A lull in homeschooling

Well, we've been really busy at home with all sorts of things, though none of them on my 'original' plan. With spring bursting foward, all of us have been busy cleaning up our yard and readying it for planting. Every year I think I will plant early, and every year I end up planting in early May....hmmm. At any rate, the garden is an amazing source of inspiration to us as a family and as an artist. Its a time to contemplate, dig deep and meditate. Of course my girls love the worms and seedlings. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect is being able to watch our efforts become real throughout the summer months. Our garden is very small, but you would be amazed at just what you can grow in a small space! We actually don't have any real grass area in the yard anymore, with a park/ play structure down the street and a huge field there as well, we just decided to grow all we could. 

Now if only I could get some chickens! Of course with our goofy dog (hound) there would probably be an incident! In fact any suggestions on handling this would be appreciated! 

Speaking of gardening, this talk at TED on our relationship with nature was mind bending....that much production on 100 acres ...huh!

I'll post pics soon, we're off to get compost at the works department... 

Why climb the mountain of workbooks

I have come to the realization that there is no one program to fit all our needs. Not one new workbook that upon completion will fill the void in my daughters education. In fact, I many days want to scream at some of the workbooks/unit studies I have used. At the end of it, workbooks are like the favorite DVD you pop in so you get a moment of peace. Its there when you need it.

However, workbooks have given both my daughters a sense of accomplishment and control over their education. It is so solid and easy to measure progress with. At the end of the day, I use these resources as another piont of view coming into our home school. Afterall, I do not want to be the source of knowledge. I want each of my daughters to become guided by their own inner compass. Independent learners. 

The reality is that learning to read, write, and do basic math is just a matter of time and attention. But to have direction, creatively solve problems and take an interest from a thought and investigaate this subject fully; this is my goal for my daughters education.  This is where unschooling and Project-based learning come in. I've been using a journal to help give feedback to both Anya and Fi on their interests. It also means I don't have to remember every interest they have and I can see patterns of interest that have developed. 

Check out Lori's website (at the link above). It's fantastic and her resources are amazing.

Wow, this post has wandered a bit! 

Mountains of workbooks and such...how to climb it and do you want to?

Fellow homeschoolers, on many different educational paths, have been a buzz about the huge amount of tools available to us! So I thought I would talk about some of the tools we use.

History: Love love love Mr. Scott Powell's History at our House program. Fiona has been doing this for a year and a half and we are both very happy. This year we went with the live call in option. It seems to have brought it more to life for Fi (even though she doesn't say much) . The cost is reasonable(ranging from $20-$75 a month depending on how many live lectures you attend) for the amount of material and support that is givien and I really like the way information is built upon in three year cycles. Next year we will be trying this for Anya (she'll be 6). Also, Mr. Powells knowledge base is extensive as well as his passion for history, something that comes through in his lectures.

Science: For Fiona, we've been doing experiments on and off, natural science unit studies that are mostly observation and nature drawing, and this year our Co-op offered a science and literature class that has been a bit challenging but Fiona has had fun in. She was surprised at how much fun she had in that class. In addition, we've been reading Joy Hakim's first (of three) book on The Story of Science Aristotle Leads the Way and we also just got the workbook and teacher edition that goes with it. These are wonderful basics that really cover the material very well.

We have also participated in Cornell University's Project Feederwatch. Both my girls have gotten a lot out of this this winter (it goes from Nov-April). We are also doing the Sunflower Project this summer. Science, for us, has been really about doing and understanding. THe more abstract concepts have been hard for Fi to get sometimes so I thought I'd get Nebel's book Building Foundation of Scientific Learning to do with Anya (of course Fi is right there to 'help' and listen) and the book is awesome! I think this paired with Comstock's A Handbook of Nature Study is a realistic curriculum to take young first graders through third or fourth grade. 

For hand-on nature studies, there are so many local gardening projects in the city and load of 4H in the outer suburbs and country it is relatively simple to get good hands on instruction if gardening is not your strong suit. I'll do a post on this later. Probably untitled "not all nature programs are equal".

Math: We've been using math-U See for the past three years and recently added Aleks

(if you sign up, be sure to mention me as referral ). Math-U-See we started using just one manual at a time, but soon I switched to 2 at a time since there is a lot of repetition in the workbook. Also, I first use the test manual, and if Fiona takes the test and gets 99% correct, we go on to the next test. I do this since she has many levels of competency in math depending on the subject. Anya started the kindergarten workbook this year. We go in spurts and starts with her on math. I will say that math tutors can be the right choice if your student is struggling here. I saw amazing improvement at the end of summer shen Fi saw on once a week. We've also enjoyed Donna Simmons math unit studies(first through third grade). She is a Waldorf based curriculum so some of the very anthropologically based exercises may not be what you're after. But she is practical too. Very practical! So many awesome ideas about how to present this subject or that with really simple and easy to do hands on activities (like measuring a mile by walking for 1/4 and counting how many steps you took) It makes math real.

I'll post more about what we use for litrature, art , nature programs and music tomorrow.

Snow in almost April

Water's state can be gas, liquid, or solid!!!

My little one on the state of water.

Tapping the trees

In the sugaring house

Maple sugaring

We had a wonderful time at my friend and fellow homeschooler, family
maple syrup farm. Thank you Sue and the whole Battel family for a
great time and yummy syrup!

Archetypes

So I was just trying to put into words an idea that has been tumbling around in my head for awhile. I've been reading a lot about the Reggio Emilia schools in Italy and this translation of an approach to education her in the US. We as human beings love archetypes. Fairy tales and legends, the pastoral scene, even in modern media this ideal image is brought out and displayed. In the Wii game Animak Crossing, the world is pre-industrial and romantic, another example is the tv show Stargate were almost every world they encounter looks like a village out of time. The image a child draws of their house and the grass and flowers around it. These images are deeply ingrained in us and affect us profoundly. 

So, I've been asking my art students (and my own children) to do contour drawings of everyday object. This helps us really see an object, we are surrounded by lines. At first the children were a bit lost, but now they have really gotten into it. During the next two classes, I'm going to talk to them about the story we just read from India about the goat and the wolf. Last week we drew pictures that reflected out idea of what that landscape would be like. I want them to imagine this story in their own neighborhood taking place. This week and nest we will be working on drawings of this story using modern terms instead of a more pastoral view of the mountains and jungle below. I do wonder what they will come up with?

I guess what I'm trying to get at is our world will change and morph in years to come, will it be able to change enough? Especially if the archetype we hold in our heads of the ideal family and setting is so set in the past. When I look at the images from the 50's, how amazing their design was, how foward thinking, I wonder what has happened? Where is my flying car?! 

I'm not saying trash that pastoral image, but instead make room for another ideal. I truely believe that while working on a real farm and experiencing nature in all its gritty reality is a truely valuable experience. It is hard and dirty work. I also value experiences that are just as real, authentic, that take place in the city or suburb. A working artists studio, public works department, a laboratory, manufacturing plant. 

We all try to make sense of our world, try to make it better, dream of our place in it. If the images presented as ideal all look alike(farm in the country or small tudor village), I wonder if we would be ready for true inovation. 

Anchor points

Each day I have anchor points. They are the moments that are not attached to a specific time of day, rather an approximate or perhaps something that happens after XYor Z.

I've tried to schedule our days by precise time...that did not work. I've tried to be very fluid about when things happen...this also doesn't work. So lately I've been thinking instead of anchor points in my day. What comes first, folloes that, happens after this etc. It has been very helpful for me to realize how my time flows and has allowed our schedule to flow much better. There have been many many adjustments, and yes I do keep a calendar with times we actually have to be such ans such place for activity X, but this way I see my time in large (or they are sometimes very small) chunks so I know when we have time for what. Organizing my time does not come easily to me, however this system I have is working. Whats more it has allowed me to see what days are just too busy, can I scale them back? If not, what can I do to make them easier? 

Anchor points are;

Walk/morning sanity/coffee

knitting/sketching/journaling while Fi does independent work

Anya project/storytime when Fi is blogging and on her conference call

Lunch and playtime outside for the girls...I do email/bills/invoicing

Afternoon...well here is where I loose my time

Afternoon/Evening activities or I work

Nighttime planning/knitting/TV

Down time

I'm back up after a bout of the flu.  Sometimes illness can be a blessing. It gives you some time and space to slow down a bit. It is such a struggle to balance our work, schoolwork and family time.

Since both DH and I work mainly from home, and we homeschool our two daughters, home is very much center stage. More like HOME for us. It is very busy in our house. Time slips away here. I wonder sometimes if we get anything done, and at other times I look back over the year and am amazed by just how productive all of us have been. How is it possible to hold these two opposing thoughts? Connecting to this is a blog entry I read on Camp Creek's blog . She talks about 'white space'. As an artist I relate to thisw deeply, negative space or empty space when composing a picture is as important as the lines on the page. I guess my point is that as I wonder at how little I feel I get done each day, and also am amazed at how much we did last year, it dawns on me that dispite our schedules and best intentions, learning happens. I have seen huge jumps in understanding in the subjects of science, math, reading etc. when we 'rest' or take a break from it. Connections made between one subject and another are made. 

So I've thought about time and how to devide it and I am being much more fluid. I've been reading a lot of books about the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. They take a child lead (read very unschooling) approach to education. Project based learning and documentation coupled with easy access to art supplies and the space and support to do them in is key to the success of these schools. What drew me to Waldorf was a focus on open ended, arts based education. Focusing on the child as a whole, for example, paying attention to the space a child lives in as well as what they eat to support learning. What has turned me off about Waldorf is the 'rules' that come with this. Like most forms of education, a curriculum is laid out, and of course, you can't learn everything there is to know in 8 years of elementary education, so you have to pick what is important to know. This is where I diverge from Waldorf and most curriculums. What is important is as individual as your children. Sure, reading, writing, counting and basic math are neccessary for independent study, but the reality is that as long as your children live in a home with materials to investigate; that encourage reading, writing and math, these basic skills will be learned with some amount of focused instruction and attention. The rest? WHat is important? This is a question I keep coming back to and fortunately this world of ours, with information about any subject so easily available, lends itself to project based learning. As the main teacher to my girls, I need to give them the tools neccessry to discover the world. Math beyond the basic, scientific analysis, how to hold a brush for paint or pen to paper...this is my job. Finding things to inspire, books, music, art, ideas...this is my job. My children's work is to explore and investigate their world and this whole world we live in. I can give them places to start, but where they end up is always more amazing when I wasn't at the helm (so to speak).

WHew, well this was long...food for thought.

If the funk over?!

Ever understand why parents used to send their children away to apprentice with another family? I can honestly say I never had, until the funk hit my sweet Fi hard. She is almost itching to go and do something, somewhere, but doesn't want to leave home (think Joe in Little Women). Oh the yelling, the tantrums. This morning was AWEFUL, but somehow, through love, listening and patience, she seems to be over it. I believe it is the "back to school after a nice break with lots of fun, family and friends and I don't want to ever do any of this schoolwork again and besides why do I need to know that anyway?!" funk. She announced last week that she plans to retire as a job (huh?). I believe in the heart of her childhood some angst has hit, she is a very perceptive child and I think she sees her younger sister, playing, having fun. Sees how easy Anya's work is (easy for Fi) and wishes things were easier.

I get that. There just anything to do or say about it.

Thankfully, Fi is back to her joyful , bouncy, studius self after a blowout this morning. 

Oh and Anya says 'I'm Hepertized", I love Anya-isms!

Oh and check out Fi's little blog about Puck, it's for a science class at co-op. She's using it t log his activities and pictures she takes each day of him...she is very excited about this!

Maker Profile - Cyclecide from make magazine on Vimeo.


Thanks Kirsten for this link! Fiona & Anya are loving this series! too cool!!!!

Studio class and co-op

Whew! what a couple of days. Soooo happy to be back into the swing of things with school, and this includes my studio/art classes in Thursdays as well as the co-op we attend (and I teach at) on Fridays.

Thursday brought a festive fiber atmosphere as we get into knit/crochet/felting/ serwing of it all with my studio class (last session was printmaking). F was inehr element, as were all her classmates. It will be really exciting to see all the projects when done. 

Today brought a bit of discomfort to Fi, she was not ammused yb disection in her science/lit class. I love that she did it, I love that she had a lot of feelings about it, but mostly I love that she know what the inside of a grasshopper and a starfish look like. For all the complaining she did, she couldn't stop describing what she saw, how it felt and smelled. Lots of really neet descriptions, like the inside of a starfish looks like raw meat (ewwww!) but cool! Anyway, it was a really great day. A had fun with the boxes I brought for the younger ones to marker up and sit it. Spanish for both girls went well...A frequently comes out of there spouting all sorts of phrases. She just loves her teacher!And we are all loving the shorter day (was 9-4, now 10-3). So happy for the weekend of cleaning, rest and reflecting.

Anya's awesome piano playing

Back to work! Well,Already working!

We've been back to homeschooling for the last two days and it has been great! It has been hard ..it has been eyeopening. 

Fi is diving into writing and science, at both daunting to her because she knows co-op mates will be reading her stuff, and really creative...for the same reason. It has lead to some interesting talks about editing, collaborating and being interdependant. The last bit is something she rails against being such an independent spirit.

In the midst of this, Anya is soaking up info like a sponge. Talking about cephalapods and nematods, not to mention ancient greece and playing the piano. She amazes me!.

Apeaking of viola, Fi will be playing a peice for the director of the string program next week Thursday to determine if she can go up a level. Keep fingers crossed! Fi is super excited and I am to proud of all the hard work she has done in this. She is a bit surprised at how hard learning new pieces has become since what she is learning has a lot of phrasing and dynamics.

Anyway, we are plugging away here...

Thank you Kirsten for the great gift!

Test com phone

I am just testing this feature for the future , hope it works
Ann

January 3rd

To update our homeschooling journey. We've moved away from Waldorf. I've learned a lot about myself and about what I value.  I still use much of the arts related content and love love love the focus on stories and litrature. However I've found that Waldorf just stays away from hardcore science and facts too much for too long. I don't have children that are interested in the sciences heavily, so I've been a bit light on that side of their education. In addition, I was appaled by some of the main material used in Waldorf schools for grades 4,5,6,7,8. I do not agree with much of the emphasis on myth and legend as if they are fact. While I realize some of this is which auther you read, I find overall the emphasis for our family is just tooo tooo tooo much on myth and legend.

So what do we do now. We still use block crayons and wet on wet watercolors. We still use a picture and creative retelling of the 'story' written in the students hand. I still follow much of the general subjects covered in a traditional Waldorf school. I have veered away from math and science and grammer being a main lesson and add them into our weekly routine. In addition, we attend a secular co-op (since we are agnostic) and are loving all the great families! Fiona is getting her science work from a parent who is a doctor and teaches college level chemistry. In other words, she really gets science.  I teach art history there (a forte of mine from college).  Fiona has been taking her history lessons from History and Our House. Mr. Powell is a great instructor and we really enjoy the lessons. Fiona also is using Aleks for daily math problems. When we have a new lesson, I give that to her and she also completes portions of the workbook Math-U-See 

Other than that, I have daily read alouds for Fiona and Anya. Fiona has a book to read for each Main Lesson block. We still do main lesson blocks throughtout the year, and Anya also has math work and natural sciences in addition to weekly poems and fairy tales. Whew!

Fiona is also very lucky to be involved in the Power of Dreams program. She is playing the viola, see her first concert ! In addition, Anya started ballet in the fall and will continue through winter. Both Fiona and Anya are swimming, Fiona to keep in shape for HWAC swim team and Anya is learning by leaps and bounds...she want to be on the team this summer too!

So, in addition to that, I've been teaching art to elementary (grade 1-8) children at my home studio. I am also teaching at Ewe-Nique Knits. I've been toying with the idea of a blog about the classes I teach and my own art adventures and will post a like to this when I set it up

Our journey this year

Well, tons has happened since the beginning of school this year. Fiona is finishing her first block dealing with farming. We have been working on Simple Times Farm each Sunday, milking the goats and tending the garden and chickens. We have also had 6 meetings with our co-op, celebrated together Sukkah and had a potluck and lantern walk. I've finished the first six week session of my art classes for 4-6 year olds and 7-11 year olds. And all of our extra activities have started, and soccer season is coming to an end. WHeeew! I think this year we may....really I may have added too much to my plate. However adjustments are not so easy to make, so I will see how this goes and perhaps cut back on my personal commitments.

This year with homeschooling, since Fiona just turned 9 before school started, she is studying the third grade curriculum for Waldorf. Though she has advanced in both mathmatics and grammer. I basically have kept the focus of our blocks for third grade material (according to a Waldorf education) and will continue to add extra lessons for Fiona according to her capasity. Even Rudolf Steiner thought that in foreign language, math and music, if a student could do more than their peers, they should be allowed to advance further in these areas. I have found that the material set out for a particular age group in Waldorf is spot on for what they are ready for. Practical things are really what Fiona craves right now. As a result, our main lesson book is not very thick. She has really been resisting work with writing involved, so we've been doing some composition, but we have also been making lists and playing games. I've also been working with painted forms, from Donna Simmons (http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/2nd_grade_math.htm) math book. Fiona has been loving this!

Today we worked with a lenth of rope and practiced tying knots, she worked in her math book and did some amount of spelling work. Of course she also practiced her spanish, recorder and piano and read on her own. Tomorrow we will work on her and her sisters Halloween costumes.

We just love working on the farm. Fiona has had a bit of the "why doesn't Anya have to..." and the "I'm doing the most work it's not fair" but I suppose that's just the way 9 is, and the way Fiona is. However at the suggestions that perhaps we stop coming to do the work with the goats, she becomes very upset. I believe she is adjusting to doing some more challenging physical work. I just love the time with the goats, they're like dogs, I mean they are obviously goats, but they can make you look a fool...just like my dogs do. Our joke now is that our 1 1/2 year old dog Puck is half goat. Both Anya and Fiona have a deeper understanding of just where our food comes from, and Fiona especially is becoming quite the advocate for natural sustanable living. As fall turns to winter and into spring, I believe this time we have on the farm will be remembered fondly in my girls adulthood. We will be planting spring bulbs there this Sunday, and have plans for the small playhouse they have in the backyard. It needs some sprucing up.

The art classes went really well. The younger class was enjoyed very much by the students, and my daughter Anya (4). She was the youngest in the class and I know that students any younger just wouldn't work. The class is set up really like a waldorf kindergarten, though the time frame is for 1 1/2 hours. There is a craft, circle, story with puppets and work with block crayons or wet on wet watercolor. The older class also had crafts, and story as well as working with block crayons and wet on wet watercolor in addition we work with form drawing and nature journaling and use pastels as well. The younger class really loved going to the orchard for their feild trip. We had our circle in the midst of the trees. I brought the star in the apple story and puppets with me and we did some leave rubbings as well as beeswax apples. And of course, we ate some apples and picked wuite a few too! The older children came with me to Greenfield Village and we saw and drew many harvest activities. I took a page from Comstocks book on corn, since there was a corn field growing with squash and beans.

Our co-op is so supportive and so much fun! The older children will be performing the "Blessings of the Corn" in another month or so. Anya just loves the stories with puppet and our circle is just so sweet. I love celebrating the year with these families...it has been very special . This last month we had so much fun taking the wool we washed and we felted them into pumpkins, adding some orange wool and green for the stems. The older children helped needlefelt them into shape as well. We've also made lanterns for our lantern walk, had a nature treasure hunt and woven the finds into a stick frame, and this next month we will be weaving baskets...I jsut have to get some grapevine from my in-laws forest. Fiona is learning recorder finally. We tried two years ago, but Fiona just wasn't ready. Last year she started piano, and had been a fantastic student with that. So this year I really wanted her to learn the recorder since part playing will be introduced later and she is coming along, though she is much more frustrated by this than piano. She must really need to do some work with the breath! Anya has been really playing with children her own age finally. Anya had been gravitating to children Fiona's age, co-op day has brought some balance to her week.

For Anya, she gets her circle on Monday ( in art class) and on Wednesday (in co-op) and on Fridays, we have spanish and just a fun day,Anya and FIona also go to spanish on Tuesday as well. Fiona's schedule is a bit , well more. Mon,Tues,Thurs are main lesson days, Tues is art class (group)Wed are co-op(group) and piano and on Tues and Fri are spanish. She also in in Girl Scouts twice a month, soccer for 6 weeks in the fall and spring, and will begin Gymnastics once a week while soccer is off. Also we all go to the farm on Sunday mornings, all this has made for a busy week, though thankfully, we do not have to drive all over the place. both Girl Scouts and soccer is local and spanish is within 30 minutes. My art class meet here, so its Tuesday and Wednesday that has been a challenge.

Really the biggest challenge for me has been all the changes I've had to work through myself. My schedule this year is much different. I've changed so much of what I do, change is hard.

Well, I'm moving through it. Right now I'm preparring for my next art session. I'm reading Coyote Road, a Datlow and Windling adult fairy tale series. Session II is focused on animal and trickster tales. For Fiona's main lesson studies, I'm also reading the old testament since we will be covering creation from the old testament just prior to Solstice. As for Anya, I've been using Ellerseik's movement and song book for fall and winter. It has been awesome!