The View from Here

This is a moment for sharing , inspired by SouleMama's "This Moment".In her words,  "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."  

Homeschool Thursday: Unschooling Science

Shakin' things up a bit and moving our homeschool Tuesday to Thursdays.

We have math and history curricula that we follow loosely, and we use copy work and poem memorization for literature and handwriting skills, but for science we have always unschooled.  Wylie is passionate about all things mechanical and electrical, and Juniper and I love nature study so it has always been really easy for us to just do science, without having to think about it.  I also have always loved the scientific method of hypothesizing, experimenting, and observation and we started a lab journal of our experiments when Wylie was quite little.  Here's a bit of science we've been exploring recently:

Nature study

Wylie and Juniper knocked these old wasps nests down from the barn (they were from last year).  We read about paper wasps and how they build their nests and raise their young.  Wylie was afraid to touch any of them himself, but with him looking on I dissected the nests and we found the spaces for the eggs inside, and even a few young wasps that had died before emerging.  Pretty cool.  

We've all been enjoying our bog walk lately, and identifying a few flowers blooming there now.  Wild Rhododendron, High bush blueberry, as well as wild iris, "fairy cup" lichen, and Cranberries!  I've been so excited since Rob first spotted these a couple of weeks ago.  I've been brainstorming all kinds of ways to use them, and looking into how to harvest in the fall.

Physical Science

 A neighbor gave Wylie an old computer a few weeks ago.  He's been ripping it apart and putting it back together like a jigsaw puzzle ever since.  This week he disassembled the fan from within and hooked it up with alligator clips to some batteries.  It worked!  Just this afternoon I came out on the porch to find this (above) heavy pottery jug swinging from the dog leash.  I was mid sentence, "what are you doing, that's breakable--" when I stopped long enough to realize he'd built a scale and was seeing how many rocks it would take to lift the jug.  Nothing broke.

I'm realizing that in order to homeschool well I need to give my kids the benefit of the doubt.  I need to not shout "your going to break that!" each time I find something dangling precariously, and to bite my tongue when paints are being spilled across the table, or the baby is climbing 12ft. up to the tree house.  Sometimes I need to just follow quietly behind to make sure no one gets hurt.
  

In reality though, it can be really hard when I've been with my kids all day, every day for the past 4 or 5 days, with very little time off, to be patient and find the teachable moments. Since starting this blog I've found that keeping the camera nearby throughout the day helps me to freeze time a bit and reflect afterward on the things we've been doing.  Occasionally I'll take a picture of something and only in looking at it afterward realize some of the learning that was happening in the frame.  Staying at home with your kids there's no boss to tell you how well you're doing.  Sometimes seeing it in print is sort of like validation--look we did do something!  I like to think that in 5 yrs. I'll be able to think back to this time period, and see the whole picture, along with the many smaller one's I've taken, and realize all the little things we've learned along the way.  

Monday Morsels

After posting last week's "nuggets" ala dig this chic I kept thinking that "nuggets" are really not the right word for me.  Instead of invoking an image of golden treasure I'm reminded of  processed chicken.  Eventually, I thought of Morsels.  Mimi, my mom, always calls her grandbabies "morsel", as in "ooh you little Morsel I could just eat you up!"  To me morsel brings to mind tasty tidbits, crumbs, and chocolate chip cookies.
And so I bring you a new tradition, Monday Morsels-- tiny little bites of goodness from the previous week (with the occasional egg shell no doubt) to gobble up or savor as you see fit.  Enjoy!

Morsels:

* Last week (just before Rob left for his trip) Kale climbed over the gate at the bottom of the stairs.  Naturally, being useless it has been removed.  After two days of crawling up the stairs Kale switched to an almost regular walking, one step at a time, up the stairs.  The first time Wylie noticed him doing this he called to me, "Mom, look he's climbing like a real boy!"

*A day later (Rob still gone) Kale climbed easily up the ladder into the top bunk.  Wylie and I took the ladder down, and Kale proceeded to climb right up the end of the bunk beds, hardly noticing the missing ladder. Monkey, monkey, .monkey ...

* Juniper, with her new short haircut has begun to embrace things other than pink and pretty--which thrills me to know end.  She has begun wearing Wylie's hand-me-down Converse style sneakers, which are black with skateboarding skeletons.  These couldn't look better than they do when she pairs them with a long, tiered skirt, and pink ruffled tank.  The kid's got style.  Also notice the beetle tattoo.  Love that.  Last week she complained, "Mama, I have no pants.  All I have are these pink ones, I'm not wearing pink pants".  Keep in mind this child has worn little else except pink dresses for the past three years.  I guess a trip to Good Will is in order.

* Grampy (Rob's dad) came up to visit on Friday, and since his motorcycle broke and he can't leave, we get to keep him for a few days.  He is builder extraordinaire, so naturally we're keeping him busy.  So far the camper has a new cabinet, the mailbox has been fixed (got hit by a plow earlier this year), and a new, built in couch is in the works!  This last one I"m particularly excited about since I've been scheming of how to build this myself since last fall.

* The beech trees have completely leafed out making them even better for climbing.

* Despite almost no sun there are a few things growing.

Here's to  a good week, and maybe even a bit of sun.

Nuggets

I've been a single parent for the last five days and during that time I also competed in our local triathlon. Guess which was harder?  My mom did come up to help, which was great because I'm not sure we all would have made it through unscathed without her.  Rob goes away a couple times a year, but five days is long for us.  Kudos to all those single parents, or parents whose partners leave long/often, who somehow manage to raise loving children without going insane in the process.

The triathlon turned out to be really fun.  The swim portion of the race was in the pool so we started in several different waves.  This made the race so much less competitive (in my opinion) because I never really knew who started when.  And, it was great to see so many people I knew.  There were some people from around town who I didn't realize were athletes, and they were fast!  My own time was not real impressive (not surprising given my lax training schedule) but I feel good about it, and am excited to have a time to race against for next year.  Also, I realized that, like many things, the anticipation is way worse than the actual event.  I was really nervous the morning of, but once I started I just enjoyed myself.  (In all honesty I never really enjoy myself  on the bike, but I'm working on that.)  Anyway, since it was so fun I may do another at the end of the summer.

To steal a phrase from digthischick  (a great blog a friend turned me onto) here are a few Nuggets from the past week while I've been so silent:

Nuggets:

The weather here has pretty much been lousy.  Winter hats and mittens in mid-May.  What the heck?  It was so windy early last week that a tree blew down in our yard.  Unfortunately it was the one our clothesline was attached too.  Bummer.  At least there was no laundry on it.

Chicabiddies got a new home around the raspberries.  A friend swears this is the best way to keep the berries weed and pest free.  So far they're loving it.

 Family bike rides, in the rain (we kinda got tired of waiting for the sun).

 What do you do when it rains for 5 days straight?  Lots of baking and tasting.
 

The triathlon was a blast, and it didn't actually rain for more than a few minutes.  I don't have any pictures of me participating, but hopefully someone will send me some soon.

Mimi brought up new beach towels for all.  She mentioned the fact that I am still using the towel she got me in high school.  I guess it is time for a new one.  She also brought toys for the kids (as Juniper says "that Mimi is always up to mischief") Including this early birthday (perhaps a half-birthday) present for Kale.  It was supposed to distract him from the fact that I would be gone all morning at my race--he doesn't like when I leave (this is an obvious understatement, and of course the firetruck didn't really work) he likes it but seems a little suspicious of our motivations.

Rhubarb shortcake.  (The photo doesn't do it justice, clearly my food photography needs some work.)

We "made" (bought a curtain rod and draped some fabric over it) a curtain to cover our art/school shelves.  I love how something so quick can make such a difference in the clutter of a room.

Here's a bit of what it looked like before the curtain.

The kids have been going to Tanglewood Wilderness 4-H camp for the past few Mondays.  Last Monday Wylie was a bit sick so Juniper went on her own.  She seems to really have enjoyed her time there without him and can't stop talking about some of the boys and how funny they are.  She's even considering marrying Jack, "since I can't marry Oliver because he's my cousin, and even if we got married we couldn't have babies because of the genes."  That's homeschooling for you--we keep it real around here.  And, I believe her first non-cousin crush.

Have a great week!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day: 

• An early morning run while the rest of the house slept (I love running this time a day, and it hardly ever works out.  It was the perfect way to start Mother's Day.)
• Breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, Chase's Daily.  
• Rob and the kids surprised me with a plum tree decorated with all the things they love about Mama. 
• We planted an apple tree for Kale, and buried his placenta beneath it (yes its been in the freezer for 17 months).
• Handmade cards
• The tulips bloomed and the birches leafed out
• Our first harvest of the year--rhubarb
• A Mother's day email from my own mother--I'm still trying to put into words my response to such a lovely message.  
• Lots of digging in the garden
• Soccer on the greening grass

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

If you still haven't sent a card to your favorite mother, check out blunt cards.  My personal favorite is "Cake Time".  I typically try to keep it PG around here, so you'll have to check that one out yourself--its a hoot.

On Running, Swimming, and Cycling (not so much)

I've been "training" for a local triathlon sprint.  I use quotes because actual training would imply that I've been swimming more than 30 minutes a week, or that I've been on my bike more than 3 times in the past two years (which I hadn't until this week).  My sisters (both marathoner/cyclists) and I have talked a lot about this kind of half-assed training, and what's behind it.  I think its two-fold.  I ran track in high school, but in college quit after the first year when I felt like the nerves were too much.  Running had become a chore instead of fun.   So, on one hand, even now I feel like as long as I don't take training too seriously then I can continue to feel relaxed and enjoy the exercise.

Also, if I don't train I don't have to expect much of myself.  I have an easy out for when I don't do very well.  Except really what kind of an out is that, "I didn't do well because I was too lazy to train properly"  Hmmn, not very righteous.  The other problem is, I won't really get to know how well I could have done.  My sister in WA posted about this same thing recently here.  I'm still not really sure how I feel about the whole thing.  I don't feel like I want competition and training to be forefront in my life right now (and clearly its not) but I also don't want to be someone who never tries her hardest for fear of failing.  That's not a good habit to get into, and its not a good model for my kids either.  But really I'm not even sure if it is worth all this processing.

It is what it is.  And right now its a triathlon in 7 days that I feel pretty unprepared for.

But, I am also stronger and more fit than I've been in years, learning to like cycling, and enjoying the feeling of moving fast--with no one attached to my body or whining beside me, even if it is only a couple times a week.  I guess that's not so bad.
Though I may feel differently next Saturday.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.  Does anyone else do this too?

Homeschool Tuesday: Bucket Check

We've been playing a couple new games in our house this week, made up games, in order to help a certain (eldest) child consider the feelings of others a bit more than he normally does (ie. hardly ever).  I'm not saying he's unkind--just highly motivated, persistent, and focused on how to best achieve his goals.  Here's a quick example of how focused and intense he can be.

The other night Rob and I could hear Wylie sobbing in from his bed, shortly after bedtime.  Rob went up and spent a few minutes with him, then he said Wylie wanted to talk with me as well.  I went up and held him while he cried.  (I think the real reason for all of the built up emotion was that Juniper and Kale had been sick all week--resulting in a particularly boring week, with not enough parent or sibling interaction.)  However, the thing that sent him into tears is this:  "When I'm grown up I'm going to invent a space ship that will travel to other galaxies and take pictures of distant planets.  But, it will take so long for the ship to travel there, that by the time it gets there I'll be dead and I'll never know if it worked."  

Hmmm.  He's right of course.  We talked about scientists and how they often do things for the greater good and knowledge of humanity.  This didn't really help.  He thought maybe he could invent a time machine first.  I agreed that would solve his problem.  He went to bed mostly happy.  We have since begun reading A Wrinkle in Time, and I anticipate an upcoming study of Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Anyway, its that kind of focus, both intense and emotional, that surrounds most of what he does throughout the day resulting in very little thought towards what other people may need or want. This often leads to Wylie feeling slighted when other people's (particularly Juniper's) needs have to come before his.  Which in turn leads him to feel resentful.  I'm sure you get the idea.  I typically try to stay out of the way of any sibling squabbles, but I have about had it with the recent rise in inconsiderate behavior, and have been unsure just how to handle it.

Until, this weekend when we heard the story "How Full is Your Bucket?" by Tom Rath.  Honestly, the book itself was not something I ever would have picked up and it wasn't a great book in most regards--except that it was a really great analogy for understanding and explaining feelings to a kid like Wylie.  He got it, and I could tell he did.  Those of you who went through the D.A.R.E. training in middle school in the mid 90's may remember your I.L.A.C. (I am Lovable and Capable) demonstrated with a balloon.  The bucket is the same idea.  The story explains how when your bucket is full you feel great about yourself, and gives examples of some things that may make your bucket more or less full.  It also goes on to explain how you can help fill or empty other peoples (even dogs') buckets.

Hence, the Bucket Check.  At random intervals throughout the day I, or any one else, can call a "Bucket Check".  Then, everyone shares the status of their bucket.  If someone's bucket is not full we all try to see what we can do that will help fill it.   When we're all full, an acorn goes into the jar on the counter.  When the jar is full we get to go do something super fun.  Honestly I don't like the last part of the game, but in order to get the game going Wylie needed a little external motivation.  We've only played this game for a day, so I may be over estimating its success.  But, both kids seem to understand the concept and Wylie has been able to figure out some nice ways to help fill Juniper's bucket.  It is interesting how often both kids wanted to offer chocolate as a way to fill the other's bucket.  Hmmm.   Anyway, so far so good.

The other game is one we call "What About Me?" This is where one of us makes up a scenario (the crazier the better) and the other person has to say how they would feel in that situation, and how it would in turn make others feel.   (ie. if Juniper ate the entire 5lb. box of frozen blueberries how would she feel?  How would Wylie feel if he watched her do it?  How would Mama feel when she heard Juniper did that?  How would Kale feel? ).  This gets pretty silly, but I think it is good practice in imaging how our actions impact others, and also at understanding particular people and how they are likely to respond.  I can see some role playing happening with this game in the future.


I realize for many families these games would be ridiculous and unnecessary.  But, I think there must be others out there with kids who need a little practice in the empathy department.  I'm not sure if these will make much of a difference in the long run, but I figure it can't hurt anyway.