Week 3, Day 4

Math work at the Rec Center.  Little brother is trying out a drop-in preschool playtime. 

Working on more prehistoric unit study.  

Week 3, Day 3

Doing math work at Edmonds CC library while brother is in preschool.

Working on our prehistory unit study after she read her brother all of the books he requested.

Birthday Fun

Tuesday SmartyPants turned 7!!

DH had jury duty, so bubba had to miss preschool and come with me to the Getting Started class as well.  They both played nicely while we waited.  She played with her new Playmobil. He did great w an Usborne shapes sticker book.

Later we went swimming for most of the rest of the afternoon.  Little bubba for to go on the blue slide for the first time!  :)

Week 3(?)

We looked in the Usborne 365 Science Activities and SmartyPants decided on this guitar.  :)

Then the kids played Legos for a bit.

Introduced her to Hoffman Academy...

Explored some balance and physics at the Skate Park.

Chinese New Year

Still not completely better, but we took some friends of ours to see the lion dance.  

Jan 20th - Inauguration Day

We were all still sick with a flu-type bug, but offered to let the kids watch the inauguration.

SmartyPants stated "There aren't very many black people there." 

Bubba proclaimed, "He talks loud."  :)

They are both young, so we didn't talk very much about Trump as a man.  One day, she can form her own opinions!

Day 12

We lost a few days due to sickness.  Smarty Pants and I got the flu.  :(

Today, still not feeling well, but so glad to be back to somewhat normal.  We actually left the house!

First up, she saw the Nat Geo Kids and Ranger Rick magazines and asked to read them.  Bonus: no lesson plan!

Then I was watching a video on FB that had an abacus type device in it.  She got hers and started playing with numbers.

Then we went to pickup some essential oils, to the grocery store for some cookie ingredients and finally the library.  I had a past due book, so the librarian said we could take the books home today by opening an account for Eleanor.  She was excited!

Making Caramel Crunch Cookies from The Power of Poppy Pendle book.

Day 10

Saturday 

We did some reading in the morning and Monster Truck in the afternoon!  Culture!  :)

Day 8

Drinking water (a goal of both of ours to increase!) and playing Zigity (math, spelling, strategy).

Talking about evolution in our Unit Study and making her own monster with various features to put out into the world.

Put a call out to meet up with fellow local homeschoolers and we met this new friend.  After about 30 minutes of riding scooters with her new friend, these girls decided to put on a show at the amphitheater at Lynndale Park!

A fun, relaxed schooling day.

Day 7

My Birthday!  Kids brought me a healthy breakfast in bed.  :)

This girl and I did math at home while Bubba was at preschool.  Then we went and got him and took books to gymnastics.  She and I read a library book about adjectives.  Then named all the adjectives of her jacket, a book, and the chair. 

Then continuing with our prehistory lesson, we made an edible earth (barely). And we talked about the inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust.  

Day 6

I worked at Bubba's preschool today and was asked to lead circle time by the teacher who was going to be out.  😁

During that time, Little Miss did some tablet time and then grocery shopping with Dad.

We were going to sit down and get back to our fossil study, but got invited to go see our best friend's new baby!  

Does it count as anatomy to visit our newborn baby friend and examine his fingers, toes, and umbilical cord?  I think yes.  

Then some reading of Poppy Pendleton and then she read aloud to me while I cut potatoes and onions for Potato Soup!

Just before dinner we did some Internet links from the Usborne World History book based on the pages we read yesterday.  

Day 5

Day 5

Day 2

Jan 4

Today we took Bubs to preschool, then went to the grocery store.  She pushed the cart and was able to show me where the bread aisle was by reading the signs.  (mapping, reading)

When we came home, I promised her the science kit she got for Christmas.  But she needed to clear breakfast dishes and clear a space for us on the project table to work.  She and I both enjoyed this Clean Water Science project.  She helped me read and follow instructions.  

Next we picked up Bubs.  We went home to eat lunch and then took him to his gymnastics class.  While he did gymnastics, we sat in the watching room and worked on a DuoLingo lesson and building a name animation in Scratch.  I think I learned some things today in scratch as well!!  :)

When we got home, the sun was still shining (but it was FRIGID!).  I wanted to get all of us some fresh air so we went for a walk/bike ride around a (big) block! 

Then we had hot cocoa.  I let SmartyPants count out 7 and I told Buns he could have 5.  He dumped a bunch in his mug.  He was not amused as I explained that 11 was not 5.  So instead of adding to 5, we worked on subtraction and I got to eat 6 marshmallows.  Sorry buddy!  (I did feel a little bad, but I would have let him have 2 more if he had counted 5 and not tried to cheat the system.  Life lessons, too, y'all!

Day 1

Without school, what we have is time.  

Today is our first day where school is back in session and we are not going.  Emmett had preschool, so Scott stayed home from work to help Eleanor while I worked in the classroom (Tuesday is my work day for co-op).

I left her a list of things to work on while Scott worked from home.

-Fold her laundry (she did without hardly being asked, anyway!)
-Complete a few pages from her Math book.  She did that and more.
-Do a typing lesson on ________ a free learn to type program.
-Put laundry in the dryer (that she had put in the washer earlier)

When we got home from preschool she had built a big fort and made a pulley system to deliver food to her fort (Dad helped a bit, I presume!!).

Then we ate lunch and went to the library, picked out books, read for a while, checked out books and the movie Flubber.  Spent time watching that while Scott continued to work upstairs.  

I'm guessing the next 2-3 weeks won't be overly academic.  From what I have read, this is helpful to get students thinking creatively, detoxing basically, from school. 

We got some learning and some chores in... and we all are happy about it, so I'm declaring Day 1 a win. .

Everything Happens For A Reason

I overheard one of my previous boyfriends that his ideal future was him finding a job as a firefighter and I was to stay home with kids and do the cooking and cleaning.  I butted into the conversation by laughing and said, "Then you've got the wrong girl!"  I have always been driven and in most jobs I've held, I actually enjoy getting up and going to the office.  Having lunch out.  Talking with co-workers, learning new skills.  

One of my earlier memories is sitting on the carpeted steps of my childhood home practicing flash cards with my Mom.  I learned to read at a fairly young age, though I don't remember exactly when.  I, of course, didn't think this was unusual, but I could tell my parents did by the way they showed off my skill.  On a hair appointment that I was dragged along to, I recall my Mom picking up the magazine and telling the hairdresser (and also our neighbor, we were in her kitchen where she did hair) that I could read just about any word on the magazine.  Lisa couldn't believe it and said that surely I had just memorized the words and we were playing a trick on her.  So she flipped to an article on the inside and I read more words.  

From then on, I think my parents knew I was smart and was going to need to be challenged.  They enrolled me in Montessori school.

I can't honestly say I ever thought of myself as a stay-at-home Mom type who cooked and cleaned and raised kids.  But after I had my daughter, I couldn't imagine going back to work.  It took quite a while for me to get over that loss of self.  I wasn't contributing to the household (in the financial/bringing in money sense).  

I had been meaning to go to the Homeschool Resource Center in our area since school started.  Then one day, I decided to go check it out -- mainly because the information I wanted couldn't be found on their website -- and the office manager told me about a tour that was happening the next day.  Somehow, I was free, so I told her to sign us up.

I loved the creativity I saw at Edmonds Heights and I had been up to the "Snug Room" with a friend who enrolled her son last year for a semester.  They showed us a robotics/Lego room and a maker room that had morphed into more of a project room with lots of sewing machines and a teacher overseeing projects led by the students.  What more could one ask for!?  Well, lots of family spaces to hang out while your kids go to classes on campus, a library full of curriculum resources available for checkout, plus they give money (currently $500 per year) toward curriculum purchases (books or classes/workshops).

I was convinced of the value, but scared to consider it.  Surely next year, right?  Like we would begin in the Fall.  It was crazy to think of starting so soon in January.  But the more I read, the more I thought it was crazy to wait.  Right now was the perfect time to try out homeschooling.  I needed books about what to do and fast.

I asked fellow home school friends what they recommended, so those combined with a trip to the library to see what was on the shelf and so far, my reading has consisted of:

This was a great fast read by Blair (right?) from Facts of Life.  Mostly stating that she homeschooled her kids and this book consists of interviews/stories of a variety of situations in which other parents home schooled their kids as well.  Some work full time, some stay home, some kids were motivated, some had learning difficulties, but all benefited from a unique approach to their learning.

Hold Onto Your Kids

I have only started reading at this point, but basically that a kid needs their parents far more than their peers.

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

Gist that I pulled from this...

John Holt book...

I'm learning as I go, but EHK12 offers an 8-week course to help us get started with planning, documenting, researching curriculum, advising... only that doesn't start until middle/end of January and I needed to make the decision to turn in enrollment paperwork after only about 2 weeks after taking the tour.  I turned it in and was relieved that the office manager said I had until January to officially decide on whether we wanted to move forward or not.

After reading several of the books above, research on various home schooling styles (Classic, Eclectic, Unschooling, etc.) and crying and talking to Scott about my fears and hopes and worries... I decided to take the leap and register for Spring Semester.  It felt insane, but also like the perfect time to try it out.

I did more research to discover that I couldn't dual enroll (I had originally planned to leave her in school until the end of Fall semester), so we had to decide when her last day would be.  It all happened so fast, then after speaking with her teachers and letting her weigh in, we decided that instead of going back after Christmas, that her last day would be Dec. 16th.  They were having a Christmas (okay, "Class") party that Friday anyway, so it was a good time to say goodbye.  SmartyPants had no problem leaving school, she was sort of sad to leave friends, but more excited for a new challenge.  School was boring.  (More on that in another post).