First Week of School, 2017

8th grade, here we come!

May this year be more successful than this selfie 

we tried to take with the chihuahua.

It's been an awesome week and our schedule has a nice flow.

Lu takes the goats out to pasture 3xweek. He's out there for 3 hours, so he takes an assignment with him. "Cambalacha" is the afterschool program we run from our home, where Lu will be acting more as a facilitator than a participant. I started the program when he was a few months old, so he's been a part of it his whole life. It will be beautiful to watch him come into the role of "tallerista". On Wednesdays we'll go out for some yoga, ping-pong, kayaking and lots of swimming. "Free Time" is for Lu to go hang out downtown with his skateboard *if* all Mon-Wed schoolwork is done. Anything incomplete from Thursday or Friday will get done on Saturdays. This system helps keep the motivation high for getting the job done!

But what about having the freedom to take as long as you like on something if it's interesting? Well, we've done that too, but Lu needs to work on turning things in on time - an important skill in life. This involves being realistic about how much time you have to do something, planning how you're going to do it in that amount of time (again, realistically), and doing the best you can in the time you have. So, that's what we're working on this year. I *do* imagine us going back to a more time-relaxed way of learning, with lots of lounge-y reading and discussing. But then again, there are goats and chickens and jobs to be done, and only so many hours in the day....

 Most of what we're doing this year requires me to read ahead 

and prepare discussion questions. So, lots of homework for mama.

For algebra, we're continuing with our resource 

from last year - Great Courses, videos and workbook.

For the next couple weeks, 

Lu is participating in self-defense classes.

Cooking and guitar continue to be his main passions.

He'll be apprenticing at a French bakery/restaurant on Saturdays,

and practicing at home (yum!).

Our schedule is a guide, flexible, not written in stone. Activities are changeable, but we *are* trying to do 5.5 hours of school a day over fewer days (990 hours in 38 weeks vs. fewer hours/day over 40 weeks), for longer vacations, because, as much as we love homeschooling... ... ... we REALLY like vacations 😄

Having this as a clear goal that we both agree on, as well as the "Free Time" agreement, is already proving to be very positive for maintaining good attitudes in a headstrong teenager and a not-the-most-patient mother 😉

We are both enjoying the resources we are using (score!) and all the physical exercise we're getting. Lu is excited to start facilitating workshops. Our little farm is producing lots of awesome, organic food. Life is good. 💚 And these new emojis on blogger are fun 😜 Lol.

Hope you're having a great start to your year, 

and thanks for stopping by!

2016, Here We Come!

This is the beginning of our sixth year homeschooling. Lu is 13yo and roughly in 7th grade. It's going to be a very different year than we're used to, because now we have a small farm. It all started with Lu wanting a goat, and now we have five! Chickens are soon to come, and we're thinking about pigs and rabbits too.

We recently had our first litter. 

Lu delivered two healthy kids!

They're so frickin' cute, they're like bunny-kitty-ponies. 

Lu gets up every morning at 5:30am to take the goats out to pasture for a couple of hours. Right now he's only milking one goat, but another is shacking up with a neighbor's buck, so we'll have two milking goats by the summer. I get fresh goat's milk in my coffee now!

Once all the goat chores are done and a shower is had, it's around 10am and time for academics. Lu starts with reading, then history or writing, math, and guitar practice. 

Then it's time for lunch with a documentary 

or a game of Scrabble.

We started out this year re-watching Mankind: The Story of All of Us,

which we just might make a yearly tradition of because 

it's such a great summary of our chronological history studies.

On Monday afternoons Lu has a private guitar lesson. 

Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are for the after-school arts 

and recreation activities we run from our home.

Typical activities are team-building games,

dance, singing, arts&crafts, drumming, and circus arts.

On Wednesdays and Fridays, 2-9pm, Lu is doing his second apprenticeship at a local restaurant a couple times a week. He's working with a team of chefs and learning loads, and doing so well that they even let him be head chef sometimes. This means he gets to design the menu and order the other chefs around. 

He loves those nights :)

So, as you can see, we have a very busy year ahead of us!

2016 Homeschool Resolutions

 

After a fabulous holiday with family, friends, 

parties, wining and dining, 

we'll be starting our school year in a week or two. 

We're in middle school, but not any specific year. 

In a regular school, Lu would probably be placed in the 7th grade. 

He's 13 now and he's a very busy young man. 

He's got goats. 

He's got a girlfriend.

He's got ongoing (non-alcoholic) fermentation projects. 

And he's got occasional catering jobs.

It's going to be tricky fitting in our homeschool schedule with all of this. Goats and fermentation can be called Science Class, but there are still many things I want to cover: reading the classics, developing essay-writing skills, ALGEBRA, world history and Guatemalan history.... And there are things that Lu wants to cover: developing culinary skills (workshops, tutorials, recipe books, experimentation...), guitar, carpentry, photography...

There are only so many hours in the day, so we have a lot of planning and decision-making ahead. We're going to have to give and take, and negotiate, and come up with something that works for us.

 But before I sit down with Lu to do all of this, 

I want to commit to these 2016 Homeschool Resolutions:

I will give priority to Lu's interests.

I will be supportive of projects that Lu decides to undertake.

I will let go of conventional ideas like 

"Math HAS TO BE an every day class." 

I will trust in Lu's desire to learn.

If something isn't working, I won't try to force it.

Creating Beautiful Days

We just had a fantastic first week of our new school year.

After a nice, long 6-week break, 

we have started our new homeschool routine. 

See how dark it is outside?

We're starting our day at 5:30am!

First things first, Lu takes Tinich (4mo chihuahua) outside for her morning pee, cleans her puppy pen, makes his bed, tidies his room, has breakfast, washes the breakfast dishes, and brushes his teeth.

At 7:30am our schedule begins.

Some days we start with cuddly read-alouds.

Right now we're reading stories and legends

from Latin America.

 

Other days we start with some outdoor exercise.

I recently put a desk on this porch and turned it into

a second classroom.

It's nice to be outside, in a different space.

 Tinich likes it too :)

Monday is Hike Day

We climb 30 minutes up the mountain behind us

to a magical little spot we love.

And then come back down with this view.

Wednesdays are Lake Day,

and we head down for some swimming

and poetry-reading.

We've also been reading about Renaissance painters.

Our nifty book came with these playing cards - 

Go Fish, Memory, Who Painted This? 

I don't usually link to stuff that isn't free,

but this book was really worth it.

So, if you're interested...

Renaissance Art Card Game and Book

Cell Games is a great site!

Lu's been learning all about cell structure

and how all the parts work.

He can tell you a thing or two about mitochondria

and the Golgi apparatus. 

(And mom's like: Wuzzat??!)

 

Guitar is an every day thing.

Twice or even three times a day, more like.

Right now I can hear him rockin'

the James Bond theme song. lol

 Lu wants to be a chef, so cooking is a big part of homeschool.

He cooks dinner twice a week, and bakes a dessert on Fridays.

(woo-hoo, it's Friday!!!)

He does his own recipe researching,

so it's always a surprise.

Grilled Marinated Eggplant:

Bacon Potato Fritatta 

with Tomato Salad and Anchovy dressing:

And I can smell the chocolate creation in the oven

as I type this... yummmm....

We're running our afterschool art program 

on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This is our 13th year going!

We had 25 kids come on the first day.

Fun, fun, fun!!!

Lu's reading "Quest of Heroes".

I'd rather he read from books than from the screen, 

but he found it free online and is very much enjoying it.

And when we zoom in... look who's there!

And when she's not sleeping,

she loves playing with Floki <3

My number one objective this year is to enjoy my son as much as possible. This is our fifth year homeschooling and now I truly understand that there is more than enough time to learn the math and the spelling, and that it is much more important to learn to enjoy life, find authentic motivation, take care of yourself physically and emotionally, show your love to others through actions, and fill your days with things you love doing. 

We'll likely get more academically ambitious in high school, 

which is just around the corner. 

But for now, it's all about creating beautiful days.