A Good Day

One thing about homeschooling is that "productivity" is unpredictable. Especially in the sporadic way I go about it! But today was a good, productive day. Although I didn't get all the cleaning done I was hoping to do (the blasted vacuum), the kids were very interested in learning. So I went with it. And I learned something, too.

Also, I've had a friend ask me how I homeschool. This is a glance at how I do it. I try to inspire my kids with books and learning in general, but I also follow their lead when they are interested in learning or doing something educational.

5yo...he did lesson 53 in his Reading lesson book. He practiced counting to 100...and he did most of it himself, with only a little prodding from me with getting his 10s right (he kept wanting to say "thirteen" for 30 and so on). I also had him place beans on a 1-100 number card...I figured that was a good prep exercise for future games like putting beans on random numbers and skip counting. He also insisted on "writing" in oatmeal. I put about a cup of oatmeal on a cookie sheet and he practices his letters. The oatmeal then became the desert for his animal toys. And, here's the best part, almost everything he did today was his own idea! Yeah!! (I'm all for self-guided learning!)

For both boys, we worked on and worked on and worked on picking up what we get out before moving on to the next activity. That still needs a lot of working on.

4yo...he couldn't keep his hands off of anything. It did drive me crazy at one point, but I think we're both learning lessons on how to channel his curiosities in a positive way. Okay, so, what was he doing? He kept taking things apart on the vacuum...(it's not his fault it wasn't working...I just bought it from a yard sale and the person missinformed me about its usefulness). Well, he happened to remove the bagless container after I had vacuumed, and since it's a new vacuum to us, he didn't know that a certain lever would open it and...very dirty couch, yelling mom, time out, learn a lesson, help mom clean it all up.
My 5yo took out a stapler for a craft, and while we were doing the reading lesson, the 4yo was trying to figure out how it worked. He successfully removed the spring, stretched it in the process, and couldn't put it back together again...because the spring had lost its sprung.
He also kept fidgeting with our new printer.
And he asked me how soda was made. We found a couple of videos on YouTube, this one is our favorite (it's very entertaining). He watched it over and over...and then he had to show his brother and then watched it over and over. I think we'll have to make some home made soda.

So, my 4yo is clearly into tinkering and figuring out how things work. I've known this for a long time, but he has never been into so many things in one day. I've decided that we need to set up some rules: like where to tinker and with what. So, instead of trying to sell our ink-guzzling old printer on Craig's list, I think I'll let him tinker with it. Instead of trashing the old vacuum (not the garage sale one...I'm going to try to get my money back for that), I'll let him tinker with it...in the garage.

I'm really excited about this "discovery." I do want to allow him a safe environment where he has things he can take apart and try to put back together. He has already asked me what motors are and what engines do. I remember hearing (or reading) about how Steven Spielberg's mother allowed him to rearrange the house to create sets for the movies he created when he was younger...and he later became an amazing movie director. So, I don't want to hold my little guy back just because it makes a mess. I want him to explore his potential so he can reach greater heights.

And my 21mo--she "helped" me with putting away laundry, "helped" with making breakfast, made us laugh, went to time out for fake crying too much, ran around being teased and teasing back, pulled books off of shelves, wore everyone's shoes at least once, and pointed to a car in a book and said "maw, maw." I guess that's her word for car. Yay. She's learning more words! She also looked at almost every page in my "coffee table" book about the country of Jordan. She kept pointing at the ancient Roman ruins and she loved the waterfall. She also enjoyed the buildings of Petra. Who knows what future mysteries this girl will unravel?

Little Explorers

Right now, I'm reading this book called Homeschooling for Success, which I found out about on Homeschool.com. I just have to say that I really, really like it. I'm finding so many things in there that I agree with...and so many things that are very encouraging to me. Here is a sample of something I read today that I really like. It's in the chapter that talks about "Finding Your Child's Special Genius," which talks about the many different learning styles and how suggestions in teaching to those styles.

"Allow your child to 'sample' different interests

"While this might seem easier to apply to your homeschooling than learning styles or intelligences, there is a catch: You have to let your child quit. Yes, you have to let her quit piano after only two months if she decides piano is not for her. (She may come back to it later.) (Story about a girl who wanted to learn to dance at 3yro and quit soon after. She started again at 6 and danced for 12 years and decided to make dance her life's work.)

"Children have to sample many different things in life so that first 'spark' of interest in something can ignite. They are building up a library of what the world has to offer. If they are stuck in piano, they might never have a chance to discover they have a special talent in guitar, drums, or singing. As a parent, you have to have to be your child's 'interest advocate.' And this is going to be hard. You have to stand up to other adults and maybe even grandparents that think you are raising a quitter. Your children are not quitters, they're explorers. Give them this special time in life to explore what they find interesting. Often one pursuit lends itself to another but is not easily apparent to the parent. This was the case for Adam.

"(Story about Adam who loved science and math and was heading toward a career in that path. At 13, he picked up a guitar by chance and had a natural talent. His parents allowed him to immerse himself into it. Over the next 2 years, he made the correlation between math and music theory and "intensely began to experiment with charting music by hand and playing other instruments like the trombone and piano. He dove deep into music history and listened to every type of music he could get his hands on. He began to play his original guitar compositions in public and at age 15 was invited by an acclaimed international guitarist to participate in a 10 day guitar seminar in France").

Anyway, I thought that was really cool...let a child quit because they are not quitters, they are explorers!