Homeschooling Parents

Big sister to middle sister: "You know, in some families, it's the dad who is homeschooled and the mom goes to work."

So true.

Hungry

Middle child: Mommy, I want to know everything….like how your voice works…and how the water comes out of the faucet….and how the lights work….I want to know what it’s like on Mars….

This one kept asking, "Why?" to everything when she was just two. I kept telling her she was too young. That phase comes later. Apparently it was just a preview.

InNocent!

"I'm In-NO-sent!" cries big sister. She said it just like that. InNOsent.

The first time she said it, we were studying history and talking about religious persecution. She had read somewhere that Jesus was innocent of the crimes alleged by the Romans, but was crucified anyway. Ah, ha! Innocent is what she meant to say. But she learned the word from reading it and pronounced it the way it looked to her. InNOsent. After she went on and on about how so many people were accused of things and persecuted for their beliefs, even if they were inNOsent, I finally had to break it to her that it was pronounced "innusent." I hate to offer a correction when she is doing such good thinking about big concepts, but she said the word so many times that I worried she would ask later why I never mentioned it.

Apparently she doesn't mind saying it the way she read it because she continues to claim her inNOcence, apparently feeling an affinity for the persecuted.

Learning All The Time

We spent the past week out of town. I thought I would be so cool and bring along lessons so we would stay on top of things. We were going nonstop with beautiful weather and did practically no sit down lessons in the way I envisioned. Not that we didn't learn, which I must remind myself to keep from being discouraged. We learned about erosion on the beach, lighthouses, jellyfish, sea lions, pelicans, beach trash, whales, waves, wind, and so much more.

And I must remember the unschooling, which follows me around like a bad penny.

It even sneaks up on my on vacation. I gave big sister The Trumpet of the Swan to read because I knew it would come up in our language arts curriculum soon. She had it so briefly I was sure she didn't read the whole thing, though she insisted she did. Tonight I was staring to read a passage from the book for our language arts lesson and she stopped me. She hated that passage and didn't want to read it again.

So, I suggested we see if she could answer the questions from her memory of reading the passage. Me, thinking she wouldn't have actually read it and so she'll let me read this part to her for the lesson. I asked her the questions and she answered all of them with amazing specificity.

What are three things that the cob saw in the music store? "He saw trumpets....drums.....and banjos...."

What did the cob have in his mouth when he flew away from the music shop? "He had the red string from the trumpet's tag in his mouth." Not just the trumpet, but the RED STRING from the trumpet's tag.

I am beginning to wonder if she is actually sucking out my memory faculties and using them for herself. In any event, it's difficult to complain that we didn't stay on track while on vacation.

Canadian Home Birth Study

Canadian Home Birth Study

More research to support safety of home birth. Just in case you were wondering....

At the Beach

What would they think if
They knew I let my child eat
Apple dropped in sand?