3K Homeschool Week One

 I won't be posting every single week from now until May....I don't think....we will see... but as it is our first week, I thought for my memory's sake, document here. Ellie calls our homeschool, "Mommy School." She just decided this one day and well...it's true! 

School for Ellie is actually no different whatsoever than any other day we have ever had here. She is 3. She has no business sitting in a desk, or sitting down period. She needs to run, play, sing, jump, dance, climb, go barefoot, explore, ask questions and get answers, go on field trips, and make big messes. And that's what we do and always have done. The only difference in our day is that I have organized myself so that I am more intentional in our play so that I know what I need, what we are doing, and what concepts we are touching on as we play. I do use some curriculum. They are:

1. The Homegrown Preschooler: Playing Skillfully Here

2. BFIAR (Before Five in a Row) Here

3. Exploring Nature with Children Here

4. Preschool Math Here

These are all about reading many many many books, making big messes, playing with puzzles, shapes, and exploring the world around us and crafting and wow...just really way more amazing things than I can list. SO, I have included a link to each so you can look into them yourself.

To me, Preschool MUST be playful, discovering, no stress, no hurry, not "dumbed down."  NOT worksheets and sitting in circles all day long. Kids actually learn through movement, motion and play. Those aren't opinions, those are facts. My styles and inspirations are Charlotte Mason and Wild + Free. I love it. I am so thankful for the education my sister has lead me towards and the research, novels, books, Christian educators, and scientists in education to lead me to make this homeschool decision. But the main man who lead me here is the Holy Spirit shaking me and waking me to truth, light, and love that only He can show and give. And His showing me all these things took me and my husband to the most awesome decision we have made as parents yet; homeschooling. 

I love it because I get to be the one who raises my child and teaches her. I get to keep her childhood in my life daily and not send her away for someone else to experience her childhood. I get a front row seat to watching her grow, learn, and become who God has created her to be. I used to have a TOTALLY different view on all this but GOD does wonderful works in the hearts of His children, and as one of His children, God showed me His will and opened my eyes, mind, and heart to the most amazing and beautiful life at home with my daughter. He is the one Who took me from never even wanting to children to not only wanting one, but to now being her teacher! Only God can change a heart this way. I so believe in what we are doing here in our household and this is our journey. :)

Week One! 

Up, Up, and Awayyyy! We built a hot air balloon! After reading a couple hot air balloon stories, we used the book and blanket basket from our den and tied helium filled balloons to it. I pulled Ellie around in it with the basket sitting on top of her boogie board. Ellie loved this and also pulled her baby dolls around the yard pretending they were flying. When the thrill of the ride "blew away," we took the balloons and painted them with spray bottles full of paint! We got super messy, had a paint war in the yard, and then Ellie just started slapping paint on the balloons all over. Paint everywhere in her hair, on her body, and on the grass! Such a blast! She kept calling it all "my hot air balloon!" 

Ellie was amazed with how these balloons were able to fly. We were able to learn about helium gas as well expansion of molecules in heat and how hot air rises and lifts balloons. Gross motor skills in squeezing spray bottles, depth perception, pressure and problem solving as she painted the floating balloons, and decision making. 

We also had the blessed privilege to take her this week following this theme to an actual Hot Air Balloon Festival where she got to ride in a Hot Air Balloon!! It was truly perfect!

We are studying Chihuly for 3 months. Dale Chihuly. My husband and I visited our Aunt and Uncle in Seattle, WA about 4 years ago and got to see his work. So stunning. I am happy to introduce Ellie to this colorful and fun artist and his beautiful work. We will be doing many of his projects in our own flair over the next three months as well as having a field trip to view an exhibit of his in Nashville in October. Hopefully we will be able to take Ellie to Seattle to visit our family and see Chihuly next year as a bonus!! For this week, we made a "glass chandelier sculpture." We used as many used water bottles as we could collect. Ellie, Eric, our friend Sam, and myself all painted the bottles over a couple of days. Ellie chose her colors and used brushes and just her paint covered hands to cover the plastic bottles in paint. Then when all of that was completed, Ellie and I sat at breakfast one morning having a pic nic together on the floor, and we cut the bottles into spirals. Well, Ellie tried. Then together, we weaved them onto pipe cleaner and yarn in a tiered fashion then hung the sculpture in her room! She has two beautiful books about Chihuly and she really is enjoying these. She knew after just one day that Chihuly worked with glass. We looked at the different shapes, colors, and structures and the discussion and observation in doing this was awesome. 

We live on an "8 acre lake" technically a pond. We did a pond study which we actually do rather frequently. We read all of the "Frog & Toad" books ever written, "Let's Look in Ponds and Rivers," and "Botany: Plants, Cells, & Photosynthesis."We read the books throughout a day. We LOVE reading around here. Books are Ellie's favorite gift. During the pond study, we saw many countless mosquitofish and caught one! We also discovered something totally new to us. Have you ever heard of a Bryozoan? In the pond we discovered this and here is a description of what this is:

 "Bryozoans are microscopic aquatic invertebrates that live in colonies. The colonies of different species take different forms, building exoskeletons (outer protective structures) similar to those of corals. Most colonies are attached to a structure such as a rock or submerged branch.Frese means “moss animal”), or trace delicately like vines across rocks, or create furry-looking colonies. hwater bryozoans' exoskeletons are gelatinous (like jelly) or chitinous (like the "shells" of insects). Therefore, some colonies take the form of rounded, jellylike masses, while others resemble antlers or mosses (bryophyte means 'moss animal') or trace delicately like vines across rocks, or create furry looking colonies."

We went to our friend and music teacher's home to start our day and played in water beads and pretended it was a pond. I read books to Ellie while she played. We cut out foam lily pads to out in the water beads and brought her plastic insects such as dragonflies, ants, and beetles to play with. We also did a small nature walk on their property where it was cool, calm, and so quiet and peaceful together. We found mushrooms, moss, lichen, caterpillars, and so many beautiful leaves. Then we came home and used a clear bin filled with water for more exploitative play! I gave Ellie blue food due and let her squirt drops into the water and she loved that. She watched the drops disperse in a ring in the water and then she mixed it up. We put the lily pads in here as well and added ice cubes from a tray. Ellie enjoyed squeezing the cubes out of the tray, eating the ice, and holding it as it was such a hot summer day. Then our friends Sam and Molly came to play in the splash pad and paint with us!  

Another day, we woke up and took a spontaneous trip to North Carolina to the NC Arboretum to see an exhibition of lego sculptures and all the gardens. We took a hike there also and enjoyed a pic-nic. My favorite thing about this was the major blessing from God that we do have the flexibility and ability to take these spontaneous field trips. That's one reason Homeschooling is so awesome! We bonded, and played with a gong, discovered new mushrooms, new flowers, new insects, played in and built forts in the woods, learned about quilts and patterns, ran barefooted, and climbed uprooted trees. We read books and took in the beauty of God's creation. This place is incredible and if you haven't gone you must! I loved letting Ellie tell me where we were going next and letting her lead and explore. I will always remember her pointing down a path, looking at me and saying, "Hmm...maybe we can take this path?!" And I said "Yes!" every single time. 

We came home after our spontaneous field trip and took a spontaneous dessert field trip to our favorite local bakery, Tip Top Cake Shop, because they opened their build your own cupcake bar! So, Ellie got to go in and design and build her own cupcake and it was so cool and special. We brought it home, read more books, and played outside. We made a big messy painting after she got messy eating her yummy cupcake. I rolled out white butcher paper on the driveway, gave her our paint bucket, and let her go to town pouring, squeezing, sloshing, paint all over the paper. She walked in it, smeared her hands in it, and made lots of designs. Projects like this open soooo many learning paths in the brain! One cool thing that happened was when Ellie just so happened to squirt red paint beside a glob of yellow paint and she decided to mix them with her hands vigorously and in doing so she made the color orange. She said to me, "Mommy, you know red and yellow make orange?" I didn't teach her that, she just created, observed, and learned! All on her own. Ellie also taught herself months ago to tie knots while playing solo with her feather boas during what was supposed to be nap time. I mean the girl can tie a good knot! It's so cool. One activity we did that was so simple and Ellie loved so much was tying scrap fabric onto chicken wire. She totally did all this by herself. I just sat by and read books to her while she played. She wanted to lay out her scraps and organize them first. So then we counted them. Then she tied them to her chicken wire and told me she made a bridge and a tunnel for her toy cars which she then ran to fetch and she made a big story line with them as she played using her big imagination. 

We also went to our co-op called Willow & Oak Community this week. We started this earlier this summer. I love it because it is Christ based, Charlotte Mason, outdoors, wild and free, and just all the things I believe in for the development and goodness and joy of our children. We do Shakespeare here. Ellie is one of the babies here, and she gets to sing, play games, and make friends here, running around outside barefooted. She has actually learned Shakespeare too! Ellie loves to get on the stage and share a scripture with the group and she loves watching the older kids act out and perform. She finds it so entertaining! She laughs and plays hard here! She is so embraced by the elementary aged and high school kids but sh also has her own little group of young children. But that's another thing I love about most home school families, all ages get along with all ages. There is more love and inclusion in these settings in just a really beautiful way. We love our co-op and look forward to growing in it as Ellie reaches true school age. I'm learning in it, as well!

We are also studying a musical composer along with our artist study every 3-4 months. For 3 months, we are studying Pyotr Tchaikovsky. We have his entire workings on CD and we listen in the car. Ellie LOVES Tchaikovsky and hearing her say his name is so adorable! She knows he composed the ballets, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. Her favorite is Swan Lake and like she just dies every time she hears the ballet. She has also seen this ballet which may be why she most connects with it. She loves the story and the music. She says, "Let's listen to hear what happens!" She has many books about these ballets and she adores to read them. We have many and many more on the way. This is like one of her  "things" right now. We have also been reading books about Tchaikovsky himself. He is a big hit around here. 

For our main Biblical studies this month we are learning the verse, Proverbs 16:24, "Gracious words are a honeycomb sweet to the soul, and healing to the bones." It's the verse of the month and Ellie already has it down just because we sing it and make games of learning it rather than forcing it. Making scripture into songs or chants and cheers has been so awesome for a fun way to learn God's word. We will learn additional verses throughout the month as we do other projects. Jesus is really the center of all our intentions in this journey and we want to glorify and honor Him, praise Him, and learn more about Him daily. We have been reading in the book of John. We have been reading through all the Gospels lately and currently are in the book of John.

I am also doing Catechism with Ellie. This month, she is learning: What is our purpose? To glorify God! And then we have been discussing how we do this in our daily living. 

For our forest school this first week we looked for seeds! We have a special nature spot that is ours that we have visited frequently in the past and will now visit once a week and hike, explore, read, run, play, and collect. Ellie has a nature journal, and binoculars, a net, and a bucket for collections. It is so much fun and I look so forward to this. We have been privileged to join my sister and her children at their forest school in Georgia and we loved it so much we wanted to recreate it. I am aware there are a couple of options here in the upstate, however, one is too structured for my taste as well as expensive, and the other, while free is too.....too loose....Call me Goldilocks. So I am using the same forest school curriculum that my sister's in GA uses and it is full of wonderfulness and I'm truly pleased with how it has all come together for Ellie and myself. 

Ellie loves her puzzle books in her Preschool Math books. She just asks to play with them all the time and it’s super great because she already is able to work the advanced puzzles at the end so she does puzzles and then she creates stories with the shapes she made and she even plays with her cars on these too. This teaches her problem solving and special recognition. 

We get to start back to music, dance, and art class taught by mommy (me) this coming week and we are so excited! We love having these classes to be great additions to our homeschool rhythm where Ellie gets so much interaction with other children. She LOVES playing with friends and she is really a pretty precious friend to have. 

So this is what the first week looked like and a taste of what our journey will be like. Preschool is playschool and bonding time as a family. Our priorities are to teach the Holy Spirit, teach love and have a strong family bond and relationship, then love others. We want a strong home where it is normal for kids to be close to their parents. What a concept, but how lovely. Not having a worldly view, but an eternal Holy Spirit filled view. We will get it wrong daily, multiple times, daily, I know. But God is our guide praise Him, and I know He is going to do great things in His plans for us! Here is to Homeschooling for the glory of God!

Mommy & Me Ballet Recital 2020

 

2019-2020 was our second year of doing Mommy & Me Ballet at Sterling Studio of Performing Arts. This class has been so good to us the past two years and I am so immensely glad I started us in at when Ellie turned one year. She has grown, changed, and learned so much in these two years of dance. She LOVES ballet. I mean she genuinely loves adores it. She goes around the house singing as if she were in an opera with the shrilliest but cutest little voice, "I am a Ballerina!!!!" She says "ballyrainuh." She is aways doing ballet and her favorite music in the world is Swan Lake composed by Tchaikovsky. We listen to this ballet composition on repeat in the car at her request. It's funny too because I themed her bedroom as swan lake and had no idea it would become her most loved "thing." 

This year of dance Ellie was confident, bold, silly, and happy every class. She LOVES ballet class. She loves her teachers. 2020 had other plans for our recital. I believe we went from having a large handful of mommy and daughter duos with whom we were going to be dancing alongside. But if 2020 has been consistent about anything, it has been...inconsistent. As all "non-essential" businesses were shut down for so many weeks and social distancing became the thing of Spring...our May end of year recital was postponed. In August, we were able to resume and our recital went from a large handful, to three moms and daughters, to just me and Ellie. And honestly...that was a big blessing for us. I think it made it far more special. Especially as this was our last recital together....and I'm about to cry....it's not that I'm sad not to dance anymore or so much that I'll miss the class....it's that I am so sad she is growing up so quickly to the point she can dance without me. She can continue on to do big girl things. That age of "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!!!" is already fleeting so quickly. I LOVE Mommy and Me and I LOVE bonding with my daughter and doing things with her. So even if I have to look silly or be totally all out on a stage dancing and yes...even messing up doing the most basic dance (hahaha, it happened!) then I am so on board because it means I get to make these incredible memories with my precious baby girl who is growing up insanely fast. 

So, August finally came, and we finally got to perform at the recital which was fabulous and handled like bosses by the sterling Studio staff and volunteers. Just me and Ellie. And y'all....Ellie just totally blew me away...oh my word I'm so emotional over here because I am so proud of her...she went from never allowing me to put her down because she was so unsure, to having no issues to being on stage and showing out for all to see in her beautiful precious, doll like costume and I got to be part of that and share in that with her. 2020 can be a blessing if you let it...if you look for God, you WILL find Him (you shall find Him when you seek Him with all your heart) and I saw God on a stage beside me, a "spoonful of sugar" Ellie, and a Mary Poppins me. 

I took my role as Mary Poppins seriously and dressed the part. We danced to "Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins. Ellie wore a white costume and was therefore, the sugar! Haha! 

My entire family except my brother were able to come. He was to start law school the next day and they live about 4 hours away so we missed him but understood. (Boy, do we understand!! Graduation is in 8 months for Eric!!) It was so special to have them there. My sister drove in just for the recital...just for Ellie! Best aunt EVERRRR! 

Eric gave Ellie flowers and took us all out for pizza....'cause this mama needed grease and cheese. We gave Ellie an "Ella Bella Ballerina" book as her gift for a great year of dance! 

At the end of the recital, we came back on stage with all the dancers for our curtsy and THEN SURPRISE!!! "POP!!" CONFETTI EVERYWHERE!!! EEEK!! We loved this equally, I think, as we jumped around in it, dancing, throwing it up high and over our heads, dancing, twirling, and jumping all in it just celebrating this accomplishment of this year together and perseverance through all that the devil wanted to do to ruin things in 2020. It was a blessing to do this recital alongside my daughter. I will deeply, dearly miss this next year but I cannot wait to also melt into the warm pride and joy of a parent watching their child growing more and more and becoming more talented, successful, grown, and happy most of all. I want to cheer her on in all the aspects of her life, primarily in her relationship with Jesus which I pray will be the biggest and most important part of her life. If you contemplate doing things like this with your child...just do it. I don't care what your reservations are....do it. No words can explain how special and rare and short lived these opportunities are with your child before they are grown. Grasp the moments. Wear the costume, be silly, put yourself out there, make your child smile. Bond. 

Here is to the next dance season upcoming and all the moments I get to cheer on and smile about my girl! Thank You, God, for blessing our 2020. 

Ellie's Lemonade Stand

 Ellie worked so hard to prepare for her very first lemonade and bake sale at her new stand her daddy and I built for her to have imaginative play time with. She was just so excited! She talked about it for days and sang about it too. Oh and honey, she was all about having PINK lemonade at this sale! It excited her so much! She absolutely couldn't wait. On the day of, she didn't waste any time preparing the brownies. She went to the pantry and got her boxes, got her chair for the island, and eggs from the refrigerator. She bakes so much she can crack an egg one handed and get no shell in the batter. She also pretty much knows the steps without me telling her. I made the Lemonade while she played upstairs and then she came down to get dressed in her cute little lemon romper. What a doll! 

We set her stand up at the end of the drive and set up shop with a cute little sign. 5:30 pm on the dot our first customers arrived. My grandmother and cousin showed up and offered their business. Ellie was shy for the first couple of customers but shortly got the hang of taking orders. She would ask, "Would you like some lemonade?" "Pink or yellow?" "do you want a brownie?" "How many?" And she would count them out while I poured the drinks. My friends and family helped me with the money because numbers are not my talent and y'all even the basic math just overwhelms me if I don't have pen and paper. But I can do English and Medicine all day long! Haha! 

My mom and dad had my nieces and nephews for the week and they came over to hang out. Ellie was so happy her cousins were there to participate with her. They were customers as well. We had so many wonderful friends, family, and neighbors to come pay a visit to our sweet girl and it made her really happy. It was a nice summer night and we were really touched by the love everyone showed us. It's kind of silly but the truth is, as a mommy, even the lemonade stand that you do with your child is just so important to the mommy heart. You want everything your child does to make them feel important, happy, successful, proud, and accomplished. And she felt all those things. Thank you those who came out!! We will have many more activities like this as she grows and it's so nice to have such a loving community. :)

Ellie's First Haircut

 I was so very excited and a little anxious when the day arrived for Ellie's very first haircut! She had just turned three years old. Her hair has grown so wonderfully without any cuts all her life, but it was time to shape it just a little so it can keep growing healthfully. I made and appointment for Ellie with my wonderful hairdresser, Jamie Reese at Capello Salon in Greenville. This woman works magic I swear, I really don't ever even have to tell her what I want or need, she just knows and rocks it.

I was nervous that Ellie would be too nervous about this new experience to sit still. I was afraid she would cry and scream and demand to leave. But on the contrary, Ellie sat in the booster seat placed in the salon chair, donned her fishy cape like a queen, and sat perfectly still. She had a very intense facial expression the entire time of skepticism and focus as she tried to observe what was happening and trying to be perfectly still. She rocked it. Done in 5 minutes. Bow in and lollipop in hand, Ellie was ready! Mimi (my mom) picked Ellie up downstairs and took her for Chick-fil-a as a special treat while Jamie then spruced up my hair that had not been touched in 8 months. (Thanks COVID). I collected little Ellie's baby hair for the baby book and beamed with pride and joy the remainder of the day so happy that my girl handled that like a champ! She was so cute, sweet, and happy. A big and happy first milestone!

Despite her facial expressions...which can be really intense..haha...I promise she was really happy. She is just so focused and observant and her face looks like she is concerned when she is taking in new things. But she really did enjoy it and talked about it for days!