Hanson's Ridge
September has been an exciting month. On September 7, AW finally learned to sound out and read words. It was a fantastic day! She also turned five this month :) We started off the month with a visit to the Virginia Scottish Games. We are reenactors, and we set up a camp to demonstrate 18th century Scottish life. AW is starting to understand the difference between the 18th century and the present. Understanding past and present is a kindergarten standard, so we can check that one off the list ;)
The Time Capsule kit contains a booklet for children to write about themselves, so I asked the questions and had both kids dictate their answers. There is a family tree kit (still in progress), a coloring page introducing subscribers to the time traveling kids that tell the story, and a timeline for us to track our travels through history. Each month we will get a sticker representing our visit. There are also colored pencils and picture hooks to change out the picture for each month. (The comic is especially for subscribers aged 5-10, while older subscribers get a coloring page of a single scene). I'm looking forward to jumping into the history study next month! We did a few activities from A Year of Playing Skillfully's September plans. We pulled out the pond play set (water beads and a frog life cycle set). We explored color mixing with our Kinder Club friends (through our homeschool group) and spent the afternoon doing a big painting activity. Afterwards, the kiddos washed off their paint supplies using a bin of water. It worked pretty well! Another AYOPS September topic is hot air balloons. We read some books and saw the hot air balloon exhibit at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. When we were at the Mount Vernon Market Fair (an 18th century craft fair), we met the curator of that very exhibit. He was demonstrating the hot air balloons of the 18th century, with the help of his grandchildren! While we were there, AW practiced writing with a quill, thanks to a good friend.
The biggest highlight of the month was our trip to Colonial Williamsburg for Homeschool Days. During those times, homeschoolers get in for a heavily discounted rate of about $10/day for an adult ticket. That's 1/4 price. They also have special activities going on. Last year, AW met the joinery apprentice named Miss Doggett, and spent about 45 minutes learning from her. We had to go back and visit her this year, and fortunately Miss Doggett remembered AW. We spent two days there. I wish I'd taken more pictures. There's a new Native delegation, representing Native American trade and political negotiation. I hadn't realized that was a regular occurrence in Williamsburg, which is where all such negotiations took place under the English crown. The kids watched a cow milking and practiced on a mechanical cow (having milked a living cow, I can attest that it was surprisingly realistic). They learned how to play 18th century games. We helped process flax to prepare it to weave into linen. The farmer also gave us a cotton boll. Our Ivy Kids kit for the month was apples, which dovetails nicely into October's AYOPS theme, which includes apples.
It's been awhile since I posted a book list! The current booklist started with our second term's beginning last month, so it's not exactly a calendar month of books. We have been learning about Africa (we are going to work our way through the continents), money, hot air balloons, and frogs.
My favorite book from this library haul is Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter. Wangari Maathi was a Kenyan woman who returned home from studying biology in America to devastating deforestation. She started a movement to grow trees by planting nine seedlings in her backyard. I love this book for so many reasons: one woman working to make a difference, taking care of the earth (the 7th Unitarian Universalist principle), and helping other people improve their lives. Here are our other books: Africa: We All Went On Safari: A Counting Journey Through Tanzania by Laurie Krebs Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock retold by Eric A. Kimmel Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book by Muriel Feelings Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book by Muriel Feelings Papa Do You Love Me by Barbara Joosse Where are you going, Manyoni by Catherine Stock Lala Salama: A Tanzanian Lullaby by Patricia MacLachlan Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa M. Mollel (Bonus for overlapping with the idea of saving money and being the only book by an African author) (Note: I find that our list here is lacking in books by African authors. I plan on doing this continent cycle again in the future and plan on remedying that oversight). Frogs and Ponds: Too Many Frogs by Ann and John Hassett (fun fiction book) Tad and Dad by David Ezra Stein (fun fiction book that illustrates the frog life cycle with a sense of humor) Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs by Douglas Florian (a beautifully illustrated book of poetry about different reptiles and amphibians) Growing Frogs by Vivian French (A mother and daughter bring home tadpoles, raise them, and release the little frogs--includes tips on how to do the same) Tadpole's Promise by Jeanne Willis (one of my favorite picture books of all time, about a tadpole who promises a caterpillar that he will never change) Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner (Beautifully illustrated series including Over and Under the Snow) Frogs by Gail Gibbons (Gail Gibbons is always a non-fiction winner) From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer (I loved the narrative style of this nonfiction text. It gave a lot of information but was never boring). Money: Money, Money, Honey Bunny! by Marilyn Sadler One Proud Penny by Randy Siegel Sorting Money by Jennifer L. Marks The Money We'll Save by Brock Cole Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Williams You Can't Buy a Dinosaur With a Dime by Harriet Ziefert Alexander, Who Use to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst Just Saving My Money by Mercer Meyer A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams The Money Tree by Sarah Stewart Hot Air Balloons: Hot air: The Mostly True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride by Marjorie Priceman Mouton's Impossible Dream by Anik McGrory (Both of these are stories of the first hot air balloon ride from the perspective of the three animals aboard: a duck, a sheep, and a rooster) A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785 by Matthew Olshan Hot-Air Henry by Mary Calhoun Altoona Baboona by Janie Bynum We also enjoyed: Mama's Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation. The family in the story is from Haiti. A little girl's mother is detained for being an undocumented immigrant. Madeline Finn and the Library Dog by Lisa Papp. Madeline does not like to read. It's hard and the other kids in her class laugh at her. One day she meets Bonnie, a dog at the library, who is always a patient listener. This is a perfect fit for us because AW is a perfectionist and struggles with taking on challenges. Our library has a similar program for young readers to read to dogs, and I think it's a good motivator. Carmine: A Little More Red by Melissa Sweet. I think I'm going to have to add this one to our own collection at some point. It's a little bit vocabulary, a little bit art and nature study, and a little bit of fun all wrapped up in a retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story. There are so elements to return to upon re-readings. Confession #1: I'm not a minimalist.
I'm just going to get that out of the way. I absolutely see the appeal of a minimalist lifestyle. I know people who rock it. It's not me. So keep that in mind while reading. The minimalist blog Becoming Minimalist published a post responding to the popular decluttering manual The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. The title of the post: "'Does it Spark Joy' is the Wrong Decluttering Question." Joshua Becker writes, "Yet I can’t help but bristle at the phrasing because the question “Does it spark joy?” may actually rob tidying up of its fullest potential in our lives." Confession #2: I starting reading Marie Kondo's book, which outlines the "Konmari" decluttering strategy, including the iconic question Becker rejects. I could not finish it. I felt like it was redundant and I couldn't stand her writing style. So I'm really writing from my own interpretation here. It is ok for possessions to spark joy. Becker worries that we will continue to define our happiness through our possessions if we ask ourselves this question. I do have possessions that spark joy. The perfect sweater, the one that feels like it's giving me a hug. My Dad's ragged old copy of Joy of Cooking with his handwritten annotations. My great-grandmother's egg basket. The rows of antique books on our bookshelves. A minimalist would allow me the sweater and the egg basket, because they both get used regularly. But I have my own copy of Joy of Cooking that isn't falling apart, and I know that I will never read all the books on my shelves. But it's not the consumerist act of possession that gives me joy. In some cases, it's sentimentality. Certainly, we need to be selective in how much we hold onto for sentimental value. I keep sentimental objects either because they are useful (the egg basket), decorative (antique teacups), or because they have strong representation or connection (the cookbook). I find happiness in all kinds of ways besides my possessions: reading with my children (library books our own books bring equal joy), nature walks, delicious food, laughing with loved ones, and so on. These joys are not less because a worn cookbook or the perfect sweater brings me joy. Confession #3: I do not have a capsule or minimalist wardrobe. I tried. But you know what? I like my clothes. I love the idea of doing laundry every day, but I'm not always able to achieve that goal. So I really do need at least a week's worth of clothes. I've stuck to the idea that if I'm not wearing something, I give it away. That means that although I have a fair amount of clothes, they get worn. I have pared down my shoes to keep them more basic. I don't buy as many clothes as I used to--but I'm not going to give away things I like and wear just to get to a magic number or make my closet look streamlined. As cheap things wear out, I am replacing them with quality items, within a budget. Becker's argument is that if we ask ourselves while we are shopping if something sparks joy, we do not curb our consumeristic tendencies. "Retail therapy" certainly has contributed to the average $16,000 of credit card debt carried by Americans. But it's actually the act of swiping a credit card and walking away with a bag that gives a temporary mood boost--it's not what's actually in the bag. When I do shop now, such as shopping for a pair of dress shoes, I think about how I will feel when I am using the item. Will I feel joy every time I use or wear this item? How often will I be able to use this item? I bought a pair of shoes to fulfill the need, but they didn't spark joy. I returned them and found something I loved and would wear more regularly. Before becoming a mindful consumer, I probably would have just kept the first pair as a pair of dress shoes and bought another pair of shoes to meet the unfilled gap. I did buy a pair of slippers--after ten months of dithering. And I can tell you...putting on a comfortable pair of slippers after months of walking barefoot on hardwood--that sparked serious joy. Confession #4: I do not have a minimalist kitchen While I try to avoid single task kitchen tools, sometimes I find it enormously satisfying to have just the right tool for the job. I have a cake tester. I use it every single time I bake. I could use a toothpick...but the cake tester is less wasteful and works better. We have quite a few measuring cups, spatulas, and spoons. And there are days where we use every single one. I know I could wash and reuse, but I'm often doing so many things at once that stopping to do dishes and dry them would throw me off my game. We have worked on paring down the things we don't use, but we use a lot. We definitely still have more than we need. We entertain on a relatively large scale several times a year. At Thanksgiving, I always host, and I pull out all the stops. We usually have anywhere between 10 and 20 people. And I have enough china and silver for everyone. I love pulling out the china. Two sets are inherited, and I feel warm and fuzzy eating off of those plates. Confession #5: I'm a halfway minimalist mom. Right now, if you walk into our basement playroom, you will see a play tent, a train table, a couple of ride on toys, and a single bin of smaller toys. It's way less than most houses we go into. The difference is that we keep toys in storage and do a toy rotation. A minimalist would just get rid of everything. But I like doing a rotation. It keeps things fresh while keeping clean-up to a minimum. Plus, we keep having kids, so outgrowing toys isn't something that's happened to us yet. I don't buy huge amounts of clothing for my kids. My general rule for them is a week's worth of clothing. But I never say no to hand-me downs either. I haven't bought more than a couple of items in the past couple of sizes, but they do not have minimalist wardrobes. --- I'm realizing this post comes off as a little defensive about why I'm not a minimalist. It may even sound like I'm attacking minimalism. I'm not. I think it's just right for some people. Here's the point I'm really trying to make: non-minimalism does not mean high consumerism. I'm not a minimalist, I'm a mindful consumer. It's a new position for me, but it does feel good. I am getting rid of things I don't use or need, but not to fit an arbitrary number. I am buying less than I bring into the house, and thinking over most purchases before we get them. I had a $25 Target gift card for the baby, and it took me a reallllly long time walking around the baby section before I picked something out, just because we needed hardly anything at all. I used to be a huge impulse shopper. I used to feel like the need for something justified the expense, even when we couldn't really afford it. I used to feel like cheap was value. That kind of thinking has changed. I've also noticed that finding ways to cut down on clutter and keeping things tidy makes me happy. I'm not the greatest at it because I'm still working on establishing good habits, like putting things back in their place when I'm done. I am, however, very aware of what it does to me when the house is in disarray. I doubt I'll ever live in a pristine house. It's just not who I am. But at least there's not an enormous jumble of cheap shoes all over the bottom of my closet anymore. ---- Well, originally when I laid out my plans for science for the year, we were going to talk about the Five Senses in August, along with some extra detail about the human body. While AW had a bit of studying on that previously, it would be new to DC. Then I realized that there was going to be a SOLAR ECLIPSE and we had an Ivy Box with a space theme that I'd saved up. The great thing about homeschooling is the ability to course correct. We also worked on ordinal numbers in math, which worked out perfectly with our study of the solar system. We read a lot of books about space. Eight Spinning Planets by Brian James is a favorite library book at our house (this was not the first time we've checked it out). We might end up buying it. I also loved The Planet Gods: Myths and Facts About the Solar System by Jacqueline Mitton. It ties in all the myths of the deities that give the planets their names, and it's beautifully illustrated. We watched a video of the first moon landing and all the Sci Show Kids space episodes on YouTube. We explored the solar eclipse and solar system with chalk pastels. And I made black playdough to represent space. I had to use all my black gel food coloring to get it right, but it's totally worth it. We went hiking on the "easiest trail in the Shenandoah," which was wonderful. It's the Limberlost Trail, named after the book A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. We also took a trip back in time with our reenacting group. The kids aren't picking up too much history from these outings yet, but I'm confident that the immersion will have an impact over time. They do get to see a lot of 18th century skills in action. AW makes art wherever she goes, even with found objects. She also learned to play cards. I got her to show some visiting kids how to card wool for spinning, but she lost interest pretty quickly. We also started exploring the resources on Khan Academy and Moby Max for math. The kids love Starfall (an app and educational website), so I've been looking at doing some more online schooling from time to time.
From space, we are now moving in a little closer to home. We are talking about our place in space and in the world, and we will be doing some map making. Today we did some exploration with Google Earth (it's so much fun!). We pretended we were on a hot air balloon ride, after reading a picture book about the first hot air balloon flight with passengers (a rooster, a duck, and a sheep). We are going to Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum this week for a field trip. For this coming month, I also checked out a number of picture books about places and people in Africa. The first History Unboxed American history box ships this month, and it's all about the Mali Empire. When I was teaching sixth grade, I learned that Virginia's current standards include a study of three African empires at the beginning of a year of American history. I love that idea, so I opted to start there in the history timeline that we created. After all, American history at its birth is the coming together of three (very broad) cultures: African, Native American, and European. So we will be doing the Mali box and enjoying literature based on African stories and people, both in the past and today. We are doing money math, and I actually found a picture book to go along with both Africa and money. Yay! It's great to really be back in the swing of things with school. I'm looking forward to the next several weeks! I'm certain that throughout history, the majority of adults responsible for feeding children have faced some resistance at mealtime. The ways of handling such resistance are varied. At summer camp, we were allowed to serve ourselves but we were not allowed to leave the table until we finished everything on our plate. At home, the rule was that I had to eat at least four (real) bites of everything on my plate. If I did not care for what I was served, I was free to make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was not a particularly picky child. I couldn't tolerate spicy food, as much as I tried. But I did not like Brussels sprouts. I'm fairly certain that dinners stretched long on the nights when they were served, waiting for me to eat the required four bites (two whole sprouts!). Now, in fact, I quite like them. But I never opted to go make myself a sandwich. Then, along came my kids. When it was time for AW to start eating food, we went right to baby led weaning, skipping the baby food. We used baby food pouches for convenience on the go, but generally, she just ate whatever we were eating. It worked really well for us, and we congratulated ourselves that she seemed to like eating just about anything. It worked well for DC too. Then, they got older. They developed preferences. AW learned to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches--and started wanting to eat one for dinner every night rather than the meal I'd cooked. I'd read a few books about feeding children, because I'm a researcher and that's what I do. I didn't want to hold dessert out as a bribe to finish food. I wanted them to try food, but didn't want dinner to become a battleground. I tried the "You don't have to eat that" approach, but we were still having a lot of tears at the table. Then, I read more deeply about Ellyn Satter's Division of Responsibility. Once a child is eating solid food at the table, it looks like this: The adult chooses what is served and when food is served. Satter recommends three meals a day, with a snack in between breakfast and lunch and again between lunch and dinner, so that the child is eating about every two hours when awake. The child, in turn, gets to decide whether to eat what is served and how much. Satter recommends teaching children to ask if anyone minds if they take the last of something, but otherwise not limiting portions. I had read that previously, but until a few months ago, I wasn't implementing it very successfully. Then I read deeper into the website. I was still deciding what to put on the plate and in what portion. That's where things were breaking down. Even if I didn't push the kids to clear their plates, the visual was sending a message that they had to eat everything I put in front of them. We started doing family style: everything goes in serving dishes on the table. Everyone serves themselves. We might mention ingredients that they like, but we don't force them to try everything. People get to have likes and dislikes. Once everything is on the table, the kitchen is closed. They don't have to eat what is on the table, but I don't make anything else. I try to make sure that there is at least one thing on the table that they like, as part of the meal. If I'm making a protein main dish that they've never had, I'll make a vegetable they like. I often serve rice. If I'm making a salad, I might let everyone add ingredients into their own bowl. They get to be independent. They also watch us modeling. They know their daddy doesn't like peas. I serve them from time to time, because the kids love them. They see that he doesn't take the peas, but he also doesn't complain (other than perhaps to make a joke). It's ok for us to like different things but we don't need to make rude comments. I'm not a short order cook. Most nights, I prepare food that I know that Himself and I will enjoy. The kids usually have more input when it comes to breakfast, snacks, and lunch. I've started letting each of them pick a snack for the week if they come with me to the grocery store. It's not a 100% easy solution. They still sometimes complain, but overall, it's been an improvement. Here is an example from last night. I made a pork, apple, and spinach stir fry. It was highly flavored (but not spicy), and I had a good feeling the kiddos wouldn't be interested. I made a big batch of brown rice and steamed frozen snow peas. They didn't really eat the snow peas, which surprised me. One kid ate a lot of brown rice for dinner. If that's all they ever ate, that would be problematic, but it tends to balance out over time. The other kid ate rice and some apples from the stir fry.
You can also see our small water pitcher. They have cups that they keep on the table all day and they can help themselves to water anytime. Any other drinks are only served with meals (milk anytime they ask and lemonade as an occasional treat). Every Tuesday, we have Taco Tuesday. Usually we have ground beef and black beans in our tacos. Sometimes we do just black beans, sometimes we do fish, or sometimes I'll do something fancy and different. It's a really easy dinner to serve this way. Himself cooks on Tuesdays, so he cooks the meat and beans together, and fries up all the corn tortillas. Then everyone gets a plate with their allotted number of tortillas based on past experience. On the table, we have a bowl of meat and beans, a bowl of mild salsa, a bowl of sour cream, and a bowl of cheese. One child now eats everything on the table and usually has seconds of everything but tortilla. The other kid eats sour cream and cheese for dinner. Since this is the same kid that only eats rice on some days, you start to see how it balances out. A pediatrician once told me to look for balance over the course of a whole week, rather than at a single meal. Other days, this child will eat loads of fruits or vegetables. Satter recommends serving dessert side by side with meals. I sometimes do, but we usually only have dessert on weekends or at poetry teatime. When we do have dessert, it's not linked to whether or not they ate the rest of their food. One of my children will stop eating sweets on their own. The other child will eat sweets until they are sick. I do let them serve themselves sweets, but I will remove the plate if I see that one is going overboard. Because we don't have dessert at every meal, or even every day, I'm fine with them eating more dessert than dinner. After all, isn't it better that they notice when they are full, rather than piling dessert on an already full tummy? We started this as an experiment for the month of July. Himself was skeptical, particularly about how messy it might be with the kids serving themselves. But it turns out that they do a pretty good job, and they know when to ask for help. We have been so pleased that it has become our regular way of doing things. Our only added rule about seconds is that they have to eat what they've taken before they have seconds. I've been listening to a fabulous podcast called Homeschool Sisters as well as reading the accompanying blog. They did an episode last year about their "Fall Haul," or the resources that they planned on using for the year. I thought I'd do something similar here. (In addition to these resources, I'm a devoted user of Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers).
Phonics and Literacy Logic of English--Foundations A (AW only) Activities from A Year of Playing Skillfully Ivy Box Literature Library books Ivy Box Math A Year of Playing Skillfully Preschool Math At Home Family Math: Comparing Ivy Box Social Studies History Unboxed: American History (because it's my baby and I want to do it) Pin-It Maps: Early American History (We are loosely following Virginia's Kindergarten standards, with the freedom to fall down rabbit holes as desired) A Year of Playing Skillfully (More social-emotional than history/civics) Science Ivy Box A Year of Playing Skillfully Children's Science Center Traveling Acorns (our preschool nature group) Podcasts (But Why? and Brains On! in particular) Music Classics for Kids podcast Singing together in morning time Art Ivy Box A Year of Playing Skillfully The Way They See It Southern Hodgepodge Chalk Pastel tutorials I was going to be cheesy and quote the lyrics of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" but it would be more like "83% Eclipse of the Heart" which isn't quite the same thing. Technically, we are on break here, but we couldn't ignore the solar eclipse! We made paper plate masks with our solar eclipse glasses. I'm so glad we did, because they really did a better job protecting the kids' eyes (and I actually liked using mine better than the plain glasses because it layered better over my regular glasses.
I'm so glad we got the glasses and were able to look up. I did make a pinhole viewer but looking up was so much more satisfying. We kept CE in the shade so she wouldn't accidentally looked up. It was fun seeing how the eclipse affected shadows on the ground. After thunder started rumbling, we came inside and drew pictures of the solar eclipse.
This year, as I think I mentioned, we are doing a year-round series of six week terms, with a week off in between. Here is what that looks like:
Term 1: July 10-August 18 Break 1: August 21-25 Term 2: August 28-October 6 Break 2: October 9-13 Term 3: October 16-November 17 Break 3: November 20-24 Term 4: November 27-December 22 Break 4: December 25-January 5 (Two weeks) Term 5: January 8-February 9 Break 5: February 12-16 Term 6: February 19-March 23 Break 6: March 26-30 Term 7: April 2-May 11 Break 7: May 14-18 Term 8: May 21-June 22 Break 8 (Summer Break) June 25-July 6 (Two weeks) That comes out to 210 days of school. Public schools in Virginia require 180 days of school. That means we have thirty extra days. Some of those will be sick days. Some will be fun days (birthdays are school holidays at our house!). We don't need snow days (we can play in the snow and still have time left over for reading and math). And we have a week off almost every month for us to travel, catch up with friends, catch up on housework (I seem to be able to have a productive school day or a clean house, but not both). The other big advantage is planning. In 13 days, I will have a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 4 month old. Our scheduling needs change pretty frequently. I get to re-evaluate how our schedule is working and tweak it. I get a week to plan what needs to happen next, and that's frequently enough to course correct without feeling overwhelmed. I don't have to spend a lot of time planning week to week. I've also heard that February is a tough month for homeschool families. Parents are warned not to make a decision about packing the kids up and sending them to a classroom environment during the February Doldrums. We will be taking a week off right in the middle of February! I figure it will be a good thing for all of us. The other advantage is that one of my kiddos needs structure. All kids do, to an extent, but one of my does a lot better with regular routines. By only taking a week or two off at a time, I'm hoping to better support that child. Now, some of our terms are going to be a little bit lighter academically. We took it pretty easy for our first term, here in the summer. We just did reading and math, with lots of reading aloud and a little bit of art. We aren't going to get too much heavier--after all, she's only five. But we'll try adding in a few more things here and there. When the weather is nice, there might be more nature study. When the weather is nasty, more hands-on science experiments inside. At least that's the plan! As always, I'll keep you posted. Next up: Our Daily Schedule |
AuthorHi! I'm Stephanie Hanson. I live with my husband, Himself, on Hanson's Ridge in Virginia. Archives
September 2017
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