Homeschooling

Here I am, now a homeschooler! Thanks, COVID. I mean that both sarcastically and sincerely. I am homeschooling Phoebe and she is a dear little student. Our school district is currently totally virtual, and it just did not make sense for Phoebe to enter kindergarten on a screen with me trying not to chew my arm off beside her.

I am grateful that I have a flexible schedule and some years of parenting under my belt. The skills that I need are not really the skills I gained as a high school English teacher, but rather the skills I learned through parenting: patience, cheerful matter-of-fact firmness, calmness, and capacity to enjoy my child and enter into her world. 

For curriculum, I queried the homeschool parents I know who have taught their children kindergarten. I read some websites in the manner of surveying the landscape. Our state uses the Common Core standards and since we intend for Phoebe to return to in-person schooling in the future, I read those standards and chose curriculum aligned with them. 

We are using:
Explode the Code Book 1

DK Geography, Kindergarten level

some partially used kindergarten math books from a friend in the district because the Argoprep Introducing Math! Kindergarten book I bought is too advanced.  

Daily, Phoebe draws in a journal and writes the date. We go over the days of the week, the months and seasons, and do some counting as we ascertain the date.  I read out loud to her; currently we are devouring the Little House books. We spend about an hour on homeschool every morning.

Then she plays her heart out and talks our ears off the rest of the day. She keenly misses peers as her older siblings are so much older - another reason we want to send her back to in-person school. 

As for Genevieve and Ben, they are doing their virtual school thing with their district-issued iPads. Each class has two Zooms a week and the rest of the work is asynchronous. Fortunately, they can still play their sports because these are outside and can be mostly socially distant. I'm grateful they have that fresh air, exercise, excitement, and teamwork. 

Typing

In a suddenly adult moment, I realized that my children were not going to be taught how to type by their schools.  I guess the schools can only focus on state testing? Expect students to use their texting thumbs forever? It was up to me to launch them into the world as typists.  I expect this skill to be useful for at least a few years until whatever new mind-blowing device appears that we can't even imagine yet. I decided it was worth it. 

I scrolled through a few free typing programs and settled on BBC's Dance Mat Typing.  This proved to be too silly for Genevieve, so I let her switch to this program, but the rest of us go around cooing "type on me" in a British accent.

I make Genevieve and Ben work on their typing every day as part of their chores.  They complain about it.  They don't see the need for this skill (please weigh in if you think this a useful skill anymore!). I was hoping they'd be great typists by summer's end, but they're both only about three-quarters of the way through memorizing the keys.  Oh well.  There's always next summer.

Ben Bakes Cookies

It's a long story, but it's a good illustration of how children learn and how adults can contribute, so I'll tell it.

Ben likes to earn money, so he often asks for extra jobs that I am willing to pay for and then squirrels his cash away.  He's been learning how to count and roll coins and how to keep a ledger recording money in and money out.

Ben set up and took this photo.  I think it means the minifigure is going to work.

When the school hosted a Scholastic book fair, he asked if he could buy a book.  I said sure, because it was his money; I prefer to shop for used books or use the library.

He picked out two books and never said a word when the volunteer told him his total was $19.  But when we got home, he was very quiet.  And later, he burst into tears:  he didn't know the prices of the books and regretted spending that much money.  He didn't know where to look on the books for the prices, nor did he ask any questions.  Poor buddy.  He was distraught.

So we made a special trip back across town the next day with one of the books and the receipt to return it, although I cautioned him that I wasn't sure if book fairs can do returns.  While we were waiting in line, the principal bopped by and started chatting up Ben.  I could see Mr. S. was impressed with Ben's depth of feeling, so he offered Ben a job to earn some money if Ben couldn't get his money back for the book.

Well, Ben did get his money back for one book and kept one book, and he was happy.  And he was overjoyed when Mr. S. said the job offer would still stand, but that Ben needed to send him a proposal and pay schedule for his services.

Ben was delighted to be treated like a wage-earning adult, and dictated an email through me to Mr. S. suggesting what he could help with (uh, that was a hard one: what can an 8-year-old help a principal with?).  I suggested "bake cookies" since Mr. S. has a legendary sweet tooth and Mr. S. said yes, indeedy, he would like a dozen cookies but to be sure Ben paid for his ingredients.

So Ben took a pencil and paper and went with me when I went grocery shopping so he could write down prices.  Then, later, I helped him break down those prices for the amounts in his Snickerdoodle recipe, and then, further, for the dozen cookies he was taking to Mr. S.

So Ben baked cookies on one of the snow days last week.  He had never baked cookies before, so we talked through the recipe, and I stayed nearby while he worked.

I took these photos to illustrate how epic the baking process was.

 I'm really not even sure how I had the tolerance and patience for this project.  Maybe it was his pride and grit that impressed me?  He's something special, that Ben.

I never took photos of the cookies!  They were good, but very dense:  we think he forgot the baking soda in all that chaos.

And then he forgot the cookies on the porch the morning he was supposed to deliver them to Mr. S., and only remembered when we were halfway to school; yes, we turned around.  I love that Ben!

Genevieve is a Sewing Teacher

When her friend came over, Genevieve offered to teach her to sew.  I lurked around to listen and then finally asked if I could snap some photos.  It was so precious and hilarious to hear Genevieve passing on sewing information - she is entirely self-taught, despite my no-strings-attached offers to teach her what I know about sewing.  

 I even made a Pinterest board a few years ago, with high hopes of having lessons such as piano lessons. Genevieve generally uses tape, the stapler, and hair ties to force her fabric into what she has in mind.  This time, she showed her friend how to hand sew with needle and thread.

  The best way to learn anything is to teach it to someone else!

Solving the Pencil Bag Issue for the Big Girl

One day it finally registered with me that Genevieve was carrying her school pencils in a ziploc bag, punctured by their points and ugly as those bags always are.  I asked her if she wanted me to make her a pencil bag.  Yes! And since she was playing with the baby, she gave me carte blanche to pick the fabrics, too.  Fun! I suddenly had an inspiration and asked her if it would be helpful if the bag was on a big elastic that held it in place on her binder. Oh yes!  Fortunately I had some frilly yellow elastic on hand - I thought I might see if I could make some sagging knee socks stay up.  But in the meantime, Genevieve has a sweet little pencil bag that is convenient and much nicer to look at than a filmy, pockmarked plastic bag.   

I realized that I haven't been blogging about my kitchen work.  I believe it's mostly because Phoebe is urgently hungry at meals, so I feel pleased to just get food on the table and into her mouth and I don't have much time to photograph anything (I like to put pictures with my posts).  I'm going to try to be more deliberate about that.

A White Valentine's Day

More snow: thirteen more inches on top of the four that was already hanging around.  At this point, my children wake up on weekdays and ask me if they have school.  School days are the exception, not the rule.

Thus, we have an entire batch of caramel popcorn to eat for breakfast (no school Valentine's party for Ben to take it to). I left the cayenne out of this batch to be kind to the kindergartners.  I was thinking as I stood in the kitchen staring at the snow that maybe I should make another batch with. . . rosemary. . .

Ben helped me make more peanut butter.  It's so pretty, wreathed in the bowl.  And it's warm, too, from the motor, so it's perfect for tasting.

I whipped up a denim pant-leg bag for Ben's valentines.  I used wide bias tape to finish the top cut edge and add a handle.  Then I cut a red oval and sewed it to the bottom to make a narrow bucket.  I couldn't resist putting on a plaid heart.  The valentines are written up and waiting for whenever school happens again.

Genevieve's bag with the ruffle is from preschool.

Fortunately, my husband and I don't have to cancel our Valentine's date because the babysitting (a date-night trade with friends) and the restaurant are just a snow-booted walk away.  Happy Valentine's Day to you!

June Days

I've stopped counting how many days off from school my children have due to bad weather this winter.  These are not "snow days," I tell my children, but "June days" because these days will show up on the end of your school year in June.  Buy now, pay later.

Ben with his collar popped, eating breakfast.

We don't drive anywhere on June days, but we do walk downtown to run errands or go sledding in the park.  Sometimes we have playdates with friends.  We've cooked and baked together and I've been working on my job search, taxes, health insurance, and photo storage at the odd times I can snatch at the computer.  We do not have cabin fever and we have plenty of projects yet to explore.  In fact, one of my goals this week is to tidy up my sewing space because there are several interesting projects spread on top of each other and I  work more effectively if my space is tranquil.

I'm happy with the weather - it's wintry as it should be in these parts, not like the mild, wet winters we've had for a few years.  I'm not juggling a job with childcare, so altered schedules simply mean slower mornings and pajamas at home.  When the kids fight, I send them outside, separate them, or get on the phone with a friend (using my lifeline - isn't that from a game show?  My scant TV knowledge is showing.).

Keeping Ben company at breakfast while sewing on a button and discussing the straightest thing I ever saw (his question).

Are you at home because of bad weather? What are you doing?

The First Day

This was the first day of second grade for Genevieve, kindergarten for Ben.  There were no tears, thank God.

I made Genevieve's jumper.  It's the second round, because the first one made from the pattern was too broad and slopped off her shoulder.  I put it away and hoped she would grow broader next year.

I made Ben's shirt.  It is not a success in my eyes, but don't tell Ben: he loves when I make him clothes.  I'm not pleased that the collar is so large and odd (this was a vintage 70s pattern) and the buttons are spaced oddly.

And that is the barest skim of the details because I'm exhausted.  But happy.

Pretty Happy Funny Real

Here's a slice of our life, organized in Leila and Rosie's categories for their Thursday roundup (pretty happy funny real).

 

These burpcloths are pretty.  I made them for a new baby sweetie girl and delivered them along with a meal.  To the right is some plaid (left from this shirt) that I used to make Ben a bowtie for my grandma's funeral.  I do love those bowties: so easy to whip up and instant cuteness for Ben.

 

 

My mending pile is happy to me.  Usually the fixes are fast and it's so satisfying to get the items back in circulation.  Here I have a flowered shoe bag whose seam I made too shallow so it frayed loose.  A pair of oxblood tights that I wore so much they lost their tightness at the top, so I put some elastic in there to help.  A blue sweater with a small hole on a seam that I handstitched closed.  Poof!  Back on the job!

Last Thursday was a funny day.  Ben was requested to dress as a favorite book character for school, and Genevieve was requested to dress crazy in support of anti-bullying school spirit.  Yes, on the same day.  Trying to coordinate this, plus get me out the door for my job was not funny.

Ben was Bananas Gorilla from Richard Scarry.  His daddy helped him make four watches in addition to the two he already had, so he could wear three on each arm like Bananas Gorilla.  Ben dressed in similar clothes to Bananas Gorilla and carried a bunch of bananas.

 

We had to explain the concept of "clash day" to Genevieve, which is kind of hilarious because she already wears the top-of-the-pile shirt with her red plaid skirt to madcap effect.  Sometimes I make her change before I take her out in public.  She totally owned this school spirit day!

 

 

 

Here is a real Lego creation from the Genevieve.  Those people are standing in line at an ATM.  Which niggles at me, because my husband and I rarely use ATMs and I can't imagine where she sees people standing in line for one.  But there you have it:  a 7-year-old's social observation.

 

 

Happy Thursday to you!

 

Piano Lessons at Home

Both our children show a musical bent; we told them that when they learn to read, they can start piano lessons.  I decided to see if it would work for me to teach Genevieve at home for a while - a little toe-dip into homeschooling, if you please.  I took 10 years of piano lessons as a girl, and I still play for church occasionally.

For accountability, I marked the calendar for a 10-minute lesson each Friday afternoon; Genevieve calls it "turning the page" because we just turn a page a week.

I borrowed most of the books from a friend, a former piano teacher; I got the first three on amazon for about $20. 

For the first few lessons, Genevieve was enthusiastic; now I am seeing that her learning style with me is fear of failure, so she can be reluctant to try a new step because it won't be perfect.  She is supposed to practice her page every day, but, you know, it doesn't always happen.

 

As long as her musical ability is blossoming and we're working well as teacher and student, we'll keep going.  I also really love not herding the children out the door to get somewhere on time every Friday afternoon.

(all photos on this post courtesy of my husband)

2 Tips for School Mornings

After a nice Thanksgiving break, the children are back to school this week.  It really was a pleasant break and I did not spend it wishing for it to be over.

Here are two organizational tips for school that have been making our lives easier:

When I remember, I jot down what's available for school lunches that might not be readily obvious.  Sandwiches are always an option, so I don't bother to put them on the list. 

I learned the trick for creating an easy white-board when I was the teacher in study hall years ago and had to generate many seating charts:  use a vinyl sheet-protector and slide a sheet of paper in it. Use a dry-erase marker on it, just write and wipe like you would on a white board.  (I just looked at the package I bought - these things are called "document pockets" and they are side-loading, meant to be put in three-ring binders).

 

The second tip comes from my husband.  He made this visual by putting masking tape labels around the clock in our dining room to help Genevieve see what getting ready for school looks like. 

It dovetails with the unit on how to tell time she is doing at school.  The times don't correspond exactly with the reality of a school morning (there is no freakin' way it only takes my children 10 minutes to eat a meal - 10 hours is more like it), but it's been helpful to point to the clock and urge Genevieve on. 

One of the lovely things about vacation, actually, was ignoring the clock in the mornings and putzing around in our jammies.  We are trying to teach the children how to get into quick, efficient mode when it's called for (school mornings, apppointments, bedtime, etc.), but allowing them to linger and lollygag other times.