Today involved a reading lesson with Hooked on Phonics, the first DVD lesson of MUS Beta, a bicycle ride down the greenway, and a DVD about Rosh Hoshannah and Yom Kippur. I've been rather low energy today. So, I feel proud to report that much!
Last week we visited with friends nearly all day Wednesday, Thursday afternoon, and Friday morning. No need to worry about socialization!
It looks like the Jr. FIRST Lego League team may not work out for us after all. Homeschoolers are a crazy conundrum between being very flexible and, therefore, able to do all kinds of wonderful things, and very flexible and, therefore, very busy and sometimes overbooked. Three out of five families dropped from our group. So, now I'm looking at the possibility of finding a new group or waiting until next year. I'm thinking of maybe taking the time to actually learn something about and work with legos this year. Then, I'd be more prepared to actually work with them next year.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Horses
We rounded out the day yesterday looking up different breeds and patterns of horses, printing pictures, and getting them ready to go in the notebook. Mane has had a fascination with horses for some time now, fueled by Grandma buying her those Schleich toy horses and telling her horse stories. We found out that there's only one heard of wild horses left, and scientists aren't even sure they're the same species as other currently existing horses! Mane compared the horse pictures to her Schleich toys.
Today we found a chart of all the parts of a horse and talked about the names for baby horses (foal, colt, filly) and grown horses (mare & stallion). Mane is currently pasting the horse pictures in her school notebook as I type.
This morning we read the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments from the Jewish Holidays book. I LOVED their take on this story, which is that we all make mistakes and mistakes are part of the process of growing and learning more about ourselves and God. The focus of the story was on Moses getting so angry that he broke the stone tablets. At the end of the story God tells Moses to save the broken pieces along with the new tablets. Moses complains that then he will always remember how embarrassingly angry he got. God says that's exactly why he should save them...not as a punishment, but because the mistake is holy, too. This is a lesson Mane needs to hear over and over again. She's so worried about making mistakes, sensitive to being wrong. It's a good story for me to refer back to when she gets all upset about mistakes, and it's good for me, too.
Mane read one of the Hooked on Phonics books, and then we put star stickers on her calendar for the recent days that she has practiced reading. Having some sort of small reward is a life-saving motivator right now. She is able to focus and even enjoy a little time reading if she knows she's working for something. It isn't my ideal. So, I haven't been pushing it. But, interestingly, she's been asking to read. So, whatever.
We continued reviewing some MUS Alpha concepts. Mane has a good memory for the things we haven't practiced in the last few months.
We're considering biking to the library, but there are storm clouds brewing. Not sure if we're going to make it out today or not.
Today we found a chart of all the parts of a horse and talked about the names for baby horses (foal, colt, filly) and grown horses (mare & stallion). Mane is currently pasting the horse pictures in her school notebook as I type.
This morning we read the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments from the Jewish Holidays book. I LOVED their take on this story, which is that we all make mistakes and mistakes are part of the process of growing and learning more about ourselves and God. The focus of the story was on Moses getting so angry that he broke the stone tablets. At the end of the story God tells Moses to save the broken pieces along with the new tablets. Moses complains that then he will always remember how embarrassingly angry he got. God says that's exactly why he should save them...not as a punishment, but because the mistake is holy, too. This is a lesson Mane needs to hear over and over again. She's so worried about making mistakes, sensitive to being wrong. It's a good story for me to refer back to when she gets all upset about mistakes, and it's good for me, too.
Mane read one of the Hooked on Phonics books, and then we put star stickers on her calendar for the recent days that she has practiced reading. Having some sort of small reward is a life-saving motivator right now. She is able to focus and even enjoy a little time reading if she knows she's working for something. It isn't my ideal. So, I haven't been pushing it. But, interestingly, she's been asking to read. So, whatever.
We continued reviewing some MUS Alpha concepts. Mane has a good memory for the things we haven't practiced in the last few months.
We're considering biking to the library, but there are storm clouds brewing. Not sure if we're going to make it out today or not.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Maps & An Apricot Seed!
I think we're in love with maps. Mane and I studied a MN map before we went up to Duluth last week. She located Minneapolis & Duluth and the connecting highway - 35W. As we drove, she watched the road signs for number of miles until Duluth. She's learning how to pay attention to signs and watch for exits. While in Duluth we looked at the trolley map and Mane traced the map from where we got on to where we got off. Today she put all the maps in her brand new 2nd grade school notebook!
Then we printed a Minneapolis map and took a look at all the places we have biked so far and all the places we could bike. Mane was interested in figuring out north, south, east & west. So, she drew a simple compass underneath the printed map in her notebook. On the next page, we made a list of places we can get to easily on a bike based on distances Mane has already successfully biked:
- co-op
- 3 libraries
- 12 parks
- clinic
- Target
- Rainbow
- Blockbuster
This morning we took our bikes to the co-op, and I loaded up the crate on the back of my bike with good food for the next few days. I don't have to trailer attached to the bike yet. So, I could only purchase as much as I could carry in the crate. Mane led the way, as she's biked to the co-op with Mango. She has an excellent memory for direction.
First day of 2nd grade photos:
Before we left, we read the first passage out of the Family Treasury of Jewish Holidays about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. My plan is for us to do some Bible/Theology studies every morning over breakfast, and part of the plan is to learn about the Biblical holidays and how they fit with Christianity. Mane has already heard some about Judaism from the book All of a Kind Family that she has on CD. So, she knew something about what I was saying. It was interesting to talk with her about the common history of Judaism and Christianity and to see what she thought about it all. I'm going to be looking forward to this part of the day with her.
At the co-op we bought apricots from Wisconsin, and when we got home we read about how to keep a seed so that we can plant it in the spring. We washed it and wrapped it in a damp paper towel, put it in a ziploc, and set it in the fridge, where it will remain for the winter. Then we'll plant it. Perhaps we'll have an apricot tree in the spring!
We did a lesson from Hooked on Phonics. Mane has done several of these so far, and so far it's enjoyable for her. Then Mane played with the math blocks at the kitchen table while I made lunch. We reviewed a bunch of concepts from Math U See Alpha. We'll be starting Beta next week.
While we were eating, Mane was putting out math blocks that matched the colors of our food and then adding them up. She made up this little game on her own. I told her about how food really does have numbers called calories. She was shocked that something like food is really, actually related to math in real life!
Then we printed a Minneapolis map and took a look at all the places we have biked so far and all the places we could bike. Mane was interested in figuring out north, south, east & west. So, she drew a simple compass underneath the printed map in her notebook. On the next page, we made a list of places we can get to easily on a bike based on distances Mane has already successfully biked:
- co-op
- 3 libraries
- 12 parks
- clinic
- Target
- Rainbow
- Blockbuster
This morning we took our bikes to the co-op, and I loaded up the crate on the back of my bike with good food for the next few days. I don't have to trailer attached to the bike yet. So, I could only purchase as much as I could carry in the crate. Mane led the way, as she's biked to the co-op with Mango. She has an excellent memory for direction.
First day of 2nd grade photos:
Before we left, we read the first passage out of the Family Treasury of Jewish Holidays about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. My plan is for us to do some Bible/Theology studies every morning over breakfast, and part of the plan is to learn about the Biblical holidays and how they fit with Christianity. Mane has already heard some about Judaism from the book All of a Kind Family that she has on CD. So, she knew something about what I was saying. It was interesting to talk with her about the common history of Judaism and Christianity and to see what she thought about it all. I'm going to be looking forward to this part of the day with her.
At the co-op we bought apricots from Wisconsin, and when we got home we read about how to keep a seed so that we can plant it in the spring. We washed it and wrapped it in a damp paper towel, put it in a ziploc, and set it in the fridge, where it will remain for the winter. Then we'll plant it. Perhaps we'll have an apricot tree in the spring!
We did a lesson from Hooked on Phonics. Mane has done several of these so far, and so far it's enjoyable for her. Then Mane played with the math blocks at the kitchen table while I made lunch. We reviewed a bunch of concepts from Math U See Alpha. We'll be starting Beta next week.
While we were eating, Mane was putting out math blocks that matched the colors of our food and then adding them up. She made up this little game on her own. I told her about how food really does have numbers called calories. She was shocked that something like food is really, actually related to math in real life!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Biking Everywhere
This is cross-posted at The Midnight Cafe:
We have some friends. Let's call them Mr. & Mrs. Bicycle. They bike everywhere...literally. They have no car, and they live here in this city. They are happy, well-adjusted people with real jobs, and a child. There's a second child on the way, too, by the way. They don't flaunt their no-car status. In fact, it's kind of hard to get them to talk about it. They just live like this, and I completely admire them.
I'm not sure what attracts me the most. Of course, there are the environmental benefits of riding a bike, rather than driving a car. The kind of car driving I tend to do is the absolute worst - city driving, stop and go, quick trips here & there with lots of turning the car off & restarting after a quick errand. I've been aware of this for some time now, though, and it hasn't compelled me to do a whole lot about it. (For which I feel somewhat guilty.)
There are health benefits, too, to be sure. One certainly burns more calories and builds more muscle on a bike than in a car. It actually occurred to me how funny it all is, actually, when you think about it...to sit down and have the car carry you half a mile to the grocery store. Half a mile was easily in the daily or several-times-daily repertoire of our ancestors.
But, still, the health benefits are not the most compelling.
About a week ago I went to Mr. Bicycle's house in the afternoon along with Vespera. She helps him run a bicycle repair and refurbishing business/charity out of his garage a few afternoons a week. Mango & Mane came along. I went because I had a trail-a-bike type apparatus to give to Mr. Bicycle. We all stayed because we'd biked all the way over there, and, well, it seemed like a comfortable place to be. We got our hands dirty repairing a few bikes. Vespera dug right in, knowing exactly what to do and where everything was kept. All kinds of people, from up and down the alley and all through the neighborhood stopped by. Some already knew Mr. Bicycle, and some came to ask a favor or buy a bike because they had been referred by someone else. A few came to practice their Spanish or teach a few words in Somali. It was unhurried, even leisurely.
Yes, that's it. Mr. Bicycle is never, ever in a hurry. In spite of the fact that he must plan all of his trips with extra time for biking (though he is fast), he's somehow never frantic. Maybe, just maybe, cars contribute to our hustle and bustle, hurried lifestyles. We can get somewhere more quickly so we squeeze more into the day and wait until the last possible moment to leave for anywhere. Even I, as planful as I am, often feel hurried, though I'm notorious for being on time or even early. The truth is, being early requires hurrying, too.
Mr. Bicycle said something when we were there in his alley the other day that rings so true, too. He said that he hated the winter until he started biking in it. Imagine that! Most of us, even here in hardy Minnesota, might agree to a 3-season bicycle experiment. But to bike in WINTER? Minnesota Winter? I wouldn't believe it, except that last year all the kids & Mango got snowboards, and I went out on skis, and we had fun in the Minnesota winter. I had been looking on-line for ways to beat the winter blues in MN, and I read somewhere that if you're going to live in the winter in MN, you have to embrace the winter, you have to get OUT into the winter and enjoy it. And how true that we can often find something to embrace when we just stop struggling so hard against it.
Next to not being hurried, I find that I enjoy the simplicity of biking. Mango told me the other day that the bicycle is the most efficient human-powered machine ever invented. That attracts me somehow. If you get around Minneapolis much, you'll see that many people have turned this bicycling simplicity into an art form. Bicyclists are inventive and creative in the ways they find to convey themselves and carry cargo. Very creative, and, yet, still so simple...homemade, backyard solutions. Anybody can learn to fix their own bike. Most people will never learn to fix their own car. And fixing a bike takes a few minutes, maybe an hour. Putting a new transmission in our car took all day.
Mango uses the word "freedom" when talking about riding a bike. He talks about how biking is "coloring outside the lines." It's outside the box, maybe even outside the rat race. It doesn't confine you to following google maps to get to your destination. It frees you from consuming the world's resources, unplugs you from the grid for just a little while. Biking allows you the freedom to stop and say "hello" to your fellow commuter, to not just move from "one climate controlled environment to another" (Mango's words again), but to actually experience the world and interact with it. Biking means being out in the world in a way that you cannot be if you're commuting in a car.
This is what attracts me. It's the simplicity, the living and breathing of real life, the interaction with the world and fellow human beings.
I also love it that Mane sleeps really well at the end of a "biking" day.
So what am I doing about it? As a homeschooling experiment, Mane & I are going to keep track of the errands we run, the places we go every day, and where we could go bike. We're going to keep track of how much we use the car, and how much we use it when we didn't have to use it. It isn't to make anyone feel guilty. It's to raise awareness, to play with the possibilities, to increase our dependence and our freedom. I have blocked out an hour and a half each morning on my extremely flexible homeschool schedule for getting out and getting active. Building biking into the plan will hopefully turn it into a habit...and then a lifestyle.
We have some friends. Let's call them Mr. & Mrs. Bicycle. They bike everywhere...literally. They have no car, and they live here in this city. They are happy, well-adjusted people with real jobs, and a child. There's a second child on the way, too, by the way. They don't flaunt their no-car status. In fact, it's kind of hard to get them to talk about it. They just live like this, and I completely admire them.
I'm not sure what attracts me the most. Of course, there are the environmental benefits of riding a bike, rather than driving a car. The kind of car driving I tend to do is the absolute worst - city driving, stop and go, quick trips here & there with lots of turning the car off & restarting after a quick errand. I've been aware of this for some time now, though, and it hasn't compelled me to do a whole lot about it. (For which I feel somewhat guilty.)
There are health benefits, too, to be sure. One certainly burns more calories and builds more muscle on a bike than in a car. It actually occurred to me how funny it all is, actually, when you think about it...to sit down and have the car carry you half a mile to the grocery store. Half a mile was easily in the daily or several-times-daily repertoire of our ancestors.
But, still, the health benefits are not the most compelling.
About a week ago I went to Mr. Bicycle's house in the afternoon along with Vespera. She helps him run a bicycle repair and refurbishing business/charity out of his garage a few afternoons a week. Mango & Mane came along. I went because I had a trail-a-bike type apparatus to give to Mr. Bicycle. We all stayed because we'd biked all the way over there, and, well, it seemed like a comfortable place to be. We got our hands dirty repairing a few bikes. Vespera dug right in, knowing exactly what to do and where everything was kept. All kinds of people, from up and down the alley and all through the neighborhood stopped by. Some already knew Mr. Bicycle, and some came to ask a favor or buy a bike because they had been referred by someone else. A few came to practice their Spanish or teach a few words in Somali. It was unhurried, even leisurely.
Yes, that's it. Mr. Bicycle is never, ever in a hurry. In spite of the fact that he must plan all of his trips with extra time for biking (though he is fast), he's somehow never frantic. Maybe, just maybe, cars contribute to our hustle and bustle, hurried lifestyles. We can get somewhere more quickly so we squeeze more into the day and wait until the last possible moment to leave for anywhere. Even I, as planful as I am, often feel hurried, though I'm notorious for being on time or even early. The truth is, being early requires hurrying, too.
Mr. Bicycle said something when we were there in his alley the other day that rings so true, too. He said that he hated the winter until he started biking in it. Imagine that! Most of us, even here in hardy Minnesota, might agree to a 3-season bicycle experiment. But to bike in WINTER? Minnesota Winter? I wouldn't believe it, except that last year all the kids & Mango got snowboards, and I went out on skis, and we had fun in the Minnesota winter. I had been looking on-line for ways to beat the winter blues in MN, and I read somewhere that if you're going to live in the winter in MN, you have to embrace the winter, you have to get OUT into the winter and enjoy it. And how true that we can often find something to embrace when we just stop struggling so hard against it.
Next to not being hurried, I find that I enjoy the simplicity of biking. Mango told me the other day that the bicycle is the most efficient human-powered machine ever invented. That attracts me somehow. If you get around Minneapolis much, you'll see that many people have turned this bicycling simplicity into an art form. Bicyclists are inventive and creative in the ways they find to convey themselves and carry cargo. Very creative, and, yet, still so simple...homemade, backyard solutions. Anybody can learn to fix their own bike. Most people will never learn to fix their own car. And fixing a bike takes a few minutes, maybe an hour. Putting a new transmission in our car took all day.
Mango uses the word "freedom" when talking about riding a bike. He talks about how biking is "coloring outside the lines." It's outside the box, maybe even outside the rat race. It doesn't confine you to following google maps to get to your destination. It frees you from consuming the world's resources, unplugs you from the grid for just a little while. Biking allows you the freedom to stop and say "hello" to your fellow commuter, to not just move from "one climate controlled environment to another" (Mango's words again), but to actually experience the world and interact with it. Biking means being out in the world in a way that you cannot be if you're commuting in a car.
This is what attracts me. It's the simplicity, the living and breathing of real life, the interaction with the world and fellow human beings.
I also love it that Mane sleeps really well at the end of a "biking" day.
So what am I doing about it? As a homeschooling experiment, Mane & I are going to keep track of the errands we run, the places we go every day, and where we could go bike. We're going to keep track of how much we use the car, and how much we use it when we didn't have to use it. It isn't to make anyone feel guilty. It's to raise awareness, to play with the possibilities, to increase our dependence and our freedom. I have blocked out an hour and a half each morning on my extremely flexible homeschool schedule for getting out and getting active. Building biking into the plan will hopefully turn it into a habit...and then a lifestyle.
Summer Reading Program - Take 2
Mane won a second book in the Minneapolis Public Library's summer reading program! Her book choice this time was Everything on a Waffle:
I'm contemplating whether I should read one to her or save it for when she's doing her own reading.
Mane has been practicing guitar with Mango for the last week! And she's been doing a little bit of the Hooked on Phonics program we picked up for cheap at Borders this week.
I'm contemplating whether I should read one to her or save it for when she's doing her own reading.
Mane has been practicing guitar with Mango for the last week! And she's been doing a little bit of the Hooked on Phonics program we picked up for cheap at Borders this week.
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