Saturday, June 04, 2005
At our house
This morning Chris and I slept in ALL morning, I got up at 11 a.m.! I never sleep that late! It was a much needed rest though. Last night I went to a friend's house...she had invited a few homeschooling Moms over to just hang out and share their curric./schooling favs. I'm so eclectic and relaxed in our approach that the thought of picking a "fav." was a bit daunting to me...we don't use a "curriculum" to speak of, and I *knew* I couldn't unload all my bookshelves (so I grabbed some favs., and a great literature guide w/helful commentaries /book lists that we're referring to in our studies of history, literature and art)...yet that is our main academic "source"...just plain, REAL, "living" books! I tried to explain my "a little of this, a little of that, just relax and go with the flow" mentality, encouraging the new hsers especially to just take some time to "deschool" and not get all bogged down with a curric. or someone else's scheduling (ie; Sonlight Instructor's Guides, which I've *tried* and was being discussed/ and I shared my 3 cents about why I Abeka creeps me out, and how I've seen and heard tell of more hsers needlessly burning out w/it). I shared of how freeing it was for me to read Harvey Bluedorn's article, Research on the Teaching of Math on the needlessness of force feeding Math "curric. in a box" to youngsters... It was nice to just go and relax with the girls, without kids, and talk about our hsing experiences thusfar, as well as *hopefully* encouraging a couple of ladies who were there that are just now starting out on the journey next year! That's always so exciting to me, to see others jumping in on the homeschooling adventure!
By the time I got home the kids were already asleep in our bed, and Chris was on the 'puter, so I just settled in beside him at the dining room table and broused through some books. We thus stayed up together, just enjoying the peace and quiet until about 1 a.m., at which point I parted ways w/him and went ahead to bed...unlike him, I'd gotten up at 7 a. m. yesterday morning.
This morning the kids just played quietly, they'd gotten their own breakfasts (it's so nice now that they're older, they've become quite self-sufficient). They have had hours of fun playing with their realistic collection of little farm animals (which they of course have built elaborate farms/barns and corrals for) from the Tractor Supply store, one of our fav. stores. Eventually Tabitha woke me up to show me the pic. she'd drawn and colored for me of some buffaloes on a prairie... She and Nathan have been busily pumping out drawing after drawing of animals the past two days, complete with foregrounds, middlegrounds and backgrounds. Beautiful work! I'd bought Tabitha this book, Draw Write Now, book 3, which teaches kids step by step how to draw Native Americans, the Pilgrims and various animals/country of North America... Tabitha's had a love affair with any and everything "Indian" for the past year... so I guessed it right, she *loves* this book, and has inspired her brother, who's now joining her in the drawing frenzy of fun! If I could ever find my digital camera, which has gone missing *again*!, I'll take some pics. of their creations and post them here asap. Maybe that thought will inspire me to clean up and straighten the house today!
But first, I've got to go and weed the garden, which has been so fun/fulfilling for the kids and I to watch grow! ;)
It's not enough for a gardener to love flowers, he must also hate weeds...
By the time I got home the kids were already asleep in our bed, and Chris was on the 'puter, so I just settled in beside him at the dining room table and broused through some books. We thus stayed up together, just enjoying the peace and quiet until about 1 a.m., at which point I parted ways w/him and went ahead to bed...unlike him, I'd gotten up at 7 a. m. yesterday morning.
This morning the kids just played quietly, they'd gotten their own breakfasts (it's so nice now that they're older, they've become quite self-sufficient). They have had hours of fun playing with their realistic collection of little farm animals (which they of course have built elaborate farms/barns and corrals for) from the Tractor Supply store, one of our fav. stores. Eventually Tabitha woke me up to show me the pic. she'd drawn and colored for me of some buffaloes on a prairie... She and Nathan have been busily pumping out drawing after drawing of animals the past two days, complete with foregrounds, middlegrounds and backgrounds. Beautiful work! I'd bought Tabitha this book, Draw Write Now, book 3, which teaches kids step by step how to draw Native Americans, the Pilgrims and various animals/country of North America... Tabitha's had a love affair with any and everything "Indian" for the past year... so I guessed it right, she *loves* this book, and has inspired her brother, who's now joining her in the drawing frenzy of fun! If I could ever find my digital camera, which has gone missing *again*!, I'll take some pics. of their creations and post them here asap. Maybe that thought will inspire me to clean up and straighten the house today!
But first, I've got to go and weed the garden, which has been so fun/fulfilling for the kids and I to watch grow! ;)
It's not enough for a gardener to love flowers, he must also hate weeds...
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