Monday, November 30, 2009

Bones and Stones

For Thanksgiving this year, we traveled to visit my dad's family in Pittsburgh, PA. In contrast to our very rustic Thanksgiving last year, we stayed in a hotel with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend, and we ate our meal in the comfort of my aunt and uncle's home, driving to my grandparent's house for dessert. We had a wonderful time visiting family, many of whom the kids have not seen in a couple of years.

On Saturday, we decided to enjoy Pittsburgh a bit, so we headed across the city to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. What a wonderful museum! I knew they had a great dinosaur exhibit, but I never expected the kids to get so excited about the gems and minerals exhibit. All three kids were completely enthralled with the beautiful rocks and crystals.

Hannah thought they were beautiful and suggested that maybe she would rather be a geologist than an entomologist when she grows up. When we asked Becca about her favorite part of the museum later, she told us, "The rocks. They were pretty and shiny and sparkly and glowy in the dark..." She was adorable!

As I expected, the kids loved the dinosaur exhibit as well. The display had full skeletons of all of the dinosaurs most kids would readily recognize - apatosaurus, diplodocus, triceratops, stegosaurus, and of course, tyrannosaurus rex.

The museum also had many lesser known dinosaurs and another gallery dedicated to Ice Age animals, like mammoths and mastodons.

After viewing all of the wonderful skeletons, we arrived at a section geared entirely towards kids - "Bonehunter's Quarry." Many skeleton replicas lay buried in a waxy clay-like substance. Children first donned a pair of safety goggles and then used a chisel and a paintbrush to carefully excavate the bones. All three kids loved this part - especially Hannah! They definitely learned that uncovering dinosaur bones is a delicate and difficult job, requiring a lot of patience.

We spent the majority of our time in these two sections, but the museum had many more wonderful displays - North American and African animals, birds, Native Americans, Egypt, life in the Polar regions. We did walk through most of the exhibits, but by the end, the kids were tired and ready for lunch. We all had a great time and learned quite a bit, and I think if we go back, we will start on the top floor and work our way down so we can spend more time in some of the displays we missed or rushed through this time.

After a nice lunch, we returned to the hotel for a lazy afternoon. Becca took a nap while Hannah and Ben played with Grandma and PopPop in their hotel room. Well, they played for a little while until they both succumbed to their sleepiness and took a nice long nap on my parents' bed.


Aren't they sweet?

I love museums, and I think I will use this one as a starting point for a long unit on dinosaurs. I have a great book full of dinosaur-themed activities for Ben, and I just finished reading him Dinosaurs Before Dark last month. Now I just need find a way to work some geology into the unit, as well!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Learning "On the Go"

Between sick kids and Josh's MBA class, I have not spent much time doing "formal" school with the kids this month. However, we have spent a great deal of time learning.

I have discovered that Ben enjoys when I read the Magic Tree House books to him, since some of the words are still a little difficult for him to decipher on his own. Plus, he likes asking me constant questions while I read so he can understand the information better. After reading the first book in the series, I skipped ahead to Thanksgiving on Thursday, in order to coordinate with the season. Ben and Becca liked the story, but I think some of it may have been a little over their heads. Additionally, Ben practiced reading The Story of Thanksgiving by Nancy Skarmeas. This is an excellent, simple book that explains clearly why we celebrate Thanksgiving. I only had to help him with a few words, like "Pilgrims" and "Plymouth," the first time through, and he read it perfectly to his preschool class a few days later. I was very proud of him. He is blossoming as a reader, and though he does not read as avidly as Hannah, he definitely enjoys it.

For fun, we have watched our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving DVD multiple times this month as well. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving mostly just makes the kids laugh, but The Mayflower Voyagers is wonderfully educational and has helped the kids understand what the Pilgrims faced in order to settle in the new world. The first time we watched it, they marveled loudly over the length of the journey and expressed sadness about how many of the original settlers died. Now, they impress me with the random facts about the Pilgrims that I often do not even remember from the film.

Through the busyness of this season, I have also discovered the educational value of waiting in the car for Hannah's school dismissal. Just while sitting in the car in the afternoons, Ben has learned how to count by tens and Becca has learned about rhyming words and that "ck" sounds like "k" and not "sk." I often spell a simple c-v-c word, and Becca tells me what it is, or I ask her how to spell a word and she spells it for me. She has become quite good at reading short vowel words and even surprised me today by telling me that "oo" sounds like "ew." I don't even know where she learned that one!

So, in this hectic time of year, I am squeezing education into the extra spaces of my day, by reading and talking and answering an abundance of questions. Looking back, though, I am encouraged to see that my kids are indeed learning, even if that learning does not always resemble "school."

Friday, November 13, 2009

An Overwhelming Gift

You know you are in trouble when:
  • Your 4 year old tells you he loves math "more than anything" and eagerly watches instructional videos for a first grade math curriculum, yelling out the answers to all of the teacher's questions.
  • Your 6 year old (at the age of 5) read the entire Winnie the Pooh chapter book during nap times and could tell you all about the story.
  • Your 4 year old can explain what a chord is and the difference between a major and minor chord and can play many chords on the piano.
  • Your 4 year old is also learning to play the classical song he composed by humming it into a microphone.
  • Your 2 year old can sound out 3 and 4 letter short-vowel words and read easy reader books.
  • Your 6 year old understands how multiplication facts work and can solve single digit problems in her head.
  • Your 2 year old wants to know if you (and she) are "real."
  • Your 4 year old spends 10 minutes discussing with the dentist how the "suction thing" works and then uses it to suck up a cupful of water.
  • Your 2 year old understands how knock, knock jokes work and can successfully retell them, even making up some of her own.
  • Your 4 year old asks you why spiral galaxies are made up of stars.
  • Your 6 year old (at the age of 4) is asked if she knows what a certain sign means (sign language for "I love you") and she responds in Spanish - "Te amo."
  • Your 6 year old can also count to 30 in Spanish.
  • Your 2 year old yells out "10" when you ask your older child the answer to 5+5.
  • Your 4 year old reads at a first grade level, and your 6 year old reads at a fourth grade level.
  • Your 4 year old (at the age of 3) could sing all three verses of the hymn "It is Well" with proper pronunciation and pitch, varying his volume appropriately throughout the song.
  • Your 2 year old talks the doctor's ear off while he watches her, wide-eyed, and says she talks like a 5 year old.
I realize that moms have a tendency to overestimate the intelligence of their children. What mother does not want to believe that her child is extraordinarily bright? But, I truly believe that I have three gifted children.

Why does this matter? Shouldn't I just quietly celebrate and keep my "bragging" to myself? Honestly, as a person who excelled in school as a child, I definitely feel the impulse to hide or downplay my kids' abilities in order to avoid the teasing that inevitably comes when a child is different from the norm. However, I am beginning to understand what a challenge giftedness can be. A child who struggles with boredom in school may appear unfocused and unmotivated. A kid who wants to investigate how the world works may do so in dangerous or destructive ways without proper guidance.

Additionally, I constantly wrestle with finding the best educational setting for each kid. Hannah just loves school and all of her friends. She is developing into a little social butterfly! But, she also is not learning much academically, other than Spanish and some science and social studies concepts. In kindergarten, this does not matter as much (and she honestly needed some of the social experiences), but what about in older grades? I want her to be able to learn at a faster pace, delve more deeply into the subjects that capture her interest, and not have her intellectual curiosity stifled by the disapproval of her peers. At the same time, I want to let her be a kid and have fun, without giving her third grade workbooks just because she is capable of completing them.

I think that we may switch back to homeschooling in another year or two for these reasons. When I teach them, I can take them to higher levels while keeping it interesting and exciting at the same time. I can also give them plenty of time for fun and extracurricular activities during the day. Right now, after a full day of kindergarten, Hannah comes home so exhausted that she does not even want to read anymore, and she has no time for other activities she enjoys, like ballet.

Anyway, please excuse this rather introspective blog entry today. My children are such an overwhelming gift sometimes - full of delights and challenges. I pray that I have the wisdom to help them grow, not just intellectually, but also in character and confidence and compassion. I know that they are helping me grow in those areas each and every day!

Where homeschooling is just a small part of becoming life-long learners.