So What Did You Do Today? Ripped from the headlines of our homeschooling days! 

The boys had their first Lego Robotics team meeting with their new 4-H club yesterday, in between church services. My oldest was asked to present a segment of the agenda, though it was only his first meeting with them, because of his 7 years of FLL team experience. They had last year’s “Body Forward” game board, and wanted him to walk them through the missions, since some in the club are choosing to do some of the missions for their club project.

The youngest finally gets his long dreamed of opportunity to do Lego robotics with his brother. At the meeting, my oldest was helping him with his worksheet, to verify the parts in the kit. And today, they’ve asked to work together on assembling the youngest’s robot (his “homework” from yesterday….though they have over a month to complete it!). UPDATE: See video for today’s progress, accomplished with “Nice working with you” from both boys!

Later today, my oldest’s FLL Lego robotics team has their meeting. Then tonight is Biblical Greek!

(With a barely audible “Hooray!” from the robot itself at the end!)

I really should have written a P.S. to that last post, because what happened later is really why we homeschool and why I push my sanity to the side for the sake of my kids!

After swim practice, I dropped my oldest son off at the Teen Center for his Java class, while a friend drove my youngest up to hubby’s job so he could take him to capoeira. When I picked my teen up, he said that the teacher had gotten stuck on something and the function in Java wasn’t working. They were all sitting around stumped when my oldest looked at it and said, “Isn’t it….??” and pointed right to the bracket that had not been closed!

Meanwhile, at capoeira camp, my youngest was enjoying himself and making a bunch of new friends. He went to thank Mestre Nenel, and the man himself turned to my hubby and said, “He’s good! Very good!” When hubby told me that, I cried. Just bawled. Maybe it was just a super long week for me with all the driving and everything (100 miles RT for capoeira camp), or menopausal hormones, but I was just really happy to see that all the effort we’ve put into following our children’s passions, (or helping them to discover them!) is paying dividends. Seeing them embrace new learning, extending the learning, or just working through challenges is such a blessing to behold!

Then, over the weekend, my youngest had his last session with Mestre Nenel. Afterwards the big capoeira family went out to lunch. On Sunday, after morning services at church, we went to the annual festival our community holds, because my youngest’s capoeria school was doing an exhibition. They really put on a good show!

So, exhausted, my crazy week was finally over! Just in time for a new one to begin!

As I predicted in my last post, this year is shaping up to be a doozy! We’ve been so busy doing, it’s hard to stop and write about it!

Tuesday was momentous day in our homeschooling history: My daughter got invited to her first swim meet:

My youngest son met Mestre Nenel, whose father, Mestre Bimba, is considered the Father of Modern Capoeira!

And, my oldest got an even bigger taste of independence. He went to his teen center Java class by himself. He’s been doing more and more by himself, and accepting more and more responsibility. He’s used great judgement & done well.

Speaking of my oldest, today he asked if he could do more of his Thinkwell math than he usually does (he usually does about 30-45 minutes per day). He is really enjoying it, and said that Thinkwell “kinda makes math simple!” Music to this mama’s ears!

Shortly we’ll be taking off for my daughter’s swim team practice and my oldest’s Java class. My youngest will head out with his dad to another capoeira session with Mestre Nenel.

Welcome to Day 1 of the 2011-2012 Homeschooling Year! This year we have an official teenager (it happened over the summer…as we school year-round, BTW ), entering 8th grade; a 10 year-old (also a summer birthday) entering 5th, and my youngest, Mr. Capoeira, who is eight (and a half!), who is in 3rd grade this year!

I have created a calendar to share with you, because if I didn’t see it myself, I wouldn’t believe me capable of it….and it’s not even finished!! A couple of outside classes are still in the air, as well as the dates of the monthly 4-H projects.

We’ve always sorta hung out at the “unschooling” end of the continuum**, but this year we are really peeking our toes over the line!

Today found The Girl ramping up for her foray into The Diary of Anne Frank….a book we wanted to get to last year, but didn’t. For some reason we could not get her online language program to load (may have been something on the provider’s end??), so we called a friend from church who is fluent in Spanish and the two had a chat…a great way to reinforce what she’s learning! She also did an amazing job at swim team today!! To round out the learning, we played some Math video games. She’s really starting to embrace some other disciplines that formerly she wasn’t very enthused about.

The Teen has a crazy schedule this year, but tends to manage it all, and do it pretty graciously. He’s a very hands-on involved learner, and really takes charge of his schooling. Today he played some guitar, did some Math with our new Thinkwell program (purchased via the Homeschool Buyers Co-op…with a savings of over 60%!!!), and while watching his sister’s swim team practice, he checked out his Biblical Greek on his iPod. He also did a bit of research for his History project (a stop-motion movie of the American Revolution…..done in Lego!).

While still waiting on the local school district to call us regarding our petition for a full evaluation for our youngest, we are using very non-traditional methods to help him acquire the skills he can without having to read. He loves puzzles, so he has puzzles of the first ladies of the US (a gift from a friend), puzzles of the US map, games on the Leapster, lots of music, and his favorite thing: 2 minute animal videos on Mama’s iPad courtesy of “How Stuff Works” (an absolutely free app via the iTunes store!). He’s also loving Capoeira, and his fellow Capoeiristas love him, too! He got moved up to the adult class, and he is being challenged, yet he’s really progressing, too. He’s learning the music of Capoeira, the history and the language. It’s been a game-changer for his self-esteem and we couldn’t be more thankful to have found it!

Now I need to run 0ut to the office store, and gas up for the trek up to choir tomorrow (35 minute schlepp each way). If the rest of the year plays out as today did, we are in for one fantabulous year!!!

**There are many definitions of unschooling, ours follows more along the line of the thoughts expressed here.

If I were to title this in words versus a date, it would be: Becoming More Social Online. Two of my three children are ‘tweens (one soon to be a full blown teen!), and I am trying to support their budding independence and need for more peer interaction by creating ways for them to be involved online, yet in ways that are safe and appropriate.

My oldest is almost 13 and has his own e-mail account, which for a long time languished with cyber-cobwebs. But, he decided to send holiday greetings to a few friends a couple of months ago, and has slooooowly ramped up his usage of e-mail as a medium for communication.

He’s blogged for a couple of years now, but only as of this school year did I “mandate” it on certain days to assist with his language arts. So, he navigates, composes posts, and responds to comments. Though there is an associated Twitter feed for the blog, he doesn’t really do much with it, it’s just there to automatically tweet his blog posts.

Last year he played Wii online with a couple of friends, but so few of them used the online feature that we really don’t do much of that anymore. So, the bulk of his online time is spent playing chess with friends. He has about 4 friends or so, and sites like ChessKid.com and its older sibling: chess.com via Chess with Friends.

My other ‘tween is a bit younger, and is learning responsibility and restraint when it comes to online behavior. All three of my kids had Webkinz accounts a couple of years back when all that was in vogue. Though a very safe venue, it was enough to let us know we needed to tweak a few things given her personality. So now, she has her own blog with posts twice per week (generally), and a longtime e-mail account that, like her older brother’s initially, doesn’t get a lot of use . . .Which, for now, is about the speed she’s at, and that’s okay.