Ahhh... a fresh, and sunny start to the week...

And I have today, and tomorrow, off from work. Short shifts Wednesday through Friday, which still allows me plenty of time to be with the kids, and the husband, and enjoy summer. Possible plans for the week include a beach trip with friends; a homeschool association meeting, which I'll talk more about momentarily; park day of course; gardening; housecleaning; Spiral Scout projects to start working on; and so forth.

Some time ago, I was a board member for the local homeschool association to which I belong. I held a couple of positions... field trip coordinator (so much fun!), Webmaster... but then it got hard. Our insurance didn't cover what we thought it did, one member of the group caused so much trouble we had to refund her membership and ask her to look elsewhere, no one except the board ever showed up to the open meetings, a splinter group formed, and life got in the way for some of the board. We, by consensus, dissolved the board. Looking back on it, I am not so sure that we made the right decision, although it felt right at the time.

Now, we have a group of determined volunteers who have stepped up to the plate, done the research and all the work, and are helping our little group get nonprofit status, which makes it much better for the insurance part. Tomorrow's meeting is the adoption and ratification of the new bylaws, the formation of committees, the birthday of our new group! (I am really hoping there is a field trip committee that I can help with) I am excited about this. Most of the women heading this are friends of mine, and the ones that aren't I just don't really know yet, although I am sure I have met them. This to me is definitely a fresh start, and a strong one!

We had our first Spiral Scouts meeting last week, and came away from it feeling like we have found our home in scouting. We made our Circle, discussed individual and group projects, selected some to work on before the meeting next month (and for some time after that since they are pretty complex) There are several levels of awards to work on... awards, badges, and spirals/stars. I had Cassia and Cyrus choose one from each category. Cyrus chose projects primarily related to art, and Cassia was excited to see that cooking is a badge project! When we got home after park day in the evening, I went over all the paper work with M, who really liked what he saw as well. Each project has requirements that have to be met, and then several other options to choose from. For an example, check out the sample of the gardening badge work here. My kids are both at the Spiral Scout level, so you can see this isn't just easy work! We signed all the paperwork, which has been sent off, paid our dues, and are now eagerly awaiting our activity books.

What I like, in addition to the actual level of learning that will take place with these projects, is that there are so many to choose from, and a lot that align with our interests. For example, several have multicultural aspects, which interests Cassia, and there is even a mythology award for Cyrus to work on maybe in the fall!

And now for a couple of book reviews. First, for Cindie, is Waldorf Education: A Family Guide. This is a series of essays, by teachers, parents, etc. It is a good introduction to Waldorf education for those thinking of adapting it in their homeschool lives, or those thinking of placing their children in a Waldorf school. I especially liked the essays on different temperaments, and colors, daily rhythms, and the lovely birthday story from one parent. However, while the book is a good introduction, it is just that, and introduction. I enjoyed reading it, but it left me wanting more. How do I know which temperament my child has? How could I apply color in their daily lives that reflects where they are in their life journey? It did do a good job of covering the general ideas, and giving the background of Waldorf education, and I enjoyed reading it, so I would recommend it.

And then Pocketful of Pinecones, a book I have seen recommended over and over again in regards to Charlotte Mason and nature study. While my spiritual leanings differ from the author and the main character she created, and the book does reference those leanings a lot, I could not put this book down! The characters were realistic and appealing, as was the fact that the main character, the mother, had both a boy and a girl, like I do. However, I think she was a good deal more patient than I tend to be! I have read some of Charlotte Mason's original writings, and while they are extremely informative, and should be read by anyone wanting to follow her methods, they can also be a little tough going. This book, written as a diary, was easy to read, and full of Mason's ideals. Practical and applicable. There are nature study recommendations, thoughtful questions at the end of each chapter, and a plethora of books for nature studies recommended in the appendix. And there are cross references to Mason's original works. I felt really inspired by this book, and can't wait to read Lessons at Blackberry Inn. My children will absolutely be keeping nature journals this year!

In other news, we've been re-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Harry Potter movies, getting ourselves ready for the final HP installment in July. Watching LoTR has made me want to read The Hobbit to the kids at some point over the next year. Oh, and we want to finish listening to Jim Dale's marvelous reading of the HP books. M and I were discussing Shakespeare the other night (we both love Much Ado About Nothing), and the kids were intrigued, so I am researching children's versions of Shakespeare's stories... Nesbit, Lamb, Garfield, other? Recommendations? Until now, I have tried to tie our read alouds to other studies, but I really think we can enjoy books without always doing that.

I'm doing it again, aren't I?

Overplanning that is. Every year I promise myself I will back off on the planning, since we always seem to have a hard time completing all of it (looking at our book lists, gee I wonder why...) Anyhow, the original plan was to focus on the basics and let everything else follow. Instead, I am finding myself spending far too much time planning it all out, week-by-week... 36 weeks worth.

So for now, I am stopping planning. No more planning. I need to stop, re-focus, and remember that exploring the rabbit trails is one of the main reasons we homeschool in the first place! Yes, Cyrus wants to study mythology, and Cassia wants to study children and animals around the world. That doesn't mean I need a spreadsheet detailing every book to read, video to watch, and activity to perform. And planning a whole year at a time is daunting, because our interests do change (I know mine do!), so eventually I end up setting aside everything I worked so hard on in the first place.

I will keep my book lists, as they are extremely handy for future reference... but I think I'll drop the scheduling and see where our passions take us.

And today is...

Officially the first day of summer!

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!

Resources for an around the world study...

Cassia has asked, and asked, to study children around the world, spurred on by her beloved copy of Children Just Like Me. Looking at the table of contents, I noticed there are 36 children/countries profiled, and we have 36 weeks planned in our next academic year... couldn't fit more perfectly! So here are some of the resources I am looking at using, although there will probably be additions and subtractions based on our week-to-week needs and desires.

Main text:
Children Just Like Me

Geography:
Children's Atlas of the World
National Geographic's MapMaker (great outline maps)
Crayola's Geography Coloring Pages (flags and small maps)
Enchanted Learning also offers geography pages that may be worthwhile

Cinderella Stories:
Domitila (Mexican)
Adelaida (Cuban)
Smoky Mountain Rose (American, Appalachian)
Little Gold Star (Spanish American)
Perrault's Cinderella (French)
The Orphan (Greek)
Egyptian Cinderella (Egyptian)
The Turkey Girl (Zuni)
Persian Cinderella (Persian)
Yeh-Shen (Chinese)
Korean Cinderella (Korean)
Angkat (Cambodian)
Anklet for a Princess (Indian)
The Golden Sandal (Middle Eastern)
The Way Meat Loves Salt (Jewish)
Abadeha (Philippine)
Tam and Cam (Vietnamese)
Cendrillon (Caribbean)
The Salmon Princess (Alaskan)

Story Collections:
Around the World in 80 Tales
Tatterhood & Other Tales
Golden Tales
American Tall Tales
The Golden Phoenix & Other French-Canadian Fairy Tales
Scandinavian Folk & Fairy Tales
Fairy Tales of Eastern Europe
Russian Folk Tales
Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
The Girl Who Married a Lion & Other Tales from Africa
Asian Children's Favorite Stories
Stories from the Billabong

Series:
Various titles from the Families Around the World series, such as A Family in China, A Family in Egypt, etc.
Families of the World dvd series
Enchantment of the World

Geography Stories:
52 Days by Camel: My Sahara Adventure
Jungle Islands: My South Sea Adventure
By Truck to the North: My Arctic Adventure


Crafts, Coloring Books, Animals, and Food:
Janice VanCleave's Science Around the World
Global Art
Kids Around the World Create!
The Kids' Multicultural Cookbook
Kids Around the World Cook!
Multicultural Arts & Crafts from KinderArt
The Multicultural Cooking Network
Around the World Coloring BookHouses & Homes Around the World, goes well with Traditional Houses from Around the World Coloring Book
Holidays Around the World Coloring Book
Expedition Earth Animals (a great, free, downloadable animals around the world study. Not secular, but so easy to adjust!)

Weekly Wrap-Up... Summer Week 3

It has been a good week, but it went by so quickly! We had a lovely swim party this week, where Cyrus taught himself to swim under water (he could already do the dog paddle) and today we are all about parks. Right now they are off at the park with their Nonna, learning about baseball.

Cyrus read a lot in the first Harry Potter book this week. He is on a break from Rick Riordan books at the moment. He has also dipped back into his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, following our meeting and signing with author Jeff Kinney. He completed a jet model this week, and played Wizard 101 on the computer. He also had his piano lesson, and is working diligently to capture his own tunes in writing with Noteflight (now if I could just get him to practice his assigned pieces a little more!) In addition, he worked some more on learning computer animation with Pivot Stickfigure Animator.

Cassia did a couple of ClickN'Kids Phonics lessons this week, and read another Nora Gaydos Now I'm Reading book. She spent a little too much time watching tween shows from Australia on our Netflix, so I'm nipping that in the bud for next week.

We played one of our new games... Sum Swamp, and had lots of fun with it. We also played Uno. We read more of Peter and the Starcatchers, and a couple of chapters from All of a Kind Family. We listened to a lot of classical music on the radio, and watched another couple of episodes of Wild China. We watched A Wrinkle in Time and talked about what was different from the book... in the end, we all agreed we liked the book more than the film.

There has also been time for playing outside, watering the garden, watching birds, and eating watermelon. And playing on the Wii Fit when it is too hot to go out much. There's been doll-and-stuffed animal play, a couple of little crafts, and of course our water dragon to tend to (okay, Cyrus's water dragon) as well as the snakes, cats, and dogs. And time to mess around with my plans for next year - I'm trying to loosen up where I said I would!

Next week, I hope to be a little more organized with more follow-through. I have made new wipe-off "chore" (for lack of a better word) charts for the kids, so that I don't have to constantly remind them of each little thing, but instead can say "Go check your chart", and have set down rules about computer and TV time. I realized - duh - that if Cassia did a lesson a day on the ClickN'Kids site, she'd make it a good way through the 100 lessons by the end of summer. And I want time to try Totally Tut and Pizza Fractions. And time to read more stories, get ready for our monthly Eating Around the World potluck, and Spiral Scouts!

Wordless Wednesday... Swim Party!

If you have never made ice cream in a bag, you should try it!

It is especially fun when you partner up with someone and toss the bag back and forth.

Meeting an author...

Today we met author Jeff Kinney, creator of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid phenomenon! A local museum was hosting the (free) event, so off we went. First, he gave a little talk about how he got where he is, that originally he wanted to make comic strips for newspapers, but no one would publish his work. Gradually, through the internet, he made his way along, and wrote Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Cyrus was one of the lucky children in the audience chosen to ask him a question, and he asked something along the lines "Was he [Jeff Kinney] anything like his main character, Greg, when growing up?" I thought it was a good question, and Jeff answered in the affirmative. He also talked about being a kid, and shared some stories. Then we headed off to the line for the book signing, stopping to throw some snowballs along the way...


After about an hour in line, we got up to the sign for the event...


Inside, the kids got to chat briefly with Jeff, who then gave them personalized autographs...

And smiled for the camera...

Since we were at the museum anyhow, we decided to check out some of the exhibits...


All in all, a good day, and totally worth the time in line. The kids are honored they got to meet a writer (and artist) in person.

Another book list... Mythology...

Since Cyrus is deeply interested in (classical) mythology, I am putting together a list of potential resources. Excellence through Classics has recommendations here, but some of the books we have already read and we'd like to find some new sources. If you have any suggestions for mythology titles, for a strong reader, let me know! This is all prep work for the National Mythology Exam (NME)...

General:
Mythology
NME Packets - We're looking at the packets for the Olympian Gods, Underworld, and Norse Gods.

Egyptian Lore:
Egyptian Myths
Egyptology
The Egyptology Handbook: A Course in Wonders of Egypt
Egyptology Code-Writing Kit
Tales of Ancient Egypt

Greek & Roman:
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths (main text for the NME)
Favorite Greek Myths
The Mythology Handbook: A Course in Ancient Greek Myths
Heroes, Gods, & Monsters of the Greek Myths
Myths and Legends
Roman Myths & Legends
Tales from the Odyssey (Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus might work well too)

Norse (so he can take the Norse Sub-test):
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
Favorite Norse Myths
The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths
Tales of the Norse Gods (Oxford Myths & Legends)
The Curse of the Ring (Oxford Myths & Legends)

Others to Consider for Fun:
The Ramayana for Children
Tales from India
Tales of Ancient Persia
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights

Meet Athena...

Cyrus got this water dragon as a birthday present last month. After reading through a number of sites, we've (pretty much) determined that she's a female. We expect her to grow quite a bit in the years to come! Cyrus feeds her daily with greens, strawberries, and lovely, wiggly mealworms. Isn't she cute?

Blackberry Cornmeal Muffins

These taste like summer to me! I used frozen (defrosted) blackberries, probably twice as much as the recipe calls for, but then you get more (and fruitier) muffins!

Blackberry Corn Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I actually use whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 whole large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) melted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 to 1 cup (or more!) blackberries

Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with paper cups, or grease. Whisk the flour with the cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. In another (medium) bowl, lightly whisk the egg and egg yolk, then whisk in buttermilk, butter, and vanilla.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then gently fold in blackberries. Divide batter into muffin tin, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean. makes 12-16 muffins, depending on how many blackberries you use.

Coffee Cake with Raspberries & Hazelnut Crumble

Here is a delicious recipe for coffee cake. I found the original online, and then altered it to suit my needs. This is definitely more of an occasional treat, with all the butter and sugar, but so yummy I had to share!

Coffee Cake with Raspberries & Hazelnut Crumble
Batter
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups raw sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain (nonfat) Greek yogurt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal (optional, you can use an additional 1/4 cup of the flour instead)
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp sea salt

Topping
1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

Filling
1 1/2-2 cups raspberries (if frozen, thaw and drain first)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 pan and set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs, mix well, then add in Greek yogurt. Mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring until well mixed.
Spread half the mixture in the baking pan, top with a layer of raspberries, then the remaining batter.
Mix together, in another bowl, the topping ingredients. When well mixed, spread over the top of the coffee cake.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Best served slightly warm!

Feeling better...

I have made my final selections for next year, with the help of the children themselves. While we drooled over Oak Meadow, I thought back about the times I have tried to use it, unsuccessfully. It simply is not the best fit for my family. Having said that though, I plan to borrow ideas from it, mainly the Main Lesson Book approach to completing lessons. Phew... a huge sigh of relief! Now I can get down to the nitty-gritty of planning it all out, since both kids have said a weekly guide (also borrowed from Oak Meadow) would be helpful. I did just buy Waldorf Education: A Family Guide, to aid me in incorporating more Waldorf ideas into our homeschooling.

First Week of Vacation Wrap-up...

We basically had a lazy week, not a lot going on in the world of learning, but that doesn't mean we didn't do anything at all!

We read more in Peter & the Starcatchers. The book is well written, and right now, very suspenseful. I really enjoy reading this one!

We watched some more Meerkat Manor and Journey Into Amazing Caves.

We also watched an old classic, which spawned a lot of interesting discussion, H.G. Wells' Time Machine. I've seen the remake, and frankly prefer the original.


Other than that, we've played Crayon Physics and Sorry, as well as Uno. Cyrus had another piano lesson, and we are working on his practicing more regularly. And he started working on composing music with a program called Note Flight.We baked cookies, worked in the garden (when it wasn't raining), cleaned more of the house, watched a family friend change the oil in the car (always interesting for the kids), and started listening to Your Story Hour. We listened to the episode about Thomas Alva Edison. The kids really liked the radio-story format, and are eager to listen to the next one.

ETA: I forgot painting! Cyrus worked on some modern art in acrylics....


And Cassia did a landscape in watercolors... the black dots along the hill top are sheep, by the way, and there are white ones too if you look closely enough...


Next week, we'll start up our light summer session. And perhaps I will finish agonizing over choices for next year. Part of the problem is that there is a dichotomy - part of me wants the freedom of a very loose plan (mostly the basics) and part of me thinks I would make life easier for myself if I had something to follow. We'll just have to wait and see which part of me wins!