A year of progress, 5 minutes at a time

We have been homeschooling for a little over a year now. It has been an amazing journey. One of the things I have liked the most is being able to see the steady progress the Nuthatch has made. One of the most remarkable areas of improvement has been his handwriting.

Writing has been a difficult task for him. I didn't worry too much about it, they say printing skills often take longer to develop in boys than in girls. Also, as this was his Kindergarten year, I kept my expectations low. We have just worked away at it, for 5 minutes a day. I didn't want him to do any more than that, I knew it would only make both of us frustrated.

Here are photos of his work, one picture per month. I apologize about the quality of the photos, they're a little dark.

I was having trouble convincing him to write at all.

He agrees to trace a few uppercase letters and try a couple on his own. He turns 5 years old.

He tries to write simple words several times.

I read about the technique of copywork and tried having him write from his easy readers. It was too hard for him and he was very frustrated.

I'm still stubbornly trying the copywork, despite the fact that it isn't working well. He hates writing.

I back off and we start tracing individual letters. I find the Handwriting without Tears website.

More tracing. Lots of stickers for positive reinforcement.

We start working on correct letter formation. I discovered Charlotte Mason and her focus on forming one perfect letter per day.

I learn about Charlotte Mason's idea of erasing poorly formed letters. He writes a few letters each day.

Now he is able to write a word somewhat perfectly.

He writes one word a day.

I think it's time to move on to the next step, when I figure out what that is. He will be 6 years old next month.

As I scroll through the photos I can hardly believe that the last four photos were from the same kid. I showed Nuthatch his work from a year ago. He couldn't believe that was the way he used to write. It was a great moment. Looking back, I can see not only his growth as a student, but also mine as a teacher. We have learned how to work together to find that magic spot where he is challenged but the work is not too difficult.

Getting to know a place

We live in the suburbs. For most of our 'nature' time we need to drive somewhere. There is lots to explore within walking distance of our house, but we live near a very busy road which can be a stressful experience to negotiate.

One thing I have been trying to do is to visit a few natural areas often. I have several parks on my list of places that we return to again and again. I want the kids to see how these places change through the seasons. I want them to develop a map of these areas in their minds and be able to find their way around. I want them to get to know these places well.

There is a lovely small forest not too far from our house. It is just a bit too far for the boys to walk, so we end up driving there. I had chosen this place as our 'main' area to focus on. I liked that it was near our house, and that while there is a lot of human impact, there is still quite a bit of diversity and natural growth.

We went this morning to explore our small forest. I parked in the neighbouring high school parking lot. Unfortunately, someone from the school came out to tell me that only teachers were allowed to park there, and my car would be towed.

Feeling rather frustrated and thwarted in my great 'get to know a place' plan, I loaded the kids and the stroller back into the van and we left to explore a park that we had not been to before.

It turned out to be a wonderful spot. It was quiet and it had a variety of habitats. I could tell that there were lots of 'nature stories' to learn about (I'll write another post about nature stories). It was also quite safe. The kids had just the right kind of morning.

The Nuthatch played 'lion in the grass'.

The BlueJay thought this rock looked like a sandwich. It was getting close to lunch, was he hungry?

There was a shallow stream, perfect for throwing rocks into and for jumping from rock to rock. It was shallow enough that if they fell in they would just get wet.

Sometimes I wonder what value this outdoor time has for my youngest. She was trapped in her stroller all winter since she couldn't walk wearing her snowsuit. Now she can get out and explore too, and she loves it! I bring the stroller along just in case she gets tired, but she spends most of her time following her brothers. She finds little sticks and rocks and dandelion fuzz to investigate. It is a wonderful thing to watch.

I think I have found a new spot to put on our 'short list' of places to explore. We'll be back next week to get to know this place a little better.

Preventing bird window collisions

Earlier this week we had a black and white warbler die in our backyard because he collided with our bay window. We made some hawk silhouettes and posted them inside the window. The next day we went out to look at the window and the Nuthatch pointed out that they didn't help with the reflections at all.

I looked around online for suggestions to help us with this problem. Many of them would have cost money or would have changed the amount of light coming into the window. One suggestion was to hang something that would move in the breeze. So, I came up with the idea of putting some ribbon in front of the panes. It was free and easy and it didn't change the amount of light coming through the window.

My husband thought it looked like we were going to have a wedding in our backyard. It does look a little overly festive. Perhaps if I used cloth strips instead of ribbon it might look more decorative and less like we are permanently having a party.

If you look closely at the second photo you can see the bird silhouette on the centre pane. I still might try to go the bird silhouette route, but they will need to be laminated and placed on the outside of the glass.

Nature Notebook with a 3 year old

Mommy: "Now, I want you to draw a picture of something we saw today on our walk"

5 min later

Mommy: "That's a lovely picture. What is it?"

the BlueJay: "It's a whale!"

Mommy: "Did we see a whale on our walk today?"

the BlueJay: "Umm. No... Can I have a new piece of paper?"

5 min later

Mommy: "What are you drawing now?"

the BlueJay: "It's a great big dinosaur!"

Mommy: "sigh..."

A warbler's death

This evening we found a bird lying in the grass in our backyard. Unfortunately, it was dead. Even more unfortunately, it was a warbler.

The spring migration has begun and these beautiful little birds are making their way to the boreal forests in northern Canada. They eat insects and as such they are not birds you would see at your bird feeders. Each species has its own specialized niche in the forest. Some stay close to the trunk, others feed at the tops of trees and still others tend to forage in the underbrush.

The boys were quite sympathetic with the bird. "We didn't wanted him to be died, we wanted him to be alive." was the BlueJay's sentiment. It was mine too.

It was a female black and white warbler. They creep along the trunks and branches of trees.

Here is the cause of her death. Birds see the reflection of the sky and the trees in the glass, and don't realize there is a window there. It doesn't help that we have a small tree near this window. A number of birds have met their end at this window.

This happens on a much larger scale with the windows on the large office towers downtown. If the lights are on at night, the birds don't see the glass and fly right into the building. This is a short article about FLAP, the Fatal Light Awareness Program. They have recorded over 41,000 bird collisions in Toronto since 1993.

I suggested to the boys that we could make hawk silhouettes to put on the window, hoping that this would help.

The boys enjoyed the activity. It is always good to feel proactive. I was a little disheartened when I read on the FLAP website that they don't really work. They did have a list of suggestions, (look under the section 'Being Bird Friendly'). I'll talk about them with the boys and we can decide on the best one for our yard. Hopefully we can learn from this and the black and white warbler's death at our window will be the last.