We are here (a homeschooling map)

A tree, some ornaments, some grooving animatronics...it's Christmas at our house. Plus I have four or five projects going at once, the kitchen table has become craft central, and our calendar is full from now until kingdom come (and beyond, if you listen to the Mayans). And all of that, more than the twinkling tree and lights, implies the fast approach of the merriest holiday of the year.

But we are still keeping up, for the most part, with our school activities as well. In math Calvin is learning division and finding the area of odd shapes (Math-U-See Delta). In spelling he's learning some tricks for understanding, or in some cases merely memorizing, vowel digraphs and diphthongs (Spelling Workout D). In grammar we've just finished talking about the different parts of speech (First Language Lessons Level 2) and will be moving into diagramming sentences next (FLL Level 3).

We spent the last week reviewing previous works heavily. This was not a planned hiatus, but arose out of necessity. Since beginning our trip through history with the big bang last year we have used large timelines, hung on various walls in the house (here and here), to help us visualize the journey. The older timelines we made were felt with felt critters to play with, but the most recent timeline, the one that corresponds to the emergence of ancient civilizations, was made of paper, and paper hanging on the hallway wall does not stand up well to the violence of a dog's tail. A few months in and our timeline is ragged with tears, so we've begun the process of remaking it in felt like the others, with laminated dates and happenings fitted with velcro to put on and take off (it helps also that Calvin, to my surprise, is still excited about playing with his felt, and asked for an ancient civilizations felt set for Christmas).

All that to say that, since we had to remake the ancient civilizations timeline we've spent the last week in a really thorough review of the years between the invention of the wheel (around 3500 b.c.e.) and the emergence of Classical Greece from the dark ages (around 800 b.c.e.). And since we were in the mood for reviewing, we traipsed back through all our science studies from the past few months. And what the past week or so has taught me is that a child's memory is surprising both in its capacity and capriciousness; he'll remember the oddest things, the most obscure things, and sometimes forget the most obvious, but then the next time you ask, there they are in full detail.

We've also added two new things to our regular repertoire—art and foreign language. For foreign language we were torn between things like Chinese and Spanish, so we went with the next best thing: ancient Greek. Our interest was, of course, inspired by our arrival in history at the dawning of the Greek classical age, at the writings of Homer, at the dialogues of Plato, not to mention that in all our documentary viewing, it has become clear that our hero, Michael Wood, speaks Greek to some degree. Come to our house these days and you're likely to hear us singing Alpha Beta Gamma in place of the ABCs (Song School Greek).

And for art we are practicing line drawing techniques, the kind that have me (the non-artist in the family) quacking in my boots, but the book we are using is titled Drawing With Children: A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too, by Mona Brookes, so you'll notice that it names me specifically in its target audience: adult beginner.

Calvin's lion and background...

My lion and background...

And that's were we are these days on the homeschooling map. This season lends itself to lots of distracting activity, of course. Tomorrow we will be going to a stage production of A Christmas Carol, and next week it will be The Nutcracker, followed by Calvin's own performance in Alice in Wonderland, the holiday party with HAA (our homeschooling group), the piano recital, and our annual trip to Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village, this time with kids in town. We have cookies to make, and cards, and a gingerbread house. There are packages to wrap, presents to make, videos to watch, music to play and listen to, and all the beautiful sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas await us.

Calvin's artwork from his last art class with HAA...

Bucking tradition

I love tradition, but there are times when feeling bound to it can become cumbersome. That's why, after years and years of cutting down our own Christmas tree, we found ourselves shopping trees at a trailer alongside the highway this morning in a barely relenting fog. And in fact, it turns out that isn't such a bad way to go. The variety of trees available was mind boggling, and not only did they shake and bale the tree for us, but they also secured it to our roof rack. Plus the smell was phenomenal. Walking through a tree farm is pretty, too, but the smell amidst so many already cut trees is a powerful thing. It made Christmas come alive the way only a Yankee Candle can, even in the fifty degree drizzle.

Plus PLUS, we finally got to ask someone, strings of illuminating bulbs overhead and all, "This isn't one of those trees where all the needles falls off, is it?" and have it fit. Really, I heard my dad ask.

Of course, bucking tradition only goes so far. Even surrounded by so many choices we still came home with our beloved scotch pine. Now, after a day of countless frustrations over hundreds of little lights ("the lights, they're not twinkling"), and scratchy needles, and worn out batteries, and impatience and nagging, that little scotch pine, green and pungent through it all, stands happily lit in the corner by the fireplace. The stockings are hung, half the outside lights are up, and finally it's beginning to look like December around here.

Now the challenge remains: how to balance school with the mile-long to-do list staring me in the face and distractions up the wazoo? More on this tomorrow (if there's time, of course).

"The first ornament of Christmas!"

December 01

December came on with a blast today. Strangely enough, neither the post-Thanksgiving dates, nor the cold weather, had helped bring on a sense of Christmas, but today's festivities moved things along a bit.  I've been working a lot over the past two weeks, with Calvin's help, to prepare for a special holiday book sale at the library, and Calvin's been looking forward to Santa for a week. Today was the culmination of both our hard work and our hard wishing. The book sale at the library, which was a great success, had me busy all day, while Calvin and Jon started decorating at home and located a Victorian Santa at the manor house in our little village. Following the sale the boys cheered me on in a holiday charity 5k.

So it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here, but today's balmy, foggy weather still doesn't look like the white holiday we're hoping for. Thankfully we have a few more weeks to wish and hope. All I want for Christmas? Snowflakes.

Photography by Calvin

Photography by Calvin

Photography by Calvin

Photography by Calvin

Count down to caught up...

in 5, 4, 3...

I just couldn't keep up. It must be the loss of daylight hours. Almost every day I have lots of thoughts I want to share, but by nightfall, which now is before dinner time, I'm tired and ready to curl up with a book.

November was all about baking. Lots and lots of pumpkin baking (it's Jon's favorite) and a few other things as well, like chili, and cranberry salad, and mulled cider.

November has also been about Greece. Ancient, Dark, Classical, Athenian, you name it. We started with the Minoans on Crete, moved on to the Mycenaeans on the peninsula, and from there it was a Trojan War fest, with Rosemary Sutcliff and Michael Wood. Myths and Mus and philosophers, oh my. Only this week did we make it into the Athenian Age and start looking at the great philosophers and the emergence of Greek Tragedy. We also started learning Greek. Why not? It's hard to tell who loves the topic more, and we're having a great time as usual.

The final days of football, the final days of sunny warm weather...that's November. And Thanksgiving, of course. We're sensitive to the issue of Thanksgiving in our house. I don't think there is a simple answer to the meaning of the holiday. In addition to the parade and plenty of football, this year we also watched a couple of videos from the History Channel that traced the true history of the holiday—Converted harvest festival? Commemoration of a group of uptight religious founders? Noxious remembrance of a kindness gone wrong in the end?

But the safe thing about the holiday is its connection to the harvest home celebration, the celebration of family and the warmth of good times and good food.

We headed north this year, braving traffic and some obscene weather conditions to celebrate with extended family, some of whom is relatively new to us, and regardless of football outcomes, we had a great time. And plenty—plenty—of good food. Plus we found that Black Friday shopping in a small town is actually enjoyable.

Place card crafts

Computer programming

Mourning football

Tug-of-war

Oz Fluxx

Local eating

Local shopping

Local brewery

Wild weather

Carcassonne

Beautiful snow (plus a squirrel)

Which brings me to today, which doesn't feel like today. Not if today is after Thanksgiving, already several days into the supposed Christmas season. With Thanksgiving being early this year, and us being out of town, our usual Christmas vim and vigor has yet to arrive, so I am declaring next weekend the first weekend of Christmas in our home. In the mean time, it's back to the Greek and the Greeks, and a few other fun things on the burner.

Notes from the homeschooling desk (11/10)