Weekly Wrap-Up: June 29

For a week that I expected to be quiet, it sure flew by!  I can't say that we were really that busy, but we still managed to be out and about every day.  As the girls get older, they get busier, happily for them, not necessarily so happily for mom who gets to chauffeur them around.

We had a get-together at my sister's house, about two hours away, on Sunday.  I am the youngest of six, and all six of us were there.  That doesn't happen very often!  Just the four youngest (of twelve) grandchildren were there (the youngest being Turtlegirl).

Monday, the girls started volunteering at the nature center in a neighboring town.  I expected it to take longer than it did, so I did a couple of errands and went home, thinking that I would have an hour or so at home before I had to go back to get them.  But I was only home about ten minutes when Swimmah called to say they were done.  Next time I'll hang out at the Barnes & Noble that's about 5 minutes from the nature center while I'm waiting.

I thought we were going to have a day at home on Tuesday, but Turtlegirl was invited to a friend's house.  After I got back from dropping her off, Swimmah and I started watching Romeo and Juliet.  Then she got a phone call from the library about the volunteer application she filled out and could she come talk to them?  So out we went to the library where she had her first "interview" (good practice!).  She will help out shelving books in the young adult section, as well as anything else they may need help with (and possibly making suggestions for books for purchase!) for an hour or so on Friday afternoons.  We'll have to get back to Romeo and Juliet another time.

A friend of mine has been coordinating hikes every week for homeschooled teens and their families.  If you're in Connecticut and would like to join us, you can check that out here.  The day varies based on her schedule as well as the other regulars.  This week we met on Thursday afternoon.  It was a short hike out to the legendary (in this area) Indian Council Caves.  Apparently there is no evidence that Native Americans held council meetings there, but there have been numerous Native American artifacts found at the caves, so I guess it sounds more romantic to think of big council meetings being held there than just using it as a shelter while out hunting and gathering.

It's really huge boulders coming together to form a sheltered area, rather than what I usually think of as a "cave".

But it was pretty cool, and we could climb around and on top of the boulders, although there were too many trees around for much of a view.

So then Swimmah had her first day volunteering at the library on Friday.  I thought she was only going to be about an hour, so I decided to hang out at the library while waiting for her.  This time she was longer than I expected, so I ended up going out to the store to buy cups for the fruit salad I volunteered to make for the swim team concession stand and then came back for her.  If I had known she was going to be that long, I would have run another errand I still need to do...but that's the way it goes sometimes, huh?

Back home, we still had to do our weekly chores and I had to make that fruit salad, and the girls had to get ready for the swim meet scheduled for the evening.  Both girls swam well, there were a couple of personal best times, but Swimmah was disappointed that the 500 yard freestyle was cut from the meet because of time constraints.  I guess she has taken about 10 seconds off her time in practice, but it doesn't count because she hasn't done it in a meet in a while.  Oh well, hopefully next time.

Oh, I also found out that we've been missing the Olympic swim trials all week!  That's what comes of not watching network TV, I guess.  We've been streaming episodes of Merlin all week, and before that there was...something...and before that, Dr. Who, and so we haven't watched anything on NBC in ages.  I think there's one more night of trials tonight.

So there's our "quiet" week.  I have a feeling this is how it's going to be for a while now - until they can start driving themselves around, anyway.

This post is linked to Weekly Wrap-Up.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Guzzie by Turtlegirl:

Top Ten Questions People Ask Me and My Kids About Homeschooling

When you do something different from the mainstream, you tend to get asked a lot of questions.  Homeschooling seems to strike a chord with almost everyone, as almost everyone has gone to school.  Why would we choose differently?  Some people seem to take our decision rather personally, although it had nothing to do with them, but most seem genuinely curious.  When people find out that we homeschool, there are some fairly predictable questions we get asked, some more common for me, and some more common for Swimmah and Turtlegirl.  

The top ten questions we get asked are:

1. "Are you going to homeschool through high school?" I have been asked this question probably the most frequently, right from the time we started homeschooling when my kids were 6 and 4 years old.  Back then, my response was typically, "We'll see when we get there."  Now we are there and people are still asking if we're going to continue through high school.  
2. When I say "yes", the next question inevitably is, "What about chemistry?" Occasionally they'll ask about algebra or physics, but it's usually chemistry.   Then I explain that they can take classes online, or at a community college, or we can get together with some other homeschoolers and hire a teacher - or maybe one of the other parents could teach something like chemistry (or algebra or physics).  Or we could find some books and do it ourselves at home like we have with every other subject.
3. Then there's usually a moment where they think for a minute or so and then ask, "What time do you start in the morning?"  I kind of cringe inside when they ask this one, because to be honest, we're not morning people.  We tend to be slow to get moving in the morning.  I try to get us going by 10:00 and usually we're pretty close to that.  Swimmah's good about starting her routine (practice piano, then study French, then math, then Shakespeare...) around 10 without me reminding her.
4. Then another moment, and, "Do you have to do standardized tests?"  "Well, it varies by state, but in Connecticut, no."
5. At this point, they either look baffled or indignant.  "How do you know they're learning?"  I want to say, "Um, I live with them...And I talk to them..."  In the early days of our homeschooling, I was genuinely confused by this question.  But one day, the light bulb went on in my head - if someone's only experience with learning is in a traditional school setting, with a teacher lecturing to a large group - indeed, how would the teacher know that the students are learning?  But at home, we have a student-teacher ratio of 1:2 or even 1:1.  We can have a dialogue going the whole time.  When they were little, I would see the things we were learning in their play.  Now that they're older, they are expected to do some writing or projects, and in the case of math, workbook pages and tests.  And if they're not getting it, they don't just get a bad grade and we move on.  We do it again until they do get it - maybe taking a different approach, or taking a break and coming back to it later.
6. "Do you wear your pajamas?"  Yes, my kids do.  I like to exercise, shower and get dressed before we start, though  (which partly explains the later start time).
7. My kids have been asked, "Isn't weird to have your Mom as your teacher?"   "Well, as she's been my teacher for almost as long as I can remember - no."  It's interesting to think about the different relationships/family dynamics homeschooling can create.  Rather than an outside teacher being the expert and the parents being "clueless", homeschooled kids see their parents as knowledgeable (at least a little bit).  Not that we don't have our clueless moments as well...
8. They also get asked, "Don't you get tired of being at home?"  "Don't you get tired of being at school?  And we don't actually stay at home all the time, anyway."  I do actually let my kids out of the house now and again.
9. They have even been asked, "Do you have any friends?"  Rather indignantly, "Yes!"  It's really kind of funny to think about the image many people have of what homeschooling looks like.  They think we just sit at home around the kitchen table by ourselves all day.  In reality, we often overbook with outside activities.  We get together with other homeschoolers for park days and classes and book discussion groups.  We had a homeschool Girl Scout troop for seven years, and now my girls are part of a community service group (all homeschoolers).  Homeschoolers also participate in town or YMCA sports, dance or martial arts classes, and many other activities.
10. But I think the question they get asked the most, followed by a snicker, is, "Do you have homework?"  They either answer with a smile, "It's all homework!", or they patiently explain that they do, in fact, get homework for classes taken outside the home.

Then when they have asked all the questions they could think of, they say, "I could never do that." or "I don't have the patience."

Yeah.  That's what I used to think, too.  **Snicker**

This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday

Weekly Wrap-Up: June 22

Why do things tend to come all at once?  We had two days this week with three activities scheduled, and a couple of other days with nothing.  Not that I'm complaining about quiet days at home, particularly because we did need them to recover after the days when we were running around.

We started the week out by spending a lovely Father's Day on the water.  My husband's request for Father's Day was for all of us to go fishing with him -and actually fish.  We gave it our best shot, but we didn't catch anything, because the wind was blowing from the east, and you know the saying - "East blow, don't go."  Never heard that before?  Oh, well, you know it now.  But no matter, we had a good time anyway.  We anchored the boat at an island where we had lunch.  The girls swam a bit (the water was actually like bathwater in the shallows!) and we collected sea water to bring home and observe under the microscope.  We made a makeshift plankton net from the sheer curtains I took down last week and tried to collect plankton with that.  I think we'll have to try that again another time.  We did find some cool stuff in there, though:

A baby crab

Seaweed

And this one looks familiar, only this is the salt water version:

Tonight, the girls have their piano/trumpet recital, so they have been practicing lots for that.  Wednesday morning, Turtlegirl's trumpet teacher came for a last pre-recital lesson, then we went to the park for Park Day from 10-12.  Then both girls needed to be at the local nature center for a volunteer training session at 1:00.  Not to mention the usual swim practice at 5:30.  Phew!  Thursday gave us a relaxing day at home, at least until swim practice late in the day.

Today we had an end-of-year picnic with some homeschool friends, the same day as my husband's company picnic.  The girls and I went to the homeschool picnic (after bringing one daughter to the doctor for pink eye), and he went to his company picnic.  Now we're home relaxing before we head back out for the recital this evening.

I think next week will be quieter...

This post is linked to Weekly Wrap-Up

Wordless Wednesday

10 Reasons We are Eclectic, Relaxed Homeschoolers

If you have read the "About Me" section of this blog, you know that I consider us eclectic homeschoolers.  I have also always considered us "relaxed" homeschoolers, meaning that we are not school-at-homers, but not quite unschoolers either.  Being certified as a Montessori teacher (primary level, AKA: pre-school) I started out homeschooling thinking that we would use the Montessori method.  I quickly discovered, however, that the more money and/or time I spent on Montessori materials, the less likely my kids were to use them.  They're contrary like that.  But that doesn't mean that I abandoned the philosophies that drew me to the Montessori method in the first place.  And I found many of the same philosophies in other methods as well, such Charlotte Mason, and to a greater extent, Thomas Jefferson Education.

So these are the top 10 reasons we homeschool the way we do:

1. We prefer an individualized education.  No two people are exactly alike, so why should their education be exactly alike?  Everyone has their own unique combination of strengths and weaknesses, interests and aptitudes.  Education should reflect that.
2. No boring textbooks.  Nothing kills interest like a dull, dry textbook.  I think back to how much I hated science and history in school, and it was because of the boring textbooks.  Once I was out of school and started learning from real-life sources and "living books", I found that science and history are two of my favorite subjects!
3. We are more relaxed in the early years.  Young children learn by playing.  My children always made it abundantly clear when I started being too structured and formal for them.  So I would take a deep breath, remember why we were homeschooling in the first place, and "follow the child".
4. They naturally will start to get more serious about their studies as they get older, particularly in their areas of interest.  They are also more open to working on areas of weaknesses, as they are able to envision goals for their lives (even if they just want to go to college, but don't have any plans beyond that, for example) and can see where that area (read: math) may be helpful. 
5. I try to follow my children's interests.  We are all more likely to remember what we are interested in.  Yes, that makes more work for me.  But I would rather spend my time inspiring them to want to learn something than forcing them to do something they don't want to do, because then they're just going through the motions and not really learning anyway.  Then it's just a big waste of time and effort for us all.  And yes, sometimes in life we all have to do things we don't really want to do - ask my kids about cleaning the bathroom.
6. I love the flexibility this allows us.  We are not tied to any arbitrarily imposed schedules or a canned curriculum's lesson plan.  We can take a day off if it's nice out and we want to meet some friends for a hike, or go for a field trip, or even if we're all out of sorts and just need to get out of the house.  Or if we're learning about xyz and it's just not grabbing us, we can drop it, and either come back to it later, or not at all, depending on what it is.  If it's something like fractions, we come back to it later, because they will need to know how to work with fractions at some point in their lives.  But they didn't seem all that interested in watching the hawks on the hawk-cam fledge.  I don't think their lives will be negatively impacted for not having seen it, even if I thought it was pretty cool.
7. We want our children to be life-long learners.  By following their interests, often on their own, they are learning life habits of, well, learning, which is something we want them to see the value in continuing. 
8. We want our children to learn how to think, not just what to think.  This is definitely a work in progress, and probably always will be.  So often in traditional schools, the emphasis is on memorizing and spitting the information back out on the test.  We want them to be able to apply that information, rather than just memorizing it.
9. Books, lots of books.  If we are going to learn by reading living books rather than textbooks, we end up having lots of them around.  And I love books and reading!
10. I have time to pursue my own learning.  When they were younger, they spent less time on academics, and now that they're older, they work more independently.  This allows me time to read and do activities of my own interests, like writing a blog.

What are some of the reasons you homeschool the way you do?

This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday at  http://www.manylittleblessings.com/

Field Trip to Mystic Aquarium

Last Monday, we visited the Mystic Aquarium to kick off our study of marine biology.  As usual, we saw some amazing sights!  Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures of two of my favorites sights: a penguin with a sprained ankle, with a bright blue cast/bandage on his leg.  As if penguins don't look funny enough when they walk, this one had a limp.  Poor little guy!

Another really cool thing we didn't get a picture of was an octopus' tentacles spread across the glass of his tank.  They usually spend most of their time hiding, but the tank was being cleaned, so I think that's why he was out.  We had an excellent view of all the suction cups on his tentacles.

Now for (some of) the pictures we did get:

We checked out the beluga whales first, as we always do because they're closest to the entrance.  They're in an outdoor habitat and the sun was shining on the tank glass, so the pictures didn't come out great.  The youngest one (9 yrs. old) was in a particularly playful mood that morning!  He had what looked like an indoor/outdoor rug and was swimming around with it in his mouth, dropping it and grabbing it again.

I love how they look like they're always smiling.

Almost missed this close-up!

Now you see it....

Now you don't.

The moray eels are so creepy, yet strangely intriguing...

There were a couple of loggerhead turtle hatchlings at the aquarium.  They will be released when they are ready back to the wild in North Carolina.

The last thing we did was check out the Titanic exhibit, which we have seen before, but this time we watched a video of  Dr. Robert Ballard's ongoing exploration of the ocean floor.  It was very interesting and we learned that the next expedition will be July 1-September 1, and will be streamed live online here.  We will definitely remember to watch that!

All in all, it was a great day!

This post is linked to The Homeschool Field Trip Blog Hop

Weekly Wrap-Up: June 15

All in all, this has been a fairly productive week.  Last weekend, Swimmah had her first long-course swim meet, which means that they swim in a 50 meter pool, rather than a 25 yard pool used for the regular YMCA swim meets.  (Note: Turtlegirl also swims, but is content with the 25-yd pools.)  Swimmah did well and enjoyed it, but was pretty tired out the rest of the day.  So was I - check-in time was 7:45am at a pool about 45 minutes away.  Most of these meets are further away with an earlier start time, which is why Turtlegirl didn't want to sign up for these!  I can't say as I blame her...

On Monday, the three of us went to Mystic Aquarium to kick off our study of Marine Biology.  Highlights of the trip: the youngest beluga whale was playing with a blanket (or maybe it was a rug?); one of the penguins had a sprained ankle (I don't think we got a picture of it, though); the octopus had all his tentacles spread out over the glass of his tank - very cool!  More to come in another post.

I also spent some time in my garden, thinning the Black-eyed Susans that were threatening to take over the entire garden.  I had one friend who was willing to take some, but there was a whole lot more that I threw out.  I have to say, the garden is looking better now.

Also on the homefront, my cordless cellular shades for the family room came in and we hung those up.  I'm so happy with them, I'm wondering why I didn't do this sooner.  We had white sheer curtains with a valance since we moved here eleven years ago.  I took them down to wash a month or so ago and realized the shape they were in - claw marks from cats trying to look out the windows, paint on the set that was next to the kids' art table.  They were clearly past their prime.  I also couldn't bear to put the navy blue velour valances back up.  They just look so heavy in the summer.  I'll put them back up in the fall, but for now there are empty curtain rods over the new shades.  I'll have to do something about finding something lighter for the warmer months.

Last evening was our natural food co-op monthly delivery.  I help in the kitchen weighing out the bulk items for members.  Now that it's summer, many members are on vacations and getting more food locally, so the order was pretty small.  We were actually done in about an hour and a half.  Often in the winter, it takes us closer to 3 hours to weigh and distribute all the bulk items (that's with 3-4 people working on it).

This afternoon, the girls and I met some friends for a hike.  You can read about that later this weekend, or maybe not until Monday, here.

This post is linked to Weekly Wrap-Up.

Wordless Wednesday

Swimmah on our hike last week

Turtlegirl's Nature Center

I believe I've mentioned before that Turtlegirl has a veritable nature center here in our "all-purpose" room (sometimes called the piano room, sometimes the turtle room).  She has done this previous years, but this year's is the most extensive to date.  Here are some pictures:

One of the newt hatchlings

Some of the toadlets

This one's very shy.  He also has lots of algae - you can see it if you look closely.

The littlest turtle.

The new 40 gallon tank she bought with birthday money.

There are also adult newts, who laid eggs right after she brought them home.  That's where the newt hatchlings came from.  She also has a couple of wood frogs that metamorphosed from tadpoles she caught.  All will be released back to the wild.
Update: The toadlets were released to our garden today, June 7.

This post is linked to Science Sunday.

7 Keys: #7 - You, not Them

If you find yourself getting worried that your child isn't doing xyz, instead of pushing him/her to do it, do it yourself.  S/he just might become interested in xyz after all - although this will backfire if that is your sole purpose in doing it yourself - I speak write from experience here!

Where are your own gaps in your education?  We all have them.  No one can possibly know everything there is to know!  Start reading some classics.  Or maybe you just always wanted to learn to knit, or play guitar, or...you fill in the blank.  What better way for children to learn that learning is a worthwhile pursuit and that it never ends?

I have been reading some of the classic books that I had always heard of but never read.  I learned to knit a couple of years ago.  This year I also started working through Algebra I, and now Geometry, both of which I took in high school but remember almost none of.   My husband has been learning to make his own fishing lures and also how to fix his boat motor.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you ignore your kids.  The point of working on your own education is to improve yourself, yes, but also to inspire your children.  So share the interesting bits with them, and show your interest in their passions. The result will be a lifestyle of learning.