Grade 4, Week 11, Day 4 ~ Friday Free Day

One thing I love about Friday is that it has the potential to be a less stressful day. It would be even less stressful is we packed for our park day the night before; we should work on that.

This morning wasn't as stress-free as I would have liked; I was still trying to put the family/learning room back in order. I won't complain about having housecleaners but it does make it hard to tackle a really big decluttering and simplifying project.

It was cold at the park. It's going to get colder, and when it does I will take appropriate clothing! I did have a pocket hand warmer with me so I could warm my fingers and then knit.

There wasn't really anything special about park day today. We like hanging out with friends but the kids seemed a bit off kilter or disconnected. J-Baby was having a little spat with one of his friends and asked to go home early which is quite uncharacteristic for him. They worked it out though. T-Guy played some but mostly hung out with the adults ~ I took the opportunity to comb the tangles out of his hair.

The magic came later. One of my favorite rituals that we started when the boys were little is lighting candles before Papa comes home; it's something we only do when it is dark early. The boys were playing out front; I lit the candles on the mantle and settled down with some shawl knitting. When they came in J-Baby asked if he could light the candles in the fireplace and he did a careful job of it! I decided not to hover or tell him what to do and he was fine; I'm rather proud of myself when I can step back and let him do something that I wasn't allowed to do as a child because it would be dangerous.

Candles lit I started singing nursery rhymes, Mary Thienes-Schunemann style. T-Guy joined in a bit but I know that at this point the songs are more for the mood and for myself than a chance for family singing ~ they'd rather sing the Beatles. The boys decided to weave while I knit and we had a cozy half hour before Papa arrived home. It was a little oasis of peace at the end of our Friday.

Grade 4, Week 11, Day 4 ~ Transitional Thursday

I have the family/learning room torn apart; it's part of an effort to simplify things but oh! it makes such a big mess in the process! I had to clear the desk so that the boys could do their lesson work today.

I was talking to a friend about how we approach teaching math at home. She said that she had tried several different math curricula but that she always comes back to teaching it in her own way. I told her that I follow the Waldorf guidelines for when to teach each subject, and that I try to bring in a math story and go from whole to parts, but that I too pretty much wing it. It makes sense to me; we can only teach what we know, so it would follow that we can only teach how we know it.

Anyway, it's working for us. Today we pulled out our Cuisinaire rods and our Miquon Math Lab materials and delved a little deeper into measurement. I would have never thought to use the rods to represent cups, pints, quarts, etc. but it was brilliant! It's far less wet messy than using water and measuring cups.

Journaling

Continuing Practice: Subtraction with Regrouping

Assigned Reading: Indian Legends

Concepts Awakened: Punctuation

Main Lesson: Measurement

Afternoon Lesson: Gardening

Other Subjects: Independent (Free) Reading and Social Studies (A History of US)

Grade 4, Week 11, Day 3 ~ A Slow Start

Difficult mornings are so ... difficult. I slept in; I am having such a hard time getting a good night's sleep. When I did wander out to the kitchen (right after J-Baby) I immediately had to referee an argument over leftover muffins. The boys were pokey about doing their chores and T-Guy had obviously skipped combing his hair for a couple of days as it took 20 minutes to remove all of the tangles. I want to support his decision to have long hair but it is so hard when he won't care for it.

J-Baby didn't want to journal. After weeks of him writing one short sentence and doing a 30 second line drawing in his old journal I decided to transition the boys to writing more and not drawing pictures. Well, today J-Baby was very unhappy to not be drawing; I think in reality he just doesn't like writing the amount that is now required of him. J-Baby is so ... J-Baby. He will fight any changes for at least a month and even once he settles in he will occasionally have an outburst about how much he hates something. However, in true J-Baby fashion he forgot that he was unhappy about 30 seconds into his journaling.

We didn't do our main lesson in the morning; I wanted the boys to do more hands-on work and we were rather rushed because of the slow, difficult morning. We are mostly working liquid and dry measurement as the boys help me cook.

Journaling

Continuing Practice: Addition with Regrouping (I am really seeing the results of consistent daily math practice)

Assigned Reading: Indian Legends

Concepts Awakened: Adjectives

Main Lesson: Measurement

Skills Practice: Typing Lesson and Multiplication Tables

Afternoon Lesson: Gardening (preparation for planting)

Other Subjects: Independent (Free) Reading and Social Studies (A History of US)

Grade 4, Week 11, Day 2 ~ Liquid Measurement

We are still getting into the swing of things over here; I am making certain that morning chores are done before we go on our walk and begin our lessons. This means that we are often not getting to our lesson work before 10 a.m., and the main lesson might not start until 11 a.m. as J-Baby is still quite slow at his journaling. T-Guy races ahead and finds himself with a lot of time to fill while he waits. It also means that we've not yet worked in all of the extra lessons but I do feel satisfied with what we are accomplishing. A lot of time less really is more.

Today we talked about liquid measurement, something the boys have a pretty good grip on already. Well, except for pints, but most people I know have to stop and think about what a pint is. This afternoon we put our lesson into practice while preparing maple baked beans for dinner and we'll make cornbread muffins when the beans are finished (they cook for 3 hours in the oven).

The boys were slightly disappointed that we couldn't plant today, but we had to add more soil and continue to water it. Indeed, the boys didn't water yesterday and they witnessed firsthand the drying out of the first inch or so of soil. Our daytime temperatures have been in the low 80s, but now we are expecting a drop into the upper 60s for several days which isn't exactly ideal for germination.

Journaling

Continuing Practice: Subtraction with Regrouping

Assigned Reading: Indian Legends

Concepts Awakened: Verb Tenses

Main Lesson: Measurement

Afternoon Lesson: Gardening (adding yet more soil to the beds and watering in preparation for planting)

Other Subjects: Independent (Free) Reading, Social Studies (A History of US), and Science (Nova on PBS)

Grade 4, Week 11, Day 1 ~ A Spectacular Day

I'm still tweaking things around here; one thing I wanted to add back into our morning was a morning walk. It used to be a big part of our rhythm, but fell off when we were unschooling. This past spring we were walking the dogs every morning, but that had a different purpose.

This morning we headed out after our morning chores. The Big Dog was chomping at the bit; he settled down once he realized that this was going to be a leisurely walk. We just went around the block, but that takes about 15 minutes if we're strolling and stopping occasionally. We spotted a hawk overhead, then a Western Scrub Jay, and we could hear a crow. Careful listening helped us find it perched high at the top of a Coast Redwood (a little south for a redwood ~ these were planted here). We of course heard the tweets and chirps of many small birds.

Coming home we ran into a problem; J-Baby had decided to use one of the brand new pencils I ordered from Paper Scissors Stone and it was nowhere to be found. I only ordered 2, as I wanted to try them out, and well, I wasn't exactly the picture of a happy mom. I helped look for about 5 minutes and then decided to detach myself from it as the boys were going to have to sift through their room (note to self: they really need help decluttering and simplifying in there).

Pencil recovered, we embarked on our morning lessons. We really didn't get very far; after morning chores and the walk, then the pencil hunt, there wasn't time for much more than journalling. T-Guy did do his math practice and his parts of speech work.

For our afternoon lesson we headed to the local garden center, stopping by the library and pharmacy first. We needed more soil/compost and the boys picked out some started vegetables as well as some vegetable and flower seeds.

It is hard to describe how beautiful a day it was and I wish I had taken my camera out with me. We drove up into the mountains to Oak Glen for apple cider doughnuts (I packed gluten free doughnuts for J-Baby). In the morning I had noticed how very clear it was; the nearby mountains were crisp and we were seeing the distant hills and mountains in layer after layer. Up in apple country we added the beauty of trees turning vibrant oranges and reds, something we don't see in profusion down here in the valley.

There is no point listing what we did today formally. The biggest task was coming up with a journal entry longer than one sentence and that didn't begin with I like. We did a lot of nature observation and had our field trip to the garden center and Oak Glen.

Grade 4, Week 10, Day 5 ~ Friday Free Day

Our Friday free day is a day off from focused/rhythmic learning but it isn't a day off from life. The boys have simple chores to do each morning and on Fridays they must thoroughly tidy their room. They must fill their water bottles, gather together the things that they want to take to the park, and make sure the park blanket is in the car. While on the surface these things may not seem as important as arithmetic and reading they do serve a useful purpose. In the case of doing chores, the boys learn that they must pitch in and do their share so that our home environment is pleasant to be in and so that our Big Dog is cared for. Readying themselves to go to the park teaches them how to plan and prepare.

What our Friday held:

Chores

Park preparation

Lots of free play at the park!

An evening walk to listen to live music downtown

A History of US

Grade 4, Week 10, Day 4 ~ Simplicity in Action

Have I mentioned how much I love the return to the method of teaching in blocks? My brain is no longer trying to juggle so many different things; there is the main lesson subject, the subject we are reawakening, and the subject they are practicing for mastery, as well as the skills they are practicing. Of course, there is the subject that is sleeping, but I don't have to think about it at all. There is art and music, but they also happen naturally so I don't fret if we don't get to something.

Journaling

Continuing Practice: Subtraction with Regrouping

Assigned Reading: Indian Legends

Concepts Awakened: Singular and Plural Nouns

Main Lesson: Measurement

Skills Practice: Typing Lesson and Multiplication Tables

Afternoon Lesson: Gardening (watering the soil in preparation for planting)

Other Subjects: Independent (Free) Reading and Social Studies (A History of US)

Presence and Workboxes

One result of our return to a more traditional Waldorf format is that we don't really need the workboxes. They have been a great way to organize the daily learning materials, but Waldorf education is based on the presence of the teacher, or in the case of homeschooling, parent. As I brought my full presence back to our home learning I found that the boxes seemed rather superfluous. It makes sense; I never needed them before when we were using Waldorf and Enki methods. Now that I am no longer trying to teach 4 - 5 different subjects each week I can hold the main lesson in my mind.

Our focused work has a rhythmic flow: journaling, practice work, assigned reading, reawakening concepts, main lesson, skills practice and/or physical education. We then break for lunch and quiet time before beginning our afternoon lesson.

I am choosing to be present with the boys even when they are doing practice work than could be done without me. I am in the room, writing in my own journal or doing handwork, available to answer any questions. I am making a conscious choice not to be cooking, baking, or doing other chores in another part of the house. Writing, reading, drawing, or knitting are all things that I can do in the family room and can put down easily when there is a question or when it is time to reawaken concepts or present the main lesson.

There must be balance, of course. One of my goals this year is to give the boys more independence and responsibility when it comes to their learning, and I certainly do not want to take all of that back onto myself. I want to participate in their learning with them, and to guide them, but I don't want to pull the train by myself. The workboxes have served to organize the work that the boys are responsible for on their own, such as assigned reading and practice work. They are working beautifully for this, but it may be that we can move to a weekly binder system and reclaim some of our bookshelf space.