Throwing Marshmallows

Then Life Without School needs you!

“Help create our Special Needs page! We would love to hear your stories about how and why you homeschool your child and your take on the label and how it effects your lives or not!  How does homeschooling benefit your child, your family, you as a parent?”

Check out the LWOS Special Needs Call for Contributers page for more details. 

I started responding to a comment to my post yesterday about  Typical Days by momof3feistykids (another Stephanie no less!) and realized that it would probably make a good blog post in and of itself. She said in part:

“Wonderful post! I am not an unschooler, in the usual sense of the word (I make them do plenty of “schooly” stuff that they wouldn’t choose on their own). But I, too, pay attention to what they’re learning when they’re “goofing off” and even document it in my home school records. I have long suspected that one of the biggest parts of becoming an unschooler must be (in Charlotte Mason’s words) *developing the habit of attention.* Training oneself to notice what the kids are doing, thinking, and learning during their “free time” must be half the battle.”

Obviously she has a great point. Seeing the learning that happens everyday can help no matter how you homeschool. I do know that sometimes it can be hard to value the less formal “everyday” learning as much as the more typical “school-type” learning. After all, we spent 12+ years learning that only “school-type” learning was important. Yet, once we got out of school, did we stop learning?  Of course not. And the interesting thing is that I bet for most of us, that learning looks less like school and is most definitely interest driven.

I do not know if we really fall into the unschooling camp…there are so many debates over who/what is true unschooling so I try to stay away from defining ourselves. We are very relaxed in our homeschooling, some things we do look schooly and others most definitely do not. I base what we do on what works for us rather then try to follow a specific philosophy. The great thing is that since we are homeschooling we can do what works for us and adjust if we need to.

~Steph

Coincidently enough, two of my homeschool email lists had posts from moms wanting to relax their homeschooling and asking what a “typical unschooling” day looked like. Well, we never really have a “typical day” around here as much of the time we are winging it. I have general ideas of things that I want to accomplish each day and we have our activities schedule which drives the schedule somewhat. A lot of what I capture on my blog is “typical day” stuff and so I have added a “Typical Days” category.

Yesterday was not exactly a typical day, but I thought that I would write about it because I think that it illustrates what a lot of people worry about when they start becoming “more relaxed”. That the kids won’t learn anything if they don’t “do school”.

I woke up all set to get the kids moving to their dentist appointments at 11am. Kyle woke up not feeling well and said that he had a headache. Turns out that he was running a fever. Time to rework our plans! Luckily other then the dentist appointment, we had nothing that we had to do. We had a very busy week…drove back from the beach on Monday. Tuesday we had co-op and karate. Wednesday we went to a cool traveling show called Native Lands and spent the whole day outside. Thursday we got our hair cut (and man did we need it) and games class. So today we were going to hang out at home. Which I guess is what we wound up doing, just slightly different then planned.

Since Kyle was feeling so badly and I had some things that I needed to get done for VaHomeschoolers I decided that it would be fine to have a total veg day. Which meant that Jason played a lot of game cube and we all watched a lot of movies. And did nothing that looked like school. So what did we do all day? Let’s see…

Jason spent a lot of time working on his Paper Mario game. The interesting thing is that in the course of playing that video game, he needed cheats. Which meant that he needed to use the computer to find them (I am letting him do his own research and typing with my help). And once he found them he needed to find the applicable part. Which meant not only was he reading but he was skimming (the cheat was over 100 pages long and had walkthrough and tons of other game information) and using the info that he was reading to figure out where he was. Not an easy task for a kid who has only been reading for a year. Oh and don’t forget that since he was using my laptop he spent quite a bit of time using my touchpad (working his fine motor skills - this was not really easy for him!) At one point in the cheats they had written the answers to some riddles backwards…at first this really challenged Jason, but by the end he was getting the hang of it (this was a great use of his visualization skills - something that he works on a lot in OT). Then the game itself is just a series of problems to solve, trial and error. Lots of critical thinking and problem solving and experimentation going on there. At a couple of points during the day, Jason did go outside and ride his scooter and jump on the trampoline as well.

I read several books to Kyle while he laid on the couch and we watched part of the original Pink Panther movie. The boys did not really like it too much, so we switched over to Ice Age. I love that I now have a laptop because I can spend more time with the boys while they are playing or watching and I can get things done as well. It is fun to just hang out with them and we had some really nice and fun convesations. Kyle napped on and off throughout the day and I got some things done around the house. Then I remembered that we had taped a program off the science channel called the Unfolding Universe…all about black holes and space and cool stuff. We watched that until bedtime. Jason really got into it and was asking all sorts of questions and was surprised by some of the things that he learned (like how when the sun becomes a red giant it will engulf the earth’s orbit so that the earth is just an ember rotating within the sun).

So here we basically had a day where “all” we did was watch tv and play video games. Yet I can see where learning did take place. Does this mean that all I want is for my kids to sit around and play video games and watch tv all day? No…but not because learning won’t happen (because it does). Rather because there is so much to life and part of my job is to expose them to new and exciting things. So we do many different things, but those things also include video games and tv. For us, it is all about that ellusive thing called balance.

What I have found is that seeing the learning that happens when we are “doing nothing all day” helps me become more comfortable with relaxing my homeschooling. As my friend Shay likes to say, “there are no educational emergencies”. If you “miss” something and it is really important enough, there will be plenty of other opportunities to learn it.

So my advice to you, if you want to relax your homeschooling, is to start small and ease into it. Start letting go of your “school work” gradually and start looking for the learning that is going on. My personal feeling is that everyone has their own comfort level and you need to work with that. Of course others recommend to go cold turkey at first…whatever works for you! There is no right way or right destination. Follow your gut, look for the learning and see where it takes you. That is the beauty of homeschooling. You are never stuck. If something is not working for you, keep looking until you find something that does work. It is up to you.

And now it looks like I caught what Kyle had. Joy of joys. I think that we may need to find a friend for Jason to go play with so us two sickies can crash all day. The fun never ends…

~Steph 

Yippee! homeschooljournal.net just added this awesome Tropical Breeze theme and I love it! I have been playing around with themes for the past week or so and had not found one that was “just right”.

I really liked the dark maple one, but it was, well a little bit too dark. More fall colors which are beautiful and I like in the fall, but are not really “me”. I am much more the spring color type.

I also liked the blue one that I tried for a little while, but the tagline (the throwingmarshmallows quote) was not as prominent (and since that really is the basis for this blog, I want it to be obvious). The blue theme also is actually a very narrow column blog. I tend to write long blog posts (what, who me?) so the wider the better or else people are scrolling forever!

So here we are today with this lovely apple green and purple blog. I love it! It actually did not have the tagline on it at first, but I emailed Andrea and asked if it could be added and in less then an hour it was! Talk about great service.

Of course, me being the picky person that I am, I have a few tweaks that I would like to see. I would love to see the blog title and tagline a bit more prominent (like in the Dark Maple theme). And I would like to have the sidebar titles be a bit smaller and maybe a different font.

But overall I love it so I think that I will stay with it and be happy! At least until they start adding some more new themes….

~Steph

  Here are the pictures I promised. We had a blast riding bikes up and down the boardwalk. Jason and Jack got to ride the “banana bikes” and loved it!

 Kyle and Jamie were just a touch too short for the banana bikes, so they got to ride in the front of the surrey bike. But they did get a chance to try them out for a little while…just another inch and they will be off and running. 

Can you tell they like these bikes?

Although it was still a but chilly, we wound up spending about two hours down on the beach Monday morning. The kids actually went in the water!

Or maybe not!!

They decided that playing on the rocks would be more fun. This is something that the lifeguards do not allow during the summer (way too many people to keep an eye on) but with just us around it was tons of fun!

They were playing this game where Jason and Jack were Cave Elves, Kyle was a Mountain Elf and Jamie was a Fairy Princess. I think that I was the troll….

I love the ocean in the spring! And Ocean City is awesome in the off-season. No crowds, no traffic, it is wonderful.

~Steph

I stayed up way to late last night after we got home from the beach. And got up way too early this morning. Had a fun day, but I am beat!

So I am going to be a good girl and head to bed. Nighty-nite!

~Steph

What? You say you did not realize that we were even at the beach? oops! I kept meaning to mention it, but kept getting distracted by other subjects. Ya gotta love the internet! What would I do without it. Yes, last week we decided last minute to take off for Ocean City, Md…one of the perks of having a place at the beach only 3 hours away. We left Thursday afternoon and returned this evening…one of the perks of homeschooling…we get to live on our own schedule.

We had a blast. Spent most of our time hanging out with the boys favorite OC homeschool friends, Jack and Jamie. The first two days were cold and rainy, but the boys did not care. They got to hang out with their buds! It is amazing how well the kids get along (and hanging out with their mom, Joanna is a blast for me too). Sunday it got warmer and we went to an arcade on the boardwalk and rented bikes to ride to the end of the boardwalk. Jason and Jack got to ride “bannana bikes” (don’t worry I will post pictures tomorrow). Kyle and Jamie were just a bit short, so they got to ride on the front of the surrey bike that Joanna and I got to pedal. After that Jack hung out at our place and the boys had a water gun fight and a marathon gamecube playing time until around 9:30pm.

We also got to see some awesome fog roll in…it was pretty incredible. All of a sudden it started getting darker and dropped 10+ degrees. The fog kept getting thicker and thicker and you could really see it “roll” in. Pretty soon you could not even see across the canal! Jason came upstairs to ask me to come downstairs because it was a little bit freaky and they felt more comfortable with me with them! Nice to be needed.

Today we spent about 2 hours with Jack and Jamie out on the beach…there was still some fog and it was really windy. The kids loved it! They climbed on some rocks and had a wonderful make-believe game going. Jason and Jack were Cave Elves, Kyle was a Mountain Elf and Jamie was a Fairy. I got to take some great pictures…I will have to post them tomorrow as it is getting late.

I also got to do some penny smashing this weekend which was fun. I have tons of traders now. There are quite a few penny machines in Ocean City and I think I hit just about all of them.

Well, it is off to bed now….have to get up early to work our food co-op delivery in the morning! The boys are going to love me!

~Steph

I have wanted to pull all my right-brained/visual-spatial learners resources onto one page so that I can easily refer to them and I did! Check it out:

Right-brained/Visual-spatial Learner Resources

This is a good place to start if you think that you might have a visual-spatial learner…these are the articles, books and (of course) email lists that have helped me along the way. Hope that they help you!

~Steph

Every once in awhile I completely by accident stumble across a book that we really enjoy. Birdbrain Amos by Michael Delaney is one of those books. I was looking through the library catalog for animal books for Kyle and thought this looked cute. Turns out that both boys really enjoyed it! Always a plus…they usually like very different books.

Birdbrain Amos is about a hippo who goes looking for a tick bird to eat the bugs that are bothering him. He does find one, but through a misunderstanding he winds up with the tick bird’s nest on his head! Amos wants to ask his bird friend to move the nest, but can’t because now she has laid her eggs. Amos endures the teasing of his fellow hippos as he struggles with how to handle everything.

This is a fun book, not overly long. (Jason probably could have read it on his own). The boys found it very funny, especially the baby tick bird Ameoba (you have to read the story) who calls “rain” “wain” and “river” “wiver”. And a book that holds both kids’ attention and has them laughing out loud is great in my book!

~Steph

Some of you may have noticed that I have lincluded links for “squished pennies” and may be wondering what that is all about. Well, squished pennies are those elongated pennies that you can buy as a souvenir (usually for about 51 cents) at many locations around the US (and the world). It turns out that there are tons of these penny machines with wonderful designs all over and a large network of people who like to collect them. Go figure!

I had a few squished pennies from when I was a kid but did not realize how widespread the hobby was until we visited the Squished Penny Museum here in Washington DC on a homeschool field trip. The museum is run by a wonderful couple out of their home (call first to set up an appointment time!) They allowed the boys to press their own pennies and it was fascinating to learn so much about them (not to mention seeing the hundreds of pennies they have!). This trip rekindled my interest and I started looking into it more.

The first place I found was the wonderful Elongated Coin email list which connects collectors from all over to talk pennies and share new finds and especially to trade! I have just started trading (check out my trade list) and am finding it to be a wonderful way to “meet” other collectors as well as expand my collection. I am have decided to try to focus my collection on mostly nautical/sea related items such as crabs, sea stars (starfish), sea horses, light houses, puffins, penguins, and turtles. I also enjoy collecting pennies from Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. It is amazing all the different designs you can find.

There is a national organization for collectors which has its own website and newsletter called The Elongated Collectors (TEC). They even send out pennies with each newsletter and organize squished penny meets.

Another great resource is the Penny Collector website. They make machines but most importantly they maintain a Penny Location database. Collectors email them with updates (and often times pictures of the pennies) about where they have found machines. I have started checking there every time we go somewhere new just in case.

Half the fun is in the hunt and the boys do join in, although I am more serious about it  then they are. It is something fun for us to do together and I will have to post more about how this relates to our homeschooling (because, like everything else we do, it is part of our learning!)

~Steph

Just wanted to post a quick update to say that Jason is doing much better. Yesterday morning he still felt pretty awful and running a little bit of a temperature. But by the end of the day he was back to playing his video games and finally eating a little bit. We are going to take it a bit easy today (skipping Games class at the Y) still.

It really is wonderful to see my sweet little boy back to normal. This one came from out of the blue and really knocked him for a loop. But all’s well that ends well!

OK, a bit late, but a friend posted this on the Va Eclectic email list and it was just too funny not to include here. Definitely made by someone with way too much time on his hands!

The Lord of the Peeps - The Fellowship of the Peep

I was all set to actually make it out to the Nova Unschooler’s park day today…weather was supposed to be gorgeous and our schedule has freed up lately (Tuesday mornings used to be our only morning to take it easy and slow).

That was the plan. Until about 12:30 last night when Jason started throwing up. And running a 102.5 degree temperature. Poor thing. Not sure where this came from. We have not been around anyone who is sick lately and we have been healthy. Ah well. It has hit him hard. He threw up 3 times last night and once this morning. His fever has been going up and down all day, mostly staying over 102, sometimes hitting 103. I have been giving him ibuprofin when he gets too uncomfortable so that he can sleep. As soon as it wears off, the fever goes back up. He is drinking, but has not been able to eat anything.

He is sleeping now and I hope that things get better tomorrow and that we don’t have another rough night. 

I am playing around with themes for this blog…so if things look a bit different and/or keep changing you will know why.

I will probably end up with what I started with, but I want to check out my options anyways. I am a person who actually has to see something to know if I like it or not…so thanks for bearing with me!

As soon as the boys saw Peeps in the store, they had to get them. Why you ask? Because they wanted to blow them up in the microwave! Of course!

We did this last year and it was actually really, really funny. The peeps grow and swell until they get several times their original size. There is a great website about  Peep experiments. Jason was laughing hysterically through the whole thing and Kyle really enjoyed all the pictures. Especially the one about the effects of smoking and drinking on Peeps.

CAUTION: Do not place peeps on a regular plate in the microwave! We found out the hard way that the plate will crack with a HUGE bang. Use paper towels to be on the safe side. 

Poor Peep!

Note: I was going to add pictures of our Peep experiments but it looks like I have to figure out exactly how to add pictures over here! So check back soon…

Update: Thanks to homeschooljournal.net’s great user support, I have figured out the picture thing! Very easy too…Thanks Andrea!

 

A friend of mine started a community homeschooling blog called Life Without School and asked me to be a featured author. From the blog description:

“Life Without School is an on-line publication and blogging community. We live our lives without school. For some, Life Without School begins as a conscientious choice that is whole-heartedly embraced. For others, it begins as a quest for second chances and new opportunity….”

 Right now there are 9 featured authors and periodic guest authors. Definitely check it out. Up now is a great post by Tammy on Finding This Life about how she came to unschooling and what that means to her family. I love her take on it…rings very true to me.

“How we educate our kids is a perspective before it’s a practice. All homeschoolers might use textbooks, use real-life experience, use lists, use all the different tools available to learn (yes, even unschoolers). The difference to me between an “unschooler” and any other method is not necessarily what we do, but the perspective that got us here in the first place. What we “do” all day is irrelevant. It’s the “why” we do that’s revealing. It’s the “why” behind the practices described in books, elists and websites that explain far more than the actual educational tool itself.”

What a wonderful journey!

Some quick news…Kyle got his white belt black stripe in karate! He is so excited. The preschool testing is not quite as intense as the regular testing (he just did it as part of class). He has decided that he wants to give the homeschool class on Tuesday (that Jason goes to) a try. He really is enjoying himself.  He takes it very seriously.

He also started soccer. The game last weekend was rained out but he is enjoying practice. His entire team (including coach) is back this season so that is fun. I love spring!

We have been so busy and I do hope to someday have time to catch everyone up! I keep writing blog posts in my mind, but then can’t seem to find the time to get them onto the computer.

Spring has sprung! I am loving the time change now that the boys have adjusted. Wasn’t too bad actually. Within a day or so and we were good to go. Now that it is lighter later (and warmer) the boys have been spending more time outside. We picked up razor scooters today and the boys loved them! They were outside (without me!) for hours this afternoon. Jason took a couple of good spills, so I guess it is time to make sure that we have plenty of bandaids. Seems he really likes speed!

Like I said, I hope to have more time soon!

I have been playing around for a couple of days here at homeschooljournal.net and I have to say that I like it! The interface is really easy to use. I like the fact that if I am reading my blog and notice something that I want to change, I can click on the edit button and make the change without having to go through a whole major process like I had to over at blogger. The conversion was as easy as pressing a button. All my old posts were brought over including my comments.

Above all though, my favorite thing is the categories!! Yippee! No more trying to remember what month I wrote something…just click on a category and I can find it no problem! This will really help as I tend to post links to my blog a lot on my homeschooling email lists…much easier then re-typing out how Jason learned to read every time the subject comes up.

So I am still playing around and trying to figure out exactly how things work (like why my categories do not list out in alpha order) and how to change things around on my sidebar a bit. But all and all I am really happy.

So thanks to Andrea and Ron! (Yes, this is run by real homeschoolers..real people!) I hope they know what they are in for.

I have been sick since Tuesday. It started with a scratchy throat which I thought (hoped?) was allergies since the weather has been so nice around here lately. Wednesday I knew it was more then just allergies…we took it easy and went to swimming and came home and read some books until my voice gave out. Had Jason read a little bit from the Secrets of Droon books (he is convinced that all the books he likes to read are too hard for him…he is surprising himself I think by how easily he is reading these). Then I crashed for the rest of the day. Went to bed early that night (which should tell you how bad I was feeling…I never go to bed early!).

Woke up Thursday morning feeling even worse. Although it was supposed to be a gorgeous day, I could not bring myself to do anything. Then my friend Kathi called asking if we wanted to join her and our friend Wendy at a local park. They wanted to do some letterboxing and wanted to know if we were up to it. That sounded doable…pack a lunch and show up at a park. So we went.

What fun! Letterboxing is a blast…basically like a treasure hunt. You go to the website and look for an area around where you live. You go there and follow the clues (stand with your back to 8th road and take 25 steps towards the creek until you come to a tree stump). Once you find the package, you stamp it and mark it with the date you found it and rehide it. We only found 1 out of the 4 that were supposed to be in the park, but the kids really enjoyed it.

We then went to the playground, had lunch and the kids played while we moms talked. How wonderful is that! So instead of being stuck inside with me sleeping on and off and feeling guilty because the boys were playing video games all day on a beautiful day, the boys spent almost 3 hours outside, exploring and having a great time before we went to the Games class at the Y. Talk about a win-win situation.

It is good to have homeschooling friends. Actually I don’t think that I could do it without them. A support network of friends who get what we do and why we do it is critical. And so appreciated. And a lot of fun. So thanks Kathi and Wendy for a wonderful afternoon. And thanks to all my other homeschooling friends that are sharing this wonderful journey with us. I couldn’t do it without you!