Put On Your Thinking Cat!

Pets become a part of the day.

There is a section in the math program we use (Math in Focus by Singapore) called, "Put on Your Thinking Cap". We alway make a joke when it comes time for this section. We think the title for the section is goofy, so we act goofy when we get to it.

One day, someone posted this pic and we laughed and laughed at the "I've got my thinking cat on" caption with the photo of a cat on a dog's head. Our joke only got more funny and we continue to laugh each time we get to this section in math.

Often, while we are working on our math, the family cat climbs onto the table to look out the window while we work. Other times, she will sit right ON our work. Here, she sat right between my son and the student book, making it nearly impossible to work or put our "thinking cat on!"

I Miss the Hallways

No More Roaming the Hallways

I realized there was something I missed now that we were no longer part of the public school system. I loved walking the hallways just before pick-up and gazing at all the projects on display on the walls. Artwork, snipits of writings and other projects the kids, of all grades, had produced. I think I enjoyed seeing how all the students interpreted the assignment, how some were innocent and simple, others were deeper and thoughtful, while others were completely "not what the teacher" assigned. I loved seeing them all and I no longer got to see them.

So, I created Art a la Carte Gallery for homeschoolers. It's small for now, but I hope participation continues to grow. We assign one concept a month and kids (and their parents) are encouraged to participate in any are medium they desire (painting, poem, photography, sculpture and more). This commitment helps me to make sure we continue to look at different forms of art, tantalize our creative sides and are exposed to other ideas. It's been great to see all the creative pieces of works that are delivered. I look forward to more participants and more months of enjoying other people's works of art. 

Samples from the concept CHANGE:

A haiku from my son.

A poem my son did not want to write on his own. However, when I said I was going to write one, would he help me rhyme the sentences, he jumped in and helped me with great enthusiasm.

 A sample from the concept LIGHT:

A comic strip by my daughter

 A sample from the concept BEGINNINGS:

A poem by my daughter.

Lead by Example

Children Do What They See Their Parents Doing

My daughter loves to create beadies (creations using string and pony beads). She has followed many patterns as well as made some up on her own. The other day she asked if she could lead a class on how to make a lizard.  

As we planned her class, we discussed many details. What age should the kids be? Could a younger child come if a parent promised to stay and help? How long should the class be? Should we limit the number of students we could have at one time? What project should she help them make? Should we charge for the class? Should we include photos with our email invitation? After all the decisions were made, I helped send out an email to our homeschooling community.

Six students participated in my daughter's class. They all made a lizard and then took home instructions and beads to make a firefly at home. The class was a success. The kids had fun. My daughter was proud. I think she learned a lot about the process of teaching a class. A teacher's time isn't limited to the 90 minutes of teaching, but includes a lot of preparation, thinking ahead and even thinking about things after the time is over (What surprised us? What could we have done better? What worked best?)

I'd like to think some of her inspiration has come from seeing dad teach her computer programming, or mom teach her yearbook class, or all the parents in the homeschooling community teaching classes on history, writing, math and more. So a big thanks to all teachers in our lives who "showed us by doing" and inspired her to "do what she saw".

Spelling Rules

It's not always all about spelling

I am not a strong speller. I definitely rejoice in all the current word processors, online dictionaries, Google searches, etc. that underline my misspellings with a red line or guess what I'm trying to spell. However, I see it as a giant crutch for my kids and their generation. Perhaps they will always have access to these spelling helpers, but just in case they want to hand write something (gasp!) or the apocalypse (yes, Blogger helped me spell that word with only one "p") happens and there're no more computers, I want them to have a foundation for spelling. They won't always spell a word correctly, but if I can help them learn most of the spelling rules, then hopefully they'll be in a position for successful spelling. And no, we don't have spelling tests. But when a word is misspelled, we review the rules we already know and break it down and figure it out.

We are using the All About Spelling program, which seems to be a great program thus far. We are a bit behind and only now beginning Level II. The best part of this program is using the white boards we bought at Costco for $20. The kids each have their own and love them. For some reason, it's more fun to write words on the board than with a pencil on paper. After lessons, the kids often draw pictures. In this case, they made a Super Tic-Tac-Toe board. You can see the "Xs" won one grid, the "Os" won another, and in one grid, there was a "Cat's Game".

Programming with Scratch

Figuring out how to code

The kids have been slowly learning how to code on the computer. They've tried Codeacademy. It was good for the first few lessons, but then was a bit too difficult for our 10 and 7 year olds. We then tried Kids Ruby. It, too, was good. The kids were able to learn and complete the lessons well. But at the end, they weren't sure what to do. I think more lessons have been released since we've done it. Both of these options are free, which is amazing.

Also free, is Scratch. Scratch is another great program to teach kids how to code on computers. It uses drag and drop methods to help the kids learn about strings, commands and more. We did purchase this Super Scratch Programming Adventure book, for a nominal fee, which has had some great lessons in it. The kids spend a little time with their dad, a computer engineer, on the weekends, coding games and having a great time doing it. Yay for Scratch and Yay for dad!

The Puzzle of Unschooling

Puzzling passions

It has been hard for me to let go of many of my old schooling thoughts of how education happens, what is education and how to ensure it's happening for my children. Watching my son with his Rubik's cube, and his other twisty puzzles, has been a great experience for the whole family. It has shown me how child led passions can be motivating, not only for the child, but for those surrounding him with support and feeling his energy.

His interest in twisty puzzles came out of no where. My daughter took a Rubik's Cube solving class a few years ago. We have several cubes in our home. But they have been collecting dust for a long time now, sitting on the shelf unsolved and unloved. All of a sudden, my son can't get enough of them. He worked hard every day teaching himself how to solve the Rubik's Cube. He used printed notations I had laying around (I used to be the "go to" person in the house to fix a scrambled cube), YouTube videos and other websites to help him solve his cube. For the second layer, he watched me as I solved it and he rewrote the algorithms to fit his orientation of the cube (he claimed I was holding it upside down!)

Within a short time (was it a week?), he taught himself how to solve the cube and memorized the steps. Then, to occupy his obsession, he took the next week to teach the rest of the family how to solve the cubes. Now, most of us can solve them (almost as fast as he can). To keep his mind challenged, he began looking at "speed cubing" techniques and other twisty puzzles. Good thing his birthday's was coming up. We were able to ask for all sorts of twisty puzzles, the 4x4x4 cube, the Pyraminx, and more. He worked hard and figured out those quickly.

There are a few cubes left that he hasn't learned how to solve yet. They remain scrambled on the shelf. But his hands are still occupied with the ones he knows how to solve. He continues to work on speed and patterns. He will teach anyone who will take the time to sit with him.

Yes, it has been a great experience to watch his passion drive his learning, teaching and problem solving skills.

Walking the Wetlands

Another timely opportunity

Today we went on a guided walk though our local wetlands program. The last time we visited the wetlands, it was a hot, early, October day and the wetlands were dry. This time, temperatures was near freezing, the wind was a bit nippy, and the wetlands were... wet. I had our new family binoculars to try out and the guides handed out binoculars to anyone who needed a pair, so the kids each had their own pair to use.

We are currently studying birds and migration for our thematic unit. So this field trip was perfect in its timing. There were six kids total on the trip, several retired persons, and many volunteers from the program leading the walk. I am still in wonderment as to how homeschooling (and living in a smaller town) has slowed me down as a person. I still remember the rush of being in a constant hurry, never having a minute to stop and talk. I still find moments where I behave this way. But more and more, I am learning to stop and listen. There were so many experienced bird watchers on this walk, all willing to share their knowledge with us and our children. And all forgiving when the kids ran ahead, skipping and making loud, happy, child noises.

I continue to enjoy learning alongside my children. One fact I learned today? This beautiful species, Anna's hummingbird, stays local throughout winter. Many do not migrate south along with the other species of hummingbirds as Anna's hummingbirds tollerate the cold very well. I hope this guy finds enough to eat, as I have brought in our hummingbird feeder for feer of freezing at these low temperatures. Perhaps we need to rotate feeders so we can always put out a warm one for those who stay in town.