Tag Archives: Kids

The trouble with Monday

Posted on March 19, 2012 | 2 Comments

Today was a rough school day. It was a very rough school day. It started badly, with me frustrated and yelling and only got worse.

Ila was being difficult and annoying, Kairav was being clingy and annoying, Ulka was being obstinate and annoying, and Ishaan was completely unmotivated and annoying. I was incredibly mean and annoying.  A rough day.

By 1:15  we had barely accomplished much more than a bit of reading and a bit of writing and a lot of yelling. I gave up and told everyone to pack up their stuff, the school day was over.  It is not unusual to be finished with lessons and work by 1:00, but we normally have a whole lot more to show for it. Today we just had a lot of hurt feelings.

I complained to Andy that I was cranky and that the kids were uninterested. I was feeling like no matter what I do I can’t seem to make school fun and exciting these days. It feels like we are plodding through work just to get it done. I was feeling like I might as well buy a pile of workbooks, circle “to do” pages everyday and leave it at that. But I know that is NOT the way I want to homeschool. One of the reasons we are homeschooling is because we want the kids to enjoy it and we want it to be fun and interesting. So when I feel like I am failing at that it all falls apart.

Then Andy calmly said “it’s Monday”. Every Monday is just like this. You need to change the way school happens on Mondays. And it suddenly dawned on me. It’s true, every Monday is like this, especially if it’s been a busy weekend and I haven’t done enough planning for the week.

Now my challenge is to re-think Monday morning school. Do any of you have this same Monday re-entry issue? How do you handle it? How are your Mondays different?

With the warmer spring weather quickly approaching I am considering starting the day outside, giving us all some space to get our heads in gear for the week. There is plenty of yard work to do and gardening to get started. We could also head out to the local nature preserve and take a hike. I’ve thought about walking to the library and looking at books, but I think that might be too controlled for what we need.

I’d love to hear your suggestions! Now, Monday is finally over. On to Tuesday which is bound to be better.

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Posted in 1st grade, 3rd grade, family life, Homeschooling

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Indian summer

Posted on October 11, 2011 | 1 Comment

Last week we completed our first 4 week school block and it went better than I had hoped. The kids maintained that new excited-first-week energy for the whole block. There were only a few tears and  those mostly when I was having a bad day!

Ishaan’s main lesson block was Old Testament stories. We looked at the stories not from a Biblical or religious perspective, but more as one might study Greek Mythology or Norse Myths.  As part of this block I had Ishaan learn to write out the Hebrew alphabet.  I found lots of practice pages online with little arrows showing how to form the letters. Clearly I don’t expect him to read Hebrew or even remember the letters, but it was more an exercise in form drawing of sorts and also just to learn a bit about another language.  After practicing on gridded sheets, he painted watercolor paper in plain blue and we cut each sheet into 4 parts. On each part he wrote out one Hebrew letter and its name.  We are stringing them up across the dining room (school room) and it looks great.

Ulka’s main lesson block was Reading.  She knows all her letters and most of the common sound combinations so now it is the exciting part of putting it all together.  She is ready and eager to read and it seems to be coming quite easily to her.  We are using the Autumn Story from The Four Seasons of Brambley Hedge by Jill Barklem as our base.  Each night I read her a segment and the next morning she tells it back to me.  I pull out and paraphrase a small section and write it out on the board for her to read.  I like this way of doing it because she gets to hear a story that is brand new to her and she loves it. She has to listen carefully so she can tell it back to me the next day.  When she reads from the board she  knows the story so she can sort of guess at the more difficult words to help her along, but she isn’t prompted by pictures.  I think this method is working well for her.  To practice her hand writing and letter formation she has to copy out what I wrote on the board and then she does her own illustration.  The whole process takes quite a while and she gets pretty tired out.  She is also working on a mini Math block learning counting by twos and threes and regrouping numbers using little glass gems and stories about Princess Ulka and her gems and how she shares them with her friends.  She likes math and begs to do it, so it’s not really even like work for her- especially if she can do school in her leo.tard  so she can take a quick break to work on her back walkovers!

when you go to school at home, you can wear your leo.tard to class

We have also been working a lot on coloring with block crayons, and all three of us are showing great improvement! I love starting the morning with 20 minutes of drawing with the kids. I think that is part of what has really helped our days to go smoothly. It is a sweet and pleasant transition from morning outside time to school time.

Since I didn’t know how the first block would go, I scheduled this week as a catch up week and I am so glad I did!  Ishaan has some drawings and Hebrew letters to finish up.  Also, we are having an incredible Indian Summer and the weather is amazing so we are taking advantage of that and having more time outdoors, working on the clay oven, playing, gardening, and of course lots of apple picking.

collecting rocks from the creek for our clay oven base

cheaper by the bushel

apple abundance

apple heads

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Posted in Crafting, Homeschooling, Kids, Summer

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First week a success

Posted on September 18, 2011 | 2 Comments

The first week of school could not have been better.  Admittedly we only had two and a half days of ‘real’ school work and I kept my expectations pretty low, but still, we had a great week.

We started the week and the year off with a trip to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts.  It is set up  like a village from the 1880′s which I thought was very nicely done and authentic feeling. The buildings are old buildings that have been transplanted from other sites. There is a potter’s studio, a blacksmith shop, a school-house, a church etc.  A couple of times a year they hold a home school day and there are workshops for the kids to do. Ish did a workshop on textiles and one on herbal remedies. Ulka did cooking and farm life. They were pretty neat classes, at least the kids seemed to enjoy them.  Andy generously offered to keep Ila and Kairav so that we could drive out with our friends Sarah, Jack and Lucy and have a day with the big kids.

This one just cracks me up

Goofy fun at the museum

Learning about training oxen

On Tuesday we jumped right into our school routine.  I was skeptical about circle time, but to my surprise everyone, including Ishaan, loves it. Kairav is hilarious to watch as he marches around trying to keep up with the finger plays and movements. Pretty cute.

Ishaan’s first big project is to make a clay oven that we will use to bake bread outside. I found the idea on this fantastic website called Pyrites.org. There are all kinds of super great ideas and some fascinating articles on the value of handwork and crafts in education. A few weeks ago  Irene took down many trees in our neighborhood (including 5 on our property 2 of which landed on our house, but that’s another story). One of the trees that came down just down the street was a large willow. The kids and I collected lots of branches to make the basket which is to be the dome part of the oven.  The basket will get covered in many layers of leaves and clay to make the clay oven.  This week we got to work on the basket.  Once we assembled the framework, which was very frustrating, the weaving went quickly and was rewarding. We used forsythia for the frame because it was straight and easier to work with and used willow for the weaving. The next step is to located some clay and to get some straw from a farmer we know.

Beginning the weaving on the framework.

The finished basket

As part of Ishaan’s math review I want him to master his times tables, so I had him make a multiplication wheel. It was a fun project for him, especially since he doesn’t love math. I think it is really pretty and we can hang it on the wall where it is easy for him to see all the multiplication tables.

Working on the multiplication wheel

Finished wheel

We spent a lot of time coloring with block crayons and doing wet on wet water-color. I want to focus on art this year with the kids. I’ve always left this to Andy since he is an actual artist and I can barely draw a stick figure, but honestly after he is finished working all day he is not really up for an art class and I’m really bad about making that happen.  So, I figured I would teach the kids and myself as well.  It’s been neat experimenting with crayon drawing and am beginning to see how those beautiful waldorfy crayon drawings are done.  We are still working on blending clouds of color, but it’s still pretty cool.  I’m using a great book  by  Sieglinde De Francesca. It’s hard to believe that her pictures are done entirely with block crayons. Check them out at Coloring with Block Crayons  if you get a chance.

watercolors

We’ve been trying to get all the lessons done in the morning and saving the afternoons for art and handwork. So far it’s been working out. Our general schedule goes something like this:

9:00 circle time

9:30-12:00 main lessons, spelling, math, and music practice

12-1:30 lunch and outside time

1:30-2:30 art and handwork

2:30 day ends.

We don’t do school on Wednesday because Ishaan has his wilderness class and on Fridays we just do a half day and save the afternoon of outings and getting together with friends. This Friday was a perfect day for apple picking- the Honeycrisps are amazing!

Ila enjoying a honeycrisp

Kairav meeting the goat.

As I said, this was a short week and everyone was fresh and excited but hopefully that excitement will carry us through for at least a few weeks while we get a rhythm.

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Posted in 1st grade, 3rd grade, Homeschooling, Kids, Summer

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Caves, cake, and camp

Posted on August 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

I have a nine-year old.  On one hand it seems kind of unbelievable but on the other, I almost can’t remember my life without Ishaan.

Some friends from Brooklyn were visiting last week and they stayed for Ishaan’s birthday breakfast. Having his friend Fiona here for a few days was great, but her being here for part of his birthday was a real treat.  Our dear friends Laura and Michael and their beautiful children, Una and baby Theo, came for lunch. That was a special treat for me because I love Laura dearly and since we both moved away from Brooklyn I don’t get to see her nearly as often as I would like. After dinner Ishaan’s grandparents and great grandmother came over for cake so he got to see a lot of special people throughout the day.

Ishaan, Ulka and Fiona

Ishaan with his great grandmother

cake time

We asked Ishaan what he wanted to do for his birthday and the only thing he really wanted to do was go caving.  There is a great beginner cave  close to our house, so gramma came over during the little ones’ nap time which allowed us to take Ishaan and Ulka caving.  Ishaan wiggled down into a hole in the ground without a second thought. Ulka was a lot less sure, but with just a little encouragement decided she would at least go down and see what she thought. I’m so proud of her- she did great and we explored quite far in. I was probably as nervous as Ulka, but once I encouraged her to go I couldn’t very well back out.  It was incredible down there.  It was cold, wet and covered in clay. It was easy to imagine we were in another world. We all turned off our flashlights to experience the absolute total darkness. It is darkness that your eyes never adjust to, just complete blackness.

in the cave

I love that my kids have such a sense of wonder and imagination. All of their senses are so keen and fresh. They talked about the sounds of the dripping water, and the smell of the clay and the crispness of the air underground with excitement. We explored around the main tunnel of the cave and walked along the trickle of a stream for a while, but didn’t go into any of the really tight tunnels.  At one point Ulka shone her flashlight into a deep crevice and asked me if I thought a cave fairy lived in there.  We stopped to take some photos and while we were standing in the quiet we heard a popping sound and Ishaan said “what was that? Goblins?”  I love that they made a little trip down into an underground cave into a fairytale in their heads.  It was a sweet little trip with just the two of them.

OFF TO CAMP

Off to camp

Ishaan has been dying to go to Deerfoot lodge for 2 years, but the camp requires campers to be 9 years old.  The last session of camp started yesterday, so 24 hours after turning 9, we sent him off to camp in the Adirondacks for two weeks.  He has been counting down the days all summer. I packed his bag with remarkably little stuff: 3 pairs of shorts, a pile of t-shirts, rain gear, hiking boots, and a few layering clothes.  Not much for 2 weeks and no laundry, I hate to think about what it will look like when we unpack!

the boys at Deerfoot

It is a pretty tough wilderness camp- the cabins have no electricity or running water. No showers, just bathing in the lake.  They go on overnight hikes carrying their food, clothes, and sleeping bags themselves. They learn to swim and fish and canoe and do archery. Basically heaven for Ishaan.  The counselors greeted us warmly and as soon as we checked in and dropped his backpack off on his bunk he went out the lake to take his swimming test.  Ishaan has been working hard this summer on his strokes and breathing at the pool with me, but he had to swim farther than he has ever swum before. I was so nervous- if he didn’t pass he would have to wear a red wristband and stay in a little section near the beach until he could.  He did awesome. He was so tired and struggled a bit but he made it.  He looked a little proud but mostly just so relieved when they cut off his wristband.  I looked very proud and a little relieved.

long swim for the swim test

getting his bracelet cut off. He Passed!

We walked around camp a little bit and poked into the different buildings. The craft cabin looks incredible. Some of the counselors are making canoes and they are true works of art- just incredibly beautiful. I’ll try to take some photos of them at pick up.  There is a pottery wheel, a leather stitching, wood and copper carving. It was amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing what Ishaan comes home with.

I don't my ishy to go to camp

good bye to his sisters

After an hour or so we said our good byes.  I was really good and held back my tears. Ishaan was so excited and seemed quite unphased by the fact that we were leaving him with a bunch of strangers for 14 nights. I’m so proud of him.  He walked off to join the others,  so confident and brave and trusting. Now I need to be brave too.  It’s not so much that I miss Ishaan, I just want to know that he is having a good time, that he is not homesick, that he’s not lonely or feeling left out, that the camp is everything he imagined and more. However, since he’s not much of a writer and there are no phone calls allowed, I’ll have to trust that he is having a great time and wait to hear about his adventures when comes home. Now I’m off to write him a letter and make a rhubarb custard pie because there is nothing like pie to make one feel better.

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Posted in Holidays and Festivals, Kids, Summer

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