Barefoot Musings

Wow. A whole month has passed! Amazing…

It’s been a pretty good month. I can’t really complain about too much (except for the pregnancy related stuff in the following post). My daughter has been better about doing her workboo-type stuff, and is actually asking how to write/spell things independently. This was a big stressor for me over the summer. I really had to hold back and not push. It’s hard when they are really bright in certain areas and you just feel like they are being obstinate in other areas. I’m learning to better “read” where my daughter is in terms of being ready to move forward or needing a break.

We’ve done lots of family reading. Read through “Trumpet of the Swan” and “Charlotte’s Web” (TWICE!). We’ve read a few other things. I think we’re going to do “The Hobbit” next. Her comprehension is really good, and I think we’re going to make a character journal for “The Hobbit.” We’ll take the characters and draw a picture of each one, then Doodlebug will narrate a description to accompany each picture. I remember “The Hobbit” as having a bazillion characters, and I don’t want her to be frustrated.

Reading and Math have continued on a fairly steady pace. Going through Miquon and Explode the Code — about five pages per week. That’s plenty. We’ve enjoyed a variety of math games (card games/board games). I’ll be ramping back up with some of the Language Arts games that I gave a rest for a while…I think she’s ready to try again!

Our adventure with SOTW has stalled out a bit. Mostly my fault. I just have been feeling like we don’t have the energy to “do it right.” So I skip it. But really, we could just read the stories and do questions. Do a map. Move on. It’s just doing all the “extra” reading and narration. My daughter has been having a tough time with the narration, because she thinks I want her to tell me THE ENTIRE story! Her narration from “Joseph and the Colorful Coat” just went on and on. I’ve tried showing her examples of a short synopsis, but she is so caught up in telling the whole story. I just need to jump back in and be OK with how it turns out. It’s a learning process, right?

Our two co-ops have been going well. Science and Art continue to be lots of fun and make for a great Thursday. Doodlebug loves the art teacher. The parent teachers have come up with some awesome projects/lessons. So far, they’ve studied weather, the properties of water, the water cycle, and are currently studying rocks/earth science (plate tectonics). Next week is earthquakes, then volcanoes! Our “Make and Bake” co-op has also been fun. The girls have made pizzas, made pretzels, felted wool, and done sun prints since my last entry. Next week, they’ll be making scones and having tea. (Last week they all wanted to speak in English accents the whole time, so this feels like a good plan.) They love it when they can wear their little aprons. We’re trying to line up a tour of a local bakery, too.

That’s it for homeschooling. We’ve also been getting ready for our new family member. Any time in the next month! I’ll be 37 weeks on Tuesday…wish me luck!

Well, blogging has definitely been a back-burner event for me lately. I really wanted to be consistent with the Learning Log entries, at the very least, but it has been tricky squeezing in the computer time.

I’ve learned a lot this past month. We’ve had some great weeks and a week where I am pretty sure absolutely nothing happened (well, nothing homeschool related: our cat died, I sprained a toe, etc…). But, I must admit, the weeks where things HAVE happened have been really great weeks. Doodlebug loves Story of the World and will listen to the Jim Weiss CDs independently (her own choice!). She loves the “games” we play — various math games, games from Phonics Pathways, writing in cornmeal poured on a cookie sheet…

What doesn’t she like? She doesn’t like worksheets anymore, which surprises me. Last Spring she would gleefully zip through workbooks faster than I could provide them. Now? I’m not quite sure why she’s changed.

The coolest thing that happened was about a week ago. We were reading in SOTW about nomads and looking at a picture of a shaduf (early irrigation tool) and after seeing a small-scale model in another book, Doodlebug expressd an interest in making one. Well, her father heard about this idea and volunteered to take over. He didn’t want to make a small-scale model, though. They actually went out and raided our neighbor’s brush pile, collected stuff from our house, and proceeded to build a large shaduf in our front yard! I was so proud of them both!

We also went on a field trip to Luray Caverns with our science homeschool co-op. The children in Doodlebug’s “class” are learning about water right now and will be moving onto geology/rocks soon. It’s a good transition for them to be learning about cave formation. That was pretty cool.

Her “Make and Bake” co-op has been fun. We’ve made ice cream, went on a field trip to a local ice cream shoppe where they make awesome ice cream for a tour, and we visited a beautiful local park to look for signs of autumn. (Tomorrow we will make pizza!!)

All in all, we’ve kept busy and there has definitely been learning and what the good ol’ state of Virginia would call “progress.” Some weeks I’ve just felt more on task than others. (I assume this is pretty much par for the course for most homeschooling families!) Hopefully, I can get into the habit of working on these logs more frequently. There is so much that we do which I would like to record!

Until next time…