Blue Yonder

Blue Yonder and The Bee

As you well know, I'm a little wordy. I'm the kind of gal that gets excited about a blank notebook, a sharpened pencil and a long stretch of time in which to fill up those pages with every little imagining.

So, it is really important to me, as my kids' teacher, that they grow to be inspired and awed by the power of words.

But, it ain't easy. Of course, we read a lot as a family. The kids dictate their stories to me, and then illustrate them or add in a word or a sentence or two of their own. At some point though, you just have to do the hard work of learning to spell, write and read words that don't follow the rules all on your own. When you are just learning how to do those things, it doesn't feel awe inspiring, it's like learning scales on an instrument - necessary, but a far cry from the beautiful music in your head.

I guess I can't speak for all children, but as for mine, they aren't the sort that learn well in a traditional read it, drill it, do a worksheet format. They really need to see a thing, touch it, taste it, turn it around, step on it and stick it in their ear before it becomes meaningful to them, particularly things as "dry" as spelling and sight words.

So, I can't tell you how many different ways we've tried to make their study of these things interesting, or at least a step above drudgery.

I hope that in sharing our ever-growing list of word study ideas, we will help a little person you love come to know the magic of words too!

A few of the things we've tried with our spelling and sight words:

* "carve" them in bricks of playdoh or clay with a toothpick or skewer

* smear shaving cream on a tray and then trace them into the cream with a finger

* same thing, but with sand

* same thing, but with coffee creamer. We have a jar of the French Vanilla kind that we reuse again and again for this purpose. My kids love it, because it smells good.

* Make them with magnetic letters, or letter tiles

* Cut out letters in magazines and paste them on paper to make the words

* "write" the letters with glue sticks and stick on shredded bits of paper to form the words

* write the words (LARGE) with markers, and then cover the lines with stickers

* cover colored paper with dark crayon, then "etch" out the words with a fingernail or chopstick

* write them on a chalk board or dry erase board and then erase them with a tracing finger

* use buttons or toothpicks to form the words

* paint the words

* make long play doh snakes and bend them to form the letters

* use those dot markers (like for Bingo) to make the words on paper

* type the words on an old typewriter

* email the words to a friend or family member

* record yourself spelling the words and play it back

* make a video of yourself spelling your words - we did ours by holding up one printed letter at a time and more or less YELLING the letter, then cutting to a shot of the whole word while everybody screamed it. It was so very Sesame Street :-)

* string words together using alphabet beads

* stamp the words with alphabet stamps

* sidewalk chalk

* Invisible Ink! Just have the child paint the letters on paper with lemon juice. Then, when dry, hold them up to a light bulb (100W) or iron them (put a towel between the paper and iron). You can ask your little learner if they remember how to spell the word, then he can check himself when the invisible ink appears.

* body letters - try to spell out the word using your body or fingers.

* movement - try to hop, clap, stomp, snap, sway your hips or spin while you spell the word

Phew! That's a lot of word play!

I'm sure there's lots more fun activities out there. Do you have any tricks for helping your littles learn their words?

Growing Pains

Today was the last day of kindergarten for my middle boy, my James.

He goes to school one day a week, and it has been SUCH a wonderful, nurturing experience for him. His teacher was everything you could ever hope for - smart, patient, cheerful and with a passion for little ones. Our boy was happy to go to school every single Thursday and was always bubbling over with stories of his day when I picked him up.

So, as exciting as the big "graduation day" was, it was also bittersweet for my guy.

We heard his class sing their songs and watched them each get their diplomas and throw their hats in the air.

We visited his classroom and peeled his art off the walls to stuff into an overladen, now frayed, broken-zippered backpack.

Afterward we went swimming and horsed around.

Then, together, we made his favorite dinner (homemade pizza), toasting the end of his first year in school.

Over the course of the evening though, something happened to my guy.

He got surly and teary. He fought with his brothers and mouthed off to his mama and papa, swung from laughing to slamming doors and then back again.

I was ready to pull out all of my hair, and a few handfuls of his too!

But then, at bedtime, he opted to sleep in his own room. This is something he has not done in months and months. He ALWAYS sleeps in his brother's top bunk.

He cried and cried, but remained firm that he needed to sleep in his room. And then it dawned on me. He is crossing a line.

My boy saw today as something monumental, a move along the path to manhood. I don't know if he'll continue to sleep in his own room or not, but it was clearly very important for him to do it on THIS night, of all nights.

I went into his bedroom and lay in his bed with him. I held him and told him how proud of him I am, what a treasure he is, how smart and how kind, and how he is everything I ever hoped I'd have in a little boy. He sobbed - body-shaking, lip quivering sobs, but he did not know why. He said, "I just feel sad."

Poor guy. It is so hard to grow up. It is so hard to WANT to grow up, but at the same time to know that what is lost can never be had again. Even if he couldn't say it, it was apparent that he is, in some small way, understanding that childhood is passing by.

Kindergarten is done.

Before he nodded off though, we talked about how "His mercies are new every morning," how tomorrow is a new day, full of adventure. We talked about all the fun to come in first grade (he will still go to his one day a week school), and about all our plans for the summer. His little shoulders relaxed. I rubbed his forehead until the lines smoothed away and his breathing slowed. He giggled and we hugged, and he went to sleep smiling.

It was a big, big day for a big, BIG boy.

But not too big.

Not yet.

Little Bitty

My oldest got a microscope for his birthday, a month or so back.

Since then, I've often heard, "you'll never believe how cool a (insert everyday object) looks up close!".

Feathers, leaves, rocks, dirt, pollen, fabric, paper, crackers, hair, you name it, it has gone under the microscope.

And he's right. If ever you find yourself lost in a world that seems to be losing all it's wonder, what with a Starbucks and a Walmart on every corner, houses built overnight, all in a too close row, and all the same, get a microscope. It will reaffirm what you already knew, somewhere deep down... the world is, down to the smallest detail, a thing of untold glory.

Under a microscope, a chicken feather is an icicle forest.

And leaves contain mighty rivers.

I know that the wisdom of the day is to not "Sweat the Small Stuff" and I get that, I do, but I'm thinking that, on the other hand, the small stuff is kind of where the treasure lies.

A little boy, in a little minute, learns a little trick... how to break off a honeysuckle blossom, pull out the stamen, and suck the single little drop of nectar. A trick he learned from his mother, who learned it from hers.

Little legs swinging, sticky syrup kisses, and "good morning, can you pass the milk please", "Mama can I have one more piece of french toast?".

Little sun's up ceremonies - our daily bible reading, the pre-tickle session question, "boy, you look taller today! Did you grow overnight?" Little bitty things, little small details, that just mean the whole world.

I'm not so sure that the devil's really in the details, because I think maybe that's where heaven lies.

Life's Little Lessons

My littlest boy has gotten big.

No more pull ups at night... it's all underpants all the time now.

No more sippy cups, because, "I can drink like a big man, Mama."

And now, he insists that he have "school time" like his brothers.

So, we moved a new little desk in the school room for him, and put his name on it, just like the big guys. He got his own box of crayons, and we began working on recognizing the letters in his name.

He's known how to spell it for some time now. He says, "I'm Rar-I-Dee-Eee-ARE, RYDER!!!"

He really had no idea though what he was saying. So, we thought it was a natural step, to put shapes with those names.

So, I wrote them down on big cards, explained what each of them were, and he learned to put them in order.

The best part of this though is watching his brothers hover over him, pulling for him, nodding their heads in the direction of the next letter, applauding when he picks the right one. They are like a little literacy pep squad!

And speaking of literacy, I thought I'd pass along this other little trick.

A couple of years ago the boys and I went through magazines and cut out pictures of things that we often buy at the grocery store. We glued them to big, oversized index cards and wrote out the name of each item. Then, we "laminated" them with clear contact paper.

I would give a few cards to each boy before we went to the store. Those cards where his own items. It was his job to be on the look out for them while we shopped.

It worked really well!

Plus, even my then pre-readers caught on pretty quickly that the photo of cheese was next to the word "cheese" which looked just like the word on the package of real life cheese. Beautiful!

These days, we still use the cards, but now they also serve as a word bank for my writers. My guys flip through the cards, reading them and asking me if we need that item. When they come to one that we need, they copy the word down on a list.

It's nice, for the reading and writing practice, and nice in the practical, everyday, learn how to meal plan, make a list and shop, sense, but also nice in that it means several people have a vested interest in the list itself.

Gone are the days when I made out a list and then left it on the kitchen counter as I headed off to the store, only to wander around trying to remember why I was there in the first place. Oh no, he who pours his hard fought handwriting skills into the grocery list will not leave home without it!

The Case For Reading

A whole host of things come to mind...

"Just what kind of insurance policy must the city have on this park?"

"How big are we talking here?"

"Numbers? I mean, has there been a census?"

"Where's the nearest emergency room?"

"Does anyone else think this is a really, REALLY, monumentally bad idea?"

These things and lots, LOTS more run through the mind of a mama when she sees this sign, not 20 yards from a playground, with nary a fence post between:

My boy though, my boy who can now read, has only this to say, "Wow. Too bad nobody taught the ducks to read."

Best case for literacy I ever heard.

Three Little Birds

Most of the time, as a homeschooler, I feel as though I'm swimming along, doing a little doggie paddle, soaking in the glow of minds at work, enjoying the ebb and flow of our full days, taking the odd wave of doubt in stride, but then, there are moments when I look up, survey the enormity of the task at hand, the OCEAN in which I swim, and I have myself a good old fashioned panic attack.

I mean really, suppose one day my kids are grown and they can't get decent jobs, so their wives run off with some guy in a Ferrari and their kids wind up cursing the name of their grandma, who with all her wacky homeschooling notions, doomed them to a life of motherless poverty? Then what?

Deep breath, sister. Repeat after me, " every little thing's gonna be alright."

It's just that, when you love someone, THREE someones, so much that it pulls the rug right out from under you, who you are, and what you hold, just never adds up to all that you'd like to give. I worry that I'm not enough to do them justice.

When those days come, I have to remind myself that my children's future does not rest solely in my hands. I believe that they are in hands that are bigger than mine, and I believe that they are made of stuff that will shine in spite of my failings.

Not that I don't think parents and teachers have integral roles to play, it's just that I'm fairly certain that they will rise to their own occasions.

I know this because I see it everyday.

Take this most recent example. We've been practicing our observational drawing.

Here's yesterday's drawing subject:

Here's 5 year old James' rendering of said birdie:

I may be biased, but I think it's pretty fantastic.

Lori mentioned though, that a good way to get kids to think about the lines that make up their intended subject is to have them trace it in the air with their finger. As an experiment in that direction, I bought cheap (less that $3) frames so that they could hold it (or tape it down) in front of their subject and then do their tracing with a dry erase marker. It worked pretty well!

They didn't stop there though.

My middle son soon discovered that his drawing on the plexiglass, would create a "colored shadow" if he positioned it in front of a piece of white paper.

Then, they figured out that they could color one glass yellow, and another blue, hold them side by side, and the "colored shadow" would be green. They experimented with other colors. They layered drawings to make them more complex.

They took this one little idea that I had and RAN with it.

This, friends, is how I know that whatever ideas I could muster about their life, would just PALE in comparison to what they will create on their own.

They are smart little cookies, and Bob Marley is too. Every little thing really is gonna be alright.

A Good Excuse For A Moon Pie

I must have been about the age that my oldest son is now, about 6 or so. My parents used to layer folded quilts to make a "bed" in the back of our Toyota Corolla. It was a hatchback, so I could lay on my back and just stare and stare into the heavens as we made our way to my Granny's house.

I don't remember wether it was late at night or before dawn that we started our journeys, but it seemed that our trips always began under cover of darkness. To me, it was delicious. Cozy. Snug.

"I see the moon, and the moon sees me.
God bless the moon and God bless me." I whispered to myself, watching streetlights pass above me in steady rhythm.

I used to imagine the sky as a giant piece of black construction paper, with pinpricks made in it. I wondered if God peeked through the holes. I wondered if He could see our little car speeding down the highway, and the little girl inside staring back up at Him.

Even a child looks at the night sky and knows that it means something. Something grand. Something larger than understanding. And even a grown mama can be made to feel like a little girl again when she looks up at that big moon.

So, yeah, I was pretty excited when I began to see a backseat trend emerging.

"Mama how come you can see the moon in the daytime?"
"Mama how come the moon changes?"
"Mama how far away is the sun?"
"Is the sun the hottest star?
"How come Pluto isn't a planet?"
"Just what makes a star shoot?"
"Why is it cold in the winter and hot in the summer?"

All questions fired up to the front seat during one recent night drive or another.

It is clearly time to make a study of the stars and planets and such.

I had planned to spend this evening watching the lunar eclipse, eating moon pies in honor of the ocassion, and making plans with my guys for projects and research into our solar system.

Alas, it's too cloudy to see the eclipse. Thwarted!

So, instead, we took turns creating our own eclipse in the bathroom mirror. The flashlight is the sun, the orange is our home planet, and the reflection of the flashlight in the mirror is the moon.

Not quite as awe inspiring as the real thing no doubt was, but a good enough show to merit a moon pie and milk chaser.

I'm pretty sure that we're going to be stuck on this journey into space for some time, so stay tuned.

Also, thanks so much for your family movie suggestions! We have lots of new titles added to our Netflix queue now!

Can you guess the movies that are currently en route to us? "Flight of the Navigator" and "The Explorers," of course!

Sweet Science

"Boil and bubble, toil and trouble" Is that how it goes?

Just popping in to say that we are back from Granny's, safe and sound. We had a wonderful time, and have so many things to share, but unfortunately, my computer is acting is acting up again. It locks up every five seconds or so. I'm pretty certain that the hard drive is failing. That, or it's under some hideous spell. Either way, it ain't pretty.

Sigh.

So, there's just no telling if I'll be around these parts with any regularity. My fingers are crossed though.

In the mean time, we're knee deep in kitchen science. We unearthed an old science textbook at Goodwill. It has lots of fun experiments. The one above was all about molecules. You dissolve sugar and water. (Is it still there? How do you know?) Then, you try different things to separate it (pouring through cotton balls, leaving to sit, heating, etc.) They can't get enough!

Maybe they can do something about my computer!

Happy new week to you all!

Hopefully we'll be able to post up some stories and photos about our trip soon.

My Character Revealed

Y'all are the best. Thanks, for all the understanding and kind words about my bloggy fickleness.

I've decided to dispense with the laundry, sweeping, lesson planning, surfing and what not that usually make up my evenings, and instead, put my feet up, pour a glass of wine and spend tonight with Dr. Zhivago. (Praise be to Netflix!). First though, I had to pop in for some rather random, but utterly essential bits to pass along:

1. There's an age old debate regarding the best fat (there's no more polite way to put it) to use in pie pastry. Butter gives more taste, but Crisco gives better texture. Three little words have settled that issue neatly for me: Butter-flavored Crisco. Glory be. Just say those words again: butter. flavored. Crisco. Disgustingly wonderful, right?

2. 1 out of 3 children prefer the smell of homemade play dough to that of the store bought version (per our less than scientific research). In stark contrast, the same kid prefers store bought icing, while the other two like the homemade variety. Go figure.

3. If you find yourself with a kiddo that wants to learn to type, this downloadable program is pretty great.

4. A five year old will put up with your narrow minded ideas about the proper way to tell time for about 5 minutes. He will then show you how it's done in his world.

5. You know you've heard that the true nature of a person's character can reveal itself in one tragic instant? Ever wonder if you're the kind of person that would jump, without thinking, in front of a moving bus to push someone else out of the way? Well it was no moving bus, but I did discover something... I am the sort of person that would plunge my hand into a public toilet to retrieve my iPhone. Three gallons of bleach and more than a month later, there is good news... I have not developed any weird disease (yet), and the phone never skipped a beat. I have no idea what this says about my character, but I do know that it means I'm fully over the hyper aversion to germs that accompanied the birth of my third child. Clean over it (pun intended).

5. My kids can't get enough of this site.

6. I can't get enough of this one.

... and now, the good doctor calls....

Busy Bees

I feel that I should make a sort of blanket apology.

There are so very many of you out there whose beautiful blogs inspire me and sustain me. There are so many of you whose comments here make me smile and give me those little pats on the back that can be rare for a mama. I appreciate you.

And yet, somehow, with traveling and sicknesses, and the holidays, then the cleaning up from the holidays, and the buckling down that has followed, I've neglected your blogs, and I've neglected my own.

I guess it's the natural rhythm of things. We've needed a moment to gather ourselves for a new year.

I hope you know though, that I'm thinking of ya, and that one of these days we'll get back in the groove.

For now though, keeping up with busy hands has been about all I can manage.

As dear as those little hands and all their many projects are, friend, I'm looking forward to catching up!

Until then, know that you're on my mind.