When a simple choice is too much for a child (and a parent)

We are in school holidays now. Getting deep into Autumn and feeling the bite of winter coming.

Finishing term 1 swimming lessons has left a dilemma for me....and my poor daughter.

The last few lessons the swimming pool was very cold. Children were not making it all the way through their lessons, and ended up coming out blue cold early.

Not only do I have one child which is cold and swimming with out me but on her own with her teacher then I have my younger son waiting (he did not want to do lessons as he had a bad fright last year) for his sister to come into the bigger pool to swim with him once she had finished her lesson.

So the cold is one issue. The Aquatic centre has some issue with heating at the moment.

My daughter has made a wonderful friendship with a little boy in her class. His grandmother is delighted as well and would like to keep the friendship going for one more term till he goes to school. I feel a great amount of pressure as I know that friendships like this are lovely. My daughter has said that she would like to have her friend come to our house...and I wish that we were able to do that (this might possibly be an answer...need to get contact details).

"I only want one more lesson with *** then no more lessons....I'll just see him once again".

Sounds so sad and final.

So the friendship is the second issue.

The weather and the constant sickness is another problem that we suffered from last year over winter. Many children came to their lessons not completely over their colds/flu and my children picked up a few and they hung on and hung on...missing out on lessons and making life very difficult.

Sickness second issue.

My daughter has done so well in lessons this term. The class has three people and is run for 20mins with a firm but happy teacher. If we do not go this coming term she will not be able to keep in this class...will she keep all she has learnt?

Keeping the skills fresh.

Is my unschooling feelings affecting my daughters decision?

Am I embracing the unschooling ideas? Should we not just go and play in the pool and let my son and daughter find their own water confidence?

I think I have made a choice.

No more lessons.

But I wanted to involve my daughter and asked her what her choice would be. She said no more lessons but wanted to see her friend. I tried to ask her if she did not enjoy her lessons...she could keep going I'd be happy.

"No more talking Mum....no more questions" she continued to play while I felt confused she tripped and fell not really hurting herself but the tears were very powerful.

"Have I asked you too much" I asked.

"Yes" she brighten straight away with happiness and I could see she almost physically handed the choice back over to me.

Fire in a pot...plant pot

Yesterday while on Youtube (silly me I didn't book mark the page) my daughter saw a really neat "rocket stove" type idea. Someone camping found a crack in the side of a bank of clay (type soil) enough to build a small fire at the bottom and put the billy on the top to boil.

"Hey Mum why have we not started on our Rocket Stove!"

Big sigh....yer why not.

Forever....we've had an empty pot at the front door step and then one day we put the brazier in it to keep it safe. Both Dave and I looked at it and wondered if it would work just like that. I was worried that the heat might crack the pot....and also what fun would the kids get out of that with all the work already done.

So following the cob book we have here...we started out. We robbed "more of my sand pit", then some clay of the ever crumbling bank and some cow pen sawdust (well washed by many downpours of rain) and some water.

Mud pies I hear you saying...yup. It was really hard to get some good photos while trying to keep the mud in the right places and get grubby myself.

Dave walked past and said "I think it's almost 60% sand in the cob ovens"....so I went and got a little more sand.

Both kids had a wonderful time singing into the pot listening to the echo. My son was not so keen to get his hands dirty....but my daughter true to form dug straight in. They patted and shaped and grumbled at each other...knocked it down and built it back up.

To finish off with they both had a wash down under the hose...which then led them to become very cold...so to warm up we ambled up the road collecting scrap wood to burn. I was telling them the whole time that they would have to cook their own dinner ;-)

I probably didn't let them do the final stuff of cooking and fire lighting - well fire poking - my daughter did light the fire but I still need to hang back a little more.

Money, Responsibility, Trust and Chickens

Our daughter loved our chickens...who does not love little fluffy chickens. We brought home a Mother hen with 13 babies. These were our first chickens so we didn't really know what we were doing.

Our daughter was in love.

She wanted her own chickens.

We explained that chickens cost money to buy...."How do I get money?" she asked. We talked about earning it and ways to do this.

She settled on having a stall at our local market to sell lavender and salad (two things from our garden which we have a lot of).

I would like to thank all the local peoples who supported our daughter and buying from her.

You have helped her dream come true today.

She ordered her own chickens from the pet store. She asked for 3 (a little unsure if she could afford them as she didn't count up her money before she went). Lucky she had enough to buy the chickens and the food to get them going till they are able to join with the other chickens.

They have no names yet but she has asked if she could use the name of our Mother hen who died as she misses her....so BEL will be one.

It was hard once our daughter started earning money to just leave her alone. She worked so hard that I was really worried it was going to go missing in her room. She would play with it and have is scattered all over her room. Dave kept saying we have to leave her as she needs to learn to look after her own things. But I managed not to take over and control. (learning learning).

We did have a small moment when I put her "Miffy bag" in my bag to take up town this morning...and she said "No it's my bag, my money, my chickens". Ok ok I said to myself as she took it back.

Sitting in the car Dad asked her "do you have your Miffy bag?" panic she didn't. Little lessons all over the place.

So a new venture for our daughter starts today.

Where do I buy school supplies and do I need it?

I've been thinking of running a small art class...so I'll need a few things.

Where do I get it? And the cost...oh goodness

I've started off with the Playcentre shop...but will they post it all the way up to us?

What about the good old Warehouse Stationary? Is the cost any good? possibly not.

Office Max I don't think it even comes close.

Teacher Direct I've never heard of them but well does that matter?

Tutor Education again I've never heard of them and they seem to have everything.

Oh sigh

Then I see all sorts of other things which might be cool to have....do I really need to get roped into it all? It would be nice to have some storage for our things we seem to be collecting. But 'teaching' stuff I don't think I should go over board on that.

Unit Studies and Home schooling (Home education;-)

I've just been talking to a few people (as you do) and reading a few more books (as you do). Today's book "The Complete Idiots Guide to Homeschooling"

So far I'm really enjoying it. I'm not reading it cover to cover just reading the bits I feel I need to know more about.

Before starting down this Homeschool (Home learning;-) track we went to a local support group to listen to all the different ways of teaching and encouraging our children in their learning process. One lady was to talk about Unit Studies...she didn't but gave a GREAT talk any way....but I was always left wondering. Not so much that I dashed home to look it up....but just questioning in the back of my mind.

So

Unit Studies: Concentrating on a Theme!

This really sounds like me (but is it my children?)

Finding a topic that we want to know more about and looking into it in as many ways as possible.

"Rather than teaching the many subject areas abstractly and in an unrelated way, a unit study covers all the curriculum areas, connecting and interconnecting in a way that makes children understand why they need to learn this. Since everything relates to the common theme and connects naturally, studying the various subjects makes more sense. Choose a unit study that your children are interested in, and you can be sure of better retention of the material.

Here's an example of a very simple unit study on dogs:

> Find three books on dogs: a nonfiction book on the breeds of dogs; a nonfiction book on dog care and training; and a collection of dog stories.

> Collect pictures of dogs and articles about dogs found in magazines.

> Learn to spell the names of several breeds of dogs. Keep lists of your spelling words on notebook paper.

> Make word cards of new vocabulary and meanings encountered while reading.

> Make a graph or chart about dogs.

> Write a short essay about how dogs have been important to humans throughout history.

> Write a short essay about types of dogs typically related to geographic regions of the world.

> Combine your graph, vocabulary words, spelling lists, essays, pictures, and collected articles into a notebook. Include a list with the names of the books you read. Be sure to include your name and the date you compiled your information.

Some purchased unit studies are planned to take about six weeks. Many home-based learners have discovered that once interest is sparked, their studies expand and grow, taking on a life of their own, and research has shown retention to be 40 percent better than that achieved through traditional methods.

The unit study approach is excellent for families with children of varying ages, because all ages can study the same topic, with adjustments made for the ability level of the children. Shared family interests, such as bird watching, sailing, or softball, can be made into a unit study for a fun way to do a trial run.

Using a unit study helps children get the big picture and promotes independent thinking. Children often come up with excellent ideas for expanding on a purchased or family-planned unit study.

Planning your own unit study is not complicated. Making a list of the various subject areas and plugging in the activities, books, programs, and field trips that you could use may be all you need to do before getting off to a running start!

Don't be fearful of learning gaps. Everyone has learning gaps caused by lack of interest in presented material, absence from school, or-for no apparent reason. No one knows everything. However, teaching your child good research skills, how to think, and how to learn is much more important than trying to cover every tidbit of information that someone else has laid out as important....."

This sounds really good and sort of what we are almost doing already with our children's love for bugs. My daughter is catching white butterfly from the garden...then she's not happy with that so she'll get the Caterpillar and try and feed them.

There are moths studied. There are bugs from the floor. There are stick insects on windows. Wasps in the courtyard. Praying Mantis eating wasps and running all over the house. Weta at playcentre and in our own garden shed. Bugs bugs bugs.

Paintings done. Books read. Baking done....all on this same theme and I've not really noticed until now.

WOW...cool we're doing unit studies ;-)

Quit your learning and eat your dinner

I didn't say that word for word but I pretty much said words to that meaning.

Oh sigh.

Its (learning) coming at every direction and sometimes my brain just can't cope.

I used to write posts about my daughters writing I'm not sure I will for a little while because its happening so much over the last few days that it has almost become a regular thing....haha for this month....I'm sure it will change again.

Cooking, reading, showing what she knows, describing to her brother what she knows....

Talking to her brother "Do you remember what we looked at this morning? Through the binoculars? A birds nest in the tree!"

Talking to her Granny "Just wait we'll get my book to see what type of insect that is....did it have pincers at the back? How many legs? Wings?....." both heads look over the photos in Andrew Crows insect book.

I do find we have so many more questions later in the day when Dave gets home and often what to keep working on some project or another.

Just have to go with the flow

Naomi Aldort - Parenting and Social Behavior

I read "Raising our children raising ourselves" a few years ago and while I felt it was a really good book I don't think I got as much out of it as what I could.

Now I have two children and one oh so close to 5 I am beginning to see that this book might be more golden than first realized.

I have also read Jon Kabat-Zinn's "Where ever you go there you are" which has changed my views on reading (and life) so much that I find myself re-reading books and getting so much more out of them.

I really started looking at Attachment Parenting when my daughter was 1 and learnt that it is so important to treat children with respect but also give guidance. Show love and to listen and attend to their needs ...as they are children. I became more aware (and probably need to do more again) on how others affect my children's behavior. I am very aware that I have issues too (we all do) and need to work on them and be aware of myself too.

That is why I am enjoying my parenting books all again as the Sears, Pam Leo and even Jean Liedloff (may you rest in peace and thank you Jean) has lead me through their very helpful discovery's.

When I come to read our headlines I do see our problems not only in schools but parenting.

Misbehaviour by kids rated No 1 social issue todays news paper

I am also reading "The Well Adjusted Child" (only just started) and wow....this post will need to be added too and visited often I feel