We're about three weeks into homeschooling, and so far so good! We picked a curriculum that involves lots of sitting together and reading, which seems to be the perfect fit for our family. One of Perrin's favorite books is our children's encyclopedia, which we've been using lately to discuss ancient cultures. The coolest thing is that each page has a QR code I can scan on my phone, and it'll take us to a neat website with extra pictures or videos. We've looked at pictures of cave paintings, watched a video on how a mummy is made, and browsed artists' depictions of the early Olympic games (which I scrolled through quickly once I realized they were historically accurate--meaning sans clothing.)
Now the kids think every QR code they come across is going to reveal something fascinating. Perrin brought me a water bottle the other day and tried to get me to scan it. I tried to explain to him that I didn't particularly want to visit the Aquafina website, but he was pretty convinced I was holding out on him. Even Brielle has gotten into the spirit. We got some funny looks from an older woman at the grocery store when Bri exclaimed, "Look, a QR code!" in her squeaky two-year-old voice. (I can hear the silent judgment: "When MY kids were little, they played with dirt and sticks, not these new-fangled QR codes!" To which I would reply, "Good job keeping your kids away from technology that didn't exist yet.")
Some days are better than others. Today we were reading through a book about weather. One page near the end talked briefly about the things that may contribute to warming the atmosphere--namely the burning of fossil fuels and animals passing gas. The book so kindly included a picture of a cow farting. Perrin laughed for about 20 minutes, and I gave up on quizzing him on how hail is formed. I had completely lost him. We transitioned to math next, where he was supposed to be practicing writing the numbers 1-6. His sixes all had little gas clouds coming out behind them. He thought it was hilarious.
Tomorrow we're making a weather vane and graphing answers to a poll Perrin helped me conduct on Facebook. I think I might also look up some youtube clips on amazing Olympic moments. Honestly, I'm having a blast learning alongside him (farting cows aside).
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
A hatless, stomping, spinning graduate
Perrin's preschool graduation was last night. I should have known he would make it...um... memorable. That's a nice way of putting it.
The first thing I noticed when his group walked across the stage was that he was the only kid not wearing his graduation hat. He's been talking about wearing that stupid hat for weeks (and once we were home from graduation, I couldn't get him to take it off), but during the actual ceremony, one of the teachers dutifully carried Perrin's hat for him because he had made up his mind and simply was NOT going to wear it. End of that story.
The next thing I noticed was that Perrin couldn't find us in the audience at first. We were sitting right up front waving, but his eyes scanned the crowds while his group solemnly filed in. He finally noticed us and in his excitement boomed out, "Oh! Hi, mom! Hi, dad!" Everyone cracked up. I hope it endeared him a little to the audience because his later antics might not have been quite as well appreciated.
Then Brielle's class of 2 and 3 year-olds came in and sat on the stage steps in front of the graduates. They sang a few songs and rang bells. Sooooo stinking cute! Brielle told me before the graduation that she was going to wear a pretty dress and sing and dance and turn into a fairy. Although that wasn't exactly what happened, it was very sweet and entertaining. Then she came and sat with us for the remainder of the graduation.
Next, Perrin's class did the pledge of allegiance and a few songs with hand motions. A couple more observations: Perrin is tall. He towered over a couple of the other kids standing near him. Also: Perrin would rather make silly faces and stomp his feet and climb up the podium and spin in circles than stand in a line and sing with the rest of his well-behaved classmates. His good friend Zaedi was standing beside him and tried to keep him in line, but he was pretty determined to be a class clown. I kept trying to catch his attention to get him to cut it out, but alas. Who knows how many of his friends' videos and pictures he'll be in, the goofy kid in the background with no hat... and the ONLY kid not participating the way he was supposed to.
Next the teachers went down the line and asked each kid what they liked best about school. They all had such sweet answers: playing, or snack time, or the home center, or dressing up. I was cringing as they got closer and closer to Perrin because I know my son well enough to know that this wasn't going to be a beautiful Kodak moment. I was right. At first he stepped way back and refused to answer. The teacher was about to pass him up and mentioned something about Perrin enjoying the block center this year. Perrin finally stepped up and responded, "No I don't! I like being at home the best!"
Then it was time for the kids to walk across the stage and receive their preschool certificates. When they called Perrin's name, they introduced him and said he liked eating candy and playing with trains and wanted to be a train driver when he grew up. The preschool director gave him a hug (Perrin gave her a grunt), and said, "Spunky Perrin!" Again, that's probably the nice way of putting it.
Perrin's teacher was very sweet to tell me later that night that preschool kids are more fun to watch when there's at least one class clown to keep things lively. I hope the other parents and kids thought it was amusing rather than wondering what pitiful parents would allow their child to behave so wildly. Perrin has been this way his whole life--even when I used to take him to baby story time at the library before he was walking. I used to envy the other parents who had sweet little babies who stayed where their parents put them and clapped along with the songs. Even then, Perrin was a non-conformist. That should have given me a clue. It's as if in any situation we're in, he thinks about how he's expected to do something and he purposefully does exactly the opposite.
Although it makes situations like preschool graduation a little more embarrassing, I also have to remind myself that his personality is a gift. He definitely marches to the beat of his own accordion. And I think his independent spirit can someday be harnessed and nurtured into leadership potential and help him to make wise and innovative decisions instead of simply following the crowd.
I'm immensely proud of my little preschool graduate. Granted, he needs some discipline and guidance. And although I feel totally inadequate to tame my little fireball, I'm committed to doing my best to love him well, notice his strengths, and encourage him to use his powers for good and not evil.
Congratulations, preschool class of 2015!
The first thing I noticed when his group walked across the stage was that he was the only kid not wearing his graduation hat. He's been talking about wearing that stupid hat for weeks (and once we were home from graduation, I couldn't get him to take it off), but during the actual ceremony, one of the teachers dutifully carried Perrin's hat for him because he had made up his mind and simply was NOT going to wear it. End of that story.
The next thing I noticed was that Perrin couldn't find us in the audience at first. We were sitting right up front waving, but his eyes scanned the crowds while his group solemnly filed in. He finally noticed us and in his excitement boomed out, "Oh! Hi, mom! Hi, dad!" Everyone cracked up. I hope it endeared him a little to the audience because his later antics might not have been quite as well appreciated.
Then Brielle's class of 2 and 3 year-olds came in and sat on the stage steps in front of the graduates. They sang a few songs and rang bells. Sooooo stinking cute! Brielle told me before the graduation that she was going to wear a pretty dress and sing and dance and turn into a fairy. Although that wasn't exactly what happened, it was very sweet and entertaining. Then she came and sat with us for the remainder of the graduation.
Next, Perrin's class did the pledge of allegiance and a few songs with hand motions. A couple more observations: Perrin is tall. He towered over a couple of the other kids standing near him. Also: Perrin would rather make silly faces and stomp his feet and climb up the podium and spin in circles than stand in a line and sing with the rest of his well-behaved classmates. His good friend Zaedi was standing beside him and tried to keep him in line, but he was pretty determined to be a class clown. I kept trying to catch his attention to get him to cut it out, but alas. Who knows how many of his friends' videos and pictures he'll be in, the goofy kid in the background with no hat... and the ONLY kid not participating the way he was supposed to.
Next the teachers went down the line and asked each kid what they liked best about school. They all had such sweet answers: playing, or snack time, or the home center, or dressing up. I was cringing as they got closer and closer to Perrin because I know my son well enough to know that this wasn't going to be a beautiful Kodak moment. I was right. At first he stepped way back and refused to answer. The teacher was about to pass him up and mentioned something about Perrin enjoying the block center this year. Perrin finally stepped up and responded, "No I don't! I like being at home the best!"
Then it was time for the kids to walk across the stage and receive their preschool certificates. When they called Perrin's name, they introduced him and said he liked eating candy and playing with trains and wanted to be a train driver when he grew up. The preschool director gave him a hug (Perrin gave her a grunt), and said, "Spunky Perrin!" Again, that's probably the nice way of putting it.
Perrin's teacher was very sweet to tell me later that night that preschool kids are more fun to watch when there's at least one class clown to keep things lively. I hope the other parents and kids thought it was amusing rather than wondering what pitiful parents would allow their child to behave so wildly. Perrin has been this way his whole life--even when I used to take him to baby story time at the library before he was walking. I used to envy the other parents who had sweet little babies who stayed where their parents put them and clapped along with the songs. Even then, Perrin was a non-conformist. That should have given me a clue. It's as if in any situation we're in, he thinks about how he's expected to do something and he purposefully does exactly the opposite.
Although it makes situations like preschool graduation a little more embarrassing, I also have to remind myself that his personality is a gift. He definitely marches to the beat of his own accordion. And I think his independent spirit can someday be harnessed and nurtured into leadership potential and help him to make wise and innovative decisions instead of simply following the crowd.
I'm immensely proud of my little preschool graduate. Granted, he needs some discipline and guidance. And although I feel totally inadequate to tame my little fireball, I'm committed to doing my best to love him well, notice his strengths, and encourage him to use his powers for good and not evil.
Congratulations, preschool class of 2015!
Thursday, February 26, 2015
The pitter patter of muddy feet
We took the kids out to our land today (yes, we own land! I feel so grown up!) We needed to mark the property line and figure roughly where the corners of our house will be so our sewer guy can finish up the perc test. ("The sewer guy" is actually named Mike, but to save my life, I can't ever remember his last name. We've been calling him "Sewer Mike" for the last couple months. Old habits die hard, so I'm sorry to say he'll probably forever be Sewer Mike in my mind. Sorry, Mike.)
Anyway, I realized my mistake as soon as we drove up: Temperatures were hovering barely above freezing, we had two restless kids with us, we had packed absolutely nothing for them to do or play with, and the land was one huge mud pit because of all the melted ice and snow. Perrin immediately ran off to investigate a big pile of sand. I feebly called out after him, "Stay out of the mud!" Brielle ran along behind him, so Trey and I headed up our hill to start laying down some twine to mark the property line.
Not five minutes later, Perrin started yelling for me frantically. He was stuck ankle-deep in some mud and had lost one of his shoes in it. He was trying to balance on one foot to keep his sock clean, but the boy has my genes, which means zero balance or coordination. His socked foot landed in the mud (along with a good 6 inches of his pants). He tried to regain his balance and ended up losing his other shoe. He couldn't balance long enough to get his shoes back on, so he ended up sticking his hands and arms in the mud too. By that point, I'd made it to him and was trying to hold him steady while he got his shoes back on. Mud was smeared all over my hands, arms, legs, and house blueprints, and we still didn't get his shoes on (they'd sunk quite a bit at this point). I finally marched him off to the car in his socked feet, then had him take off his muddy socks and wait for us in the car. I told him if he wanted to get back out, he would need to climb out before putting back on his socks and shoes.
Later, when we finished marking our house corners and came back to the car, muddy footprints covered most of the seats and floors. And we discovered once we turned the car on that he had pressed practically every button he could find (although he told us that he "didn't press a few of them.")
I forgot to mention that Brielle was hysterical at this point because she was cold, cranky, and frustrated at her disobedient parents, who did not cater to her demands of being carried all over our hillside.
Thinking to the year ahead and all the house projects we'll be doing, I'm getting a little nervous. This is gonna be hard work. Even a simple project like today becomes a time-consuming mess with kids factored in. We'll just have to do the best we can... and expect a few muddy footprints along the way.
Anyway, I realized my mistake as soon as we drove up: Temperatures were hovering barely above freezing, we had two restless kids with us, we had packed absolutely nothing for them to do or play with, and the land was one huge mud pit because of all the melted ice and snow. Perrin immediately ran off to investigate a big pile of sand. I feebly called out after him, "Stay out of the mud!" Brielle ran along behind him, so Trey and I headed up our hill to start laying down some twine to mark the property line.
Not five minutes later, Perrin started yelling for me frantically. He was stuck ankle-deep in some mud and had lost one of his shoes in it. He was trying to balance on one foot to keep his sock clean, but the boy has my genes, which means zero balance or coordination. His socked foot landed in the mud (along with a good 6 inches of his pants). He tried to regain his balance and ended up losing his other shoe. He couldn't balance long enough to get his shoes back on, so he ended up sticking his hands and arms in the mud too. By that point, I'd made it to him and was trying to hold him steady while he got his shoes back on. Mud was smeared all over my hands, arms, legs, and house blueprints, and we still didn't get his shoes on (they'd sunk quite a bit at this point). I finally marched him off to the car in his socked feet, then had him take off his muddy socks and wait for us in the car. I told him if he wanted to get back out, he would need to climb out before putting back on his socks and shoes.
Later, when we finished marking our house corners and came back to the car, muddy footprints covered most of the seats and floors. And we discovered once we turned the car on that he had pressed practically every button he could find (although he told us that he "didn't press a few of them.")
I forgot to mention that Brielle was hysterical at this point because she was cold, cranky, and frustrated at her disobedient parents, who did not cater to her demands of being carried all over our hillside.
Thinking to the year ahead and all the house projects we'll be doing, I'm getting a little nervous. This is gonna be hard work. Even a simple project like today becomes a time-consuming mess with kids factored in. We'll just have to do the best we can... and expect a few muddy footprints along the way.
Monday, February 2, 2015
I think I've made up my mind.
Well, it looks like we're taking the homeschooling plunge. While many of my friends are filling out Kindergarten applications, I've been hemming and hawing and trying to decide what's best for us. The answer that has come to me after many hours of praying and pondering? A resounding "I don't know."
This hasn't been an easy decision for me because public school certainly has its merits. It's free (or rather, it's something we're already paying for anyway with our taxes). It provides opportunities for socialization that I can't quite replicate with homeschooling. It ensures that he'll be learning at an appropriate pace for his age and grade level, and he'll have the pressure of his peers and teachers to keep him on track. Having both kids in school would mean I could return to full-time work eventually. And possibly the best of all--public schooling requires very little effort on my part.
I know a lot of people, particularly Christian families, who choose to homeschool to protect their kids from negative influences. I understand why they do that, and I even agree with it to some degree, but I have to admit that this is not a major influence in my decision to homeschool. In fact, I even wonder if this could be a negative. I want my children to love and have compassion for non-believers and not feel suspicious of them or develop an "us-vs-them" mentality. I need to teach them to positively interact with people who don't believe the same things that they believe and to engage with them in honest discussions without compromising their faith and values. So how am I going to do this when they're stuck at home with me every day? Maybe it means they eventually will go to public school, or maybe it means we get creative by doing some outreach programs as part of our homeschooling. I have lots of questions like this that I haven't quite resolved yet.
So with all my misgivings and concerns, what tipped the scales in favor of homeschooling? I think the number one reason is the gift of time. Everyone says children grow up so fast. If I homeschool, I'll get to spend 2-3 times more quality time with my children than those who don't. (I know, I know... lots of people reading this would reply, "And that's a good thing??" But I really do enjoy spending time with my children. And I know you do too, cynical one.)
Another reason is that I've had 5 years now to get to know Perrin's personality and how he learns best, and I've concluded that traditional schooling would not be a good fit for him. He loves learning right now, and I don't want to take that away from him by putting him in a situation that simply doesn't fit his style and strengths. Homeschooling means we can read a book together at the park, or examine bugs under our microscope, or learn about trains from youtube videos, or take field trips to the museum. And he can chew gum or wiggle to his heart's content or ask me a zillion questions while we're doing school work, and I won't mind. And who better to choose his curriculum and teach it to him than the person who knows him best and cares more about his education than anyone?
So I think I've made up my mind. And if you've read this entire blog post of my ramblings, wow! I don't know if you're really interested in my schooling choice for my kids or just incredibly bored (because there are some seriously entertaining things on the Internet you could be looking at right now instead), but whatever the case, thank you for caring... and please pray for my sanity and patience for the next 18 years. Our incredible, entertaining, frustrating, overwhelming journey of homeschooling is about to begin.
This hasn't been an easy decision for me because public school certainly has its merits. It's free (or rather, it's something we're already paying for anyway with our taxes). It provides opportunities for socialization that I can't quite replicate with homeschooling. It ensures that he'll be learning at an appropriate pace for his age and grade level, and he'll have the pressure of his peers and teachers to keep him on track. Having both kids in school would mean I could return to full-time work eventually. And possibly the best of all--public schooling requires very little effort on my part.
I know a lot of people, particularly Christian families, who choose to homeschool to protect their kids from negative influences. I understand why they do that, and I even agree with it to some degree, but I have to admit that this is not a major influence in my decision to homeschool. In fact, I even wonder if this could be a negative. I want my children to love and have compassion for non-believers and not feel suspicious of them or develop an "us-vs-them" mentality. I need to teach them to positively interact with people who don't believe the same things that they believe and to engage with them in honest discussions without compromising their faith and values. So how am I going to do this when they're stuck at home with me every day? Maybe it means they eventually will go to public school, or maybe it means we get creative by doing some outreach programs as part of our homeschooling. I have lots of questions like this that I haven't quite resolved yet.
So with all my misgivings and concerns, what tipped the scales in favor of homeschooling? I think the number one reason is the gift of time. Everyone says children grow up so fast. If I homeschool, I'll get to spend 2-3 times more quality time with my children than those who don't. (I know, I know... lots of people reading this would reply, "And that's a good thing??" But I really do enjoy spending time with my children. And I know you do too, cynical one.)
Another reason is that I've had 5 years now to get to know Perrin's personality and how he learns best, and I've concluded that traditional schooling would not be a good fit for him. He loves learning right now, and I don't want to take that away from him by putting him in a situation that simply doesn't fit his style and strengths. Homeschooling means we can read a book together at the park, or examine bugs under our microscope, or learn about trains from youtube videos, or take field trips to the museum. And he can chew gum or wiggle to his heart's content or ask me a zillion questions while we're doing school work, and I won't mind. And who better to choose his curriculum and teach it to him than the person who knows him best and cares more about his education than anyone?
So I think I've made up my mind. And if you've read this entire blog post of my ramblings, wow! I don't know if you're really interested in my schooling choice for my kids or just incredibly bored (because there are some seriously entertaining things on the Internet you could be looking at right now instead), but whatever the case, thank you for caring... and please pray for my sanity and patience for the next 18 years. Our incredible, entertaining, frustrating, overwhelming journey of homeschooling is about to begin.
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