Where March Finds Us . . .

Hero has always been an Unschooler at heart. She is a child with constant questions of "Why?" and "How?", always thinking of new and better ways to do things . . . she is hands on and inventive and tirelessly clever. I've come to the conclusion that I need to surrender my expectations to her learning style. More than a choice, it is a process, and I am trying to loosen up more and more each day. I have no doubt that she will learn everything she needs to know as she grows, with our support. So no more overwhelming pressure to perform to the tune of the outside set of standards our society has in place for her. She is (for now) (more or less) free to follow the path she chooses. There are certain things I cannot let go of, but I will try to make those things enjoyable and approachable. I have no plans currently to extend this Unschooler's privilege to my other kids who have a less difficult time with structure and strictly bounded learning, but who knows where this will take us. I might find it an irresistibly appealing sort of thing that will encroach on everything. We'll see where we are in a few months time.

I found a handy little toy the other day and couldn't resist it, in an attempt to make the dreaded maths more fun. It's the World Almanac for Kids Puzzler Deck, the math version for ages 7-9. It is great fun and more than a few cards forced me to think twice. Now I want the whole collection.

And a delightful photo from our day. Cooperative Battleship. With dolls. I love it.

The Beauty of Homeschooling

This is the real beauty of our homeschooling . . . a spring day spent scaling a small mountain with sisters.

Back in the swing.

So we had a bit of an unscheduled break. I came down with a cold near the end of last week, so Thursday and Friday were both pretty much free days, other than a bit of reading. Then we had a friend over Friday and Saturday night and then we took her home and spent Sunday and Monday night at her house! We had a great time with our best friends and then drove back home Tuesday. The kids were up until close to midnight all of those nights and they are still getting caught up on sleep. But it was totally worth it. :)

So today we jumped back into it. I'm noticing that Hero has a really rough time and feels really resistant to lessons on the first day after any sort of break, be it an ordinary weekend or Christmas. I need to figure out a way to ease her (and me) back into it more gracefully, because it makes for a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day of learning if I jump in with both feet (as I tend to do) and she decides to dig her heels in. Other than that little hang-up the day was good.

We did a small study today on how artists use color, reviewing primary and secondary colors and learning about warm and cool colors and how they can make a painting feel. I didn't quite feel up to getting paint out today, but the girls drew some lovely portraits in crayon. They are now displayed prominently and with pride on the refrigerator door. The first one, on the left, is Haven crying her eyes out (literally I think, it's hard to tell). The other two are of me. I am beaming with pride. Seriously.

"H says 'huh'"

Or in other words, happy Tuesday!

Mondays are always such slow and sluggish days for us. I would like to screw with that pattern though. I would feel better, I think, to start the week off with a bang. Then, if things get crazy, we can ease into the weekend without feeling guilty or having missed out on valuable learning days. In order to transform Monday into what is now Tuesday I am going to have to turn my Sundays into Mondays, which is frankly kind of depressing. I'll think on it.

And in other news! I am a believer in working wherever you are most comfortable, and I try to allow my kids that freedom, but it doesn't always work out. Sometimes being on the floor or on the couch lends itself to wiggles and daydreaming. I'm not anti-daydreaming, but some days it is helpful to just GET the math lesson done in 10 minutes rather than 10 hours. Leads to happier times for us all. So I have been forcing (oooooh, wicked mother) my kids to sit up at the dining table, the miniature kid table, or putting Serra at the desk in her room. It kind of makes a world of difference.