Creatress jumps at the chance to enjoy a New England snowstorm (Allia)
Let Me Count the Days: Homeschooling is sharing the excitement of the first snowfall of the season.
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Wordless Wednesday: Interacting with Art
Posted on October 19, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
Truth in Santa Fe, NM, Allia
Quantum in Santa Fe, NM, Allia
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Let Me Count the Ways: Five Moments of Thanks
Posted on September 30, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
It is easy to concentrate on our daily frustrations. Our dissatisfaction with a situation rises naturally to the surface. We are quick to show anger and to confront those who affront. But what about all the quiet moments of beauty and joy that dazzle us each day? How fantastic is it to watch our son first ride a bike? Or to laugh with friends and find that you are laughing and crying and uproariously happy. There is so much to be thankful for that it is a wonder we don't have more time to recount these joys.
Fall is a wonderful time to be thankful. For many, this is a favorite season. I have always found fall to be bittersweet. Summer is my favorite season and fall is truly as far from summer as one can get, so as the cool air encroaches and the leaves begin to change I am anxious about the coming cold and anxious about the numerous holidays that will soon clamor for attention.
However, this fall is beautiful. The weather is yet warm and the children are still swimming in the lighted pool at night. A few trees have begun to change and the mix of dark green with vibrant red and sweet orange is still only a gentle hint of a new season. I have changed my wardrobe to autumn greens and browns and relish an evening with clear skies and few mosquitoes.
So, with a rush of warm wind and brief sunlight toasting our cool skin, we can begin to think of all the things for which we are thankful. I am so grateful to be able to teach our 5 children everyday. I am grateful to have the time to spend with them, to encourage their thinking, to help build the blocks of concrete knowledge that will forever serve as their foundation. I am grateful that I can encourage open-mindedness while still preserving our family values. We delight in examining every historical event from multiple perspectives, from the conquerors to the conquered. We examine the beliefs that consistently seem to drive humanity: religion, food, land, world domination. I am grateful that learning can take place in an arena of free discussion and free thought.
I am grateful for the beauty of artistic expression. We have had many opportunities to visit amazing museums. In Washington, D.C. we visited a National Geographic exhibition of 3-dimensional creations built from Leonardo's notebooks. We saw many of his ingenious inventions and could see that in fact these ideas really worked once constructed. In Barcelona we were fortunate to visit the Miro museum which had fantastical sculptures of odd bits of wire and pieces of chairs all built to replicate quirky humans.These satirical pieces were both amusing and strangely real. At the Metropolitan Museum in NYC we attended several lectures on Art History that really put into perspective the manner in which each culture and each generation influences one another. Art is not created in a vacuum, nor is it appreciated in a vacuum.
I am grateful for delicious, unpretentious, home cooked meals that are enjoyed in large friendly, chaotic, gatherings. I am grateful for reading A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, aloud by the fire in the dark winter evening, while sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows bobbing along the frothy top of Christmas mugs. I am grateful for the beauty of life.
And now it is your turn. What are five things for which you are thankful?
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Boy Scouts in the Modern Era: Relevant or Outdated?
Posted on September 29, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
“Scout Law: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave clean and reverant.”
How does this worthy list of adjetives fair amongst todays fast-paced boys? To investigate this unlikely combination I traveled to a dimly lit “gym” in a small brick building at the edge of a middling New England town. I was surprised by what I encountered.
We attended a Court of Honor for the local Boy Scouts. At this event boys received merit badges for a variety of positive behaviors and beneficial skills learned. They earned awards for learning to build fires, for learning safety procedures during natural disasters and for helping the community through charitable contributions and personal efforts to educate and assist the less fortunate.
Here in 2011 boys were being publicly rewarded for learning to be self-reliant and learning to help others in need. At the end of the evening the boys were instructed to clean the room and allow the adults to help themselves to dessert before they themselves stormed the dessert bar.
Our sometimes recalcitrant son, who looked increasingly worried by the high standards being set by others in the room, concluded the evening by saying,
“I want to help some of the older boys earn their Eagle Scout merit awards.”
I was floored. I thought he would be ready to bolt. Every boy had committed himself to spend hours learning difficult material and then days and weeks applying this knowledge to materially benefit their community. My son, who eschews hard work, was ready to sign up for extra credit!
I applaud the Boy Scouts for maintaining their traditions and values in the face of our secular and me-centric society. Evidently the appeal of being useful has not faded. These fortunate boys are being given the opportunity to actually be relevant in a modern world. They are eager to learn and to be needed by their community. They are directly rewarded on the most tangible basis: they can clearly see that they have directly improved the lives of those who are less fortunate. They can appreciate the need to learn self-reliant skills because these skills are immediately useful in their Scouting lives, personal lives and in their work to help others.
In short, the lessons and positive behaviors are immediately useful to the Scout. Obvious relevance brings education alive. I am so grateful to have the energy of these pre-adolescent boys channeled into a venue which rewards helping others above helping themselves.
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Academics Abound
Posted on September 18, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
After months of waiting for our new “school house” to be completed Bounce has taken matters into his own hands and built himself his own school house, complete with a hanging coat hook.
Bounce is very happily commencing his homeschool career with Saxon Math 5/4. This program provides plenty of security while at the same time presenting a great challenge as it smoothly moves from adding to multiplication without ever mentioning “the times tables”. Each lesson has 5 parts. The student begins with a fast five minutes of 100 simple addition problems. The goal is to immediately recognize standard number sets and intuit the sum without the need for calculation. This section is followed by Mental Math, New Concepts, Lesson Practice and then finally Mixed Practice. This final section features both review problems and new concept problems.
One of my favorite learn-to-read activities is the You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You by Mary Ann Hoberman. These excellent short stories are designed for side-by-side reading to be shared alternately between child and adult. The stories are simple and immediately enchanting. Children love the close attention of being read to, while at the same time relishing the independence and importance of being the ones doing the reading. This is a no-struggle recipe for engaging a young reader.
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Literature as a Window on History: The Crucible
Posted on September 15, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
We are opening our school literature season with a reading of the play, The Crucible by Henry Miller. This play, written in the 1950’s, revisits Salem Massachusetts at the time of the Salem witch trials. Today we discussed the nature of the insular Puritan society and the perceived impropriety of two girls caught dancing in the woods. We discussed the ease with which a small lie can escalate into a communal lie and how quickly a community can rush to persecute the individual, in particular to protect itself from humiliation, or in this case, death.
This play was produced during the era of McCarthyism and ominously warns of the dangers in fearing the unknown and in erroneously accusing others. The notorious witchhunts of the 1950’s ruined the careers of many artists and playwrights as they hastened to defend themselves against accusations of Communism.
We talked about modern applications and the efforts that we make today to avoid these types of global persecutions. The Crucible portrays fear, persecution and the phobic need for continuity of the current society as unfortunate aspects of the human condition.
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Destination Imagination 2012 Kick-Off Party!
Posted on September 9, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
Yes, it;s true! The long-awaited Destination Imagination season is finally here! Every kid in the neighborhood want sot be a part of this amazing multi-year State
Let the games begin!
Champion team! We started the day with a whip cream fight.
After an amazing whip cream fight we naturally had to jump into the pool.
Jumping into the new season!
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Homeschool Pre-Season
Posted on September 7, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
We are finally getting ready to make our new school year a reality….and so we are in Homeschool Pre-Season, otherwise known as The Great Clean-Up. We are cleaning and organizing every room, washing all the sheets, finding out what clothes fit (none) and making the final decisions regarding who will be studying what subjects, etc. Fortunately, it has been raining and miserable these past two days or this would be an impossible task.
This year we are having pre-school meetings with each child individually. This morning Truth opted for an 8:00 AM breakfast “conference”. He chose his favorite diner and ordered french toast and two cups of giant hot chocolate with extra whipped cream. He was as happy as Paddington Bear at tea time. He will be following a fairly standard program of spelling, grammar, vocabulary, latin/greek word roots, etc. He will be completing Pre-Algebra. Additionally he will do cryptography, science, writing and literature. This year Truth will be the head of his own middle school National History Day team. This will be the biggest change for him as previously he was the youngest member of a team which was spear-headed by Creatress. Truth is a bit worried about having complete responsibility but also pretty pleased to be in charge of his own team.
- “What? School is starting soon?!!”
Quantum chose to have his lunch conference in the car. First we got a great picnic lunch from a natural foods store and then drove to the beach to enjoy our meal. Quantum is pretty much of a self-starter. He will be tackling Algebra 2 this year along with studying HTML and web design. He will be on the High School National History Day team and will have plenty of difficult primary resources to wade through. He will also be studying for the SAT’s this year. He is most excited about flag football, scrabble and chess club.
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Today is the Day to Follow Your Dreams
Posted on September 7, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
Doing what you dream can be the most liberating experience. Years of mental planning cannot compare with one day or weeks worth of concrete action.
Sometimes following your dreams can take a tremendous act of courage. It is easy to dream and imagine yourself in a new role but it can take true bravery to step off the platform of imagination and actually take the actions necessary to make your dreams a reality. Perpetual inaction gives the sensation of security because although your dreams do not become a reality you save yourself the very real pain of failure. Taking action can become the true liberator. Make today the day you take the first steps toward change. Teaching through example should lead all of us to make the best use of our own talents while we encourage our children to grow and develop their own talents. We can measure our success through our ability to inspire others to actively follow their dreams.
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Status Update: Mountain Bound in Vermont
Posted on September 1, 2011 by homeschoolhappymess
A week ago we came up to our ski house in Vermont to avoid Hurricane Irene, which would soon hit our small Connecticut town. Now, we wait in Vermont for the power to return to our Connecticut house. Our days are filled with blogging (for me) and planning this year’s Destination Imagination skit (for the older kids.) The younger kids build block cities and climb trees, and my husband has been driving around endlessly on back roads, trying to find a golf course that has not been flooded. Because no course is completely open yet, to play eighteen holes he must play a few at one course, then drive around searching for another venue.
Scooter explores an abandoned tractor in our driveway.
Bounce climbs a tree to the very top.
Truth stands on a rock
Quantum poses with the tractor
Creatress has fun in the village
We are fortunate that our house is on a mountain. In Vermont, bridges and roads have washed away and the flooding in some places is the worst in two hundred years. We pray for those affected by Irene.
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Homeschool Happymess: A Naturally Inspiring Approach to Education 