Don't know yet

August figured out how calenders worked today....spent a bit of time working out what day of the week Christmas is, what day it is today and tomorrow. Cool.
He also wrote me a shopping list. Mouse traps and bag of 75 chocolates (for the advent calenders we made.....) His spelling was interesting but I'm SO HAPPY HE WROTE SOMETHING!!!
My dad is 82 and getting old. He had a hip replaced 10 years ago, a quintuple bypass and a bout of prostate cancer. His eyesight is almost gone, his hearing is bad and basically he's quite unhealthy and the hip is starting to go again. He falls, regularly. He falls asleep, regularly. He spends 1 or 2 nights a week here and I do all his banking, shopping, etc with him. He lives about 25 minutes away, which makes for an hour round trip not including errands. I am getting concerned about his hygiene and eating habits and afraid he may fall and seriously hurt himself and not be able to get help. However, he also has his pride. So I got his Dr. to call him in, without letting on it was me behind the appointment. I was then informed he had a dr's appt. So I hand the receptionist a list (handicapped parking tag, lifeline, homecare, hip problems, falls regularly, asthma, etc.) and softly say (my dad cannot hear me) please don't let my dad know I've given the dr. this list, he has his pride. So 5 minutes into the appointment the doctor calls me in, and with my list in hand, and with my 3 boys pinging around the small room, he goes over the list with my dad and I. I am steaming mad at this point (and afraid of what my dad would say to me).....I leave the room and get mad at the receptionist, in a totally disrespectful manner, which I am trying to change about myself. My dad comes out a little while later, we make appointments, fill out forms and head out to take him home. What does he say to me now?? "Wow, that doctor was certainly organized eh?"
He didn't/couldn't see that the list the doctor was using was from me........
Now I find out one can make an appointment to see one's parent's doctor to discuss ongoing issues. Wish I had known that.

Am I Robbing My Children?

I know I'm not, but it's a constant internal battle. My kids aren't learning in a structured environment. They aren't learning things in a straight line.....but we did blow up balloons with vinegar and baking soda tonight, and then blew out the CO2 in the balloons on their beans that are growing in front of the fire, growing from seeds that came from our garden this summer, that I didn't believe would grow, and they did.....look long and scraggly, but they ARE growing....what was my point??? Ah yes, am I robbing them. Today we did some Christmas crafts read a little, watched a lot of TV (August is sick, again) and played with Hotwheels.....I'm having a hard time trying to put words to how I'm feeling. I guess I'm doubting the path we're taking. Would my kids be better off at school? Would they be happier? Would they learn more? Do they need to learn more? I find it hard to find time to do anything with them in between cleaning, cooking, caring for 3 boys and hubby, groceries, don't ask me about the mountain of laundry that needs folding, garden work.....HOW DOES ANYONE GET ANYTHING DONE???? My days are not long enough......Wow what an eclectic confused post, I guess the churning in me is now in front of me.....

Desperately seeking.....

It's funny, but I read often from homeschooling parents, mothers mostly, on forums etc. that they spend time desparately seeing the perfect curriculum....buying one after another after another, spending gazillions of dollars on curriculums that they ditch after a short while because they don't work. I started doing this while tutoring young chinese kids in Hong Kong. I ordered the perfect "phonics" program, bought book after book, workbook after workbook, each one a boring failure and the lightbulb slowly went on for me and I understood more and more. I still didn't know about homeschooling and unschooling at this point. I found that the best way to reach the kids was to read cool books with them and then design FUN activities around the books. I read Roald Dahl a lot with the kids, Captain Underpants too - a huge hit, and I learned. When I had kids, began my journey into attachment parenting, LLL, Continuum Concept, and finally homeschooling I started researching curriculums, finding free ones like Letteroftheweek.com, Five in a Row and Sonlight....FIAR's literature lists and ideas are great, I ordered the books and the guides, and did nothing but read the books over and over to my kids. I don't know that I did ONE thing from the guides. Activities to reinforce learning SNORE. Sonlight's literature idea is awesome but by now I knew I would never do everything....so ordered some of their reading list but stayed away from their IGs. I have purchased less than most people I think. I did a few lapbooks with my kids, but again, reinforcing learning isn't really necessary. Either they get it or not. Either they want to know about something or they don't. If anything, by doing the lapbooks I killed their interest in certain topics. (here's a whole nother blogpost i suspect) I haven't completely given up on them, maybe when they are older they may enjoy the project aspect of lapbooks....but for now I have let them fall by the wayside. I have fallen for a couple of Math programs, but spent relatively little money. And I know with my kids its all about living and reading about real life stuff, and doing real life stuff every day, like catching mosquito larvae to put into your fish tank. You know the whole circle of life thing. You know Charlotte Mason's twaddle free literature, and living books, and living history???? Yep, she knew what she was talking about. Are all these parents desparately seeking the perfect curriculum wasting their time and money? Yep. It's right in front of their noses. Great books! LIFE LEARNING. SELF DIRECTED. Let the kids free to explore their own interests...and as a parent watch....and feed....spend all that money feeding the passion......and of course READ READ READ to them.....

All this just hit me today.

I figured out what August said. His loose tooth is driving him batty....it's been almost out for a week now, he finally said....."Maybe tonight I'll just put my whole head under the pillow and the tooth fairy can just take my tooth!" Ok, well *I* thought it was funny.

It's over

Visit with teacher facilitator went fine. Mostly just me looking at PLOs and ticking off what my kids have done. August read for her and played piano, Sawyer too. She's super sweet and all the worry was for nothing.

I'm noticing August sitting and actually reading books today, not just pictures. Cool. I knew it was gonna happen soon......

August made me laugh today with something he said, and for the life of me I can't remember what it was. How can I forget? I need a memo machine or a notebook.....I was driving so I don't know how I could have written it down, but even one word and I may have remembered.....

My kids want to know how the old man went to bed if he was already snoring.....

Panic Attack

Teacher supervisor visit tomorrow.

Me Panic.

Me kinda ticked that the 'unschoolers' were given a new hire who hasn't even read John Holt.

That I have to work on/educate her to see where I'm coming from.

Good thing she's pregnant now, she will start to understand....but unfortunately she will be off all next year and won't finish this year...

I tried to market math workbooks to August Saying that I would get in trouble if he didn't do SOMETHING.....he still couldn't do them, and I felt bad going against all my principles trying to get him to do them.....Believe me I didn't even TRY to get him to write anything....So it ticks me off totally as I`ve probably set August back months in real `learning` in trying to coerce him into doing stuff he had no interest in. When will I learn.

So I gave up - I know he understands the Math already, maybe not in its formal form.....but intellectually he does...

He has chosen books to read to her, this is not an issue.....and I suspect he will play piano for her.....

I'm still panic stricken......

SLUG SLUG SLUG Where are you????

Learning all the time....

My husband learns all the time. He wants to figure something out, he researches, asks those who know, tinkers and figures it out. Right now he's installing our neighbors pergo floor in their brand new house. He's never done this before. He's never farmed strawberries before either, and we've owned a strawberry farm for over 3 years now. Can you imagine the things he's figured out? Tractors, PTOs, irrigation, fertilizer, planting....tractor implements. While I just thought it would be cool to own a farm. After taking a week to plant 4500 strawberry plants by hand he found a transplanter rusting at the back of a friends farm, negotiated for it, ordered parts (it was designed in the late 1890s and not modified much since then) and refurbished it. It now takes us one day to plant 7000 plants. Manure spreader? yep, this one was built in 1939.....he's reconditioned it too. Rock Picker? (We live on boulder hill, don't ask about the rocks that truly DO grow here.) Yep, got one of those....he's rebuilding some of it right now. Let's get pigs honey....Build a pig house we can move with our tractor. Check. Oh, for inside the house.....pinball machines, yep we have 8 or 9 in various states of working order. Jukebox? That was a weeklong project in September - take apart, clean, categorize......Antique Tractors?? We've got 2. 1940s era.....One in pieces in the barn. Why do I bother to worry if my kids will learn on their own, look at their father :)

Shiver Me Timbers!

My Little Pirates, August is sick, but forced himself to go - How could one miss halloween, poor guy. I told him that I would have gone sick as a kid too. As we were about to drive down the driveway he said "do you have your pencil mummy?" He did want his mustache afterall! They had such a blast too. We actually got home made candied apples at one house (we get them every year), must be the last place on the planet, and we ate them too...and we got "cars" toothbrushes at another!! Cumberland, an old mining town, with Victorian houses, is decorated to the 9s and many people are dressed up to give out candy. Such spirit! The kids had the big candy sort and trade this morning - I got the coffee crisps!