School: Part Final

I've gone back and forth, and forth and back about what "curriculum" to use with Aubree this year.  It's been a fun process.  There are a million different curriculum options, philosophies, and suggestions, which can be a bit overwhelming, but I enjoy the planning aspect.  I've finally gotten all my materials and am gearing up to semi-officially "starting" home-school next week.  We've begun a few things already and won't get as structured as I'd like until we move and Aubree's no longer attending preschool, but next week we will start what will serve as our foundation.

Our core curriculum will come from the Five in a Row book by Jane Lambert.  It's literature-based and basically involves reading the same picture book once a day for five days and doing different activities each day in association with the book (geography, science, math, art, & social studies).  This program came highly recommended, offers a lot of flexibility, promises to be extremely enjoyable, and will allow us to include Bryce as much as possible.  I'm sure I'll supplement each week a lot with other library books on the same topics and most likely I'll end up learning more than anyone (it never ceases to amaze me how little I really know!).

For math, I've decided to use an Internet-based program called DreamBox.  It's an individualized, game-based program.  Aubree's been "playing" for about a month and I'm amazed at how much she's learned!  As a parent I get frequent emails about her progress and can easily track what she's accomplished and what she's working on.  As for Aubree, she thinks it's a ton of fun and enjoys earning the different rewards and accomplishing the varying tasks.  It does require a subscription, but if anyone is interested in trying it out, let me know because anyone I refer can get a free month and we'd get a free month too (anyone can get a free 2 week trial from the website).

One area I think we need to focus on is Handwriting.  Aubree's learned some bad habits in her writing that I think will be easier to correct sooner rather than later.  We've started using Handwriting Without Tears.  We just started last week, but are flying through the workbook.  Each letter only takes us a few minutes and Aubree is never content to just work on one letter; I have to force her to stop at two or three!  Even so, I've already noticed a big improvement in her writing.  I think it helped just to think about/be aware of how letters should be formed and how they relate to the lines on the paper.

Another area in which we can definitely use improvement, and that I'm really excited about, is in our gospel study.  Once Aubree's done with preschool (and on Tuesdays and Thursdays until that point), I'm planning on starting our school day with a devotional time.  This will hopefully include elements such as: prayer, songs, scripture stories, scripture memorization (one a week), stories from the 'Friend,' magazine, stories from the Book of Virtues, etc.

I also want to do a once-a-week cooking lesson.  

Of course, we'll supplement all of this with lots and lots of reading.  I've compiled a fairly long list of read-aloud chapter books and recommended picture books that we'll systematically put on hold at the library (Oh! How I love our librarians!).  If anyone has any favorite read-aloud or picture books, please - let me know!

I really hope that wherever we move has some kind of a home-school co-op, where other classes are offered to further broaden our options.  I'm sure over time I will modify these plans, as we learn for ourselves what works and what doesn't.  Eventually I hope to come up with a better plan of how to either involve Bryce in what Aubree's doing, or set up something special just for him.  Wish us luck!

Pardon the Interruption

**We interrupt the regularly scheduled "school" posts to bring you this adorable baby:
and his equally adorable, but oh-so-sick big brother:
Poor Bryce woke up Wednesday morning throwing up. It was the only time he threw up, but he spent the following four days burning. Mark kept asking what his temperature was, but Bryce launched into hysterics every time I got near him with the thermometer. I figured I knew he had a fever, so what did it matter what the number read? Thursday night I changed my mind when he seemed on fire. I pulled out the thermometer and braved the wailing (all for under the armpit!) and discovered a temp of 103.2! You're supposed to add an extra degree to under armpit readings (which put it in the 104-area).
I took him to the doctor Friday morning and they ruled out Strep Throat, but couldn't determine any other reason for the fever. Bryce is not a fan of the doctor's office, but they have lollipops, so he was okay in the end.
Yesterday he started to feel a little better and today the fever's finally gone and he's started eating again. I hate having sick babies - it just breaks my heart for them.
The good thing about illnesses is that they make you extra grateful for being healthy.

School Part 2: Home School

My sisters tell me I'm weird and getting weirder. I suppose they're right, but it's a gradual process and I'm okay with it. I'm grateful to have my own blog where I can try to explain my "path to weirdness."
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Six years ago, when I was still working full time in the public schools, I had strong opinions about home schooling. The home schooled kids I came across in my role as a school psychologist were anything but exemplary. Usually they were trying to get back into the public school setting and it was clear they were years behind their classmates academically and socially. Their parents frequently admitted to having done little, if any, structured teaching/learning. Shameful. Pair those experiences with the limited exposure I had growing up to kids who had been home-schooled and were rather socially awkward, and I felt the evidence was clear that home schooling was a recipe for academic failure and social maladjustment.
When Aubree was born, Mark and I spent a lot of time talking about our views on education. We agreed that education was extremely important and envisioned that our kids would take school "seriously." Missing school, except in instances of illness, was not an option. I'll admit to being somewhat judgmental of families I saw who pulled their kids out of school for "frivolous" activities. "Don't they realize how important school is?" I wondered.
Slowly, ever so slowly, my views on home schooling began to soften. I met a few families who took home schooling seriously and their kids were not only not weird, but intelligent, articulate, thoughtful, hard-working, and wonderful! "Hmmm," I pondered, "maybe there are some exceptions."
About a year ago, a lady in my ward who home schools her daughters came up to me and asked if I would like some of her old curriculum. "Ummmm..." I stammered, not quite sure why she was asking me. She jumped in, "I was getting ready to sell it and kept getting a feeling that I should give it to you. I tried to ignore the feeling, but it just kept coming back stronger, so I figured I'd at least ask." "Oh no!" I answered, "Don't say that! I don't want to home school!"
Occasionally, while perusing the Internet looking for fun and educational activities for my kiddos, I'd come across an article or a blog post talking about home school. Reading one would peak my curiosity and soon I was seeking out more blogs, articles, and books. The more I researched and read about education and schools, the more disenchanted I became with the educational system. I realized my attitude had shifted and I was already planning how many days of school my kids could miss and not get in trouble with the administration. I'd decided family time trumped school time. I even found myself wondering if "education" and "school" were necessarily synonymous, and had serious reservations about the wisdom of a "standardized curriculum."
One of my good friends has two kids that are school-aged. I had a front-row seat last year as she and her kids struggled with the public school system that would not or could not meet her daughter's needs. Ultimately my friend chose to pull her daughter out of school and home-school the remainder of the year, which worked out well for them. Her daughter is a lot like Aubree, which forced me to really face the question of whether a public school is the best option for her and her brothers.
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Since the kindergarten cut-off date here in Florida is non-negotiable, I felt like home schooling is really my only good choice this year. In a twisted way, I'm almost grateful there are no exceptions, because I've been forced to research and prepare to home school and in this process I'm discovering that it might not just be manageable or acceptable, but perhaps even preferable. There are a TON of fabulous resources and curriculums and supports available.
As we gear up to start home-schooling, I'm really looking forward to having more structure in our lives; I want to be more intentional in how our time is spent. In the past few months, for the first time, Aubree's been complaining about being "bored." (Admittedly, the past year I haven't been very proactive in planning crafts or activities at home.) "Mom," she begs, "give me some options!" With the curriculum choices I've made, we'll have lots of options! Most are really fun and engaging and even Bryce will be able to participate in some of the more hands-on activities.
I want my kids to maintain their love of learning, and I also want them to develop problem-solving skills, to be compassionate, to have opportunities to follow their passions. I like having them around and I feel uneasy turning the majority of their days over to strangers. I want to be able to incorporate the Gospel into all their studies, not do damage control in the few moments I might have with them after school.
On a more selfish note, Aubree's only been in "school" less than two weeks (which she continues to enjoy), and I'm already less than fond of the drop-off and pick-up routine. I don't like having to conform to other people's schedules and I really hate having to wake up sleeping babies. Plus, in the off-chance that we are able to move closer to family, I want to be able to go visit!
So, maybe this home school thing will work for our family. Or, maybe it won't and Aubree will be heading off to public schools this time next year. It's a grand experiment and I'm excited to get started!

Aubree & School: Part 1

Monday was Aubree first day of "school."
I've spent the last year obsessing over what course of action to follow for her schooling this year. I think she should be starting kindergarten, but Florida's cut-off date is September 1st and it's a hard cut-off, no exceptions. I find that aggravating (to put it mildly).
I seriously considered putting Aubree in a private Montessori school. They were willing to take her even though she's four and I was extremely impressed with the teacher. It was a K-2 classroom with lots of flexibility and adjustments for each child as an individual. My biggest concern about the school was that it was 7 hours a day. That means 35 hours a week. That's almost as long as Mark is gone at work and he's an adult! I'm not willing to give up that much time with my child. I asked the teacher if she might consider half-day enrollment. She tried to ease my fears saying, "I know it sounds like a long time, and most kids have a little bit of a hard time transitioning to such a long day at first, but after a week or two they're just fine." Truth be told, I'm not worried that Aubree wouldn't handle it well. I think she'd even enjoy it. I suppose I'm jealous of my time with her and I think 35+ hours is over-kill.
Florida also offers what they call VPK or Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten. This is a free-to-parents program where kids can attend a preschool for 15 hours a week during the year before they start kindergarten. What I like about the Program is that it's totally a parent's choice where their child goes, so there are a lot of options, both public and private. I also like that it's only 15 hours a week. What I don't like is that it's a preschool and I think society's views of preschools are becoming more and more alarming (but that's a subject for another rant). I also don't think, from an academic perspective, that Aubree will get a whole lot from a preschool setting. I'm afraid that sounds arrogant, but the preschools around here have a fairly standardized set of guidelines and pre-reading readiness figures heavily into their curriculum (think letter of the week).
The final option I've heavily researched is home school. My thoughts about home schooling have changed dramatically over the last few years. But again, that's a subject of another (probably long) post.
Ultimately, with the uncertainty of how long we'll be here in Florida (Mark is actively looking for a new job and once we accept an offer we'll be moving...somewhere...sometime), I decided to go ahead and enroll Aubree in a private VPK. She goes to school Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for five hours at a time. As of today, she's attended twice and has had a lot of fun. I think her teacher is great and there is a lot of time for playing, which is important. For the few months that we're anticipating still being here, I think it will be a good fit and still be new enough to be interesting for her. Bryce doesn't like having Aubree gone. I can't tell you how many times I've heard him say, "Mom, I want to go get Aubree."

Aubree with her VPK teachers

I've also decided to supplement her VPK with home school and when we move, we'll home school "full time." One thing I feel strongly about is that, one way or another, Aubree will be in 1st grade next year (I've put a lot of time and thought and research into coming to this decision and really feel it's in her best interest). I'm excited about the upcoming year and will post more about our home schooling plans soon.

P.S. Yes, I know - I over-analyze everything and this has been a long-standing obsession. When I was PREGNANT with Aubree, and Mark was looking for his first post-college job, I remember telling him, "let's move to North Carolina! They're kindergarten cut-off date is October 16!" Nuts, eh?

Party in PA

At the beginning of July we jetted up the East Coast to spend a week at Mark's parents home in Pennsylvania. All of Mark's siblings were also there with their families. It was the first time we'd all been together since Aubree was Thane's age. All together there were 9 cousins staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house, 7 of which were four years old or younger.

Boy Cousins: Chase, Tyson, Thane, & Bryce

Girl Cousins (minus Cora): Cambrie, Ella, Aubree, & Ally

Overall, the kids got along remarkably well, especially since they didn't even know each other at the beginning of the week. Grandma had huge bins of toys with which to play and having playmates available constantly was thrilling. Aubree and Bryce hardly fought with each other the whole week - mostly because their paths rarely crossed.
Aubree spent most of her time playing with her cousin Cambrie.
Together they spent hours drawing, reading, playing games, and imagining. Cambrie is six, so their make-believe play was a bit more sophisticated than Aubree's typical creations. The first Saturday we were there, the girls decided they were secret agents and asked to be sent on special missions. Collectively, the Moms thought up random tasks such as "go get Grandma to tell you she loves you," or "get Aunt Amy to show you a picture of her boyfriend." Uncle Eric snuck around as the necessary "bad guy," (more specifically - a Panamanian spy) seeking to thwart their progress, much to the girl's great delight. The next day, Sunday, the girls wanted to continue with their secret missions, this time with additional recruits and special disguises.
To give their challenges a more Sabbath-day appropriate flair, we had them go on missions likened unto Lehi's leaving from Jerusalem. They made a "tent in the wilderness," went back trying to get the golden plates, and made boats with which to cross great waters. It was great!

Their "tent in the wilderness"

Bryce spent most of his time happily playing with the vast assortment of Duplos and Little People. Grandma had at least 6 different tractors and an equal number of trains (and oodles of other great toys); so Bryce was totally content. On one occasion (when I was watching most of the nieces and nephews) Cambrie came crying to me saying, "Tyson won't let me play with Bryce. He says that since Mom and Dad are gone, he's in charge and I can't play!"
"Okay," I thought, "I'm glad they want to play with Bryce, but they must realize he's just two..." I think Cambrie was mostly upset that her big brother was bossing her around, but when I went to find out what was going on, poor Tyson admitted, "I don't have anyone to play with! Everyone else gets to play with cousins." Tyson is 8 and Aubree is the closest cousin to his age. He did play really well with Bryce, and Bryce reveled in Tyson's attention, but Ty spent most of his time with the adults. He and Mark built this great dinosaur:
One of the great things about this trip was that we were able to stay in the same time zone! Hurray! However, did you know that the day starts much earlier and ends much later in Pennsylvania than in Florida? I hadn't thought of that until my up-with-the-sun son, Bryce, was up and ready to go every morning by 5:30 am. Combine that with the fact that he and Aubree were in the same room trying to go to sleep in the evenings (chatting and arguing and tattling) AND that it was still daylight till after 9 pm AND that their West Coast cousins were still up playing, = recipe for sleep disaster. Probably it was more frustrating for me than anyone, because Thane was fussy at the same time of day. We discovered that taking Thane outside immediately calms him, so I spent most of my evenings enjoying the refreshingly tolerable weather on the patio. Too bad we can't do the same in Florida (bugs and nasty heat).
For one of our adventures, we spent a day at Dutch Wonderland, a fun kiddie-Amusement park that Mark and all his siblings worked at as teenagers. We happened to visit the park on a record-setting hot day. I remember thinking, "I should take some pictures, but I'm just too hot." So I have no visual record. It was great to have so many adults, because the kids were constantly going off with one adult or another to their preferred area of attraction. For example, little Ella (3) loved the spinning, scary rides so she went with Grandma who also revels in those types of rides. Aubree tried most of the rides, but was especially fond of the huge slide and "Choo Choo Charlie" (a self-motorized little train). Bryce, as you might guess, was thrilled to get to ride the train around the park. I took him on one ride that involved a lot of spinning. I knew he didn't like it because he gripped onto my leg, but sat totally quiet until it was almost over when he declared, "I don't like this, Mom. I don't like this!"
Other fun activities included: getting group pictures taken, swimming, lots of chatting, playing "Bang!," and touring Wilbur Chocolate Factory. Too bad I don't have pictures of those things.
To end our trip, we spent a couple days touring Washington DC. We spent most of our time visiting various Smithsonian museums. I love history and was excited to visit the US History museum. Unfortunately, I realized that I am becoming more and more like my mom (i.e. wanting to stop and read each placard), and having three little kids is entirely non-conducive to such desires. The US History museum, though fascinating for me, was WAY over the kids' heads and interest level.
We headed next to the Natural History Museum which was much more kid-friendly. The kids liked looking at the stuffed animals, the dinosaur bones, and the ocean animals. By that point, however, it had been a very long day. We were all tired and hungry and Mark had the beginnings of what turned into a nasty migraine, so we headed back to the hotel and all of us were asleep by 9 pm.

Grandma Winters and Thane at the hotel

The next morning we hopped back on the Metro and headed back to visit the Air and Space Museum. On our way to the museum, we got a little lost and ended up taking the LONG route through a wonderful summer rain storm. By the time we got to the museum, we were all thoroughly soaked!
The Air and Space Museum is amazing! Lots of hands-on activities and more to see than can possibly be seen in the limited time we had. It was funny to visit the "space" section and see all the stuff related to the space shuttles. Around here that's almost mundane! All too soon it was time to say our good-byes and get back on the airplane. We had a great trip and hope it doesn't take another 4 years till we can all get together again.

How Thane spent our time in DC
Uncle Eric & Thane
Ella & Bryce
Karen and Cora

P.S. Have you ever wondered about the meaning of the word "precocious?" Here's a simple definition in lieu of a 1000-word explanation:

Cousin Ally

What's So Great...

about 6:30 am?? Really? If it's not one, it's his brother. They both have an internal alarm that goes "Ding!" the same time every morning. *Yawn*

My friend, Corri, recently wrote a blog describing her 2-year-old. She described her daughter as, "nothing if not a dichotomy...Sweet and unkind. Helpful and stubborn. Angelic and definitely-not-angelic." As I read I thought, "Yes! That's a perfect description of a two-year old and definitely holds true for Bryce!" He can be cuddly and cute and quick to obey, and three seconds later defiant, exasperating, and mean. One of his favorite past-times continues to be torturing his sister. He must find her predictable squeals delightful. However, most of the time they are best buddies and play together fabulously.
*He's adamant that he do everything, "by myfelf!," yet he's a firm believer in the power of a mommy's kiss to immediately make any hurt all better.
*The other day Bryce was playing in his room and when I peeked in he piped up, "don't see me!" By way of interpretation, that means, "I'm doing something wrong and I don't want you to notice."
*Bryce has an affinity for puzzles. He quickly worked his way past our extensive collection of wooden peg puzzles and has now moved on to floor puzzles. He asks for his "choo-choo puzzles" (a collection of 4 floor puzzles) at least twice a day and puts all of them together multiple times.
Last week Thane went to the pediatrician for his two month check-up. Here are his stats:
Weight: 13 lbs. 2 oz. (75th percentile)
Height: 24 3/4" (95th percentile)
He's certainly not little. He's slowly (ever so slowly!) learning how to be awake without crying. The most common comment I hear regarding Thane is, "Are you pinching that baby?" Why yes, yes I am.
Thane started smiling on occasion when he was super young, but now he's more purposeful with his grins and even delights us with small laughs. Bryce is constantly telling me, "that's my brudder." I think the two of them will have lots of fun together as they grow up (probably early in the morning before I've managed to roll out of bed...).