summary -- week #13/winter #1

It was a really good week to start our Winter semester. It started with an ice storm. It snowed twice after that. Of the 7 days in the upcoming forecast, winter precipitation is expected for 5 of them. Unfortunately, most of what is expected is more ice. That's really bad news if you make your living chasing sheep around with dogs, because I've yet to be able to fit sheep and/or dogs with ice skates that stay on their feet. (Even if I could, I'm unsure of my ability to teach them to skate -- but I'd be happy to charge their owners for trying!)

Because of the winter weather, we spent a lot of time playing indoors this week. At some point, the kids obviously wished on a Thanksgiving wishbone, because here's a picture of them doing it in my camera. Guess the camera elves were busy at work again....

J had his homeschool chorus class and drum circle on Monday, and then participated in a museum class called "Fun with Fungus" on Tuesday, where they learned about mushrooms and made yeast bread. Meanwhile, I spent a lot of time mulling over my kids' educational plan and reaffirming my commitment to following the path I've chosen. I'm in a good place with it all now. I opened the curriculum package, sorted and loaded the binders, flipped through the pages a bit (and the 1st Grade Enki Education materials are every bit as wonderful, and more so, as the Kindergarten materials are), and cleared a space on the shelf for them. There they sit, happily awaiting my finding time to read them in depth. It will happen -- I'm fiddling around with our daily and weekly rhythms to make being at home more of a priority for the Winter semester.

(J works on creating with blocks -- he made a huge structure, and when The Map Man commented on it, J said "I had an idea in my brain and I builded it." How great is that?!)

We changed our Movement Circle to jive with our shift to Winter. Some of the songs and verses were purposely changed over the course of the last few weeks to selections that were appropriate for either late fall or early winter (about squirrels and nuts and hibernation and wind and such). Some of our regular pieces have slightly different verses/movements for each of the seasons, yet stay the same tune/story, so those were the ones we switched to this week. I also added a song about snowfall, since we've been having some this week. And we changed one of our opening songs completely (although it's the same basic types of movements that were in the other song), as well as swapping out the months/season academic verse that we used throughout the fall semester for an alphabet verse that we'll use throughout the winter. I was a little leary about changing so much all at once, but the kids took it in stride. In fact, Zoo Boy is more apt to participate fully in circle when there's something new.

As I wrote about on Friday, our curriculum story for the week was Stone Soup, and we brought the story to life by making the very soup they talked about throughout the story. It had such a nice effect of bringing the week to an integrated end that I'm going to try to do that sort of thing more often. I'm also going to try to cook more often with them as well, since the kids really enjoyed it, and The Map Man and I enjoyed eating something that wasn't from a box for a change.

The weekend's big project has been setting up new quarters for our sheep. Check it out! Doesn't it look cozy? Now we've got room to spare in the barn, a private suite for our ram when he's done visiting with the ladies, and luxury accommodations with a spectacular view of the pasture for the rest of the flock. Seriously, The Map Man is threatening to run an extension cord from the barn and set up a TV, a sofa, and a small fridge in there so he can use it as his own private get-away.

Books for Family Story Time this week were: It's Winter!, by Linda Glaser, illustrations by Susan Swan; Winter: An Alphabet Acrostic, by Steven Schnur, illustrated by Leslie Evans (we just love Schnur's seasonal collections of Acrostic Poems!); and Snow Ponies, by Cynthia Cotten, illustrated by Jason Crockcroft (THE BEST winter story EVER!!). For Special Story Time on Friday evening, by the fireside, I read "Old Man Winter", an Enki Nature Story verse.

We're well on our way with our Winter semester!

soup from a stone, fancy that!

This week's curriculum story has been the Enki Education version of "Stone Soup". I've heard this tale told many ways -- a man inspiring a poor village to pull together and provide ingredients for his soup, the military tricking a community into feeding them, a beggar convincing reluctant folks to help him out. The Enki version is more along the lines of that last format. A young man convinces an old woman to provide the ingredients for a soup by intriguing her with a tale of being able to make soup from a stone.

I delighted the kids today by producing the ingredients (and the stone!) as I read the story. When we finished up, and as the kids were exploring the various items in front of them, I said "So, what do you think? Do you want to make Stone Soup?" Their eyes lit up and Zoo Boy asked, wondrously, "Do you think you know how?" I told him we could just read the story and it would tell us how, so he grabbed my story book and brought it to the kitchen as J and I schlepped the ingredients in.

After getting the pot of water (and I cheated by adding some chicken broth) bubbling, and the stone deposited within (after washing it well, of course!), Zoo Boy said "Now, read the part where they get the onion!" and grabbed the onion for me to chop up and add to the pot. We repeated this for the carrots, the beef bones (although I used lamb, as it was all I had available), the salt and the pepper. He then wanted to add the barley, but I convinced him that they let that pot bubble a LONG time in the story before they added that. So he had to patiently wait an hour until it was time.

J gives the soup pot a stir. We took turns stirring, although Zoo Boy eventually positioned himself right next to the stove so that he could do the most stirring. Playing "chef" is one of his favorite make-believe games, and he was absolutely thrilled to be really cooking something. (What can I say, I just don't cook much! Something that I want to change, since both kids really do enjoy it.)

Finally it was time to add the barley. Zoo Boy thought it was almost as much fun to pour it into the pot as it was to play with it. Another hour's worth of simmering went by. I had to add more water about a half hour into it because that barley sopped up all of the moisture like a sponge. I had followed a recipe I got off the internet for beef barley soup to keep me somewhat on-track with proportions, etc, but I think my interpretation of "simmer" was more like a low boil. So I added more water, cut back on the stove temp, and things seemed run a little better from there.

And here's our stone soup! It's absolutely delicious, I'm sort of impressed with myself -- I've never actually cooked soup that didn't come from a can or a pouch before. And no, for you eternal optimists out there, the boys did NOT try it. (Sigh.) But they did handle all the ingredients and tolerated ME eating it, and ate their snacks right alongside the bowls of soup I'd laid out for them.

As we were eating, I said "I wonder if that guy really needed the stone to make the soup?" J laughed and said "No, it's the other ingredients that made it taste good".

Hm, what do you know, he IS understanding this stuff!

stymied

Well, here it is. Our first grade curriculum from Enki Education. (Minus a couple of large binders that I received previously.) It's sitting there, in it's ginormous box, on my dining room table. It's been sitting there for the better part of a week, actually. The first day it sat there completely unopened. I just stared at it for awhile, realizing what it was, but feeling no motivation to break into it. The second day I opened the top just to peek and make sure that's what it was. Blinding white binders smiled up at me. I walked away and didn't look at it again for two days. A couple days later, I removed the bubble wrap from the top of the binders and poked at the pages and the packet of materials -- no doubt CDs and the like -- through the protective wrap. That was enough. That was yesterday. Today, I actually proceeded so far as to cut open the protective wrap. I stared for a few minutes at the binders. I have yet to feel tempted to reach in and pull out a binder, leaf through the materials, or at least check to make sure everything is there. Why?

I've been meditating on that question for the past few days. More like a week, actually. And I've come to the conclusion that I've got a problem with commitment. Or maybe not commitment itself. I mean, I certainly had no problem committing to using Enki in the first place. Or ordering the K materials. Or, now, the 1st Grade. My problem seems to be on the follow-through. I've got really firm reasons for using this curriculum, for choosing to follow this philosophy of living and learning. Yet, I keep getting distracted by bright shiny objects dangling in my view.

For example, take a look at this photo of my kids playing this morning. They're doing some great role-playing pretend play with a set of PlayMobil pirates that were a gift for one of their birthdays at some point. I think the PlayMobil stuff is pretty cool, and my kids enjoy playing with them. So, being the season that it is, and the fact that dear old Santa is waiting for me to place an order for a "big" gift for the boys to share (which is our tradition), I spent time browsing the PlayMobil website trying to decide which set to order. It wasn't until I wasted a good hour or more (of time I could have spent doing something productive) that it suddenly occurred to me that I'm trying to GET RID of the plastic in our lives. And here I was shopping to add more! Yes, my kids enjoy it. But they enjoy EVERYTHING. I cleared my head and ordered a really cool wooden tree fort play set (complete with little log furniture and a family of Tomtens) for them instead. I think Santa will enjoy making that better than the plastic stuff, and I know that it will bring less stress into my life than more tiny plastic pieces to step on and/or lose. Likewise, I'm shelving the Lego set I was planning on giving J from The Map Man and I in favor of something less offensive to me.









All I really need to do is look at my kids playing with naturally made materials to know that this is what I REALLY want for them. Like when Zoo Boy plays with sea shells to create his own imaginary worlds, or when J builds with his wooden marble runs. These types of toys not only appeal to their imaginations, but they provide wonderful tactile feedback, and are appealing to the eye, rather than distracting/disruptive (which his how I find brightly colored plastic toys). Why, then, is it so hard for me to remember that when faced with making decisions? I've got so much stuff in this house that I've used our limited funds to buy that is absolutely counter-productive to my goals. How does that happen?

I have the same problem with planning activities for us. Even though I know better (I truly "buy" that being over scheduled is not a good thing for the kids or myself), I can't seem to help myself signing J up for every class available at the museum, scheduling play dates and get-togethers, and running all over creation trying to pack as many experiences as I can into our weeks. Yes, the kids really enjoy those sorts of things -- and what kid wouldn't? But I can SEE for myself how beneficial that staying home and giving the kids the time and space to truly "sink in" to their play is. The running around produces cranky, tired kids that are only satisfied with more running around, more "entertainment". Allowing them to take the time to really connect with their surroundings and become one with them produces calm, relaxed kids that feel free to fully explore their interests and ideas, kids with the space in their minds for true learning.

Here's a great example of that sinking in from this morning. The kids are playing a game with pieces from their Lincoln Logs set. I walked in from doing chores to find them immersed in a storyline involving a canoe and a combination of wild river rapids, gusting winds, and natural hazards to bring about a series of perilous moments for the canoe and it's occupants. In between bits of exciting drama, the winds and waters would calm, and the boys would both break into a round of "Wild Good Flight" (one of our songs from our movement circle the past several weeks) while gently guiding the canoe around: "My paddle's keen and bright, flashing like silver. Swift as the wild good flight, dip, dip, and swing." This sort of play went on for hours, and never once was there a cranky word said, a whiny tone used, or any need whatsoever for me to step in and redirect the play. The tone and mood of the house was one of such harmony that I ditched my fancy plans for the day and we spent a quiet morning immersed in play instead.

I KNOW what I want for my kids. I can SEE what benefits them. Why, then, do I have such a problem truly committing to slowing down my life and saying no to those things that are not what will benefit them most?

an illustrated plan

J treated us to an illustrated lecture on a plan for a "thief trap". I believe this is from a video cartoon he saw, but it was an interesting lecture none the less, so I figured I would share for those of you not privy to lectures by Professor J.

Here is the PLAN. You use a boot to stomp down on a board, which launches a pumpkin.

The pumpkin flies into (following the arrows) a faucet, turning it on.







The water fills and then overflows a bathtub, where a rubber ducky (who was sitting on the bottom of the empty tub), floats over the edge.



Water and ducky flow down a water slide, at the bottom the duck's beak hits a door and opens it, causing a pot to fall over, which flips another pot upwards to hit....ok, so I wasn't clear on what the 2nd pot was hitting, but follow the arrows and you can see what "it" looks like.

The "it" then knocks into some sort of complicated series of attachments holding a suspended bag, which then releases the bag and lets it drop.

In the words of Professor J:

"And do you know what's in the bag?"

(no, of course you don't)

"SWILL!"

Ok, then. Glad I'm not a thief.

Kathak dancing

We kicked off our Winter Semester in style on Sunday, attending a family program at the children's museum on Kathak Dance, which is a form of classical Indian Dance. The presenter was an absolutely amazing dancer, and had a nice way with the kids. She performed a couple of traditional dances for us, taught us all some common Kathak arm movements, then taught the kids shorter versions of the dances she performed.

I knew the program would be a huge hit with J, but was surprised by how interested Zoo Boy was. He didn't want to get up and dance, but he did participate in the hand motions from his seat, listened attentively, and even asked the presenter a question (he wanted to know if she lived in India). This morning when I googled up "Kathak" to figure out how to spell it correctly, he heard me mention the word to The Map Man, and sprung out of bed to check out the website, where the women were dressed just like our presenter was.
There's our J, little dancer that he is, in the green shirt, just to the right of the presenter. You know, the one that's not a girl in a brownie uniform! He had a great time learning and performing the dances. He particularly liked a dramatic dance that had lots of facial expressions that told the folk story of "The Butter Thief".

Those bells on the presenter's feet are made of copper and zinc and each set weights 2 1/2 pounds. I can't remember how many bells make up each set, but I assure you, it was a LOT of little jinglers! The dancers make the bells sound differently by striking the ground with their feet in several different ways -- flat-footed, toe, heel (a couple different ways of striking with the heel), the side of the foot. There's also a slide that she showed us (sort of dragging her foot across the ground to vibrate the bells). Each movement causes the bells to make a different sound. Combining series of the movements (think like a very jingly tap dancer!) produces an amazing range of sounds and rhythms.

Between and after the performances, she answered a lot of questions from the audience. She began dancing when she was 5 yrs old, and most of the bones in her feet are dislocated because of it (something none of us were surprised at, given the force with which she strikes the ground with them). However, and I thought this was a very interesting cultural difference between Western cultures and Indian, classical dancers in India do not start their careers until they are in at least their mid-30s (while dancers here in the US are pretty much done with their competitive careers by then). She explained that in India, life experience is valued most, and they feel that an artist needs to experience a certain amount of Depth (sorrow) and Height (joy) in their lives in order to perform properly. Interesting, eh?

you know it's winter when...

...the view from your windshield on the highway exit looks like this. That's 3, count them, THREE, snow plows loaded with salt ahead of me. While we were sitting there waiting for the light to change, a fourth went by on the street ahead of us. Mind you, there hadn't even been a drop of snow or anything else sighted yet at this time. (Although we were hit with a pretty decent ice storm started a few hours after this photos was taken.)

week #12 -- end of Autumn Semester!

It's hard to believe that our Autumn Semester is over! Time just flew by. I got a lot of my goals for the semester accomplished: I established a formal movement circle and curriculum story time, which we did at least three mornings each week. We established a firm weekly rhythm, including outings and organized classes. There are few things I did not introduce that I thought I would -- weekly crafts being at the top of that list, so that is the first thing I will add to our Winter Curriculum. But the autumn weather was just SO wonderful this year, that it seemed a shame to spend more time indoors than necessary. The world was out there asking for exploration, and we went forth and explored! This photo is from this week's Friday Excursion to our favorite park.

This week began the 4-week homeschool classes Intersession. J is taking chorus (he taught his class our family meal blessing song during this week's class!) and is participating in an African Drum Circle. Here are the boys in the circle, with J's buddy T. sitting between them. Zoo Boy actually participated in the first half of the class, then suddenly burst into tears and said "but I only wanted to watch!" Silly kid! So he came and sat with me for the rest of class. He's been showing a lot of interest in J's classes lately and says that when he's 5, he'll take classes too. We'll see! Right now he'd rather spend his museum time chasing around with his two little buddies, M. and N. I'm guessing once they're old enough for classes, Zoo Boy will want to still be with them, and hence will agree to participate. That's how I got him to agree to watch the Drum Circle -- both of his friends were also in the circle. J really likes the Drum Circle and has been singing the chants all week.

In addition to the homeschool classes, J also took part in a class called "Fantastic Fish" at the museum, where he created a fish print and a magnetic fishing game, in addition to listening to stories about fish and doing some other fishy type activities. There was an opportunity to sample tuna fish also. (Funny aside, before class, the instructor asked all the parents if it was OK if the kids ate tuna. I told her if she managed to get him to eat tuna, I would buy her a really big, expensive Christmas gift!) Later that night, J told me that he did NOT try the tuna. Drats.

At home, the boys spent a lot of their free time setting up elaborate train track configurations and running their trains over them (non-motorized wooden Thomas Trains). It's funny, it's been at least a year since they've shown any real interest in the trains, not sure what motivated them to dig them out and play with them now.

This week's curriculum story was the Korean folk tale about the Tiger and the Persimmon (adapted by Enki Education to better meet the young child's needs). A tiger mistakenly thinks that a baby is more afraid of a dried persimmon (the tiger not knowing was a persimmon was) than a hungry tiger, and a thief mistakenly thinks the tiger is an ox and 'steals' it, making the tiger think it is caught by and will die at the hands of a dried persimmon. VERY funny tale, and it really captivated both of the kids. Our Special Storytime story at the fireside on Friday night was an Enki Education nature story about goose migration, entitled "The Mournful Goodbye". It was a long story, but both kids enjoyed it, particularly J who got quite involved with the story, flapping like a goose where appropriate and pretending he was the various animals that we met along the way. It's the first of two parts -- in this first part, Little Goose migrates south to a new home with her family. The second part is read in the spring, it's about Little Goose's return to her original home. This story was a perfect end to our autumn semester!

This week Zoo Boy surprised us by suddenly showing an interest in artwork! He found this little fuzzy poster and markers set amongst our various art supplies and asked me if he could do it. You betcha, I said! He spent quite a bit of time coloring in the picture and took quite a bit of pride in the work when he was finished (not completed, but a far cry from the quick scribble and "I'm done" that usually ends a foray into art for him). You'll note that his grip on that marker is pretty rudimentary -- this comes from an almost complete lack in any interest in writing or drawing to this point. I have no doubt that with practice this will come along, and I plan to work on some pre-writing/drawing activities with him this winter to strengthen that pencil grip. Also interesting, he's using his left hand here. He switched back and forth between both hands during this project. We've not noticed any sort of handedness preference from him yet, although he definitely has some tasks he prefers to do with one hand over the other (but both hands seem to be used equally). I've read that handedness usually become apparent when a child is around 3 yrs of age, so I'm wondering if Zoo Boy will be ambidextrous like his great-grandfather was. J is pretty capable with his left hand as well, but is dominantly right-handed, which has been obvious for several years.

And this is what greeted us this morning -- snow! For the second time this season, but this time I am officially declaring it Winter! I know, I know, the Winter Solstice isn't for another few weeks. But calendars be hanged, it's only about 10 degrees out there right now, and there's a winter storm warning posted for tomorrow afternoon -- it's WINTER I tell you!

This week's Family Storytime books were a good transition from Autumn to Winter: How Do Bears Sleep, by E.J. Bird; When The Wind Stops, by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Stefano Vitale; and Home at Last -- A Song of Migration, by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Alix Berenzy (which probably would have been better to save until Spring, since it's mostly about Spring migration, but it gave me the opportunity to preview the fact that we'll be talking about migration again in the spring, and we were able to discuss where the animals came from -- their winter homes -- and how going to those homes was also migration, so it actually worked out well to use it now, especially in association with our Special Story this week.).