Camping funnies

This past weekend we took the kids camping. My six year old son is starting to feel like he is too big to go into the women's washroom. On one of our trips to the bathroom he decided to wait outside for me. Another lady was there and left before me. All of a sudden I heard the Nuthatch go "ROOOOAAAARRR!!!" (he likes to pretend he's a velociraptor). Apparently the poor lady jumped and I heard the Nuthatch say "Sorry, I thought you were my mom" in a very small voice.

Risk Analysis

Exploring nature involves certain risks. I analyze these risks, usually at 2 am, and wonder if our nature experience was worth it. Staying inside poses a different set of risks, so just staying at home isn't an option either. The gifts and joys we receive from learning about nature are too great to pass by out of fear.

Can we reach all the way around this oak tree?

Often the hazards are small, of the everyday sort that you would encounter outside if you were exploring nature or not. Bug bites, sunburns and scraped knees are just part of daily life with little kids. We have to navigate traffic and parking lots. I have to make sure none of the kids wander away and get lost.

However, some dangers do keep me awake at night. Recently I wrote a post about visiting a favorite place, and due to a lack of parking I had to move on to somewhere else. This week a high school student stabbed another student in that very same forest I was going to visit with my children. It has given me something to think about.

The park where the stabbing took place.

On another trip with some friends we were exploring a ravine. There were large culverts and drains, and abandoned construction materials. Needless to say it was not a relaxing visit. With three children of various ages and abilities, and all of them very mobile, it required a lot of supervision and awareness of their movements. It can be a challenge to keep them in the same area, as they explore in all directions at the same time.

The kids had a great time, but the bottom line was that it was too dangerous. We won't be visiting this spot again until they are all a few years older and wiser.

There are some things I have been doing to lower the risks we face in our nature studies. It is important to find a safe place to explore and then return to it again and again. Together we discover where the dangers are in that environment and how to deal with them safely. Nature is so rich and diverse I believe it would be very difficult to exhaust the discoveries that just one park holds. We haven't even learned all there is to know about our tiny backyard!

The other part of lowering our risks involves training the children to respond immediately to my verbal directions when we are out (and the rest of the time too!). I cannot be three places at once, despite my best attempts. The Chickadee must stop when I call 'No!'. The Bluejay must return when I call 'Come back!'.

They are all travelling in the same direction! Yay!

Lately I have been telling the Nuthatch that 'with freedom comes responsibility'. He is allowed a wider circle to explore, but must always be able to see me. I have also been encouraging him to watch out for and protect his little sister.

Nature holds many amazing riches for us to explore and discover. However, we must do so with awareness and respect. 'Be prepared!' as the boy scouts would say. We can train up our children not only with a knowledge of nature, but also with the outdoor survival skills necessary to explore in safety. And then we can all sleep better at night.

Eating locally

I have recently read a few very interesting books about eating locally. 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' by Barbara Kingsolver was fantastic. I also tried reading 'The 100-Mile Diet', by Smith and MacKinnon, but I couldn't get into it quite as much. And not too long ago I read 'No Logo' by Naomi Klein, which did not focus on food, but did speak about how most of the products we purchase are manufactured in far off places. (If you only have time to read one, read the Kingsolver book).

All of this has made me think about trying to live more locally. It seems to be the current fad, a problem brought about by our current ability to move products around the globe at lightning fast speeds. While reading my current classic, 'Gulliver's Travels', I was rather shocked to find this statement that suggests that this issue has been around for much longer than I thought.

Whereupon I enumerated as many Sorts (of meat) as came into my Head, with the various Methods of dressing them, which could not be done without sending Vessels by Sea to every Part of the World, as well for Liquors to drink, as for Sauces, and innumerable other Conveniences. I assured him, that this whole Globe of Earth must be at least three Times gone round, before one of our better Female Yahoos (persons) could get her Breakfast, or a Cup to put it in.

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, 1726

Our daily routine

Here is how our days usually unfold. We follow the clock in a very general way, so that one thing happens after another at around the same time. However, I don't have math scheduled from 9:00 - 9:10 because it would never happen at that time, and then I would be off the schedule and that would bother me.

Also, our routine is constantly being tweaked as I work out the kinks and as things change in our household. We follow our school routine Monday thru Saturday. I have discovered that unscheduled days leads to everyone fighting. The kids have a lot of free time in the day, but it is broken up with scheduled activities.

Nuthatch has just started grade one, he turns 6 next month. BlueJay is almost 4, he does not have any formal program. Chickadee is 20 months. She naps for 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon.

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8 am breakfast

9 am School, Part 1
Nuthatch (narration, math, Nuthatch reads to me, penmanship) about 10 minutes each. This takes anywhere from 1/2 hour to an hour, depending on the number of interruptions by the other two kids and how long the narration takes.

BlueJay - computer time
Chickadee - hopefully she plays independently

10 am morning snack

10 - 12 o'clock outing
My kids are all small, and if we don't get out of the house on a daily basis, they all start going bonkers by the end of the day (mom included). This time is for exercise, socialization, and nature study. We go to the zoo, the museum, the park, play groups, and hiking in conservation areas. If school is finished early we bring our morning snack with us.

12 noon Lunch

1 pm Chickadee has her afternoon nap
Nuthatch and BlueJay have School Part 2 - Reading stories (Bible, poetry, science books, and books of their choosing)

Quiet time for Nuthatch and Bluejay (1/2 hour in separate rooms)

Afternoon snack

Afternoon activity (art, science experiment, nature notebook, cooking something) pick one
We try to do this while Chickadee is still sleeping.

Free play in the backyard, Nuthatch gets 1/2 hour of computer time if he remembers :)

5 pm Dinner
after dinner Nuthatch and Bluejay get 5 minute piano lessons each

8 pm bedtime
The kids each get to pick a story and I pick one as well.

This works for us right now. My most recent tweak was to move narration from the afternoon stories slot to the morning lessons. Narration is hard work and Nuthatch needs to be fresh so he can focus and remember what he has heard. There are a few things that consistently get lost in our routine that I need to turn into a habit. The piano lessons are often forgotten after dinner. I keep forgetting afternoon snack and I end up wondering why my kids are so grouchy before dinner.

I can see some changes to our routine coming in the future. The BlueJay turns 4 years old in September and I will want to start a tiny academic program for him in the fall. Also, in the middle of the summer I might want to try and get out earlier for our outings to avoid the heat.

One of the best things about homeschooling is that our schedule can be very flexible. If it isn't working it can change quickly and easily.

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.