The Sojourn in Egypt Part I, or, Who Wants Their Mummy?

Actually, aside from birthday shenanigans, we've spent the last week and a half in ancient Egypt. It looks like we'll still be there quite a while, too!

This was not the plan.

The plan was to go through Child's History of the World and make side trips into interesting time periods as we came to them.

The Zoomlians laugh in the face of such linear thinking!

"Can we learn about Egypt?" Zorg wanted to know. Usually it's Leena who asks that question. Usually followed by, "Can you wrap me up like a mummy?"

I was hesitant.

I remembered a remark from the Queen of Carrots that the down side of unit studies was the repetition of subjects.

We've done Egypt. Then I thought some more: it had been 3 or 4 years since we had really "done" Egypt. Zorg would have been 3 or 4 years old!

I thought some more.

Egypt is one of those topics that begs for in depth immersive unit studies. There are so many fabulous resources it's hard to narrow it down. We haven't done a big, knock your socks off, sustained high tide thing in a while.

Plus... I was 6 years old when I went on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw their Egyptian collection. I'm not sure I ever got over the wonder and the realization of how vast and old and amazingly different the world is.

Fortunately, I did get over the terror of seeing the stone sarcophagus! It was massive, hewn from black stone. At that time it was lying in the center of a room on a dais. So big I couldn't really see inside except for the steel rod which held the lid ajar. Looking it up now was the first time I had seen it since. As a child, I don't think I saw the carving on the lid; to me it was just cold, black, primal stone. I had several nightmares about being trapped inside for thousands of years...

Looking back, I wonder if that fear is part of what made the wonder so vivid. If so, I'm thankful for it. The fear ebbed, but the wonder at the wide strange world remains.

OK! Lets do it!

Happy Golden Birthday, Zorg! (II)

Happy birthday to Zorg from Toa Jaller!

A boy and his Bionicle...

Plus the laser sword does a great job cutting ice cream cake!

Get It/Don't Get It

This is a problem the Emperor and I have been discussing. We both had this problem as kids, and he sees it in his students as well (he teaches honors and International Bacclaureate). We presumed it wouldn't be a problem with home school, but we were just starting to see it crop up in some of the Zoomlians.

Here's the deal: sometimes smart kids grasp things too easily. They "get it" instantly and, depending on the schooling they are receiving, either wait around while the teacher explains things to the rest of the class, or they move on to the next interesting thing.

Because they grasp so much so easily, when they run into something they don't immediately "get" (say a kid who can do math and reading intuitively but can't play the violin on the first try), they mentally file it as "don't get it" and avoid that activity in the future. Often enough, the "don't get it"s really are things like the violin, things they aren't positively required to do.

Why worry if the "don't get it"s are non-essential? Because what they are actually missing is learning how to learn something challenging. A kid can be doing algebra in 2nd grade and not be being challenged in the sense that they are intuitively grasping the concepts as they are presented.

A person needs to know what to do when they're "lost in the sauce." They need to know that when they hit the "don't get it" wall in something essential, they can outline a door and start hacking their way through.

Here is our suggestion: If you have a kid who seems to easily grasp everything, look for the things they have difficulty with and provide them with structure and support to help them learn what is difficult for them. Point out that they are learning how to learn. Be patient with them and try to teach them to be patient with themselves. I would not force a kid to stay for years with a hobby they hate, but use discernment as to what opportunities you have to teach perseverance.

Get it? ;)

Happy Golden Birthday, Zorg!

Zorg is 8 on 8th: it's his golden birthday!





We went to Mass and got a special birthday blessing (as well as the birthday song from the assembly).





Then we went off to Watkins Park, known around here as: the-big-enormous-playground-with-the-teeny-tiny-zoo.


And we played, and played, and played.....






Then we went to their Nature Center (had the place to ourselves!) and looked at all their animals.

They rehabilitate raptors, so there were a lot of birds, but also turtles, snakes, bugs and a lizard which Choclo identified as a dinosaur.



Then back home for lunch and to play with some of those presents!!!

We'll be having the (Bionicle themed) party later. After 3 straight years of asking for cheesecake for his birthday, this year he asked for an ice cream cake.

Specifically, he wanted a chocolate cherry ice cream cake shaped like a Lego brick.

Easy peasy! I softened cherry and chocolate ice creams in the refrigerator, then put them in a loaf pan in the freezer yesterday. I separated the layers with chocolate cherry cookie crumbs from last weeks cookies (very yummy but fragile). I'll frost with some home made (cherry flavored) whipped cream.

Great!

Until this morning, when he asked if it could be shaped like a Bionicle mask.

Ummmm.

We settled for decorating it with his birthday present from Mxyl: Toa Jaller.

I hope to post pictures tomorrow.

And happy birthday to someone else special!

Anything and Everything

The start of the new school year always makes me think over why we made the choice to home school and how we are doing - all that stuff you're probably thinking about if you have kids no matter where they go to school.

Entering our sixth year home schooling, I can see that we run into the same problem any school does: you can do anything, but you can't do everything.

I remember looking at curricula when Mxyl was Choclo's age. Mmm, didn't they look good! I could start at 3 and have Mxyl reading Greek and Latin by second grade! And Japanese! And playing violin! And maybe calculus! And lacrosse! And I wouldn't forget art (from the Old Masters), and, of course, plenty of time to play and develop his imagination!

We didn't use any of those curricula, but my, the places we've been! He did get plenty of time to play and develop his imagination. He also got a fairly large bunch of siblings, plenty of science and a heck of a lot of robots! Along the way he's picked up about as much of the 3 Rs as you would expect and quite a bit of history, geography, philosophy, theology, cooking, drawing, and woodlore. And squidlore. He's thinking. I can see him steadying and growing into the world, just starting to find his way. He's starting to hunt his own (intellectual) food. I am starting to see what a good person he is and is becoming.

I'm not at all saying: look, I got it right! I'm certainly not saying people shouldn't use curricula!
I've sure made mistakes! But it's nice to see that honest mistakes, fixed whenever possible, haven't ruined the kids.

This is what seems clear to me now: every choice excludes other choices. What seems most essential to me as a parent and as a home schooler, is to have a clear vision of what you are trying to do for your kids and why. We use the mission statement: "To help our children become who God created them to be." All of our choices are guided by that statement. When we aren't sure, we go back to it.

I was hesitant to write this, because I want this blog to be place other people can come for ideas and encouragement. I don't want anyone reading this to take it as "my way is the best way." Love and devotion to your kids is the best way! I don't actually know anyone (except by blog) who shares my home school philosophy. That doesn't bother me because I can see many other good mission statements that would lead to other choices. I'd love to hear yours! If you want to blog it, just leave a link in the comments.

We're Back!

We had a great time at Assateague! We ended up staying only one night (2 days) because if we had another night of such sleep (or lack thereof) and another day without naps, we would NOT have had a great time!

We had a lot of fun with our friends (13 other families in our social circle came). We had a great time at the beach. We loved the ponies! We saw three little bands, each with a stallion and 2 - 4 mares. We even saw a mare with a little foal!

There were signs all over saying not to approach/feed/tease the ponies. The ponies took no note of the signs. They came up to you and practically butted you with their heads as if to say, "Hey there, buddy, got any apples?" They were beautiful!

Alas, I got no pictures of the ponies and all of my beach pictures look like tons of random kids playing in the surf. Not a bad thing. Most of our home school group was there, so that's really what it was like!

We also found lots of mermaid purses (ray egg sacs) which I am hoping to dissect later.

Oob, the Walking Edition

He's walking for real now.

He still walks delicately, hands outstretched, with a delicious smile that says, "Look, Mom, no hands!"

When I stretch out my arms to him he gives me a puckish grin and toddles in the opposite direction. "Look what I can do!"

He sees something across the room, wobbles over, seizes his prize and then giggles with delight! "I did it!"

At the Arboretum he walked more than he ever had before. He got tired and put his arms up to me with a worried look.

I picked him up and he snuggled against my neck. I was so very grateful to carry him back to the van, still my baby for just a little while.

Happy First Day of No School!

Yes! It's that time of year again! Monday was the day the public school kids went back.

What I had hoped to do was give the kids a preview of all the fun stuff we'll be doing, hang out and celebrate our freedom from the school schedule by doing lots of fun educational stuff they wouldn't be doing if they went to school. And get slurpees.

What actually happened was that our beloved Grammie was going off on a trip later in the week, so we ended up spending most of the day with her, hanging out, and having slurpees. So that was OK!

We just pushed everything else later into the week. Happy First Week of No School, was nearly interrupted on Tuesday by a Mommy meltdown, but that ended up being PMS, so that was OK (eventually, after chocolate).

Which brings us to today which was great! We tried out our new workbooks (we like doing workbooks from time to time) and then went off on an expedition to the Arboretum.

That was lovely! Our first trip with Oob walking! He loved the nice soft grass under his toes (ours is a bit crispy at present). Best of all: gravel! Yes, the beds in the dwarf conifer garden are mulched in gravel. Perfect for picking up and dropping back down. (I don't totally get the appeal, but I have not yet had a toddler that hasn't loved spending an hour or so doing this, so who am I to argue tastes?)

The older Zoomlians took pictures (the picture was by Mxyl) and played a game of hide and seek that was either wildly successful or dismally unsuccessful. No one found anyone (the garden is vast and lushly planted, and Zoomlians are wily) but no one minded, so that was OK. And they collected 172 cicada shells. That's not hyperbole, they counted them when they got home. Interestingly, Zorg, who collects cicada shells, had just yesterday found one with the cicada still inside ("one without a hole"). It was examined carefully then placed on our maple tree.

I taught the older Zoomlians how to identify pines and cedars. This was a triumph for me which nearly expunges my mortification at discovering (at the age of 10) that not all evergreens were pine trees. I went to visit my grandmother in Washington state and I was surprised at how many pine trees they had... In my defense, we didn't have many conifers on the base where I grew up. To my grandmother (born and raised in conifer heaven), it was like calling an oak a maple. As shocked as she was, maybe it was more like calling a telephone pole a maple. I'm pretty sure my Mom heard about it. My point is: look Grandma, my kids can tell a cedar from a pine! I'm still working on the spruce/fir thing myself. I think it's spruce cones point down and fir cones point up. Or the other way around.

In other news, we are going camping on Assateague this weekend. Please don't rob my house. We have a tent. We can put it up. We can take it down. We have an enormous list of WHAT NOT TO FORGET. I don't know where I put it. This will be fun. Really. Kate told me so! We are actually getting pretty excited!! Now I remember: I have to call Coleman and tell them I found the missing pieces under the tent when I took it down. We'll be fine. We're going to have a great time! Right, Kate?

I Almost Forgot!

We also built this nifty electric motor!
It's from this very cool kit.

A Bright Idea

We did it! The lamps work great!

Here we have Lampbot (Mxyl's of course). Lampbot is actually a water bottle glued to a takeout plastic container covered with construction paper and spray painted. The socket fit neatly into the bottle neck and I was able to drill a hole in the bottom to put the cord through.

Zorg's lamp was a spice container in a previous life. We filled it part way with sand for ballast and then he added Lego figures (just the duplicates, he assured me). The beauty of this lamp (and Klenda and Leena's lamps) is that you can unscrew the lid and change the contents.

We fished lamp wire (just like the cord on your lamps) through the body. We separated it into 2 wires at the end and stripped the last inch or so of plastic off of each wire. We formed the exposed copper wire into a loop and put it over the screws in the base of the socket. We tightened the screws and that was it for the socket. We pulled the cord on the other end so the socket was nice and tight.

On the other end we had a plug that opened up and squeezed shut onto the cord. You could see little metal teeth which bit into each wire exactly where the prong was. It's a circuit, see? One prong into one wire into the socket, through the socket, into the other wire, into the other prong.

Screw in a light bulb, plug it in, and turn it on!