Keeping It Simple

Many years ago, I attended a talk on "Charlotte Mason Style Teaching". It was probably my first introduction to her, and it was without a doubt my first introduction to the idea of nature studies. I was intrigued. I still am. But , a stumbling block for me was the part of the talk when the speaker told how her family members kept their backpacks ready to go by the door so that if the day got bumpy, they could take off with their natural journals in hand at a moments notice. I was puzzled- how would you do that? There are things to be done! what if dinner isn't prepared? we might get BEHIND!... We still don't do many formal nature studies. However, I have since learned that sometimes you just need to get out (have I mention that before?;)). When things are going downhill, it can be just the break that everyone needs to finish up the day.  And, yes, we may indeed get behind, but we probably would have anyway. I actually look at it more like redeeming that ...

I mentioned in a previous post that my boys loved their trip to see the USS Pampanito, a WWII submarine.  I also mentioned that you can take a virtual tour of the ship. This afternoon, Mark and James sat down to play around at that site for a while. First, they went to the submarine tour site (http://maritime.org/pamphome.htm). From there, Mark got used to how the computer mouse moves the space around on the screen (you get different angles in each room). Mark clicked on the audio icons but found that he couldn't look and listen at the same time. I put the podcast on my phone (http://maritime.org/tour/podcast.htm), so they listened on the phone while looking on the computer.  It worked fine- they could move around following the podcast or jump to any room. The podcast is listed by room so it was not a problem to keep things in sync.  They had fun doing this together, but I am going to let James play around with it on his own. Mark was in the drivers...

Monday and Tuesday were "sick days". Paul was off at work with dad, and Mark and James were fighting a cold. It was strangely quiet around here for those two days. Wednesday was dentist, tutoring a young man with math who comes over about once a week, and off to volleyball for Paul (the only well one).  Finally,  I deemed everyone " all better! "and we got down to business- straighten up the house and got some basic school done!  On Thursday, the day I decided that everyone was well, we had our first all day at home with all of us in a long time. Boy could we use more of these! A game of Dogopoly was set up as an ongoing activity. They have made up all kinds of their own rules and it has turned out to be quite a ruthless game! :)  When they were not playing Dogopoly during their spare time, the boys were having nerf wars! Just to note- our dog is RARELY on a leash, but the bunny was out and he tends to try to snack on her. Not safe for ...

 All were impressed by this WWII submarine, the USS Pampanito . (By clicking on that link, you can take a virtual tour and listen to a podcast.)  Some interesting facts- there were not enough beds for the whole crew on the submarine. As part of the crew was always on duty, bunks were shared. Extra food supplies were stored in the shower area. Showers were infrequent, so the stored supplies were gone by the time the showers were needed. I believe that  my boys said showers consisted of 1 gallon of water. Not a luxury cruise for sure!!  Musee Mecanique ! More than just an arcade, this family owned business is a stroll back in time. The boys (big and little) had a great time here! There is a fun little video on the arcade link.   Then back to the car for a "trunk picnic" (middle picture). In true San Francisco style, they were serenaded during their meal by a one man band that was apparently very impressive (no picture of musician).  O...

In my life this week… We had these adorable little ones for the weekend. Precious time!!    Uncle Paul hanging with Mr. R.  Grandpa and Little Lady inspecting the backyard.  In our homeschool this week… We are working on basics.  We had made the switch to math textbooks a while back. Didn't really work for us. The only structured  program that has ever worked for us was Math U See- I still refer to some of the videos. We dropped that in favor of a more relaxed approach for many reasons. My move to textbooks this year has to do with wanting to make sure that Paul has all the building blocks in place to move to a math class with his sister (the teacher ;)) next year. (My daughter tutors and teaches math for homeschoolers and traditional school children in our area.)  After giving it a pretty solid effort, we dumped the textbooks in favor of these workbooks   (Math Essentials) that each...

Okay, my very few dear readers. I have a question to ask you. I am wondering how long others take to plan and organize their studies. I mean all of it- planning, printing, gathering materials, organizing... ready to go. There was a day when we did our FIAR (Five in a Row) studies that it was pretty simple. Many times, we just chose a book on Sunday and spent a week or two rowing it. Add in a sprinkle of phonics and a dash of math and... done! I suppose (but don't actually know!) that a program like Seton or another preset curriculum would be more efficient as far as set up goes. I would love to hear. Then again, if you pull from different sources, how long do you spend? I've been at this a long, long time. You'd think I have all the answers, but not so much. Do you have a "how I plan" blog post? I'd love to read it!!

POLAR*The Titanic Bear This is one of those events that I have the hardest time reading about.. The account of the sinking shared in this book gives a gentle introduction to the story. As an adult, I understood the implications, but for younger children, I am sure it would go over their heads. I read this book with James (9yo) and Mark (12yo). They were both mesmerized! By picture book standards, it is a long read. Adding in the introduction and the epilogue, it is over 60 pages. The story, as implied by the title, is told through the eyes of a toy polar bear. That may sound trite, but this story is meaty. Written by a mother for her son about their world travels (that his trusty bear accompanied them on) and ending with their harrowing voyage on the titanic, this book gives a personal and intimate look at the event. Adding to the personal feel of the story are actual photos of the family on their travels through the years, including Polar himself. (SAD) SPOILER ALERT- We we...