Walnut Grove Plantation - our last day of kindergarten

I really meant to post this a month ago, but it's so hard to find any time to blog!  Our last day was Friday, May 10, and it was not only our last day but also a field trip day!  We found a wonderful homeschool field trip group online, signed up for this trip, and spent the morning touring Walnut Grove Plantation with lots of other homeschooling families.  Jordan took the day off work to go with us, and it was wonderful.  I think we all learned a lot, and it also got me fired up for teaching history when we start first grade.  The plantation was established around 1765 by Charles and Mary Moore, who immigrated from Ireland.  Here are some photos from our tour.

The Moore family had ten children.  Their house would have been considered a mansion at the time, but was not much bigger than our house, which feels crowded some days with only three kids.  There was a little master bedroom downstairs, much smaller than ours, which they would have shared with their babies and toddlers.  Upstairs there was a large, open "dormitory" (pictured above) where six or so older kids would have slept.  There were also two rooms where the older daughters would have stayed for a while before getting married and moving out, but it was hard to get a good photo of those because the stairs and hallway were so tight.

The other side of the dormitory

Here's a close-up of the ropes that the mattresses rested on, which had to be tightened regularly.

Dining room.  Very small, especially for so many people.

This is the kitchen, which was in a separate building close to the main house.  This way, if there were a kitchen fire that got out of control, it wouldn't take down the entire home.

This sleeping loft is also in the kitchen building.  If I remember correctly, our tour guide told us that when they first arrived here they built and lived in this building, and slept here, before and while the main house was built.

This is part of the school room where the Moore children and other area kids were taught.

Reason #1 why I LOVE homeschool field trips:  Families stick together and enjoy some time with each other!

There was a butter churning demonstration in the picnic shelter.

They took turns shaking the cream in a jar in addition to trying the traditional churn.

Mmm!  Buttah.

 I love how Robert is reaching for the butter with his tongue in this picture!  That's my little butter-lovin' baby!

They had a neat little gift shop, along with some interesting antique displays.  Got some neat stuff for next year's history!

After lunch, we went to look at the little doctor's office.  Would have been more interesting if Robert hadn't been melting down, but that's what you get after lunch.

 We also walked down to the cemetery and back up the short nature trail.

It makes me so happy when Jordan takes the day off and joins us on a field trip!

I tried to get a nice photo of my family in front of the house, but the sun was in their eyes.

This was the best field trip and we'll definitely be going back!

Our first day field trip

Our Children's Museum of the Upstate is really cool. It's a three-level building full of fun, educational activities and exhibits for kids. Some of it is over my kids' heads at the moment, but they at least enjoy looking at pretty much everything. This is where we spent our first official day of kindergarten. Maybe we'll make the first-day field trip a tradition!

The 5-and-under area is called Grandma Betty's Farm. It's Robert's favorite.

Milking the cow

Daddy likes to play, too

The Kaleidoscope Climber is probably our favorite. Moms and dads can fit, too!

Suzi waited a long time to try this.

There's a lot more than this at the museum. Downstairs they have a water area and a TV production studio where you can dress up and make a video of yourself singing karaoke or reporting the news. The girls love to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." We only go once a month or so because it's almost an hour away and I can't take all three kids by myself, but we love it. I'm so glad it's there!

June 4 - 8

Boy have we been lazy this week! There was just so much cleaning and party prep going on last week that it felt like a good week to rest a little. I don't think we did a single premeditated lesson on anything.

Well, I take that back. First of all, I spent a significant amount of time homeschooling myself in geography. I was tired of my astounding lack of knowledge in that department, so I went here and spent lots of my free time (and by that I mostly mean nursing-at-keyboard) playing their absolutely wonderful free games. Seriously, go try them! I am now familiar with almost all the countries, some of the capitals, and all of the states and capitals in the United States. Why couldn't I have had this website in seventh grade? I would've aced world geography! As for Suzi, that is all a bit over her head at the moment. She is learning to identify our state on a map of the US, and we let her play around with her Daddy's tablet on Google Earth. Seeing the Earth this way and then zooming in to our country, our state, our house (yes, it's amazing) helps connect bits of knowledge to form a working understanding of both local and world geography.

As usual, we read books and played a lot. Suzi worked at her desk, drawing pictures and making things like this outfit for Puff the Magic Dragon. I think he looks awesome in it. We went to story time at one of our local libraries. The girls love listening to "that fun librarian" read books, and it's even better because she has a big velcro storyboard to go along with most of them. We spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa Wednesday and Thursday. The week flew by!

Today we had a playdate at our local botanical gardens. I feel so lucky to live near it. It's the perfect place to spend a morning with friends! We didn't have any planned lessons here either, but we did see some interesting things that will make nice leads for nature learning in the next few days. We found some tiny frogs (perhaps toads?) as we played, and when we walked down to the pond there were tadpoles. We discussed the life cycle of a frog a few weeks ago. Mostly the kids just explored and played, and we had a great time with our friends!

When we came home, all three kids took a nice long nap and I set things up to make recycled paper. Earlier this week I bought a children's paper making kit at one of my favorite consignment shops for only 50 cents! The kids loved using it and it seemed to work great. The paper is outside drying right now. This is a great activity to do while discussing recycling. The kids get to see how much effort can be required to recycle an item, and how much more effective it would be, in this case, to use less paper in the first place. I think our shredded EOBs and bank statements are going to make some pretty interesting paper, though. Maybe you can see how there are whole letters sprinkled here and there. Alphabet paper!

I've been contemplating unschooling quite seriously this week. Last night I bought a new book to read on the subject. Just seeing how excited and self-motivated Suzi can get when an idea is hers makes me feel called to unschool at least part-time. Even though it is scary and the complete opposite of how I was educated. My own education also serves as inspiration to unschool, though, because of all the times it didn't work. I'll post more on this later. Daddy is home and we're starting our weekend!

Homeschool inspiration on a farm trip

Last Saturday (the 12th) we decided to take a family trip out to one of the farms we buy from. They were having a tour day, and while we frequently order meat and eggs from them through our local food exchange, we'd never seen the farm. So, off we went. It was a bit of a drive!

Billy's Goat Hill is primarily a goat meat farm. (Yes, goat meat is good. Try it!) When we arrived at this sustainable family farm, I was expecting to find an elderly bearded man by the name of Billy who took care of these goats. Isn't that what you would expect? Maybe it's just me. Anyway, I was surprised and impressed when the one of the owners of the farm introduced her 13-year-old son, Billy, who takes care of the goats, does all sorts of other work on the farm, and is its namesake. Apparently he is South Carolina's 2011 Junior Beekeeper of the Year. They moved to South Carolina from Washington State a few years ago, bringing some chickens with them. It's awesome what they've built in that time.

First thing Suzi did was find this feather. It made her day.

Then we met some goats. The little ones were hard to catch up with and pet, but this lady didn't mind at all!

There are dogs who look after the goats and keep them safe from predators such as coyotes.

The girls loved this mule--I think her name is Sally. She gave sweet slobbery kisses and Suzi got to feed her a treat.

We were excited to see this turkey, too--he may be where Suzi's feather came from. He was beautiful and looked so proud of his feathers!

I was excited to be able to say "see girls?! These chickens lay our eggs!" While we were looking at the chickens, we heard a loud cackle nearby. The owner said that chicken was announcing that she'd just laid an egg and was very happy! Since these chickens are free range, they get to eat a varied diet, which makes for a better, more nutritious egg. I've noticed brighter yolks and harder shells on the eggs we buy from here and other farms with free range chickens. It also means the the folks at this farm get to "have an Easter egg hunt every day!" Funny.

We ate lunch at the farm--goat burgers--and during lunch the girls got to have a "pony ride." It wasn't a real pony, but it was just as much fun!

Suzi's one complaint was that the "goat shop" did not carry toy goats. She was just certain they would have some, even though I told her they probably wouldn't. The girls got tiny honey bears instead.

There was all manner of interesting, useful information given about the animals, farming, gardening, etc. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear much of it because Suzi was begging to go to the goat shop, Ivey was singing songs, and Robert was crying. Oh well. That's how it goes, and we went mostly for the children anyway.

But before we left there was something I had to know. I asked Billy's mom if he was homeschooled. She said yes. (Knew it!) They incorporate the farm activities into their curriculum. Some of the tasks on the farm, such as vaccinations and fecal testing for parasites, make for some pretty advanced science material. But I don't think that is the best part. Billy is incredibly knowledgeable. He answered lots of questions people had on the tour about the plants and animals. He is accomplished. How awesome to spend your time working on something so worthwhile, helping build a business that offers something of value to others, and making a name for yourself and your family.

In my mind, it boils down to finding your relevance in the world. How and where do your gifts and talents fit in? I'd say you're incredibly lucky to figure that out at any age, but at 13? What a wonderful blessing.

This farm trip has brought me clarity on my #1 reason to homeschool. I want to help my children find their thing. I want them to have plenty of time, almost unlimited time, to figure out what they love and do it. I want that thing, whatever it may be, to get the best of their energy and focus. That means working on it during the day, possibly right after they wake up, or whenever inspiration hits. We will work everything else around it. When they arrive at adulthood, they will not just be filled with general knowledge across all the usual subjects. That too, perhaps, but more importantly, they will have spent years learning about and hopefully diving into their passion. They will have already begun their life's work. Their spiritual, intellectual, and physical gifts will be doing something of real value.

Because of this, they will stand out. They will have something valuable to show for their first 18 years of life. Something impressive to mention on college applications and in job interviews. Whatever they choose to do, they will already be on their way.

That is my vision. My recovering perfectionist self needs to remember this when, perhaps someday, not all of my children are excelling in every single subject. No one is great at everything, but we are all great at something. What could make someone happier than finding her God-given gift and throwing her heart and soul into it? Yes, I am inspired. Thank you Billy's Goat Hill.

One more thing. As Billy's mom and I talked about homeschooling, she gave me some advice. My favorite thing she said was that if you ever get stuck on something, you should just put it down and go in the kitchen to make cookies. With the measurement, there's your math, and it involves science too! She is so right. It was a good day meeting this lovely family and hearing a little of their story.

Taking Suzi to a show: The Ugly Duckling... in lights

from corbianarts.com

We are really lucky. While we live in a small town, we are neighbored by a college town that provides fun educational opportunities, sometimes at an amazing price. Over the past few months, Suzi and I have enjoyed attending events at a local performing arts center as part of a program for area schoolchildren. Many of the local schools pick a couple of these events and plan field trips around them. Of course, homeschool families can attend as many as they want. Admission is $2/person, and some of them are free! The only catch is that you have to be three years old to go. This is where Grandma and Grandpa come in.

Suzi has attended eight shows this season. She went to one with her Grandma, and I took her to the rest of them while Grandma and Grandpa watched Ivey and Robert. Today was the last show of the season. We saw Corbian Visual Arts and Dance & Light Wire Theater perform The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare. We loved it. I'm finding it difficult to explain, so I'll use what they call it on their website, which is "electroluminescent puppetry." The puppeteers (dancers, actors?) were not seen--they only animated the characters, which were made up of brightly colored strands of light, all that was visible in the darkness. Yet the heartbreak of the rejected duckling shone through. It was also funny. The audience full of children roared over potty humor and the ridiculous personality of the racing hare. I thought I might cry when the mother swan came out at the end of the Ugly Duckling. Beautiful.

So I got to share this with Suzi and call it a school day. She sat in my lap and asked questions the whole time. On the way out she told me she liked it a lot, but that it was a little scary. Then she started brainstorming ideas for making her own costumes and puppets. I am thinking this might be a fun ongoing art project for her. Maybe I could make a portable puppet theater to hang in a doorway. She'd have a fit over that, and her birthday is coming up. Hmmm.

Thought I'd add that we did do a little school after we got home and had lunch. We can do school in the afternoon, but so far I do think it's working better in the mornings. She's fresher then.