Pictures tell a thousand words...

So, we are having technical issues with our computer, leaving me to blog from my phone. The words will be few, but the essence is here. 

It's such a great feeling to be back at the stables. It brought the most enormous smile to Marley's face. Being with the horses fosters compassion, responsibility, confidence, empathy (we learned our buddy wasn't feeling well midway through the lesson,) self regulation and a general sense of calm and presence.

         

         

A rare mid morning "soul feeding run" for Mama.

Spring is finally pronouncing her arrival splashing the brown canvas with color!

April fools! Eye see you!

         

         

Pondering in the pod.

         

Rescuing an injured robin. We brought the little guy to the local wildlife rehabilitation center after the boys noticed he was unable to fly.

Bananagrams is one of our favorite games! It's a relaxed way to play with spelling without pressure or strong competition.

Good ol Yahtzee - chance, strategy, mathematical thinking

Using base ten blocks and stacking number cards to work through a regrouping problem.

             

Little Haven is skating free of the cone! Freedom on ice!

A trip for a snack after seeing the Peking Acrobats becomes an impromptu lesson on pretzel making! Love our little pretzel factory! We even got dough to bring home with us!

  

Happiest boy on earth to be with Dillon!

Our fairy houses survived almost 9 months and the long cold winter!

          

Horsemanship includes learning  groom and care for the horses we ride.

  

Little hands making paper origami Chinese stars in Ninja Training!

We count down the days until we can walk to the ice cream stand, the same one I went to when I was young!

         

Harrison fashioned a homemade fishing rod, dug up some worms, and tried it out.

           

           

            

Lemonade Stand

The boys planned out their stand in the morning, and purchased their supplies. They had to figure out a fair price, determine profit versus supply cost, advertising strategies, and business expansion when friends wanted to join in. Of course, making the lemonade requires one to read the recipe, convert measurements from quarts to gallons, and to apply mathematical concepts to run the stand and make change. As we continue to read The Toothpaste Millionaire, the concepts of running a business tie together well.

  

  

Harrison began a free online HTML course. He is building more and more confidence working on this independently and troubleshooting on his own when completing the class projects.

            

This week in Ninja training, the youth tested their speed and agility with an obstacle course which required them to escape an "attacker."

   

   

            

Hammering nails into wood, just so satisfying and industrious.

            

There has been an ongoing request to make applesauce, so we pulled out our fall recipe, and did it!

            

Determining how to build a treehouse for bears in our happy little maple tree.

            

We attended a program on local raptors at our arboretum, then followed a scavenger hunt all across the grounds.

             

We met with friends for a trip to the zoo after attending a dance performance at a nearby university.  The boys practiced recycling and had some up close encounters with the animals. Most of the schools had left, so we had the zoo to ourselves!

    

The tigers remind us if how our cats play!

            

This turtle was enamoured with Haven, and followed his movements, verrry slooowly.

            

We are grateful to enjoy the warm fresh air the moment it arrives.

      

             

We just began the 2nd to the last book in the series. The Little House series is rich with opportunities for learning everything from social studies, homesteading, geography, local climates, science, and  literature. The living history perspective really puts our past into a personal perspective.

           

I have been reading Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids by Dr. Laura Markham

I find I need refreshing from time to time to keep my actions in line with my goals on the environment in which our boys are raised. My focus is to be proactive rather than reactive to behaviors that may be upsetting. I find it so helpful to look into the why of the actions, and this book provides concrete strategies that support connecting with our children. Just a few chapters in, practicing a few simple routines, and I am seeing changes. Sometimes we get lost in the every day "managing" and become very disconnected. It's amazing how a few simple initial changes can make such a positive difference.

http://www.ahaparenting.com/peaceful-parent-happy-kids

Games and Fun

 
I like to mix things up as do the boys. We see value in almost everything we do. Doing is learning. I've mentioned some of our time may involve some curriculum, but much of our time does not.

The two oldest boys have begun their Spring classes at the co-op. One class that they take together is Ninja Training, and I get to be official Ninja assistant!

We learned the importance of being quiet and stealthy, and how to move our feet and body to move unnoticed, yet prepared for anything.

My middle son is also continuing in a Fairy tales, Folklore, and Fables comparison class that he's been taking for two sessions, and a bookmaking class. In that class he will make books that "pop up, fly, twist, and turn!"

My oldest son will participate in a class entitled "Dirt" and explore all things pertaining to soil. He also attends "Outside/Inside Games." This week, they played "Angels and Mortals" which also required stealth and keen listening ability to detect "unseen angels" hovering near you. They also attempted a collaborative game where they formed a circle, and then sat back onto the person behind's knees, in essence a self-supporting structure. This proved challenging with the various body sizes. Outside, they played Dog and Bone-a relay type game, and Snake, in which they form a snake who's head (1st person)tries to bite the tail (last person).

These remind me of the games of my own childhood. It puts a smile on my face to see my children enjoying these games with other children, delighting in childhood and camaraderie.

 

Today, we took our morning time to play games at home, as it was a rather chilly spring morning, in fact snow is in the forecast for tomorrow!

We played around with a website called GoNoodle.com  It has lots of brainbreak games and activities to get kids moving.

We also played Uno and Tantrix, both games that utilize chance and strategy. All of these avenues are excellent ways to get the brain moving and stimulated in many areas. Learning does not have to mean sitting down, reading, and completing workbooks and exercises. My sister gave the boys story cubes for Christmas. We've tried them out initially to create oral string a-long stories with the pictures "rolled." Today, we challenged ourselves to write a story, poem, or any type of writing using the pictures. I try to give the boys a sense of ownership to their work, by providing them with as many options as they need to feel successful and interested. With my older son, we used this opportunity to talk about self editing, and punctuation, very casually. With my middle son, we talked about spacing our words. We hope to compare their stories, and how different they were despite using the same set of pictures.

We also took a trip to the chiropractor and talked about nutrition, and alignment. The older boys were able to converse with the chiropractor while he conducted my adjustment-it was much needed as both my knee and lower back had been having issues over the weekend, rendering me almost unable to walk.

We also spent some time working in our Life Of Fred math books. The two older boys attended religious ed late in the day. My older son and I read The Number Devil and The Phantom Tollbooth as well.

We ended our day at the library learning all about the beautiful art and heritage of Irish Dancing.