Last week I had a mini meltdown about what to do with Mallory since she's burning through all of the curriculum that I had for her this year. I followed the sage advice of Amanda on this one and let Jessica do my thinking. So after Jessica put her complicated plan of posting what basically amounted to a cry for help (on my behalf) on her facebook wall into action, I was graced with a solid idea that involved the library and outdoor play.
I loaded my kids into the car and headed to the library. Not our actual library mind you. That building is under construction and according to the librarian will not be finished until roughly February 2011. I'm fairly certain they could knock down the old library and build a whole new, totally butt-kicking library faster, but who am I?
We arrived at the 10x10 room that is serving our community's literacy needs, and I let my kids pick out fun books. This went awesome since Anthony insisted (INSISTED!) that we get the book we checked out for him last time. I had no idea what book he was talking about or where it was located. Fortunately not only is my three year old smarter then me, but he also has better library skills then I do because he remembered the title of the book and then located it without my help. I think it's safe to say that my work is done with that kid and I can kick back with an early morning martini now.
After that, I had the librarian show me where they had stashed educational materials. It was a few rows over from where I left my kids to fend for themselves. They were really good though, I only had to yell over to them three or ten times for Anthony to use his library voice.
Since it's started to warm up here, I thought we could focus on trees, plants and bugs, all things that kids love. I got a book about dung beetles (because bugs that eat poop rock the socks off of three year old boys), one about identifying backyard trees and one called "Grow It Cook It" which I was pretty relieved to find out wasn't about eating placenta.
This morning we read a few pages out of the Backyard Trees book. It covered the basics of identifying trees based on shape, bark and leaves. Being the awesome homeschooling mom I am, I said to my kids, "Do you want to go outside and find a leaf and try to identify it?" Of course they did. So outside we went. At this time I might like to point out that it's March in New York. Our trees have no leaves. They aren't even in the budding stages yet. We forged on anyway and used a few of the very dead brown leaves that had survived a long winters nap under the snow. For what it's worth, identifying a decomposing leaf can be a little challenging.
Tomorrow I think I'll just skip the dead leaves and fresh air and make something out of construction paper.
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7 comments:
It sounds like you're a great home-schooling mom. You're getting into the pathology of leaves and stuff. That's deep.
It's a mixed blessing that these kids remember everything. My daughter tells me that her brain is better than mine. I can't help but attempt to explain to her that I have to remember things more important than the entire text of "Zip Zip Homework." Ugh!
I'm impressed he found the book on his own though - that's a great skill!
those two amaze me every day...definitely smarter than there daddy. That's a good thing. Momma has done very well with them
Girl, you make me smile.
I sucked at homeschooling. So here is my totally invaluable advice: Look up "science fair" projects online (you tube rocks for how-tos. If you can think of it, some wacko has filmed themselves doing it step be step.) My fave so far has been Borax crystals, although finding out what ants like to eat most was pretty fun (yet did not explain why the beasties will skip out on a piece of granola left out on the porch, but will bypass my entire filthy kitchen to find that same chunck of granola bar in my purse). Also, you must find the book "Oh, Yuck." It is all about boogers, zits, slugs, mold, and farts (all very scientificly explained with awesome pix and drawings. We check it out about 5 times a year).
Thanks for your comments on my blog. I know, those pioneer kids were awesome. Do they sell them somewhere? (Maybe we could kidnap ourselves a couple of Amish kids?)
So let me get out my little notebook where I keep all the stuff I learn about parenting from blogs..."yucky stuff will keep boys occupado" (that's spanish, see, I'm smart too). Thanks for that advice. We're advice giving bloggy friends.
Seriously though, not a bad plan with the leaves and nature and stuff. And now everything is blooming and growing and you'll get to see cats doin' it out there in no time (tis the season, have fun explaining that one!)
what a good momma!
i think the outside learning is a great idea!
i'm actually a bit excited for my kids to go through school so that the second, third and fourth time around i might actually learn something (it seems i can recall almost nothing from my trip through the education system)
they have some free program in our county called preschool at home...and even though my daughter goes to preschool and loves it (it's in with her daycare) she likes to learn at home too...and, other than making her write every card we give to someone (saves $3 and has that personal touch) i don't do enough
this woman will come 2x a month with projects for her to do and she said she'll bring toys for my other ones to play with while she's there
woohoo :)
Backyard Trees? Is that the official title? Because I want that book. I have a need to learn the names of trees and my kids might like it too.
I saw Josiah's notebook the other day. He even writes about poop. It was "Here comes Santa Claus right down poopy lane..." Boys love poop.
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