M+B=E2O2

Getting Better

Emma is finally on the mend.  She still has a wicked cough though.  When we have left the house and gone public have have gotten a few "looks".  I'm confident she's not contagious, but the cough sounds so bad I understand the looks really.  Owen tried going to TKD today, but he only lasted 30 minutes or so.  He seems so much better, but I had a feeling he would have a tough time doing such hard work.  We've been keeping busy around the house though.  Below are a few pictures of our projects.

Emma working on her  "book".  This was taken 4 days into 6 days of the flu.  She lost 6 pounds, 7% of her total body weight during this bout. 

Olivia decides to get in on the book making.

"See right here mommy, I made this for you."

We got some acrylic paint on Saturday and did something with one of our collections.

Here's the crowd painting some rocks.

Olivia was quite serious about it.

I LOVE this one that Evan made for us! He was so careful with the placement of each dot.

Here is one of Emma's

another of Emma's

Here's a long shot of the group.  The polka dot one in front is Emma's - she liked Evan's idea.

Guess which one is mine...

Collections

 

Way back in the day (last week), we went to the beach in search of rocks for a project. (Which has not come to completion yet, thanks flu).  The kids love to collect things.  I haven't' quite figured out what to do with all of them yet.

We have

                                         our stick collection

                            our pine cone collection

                                our rock collection

                              more rocks in our collection

and shells, rocks and sticks recently collected at the beach.

As long as they don't want to collect spiders, I think I will be ok.

A few of my favorite things

Olivia's toes...

My boys happily looking at a book together....

Quiet study....

Emma building with her favorite blocks.... (it is a boat in the making)

The little pink bike....

The Pledge

Do kids still learn the Pledge of Allegiance?  I was thinking about that not too long ago, wondering if it is still part of the daily routine of school. I keep meaning to ask my sister since she's a public school teacher.  Or my friend who is a private school teacher.  Hmmm.  Maybe they'll read this and comment.  I thought that one way or another maybe I should teach it to my kids, if for no other reason than because it is a part of our American heritage.  And seeing as we believe in God and all I take no issue with that part of it.  So for the last week or so, when we've remembered (3 times to be exact) we have stood in our dining room, one child gets to hold our flag up on the entrance way step, the rest of us just below.  All lined up, hand over hearts, reciting the Pledge.  They all have gotten such a kick out of this.  Seriously.  They all want to be the flag holder.  They are all quite serious in the recitation, copying me line by line.  It is pretty much the most adorable thing we've done in ages.  So now I wonder, how many homeschoolers do this?  Do you?  If you don't home school do your kids say it in school?

Emma's Art

Emma's enrolled in an art class at a local art school.  She seems to really love it and overall she has improved all around in her art.  I've seen big improvements in the most simple of things- like coloring etc.  She pays attention to details that in the past she either didn't even notice or didn't care that they were there.

I scanned in her first 3 finished pieces.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the most recent- it is a bit larger than the others and I still need to cut it to fit a frame.   Here are the first three......

"Carrot & Banana"

"The Raccoon"

"Kitty Kat"

He can read

I just wanted to take a quick minute to boast a bit of unschooling success.  We do very little structured learning around here.  Lots of reading, playing and interacting, but no real curriculum on any sort of regular basis.  I've especially not pushed reading.  Last night I was reading an ABC book to Evan, Ben has been concerned that he knows is letters verbally but doesn't recognize them.  I haven't been concerned, but since we both need to feel comfortable in this journey I made a point to help Evan with letter recognition.  As we sat looking at the book and reading, Owen would join in and read words that I had no idea he knew.  Next we read a level 2 reader.  He's never read a level 1, and I couldn't find one on his shelf (I know we have some though).  We were able to take turns reading each page.  He could easily read 70-80% of the words with out help.  I don't think he even knew he could read as much.  He proclaimed in the middle of the book "This is so much fun!!!"  How cool is that.   

In other learning news both Evan and Emma are making progress in our piano lessons.  They are roughly at the same level and both having fun with it.  It is definitely more of a struggle for Emma, but she is very determined to move forward.  Slow and steady is her pace in life though so I'm not worried.  As long as she is content with her pace and wants to continue, we will.  I was beginning to wonder if she'd ever get  the first note of the first variation of "twinkle twinkle little star". She has shown me that she can and does get it,  now we are working on consistently being able to reproduce that bit using each of her fingers on her right hand.  Once we get there we'll move forward in the actual song.  Evan is doing the same thing, but with him we are working on him playing with a bit more, um, gentleness.  He goes at the piano like he does all else- with HUGE energy.  That translates to banging out the notes!  He too is working on that first bit ("Mississippi Hop Frog" -playing a note for each syllable) on each of his fingers- gently.  I think he will soon be ready to move on to the actual song soon.  Olivia knows how to sit at rest and bring her hand up to "ready" she will also play a single or doulbe note, every so often she has even done "Mississippi Hop Frog" but that has been very occasional.  Owen is flying.  Our teacher said that our biggest challenge will be to slow him down.   He is roughly two songs behind me in the book.  One and a half after this mornings practice.  He is doing so well and learns so fast!  I only have to play a section/line for him a few times and he will pretty much nail it.  If it weren't for the fact that we will be out of the house most of today I'd bet that he'd have "Lightly Row" down pat by days end.  Since we'll be gone and he won't have all day to go back and forth piddling on it I'm gonna put my money on tomorrow afternoon.  It is fun to watch him  learn and play,  I'll have to grab his MP3 player and upload one of the recordings he made of himself with it.  Very cute. 

Ok Well, I'd love to write some more, but I have to get me some breakfast and then get our crowd ready to head out for the day.  We are going to a symphony performance for kids.   After that we are going to head out to our regular park day.  I'm hoping the winds don't kick back up- they were blowing upwards of 40 -50 mph last night- news reports saying gust of 60.  It's supposed to be blowing around 20-30 mph today.... we'll see.  The park we go to is in the foothills which tends to be a bit more windy. 

I Think I Can

Today my friend D came over and gave me a lesson in canning.   I bought a whole canning set a month or two ago after watching  an episode of Good Eats about making jam.  I was all inspired because Alton made it look so easy and fun.  Then I got out the book that came with my little set and felt suddenly overwhelmed and insecure.  I watched the show again ( I DVR'd it) but still didn't feel  up to the challenge. 

At the park a couple weeks ago I was chatting with D and somehow canning came up.  Turns out D is quite the accomplished pickle maker and maker of jams and jellies.  We worked out a day that they could come over and even attempted to make it a kid learning thing vs something for my own self. We invited a couple of other families that had expressed an interest and then made all the arrangements. 

It ended up being just us and that really worked out nicely.  D bought a flat of strawberries at the local Farmers Market the day before and between the two of us we  got all the supplies laid out on the counter. 

D is a great teacher-  she took the time to really explain things.  Really the process was as easy and Alton made it seem on the show- but this was even better because D was able to share bits about her experiences and that of her family.  We live in a strawberry growing area- lots and lots of them year round.  They are more expensive this time of year and not always as sweet as the summer ones, but very good none the less.  So now that I have a handle on this- I will never again buy  a jar of jam off the shelf.

The kids were in and out in helping us.  We were in and out in helping them.  I can see how it would be something you could spend an entire day doing- especially with a few friends.  There was a lot of time for us to just chat casually and get to know one another better. The beginings of a great friendship.  There is just something warm and cozy about puttering about in a kitchen with friends and/or family.     D is someone I can see getting to know well and speding lots of time with.  Her husband is even a D& D geek like mine- so they would likely become friends easily.  Unfortunatley they are moving to eastern Canada soon. 

The are leaving for a simpler life, a farming life.  It sounds lovely and beautiful and like a bit of a dream really.  Though  I love our life here and have no desire to change it, I can totally see the draw for them.  I am sad though that we won't get too many more opportunities to spend time together like we did today.  Maybe I can convince her to  start blogging so that I will be able to live vicariously through her and get to see her kids grow up from here.

Once all was said and done we ended up with 6 pint sized jars ( I think) and 3 half pints.  And it just dawned on me that I paid for half the strawberries and I ended up with all the jam.  Dang I suck at math.  I even kept several of her jars-  ok  gonna have to rectify that next week! 

After they left we briefly considered going to park day- but honestly I was just too tired.  I had  my social fill with D and was aching to curl up with a book.  I told the kids we might just go to the nearby park and they got giddy over that then the bickering and fighting started over who knows what and I called that off too.  Mean mommy I know, but it's not as though they hadn't been playing allllllll morning.   

It seems to me that they've been at one another more often lately and it makes me nuts to hear them fight over nothing, tattle about everything and never own up to any wrongdoings.  After a bit of thought I decided that what they really needed was some quiet time.  I used to do this when it was just Emma & Owen.  I don't think I've ever done it with Evan. 

I sent everyone off in different directions with the rules being that they could do anything quietly and alone.  No computer no TV.   Olivia fell asleep almost immediately.

Emma was as pleased as could be.  She is quite happy to do her own thing and that is what she did.  She played in her room, she colored at the table, she dug in the dirt, she sat on the swing.  She sang to the birds, she looked at books.  She was happy that she could just be.  I didn't have to hear her yell "stop it" or "heeeeey" or "don't".  She just played.

Owen did well the first 15 minutes or so.  He went up to his room and built with the measly bit of legos that he has (Santa got a huge lot off ebay for him for Christmas).   He made a great car/plane/climber thingy. He then wandered around downstairs for a bit.  I gave him a few ideas of things he could do and meandered around debating his options.  He asked how much longer quiet time was going to be.  When could he talk to his brother and sister?  I set the timer for 30 minutes at that point.  So he went to the swings, played on the slide tried to talk to Evan a bit, till I redirected him and gave him a magazine to look at.  I was standing near by looking at a catalog and  he talked to me non stop for 2 minutes.  I finally stopped him and explained that I really wanted him to try and focus on just him.  Save what he wanted to share with me for another 10 minutes and just look and stop talking (for gosh sakes!!!).  He sheepishly agreed again to try.   He got up several times to look at the timer.   When time was up he was just overjoyed. 

Evan had the toughest time.  He just didn't really get it and he didn't really know what to do.  Mind you when it is on his terms he can play quietly and alone for  a long time.  He love to play with his action figures and cars.  He just didn't like the restriction.  Ultimately it was good for him I think.  I offered to read to him but he declined.  I spent most of the 45 minutes or so redirecting him or explaining what I mean by quiet time.  LOL! 

Over all it was very successful.  It felt good too.  Even though it wasn't really quiet for me, it was peaceful.  There was no fighting .  The thing is that the kids usually get along very well.  They really love to play together.  So this was almost like a punishment to them- I'm sure that is how they saw it.  I think it was a much needed break though. 

Owen and Evan especially have been  playing in a way that they think they are being really funny, but in reality they are not so much crossing that fine gray line to being mean as they are tripping right over it and getting up and running with it.  They just push and push and push with something until someone screams- in anger, in frustration, in pain.  Then they try and say that they were just playing or joking or tricking. I  am hoping to have some sort of revelation abut how to deal with that next.  For now I am going to institute  quiet time several times a week- if not daily for  bit.  At the very least it gives me a few minutes of peace.  hopefully it will give them a better appreciation for the time they spend together and also give them  (the boys) the confidence and security that playing alone is ok- and even fun.  Emma sure thinks so.

White It Is

Owen started Tae Kwon Do 3 weeks ago.  They have a special where you get 25 classes for $25 and a free uniform.  His age group has classes available MWF and for the most part we have made all of them.  It makes Mondays fun because we go from our piano lessons that are waaaaaaay out at one end of the county (the only Suzuki piano teacher taking student in the area) straight to TKD at the other end of the county, though not waaaaaaaaaaay out there but still it takes, with no traffic (ha)nearly 45 minutes to get from one to the other.  That said, the kids don't mind too much.  The little ones nap on the way to piano, and if I'm lucky straight through the lesson or most of it.  Owen catches a nap on the way to TKD and even Emma does occasionally and that girl never naps so that alone makes me feel ok about this.  I don't think she gets nearly enough sleep, but that's a post for another day. 

Back to TKD.  Today they were upgrading belts with black stripes or a new color.  The way they do the 7 & under crowd is that they have several levels of the white belt.  So they still get to move up in color and feel like they are going somewhere.  Newbies have no belt.  Today was the day that Owen got his actual white belt.  It was very cute all the kids clap for one another, the instructor asks the parent how they are behaving at home and if they are keeping up their end of the deal at home.  Boy it is so tempting to say "no he's been a little turd more often than I'd like" but wouldn't that be mortifying.  I would never do that in front of the class and other parents. 

He is so darn proud of himself now.  You couldn't wipe the smile off his face.  Last week one of the Masters wrote his name in Korean on his gui (gee?) uniform- he thinks that is pretty much the bomb too.   He kept telling me "I've been waiting my whole life for this!"

This is how they rope you in you see.  Next week or the week after our 25 classes will be up.  Then we get to pay the actual tuition *gulp* for this thing.  I just look at it as money we would have spent had we put them in private school. If we had done that they wouldn't most certainly not be doing piano, gymnastics, art (Emma) and TKD (Owen).  All I can say for now is Thank God we only have 2 kids doing all this.  I need to start saving now to be sure we can offer some of the same opportunities up to the other two monkeys.  yeesh.  Maybe they'll be introverts and just want to stay home a few more years.  The way they both cling to me in public places gives me a little hope of that anyway!

Our first Lapbook

We are doing our first lapbook here.  I have been intrigued with the idea of notebooking and lapbooking for quite some time, but I haven't ever gotten to the point o actually pulling it all together.  I finally decided to take the leap.  I found a free simple one on live and learn press and joined thier yahoo group to boot.  Emma and Owen are doing the "All About Me" lapbook.  It is a tad below their age level, but I just wanted to do something very basic to get our feet wet.  I also printed up a Thanksgiving one- but it is looking like that one will have to wait till next year.  I am toying with maybe doing a Jesse Tree lapbook or something else religiously Christmas oriented- but we'll see.  We have so much going on right now that I my be being a tad too optimistic. 

Halloween monster

I had the most frightening experience last night. 

I have this huge fear of spiders- I mean huge. Last year I tried to conquer them - totally unsuccessfully. 

Late last night I was trimming the stems off  a bouquet  of sunflowers so that they'd live another few days.  I gathered the bunch of stems and took them  outside so that I could add them to my compost pile  in the morning.  When I walked outside I could tell immediately that the winds had turned.  As you all know Southern California is on fire and the East winds (aka Santa Ana's) have been  horrific.

This time of the year we always get  Santa Ana's, it is as much a part of fall as red and orange leaves.  In the 30 or so years that I have lived in this state I have never seen them blow  like they have been blowing.   They are a weird experience to begin with.  You look outside and see the clear blue sky.  You know it is mid October.  You see the trees swaying.  In your mind you expect to walk outside and need a jacket.  It looks cold because it is autumn and by golly it is supposed to be cool- even in a southern California beach town.  However when you walk outside you are hit with a hot, dry wind.  It feels like summer, but windier.  I both love and hate the Santa Ana's.  They stir up all sorts of allergens so even if you don't have allergies - you get a runny nose, but they feel kinda nice too- sort of like a warm hug when you least expect it. 

This time there was no warm, gentle hug.  The winds were more like  a hot slap in the face.  The gusts were strong (gusts were clocked at over 100mph!!!!!). I didn't want to drive anywhere for fear of flying debris.  Whole tree limbs were bouncing down our street. 

Back to my story.

The winds turned late yesterday and  effect was immediate.  That cool ocean wind with speckles of moisture gripping your skin.  It was a welcome relief.  I put the flower stems in a pile of leaves that had gathered themselves on my back patio and walked out to the edge of the grass- just under our wood slat awning.  I breathed in deep and felt a web on my arm.  I tried to brush it off- but I couldn't seem to get it.  I glanced up and, I kid you not, less than 12 inches from my face was the biggest mother fricken spider in the whole world.  Huge.  I swallowed a scream and ran in the house doing that "get this GDMF thing off me" dance- you know the one-even if you don't have the mouth of a sailor I'm sure you've done the dance.  I was gulping screams all through the house brushing every inch of me off.  I looked back outside and saw the monster spinning a new web.  Ben, who had gone to be 5 minutes earlier came to the top of the stairs to see what was wrong.  I made him come down and look at the beast.  He is used to my arachnophobia , but even he was impressed and disgusted with the creature. 

Whenever he tries to mush a spider for me it inevitably gets away.  I reminded him of that as he went for shoes and something to beat it with.  It would likely take nothing less than a baseball bat  to knock that thing senseless.  The homeschooling mom in me wanted him to leave it there so we could go out and look at in in the morning and see what kind of beast it actually was.  But then I knew I'd have to make it go away some how or worse capture it for the boys to have play with study and Homie don't do that. 

He ended up capturing it in an old yogurt container ( a big one not the single serving kind) and then he taped it up - can't be too cautious here- and we put it in the trash which will get picked up today thank God.

I hate spiders.