Learning to Write, One Bird at a Time

This was a birding weekend to be sure. Friday evening was spent at the Conservancy on West Road. Saturday was a Tour de Presque Isle, with hikes on Long Pond Trail, Pine Tree Trail, North Pier, and other locations. Sunday was Conservancy first, followed by Fairview Business Park, and Cussewego Bottoms IBA, and then Pymatuning State Park. Despite seeing a wonderful range of birds, none brought the joy to my heart that came from seeing my daughter Emma write down the name of each species.

Truly the pen, or in this case the pencil, is mightier than the binoculars. From staying up late on Saturday night to chronicle the exploits of daylight gone by, to half mile jaunts in the woods with pencil and book in hand, never was she far from adding the next line with a smile one her face. Please do not misunderstand, it wasn't the birds that made her so excited, it was the writing! Yes, she does derive a considerable amount of pleasure from looking at birds and being outside to observe them. Yet this time it was the power to turn sight and knowledge into form and function that made the difference.

Although a simple listing of bird names may not seem like a highly engaging educational experience, I consider it to be a first step primer to what should become productive discourse. Upon arriving home, Emma was able to read through her list and recall information about what she experienced based on the combination of her own written word and her visual memory. The writing was meaningful to her. It was purposeful to her. She didn't just write an arbitrary list of bird names in a book. No, she went exploring, saw the birds, heard the birds, experienced moments of interest related to the birds, and then wrote down a few simple words that had meaning to her. I'm sure that there are probably better "activities" and more "authentic real-world" writing experiences to be had, but for this weekend, I'm very content with how we spent our time.

Swimming

     Have you ever regretted telling your child about something fun that he or she will be doing days ahead from that activity? Well, I am at that point. We signed Emma up for swimming lessons for the first time ever. This will be her first class ever of any kind of formal training from an outside source. I told Emma about her taking a swimming class and she hasn't stopped thinking about it. She is so excited that she has packed her swimsuits, she is counting down the days and everything that we talk about she somehow squeezes in a mention about her swimming class. It's cute, yes, but after a while it's getting to be a little much. I'm excited for her, just nervous that her shyness will overcome her and she wont get in the water or do as the coach instructs. I informed her that if she doesn't participate she will be paying us back :). 

     I was going to share a video of Emma swimming last week, but blogger isn't allowing it to be uploaded. So I will try to upload it to Facebook. Please feel free to visit Captivate the Mind's Facebook page to see more photos, videos and random activities.

Emma swimming just last week (August 2012)

Perks of Homeschooling

     One of the perks that I have found in homeschooling is that you don't always have to be sitting at a desk or table in order for them to be learning and to be able to count it towards homeschooling. We recently had a long stay with both my family and Drew's family (another perk). During that time, the kids played with cousins (Phys ed), listened to audio books in the car (Reading), used the pool (Phys ed), walked to the ice cream shop (Phys ed) and other random things that count toward their learning. That being said, we do still do sit down work. 

     Yesterday, Drew had Emma write her spelling list of 10 words 5 times each. At the end, she knew them, even if they were upside down. Now I have compiled 20 lists of 10 words each. View lists here. These lists were compiled from flashcards and various websites. They have been made to have a variety of difficulty within the list. I'm sure there are many more words that I could be adding, but I guess I'll get to that if we run out before the end of this school year. Do you have any resources that have great spelling word lists? If so, please share in the comments below. Since we have been home for the past week, things have been falling into place and I have been enjoying homeschooling Emma. Now that we have gone through reporting to the school district, some of my worries about homeschooling are dissipating and my nerves are calming. 

Box that holds Emma's work that we will be using for the portfolio.

I taped the spelling lists under the lid to her box so that it is easy to reference. 

Emma's first written quiz ever. 100% :)