Instagrammin'

We have settled into a lovely tune of free range learning these days. I have started my own classes now, and have been volunteering with a few organizations. All of these things, plus the girls' busy gymnastics, sports and swimming lesson schedule keeps us on the go a lot! I have not been doing a very good job keeping up with our school blog, which makes me a little sad because we do SO MANY fun things, and I will most likely forget all about them without a written record!

I am gong to try something new in the next few weeks, which will hopefully become months, and primarily use Instagram to record our learning adventures. If you have an Instagram account, I hope you will follow us at @CreatingCuriosity and see what we do all day! If you don't have an IG account, I will have a feed here for you to view as well, which you can see is now at the top of the blog!

I know you don't want to miss these cute little faces and their escapades. <3

Glimpse of the Art Gallery

Delaney has been amassing quite the collection of creative works.

She created a series of paper dolls, which she made with construction paper, glue and markers.

Penguin

Mom

A moon and a space car.

Character from Grimm's Fairy Tales

Howdy the Cowboy

Ninja

 She created these scenes with markers and other paper dolls...

Flounder and Ariel

Silvermist, the horse fairy

African Savannah

She painted an eye...

We follow Javier Perez on Instagram (@cintascotch). He uses everyday objects to make art, and his art is so fun.  Delaney was inspired and made this bug with a wine cork.

She draws every day...I am amazed at her ability to draw eyes that appear to be looking right at you.

Sister Princesses, Good and Bad

Self portrait

I love the facial expression on this one.

This girl is walking and has turned sideways to look at something.

 She made this little fairy house awhile ago.

"Fairys Welcome"

She also fashioned some tiny fairy dresses, but she hid them in the backyard for the fairies to find before I could take a picture.

I love her creative spirit. I am excited to see what I will discover in the art room every day! 

Why Do We Homeschool?

A friend asked me the other day why I decided to homeschool. I rattled off an answer on the spot...Delaney loved to learn, she learned quickly, and by the time she was the right age for kindergarten, I wasn't sure what the teachers would do with her.

I thought about it later, and found that it wasn't entirely accurate. The reasons are so much more than a glib "she was a fast learner".

So, why DO I homeschool?

I had to sit down and make a list of the reasons. After that, I reflected on my reasons to determine which ones meant the most to me. I found that "TIME" was the motivation behind most of my desire to keep the girls at home.

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• Time to work on a project for as long as it takes, or as long as we are interested.
• Time for extracurricular activities/travel.
• Time for family.
• Time for play. 

 Time to work on a project for as long as it takes, or as long as we are interested.

I believe strongly in child-led learning, and I watch it work on a daily basis. The girls show interest in something and go for it. I help by finding books at the library, strewing activities around, Youtube videos, or simply getting out of the way and allowing our schedule to be open so fascinations can be pursued.  They are curious, adventurous, and love to learn. When the interest level comes to an end, there is time to move on to something new. We are not tied to units that must be finished, or test preps that must be completed.

Making homemade pickles

When I taught school, I disliked the "start and stop" of it all. 9:00 - 9:30 - reading. No matter if you are really enjoying your book, or your journal. 9:30 is time to go to PE, and we must be there on time. 11:00 - 11:30 - Math. No matter if the students are having a difficult time, and need more explanation, or are enjoying a concept and thinking of fantastic examples...it's time for lunch. We'll come back to that tomorrow. I was continuously disrupting my students' flow.

I love the freedom of reading as long as we want, doing art as long as we want, playing the game as long as we want. Learning until we are ready to move on. Some days turn into art-day-all-day, some are science and discovering...some days are stay in your pajamas and read on the couch all day. It's wonderful. 

Art in pajamas from morning till the afternoon

 

Children learn at different speeds. I am thankful that I can let my girls learn at their own pace. Some concepts will be easier to understand. Some concepts will take longer. That's fine. As long as their creativity and love of learning is not diminished, they will be successful.

Dressed our best to do math and more art.

Time for extracurricular activities/travel.

Currently, the girls participate in gymnastics twice weekly, and will soon begin swimming lessons twice weekly. Delaney is in Girls Scouts, and attends soccer and basketball class. Sophie participates in a multi-sports class for littles and will assuredly join in more sports as soon as she is old enough.  We meet friends at the park and play or ride bikes, and hike in the forest behind our house. Delaney is interested in art, sewing, dance and theater. We can fit many of these things into our schedule without feeling overrun with activities, and still have time for all of the other things we like to do.

Serious work at basketball. :)

We visit the library at least once during the week. The librarians know the girls by name. Delaney writes and illustrates little books, and gives them to her favorite librarian, who displays them for others to see, or uses them in her story times, which is pretty thrilling for both Delaney and me.

There is a plethora of natural resources around us, within short driving distance. Volcanoes, caves, Native American ruins, canyons, mountains, cliff dwellings. If we drive a little further, we have museums and exhibits, plays, music...it's really endless. If we don't feel like leaving town, we have museums and the observatory, and the university often has cool things going on. We've been able to accompany Cullen when he travels for work, and look forward to more travels in the future. We have time to do any and all of these, and still have time to relax afterwards.

Time for family.

Our family spends a lot of time together. The kids and I are together most of the day, and the whole family hangs out together in the evenings. We plan fun things on the weekends.  We don't have to stress over homework that must be done by the following day, or takes up the entire weekend. Hailey began high school this year, and so far, thankfully has not been saddled with too much work on the weekends. Throughout middle school, that was not the case. I realize that students may need extra skills practice that can't be fit into the day, but when a child is expected to go to school from 8am - 4pm, and brings home 2 hours worth of homework each night, not to mention the 4-5 hours worth on the weekends, something is wrong. It leaves no time for family, or for play. I am protective over my family time, and do not want to share it with a pile of busywork homework. I am also protective over play time, at every age. We need time to play!

Hiking at Sandy's Canyon

Which brings me to my next reason.

Time for play.

All humans, not just the tiny ones, learn through play. Through play, we are creative, we learn to problem solve, we learn about impulse control, social etiquette, how to observe and learn from the feelings and experiences of others, and the consequences of our actions. Difficult concepts can be incorporated into and puzzled through during play. Play is open-ended - there are no wrong answers. While playing, children feel confident in taking risks and making mistakes, then trying again.

What have my kids learned through play this week?

Well, the huge Amazon Subscribe and Save boxes arrived, so, this week, they have revisited construction. They've experimented with how to cut the windows just right so they will open and shut, how to measure the door so it is big enough for both girls to crawl through, how to engineer two boxes to be connected to each other to form a two-bedroom hideout, and how to balance their creation properly to turn it into a two-story building.

Or a box-o-lantern...

 Delaney turned the larger box over, got inside and peeked out. Cullen told her that the box looked like his old tv set from when he was a boy. She spent the remainder of her evening writing a tv show, with pictures and a script, and performed it for Sophie and me from the "tv" the next day.

The Delaney the Doll Show!

And a documentary on cheetahs, of course.

The girls have been watching the BBC's "Jungle Book" series on Netflix, and desperately want to swing from vine to vine like Mowgli. They have been using different types of rope on the tree in the backyard to attempt it...yarn, rope, a plastic jump rope...they are learning about weight and balance, and gravity, team work and experimentation.

Delaney made up another recipe earlier this week...this one included crushed Cheerios, lemon and lime juice, honey and salt. She learned about measurement and risk taking.

Making me a special breakfast. She's a good kid.

Sophie and I play a money game that she made up. She gives me handfuls of change and I count it back to her. She tells me what each coin is worth, and as she watches me, she is learning how to count it as well.

I introduced Delaney to the Mad Libs app on the ipad a few weeks ago, and she is able to play it by herself now. Mad Libs are the most fun way to teach parts of speech! When she completes them, I read the final story in my best "radio announcer" voice, and we laugh and laugh.

I could go on and on and on...this is just a snapshot of their independent play. I play more structured games with them also, board games, math games, logic games, ipad games. They ask one million and five questions, and we look up the answers. We play and learn all day. It is really fun.

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I anticipate that we will continue to homeschool as long as life allows, or until the girls request a change. I'd be perfectly happy if that doesn't happen until the college level. I'm excited to see what they will be interested in as they grow older, and to be able to give them opportunities to pursue those interests in an authentic context, rather than through a textbook and classroom.

And the next time someone queries about my decision to homeschool, perhaps I should just say, "Because it's fun!"

What's On Your Homeschool Shopping List?

This will be our fourth year of homeschooling.

I have been making a list of items that I'd like to buy, and making myself wait until the back-to-school sales are in full force, but oh man, it's been difficult.

My list looks much different from previous years. When I first began homeschooling, it included a full literacy/science/math curriculum and subscriptions to many, many online resources. I was just leaving my job as a public school teacher, and had never heard of the term "deschooling". As it turned out, I needed to deschool myself, which has happened gradually over the past few years. I have ordered less curriculum over time, listened to the interests of my girls, visited the library more often and discovered free, authentic ways to learn. I found repeatedly that the more expensive items were the least likely to be enjoyed, that the lessons on their own were fought against or quickly forgotten. If we need to label our schooling, we have become "relaxed homeschoolers" or even (gasp) "unschoolers". I plan a little, follow a lot, and the girls learn more every day than I could possibly teach intentionally.

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 I have been watching closely and keeping track of what is actually used, and what we often wish we had, and this is what we will be purchasing for now:

• lots of construction paper and cardstock
• tissue paper
• paints
• plain white paper
• notebooks
• tape - scotch and packing
• markers, crayons, colored pencils
• binoculars
• microscope
• beginner pre-made slide set and blank slides

If I can talk myself into it, we will splurge on MagnaTiles or Zoob. I really want some Snap Circuits too, but perhaps I'll wait until next year for those.

After previewing BrainPop this summer, I've decided to go ahead and buy a subscription for the year, and see how much we use it. Homeschool Buyers Co-op has a promotion for up to 25% off now through 9/1, which makes it much more affordable. We have tried Discovery Streaming (not free) and PBS Learning Media (free) in the past, but had a difficult time incorporating them into our day. BrainPop seems to be much kid-friendlier and easier to navigate. I have heard great reviews from others who use it, so hopefully it will be a good purchase!

We will continue working our way through Life of Fred for math with Delaney. We still have about 6 months of our Dreambox subscription left, which did not turn out to be a good fit for her, so I think I will have Sophie try the beginning lessons and see how she likes it. The Sassafras twins have been waiting patiently all summer to finish their Zoology adventures with us, and we are all looking forward to finding out what happens to them next. Our recent trip to Florida piqued Delaney's interest in marine life, so we will be studying that until she is finished. The Sea Life Aquarium in Phoenix happens to have a homeschoolers week the week of August 11, so perhaps we will make a little trip there as well.
 
We have memberships to local museums and nearby National parks, lots of hiking and camping and exploring nearby, and a big backyard. I am excited to see what this year holds, and how we change during the next 12 months. 

It doesn't seem like much of a shopping list, compared to previous years, but if I have retained anything from our experience so far, it is that life happens, kids grow, and interests change. What may sound like a great idea in July may be completely boring by October. If we save money, spend it on true learning experiences rather than fancy curriculum, and get out of the house to explore the world around us, the whole thing falls into place and is enjoyable for all!

Where do you do your homeschool shopping? Any deals that you can share with me? What's on your list this year?

This blog post is part of the iHomeschool Network's "Not" Back to School Blog Hop!

Cake Decorators

We practiced a bit of cake decorating a few weeks ago. I am supposed to make Hannah's wedding cake in July, and it has been a long time since I have played with decorating materials. If I remember right, the last time I used fondant was Sophie's 1st birthday, at which point I was so annoyed that I swore "never again!"

I did a little internet research and found that since then, modeling chocolate, or candy clay, has become very popular for decorating. The girls and I watched a few YouTube videos, found a good recipe, and decided to give it a try on Delaney's birthday cake.

Wilton candy melts + light corn syrup = candy clay.

It has to sit for a day to harden, so we practiced with play-doh after we put our ingredients together.

This video was our favorite, and extremely helpful. 

Delaney got right to work.

 

Delaney's first rose...

 

My first try...

 Even Sophie was able to make them...

 

Though I had to hold her hand still for a picture...

 

The next day, we used the hardened candy clay. Our original recipe told us to add coloring once the clay was hardened, and knead it in, which worked just fine, however, our YouTube video suggested to add color while making the clay, and stir it into the liquid. This method would be much easier, and I think we will try it next time.

Sophie and I molded a bunch of little balls to be fashioned into petals.

Yes. She has quite a unique fashion sense.

We flattened them out as directed.

As we began to  make the roses, I found that it was a better idea to just make the balls and flatten as we used them. They dried out fairly quickly while waiting for us, and we had to soften them and flatten them again.

The clay was easy to use and we had 100% fun and 0% frustration, which was a HUGE departure from my fondant experience. It is also about 1,000,000 times less messy to make, and my kitchen was happy about that.

She's an expert now.

I continued to research tutorials while the girls fashioned roses from the candy clay, and found this fantastic website, www.wickedgoodies.net.  This baker is extremely talented, and I ended up ordering her book for future cake-decorating fun.

Once we finished making roses for the top of the cake, it was time to make some frosting. I found a marshmallow buttercream recipe and modified it a bit, using 10 large marshmallows and 1 tsp. of corn syrup instead of marshmallow creme. It turned out perfectly. It has a nice, springy consistency and is extremely easy to work with. It also is far less messy to make than my usual buttercream recipe.

It tastes good, too!

 Next, we added ribbon to the sides of the cake, since that is one of the styles that Hannah likes for her wedding cake, and Delaney thought it was pretty also. 

I cut strips of ribbon, and sprayed them with non-stick spray, which is supposed to keep the butter in the frosting from seeping into it. 

I carefully attached it to the cake, using bits of frosting as my glue.

Finally, I spread a layer of frosting to the top of the cake, and Delaney and I added the roses.

She did such a good job on her roses that I couldn't tell which ones I had made, and which ones were hers!

We had such a fun time making this (delicious) cake. Both Delaney and Sophie have been practicing making play-doh roses ever since, and pretending to own a bakery. 

We will attempt to make ruffles with the candy clay next, since Hannah's wedding day is quickly approaching and that was another of her favorite designs.  Our family doesn't have another birthday until October, though, so if you live nearby, you might just find that cake on your doorstep!