Metaphors and Other Real Stuff

As I started typing I realized that our trip to the Arboretum was somewhat of a metaphor of our homeschooling journey so far.

 Sometimes it feels like we are at the beginning of a long maze.  We have definitely taken some wrong turns! I just ordered spelling books, and ditched the old plan.  After being completely overwhelmed by my idea to study the states, I listened to the girls and their interests and we switched to learning about our ancestry.

 We have definitely had moments when I was spitting mad and the kids were having a wonderfully funny time.  And we have had even more when all of us were laughing and enjoying as we learned.

 No metaphors here.  Just beautiful leaves with fresh raindrops and the last of the zinnias (one of my favorite flowers) of the season.  Or maybe that mix of new and old and change is the metaphor itself.  All the beautiful colors mixing together.  The strong branches.  Hmmm.  Maybe I am just trying to be too poetic.  Wouldn't have anything to do with the poetry unit I have been planning to start next week.

 Yes, this photo is literal.  She pumps me for information constantly.  She challenges me in a lot of ways, but they are good.  Our relationship is getting better and stronger all the time.

 Just three great kids.  ***Interesting how when I when I published and was looking for errors I realized their pictures lined up with the blog ones.  Even though they have grown a lot in the past two years, they still look an awful lot the same!

 The water pond was beautiful, and one lone lily survived.  The children's garden was fabulous--so much for the kids to do.  So much more we will be able to learn and do the next time we come next summer.  So many opportunities.

 They are climbing and growing as much as I am.  Pushing themselves academically, as siblings, and as individuals to figure out where we all stand.  I love that we are all so much closer as a family.  I love hearing them play and laugh again.  Even after the knock down drag out they just finished.

 That one orange tree really struck me.  It was interesting how a lot of the under tree growth had not turned colors.  But then there was this clearing glowing with color.  It was gorgeous.  But alone.  I have been struggling with this aspect of homeschooling.  Thankfully this week I got some much needed girl friend time.  But I feel isolated sometimes already.  It is hard to talk on the phone when I am supposed to be teaching and with all three of them home.  But at the same time, I feel like this is my chance to shine for my kids.  I was a good teacher, darn it :), and now it is so fun to share this side of me with the kids.  

 After several twists and turns, the road opened up onto this field and this was straight ahead.  Hope.  Knowledge, it will be worth it.  They are already learning so much more.  Are already so much happier.

 So thanks for listening to me.  Thanks for being another outlet for me.  Thanks for being interested in what we are doing.  It means a lot.

So other things we have been doing..and not in quite such a deep thinking mode...

Art class studied Amadeo Modigiliani this week (I still have two other girls who come for this).  I was amazed with our results.  I got this lesson from my fave, www.deepspacesparkle.com.    But it turned out even better than I hoped.  We looked at images of his artwork, and the kids all understood the melancholy feeling behind the paintings.  We used chalk pastel on black. 

 Annika's

 Phoebe's

 And Tanner's...this is pretty cool because this was the first time he drew clothing on a person, a huge developmental step.

 Our human body unit has been so much fun.  Above is the lung we made.  They pull the bottom balloon/diaphragm and the balloon inside "breathes" --inflates and deflates.  The girls love watching the Schoolhouse Rock videos on youtube and the ones on www.makemegenius.com are wonderful as well.  We have been able to do so many experiments, many that would never work in a public school classroom.  

The kind that will never be forgotten.

 They will say many years down the road, "Do you remember when mom used oatmeal, a paper towel tube (esophagus), a baggie filled with orange juice (the stomach and acid), pantyhose (the intestines), and a strainer (liver and kidneys) to teach us the digestive system?  That was soooo gross!"  No pictures of that, it was pretty gross and messy, but sooooo cool!

This was a spinal cord/vertabrae. 

Lungs with trachea. 

The circulation game.  Tanner is completely grossed out by this.  

And we made "blood" to see all of its parts with candy, marshmallows, and raisins.  We turned water red and blue and then used a turkey baster to move it from dish to dish like the heart.  We listened to our hearts. All sorts of cool stuff.  Very fun.  I was very blessed to find it all on Pinterest.  And through there was able to find even more blogs and internet sites that have been so helpful.
We still have a couple weeks left in this unit.

More fun stuff will be coming!  Lapbooks about the President and the election.  Our unit on ancestry started with family trees and now we will study Norway, Germany, and England.  I am excited about the poetry unit as well.  We just finished tall tales, so hop over to the girls blogs now to read those.  I also added pictures of artwork that accompanied some already published works.