We didn't end up taking a whole week off for Spring Break.
Instead we took a couple of days at the first of March to spend time with cousins who were their Spring Break, and then we took another couple of days off in April when the local schools were on break (including Isaac's preschool).
We had actually planned to go camping at the end of this week, but the weather did not cooperate. Instead we made a deal with Jack that if it stormed we would visit Superfly for a day of jumping.
Friday we hiked at Big Soddy Gulf and then that evening we cooked our dinner over a campfire in our back yard. Saturday the rain started, so we kept our word and visited Superfly.
Thankfully Daniel discovered a coupon so we only had to pay half price!
We had previously visited Superfly with the elementary group at church and the kids loved it. Jack has really been wanting to go back, so this was a perfect activity.
It did not disappoint.
Both boys surprised us with their abilities to climb, balance, flip,
and jump. Maybe they will be American Ninja Warriors when they grow up?
After they were worn out from jumping, we grabbed a late lunch at Chuy's and then popped over to see grandparents.
It wasn't camping, but we still had a great end to our Spring Break.
One of the things that made me think I could handle homeschooling was that Jack would be attending a program at the Y once a week. Yesterday we found out that the participation was too low and the program was cancelled.
I was pretty bummed, but I felt really bad for Jack. So Daniel and I talked it over and decided this week would be a great week for Jack to visit Daniel at work on Tuesday (to help us transition out of the loss of the Y day).
This turned out to be a really cool day for Jack.
I dropped him for lunch with Daniel. When I picked him up, I got to
hear all of the interesting things about daddy’s work. Lots of use of
the phrase, “Guess what, mommy?!??”
He was especially excited to tell me about the “fancy door” that he needed his own badge to walk through. He told me about the impressive floor-to-ceiling art and the fountains in the atrium. He loved the tunnels and walkway over the street between the buildings that make up TVA. And he thought it was pretty cool that they got to buy their food in one room and eat in another.
They ran into some of Daniel's co-workers that knew him since he was a baby, and also one of his Sunday School teacher's from church. Daniel said he was a little shy and spoke really quietly, but they had a really great experience together. Jack thinks they need to go back and take Isaac with them. I'm sure we can arrange that.
On a happy note, I followed up with a Y that is across town and begged for a spot for Jack. I was in
luck –– they were able to squeeze him in. We know several kids in this
program so I know Jack will have no problem transitioning to the new program. It is on
Thursdays instead of Tuesdays, so we will have to rearrange our schedule a bit and do our hikes on Tuesday instead of Thursday, but that is no biggie.
This past Wednesday marked 100 days of homeschool for our family (our state requirement is 180 days for the school year). To be honest we were actually surprised that we had already made it to 100 days. Learning is such a part of our daily lives, I know we will have no trouble meeting that target.
We decided to celebrate, last minute, by meeting Daniel downtown for dinner at Lupi's Pizza and then walking to the Moon Pie General Store for dessert. The flexibility of homeschool is one of the many things that we love about this lifestyle.
Every week I share a recap video on Facebook of what we have been up to (see below). Most of it is fun stuff and doesn't necessarily touch on the official learning portion of our school day. I wanted to take a moment to share what we have had on our plate during the last 100 days...
Jack has been working through two different Math curriculum, one for kindergarten/first grade (Math Lessons for a Living Education) and one for first grade (Singapore), and I have made the decision to proceed with the Singapore Math one for the time being.
We are continuing with our nature study, Exploring Nature with Children, supplementing it with the Nature Anatomy book by Julia Rothman, and other books I find at the library. I also try to take Jack out for a hike every week. Some times he complains (this week he thought it was too foggy and wet), but we are both always glad that we did it. After our hike, we record a drawing and observations from our hike in a Nature Journal.
We also rely on digital content: the Hooked on Phonics app has been a great resource for reading, and MathTango is a fun way to reinforce math facts. In the car (car-schooling), we listen to the following podcasts: BrainsOn! and Wow in the World for Science, Classics for Kids exposes us to classical music in 6-minute segments, and The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian is rich in literary references and has a fantastic storyline (even Isaac loves it!).
So while we have a lot of time for free play including Nerf Wars and building with Legos, or playing board games, we stay plenty busy with actual book work, and it feels good to know how much Jack is learning. He will randomly reference something from a book we read and it gives me all the good feels as a mom, and as his teacher.
At dinner on our 100th day, we were discussing how we were more than halfway through our year
because we are only required to compete 180 Days. Jack piped up, “100 is ten
more than halfway.” I thought about it, and sure enough 90 is half of 180 and
100 is 10 more than 90. We asked how he came up with that, and he said, “I
counted.”
Week 13 of our homeschool included discovering a
new podcast, “Classics for Kids” where Jack is getting exposure to classical
music. We started reading two new books, “The Care and Feeding of a Black Hole” and
“Little Wizard Stories of Oz.” We made a Sonic run when swimming was cancelled
on Tuesday, and Jack had two flag football practices in preparation for a
tournament game on the weekend. Daniel was off on Thursday and was able to join
Jack and I for a hike to Mushroom Rock where we
searched for mushrooms, moss and lichen. We played in leaf piles. Rode bikes at
the playground, and prepared for Jack’s 6th Birthday Party. Jack’s birthday
involved a football game (his team is undefeated), his crazy Ninja and Nerf Gun
Party with friends, and a family celebration with present before dinner. It’s
hard to believe that thanksgiving is right around the corner!
To kick off Week 14 of
homeschool, we started listening to the audio book “Stories of the Pilgrims”
whenever we were in the car. We have had some really great conversations about
why the pilgrims left their country and the hardships they faced coming to
America. We had visitors from Scotland on Tuesday afternoon. And then on
Wednesday I took the boys to shop for food to donate to families that are less
fortunate than us and we talked about the importance of helping others. Jack and I met Daniel for lunch on Thursday and then Jack
spent a birthday gift card on a bow and arrow set... which he has used non stop
since his purchase. Friday we met up with friends for a Pioneer Day at Audobon
Acres. The kids learned all about pioneers with lots of hands-on activities.
And we wrapped up the week with a Championship Flag Football game — Jack’s team
ended the season undefeated. He was really psyched about his trophy and had a
great experience with his teammates. We didn’t have time for our weekly hike
but the boys and I spent some time at the woods at our park, building a lean-to
and pretending to be explorers. Another good week in the books for us.
Thanksgiving Week: We have so much to be thankful for. I’m
thankful for family and the opportunity to be together, whether we are silly or
having serious conversations around the campfire. I’m grateful for our children
and the fact that they were able to spend several days together, playing nerf
wars and sardines, going on hikes on our property and letting their creativity
shine. I’m thankful for the blessing of good food and helping hands to make the
work light. I’m thankful that we can laugh at
mistakes like soupy potatoes, or my inability to buy the “right” kind of
marshmallows for s’mores. I’m thankful that we had the chance to talk with my
nana who is in a nursing home in Canada. I hope she was blessed as we passed
the phone around. I’m thankful for a warm, safe home with enough beds and floor
space to accommodate 15 people comfortably. I’m thankful for perfect weather
and this chance to be with loved ones. Happy Thanksgiving!
We just completed Week
15 of our homeschool. We finished listening to the “Pilgrims Stories” audio
book and started listening to “A Boy Named Christmas.” We also listened to a
classical music podcast about Gershwin and started season 3 of our favorite
sci-fi podcast, The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian. These have been great for
any time we are in the car. Jack didn’t have any cavities at his Monday dentist
appointment, but did get to experience his first dead car battery with me while
we waited to pick up groceries on Monday. The weather has been amazing all
week, so we spent a significant amount of time outside with friends and at
parks riding scooters and bikes. Wednesday was a big reading and library day
for us. We read aloud all morning so we that could return our giant stack of
library books and get new ones. For our nature day, Jack and I visited Raccoon
Mountain where we learned all about the pump plant and hydroelectric power. And
today the boys spent a portion of the day with their Grandpa and Abuela while I
went to physical therapy. While we were on that side of town, we stopped by
Harrison Bay State Park to play on the playground and throw rocks in the lake.
We are enjoying these perfect days before the weather turns cold.
Nature Day: Thursday’s are my favorite. Jack and I
typically spend the morning outside learning. Today we didn’t do our typical
hike, instead we went to Raccoon Mountain and learned all about hydroelectric
power. We did a short walk in the woods before heading home for the rest of our
school day.
We kicked off Week 16
of homeschool with a little Christmas. We started the “Slow + Sacred” AdventStudy, made an Advent calendar and set up and decorated our little Christmas
tree. We also continued to listen to the audio book, “A Boy Called Christmas”
and we are loving it. Other Christmas activities included baking an Orange
Cake, picking out our live tree, and hosting a Christmas Cookie Decorating
Party for friends. Besides Christmas activities, we did school one morning at
our favorite local coffee shop, complete with hot chocolate, then Jack wanted
to learn how to make scrambled eggs unsupervised and also decided to count to
1,000 in one setting. We went to a pizza party to celebrate being Flag Football
Champions, we read lots of books together, and Jack and I went to The Boulders
at the base of Lookout Mountain for our Nature Day. As an added bonus we had a
surprise dusting of snow on Friday during our cookie party! December is such a
fun month to be homeschooling. Our activities all revolve around Christmas and
it is a blessing to wake up slow and do the things we want to do, all while
learning.
Nature Day: We had The
Boulders to ourselves this morning (another perk of doing stuff during the
week!). As we were leaving a couple showed up with matts and climbing gear. We
observed quite a few birds, which was great because our nature study this week
is “Winter Birds.” So thankful for this one-on-one time with my oldest. We plan
to take Daniel Moore and Isaac back soon
We ended Week 17
of our homeschool with a trip to the North Georgia mountains to celebrate our
15th wedding anniversary. We did a hike to the Toccoa River Swinging Bridge —
the biggest suspension bridge east of the Mississippi, and also hiked to
Amicalola Falls — the tallest waterfall in Georgia at 729 feet. On the way to
Toccoa, we stopped to take a look at the Blue Ridge Dam (it’s one of the TVA
dams that Daniel’s department oversees). We also saw Christmas lights, and Jack
became enamored with nutcrackers when visiting his first Irish pub. We started
the week slowly, with a focus on Advent. Jack and I finished listening to the
audio book, “A Boy Called Christmas,” which we both enjoyed and would
recommend. We strung popcorn and cranberries for our live Christmas tree and
would have made gingerbread cookie ornaments but I was out of molasses 🙄 We had taken a hiatus from our math
curriculum for a couple of weeks because I felt like Jack needed time to learn
his math facts better, in place of our typical math we started using an app
called Math Tango — a Math game on my phone. We came back to our math
curriculum this week and Jack surprised me by really knowing his math facts.
The game and having a Break seemed to be the right solution. We started reading
“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and Jack has really taken to it and
wants to know what will happen next. On Thursday, Jack helped me make cute
snowmen juice boxes and reindeer pudding cups for Isaac’s preschool Christmas
party, then Jack went to a friends house while I went to Isaac’s party. Daniel
had extra long hours at work all of last week, so we ended up watching more
movies than usual including Boss Baby (Isaac’s favorite) and Sing. There was
also lots of playtime outside for the kids, and they enjoyed making a
gingerbread house with their aunts and nana this weekend. This week we are
doing a light version of school, but we won’t truly break. I find that everyone
does better if we keep our routines. It’s hard to believe Christmas is just six
days away!
For Week 18 of our homeschool we
baked and decorated Christmas cookies with friends, made bird seed ornaments
and garlands to hang outside, and finally got around to making our traditional
gingerbread cookie ornaments for our live tree. We also did our Slow and Sacred
Advent Study, and continued reading “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”
which Jack calls “The Narnicles of Narnia.” And we visited Santa at Bass Pro
Shop as a family. Not a bad way to get through a light week of homeschooling.
Week
19 We have been easing our way back into school this week.
It’s hard to believe that it is already 2018 and we are almost 100 Days into
our school year. We began the week with a chilly New Year’s Eve Hike as a
family in Green Gorge. On New Years Day we visited with Grandparents and the
kid’s Abuela gave them traditional panetonne to celebrate. The kids have spent
a lot of time building and playing with Magic Tracks, Lincoln Logs, K’Nex,
Legos, a building robots. STEM all week thanks to Christmas presents! They have
also played with play-do and painted window art (another Christmas present). We
took down all of our Christmas stuff and hung our garlands of popcorn and
cookies outside for the birds and observed animal tracks at our playground. The
kids have hauled firewood with their daddy and been to The Creative Discovery
Museum with friends. We had a silly string war in the freezing cold and Skyped
grandparents and cousins. Jack had a good week in reading and math, but we need
to spend more time focusing on writing. We ended our week with pizza and a
movie, introducing the kids to “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.”
Another good week of learning for the kids.
What
homeschool is like with a toddler. 🙄 Regardless of the chaos that Isaac
is creating, Jack has been making great progress with his reading.
Week 20 of school started with an
ice day on Monday, a celebration of 100 Days of school on Wednesday, and ended
with a sick mommy on Friday. This week Jack finished up a building project that
he started a couple of weeks ago. He constructed a doll house for a friend from
Daniel’s wood scraps. He designed, built, and painted it before giving it as a
gift. The boys spent lots of time building with K’Nex, Legos, and Lincoln Logs.
They also constructed cushion forts and designed
their own robot costumes. Daniel took them to the Main Terrain Art Park and
also to Missionary Ridge on Wednesday. We celebrated 💯 Days of School with pizza at Lupi’s and Moon Pies from
th Moon Pie General Store downtown. Jack started PeeWee Basketball on Tuesday
and we completed a nature hike at Green Gorge on Thursday. We also had a
library day and have plenty of new books to read including “A Child’s Anthology
of Poetry” and a book of traditional tales from around the world. We are almost
finished reading “The Lion, The With, and The Wardrobe” and will watch the
movie as soon as we are done. Even though we were cooped up for several days,
we still had a productive week full of learning and creativity.
Halloween Day marked 60 completed days of our homeschool. It's hard to believe it is flying by so quickly. I have been tracking our weekly progress with little blurbs and weekly slideshows on Facebook, and wanted to share it here as well so that I could look back and quickly see our progress. Homeschool has been such a good fit for us this year.
Week 1, our first full week
of kindergarten homeschool. I overdid it with the busy work, and not enough fun. Jack let me know right away that school was boring. You can read more about it here and here.
Week 2 of our homeschool was much improved for us. We started to find our groove. We kicked off the week by watching the Total Solar Eclipse as a family. Then Isaac started his first week of preschool and Jack started playing Flag Football. Jack and I began our Nature Study with a Five Senses Nature Hike at Green Gorge, and finished up our week by meeting friends at a local park.
Week 3 of school found us halfway through reading "Swiss Family Robinson." We
discussed why the world is round and not flat, and we tested a hypothesis
of powering a kite by running verses letting the wind power the kite. Jack
learned how to float on his back, played flag football, and we spent Friday with
friends at the Creative Discovery Museum.
Week 4 of homeschool, we kept
finding lots of fun things to do! We kicked off the week with a local Labor Day
parade, and ended our week with a Nature Hike/picnic with friends at Greenway Farms. Jack got a haircut, we
learned all about penguins, hunted for seed pods, and attended a concert at the local art museum
where we also got to see the Wayne White exhibit. There have also been tears,
frustration and yelling (me)... hopefully the kids remember the best parts and
forget the times I fail.
Week 5: Hurricane Irma meant an impromptu visit from our cousins (who evacuated from Florida) and kicked off this week of
homeschool. We went on a hike to Rainbow Lake, there was football and a visit
to the Creative Discovery Museum. We have moved on to a new list of sight words
and have mapped where the animals found on the island in "Swiss Family Robinson"
actually live in the world. We finished the week by having a picnic lunch with
Daniel and played in the sunshine at the park with some of our favorite
people. It was a good week.
Week 6 We learned all about
apples and visited a local apple stand to pick up apples and cider. We spent as
much possible time as we could on our back deck doing school work and enjoying
the beautiful weather. We did a Mini Beast Hunt hike at Mabbit Springs, and we
met up with friends at the Chattanooga Zoo for our weekly Friend Friday. We finished "Swiss Family Robinson" this week and watched the Disney movie as a family that night.
Week 7 The weather continued to
be warm here, but cool enough to do much of our schooling from our back deck.
Highlights from our seventh week of school included starting the book
"Charlotte's Web" and learning about how the earliest people were
nomads who became farmers. We picked up new books from the library, baked an
apple pie in honor of Johnny Appleseed, started a sewing project, and went on a
hike with friends. This lifestyle continues to be a great fit for our family.
Week 8 Highlights for our week
include a day spent at the Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center, a
visit to the courthouse where Jack met a judge and got to sit in his seat and
bang the gavel. We visited grandparents, saw the Harvest Moon rise, had a Nerf
War, and built cushion forts. We have a new set of sight words to learn this
month, and are learning lots of new words from "Charlotte's Web" like salutations
and hullabaloo. We finished listening to the season 1 podcast of
"The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian" and can't wait to start season
2. Jack is also working on his first creative writing story to submit to the
"Story Pirates" podcast. We finished our week at a new park with
friends. Next week is Fall Break, but I'm sure we will still be learning new
things! Happy weekend y'all!
Fall Break (Week 9) This week we were on Fall Break, but we still managed
to learn some things. Our family hiked in Joyce Kilmer Wilderness among old
trees and learned a new poem. We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving as a family.
We went to parks with friends, visited the library, watched lots of TV, played
with Legos, built forts, and had Nerf wars in the basement. We also read and
listened to our favorite podcasts. And today we met some friends at Coolidge
Park to play, climb large Magnolia trees, and get soaked in the fountain. It
was a good week.
Week 10 While we paused school
last week for a low-key Fall Break, this week we have found it hard to get back in the
school groove. We have been working on attitudes and respect, and on top of
that, Isaac got sick which meant we had to cancel a Nature Hike and a Friend
Day. But it’s ok. We read a ton of Library books, we made progress in
"Charlotte’s Web." We did some math work and some days math meant playing Connect
Four or War. And we spent one morning painting while still in pajamas. Though
not a week day, on Sunday we were able to spend the day in nature at Greenway Farms: where we were introduced to archery and took a hike as a family. Hopefully next we will be a bit more on
track.
During
Week 11 of our homeschool, we
learned all about pumpkins. We bought pumpkins for Halloween and painted the
small ones. Jack had flag football practice and the boys participated in a
costume parade at church. Daniel and Jack got to go on a father-son Hike to
Mushroom Rock on Thursday. And we finished reading the book “Charlotte’s Web”
then saw the play of “Charlotte’s Web” at the local Children’s Theater with
friends. We finished out our school week by doing a little cardboard sledding
downtown by the river. There was also fort building, sword fighting and costume
wearing, and we spent Saturday afternoon visiting a retirement home to pass out
candy and have the kids show off their costumes to the residents. Another good
week in the books for us.
Week 12 of homeschool meant we
passed the 60 day mark for our school year. We also celebrated Halloween by
attending a Family Day at church, complete with hayride, then pumpkin carving
as a family, and trick or treating with good friends on Tuesday. We finished
season 2 of "The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian" podcast this week, and started
“Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children.” Jack attended his weekly Homeschool PE at the Y, and
had flag football practice. Wednesday was a Library day for us, and we wrapped up
the week by going on a Nature Hike to Glen Falls on Thursday, and visiting the
Creative Discovery Museum with friends on Friday. Our days and weeks are not
without challenges but the good outweighs the bad as we learn and grow together.
It's Friday, so we met up with friends. This week we went to our local zoo. The kids enjoyed running around with their friends, checking out the Apes, the Lemurs, and also the petting zoo. Our local zoo is small, but we always enjoy our visits here.
Chattanooga and the surrounding area where we live was supposed to experience a 99% eclipse. Up until the morning of the eclipse, Daniel and I continued to debate whether or not it would be worth it to drive a little bit north to experience complete totality. In the end we agreed that it would be worth the effort, and it totally was.
We received our NASA-approved solar eclipse glasses in time for the event (many had trouble getting approved ones in time), and the kids and I spent the morning decorating paper plates to make a mask for an extra level of eye protection.
The podcasts and essay gave us an idea about what to expect, but experiencing totality in person was next level. I'm not even sure how to describe what it felt like to see the sun fully eclipsed by the moon. And to share this experience with our
kids was amazing. If you ever have the chance to experience totality, do it!
The podcasts let us know that the shadows during the eclipse would be strange. And they were. Leaves in trees acted like pinhole cameras making little crescents of the sun all over the ground.
As the eclipse neared totality, birds quieted, crickets took up their night songs, and the colors around us became incredibly muted.
As the moon completely covered the sun we experienced a hushed silence and then people around us began yelling and honking their car horns. Isaac excitedly shouted "MOON! MOON!" and kept pointing at the sky.
We removed our glasses from our faces and stared at awe at the sun, and noticed the twinkling of stars joining the "night" sky. We watched for two-and-a-half minutes as the sun rays peeked around the edge of the moon. It felt like there was a hole in the sky and we were awestruck as we experienced the Diamond Ring effect and Bailey's Beads.
Watching our children's reaction was my favorite part. I was surprised at the way the world turned dark, but not black. Colors were muted and my eyes felt like I was seeing everything through a haze. Annie Dillard described it this way:
I turned back to the sun. It was going. The sun was going, and the world
was wrong. The grasses were wrong; they were platinum. Their every
detail of stem, head, and blade shone lightless and artificially
distinct as an art photographer’s platinum print. This color has never
been seen on Earth. The hues were metallic; their finish was matte. The
hillside was a 19th-century tinted photograph from which the tints had
faded. All the people you see in the photograph, distinct and detailed
as their faces look, are now dead...
All of our local public schools let out for the day, so many of our friends were able to experience this awesome natural event as well. I am thankful Daniel was able to leave work early to join us for this part of our homeschool day. Afterward we celebrated with Sun Chips and Moon Pies.
Info about our Eclipse Experience:
Date of Eclipse: 8/21/17
Time of Eclipse: 2:31pm
Duration of Totality: 2min 21sec
Type of Eclipse: Total Solar Eclipse
The weather was: Hot and Sunny (90*F)
Where: We viewed the eclipse as a family from the Cotton Port Wildlife Management Area outside of Dayton, Tennessee.
What surprised Jack the most: "It was pretty dark. The moon did NOT cover the whole sun... The sides were sticking out where we could see it."
Jack's favorite part: "Looking at the sun without glasses. Also wearing glasses... they were pretty cool to wear."
