Second Time's the Charm

The first time we tried a homeschool co-op, we were stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado. I found a co-op located quite some distance from home. It sounded promising though, with weekly classes, a dance troupe, music lessons, and a large member base. So, for a couple of weeks, we journeyed to this group. 

They met in a church. 

I knew these were very, very religious homeschoolers. Most homeschoolers are. I could live that. 

What I didn't know is that they began each day with not only the pledge to the American flag, but also the pledge to the Christian flag (did you know there was such a thing? I didn't.) and the pledge to the Bible. They all put their hands on this huge Bible and, in the same rhythm as the Pledge of Allegiance, they swore their dedication to it. 

Whatever. It's not what we do, but I respect them and what they do, and there is so much this group offers. Dance troupe! Classes! Friends!

After all the pledging, the kids led each other in a morning devotion while the moms had what they called "mom time." 

Uh oh. 

We all stood in a circle and held hands. I knew that prayer was coming. Prayer that differed from my beliefs. No big deal. Dance troupe! Classes! Friends!

What came next (this was week two) shocked me into reality. 

They started speaking in tongues. 

This is a real thing that really happens! It's not just for those crazy televangelists! Real people do this! At first, I thought my ears weren't working right. But they went on with their "lelelele sha la la LAY lah mosh kee toh" while I squinty-eye peeked at them. I didn't make a scene. We even stayed until co-op was through for the day. 

But we never went back. 

And for a long time, I swore off homeschool groups. Crazy long-skirt wearing evangelicals scared me away. 

___________________________________________________

We tried another co-op recently. And we love it. 

Sure, the majority of the members homeschool for religious reasons. But they are warm. And nice. And quiet. And accepting. 

And they have classes and friends. 

MIning for chocolate chip "gems"

Today, we started geology class. Tuna loved every minute of the crystal formations and the mining for "gems" in her chocolate chip cookie. 

Second time's the charm. We found a co-op without the bat shit crazy. 

So if you're searching for kindred spirits in a world of weird, keep looking. They're out there. You just have to go mining for them. 

Our Learning Room

Sometimes we have one. Sometimes we don't. Right now, we have a lovely learning room with gorgeous windows and lighting. It's so comfy in there. We both enjoy it. Here's a peak at what it looks like (after we're done with it for the day):

Bay did this chalk pastel last year. 

Our school room doubles as a guest bedroom. It also makes a great place to snuggle up and read. 

We always have an audience. 

One Mom. Two Kids. One Public School. One Home. One Foot in Each World.

I often feel like I have a foot in two worlds: the world of being a public school parent, and the world of being a homeschooling parent. They are so very different. They have different languages, different cultures, different ideals. I often feel like we don't quite fit in one world or the other, because while we're fully committed to both of our children getting the best of what they need, we're not fully committed to one method of education over the other. My homeschool peers don't want to hear about my public school mom life, and my public school peers don't know the first thing about my homeschool mom life. It's a strange place to be. 


My Bay (who made the decision, with her dad and I helping, to attend public high school) is a cheerleader. It's been a great experience for her. It keeps her crazy-busy, but she loves it. We all went to her first home game, homecoming week, to support her and watch her cheer. The football was the side show for us. Our eyes were on our daughter. 

This week also meant another milestone for us: Bay's first homecoming dance. Isn't she the most lovely freshman ever?

Bay and her date

I lead two lives when I have two children learning so very differently. I have to speak the language of homeschool: nature study, co-ops, lesson planners, and curriculum, and I have to speak the language of public school: Common Core, parent handbook, booster club, cheer squad, home game, concessions, seminar. 

And while this will remain primarily a homeschooling blog, I will have occasion to write about being a public school mom, too, from time to time. Tuna, thus far, wants to follow in her sister's footsteps and return to public school for high school. May this maiden voyage with Bay pave the way. 

Cool stuff we do after we learn cool stuff

I agonized over an appropriate title for this post. Ridiculous, I know. Especially when you read the title I chose. 

Something Tuna enjoys doing is extending a learning experience from a book or video into a hands-on activity. We tend to have at least one or two of these activities every week. 

Doing cool stuff after learning cool stuff doesn't have to be time-consuming or difficult or expensive. Here are a few things we've done recently:

We read about the Franks, and the beginnings of Paris. We read about the fleur de lis, and what it stands for. Then we made a fleur de lis stamp...

...and we sewed a cape, and stamped the cape...

...and now, Tuna has a royal cape to wear! 

We read about the Maori warriors of New Zealand. Then, we painted Tuna's face in a design typical of the Maori, and she got all theatrical on me, striking this pose (and others). 

We read about medieval Japan, China, and Korea. Then, Tuna single-handedly prepared a Japanese 3-course meal for her family, complete with a chop stick lesson.

Most of the activities we try take under an hour, with the rare exception here and there (we're in the process of creating imaginary islands which will take us a couple of months to finish, for example.)

I can't imagine "doing school" without these incredible projects. They reinforce concepts. They promote bonding. And they meet our primary goal for anything in life: they're fun. 

I get my ideas from the internet. I seldom have to come up with something on my own. There's always a tutorial available. Google and Pinterest are my BFFs. Seriously. Try searching for "hands-on homeschool activities ___ grade" and see how many hits you get. Tons. My usual formula is homeschool hands-on ___" (insert desired lesson: Paris. London. Grammar. Human Body)

There are parents out there not doing fun stuff with their kids. There are parents who think school needs to be regimented, strict, and hard. This is not the case. My Tuna retains so much more information when her hands are involved, when the lesson is brought to life. I will continue having fun with my girl for life. 

Tonight, we're going to our first bonfire ever, in celebration of homecoming week at the high school where Bay attends. She's a cheerleader, Bay, and she's leading the march to the bonfire. It's my first homecoming week: I never attended any of my school's festivities. Tomorrow, we're going on a field trip to an outdoor "living history" museum that depicts life in Germany in the middle ages. How cool is that?! Bay gets to come, too, since there's no school. Then, we get to go watch Bay cheer at her first home game. Oh, she's also singing the national anthem. I'm so excited, and so proud, of both of my daughters. 

Go forth and make stuff with your kids. It's rewarding in so many ways. 

Interpretive Nature Walk: Grafenwoehr, Germany

Today, we went to a homeschool group field trip to the Grafenwoehr nature trail. We were guided by two well-informed, German (English-speaking) women who made the hike a fabulous learning experience. 

Our guides were wonderful. So knowledgeable about the wildlife in the area and very much in tune with what the kids needed. Lots of hands-on, lots of demonstration, lots of patience and kindness. We had a great time. 

The guides gave all the kids little canvas bags to fill with specimens from trees on the hike, which they all pulled out toward the end to discuss and compare. 

We saw some cool plants we've never seen before, like this neat "jelly" mushroom. 

Tuna enjoyed the time with the other homeschool kids. 

Deadly mushrooms!

Our homeschool group has a lot of activities planned for this school year. We'll pick and choose which ones to attend. Today whetted our appetite for more, though. We had a great time, and learned a bit, too!

What's So Important About Art?

I remember making pottery ashtrays in elementary school. I remember wilted, dried apple witch heads. We made pinch pots and wove simple baskets and dipped candles and painted. Every week was a new lesson with a final product to show for it. 

Imagine my disappointment when my children went to public school and art class consisted of coloring in printed coloring sheets with Crayola crayons! Art was crap, plain and simple. It's one of the programs first to be cut when budgets tighten. 

Lucky for Bay, she's in high school, and those art programs are pretty terrific. Tuna, though, is in fifth grade, and if I were to put her in public school, she'd be coloring (she hates coloring) every week. 

creating a chalk pastel pumpkin, courtesy of a HodgePodge.me tutorial

What happened to placing importance on the fine arts? It is important to be exposed to the fine arts. Why? Here are a few reasons:

1. Making art boosts self-esteem. 
2. Art helps develop critical thinking. 
3. Art exposure and making art help encourage creative problem solving. 
4. Art is stress-reducing. 
5. It's just plain good for you!
6. It's fun and rewarding!

It's not hard to incorporate art into a homeschool environment. You don't have to be an artist to enjoy or teach art! You just have to have an open mind, a willingness to try new things, and some good directions. There are lots of ways to find art instruction online. 

Our art wall display for autumn, so far. 

Pinterest is full of ideas. If you're a visual person, seeing a thumbnail of a project might give you great ideas. Of course, clicking on it and opening will most often lead you to detailed instructions on how to complete the projects.

Hodge Podge has free (and paid) lessons in chalk pastels and acrylics that we have been enjoying. 

DickBlick.com has tons of project plans available free of charge. 

Haiku

We've been learning about China, Japan, and Korea this week, and we each composed a haiku, then illustrated them. I love how they turned out. Tuna, after this experience, thinks haiku is boring because it doesn't typically rhyme. Still, I think she did a great job writing one.

I like mine, too. Where's my gold star? 

Sometimes, ya gotta wiggle!

It rained yesterday, and it's raining today. The results:

She feels better now. It does no good to fight a child's natural urge to move. It's so much better for all involved if the child is allowed to act naturally and expel that energy. Now, she's calmly watching Minecraft videos. And she told me that was lots of fun. It certainly was a lot of fun to watch!

Dynasties: Not Just for Ducks

I don't watch that show. Actually, the thought of it sort of makes me want to vomit a little in my mouth, which you will soon find ironic. But people talk about it nonstop. What is it about Americans that makes us want to watch a bunch of rednecks living their day-to-day lives on television? 

Here, I must stop and admit, fully, to watching Here Comes Honey Boo Boo on a weekly basis. You better redneckognize. 

Anyway, this post has nothing to do with ducks, and everything to do with dynasties. We're reading Story of the World Volume 2: The Middle Ages, and we just finished up chapter eight: The Great Dynasties of China. In the activity guide, I found instructions for replicating a jade necklace with Sculpey. Sounded fun, so off we went. 

Materials: Sculpey in the closest shade to jade we could find, embroidery floss (or other string), something on which to string your beads (we used kebab skewers), a baking sheet, the oven

Soften the clay in your hands, then roll it into ropes and cut off 1/2" bits. Roll those into balls and skewer them. 

Baking the Sculpey at 275F for about fifteen to twenty minutes sets the beads. 

Why yes, those are pajamas my daughter is wearing. 

Then, you can browse the Internet, looking up more detailed information on jade, like we did. Here are some sites we enjoyed:

The Big Site of Amazing Facts

some jade history

A Lesson on Chalk Pastels

Tuna and I followed a tutorial layed out by HodgePodge to create medieval castles with chalk pastels. This was our first time using pastels, and this looked like an easy start. 

It's very messy, but it's fun, and it looks cool when it's done. HodgePodge has lots of tutorials for both chalk pastels and acrylics that are easy to follow if you're not artsy in that way. 

Along with some tutorials at DickBlick.com, some art museum trips, and lots of free art time, we will be using HodgePodge art tutorials to get a bit of art in our weeks this year. 

When we finished, Tuna made a Minecraft picture with the pastels.