Fresh Year. Fresh Start...

You know, I want to be the mom that can unschool, and be comfortable in/with it. I want my kids to explore their own interests, to have interests. I love the idea of discovery boxes, interest-led studies, and all that.

It doesn't work.

Not for us, anyway. I know there are plenty of people it does work for, and I admire that. Maybe if I didn't work, and I wasn't in college... maybe. Maybe it is just that it is not the best fit for me and my kids. And I need to come to terms with that. I need very much to simplify and streamline, so that I do provide my kids with a good education, not keep finding this path, or that one, or maybe that one over there, and hey, while I'm at it, that one looks good too!

That's why I keep taking down my curriculum-related pages, because I need to really think this through. The Boy will be 12 soon, and The Girl 10. Part of the reason I homeschool is to provide them a solid education, and lately I don't feel I am doing that. They do surprise me with odd things they know that I don't realize they know, and they make some excellent connections, but at the same time I feel that we're falling behind in key areas -- math, reading, writing -- and with The Boy's interests and goals, science.

I'm not sure where I am going with all this. Just a lot of whining, but I've got to get it out somewhere!

Anyhow, on to New Year's...

Reflections on 2012

• I started my Master's program, and made it, intact, through the first semester
• The Girl made definite progress in reading, though I'd love to see more!
• I've managed to keep the house, except the bedrooms, clean since the day before Christmas, which I think might, sadly enough, be a record!
• I lost, and am keeping off so far, between 45-50 pounds!!!
• It has been a challenging year, with M's broken arm and job loss, my own job loss and subsequent re-hire, my BIL moving out with very little notice.
• On the plus side, M is spending a lot of time with the kids, and we're getting some tasks done around the house that have gone undone until now, such as removing the ugly and pointless metal awning over one of our bedroom windows. Plus, with BIL gone, we can do things our way, instead of accommodating his ideas as well.

Today's plans are simple. I have errands to run, a kitchen to clean, and Pad Thai to cook. I'm teaching the kids the joyful art of vacuuming today as well as time allows, to fit in with the goals below.

2013 Goals (instead of resolutions!!!)

• Figure out where we're going with homeschooling right now, and go there
• Keep the house clean! I don't want to live in CHAOS! This is a two-part goal... I have to come up with a sustainable plan for keeping the house clean, AND come up with reasonable chores for the kids.
• Keep the weight off, and lose another 15-20 pounds. We're going to be taking the Real Foods Pledge, which will help with this goal, and our finances!
• I need to write, and absolutely stick to, a budget. I have some debts I'd like to start chipping away at (student loans anyone?).
• Start planning out our veggie garden! We've been slowly double-digging our garden plot, working in chicken manure and alfalfa from the chicken hutch. We did think about raised beds, and would love to have them someday, but for right now, that expense is not in the budget. I'm working on laying out a year's worth of gardening since we live in a mild climate, so I am making a spiffy chart of planting times, harvest times, etc.
• Learn to can things. I helped my mom with canning when I was a kid, but I have yet to do it on my own!
• Keep knitting. It took me a looong time to finish scarf number one, my first official knitting project, and I would like to do more!

There are other, more nebulous goals, like living more in the moment, writing down the good things and putting the slips of paper in a jar to read next New Year's Eve, and so on, and so forth. I think my keyword for the year, obviously, is organization, since most of my goals can be traced right back to that all important word.

Do you have goals, a keyword, or resolutions for 2013?

What *I* Am Reading...

I know I said I probably wouldn't be on here much until after the New Year, but with the house still clean, homeschooling still on a break, my vacation, and no imminent celebrations (New Year's will be very low key), I find I have time after all!

I am really enjoying some time free from assigned reading, and thought I would share what I have piled on the bedside table at the moment...

 This is proving to be an awesome book! I love the ideas of a question board (literally a white/other board that students can add questions to), and discovery boxes, as well as plenty of outdoor time, to stimulate scientific thinking. I love that the author allows for the idea of both child and teacher led studies, in that the teacher may choose the subject(s) and then provides materials, which the kids then use on their own to explore science. I highly recommend this book to anyone who doesn't do well with totally scripted science lessons (like me).

I am definitely planning on trying this out for January. I'm making a very simple list of topics generally covered in 3rd-6th grades, and then will choose a few, make some discovery boxes up, get a few topical books for whichever one we choose to do first, and move forward from there. I am tentatively thinking about one afternoon a week for the bulk of the discovery box work, and one afternoon a week for outdoor work. Of course, the kids will be free to use the discovery box and question board outside that time as well! As far as stocking the discovery boxes, this free pdf from the Lawrence Hall of Science is a fantastic resource!

I am also re-reading The Writer's Jungle... another amazing book. I think I am slowly building up the courage to let go of writing "programs", although I am going to have The Boy try this out, and The Girl will be trying The Arrow: Fairy Tales, which is only available by request since it has been folded into another program from Brave Writer author Julie Bogart. I'm reading all of the Brave Writer Lifestyle articles as well. I'm planning on integrating poetry and copywork - The Boy loves Shel Silverstein, and I picked up Flower Fairies of the Winter at the library for The Girl.


Of course, I also have some "fun" reading on hand, though I haven't decided which of the following books to read first!

 

and

I'll probably just flip through them and see which appeals most at the moment! I don't head back to school myself until mid January, so that gives me a little more time to just relax and enjoy.

Hope you're all having a pleasant end-of-year!

For Curriculum Junkies (like myself)...

My Biggest Homeschooling Mistake: Over-thinking Methods & Philosophies

I'll be busy the next week or so, with all the winter holidays, so I wanted to wish my lovely readers

and

Be safe over the holidays.

Take some time out for peacefulness.

Enjoy your families!

I will see you all in 2013!

Happy Friday to Me!

My last day of work before I get a two-and-a-half week vacation! And it started out with this beautiful sunrise (seen over the neighbor's house)...

Today we're supposed to be having a special park day, one to celebrate all the December birthdays in our group, and there's a fair number of those (makes you wonder what everyone does in March, doesn't it?) ;) But, the forecast is calling for rain, so we'll have to wait and see.

I am very much looking forward to the time off. I finished my first semester of grad school this week, and graded my last batch of papers for the semester, so now I can turn my hand to family, home, and homeschooling.

On the agenda:
~ Deep cleaning the main rooms of the house. By deep cleaning, I mean actually shampooing the carpets, scrubbing the kitchen floor more than the mop does, cleaning the windows, rearranging furniture, etc. The house is pretty tidy right now, but I want it clean! And I'm working on my plans for keeping it clean. That's one of the only downsides to homeschooling... the house always looks very lived in, since we're there a lot more than public-school families.
~ Moving more of the kids' stuff around in their rooms... we're almost done giving them their own spaces at last!
~ Holiday baking and treat making!
~ Finishing up my new plans for homeschooling in winter/spring of 2013!
~ Relaxation. Really. Reading books I don't normally have time to read, playing board games by the fireplace, watching movies with the kids and M... it'll be lovely!

Hope you all had a good week, and enjoy your weekend!

Tidying Up the Blog...

As you can see, the Lit Study/Narnia tab/page is gone! Don't worry though... I simply moved it to a post format, and have a new gadget in my sidebar called "My Book Lists", with some of my favorites directly linked. Check them out!

And I'm adding new page content! Exciting, huh? Probably more so for me than you! I will admit, I am still, deep down inside, totally torn between a more "classical" education mode (with planned history, science, etc.) and this. Grrrrr.....

So, besides all the planning, what have we been up to?

Reading Christmas stories - we read about the legend of Saint Nicholas, and another fun St. Nicholas story to go with it, we read gingerbread stories (like Gingerbread Baby), The Quiltmaker's Gift (not technically about Christmas, but definitely about giving!), and a few others that escape my mind at the moment. I have more lined up too. Funny side note: last year we read The Twenty Four Days Before Christmas for the first, and so far only, time. This morning, on our way out the door, The Girl spied it, and excitedly gave her brother an entire run-down of the book! Ah, the powers of narration! And we're really enjoying A Christmas Carol as an audio book narrated by Jim Dale--good stuff!

Watching Christmas movies - So far we've watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and Scrooged. Still to come: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the old cartoon version with Boris Karloff, thank you very much); various versions of A Christmas Carol (kids like the Jim Carrey one, I like Alistair Sim and/or Patrick Stewart); A Christmas Story; The Santa Clause; A Miracle on 34th Street (again, the old version); and so forth and so on.

And the kids decorated gingerbread houses (kits from Trader Joe's--sorry the pictures are a little dark... I'm still learning to use my iPhone!)....

Hard at work...

Waiting for the frosting "glue" to dry a little

The Girl's completed masterpiece!

And here is The Boy's work!

Which has a sad and gruesome tale behind it... hard to see in these pictures, but unfortunately, the sugar-paste daughter met with a tragic accident, when a sheet of (sugar) ice sliced her head off. She's just behind the tree here, and you can mainly see the yellowish slab of ice that led to her demise. Her head is lying at her feet. What a terrible start to the holiday season for this family!

Tonight is my last class for the semester. I have to present my final paper, and then I am done! I'm down to my last half stack of papers to grade as well, and will be taking a two and a half week vacation from work, starting next week. I am so ready and looking forward to the time off! Don't worry though, I have plenty to keep me busy...

More house cleaning (M says "It's fine for company" but I'm not satisfied with "fine")
Drying persimmon slices (so yummy dried!), and poaching the last load of quince
Making various flavors of fudge
Finishing the calendars we're gifting to everyone
Gingerbread cookie baking and decorating!
Christmas stories and movies
Going to see The Hobbit!!!

And I will be hitting the big

Although this is supposed to be one of the milestones that I'd rather not hit, I'm actually fine with it. I hit that middle-aged panic point at 35, a number that really bothered me for some reason. I guess I'm so much happier overall at 39, that 40 doesn't seem like it'll be too bad!

Have a good week!

Narnia Lit Study - Original

NARNIA LIT STUDY
Helpful Books that I Used in Planning
The Way Into Narnia: A Reader's Guide
A Field Guide to Narnia

To Be Read Beforehand (Spring 2013):
A Wonder Book for Boys & Girls and Tanglewood Tales (Greek mythology)
Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology
Roman Myths (also called The Orchard Book of Roman Myths)
The Aunt and Amabel, E. Nesbit (you can find it in this free-to-download collection)
The Snow Queen
And possibly When The Siren Wailed, to get the feeling of wartime London/England

Here are the main books, and supplemental reading in the approximate order in which I intend to go through them. Those with a * are to be read concurrently with the Narnia book at hand. SS=short story, CB=chapter book. Books in {these brackets} are optional for us...

King Lear (SS)
Questing Knights of the Faerie Queene (children's version of Spenser's Faerie Queen)
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe 
William Shakespeare's Macbeth* (SS)
William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream* (SS)
Prince Caspian 
Mermaid Tales from Around the World* (Book of short stories)
The Arabian Nights* (Book of short stories)
Rip Van Winkle (reminds me of the sleeping Lords in Voyage) 
The Wanderings of Odysseus (CB) 
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
{The Book of Dragons* (CB)}
{King Arthur & His Knights of the Round Table  (may read this later? Or before VDT?)}
William Shakespeare's Hamlet* (SS)
In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aenid (CB)
Gulliver's Travels (CB)
A modern translation of Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls (poem) 
The Silver Chair
{The Ancient Celtic Festivals* (SS)}
The Seven Wise Princesses: A Medieval Persian Epic (SS)
A children's version of As You Like It (SS)?
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (SS)
The Prince and the Pauper (CB)
The Horse and His Boy
{Turkish Folk Tales* (SS)}
Tales from Ancient Persia* (Book of short stories)
Six Great Sherlock Holmes Stories  (Book of short stories)
The Story of the Treasure Seekers  (CB)
{The Mystery of Atlantis or Looking for Atlantis (both SS)}
The Magician's Nephew
Daedalus and Icarus* (SS)
At The Back of the North Wind (CB)
Paradise Lost for Children
{The Narnian Suite from Poems by C.S. Lewis}
Stories From Dante (Book of short stories) 
Animal Farm (CB)
The Last Battle

Other Narnia-Related Books
The Narnia Academy
The Narnia Cookbook or The Unofficial Narnia Cookbook
Art Adventures in Narnia
Chronicles of Narnia Pop-Up Book
Childhood Chronicles Before Narnia: Boxen


Other Books That Could Go Well With This Study
The Princess and the Goblin; The Princess and the Curdie
Riddle-Master
Five Children and It; The Phoenix and the Carpet; The Story of the Amulet
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Wind in the Willows
Andrew Lang's Fairy Books
Tatterhood Tales
Stories from Ireland
Stories from England
The King of Ireland's Son

Let the Countdown Begin...

We're starting fresh in January, after a big family conference, that ended up with M saying "I don't think they're learning enough", and The Boy saying "I don't think I'm learning enough", and me saying "I don't think they're learning enough"... you get the picture. Even The Girl says she would "like to learn more." And says she wants "real science."

Oops.

So I'm working my way through all the resources I own, trying to decide what will be best to remedy the situation. And believe me, I have a lot of resources on hands. One might even call me a curriculum junkie! For example, world history (the current and ongoing bane of my planning)--I own, and am trying to choose from:

K12's Human Odyssey Volume 1 (I like the fact that it covers ancient China, India, Africa, and Japan, along with classical Greece, Rome, etc. Fairly well written too)

Famous Men of... series (love the tone of these, but they are limited to Western cultures)

Builders of the Old World (again, love the tone, but very little mention of cultures outside Western civilization)

Several volumes of The World in Ancient Times (well-written, and they cover a lot of the world!)

And my latest acquisition, Journey Across Time: The Early Ages. I'm not sure about this one yet because I just ordered a used copy, but I figure the combination of Spielvogel and National Geographic has to be good!

Hmmmph. Hard to choose. One part of me wants to touch on many of the major civilizations (K12, or the World in Ancient Times, maybe Journey), another part knows that the kids would love the Famous Men series.

What I do know is that we are really going to give this schedule a try (with a few minor alterations, such as switching their Friday to our Sunday, and mythology/cultural studies instead of logic/philosophy), and due to The Boy's request for "real science", we're going to be using this. So to make it very simple for myself, I'm simply taking the schedule linked above, putting it into a table format in Word (Open Office really), and then plugging in resources to use. I am also still working on my "good books" list, and from that we can just pick and choose for the literature portion of the schedule.

I know it is a far cry from the more-or-less unschooling approach we've been using, but it is short (3 hours a day), so the kids will still have plenty of time for exploring their interests, and I think it will be a solid education. We'll probably school right with this new schedule/approach through June, at least through mid-June, then take July and August off for project-based learning/more of an unschooling approach.

As far as housework, etc., I'm also writing a plan for that. Yes, 2013 will be the year of organization. Flying by the seat of my pants just isn't cutting it anymore.

Do you have any big plans for the New Year?

End of 2012 Reflections...

I can hardly believe this year is almost over! It went by so very quickly. I was inspired by this post today to make some reflections, on homeschooling among other things.

We're not quite halfway through our "school year", but there are minor adjustments to be made, beginning with scheduling. I think I have my husband and kids talked into more or less homeschooling year round, with breaks when we need them, like right now! And a good bit of a break in summer, though not as much as previous years. I'm trying to think how to best approach this for my particular children, maybe doing project based learning primarily during June and August--I have the month of July off so that will definitely be vacation time, with swimming, and field trips, etc.

What I am looking for is that still elusive balancing point...

You know, the point between more rigorous schooling and interest/child-led exploration (unschooling), as well as between housework, college, work, etc. It is not an easy balancing act, which is why I am actually taking fewer units in the spring, 6 instead of 8. And why I am trying to get the kids (and M) to help out more around the house.... and yes, I am starting to see progress in that area! For example, I came home yesterday to a sink clean and empty, dishes all put away!

We've made some good progress in finding our path for this year, although we still have some weaker areas to shore up. Math is going quite well, and language arts are good, history and science could be better. I re-read the following recently (excerpted from a homeschooling forum post), and it's got me thinking about other ways to approach science...

We begin with the rabbit trails. We keep a question board strictly for science and write down any and all questions. These questions can be posed anytime throughout our day but I deliberately solicit them at the beginning of official science time. Questions also emanate from our readings, which are often intentionally planned to provoke the dc's thoughts about certain timely subjects (gardens in the spring, ice in the winter, etc.). We then decide whether our questions are research questions (can find the answer in a book) or testable questions (can design an experiment and find the answer for ourselves instead of looking up the answer in a book). Then we act accordingly. (I tend to follow the dc's lead on this unless they are just not seeing something easy and obvious because I realize that there are many questions we could technically design experiments to answer but they would be too challenging for where we are--measuring the earth's circumference springs to mind!)

I'm going to be reading Nurturing Inquiry over my winter break to get some ideas for this field! I'm also going to re-read The Writer's Jungle, because more than using a written curriculum for language arts, I would love to be living the Brave Writer Lifestyle!

I'm also working on a nice, inclusive list of the "good books" I really want my children to be familiar with, for our Afternoon Basket, regardless of historical period, or any other associations. Rather than having a particular "study" to go through, I think if I just have a list to work from, I can choose whatever fits at the moment. One invaluable source for ideas is Ambleside Online, and another is the 1000 Good Books list, with plenty of great historical fiction/non-fiction suggestions available at A Book in Time.

Recently, the homeschooling forum I visit most (dedicated to Classical Education by and large) was down for several days for retooling. Strangely enough, rather than really missing a board I visited nearly every day, I found myself relieved. And I realized that reading about what so-and-so was doing, and how it was much more in some sense than what I am doing, put pressure on me, or rather, I put pressure on myself... for not being a Classical educator, for not teaching my kids outlining (yet) and Latin, and on and on. Not comparing myself to that gave me more confidence to relax. When the forum came back up, I visited, and I still do, but not every day anymore.

In other reflections, I had the nicest realization yesterday, that for the first time in probably 25-27 years, I do not have a planned New Year's resolution to lose weight! I'm not quite at my goal, but close. Of course, now I have to maintain the loss! But that is such a different feeling. Of course, there will be other resolutions/goals, mostly relating to finances and household stuff, but for once, not weight loss, and frankly, I am hoping that is a resolution I never have to revisit!

So, a quick re-cap...
Books to read during my month-long break between semesters:
Nurturing Inquiry
Project-based Homeschooling
The Writer's Jungle
Plans to work on:
My Good Books list
How to implement the Brave Writer Lifestyle

In the meantime, I've taken down my page on what we're using, while I make some adjustments, reflect, and discern where we're headed now!

Are you taking a winter break? Re-planning/retooling anything?

Winter Traditions...

Our Christmas photo from 2008

I have to say that I love the winter holidays. The decorations, the aromas of pine and gingerbread, the fact that people smile more this time of year, and of course, my little family's traditions! We seem to add something new every year or two, which is fun as well.

Our holidays officially start with the Winter Solstice. I love being aware of the change of seasons, and so we celebrate this change with a nice dinner, family games in front of the fireplace, and either a family gift, or a simple gift for the kids - last year it was a book for The Boy, and Matryoshka dolls for The Girl.

Food Traditions

We love baking, both The Girl and I, The Boy somewhat though not quite as much. We make gingerbread cookies every year, which have evolved a bit over the years, from cookies so crunchy with sugar sprinkles they'd hurt your teeth, to more artistic, and less sugar-sprinkle-heavy creations from both kids. We have made fudge the last couple of years too - packaged in spiffy boxes, it makes nice gifts for extended family. Sometimes we make other cookies too, like sugar cookies, and pepparkakor (Swedish spice cookies).

Christmas Eve is our big family celebration, which we host. We bake a large ham, add in lots of appetizer-style side dishes (these have been on the menu for the last three years and are always a HUGE hit), and I make a Bûche de Noël complete with meringue mushrooms...

Christmas Day is our quiet day at home, just us. We start the day with panettone and a simple omelet for breakfast, then for a late lunch we have ham leftovers and potato-leek soup.

Our Other Traditions

We go on a crazy over-the-tops lights tour every year. We love decorating the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music - we generally do this sometime in mid-December, then the tree comes down on the twelfth day of Christmas. We read a lot of Christmas/winter themed books, returning to some every year, and adding in some new ones as we go. The Christmas wreath goes on the door December first, and that's when we start turning on outdoor Christmas lights as well. We always watch at least one version of A Christmas Carol (the kids like the Jim Carrey version, I like the Patrick Stewart one, and we all like the classic with Alistair Sim), and we always watch A Christmas Story. We choose a special event for the month too - we've seen The Nutcracker Ballet, gone to the Dickens Faire, and so forth. This year, we're lucky that we have two special outings planned--one to see a local production of The Nutcracker, with The Girl's friend dancing two roles, and we're going to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey!

I'll say it again, I love this time of year! And thanks Marbel, for the inspiration to share some of our traditions! So what are some of your family's winter holiday traditions?