First week back and a field trip

Ah, school! We are officially back session and so far, so good. We are using Sonlight this year and we are enjoying it. I've had to do a lot of tweaking to it, but it's nice to have most stuff just laid out for me. I open the schedule book and off we go. Heaven! There is a lot of stuff included in this program, but I've already started supplementing it. This is a Christian curriculum, but I actually prefer not to include religion in our homeschool. Why did I choose Sonlight then? Well, the fact that it's literature based and comes with fantastic books is the main reason, but again, having the schedule laid out was a HUGE plus. The biggest disappointment with the program was that the first 17 weeks of language arts (reading done by Indy) was from the Bible. Indy was so not happy about this. He wanted to read all the other books that were included. He knows his Bible stories and really, really, really did not want to read nothing but the Bible (seriously, every day for 17 weeks!). I knew this would not instill a love of reading in him, which is what I'm really trying to do this year, so I ordered a bunch of basic readers from Amazon, took out one of the blank scheduling sheets Sonlight so thoughtfully provides and made up my own LA program. He's so happy with it. I did leave in some of the Bible stories for him to read because he should be well versed in certain stories (for cultural references if nothing else), but 17 weeks? No thank you.
I've also added a section on world religions (using The Usbourne Encyclopedia of World Religions) because I think it is important for him to know about more than just Christianity. He finds the concept of other religions really interesting. We're also supplementing a world cultures program (using Children Just Like Me). He loves CJLM. I find it funny because it was published in 1994 and the fashions are early 90's awesome.
We're currently reading Charlotte's Web for our read aloud and it is great. Story time is his favorite time of the day. We leave the school room to go cuddle up on the sofa and read. I know I'm going to cry though. Charlotte dies, people! She dies! Hope I didn't ruin that for you. ;)

On Friday we took a field trip downtown (I promised him a field trip for our first week) to the Kurpfalz Museum. The jawbone of the Heidelberg Man is there and as we're working on prehistoric stuff (well, not yet, but we will) I thought it would be fun. He loved it! Unfortunately they don't let you photograph inside the museum (boo!) so I couldn't take any cool shots inside.

Indy waiting at the bus stop for the number 29 to the Bizmarkplatz. He's very excited.


Here we are!


We stopped for lunch at a cafe first (priorities people!). Indy ordered a Margherita pizza (cheese and basil). Look how big that thing is!


I had 2 bites! Indy ate the whole thing!


Outside the museum in the courtyard.

After we saw all the cool stuff (and there is lots of cool stuff there, including artifacts from when HD was a Roman encampment), we went to the cafe that is in the courtyard for a little desert. Indy loved the fountain.


In addition to some postcards we bought to show what we'd seen (since I couldn't take pictures-bitter much?) he HAD to have the Emperor's ring. He wore it all day at the Roman Fest the next day and told everyone he was the ruler. He's so humble, my boy.

Something he liked more than the fountain and the ring:


By the time we headed home, it was about 5pm and the evening entertainers were coming out to make their money. This guys was awesome! The 'dancing' puppet cracked us up.


The musicians were really good, but the dancer was a bit loopy. She kind of scared me. Plus her dancing style totally didn't match the music. Whatever.

There were actually about 7 more entertainers out, but I decided not to take pictures of them all. If you take photos, you kind of have to give them money, and well, some just weren't that good.
All in all, it was a great field trip. We saw tons of cool stuff and it helped him to relate more to the stuff we've been reading about. Go field trips!

What we do

We work hard most days. Indy is making great progress despite the fact that he still can't read. Sigh. Here's a glimpse at our day.

Indy putting his spelling words in alphabetical order. The blue thing there is his "office." It is a great reference tool for him.



Being silly, showing off his Ancient Mesopotamia post card. Didn't he do a nice job coloring?



Here's our board where each day I write down daily info, and the weather, which Indy loves to report on. BTW, einundzwanzig is twenty-one in German and Mittwoch is Wednesday.


And here's the board the next day. Indy decided to "decorate" it while I made lunch. I could hear him giggling, but I had no idea what he was up to.


Let's zoom in for a closer look:


We finished up Mesopotamia last week and started Egypt this week. He is over the moon about this. He loves Egypt. We'll probably study it for at least another week (maybe 2) before moving on to Ancient Greece. Yesterday, we learned about Egyptian home life. He was interested and asked a million questions (thank goodness for the internet!). We decided that it would be great fun to have an Egyptian meal for dinner. Oh, it sounds easy, but really, not so much. First off, finding Egyptian food is HARD. We finally had to compromise and have a late Egyptian meal after the Greeks and Romans had introduced them to some new foods. We had falafel in pita with lettuce and a yogurt sauce, flat bread with hummus, dates, nuts and melons. We sat on cushions on the floor around a low table and talked about Egypt while we ate everything with our hands. It was great fun. M was looking at me like I'd lost my mind when he saw me cooking falafel, but once he tried it, he really liked it. He actually enjoyed the meal more than we did I think. Who knew? Indy loved the dates. He's never had them before. He asked me like 10 times before he ate them though if I was SURE they weren't poisoned. Why? Remember the monkey that ate a poisoned date meant for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark? That's why. I assured him they were poison free and he tucked in.
After the meal, Indy bounced up and went to play, while M and I struggled to get off the floor. We felt so OLD! We laughed at how, when we were in college, we used to sit on the floor by choice. We eschewed perfectly good furniture to sit on the floor. We loved sitting on the floor. Now we sit onthe floor for 30 minutes and we aching and creaking like 90 year olds.

And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again

Ah, the holidays. Fun, family, togetherness. Isn't it great? I think so...most of the time. I'm sure we've all heard It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas eleventy-billion times and sing every word verbatim. It's running through your head now, isn't it? Your welcome.
On the radio and TV for the past 2 weeks (well, the ones in English anyway), they've been giving parents suggestions on what to do to keep the kids occupied until school starts back after the holidays. I have to say I've never really given it much thought before, but now I'm wondering why it's such a chore to have your kids home all day? They make it out to be such a rough thing. Poor parents, they can't cope with their own children for 2 weeks. Home school parents are with their kids all the time and rarely do they end up in the loony bin. Okay, maybe a few (I could be one of them one day). Why are people so dependent on school to keep their kids occupied? Let me tell you that I do NOT keep Indy occupied 24/7. If he's bored, he has plenty of toys, books, games, whatever, to do. I'm his mom, not his entertainment director. Ooooh, now I'm totally imagining myself like that woman on The Love Boat....Julie? Was that her name? Whatever. I'm curious as to why people think children must be entertained or occupied. Sometimes life's most wonderful moments happen in unoccupied moments. I am not saying that because I'm with my kid all the time I'm a better parent (believe me, I am flawed beyond measure), but spending a whole day, a weekend, a week or even a month with my child doesn't strike terror in my heart.