Arts, Crafts, and Spooks

Learning this week has been scattered and opportunistic. Due to David's very recent shoulder surgery, life has been a bit full, leaving little room for purposeful activities. However, Aidyn has been filling in pages of his Halloween coloring books with splashes of color. Yesterday Aidyn and I did a painting craft. I traced and cut out Halloween shapes such as a jack o' lantern, crescent moon, pumpkins, and a ghost. Then I taped them in place on a piece of construction paper. Aidyn then painted the shapes, taking great strides to color outside the lines. When he finished, I peeled the pictures off, and we were left with the outlines to a wonderful Halloween scene!

Today while I was away at work, David and Aidyn worked on more pages in his tracing book. He's progressed to fun zigzag patterns, sideway arches that resemble C's and 3's, and entertainingly complex trails for characters to wind down. When I got home, they showed off Aidyn's penmanship skills. Later Aidyn and I rushed to the library to restock for our new unit: New Orleans Square. We brought back a load of books concerning ghosts, pirates, and assorted Halloween themes. Aidyn then spent a good deal of time playing on the playground with a group of boys and girls. To help Daddy feel less cooped up, Aidyn and I encouraged him to go on an evening walk with us. We walked down to the park, stopped several times to listen to birds and smell the pine trees, and swung Aidyn on the swings.

After we got home and cozy, Aidyn and I took in some quirky Halloween poems from the book In the Witch's Kitchen. Then we read a spooky story entitled The Ghost-Eye Tree which sublimely captivated Aidyn. We were able to talk about spooky trees, the way things can seem scary, bravery, sibling relationships, and nighttime.

Halloween Fun Day/ Indoor Campout

Today, the family had a total play day. Upon returning home from work, Aidyn and I dug through his super-huge Halloween bucket o' fun. We donned impressively hideous fake teeth and showed Grandma and Daddy. Then we blew up a whoopie cushion (and hilariously expended it!) numerous times and nearly died laughing. Also we made these cute little masks, one of which was a wolfman and the other was a witch. He also put on a pair of Groucho Marx glasses complete with bulbous nose and bushy mustache and eyebrows. He stomped around and declared, "I'm a man now!" I am so glad that Aidyn now immerses himself in Halloween-excitement. This is the second year that he has independently requested his costume (this year, despite it not being anywhere in stores, he has chosen to be the evil Emperor Zurg!). Last year, he was able to say, "Trick or Treat," but shyness often got the better of him. This year, according to Aidyn, he's ready to not only say, "Trick or Treat," but also, "thank you," to every single treat-giver.

Later in the afternoon when I was deep into Shakespearean poetry, David and Aidyn made a fort out of sheets, pillows, chairs (for added height and dimension), and our two couches. They camped out in the living room and were up to all sorts of shenanigans for the remainder of the day.

Due to our rapidly progressing schedules, we will be combining several of our preplanned units into land-units. For instance, instead of studying pirates for a week and ghosts for another, we will be studying New Orleans Square as a whole. Today I had the jazz music playing through the house. I plan on cooking some Lousiana-style cuisine, reading books about pirates and ghosts, playing dress-up, creating spooky crafts, and playing pirate games.

Open Road Roam: Big Basin State Park

As a closing to our redwood trees/train unit, we ventured off to Big Basin Redwood State Park near Boulder Creek. We used the long, windy drive to catch up as a family, but as soon as we hit the forest, it was all ooh's and aah's. Immediately exiting our vehicle and stepping out into the wilderness, we were pleasantly greeted by the sweet woodsy aroma and fresh, clean air. We walked up towards the information center like tiny ants amid these gigantic trees. Outside the center, we waited for our guided Redwood Loop Trail Hike to begin. Our wonderful, knowledgeable, avuncular guide took us through a half mile trail, stopping at intervals to explain the majesty of the forest.

When we came to a giant felled tree, Aidyn anxiously volunteered to climb it, per the guide's suggestion. Aidyn and his daddy scaled the tree and ran (seriously!) up the trunk. They must have been about fifteen feet above the ground! Also during our hike, Aidyn explored a "chimney tree" which was basically a hollowed out redwood. When inside, if one looks straight up, a large hole makes the sky beautifully visible. We greeted two important trees in this state park: the Father of the Forest and the Mother of the Forest, appropriately named, I may add.

After our hike came to a close, we browsed the gift shop, store, and connected nature museum. Aidyn adopted a cute, stuffed bear that he named Whitey. We toured the nature museum and learned all kinds of neat trivia about the Redwood Forest. This quintessential-to-homeschooling- type journey reinforced our learning goals and made us desperate to spend a whole week camping out there.

We also attempted a Mystery Spot trip, but alas, we arrived too late. Now we have more reason to go next time!

Sweet Stories and "Monstrous" Talks

Today Aidyn and I read a sweet story called Niccolini's Song which was about a night watchman in a train yard that soothes trains (and others) to sleep with his melodic singing voice. By the end, Aidyn and I both were near slumber not because it was boring, but because it was so calming and lulling.

He then did an additional five pages from his Kumon Tracing book. He's really enjoying the idea of tracing paths and trails. This section of the book actually had him practice zigzags and arches (over and under). How fun! We also worked on holding the pen (or, in this case, marker) the "traditional" way, and Aidyn got the hang of it pretty quickly. He then hung his favorite on the wall.

Later when I was doing work at home (editing a paper for a student), Aidyn quizzically watched what I was doing. He inquired about what I was doing, and I realized that I don't always tell him what his Mama does during the day, and often at home, to make money. So in that little moment, I had the opportunity to say that Mama "helps students put their letters and words together" and "teaches them how to do that just like I teach [Aidyn] how to do it." He was generally pleased and interested in that answer.

It was also reported to me today that Aidyn expressed some neat ideas of which my mom had no idea he knew. They were talking about particular rides at Disneyland and Aidyn asked her if she was scared of the Matterhorn and why.

She responded that she wasn't really "scared" of the ride, but it made her dizzy because it was so fast.

Aidyn retorted back, "Yes, it is scary, Grandma. There's a monster in there." Grandma, interested, replied, "Really? What does he do?"

Aidyn made "monster hands," scrunched up his face, and said, "He jumps out and says, 'Arrrrrr!' He's a Yeti, Grandma."

Surprised at hearing him use that word, she said, "He is?" To which Aidyn, picking up on the surprise and curiousity in her voice, said, "Yes, Grandma, that means he's an abominable snowman."

Grandma reports that she was blown away by that "lesson" from Aidyn. : )

I remember telling him that many months ago and am surprised that he retained that; it's not like I reference abominable snowman every day! That is why I've always chosen to communicate with Aidyn without dumbing down my language. Some people used to lovingly joke with me when I would have long, drawn-out conversations with a six-month-old Aidyn. Even now, I try to explain everything the best that I can for him, ask questions to lead him to express himself, and listen to his thoughts and theories.

Field Trip Brainstorm

Over the past couple weeks, I have been brainstorming ideas for regular field trip activities that transcend age, ability, and learning method. I wanted to construct a routine activity guide to begin now and continue indefinitely as an addendum to our ever-changing homeschool curriculum. We do many of these things regularly now, but this will serve as a reminder to continue. I'm a huge advocate of travel and mobile exploration and am not barred in or limited to certain attractions; if it's fun, we're going! If we learn something, bonus!

Homeschool Hikes
Regular hikes along paths/trails in varying types of nature and seasons as a means of reconnecting with nature, learning from what the world has to offer as that second, and getting back to basics.

Mt. Diablo  in Contra Costa County, CA
Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Carmichael, CA
Big Basin State Park Santa Cruz County, CA
California State Parks website for hikes near you

Discovery Destinations
The choice or draw of a particular direction with no preset destination in mind. For example, a family member may either choose a direction at random, or we could roll a four-sided die to choose for us. Once we head in that direction, depending on the amount of time we have, we may continue to roll or randomly choose until we stumble upon something interesting to stop for. This could be as simple as an unusual rock structure on the side of the highway, an antique store, a major state park in a county we rarely travel to, or (time willing) a complete weekend getaway to a place we've never set foot on.

In San Joaquin County

Community Connections
Opportunities to connect with various parts of the community: tours of community service buildings (fire houses, police stations, hospitals, post offices, animal shelters, courthouses, etc.--all by appointment, of course), colleges, volunteer work, community-run museums and activities.

Town of Sonora and Tuolomne County Museum
Museum of Entomology at UC Davis
The Bone Room and The Great Stoneface Park in Berkeley, CA

Museum Meanderings
Regular trips to museums far and wide and not particularly connected with current unit study (though, of course, they could be) as a means of learning new things and contributing to an organization's effort to keep memories, relics, art, ideas, and learning opportunities alive.

Factory Fun Trips
Trips to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste how things of all sorts are made.

Roadside Rarities
Exploration of unusual oddities along the roadside. This is an opportunity to see some of the strange things that are built with incredible passion, such as shoe trees, quirky restaurants in the shape of unordinary things (flotsam art or concrete dinosaurs, anyone?). The purpose is not only to have fun and embrace our own eccentricities, but to remember to not get bogged down in taking ourselves too seriously!

I use Roadside America- California to find all sorts of kooky field trips.

Animal Encounters
Real, hands-on opportunities to interact with animals. This is not your average zoo trip! Rather, it's a way of meeting and greeting these animals up close with a skilled zookeeper or animal handler that is ready to answer tons of questions.

Open Road Roams
Regular trips to some of California's (and other states as well) most beautiful natural resources. These may not always be the most well-known destinations, but will include often missed gems of the state.

Homeschool Hike

Early this afternoon, once I returned home from work, Aidyn, Grandma, and I set out for a leisurely hike. We searched for a trail I had discovered on trails.com, but found that it did not, in fact, exist! Luckily, we had a backup plan, but on the way we happened on another sort of trail. On a whim, we decided to hike that one instead. It was a cute, roughly mile-long path in Ripon that actually crosses over the Stanislaus River. Aidyn sat in his wagon and observed all the flora while Grandma and I talked, handed Aidyn assorted rocks and sticks to check out and alerted him to nearby squirrels and lizards.

My favorite part of the hike had to be when we all played "Pooh sticks." If you're not familiar with classic Winnie the Pooh stories, "Pooh Sticks" is a game where players toss a stick on one side of the bridge, dash over to the other side, and watch it reappear. We did this a number of times with both leaves and sticks. Aidyn even experimented with dropping a stick on the opposite side to see if it'd go backwards; thus, he learned something today about water currents.

Walking along the path, Grandma shared some sweet stories about her childhood that explained her love for trees. She remarked that on Sundays when she was a child, her dad used to gather the kids and take them out in the middle of nowhere under a tree and allow them to play. He'd always bring along a watermelon and slice pieces up for them to enjoy after they were done frolicking. So in learning about trees this week, Aidyn and I both had the opportunity to hear a sweet, nostalgic story and learn something new about Grandma.

Wonderful, explorative, naturesque day!

Phlebotomy, Tracing, and Chess!

When I returned from school and work today, my mom had an in-home appointment with a nurse. Luckily, Aidyn was around for most of her exam and was able to observe the procedure, especially the drawing of blood! Thus, he added a new word to his vocabulary: phlebotomist.

After that excited ended, I introduced him to the letter T, the first letter for the word tree. I worked with him on tracing the letter, and though he did an excellent job, we're not ready for that yet. I believe he needs more foundational work to exercise his writing abilities; he has years ahead of him before handwriting is "required." If he's to be ahead in anything, handwriting letters does not have to be it!

So I got him started on a tracing book that I've had tucked away for a couple years. In it are adorable, real-life illustrations of trails and paths. The idea is to link one object to another. For instance, one page had a little crab in the upper corner and another little crab in the bottom corner with a mess of rocks between them. The goal is to create a path for one crab to meet the other without touching the obstacles. Aidyn had a ball doing this and learned to navigate his lines in a fun way.

My goal for him at this stage is to continue to use his creativity and imagination ("Okay, Aidyn, we must draw a path for this kitten to get to his mama without falling in any of the holes. Be careful! Oh, watch out! You did it; great job!") and to exercise his 'writing muscles' with art first.

After he completed a number of pages, I let him display his work as he saw fit. He chose the location and taped it up himself; so what if I have to tilt my head to appreciate it? : )

When he finished "doing school," Aidyn requested some play time with the chess board. He just discovered it in our closet today and was curious to see what that was all about. Not being a chess whiz (I'll leave that to David!), I showed him the very bare basics of the game. He enjoyed plopping the pawns and other figures through the board and looks forward to his dad teaching him how to play.