Making a New Friend

Yesterday Tiny Dancer spotted a new friend on our street. Well, they weren't acquainted yet, but she was burning with desire to make the acquaintance at once.

All day, she went to the front door and stared out longingly at the friend. This potential friend was outside all day, within steps of our front door. Sometimes she would peer out the door in wonder, and other times she would venture out to the step and sit down to watch.

I wasn't totally sure about this friendship. I mean, it wasn't the sort of friendship I would normally encourage. And yet... she was so sure.

So late in the afternoon, I finally agreed to inviting the new friend in.

Meet... Mr. Benedict. His evil twin, Mr. Curtain, is lurking somewhere in the backyard. 

Mr. Benedict has taken up residence in our home for the past two days. She sits and watches him all day long. She worries about whether or not he's eating. She makes sure he is getting air. We've had to read books to learn more about grasshoppers. 

I now know more about grasshoppers than I ever cared to know.

She knows we have to let him go tomorrow. She seems okay with that because, as she says, there are more like him out there. She has become The Grasshopper Hunter, and I feel a little badly for the unsuspecting grasshoppers in our neighborhood. They thought they were moving into a nice, quiet neighborhood. 

In truth, though, I am pleased to have her interested in the insect, even though he has been living on my dining room table for the past two days. He's been a great friend to her, and he's led to some fantastic conversation around the house. 

Maybe next time I will be more encouraging about new friendships because, after all, who can argue with a smile like that?

A Day in the Life

We're giving you a picture of a day in our homeschool lives today. This is just a glimpse of our simple beginnings of school. This week and next we fill in our evenings with our extra curricular activities: swim team, dance class, scouts, and Awana. 


School starts at 8:30 - sharp! We take school seriously, and I have learned that if we start later than this, we don't finish until very late. Sure, they would love more play time before school, but that's not why we're home schooling. They have plenty of play time in the afternoons when school is finished.

It's been a smooth transition so far adding in Tiny Dancer. I was worried about trying to get to all three of them without losing my mind. Our list of rules has helped. I've also added in some "classroom management" incentives that are working brilliantly so far.  More about those soon.

School usually starts with Curly working on his assignment list. Little Bear is given a few assignments he can complete on his own. I start with Tiny Dancer. It takes about 90 minutes to get through her school: reading, writing, math, and a project.

After she's finished, she's off to play/ make a mess. 

Those little bears might just be the greatest thing we have ever purchased.

Little Bear and I then work on some things together while Curly continues to work on his list.

Math = Love

Working on a science report on owls.

Little Bear has been finishing around 11 up to this point, although he is not yet up to his full list of subjects. Everything else will be added in during the course of this week. It's been nice to transition him into the new year. I still expect he will finish around noon or a little later. When he's finished, he's off to join Tiny Dancer in the play/mess making.

This is when I sit to work with Curly. We work on math, part of history, sometimes grammar, and science together. The list of things we do together has dwindled over the years as he has learned to work more independently. I also spend this time correcting any of his previous work and making sure he understood his lessons.


I have been more organized in my meal planning so far (are you noticing the "so far" theme here?) this year, so lunch is a packed lunch three times per week and a hot lunch twice per week. This is a good compromise between those who want a hot lunch and Mama who doesn't want to make a hot lunch. 

Eating a packed lunch while waiting for Curly to have a swim lesson.

  

This is Curly pretending he can read and eat at the same time. He's not fooling me.

After lunch, we reconvene for our Bible class. We are using Bible Road Trip, and we are loving it. The kids are really liking the notebooking aspect of the program.

Tiny Dancer and Little Bear head off to play some more, or read, or whatever it is those two do together. Curly finishes any remaining work. Some days he's finished earlier than others, depending on how well he focused and how long his list was for the day. 

Writing = Love

At 2:00, it's quiet time for the kiddos. I need a little time to recharge - read a little, Bible studying, catch up with a friend, and some time to complete something around the house.

After that is the whirlwind of dinner, activities, and getting ready for bed!

And maybe once in a while we end the day by forgetting the kids are playing outside in the rain.

 Our days are much less "typical" this year with all of the outside activities we have going on. I like structure and organization, and I thrive in that setting, so I am a bit apprehensive that we are going to be overloaded (and Papa's eyes are beginning to glaze over at the thought of our fall schedule). But we are committed to these things for this year, so we will see how it goes. My general rule for school is to take it one year at a time and reassess each year.

What does a "typical" day look like in your home?

First Week Readings

Here's what's being read at the Oak House Academy this week.

Tiny Dancer: A variety of versions of Goldilocks. She's working on the Goldilocks literature pocket, so we have been having fun reading the stories. I just can't understand why Goldilocks goes into someone else's house, eats their food, breaks their chair, and takes a nap. I have a hard time connecting with this story. But I suppose for children it's the thrill of seeing someone else be naughty, right?

Little Bear:  Beowulf: A Hero's Tale Retold by James Rumford. It's a beautiful picture book of the famous story. It's pretty gruesome, but it was actually Tiny Dancer who loved it the most. She could answer all of my questions about the story, and she was caught during the week playing out the story with her toys. 

After we finished Beowulf, we started reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Michael Morpurgo. This one is a little longer, so it will take us a few days. We've only come to the part where Gawain volunteers to play the Green Knight's "game." He's a pretty gruesome character, himself. I thought Little Bear might be a little afraid of these stories, but he seems to be loving the adventure.

His fun reading includes the Weird School Books. There are a ton of these, and they are very funny. He's read all the library has, so he was thrilled to find a new one this week. 

He also really likes the Horace Splattly series.  

Curly:  He has two books he's working through for school, just for literature. He's reading Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye with me. It's a longer, fuller version of the story. There are more details, and it's even more gruesome. The descriptions of Grendel the ogre are pretty vivid.

He's also reading The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff on his own. This one is a nice challenge for him and fits into the time period of our year.

Just for fun, he's in the midst of the Artemis Fowl series. He's on a mission to finish them all by Labor Day. We'll see...  

And for me, I'm reading several things at the moment, but this one really has my attention. I first heard the story on This American Life, my favorite NPR show, and was really intrigued. I wrote the title down to wait for it to become available at the library. It was a long wait, but it was worth it!

How about you? What are you reading?

Meet the Students

I can't believe it's time to start a new school year!  We've been finished with the last year since the middle of May, and we are all ready.

I used to teach first grade, back before we had any children. I loved the start of a new year: getting everything ready, putting their names on books, planning for the year, and especially meeting the students. They were always so cute and nervous, and I loved the feeling of newness.

I'll share more about our first days later in the week, but I'd like you now to meet the students of Oak House Academy for this year. 

Curly, fifth grade. His favorite subjects are French, reading, writing, and history. His least favorite subject is math. Curly is working on independence and organization this year. You can read about his school plans here.

Curly hopes to be a writer, movie director, actor, lawyer, and teacher when he grows up. He would also like to teach a class for kids who hope to be writers when they grow up. Have I mentioned he's not good at making decisions? Maybe I should add that to the list of things he is working on this year.  

Little Bear, second grade. His favorite subjects are math, science, piano, and history. His least favorite subject is spelling. Little Bear is working on slowing down and following directions this year. You can read about his school plans here.

Little Bear hopes to be a fifth grade science teacher when he grows up.  

Tiny Dancer, kindergarten. Her favorite subjects include reading and anything with crafts. She doesn't have a least favorite subject yet. Tiny Dancer is working on adjusting to being part of the school routine this year. I am too. You can read about her school plans here.

Tiny Dancer hopes to be the mother of four girls and a dance teacher when she grows up.

If you'd like to see our school space, you can take a look here.

And that's our class for this year. Thanks for meeting the students!

Beach Bums

We are definitely beach bums around here. Give us the surf, sand, and sun, and we are happy as clams.

Every year we make a pilgrimage to the Jersey shore. Once or twice we've been able to stay a few days or even a whole week, but most years we just go for the day. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive, if you are fortunate enough to not hit traffic. It's not a bad day trip, really. We leave early and come home late, and the kids always feel like it's a magical day. 

This year we brought our pseudo-child and special friend, Brittany. She spends time hanging out with us, and the kids adore her. She's way more fun for them than we are. I mean, she actually jumps over the waves. We just stand there. :) She spent hours sitting in the waves and building sand castles.

Look how they make the exact same face. :)

It was a little cool, so we were thankful we brought along plenty of towels and snacks.

Truly, he's always happy there are blankets and snacks.

The boys LOVE boogie boarding. Little Bear is actually pretty good at it, and he's not afraid at all. In fact, the rougher the waves, the happier he is.

It was a beautiful day but a little on the cool side. So the kids rotated what they were doing pretty often. One of their favorites is sitting in the waves. They made up some crazy game to go with it.

Throwing sand at the waves will definitely make them stop.

When it comes to the sand, you can't help but bury someone...

Or making drip castles.

The beach is always a good place for pictures...

And checking out God's creation.

After a long day in the sun, we hit the boardwalk. First stop was Manco and Manco's for pizza. We also had some crab fries and hit up Johnson's for their fresh caramel popcorn. Now that's good stuff. 

It's always sad to leave, but, OCNJ, we'll see you again next year!

Now THAT'S precious.