A Month of Unschooling

That's how I have to look at February 2012 or I feel disgruntled. I didn't get done what I had hoped for: a return to rhythm and so-called normality. Instead there were dental appointments galore and a run to the emergency room and Acadec taxi rides. This blog/journal etc both online and printed out and pasted into our memory book is *supposed* to chronicle the Twirly Whirly's days, but since she is my only girl but not my only offspring I guess there's bound to be this sort of chaos. My sons need my time too.

But I am hopeful for March. Named for the Roman god of War, it's a month promising action. Even tho there are still med/dent appts looming and more AcaDec taxiing (I am so proud he is competing and going to State!!) these 'interruptions' are now on the calendar so we'll school around them. 

March sees Twirly's first on-stage recital! At the actual James Armstrong Theatre no less! They sold tix and everything. In fact, I must remember to get a snap of the marquee announcing the show before they change it. We will also be relaunching Hearth Keepers, our Keepers at Home club, with a family from our church. :)

Twirly had another homeschool class at Madrona Marsh last Tuesday. This time the moms could come in. I ran an errand then joined them. Pics have been uploaded to our FB page..one day i may caption them! Lol! (So pressed for time some days that just getting them up in a timely fashion is a gift.) One of my tasks this morning will be to carve out more margin in our lives. Ballet class will soon be back on Thursdays and that will help immensely. Next school year it looks like she'll have busy Saturdays...we may have to finally give in to them. She is aging out of the weekday morning classes. How to deal with soccer and ballet on same day will be an issue, I fear. 

Meanwhile it looks like some near future Sats will be for swim lessons! Still held at Redondo Union but not in the format that my boys did them...on weekdays during the summer...I had hoped to do it that way while Boo-man was in summer school, but this way I can recruit the Dad to help and they both can swim. And we'll get to use summer more freely for summer lessons and play days at maybe Seaside Lagoon??? Hmmm....

Anyway, that's it for now. Gotta keep a promise to take them to McDs PlayPlace. again...sigh..at least I can read/study etc there....lol....

How to Catch a Bunny

For the second time this week there was a bunny on our lawn today! The first time was back last Monday I think when the dad stepped out to go to work and announced there was a bunny on the front lawn! We chased it around for half an hour when a man in a van pulled up and we asked if he was looking for a bunny. Yup. He and I and Twirly continued the chase as the dad finally left for work. It took another half and hour. Even a calm friendly bunny can elude capture rather easily it would seem! 

What does this have to do with our homeschooling? Is there a metaphor? Does there have to be? It could stand on its own as a funny bunny story and possible pre-rabbit ownership lesson in why to always make sure your doors and gates are closed properly. 

But I suppose there is a lesson in it for homeschoolers too. Like even when plans go south and time slips by (like it sorta did during the holidays and the month after), if you stay calm and don't give up, you can get things back to normal. On that note, no pun intended, Twirly and I returned to violin class today now that it is back at the regular location. (We waited out the month they spent at a temporary site just a bit too far to drive to.)

We are definitely going to have to be disciplined in our weekly practices to get back in the swing. One of Twirly's good friends has also joined the class now so we may be adding violin practice to the park time on Tuesdays. Learning together is so much more fun than learning on your own.

Now if I could only learn where to find additional pages for our scrapbook...that's one problem of buying interesting vintage ones from eBay...they can come with unusual page connectors. The one I bought for this year (and which I really love) does *not* have posts...it is connected through plastic straps! How am I supposed to find more of those? I don't even know the proper name for it! 


I got a surprise at the Twirly-Whirly's ballet class last week. Turns out all the classes are now run through RKDC dance school even tho they are held through the Parks and Rec. So that amounts to no more wee little recitals on the last day of class. It now turns out that they do them on stage at a separate location in the evening. For instance, March 9 at the local college auditorium at 7pm. They require all in attendance to purchase tickets too! (excepting the actual dancer and any moms who wish to serve as backstage help since we would not be able to watch the performance.)


This, I am told by another mom, is quite a racket. It explains why the cost went up for the class despite no other changes. She told me that you are not allowed to tape your child's performance as the dance company sells dvds at $35 a pop! This dvd is the entire show! I really don't want to buy a dvd of a bunch of other kids when my own dd's performance will probably not last longer than 10 minutes!


The good thing is that we can tape the rehearsals. I think I will settle for that. Past filmings have often feature my dd making angry faces at me (for filming) and her just standing there pouting. Should make for an interesting show this time! Lol!




 

Young Pups, New Tricks

We tried something new yesterday. Ms Cindy of Friday Fun at Madrona Marsh has, after many moms asking, started a nature study group for homeschooled kids ages 6-8! :)) We've been doing nature study with her since the Twirly-whirly was 3 and we went all the way to South Coast Botanical Gardens in Palos Verdes to do it.

This new program allows no sibs unless they too are 6-8 and it allows no moms in the room either, both of which the kids just loved. Ms Cindy was surprised, esp by the latter, but I'm not. I bet they all felt really quite grown-up not having to have parental supervision! ;) The topic was Wiggly Worms which was the same as one of the FFMM's just the other week or so ago, but the material is expanded, and the kids got to use the dissecting microscopes (look that up). They all mastered the techniques in just minutes too!

I was a bit sad not to be able to witness her firsthand but did get off a few pics (will add later), and everyone went on the excursion into the marsh. It would seem that the rest of the families waiting outside the lab and such were noisy (what else with so many young kids) so Ms Cindy will be making the group into a drop-off program for the first hour of classroom/lab. I have known them all so long now I have no probs with that. My only challenge is where to find a convenient cup of coffee. ;)

Happy New Year!

January 17. 2012

Happy New Year! (belated)

Mood: bewildered and bemused



It's been another month of "I thought I would have more written" etc....

The holidays went mostly very nicely, but technology (our computer) continued to pull some stunts so files, photos, and such needed (some still) reloading and what not. I lost all my Flip Videos library yet again. (Meanwhile one good spot from the holidays is the fun we had with some friends on Hogswatch and the possibility that one of them may be able to reclaim the photos/videos that were reformatted over on the old hard drive at around this point last year. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will have some good news on that in the near future.) Good thing I had uploaded the movies at least to You Tube! (I have also learned that a smartphone is no substitute for a real camera and video recorder.)

This mess-up has amounted to falling somewhat behind on our lesson plans, a condition I hope to have rectified by the end of the week. I am also hopeful that by Monday morning next I will have the scrapbook caught up as well. The vintage one I bought came with only a few pages that are not the same size as the ones I used in the previous
album. I wish there were more standardized sizes. I know there are among modern books, but it would be nice if the makers had taken older books into consideration. So the hunt to find more is on.

We are back to ballet this month! Twirly-whirly has missed it! The prices have gone up tho and the day is now Monday instead of Thursday. I don't like that much, but there's nothing to be done. The Thursday enrollment flagged so they closed the class. We are also back to Library Storytime/ParkPlay and Friday Fun at Madrona Marsh. Gems and Awana have also resumed. So I do have a piece of normal going on. We are still on violin break however. The usual site is not available this month. (I need to get my musician son to tune my cello anyway.)

That's it for now, I suppose.

December Doings

It's that month again! The Advent-ure month....when you add the holidaze doings to your usual controlled chaos! That's how it seems even when i do my best to plan, structure, limit. It didn't help that in addition to the Twirly-Whirly being part of a 4-day concert series (of which she only performed in 3 of the 4 because one of the days we also had soccer awards banquet and two birthday parties!) I and my 17yo got a case of food-poisoning from a shared burger. blech. (oh yeah...almost forgot we finally had our first trip as a family to Journey to Bethlehem, the living history event our own church puts on. They loved turning the grindstone!)

There are still events to attend, but at least as we're not performing in them it's a bit less stressful/demanding. Our church is doing a Winter Wonderland this coming Saturday. Sunday will see a Violin Holiday Potluck Party (have to make a casserole) followed by a GEMS Ice Skating Party. 

The next two weeks are winter break (includes a recycled gift exchange party!), but we still have a few things to cover today and tomorrow, namely the letter J and Friday Fun at Madrona Marsh about clouds. She did some copywork today by creating some Christmas and birthday cards for some friends. I love that homeschooling means such flexibility.

However, homeschooling does come with its disappointments, too. We had the news yesterday that TUSD is cracking down on its volunteer regs. After 3 years of having paperwork properly submitted and TB test taken etc, Twirly is no longer allowed to help out in her brother's classroom even if the teacher is cool with it. I understand...seeing one child coming along with her mom to help out in a sib's class triggers other moms to bring multiple younger children along and then there's no helping getting done...just crowd control. 

Still....it's a total bummer...it means I can't help either as we come as a pair. And it means missing out on what Best Ever gets up to (it's a new nickname around here for him...long story)...it's fun watching him. I am sorry her community service activities will not include her brother. Sigh. We'll just to look for other opps. That's all we can do thus far.

 

Advent--ure Ahead?!

Nov 30, 2011

Mood: scrambling, if you can call that a mood!


So What's the Haps?


I am typing quickly in hopes of finishing before the Boo-man's bus pulls up in front of the house. It's a hectic afternoon with AWANA tonight.
It's already the last day of November! I am behind a tad with schooling as there has been both illness and some vehicularly-related turmoil in the house.

Rather than recount all that, first I shall speak of how quickly the Twirly is growing up. She has reached the Steiner milestones of being able to reach over
her head and touch her ear.

She has also had her first visit from the Tooth Fairy!

This is her little Tooth Fairy Box:

What I am contemplating this December Eve (as in Night Before December) is Girl Scouts....no not in the way you think!

I am not thinking about joining her up with GSA. My opinion of GSA and indeed the parent world org and its
pro-abortion agenda remains unaltered. It's just that as satisfying as GEMS and Keepers at Home both are as programs,
I am finding them both sorta falling short as scouting-alternatives in terms of scouting.

 Some time back I found at a thrift store a book title Pixie Scouts. It turned out that before there were Daisy Scouts,
there were Pixie Scouts (based on stories that are rooted and intertwined with stories used back when Brownies, now termed
Girl Scout Brownies were first created). Later the group was changed to Daisy Scouts to honor one of the initial GS founders
from way back when. Anyway, I loved the name and activities in the book and had hoped to use some of them as Hearth Keepers
activities (before our group broke up due to too many time conflicts for the fellow moms.)

I also could not shake the idea of having the Twirly-Whirly scout (verb here, not noun). But of course actual GSA was out of my
ethical and spiritual bounds. Sooooo...there I am poking around on eBay looking for other Pixie Scout info. And what I turned up
was a bunch of really cool badges/patches that used to be used by Canadians Brownies (and almost all Brownie Scouts I later learned).
They were cute little things so along with bidding and winning some I started looking for other info and items related to vintage
Girl Scouting (the way Lord Baden-Powell envisioned....as a die hard fan of BSA and former Scout leader I think he and his wife etc
would be appalled at the way it's turned.)

I have decided, using books, patches, some clothing, of the good ole days to scout with Sara as a homeschool patrol, if you will, much
the many brick-and-mortar schools, public and private, have mascots and school spirit programs and what-not. We will be true "lone
scouts". I toyed with saying Rogue Scouts but that makes it sound like we went Robin Hood or such and that's not quite it...not quite. ;)

So I have begun collecting things...some easily, some doing a bit of battle with actual collectors (I intend to use what I buy!) In fact some
of the books etc arrived today while I was still writing this blog. They are so cool! Did you know Brownie leaders in the UK Girl Guides used
to be called Brown Owls? I even found a Brown Owl patch! (We will have sashes for some badges....perhaps even a "brag vest" for activity
patches. I also toyed with getting a vintage Brownie uniform but since we're doing this as part of homeschooling she would have to wear it
nearly every day. I know some homeschool moms have their kids wear uniforms with their school logo on them, but that would be too strict
for me. I wouldn't mind wearing one to school or a job but not around the house. The idea of one for field trips or such might not be a bad
idea though.)

Anyway, I am stoked! The pixies, fairies, brownies, owls themes all work well with our very fairy/nature-oriented homeschooling. I am not certain
what to call our little "group" tho....lol...there are some Cub Scout patches using the term Gnome Patrol! LOL! But we will be exploring more than
gnomes....so that's why I don't want to say that exactly...or pixie or brownie exclusively. Might be uncreative and just say Acorn Cottage Scouts.
We'll see.....

Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose...but it's okay!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Mood: lol....not certain!

Sometimes you win;sometimes you lose, but it's okay...

or so Yo Gabba Gabba tells me!


I'm glad cus it's certainly been two steps forward, one step back for a couple of months now. Every time we get close to what I had hoped for this school year, we get bounced off sideways some, be it ant attacks, rough mornings, etc etc. One thing I definitely plan to do is look at more streamlining for the next trimester, now that library storytime is done till January I will have some time to ponder better, more effective uses of time in our day/week/what-have-you! We are not off-track...that's one beauty of being Waldorf-inspired: it's rhythm to the day not schedule so when school ended up done in the afternoon instead of the morning we still got the important things done. But i still want things better managed so we don't get shoved out of the morning time. When am becomes pm, the pm fun/chores go out the window! I had plans for more cooking and what-not and they have not materialized. The house is also not quite together as I prefer either. Another item on my to-do list is a clear-out of unnecessaries....since Christmas is approaching, this will be a good time to do it, if only under the "making room for new bigger kid things" label. ;) It can be tricky with such a wide range between she and her brother with special needs.

Still...it's been more forward than anything else so I am so grateful for that. Today we went on a nature walk around the block (which just so happens to be a 1/2 mile so we do one trip almost every day as part of the Marathon Kids program), and she stopped me to point out a letter she found...that is to say, a letter shape made by nature. We had read Discovering Nature's Alphabet last year, and now she is noticing letters in nature herself. Her penmanship is improving daily and the only copywork she does is of her own choosing when she decides to make a book or write a letter to a friend (or idol like Keith Harkin of Celtic Thunder!) It almost makes me sad cus she is growing up so fast. One day she'll stop pronouncing it "dirl" and that'll break my heart.

*i* think i'll close here... ;)