Reading

Jonathan's reading ability is improving by leaps and bounds. He's reading The Hobbit with Gabe, Ginger Pye with me, and all sorts of books by himself. This morning we all piled into bed to read together, and Jonathan asked to read the first book (chosen by Josiah). Isn't it great?

The BOX

Have you read Christina Katerina and The Box? I loved that story as a child, and I still love it! About a month ago I noticed an offer on Freecycle for a "very large box". Of course I jumped at the chance! We barely got it home, it was so big, but oh it has been worth it. :)

The kids turned it into a fort.



A few weeks later, it became a cliff, off of which they took flying leaps of great daring. When the cliff collapsed, it became an slide (sometimes for penguins - headfirst).



Once the slide fell apart, they turned it into a chasm,



and then a new kind of fort.



Like Christina Katerina's mother, sometimes I would like my space back. But really, I love watching their creativity and active play, and it is worth giving up the living room. :)

Jonathan in pictures

Jonathan's school sent home "spring pictures" last week. This left me with two questions.

1) Since when do we have professional school pictures TWICE?

2) Since when are we so sneaky as to send home a package of photos (unrequested) which we then must return, or pay for?

Of course Jonathan was dreadfully disappointed that we weren't going to purchase them. "But Mommy, it is such a nice picture! See how I had my arms folded and you can see my missing tooth!" I gently stuck to my guns...we really don't have money to spend on those...and suggested that we take our own photo, posed the same way.

He loved that idea, and it turned out great!



And a close up, so you can see the missing tooth:



He's so handsome. :)

During spring break Jonathan took swimming lessons each day. He's getting much more comfortable in the water, and starting to do some real swimming!



No more fear of getting his face wet for this kid!

Dancing in the rain

I'm not sure how it happened, but all three of my boys think that they're going to melt if they go outside in the rain. I had encouraged them to go outside a few times today, but was always met with "no, it is too cold" or "no, it is too wet" or "no, I might get thundered" (that from Josiah). :)

I decided they needed some help seeing the proper potential of a rainy day! So I bundled them up in boots and coats, herded them outdoors against their will, and then surprised them all by running past them, dancing in circles like a crazy person, and splashing them with puddle water. Wheeeee!! That's what you do in the rain, boys!



Of course they forgot all about being "cold, wet, and miserable"*, and we caught raindrops on our tongues, and then had a grand water fight and I got entirely soaked.







Then when we were all tired and cold we came inside for hot chocolate.

Yep. That's what you're supposed to do on a rainy day.



*Jonathan is reading this over my shoulder and insists "I did not forget! Add 'except for Jonathan!' "

Happy Easter, Happy Birthday!

He is Risen!

Jonathan requested pancakes in the shape of crosses for his birthday breakfast. (He also badly wanted to wear "pants with Easter eggs and crosses all over them!" but sadly(?) we didn't have that available.)



My garden yielded our Easter flowers. The arrangement turned out oddly Lenten. Oh well, they're still beautiful!!



We're off to church to celebrate Christ's resurrection! Afterward the children will hunt for eggs and stuff themselves with an unreasonable amount of sugar. :) Then home for naps and an Easter dinner extraordinaire. It is going to be a lovely day.

He is Risen, indeed!

Art and projects

Jonathan has the day off school, so we have spent the morning enjoying art and projects and photography.

Josiah's passion is painting, of course, so those came out first thing after breakfast!




Jonathan received a model airplane for a birthday present, so we started working on that. That is definitely NOT SIMPLE. Trying to read the diagram makes my head spin. But we're making progress! :)

Jonathan took this picture:



And then since the camera was out and Jonathan enjoys taking photos, here are few portraits of the cat:



Jonathan says that this one makes him look like a lion:



It's been a nice start to the day. Who needs chores? ;)

Toothless!

Homemade Halloween costumes

Jonathan chose to be a king this year. I sewed his robe, and edged the sleeves, hem, and neckline with gold thread. He loved that. :) We used an existing purple cape (I made it for him years ago), added a belt with a sword, and he did most of the painting/decorating of his crown. Do you see the cross on the front of the crown? That was Jonathan's idea, and very important to him. Overall, I love the way it turned out!



Remember how Thomas wanted to be Yoda? We managed it! The ears turned out a little bigger than I meant them, but they're the right shape and Thomas LOVES them. I sewed his robe from some fabric that my brother Jonathan sent from work (thank you, Uncle Jonathan!) Isn't he just the cutest Yoda you've ever seen?



Josiah was adamant that he wanted to be Darth Vader this year. Since we already had that costume, I was happy to oblige! We purchased a red light saber for him, which actually works out great because the other boys have blue and green ones and Siah wanted his very own so badly.



These photos were taken last night, just before leaving for our church's Halloween Party (a bang-up event!)

My goal this year was to create awesome costumes for a minimal cost. I ended up spending $13 (including the light saber!) and the kids were entirely happy. I'd say that's success!

Faces

My mom sends the boys letters on a regular basis. The last one had some fun stickers on the back, along with the question "can you make these faces?"

Jonathan was pretty good at it!






Grandmommy, Jonathan wanted to be sure that you saw these. Perhaps you could mention it in your next letter?

Art study: Claude Monet

A couple of weeks ago Jonathan asked me to spend part of a Saturday morning studying (and copying) one of our "art study" paintings. We chose Claude Monet's depiction of Jerusalem Artichoke Flowers. Here's the picture hanging on our wall, ready to be copied.



Jonathan was a lot more willing to dive in with the paints this time (previously he's been more hesitant, worried that he won't be able to do it "right"). He started with the vase on a red table, added green leaves, and then painted his flowers on top. Orange and blue background strokes finished his work. He was quite pleased with the result:



Of course, he wanted me to paint alongside him. Here is my result:



I actually liked mine better before adding the background! Oh well. I like the vase best. I'm glad that homeschooling last year made me jump in and try painting. It really is a lot of fun!

Bible memorization

Jonathan was working on his homework with me this evening, writing sentences that use his spelling words. For "be" he volunteered: "Be holy, as I the Lord your God am holy." This was clearly a Bible verse, but neither Gabe nor I knew where it was found (or why it was at the forefront of Jonathan's mind). So Gabe asked if Jonathan knew where it was in the Bible...and Jonathan said "um, Leviticus 19:2, I think."

Hello. My six year old just tossed off "Leviticus 19:2".

We looked it up. He's right.

{Turns out this is one of his Sparkies verses, and he's been listening to them on the Sparky cd during his quiet times. Yay Awana!}

Homework

{I know that it isn't Monday anymore - I started writing this yesterday but finished today.}

I just looked at all Jonathan's graded papers from last week. There are 35 pages. 13 of them are homework pages, and that was from a 4 day week.

As today is Monday, there is another 2 pages of math in his homework folder (due tomorrow), and a packet of spelling (to be written, and written, and written, ad infinitum) throughout the week. Each day there will be more pages sent home. And we're supposed to be filling out a reading log, too, tracking how many minutes of reading we manage to smush into the day.

When did we lose touch with reality in our pursuit for academic excellence? Jonathan goes to school from about 8:15 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. By the time we get home and into quiet time, it is 3:30pm. He has an hour of quiet time (for lego building, and listening to audio books, and drawing pictures), and believe me, he needs that hour. Until he gets that break, he will cry over anything and everything, no matter what it is. He's just tired when he gets home. It is hard work learning and being good!

Then we have evening chores to get ready for dinner, and dinnertime together as a family, and then some time to play outside. And then guess what? It is time to get pajamas on and brush teeth and have a story and do bible study with Daddy. And then it is bedtime.

Homework doesn't fit. I am not at all convinced that it should be made to fit. But I also want Jonathan to respect his teacher and do what is asked of him, and so I'm not sure what to do.

I don't want to be that awful mom who makes trouble for the teacher. I was the teacher, and I met my fair share of awful moms. But...he's six. And I've read too much child development theory (and educational theory, for that matter!) to think that this much paper and pencil work is good for him. Even "science" is paper and pencil work. "Draw lines between the roots on both trees" -

I have a friend who used to be an early elementary teacher. She used to send homework home with her students, too. Now she's a mom ("on the other end of things!") and she's choosing to homeschool her son. Another friend used to teach kindergarten, and is now considering homeschooling her kids as well. Apparently there is a disconnect between the teachers in the classroom and the mommies in the home.

Based on the graded in-class work that came home today, it is clear that Jonathan is getting quite a lot of handwriting/sentence structure/word usage/spelling practice during his school day. I also know that his class spends time working on math facts orally during the day. I have grave doubts that doing more of the same every evening will actually aid his learning. Wouldn't it be better to focus on reading together (we're in the middle of a chapter book that he's really enjoying, but don't always have time to get to) and playing outside, and being part of the family for those 4.5 hours that he's home in the afternoon/evening?

I'm certainly not the only one who is concerned about this. There is a worldwide movement, seemingly about five years old, which is against homework as part of standard education. Stop Homework was originally a website, but is now a busy Facebook group filled with parents who (like me) are questioning the value of the piles of papers. The creator of the site, Sara Bennett, is also the co-author of The Case Against Homework. Other authors have written in a similar vein: The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, and The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning. (The titles alone give you an idea of the passion and frustration driving this movement!)

Interestingly, there are some schools (both public and private) that are listening to the concerns and have acted to reduce homework. Some have policies in place specifying time limits to homework, some make it non-mandatory and ungraded, and a few have gone so far as to eliminate homework entirely. And they are finding good results!

While I know that I'm only 2.5 weeks into this new lifestyle called "school" (and thus don't want to jump overboard or burn bridges quite yet!) I'm also doing some hard thinking. When we choose to put Jonathan in school, are we choosing to accept "school" as a package deal (including homework) regardless of the impact that it has on him and/or on our family? Or do we retain the right as parents to choose school without choosing homework?

Auditory learning

As I look back over last year, and the long process of finding what worked for Jonathan's education, one thing stands out as a shining, glorious success. We discovered that Jonathan is an auditory learner, and that he loves audio books. We are lucky to have access to the huge Los Angeles County library system, which includes free requests from any library in the system. That has been a tremendous opportunity to expand Jonathan's education, far further and in far different ways that I had been expecting.

We started out with stories of all kinds, read by Jim Weiss. He's a fabulous reader, giving interesting (and consistent!) voices to each character in the story. There are so many options - Arabian Nights, Greek Myths, Animal Tales, Shakespeare, the list goes on and on.

Jim Weiss is also the reader for Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World. He doesn't do as many neat voices, but it is easy to listen to, and most importantly Jonathan loves it. We made it a habit to listen in the car last year, as we drove around town on errands, or to CHEP classes, or to church. Even this fall, he still requests to listen to it in the car on the way to and from school.

Speaking of the car - some of our long car trips (to visit family) have been made far more bearable by audio books. A favorite memory for me is the time we listened to the entirety of the Narnia Chronicles on the way to and from my parents' house!

At home, Jonathan listens to stories during his daily quiet time and as he's falling asleep at night. Some of his favorites from the last year include Little Britches, Beatrix Potter stories, Cheaper by the Dozen, and The Wind in the Willows. Currently he's listening to the original Winnie the Pooh, read by the truly brilliant Peter Dennis.

These stories are jewels just as they are, never mind the "learning" that comes with them. And yet there is learning, and a lot of it! Jonathan's vocabulary has expanded at an incredible rate this past year. And it isn't just the vocabulary itself, but the way in which he's learning to use it. He often surprises us with an unexpected turn of phrase that is exactly right for the occasion, and sounds like something that Pooh Bear would have said. :) (Of course, once I caught him saying something entirely NOT appropriate for the occasion, and we had quite the conversation when he protested "but the dad in Cheaper by the Dozen says it!")

Then there is philosophy in Wind in the Willows, and theology in Narnia, and what it means to grow into manhood in Little Britches. Humor in Cheaper by the Dozen and Beatrix Potter, and...everything? in Winnie the Pooh.

All children love stories, but Jonathan seems to be wired with a special ability to absorb (and then recite!) them. I'm grateful for the writers who gave us stories with such depth, and goodness, and humor and joy. And I'm grateful for the readers and publishers who gave them to us in audio form. Because while I can't read to him for 3-4 hours every day...the cd player can!

{I also want to mention a few lovely audio books for the younger crowd. Bedtime for Frances is perfectly sweet and has really captured our little boys' interest. And Arnold Lobel reads his own Frog and Toad stories with delightful voices and humor!}

First day of 1st grade!

Or "real school" as Jonathan insists upon calling it. :) He's attending a private Lutheran school this year, and I think it is going to be a really good fit for him.


{please excuse the messy floor - we were trying to get out the door on time!}

The other boys didn't want to be left out of the picture taking:



Jonathan had a hard time with me leaving, so the little boys and I came to opening chapel and sat right behind the first graders. I was so proud of Thomas and Siah - they were not expecting to have to sit quietly in church, but they did SO well. Right before the end of the service I whispered "Bye, Jonathan" and took the other boys out. We sat in the parking lot for a moment and I watched Jonathan filing back to his classroom with the other kids - just like he'd done it every day of his life. Yay Jonathan!

Today was a short day, so I picked him up at lunch time. On the way home I asked him what he did, and he told me that they read a book, and had snacktime, and chapel, and made "welcome back" visors. Apparently the book is quite interesting, and Mr. Rader will continue reading it tomorrow, and this is all very exciting. :)

While Jonathan was at school, Thomas and Siah and I had our own preschool time. Siah elected to paint (of course! this is all he ever wants to do!)



and Thomas chose an ABC workbook. I'm excited about preschool with them this year. Preschool is all the fun of homeschooling with none of the pressure. :)



I think that this is going to be a good year.

Role playing

We have a dress up bin that the boys play with regularly. Usually they are knights, or star wars characters, or policemen, or firefighters. But this time? This time they recreated church! Jonathan dressed himself up as a priest, complete with vestments.



He arranged our table bench and piano bench into pews and an altar rail, invited the younger boys to come to church, and served them "communion" (crackers and water).



He was actually very good at it, too!

Thomas started out playing Josiah's Dad, keeping him in line on the pew! Later he switched roles, retrieved a bath toy boat, and installed himself as the boat boy. :)



In real life, Jonathan is scheduled to serve for the first time as an acolyte (in the position of boat boy!) on the first two Sundays of August. He is very excited.

Pretend play is a kind of practice for reality, a trying on of roles and experimenting with your place in the story of life. I love that the boys are exploring this role along with the others.

First concert

We took the boys to a concert last night: the five Brown siblings, all pianists, playing an outdoor concert that included Saint-Saens "Carnival of the Animals". This is one of the boys' favorite pieces of music. We have a cd and book that walks you through each part, and it has been an oft-requested piece during quiet time.

Tickets on the lawn at the top of the amphitheater were quite reasonable, and it really was a perfect introduction to live music for the kids. They could wiggle as much as they needed to on our picnic blanket, and I was pleased with how well they paid attention. Their favorite was definitely the Carnival, which brought home (to me) just how helpful it is to pre-expose kids to a piece of music before hearing it in concert. They were so pleased to recognize it! Jonathan could identify some of the movements by himself, and asked for help with the others. He wanted to know how certain sounds were made (Sarah, can you tell us how the jackass' signature sound is created on the violin?) and informed Gabe that the sounds of the "fossils" were meant to be "bones rattling, Daddy!"

Jonathan also really enjoyed watching the musicians. He was especially impressed with one of the girls, whom he pronounced "pretty" and "really good at the piano". He says he wants to learn to play like she does. Well then! Piano lessons, here we come. :)

We almost didn't bring Josiah, since he developed a fever a few hours before we left. But he did not want to be left behind, and to be honest, Gabe and I were really disappointed not to be able to go as a family. So at the last minute we decided to all go and hope for the best. Josiah spent the whole time in our arms, but it turns out that he had a great time. When the music ended, Gabe asked him, "what did you think, Josiah?"
"It was awesome!"
"So you liked it?"
"Yes I do!"

Thomas, as usual, didn't have much to say. But since he usually cares quite a lot about what music gets played at bedtime, I'm betting that he enjoyed himself.

I know that the kids will be tired and difficult today, but this was absolutely worth it. Live music, some of which they were familiar with, in a setting they could manage, played by engaging young people: it all added up to a pretty stellar first concert experience.

Easy readers: frequently enjoyed baby books!

You know how you read those little board books to your kiddos over, and over, and over, and over, and over again? I just discovered a happy result to all those repetitions. Jonathan has gone back to the board books that I was almost ready to put away (I'm glad I hadn't gotten around to it yet!) He's reading them to himself. They have quite a few words in them that aren't technically "easy reader"
language, but because the books often rhyme, and because he remembers how they're supposed to sound, he's able to figure it out. There is a whole new level of enjoyment for him in picking up a book because he wants to, and reading it without asking for help all the time. :)

Besides, who doesn't enjoy books that include lines such as:

Pajammy to the left.

Pajammy to the right.

(Jamma jamma jamma jamma P! J!)

It just makes you smile!

I'm from the Dark Ages

Jonathan: "Mom, when you were little, did you play Starfall on the computer?"
Emily: "No, they hadn't invented Starfall yet."
Jonathan: "Well, did you play other games on the internet?"
Emily: "They hadn't invented the internet yet, either."

Totally boggled his little mind. :)

Reading in Puddle Lane

Touchstone recently started publishing a column by Kathie Johnson entitled "First Books". Kathie has a deep love for children's literature, and she has a truly amazing library in her house, available to children in Berkeley. In this month's article, she reviewed some of the "just-beginning-to-read" books that she has found the most children to respond to, and discussed why different children might be drawn to different kinds of beginner books. One of the series' was Puddle Lane, by Sheila McCullagh.

Puddle Lane books are written specifically to be read together with an adult (or older sibling). They are small hardcover books with wonderful illustrations, easy to hold and very attractive. You just want to pick them up! In "Stage 2" (where we're currently reading) the left hand page holds the adult text, which reads like a good children's story. The right hand page has one or two sentences of the same part of the story, the same or very similar to part of what was just read. The beauty of this is twofold: you get a real story, and the beginning reader gets some help from his memory as he reads his page. This allows him to read more fluently, which is far more rewarding than sounding everything out all the time.

And the stories are just a lot of fun! They include such delights as talking mice, Griffles and Gruffles, a Magician, various townspeople, and children with names like Peter Puffle ("Hey, it rhymes with Gruffle!" says Jonathan.) I'm not worried about the magical elements, as we've been reading fiction since Jonathan was about 2 years old, and he has a firm grasp on real vs. story. Besides, eventually I want him to read C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. :)

Learning to read has been a struggle for Jonathan after the first week of "wow" wore off. He's very bright, and he can pick things up quickly, but he hated the slogging along. As he informed me, "it isn't really reading, not like Daddy does!" To some extent, we just had to muddle through that part...but Puddle Lane has come along at just the right time. Jonathan is watching for the mail to arrive to see if a new Puddle Lane book comes. He asks to read them with me. And after only a few days, he's realizing that he knows more than he thinks he does, and that it transfers. This afternoon he asked me where The Big Red Barn (another wonderful book!) was, and sat himself down to read it.

Thank you, Kathie, for your heart for children and their books. And thank you, Touchstone, for publishing her wisdom.

Catching on...

Jonathan finished today's schoolwork during his morning quiet time. This afternoon he asked, "Mom, if I do tomorrow's schoolwork right now, then would I have the whole day to play?"

It has been a bit of a rough year, homeschooling, but I think that Jonathan is starting to see some benefits of staying home!