The Cabbage Patch

Thoughts of School

This past year we covered a lot of material.  However, my children dislike "school".  So, it was with excitement that I purchased the book, Little Way of Homeschooling.  It is a collection of essays about how unschooling works in different families.  I started to read it then decided to read Suzie Andres first book, Homeschooling with Gentleness:  A Catholic Discovers Unschooling.

I'm not finished with it yet but am getting close.  I like the philosophy of unschooling.  Now, it's considered "not schooling".  It's a way of life where the child takes the lead and pursues his/her interest.  This is such a great way for my son to learn.  We'll be taking his interests and taking off with them.  For instance, right now, he wants to learn Spanish.  Two very generous great-aunts of his, have purchased the Rosetta Stone for him.  So, he'll learn Spanish.  He's already been learning words by using the Dummies book.  He listens to tapes and has great pronunciation.  So, we'll be pursuing the Spanish.  

He also has an interest in learning Latin.  I'm going to give him the books and let him go at it.  

Baseball has captured his interest as well.  So, we'll be learning all about the history of the sport, the different teams and locations plus anything else he wants to know.  We might even learn about the physics behind pitching the ball so he can learn how to throw better.

We'll take it as far as he'll want to.  

So, besides math which I have absolutely no confidence in teaching them in an unschooly way, we'll be taking a break from formal school at home.  

We will learn.  I know that.  It also forces me to focus on my children so I can see where their interests lie.  I will spend more time with them and learn with them as well.

I write this because, well, this is a journal of sorts.  I don't know how we'll do things.  I'm feeling my way around and it's pretty dim still.  I know in my heart that this is the way to go.  It's been weighing on me for a while now.  So, we now take the plunge.

First Full Week

Today marks the end of our first full week of school (for now we school 4 days a week and take the 5th for field trips and fun time).  We had started in August with math and religion.  

I'm exhausted.  Who knew that the 4th child would be such a burden even with it just being kindergarten?

I have get more settled and make a better schedule for us.  We also need to get to bed earlier and wake earlier.  

Brother is in the 6th grade although in many subjects he is below grade level.  That's okay because this journey is a marathon, not a sprint.  Sister is in the 4th grade.  For the most part, she's a great and willing student, but math continues to cause many, many tears both hers and mine.  Honey is in the 2nd grade.  This year we are working on First Holy Communion prep.  Very, very exciting.  Pumpkin is in kindergarten.  How did that happen?  She's reading some on her own, but I tend to take a really relaxed view on learning to read.  I let it come naturally before reinforcing it.  I'll have to see how things go.  I will try to post some more detailed information on what we use, but I've been known to not get around to it.  

And, with the children all having more and more school, our days are completely full.  

Sick Day

So, what do you do when the teacher is sick?  Take a sick day.  It's the first day of public school here but I think we're going to take the day off so I can rest (we've been back at it since mid-July).  I did make it mass and therapy this morning, but my ears are plugged up, I have a terrible cough, and my nose is so stuffed up I can barely breath.  I just need to get lunch on the table and then I'm putting a movie in for the kids so I can sleep.

ARCH Conference in Houston

I had a wonderful time at the conference.  I heard some great talks, and just had fun without distraction.  One of the highlights was meeting someone I knew online, 4Real.

 

ETA:  Next year's keynot speaker will be Danielle Bean.  Also, next year's focus will be special needs so I'm hoping someone gets swayed to come to Houston to give a talk.

Spring Soon, Please!

I want spring to come soon.  It's been colder this winter than past winters--or at least it seems that way to me.  However, the biggest reason I want spring to come is that with spring comes this:

A wonderful new book, Haystack Full of Needles, A Catholic Home Educator's Guide to Socialization is coming out by one of my all time favorite bloggers (and, well all-around person), Alice Gunther.  Oh, how I wish I could meet this sweet lady in person. 

Congratulations, Alice!  I eagerly await it's release.

Christmas at Greccio

The following is the first in a series of posts to catch up on all my Advent and Christmas happenings.

Inspired by Alice and Mary Ellen's homeschool group's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, our homeschool group put on a production of Christmas at Greccio, A Play in One Act.

We started rehearsals in September and despite our worries and fears, the play turned out wonderfully. 

Left to right, top row:Guiliana, our narrator, Anthony, Lady Giacoma, Pacifica, Mariano.  Bottom row:  Beppi, Lord Velita, Amata, Francis, and Brother John.

One of the directors (I was the other).

Francis, Anthony, Lord Velita and Brother John at the beginning.

More join in.

Here are the little ones singing.  Aren't they precious?  They sang "Prayer of St. Francis" and "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful".  It was so wonderful listening to their sweet voices?  And, where was I through this?  Backstage sending each group of actors out when needed and trying to quietly cue them when they were stumped.  It didn't happen often, fortunately.

ETA:  My co-director's husband is due to arrive home from Iraq tomorrow.  Please pray for his safe travels and for a wonderful reunion and reintegration. 

Heart Dissection

Our homeschool group has been trying to get the fathers involved.  One of the ways has been to have them give a presentation to the children in whatever special topic the dad chooses.  Ben did a presentation involving military paintings about the 82nd Airborne.  He taught them the routine for jumping out of an airplane.  The kids got a kick out of that!  Here they are learning the routine:

Last Friday, one of the dads did a heart dissection.  He used a beef heart and the kids loved it!!

This is some major artery or vein.  I should've written this down.  It's pretty cool to see like this though.  See the probe?

These are the heart valves.

Thank you, Dr. Carl!!

Where the two year olds were during the dissection.

Some of the girls fell out early, some didn't even make it to the table, but it was a great experience for most of the group. 

School Days

Today was the first day of school for the public schools.  You can see the neighborhood school from my bedroom window.  There were crowds of cars unloading parents with children in tow.  For us, we'd been schooling off and on all year.  There's no real "summer vacation".  However, we had been off for the past two weeks for a family visit.  Last week I took off to recover from the family visit (as much fun as we had, there was a lot of cleaning before their arrival and then lots of fun stuff late into the night with Ben's family).  I have plans to post about their visit, but it will have to wait. 

We did start back to school today and it went relatively well.  My original plans had been to start slowly in July with the 3 basics and then integrate more and more into our days until all subjects were being studied.  I had intended this to all happen by the end of this month.  Well, the end's upon us and we're not there yet.  So, September it will be.  I'm excited to start.  I have a to-do list a mile long to accomplish, but I know it will all happen in due time. 

I do have to remember to start my morning in prayer asking for Our Lady's intercession throughout the day.  She is our patron after all (Our Lady Queen of Peace).

This is a rambly post.  I'm leaving you with a completely unrelated photo of the sky at sunset tonight.

A Moment in Our Day...

 

Field Day

Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight has another Field Day up.  Check out the many places where nature study abounds.  You can find much inspiration--just what I need.