T is for Transformation

Wow! It has been a long time since I have written and how our world has changed... After my wonderful experience at Kripalu the law of attraction became a positive reality for me. On a whim I responded to a post on the Today show about co-sleeping with your toddlers. There was a new study out that was saying that maybe co-sleeping didn't actually create trouble with your children after all... I commented in a snarky way and minutes later was contacted in my message box by a producer from the show! She said she wanted to speak with me via phone to see if our family would be appropriate to interview. To make a long story short this conversation turned into a full on on-camera interview in our home slated for Monday (it was Saturday)! This launched me into a full scale cleaning extravaganza and my children, husband and myself being seen on national television. We were a little unsure of which way they were going to spin it but Dr. Nancy Snyderman was actually quite supportive. It was really quite beautiful. While we were still on a high from this whirlwind summer, my husband got the news that his job was going to be cut by ten hours come December 2011. We had already been stretching it with his full time pay and although our family is very resourceful there was just no way we could survive on that salary. I began to seek full time employment and can to the realization that though I loved to stay home, I had the college degree. Toby and I agreed that whoever found a job that was the best option first would be the one to go to work. After a few dead end interviews I ended up being approached by the organization I was working for per diem. The executive director was ready to retire and had been for over a year. They had been searching for a replacement the year before but I was homeschooling and had just had the baby so it wasn't even on my radar. Needless to say the timing was impeccable and the job has been the greatest blessing for our family to date. I am the Executive Director of an agency who helps connect families of children with special needs in Oneonta, NY. Family Resource Network, Inc. is an amazing place filled with amazing people and has afforded my husband the opportunity to stay home with our children, garden, write and explore his own interests once again. I am currently trying to convince him to start a secular daddy homeschooling blog in his "spare" time hehe! We will keep you posted...

H is for Honored!

This summer has been a whirlwind for our family. I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship to attend a Radiant Child Yoga Training at Kripalu for an entire week while my wonderful husband stayed home with the children! What a blessing to have a loving, supportive partner in these times. I have been inspired and changed by the experiences I had there. My teacher, Shakta Kaur Khalsa is cited as one of the top five Kundalini Yoga teachers in the world and let me just say she is an amazing woman! She helped us to experience yoga in a whole new way, many of us first time Kundalini practitioners. She was patient, and loving in her guidance and helped all of us grown-up teachers how to go back to our innocence in essence. How to free ourselves from our physical and mental constraints and become what is yoga. How else could we be given the wonderful task of teaching it to the young minds of today?
I found that my biggest lesson was time for self. I needed to stop feeling guilty about any spare moment I got for myself and actually take the reigns. I continued my practice in the following weeks upon my return. I was able to, a few days of the week, wake up before the kids, and meditate and do yoga in the early morning hours. It really seemed to help center me for whatever came at me that day. Without trying to sound to hippy, drippy I feel that my experience this summer has opened me up to a new place in the Universal Conscience. Not long after my return my family began to receive all sorts of opportunities and life changing/fulfilling encounters. Even so far as appearing on the Today Show on a little segment about co-sleeping with your toddlers!! A lesson straight from the master Yogi Bhajan for this current culture which I find poignant and true is, "Keep Up and You'll be Kept Up." The less resistance we feel the deeper and deeper we open ourselves to all possibilities! I am so excited to have learned from this master on how to be and I'm hoping to bring all of this to my children's schooling this year.

G is for Growth!

It's Spring, finally, and I am amazed when I think of the growth that has happened in the last 8 months!
Sophia has turned from an above average preschooler, to an inquisitive, holistic kindergartner. She has learned to read through a whole system approach using: tactiles; phonics; word recognition; and good old fashioned daily reading. She can count and recognize numerals 0 to 100, does addition brilliantly, and subtracts with some success. Soph loves all things science and has so much fun with experiments, gardening and keeping a weather journal. She loves to paint and continues to thrive in music and movement with violin and dance and open gym weekly. She also has her first job! She has been helping me with my yoga class every week and receives an allowance for her assistance. The amazing thing to me about Sophia is that she can draw conclusions, make comparisons and remember things we spoke of ages ago. She can put things together appropriately and in a wise and deliberate fashion far beyond her years.
I always knew she would be a wonderfully smart student and had no doubt she would thrive in any environment.
Although I have not made much mention of the younger two in my brood their success and growth has also been phenomenal this year! Part in thanks to Sophia and the structure of our "homeschooling" day. Liam's vocabulary has increased fourfold, he is potty trained (for the most part)and his attention span is that of a five year old. He loves to tell and read stories and is our resident jokester. His fine, and gross motor skills have gone from great to magnificent! He will just be three at the end of the month but has become quite the character.
My youngest, Margot, will be one on the 22nd. She has skipped so many of the "baby steps" trying to keep up with the other two, which is a character trait of the 3rd child I'm told. Straight from breast milk to solids, stacking blocks and crawl chasing everyone even up the stairs!! Her favorite things are kisses from Daddy and dancing with her brother and sister.
It took us all a while to get into the grove and a daily routine but now that we have a basic structure the flexibility just comes naturally. We love things the way they are right now and I wouldn't change a thing! We have learned to grow and have grown to learn, what a great year so far!

E is for Expectations

I think the Homeschooling "honeymoon" is officially over!! Time to get real! The ideal and the reality have come crashing into each other at full speed. To all of you moms out there who think you can't do it...I'm here to tell you you can if you do one important thing- let go of your expectation. Society has placed such a burden on all American women and I am here to bluntly give it the finger. Perfection comes at such a cost- one that has been created by the very institutions I am keeping my children from attending...schools, churches. Why, when I consciously know this and have made the decision to keep my children from them, can't I tear myself away from these expectations? Guilt, ancestry, "normality", fear?
I began to demand things from Sophia as they would in a "typical setting." She began rebelling- of course she did! I have raised her in this fashion and then act surprised when she acts this way- please!!!
Luckily I have a homeschooling mom connection who set me straight a few weeks ago. I explained how frustrated I was trying to get back into the grove after Thanksgiving break and she said this was very normal both in public schools and in a homeschooling setting. I took a deep breath and started to look in from the outside. She then profoundly stated, " The stress comes only from our own expectations. The kids are fine, they are learning every moment. Whether they are playing with their siblings, or coloring with crayons there is no boundary to their growth."
Ah-Ha!!! Revelation!
I am now making the effort to stop over complicating and bringing it back to basics-
I have prepared their environment so that my whole house can teach. I did this for a reason- I am not their "teacher" in the antiquated sense of the word, I am the "directress" here to expound on questions and instill the love of learning in their hearts. Enough about me!!

Field Trips are Fun!

With winter in upstate NY making itself ready I have been scrambling for field trips knowing that our travel will be somewhat limited very soon. The great thing about homeschooling has been the freedom for us all to explore local resources and always having a tangible example for our lesson. We have learned in the first couple of months that the outside world is our classroom. Sophia has been able to draw circular conclusions and has knowledge about interconnectedness beyond her years.

During the last week of October we explored the orgins of Halloween and found that it originated with the Celts. I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to speak about our ancestors from these isles and we found an awesome craft called a Parshall which has roots in Pagan Christianity in Ireland. We took a field trip to a local pioneer cemetery with graves dating from as far back as 1812. We did some gravestone rubbings of the Willows and Urns and further discussed our ancestors. This lead to questions about were our ancestors were buried thus furthering this exploration. This whole lesson naturally lead into Dia de los Muertos! We went to the Library and found books on the subject and made and decorated skulls out of FEMO and baked them. We then made a little fall alter with our collected leaves, squash, parshalls and skulls for our ancestors.

The next week we discussed farms and tied in our previous lessons with discussing the professions of her ancestors. We then began to talk about the different types of local farms and and tied this in with our nutrition unit. We then visited a local dairy farm on Friday and had a great time! Last week we had so much fun with family who flew in from Denver and went on another field trip to Albany to the New York Museum. This enabled a lesson about New York State and tied in prior agriculture and Iroquois lessons. We even counted farms on our way down I88!

Next week we will begin our Thanksgiving unit and I have found through Scholastic a really great interactive unit about Plymouth and the Wampanoag tribe. Discussing life and even a live podcast on the 16th. Should be interesting! I'll keep you all posted!!

Success With Themes!

I have now been teaching, and learning for 5 weeks with my kids! I can't believe how fast things are happening but am so grateful I get to see how everything unfolds. I can't imagine missing all of these light bulb moments that truly make me feel blessed daily. The weekly themes have been very successful and each week the next theme reveals itself with ease. Sophia has been able to make global connections that are beyond her years in age, and often makes her momma scratch her head and research to find "the" answers. Each week I use a general theme and then we continue things from the following lessons that were of interest. I rely heavily on literature, reading each morning a story having to do with our day. Our public library has really great programs for kids which includes Story Time Kits dealing with many topics we have been covering. Usually they have three of four books, a video or DVD, and felt board activities. It really is an amazing resource and cuts down on my preparation time considerably!!

Just to give you an idea:

Week 1: Diversity and Multiculturalism- focus on Africa/ India
Week 2: Native Americans- focus on the Americas
Week 3: Autumn- Seasons changing, weather changes- focus on harvesting, and apples
Week 4: Natural Cycles- Life Cycle- focus on the life cycle of the Butterfly
Week 5: Foods- Health and Nutrition- focus on the food pyramid and exercise

I have felt such a sense of success when by Friday of each week the kids have turned the theme into some form of play. They are making a nutritious felt pizza as we speak! Sophia made vegetable garden markers last night for fun for our garden next year, and when we were discussing the Native Americans they played for hours on the front porch foraging, hunting, and "making fires" to cook their meat over. For these guys their work turned into play and I feel that they have internalized the lessons.

We have had the great fortune to have one of my husband's former English teachers coming over every Monday to read to the kids and she has started a journal with Sophia and always has a big bag overflowing with books. The kids look so forward to it!
This week we also had our first session at the local gym. I had set up a time and invited a bunch of moms, some homeschoolers and some just with young kids still at home. It ended up being quite a success we kicked balls and jumped ropes, crawled through tunnels and made new friends. We have also picked up Sophia's violin and start lessons next week. We also found out last night that one of the girls in her dance class is also a homeschool and they had hit it off before we even made the connection. I feel so blessed to be able to do this and I feel like the universe is just beginning to open up these amazing possibilities to us. My hope is it will continue always!!!

"The Absorbent Mind"

Our first week has officially ended and we are right into the next. Sophia's enthusiasm is contagious and both Liam and I have caught it! To my surprise we have covered a vast array of topics thanks to the whim of Sophia's brain and a basic outline thought out by yours truly. I was so nervous and excited on Sunday night that I barely slept and woke up at an ungodly hour. Guess who was already awake- Sophia! She was so excited she wanted to begin right away her appetite has been insatiable since.

I was trying to think of a tangible example that I could use to describe my teaching technique and this is what I came up with: A Skeleton- I would provide the spinal column and the kids would guide the bone building process. Ribs to shoulders to arms and head, hips to legs to ankles and feet. You can see how this progresses and could keep doing so. I have been keeping a daily journal to document what we work on because every moment is fleeting. We have covered so much just the first week I could never write everything but we have decided on weekly themes.
Due to the strange looks of disapproval and the silence that comes over people when Sophia tells them excitedly that, "Yes I am in Kindergarten. My mom is Homeschooling me!" I picked diversity and differences for our first week.

Our Day:
We created the ritual of yoga, then morning circle time with a welcome song. We change the day and weather on our wall calendar and then Sophia records in her science journal the weather condition. I then read a book, or poem having to do with our theme. We then go on our daily adventure which really leads us wherever Sophia takes us. I like to think of these as little rabbit trails. Just in the first week we learned about the life cycle of butterflies, why girls and women in India wear Bindis, and how to count to 100, just to mention a few.

It is in these fragile moments that I feel a caring and intelligent adult is created. I truly feel that the difference between good and evil comes down to the ability to accept adversity thus growing from each experience. If you don't learn this early on you will become stunted and place barriers on yourself mentally and physically. My hope is to give my kids a chance to grow, purely.

Sophia is a brilliant young mind questioning and wondering about everything thus
creating the same effect on Liam. The "absorbent mind" is the most accurate description and I love Montessori for coining it!

A is for Acclimation

The idea of "the first day" is both exciting and a bit dauting...we are to be completely responsible for educating these young minds! I began with large ideas and plans and have narrowed things first into months and weeks, and now into days and even hours. I am also ready for the possiblilty that my plans all go up in smoke begining the first day. I do feel prepared however, and for me that is a good thing!

I began with these concepts: Kindergarten
(some are not totally age appropriate but for Sophia they will be)

*Language- History of Writing and the Alphabet, Story Concepts (who,what,where,why), Spelling and word play, Pronunciation (phonics)

*Math- Developing # concepts, Geometric shapes, measurement (cooking, water collection, thermometer), time telling, money counting

*Science- Weather, Seasons, basic astronomy, silence and sound in nature, ecosystems and diversity (basic)

*Social Studies- Address and phone #,community exploration,state and country, geography and diversity of culture

*Health- Nutrition, basic cleanliness, basic anatomy

*Fitness- Large motor skills, yoga, gym class (at the local civic center), swimming, soccer, dance, Boxing (w/ Toby), Hiking

*Art- Art book study, arts and crafts of all kinds (daily), art in nature, color work, pattern play

*Music- violin lessons, daily listening and singing, dance class

My next step is monthly themes, weekly excercises and daily activities! I have the first week completed anyway! Our classroom is finished and our school supplies are bought we will begin this Monday the 13th! Excited and nervous, Sophia and Liam can hardly wait we have already dug into many topics listed above but I can't possibly make them wait! This may turn into a all year adventure which is really no different than the last 5 years...

Homeschooling for Mummies

This blog will record the trial and error on my path to Homeschooling. My eldest daughter will be turning 5 this September and would be old enough to enter Kindergarten at our public school. We went through the whole process enrolled her, got the required immunizations, intellegence screening etc. When I recieved the test scores in the mail I just sat with them for a long time, "what did they mean?" I tried to look up the testing used and found nothing. This sent me on an adventure. The world of homeschooling began to open up to us and we to it. It became not a question of can we do this but when can we start! Calling the school and pulling her from their roster was the most freeing thing I have done in a long, long time.
This is a little known, and I find misunderstood world. Shrouded with ideas of weird, unsocialized kids and religious fundementalism. My family and I are here to prove that all wrong. Although we have just begun I feel the momentum building and oportunities taking hold that would never happen in traditional schooling. We are not teaching our children at home to keep them from the world, rather to open the world up to them...
Please join us!