Mary Poppins

    Yesterday, Molly and I took the train downtown to have lunch at the French Market and then went to see the musical "Mary Poppins" at the Cadillac Theater. We had a great time and both of us loved the musical. She has a great attention span being able to focus for almost a three hour show! During intermission, Molly asked the coat check girl how they made Mary Poppins fly. The woman told her it was magic, but Molly was having none of that. The woman looked at me and said, "She doesn't really want to know, does she? It will ruin it for her!" After we assured her that it was ok to give her the technical details, the woman laid it all out for her. It made the second half of the show even more interesting for her because she was able to watch for certain things (like the wire). She seemed fascinated by the creativity and technology that went into that part of the show. Her desire to ask questions and dig deeper than the surface is a trait that I see in her that I rarely see in kids in traditional school settings. There is no embarrassment, no shame, a thirst for knowledge, and most importantly the belief that everyone has something to teach us...not just the one person appointed with that role. I would not have thought to ask the coat check girl inside information about the show, but she knew so much! I am so glad that Molly realized that she was more than her job, because I didn't. So often I witnessed in my own childhood, as well as with the kids I have known since, that kids in school tend to want the learning to be over as soon as the school day ends. I never want Molly to see learning as a chore or as something to just endure. She has such a passion to absorb as much as she can about the world around us, and it brings me such pleasure to be able to share in that:)

    When we went to collect our belongings at the coat check after the show was over, Molly asked the woman why the room she was working in only had white walls. The woman looked stunned like she had never noticed or thought about it before. Molly decided that she should paint it pink with white stripes. Who knows maybe when we go back the next time we will see a fancy new coat check room:) We walked back to the train station and got there as the train was boarding...we were so happy to find out it was an express train! She wanted to get home to watch the movie of Mary Poppins so that she could compare the two versions while it was fresh in her head. I wasn't thrilled with her watching tv after watching a play for almost three hours, but she was dissecting it the whole way home...analyzing each character, comparing and contrasting every scene...I couldn't say "no" and I think it really helped her to get the most out of the experience.

Uranus! LOL!

    We have a busy week but yesterday we managed to slow it down a bit. Molly and I stayed home except for a necessary trip to Costco. Looking back at the day, Molly ended up doing about four hours of school overall. She did great with her reading program "Play and Read", worked on identifying the fifty states, did games online for spelling and parts of speech...adjectives used to be her strongest area, but now she is struggling with those as she is focusing on her nouns and verbs. The madlibs help and we will be using those today on our train ride downtown.
    Molly got a placemat at the Indianapolis Children's Museum featuring the U.S. Presidents. We studied that yesterday, too. It has fascinating facts on it! She thought that Abraham Lincoln was the Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" mascot:) http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2008/10/05/notre-dames-fighting-irish-mascot/. She even ran and got her camera to take of picture of him to show Grandpa! We also worked on sign language, and the solar system. I turn into an eight-year-old boy whenever Uranus is discussed...she suffers through my immaturity;) School for us is never boring, that's for sure!!

Indy

    We had a great trip to Indiana over the weekend. Madlibs came in handy for the car ride. Netflix on the i-phone was another beautiful thing! We spent Saturday at the amazing Indianapolis Children's Museum...five-stories of fun:) They managed to cram a planetarium, science museum, and history museum into it which is mind-boggling. We saw a great frog exhibit, she walked the runway in the Barbie exhibit (but suffered a wardrobe malfunction when her skirt fell down around her ankles...she decided that modeling is not her life calling), saw a show at the planetarium...it was a great time:) There were eleven Garfield statues in the various small towns we went through...we found four of them along with James Dean's birthplace.

Fitting School In

   We had friends come in from out of town this week. They have an 8-year-old boy and a boy who was born just a few weeks after Molly. I had cleaning and shopping to do...when exactly does school fit in when there is a huge shift in the routine? Well, we ran around most of the day but there was a lull in the late afternoon while we were waiting for them to arrive. Molly and I managed to get a good hour of her reading program done. She earned six stars!  She had so much fun with her reading program that it turned out to be a perfect distraction from the torture of waiting for her friends to show up.

    She had a ball with the boys! They see each other once or twice a year and it seems as if no time has passed when they are all together. Molly was thrilled to discover that Miles loves to play dress up...he even brought his Harry Potter costume with him! So cute! FYI...he doesn't wear glasses...that's part of the costume:) Earlier in the day we had also discovered the joy of Madlibs on my iphone. We laughed our butts off! We can't wait to do some more...they feed right into her love of language as well as her love of anything silly:)
     We took the day off of school today because she was so exhausted from her time with Miles and Finn that she slept 3 1/2 hours this afternoon. Back to it tomorrow and then a children's museum outing on Saturday.

Play and Learn

    We spent Saturday morning volunteering to help assemble hundreds of bundles of cards for a reading program. We were rewarded for our efforts with a set to take home. Molly loves it! We have been having a great time working on it together. She earned six stars in the first two days. We took today off. She had a class at the library called, "Folk, Fairy, and Favorite Tales"...tomorrow her science class starts and she can't wait! I love that we have access to these free classes at the library. They are taught by wonderful women who clearly love what they do. It is a great addition to what we are doing.
    Molly did about five hours of school between Saturday and Sunday. I love the flexibility that homeschooling offers! I don't stress out when there are days we don't seem to do much and Molly sees school as a wonderful part of her life that has no time limit. It is such a natural part of our family and our life. She would be devastated if I ever told her she needed to take a break. It is so refreshing to see that passion for school and for learning in a child. It is a gift to her, not a chore. I will be forever grateful that I live in a state that is so supportive of our choice. I found out recently that most museums in our area offer free or discounted admission to homeschooling families. The Metra train offers student passes for homeschooled kids. Every day it seems that I find support for my choice to educate my child differently. We are very blessed, indeed.

The Waiting Game

    Molly has been busy the past week continuing her writing practice, reading aloud, and being read to.  She is really focusing a lot of attention on mastering reading. It is so hard to balance her developmental age with her intellectual age. I know that once she masters her reading, nothing will get in the way of her learning...right now she is limited to what I can work with her on. Her other struggle is that there are many things she wants to be able to learn that she can't physically do yet...like knitting, for example. I am hoping to find some alternatives that she can do now that will help her learn the skills she will need for those types of activities.
    We discovered www.sheppardsoftware.com this week, as well! What an amazing site!!! She has been working on the US map...identifying all of the states. She also loves the animal section where she has tons of animal info and facts at her fingertips. I imagine that this site will be our go-to from now on for so many activities. The best part is that the entire site is free!
    Joining the Museum of Science and Industry was another bright point of our week:) We are going twice in the next few weeks. We are looking forward to the Dr. Seuss exhibit!! Molly explores every one of our animation reference books (we have about a dozen) and loves to look at the early drawings of the characters, etc. The Dr. Seuss exhibit shows some of his early drawings and sculptures so she is really excited to get to see where some of the characters began.

Mr. Fox

   Molly and I just finished reading Roald Dahl's, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, last week. It gave us so many opportunities for learning. I asked her who the protagonist and antagonists were and she said, "Mr. Fox is the protagonist and the three farmers are the antagonists." Then she said to me, "If Mr. Fox is the protagonist, why did he steal?" I did a search for some study questions online. I found a site that had a quiz. Molly got 15/16 on the first try! She got the other one right on the second guess. One of the questions asked what part of speech fantastic is and I started to read her the multiple choice answers starting with "verb" and she said, "It's not a verb, it's an adjective!" Here is a link to the quiz...http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading48/fox1.html.
    I also found a philosophy site that had great questions regarding the ethics in the story...here is the link for that...http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org/wiki/Fantastic_Mr._Fox. I am going to a conference to hear a woman talk about using literature as a focus in homeschooling. I can't wait to get some more ideas and fill in some of the gaps in my approach. Molly responds so well to books and I would love to be able to explore them to their fullest:)
     I am so glad that we have the option and ability to stretch her far past her years...she's only four after all!...and allow her to move past a grade label to see that her potential is limitless.

Too Much

    Last week was a whirlwind. I try really hard not to over-schedule us, but there are some weeks that it just can't be avoided. Our friend's mom died. He, his wife, and three children were in town all week leading up to the funeral. We wanted to be sure that we were available to them as a distraction. They came over one afternoon and the kids had a ball! They are also homeschooling so it was fun to compare notes and share ideas. Friday was the funeral and it was so emotionally draining. We loved Marianne and will miss her terribly.
    My brother and his wife had a little baby girl, Maddie. We wanted to get out to see her and take her two-year-old brother to the zoo. Last Thursday was set aside for this excursion. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect! We adored the baby, of course, and had a great time at the zoo! Later that same day, Molly's Auntie Kathy came in from Vancouver. We were off to my parent's for dinner and some quality time for Molly and Kathy!
    Between swimming lessons, playdates, and out-of-town guests, it was quite exhausting! I'm hoping not to have another week packed quite that full...glad to see everyone and grateful for all of the memories, but a bit too chaotic for me.

Southgate School

    When Naomi was staying with us I decided to go about Molly's school day like normal. I figured I'd try it and see what happened. We started out with Molly writing her two letters and her number for the day and then I had them draw pictures while I read out loud to them. Rob had just bought us the new Shel Silverstein book so I read them poems. They drew really elaborate pictures of animals and Naomi looked over at me and said, "I drew a three." It was Molly's number of the day. She drew a really good three and I could see that she wanted to be included in the process. I gathered our new magnets that we had gotten at a hobby store as well as some various items to try to attract. The girls had so much fun trying to see what they could pick up! They also loved trying to get two magnets to connect when they were repelling each other. When we were finished, we packed a lunch and went to Spring Valley Nature Center. The girls enjoyed running along the path and through the woods! They had me taking pictures of various flowers, bugs, and butterflies so that we could look them up when we got home and try to identify them. Once we reached the farm, we had a picnic lunch. The girls ate lunch on top of the table because they weren't too sure they liked the roosters under our table. They looked for fairies in the hole in the tree, petted horses and cows, and obsessed over all of the various fungi they found on the trees on the path. We went out on a dock and were surrounded by lily pads. When we thought we couldn't go any further we got in the car and I took them to Oberweis for ice cream. I realized that day  how fun it was to incorporate a friend into our school day...hopefully Naomi will be a visitor to our little school a few times a month so we can plan some fun lesson plans the girls can do together.

Success!

    Molly had swimming lessons again today. We missed last week so I didn't know what to expect. We got halfway there when I realized that I had forgotten her bathing suit and towel at home. I didn't want to miss the lesson again, but I also didn't want to be 30 minutes late. I decided to hurry home and then take a different route to see if I could get there faster. She ended up only being 10 minutes late. She came up to me after the class was over and said, "They were nice to me for the first time!" I decided to have her stay for free swim even though we had friends coming over for a playdate and it would cut it close. I wanted to see what would happen. Molly played by herself and left the girls alone. They ended up coming over to her and playing with her! I think that they probably felt as bad as we did after that horrible day. Maybe us missing last week also helped break the cycle. She said that they learned to be nice because she showed them how to be a good friend. All I know is that she had a good time, the girls got along, and Molly ended up feeling very good that she persevered:)

Girl Talk

The first night with our little houseguest, we heard them talking when they were in bed.

Molly...I want to be a princess.
Naomi...I want to be a prince.
Molly in shock...Why would you want to be a prince?!
Naomi calmly replies...So that I can marry you.

Now as Rob and I are listening on the monitor, I think "Uh oh, look out Naomi. Molly is already betrothed;)"

Molly...Naomi, you need to make another choice. I am already marrying Anthony. We will live in a house full of toys and have a boy that is nice to me.
Naomi unfazed...Oh, ok.
Naomi...Why do you like the color pink so much?
Molly...It's my favorite!
Naomi...I like all the colors. I like yellow, red, purple, green, blue...
Molly...I like a lot of colors, but I like pink the best.
Naomi...Do you know God?
Molly...Yes.
Naomi...God loves us when we are sad and when we are mad...
Molly...God loves us when we are eating, sleeping, playing...
Naomi...He loves us when we are awake...
Molly...Which fairies do you like?
Naomi...I like Rosetta.
Molly...Do you like Vidia?
Naomi...No.
Molly...Why not?
Naomi...I like that she wears purple, but that's it.
Molly...Is it because you don't like her attitude?
Naomi...Yes. I like her purple dress, but not her attitude.

The next morning...
Naomi...Do you want to go to Heaven with me?
Molly...Yes.
Naomi...You can't take anything with you.
Molly starting to sadly weep...I can't leave Piggy behind.
Naomi...Ok you can take Piggy. We should also probably take a Bible.
Molly...Ok we'll take Piggy and a Bible. I would also like to take Anthony...oh, and Matthew.
Naomi...Ok.
Molly...They have a great ice cream parlor in Heaven. It's called Malley's. We can go there with my Uncle Denny.
Naomi...Ok.
Molly...I can't wait for you to meet him. He's so great! He's really nice and he loves ice cream.
Naomi...Ok.

My Uncle Denny died in May. What an impact he had on my daughter:)

House Guest

   I have a friend who just had a new baby...she also has a two-year-old and a little girl who is about 12 days older than Molly. Her four-year-old, Naomi,  and Molly are the best of friends. We met when the girls were babies while sitting in the parent's room at church. While the girls were over on Thursday, their mom said, "Maybe I should just leave Naomi here and you can just bring her to church with you on Saturday." She was half joking and never expected me to take her up on her it. Well, I jumped at the chance to give my friend a break and for the girls to have some bonding time. Luckily they are about the same size because she had no clothes or pajamas with her. Molly had just been to the dentist so we had a new toothbrush that Naomi could use. I am a big fan of spontaneity so this was all quite fun for me:) We decided to take it one night at a time. Naomi had never been away from her parent's overnight...what if she freaks out? They live about 40 minutes away. We would meet halfway if we needed to. Well, the girls did amazingly well:) They talked quietly for an hour the first night. I will describe some of their conversations in a different post. Very philosophical for 4-year-olds, but then again, these are not your typical kids.

Geography Project

    I am so excited! Our homeschool group is doing a geography event...each family takes a different country. Molly and I are doing France. Ireland was the first choice...ummm, actually Miami was Molly's first choice;) Our friends that live there always say that it is like a different country! Ireland was taken, so we moved on to our next favorite...France...the home of Madeline and Degas, Cezanne, Monet... The country also shares Molly's love for bread, Nutella, and cheese:) We have 6 weeks to study the country and put together a fun representation of the culture. Let the games begin!