Learning Through Play

Recently, a few moms decided that our community could use a nice children's museum. They acquired some space for it downtown, and with the help of donations and many hardworking volunteers, the partially completed museum is now opened four days a week, as they raise funds to finish the remaining exhibits.

On Thursday, while Becca attended her princess ballet camp, I took Hannah and Ben across the street to the museum. We decided to become charter members, partially because we would love to have Hannah's birthday party there in the fall, but mostly because I want to support such a worthwhile effort to improve our community for families.

The kids had a blast! After walking through the museum first, to see all the exhibits, both kids started out in the gardening section. Two large raised boxes, filled with shredded rubber "dirt," plastic gardening tools, flower pots, and plastic flowers provided a fun place to dig and play without the mess of real dirt. Hannah loved this section the most and spent quite a bit of time there.

Ben's favorite section was, of course, the musical pipes. Once he figured out how to make music by hitting the ends of the pipes with the foam paddles, he enthusiastically composed his own music, hitting higher on the pipes for rhythm and hitting the ends for musical notes. He jumped back and forth from end to end, moving to the beat of the music in his head.

Both kids enjoyed grocery shopping in the little market. I smiled as they loaded their carts with fruits and veggies and other healthy choices, with only an occasional treat. Maybe they are learning something from our food choices?

The laughed together as Ben scanned Hannah's carrot as he pretended to ring up her purchases.

Both kids also enjoyed the baby doctor section, though Hannah got into it more than Ben did.

Ben preferred turning all of the dials to playing with the dolls.

Finally, the kids finished out their time in the vet exhibit. Ben played with the real stethoscopes, while Hannah doctored the various animals. She posed happily with the snake, which she has learned to love since we began reading Harry Potter this year. I think she wishes she could speak "parseltongue."

We had a wonderful time at the museum, and I had to drag them away when the time came to pick up Becca. I am sure we will return many times throughout the year, especially on those dreary days when we cannot be outside. I love that it is located less than ten minutes from our house, and we can visit it any time we want, without needing to plan ahead. I am thrilled to have such a fun place in our community!

The Wheel on the School

Last week, Hannah and I finished the first chapter book we worked on together - The Wheel on the School by Miendert DeJong. What a lovely book! We both fell in love with it from the very first page. Lina, the main character, is so sweet and thoughtful and full of dreams. She reminds me very much of my Hannah!

At first, the book focuses only on the school children and their teacher, as they are the only "important" characters in the story. But gradually, more and more characters become "important" until the list includes the whole town and even some people in adjacent towns: the oldest man and woman, the young tots, the fathers, the women, the poor tin man, and even the once-outcast legless man with a cherry tree in his back yard. By the end of the book, everyone has come together to make Lina's "impossibly impossible" dream a reality.

Last Friday, Josh surprised Ben by taking him away for the weekend to a Virginia Tech football game with all of the guys on that side of the family. Since I didn't have to plan any school work for Ben that day, I decided to spend the whole day with Hannah working on a project to wrap up our reading of the book. I planned to do three lapbooks - one on the book, one on the Netherlands, and one on storks. In advance, I found a few printables from homeschoolshare.com, and I designed a few booklets myself. Using some non-fiction books from the library about the Netherlands and storks, Hannah and I planned out the rest of the ideas. She did most of the writing, though I wrote the titles on each item and the tiny labels on the timeline. I also filled in the main character list, when her hand became tired. Of course, she helped me by listing characters and describing the main events. Once we finished assembling the lapbooks, Hannah decorated the cover of each one. I am absolutely amazed at how they turned out!

The cover for the book lapbook:

The inside of the book lapbook:

The cover of the Netherlands lapbook:

The inside of the Netherlands lapbook:

The cover of the stork lapbook:

The inside of the stork lapbook:

In addition, during play time yesterday, I noticed that Hannah had used her Legos to build a replica of the village of Shora. The little girl even has on a pair of wooden shoes!

Amazingly, Hannah has nearly finished reading the entire book for a second time on her own! The reading level is fairly challenging, but she loves the story so much that she does not mind. This is one reason why we opted to homeschool this year. Last year, school exhausted her so much that she never wanted to read on her own anymore. She seemed to have lost her love of reading. Obviously, that love returned once we provided a more restful and academically stimulating school environment. I am very excited by how this project turned out, and I am already considering our next one when we finish our new chapter book. I love how much fun learning can be - for my kids and for me!

A Summer Summary

Now that school has started for the year, I feel like I should give a brief summary of our summer. Between my badly sprained ankle, the blessings and demands of an abundant summer harvest, and our two long vacations, I have been too busy to post until now!

Here is just a brief list of the fun we had:

• Camping for a week at the state park, including crayfish hunting, rock climbing, and canoeing.

• Riding the trolley into Philadelphia (from my parents' house) to see the Franklin Institute.

• Spending a day at a friend's house, including picking blackberries and meeting their chickens.

• Visiting the Please Touch Museum with grandparents and friends.

• Exploring the Camden Aquarium.

• Enjoying Grandma and PopPop's cabin

• Picking apples and plums

• And much more!

Now that summer is drawing to a close and we are beginning a daily homeschooling routine, I look forward to the coming of fall. I love cooler weather, colorful leaves, apples and pumpkins, and the spicy, earthy smells of the season. And, I enjoy looking back at our fun, knowing we could not have asked for a better summer!

A Super Soccer Season

We did not realize when we signed Hannah up for soccer in the fall that it included the spring season as well. After some of the tired tantrums in the fall, we were not sure how this season would go, but we were pleasantly surprised. Hannah's skill and confidence has grown dramatically since the fall, and she dealt a little better with playing soccer after a long day at school.

Hannah's soccer coach motivates each kid to do his or her best on the field. He rotates the kids into different positions, giving everyone a chance to take the ball down the field. Finally, during a Saturday game, Hannah scored her first goal! She could not stop talking about it, and the story got better with each telling. She described to Ben how the other team had really huge kids but she got around them and kicked the ball in the goal!

Because of prior commitments, Hannah's coach needed Josh to help out with some of the games, so Josh got his first taste of coaching little league soccer. I am not sure how much he enjoyed it. I think he prefers soccer on a more competitive level, and he gets frustrated that the teams do not even keep score at this age. I think he felt tired after a long day at work, too! Still, he worked well with the kids and got to watch Hannah score two more goals in another game.

In spite of the craziness of soccer season, I am glad that Hannah participated. I can tell that she learned some valuable lessons.

She learned to have confidence instead of fear. In the fall, she often hesitated instead of going after the ball when another kid had it. She wanted someone to give her the ball instead of having to take it. This season, we actually had to teach her a bit of restraint. We praised her aggressiveness in attacking the ball, but asked her to stop stiff-arming and pushing anyone who came too close to taking it away. The same child who sobs hysterically at even the tiniest scratches and bumps will get up after being flattened on the soccer field, brush herself off, and keep chasing the ball!

In addition, she learned to work with other kids as a team. I often witnessed her conferring with her team mates, deciding how they should line up to block a kick. She passed the ball instead of keeping it to herself, and she dropped back to the goal to support her team mates on defense. She celebrated the other kids' goals almost as much as she celebrated her own. When she was on the soccer field, she placed her ambitions lower than the success of her team. If she learns only this, soccer has been worthwhile!

At the end of every game, the parents from both teams run out on the field and make a tunnel with their arms. Then, all of the parents cheer as both teams run through the tunnel.

I know that someday sports must become competitive, and she will learn important lessons from that as well. Still, I appreciate the joy on the kids' faces as we cheer them on, knowing that they all played their best and that we celebrate each of them as special. And that is a lesson that I hope she will never stop learning!

Crazy Creativity

Hannah is a writer and an illustrator. She cannot seem to help herself. Each day she comes home from school with her arms full of pictures and books she has created, and many afternoons and weekends, she continues creating even while she is at home.

She makes her own coloring books to doodle in after school. In her room, she has a lovely journal, containing the details of many days' activities and experiences, complete with drawings to illustrate the writing, and stickers as souvenirs from doctor appointments or other adventures. Earlier this week, she wrote and illustrated a how-to book about making a butterfly kite that really "flys."

"Fun Craft
By: Hannah"

"What you need
Roll of String
Sicciors (scissors)
Markers
Hole Punch
Stickers
Sheet of Paper
Decorate"

"Fun Butterfly
Roll of Tape
Pencill
Crayons
it Flys"

"What you do
take
the paper
cut this shape ->
cut this shape too ->
use tape to tape
them together
Draw smile with Pecill use
stickers and
crayons to Decorate"

"then Hole punch
the botom
tie string to
Hole.
now you
Got one"

"on windy
Days it flys"

"yay"

She even incorporates her writing and designing into her play. Recently, she celebrated the birthday of one of her stuffed animals. She wrote songs for the party, decorated presents, and even made a countdown until the big day. Another time, she decided to put on a show, based on the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. She created tickets for each family member with our names and the name of the show on them. She also designed a sign/advertisement for the show:

"Hannahs
open
theater
Free evry night
cloudy
with a
chanch of meatballs"

She never performed the show, but she seems to enjoy preparing for such events at least as much as actually performing. At times, I marvel to myself over the projects she undertakes. Some of them, such as her show, remind me of my school assignments from late elementary school. Yet, she plans and completes them because she delights in the process.

I love Hannah's crazy creativity, the passion that drives her to fill each day with writing and drawing and designing. I hope, as we homeschool next year, that I can provide an environment in which her creativity will flourish, growing deeper with each new idea she learns. I also hope that her love of writing continues to grow even as she begins to grasp grammar and spelling and rules of good writing. Honestly, I suspect that the written word entices her heart as it does my own, and I smile as I remember another little girl who used to scribble imaginative stories in a spiral notebook many years ago. In fact, I think I still have that notebook somewhere...

Missing Ballet

This past year, with Hannah in kindergarten, we decided to limit our activities in order to minimize our busyness. Hannah begged to play soccer this year, so we somewhat sadly declined to re-enroll in ballet lessons. As soon as school and soccer started, we knew we had made a wise decision. Though she has enjoyed soccer, games and practices after full days of school have inspired tears and misery on many occasions. Still, until this month, Hannah seemed content with choosing soccer over ballet.

Suddenly, in recent weeks, though, Hannah has become consumed with ballet again. One of the girls in her class told Hannah about her ballet recital, and now Hannah longs to perform on stage again. I spent quite a while convincing her that we could not enroll now and still participate in the spring recital. I did assure her that homeschooling next year will give us the freedom to pursue more than one activity as part of our schooling, which comforted her a bit, but she still regrets missing out on ballet this year.

Ever creative and resourceful, however, Hannah simply decided to to put on her own recital. Layering her costume from last spring over her long-sleeved practice leotard and a pair of bright red tights, complete with sparkly ruby slippers, Hannah practiced dancing during quiet time one Saturday. Then, she came downstairs and practiced a bit for me as well.

She loved demonstrating different moves and showing off for the camera.

Once she has practiced enough, Hannah has informed me that she will put on a full recital for our family. Apparently, she also has invited students in her class, although she has not given them a date or time yet, so I should not have to worry about kids showing up unannounced... I enjoy seeing Hannah develop her creativity in so many ways, and I especially love seeing how confident she is in expressing herself in front of other people. Whether she flourishes as a dancer or a writer or an artist or something else completely different, I hope she always has the confidence and the courage to use her gifts and grow into the person God created her to be.

Gifts for Growth

All three kids received many wonderful presents this year for Christmas. A few gifts, however, have captured their creativity and curiosity as they encourage them to develop their minds.

Ben's favorite gift this year is a Snap Circuit set, which allows him to build circuits that perform various functions. So far, he and Josh have built light switches, a musical doorbell, a radio transmitter that acts as a microphone, a "helicopter" launcher, and many others. Ben has learned how to create his own circuits as well. Yesterday, I heard a buzzing sound as he was playing and, concerned, I asked him what he was doing. "I accidentally bypassed the switch," he explained. "I'll fix it." He also surprised me by asking if I had seen the CV capacitor he needed. I had to tell him that I did not even know what a capacitor was!

Hannah has two gifts that she enjoys very much. We gave her a tub of craft supplies - tissue paper, streamers, stickers, feathers, rick-rack, doilies, googly eyes, pom poms, paper, pipe cleaners, and more. Additionally, we gave her a large roll of tape and a bag full of toilet paper rolls I had been saving. She has been cutting and gluing and taping and creating constantly since Christmas morning!

Well, almost constantly... Grandma and PopPop gave her the best gift this year. It is a kit with plastic dinosaur bones encased in stones. Using a chisel and a hammer, she has to chip away at the stones until she can extract all of the bones. When she finishes, she can assemble a complete model of a t-rex skeleton.

Unfortunately, we discovered that the stones fly all over the house when she chisels them, so she has to work on it outside. Grandma stood outside with her in the cold for hours yesterday as Hannah slowly and carefully tapped the tiny rocks off of the bones.

She has revealed a few bones so far, but I think this will be a long term project rather than a short term activity. Though she felt quite disappointed when she discovered that the bones are plastic and not real dinosaur bones, she still loves to work on it, practicing to become a paleontologist someday.

I love giving the kids gifts that encourage their minds and their creativity to grow. They focus so intensely, exploring and learning and experimenting, that I can almost see their little brains working. They each have such individual interests and aptitudes, and I enjoy watching them develop and grow as they get older. I wonder what they will be and how they will continue in their passions when they are adults. For now, though, I am glad to know that these gifts for growth are not only my favorites for them, but their favorites as well.

The Chimpette

Josh has a wonderful childhood nickname that his dad still uses whenever he talks to him - "Chimp." This nickname originated from an episode that occurred when he was just a toddler. In his family's house, an elegant staircase ascends from their living room to the second floor, with a railing along the outside edge of the stairs. One day, Josh's mom walked into the living room and discovered Josh hanging from the outside of the railing, up near the living room ceiling. He had climbed all the way up the outside of the staircase. As their house is an older house, the ceilings are easily ten feet high. Needless to say, Josh's mom panicked but quickly got him down.

Becca, our fearless little daredevil, is becoming known as the "Chimpette." After she broke her skull last summer, I thought she might learn to be somewhat afraid of climbing or falling. Instead, she remains a risk taker, eager to prove that she can do anything her older siblings can do.

Earlier this month, we had a picnic in the park in New York to celebrate Josh's dad's 60th birthday. We set up near the playground and socialized while the kids played with their cousins. As I talked with my sister-in-law, I heard Becca yell, "Mama, watch what I can do!" I looked up to see Becca, hanging from the monkey bars, swinging her feet and asking me to help her get down.

Now, we have a Little Tykes playset in our yard that we purchased from a friend.

Becca loves it! Initially, she wanted me to help her on the taller slide, because the first time she tried it, she flew off the bottom a little too quickly for her comfort. Once she figured out how to slow herself down a bit, it is the only slide she uses. Now, half the time, she stops herself and leaps off the bottom.

Did I mention that she also swings at the top a few times before she slides down, too?

Additionally, she does not just climb through the tunnel - she climbs on top of the tunnel and up the back of the playset to get to the slide. Who needs the ladder, right? That's what slides are for...

Ah, little Chimpette... I fear that we will be good friends with our local ER before you are grown and out of the house!