Even though they harrass each other, threaten bodily harm and a lack of brotherly feeling at times, they do love each other and these photos are proof that I can show them! ;D
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Best Buddies
Even though they harrass each other, threaten bodily harm and a lack of brotherly feeling at times, they do love each other and these photos are proof that I can show them! ;D
Side Note
Just in case any of you caught that Tigger (who is only 5 years old) is trying to do Pooh's narrations, let me reassure you that I have never either asked him or encouraged him to participate in this stuff. He just doesn't like to be left out of anything. That's another reason I'm trying to get them a little separated, he needs to stay young as long as possible without trying to be in on older brother's EVERYTHING!
Today he was just sitting beside Pooh while Pooh was drawing. I suggested he do his own drawing. "No thanks. I just like to watch Pooh!"
Sigh
Today he was just sitting beside Pooh while Pooh was drawing. I suggested he do his own drawing. "No thanks. I just like to watch Pooh!"
Sigh
Monday, June 16, 2008
Scheduling!!!
I'm in full scheduling mode. I'd actually like to create something that is workable and not overly ambitious. (Wouldn't we all! LOL) As homeschoolers, we do tend to be overly ambitious and most of us really get into the paperwork of scheduling. Putting it into practice is where I tend to start falling apart.
This year I'm planning on adding in separate times for Tigger to receive readings. I think he needs his own time. One, because he's five and craves the attention. Two, because he is taking over Pooh's narration time. They inevitably argue over who narrates first, how long each one is taking and "he said what I was going to say!". It doesn't exactly promote brotherly affection.
So, I've been pouring over the books I have, Year 0 Ambleside Online suggestions and googling to my little hearts content over how to incorporate their schedules so that we don't have interruptions, both are getting what they need, and I still have a brain when we're done.
I'm hunting down ways to go over character/habit training too. I saw a cool idea (don't know that this will actually get done but it's a good idea!) for a Tree! You could call it a 'value tree' or 'quality tree' or whatever. The basic idea was for a classroom. You have one of those trees on posted on the wall like what public school teachers use for names or whatever, but instead you have leaves for each quality you will discuss. One week per quality. You could conceivably make as many of these leaves as you want and have one separate one for each week of the year. As I said, I like the idea, I just think it might fizzle out as the year goes on. However, we might could just post the qualities somehow. If I presented it as a ship with sails and having good qualities as a sailor, that would go over even better with my boys. LOL
Today we actually tested out a little schedule that I've come up with. I'm going to continue it for a week or so before posting it here. I want to make sure it doesn't fizzle out like so many things. It went really well today. Very short lessons. I knew what was coming next and it didn't take an incredibly long time. It actually went a little quicker than what i had down on paper. Woo Hoo!!!
Our one big problem is getting going in the mornings. We have morning routines posted for the boys. They have breakfast and then are supposed to start on their chores. These aren't complicated by any means, but it seems to take them a long time and I'm constantly having to go behind and keep them moving. I have to make a rule for Pooh that there's no book reading until he's done. He'll just stop for a while and look at a book if I don't keep on top of him. Tigger is known to be found staring at the list for a good length of time without actually moving. When he is moving, it's in the wrong direction. He keeps coming to tell me every little thought that pops into his head.
I'm really open for suggestions on this last part. What's worked for you?
This year I'm planning on adding in separate times for Tigger to receive readings. I think he needs his own time. One, because he's five and craves the attention. Two, because he is taking over Pooh's narration time. They inevitably argue over who narrates first, how long each one is taking and "he said what I was going to say!". It doesn't exactly promote brotherly affection.
So, I've been pouring over the books I have, Year 0 Ambleside Online suggestions and googling to my little hearts content over how to incorporate their schedules so that we don't have interruptions, both are getting what they need, and I still have a brain when we're done.
I'm hunting down ways to go over character/habit training too. I saw a cool idea (don't know that this will actually get done but it's a good idea!) for a Tree! You could call it a 'value tree' or 'quality tree' or whatever. The basic idea was for a classroom. You have one of those trees on posted on the wall like what public school teachers use for names or whatever, but instead you have leaves for each quality you will discuss. One week per quality. You could conceivably make as many of these leaves as you want and have one separate one for each week of the year. As I said, I like the idea, I just think it might fizzle out as the year goes on. However, we might could just post the qualities somehow. If I presented it as a ship with sails and having good qualities as a sailor, that would go over even better with my boys. LOL
Today we actually tested out a little schedule that I've come up with. I'm going to continue it for a week or so before posting it here. I want to make sure it doesn't fizzle out like so many things. It went really well today. Very short lessons. I knew what was coming next and it didn't take an incredibly long time. It actually went a little quicker than what i had down on paper. Woo Hoo!!!
Our one big problem is getting going in the mornings. We have morning routines posted for the boys. They have breakfast and then are supposed to start on their chores. These aren't complicated by any means, but it seems to take them a long time and I'm constantly having to go behind and keep them moving. I have to make a rule for Pooh that there's no book reading until he's done. He'll just stop for a while and look at a book if I don't keep on top of him. Tigger is known to be found staring at the list for a good length of time without actually moving. When he is moving, it's in the wrong direction. He keeps coming to tell me every little thought that pops into his head.
I'm really open for suggestions on this last part. What's worked for you?
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Robins, Chickens and Wrens Oh My!!!
Looking out our kitchen window yesterday at lunch, we noticed a Robin. I casually mentioned that he was picking up bits of straw or dead grass. Then I said, "I wonder what he's doing that for?" (notice the declarative sentence?!?)
Pooh: "I don't know."
Me: "He sure it picking up a lot of it."
Pooh: "Maybe it's for his nest."
Me: "I think you're right!" (said in astonishment as if I had never even thought of it ;D)
So while lunch was cooking, we got out our nature notebooks and drew a picture of a robin, the neighbor's chickens and the wren nesting in our shed. I used my handy-dandy RDI declarative language for the drawing as well. "I wonder what color I should make the robin's beak?" Pooh right away knew it was yellow. I opened my bird book and there it was! I don't know why I was so surprised that he knew the right color. I guess I just never realized the detail he picks up on his own about the animals. He doesn't talk about them much.
Tigger, meanwhile, was busily drawing the nest of the wren and making sure it had the three baby birds in it with their mouths open. Yes, we've already peaked and they are so cute. They just have fuzz right now, no feathers yet.
I followed up today by reading the small paragraph out of (drum roll please) the Handbook of Nature Study! Yeah, I did it!!! LOL It's officially my Green Hour Challenge Number 1. After two months of having the print out and my book by my bed, I got around to doing challenge number 1. Eeeeek! Now, I need to prepare for number 2!
Anyway......the paragraph we read was about the robin's nest. Yes, they use straw and dead grass, but did you know they also use mud? Then, they allow the mud to mold to the mom's body while it's still damp. Cool, huh! We decided we should try to find a robin's nest. No easy feat since we're surrounded by pine trees. Maybe the neighbor will let us peak into her maple to see if there's a nest there.
So, how do you like our Nature Study RDI style? :D It was loosely planned and very fun. I hope we can continue the interest there. Pooh was a little resistant to pulling out the nature notebooks, but when I mentioned drawing the chickens that changed his tune.
So, I guess we're into birds. LOL
Pooh: "I don't know."
Me: "He sure it picking up a lot of it."
Pooh: "Maybe it's for his nest."
Me: "I think you're right!" (said in astonishment as if I had never even thought of it ;D)
So while lunch was cooking, we got out our nature notebooks and drew a picture of a robin, the neighbor's chickens and the wren nesting in our shed. I used my handy-dandy RDI declarative language for the drawing as well. "I wonder what color I should make the robin's beak?" Pooh right away knew it was yellow. I opened my bird book and there it was! I don't know why I was so surprised that he knew the right color. I guess I just never realized the detail he picks up on his own about the animals. He doesn't talk about them much.
Tigger, meanwhile, was busily drawing the nest of the wren and making sure it had the three baby birds in it with their mouths open. Yes, we've already peaked and they are so cute. They just have fuzz right now, no feathers yet.
I followed up today by reading the small paragraph out of (drum roll please) the Handbook of Nature Study! Yeah, I did it!!! LOL It's officially my Green Hour Challenge Number 1. After two months of having the print out and my book by my bed, I got around to doing challenge number 1. Eeeeek! Now, I need to prepare for number 2!
Anyway......the paragraph we read was about the robin's nest. Yes, they use straw and dead grass, but did you know they also use mud? Then, they allow the mud to mold to the mom's body while it's still damp. Cool, huh! We decided we should try to find a robin's nest. No easy feat since we're surrounded by pine trees. Maybe the neighbor will let us peak into her maple to see if there's a nest there.
So, how do you like our Nature Study RDI style? :D It was loosely planned and very fun. I hope we can continue the interest there. Pooh was a little resistant to pulling out the nature notebooks, but when I mentioned drawing the chickens that changed his tune.
So, I guess we're into birds. LOL
Masterly Inactivity
So yesterday I'm weeding the garden and the boys are once again 'wild chicken hunting'. They were gone for longer than I felt comfortable with so I called them back. I talked to them about being gone for too long and that I wouldn't know where they were.
Pooh says, "I have an idea. Why don't I make a map so we can find our way back?"
Me: "How will 'I' know where you are?"
Pooh, "ok, you can take the map" He also got the walkie talkies and decided that when they found the chickens they would call me and I could mark the map with an X for where they were.
I felt like saying, "You mean you want to work on one of Charlotte Mason's List of Attainments for a Child of Six? Sure, honey, you go right ahead!"
Attainment #7--Done!! He He Just kidding! We still could work on this some more, but I just love when they start this stuff on their own!!!
(For those of you unfamiliar with the list of attainments, the list can be found at Ambleside Online on the Year 0 or Kindergarten page. I would copy and paste that section but I think that's off-limits.)
Pooh says, "I have an idea. Why don't I make a map so we can find our way back?"
Me: "How will 'I' know where you are?"
Pooh, "ok, you can take the map" He also got the walkie talkies and decided that when they found the chickens they would call me and I could mark the map with an X for where they were.
I felt like saying, "You mean you want to work on one of Charlotte Mason's List of Attainments for a Child of Six? Sure, honey, you go right ahead!"
Attainment #7--Done!! He He Just kidding! We still could work on this some more, but I just love when they start this stuff on their own!!!
(For those of you unfamiliar with the list of attainments, the list can be found at Ambleside Online on the Year 0 or Kindergarten page. I would copy and paste that section but I think that's off-limits.)
Seed Update
These are the seeds that have already come up this week: Pole beans, chinese long beans, black beans, cukes, zucchini, squash, lettuce (made for heat), corn. That was fast!! Sometimes I start this stuff in cups and it's slow. I'm going to see how this year goes and maybe I'll start sticking more stuff directly in the ground from now on. This year I didn't really have to time to start everything in cups. Also, some of the seeds were a year or two old and I'm amazed at what's coming up.
Just goes to show....
Just goes to show....
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Seed Planting Extravaganza
That was my weekend and included yesterday. Three days of almost non-stop gardening. About 3 years ago, we tilled up the whole back garden and started making beds. The beds are generally 3-4 feet in width, lined out with bricks and have mulched paths. We are still only 2/3 of the way done. Life just always seems to get in the way. We are pretty proud of what we've accomplished so far. This year I've harvested several quarts of wonderfully sweet strawberries, sugar snaps and one bunch of turnip greens.
I'm currently waiting to see if we actually get any broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage from the plants I planted earlier this year. These were all started by yours truly from seed by the way. LOL I also started 4 different kinds of tomatoes and have planted 16 plants and gave my neighbor (the other side-no chickens) about 10.
This weekend I planted 16 pepper plants, 11 eggplants, pole beans, chinese noodle beans, soybeans, black beans, leeks, cilantro, cosmos, bird gourds, snake gourds (kid's choice--they are shaped like snakes and then they can paint them) luffa, corn, New Zealand spinach, watermelon, pumpkins, winter squash, honeydew. That's all I can remember right now. I worked hard to get everything in the ground by yesterday because of the lovely rain coming. My efforts were rewarded!! We have a great soaking rain falling.
Now before you start thinking I'm a farm girl or something, let me tell you I was raised 'city' all the way. I'm currently learning as I go. I love gardening. I love flowers. I love finding the right plant for scent, color and the animals (including the human variety). However, I make lots of mistakes along the way. I plant too late, too early, forget to water, etc. I'm what could be termed a neglectful, forgetful, haphazard gardener. I have great plans in my head, but bringing them to fruition, both literally and figuratively, can be a bit of a pain. LOL I move stuff around all the time, replace plants, kill plants. You name it, I've probably done it. Last year I pruned the grape vines I had put in. I wondered later in the year why I never had any grapes. Duh!!! I pruned them wrong. Grapes come on the second year vine. If you prune that part off, no grapes. This year I have grapes coming. Now, I just have to do battle with those dumb Japanese Beetles. They're coming soon, so I'm mentally preparing my weaponry. he he
Well, since we have all this lovely rain falling, that means I have to clean house. Soooo, not my favorite job. I'm off!
I'm currently waiting to see if we actually get any broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage from the plants I planted earlier this year. These were all started by yours truly from seed by the way. LOL I also started 4 different kinds of tomatoes and have planted 16 plants and gave my neighbor (the other side-no chickens) about 10.
This weekend I planted 16 pepper plants, 11 eggplants, pole beans, chinese noodle beans, soybeans, black beans, leeks, cilantro, cosmos, bird gourds, snake gourds (kid's choice--they are shaped like snakes and then they can paint them) luffa, corn, New Zealand spinach, watermelon, pumpkins, winter squash, honeydew. That's all I can remember right now. I worked hard to get everything in the ground by yesterday because of the lovely rain coming. My efforts were rewarded!! We have a great soaking rain falling.
Now before you start thinking I'm a farm girl or something, let me tell you I was raised 'city' all the way. I'm currently learning as I go. I love gardening. I love flowers. I love finding the right plant for scent, color and the animals (including the human variety). However, I make lots of mistakes along the way. I plant too late, too early, forget to water, etc. I'm what could be termed a neglectful, forgetful, haphazard gardener. I have great plans in my head, but bringing them to fruition, both literally and figuratively, can be a bit of a pain. LOL I move stuff around all the time, replace plants, kill plants. You name it, I've probably done it. Last year I pruned the grape vines I had put in. I wondered later in the year why I never had any grapes. Duh!!! I pruned them wrong. Grapes come on the second year vine. If you prune that part off, no grapes. This year I have grapes coming. Now, I just have to do battle with those dumb Japanese Beetles. They're coming soon, so I'm mentally preparing my weaponry. he he
Well, since we have all this lovely rain falling, that means I have to clean house. Soooo, not my favorite job. I'm off!
Chickens
No I haven't bought any. LOL However, my neighbor did. We technically live in the county and while I'm in a development that doesn't allow livestock, the guy next door can have a farm if he wants to. So, one day I'm hearing a rooster crowing and the next thing I know 4 hens and a rooster are wandering the neighborhood. They usually stay on his property but occasionally will wander back behind our fence. (Good thing for the fence because I think our dog would have Chicken Au Natural if she got the chance.)
In our mad rush of gardening this weekend the hens came right up to our fence. So I got the boys' attention and suggested they watch them. Pooh was crowing and actually did a really good imitation of the way this rooster crows. Then the chickens moved off back to the neighbor's property and the boys got their jeeps (aka bikes) and rode off on the adventure of finding wild chickens. There is a service road between our properties and it curves around the back of the neighbor's. The boys have permission to explore back there. So off they rode. A couple of times I asked them to find out something about the chickens, like how many toes they had. "I wonder what they're looking for as they scratch the ground?"
It was a very cool, impromtu, nature study. My next plan is to get out our Handbook of Nature Study and read through to find some interesting facts to impart upon their young brains. ;D
In our mad rush of gardening this weekend the hens came right up to our fence. So I got the boys' attention and suggested they watch them. Pooh was crowing and actually did a really good imitation of the way this rooster crows. Then the chickens moved off back to the neighbor's property and the boys got their jeeps (aka bikes) and rode off on the adventure of finding wild chickens. There is a service road between our properties and it curves around the back of the neighbor's. The boys have permission to explore back there. So off they rode. A couple of times I asked them to find out something about the chickens, like how many toes they had. "I wonder what they're looking for as they scratch the ground?"
It was a very cool, impromtu, nature study. My next plan is to get out our Handbook of Nature Study and read through to find some interesting facts to impart upon their young brains. ;D
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
So This Is Why I'm Weird? :D
Your Personality is Very Rare (INTP) |
 Your personality type is goofy, imaginative, relaxed, and brilliant. Only about 4% of all people have your personality, including 2% of all women and 6% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving. |
Monday, May 12, 2008
Our Trip
The whole vacation went very well. I was amazed at how well both the boys did, especially in the traveling part. We drove thru the night to get to Miami. Pooh didn't go to sleep until about 1:30 in the morning. We finally figured out that he was waiting until he was sure we were in the state of Florida before relaxing! LOL Up until Tigger went to sleep, we did have to stop for hourly potty breaks though. It made me glad that we decided to go at night. I ended up telling them both they had to lay off the drinks. I was afraid it would take us thru till the next night if they didn't. he he
Miami was beautiful!! We had perfect weather the whole time down there. Mid 80's and not much in the way of humidity. We roasted and basted ourselves on the beach, hit the Metro Zoo (free due to our reciprocal zoo membership card) and visited with all the family. Ate Nicaraguan Baho which is something like a stew, but that's sort of a mild word for something like that. We also ate at Pollo Tropical! I love that place! It's sort of a latin fast food restaurant. You get succulent chicken, moros y cristianos (black beans and rice) and fried yucca with a garlic sauce. MMMM good!! Also, a place to gain ten pounds. ;D We went to Key Biscayne which is a state park and rode these cart type vehicles, i don't even know what they're called. But two people pedal and the kids are on for the ride. The boys loved it and I worked off that fried yucca i had eaten.
Then we were off to Orlando for their treat. Sea World!!! We bought a one day ticket but got in for two, so we were able to hit pretty much everything. Some things twice, such as the Clyde and Seamore show. It was a hit for us for two reasons: 1. The whole thing is a pirate adventure story (both boys seriously love pirates) and 2. before the show, you get a mini-show with a Mime. The boys thought he was funny even though you know they didn't get all the innuendos. Pooh got very emotional over Shamu when he was able to sit close enough to really enjoy the show. (the first time was a bust because we didn't get seats) He got to meet one of the trainers too. He cried for about 10 minutes off and on just because it was so moving for him. He's always loved the ocean and everything about it, especially the whales and sharks. So you can bet he brought home a stuffed Shamu. ;D Pooh finally, after some debating, decided to go on the Journey to Atlantis ride. It scared him witless and afterwards he repeatedly said (with a little smile) "I'm never going on that ride again!" LOL Tigger was equally terrified at the kiddie roller coaster Shamu Express. I guess I don't have any evil canivils on my hands. ROFL AND, I got pictures of both their horrified faces. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.
Then we were off for a brief visit with my mom and sister and then separately my Dad and his wife. The boys enjoyed seeing their other grandpa (first time for Tigger) and we visited the beach there as well. I think by the time we got there they were tired though. Once the Sea World bit was over, they kind of started vegging out. The King and I had a nice, relaxing visit at my dad's before we headed back home.
Oh and I forgot that when we were in Orlando we visited Downtown Disney. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe. What a hoot the kids were when the thunder and animals started making all their noises. I think we were the loudest table there. Sorry!!! ;D Another great place is the Lego store. We finally found a kit of just lego people. It was about 32 different lego people (occupations not star wars guys lol) in one box. That was the greatest find because Pooh and Tigger always want people on their creations. Trying to buy one person at a regular store you have to buy a whole kit, and they're not cheap. The boys also got some pirate paraphernalia at one of the other stores there. Pooh found a great hat!
We ended up getting home way later than what we expected due to a surprisingly pleasant discovery. Did you know that Jekyll Island is only 15 minutes off I95?!? You shouldn't miss this treat!! I asked the King if we could stop off at some kind of park around 4 in the afternoon so the boys could run off some energy. We hit the Brunswick GA area at that time and, after asking at a gas station, discovered this gem. We took our Subway sandwiches and picnicked out on the beach. The boys, of course, went in fully clothed to the ocean. It was okay though, because i had brought all our beach towels with us and had changes of clean clothing. Instead of freaking out about it, I just took pictures. :D We found some sand dollars and had a beautiful walk along the shore. We stayed for about 3 hours and would definitely go back there again. It's a great area for a pit stop when you're traveling. Beats a rest area by a few thousand miles.
It's taken me about two weeks but I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting back to normal (despite some tornado scares and starting an anti candida diet :O) . Maybe I'll be able to get back into the blogasphere a bit more regularly.
Cheerio!!
Miami was beautiful!! We had perfect weather the whole time down there. Mid 80's and not much in the way of humidity. We roasted and basted ourselves on the beach, hit the Metro Zoo (free due to our reciprocal zoo membership card) and visited with all the family. Ate Nicaraguan Baho which is something like a stew, but that's sort of a mild word for something like that. We also ate at Pollo Tropical! I love that place! It's sort of a latin fast food restaurant. You get succulent chicken, moros y cristianos (black beans and rice) and fried yucca with a garlic sauce. MMMM good!! Also, a place to gain ten pounds. ;D We went to Key Biscayne which is a state park and rode these cart type vehicles, i don't even know what they're called. But two people pedal and the kids are on for the ride. The boys loved it and I worked off that fried yucca i had eaten.
Then we were off to Orlando for their treat. Sea World!!! We bought a one day ticket but got in for two, so we were able to hit pretty much everything. Some things twice, such as the Clyde and Seamore show. It was a hit for us for two reasons: 1. The whole thing is a pirate adventure story (both boys seriously love pirates) and 2. before the show, you get a mini-show with a Mime. The boys thought he was funny even though you know they didn't get all the innuendos. Pooh got very emotional over Shamu when he was able to sit close enough to really enjoy the show. (the first time was a bust because we didn't get seats) He got to meet one of the trainers too. He cried for about 10 minutes off and on just because it was so moving for him. He's always loved the ocean and everything about it, especially the whales and sharks. So you can bet he brought home a stuffed Shamu. ;D Pooh finally, after some debating, decided to go on the Journey to Atlantis ride. It scared him witless and afterwards he repeatedly said (with a little smile) "I'm never going on that ride again!" LOL Tigger was equally terrified at the kiddie roller coaster Shamu Express. I guess I don't have any evil canivils on my hands. ROFL AND, I got pictures of both their horrified faces. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.
Then we were off for a brief visit with my mom and sister and then separately my Dad and his wife. The boys enjoyed seeing their other grandpa (first time for Tigger) and we visited the beach there as well. I think by the time we got there they were tired though. Once the Sea World bit was over, they kind of started vegging out. The King and I had a nice, relaxing visit at my dad's before we headed back home.
Oh and I forgot that when we were in Orlando we visited Downtown Disney. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe. What a hoot the kids were when the thunder and animals started making all their noises. I think we were the loudest table there. Sorry!!! ;D Another great place is the Lego store. We finally found a kit of just lego people. It was about 32 different lego people (occupations not star wars guys lol) in one box. That was the greatest find because Pooh and Tigger always want people on their creations. Trying to buy one person at a regular store you have to buy a whole kit, and they're not cheap. The boys also got some pirate paraphernalia at one of the other stores there. Pooh found a great hat!
We ended up getting home way later than what we expected due to a surprisingly pleasant discovery. Did you know that Jekyll Island is only 15 minutes off I95?!? You shouldn't miss this treat!! I asked the King if we could stop off at some kind of park around 4 in the afternoon so the boys could run off some energy. We hit the Brunswick GA area at that time and, after asking at a gas station, discovered this gem. We took our Subway sandwiches and picnicked out on the beach. The boys, of course, went in fully clothed to the ocean. It was okay though, because i had brought all our beach towels with us and had changes of clean clothing. Instead of freaking out about it, I just took pictures. :D We found some sand dollars and had a beautiful walk along the shore. We stayed for about 3 hours and would definitely go back there again. It's a great area for a pit stop when you're traveling. Beats a rest area by a few thousand miles.
It's taken me about two weeks but I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting back to normal (despite some tornado scares and starting an anti candida diet :O) . Maybe I'll be able to get back into the blogasphere a bit more regularly.
Cheerio!!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
I'll Be Back
As an update, I've been in Florida for about 8 days. We will be heading home tomorrow. I hope to get back to my little series of posts on RDI and give some fun info from our trip soon. Just before we left we got our new objective to work on as well and I'll give the heads up for that too.
This is just to let you all know I'm still here. Hope everyone is still doing great!!
This is just to let you all know I'm still here. Hope everyone is still doing great!!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Reflections on GPR, Resilience and Narration (Part 1)
Huh, what?! I know, I know, yet somehow they all go together. I'll get to it, I promise. Light bulbs have been going off for me with all of this stuff lately. My only problem will be in MY narrating it coherently. ;D My brain is a bit ADD and tends to jump around faster than I can catch all the thoughts. I'm going to go in order of what's listed in the subject and maybe I can keep it straight. All of what will be written here is as much for MY benefit as anyone reading this blog. I need to 'narrate' review what I'm learning to help me remember it all better. Thanks for 'listening'. ;D
1. In RDI, we learn A LOT about GPR (the Guided Participation Relationship formerly referred to as Master/Apprentice Relationship). So what is the GPR? I'm glad you asked? he he I like to take things down to the most simplistic form. So, to me, GPR is just thought of as 2-way communication. Sometimes that means it's verbal, and sometimes it comes thru facial expressions, gestures and sound effects. This is the normal way we all develop. As babies we come out programmed to pay attention to those around us, to feed off the information given us by their words, voice, face etc. It's how we learn about the world. As we get older, we continue to learn 'thru other people'. We read body language. For instance, you can probably tell when what you're saying is confusing somebody by looking at them. So you may slow down, start over etc.
This is important stuff because most autistic kids are not learning this way. They learn thru movies and books, maybe some rote tasks taught. They are not learning thru people. Not in a Guided Participation Relationship. Why does it matter?? Because, people are dynamic, ever changing. Books, movies, tasks are not, they are static or the same all the time. The GPR is foundational to our normal neurological development. Without it, strange stuff starts to happen. We, as the guides, lose touch with our child. We're not getting the feedback we need to understand where they are at, what they are thinking and where their 'edge of competency' is.
The edge of competency is simply referring to that point you know you can push somebody to before chaos erupts. With babies we keep encouraging them to take one or two more steps by gauging how they did on their last walking experience and lengthening it a bit each time. When adults are talking and one is giving directions, he's watching for the edge of competency of who he's explaining to. When the glazed look comes into their eye, you know to back up and give support (or scaffold) at the point they got lost. All of this can also be referred to as the 'zone of proximal development'--working within someone's edge of competency.
Example: Dancing. Think about how much non-verbal communication goes into 2 people learning to dance a routine. How close, far apart to place the body, foot, hands etc. Timing involved in staying with the music, your partner and the steps of the dance. GPR is all the stuff it takes for these two people to produce a finished product. If your partner is autistic, what generally happens (at least with my Pooh) is yelling (this is too hard!!), stomping (my poor foot!) and leaving (avoidance of a challenge).
Which leads us to Resilience....
(This post is getting entirely too long so I'm going to write this as a little series. Stay tuned for part 2.)
1. In RDI, we learn A LOT about GPR (the Guided Participation Relationship formerly referred to as Master/Apprentice Relationship). So what is the GPR? I'm glad you asked? he he I like to take things down to the most simplistic form. So, to me, GPR is just thought of as 2-way communication. Sometimes that means it's verbal, and sometimes it comes thru facial expressions, gestures and sound effects. This is the normal way we all develop. As babies we come out programmed to pay attention to those around us, to feed off the information given us by their words, voice, face etc. It's how we learn about the world. As we get older, we continue to learn 'thru other people'. We read body language. For instance, you can probably tell when what you're saying is confusing somebody by looking at them. So you may slow down, start over etc.
This is important stuff because most autistic kids are not learning this way. They learn thru movies and books, maybe some rote tasks taught. They are not learning thru people. Not in a Guided Participation Relationship. Why does it matter?? Because, people are dynamic, ever changing. Books, movies, tasks are not, they are static or the same all the time. The GPR is foundational to our normal neurological development. Without it, strange stuff starts to happen. We, as the guides, lose touch with our child. We're not getting the feedback we need to understand where they are at, what they are thinking and where their 'edge of competency' is.
The edge of competency is simply referring to that point you know you can push somebody to before chaos erupts. With babies we keep encouraging them to take one or two more steps by gauging how they did on their last walking experience and lengthening it a bit each time. When adults are talking and one is giving directions, he's watching for the edge of competency of who he's explaining to. When the glazed look comes into their eye, you know to back up and give support (or scaffold) at the point they got lost. All of this can also be referred to as the 'zone of proximal development'--working within someone's edge of competency.
Example: Dancing. Think about how much non-verbal communication goes into 2 people learning to dance a routine. How close, far apart to place the body, foot, hands etc. Timing involved in staying with the music, your partner and the steps of the dance. GPR is all the stuff it takes for these two people to produce a finished product. If your partner is autistic, what generally happens (at least with my Pooh) is yelling (this is too hard!!), stomping (my poor foot!) and leaving (avoidance of a challenge).
Which leads us to Resilience....
(This post is getting entirely too long so I'm going to write this as a little series. Stay tuned for part 2.)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Green Reading
I found this link thru another blogger (thanks Barb!) and LOVE it!!! After our vacation this month, I'm going to see how many of these I can find thru our library system. I think that many of them would be great for inspiring some Nature observations or at least to encourage the idea.
Hope you find the list useful as well.
Hope you find the list useful as well.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Put On a Happy Face
I found these lyrics to this older song from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. Seemed fitting for our new habit of cheerfulness.
Gray skies are gonna clear up
Put on a happy face
Brush off the clouds and cheer up
Put on a happy face
Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy
it's not your style
You'll look so good that you'll be glad
Ya decide to smile
And spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face
Put on a happy face
Put on a happy face
And if you're feeling cross and bitterish
Don't sit and whine
Think of banana split and licorice
And you'll feel fine
I knew a girl so glooming
She'd never laugh or sing
She wouldn't listen to me
Now she's a mean old thing
So spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face
So put on a happy face
Gray skies are gonna clear up
Put on a happy face
Brush off the clouds and cheer up
Put on a happy face
Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy
it's not your style
You'll look so good that you'll be glad
Ya decide to smile
And spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face
Put on a happy face
Put on a happy face
And if you're feeling cross and bitterish
Don't sit and whine
Think of banana split and licorice
And you'll feel fine
I knew a girl so glooming
She'd never laugh or sing
She wouldn't listen to me
Now she's a mean old thing
So spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face
So put on a happy face
Fairy Tale Decisions
I did a little looking around about Hans Christian Anderson and some of his fairy tales. The reason that I have trouble finding the 'moral of the story' is because, a lot of the time, there just isn't one. Evidently, he was a pretty cynical guy, disillusioned with the world and just presented stories in the way he saw life. Which would be why some of the stories are not really my cup of tea.
However, he wrote some famous tales such as The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Steadfast Tin Soldier which I would really like to hear. Also, as I mentioned in the previous post on fairy tales, I don't mind bad things happening (murder and mayhem LOL) I was just under the impression that most fairy tales had some sort of moral. (silly me!)
My decision is to continue with what we're doing. We listen to each story. Then I turn off the cd and we discuss it, sort of a joint narration. If one of the stories is just too much (because Tigger is in the van after all) I can just skip it. I'm also going to eventually check out Andrew Lang's Fairy Tales from our library. I would like to see the difference in the presentation of the tales AND I read somewhere that his tales are from around the world which I really like. I really love checking out world folk tales too.
Hey, so far the Princess on the Pea and Thumbelina have had happy endings!! (not really a moral but at least there is some happiness between the grandmother killings he he)
However, he wrote some famous tales such as The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Steadfast Tin Soldier which I would really like to hear. Also, as I mentioned in the previous post on fairy tales, I don't mind bad things happening (murder and mayhem LOL) I was just under the impression that most fairy tales had some sort of moral. (silly me!)
My decision is to continue with what we're doing. We listen to each story. Then I turn off the cd and we discuss it, sort of a joint narration. If one of the stories is just too much (because Tigger is in the van after all) I can just skip it. I'm also going to eventually check out Andrew Lang's Fairy Tales from our library. I would like to see the difference in the presentation of the tales AND I read somewhere that his tales are from around the world which I really like. I really love checking out world folk tales too.
Hey, so far the Princess on the Pea and Thumbelina have had happy endings!! (not really a moral but at least there is some happiness between the grandmother killings he he)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Habits---Cheerfulness
I've decided that we could use some work on the habit of cheerfulness around here. I've noticed that Pooh's decidedly grumpy nature has somewhat rubbed off on Tigger. Simple requests are being met with much ill humour or downright backtalking. We have tried for a long time to figure out a way to talk with Pooh to lessen his negative reactions to things, but as of yet, we have no sure fire cure.
What I know I need to improve on is going thru a lot of self-talk for me personally, so that he can hear and apply it himself. One time when he was upset with his little brother in Walmart, I think he must have tried to get him in some way because I remember Tigger complaining about it. My response that time went over well and it's the kind of reaction I would like to do more of, be more aware of. "I know my sweet boy, Pooh would never do something like that. He loves his brother." I got a little smile back and all was peaceful. Most of the time however, we get "That's it!" "You're fired!" "I'm leaving this family!" etc.
So, on Monday I started talking about doing things with a smile. Tried "catching" a smile on Pooh's face when he was putting away books. He tried really hard not to smile on that one. It did change his mood after a couple of tries.
Here's an article I found interesting. After reading it, I was happy the first thing I thought to teach was a smile! :D
Here are some motivational quotes worth looking at.
Acts 17:22- "Be of good cheer"
What I know I need to improve on is going thru a lot of self-talk for me personally, so that he can hear and apply it himself. One time when he was upset with his little brother in Walmart, I think he must have tried to get him in some way because I remember Tigger complaining about it. My response that time went over well and it's the kind of reaction I would like to do more of, be more aware of. "I know my sweet boy, Pooh would never do something like that. He loves his brother." I got a little smile back and all was peaceful. Most of the time however, we get "That's it!" "You're fired!" "I'm leaving this family!" etc.
So, on Monday I started talking about doing things with a smile. Tried "catching" a smile on Pooh's face when he was putting away books. He tried really hard not to smile on that one. It did change his mood after a couple of tries.
Here's an article I found interesting. After reading it, I was happy the first thing I thought to teach was a smile! :D
Here are some motivational quotes worth looking at.
Acts 17:22- "Be of good cheer"
Friday, April 4, 2008
Fairy Tales
A couple of months back I scored the complete set of unabridged audio cd’s of Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales at a used book store for $15! I was sooo happy to have found it, as Year 1 of AO includes this (or a couple of other fairy tale authors) in its curriculum. The only problem I saw was that along with the 11 cds there wasn’t a paper telling you the order of the stories or which one was on which cd. So as we’re moseying along in our errands about town or taking Pooh to Art class, we listen to audio cds. This week we did the first of the 11 Fairy Tale cds.
Frankly, some of the stories creep me out!! I’ve never heard of some of them before and I have to wonder at the point of them. For instance, The Tinderbox talks about a soldier (someone who should be honorable in my mind) accepting an offer, reneging on the offer by killing the witch and in the end gets to be king and marry the princess because he had his magic dogs kill her parents. Ugh! His one redeeming quality that I brought out to the boys is that when he did have a lot of money he gave to the poor.
Next was Big Klaus and Little Klaus. Telling lies, killing horses AND grandmothers and all in the name of getting ‘bushels of money’. What are the kids supposed to be gleaning from this exactly?!?
What I’ve tried to do is after each story, I stop the cd and we talk about it. Who do you think was good, why, etc. I was a little hard put to find a good thing to say about the Klaus boys.
The other ones we listened to that weren’t too bad were The Princess on the Pea (which I always thought was the Princess and the Pea) and Thumbelina. Pooh must have been thinking about the Thumbelina story because later that day, we were outside in the garden and he asked me if birds really died in the winter. ;D For those of you who don’t know, the story includes a sparrow found in one of the mole’s tunnels who hadn’t flown south in time and had dropped because of the cold and was in a sort of cold induced coma until Thumbelina warmed him and woke him up. So I thought that at least it was cool that this story got Pooh thinking about the habits of birds. LOL
It’s not that I don’t expect some rotten things to happen in fairy tales or am opposed to the death aspect. I just hope for a little justice in the story and it would be nice if the villains got punished somehow. I guess I’m looking for a moral to the story and I’m just not finding it in some of these fairy tales. Maybe I’m expecting too much?? Analyzing it to death?? I don’t know. I think I’m going to do some more investigating on the whole aspect of fairy tales and try to find out what exactly the deal is. In the meantime, I’ll be changing out my cds to include cd number 2 and hope that the next ones are a little less creepy.
Oh and by the way, the boys seem to really like the stories! Sigh Tigger was upset that Thumbelina was the last one. I do notice that they also get confused as to who is the good guy and who’s the bad guy though. When I asked if the soldier was a good man I got the “No, um yes, NO, yes? I don’t know.” From both of them. He he They were trying to answer by watching my facial expressions and gauging the meaning of my silence.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
It Worked!!!!
Now I can just send an email any time I like and it will go directly to my blog. How cool is that!!!! Learn something new everyday. ;D I won’t be posting much today I don’t think because we’ve been busy the last couple of days. Pooh had art yesterday which meant traveling to and from and we went out today as well. I will say that I printed off the Green Hour Challenge Number 1 and am determined to start doing these. At least the first one seems reasonable. I didn’t investigate the others yet. One bite at a time. I’m just hoping that it will get us started and will focus us more. I received my Handbook of Nature Study in the mail this week which prompted me to go back to Barb's Blog to get started on the challenges.
Hope everyone is having a great week!! (despite the weather)
Just Checking
I want to see if I can post directly to my blog without having to head to the website.
Here goes.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Happenings
Well, here is what has been keeping us busy the last couple of weeks.
Car Repairs--This is the time of year for inspections and getting new tags. Also, I took the van in to have it checked for a few things before our trip. While I was without the van I drove the King's truck whose starter died while I was running errands. Yikes! I was stranded and so was the King (at work). We got that problem solved by my pleading for help from the shop guys. lol Then one place said I needed new tires. I go all the way to Sears for that, because that's our usual place, and they said I didn't need new tires. Thus a trip to the mall because I had already promised that we would go while waiting for the van.
Shopping--I've been doing a lot of shopping lately. Sandals for everybody, bathing suits, beach towels, SEA WORLD TICKETS (gotta love that one. Neither the boys nor the King have ever been to Sea world) AAA triptik, books for Ambleside Online's Year 1 found thru various sources online including www.half.com, www.abebooks.com, www.alibris.com and www.amazon.com. I'm having fun scoring hardcover books for the same price or less than the new paparbacks from Amazon. I got two Holling C Holling books in hardcover and 4 of the D'Aulaire books in hardcover. Also, Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare and the James Heriot Treasury. That's all that i can think of right now. I also shopped for Tigger who got a little gift for successfully potty training. I shopped both online and in stores for musical instruments for the boys. We decided to get Tigger a guitar (from Target) and a keyboard for Pooh (from Amazon). I also got a lap harp. I want to incorporate music lessons into our RDI as well as teach them to play. Tigger is a very big instrument lover already, just like the King.
Field Trip--I organized our local homeschool group going on a field trip to a local science center and planetarium. That was fun! Everyone was happy to get together.
Bowling--I have been wanting to do a little party for Tigger for potty training (before our summer pirate party--too far away) so I organized our homeschool group to go bowling. $2 per hour including shoe rental!!!! Can't beat that! Everyone paid their own way, but I brought a cake and the paper supplies. The kids are all itching to do it again one day.
Gardening--I start all my plants from seeds pretty much. So I have been transplanting broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage into the garden. Then going to Lowes to hunt down the mole repellent you sprinkle around the plants because they were getting eaten. Fertilizing said plants along with the asparagus, onion and garlic I'm growing. I also have started tomatoes, peppers and eggplants that i moved into their own cups last week. There are a lot of flower seeds in my house and getting ready to be moved to my little greenhouse. I want the space back in my living room. Unfortunately, my greenhouse isn't one i can afford to heat enough to start early stuff in.
All this means we've had a two week spring break. There has been a little reading and some listening to audio books. Oh and the RDI stuff! Can't forget that. However, this week I have to get back on track with our regular routine. Our FL trip is coming up fast and I won't be dragging our math along on that. (although I'm considering bringing some of the books we're reading in addition to the audio ones--not sure yet on that though).
Car Repairs--This is the time of year for inspections and getting new tags. Also, I took the van in to have it checked for a few things before our trip. While I was without the van I drove the King's truck whose starter died while I was running errands. Yikes! I was stranded and so was the King (at work). We got that problem solved by my pleading for help from the shop guys. lol Then one place said I needed new tires. I go all the way to Sears for that, because that's our usual place, and they said I didn't need new tires. Thus a trip to the mall because I had already promised that we would go while waiting for the van.
Shopping--I've been doing a lot of shopping lately. Sandals for everybody, bathing suits, beach towels, SEA WORLD TICKETS (gotta love that one. Neither the boys nor the King have ever been to Sea world) AAA triptik, books for Ambleside Online's Year 1 found thru various sources online including www.half.com, www.abebooks.com, www.alibris.com and www.amazon.com. I'm having fun scoring hardcover books for the same price or less than the new paparbacks from Amazon. I got two Holling C Holling books in hardcover and 4 of the D'Aulaire books in hardcover. Also, Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare and the James Heriot Treasury. That's all that i can think of right now. I also shopped for Tigger who got a little gift for successfully potty training. I shopped both online and in stores for musical instruments for the boys. We decided to get Tigger a guitar (from Target) and a keyboard for Pooh (from Amazon). I also got a lap harp. I want to incorporate music lessons into our RDI as well as teach them to play. Tigger is a very big instrument lover already, just like the King.
Field Trip--I organized our local homeschool group going on a field trip to a local science center and planetarium. That was fun! Everyone was happy to get together.
Bowling--I have been wanting to do a little party for Tigger for potty training (before our summer pirate party--too far away) so I organized our homeschool group to go bowling. $2 per hour including shoe rental!!!! Can't beat that! Everyone paid their own way, but I brought a cake and the paper supplies. The kids are all itching to do it again one day.
Gardening--I start all my plants from seeds pretty much. So I have been transplanting broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage into the garden. Then going to Lowes to hunt down the mole repellent you sprinkle around the plants because they were getting eaten. Fertilizing said plants along with the asparagus, onion and garlic I'm growing. I also have started tomatoes, peppers and eggplants that i moved into their own cups last week. There are a lot of flower seeds in my house and getting ready to be moved to my little greenhouse. I want the space back in my living room. Unfortunately, my greenhouse isn't one i can afford to heat enough to start early stuff in.
All this means we've had a two week spring break. There has been a little reading and some listening to audio books. Oh and the RDI stuff! Can't forget that. However, this week I have to get back on track with our regular routine. Our FL trip is coming up fast and I won't be dragging our math along on that. (although I'm considering bringing some of the books we're reading in addition to the audio ones--not sure yet on that though).
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