The Evolving Homemaker

Last month we were studying Africa and reading tons of books from the library.  To round out our introductory study, my kids are in preschool and first grade, we did an awesome papier-mache craft!

The initial idea came from here.

Ours did not turn out nearly as cool as the one in the how-to video I eventually found above, but we had fun none the less!  Truth be told, the kids did not LOVE the papier-mache part, surprisingly they didn’t like getting their hands dirty.

What?

Who’s children spend all summer playing with the mud in the back yard?

I did most of the mache part after the first day. They did their whole first layer, but when we started again on the second day, they each got to put on a strip or two before they decided it wasn’t much for them. Of course, the things need four layers, which we only did three of since our newspaper was already white we didn’t need the computer paper layer.

There is also a mistake in the video directions about the water vs. flour mixture. For me, I had to adjust their initial recipe. It was way too thick and way too much considering we had to wait a day to start again after drying.

It was still heaps of fun whether they did the actual mache part after the first day or not!  I am not going to lie though, making the shapes on the kids cheetah head, they had to pick African animals to make, was not as easy as it looked in the video.  Of course they don’t actually show it in the video…that is probably why.

But the kids loved, loved, LOVED painting them!  In fact they woke up the next morning and got more paint out and painted them again!

They would have painted them again, but I think the cheetahs made it out of revision number two looking fabulous!

Here is our final display place on the wall in the school room.  They look so awesome.  While they did take the whole week to make and ample amounts of flour it was well worth the works of art gracing our wall!  The kids are certainly proud every time they take a peek at their creations!

Spill it: What is the most hefty craft you have undertaken with your kiddos?  Was it worth it in the end?  Or would you have rather quit while you were ahead?

Everyone seems to want an update on how homeschooling is going for us so far. So I will give a bit of an synopsis today.

First, I love it.  Absolutely, love it.

Second, I still need to be more present in it.

Third, it is a work in progress.

When we first got all the curriculum I was so excited.  Just like on the first day of school when I went, back in the olden days.  The books represented fantastic possibilities….and then we began to read them.  And all my learning was rote.  And boring.  And made no impact on me on how any of it fit into the greater context we call life.

And so it was with some of the books we got.  The science and social studies texts were dry and seemed vaguely familiar…like what happens to brine shrimp eggs after five days?  And the worksheets endless for BOTH topics.

We are definitely doing unit studies for social studies now.  History can be fascinating in so many ways!  Why bore the children to death with questions about how Maria and Chris’ families are different or cartoon-ish geography maps?   Let them touch it!  Experience it!  Live it!

We are in the midst of Japan thanks to the Magic Tree House, and have painted Japanese characters called Kanji, read Japanese children’s picture books, practiced origami, done science on bamboo, geography on the globe, and made the flag out of felt.  I have learned about the poet Basho and that Tokyo was once called Edo. We have listened to Japanese music CD’s from the library in the car, and the kids LOVE the sounds of Japanese drumming!  My son drums on his knees as we carry on from destination to destination.

I am still using the math and reading curriculum to the tee.  I need to make sure I catch up my little boy to his grade level at least.  I have gone back to the science text only because he is begging for more science experiments and I am not sure yet how to incorporate such projects alone without text yet.

We have taken the kids to see Narnia and read the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and soon to be The Nutcracker.  We go to art some days, we do lego pre-engineering classes, we have gymnastics and swimming lessons.  We are busy in a nice, peaceful, and little did I expect way.

I understand now that homeschooling will be a river that ebbs and flows, that our interests and energy will change, that things that fascinate us now might bore us to tears later, or things that bore us to tears…Mommy can change.  I am extraordinarily forgiving of myself, which is new.  And the possibilities excite me to no end.

I have had less energy to spend on preparing food and cooking, which I miss.  Especially after reading Growing Roots.  I have less time to devote to things outside of the home.  More time to spend with friends.  My son is still exasperated by this thing we call ‘school’ so I will be making a zillion more adjustments as we go to how he can learn in a way that is interesting to him.  My daughter on the other hand, would do it all day every day.  She is leap frogging him a bit and I worry about his self esteem and how to keep her engaged.  The house is always a mess because we are in it so often.  We are making small changes, one at a time, until it feels right.

But I am learning.  He is learning.  She is learning.  All of us in different ways and in our own time.

Flexibility is the key to happiness and homeschooling I think! And the desire to light their fires…in the words of William Butler Yeats, “Education is not the filling of a bucket but the starting of a fire.”

Spill it: If you homeschool, what are the most surprising aspects to you?  Are you able to remain flexible and forgiving of both yourself and your expectations?  How do you keep your kids engaged?