Today I was looking for more guidance on starting a nature journal with my son, and I found a fabulous resource at Smithsonian Education. They have lesson plans called "Introduction to the Nature Journal", "Portraits, Visual and Written", and "The Music in Poetry".
I'll be using the introductory lesson of "Introduction to the Nature Journal" with Xander in a few minutes.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
I Love Today
So far today:
- Nick painted with tempera paints on a large piece of manila paper. I gave him green, purple, and red. He created, emphatically, a dragon. Roar!
- Xander read aloud three books to Nick and Nick's stuffed rhinocerus, Chirchee.
- They are playing outside together nicely, for the last half hour.
- Xander and I worked on memorizing "Summer Afternoon" and the first Family Rule. This is a breeze for him.
- Nick has played in independent playtime and cleaned up after himself.
- Nick tore up some strips of paper.
- Xander listened to another portion of This Country of Ours. When it said that Ferdinand and Isabella's court celebrated Columbus's discoveries with "Te Deum," we listened to part of "Te Deum."
- Both boys decided on a name for their favorite stuffed animals, and now those animals have a friendly relationship. They are Sally the kitten and Chirchee the rhinoceros.
Weekly Goals
These were last week's goals:
Personal:
2. Finish the booties for my friend's baby and send the whole package.
3. Finish another Squidoo lens.
Teaching My Children:
Financial:
Nurturing My Marriage:
10. Spend time doing an activity with Erik each night except for Monday. {I can't remember! Probably a fail if I can't remember if we did this every night. We did have a very nice time on Saturday coming across Rocky I on TV and watching it together.}
7 out of 10! That's pretty good for me, plus I feel like I got a few big ones done.
This Week's Goals:
Family:1. Re-read a post on first-time obedience on the blog Childwise Chat.2. Research a specific parenting topic.
3. Pay an extra $500 toward principal of car payment.4. Have a brainstorming session with Erik about work.
Health:
5. Track food, exercise, and weight on MyFitnessPal.com.6. Get rid of mildew in bathrooms.
Personal Development:
7. Put What Color Is Your Parachute? on my library list.8. Attend church.9. Tithe.10. Post signs for myself about doing critical tasks first. (I plan to put little signs on my book stack, knitting bag, and computer to remind myself to get my three critical tasks done before anything else. In case you're curious, right now they are teaching the kids life skills, laundry, and preparing family meals.)
How We Spent Columbus Day
Note: This was written on Columbus Day and not published until now.
We met friends at a big wooden playscape yesterday morning. It was in a cute town about half an hour away. The kids played there for about an hour and a half. Later in the afternoon, at home, they played outside for about an hour. I was happy with their outside play time and so were they.
My friend, the mother of the boys' friends, had crocheted a little robot for Nick. Nick loooooooves it. Robots are a topic of interest to him right now and he does like to play with stuffed animals, so it's a good match. He has been feeding, reading to, and caring for his little robot. The best I can tell, the robot's name is Plackman. Or something like that.
When we got home from the playground, I fed the kids and put Nick down for nap. I began to read aloud school books to Xander. He was about to doze off as I finished, so I let him nap instead of doing the other things like math activities, practicing the recorder, and writing.
As far as Columbus Day goes, we had previously read the account of Christopher Columbus's discoveries in This Country of Ours. We had checked his route on the map. We had also read Pocahontas by the D'Aulaires because I wanted to introduce another perspective of the discovery of the Americas - when people had already been living there for a very long time. At Xander's age, I think the appropriate thing to do is to give kid-friendly Native American perspectives rather than going into detail about the atrocities and deaths that occurred as a result of the meeting of European explorers and native Americans. He does need to know about Columbus as part of his history studies.
At dinner, Erik asked Xander a question about Christopher Columbus and Xander gave him a detailed account of what he had learned. He answered all of Erik's questions to Erik's satisfaction. It is really nice for me to see this because I don't always get the detailed answers Erik gets.
On to another subject. It is too early to make an evaluation of the wisdom of getting Xander's tonsils and adenoids out, but here are my thoughts so far:
1. Snoring has ceased. Completely.
2. He was starting to sleep better and longer, and to be more cooperative and cheerful as a result, before he had the procedure. The difference was homeschooling and thus not getting up early. (He usually gets up at 8:00. If he were going to the school he went to last year, he would have to get up at 6:30.) I can't tell if he is sleeping any better after getting his tonsils and adenoids out because he had already shown such an improvement a couple of months ago.
3. There has not been time to test if he gets sick easily or not after the procedure. Normally, at this point in the year, he would have had strep throat one time. According to the ENT doctor, there is almost no chance he will get strep throat again.
Update: At this point in the year (in November, when I'm actually publishing this post), he would normally have gotten strep twice. Still hasn't gotten it. :)
4. He still has a higher-than-usual voice as a side effect of the procedure. It has not been a month yet, which is the amount of time that some children experience this side effect.
Update: His voice still seems higher to me, but not as high as right after the procedure. It has been over a month.
We met friends at a big wooden playscape yesterday morning. It was in a cute town about half an hour away. The kids played there for about an hour and a half. Later in the afternoon, at home, they played outside for about an hour. I was happy with their outside play time and so were they.
My friend, the mother of the boys' friends, had crocheted a little robot for Nick. Nick loooooooves it. Robots are a topic of interest to him right now and he does like to play with stuffed animals, so it's a good match. He has been feeding, reading to, and caring for his little robot. The best I can tell, the robot's name is Plackman. Or something like that.
When we got home from the playground, I fed the kids and put Nick down for nap. I began to read aloud school books to Xander. He was about to doze off as I finished, so I let him nap instead of doing the other things like math activities, practicing the recorder, and writing.
As far as Columbus Day goes, we had previously read the account of Christopher Columbus's discoveries in This Country of Ours. We had checked his route on the map. We had also read Pocahontas by the D'Aulaires because I wanted to introduce another perspective of the discovery of the Americas - when people had already been living there for a very long time. At Xander's age, I think the appropriate thing to do is to give kid-friendly Native American perspectives rather than going into detail about the atrocities and deaths that occurred as a result of the meeting of European explorers and native Americans. He does need to know about Columbus as part of his history studies.
At dinner, Erik asked Xander a question about Christopher Columbus and Xander gave him a detailed account of what he had learned. He answered all of Erik's questions to Erik's satisfaction. It is really nice for me to see this because I don't always get the detailed answers Erik gets.
On to another subject. It is too early to make an evaluation of the wisdom of getting Xander's tonsils and adenoids out, but here are my thoughts so far:
1. Snoring has ceased. Completely.
2. He was starting to sleep better and longer, and to be more cooperative and cheerful as a result, before he had the procedure. The difference was homeschooling and thus not getting up early. (He usually gets up at 8:00. If he were going to the school he went to last year, he would have to get up at 6:30.) I can't tell if he is sleeping any better after getting his tonsils and adenoids out because he had already shown such an improvement a couple of months ago.
3. There has not been time to test if he gets sick easily or not after the procedure. Normally, at this point in the year, he would have had strep throat one time. According to the ENT doctor, there is almost no chance he will get strep throat again.
Update: At this point in the year (in November, when I'm actually publishing this post), he would normally have gotten strep twice. Still hasn't gotten it. :)
4. He still has a higher-than-usual voice as a side effect of the procedure. It has not been a month yet, which is the amount of time that some children experience this side effect.
Update: His voice still seems higher to me, but not as high as right after the procedure. It has been over a month.
Book Time
Note: I drafted this post the week of Halloween and never published it.
We got off track yesterday for a fun reason. Yesterday was the Halloween party at preschool. The kids both had fun playing, eating, playing again, and reading at the preschool academy.
By the time we got home, it was time to serve them a (sugar-free) lunch. This is our usual Monday routine. Preschool activities somehow wear them both out to the point that they are not fit for anything but lunch when we get home. School for Xander starts later on Mondays.
Xander said he was tired and wanted a nap before school. I allowed this. When he got up, we attempted to go to the park to do school while Nick (supposedly) would play. Didn't work. Xander loved the idea and would have done fine listening while climbing around me on a large rock, but Nick didn't want to play at all without Xander running around with him.
Still, we were finally able to complete school by dinner time. Xander nervously admitted to me that he had done something bad at nap time. He had actually read books the whole time and hadn't fallen asleep.
I couldn't help but wonder if his truthfulness was in part due to a book we read this week, Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jane Dyer. I officially love this book. Both text and illustrations are fantastic. Let me tell you what is on the Honest and Courageous pages:
"HONEST means, I have to tell you something. The butterfly didn't really take the cookie - I took the cookie.
COURAGEOUS means, It was not easy for me to tell you that I took the cookie, but I took a deep breath...and made the words come out."
Throughout this picture book, other lessons in courtesy are taught in terms of cookies: cookie-sharing, cookie-hoarding, cookie-envy, even cookie-open-mindedness. It is short but precious. Best of all, I got to read a book to both boys about manners, courtesy, morals, whatever you want to call them, while they looked on and laughed. It was not a chore or a burden on their feelings like some other morality books.
As much as I love the text, the illustrations are just as beautiful, life-like, and whimsical. Love them!
So, back to Xander's admission. I praised him for his courage in telling me. Later, I told him I did not want him to do that again to try to avoid school, but I was glad he had told me what really happened. I told him Mom and Dad could help him with any problem if he would tell us the truth.
Another book note. I have been impressed by How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It, by Arthur Herman. Now, I have a beef with the not-to-be-taken-literally title, but everything else about this book is great. It covers the time period from about 1680 to about 1980, although the material is much more thorough from 1700 to almost 1900. I am on the last chapter.
I just read how Benjamin Rush helped found the American Philosophical Society and "supplied" its motto: "Knowledge is of little use, when confined to mere speculation." I think this is a good motto for me to keep in mind. I know myself, and I admit my internal life can be more active than my external life.
Update: I finished the Scots book and really liked it.
We got off track yesterday for a fun reason. Yesterday was the Halloween party at preschool. The kids both had fun playing, eating, playing again, and reading at the preschool academy.
By the time we got home, it was time to serve them a (sugar-free) lunch. This is our usual Monday routine. Preschool activities somehow wear them both out to the point that they are not fit for anything but lunch when we get home. School for Xander starts later on Mondays.
Xander said he was tired and wanted a nap before school. I allowed this. When he got up, we attempted to go to the park to do school while Nick (supposedly) would play. Didn't work. Xander loved the idea and would have done fine listening while climbing around me on a large rock, but Nick didn't want to play at all without Xander running around with him.
Still, we were finally able to complete school by dinner time. Xander nervously admitted to me that he had done something bad at nap time. He had actually read books the whole time and hadn't fallen asleep.
I couldn't help but wonder if his truthfulness was in part due to a book we read this week, Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jane Dyer. I officially love this book. Both text and illustrations are fantastic. Let me tell you what is on the Honest and Courageous pages:
"HONEST means, I have to tell you something. The butterfly didn't really take the cookie - I took the cookie.
COURAGEOUS means, It was not easy for me to tell you that I took the cookie, but I took a deep breath...and made the words come out."
Throughout this picture book, other lessons in courtesy are taught in terms of cookies: cookie-sharing, cookie-hoarding, cookie-envy, even cookie-open-mindedness. It is short but precious. Best of all, I got to read a book to both boys about manners, courtesy, morals, whatever you want to call them, while they looked on and laughed. It was not a chore or a burden on their feelings like some other morality books.
As much as I love the text, the illustrations are just as beautiful, life-like, and whimsical. Love them!
So, back to Xander's admission. I praised him for his courage in telling me. Later, I told him I did not want him to do that again to try to avoid school, but I was glad he had told me what really happened. I told him Mom and Dad could help him with any problem if he would tell us the truth.
Another book note. I have been impressed by How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It, by Arthur Herman. Now, I have a beef with the not-to-be-taken-literally title, but everything else about this book is great. It covers the time period from about 1680 to about 1980, although the material is much more thorough from 1700 to almost 1900. I am on the last chapter.
I just read how Benjamin Rush helped found the American Philosophical Society and "supplied" its motto: "Knowledge is of little use, when confined to mere speculation." I think this is a good motto for me to keep in mind. I know myself, and I admit my internal life can be more active than my external life.
Update: I finished the Scots book and really liked it.
Day 6 of Money Saving Mom's 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home {Simplified}
This was what Money Saving Mom posted as the assignments for today:
"Day 6 Assignment
::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and create a list of weekly goals. I’ll be posting my weekly goals later today along with a link-up so you can share yours, as well.
::Set the timer for 10 minutes and run through your home and quickly pick up everything that’s out of place and put it away.
::Set the timer for 10 minutes and clean out the inside of your vehicle. Remove all trash and clutter. If you have time, use a vacuum attachment to vacuum all the seats and floors out."
 |
| So I got dressed. Have to admit I have not felt great about what I was wearing for a few days now. It has less to do with being comfortable with my personal style and more to do with being comfortable with some gained weight. |
 |
| Made the weekly list with the help of a mug of hot cocoa. |
I also did the ten minutes of picking up. It made a big difference, but I forgot to take Before and After pictures. There were wooden blocks all over part of the living room floor before I started, plus people's shoes from the day before, plus books, plus dishes. Now they are picked up. Except for the new dishes that materialized during and after dinner.
For dinner I made the Mushroom-and-Swiss Sliders from The Pioneer Woman, specially for my son. Since I hadn't bought buns at the store last week, I was forced to make them from scratch with a recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and they were great. Making a dinner that took some effort made me feel pretty good, and my son was excited. Everyone ate their full dinner tonight.
I did not get to the assignment to clean out the car. It was a hard homeschooling day. I feel pretty drained of momentum. However, my son and I did have a good talk as a result of the hard day, so maybe this day was good for us overall.
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