Rocks & Minerals

When people find out we're homeschooling, one of the first questions is usually "what curriculum are you using?" This may change in the future, but at this point we are unschooling (i.e. learning by living and playing) and doing interest-led learning, so when one of the boys becomes interested in something, I support and encourage the interest and help them find additional resources and information.

Henry's newest (and biggest) interest right now is rocks and minerals. Luckily for me, this is something I loved as a girl - I still remember the little guide I used to identify the stones I found in my yard or bought from gift shops on vacations. A couple weeks ago, Henry and I went to the local toy shop together and he picked this out:

Over the next couple of days, he made his own rock guides:

He has also been spending a lot of time digging up rocks in our yard and at various parks by himself and with anyone else he can convince to help him!

I had already been planning a trip to DC to see the cherry blossoms, so once Henry became interested in rocks & minerals I added a visit to the Natural History Museum to the itinerary.

 He took a lot of pictures and a video of the exhibit so he could look at everything more closely later.

 After viewing the exhibit, we visited the gift shop where he got "all the rocks you can bag for $6." I also bought him a couple guide books and a DVD for further exploration.

...and this is where my meter had run out so we needed to get to the car fast and I said "every boy who sits in the stroller gets rock candy."

Here he is at home checking out his guide books and counting his rocks. I think he fit almost 30 in that tiny bag!

I am planning a trip to Luray Caverns for future exploration...let's hope his interest in this topic lasts at least until then!

Best Get Well Card Ever

On Sunday, I was feeling lousy enough from the cold I've had that I actually stayed in bed most of the morning. As this is virtually unheard of for mommy, Henry was concerned, and brought me this get well card:

This totally made my day. I seriously felt so much better every time I looked at it. Just what a get well card should do, right?

I also meant to include in the previous post the schedule Henry and I made together for last week. He referred to it often throughout the week, and it seemed to be very helpful for him.

One other reflection on our homeschooling journey so far: I've been waking up every morning so excited to see Henry and spend the day with him - I remember feeling this way when he was a newborn. Of course I love being with Jude and Felix equally, but when Henry was in school it felt like we had almost no time together, even less of it "quality" time, so I'm thrilled to have that back.

Our first week of Homeschooling

Our first week of homeschooling was full of peace, joy, and loads of quality time together. I am happy to report that Henry is back to his usual affectionate, loving, creative self, and I have no doubt that we made the right decision.

(An aside - I hope I didn't give the wrong impression before - we had already decided on homeschooling for many, many reasons; the negative socialization at Henry's school and the way it was affecting his personality and behavior was just the reason we started NOW instead of next year.)

Henry made pictures with and for Felix and Jude on Monday morning.

I tried to make Henry's first week of homeschooling as special and memorable as possible, so I planned a few special events. On Sunday, I took him out to get some new art materials, which (as I predicted) kept him happily engaged in constructive writing and creating all week.

Monday, March 4
We started the morning off with some games and playtime, then Nana came over to play with the boys while Dan and I met with the director of the school to inform her we were withdrawing the boys from school. Henry and I spent time together in the afternoon creating "Nature Journals" with some notebooks we bought on our trip to the craft store the day before. We had a great time decorating the covers. I'm trying to use the time in the afternoon while Felix is sleeping and Jude is having his quiet time to spend some quality time with Henry - so far, we've been crafting together, and Henry really looks forward to this time each day.

The covers of our nature journals

Henry made this for me to put on the back cover - see the crocuses?

Tuesday, March 5
After some morning playtime, we went back to the craft store to replace something we got on Sunday that had broken. We got Henry a new notebook and he got one for his friend T as well. (I love being able to sit down and play a game of checkers and read some books after breakfast instead of rushing everyone out the door and into the car to school!)

Henry's friend T came over with her mom; we all had dinner together. T's mom went to class while T stayed and spent the night! The two spent the evening making potions and other creations, and at bedtime created a pallet of blankets on the floor in the craft room and kept the space heater woodstove on all night as a night light. It was adorable. T decided to use the new notebook we got her as a journal, and Henry followed suit - since then, there have been tons of journal entries (usually one sentence with a picture labeled with the date on top). It was a joy to see how Henry learned this new skill from a friend, and it turned into great reading, writing, and spelling practice for him.

Wednesday, March 6
Slush day! We played outside for a while in the morning but eventually we were SO wet that we had to go inside. T read to the boys, we played some games, more art and potions...it was a great day.

Thursday, March 7
We had what Henry labeled a "stay at home" day. We cheated a little - after spending the morning at home, we went to pick up our Friends & Farms food basket and then went to Whole Foods to pick up a few things. I was apprehensive to arrive right at lunchtime, but we really needed those things so I decided to go anyway - I lucked out as they had a "Giving Grill" set up so we got hotdogs and burgers for lunch which we ate in the cafe. Again I was so thankful to have Henry with us instead of at school.

Friday, March 8
My parents came over and took the boys to Port Discovery! They had a great time, and I got to visit the chiropractor and take Delilah to Atwaters where she got tons of love and I got to enjoy my lunch in peace!

In our many homeschooling days ahead, I know there will be ones that are challenging or downright bad. I am just thankful that our first week was so positive and full of special moments to remember.

Homeschooling, Day One.

As of today, I am officially a homeschooling mama. It’s something I’ve been considering since before Henry was born, and I remember saying to people even when he was a baby that I thought he would be homeschooled, but when people asked why, I didn’t know how to answer them. Now I have my answer.

We tried school, several different schools, in fact. Each time we found there was one or more children creating a negative social atmosphere that affected Henry to the point that it seriously affected him emotionally and we felt we had to remove him from the situation. Of course, in retrospect, I wish I had had the confidence to homeschool from the very beginning, but Henry is an extremely social child, and at the time, Jude and Felix were so little, so I was largely confined to the house for naptimes, and felt I wasn’t able to give Henry what he needed in terms of interaction with the outside world, so school seemed like a good solution, even if only until the little guys got bigger.

It turns out that Henry’s personality is a very interesting and I think pretty unique combination of being very extroverted/social and also quite sensitive. None of his teachers have understood this about him, though I made a point to explain it to each of them at the beginning of each school year, as well as throughout the year as issues arose. Through these school experiences, I have come to realize that although he needs a good amount of social interaction, it’s best for him when I’m there to observe and help out when needed. Also, now that his brothers are older and are becoming viable playmates, he’s quite content to play at home much of the time with them instead of constantly thinking about other kids to play with.

I had really hoped we could make it through this year, but unfortunately there are several kids in Henry’s class who are bullying and teasing many of the kids, including Henry. He was coming home from school an emotional mess, and he was a different child on school vs. non-school days. After school, he was rude, disrespectful, aggressive, had frequent meltdowns, and complained often of stomachaches. In the past few weeks, he had even begun to make statements like “I’m a stupid dummyhead,” “I wish I had never been born,” “Don’t touch me, I don’t exist,” and he was also hitting himself in the head occasionally. It was awful. I shared my concerns with the teacher and director several times throughout the fall, and at a meeting in mid-January and again in mid-February. They responded defensively and didn’t make any changes that would help Henry be more successful and feel better about himself. In fact, they pretty much said they didn’t believe me because they weren’t seeing these issues at school, and intimated that I must be doing something wrong at home to set him off after school.

I agonized over the decision to pull him out, but after consulting with many friends and professionals, we had finally decided on Saturday it needed to happen. I had bought myself some time by telling him it’s spring break this week (although it’s really next week), and was feeling pretty anxious about how to tell him he wasn’t gong back. (Even despite all of the adversity, he insisted he wanted to keep going. A child psychologist who knows him well said that didn’t surprise him at all, because Henry is eternally optimistic and always sees the best in people, so he really woke up every morning expecting the situation to improve.)

And then, yesterday, I witnessed the most incredible catharsis. Something I’ve noticed that really improves the dynamic in our relationship is taking him out for some one on one time, especially to get him new art supplies. I took him out for the afternoon, and as we had lunch and ran errands together, he talked through all his feelings about school (he brought it up, not me) and came to the conclusion himself, without me hardly saying anything other than validating and affirming his feelings, that he does not want to return to school. It was amazing to see how he talked and worked though the issue.

At the craft store, he had chosen to spend some of his allowance money on a notebook that has a special pen and paper that looks rainbow-y when you write on it. He proceeded to make a series of drawings, each one labeled thus:

Page 1: I love my mommy, Felix, Jude, daddy

Page 2: I like my friends (he drew a picture of 4 people he considers to be his “real” friends, not the kids at school who were being mean to him)

Page 3: I love Daddy

Page 4: I love Mommy

Page 5: I love Jude

Page 6: I love Felix

Page 7: I love my self

Page 8: I love my home

Page 9: Bullies are going to be punched in the face.

I think that says it all.

Although I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to work things out with the school, I think this was a great learning experience for Henry about who your true friends are, what makes a person a good friend, and when a person really isn’t your friend. The pictures he drew last night show he’s really clear on that. And I’m thrilled to have my sweet boy back.

the day after

Sometimes the day after a birthday is hard, but today was a good day! This morning, Jude, Felix and I ran a few errands. They both brought their hand kites with them everywhere (yay!). We went to two post offices to get Christmas stamps (the first one was out), dropped of some library books that were long overdue, and got two more thyme plants at the local nursery, because I had used up the one we had. (I am still loving my front porch herb garden and use it all the time in my cooking!) While there, I saw some Christmas ornaments and got an idea of one I could make for Felix...

I have noticed just in the past week or two that we have turned a corner with independent play - meaning, I don't have to supervise the boys' play all the time anymore! This is a huge milestone for me. I can be in the kitchen while they play upstairs in their room...it is wonderful. This afternoon, all three of them were engaged for about an hour doing their own thing (well, I was helping Felix off and on a lot of that time, which is understandable). Felix was painting with glitter, Jude was building with Legos, and Henry was playing in his room. There were some thuds and bangs coming from upstairs that Felix and I were wondering about, and after a while, we went upstairs to check it out.

 Turns out he had turned their room into a restaurant! He loves this new kitchen - they all do!

Henry and Jude proceeded to serve me a number of delectable dishes.

I also completed a big project today - the Christmas cards! The past few years I have spent so many hours on these, and I decided to go simple this year and "mass produce" them - i.e. each one is the same design. I am really pleased with how they turned out.

 Cards are best addressed with a cupcake and a cup of tea. (Or a large glass of wine.)

In case you're wondering - yes, that is our address on the card. I send one to myself every year because I love to save them, and want to have the postmark on the card. I can't be the only one who does this, right?

I set out this little basket and paper tonight, hoping it will inspire some creativity tomorrow...we'll see!

Sailabration, Day 2

 All of the festivities at the Sailabration started today so we met Nana and Papa at the harbor to join in the fun. We walked around the deck of one of the ships, and then headed over to the kids' area where they made their own boats and then got to "sail" them! Henry and Jude loved this activity; Felix was not so keen on letting go of his boat.

One of the other tents in the kids' area had whistles...see Felix's "proud face" when he figured out how to do it?

Next, we had some lunch and then went "swimming" in the fountain. I discovered this wonderful fountain a couple of weeks ago while exploring the harbor one morning with Felix and Jude while Henry was at school. The photos below are from that day. We went back there on Friday with Henry but, as is often the case, I was too busy enjoying myself to remember to take pictures! We were especially delighted on Friday to discover that they play music and spray more water from noon to 1 pm!

sheep & wool, year 2

So, the pictures aren't great but I wanted to share about our second annual trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival anyway. I often find that when I attend special events like this, I'm too busy experiencing it to have much time to photograph it.

We learned our lesson from last year and headed straight for the merchandise tent where they sell t-shirts, tote bags, posters, etc. from the event. We weren't fast enough, though - all the kids' size t-shirts were gone, so we got the Jude and Henry these sweatshirts instead. It was slightly chilly that day, so they got to sport them right away.

 I've wanted a "natural" kitchen broom for a while now and had seen the man who makes these last year, and decided to get one. Of course Jude, who loves to clean, needed one too. He quickly went to work sweeping "all the yucky stuff on the ground."

 He held his broom the whole way home.

I didn't buy any yarn this year, but I did get this book:

as well as wool roving in a variety of colors. I've been wanting to learn how to do needle felting for a while now. As usual with all of my new art projects, Henry was immediately on board and made a "fire" out of the wool as soon as we got in the car.

He wanted to see all the colors I chose, so I laid them out on the table when we got home. He proceeded to go around the table and make a ball using all the colors.

The only disappointment was that Henry didn't get to spin any wool like last year. I guess a child broke one of the spinning wheels last year, so it seems everyone decided not to let children try them out this year. I still have the yarn he spun for me last year, though. I looped it around my bedside lamp, so it is one of the first and last things I look at every day, and I treasure it dearly, especially because he made it for me on Mother's day.

Fall Highlights...now that it's winter

Here are some highlights from Autumn 2011:

Henry made several fall-themed watercolor paintings. See the cornucopia on the left?

I tried out an idea I read about on this blog...you tape contact paper to the window and let the kids attach pieces of tissue paper to create a "stained glass" effect.

I found this Radio Flyer wheelbarrow at Salvation Army for $5. They love it, of course.

Lots of creative setups with the Playmobil toys.

I got Henry a set of "real" Legos (i.e. not Duplos). Big milestone, in my opinion.

Jude, of course, followed suit and began building with the Duplos.

We saw Elizabeth Mitchell in concert on November 5, something I've been hoping to do for years.

This trio of mine plays together more and more each day.

Jude is in the stage where he likes to arrange things in creative ways. More recently, he's started leaving presents for me - like pom poms in the fingers of my dishwashing gloves, googly eyes in my potholders, and blocks in my shoes.

The Band. They LOVE playing music together.

Where do city kids go to play in the leaves? By the curb where the leaves are waiting for the leaf-sucking trucks, of course!

Goodbye, Fall! See you next year!