So Far, So Good!

Well, it's been a week and so far, so good! 

I've ordered some books in the "Things Every First Grader Should Know" series, and have started looking into the common core requirements.  My focus is on developing their critical thinking skills and exposure to lots of information-- cultivating interests, but I also know that the world we live in requires occasional standardized tests.  I want to make sure they do well when it's their time to take the CRCT's.

I was worried about the prospect of homeschooling again, because there's an element of wicked sibling rivalry with my son and daughter... and although this is comforting in a backwards way (I'm convinced that the more siblings fight, the closer they'll be in the long run), this can be a hard dynamic to manage when they're in competing-for-attention-and-resources mode.  As much as I'm able to, I try to defuse the tension with humor (one of my favorites is to tell them that I'll go get a knife and cut open my belly, and they'll have to take off their shoes and curl up small, but I'll stuff them back in; when they're fighting over mama cuddles).

So far, I have actually really enjoyed this week, myself-- I have not contemplated sticking my head in the oven even once, or had any spa-vacation escape fantasies.  I have been dilligent about administering cod liver oil and feeding them only nutrient-dense foods, have a pot of bone soup going, took a field trip to a real health food store (an hour away) to procure some provisions.

The kids have been engaged in lots of fun projects-- I let them dig up my flower bed and replant them in 'flower pots' they constructed out of my garden bricks... we looked at the roots of the plants and talked about the different parts of the plant and their function; reading, math, music... 

So far, so good!

New Appreciation for Dr. Seuss

I've always loved Dr. Seuss's books.  The rhyming, the silly, fuzzy, people-ish creatures, the nonsense, Dr. Seuss really has it all. 

Sometimes when we're reading and practicing fluency, I worry that my daughter is just remembering and parroting to me, instead of actually sounding out and reading (I've caught her 'reading' books for school whilst looking elsewhere other than ze book). 

The nonsense element really keeps my daughter engaged, and I can really see her working to pronounce those kooky words and names, like, "Van-Vleck".

Cheers, Dr. Seuss!

The advantages of biphasic sleeping

The prospect of rejoining homeschooling with older children was daunting, because they're beyond typical nap age.  During the course of a normal day, I'm overwhelmed and twitching in the corner by 5pm. 

By this time my 4 year old will have taken off his clothes multiple times and will be jumping off the furniture pretending to be a 'penis bird', there will have been multiple squabbles over toys, complaining about dinner, the weather (it's too cold, it's too hot, it never snows), doing 'nothing fun', as I wrestle with them to make sure my daughter's homework is done (and my son does his best to derail the process by chirping loudly, singing, etc), my daughter tattling on my son, telling me all the bad words he's said (curses like a sailor) even though I'm in the same room and I've heard it; they're washed, and in bed by 7:00 or 7:30 so they are fresh by 6am.

This schedule left me struggling to figure out what to cook for dinner, much less study (I'm enrolled in an online program, myself).  So I have instituted a nap policy.  The first day, I had to wrestle the little one down, and after the fights over who-gets-to-cuddle-up-closer-to-mama subsided (I've never been so popular!), we actually had a lovely nap!  Eureka!  We woke up refreshed and I had more brain power to figure out what to make for dinner and study-- they were noteably less cuckoo... it worked really well!

I'm sure our cavemen ancestors were polyphasic or biphasic sleepers, this definitely feels more natural (and hard for me to accomplish on a strict time schedule).  Naps, yaay!!

Now I don't have to worry as much if they're tired in the morning, because we can get done what we can in the morning,  and resume learning after a cuddly nap :0)!

So far, my daughter fights me less over getting dressed in the morning (we still walk out friend in the neighborhood to school)-- which I don't understand, but I'm glad.

I signed my child out of public school today...

I signed my child out of public school today.  It is a wonderful school, there's a wonderful supportive learning community there-- We're in the South, so even the more difficult children have good manners here, so it's a lovely environment-- but the condition of her teeth has really suffered since she's been in public school. 

I had homeschooled her before we moved here for a year, and I think she really missed the freedom to explore that we had with homeschooling, so I was considering it as a possibility for next year... until I was in the pediatric dentist's office for a second opinion and treatment plan, yesterday.  When they started talking about root canals, and possibly strapping her to their 'papoose board', I kind of freaked out.

I try my best to be a fierce advocate for my kids, so I made sure the x-rays were explained to me, and this was not some invisible cavity problem (when I was a child, my mother was told I had four invisible cavities, and she noticed that every child in and out of the office while we were there had the same amount of cavities, and heard the dentist bragging about his new speedboat).

If the dental interventions are really necessary in the future, I'll support that-- but at this moment I have a child who is not in pain, or exhibiting any sensitivity issue, and so I'm going to do my best to strictly adhere to the principles that Dr. Weston Price advocated, and see if we can't remineralize those teeth or at the least stop the advance of decay.