the art table, aka homeschooling table

you never know what you might find on the art table, aka unschooling table, aka homeschooling table. homemade games, taken-apart machines, art supplies, circuit kits, or praying mantises in bug houses...

under the apple tree

apples and corn, IT'S FALL, whoopeeeeeee!

turkey trot

check out these turkeys (and the kitty rosie got a hold of) from the wonderful rodger's produce stand...

harvest moon

the september harvest moon was especially gorgeous this year, with a bright-rainbowed halo around it. we studied how asia perceives the september moon, and celebrated the chinese moon festival in our geography classes.

rainbows on the ceiling

the latest craze- reflecting CDs on the car ceiling as we cruise around town...

barred rocks

this has been another september gig, watching the chickens eat our leftovers.... the kids love everything about the chickens, especially now that there are eggs to collect. the pullets are almost five months old, so a few have started laying eggs. it's thrilling to find an egg or two each day in the nesting boxes, yippppeee!

december update: now a dozen a day, whehew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

clay

we've been working with clay! we got a big 10-pound chunk from an art teacher at a local school, and the kids went to town with it... we also used it for teaching about Iran at homeschooling central....

september happenings

what have we been doing all month? and why haven't there been any posts lately? well, we thought that our digital camera had been stolen at johnny's soccer game, but a lovely man found it and brought it back to us, so we are in business again! i downloaded the 170 pictures that were on the camera, so now i have some to post!

september highlights:
*making bread! as the temperature cools, the temptation to bake rises! we've been making bread, and today, michaelmas, the first pie of the season (apple) came out of the oven, it was deelish, and was made for our neighbor's puppy's first birthday!
* catechism classes at st. josephs, horseback riding/ hippotherapy for jojo, finally getting the game carcassone, playing in (and with) the gorgeous leaves, teaching at homeschool central and explorers homeschooling co-op, and the kids' classes there...
* a hike at leslie science center, attending the kerrytown bookfest, visiting kris's tantre farm csa, harvesting tomatoes and taking apart phones and garage door openers (yikes!)

jojo's classroom

look at how beautifully jojo's classroom is decorated! and his classmates are so well-behaved...

;)

are you starting school today?

this question comes from the traditional way of looking at school- it starts and ends at a particular time- time of day, time of year. when your children are in school, your schedule is made for your family. that is what is so glorious about homeschooling- there isn't a beginning or an end. if you define education as a joyful process that saturates life rather than something controlled by an on/off switch dictated by some board of education, this question becomes irrelevant. i wanted to explain all this to the librarian who asked us if we were starting school today, but at the time, i said "we homeschool and don't really have a starting or ending date- it's more of a lifestyle thing." and gave her a big smile, hoping for understanding.

this picture is of the school bus coming up our road for the first time this school year. i always get an odd feeling when i see it, imagining joseph on it, and it's so strange, to imagine him there. i'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to share learning adventures with him...

What do you do all day?

We get this question a lot- What do you do all day with your kids?

Last night, I wrote a list out of some highlights of our day. We:

1/ played with our 24 Barred Rock chickens- fed & watered them, observed one that had been hurt and hand fed it
2/ found and chased a huge cicada near the swingset
3/ caught a baby praying mantis on the slide, made a house for it
4/ watched a monarch come out of its chrysalis in our terrarium- we put it in a tree in our yard and watched it fly away after a while
5/ read books:
~a gorgeous rendition of The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth (with lovely illustrations by Barbara McClintock) ~ and then made really molasses-y gingerbread cookies and acted out the story with our cookies
~Mary by Demi
~The Monkeys and the Peddler by Susanne Suba
~I Love You, Little One by Nancy Tafuri
6/ the kids watched DK's Tree video (They watch one video each day, or not. We don't get TV channels, but we can watch selected videos)
7/ went to the park/ river across the street as it was a gorgeous day (sunny and 80, whehew!) and found crayfish, frogs, pinhead minnnows, pond snails and lots of rocks, did some rock skipping and semi-swimming
8/ Joseph, who will be 7 in December, did a math lesson from his Saxon 2 book and a language arts lesson (learned -le words, like riddle) in his Explode the Code phonics book- this is the "daily" seatwork that he does. We end up doing it 4 or 5 times a week, weekends included sometimes, as we don't follow a set schedule. When we have time, we pull out these books and complete the lessons. It usually takes about 30 or 40 minutes and leaves the rest of the day free for hands-on, contextualized learning.
9/ played superheros with our Waldorf silks- the kids made capes and rode their bikes, had races, and made tents under the bed covers

This is a fairly typical day, although we usually go out somewhere or have friends over. More "What do you do?" lists coming soon!

first

How exciting, the official first post! I have been wanting to start a blog for a long while to record and celebrate all of the things our homeschooling family does, and am ecstatic to finally be doing it...