History for Little Pilgrims (Part 1): Our Journey so Far

For history this year I decided on a little text called History of Little Pilgrims put out by Christian Liberty Press.  It is a nice introduction to the concept of history and makes it very clear that history is all a part of God's great plan.  We are starting out very slowly with this book, reading a section or two twice a week and adding in extra reading and projects as we meander along.

Bloopers

Our first week of homeschooling this year was a fabulous one, despite the bloopers.  These, I think will be the things that make the year memorable.

Homeschooling at the Fair

 I wasn't going to call it an official school day, but it turned out to be better than I could ever have done at home.

1. Literature Link:  we read A Fabulous Fair Alphabet by Debra Frasier on the way to the fair.   
2. Science:  an entertaining and informative bubble demonstration where the "performer" entertained us with bubbles made of air, helium, propane, etc.  We watched them float, burst, and burn.
3.  Science lessons also took place in the Miracle of Birth Barn and the Cargill sponsored Little Farmhands exhibit. 
4. Lots of language arts lessons took place at the early literacy corner, where we made alphabetical lists of things we saw at the fair, practiced handwriting and spelling with a variety of fun literacy activities, and narrated the day's events.
5. Social Studies:  chatting with the national guard members at their booth, discussing the various jobs people hold at the fair, and working together to read the map of the fair grounds.
6. Health and Nutrition:  okay, I guess corn dogs on a stick don't really count....
7. Art:  making fans, coloring pictures, observing all sorts of art in the arts and crafts building......

All in all, it was a very productive and educational day at the fair!

The Big S

It was the socialization conversation.  As homeschoolers, we've all had them with the concerned friend or relative.  Yesterday, it went something like this:

 Concerned Relative:  "I hear school has started at your house."
Me:  "We've actually been at it for a few weeks now."
Concerned Relative:  "How does Logan do with other kids his own age?"  (This relative is actually quite encouraging in my homeschooling endeavors, but does seem to have a bit of a fear that my kids will end up in taped glasses, high waters, and suspenders while slurping their soup and picking their nose at Thanksgiving dinner.)
This is the point in the conversation where I generally go into defense mode and start listing: "Well, the kids are in dance, soccer, Sunday School, Wed. night kids' church, TWO homeschool coops, a playdate group...."  (Just saying it usually makes me tired.)  But, having just come off of Vacation Bible School season, I decided to be honest.
Me:  "Actually, Logan has a few good friends his age but, for the most part, he doesn't enjoy large groups of children his own age." 
Awkward silence.  But, really, I felt good.  In fact, it felt really good to have the truth out in the open.
Me:  "He finds them to be rude and mean a lot of the time."
Concerned Relative (chuckling):  "Oh, there's the Mamma Bear coming out.  But that is the real world and he's going to have to learn how to deal with it."
Me:  "Of course he will.  I'm just not convinced that a bunch of other six year olds are the ones I want teaching him how to deal with conflict.  I mean, what's a little kid going to do?  Whatever it is, he is probably going to pick up on sarcasm or underhanded meanness. Or he's going to get into an all-out brawl, which is not acceptable in our house.  Or he's going to be labeled a tattle tale, annoy all the teachers, and not fit in anyway."
Concerned Relative:  "Oh.  The weather is beautiful here!  What's it like up your way?"

Later, as I was thinking about the conversation, I found it somewhat intriguing that very few times has anyone expressed concern about my children's education, morality, or relationship with God.  One time when Logan was three an early-education teacher handed him a pencil and asked if he could write his name.  He looked at her blankly, as if he had no idea what his name was anyway.  She clucked disapprovingly and lectured me on the virtues of early childhood education.  But that has been about the extent of it. 

Does it seem at all strange to anyone other than myself, that socialization by peers seems to be the #1 concern when it comes to our children?  And that the term "socialization" always refers to spending time with others our children's own ages? 

I have yet to understand why socialization seems to be the #1 concern of the homeschool opponent.  Yes, I understand that a homeschooling child could possibly be under-socialized (although, in reality, homeschooling children generally spend MANY more hours a week socializing than main-stream schooled children do.  But, that is another rant for another day.).  However, if you find socialization by peers to be pretty low on my list of priorities, it is because I feel that I can better prepare my child for the real world by creating a Biblically-based curriculum that puts godly principles and biblical truths at the core of what we learn.  I would also rather them be "socialized" by us - their family - and by the parents and children who share our values.  I would rather my children be "socialized" by the wise men and women of faith with whom we spend one morning a week with at the nursing home.  And I would rather focus on things at the top of my priority list and, um, I hate to break it to you, Dear Concerned Relative, but socialization is not anywhere near the top at this time. 

So, if you truly find cause for concern and feel my child is become a social deviant, please feel free to let me know.  However, please be sure there is true cause for concern.  If he is simply missing the sarcastic "whatever" in his vocabulary or doesn't speak to you as an equal but with submissive respect or prefers a face-to-face conversation to his Nintendo DS, then I'm not going to be real concerned.  Now, if you notice his clothing is a bit out of style and he's looking a little nerdy, then I would LOVE some pointers.  Fashion, along with socialization, is - as any Concerned Relative would know - pretty low on my list of priorities as well.

Logan's First Grade Schedule

I love reading about what others are doing with their students during their homeschooling hours, so I thought I would post a bit about what our almost-six-year old will be doing this school year. 

Kindergarten Plans

Kindergarten:  I can't believe I am typing that word when referring to the schooling that my four-year-old, Sierra, will be doing this year.  One of the big reasons I have decided to homeschool my children is to avoid the current trend of early education which, in my humble opinion, seems to put a lot of pressure on parents and little ones early on, leading to burn out and boredom in the later years.

First Day of School (2010-11)

August 16, 2010.  Homeschooling at our house has officially started for the year!  And what a kick off it was.  I sent the kids to bed last night with promises of wonderful surprises at breakfast and a fabulous day together.  It was all I had hoped for, even though the really cool looking back-to-school snacks I stayed up til one a.m. making looked more like colorful dog droppings than crayons and the kids thought the peanut butter, honey, and powdered milk snacks mixed with red food coloring looked like raw hamburger rather than pink school erasers.  But they were tasty and, along side the blueberry muffins, the kids thought they had finally made it to Paris, France (the place, in their minds, where you go for fabulous, fancy food).  Kids who eat a concoction of oats, flax, and dried fruit for breakfast six days a week are easy to please.

mathwire.com

I set the table and stuck a candle into each of the kids' muffins.  I had wrapped their little school-supply boxes filled with brand-new supplies up in festive wrapping paper, and my husband and I sang a goofy little "Happy First Day of School" song to them as they entered the dining room.  It was the perfect start to the year.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been a few more hours of sleep!

After breakfast, devotions, and chores, I sent my 4-year-old, Sierra, off to play while I spent the first half hour of "school time" working with my six year old, Logan. Logan tends to loose focus early on in the day when it comes to school work, but his reading and math are my top two priorities for this year, so I've decided to attack those first.  If the baby is cranky or the rest of the day falls apart, I will at least have those two things done.  We snuggled on the couch for our ten minutes of reading, and he got through an Alpha Phonics lesson that made him laugh out loud.  Something silly about a hen falling into a bath, I think.  He took his Explode the Code out onto the deck while Sierra and I read the Dr. Seuss's ABC book and decorated the Aa page in her alphabet notebook (an idea I got from the Homeschool Share Website). Although Sierra has somehow managed to teach herself all the letter sounds and how to read simple words, I am going to start pretty basic with her.  We may mover pretty quickly through the alphabet, but I want to make sure she really knows it thoroughly.  For math, we used the measuring links and measured a pile of her toys, estimating their lengths and discussing the concepts of longer and shorter and the importance of measuring.

Then we all gathered back together and did some group work:  Read a poems from A Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson, calendar work which includes lots of counting and discussion about tens and ones, and filling in our weather graph that I swiped from mathwire.com.  We then moved on to our history lesson.  I had gathered several photo albums and we sat on the couch thumbing through them and laughing at ourselves throughout our brief little "history" together.  Then we read the first chapter of History for Little Pilgrims, which gives a good introduction to the concept of history.

Lastly, we did a little music lesson.  I am going to use some ideas from a book I picked up from our local library book sale called Music Crafts for Kids (Music Crafts for Kids: The How-To Book of Music Discovery).  Today we talked about how nature provides a music of sorts.  We went outside and listened to the wind and the birds.  Then we made streamers to dance in the wind with by tying long, multi-colored strips of crepe paper streamers to the ends of wooden spoons.  The children danced joyfully around the house for close to an hour, the wind blowing wildly at their streamers, and it was the perfect end to a wonderful morning.  As we sat around a lunch of chow mein and rice, it was declared a success by all!