Do Less

Even as I draft this post, I wonder if I will have the courage to post it.  One of my primary philosophies as a parent (and as a wife, a co-leader of this little kingdom that is my family), is that doing too many things, no matter how good each individual thing is, is detrimental to a child's ability to grow and develop, as well as to family peace and harmony, and living a family life of Godliness. It is actually one of the primary reasons I have chosen to homeschool. The thought of the amount of "things" you have to do, once you start driving your child to school in the morning (and I mean paperwork, activities, unnecessary doctor's appointments, field trips, homework!) gives me the heeby jeebies.  And that is just for ONE person, one aspect of life, school.

We live a very small life right now. We hardly ever shop. We go to vespers on Saturday evening and Liturgy on Sunday morning. We go once a week to our little homeschool group music class, with other families from our church. If we add an extra activity into one of our days, I make sure that that is the ONLY activity that day (and this includes me going to work - when I go to work, there are not other places that the kids have to go as well). Other than that, we stay home. 

This is what we DO...

I turn down most birthday party invitations.  I say yes to, and actively seek out, one on one play dates with another family (or two). I do not sign them up for sports, unless it is a short term commitment (Chickadee will do a three week long ballet class, one class/week, next month, because she has asked so persistently). My children are 5, 3 and 1. They are TINY.  There will be so much time in their lives for "doing things". Everywhere the 5 year old goes, the 3 and 1 year old must come too, let alone their pregnant mama. I am amazed already at how much pressure there is to do more (at least I perceive it as pressure, even from other homeschoolers who generally have a similar philosophy to mine); to fit in several things at once. 

Also this: they just got married. They are wearing plastic washers for rings. All Chickadee's idea.

Our church is doing a Christmas play, and my children are thrilled to be involved. They talk about going to practice all week, and they work on their lines (one sweet little line each) every day with enthusiasm. But I struggle with how much is added on to these activities.  Rehearsal starts 2 hours before vespers - first a craft, then time rehearsing, then a snack, then play time, then an hour of vespers.  And while the age range obviously goes up a bit from my 3 and 5 year old, it doesn't go up by much, most of the children are under 7. So I have difficulty appreciating with the why and wherefore of these decisions. I wonder if it comes from a perceived need to make it "enough" for the kids. Sometimes I will bring them a little late, and inevitably, we miss some key part of the practice. Sometimes we skip vespers, which seems so counterintuitive to the whole point of this thing. What I'm saying is, I struggle. 

And we definitely do a lot of this. It's the lifeblood of our homeschooling routine.

I mean no judgment or disrespect to those who organize these activities. I see a real love for the children, and a true desire to offer them participation in the deeper meaning of God becoming man, and entering our world, each year, each Nativity season. I guess we will continue to find balance in ways that we can, and I trust that it will get easier, and I will become more confident in the judgment calls I make, as a wife and mother, on how best to incorporate these things into our family life. In the meantime, prayers are my answer. And I ask for forgiveness of the families whose parties and other activities we have not attended. We were probably already doing one other thing that day.

Homeschooling, Weeks 8 - 11

Monday, week 8 ~

Our first field trip. Our little group of homeschoolers (four families and about 10 children) went to a monastery of nuns about 40 minutes east of here. The children had a marvelous time. They have a huge koi pond full of enormous and beautiful koi. Sparrow could hardly tear himself away from this. He just wanted to watch and touch those fish. They will suck on your fingers with their powerful mouths. Sparrow practically jumped in the pond, and he was very offended when I tried to hold on to the seat of his pants.

They also have a parrot and two large parakeets (all rescues), and two rescue rabbits, as well as a number of rescue cats. The monastery is not large, but they have used the land beautifully for their gardens and fruit (pomegranate and persimmon) trees and olive trees. One of the nuns gave the children a tour of the grounds and told special stories about different features. Then we joined in their 6th hour service in the little chapel, and had lunch with Mother Melania and the rest of the nuns before leaving.  During lunch, the reading was one of the stories Mother Melania writes for children. We brought back coloring pages from the story and also coloring pages of koi.

Tuesday week 8 ~

Prayer and circle time. 

Read the story of the Old Woman in the Woods (Grimms). Bluejay really liked this story. Drew the tree (which was really a handsome prince) in the shape of a T, as well as the servant girl and the dove with the plain ring.

Wednesday week 8 ~

We did have school this day, but I do not recall exactly what we did.  It was not another number or letter.  I believe we did art and stories. Oh, and sometime this week, we added the letter U to our alphabet wall (cut outs of the letters, with an item starting with that letter glued onto it).  We have also been doing a lot of nature study, child led by Bluejay.  He has been watching some nature shows, and we have a series of National Geographic books which cover things like nocturnal animals, animal movement, national parks, etc. etc. which he is continually asking to read.

Thursday week 8~

Homeschool group, music class and 6th Hour.  Outdoor play time.

Monday week 9~

Prayer and circle time.  Sang the Jack o' Lantern song in addition to our others.

Talked about the number 7, how men throughout the ages have regarded it as a perfect number.  Number of days in a week, colors in a rainbow. Combination of the strong 4 (square) and harmonious 3 (triangle).  I made up a story, with some guidance from the curriculum and some elements from recent Grimm's fairy tales, about a selfish prince, who wanted to marry a beautiful princess in a golden castle in the sky. He could not figure out how to get there, but as he travelled around trying to find a way, he did unselfish things for others. After he had helped several others, a rainbow bridge appeared and he was able to climb it to reach to golden castle and the princess.  Drew a picture in our book of the rainbow with 7 colors, and the castle.

Decorated for Halloween (just a few little additions to our fall decorations).

Science experiment: milk and drops of food coloring, add a touch of soap and colors move (color-changing-milk).  Bluejay did this at his preschool last year, and Chickadee was anxious for a preschooly activity so I thought of this one.

I wish I'd gotten a good picture of the colors swirling when the soap was added. These are after the children encouraged the colors to fully combine, ha ha.

Sparrow, being a part of it all.

Read Ox Cart Man

Tuesday week 9 ~

The school day started with impromptu gymnastics and band time (harmonica's, marracas, train whistles, various other instruments).

Prayer and circle time. Did poems - Five Little Witches sitting on a Gate, and Three Little Ghostesses, in addition to our others.

Read the story of Mousekin's Golden House.  Read The Princess and the Pea (Hans Christian Andersen).  Drew the princess putting on her crown, in the shape of the letter P.

Practiced writing P's.

Wednesday week 9 ~

Thursday week 9 ~
Prayer and circle time.

Nature study - researched wasps, hornets, yellowjackets vs. bees.  Study initiated due to Chickadee getting stung by a wasp earlier this week, and the many questions that ensued.  Learned that yellow jackets, hornets, etc. are all different names of various types of wasps.

Homeschool group music class, 6th hour and picnic/play time.

Friday week 9 ~
Halloween activities, including art (with daddy) - making orange construction paper jack'o'lanterns on black construction paper.  Also lots of coloring.  Carving pumpkins.

Monday, week 10 ~
Prayer and circle time.  Talked about the upcoming feast of the Archangels and all the Heavenly Hosts.  Sang "Oh Michael the Victorious" and looked at icon of the Archangel Michael, as well as our usual songs.

Read the story of St. George and the Dragon.  This was a huge hit with Bluejay. When we came to the moment where the Red Cross Knight cuts off the end of the dragon's tail, he leapt from his seat and shouted "Wow!"  Drew pictures of dragons and of course some dinosaurs too.

The "big" kids watched me work on a sewing craft project for our church's Christmas Bazaar and asked lots of questions about sewing, while handing me pins or replacing them in the pin cushion.

Tuesday, week 10 ~
Prayer and circle time. 

Read the story of Semeli Mountain (Brothers Grimm) which is basically similar to Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.  Drew the mountain in the shape of an M.  We did several other things this morning which I cannot fully remember.  The kids (especially Chickadee) have been asking to read St. George and the Dragon repeatedly since we read it on Monday, I think we may have done that again.  Lots of coloring.  They are hooked.  

We also read Rumpelstiltskin.  

In the late afternoon we went with a few of our close friend families to a real working farm, which does a traditional form of community supported agriculture.  Members come each week and select whatever (and however much) of the gorgeous vegetables they want, pick there own flowers from the amazing flower garden, pick whatever herbs they want from the herb garden and buy beef grown at the farm.  It was incredible. We stayed for a few hours and the kids were just free to roam and play.  There was a huge swing in a tree, I understand there is a pond on another side of the farm where in summer they had built a little beach.  The farm is owned and run by a young couple with three children.  Their goal is to have an entirely closed farm, growing crops to feed the animals, and breeding the animals from their own herd. They are adding pigs, as well as chickens and turkeys, so next year the CSA will include eggs and a Thanksgiving turkey.  I want to join so much.  It is a little far away which is my biggest concern for a weekly pick-up.  But...

The littlest boy of the farm was just Sparrow's age, and the two of them hit it right off and were a site to behold, wandering alone in the strawberry patch eating their fill, and driving dump trucks around the barn.  

Sparrow is the little fellow on the tractor.  His new friend is the one with the yellow balloon.  I didn't have my phone/camera with me so only got this one picture at the farm before we left!  Sad.  The flower and herb gardens were still very beautiful despite it being November.

As perhaps you can tell, this experienced pulled on all my back-to-the-land yearnings in a big way.

Wednesday, week 10 ~
Prayer and circle time, with special focus again on the Archangel Michael, the kids were very enthusiastic to sing Oh Michael the Victorious.

Drew the number 8 in chalk outside and walked it over and over, to show that it's a number that doesn't start and end, but just keeps going and going.  I told them a story (made up with guidance from the curriculum), about a spider, who has 8 legs of course, and lures a fly into it's web.  But the fly is tricky and with flattery, convinces the spider to bit by bit free it's legs, and wings, and then head from the ropes so it can admire the beauty of the spider's web.  Then it escapes.  Drew the web and spider and fly, and the number 8 in our workbooks (Bluejay and I).  Bluejay's thoughtful comment of the day: "How does the spider not get stuck in its own web?"  I'm going to have to look that one up.

Chickadee really wanted to do Show and Tell.  So she did a presentation for us prior to which she set up stuffed animals in chairs, as most of her show-and-tell involved her being the teacher. 

I have the sweetest little movie of Chickadee presenting her show and tell.  But it is too large to upload and I am not motivated enough to learn how to edit it.  Sigh!

Bluejay just started asking me to teach him "math" (I'm not sure he quite knows what that means) and how to read.  So I am at a bit of a crossroads and am looking forward to meeting up with some experienced friends of mine, with similar education philosophies, to get some advice on how to respond to these requests.  I am anxious not to rush reading, but more importantly to ensure the right foundation is laid before we go to far with actually reading.

Thursday week 10 ~

Homeschool group music class, 6th hour and picnic/play time.

Art and drawing/coloring. Introduced colored pencils. Bluejay in particular is having a great time with them.

Monday week 11 ~
Prayers and circle time. Bluejay wasn't ready to move on from the feast of the Archangels so we sang more of Michael the Victorious and the archangel hymn.

Read two Grimm's stories: Little Red Riding Hood (also known as Little Redcap), for the letter R, and The Bremen Town Musicians, just because the children love that one so much.  Drew Red Riding Hood, with her red hood in the shape of an R, and the wolf disguised as the grandmother.

Tuesday week 11 ~
Veteran's Day.  We did not do normal "school" but instead, all three of us cleaned the entire playroom, which was a disaster.  We listened to music and made sure each item went in its appropriate place. Then for our reward we had a nice mid morning tea with sourdough/cream cheese and raspberry jam treats, and talked and drew pictures.

Wednesday week 11~
Prayers and circle time.

Practice writing letters, and especially numbers. Bluejay really has the capital letters down, but still getting the hang of writing numbers. So, he wrote a letter to his east coast grandpa, and in it printed every number we have reviewed so far. It was a pretty long letter for him, and he worked very hard on it. I am not having him use lined paper yet, as we are sticking with the curriculum's encouragement to write freeform at this stage, but it's still readable :-)  I just love that serious, dedicated little guy.

Thursday week 11~
Mama was sick sick sick this day so there was no school. Daddy actually stayed home and took care of the kids all day. Lots of reading and drawing took place of course, it's never true that we go a day without doing standard kindergarten and preschool activities.