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Homeschool Fun

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In one of Halle’s recent homeschool lessons they talked about discovering ancient civilizations and archaeology. The activity that accompanied the lesson suggested that I get some sand, dump it in the backyard and bury some household items for my young explorer to discover.

I quickly decided that was the most ridiculous activity ever.

I mean, kudos to the mom that doesn’t mind running to a garden store to pick up a 50 pound bag of sand, is thrilled at the prospect of having a sand pile in the backyard for all of the neighborhood cats to discover and is completely fine burying her can opener outside.

I’m not that girl.

I did like the idea though and came up with something that was more practical for us. I used a Costco sized (and super cheap) box of salt that I had on hand, a rubbermaid container with a lid, and small toys.

When I put everything together I explained to Halle what an archaeologist does. Then we came up with a story about the ancient city of Fritata that once was located in the jungle but got swallowed up by the desert leaving behind their treasures for us to discover. Then as we uncovered each item we imagined what they were made from and what they might have been used for.

It might have gotten a bit silly.

Then we took pictures and it got a bit hammy :)

We discovered treasures.

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Then we took them back to our camp and dusted and cataloged them.

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Then we rejoiced over our finds and decided that Halle’s picture should hang in a museum next to them.

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We did this activity again today because Halle loves it and also because she’d rather do anything if it gets her out of doing math. And I realized that as she begged me to tell her a story about the ancient civilization of Bajunga that this is the most fun for her because we spend time together making up stories.

That’s what homeschool is about for us.

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Spring Break!

Last week the girls and I were in Birmingham to visit my parents. Since Travis just started his job we were without the luxury of vacation time so he couldn’t go with us. It’s been such a long time since he’s been without vacation time that I had forgotten how spoiled we are by that. And since my mini van is making a funny noise, we took Trav’s car. Which meant that Daisy had to stay behind too. She’s a sweet, 55 pound, up-in-your-face, nervous-in-the-car sort of dog and doesn’t fit well in a normal car. I guess as long as we have kids and a dog I will be driving a mini van. I suppose I should give up on my dream of ever being cool again (wink).

So, Birmingham. Have you ever been there? It’s a city that I’ve visited since I was a kid because my grandparents moved there from Bradenton, FL. Which was the only time I ever lived within two hours of my grandparents. Our family was pretty spread out across the country all the way from central Florida to Seattle and several places in between. And though I hate that we’re so far away from most of our family- almost all of our relatives are in Florida- I’m thankful that my parents only live 3 hours away. Since I’m familiar with the Birmingham area I’m able to visit my favorite places on sort of a rotating basis. During this visit we visited, Bass Pro Shop in Leeds, because we always drag my Dad along on shopping trips and I like to look at the fish in the aquarium. Then we hit a new outdoor mall. Unfortunately I forgot my camera.

The big excursion for the week was to Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. Try saying that 5 times fast. I’ve visited this park since I was a kid and the emphasis on the ironworks seems to be a recent development. We have always called it “Tannehill”. They’ve also started charging for their ironworks museum. It’s inexpensive but I wasn’t too keen on paying for something that used to be free. Plus, it wasn’t really something I thought was worth paying for. Once we got there though it was evident that they’d updated some things and was well worth the $4 admission fee.

This 2,000 pound hunk of brown iron ore was a new addition.

When we walked into the museum my Dad immediately went to the counter to pay-because it’s a race to the wallet when we’re together- and I was distracted. I’m not sure what he said to the lady at the counter but she let out a loud, “Well praise the Lord!” Which immediately made me smile and my Dad smirk. If you don’t know my Dad you wouldn’t know he’s a big prankster but he is. He immediately started asking her something along the lines of, “Are you one of those crazy Christian people?” So I rescued her and told her where my Dad went to church. Then she joined in the teasing. When I was a kid I was mortified by that kind of thing. I was also mortified when he would do his gorilla run through Disney World- if you’ve ever seen a gorilla run through a jungle that’s what it looked like. And also when he’d buy Bubba Teeth at a mall and then run up behind my Mom and kiss her neck and make her scream- loudly and in public. Ah, memories.

Halle loved this black and white scene. She pretended that she was about to get crushed by a horse drawn buggy.

Then she jumped out of the way!

Then she was going to be crushed by a giant log. Are you seeing a pattern here?

Chloe has hit the, “Please don’t take my picture” phase. Sad. Which would make her the complete opposite of Amanda. She never, ever hit that stage.

I got her to pose for a few photos though. Like this one in front of a saltpeter pot. She asked if there was also a pepperpeter pot. That girl is so much like her Dad.

We also found a mining car…which made us think of Mario Kart.

I was really trying to keep them interested. Unfortunately they’re just not as interested in reading everything like I am. So we headed out to the park to see everything else.  Unfortunately the train that goes around the park wasn’t running. We found an old mill and bubbling spring and saved a turtle though so the train wasn’t missed that much.

Spring water is *cold*!

 

If you’re ever in the Birmingham area and want to do something other than shop it would be worth your while to go to Tannehill. If you can’t tell, I just love this park.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting about the Upcycled Cans I’ve finished and if you’re posting about them too (since I’m too technologically challenged to set up a link party) just link up to it in the comments section.

Field Trip Day

Last week I was able to take Chloe and Halle on a field trip to the Carter House in Franklin. It was Halle’s first ever field trip and I was so happy to be able to go because at Chloe’s last school you had to win a lottery of sorts to be able to chaperone. Yes, ours is a weird school district with so much parent participation that they had to limit the chaperones. I rarely e-mailed fast enough to be chosen. I was really excited about this one because I love old houses so.much. Sure, there was a Civil War battle fought there, Union soldiers were literally holed up in the house, but I wanted to see inside. I also love the stories that accompany homes with a long past. This one is particularly compelling and sad in some respects.

We were so excited to be on our way!

Since we’re a homeschool group we all met at the house. This is the first field trip I’ve ever been on that was so close to our house- less than 10 minutes.  I love living in Franklin. We drove up to find that the lone dad chaperone had started a game of tag football while they were waiting.

This is one of the things I love about homeschool. Instead of the kids in two straight lines with arms folded and not being allowed to speak, they were getting out some energy, making memories and having a good time before the hour long tour.

My girls and their friends played a game of tag.

And Halle was a bit of a sassy-pants.

I wasn’t allowed to take any interior photos of the house. I expected that but it was still a bit of a bummer. When we went inside as expected, there were wide plank wood floors and beautiful old furniture. What wasn’t expected was the peach and aqua trim on the generous molding in the home. Apparently that was the fashion of the day. I also didn’t expect the incredibly loud wallpaper and loud carpet in the parlor. It reminded me of hotel carpet but with wallpaper that nearly matched . It was also the fashion of the time period. It makes me wonder what they’d say about my house in 150 years.

This is a photo of the back of the house with an addition that housed one of their widowed grown children and his children. I linked to the Carter House and you can see a picture of the front of the house. See, I have a new camera and forgot that I hadn’t charged the battery and it died before I got to finish taking pictures.

This is the outdoor kitchen. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see inside.

This is an outbuilding that still has hundreds of bullet holes in it. The tour guide said that years later Confederate and Union soldiers would come back to the farm and have a reunion and take pictures by this same building.

All-in-all I loved the tour. I would have liked to have had more time looking around the grounds and taking pictures. I found out later during lunch that we’re also going to the Carnton Plantation and we’re going to take a walking tour of Franklin. We’ve lived here for over 5 years now and I’ve walked in downtown and I’ve been to the Carnton Plantation grounds but I haven’t taken tours with a guide and such. I can’t wait!

I was thinking about all of this yesterday (I usually write and re-write blog posts in my head long before I type them out) and I remembered living in Hendersonville for 6 years and that it was a nice town but it didn’t have the same type of charm that Franklin does. I guess growing up in Lakeland (FL) with its historic downtown and historic homes ruined me for living in a place that doesn’t have that. I’m not just interested in Franklin, I want to see all of them. They are all over the state of Tennessee. I realize that there are historic towns in every state but I figure that if I start with Tennessee I’ll have enough to keep me busy for a very long time.

Why I Homeschool

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For every parent that decides to homeschool there has to be a why? Travis and I have 3 daughters, Amanda, Chloe, and Halle. Amanda went through traditional school, private and public, and did well. She graduated valedictorian of her class and now she’s in college. Chloe did well in kindergarten, loved her teacher and would rather have been in school than anywhere else. Then things sort of fell apart when she went into first grade. For the next 3 years she cried nearly every morning when she had to get up for school. She was stressed, she had stomach aches and she was exhausted. She never felt like her teachers were patient with her and crying in class happened a few times. As a parent it was hard to watch her struggle so much. My bubbly, outgoing girl that reminded everyone of Shirley Temple was miserable. I also wanted more time with her. She was gone for most of the day and then we spent most of the evening doing homework. She fell asleep at the table one night while “rainbow writing” her spelling words 3 times-every single letter in a different color. Our difference of opinion over creation vs. evolution was a factor that pushed us over the edge and we decided that even though Chloe was in the best school in our district, one that many a parent had applied to get their child into with dozens on a waiting list, we were going to homeschool.

I was nervous. What if I ruined her? What if I ruined, Halle who was just starting kindergarten? What if I couldn’t teach Halle to read and she was in kindergarten forever? How would I pick curriculum? Could I do this or would I end up sobbing in a corner somewhere while Travis enrolled the kids in public school?

As it turns out I did pick curriculum, Halle is reading, Chloe is happy and I never ended up sobbing in a corner or anywhere else for that matter.

How? I did a lot of reading and researching and picked a curriculum that has every day planned out for me. I knew that planning is a weakness for me so I decided to not use school as an opportunity to change that about myself. I saved myself a lot of frustration that way. I also hate math. So I found a program that would let Chloe do it on the computer rather than set us up for failure by trying to teach it myself. I also avoided chat rooms and forums because I know I have a tendency to get overwhelmed when presented with too much information. Plus I didn’t want to feel inadequate because I saw what all the other homeschool parents were doing that I wasn’t.

I also made adjustments when I realized that Chloe needed something different. Last year we homeschooled exclusively and this year Chloe is at a homeschool academy that meets two days a week. She gets instruction for all of her subjects except math and we do assigned work on the days she’s not in class. She needed to have interaction with other kids and enjoys being in a class two days a week and I enjoy not having to answer the, “do I have to do that?” question every day.

Halle is still at home full-time and loves it.

I love the sleepy-head looking through a book…we love doing school in pj’s.

Amanda comes home for breaks from school…and went with her sis to get her ears pierced.

This is my sweet, Chloe…and she’s happy…at school and because she got her ears pierced.

And now you’ve met the Button girls…except for me…hmmm…

There I am. I’m usually behind the camera rather than in front of it so I don’t have a plethora of pictures to choose from. Let’s see…did I forget anyone?

Oh, Travis….he hates having his picture taken. Why is he sitting on a fire engine? Our local station was having a Christmas with Santa event so we took the kids. It was the best.thing.ever.

He supports this whole operation and occasionally explains math concepts so that Chloe can understand them.

And who’s this?

This is Daisy. She doesn’t help me homeschool at all and sometimes she’s a big distraction. She’s cute though, with her big doggy smile, so we keep her around.

And that, in a slightly long nutshell, is why we do what we do.