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% :)

Rocketman! Part 2, The Launch

Trying to find the right spot to set up the launch.

Found the spot and now to prepare for the launch.

Setting up the remote control to set the rocket off.

Attaching the controller to the igniter.

Backing up!

After several times of counting down and trying to shoot it off. No pictures of the first launch, I wasn't prepared.

Emma's turn to shoot it off.

Flinch

Recovery mission.

Benjamin's second and last try. We only had 3 engines to use so this was it.

Love Benjamin's reaction :)

Rocketman! Part 1, The Assembly

 For Christmas, Drew bought a rocket for Benjamin. Finally, after 6 months, we finally put it together.

Putting together the stand.

Benjamin being Benjamin :).

Benjamin putting the platform onto the stand.

Safety cap.

Reading the instructions.

"Bummer, we don't have the plastic cement. We'll have to wait until another day to finish."

"Let's try a dry fit."

Got the plastic cement. Rocket assembled.

Blowing it dry.

Stay tuned for part two of Rocketman, The Launch...

Junonia by Kevin Henkes

While on a date with Drew for our anniversary, we went to Barnes and Noble. While there we were looking for books/ workbooks for Emma's first grade year. As we were walking around I noticed a familiar item on the front of a book. 2 months ago I probably wouldn't have taken a second look but after our recent trip that included Sanibel island, shell capitol of the world, we did some learning about shells. On Sanibel island there are 3 shells to be known as the elite 3. The most elite of those 3 is called the junonia shell. This book is called Junonia, by Kevin Henkes. I picked it up wondering if it was about Sanibel island. As I was looking at the cover I told Drew that if it was about Sanibel that we would be buying it right there and then, so I skimmed threw and found the words Sanibel Island. :) after Drew made sure that we couldnt buy it for less online, we bought it. I started reading it last night with Emma and we continued today. 2 chapters in and I think it's cute, as well as its keeping Emma's attention and teaching her the names of other shells. Score!

Life Has Been A Whirlwind

Now that we are coming close to the end of Emma's Kindergarten school year, we have to look back and evaluate how we did. Lots of things happened this year to take the focus away from Emma and homeschooling. Of course holidays can be a big distraction, but it's the unplanned events in life that really knock you off of your seat. With the very unexpected passing of Drew's father in mid-January, we were truly thrown for a loop. Now being 4 months since he passed, it is still difficult but we are trying to focus a majority of our attention to homeschooling again. Of course, since my last post the kids have been learning and we haven't been neglecting them, but we just haven't put all of our energy into their education. Children are always learning by the thing they do best, living life.

Some ways that Emma has been learning is by playing on the computer or watching educational shows. We also read with her of course. As most of you probably know already, we just took a 2 week road trip. The purpose of the trip was kind of a memorial to Drew's father, but also turned out to be very educational.

We tried to stop at as many national parks, wildlife refuges or national forests as possible. We also did some other things, like going to a Butterfly conservatory, some state parks, the clearwater marine aquarium and the Miami Seaquarium.  

One thing we did that I had fun with was getting a National Park passport stamped at the various national areas that we went to. Overall our trip was very pleasurable. Yes, even driving about 4500 miles round trip with 3 children ages 6 and under.

Now we are starting to plan the upcoming school year. Hoping to do lots of hand-on activities, one of which will be volunteer work for Emma. We gave her a few options, Presque Isle, the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, the zoo or a farm. Emma chose a farm and more specifically to help with horses. We are in the process of getting that planned. I love her love for animals :)

Have a great summer!