Make-Up Days Already?!

Yes, folks, we're already playing catch up. We're weeks behind on art lessons, about a week behind on history and science, and who knows how far behind in Latin! And you know what? It doesn't even matter. It's only annoying because we're not evenly behind, so I'm jumping between lesson plans doing what I'd planned for this week in Spelling but last week's History. 

I know a lot of people get bent out of shape if they can't check everything off their to-do list each day and they "fall behind". But behind what? What kids in public schools are doing? Who cares what kids in public schools are doing! Most of them don't even get to learn half the awesome stuff we do and they never finish their textbooks at the end of the year anyway! Behind our own expectations then? Well maybe that's a sign we need to adjust our expectations. It's easy as homeschoolers to try to do too much. And isn't one of the wonderful things about homeschooling the flexibility? We make our own schedule. We piece together our own course of study. We decide which days we school and which days we laze around like unproductive pajama people (which we've been doing quite a lot lately).  So let's be flexible. Let's cut ourselves some slack. We'll get around to everything, it may just be a little slower than we'd planned. And lately I've apparently really needed a break because we've only been doing half days.

So today, to at least get my lessons closer to being all on the same page of the planner, we had a make-up day. We worked on reading a writing, but instead of all our various other subjects we spent the rest of the day working primarily on science and history, which are typically our favorite subjects around here anyway! 

We decorated our salt dough volcano. (Side note: it's really hard to get three wiggly, excited kids all in the frame and facing the camera at the same time!)

We erupted our volcano! That Lego house never stood a chance. Then we watched a YouTube video of lava oozing out of a volcano in Hawaii.

We reviewed our prayers and poems we've been trying to memorize but have been neglecting.

We read about mountains, rivers, and glaciers, did some journaling, and placed a block of ice on a wire shelf in the freezer with a brick on top to see how ice flows. (Hint: it supposedly will seep down between the bars of the wire rack. We'll see tomorrow!)

We read about the Ajanta caves in India and the Buddhist monks who carved out their monasteries and filled them with beautiful frescoes and carvings. We looked at photos of them online. Then we colored pictures for us to touch every day this week to see the effect of many people touching a piece of art over and over and how it can damage the artwork.

Then we planted broccoli in the garden and observed the ants digging out their tunnels after the rain and carrying hundreds of bits of fallen leaf to their hill's opening to carry inside later. Those ants can really carry some huge (well, for an ant!) clumps of dirt!

Then we found some mushrooms, took a walk around the back yard looking for more, talked about how they have gills underneath that make spores, and about where they live. We even found a whole huge colony of small mushrooms and Felix picked a "family" of them, big daddy mushrooms, smaller mommy mushrooms, and tiny baby mushrooms. Then of course we washed our hands very well because I am no backyard forager and don't know if our mushrooms are edible or deadly! 

It was probably the most pleasant, fun, and productive school day we've had in a long time. We're still a little "behind" what I had planned, especially in art. Does that bother me? Not at all. I'm not going to stress about it. We'll adjust and get to it eventually. And sometimes a "make-up day" can be just the energizing, motivating kick in the pants we needed!

Today's Project: Quill Pens

Hail, fair reader! Sorry for the long absence, my budding medievalists and I have been throwing ourselves into our studies and trying to get the hang of juggling multiple students and a third who wants us to stop and play with him.

This week we're taking a short break from our beloved Story of the World to study Arthurian legend. I really felt it was important for them to be as familiar with these stories as with Beowulf or Robin Hood because they're referenced in popular culture at least as often. Everyone knows about Merlin, Arthur, and the doomed love between Guinevere and Lancelot! And really, who doesn't love stories of chivalry and battling fearsome dragons or ignoble churls who have done something wicked? 

We've read Merlin and the Dragons by Jane Yolen, The Kitchen Knight by Margaret Hodges, The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla, and are working through the books in Sterne and Lindsay's King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which I would highly recommend! 

But a kid can't just sit and listen peacefully! They need to get the wiggles out! They need something to keep their hands busy while they listen! So today we made quill pens and practiced writing. 

Whoa now! Before you claim you're not capable of this, you're not crafty enough, or you have no clue what you're doing, just hear me out! It's way easier than you think, I swear! In fact the only thing you need that might not be in your house are the feathers. 

You want to use the large size ones, the ones with tips that look thick and pretty hollow to start with. I got a pack of five in assorted colors from the craft store for about $1. Plenty for all of us!

You'll also need something to trim the ends at an angle. You could use a very sharp pocket knife, a pair of scissors, or if you have a pair of little jewelry wire cutters like I did those work brilliantly. Then you'll need a straight pin or medium or large sized safety pin to hollow out the tip.

So. Step 1: trim the tip at an angle with your instrument of choice.

Step 2: take your pin and pull some of that white stuff out to make a small hollow at the end to draw the ink up into the quill. 

Step 3: you're done! Try it out!

Instead of using store-bought liquid ink or making our own out of ground walnut shells or soot (because that's way more labor intensive), we grabbed the darkest liquid in the pantry - balsamic vinegar. It doesn't dry very dark, but it works well enough to get a feel for it. My kids certainly thought it was cool pretending to be medieval scribes!

All Its First Day Glory

Well, it finally arrived, the day that has been quickly approaching ever since summer break began - the first day of a new school year. I have to admit I've been a bit frantic this past week trying to make sure we were all prepared. Since I did most of my curriculum shopping and big picture planning work in March (I know, crazy, right?)I thought surely I'd have plenty of time. But it turns out that with extra time comes procrastination (who knew???). There were actually quite a lot of things that, in March, made me think to myself "it's way too soon to worry with that! Better save it for summer." Then summer came and went and it was almost New School Year's Eve! And I had not yet compiled a list of copy work! Or purchased supplies for all those great history projects I planned to do with the kids (or - gasp! - even put together a shopping list for them!), or realized we really did need markers for some things. So...let's just say I've been busy...

One tradition we're starting this year (that I wish I'd been doing all along and not just picking up two years later) is a first day "All About Me" page from Thirty Handmade Days. 

These are adorable and were so much fun! They're designed for traditional school kids, but we just filled in "mom" for teacher and went on. They cover the basic stats and current favorites, as well as "when I grow up I want to..." I was half expecting one of the boys to finish that sentence with "explode stuff and live off candy", but nope. They opted for "be a race car driver" and "be a fireman". Go figure. Anyway, I thought it would be a great handwriting sample for the ones who were old enough to write, and a great snapshot of them through the years. There's even a place for you to attach a picture of them on their first day, so we snapped some pictures after lunch (good practice for me since I've been learning to use my camera on manual instead of full auto).

Snaggle-toothed little Miss Teflon herself

Cy the Guy with the Big Blue Eyes

My mischief maker, Felix

Hmm...definitely seeing a family resemblance!

I have to admit, besides the mad scramble for last minute readiness, I've been dreading the First Day for another reason. You see, it's my first year teaching more than one kid and I've been more than a little nervous about how this whole "teaching two kids while a third runs amok" thing would go. Last year was challenging enough, what with our oldest's microscopic attention span and superhuman ability to fall out of any seat (Just call her Teflon Girl! Able to slide off a chair without even noticing! Able to hit the floor with more force than the laws of physics allow!). Okay, so it wasn't that bad (in fact it was pretty great), but she is quite the wiggle worm and Ms. Social Butterfly has trouble tuning out her overly exuberant little brothers during lessons because, well, it's more fun to talk to them. So adding a kindergartener to the mix was something I was secretly kind of dreading. How on earth was I going to get them both to stay on task at the same time?!

Turns out I shouldn't have worried. I should have known better. It went great! Everybody had a great day! Of course they did! My kids are awesome! Gwennie has figured this school thing out and Cy has better powers of concentrations than most grown men (that's his super power). AND we were done by 1:30! I can't remember the last time we were done by 1:30 even with one student! Amazing. So with that little ego boost I'm now feeling like I might have this homeschooling thing down! Until Felix starts Kindergarten and I have a Kinder, a 2nd grader, and a 4th grader at least... Dun dun duuuuun!!! 

Now just to maintain that level of fantasticness for 179 more days...

~ Krystal

Confession: I am OBSESSED with my planner

I have a confession to make. I am absolutely OBSESSED with my planner. In fact I'm obsessed with all the printables from Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus. I may actually have a fan girl crush on Tina. She's cheery, encouraging, down to earth, and as fanatical about organizing and color as I am. Plus her 7 Step DIY Homeschool Curriculum Planner is so customizable that you can't fail to create something utterly beautiful AND useful. The kicker? It's totally FREE. There are paid options, like the 2-page, color coordinated calendar spreads (only 99¢) and fancier cover options. She even has planner sets already preassembled, all you have to do is download and hit print! But I opted to pick and choose which forms I wanted so that it would be exactly what I needed, in the colors I love. It. Is. Perfect. I can't wait for our school year to start next month so I get an excuse to use it every single day! Did I say I'm a little obsessed?

I also follow Tina's blog, where she covers homeschooling, organization, and life in general. I never tire of reading what she has to say, it's like listening to a girlfriend. And the advice and experience of more seasoned homeschoolers is always appreciated.

But back to my planner...

I'll admit I did not follow Tina's recommendations to have it coil bound. I opted for a 3-ring binder because I know myself. I know I can be indecisive and will keep tweaking this thing until it truly is absolutely perfect. Besides, Tina keeps throwing me curve balls by releasing more great printables  that match just so perfectly and are just too pretty to pass up! I suspect Tina would understand, since she's all about doing what works for you. Next year, perhaps, I'll coil bind it, after I've had all year to decide what forms and in what order work best for me. 

But then again, I may just keep the binder because that allows me to add to it all year and keep a pencil bag full of my beautiful PaperMate Ink Joy pens inside!

Behind my pencil bag filled with my lovely colored pens, I've got a mission statement (to remind me what our long term goals really are here), Goals For the Year (for short term goals), and my Teacher's Schedule. 

Then starts my divider sections. One for record keeping, including Tina's fantastic, all in one page, full year Attendance Record and this year's Curriculum Resources planning sheet. 

Then comes my calendar section, which starts with a beautiful one page overview of the 2014-2015 School Calendar that matches the covers of my planner, followed by a 5 year Holidays list for reference, and finally my beautiful blue 2014-2015 school year 2-page spread of monthly calendars. The 99¢ was completely worth it for all the beautiful blues, greens, and purples. I absolutely love it. 

After that is my lesson plans section, using Tina's 180 page multi-student layout. There are spaces pre-made for three students, which is perfect since I have three kids! I've gone back and forth for paying for the prettier color version, but have decided for now this is fine for me.

Then I've added a section for resources, where I keep my library list, materials lists for various subjects, Tina's Memorization Work planning sheets, her field trip planning sheets, and Curriculum Planning sheets to get a head start on next year. This section tends to be a catch-all for things I reference frequently. Then I have a section just for notebook paper so I don't have to track it down when I need it. 

And front and back, Tina's beautiful covers, along with a little coordinating washi tape I've been covering everything with lately! Done - my beautiful, perfect planner! Absolutely in love with it! Thank you, Tina!