the owl in our family

Lucario, Zoo Boy's cockatiel, has been joining us for circle (from the safety of her own cage) every morning. It's quite obviously her favorite time of the day, and she whistles along with the call to circle, joins in with the songs, verses and movements whenever she can. In our current adventure circle, she bobs her head up and down enthusiastically during the repeating verse (and any other song with a good strong beat). When we do "Mouse" she "squeaks" along with us at the end of each verse. Her all-time favorite verse is "Owl", which we do at the end. She enthusiastically calls "hoo hoo, hoo hoo!" at the appropriate time, and pretty much throughout the entire circle. And at various other times during the day when she hopes she can inspire us to start circle again.

In honor of just how much she loves this verse, J decided to re-write "Owl". Here is his new version of the poem, entitled "Lucario":

As day and nighttime fall,

"Hoo hoo, hoo hoo" we hear her call.

Watching us circle round,

Her excitement she has found.

When we sing she copies us,

There's no anger, there's no fuss,

And when our song is done

She sits quietly, she is one,

Perched upon her perch, that's all.

"Hoo hoo, hoo hoo" we hear her call.

week #10 (2nd week of 3rd block)

The kids monkeying around in J's loft earlier in the week.

We were in a bit more of a normal groove this week, although I still pretty much entirely slacked off on Practice Time. Mostly because I've run out of handwriting sheets and can't print any more out until I get a new printer cartridge. But also, I came to the conclusion that doing reading practice with my kids was just silly, given that they spend a higher proportion of each day reading that is probably ideal. However, by the end of the week Zoo Boy started insisting on Reading Practice again, so we went back to it anyway. I think he just likes having my undivided attention when he reads to me (and I don't blame him one bit). As long as it's serving a purpose, I really don't have a problem with it.

In any case, we launched our new Canoe Trip Adventure Circle, which was an instant hit. (Here Zoo Boy gleefully flings himself out of the "tallest oak tree" to crash in a "pile of leaves" at the bottom.) Our curriculum stories for the week were "Vasily and the Dragon" (introducing the letter "D") and "The Luminous Pearl" (introducing the letter "L"). For Nature story on Friday evening, I read "The Mournful Goodbye" as The Map Man and the kids munched popcorn by the fire, and on Saturday we painted our impression of what the geese saw beneath them as they migrated.


The temperatures were ridiculously cold for mid-November, not getting above the mid-20s all week (and with temps at barn chores time well in the lower teens). That brought a sudden end to our morning walks, and the kids spent an hour each morning chasing the puppy around instead. (Which honestly was probably more exercise than they ever got on a walk!).

(Cute little sprite, isn't she?)

Monday was the last day of the fall semester for our Monday Homeschool Classes. We attended the Homeschool Chorus concert (which was really cute!), then J was awarded a certificate in soccer, while Zoo Boy created his final Paws-n-Claws project (a turkey-decorated bucket). I'm sorry to see that class end, I had fun with it, but I have even more fun things planned for those preschoolers (and the older kids!) for the winter semester! (More details to come!) Tuesday we FINALLY got back to Speech and Occupational Therapy sessions for Zoo Boy (after a forced break due to lack of transportation). We focused on motor planning and the "sh" and "r" sounds this week, seamlessly weaving the therapy work into our adventure circle (I should post details on that I guess...). Thursday and Friday the kids had classes about Dinosaurs at the local children's museum. Prior to J's class on Thursday afternoon, we attended a local "meet and greet" session at our town library with other local homeschooling families and 20 or so homeschooled kids about my guys' ages. On Thursday night, J started one of my Puppy Kindergarten classes that I teach at a local dog training center with Grace (our pup). He's very enthusiastic about becoming a "Junior Dog Trainer" (his term!), and is practicing his dog training skills every day, with great success already. Friday after Zoo Boy's class we headed over to the nature center in our favorite park to meet up with our friends T, D and B, and had a nice afternoon of visiting with each other and a couple of the park's resident snakes. Sunday was J's chorus practice -- the show is getting close! There will be extra practices for the next two weeks. From the sounds of things, the group needs it....

(The kids taught Grace to run through their tunnel this week.)

We didn't make much progress with our chapter book, The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden, mainly because I am easily distracted by bright shiny objects (and cute fuzzy puppies). Story Time books for the week were I See Animals Hiding, by Jim Arnosky; How Do Bears Sleep?, by E.J. Bird; and Wild Child, by Lynne Plourde, illustrated by Greg Couch.

This coming week will be a "lite" one, with the Thanksgiving hoorah, I mean holiday, devouring the 2nd half, so we'll only do one story cycle this week. (But it's a GOOD one!! Stay tuned....)

mournful goodbye paintings

Last night we read "A Mournful Goodbye", an Enki Education Kindergarten Nature Story about the migration of a family of Canada Geese. Today, after a brief recall of the story, we painted our impressions of what the earth looked like below the flying goose family, as "day after day they flew over scarlet and crimson, yellow and gold" on their way southward. This first painting is J's.


This painting is Zoo Boy's. We painted with the "color dancers" method, which means that we left our paper wet rather than sponging it off after soaking, and dipped color onto the page with the tips of our brushes, rather than using brush-strokes to apply it. This allows the color to naturally follow the micro-paths of the water on the paper and interact more "organically" with neighboring colors. Judging from our results, I think the paper was perhaps TOO wet, but the effect is still pleasant.

A really interesting note: although I had 4 colors available -- crimson, orange, gold and yellow -- Zoo Boy chose NOT to use the orange paint. This is noteworthy because of the end result -- he has the most actual orange on his page. Interesting, eh?


My painting. As usual, I liked what the kids did much better than my own work. I am seriously lacking in freedom of creative expression -- I try too hard NOT to create something, and always wind up unhappy with the contrived looking results.

the luminous pearl

Three dips from the Dragon's ladle

calmed the lapping waters.

Deepest love from a little girl

awakens a luminous pearl.

The Dragon King's daughter

finds a lasting love.

-from "The Luminous Pearl", a Chinese Fairy Tale (adapted by Enki Education)

The story for the 2nd half of our week was "The Luminous Pearl", a Fairy Tale from China. In the story, one brother saves a town from a flood by borrowing a magical ladle from the Dragon King, while the other selfishly avoided the troubled town to return faster to the princess both were wooing. Both suitors' task was to bring the most luminous pearl they could find. The selfish brother's pearl was the largest, but the brother who saved the town had a small black pearl that a little girl from the town gave him in thanks for his help, and that was the pearl that became the most luminous, winning the hero the hand of the Dragon King's daughter. Here's J's drawing of the ladle, and the pearl.

Zoo Boy's story drawing. The boys readily saw the letter "L" in their drawings (the ladle) this morning. They seemed a bit confused about a few of the story's details during recall yesterday, so this might be a story we use again next year. That makes two stories in a row they've had a bit of trouble with the recall of, I may resort to either finding simpler stories for the rest of this block, or perhaps introducing a couple of silks as props during the telling to aid with comprehension of key moments. I'll be sitting with that thought for the next few days before deciding what course to take.

The boys' Ls. Neither of them was particularly focused today. In fact, the past couple of days seem to have been challenging for them in general -- there have been a lot of "silly" behavior and even some tears. I may need to step up the physical aspects of our adventure circle on these days when we're not walking in the mornings due to the temperatures -- I'm thinking that perhaps they are not getting enough of their energy needs met before doing the more concentrated work. Again, more to think on.

Given everything else, I wasn't surprised when J showed a lack of stamina for writing the verse. He made it through the first section then abandoned the activity.

My story drawing. This was actually one of my favorite stories of those we've read thus far, adding to my inclination to repeat this one again at some point.

dino-mite!

It's been beastly cold this week -- we haven't seen a temperature above freezing yet! Thankfully, the kids were signed up for some museum classes this week to keep their minds and bodies busy despite not spending much time outdoors. This weeks' classes were about Paleontology -- here's a set-up of various species of dinosaurs and information about them.

J helped to assemble this giant Triceratops puzzle during his class.










Both kids did rubbings of fossils, this is J's.








There were several bins set up in Zoo Boy's class so that the kids could pretend to be Paleontologists and unearth some fossils.











Zoo Boy shows off some fossils he found during the fossil-dig.

canoe trip adventure circle

Here are the details for our current Adventure Circle, which has a premise of being a canoe trip. All songs/verses are from the Enki Education Kindergarten Movement Activities book, unless otherwise noted. Before the name of the song/verse is the targeted type of activity that the song/verse works on. The non-song/non-verse activities that I intertwine with the Enki activities target those same areas, but in a more direct way, as my kids need that type of work (and because Zoo Boy doesn't yet participate fully in the Enki Activities during circle, although he will often do them on his own at other times). This is what makes my adventure circle more of a "remediation circle" than what most Enki-using families are probably doing/need. (For most kids, the Enki activities themselves are enough Sensory Integration work.)

Call: Round and Round

Opening: November (from Enki 1st Grade Movement Activities)

“Today we’re going on a canoe trip! I bet we’ll see lots of animals and interesting things in the river and the woods. Put on your life vests (mime) and let’s launch our canoe!”

Repeating verse: Wild Goose Flight

Move down hall, back, and down hall again to kids’ room.

“What a beautiful Oak forest! Let’s stop here and get out for awhile. Wow, look at all the acorns!”
Mid-line: The Acorn

“Let‘s climb the tallest oak tree to see what we can see!”

Climb into loft.

“What a great view from way up here! Oh look! A squirrel is in this tree with us! I guess it’s looking for acorns.”

Mid-line: Squirrel Running

"Are you ready to get going? Let’s jump down into the leaves!"

Jump out of loft onto bed below.

"Let’s see what’s further down the river. "

Repeating Verse: Wild Goose Flight

Move down hall to living room.

“Hey look! A Swan!”

Base sense/vestibular/proprioceptive: Mama Swan

Repeating Verse: Wild Good Flight

Move down hall to bedroom.

“I see a Beaver!”

Sit on bed.

Proprioceptive: Beaver

Repeating Verse: Wild Goose Flight

Move down hall to living room.

“Oh, what a pretty Beech forest! Let’s get out here and see if we can find any more animals. Look out!!! A snake! Let’s step over it VERY carefully!”

Games and Ropes: Wiggling Snake (“by the river side”)

“Phew! That was a close one!
What’s the noise I hear when we walk? It’s a crunching, crackling sound?”

Point towards ground.

“Oh, look!”

Tactile/Fingerplay: Crackling Brown Leaves

“If we sit really still, maybe an animal will come out so we can see it.”

Sit silently, looking about. “Shhhhh…..”

(whispered, pointing) “Look!”

Tactile/ Fingerplay: Mouse

“That Mouse was SO cute!! I think it’s time to head home, it's starting to get dark. But I don’t want to walk across that snake again, so let’s go a different way back to the canoe. Here, we can go through this cave…”

Crawl through tunnel on one side of table.

“…and we can climb over these rocks…”

Scramble over chairs on other side of table.

“…and now we need to cross this stream. Jump from rock to rock to keep your shoes dry!”

Jump from pillow to pillow.

“There’s the canoe!”

Repeating verse: Wild Goose Flight

Move down hall and back.

“That was a great trip! Wait! What’s that I see?!?! Did it follow us home from the woods?”

Close: Owl

Closing Spiral: Sun is Rising

vasily and the dragon

Deep down in the dark

The dragon dwells.

Dare to ask

And he will tell.

-from "Vasily and the Dragon", a Russian Fairy Tale (modified by Enki Education)

Our story for the first half of the week was the Russian Fairy Tale, "Vasily and the Dragon". Given the kids' difficulty in recalling this one, the content may have been a bit beyond them. For instance, the ferryman has Vasily ask the dragon who his replacement will be, and the dragon says "whoever touches the oar". Later, Vasily's evil adopted father, Marko, grabs the oar to try and knock Vasily overboard, and it fuses to his hands and his feet fuse to the ferry. Yet the kids didn't understand that Marko had then become the new ferryman. There were other situations in the story that the kids didn't "get" either. I am going to mark this story to use again next year -- my guess is another year's maturity will help with understanding some of the subtleties of this and other more complicated Fairy Tales.

(Note in this drawing that J added a "ha, ha!" after Vasily's name, because he thought it was funny that "Vasily" has a "Silly" in it.)

Zoo Boy's drawing. The consonant hidden in the story is, as I'm sure you've long since guessed, "D". J actually didn't see it, but Zoo Boy identified it right off the bat. The Boy also readily wrote out the title, so perhaps the writing strike is over? In any case, he did ask for quite a bit of help in setting up this drawing, but took it over himself once we got the basic shape of the body, adding the head, feet, scales, and funky orange tail himself.

J's letters on top, Zoo Boy's beneath. I found it interesting that J corrected his D to be more uniform. I didn't comment. We're going to work on perfecting letter formation next year, this year I just want the kids to get comfortable using the writing implements, and feeling free to do things with their own "flair". They both need to build stamina with the writing tools before they can be expected to get more exacting with their letter formation, etc.




J happily wrote out the entire verse (which was nice and short). From this point on, the story verses are going to be getting longer. It will be interesting to see how much he chooses to (and is able to) write from them. Again, that's another thing we'll work on (with J) next year (completing the verses). This year his only direction is "write as much or as little of the verse as you would like". He usually chooses to write the entire verse, but I'm not sure that will last with the longer verses. Zoo Boy is still not writing any of the verse -- next year I'll expect him to write at least the first few words, as he is quite obviously capable of that (given that he IS writing the titles on our drawings most of the time). For this year, since he's still techinically not old enough for first grade, I am comfortable letting him do whatever he wants with the work, free from my criticism.

My drawing. This was one of those instances where I liked the kids' drawings much better than my own. J's dragon head LOOKS like a dragon's head -- very fierce with nasty, sharp teeth. Mine looks kind of like Barney -- pretty harmless and cartoony. Even Zoo Boy's dragon looks more ferocious than mine. Ah well, let's face it, I'm more of a flowers and bunnies type of artist anyway....