Jambo

('Jambo' means 'Hello' in Swahili)

I'm not sure if I've mentioned how much I love, love, love our homeschool co-op.  I've loved how the children have been engaged about the countries we've visited thus far.  I've loved how the activity for the week has been played out by my kids once we've arrived back home, sometimes for days on end.  I've loved the challenge of learning about different places and weaving together aspects of history, culture, geography, and craft into a tiny 45 minute block.

Today our group learned some more about Kenya.  Last week, the children learned what the life of a typical Kenyan child might be like and finished their day by preparing and sharing a simple meal.  This week, we looked into symbolism that weaves its way into both fine art and utilitarian artifacts - how the shapes and colours used by a culture have special significance and learning about that significance so we could appreciate the story an artifact tells.

I started our discussion by showing a picture of the Kenyan flag.  We noticed the different colours and the shield and spear design in the middle.  We wondered why the country picked the colours it did.  Then, I shared the shortest history lesson I possibly could that explained the explorers, tradesmen, soldiers and settlers who migrated to the country at various times throughout its history and their influence and effect on the native Kenyan tribes.  The flag is directly linked to the country's history - you can see the flag and learn more about it here.

Then we talked about symbols in our own culture - what shapes, colours and animals might mean to us in North America.  The ages I was working with ranged from 4 to 10, so I picked pretty simple symbols - a heart, a dove, a dollar sign, a lion.  We compared this to what shapes, colours and animals might represent to one of the tribes that call Kenya home...the Maasai.  I found a wealth of information about the meaning of colours here.  Finally, before moving on to our craft, we looked at some pictures of Maasai artifacts and people (Living Tribes has some amazing photographs of tribes from all over the world) and took note of the colours and shapes used in the items. 

The children then dove into the craft of their choice...making a replica of a Maasai shield, mask or bead necklace.  Each of these projects required the same materials...cardboard and paint, and the design was up to them.  I made the pictures we looked at earlier available to the children to look at, and I shared copies of what the colours symbolized.  The children were free, though, to use the colours, shapes and symbols that meant something significant to them.  Instructions for the Maasai necklace were found in Super Simple African Art.

 

Another great day at homeschool co-op!

The wonder book

My daughter received The Seven-Year-Old Wonder Book by Isabel Wyatt for her birthday, way back in April.  Sadly, we've just gotten around to reading it now.  But my, what an adventure we've been on!  This book is packed with so much goodness...tales that mirror the seasons, gentle tales that remind us to listen to our conscience, and all-round, feel good tales that spark the imagination.  It definitely brings a sense of wonder to our before-bed reading time, and the world feels like a simpler and happier place.

The book is about a girl named Sylvia, who is not quite seven.  She meets friends of this world and the imaginary world.  And she has a gentle, kind mother who is a marvelous storyteller.  Often, after an eventful day or listening to a tale her mother has woven, she pulls out her wonder book from under her pillow and chants the magic spell to the Rhyme Elves.  Leaving the elves a blank page, she falls asleep and by morning, her clean page is filled with wonderful drawings and a poem, always based on the preceding story. 

This book is so good, in my daughter's eyes, that she too desired a wonder book of her own.  And a flurry of activity began...finding a blank book that would be just right for the Rhyme Elves, and memorizing the magic spell to summon them.  When all was ready, and the spell had been chanted, she left the book by our piano downstairs and headed for bed, hoping for a visit from the elves.

And they came! 

 

We decided that Sundays will be the day that we ask the Rhyme Elves to draw us a picture and write us a poem.  We're happy to welcome them into our home.

 



The family tree

We've continued to learn about different systems in the human body...I just haven't blogged about it much as of late.  This week, though, we've been working on a special project that we've invited our extended family to help us with.

You see, we're learning about the reproductive system.  And while we've read books like Amazing You!, Changing You!, and Did the Sun Shine Before You Were Born?, added body parts to the alien bodies hanging on our wall, and done some laid-back Q & A, it seemed like a bit of a stretch to find a good, non-invasive hands-on project to reinforce learning. 

So we dove into the world of genetics, dug into our family's history, and started on a quest to discover who we might resemble...where our unique traits came from.  To do this, I selected two traits for us to investigate - eye colour and ear lobes (eye colour because it can be an easier trait to remember and there's less debate about a person's eye colour than hair colour; and ear lobes because they can be easily seen in photographs).  Both these traits also follow a true dominant and recessive pattern, which makes them simpler to work with. 

We created a massive family tree (drawing, painting, colouring and embellishments courtesy of Nicholas).  Jaelyn and I cut out little squares for each person in our family, up to the great-grandparents' generation (lots of measuring going on here, to make sure the squares were the same size).  We asked our parents to do a trade with us...we provide supper and they provide information and photographs to help us uncover the mysteries of who might have influenced our physical characteristics.  We finished half of the family tonight and will finish the rest tomorrow.  After that, our family tree will hang on our wall. 

We were also able to make some predictions.   We expected that a couple who had blue or green eyes would have children with blue or green eyes - there should be no brown-eyed lads or lasses in that match.  As we added information about aunts, uncles, and cousins to our tree, we discovered this hypothesis was true. 

And it was fun to search through photographs - there was a thrill of excitement as we found out something about our relatives and rushed to add it to our tree.  Maybe not as exciting as finding a dinosaur fossil, but still exciting.  And nice to invite our extended family to a place at our homeschool table.

Club Day. The Birds of Prey Version.

We did it!  We finished the ornithopters today!  There was lots of slow, patient cutting of tissue paper and concentration as we connected all the pieces together.  There was a little of waiting for glue to dry.  There was some testing of the ornithopters, and fascination at watching the wings flap on their own (after the elastic that powers the whole thing was wound up, of course).  There was a bit of talk of pretending to be wizards, with the birds being a most wizardly accessory.  Then, I think, the clubbers decided that perhaps those birds should be handled quite carefully, and they were left to allow the glue to finish drying as the Clubbers burst outside to enjoy free time.

 

Walk in the woods

 

A beautiful day for a walk in the woods.  Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Club Day. The Nature Version.

There's a lot of inspiration for nature-related projects around this time of year.  I have a bit of a line-up of projects that would all be good for right this very moment, but only so much time before the weather becomes uncooperative.  Given the blustery days we've had and the abundance of leaves that have fluttered to the ground of late, I decided I couldn't wait another two weeks to make leaf tiles, which were a project featured in the 2013 Fall Living Education Journal from Oak Meadow.

There was so much in this project that was fun.  A scavenger hunt for leaves, mushing and manipulating clay, dreaming of what the tiles would look like when they were dry...oh, there was goodness at every turn.

While we didn't need to go far to find just-right leaves - tromping through our front yard was good enough - we still needed to be selective.  We were hunting for leaves that were not too big, yet not too small, combined with enough definition that they would leave a print behind when they dried and peeled out of the clay.  The leaves still needed to be pliable - the leaves that crackled under our feet were best left for raking into piles for jumping in.  Most of the clubbers chose leaves from the raspberry bush, the strawberry patch, the old elms, the baby maples invading my garden boxes, or the high bush cranberry.

Then there was the task of squishing the clay out of its brick shape and into something that could be rolled out with a rolling pin.  We used Sargant air hardening clay, which had a better consistency than other air hardening clays we've used in the past.  It needed just the slightest bit of water to be malleable enough to roll out. 

The project instructions described making a border from wood that was 1/2 inch thick.  I opted not to do this, partly because I didn't have any pieces that were that thickness, and partly because I didn't have enough clay for the Clubbers to make large tiles that were half an inch thick!  We simply cut away the edges with a butter knife and then proceeded with the rest of the instructions.
 
I don't know why I thought this project would leave a simple self-contained mess at best, but that was an error of judgment on my part.  If I were to do it again, I would do it all outside...that way, I could simply hose off any outdoor furniture that got clay or clay-coloured water on it.  And I would have lots of rags handy for spills or clay inadvertently getting here, there, and everywhere.  I would also think a little harder about buying the grey air hardening clay instead of the terra cotta that we used...the red clay really wanted to stain everything, although it is such a gorgeous colour.  Something to think about for next time!

 



I'm looking forward to seeing what lies beneath!

Remember this later!

We've been riding a cloud of bliss over the last week and a half.  What does bliss look like?  It's children actively engaged in the work they've selected for themselves - making jewellery, identifying birds, baking together with play dough, climbing trees, playing games, noticing the hue of the clouds at dusk.  It's children who give some of their time and their talent to helping others.  It's sweet cherub faces that greet the day, happy smiles as we move through our family's loose semblance of rhythm, and lingering hugs as we tuck the last little one into bed.

 

 

Why do I write this today?  Because there were days before today that were not blissful.  I'm quite sure there will be days after today that will feel dull and grey.  But holding on to these pictures of bliss...these pictures that clearly illustrate the benefits of homeschooling...these pictures that remind us on the bad days of why we choose to do what we do...they can help pull us through the trough so we can ride the next wave of bliss.  I write about it so that I have tangible proof to look back on in a moment of frustration or self-doubt.  I write about it so that I can feel more confident that we are, at times, living that ambitious overarching philosophy neatly typed once upon a time in a written education plan for the school board.  I write about it, hopeful that in several years' time a pattern will emerge that shows the scales have tipped to many more days of bliss than days of marginally getting by.  That we've found our groove.  That we've hit our stride.  That we "get it".

Maybe there are too many variables that will crop up that we are not agile enough to overcome when it comes to living our philosophy every day.  That little thing called puberty might throw a mighty curve ball.  Relationships may change.  Maybe the children will simply want to go back to school.  For now though, knowing a long winter is making its way south to our little prairie city, it helps to look on the bright side and know that bliss can happen here.  We've seen it.  It felt brilliant.