Sensory Play with Navy Beans

I've been hearing a lot about sensory play lately. More so, than when I had toddlers 13 or 8 years ago. Although, my girls went to a really great Child Development center that exposed them to sensory play, so I didn't have many concerns about them in this area. Since I'm in charge of my son's education right now, I'm more in touch with him receiving a wide range of experiences. I'll have to admit that he's been doing way too much on the wii & on the ipad. He gets the normal book, abc, shapes & colors exposure, but lately I'm more committed to him getting sensory place. When we lived in a beach town, it was not a problem at all because the beach provides lots of sensory stimulation.

Anyway, Here's some video of today's sensory play. It was taken at the end of his play time, so he was transitioning into making everything into car play.

Homemade Play Dough

I'm trying out toddler activities to educate the baby boy. I have to go to the (he calls it graygound) playground very often. He loves to move his body all around and run and climb.

Pinterest is very helpful in finding new ideas for education. It's my new hang out. I get lost in ideas and images over there. Anyway, I found a cool recipe for homemade play dough and my baby boy loved it. Here's where found the recipe, and some pics are below. It smells fruity because I used wyler's flavored drink mix to color it. Overall, I'm happy with it. Oh except that no matter what color I added, I still ended up with red. I don't know why.

Still home, but not homeschooling...

unless you count homeschooling my two year old. I'm teaching him letters, numbers, colors, clean-up and I'm attempting potty training.

So this blog is about to take on a whole other form. It's more about being a stay at home mom to a two-year old while I try to write, maintain my website, design some jewelry, and study. I'm getting a Ph.D. in Holistic Life Counseling. It's a Religious Degree. I'm learning loads about training my thoughts, relying on God's power within, and meditating. Although, I've known about these things for years, studying it for a degree is much more intense.

Most days it feels like I'm not doing anything, although I acknowledge that I am doing a heck of a lot.

Stay tuned...the homeschool blast is going to be a different kind of fun.

Homeschool Testing

10 year old taking the CAT in Florida. Here you have to have an approved administrator administer it. In GA I did it myself.

We came in this morning I saw Jesus-Freaks, Super-geniuses, Flighty Creative-geniuses, wholistic loc families, Super shy curious geniuses, and I thought Homeschoolers are weird, and I love them.

Willow Smith

She's homeschooled, she's an entertainer, she's been all over the world and country, and she's behind on her math. as per her self-report. There are bunch of parents voicing their pissiness about it, and I wonder if they have thought it all through. Willow probably knows more than the average 15 year old, and that is because she's been exposed to so much more than the average 15 year old in her 10 years on this Earth. When it's time to take the SAT, if she even bothers to take the SAT, she will probably do better than most because studies show that kids who are exposed to more do better. There is no evidence that math drills or knowing how to factor at age 10 has any impact on your future. Let's face it, both her parents skipped college, although they are very very intelligent, and are living a life many of us will only dream of. They are teaching her about how to build an empire, by taking her to fashion shows to learn fashion. They are teaching her how to present herself to the world in humble, confident, and gracious manner. Most 10 years I know aren't nearly as poised as she is.

As I walk this homeschooling journey, with my 9 year old, I find myself truly relating to Willow's parents. My nine-year old is into fashion, and she's a heck of a designer (her parents are too). She helped me design the two earrings pictured. This semester we did photography, and she is very skilled. She took the images in this post. She is also a heck of a model, actress, and she has a head for business.






I teach her the basics of education, and allow her to read, read, read, but I find that I am tasked with a much higher calling for her education. Like Willow, she is ready for her apprenticeship in design, fashion, modeling, and and life. I keep those lessons at the top of what she needs to learn, while skillfully striking a balance in math, science, history, etc. Teaching her has been a teachable moment for me. I can't be afraid to use videos, museum classes, computer projects, youtube, music, conversation, and sometimes I have to allow her to supervise me in order for her to reach the heights of where she is to go. When she brought up middle school the other day, I had explain to her that I believe that she is too big for school. She is an Eagle and school sometimes teaches us to be pigeons. She understood and agreed that middle might be a phase that she wants to skip.

What do you think? Do you have a child that doesn't fit the mold? Tell me about your creativity in education? Is being conventional best? Can a creative education get us to college? Is college important? Does exposure count as education? Tell me.

I'm being interviewed about Love's Gumbo

Being Beautifully Well

Perspectives

As I mentioned in a frustrated state a few posts ago, I am back to homeschooling. Public lasted about 5 weeks. I had several complaints, but what really tore it was my daughter being attacked on the school bus. We took all the paths that they suggest for bullying, but in the end the school was detached, helpless, and powerless to do anything. So of course, we as parents girded ourselves and got back in the homeschooling game.

So far it's been just as I had originally planned it. I want this year to be one filled with expression for my 9 year old. She also has some lessons to learn in decision making, character, and behavior.

I weave expression, decision-making, choices, life-lessons, and character building into most lessons.

Yesterday we practiced making spheres and working with perspectives. We talked about the perspectives of others and how opinions are shared.

Here's our art work and her writings about it.

Spheres : what we did.
Our spheres represent perspectives. When we first started we wanted to draw exactly like the example, but daddy’s says “we had a darker paper than the example.” Later on mommy’s perspective was to have “one light section and one dark side and one in between side.”
After we finish our first sphere my perspective was that “it looked like a tuna can.” So we worked a little harder, blended it in, played with the shadow, and soon it was looking wonderful. Before we knew it we were done.

The spheres we made were based on perspectives. Perspective are light and dark, the blends, and the colors. Basically all of our perspective put
together are what made these spheres. It’s mommy’s perspective daddy’s my perspective all of our perspectives put together to make these spheres. When you put perspectives together it
works out perfectly.