone sweet potato plant in the front bed. But early June was a garden and orchard heyday! In addition to our tomatoes, we picked lots and lots of peaches. We ate them by the dozen each day and chopped and froze many quarts. Our Mid-pride peaches fresh from the tree are just about unparalleled in my experience. Just look at these beauties:

I didn't make a peach pie this year, but we had peach crisp, lots of fresh peaches in homemade yogurt, peach kefir smoothies, and baked peaches and ice cream (yum!). Josiah decided to give peaches another chance and discovered that he does like them. So everyone ate lots fresh, of course! Clara quite enjoyed her first crop of peaches, too.

Abby and a peach

Clara at seven months old

 

Abby displaying her skills

I almost forgot our apple harvest! There weren't many . . . maybe five or six? A couple fell and were eaten by pests, probably rats. I suspect the rats got into them on the tree. We did eat some and liked them, but they're not the greatest apples ever. I hope some of our other varieties start producing one of these years.

 

Anna apples

Sweaty Abby

Mobile Clara doing her army-crawl

In the heat of summer, we've had lots of Duplo-building days . . .

The kids came up with this elevated train track design on their own. I helped them level out the piers a couple times, but it was their creation. They're definitely inventive in their architectural and engineering skills! When they're well-rested and reasonably affable, they play so nicely with each other--it's a joy to watch them interact, work together on a project, excitedly plan an escapade, set up a pretend trip or feast or adventure. 

While Josiah is obsessed with Lego, he still likes to build Duplos with the girls, who are better at the latter than the former. Duplos are perhaps our most-used toy!

Oh that hair!

 Lydia with her train

Well, hopefully that does it for my posts on June. 

Group Photos

We got some family and "extended" family (still feels weird to use that in reference to my mom, dad, and siblings!) pictures while at Lorien, along with a cousin picture and a grandparents + grandkids picture (with lots of out-takes). 

The current clan, minus Hannah's fiance Luke

It's hard to get everyone looking and reasonably pleasant

Lydia is in pink, Abby in navy

 

Cousins! Clara did not want to be held, and Aria kept looking around at her mom behind her

I enjoy this sequence of pictures . . . my mom and dad tried to keep the kids happy and get them to look at the camera, sometimes going to great lengths:

That's it for now--a blessedly short post after that doozy of a one about our vacation. :)

August Vacation

We took our annual trip back to Michigan in August, braving the skies with four small children who were very eager to open and shut the plane's window shades, latch and unlatch the tray tables, buckle and unbuckle their seat belts, and eat up all the special snacks brought along for the ride. But all in all, the plane trip was an improvement on past years.

Clara was the hardest to handle, being a squirmy nine-month-old past her naptime and stuck on Mama's lap. She liked to look over the seats at people behind us and smile, which was sweet. But she also liked to pull her sister's hair, suck on the end of the seat belt, throw her toys, and gnaw on my chin. Finally (finally!) she succumbed to sleep for about an hour.

We arrived in Detroit on a Friday evening and left for Lorien Saturday morning. This was another long ride, but thankfully the car trip meant we could stop for lunch at a rest stop and otherwise the kids were all buckled in their car seats. Clara slept more!

 Abby at the beach

All three "big" kids remembered Lorien from last year. It was fun hearing them recount their favorite things from before and anticipate the great time they expected to have. Josiah was eager to see his "friends" (my cousins and my cousins' kids)--Jonas, Justin, and Andrew. They all wanted to swim, dig in the sand, play on the slide and merry-go-round, eat s'mores . . . and all their wishes came true!

We spent the first week with just my parents and sisters. (There were other families up there, just not our extended family.) Josiah made friends with a little boy named Sam. They met the first night when both were plucking apples from the overgrown apple tree separating our cabins. "I'm five," Josiah told Sam. "I'm five, too!" Sam said excitedly. Then he came right up close to Josiah and said, "Measure." Josiah was clearly several inches taller. But Sam angled his hand from his head to Josiah's and said, "We're the same!" They had lots of fun together all week, and Josiah still comments, "Remember my fwend Sam!"

 Lydia

 Clara trying out the sand

The weather was warm but not too hot--nice for daily swims in the lake. We all made good use of my parents' Sunfish (sailboat). Lydia, Abby, and Josiah loved "kayaking" with Pa in the shallows, and each went on the sailboat, too. But Josiah blanched at every tack and talked afterwards of the "wild ride" Daddy took him on. (The wind was light that day!) Abby wanted to go again with Daddy, but not Josiah.

We spent hours at the beach. The kids loved digging in the sand and wading and swimming. The lake was lower than usual, so the kids could walk almost all the way out to the anchored, floating dock. Lydia liked jumping off it over and over. The girls and Grandma spent lots of time splashing and floating in the little cove.

That's Grandma and Lydia on the dock

 Pa pushing Lydia on the rope swing by the shore

Josiah and Uncle Andrew making roads

 Abby the bulldozer operator

Aunt Hannah, Aunt Rach, and Aunt Bobo obliged the kids by pushing them on swings, playing War with them (the card game), chasing them around, telling them stories, etc. etc. It was wonderful to have two weeks with doting aunts! :)

 Sunbathing with Aunt Rach (L on left, A on right)

 Clara with Aunt Hannah

 Clara pulling off her hood with Aunt Bobo

Aunt Rach and Clara

 Aunt Hannah and Abby

 Josiah gets a piggy-back ride from Aunt Hannah

Aunt Bobo helps Lydia climb the apple tree

Aunt Bobo and Abby

 Crazy faces!

Successful climbing

 Aunt Rach and Lydia doing the crazy face

Aunt Rach and Abby

Clara was also doted on, of course. She loved the baby swing, especially when Josiah came to tickle her toes or give her a push. She wasn't so sure about the sand at the beach, but did like the water! She wanted to splash and eat rocks. Though she showed some stranger anxiety when she met Uncle Andrew and a few of my guy cousins, overall she warmed right up to the relatives and was content to be passed around, held, and entertained by many.

She loved having a go at a watermelon rind!

Clara also got a turn in Aunt Bobo's kayak (beached)!

 Sometimes you've gotta escape the overbearing sibling love

She liked climbing up the slide with Pa

 Practicing steps with Grandma--she stretches that left leg out so far and points her toe!

We had a couple fun campfires with the cousins during the second week at Lorien. Our children had quite a bit more sugar than they're used to. I limited them to two s'mores, but afterwards I discovered Josiah clandestinely stuffing a marshmallow into his mouth and riding off on his bike with bulging cheeks.

Lydia squeezed too hard and the marshmallow came out

 Abby--I pulled her hair back before she got that sticky beast of a s'more everywhere

Sugar makes ya crazy!

At the end of the first week we took a trip into town on a rainy day. We visited the free Maritime museum, complete with a replica ship and lots of shipwreck artifacts! Everyone enjoyed the excursion, and we walked out on the Thunder Bay pier on Lake Huron as well.

Josiah and Lake Huron

Lydia gets her snuggles with Grandma every chance she has

Just looking, not peeing

At the marina

One of my cousins also has identical twin girls--they were around 16 months old when we were at Lorien. Our girls are very interested in them, and they understand the twin thing now!

Cora and Adele

 The big twins and the little twins!

Another of my cousins graciously borrowed his neighbor's balance bikes for our girls, and my mom found another person willing to lend a bike to Josiah. So our kids had great fun riding their bikes all over and tagging along with the bike gang of older cousins.

My brother Andrew, his wife Lisa, and their baby Aria came up the second week with the rest of the relatives. This was our first time meeting Aria, our kids' first cousin on my side. She's just a few weeks younger than Clara, but she's definitely bigger! Lydia and Abby were very excited to meet her--and play with all her toys! They spent some happy hours in Andrew and Lisa's cabin with Aria's Little People sets.

 Aria and Andrew

Aria wasn't so sure about all of us, but she'd smile and laugh and clap hands and babble when safe in her parents' arms. Next summer I bet she and Clara will be running around together! Here you can see her a bit skeptical of her crazy cousins . . . (Aria in stroller on left, Clara on the right):

Josiah and Andrew (my cousin Kathleen's son) spent hours making and fixing "fairy houses" in the woodsy area by the playground. Other kids had originally built some of these fairy houses using moss, sticks, bark, leaves, grass, etc. They enchanted Josiah. While he wasn't very adept at making his own, it was for no lack of trying!

My dad, as usual, made sure tradition continued with the pancake breakfast, pizza night, and field games. All involved had lots of fun, of course!

 

 Clara feeling full and throwing pancake pieces; Lydia with Aunt Lisa

 

 Pancake breakfast

Preparing for the Big Game

Abby and Daddy

 Josiah was eager to be part of the game. I heard he even hit the ball and made a run!

The line-up for team divisions

Lydia needed Grandma for moral support

Abby was happy to participate as long as Aunt Reenie was with her

Josiah was serious about his team

Even little Gloria joined in the relays!

Pa demonstrates one of the relay events

Josiah concentrates on balancing

Geno loses the cone

 Lydia (left) and Abby (right) take a turn

 Josiah and Justin (my cousin, a year younger than Josiah) were partners for the water-balloon toss

Abby throws her balloon

How about some cute Clara pictures for good measure?

One day the kids (with help) found a little toad. They loved it almost to death before we had them let it go . . .

 Of course, Lydia dearly loved their little pet

It was so nice to have lots of unstructured time with everyone, time to play and talk and walk and eat together. Jer and I enjoyed game nights after the kids were in bed, an evening out together in Alpena, kayaks and walks with one or two others, rounds of Hand and Foot Canasta, volleyball, cornhole, and other leisurely activities.

Aunt Bobo telling stories

Fun on the mat with Aunt Hannah and Aunt Rach

 Crazy faces still going strong