Can I tell you about Cousin's Camp?

As the older generation passes away, we are in danger of losing our connection to our more distant family members.  This saddens me.  I live in a home that has been in our family for so many years.  I really do feel connected to the past here.  I want to feel connected to those who are also a part of this house’s history and future.  That sounds a little woo-woo, but I think distant family and genealogies are important.  Scripture agrees, but that is another post entirely!

A few years ago, my mom, who does spinning demonstrations (often for kids and often in period costume), did a program for a group of kids attending “Cousin’s Camp.”  A local grandmother invited all of her grandchildren (some of whom lived out of state) to stay at her house for a whole week during the summer.  She had all sorts of fun things planned for them to do and see during the week.  It was set up like a real camp, but all the campers were cousins and the camp director was grandma!

My Mama.

After that, my mom really wanted to have cousin’s camp.  There were problems, though.  We needed a proper venue.  Her house wasn’t really a good place to hold a camp.  We also needed cousins!  My mom is a grandma, but she only has 2 grandkids and they are local, and they don’t have any first cousins!  How do you start a Cousin’s Camp with no cousins?  Well, I’ll tell you.  You invite second cousins and fourth cousins and third cousins twice removed!  

Last year when we moved to Hunter’s Grove, my mom (almost immediately) began talking about my hosting a version of Cousin’s Camp.  Brandon and I love to have folks out to our place, so, we were on board.  Mama did most of the planning and delegating.  We chose to do 3 days of day camp with a family/ parents dinner on the last day (the kids were in charge of making dinner!).  We tie-dyed t-shirts, had water balloon fights, made a family tree, had songs and stories, went on a nature hike and generally had a blast!

Cousins!

Exploring the woods.

The children bragged to their friends and asked to do it again next year.  So, here we are just a few days away from Cousin’s Camp 2011!  We have 12 children coming and lots of plans for a great time.  This year we are only doing 2 days of camp, but we are camping out Friday night.  I am really excited about this part.  We are praying for good weather, safety and lots of fun.  Of course, I will post pictures!

I had to fix my desk chair.

Yesterday, I stepped out of the school area for a minute and Theo stood on my desk chair to reach something.  He went right through the seat!  Admittedly, it was in bad shape.  Kind-of like this one (its twin)...

They are really sturdy chairs and I love them because they are small.  They fit perfectly in-between my dining chairs when I am seating 3 on a side of my dining table.  The small size also makes it perfect for my tiny desk in our school area (which is in our living room).

So, I had to fix it and fast!  I decided to use some fabric I had lying around and weave a new seat.  As I dismantled the old seat, I came up with a plan.  The end result is pretty cute, I think and it is very comfortable.

I am planning to do the other one ASAP... maybe I will do a tutorial! ;)

I thought I'd leave you with some pics of the chickens and their girl, Eden.

Those chickens love her!

Isabella is on top of the swing set.  Pippi is the one on the ground.

She owns the place!

Blog Hopping!

No big post today. Just checking out some other bloggers at the Wild Wednesday Blog Hop over at About a Mom.

Choosing Curriculum for Kindergarten

We decided to homeschool Eden back around the first of the year.  I was overwhelmed from the start.  Homeschooling was never something I wanted to do, never something I believed I was cut out for.  Actually, I was kind-of looking forward to getting rid of the kids for a few hours a day when they went to school.  Sometimes, though, parents have to do what is best for their children.  I mentioned Eden's November birthday as our main reason for making the decision to homeschool. She has always been precocious.  Her best friends are all months older (and beginning Kindergarten this year).  We recognized that she needed to be in school and learning, or when I did send her, she would be bored and in trouble all the time!  So, we decided to homeschool.  Just for Kindergarten.  We will decide later what to do for first grade (and beyond).

I have been looking at curriculum for a solid 6 months. I decided early that I wanted to do something fun with a heavy emphasis on the seasons (something I am trying to focus on personally in our diet and wanting to let that flow into the rest of our lives). I am very drawn to Waldorf-type play, Montessori work and the Charlotte Mason "living books."  Eden loves books and I want her to keep loving them!

I found a free Charlotte Mason curriculum that I really liked, but it doesn't officially begin until first grade and I wanted something more fun to add to it.

So, I started looking at homeschooler's blogs!  Some were specifically homeschooling blogs, some were blogs of mamas who just happened to homeschool.  When I realized that one of the crafty blogs I read (Wee Folk Art) is written by a homeschooler, I was super excited! She wrote a 3 term curriculum for her Kindergartener and offers it free on her website! It has the crafts, the books, and the emphasis on the seasons!

With this free curriculum, I still needed to find a program for  Language Arts and Math.  She suggested the Explode the Code books A, B and C for Language Arts. Eden is already reading, so I wasn't too picky about this. I decided to go with Explode the Code.  Now that I have really looked it all over, I really like it! She needs to learn to write and we will focus on that part of the curriculum rather than the reading part. The way the curriculum is set up it will be simple to alter it in that way.  My only complaint is that the vowels are not introduced until later (later, like not this year!)!  Since we are already reading, we need vowels!  I decided to introduce the vowels on my own before beginning the curriculum.

She leaves it completely up to you to choose a math curriculum. This is where I had the most trouble. I hate math. I am terrible at it. I want to challenge Eden and help her to love math.  How do I accomplish that when I got my first F in 3rd grade math?  I wanted to find something with a teacher's manual that gave actual teaching tips. Several of them had that, but I ended up choosing Saxon because it goes as far as to tell you what words to use and even what to do with your hands when you explain a concept!  It builds on itself and has lots of review. It also uses a lot of manipulatives which I think will be good for Eden since she is so kinesthetic.  Many of the others were worksheet based and Saxon is not.  There isn't even a workbook, though there are some worksheets you can use in the back of the manual.  I have read most of the teacher's manual (it is more than 500 pages) and I really like it.  It isn't scary at all.  It looks fun!

I am finally at the place where I am not feeling overwhelmed.  We actually started kindergarten this morning!  It went well and my eager little student devoured the material.  I planned to start at 9, but she was so excited that we started at 8!  It took about 2 hours to get through what I had planned and we were done by 10!

It has been a tough process and I feel a lot better now that it is over.  Especially now that we have day one under our belts!  If you have any specific questions I would love to share more!

Homeschool Workboxes

So I haven't read the book.  I know I am not doing it "right", but I was inspired by all of the workboxes I ran across in Google images when I googled it!  They are wonderful and neat and organized and perfect for those of us who need to know up front what the day holds.

I knew right off that I wanted to try workboxes in our homeschool.  I know they will work well for me.  I think they will work well for Eden.  Each subject in its own little box.  All the supplies right there.  An empty box when you are done.  Yes, please!

I had been on the lookout for some inexpensive drawers or baskets to use, when I came across some of those cardboard magazine files in the dollar bins at Target.  They are pretty and colorful and I think they will work great for our own version of workboxes!

I also found these little standing pockets to hold our subject cards.

How it will work is, each evening I will consult the lesson plans for the next day.  Lets say we have Bible, Language Arts and Journaling on the agenda.

Oh, in case you are wondering, Pick a Stick is our version of activity sticks.  Eden chooses a stick out of the jar and has to do the activity that is written on the stick (10 jumping jacks, jog around the house, swing for 10 minutes, etc.).

I will put the subject cards on my boxes and fill the boxes with all of the supplies needed to do the particular assignment.  When Eden has completed each assignment, she will remove the subject card from the box and replace it in the pocket.

She will be able to clearly see how far she has come during the day, how far she has to go, how much work she needs to finish before she has a play break or a snack!  The day seems manageable.

The boxes are numbered with a velcro square below the number.  The velcro allows the subject cards to be removable.  I laminated them (well, I actually just used clear contact paper) and put the other half of the velcro on them.  I used my label maker <3 to insure that the subjects were easy to read (and just because I love an excuse to use the label maker).

On the flip side of the pockets that hold our subject cards, I made a calendar.  Days of the week and Months of the year are something we will be learning this year.

It has been fun, but quite an overwhelming journey, this preparing for homeschooling.  I hope to write soon about my experience choosing curriculum for this year.  I can't believe I have a Kindergartener!!

I am participating in the Back to School Ideas Link Party at Somewhat Simple!

E-Readers and More!

What do you think about e-readers?  You know Kindle and Nook and such.  Our local library system is going to be set up for checking out e-books soon and it got me thinking about them for a second.

I have been really resistant to the idea so far.  I love books.  I am someone you could probably classify as a bibliophile.  The love really goes beyond a love of reading.  I love books!  I love the smell of paper and ink.  I love breaking the binding of a new book.  I love the turning of the pages.  The sound of a crisp page as it passes my fingers.  I could go on and on.

As I considered the e-reader, I thought about how helpful it could be to the homeschool family.  Fewer books to store, fewer books to buy,

Wait a minute!  What!?  One of my big reasons for homeschooling is to justify/conceal my book habit!  So, I guess that means I am officially anti-e-reader!

What do you think?  Books or e-readers?  Both have a place?

Falling asleep with a Nook wouldn't have been quite as good of a photo op.

In other news, we are going to be getting our kitchen cabinets soon!  Bill Vick, Brandon's high school wood shop teacher, will be building them for us.  He did our island last year and we love it.  He will be building them from heart pine (the same as our floor).  I am so excited that we will be able to move our pots and pans out of the rubbermaid bins!  I will finally have a complete kitchen after over a year of living here!

Right Now I Am...

Right now, I am...

:: feeling  like I need a shower and a cup of coffee.

:: enjoying  the momentary peace as my kids are outside (okay, that's over, Eden just bit Theo on the back of the arm. BRB).

:: loving  the produce coming from our garden.

:: appreciating  my husband for going to work every day so I can be at home.

:: remembering  that I really needed to pick up some packing tape at the store last night.

:: thinking  that I might like to see the Harry Potter movie on our date Friday night.

:: hearing  Eden ask if I will tell Daddy about her biting Theo, and if I will let her hide while I tell him.

::smiling  knowing exactly how she feels.

:: telling  Daddy about the bite, I reckon.

:: wondering  if I will ever feel like I have it together.

:: laughing  at the chicken peeking in the dining room window!

:: holding  my breath while Theo sits on the potty!  The potty!

:: giggling  at those horrible "Hail to the V" talking hand that is supposed to be a vulva commercials.  If you haven't seen them Google it, seriously!

:: knowing  that Brandon and I have a date Friday night is seriously getting me through the week.

:: wanting  a personal chef and washer woman.

:: closing  the computer.  Done for the day!