Corn Harvest

We went to a corn harvest event thinking we were going to be able to pick corn off the plant, but alas that was not part of the plan. We did mill some corn and make corn husk dolls. At least that's something (making corn husk dolls) I don't have to do with the kids at home.


Those are from our previous day. I felt little awkward outside with my kids who are older while all the other families all have young children, though no one gave us weird looks. And J had a little girl following her soon after she arrived at the playground. But it was an absolutely gorgeous day so of course we have to take advantage of it.

Counting to see how old the tree is.

At the dried up creek with some other boys

Alex

W was telling me about the doll I made for him, so I asked him to tell me again in Q/A format. Below is our conversation.

Q1: How old is Alex?
He is 2 months old but he can already talk.

Q2. How did you come to name him "Alex"?
My sister thought of it and she gave me the idea. So I decided to call him Alex.

Q3.What kind of food does Alex like?
He likes bananas and apples. He doesn't like doughnuts but he likes cakes and cookies.

Q4. What does he like to do?
Alex loves to do school work but he also loves to play. When he says he wants something, I will give it to him and he plays with it a lot. He builds stuff and he has good ideas. He loves to draw. He looks at his charts. He is good at memorizing stuff. The first time you teach him something, he remembers. He practices without being reminded. His favorite toy is Star War Lego.

Q4. What kind of person is Alex?
He has a lot of characters. He is considerate. He is trustworthy. Sometimes he lies, but very few times. He is helpful; he helps me make stuff like craft. He is very kind. He is happy most of the time and he is brave.

Q5. Anything else you want to say about Alex?
Sometimes my pillow is hot and I'm hot too. But Alex is always pretty chilly in the night so then I put my head on him and I hold him to cool myself down and warm him up. We help each other.

Special Day

Today is a special day, a God led kind of a day. I want to remember this day.

We also attended our friend's baby baptism and had a nice time. More later.

week in review

This week seem to have gone real fast. I haven't had much time to blog and I haven't taken as many pictures like I normally do, but still took some. So here is our week in review in photos.

visiting auntie K at her dorm room

J pretends she is the "college student" :)

There has been lots of Keva play in the house; J has gone vertical
(early Christmas present from mommy)

W immersed in his favorite kind of creative play -
good guy svs. bad guys

A find on our nature walk in the "forest"; They had fun at the forest but I have no picture to show for it. Guess there is always next time.

W worked very hard on this letter to a dear friend.

Playing a game at a Star War party

All the Jedi trainees

J uses her light saber to play telephone

Transfixed in watching the Star War movie

Me holding baby. She came to me and as soon as she came, her eyes closed and fell asleep.
So sweet!

Need for a schedule

I have found that I need a schedule. Without it I feel a little lost but I'm not rigid in always keeping strictly to it. I make adjustment as needed, for flexibility I believe is one of the best benefits of homeschooling. A schedule is something that grounds me and in turn grounds J/W. We all know what to expect and how the day will flow. When we do deviate from schedule like an unexpected field trip or play date, I let them know ahead of the time so they know what is going on.

Another reason I need a schedule is I need to keep a time-limit on things because sometimes, spending too much time on something is sheer frustration. Like today, our Spanish took much longer than usual and it was not good for me nor the kids. Looking back, I should have broke the lesson into 2 lessons. So lesson learned for mommy.

Next week, we will be on a break from school for 4 days. It will be time for me and the kids to catch up with friends, tidy up the house/ their room, and time to unwind/play.

Here is a look at our schedule. I find the more detailed I make my schedule, the better it helps me and the kids. That way, we all know what is next and I don't forget things I would like to do with them. In coming up with the schedule, I try to keep a sense of rhythm in our day so that we are not doing any one particular activity for too long and that everyone have food/ play breaks - important for mommy and the kiddos.


We also started saying Pledge of Allegiance recently since it is something I want the children, esp. W to know by heart since he has never been to school since Kindergarten. The kids naturally tend to be drawn to play with daddy and quite reading in the evening.

Bat Conservation

We saw many bats and learned many new things about bats today. The thing that left the biggest impression on J/W was "vampire bats". V. bats drinks animal blood like cow, or chickens and is the only bat that can hop (like how a monkey would on the ground). They still use echolocation like other bats to locate the cow or whatever animal they want to feed on. And, no, they don't turn their victim into vampires. :) V. bats don't like human blood because drinking it will give them a tummy ache and diarrhea. Whew!

Bats eat one of our hated insects, mosquitoes and certain kind of bats pollinate flowers just like bees. When bats eat fruits, it swallows the seed and when it comes out, it help to plant fruit trees like kiwi, peaches, bananas, etc esp. in the rain forest. We also use bats for medicine. When vampire bats drinks blood, it leaves a substance which disables the blood's ability to clot so we use that to help people who have blood clots problems. As you can see, we need bats. Unfortunately, bats are endangered due to the loss of their habitat. So one way to support them is build bat houses so they have a place to live.

One thing that was amazing to see was how big and long the bat's wing can extend. I was told bats have all the fingers (i.e thumb,pinky, etc) like we do. For that reason, they are related to us closer than mice.

Look how cute this bat is? It's got a face of a dog.

J/W listens closely along with other homeschoolers

This is the bat that is in our area.

When W came back, he drew bats. :)

2010-2011 curriculum supplemental books

This is a running list of books we read based upon Steiner's indication of developmental appropriate books. It will occasionally include books that my children simply loved.

September theme: Fables, intro to Saints, and the world of King Arthur

1. Once Upon a Time Saints by Ethel Pochocki

2. No One Damsel in Distress (World Folktales for Strong Girls) by Jane Yolen

3. 365 Manners Kids should Know by Sheryl Eberly

4. Fables by Arnold Lobel (W really liked this)

5. A Soup Opera by Jim Gill (both kids love this one; great intro to Opera)

6. Sir Gawin & The Green Knights by Michael Morpurgo (J read this whole book nonstop)

7. The World of Narnia (Aslan, Aslan's Triumph) adapted from the Chronicles of Narnia
(both kids loved this)