Alex and Geometry

Alex's illustration of what the Pythagorean Theorem looks like. He definitely gets the idea. :)

Photo Friday

Donna Young

I LOVE DONNA YOUNG! I loved her handwriting stuff last year and I just found this today. This website/woman is amazing and I am thrilled to pass this around to all my friends and fellow bloggers. She is a wealth... that is for sure.

Excited about writing!

Alex has his first ever book report (due to me anyhow) on Friday. He has been reading the assigned book (to which he is hooked, as I knew he would be) for the last two weeks and finished it yesterday. I gave him a 'how to write a book report' along with a page where I had him define words like 'thesis', 'antagonist', 'setting', etc. This page really helped him understand the instructions better. Now he is on the writing portion and is getting a bit boggled. Not that he can't do it... but he is feeling... anxious. So tonight, I was looking for ways to get him a bit more 'into' writing.

Looking through the internets I found this page: Small World's Intro to Writing

It is a step by step fun creative writing course laid out on line by a mama who is really good at teaching creative writing. I will be doing it with Alex of course, and I have been thinking that Cyan may just join in, although her writing will be limited, but it is never too early to have a fun time with words.

I also just found this site: Design A Study Her fun with Movies as Literature are particularly fun, and I may have Alex write a bit on those sometime soon. I think he would like doing something like that.

Happy St Patrick's Day!!

Cyan's version of Ireland. :) For Mrs Sarah.

Alex's new view

Explanation here.

But apparently, I have been doing something right. :) This was left on my desk two days ago.

Very sweet.

Photo Friday

Art days

Alex has been working very hard on origami. He is getting so good at it that he has decided to make 1,000 cranes and string them up on a branch we found in the back yard. I think it will be a beautiful project and I am really enjoying watching him be self motivated to do a project like this. He is truly an amazing kid.

This is another one of his recent fun origami gifts to me... isn't it sweet?

PAINT!

Cyan could hardly contain her self as we got ready to paint. I haven't let them paint in years now and she was just beside herself! She sat there for the next three hours and painted pictures.

Alex's softer side came out at first with the painting, then we resorted back to the blood and gore that is more his current style.

This was Logan's first painting experience at home. He loved it and was quickly asking for more colors and trying to get the words right for each one. So far, he has blue consistently. ;)

Quote from this week

Alex: "Mom, when you were in school, what were the continents shaped like?"

Me (after a second): "They were all smashed together. It was called Pangaea."

Dh: "We didn't go outside much, because we were afraid of the sun."

There once was a man named Montessori....

... and in this earth based education method, the children played with pine cones, watched no tv, and had lots of interesting math manipulative's.

Say what?

I have been reading about Waldorf and Montessori teaching methods at the same time. I have about 6 books out on each subject. I didn't think I would get all of these books in at the library at the same time, but I have. It got confusing for a couple of days. Even the pictures in the books were mixed up in my head as to which one went with which book.

I have studied both subjects before. But never together. And though that they are both beautiful, child based learning structures that have tons of benefits. I have always leaned more towards Waldorf than Montessori because it is more like my personality. Nature based, rhythm based, etc. But looking at Montessori methodology it is easy to see that it is an amazing way to teach your children... and honestly, aside from the more sterile seeming atmosphere (which seems to be based on personailty of the teacher), there are a lot of similarities in actual practice. And a lot of differences in philosophy.

The biggest thing that I have gotten out of these are the rhythm's. There is a rhythm to the day, a sequence to the lessons and to the story hour, and in the case of Waldorf, even rhythm to the stories and aloud work. These rhythms are something I really want to bring into my teaching practice.

Another thing I kept seeing over and over that I would like to bring into my teaching practices was more venues of art. My kids draw. They draw all the time with good quality materials I keep them stocked in. But that is about all the art that I allow. The habit of limiting art was mainly started by having a very destructive toddler (Cyan) and then moving into a tiny house for the next 4 years. I stopped having markers around. I stopped letting them paint... ever. I stopped allowing the clay and the fabric I have to be used without direct supervision. And then I got pregnant with Logan and Don went to academy... and the 'direct supervision' things dropped off the radar as well.

I don't know anyone that has a real distinct teaching style. There is always a mix of methodology and ideas. Even some of my online friends who were die hard a couple years ago, have now seen where different children need different methods and have adjusted like the amazing teachers they are, to incorporate some of those methods for that child. It is amazing to watch as one child gets older, what will work and what just won't for their individual learning style.

At this point in my life, if I were to classify my teaching style I would say it was a unit study based-Charlotte Mason-Waldorfy type style with a bit of unschooling thrown in because we like to go off on tangents that we are interested in and we count random field trips I found educational in our curriculum. lol...

Fundamental Differences

Some people say that there are no differences between girls and boys.... that it is just the enviroment they are in. This may be true, but I don't believe it. These are pictures my two amazing children drew yesterday.

Cyan, age 7, titled; Grandma's Flowers:

Alex, age 12. This one is simply titled 'WAR!':


And this one 'Aftermath':

My cutie... 25 mos

My darling Logan... He is SO cute right now! Like beyond cute. His language skills have burst from him like a rocket. It is amazing what he can say now. Tonight, I was washing his face, hands and feet like I do most nights before I put him to bed, and he started laughing... and then he said "Mama! 'Dat. It tickles." With a cute little giggle in his very baby voice. Usually he says tickle very fast together... so it sounds like "tickatickatica". But not tonight. Tonight he was VERY clear.

He has also taken to saying "Awe man!" When he doesn't get his way... this I WILL someday get on video... because it is the cutest thing ever to hear come out of his mouth.

He has decided that books are his favorite things. When he wants us to read one, he, very politely, throws one at us. Yes. It gets old very fast. He can take a hint though. I started putting whatever book he threw at me on the floor and never reading them to him unless he asked, with words, about a week ago. Now he has started to pound me with the book instead of throw it at me at least half the time. I just can't decide which I like better.

Logan is also becoming a lovey. Cyan and Logan really never cuddled. In fact, I knew that I had to get that cuddling in really early with Logan because it wasn't going to last. He stopped being cuddly about 6 mos old. Last year it got even more extreme. He stopped nursing right before Christmas because he didn't want to sit still for that long. But I think it is finally coming around again... he has been sitting with me like in these pictures for full minutes sometimes in the last couple weeks. He even will cuddle with me in bed in the morning... for about 10 minutes... before he jumps up, pulls the covers off one or both of us and drags our hands around the side of the bed trying to pull us up to get him breakfast. But I have been surprized at how huggy and cuddly he has been for the last couple weeks. Maybe he knows I have been sick. Maybe he knows it makes me happy... and it does. So maybe it is a win/win and I should just take it.