Homeschool Volunteering

My daughter is a giving person. I have heard people say that I am. I just do unto others as I would have them do unto me. I (and the Mister) have always made a point of explaining what we are doing, be it donating clothes to a local thrift store or shoveling the neighbors walks. Well you get the point.

A neighbor of ours, was having mechanical troubles with his vehicle. We would give him rides to where he needed to be or wanted to go until my husband had it fixed for him. One of the places was a free store where he volunteered at. A free store basically self explaining: everything is free. The person who organized it doesn't care if your homeless or have a million dollar home. (She's an awesome lady by the way). Alyssa asked if we could volunteer here.  I had also read an article about the place. I thought this would be a good fit.

We come in on Tuesday. It's a really busy place, and a lot goes on. Mini Me's baby is the kids room(she is sort of responsible for it, at least in here mind) but we have helped clean and organize closets, matched shoes, pulled hangers, etc. Last week, we came in a second day. The store was closed and we switched everything to fall/winter. To help prepare for that Mini Me and I (along with some other amazing people, who in fact, probably did more than the two of us), washed, and mended about 10 totes,crates and lawn size trash bags full of clothes. We also made a huge pot of vegetable soup, knowing there would be extra to feed the homeless on Saturday, which she does. When we went home we were so tired but filled with just joy.

This Tuesday, both of us were not feeling well and thought we should stay home. Hopefully, we will feel better to go on Thursday or Saturday. I would highly recommend this to any family, homeschooling or not.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Make sure it is safe. I know that kind of sounds like a no kidding. Here's example: If you volunteer at an animal rescue, some of the animals could be violent because of what they come from or are hurt. Make sure the staff tells you safety concerns.

2. Pick something to go with your child's age and maturity.

3. Make sure it is something they will want to continue to do.

4. Make sure it is something you want to do. This is the one I had trouble with. Even though I know animal shelter's need help, I grew up on a farm and we did raise dogs, too. I have dealt with a lot of poop and wasn't looking forward to dealing with anymore.

5. The last one: Unless you have older kids, volunteer with them.

If hand's on volunteer doesn't sound like something you want to do. Here is some ideas to do with your child:

1. Donate items with your children. Animal shelter's need blankets, towels, toys, food etc. Homeless shelter's, soup kitchen's, domestic abuse shelter's, etc. will need thing.  You could offer to wash things for them. You would have no idea how happy they would be.

2. For birthday parties, ask people to bring cleaning supplies, canned goods etc. How many toys do kids get and never play with?

Okay, I didn't have many other idea of other's but I gave you some ideas to think about. I have to say this is one of the best things to do. It has also brought my daughter and myself a little closer. It might be that we get to work with clothes that makes it so enjoyable for each of us, lol, but we always come home with what my Mister has termed "volunteering high."

I hope you all are having a wonderful month. I just love fall.
(grammar check was provided by Mini Me)

How Planning Gave Me Insight Into My Son's Head

I know you are wondering how the two are related. We have decided to use Khan Academy plus occasional worksheet and real life. My son does most of the math in his head, and it drives me crazy. I'm continuously telling him use your scratch pad/scratch paper. When he does write things down, it is the bare minimum. If he is having problems, missed an answer, etc. I'm always wanting to see step by step or what he did. I tell him, "How can I help you if I don't what you steps you took?". We have never had a show down. It has been close though.

Now for the Connection. The school year, for some of us homeschoolers, starts August/September-ish. I kept seeing planning related things on my Pinterest board, my Facebook wall, and on Twitter. I was actually getting kind of annoyed. Couldn't these be seen in the parents mind? How could they not know what they were going to do? Note: For those of you who have to do it as a state requirement, you were excused from this annoyance.

Then it hit me! This is how Mini Him does his math. Talk about a major ah-ha moment. Then I thought, what if I was doing my work wrong? Then I sat down and wrote out my plans. I switched a few units around.  I feel like I have this year's and a primarily of next year's pretty much figured out.
I have a path to high school in mind. I'm also giving us lots of room to chase "rabbit trails."

Mini Him has been working on his own this week in math. I have been busy helping Mini Her get over some big math hurdles for her. I'm sitting down with him this week and seeing what he needs to master for moving up the next level. I plan to start with a discussion about how I can see what he feels/sees in his mind. Hopefully, that will help both us not be see us getting so irritated at each other.


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What about Socialization?

What about socialization? I always want to answer, "We don't do that. We like our children wild and untamed" or some other smart-mouthed answer. I have to stop and think where these people are coming from. Some people are asking out of curiosity, not to be insulting or degrading. Not that I haven't been asked from the insulting and degrading side. It has happen, sometimes I have not been the bigger person and engaged. I'm not perfect.

The Mister and I had noticed that it was a certain age that was constantly asking us the question of socialization. I decided to poll some homeschool groups on which age group where they most getting the question asked from. This being my first poll and I learned a lot from it. This is how I broke the ages into: A) 25 and under B)26 to 35 C) 36 to 50 D)51-65 and E) 66 and Up. I realized I should have broke up the ages a little differently but I still got a good idea. The results reenforced our thoughts.

My results should equally the 36-50 age group and the 51-65 age group were the ages the poller's got the question asked from. Here is the comment we got from one poller:

"Back when I was growing up(60 & 70's), the only people I can remember were very strange. The kids were odd, the parents were odd. Usually, they were the ultra, ultra religious conservatives or hippies in communes. And actually, there was only a smattering of homeschoolers around. And I think that was what everyone believed about homeschoolers at the time.  So I don't think that a lot of people in my generation realize that homeschooling is different now. And they don't realize how many thousands actually do it."

 My Aunt and Uncle homeschooled my cousins when I was growing up. They are conservative Christians, and I honestly thought them weird at times. As they grew up, they became people that went from weird to wonderfully, unique individuals. My Aunt and Uncle went from crazy to people I deeply admire.  They opened the idea of homeschooling me. I do remember conversations floating around questioning somethings they did, but never about socialization. The conversations all came from love. That side of my family shows love all the time. I love those peeps.I have had questions from another side of my family, and also from extended family. Here is one question: I will post what I thought I heard and maybe got a little defensive and then what was said that I still find offensive.

"Will your kids be able to work at Walmart as a cashier?" was what I thought I heard

This is what my husband says was said,

"Will your kids be able to interact with a Walmart cashier as they check out?" 

Remember, I'm not perfect and may or may not started listing things that we do. Remember, not perfect.  Of course, when we polled, we did have people say they had the most questions were, in fact, family members asking. They were more likely more to be more accusatory toned questions than curious.

I started righting this blog a few weeks ago. I saved it as a draft, and we have been living life. We have been going here and there for school things, we have been learning how to build things, and don't forget those interactions at the Wal-Mart checking lanes. We did this, while doing our regular school work.

During this time, I came across some mothers and their son who when we pulled from public school were in the same ship as ours. This is what they observed and was told: I'm being totally honest, and I did cry at home in the dark of my room for these boys. They had to have soothing music played to keep calm. The mother's both said this also, the boys were experience more melt downs, and could hardly be anywhere without having one.(mind you, we were in Walmart: I may need to cut down on these trips to Walmart .lol) The other said Basically the same things and we were at a back to school
celebration thing.(This mother had other children) They were trying to reduce his melt downs by exposing him to socialization. Both boys kept turning around and were on edge the whole time. They both had been bullied. I made other observations, but I don't want to write forever on this.

Then my son walks up, he had gone to the bathroom. On the way back had helped a elderly lady get something, he explained. He Politely says hello and ask how they are. He is smiling and having remembered on of the boys liked jokes, tried telling him one. The mother said he hardly talks anymore. The mother's ask if he likes homeschooling and he goes on to explain his life, again smiling. The contrast was amazing.

I will admit there are times when my kids are watchful and don't feel comfortable talking to the person. They were like that before we withdrawn from public school. You can't turn an introvert into an extrovert. You can teach coping skills but in the end underneath them is the same nature.. So, basic human nature should be withdrawn from this part of the What about socialization question.

One day, I  will write about Our son and our journey with him. My daughter has her own journey.  I will one day write her story and the amazement of her life. I didn't want to trash schools because I have seen the caring in the teachers and other school staff. I just wanted to point out that the argument doesn't hold up that public schools are good for socialization.

My kids and husband are away for the day.  I have heard what they are doing. They probably won't get any socialization in. You know we like them wild and untamed. lol

I'm playing the part of hermit today. I'm hoping with the quiet in the house my turtle will lay her eggs. I got your curiosity? Well, we will have a blog for that.

New Year of Homeschool:

At the Bird's Nest, we have started our third year of homeschooling. We have one Pre-teen and one teenager. I always like to evaluate how everything is going about every four months. I have learned already, expect change, and expect more change.

The first time I evaluate is the beginning of the Year. I knew we needed to add in a little more fun and less academics from books. I know my kids are more visual learners so I wanted to add more of that. I also know the love to learn on the Computer as much as from a book.

The kids were wanting to learn instruments and foreign languages. I was wanting them to learn a little more technology related things, like coding. Since they are very independent learns, by personalities, I had to find something they could do at their own pace and by themselves.

My husband, aka The Mister, was really starting to participate more. I have chronic health problems and that was very much needed. He was wanting to do my science related things, like simple mechanics.

It was getting time to pull this all together for the new school year. (We go year round but tend to take June off.) I had been for months reading about this method and that method. I decided to detour from our normal way. A way, I might add, that was pretty much working.

So I spent a week making a schedule, and it lasted part of a week. It was too ridged for us. I didn't have set hours or time limits. It was just a list of subjects to study everyday. There was no spaces of : I want to finish this, or I want to do the science experiment and not wait until whatever day. Plus to be honest, my kids and their parents, are good for about 4-5 hours. We can do six, but.....

There also wasn't anytime to allow for our numerous dr. appointments. For instance, we have 4 this week. We did some school on Sunday, the kids are doing some projects that don't require adult help, so they do whenever they feel the need during the week.

This is what work for us, we use an outline. We, meaning I, write down things to do for that day. I usually do it the night before and sometimes do two days in a row. There is one thing we are going to do religiously, math. I feel we need to kick this up a little more, and they also asked to do more. We go down the list checking off activity by activity. It roughly resembles loop schedule. I do have a list of things I want to do this week and I compile that usually on Sunday(my planning day). I keep looking for one I haven't wrote on the back of a math worksheet or envelope of a bill. It goes something like this:

Math(Khan) 60 min.
Code 45 min.
Camp google
Doc. on Netflix
Youtube Video
Report: Ocean Animal
Reading:
    Independent 60
    Classic 30
     Book in the Box  30
Craft

I go into a little more detail, and this one doesn't have music or the ten other things we have going on.  Sometimes, I do write down specific things on certain days. For example: We are just going to do Code on Tuesday and Thursday(which didn't happen, the kids have asked to do it everyday. I figured why the have interest is the best time to learn.)

I looked into other math programs for us and came back to Khan. That was working and I really don't know why I was looking to change. I'm supplementing with worksheets, games and everyday life.

Science:  We are doing life science right now. My kids are visual learners. We are using Documentaries from Netflix, YouTube, DVR, the library, etc. We also are big into STEM (which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.) We also have started into STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) We are going to bump up how many experiments we are going to do a week. My husband is starting some stuff  like small machines, carpentry, pulleys and gears, etc. We plan to start adding in some chemistry, the second part of the year.

Language Arts: I feel like we are going radical into language arts. Basically, we are focusing on creative writing and have done some worksheets here and there. We have found a few things on the web, and I look forward to seeing how the work for us. I have read articles, and I'm going to stay the course, and re-evaluate at third sections. Next year, I may be panicking.  We also have started blogging and do reports.  I hope to have the opportunity to throw in a little grammar here and there.

Coding: We have decided to have our kids start learning code and computer programming. We are using Code.org at the moment.

We are using Duolingo for foreign language. We are just started.

I'm so excited to see how this year goes for the kids. They have changed back into the kids that I sent off to Public school. My son is even wearing sandals/flip-flops. You will never know how that is such a big deal.

                                         Now some pictures of last year's learning and fun!

Here is the kids working on Engineering fun.

Mini Me is modeling the paper chain Anaconda. We learned about Anaconda's when we studied the rain forest.

Mini Her took this picture for our ongoing Photography class.

Field trip on the Missouri River.

The Mini's showing off their paintings.

The Mister and the Mini's rescuing a turtle.

Mini Her learning a new life skill on a field trip.

Mini Him doing some reading.

The mini's showing off there Viking ships.

Mini Her working in the Garden.

We are a Canning Family!

Here is a subject that I Love!  I love to can and know what my family is consuming. This year's crop is pretty much a wash out.  We have good luck with our raspberry bushes:

I was able to make some Raspberry Jalapeno Jam and also a Mixed Berry Jam. We were fortunate also to receive a whole gaggle of strawberries. I'm talking quarts and quarts of strawberries.

I decided it would be a good time to have my kids brush up on their canning skills. To us it is just another life skill that we feel the kids should know. I like to use recipes that have pectin in them. I can lots of things, but when it comes to jams and jellies, I need more confidence. Even though, I probably make 20 batches of jellies and jams a year. I'm not brand loyal, so no pimping products here. For straight Strawberry Jam, I use the recipe on the box. So I'm not going to give a detailed how to. It will mainly be some helpful tips and maybe some wisdom I have picked up over the years.

Always pre-measure out your sugar. When things get going, they tend to get going. The kids usually do this part when the help me.  Also open the pectin you are going to us.  Have a handy dandy timer on hand.  I also like one of the grease skins you can get for pots. It has saved me from a few burns when making fruit butters and spaghetti sauce. 

This is a mat you can get at you favorite "box store."  The design is intended to put drying dishes on, I love it for my jars fresh out of the "canner." I keep everything lined up and within arms reach. You will thank me for this tip.

My little canners have helped me can for a few years. As pre-teen and teen and teenagers, they help more and more every year. Her is Mini Her smashing Strawberries. We like using a potato masher. Mini Him is cutting the strawberries. 

Sometimes it feels like you have to keep.........

                                                                         Mashing...........

and........Mashing

It always nice when it starts going (BTW.....after this picture we had to switch pans. Every year, I start with the wrong one. Of course, I never remember.)

You will notice I have no recommendations on Jars, and lids. I'm also not going to add the way of canning and how I do it. The USDA recommends.  http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html  You want to download, the number seven pdf.   That is a good way to start. Don't forget in your box of pectin, it also gives you helpful hints.

 Cleaning as you go is also a helpful tip. Of course, trying it as you go, well that is just an added bonus.

In the end, you have these beautiful jars of jam.  We also make different ones with jalapeno's added, plus ones consisting of an array of peppers. We make a Honey Lemon Jelly and my husband likes a pomegranate jelly I make.  All the kids in our lives love our Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, and Mountain Dew flavored jelly. I have made Cherry jam and plum jam. I almost forgot I made a tomato jam one year. I guess you can say that we like our jams and jellies.

The Bird Nest Garden!

We feel that gardening is one life skill that we need to teach our kids. The Mister and I also really enjoy just being in the the Garden. I thought I would share some of what we did. 

This is the progress of a garden project, that we didn't plan. Everyone worked so hard to get it done!

My husband, aka The Mister, has been doing projects with the kids. This is some concrete pavers that he helped Mini Me make.

This is a before picture on a rainy day.

We are so pleased with the results, using the above method. Here is the link http://104homestead.com/winter-sow/. We have never had the results starting seeds as we had for this one. It was really no work at all. We did nothing and the plants grew so well. Sadly, the kids planted everything and didn't take any pictures.

Our raspberries patch went crazy. We are picking so much every day.

Here are some of our blooms:

This is how they started off the off.

As a newly, driving teenager, I drove to see my grandfather. He sent home some hollyhocks that I planted at my mother's house. She gave so many starts of the flowers to anyone who wanted them. When I left the home, I left with some hollyhock starts. As I moved from place to place, I brought with me some hollyhock starts. I have lived this here for sometime, giving away starts and seeds. This has been a good year for the hollyhocks and they have beautiful blooms. This is what they are doing now.

The lilly's are also producing some beautiful blooms. These were also starts from my mother, now deceased.

This is one of our patches that we plant in. Our space is very limited. We have cucumbers, different kinds of peppers, different kinds of sweet peppers, some gourds-bird house style, and two different types of tomatoes. I know some will say, "You can't do that. Nothing will grow." Though we appreciate your comments, it has for the past 6 years. We make sure that we compost this area well, and try to mix in plants that add to the soil during our early spring and early fall crops.

This is how they started off.

Our garden started off like and I hope to post a picture of some of the now pictures soon. Rain showers are moving through and I don't really want to sing in the Rain.

Even though this is a common color of lily, I still love the vibrant color and the rain drops drying on the petals.

This is a river we like to go out on. As you can see the beautiful water is a muddy brown. It is also outside of the banks.  The rain this year, has seriously impacted our garden.

Later today, the Mini's and I will be canning some strawberry pepper jam and some reduced sugar strawberry jam. I can't wait to share some of the pictures.

Outdoors, Nature and Our Kids

We firmly believe that exposing our Mini Him and Mini Her to nature and encouraging life skills in the outdoors, is as important reading ,writing, and arithmetic. There are somethings that just ring more true when you see it first hand.
For Example:

The picture on the left is exposed roots due to water erosion. You can see on the right, the trees they belong to. This time last year, the bank at this spot didn't look like this. Now, we could show are children, just as we just just showed you with a picture. But reality, is the best                             teacher.

                                   We usually have to start our journey, at our storage unit.

Mini Him and Our Grand-dog Porky

Mini Me and our Little Girl Jinxee

Little Me is sometimes a Little Sassy.

Once we get there, we sometimes have to prepare the boats and load what is needed. We all have life jackets. We also put blankets down for the dogs to sit on, put in our fishing gear, food and drinks, safety equipment, etc. Your state may have other requirements and it is very important to know what they are. Our little boat is called the Minnow Catcher. We have never done it but remember not to leave the straps on the keep the boat on the trailers and put the plug for draining, back in.

 

We hardly ever go anywhere without the dogs. Make sure that yours have all the appropriate shots and protection you will need. Also, make sure to follow the rules for the area you are at, and Please, Pretty Please, Pick up your Poo!

 

  

                     



We love that both kids are able to express themselves.

   Here the kids are learning the seine method of fishing. Records show that this method was used as far back as Stone Age societies. Isn't just cool to think you could be doing the same things your ancestors did?

On this day, we decided to try our hand at mushroom hunting. This day we didn't come home with any.

There are some beagles that are used to hunt fungi. Our little girl isn't one of them. In fact, the only thing that she hunts is dog biscuits. She much prefers the couch to lay on than the thrill of the hunt.

On our way out of our mushroom hunting grounds, we saw evidence of something I have never seen before, which are the marks of a beaver. My husband says that he has seen them around this area. He has promised to bring us back to this spot on another day. I did see evidence of some river otters, wood ducks and geese, and some of the non-native Asian carp. Mini Him is terrified of them but Mini Me says that she is ready to knock one of these carps in the head if one would land in the boat.

I also was able to point out something that I have never seen up close and personal, Turkey Vultures. My daughter shared some pictures today on her blog post and they are probably the same group. The water levels were up this day due to rain that had fallen.

On another beautiful day for our area, we decided to load up in the boat again. My husband, who is a big catfish enthususis, wanted to do a little fishing. My daughter also likes to fish for these wonderful, eating fish and I like to pick up a pole now and then. My son would rather play and build in the mud, and explore.

My daughter joined in for a short bit.

We do sometimes do catch and release, it is dependent on the size. We also want to make sure that we can fish with our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Here are some pictures of Little Me and Mister. I choose on this day to read a book I had brought along.

Unfortunately, the fish decided they didn't want to come home with us on this trip.

I thought this picture of  the railroad track(still running today) had a romantic air about it. I guess you can tell what genre of book I was reading that day.

Being spring and with weather so nice, we all jumped at the opportunity to go out again. My husband was of mind to set some bank poles. I knew the idea and I know he does it often but I personally had never seen it. Little Me loves to do this stuff with my husband and you didn't have to ask her twice. She had never had the chance to learn this new skill. My son had other things he wanted to do, so arrangements were made for him. That's one of things we like to do with our kids. We give them opportunities to learn things, but try to never force them to do things. My son doesn't enjoy waiting for fish, so he usually finds something to occupy his time like exploring or doing something without the family. 

He is a picture of him occupying his time from a previous outing. On to the current trip. 

Mister started teaching Little Me and Myself what was involved to set bank poles. He told us the rules and regulations. He then told us the different things that people used for poles. We knew a little of this since we have been with him while buying supplies.

We set the poles and saw some amazing sights. We managed to get some pretty good pictures.

                                  Mini Me looked like she really enjoyed time with just Mom and Dad.

                                   We saw a river barge go by and then decided we should head home.

Though out all our adventures we covered a lot of things. We talked to our kids about fungus, beavers, river otters, turkey vultures, carp, and fish. We learned how to gather mushrooms and used three different fishing methods. We talked about three types of transportation: vehicle, train and barge. We found fossils, rocks, tadpoles, and muscles. We talked about how trash effects the environment and how we have changed how the river flows. We also have talked about how our demands of more land is eroding parts of the river. When my son played in the mud and tried to fill the log, he experienced how different materials work and learned how to use an engineering mindset to fill the hole. My daughter had the attention of both parents, something that will booster her self-worth as she starts the journey to womanhood. I think the benefits of these adventures/field trips/outings taught more than could be taught in the same amount of hours in a public school environment. 

Remember, Like us on Facebook at: Building the Bird's Nest.

and stayed tune in the coming blog post we are working on sharing Vikings. and these three things about reading: what we have read, what we recommend to read, and what we want to read.

We will be sharing what we are learning in life skills of gardening, cooking, baking, and sewing. We have some fun arts and crafts and don't forget our adventures.