Pretzel Letters

Left to their own devises for a bit, eating an afternoon snack of stick pretzels and apples, Luke comes running to me saying, "Mom, come see what I did!" Debating whether his tone implied a good or bad event, I was thrilled to see they'd spelled their names with the pretzels. Luke has really taken to writing his letters and numbers recently and spends as much time as Elijah practicing. I love to make learning a part of our normal daily life...it comes naturally to use these moments to teach or reinforce a concept and it's fun! How awesome to see the boys picking up the idea on their own!

Playing School

Today, the boys wanted to "play" school. Okay! I was informed that in this particular school, the only classes were Math, Lunch and Recess. All three boys sat at the dining room table with their little chunky notebooks writing the numbers and addition problems I dictated to them. Some write better than others, some actually know how to add, and some simply draw their usual circle patterns over and over. They'd stop and raise their hand to ask me a question. They called me "teacher" all evening. I gave out stickers for good work and marked incorrect answers in red. The cafeteria served warm banana bread with milk for Lunch and bicycle skills were practiced in Recess.

I have to laugh at this pretend play (even though it was good review) and wonder what it is they think we are doing every other day...especially during the "school year." It appears that I've done a decent job of not making our school day look like a school day one would normally think of. That makes me happy! It also makes me happy that they would know how to behave in a "real" classroom, too!

Gotta go...Elijah just asked if we can keep playing school!

Catch the Reading Bug

Sign up for the summer reading program "Catch the Reading Bug" has begun. Yeah, for the extra incentive to read books over the summer...not that it is hard to convince Elijah to read, but he loves the thrill of getting prizes for reading. That's probably not happening any other time around our house! Coinciding with this event, we decided that Eli could get his own library card. Yesterday, we headed down the road to our library and got it all taken care of. I told Elijah that he would be responsible to check out his summer reading book on his card and I would keep the rest of our items on my card for the summer, so he could practice being responsible for one item at a time. He looked at me thoughtfully and said, "Since I'm old enough to have a library card, can I have a cell phone, too?" WHAT???!!! No way!!! He giggled for atleast a half hour about getting his own phone...

I must admit, I'm not worried about him losing books or accumulating fines, etc. because I am pretty strict about where we keep our library books and besides, I work at the library. I don't think there is a week that goes by that I'm not renewing a book or eliminating a small fine or two. It's one of the perks of the job...although I am careful not to abuse it!

Luke was bummed that he isn't old enough to sign up for the reading program, so we decided to do our own version at home with prizes and all! Luke chose Museum ABC by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's more than an alphabet book...it has four images from four distinct works of art all focused on the same subject. In the back, you can find information on the work of art and its creator.

Elijah first task was to decorate a bookmark to hang in the children's room and choose a book to read. He chose Father Bear Comes Home by Else Holmelund Minarik. When we got home, he immediately wanted to read his book (after finding his wallet from the costume box for his library card...). Once he started reading, I was thoroughly impressed...but then it struck me...the boys listen to Little Bear stories on audio CD often and Elijah has an excellent auditory memory. The clincher was when he repeated the title after me and added "by Else Holmelund Minarik" in the same voice as the storyteller. Hmmm...

I know he needed to think about some of the words, but is it considered cheating if he has the stories memorized that he is suppose to be reading?

Scrabble Spelling

Every once in a while we pull out our Scrabble board and spell random words, whatever the boys think of (and that we have enough tiles for spelling...). We don't actually play the game by the rules, but here's what they came up with yesterday...mostly Elijah's words. This is what makes learning and schooling fun and exciting!

Letter of Intent

We've sent our "letter of intent" to the school district to inform them of our plans to homeschool for this coming school year. Not a hard letter to write...just one sentence basically repeating what I said above...but nerve racking for me. I get nervous and anxious when doing new things for the first time. I spell checked the letter about 5 times just to be sure I wasn't giving a bad first impression with misspelled words. I re-read the letter about 10 times. I made my husband read it. I looked up the school address 3 times and the superintendant's name 3 times as well. I sent the letter certified mail as recommended and clarified all the merits of certified mail with the postal clerk...twice. All this and I basically copied the sentence word for word from a new homeschoolers packet provided by my homeschool support group...at their suggestion. I think I've got all the bases covered...very well. And yet...I'm nervous. Anxious. Waiting for a response. 10 days.

Chunky Notebooks

Traveling to Iowa was a pleasant experience overall. We listened to several stories on tape, read all our books - many several times over - the boys never tire of the Berenstain Bears, colored lots of pages, drew many pictures, watched lots of TV and ate, ate, ate. I was pleased that the boys really enjoyed their geography folders and hopefully learned some things along the way. It was neat to see Elijah pick out the individual states we were traveling through on his own.

The funny thing was that everyone's favorite activity didn't happen until the end of our first travel day on the way home. It started by Eli asking me to draw a picture for him in his chunky notebook, which I did, but then told him I'd write a secret note as well. Sneaking in some reading and writing time - he, he! There really was no rhyme or reason to the types of things I was writing, but challenging enough that Eli needed to think a bit. Here's a sampling of some of my favorite notes and (Eli's responses). "I do not know if I have a favorite color. Do you have a favorite color?" (blue) "I am thirty-one years old. How old are you?" (five and 5) "I have three or four favorite friends. Do you have a best friend?" (Luke Farwell). "I like to eat and drink lots of food. What things do you like best?" (milk and blue bares aka blueberries) "I miss our home. What do you miss most about our home?" (my bed). I mostly drew pictures for Luke and Isaac in their own chunky notebooks. The second morning of travel toward home, Elijah was practically begging me to sit in the back with them to write notes! I love chunky notebooks! I'm so thankful for fun and pleasant memories!

Isaac enjoys listening to kiddo music and The Berenstain Bears audio stories. He much preferred to hold the headphones rather than rest them on his head. Dirty Dog obviously enjoyed the stories, too!

Elijah working hard!

Luke searching for hidden objects in his Highlights Search and Find coloring book.

Successful

Hooray for the boost of confidence standardized testing has provided me! PHEW! We received the results of Elijah's exams measuring Language Arts and Math (IOWA Tests of Basic Skills - Advanced Kindergarten level). He did exceptionally well. Honestly, testing was really about me this year and finding proof that I can do this. To have proof in hand that I am not delusional about the progress we made this year is a huge encouragement to me. It makes my heart just about burst to know that Eli's learning occurred under my instruction! Watching him learn to read this past year was as exciting as those first steps and first baby words. I am so blessed to be the one witnessing this monumental and crucial step in his education!

Lest you think I am taking ALL the credit...Elijah is a fast learner and eager to show what he knows. He enjoys his workbooks and teaching letters and sounds to Luke. He loves playing learning games and sorting through flashcards. He keeps his chunky notebook close by to write things down (words or numbers) when ever the mood strikes. He loves counting...today, he surprised me by saying he thought he knew how to count to 1,000 (by 100's) and he did! He always loves our challenge game - "I bet you can't spell _____" followed by "Okay, you knew that one, but this is even harder...I bet you can't add 7 + 5!" and so on.

I am grateful for this year of homeschooling. I have never been this intentional with my time and purpose with the boys, but it has proved to be the best choice for our family. I know my children better than before and have deepened our relationships. I know myself better than ever - the good and the bad. Praise the Lord, he's working in my heart! I have enjoyed my children more than ever, ever, EVER...and I can only pray that the future will be just as successful. It's not simply about academics, though. By the state education standards, we were quite successful this year. But that isn't how I ultimately measure our success. It's about doing what's best for our children desiring to please God above all else and challenging them to strive for the same.