Towards more automony

As the girls get older - and I choose to take more translation contracts - our goal is for them to be more autonomous in their learning. We designed a schedule together, so I don’t have to remind them to take clean their beds, brush their teeth, walk the dog, etc. every morning and so they can go at their own rhythm. I am not usually ready to start our main lesson before nine, and Aïsha, for instance, doesn’t like to wait for me. This way, she can do a few things on her own in the meantime. We have created a schedule that they can check (it is in a plastic cover and they use a dry-erase marker).

We have been trying different online resources for the past year and I think we finally found something that we all like to complement our Waldorf-based homeschooling. We are currently using Time4learning, Reflex Math, Brain Pop in French (for Mathilde) and some other online French resources. They are also doing a typing program in French. It feels good to see them more in charge of their schedule. We were all ready for that. Ready to move to a “non-mamacentric” way of learning. 

Grade 6 - Physics - Week 2 (light)

For this block, I took a lot from this mama's planning.We had another 4 day week.

Day 1 - we played with primary colors and ghost colors. When you look at the red circle for 30 sec or so and then look at a white piece of paper, you see a light blue circle appear (for the yellow, you see a light purple one and for the blue, a light orange/yellow one). Quite fascinating!

Day 2 - We talked more about complementary colors more in depth.

 Day 3 - We did an awesome experiment to explain what happens at sunrise and sunset. We filled a fishbowl (well, it was a wine decanter in our case!) and put a white sheet of paper beside it (folded so it stood by itself), then we shone a light through the wine decanter and we could see the silvery light on the white sheet of paper. While the light was still shining, I slowly poured some milk in the water and the light turned yellow, then orange! It is a great visual explanation of how why the sun becomes orange at sunset when it passes through a thicker blanket of atmosphere. It was fascinating!

 Day 4 - We experimented with the classical dispersion of light by a prism. Always beautiful to watch!

We changed our daily schedule quite a bit. I will post about this soon.

Grade 6 - Roman History - Week 4 and 5

All the ressources I am using for this block are listed here, under Roman History. It will be a five week block lesson. Week one is here.

I can't say that I am super happy of the last few weeks of this block. I didn't plan it as well as the first few weeksn since I didn't have all the books on hands when I did the planning. Also, we had a lot going on: eye doctor visits in Vancouver, fun hikes, two birtdays and great rock climbing in Washington. I am OK with that, but if you are thinking of following my planning, you might want to rethink those last few weeks. We were also short of about 4-5 pages in the Main Lesson Book, so you might want to condense the drawing + text on some pages earlier in the block.

During Week 4, we finished reading City and read parts of Augustus Caesar's World.

Day 1 - We read about the interesting love story between Marc Antony and Cleopatra in Augustus Caesar's World book (p.84 to 90) and the last few paragraphs of chapter 37 in Kovacs' book. 

Day 2 - I read about Augustus Caesar in Augustus Caesar's World bookp. 133 à 136, and added more to his story with this article from mainlesson.com

Day 3 - I read about Nero from mainlesson.com

Day 4 - I read about Marcus Aurelius from mainlesson.com

Day 5 - I read about the Roman Gods in Augustus Caesar's World (p.159 à 165) and we draw a map of the Roman Empire.

On week 5, since our MLB was full, we simply snuggled and read the story of Daniel in the great book:

Grade 6 - Roman History - Week 3

All the ressources I am using for this block are listed here, under Roman History. It will be a five week block lesson. Week one is here.

This week we talked about life in the time of the Romans (the roman home, the roman architecture and aqueducs), as well as slavery and we started talking about Julius Caesar.

Day 1 - I read chapter 11 and 16 (NOT 11 to 16) in Kovacs' book and from the book City by David Macaulay. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:

 

Day 2 - I read chapter 17 to 21 in Kovacs' book and kept reading from the book City by David Macaulay. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:

Day 3 - I read Chap. 22 to 27 in Kovacs' book and from the book City by David Macaulay. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:





























Day 4 - I read Chap. 28 and 29 in Kovacs' book and from the book City by David Macaulay. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:

Day 5 - I read Chap. 30 to 35 in Kovacs' book. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:

Attention seeking behavior

In most families, there is at least one child that demands more than the others. And it can be pretty hard when one is homeschooling different grades. 

I get it. It’s easy to get so caught up with work, chores, activities, and responsibilities that we don’t spend enough time specifically interacting with our children. The important thing is to see it and not blame our children for "misbehaving" when in fact, all they need is our time and attention. And when I say attention, I mean, full-on, completely focused on them attention. Not just distractedly listening to their explanation about their Lego construction or complex drawing while thinking about a meeting or eyeing our phone. Kids are smart. They know we are not fully present. And they feel like we do not care.

Still, some children get LOTS of parent's attention and still behave as if they needed more. What I notice most times with these children is that they have somehow misunderstood what they need to do to engage others. And it's our job as parents to teach them these skills (why will some of our children "get it" without us specifically guiding them through this, I have no idea, but that's often the case that 2 out of 3 children will do great with a regular dose of attention and one will require A LOT more).

When I asked for support on an online group about Mathilde a few years ago, here's what someone wrote to me, as if she was talking from the child's point of view:

Because I wanted your attention. Because I want you to see me. Because I want to know I’m important to you. Because I want to feel like I belong to you. Because you are my mom and my dad and that makes you the two most important people in my world, and I want to feel like I matter as much to you as you matter to me. And I will do anything—anything—to find a way into the center of your world.

I can't tell you how many time I reread that (and still do at times). It really speaks to me. I hope it does resonate with some of you.

Grade 6 - Roman History - Week 2 (The Kings of Rome)

All the ressources I am using for this block are listed here, under Roman History. It will be a five week block lesson. Week one is here.

Day 1 - We recited O Roma again (and did every day this week a the beginning of our lesson). The girls know it by heart now. I read chap. 5 and 6 from Charles Kovacs' Ancient Rome book, the story of Numa Pompilius (here)  and the story of The Horatii and the Curiatii (here). They girls draw and wrote this in their MLB: 

Day 2 - I read the story of the Tarquins (here). They girls draw Lucius Tarquinius and wrote about the Seven Kings of Rome in their MLB: 

Day 3 - I read chap. 8, 9 and 10 from Charles Kovacs' Ancient Rome book. They girls draw Horatius on the bridge and wrote about the beggining of the Republic in their MLB: 

Day 4 - I read the beginning of the story of Hannibal that is in the Christopherus' Roman History bundle.They girls draw Hannibal and wrote about him in their MLB:

Day 5 - I finished reading the story of Hannibal that is in the Christopherus' Roman History bundle. They girls draw Hannibal crossing the Alps and wrote about him and Scipio Africanus in their MLB (The top drawing is Mara and the bottom one, Aisha's):

Math : we finished Key to Decimals 2.

Roadschooling

People still ask me why we decided to live on the road.  Here's my attempt at an answer:

We chose this lifestyle because we wanted to have fun together and wished to spend as much time as possible enjoying nature. Our backyard constantly changes and only a small amount of time is necessary to keep our little place clean and tidy, so we have more time to play together!

I remember sitting with JF one night in front of the woodstove at our farm house and asking him what his best childhood memories were. As he turned the question to me, I realized that we both had very vibrant memories of the time we spent traveling and/or camping with our families. We simply decided to create a life that would provide us with tons and tons more memories of connecting together in the wild.

:: Morning lesson. David reading outside with his mom. I wish I had taken a picture of Ellie reading in a kayak on the lake. ::

:: Feeding their soul and their body: Okanagan blue grapes, almonds, organic dried apricots and figs dipped in tahini. :: 

:: Going rock climbing in the afternoon. Much more fun than a phys ed. class in my opinion. ::

:: Botany lesson ::

:: Our friend Marty gave the girls a great lesson on the blood moon eclipse on top of a cliff we had climbed to watch it. Learning from other interesting adults is so important. ::

We want to give our girls the gift of time. The time to live, to listen to themselves, to find out who they truly are and what makes them feel alive and happy and connected to their essence far from the colossal influence of the majority, of mainstream society. We want to offer them a childhood away from the stress, from the life that goes too fast. We want to offer them parents who are truly present, relax and available, but above all, we want to learn and discover the world with them, because this is what makes us the happiest.

What our girls learn in books is important, but what they experience living from the Yukon to the dry desert of Arizona and everywhere in between is priceless.