The most virgin territory there is....

Is the future. I read that somewhere but it fails me where.

So what's all this about? Think about that mean kid at school, you know, the one that was always picking on people, especially people different then them self. Hopefully that wasn't you, but then again maybe it was you.

Bully bully. Sticks and stones may break my bones but your words will never harm me. It seems everywhere we look, every channel we turn on the television or listen to on the radio is talking about bullies.  Kids are being bullied, but do those bullies ever grow out of it?  Do they ever grow up and look back on their life and see their wrongs and try to make amends? 

I was bullied.  Looking back on it, some 20 years later I see I was bullied daily.  I hated school.  People made fun of me and I could go on and on about the reasons, but would it accomplish anything?  No.  That being said I thought I left bullies behind when I "grew up".  Then I had a child and seen the bullies emerge again, not always directed toward me, but often times toward other moms (why do the worst bullies seem to be other women?).  The things they bully about now have changed, maybe, and perhaps the grown up bullies have gotten more sophisticated, but they are bullies all the same. 

I guess there is one in every crowd.  The person that must always be on top, even when it means stepping on others to get there.  The ones that use emotions to get what they want, then the minute you develop some gumption they decide they can't be your friend any longer, etc.  Why do grown adults feel the need to behave this way?  In children we blame their home life, school, society, mass media view habits, but in adults we have no one to blame.  It's just plain meanness. 

I have no scientific studies to quote, just some observations.  Children imitate what the see.  The good and the bad.  Not a one of us is a perfect parent, I know I'm not, but I do the best I can at this moment in my life.  I try to treat others with kindness and show by example a helping spirit, with the hopes that my daughter will grow up knowing we should help others also.  Yes, children imitate the good and bad.  Those moms and dads that clamber up the social ladder stepping on all those people on the way up are just as much a bully as the runny nosed 10 year old on the playground stealing milk money.  A bully is anyone that  purposely tries to hurt another by actions and words.  A bully might hit to cause pain or use words that hurt and intimidate others.  A bully might be that mom in dance class that spreads a rumour (true or not) about you or your child to the other moms....  bullies come in all shapes and sizes.  Most of the adult bullies I have encountered bully in an effort to increase themselves by making others feel small or insignificant.  It's sad. 

So I guess the idea of this little soap box is a reminder to all of us that we need to treat others with kindness and to show some love toward our fellow parents.  We are all on this road, some of us on different paths, but it still has the same destination, raising happy healthy children. 

Oh and the point of the quote, The most virgin territory there is the future....  No one knows what the future brings.  The future is a blank canvas and it's up to you to decide what you will paint on that canvas.  What will you paint for your children to see?  It's up to you.

Tend your garden well my dear friends!  Let's love one another!

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.  Ephesians 4:2

 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.  Hebrews 10:24

Happy Tending

Moving right along...

Two weeks into it and all is well. 

We were very active this week, maybe too much so.  I think I need to downsize the number of activities we do even though we love having fun with friends. 

We did some canning this week.  We made relish and sliced peaches and later today we will make pickles, I think.  :-)  We have also worked on school in the midst of all this other activity.  Speaking of school I began my program at a local college this past week also.  Exciting and scary all at the same time.

The weather the past few days have been on the muggy side.  Can you believe late September and we are having our summer finally? 

 Some of the things we worked on this week include the letter Aa and a bit of the letter Bb. I thought we needed to focus more on just learning one or two letters a week. For this we used a variety of things. We practiced with paper and pointing out objects that begin with the letter A as well as drawing the letter Aa whenever possible. I am teaching both, for now, the capital and lowercase letters.

We have also worked on counting. For this we have counted various objects throughout the day and many times it has been on Sarah’s insistence that we do so. We started with the fireman unit last week and those were some favorite objects using spots on dogs so we are still using those for numbers 1-10. She is a teaser though. She will look at you and grin and try to put the wrong cards together.

We have also been working on fine motor skills. I found some work sheets to help with pushing this forward a bit. I had read that children will write better if their finger and hand muscles are stronger so we are doing skills to also help that. Though why I worry about cutting I have no idea. LOL I am hoping it helps to direct her cutting more to need to cut a given shape out along the lines. We are working on following the lines closer.

Along with beginning handwriting skills and fine motor skills we have been using a work sheet that I laminated so we can use it over and over again.  It's helping to teach direction on writing and sweep I guess you would call it.  Of course we had fun with our new pattern blocks as well!  We created all sorts of shapes and patterns.

We also did some fun school stuff too!  :-)  Last Thursday was our turn to host Learn Through Play.  This month our unit study has been the ocean and seashore.  We got out the sensory bins and made accordion books and read "A Commotion in the Ocean" and discussed all the sea creatures we might find in the ocean.  Then we went exploring for "found objects" and painted with them.  It was a fun activity and worked well with our wide range of ages in the group, 2 years to 6 yrs old. 



This week we built rafts too.  That was an adventure.  Everyone's rafts floated, until they tried to stand on them.  of course mom's played a big role in this activity and again was a great project for a wide range of ages.  We picked blackberries before hand and afterwards all were tuckered out and ready to head home.  The muggy day was getting to us. 

Another home art project that we worked on was a fall line scape I guess you might call it.  We used oil pastels and it was a bit to in depth for Sarah at the end of a busy school learning time.  Next time we will have to space it out a bit more.

Along with this has been Little Gym and Ballet plus swimming classes..... A busy September for the family.

The garden is winding down and soon will be time to work the soil under ready for an early spring planting. This fall hoping that we can build a cold frame area also. Likely the best place to put it is the south side of the house and the best area for that is the front yard. LOL Oh well.... our little farm in the city... How does your garden grow?

Happy Tending!

Playing with pattern blocks









A Homeschool Meme..... From her, to me, to you....

Another homeschooling mom over at Our Learning Journey tagged me in this post.  I have obligged and answered the questions, with some difficulty I might add.  I feel very under prepared but have enjoyed seeing some of the other answers. 

1. One homeschooling book you have enjoyed:

ANS: There isn’t just one book or one source; though I have to say all the homeschooling parents I have talked with have been an inspiration. I am very glad to have found the Charlotte Mason Method and while I may not adhere to it strictly or completely it has encouraged me to let loose and let my child be and not push formal education at this point. I use Ambleside on Line as one source, for ideas etc. I also read several blogs. For me with being a full time student as well as homeschooling it takes me a while to push through a book. I really use just about everything for ideas to come to one full idea. I do like The Early Years A Charlotte Mason Preschool Handbook by Sonya Shafer and Karen Smith., and I have the 6 volume set of Charlotte Mason books, but I have yet to tackle them.

2. One resource you wouldn't be without:

ANS: besides the Bible? The internet, but without that it would be a network of other homeschoolers. Even if they teach differently or have different ideas about what should be taught and when, I gain knowledge and understanding. Sometimes it further cements what I believe is our education goals for our daughter, other times I see a new way of thinking about something, and this all serves to enhance our education experience.

3. One resource you wish you had never bought:

ANS:  The Baby Einstein DVD's, 2 boxed sets. She never really had any interest in them and they remained virtually unopened until I resold them on Amazon this year.

4. One resource you enjoyed last year:

ANS:  My small group of other homeschool mom’s. We have a Learn Through Play Group that meets weekly. It’s more about the children playing and us mom’s connecting. We want our children to know others that are homeschooled as well, in this day where all their friends are going to a brick and mortar school.

5. One resource you will be using next year:

ANS: I am assuming you mean for the 2011-2012 school year? I am using the list of books from Ambleside On-line for starters. However I am also using some worksheets because my daughter has a strong desire to do what I do, homework.  We plan to use our nature journal, pattern blocks, flannel board and sensory bins extensively as well as our kitchen. What better way to learn about counting and adding and subtracting then to help me cook and bake? We also will be practicing our letters and retelling stories. Some of the stories on the shelf for this year are: Winnie the Pooh, When we were very young, Raggedy Ann Stories, The Children's Book of Virtues, God's Wisdom for Little Girls: Virtues and Fun from Proverbs 31, The Read and Share Bible, My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God's Word in Little Hearts, The Light and the Glory for Children : Discovering God's Plan for America from Christopher Columbus to George Washington –for a introduction to history, and more to come….  When we get our space done we plan to make a hungry catapilar to with each title of the books we read making a portion of the catapilers body.

As a mother it’s my duty to “…sow opportunities, and then to keep in the background, ready with a guiding or restraining hand only when these are badly wanted” (CM V 1). I believe we are to guide at this age. Will we feel that way next year, maybe not, but education is about growth and going forward.

6. One resource you would like to buy:

ANS: Right now no. I would like to find a German language program though. My husband was born in Germany and our daughter is a 1st generation American on his side so I think it would be very nice if she could learn her father’s native tongue.

I am looking at a program called Zoo Phonics. Sarah is showing a greater and greater interest in reading daily.  While it's not on my agenda to teach this year, it may well be on hers.  We shall see how that pans out.

7. One resource you wish existed:

ANS: A washer and drier that folded and put the laundry away. Also if it ironed that would be a big plus too.

8. One homeschool catalog you enjoy reading:

ANS: Are there catalogs, actual catalogs out there? I thought everything was on-line. I spend a lot of time looking at things which I know will appeal to my daughter and work within our family.

9. One homeschool website you use regularly:

ANS: Facebook….. wait you mean for homeschooling? :-) 1+1+1=1 and several blogs I read and enjoy (check out my blog links here and my pinterest page here ).  They really are too numerous to mention. 

10. Tag other homeschoolers:

Mommy's Place
Our Learning Journey
Homeschool Distrations
Our Creative Day
A Glimpse into my life

Happy  Tending!

First Day... week 1



Diligently practicing a letter
 on her worksheet.



Today, even though our school area is still a work in progress, I kept to my plans and we started school.  the coffee table worked out good for today.  Most of our items still need to be sorted and organized but the unit for this week we were able to do fine.  I found a cute unit on firemen and we are learning about them this week.  Wednesday we are going on a field trip with our homeschool group to the fire station!  Today we counted spots on Dalmatians and traced numbers and matched up numbers with the spots on the dogs.  We also worked on tracing the alphabet letters, at least 6 of them or so, I wanted to master one or two but she insisted on moving on and on.  I had it in my mind since we picked apples yesterday we would work on A today.  She had other plans.  So we will work on a whole sheet of letters all week.  :-)  Then she wanted to practice cutting things out so we cut out flash cards from her alphabet work sheet.  She did really well cutting the square shape.  Never before have I encouraged her a lot to do shapes that are specific in cutting and following the lines.  She loved it, for a time.  Our attention span doesn't allow for LONG periods of time doing a new task.  Ahhh, to be 4 yrs old again.  Tomorrow we will do more work in our fireman unit, exploring colors and names.  She knows her colors but seeing them printed is another thing.  We have cards we will color in the shape of fire hydrants.  We will again play our dalmatian game and letter reviews, followed by story time and art time.  Lots of imginative play and working with blocks thrown in because we like it.

I do know that we need a snack break.  She was very hungry before lunch time.  So we will have a mid morning snack worked into our routine from now on.  She was excited about school. 

Look mom!  I picked an apple!



Yesterday we went apple picking, but the pickings were slim.  We need to find a better place to do this!  I know there must be locations around without a long weekend trip.  The apples we did get though will be used for juice which we will make later. 

Swimming lessons have been added to our schedule, at least for September.  I am hoping the instructor has better luck than we do getting her to kick her legs right.  She wants to "froggy" swim with us.  I decided seeing how she would do in lessons through our local parks department would be.  The Y right now is still in the future.  We need classes that work a little better with our hectic schedule.

 The plans this week also include making pickles and relish and perhaps some bread again, it's suppose to be cooler this week.  

Happy Tending!



A found treasure in the park



Apple Picking Time!



Our apples!




Copy work...  she loved it,
for about 10 minutes



Counting Dalmatian spots on our
fireman unit study

in a second....

How often do we find we say that?  Or maybe you say, "just a minute."  Regardless we sometimes get so wrapped up in what we "need' to do that we forget those little voices and small hands grow up much to soon.  I know I am not alone in using those words, I hear them all around me.  Those hold on a sec, later we can, etc's just seem to float unconsciously from us as we go on with our busy lives.  What if later never happens?  We lose out on some wonderful opportunities, not just for learning but also for bonding with those wee babes that hold our heartstrings. 

Monday we begin our more formal lessons.  Still working on the particulars.  Though we are much more relaxed that I thought we would be 4 months ago.  We have goals and we will work toward those goals.  This year we are doing Pre K and K stuff.  Next year if we aren't ready for Grade 1 work we will review K stuff, no worries.

2011 Learning Goals

Alphabet recognition and writing letters
Nature Play and Learning
Simple math and counting to 30
Art enjoyment
Together reading time
Character building (sharing, listening, following directions...)

I feel like we should do more but I also know I want to encourage a love of learning and she is only 4 after all.

We have a facebook page now.  If you are on facebook, join our page for little tidbits and funny stories and questions.  Garden Tenders on Facebook.



Happy Tending!

Outside my window... Summer has arrived and it's September!
 
I am thinking... Are we really starting swimming lesson tonight?

I am thankful for... quiet time... when it happens

I am remembering... I have a ton of things to do!

I am going... to be watching my baby in the water with out me soon!  UGH!

I am currently reading...the future of human resource management

I am hoping... to plan a trip to Vashon Island for some exploration fun soon!

On my mind... not much right this second, to tired

Noticing that... the house stays clean for only 2 seconds.  i still have things to unpack from a recent trip to Oregon.

Pondering these thoughts...  keeping the imagination alive and the wildness intact but harnessing it in to be used for good.

From the kitchen... green beans

Around the house...Music for kiddos

One of my favorite things…warm Autumn days and cool nights.  Crisp mornings and fresh picked apples.....