Week two today began today with another nice quiet, relaxing morning of the kids playing and taking a moment to have breakfast and start their day. Mark took Lotus to the Childrens Center preschool for half a day of fun. The house is so much quieter when she is gone, sorry Lotus. Two more weeks and she will be three and out of the terrible two's. Yeah! At 9:20, Lee, Julian's tutor arrived. She is coming twice a week to help the kids with their school work. She is a retired school teacher from up north and who also works as a real estate agent. Things are slow around here so she is doing more tutoring.
We set up at the kitchen table, I pulled out all of the 2nd grade work books that we had for Julian and Bella and went over an outline of what the kids need to work on with her. Sight words and basic spelling for Bella, Julian it was grammer and begining multiplication. I got out of the way and they went to work. The kids were eager to do it. I went upstairs to organize and put Bodhi to bed, an hour later when I came down they were busy with books open and smiles on their faces. They seemed very serious about it.
I went for a jog, yes...my day was great, and came back to the last 30 minutes of learning. Lee told me what were their weaknesses and what books we need for them. It was great, private tutoring in our home. It felt great. Later, after Lee had left we had lunch. Mark came downstairs from working in his office (bella and Lotus now share a room) and we ate and played together. It was so nice. The kids played on Funbrain doing computer games that develope their visual perception. When Lotus came home later, I put her down for nap and fell asleep, when I awoke I found Julian and Bella drawing character for a concept Mark wants to do. No tv, all day, no video games. I took them for a bike ride and we stopped by a great ice cream store.
The day ended with a walk to the end of the street with the little ones and pot stickers and rice for dinner.
Super tired now, Marks at a movie, getting ready for Oscar!!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
In the begining
I need to remind myself that it is only day three of home schooling, that I am more interested in the unschooling approach, which means they learn just be experience and to trust that even though they are not sitting at a desk with a book open and a teacher explaining which page to turn to, that they are still learning. I realize that I'm not exatcly organized with any kind of learning program. I'm actually on my own with no idea what to do. Yesterday I pulled out a couple of those kids workbooks for specific grades. Bella loves them, they are just like school, color the red squares, count the children on each slide, etc. Julian did some word finds. He loves journaling and asks to do it every day. I find they are much more creative, playful and responsible. Julian watches over Bodhi more and without question will do his chores. Bella has been creating a store where she sells things, and makes announcements about sales and opening and closing times. Everything just seems to flow better. Yesterday I went jogging and the kids came on their bikes. It was great. We also went to the Sanibel library to research "Jesus" and "Colorado", I don't really like libraries, I find them boring and I get sleepy. The kids however did enjoy it and was surprised to find Julian looking at books.
Today, I don't know what i'm doing. I'm taking them with me to go teach Yoga to the little ones at the school and then to reading hour at the library. Later Bella has cheerleading and Julian has a football game. I need to find some kind of resource that gives me daily assignments. That is easy to do. Also once I am caught up on my to do list it will be easier to organize the school work. I am learning and going with the flow.
Today, I don't know what i'm doing. I'm taking them with me to go teach Yoga to the little ones at the school and then to reading hour at the library. Later Bella has cheerleading and Julian has a football game. I need to find some kind of resource that gives me daily assignments. That is easy to do. Also once I am caught up on my to do list it will be easier to organize the school work. I am learning and going with the flow.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
let it go....
Well the idea that everyday works out exactly as we vision is out the door. Today I had a plan, do computer math program, creative story telling project, visit library to learn how to locate information, check out books on Jesus and Colorado in preparation for the kids ski trip in February. I had to go into town to look for some furniture and a new bed for Julian and be back in time to take him to his football practice.
The day stared pretty good, I was able to squeeze out another 15 minutes of sleep while the kids played. Woke up and we went down stairs for our yoga class before breakfast. (although, does pirate booty count as breakfast?) Not bad, Bella did better than Julian but over all it was a great experience and I feel they got a lot out of it. Julian seemed to do better when I told him he was getting a grade for yoga. We did basic stretching, om'ing, and 4 rounds of sun salutations. It was a little hard to do with Bodhi trying to sit on my legs during the plank pose and Lotus crying here and there, that's life, you focus on the moment.ooohhhhhmmmmmmmm.
Well I guess it went wrong with the computer program, I hadn't really looked at it for Bella, turns out it was too hard so she ended up playing a computer game. I put this down to computer lab time. Then Julian wanted to play it, then they didn't want to stop. It was bad, they were learning games and creative so it wasn't a total failure. It just put us behind. The next project seemed to take forever. I asked them to look through magazines and pull out pictures of things to make a story. Then paste them on a piece of paper and write the story. Jules did excellent in this department. Then we took all the kids, Bodhi and Lotus too, to go to the library, I packed a lunch and planned to eat it at the park, instead of in my car like usual. Well park time cut into library time and to make it all fit in I cut the library time out of the day. This did not feel good.
Lotus was a terror today, crying and screaming all day. I was constantly putting her in her room for a time out. It was definetly harder with her. I even put Elmo on, that helped for 15 minutes. Then she would follow me around, cry if I left the room, she would blow her whistle while the kids were doing their work. Aaggghhh, it's been a hard day.
Tomorrow Lotus goes to school, yeah, so I plan to do the library for sure. I also need to get some exercise. I was planning on having the kids ride their bikes with me while I run. I'm tired, I need to do a little reading and relax. What I really need to do, is take a shower, read recipe books and prepare my monthly dinner menu and buying guide, do Bodhi's scrapebook, the kids India scrapbook, plan my Inauguration party, move Mark's office downstairs, move Lotus upstairs to Bella's room, cut my toe nails and meditate. What to do???
Hey at least I did my blog, right!!
The day stared pretty good, I was able to squeeze out another 15 minutes of sleep while the kids played. Woke up and we went down stairs for our yoga class before breakfast. (although, does pirate booty count as breakfast?) Not bad, Bella did better than Julian but over all it was a great experience and I feel they got a lot out of it. Julian seemed to do better when I told him he was getting a grade for yoga. We did basic stretching, om'ing, and 4 rounds of sun salutations. It was a little hard to do with Bodhi trying to sit on my legs during the plank pose and Lotus crying here and there, that's life, you focus on the moment.ooohhhhhmmmmmmmm.
Well I guess it went wrong with the computer program, I hadn't really looked at it for Bella, turns out it was too hard so she ended up playing a computer game. I put this down to computer lab time. Then Julian wanted to play it, then they didn't want to stop. It was bad, they were learning games and creative so it wasn't a total failure. It just put us behind. The next project seemed to take forever. I asked them to look through magazines and pull out pictures of things to make a story. Then paste them on a piece of paper and write the story. Jules did excellent in this department. Then we took all the kids, Bodhi and Lotus too, to go to the library, I packed a lunch and planned to eat it at the park, instead of in my car like usual. Well park time cut into library time and to make it all fit in I cut the library time out of the day. This did not feel good.
Lotus was a terror today, crying and screaming all day. I was constantly putting her in her room for a time out. It was definetly harder with her. I even put Elmo on, that helped for 15 minutes. Then she would follow me around, cry if I left the room, she would blow her whistle while the kids were doing their work. Aaggghhh, it's been a hard day.
Tomorrow Lotus goes to school, yeah, so I plan to do the library for sure. I also need to get some exercise. I was planning on having the kids ride their bikes with me while I run. I'm tired, I need to do a little reading and relax. What I really need to do, is take a shower, read recipe books and prepare my monthly dinner menu and buying guide, do Bodhi's scrapebook, the kids India scrapbook, plan my Inauguration party, move Mark's office downstairs, move Lotus upstairs to Bella's room, cut my toe nails and meditate. What to do???
Hey at least I did my blog, right!!
Monday, January 5, 2009
easy peasy
Today was the first day of home schooling Julian and Bella, and we made it. We are alive, breathing, loving and manifesting. We didn't explode, we didn't fight or destroy each other as some had probably envisioned. In fact it was awsome.
We started the morning like any other school day, all the kids rise around 7am, I managed to relax until 7:30. Usually it is a stressful, yelling mix of commands to motivate the kids and ourselves downstairs to eat, dress, pack lunches and get to school before the 8am bell and gates close. But today, we took our time to play upstairs. I think I picked up a little, kids colored and wrestled on the floor. Of course Lotus had found something to eat, she always does.
We merrily floated downstairs, singing and relaxed to eat breakfast. Mark's out of town, so feeding the four can be a little like feeding zoo time. Bagels, apples and oj. Kids ate, played and got dressed. No yelling, no fighting, just floating.
Left the house around 8:30am and headed to the beach, pulled right up, parked and walked down the wooden bridge to the bright sunny sky. Breezy, warm but not hot, silky sand and a relaxed feeling of life is good. We brought along bags to collect shells for our art project this week. Bodhi tried to chase birds while Lotus danced on sandcastles. I helped Bella find shells and Julian the pro-sheller independently collected his own. A few people walked the beach in the morning, no other kids in sight. Julian even commented that it felt weird to be out and thought poeple might be looking at him and wondering why he wasn't at school. OOOaahhh! School skipper.
When it felt right (about 20 minutes later) we packed back into the car and drove Lotus to school. That's right the two year old still goes. Not ready for her full time yet!!!!! Dropped her off, Julian and Bella clung closely at their old preschool. Meanwhile Bodhi was found flying down the slide head first. I promise I'm a good mother. Lotus was happy so home we went. Maida was their cleaning, thank you god, I put Bodhi to sleep and had the kids start their chores. Suprisingly they went straight to it, no complaints, no questions, no whining. Julian had the delightful job of scooping out the kitty poop. (Punishment for not listening yesterday) Bella got the ideal job of cleaning the alter and preparing it for offering. Julian also took out the recycling and cleaned the tv from all it's little handprints. Great job Julian. Bella cleaned the giant glass sliders downstairs. Another great job!
Then it was school time, they were eagerly interested to know what they had to do. I asked them to write a letter about what was the best thing about Christmas and to draw a picture. They both wrote quite a bit and did basic drawings. Obviously art was not the importance in school. I told them not to worry about spelling or punctuation, the story was most important. I organized the home school supplies while they did their work. Next they started writing in their journals, but Bodhi woke up and we all went out to get the car cleaned (soooooooo bad) and have lunch. It was nice, a little rushed, but longer than the 25 minutes the school gave them. We had to get back to pick up Lotus at 1:30pm. I noticed on the car ride home that Bodhi and Julian were playing and Bodhi was enjoying it. It seemed that maybe because they had more time together Julian could just hand with Bodhi, instead of always being in his face and trying to tackle him. We felt more like a family. It felt good. Happy heart.
Picked up Lotus and came home, both babies took a nap and Julian and Bella finished writing in their journals and read books for about an hour. Everytime Julian asked me how to spell something I would write it down on an index card and give it to him. This way we have spelling words to practice. He didn't like the idea of this and turned to the dictionary to try and find words for himself.....did I not do a great job today. Thank you Tenya, I feel proud.
That was about it, we all went for a walk later, talked about Jesus (only because Bella's asking why it's bad to say "Oh Jesus" when she is frustrated) and tomorrow will learn about the story of Jesus. Oh yeah, before bed, instead of playing the ususal video game or watching tv, they played tinker toys and created imaginary objects. Good day.
We started the morning like any other school day, all the kids rise around 7am, I managed to relax until 7:30. Usually it is a stressful, yelling mix of commands to motivate the kids and ourselves downstairs to eat, dress, pack lunches and get to school before the 8am bell and gates close. But today, we took our time to play upstairs. I think I picked up a little, kids colored and wrestled on the floor. Of course Lotus had found something to eat, she always does.
We merrily floated downstairs, singing and relaxed to eat breakfast. Mark's out of town, so feeding the four can be a little like feeding zoo time. Bagels, apples and oj. Kids ate, played and got dressed. No yelling, no fighting, just floating.
Left the house around 8:30am and headed to the beach, pulled right up, parked and walked down the wooden bridge to the bright sunny sky. Breezy, warm but not hot, silky sand and a relaxed feeling of life is good. We brought along bags to collect shells for our art project this week. Bodhi tried to chase birds while Lotus danced on sandcastles. I helped Bella find shells and Julian the pro-sheller independently collected his own. A few people walked the beach in the morning, no other kids in sight. Julian even commented that it felt weird to be out and thought poeple might be looking at him and wondering why he wasn't at school. OOOaahhh! School skipper.
When it felt right (about 20 minutes later) we packed back into the car and drove Lotus to school. That's right the two year old still goes. Not ready for her full time yet!!!!! Dropped her off, Julian and Bella clung closely at their old preschool. Meanwhile Bodhi was found flying down the slide head first. I promise I'm a good mother. Lotus was happy so home we went. Maida was their cleaning, thank you god, I put Bodhi to sleep and had the kids start their chores. Suprisingly they went straight to it, no complaints, no questions, no whining. Julian had the delightful job of scooping out the kitty poop. (Punishment for not listening yesterday) Bella got the ideal job of cleaning the alter and preparing it for offering. Julian also took out the recycling and cleaned the tv from all it's little handprints. Great job Julian. Bella cleaned the giant glass sliders downstairs. Another great job!
Then it was school time, they were eagerly interested to know what they had to do. I asked them to write a letter about what was the best thing about Christmas and to draw a picture. They both wrote quite a bit and did basic drawings. Obviously art was not the importance in school. I told them not to worry about spelling or punctuation, the story was most important. I organized the home school supplies while they did their work. Next they started writing in their journals, but Bodhi woke up and we all went out to get the car cleaned (soooooooo bad) and have lunch. It was nice, a little rushed, but longer than the 25 minutes the school gave them. We had to get back to pick up Lotus at 1:30pm. I noticed on the car ride home that Bodhi and Julian were playing and Bodhi was enjoying it. It seemed that maybe because they had more time together Julian could just hand with Bodhi, instead of always being in his face and trying to tackle him. We felt more like a family. It felt good. Happy heart.
Picked up Lotus and came home, both babies took a nap and Julian and Bella finished writing in their journals and read books for about an hour. Everytime Julian asked me how to spell something I would write it down on an index card and give it to him. This way we have spelling words to practice. He didn't like the idea of this and turned to the dictionary to try and find words for himself.....did I not do a great job today. Thank you Tenya, I feel proud.
That was about it, we all went for a walk later, talked about Jesus (only because Bella's asking why it's bad to say "Oh Jesus" when she is frustrated) and tomorrow will learn about the story of Jesus. Oh yeah, before bed, instead of playing the ususal video game or watching tv, they played tinker toys and created imaginary objects. Good day.
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