Just read a short biography of Thomas Edison to Caleb. I learned that there is a museum , a national historic site, in honor of Edison. It’s located in Northern, New Jersey. I think we just might have to go pay a visit. Here……..
May 6, 2009
Boys and bugs……(and a few other things)
Yesterday, I finally picked up one of the many kid kits so generously provided by our local library. Have I mentioned my secret love affair with the library? I love my library!! Anyway, I got out the bug kit for the boys to explore on this, yet again, rainy morning. All four boys engaged in insect play, counting, naming, and viewing in the little bucket with a magnifier in the lid. I decided to look up their favorites online so they could see real life versions of the bugs. So here are a few they were interested in. The scorpion, the dung beetle, the Goliath Beetle. They lost interest quickly with the bugs and then Colby wanted to look up sea creatures. So we looked up some sea creatures, and found some of the most bizzare creatures, ew! Colby wanted to look at sea horses and Caleb insisted I look up cookie cutter sharks. He seemed to know all about them, from watching a show on Animal Planet.
Later we will make edible caterpillars, when Daddy gets home, or else I will never get photos of them
Here is a video of “The Flight of the Bumblebee” – a nice musical addition to our little bug fest!!
May 2, 2009
On ’seeing’ how unschooling works…….
I spent some significant time reading on “Joyfully Rejoycing” by Joyce Fetteroll, just yesterday and today. I have read many of her articles before, but I am finding it helpful to keep revisiting. And just today, I realized things are clicking for me on this unschooling adventure more and more. It’s a slow learning process, a journey. I am trying to relax myself as the end of the year is nearing and Caleb will have to be evaluated. What I realized today, is that when Caleb is interested in learning something, he is willing to push for learning it. Like with basketball for example, he was willing to read books on famous basketball players. He was interested in seeing games and observing their moves. He was willing to work hard during his basketball practice at the Y and practice on his own regularly at the neighbors court. It was important to him, and he was and still is willing to take the time to enjoy and learn as much as he can and practice to get better. Now, I am seeing the same things with karate. He really loves it, and is willing to do whatever he is taught in class and work hard at it. Even at home I see him practicing. He even read a book on karate, and then went to Club Penguin to see what order the belts go in, and decorated his room with all karate theme. Or should I say, he created a do jo. (not sure how you spell that.) We even watched all 3 “Karate Kid” movies with him, just before he started his lessons. Yesterday, I asked him if he wanted to keep taking lessons through the summer. He smiled and shook his head. He then told me, “How else will I reach my goal?” I said, “What’s your goal?” He said ,”To get a high level black belt.” Okay, well there you go. He is VERY passionate about this right now, and therefore motivated and driven.
He is also very interested in the Christopher Paolini trilogy we are reading, and we are now about to start the third one, “Brisingr.” He is NOT however, interested in the pile of books I picked up at the library. He has no context to be interested in them. I won’t push, but they are there in case, haha…….
I also noticed that when we did the little bit of reading on the astronomy site, he said he’d be more interested in astronomy if he had a telescope. Well, now who wouldn’t? The one time I got to see some planets through a telescope at a party, I was fascinated. Then Keith and I had a date, where we laid in the back yard and watched the meteor showers. That was super cool! It was enough to intrigue me to learn more about astronomy, one day when I get the chance. So I am hoping that we will get to go to the Franklin Institute Observatory soon.
Caleb is also very interested in History through books, and audio cds and videos, such as “Liberty’s Kids.” He is NOT however, interested in writing, one single bit. He loathes the idea of writing anything. He has no context for it. He tells me, mom I write stuff to my friends on my computer games. So, that is all the writing he needs right now, and all that he can see the use for writing. And I have to be okay with that. What I am not okay with, is that I have nothing to show at the end of the year to the school district. That makes me mad, because if they decide he’s not getting enough they can say he needs to go into school. Bah! I just pray that doesn’t happen. Oh and math, I have a hard time, seeing the learning he has had on that. How will I log that? I do have some written math stuff for him, but will it be enough to satisfy the school. He is very adept at kinex and legos. He has made some wonderful creations with those. He also watched videos to learn how to solve the Rubix cube, and learned about algorhythms. (not sure how to spell that) I also played a game with dice with him, to learn powers. He obviously didn’t master these concepts, but he was introduced to them in a real way that makes sense to him now. He simply does not understand the point of long division. I told him, no worries, if you encounter the need for long division ever in your life, you will probably just use a calculator.
Spelling, however, interests Caleb enough that he will go through lists of words with me and spell them out loud. He doesn’t mind reading a bit about grammar, but really doesn’t see his need for it right now. Nor do I. So we touched on it this year, but only briefly.
He is very interested in music. This year we discovered “High School Musical” and he has been playing the YouTube videos quite often. He also like to play around with the djembe from time to time. He has told me he wants steel drums. Just yesterday, he picked up the kids guitar we have and made a song up. It sounded mellow. He later told me, he found a new instrument he would like to learn. The guitar. Well, we have got that covered now don’t we. Now Keith has a real context and reason to teach guitar lessons.
Just some of my thoughts and processing for now. I am beginning to see the unschooling working………..and it’s very rewarding!!!
May 1, 2009
Astronomy…….
Today Caleb and I checked out an Astronomy site for a bit. We read about what astronomy is, and reviewed a huge list of famous astronomer’s from history. Galileo being one of them of course. I hope to find a book on him. Anyway, we also read about Pluto, and Jupiter a bit. The cool thing is that Caleb said he’d be more interested in learning all of this if he had a telescope, and a friend just offered me one this week. So hopefully, we will be getting it soon. We also plan to go the Franklin Institute soon and check out the observatory.
April 29, 2009
Mellow day……
I woke up this morning to a darkness, that I could only assume was due to rain. I had to jet out the door to run a few errands, but halted shortly after I took one step out. Brr, it was cold. Funny thing, the past two days we had to run the a.c., thanks to the lovely April heatwave. Strange weather we keep having this year, so fickle. After taking the time to go back in and grab a coat, I headed out to get my supplies for the household, a stop at Starbucks seemed an absolute must on a day like this.
After returning home from my stops, I took all four eager boys to the library to stock up on movies. Today would most definitely be a movie day. Caleb chose to run up to the library and meet us there. So we headed down the street, around the corner and the next corner, down the street around the corner and the next corner to park. It’s only a block from the house, but I didn’t want to walk up and back with the boys in the cold wet weather. We headed in to make our selections. Each boy making the choice of his viewing pleasure. Christian quickly found the toys and made himself busy. I searched the shelves to see if they had “Brisingr”, as we are nearing the end of “Eldest”. They didn’t so I made sure to ask for it at the desk and had it put it on hold. Can’t wait!! After our goal was reached we all piled back into the car and headed the short distance home. Once home, Christian and Clark plopped down in front of Teletubbies, while Caleb and Colby cleaned the basement.
I am not sure how much of the day went from there. The basic cleaning up, feeding everyone, sibling squabbles and various activities ensued. Caleb spent some time on Club Penguin. Colby took some time to create a necklace, while daddy had the littler two out of the house. The only safe time to do a craft of that nature. Caleb and I read a bit of “Eldest”, it just keeps getting better and better. Christian actually took an amazing nap. Clark spent time with the Mighty Mind tiles, with much requested assitance from me. Colby read aloud a page or two of ”Phonics Pathways” to me. Popcorn was made twice. Caleb and Colby went out to shoot hoops for a bit in the neighbors driveway. I spent some time on and off reading my new John Holt books I had just picked up at the library. The boys watched “Air Buddies” twice.
Now I am just taking some time to record our happenings whilst getting dinner ready. I am in a dreamy mood. Longing to make some of our dreams and plans come to fruition, but feeling like they are a long way off. So, I remind myself, to just enjoy the moment and take life one day at a time!!
April 26, 2009
Liberty’s Kids……
Recently I picked up a Liberty’s Kids dvd. I was thrilled to find it. I also then found the whole series of the show being sold on Amazon for around $45 or so. I am definitely going to purchase them when I get some extra money. So, today Caleb and I watched them together. A wonderful way to learn some good ole American history.
April 23, 2009
A book to remember……
“Online Activities for Kids. Projects for school extra credit, or just plain fun!” by Preston Gralla
This book has lots of cool ideas in it. I know I won’t use them all, but I like the info. and the links and thinking outside the box.
I found one activity that we may do, called “Who wants to be a millionare”, and the site they use is, www.moneyopolis.com. I will definitely check it out.
Another one of the projects is called “Poetry Showcase” – go to http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/scramble.htm
And also www.shakespeare.com/Poetry/ - here you will find a group of words that Shakespeare used to write his plays and poetry. Use the words to write a poem in the same way that you wrote your other poems. Title it in and write it in your poetry notebook. To write another poem, click the ROLL THE DICE on the left hand side of the page and a new set of words will appear. For more poetry practice, go to www.bbc.co.uk/education/listenandwrite/ – run by the BBC. Here you will learn many different ways to write poetry, such as using similes, and even writing raps. Click on a section, such as WORLD OF WONDER WORDS and follow the directions for writing different poems. After you’ve written a poem, title it and write it in your poetry notebook. You can also send your finished poems to the web site and they may be posted in their “Showcase” section. Check out the poems by other kids in the Showcase.
There are more activities that look interesting to me, I may post about later. But, mainly I just wanted to post about the book, so I will check it out again sometime.
April 23, 2009
Ideas brewing……
Things I want to get for us…………for the sake of learning.
- a cd player for the boys room
- an mp3 player for Caleb
- a book light for Caleb and Colby, that will last
- poetry magnets
- stuff for the boys to build
- go to another museum next week or some sort of field trip
- get more music and instruments (and play and listen to it more)
- Guerilla Learning. Grace Llewelyn (this sounds like a really good one!!)
All for now…..
April 18, 2009
Book sale…….
What a glorious day!! Finally!! Spring has sprung and it darn well better stick!!! The whole family went across the street to the elementary school cafeteria for a pancake breakfast today. Our friendly neighborhood mailman, David gave us free tickets. After breakfast I took the 3 younger boys to the tot lot and realized that the spring book sale was going on at the community center. So after playing a bit, I took the boys home and headed back up with cash in my pocket. I found a bunch of kids books, well for Caleb mainly and one day Colby. He is getting excited about reading!! He read twice with me yesterday, that was fun! I love it when they are the ones motivating the learning!! Anyway, here are the books I picked up; “Caddie Woodlawn,” “Pippi Longstocking,” ”Stone Fox,” “Mr. Popper’s Penguins”, “Encyclopedia Brown #1″, “Babe Ruth ( A Childhood of Famous Americans book), “The Borrower’s Aloft”, “The Black Cauldron”, “Hoot”, “The Hundred Dresses”, “The Bronze Bow”, “Amelia Earhart. Young Aviator”, “The Cricket in Times Square” and Frank Peretti’s “The Cooper Kids Adventure Series” which includes 4 titles. I will be giving that to Jacob for his birthday gift today. Seventeen books for $11.50, not bad.