Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Our First Two Days Were Great

Okay, Day One was definitely better than today, but they were both WAY better than pretty much anything we did last year. I had a migraine all day today, but we still managed to be pretty dang productive. Yippee!

Today included among other things our first Nature Study session. We hiked a very short trail in the pouring rain after lunch. This is a concept that is central to the Charlotte Mason (CM) methodology. As some of you may know, or can infer, this is something that is also near and dear to my heart. I like to be outside and I especially like the kids to be outside. Without me. And lock the door behind ya! Ha! I kid!

Actually, this is an area of my life where I can FINALLY use that college degree (that I'm still paying off - true story) and it feels fantastic and rewarding and whole. My degree is officially in "Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services Administration", with an emphasis in "Outdoor and Experiential Education". I think. It might be "Experiential Recreation. " Anyhoodle, my whole theory is that people do not get out and enjoy the wilderness, the great outdoors, mother nature, God's green earth - whatever you want to call it, there is a serious lack of it in many lives today, primarily kids' lives. Wait, technically that's not true. Unfortunately, the kids are the only ones we are likely to reach since not many 33-year-old computer addicts are heading out for their first camping, hunting, or fishing trip with their similarly like-minded and nature-deprived buddies.

So the general movement focuses on reaching kids before they graduate from high school. I mean, as tomorrow's leaders, if they develop a meaningful, well-balanced (not to one extreme or the other) connection to the out-of-doors, that can only be good, right?

Once while I was still in school (yeah, I crammed four years into nine so I was in college for a while), a group of us Rec Majors entertained several busloads of middle school students from inner city Detroit. The kids came up on a field trip to "experience the natural world" and as up-and-coming educators of all things earthy, we were selected to formulate programs and activities for these wide-eyed kiddos to give them a meaningful, tangent natural experience.

Bah! Ginormous flop!

The kids wouldn't get off the pavement. They were afraid of the bugs, the dirt, the sounds that the birds made. It was like they were in a foreign land. Seriously, big, husky, burly African-American guys screaming like little girls about having to walk directly on the grass or (gasp) a well-marked, dirt-and-wood-chipped trail. We ended up doing all the group activities in the parking lot.

Here's a way more official wiki article on this subject, but that was my first-hand experience and it was instrumental in my current thoughts on the topic.

Our personal session today was nothing like the asphalt fiasco.

My girls, aged 7 and 4, were off the trail, chasing spawned-out nasty salmon, looking for bears, and drawing pictures of ravens and fiddlehead ferns.

Success!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Charlotte Mason Homeschooling

Well, tomorrow is the day; we begin our new, improved homeschooling. We're calling the room "The Last Frontier Homeschool". I've transformed our guest room into the school room, received and organized the curriculum and supplies, outlined our first week (and most of the 1st quarter, and some of the whole year), and now it's time to pray like crazy!

Lord, please let my patience and enthusiasm be at an all-time high as we head into this week. Put in me the words You want the girls to know about You, Your Word, and Your world. Let them both be open and obedient and curious about our lessons and about You and Your Son. Be with Daddy this week as well as we all try to adjust to our new schedule and all-encompassing, learning lifestyle. Make our love for You and for each other obvious and overflowing. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

As I mentioned last post, we are utilizing the Charlotte Mason approach this year. Her methodology is quite difficult to describe in a nutshell, but luckily we have access to http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/, (my new best friend) who offers this explanation:

Charlotte Mason was a British educator who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Her method, the Charlotte Mason method, is centered around the idea that education is three-pronged: Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.

By “Atmosphere,” Charlotte meant the surroundings in which the child grows up. A child absorbs a lot from his home environment. Charlotte believed that atmosphere makes up one-third of a child’s education.

By “Discipline,” Charlotte meant the discipline of good habits — and specifically habits of character. Cultivating good habits in your child’s life make up another third of his education.

The other third of education, “Life,” applies to academics. Charlotte believed that we should give children living thoughts and ideas, not just dry facts. So all of her methods for teaching the various school subjects are built around that concept.

For example, Charlotte’s students used living books rather than dry textbooks. Living books are usually written in story form by one author who has a passion for the subject. A living book makes the subject “come alive.”

She taught spelling by using passages from great books that communicate great ideas rather than just a list of words.

She encouraged spending time outdoors, interacting with God’s creation firsthand and learning the living ways of nature.

These ideals fit in so well with how I picture the best homeschool for our girls. They need so much a gentle, nurturing, but focused agenda, and I really believe that if I can manage it, we will all be very happy with the process and the results.

We're also incorporating a system of "workboxes" which hopefully will enable the girls to work independently a few times a day, so Mommy can focus on dishes, laundry and dinner.

And that will be a big blessing to Daddy.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Post and Dash

My Weight Chart:
Weight Chart



A new gadget!

We are super busy right now. We just said good-bye to some great guests (so much fun, you guys!!), and are prepping for homeschool to start on Monday. I can pretty much state at this time that I will not be ready. I'm trying, but other things are popping up. Played my last soccer game of the outdoor summer season last night. It was close, but we lost 2-1. Argh! Greg is packing and planning for his hunts this fall. He's jetting all over the place this year.

Tonight we are heading to the Governor's picnic and then to get our derby prizes. One of the yummy prizes I will get is a one-month membership to our local Curves. And I am totally going to use it! I'm hoping if I use it every day for the entire month, I can drop another 20 lbs without having to actually purchase a membership. Good plan, huh? That would put me very close to my goal and I could possibly wait to have my follow-up bloodwork done after the weight is gone. That would be fantastic!

I'll be back soon to discuss homeschooling. We've got a new approach and a new attitude this year. Yay! Let me just give you a teaser... two words: Charlotte Mason.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Getting a Little Mavericky with Gadgets

Here's a feature that I'm hoping to utilize quite a bit while trying to shed some poundage for a wedding in February...







So far, so good! Keep checking back to see if I a) even use this at all, or b) actually lose any weight.

Monday, August 8, 2011

simplify

I love the whole "vibe" of the word simplify, and I totally get that it's an attitude, but for me right now, STUFF is my main focus. It's about sorting the stuff, cleaning the stuff, organizing the stuff, finding the stuff, wearing the stuff, and maintaining the stuff. And not just my stuff- I'm the mom; stuff is my job. Stuff, Stuff Stuff! In my pitiful defense, I do come from a long line of packrats . But guess what?... the buck has got to stop here.


Case in point, I just realized a few weeks ago that I really don't nee-eeed 15 pairs of jeans or 37 tee shirts (almost all of which have a soccer ball on them). Neither do my kids. They end up wearing the same comfy favorites every other day just like I do, so why am I folding and sorting and washing all this laundry when we'd all be perfectly happy with a lot less?

Here are a few more things (I counted these up before I wrote this, by the way... so these are real numbers) that I don't need in "mindless multiples": 19 pairs of undies (TMI, I'm sure, but I never wear more than one at a time!), seven pairs of running shoes (I don't even run!), 414 kids books (granted we do homeschool, but this is excessive!), 55 Sharpies (!!?), 11 fleece sweatshirts... it's awful. So I just recently started being very harsh with myself and my "normal" reaction to clutter. Usually, I can't bear to throw anything out - if I get rid of it, I give it away, donate it, consign it, reuse it, recycle it, repurpose it, etc... Today I simply purged and tossed. I (gasp) threw away some junk that no one needs!

Wait, did someone want a couple of Kenny Rogers cassettes?

Saturday, August 6, 2011

That's a Fine How D'ya Do!

We had a tremendously wonderful day out on the "big wide open ocean" today. Lots of fishing (and catching!), sun, and silliness for us. We took lots of great pictures to share and some that are destined to become our favorites.

Just as we were hopping in the truck to head home, I dropped the camera. (Apparently "hopping" and "dropping" are kissing cousins.) The battery and little memory card both popped out. ("Popping" is an acquaintance as well). Since I so cautiously had secured the camera in its leather-esque, protective pouch before leaving the boat, as always, I didn't realize these two important items had been catapulted out of place.

Of course, that is, until I got all set up at the computer just now to share our beautiful day with you. And all the pictures had been zapped. Erased? Zilched? Ruined? What is the proper term for this blasted technology screwing with my mind again, anyway?

On the up side (not), our hot water heater is gurgling water all over the garage. Thus the hot water no longer is.

Good thing we won't need to wash our hands after processing fresh halibut all day tomorrow. Oh, wait...