Celebration and Field Trip 2

Oh dear. I had such good intentions of updating this blog more often and then, well, life went on. What has been going on? Well, school! The schools on post here started back on August 31 and Indy and I celebrated "not going to 'regular' school." We went to a local cafe and had HUGE strawberry milkshakes. What a lovely (and delicious) way to celebrate homeschooling.
A few weeks ago we got together with our local hs group and went on a field trip. And what a field trip it was! We first met up at the Mauer Rathaus (city hall) where they have a small museum devoted to finds in the area, including the jawbone of the Heidelberg Man (which we visited on our first field trip).

Indy outside the Rathaus

Rathaus






The X on the photo marks where they found the jawbone:




After we left the Rathaus we went to the site where they found many of the remains. You can't see where the jawbone was found (it's on the other side of the mountain), but many things were found on this side as well.


From there we drove up to Messel just south of Frankfurt to visit their museum and the famous fossil pit.




This is the fossil of a very small ancestor of the horse. They were only 10-20 inches from the ground to their shoulder. IIRC, 74 of them have been found in the fossil pit.



The weather was no cooperating, but we didn't let that stop us. Just as we left the ticket office of the pit, the bottom dropped out of the sky. I tried to take photos, but it was raining so hard the pictures were all blurry. This is the group at the gates of the pit:


The pit itself:


Indy in front of the pit:

Our guide showing some of the recently found fossils. She said they find birds, beetles and bats almost daily, and about 1 crocodile a month. It's a busy place!


He was really excited. I promise.



The guide handed everyone a piece of fossil and told them to take a really good look at it.


Then she told them it was fossilized poop. The kids were all grossed out.


It was a great trip and we had tons of fun and learned an awful lot.

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!

The Egg-cano

It's funny how learning happens. Sometimes the funniest things can become a teachable moment and sometimes the funniest things can bring back something taught months earlier. Yesterday I was making Indy's breakfast and he was in the kitchen waiting impatiently watching. I was making him an egg and turkey bacon wrap (his favorite breakfast) when the steam building under his egg became too much and a small hole opened up to release it. Indy got CRAZY excited. Crazy, I tell you. He started telling me how it was just like what happens in the earth when a volcano explodes. He went on to explain about magma chambers, epicenters, shifting plates, vents, conduits and all manner of other things. We studied volcanoes in August of last year! I could not believe how much he remembered. I was so proud.
I would have taken a photo of what we termed the "Egg-cano" (it did look like a yellow volcano shooting steam) but Indy was hungry and impatient and I was afraid it might burn. And after the great taco shell fire of 2009 (taco shells can catch fire if they fall on the element, did you know that?) I didn't want to chance it.

Summer Break and still learning

Ah, summer break! No worksheets, no sight words, no lesson plans. Just relaxing, having fun and....learning? Wait, what? Yes, that's right, just because school is out, doesn't mean learning can't still happen. On our trip to Disney last week we went to The Land in EPCOT and road the boat ride through the garden where they grow most of the food they serve in the 2 restaurants they have (in the Land-there are obviously way more restaurants in EPCOT). At the end of the ride, tey tell you that if you'd like a guided walking tour of the gardens to check at the desk. Well, that just sounded interesting, so we decided to do it. I am so glad we did! It was really cool. They do all sorts of experimental growth, hydroponics, aeroponics (which I didn't even know existed), grafting, and other things I can barely remember. They're also working with NASA for experimental plants to be grown in space. It was all very Star Trek. :)

This is Harry, our very cool guide. I told him to smile for my blog and he was happy enough to do it. He's just graduated with a masters in botany and works primarily in the grafting garden (IIRC).


This is an herb garden. Very vertical. Great for small spaces. Also, there's no dirt in the containers. Just sand and nutrients.

Pepper "trees"


These pumpkins are grown from a single vine (looks like a tree). While they are young, they put these plastic cases over them, so they grow in the shape of Mickey! They also do this for the cucumbers so when they are sliced, you have perfect little mouse ears in your salad. Man, they think of everything!
This brussel sprout plant has never been in dirt. It gets rotated through this trough like thing (you can see the conveyer the background) that sprays water and nutrients on the roots as it passes through. Neat.
Indy got to feed the fish. I didn't tell him we would be eating the fish later. Yikes.

This is a tomato "tree" which was amazing. The tomatoes off of it were delicious too.



We had fun and learned so much! What a great summer learning experience. Indy didn't even know he was learning. Awesome.

A little stressed and a little exhausted

Home schooling is hard work! It can be exhausting (for me). In addition to hiding the mess in a closet or under a bed keeping the house clean, I have to teach the boy. Some days are good and others I feel like I'm just running face first into a brick wall over and over and over (and over). I've decided to quit stressing over his reading, because it will happen, but there are days when it just makes me crazy (though I know it shouldn't). In addition, we've recently added some activities. On Tuesday and Friday he takes German lessons across the river for 90 minutes. This is actually pretty good for me because I can run to Aldi and do some grocery shopping and maybe (maybe) slip off to Mantei for a chocolate croissant and a little time to read. Heaven. On Thursday he has violin lessons over at PHV. Unfortunately neither of these things are within walking distance, so we have to drive. I'd much rather walk, to get in a bit of exercise, but what are you going to do? I'm worn out just driving one kid around to 2 activities. I don't know how parents with multiple kids in multiple activities do it. I need a nap. Seriously.

Now I'm trying to decide what to do next year. It's not really next year for us though because learning is continuous and we take mini breaks throughout the year, so there will be no big summer break before the next year starts. This year we've really kind of done our own thing (while keeping to educational standards), but I've realized I'm just not organized enough for that. I need a plan. Preferably a plan that is done for me because I'm really just too lazy busy to make lesson plans. I'm debating between 2 different curriculums next year: Sonlight and Moving Beyond the Page. Both are good for different reasons. I'm going to have to decide within the next few weeks to make sure I get everything in time to start in mid-July. Ack!

My little virtuoso

Indy has started violin lessons! He just started a few weeks ago, but is already playing very simple songs. He absolutely loves it. His teacher, Christof (isn't that an awesome name?) plays viola with the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra. He's amazing! His American students gave a recital 2 weeks ago and Indy thought it was fantastic. He can't wait to perform in the recital next year. Look how cute he is with his little 1/4 violin.

Too Long!

Oh, it has been too long since I posted. We're still schooling (obviously) and some days are great, others...not so much. Reading. READING! We're still working on the reading. Some days I think we're just about to crest the hill, we roll back down it. I know it will happen, but I wish it would be sooner rather than later.
Indy is amazing at math. We've already moved on to 2nd grade math. He takes forever because he likes to talk and he's meticulous about getting the answers right, but he can do it. He has a friend in 2nd grade (closing in on 3rd) at the local PS, and he's doing more complicated math than she is. He can even do simple multiplication in his head. He's 6! He can do math faster in his head than on paper. I think having to write it down slows him up. Isn't that funny? He's also great with math concepts, like odds/evens, greater than/less than/equal to, length and capacity. Telling time on a real clock (not digital) is almost second nature to him.
Vocabulary is another area where he excels. His vocabulary is astounding. People cannot believe how many words he knows and how well he uses them. His talk is peppered with words that most 6 year old's wouldn't use: predict (or prediction), manufacture, investigation, catastrophic, congeal, fluctuating, contagious, complication, situation, centralized, extraordinary, epicenter, indigenous, and thousands of others. He asks me daily what words mean, words he's heard someone use or heard on TV, and then makes is a point to use them throughout the day.
He's got a phenomenal (one of his favorite words) memory. The boy forgets nothing. He'll tell me he doesn't remember something, but that's just him being lazy (a problem I have with him), but when I tell him he can't do something fun until he answers my questions, he "suddenly" remembers the answer. He usually answers verbatim from what I've read to him. It's pretty impressive. He remembers things I don't and I'm the one reading them. Once he starts to read (please, let it be soon) I don't think there will be any stopping. He loves to be read to and takes great pleasure in picking out words he recognizes.
He started violin lessons this past week. It was so flipping cute! He's very excited and has an ear for music. He gets that from M, who was a music major in college. I walks around the house humming classical music. Isn't that funny? I probably have one of only a handful of 6 year old's who walks around humming Beethoven's 5th, The 1812 Overture, Fur Elise, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, or Greig from Pyre Gynt. It's pretty funny when he does it in public, because he gets a lot of stares.
Overall, I'm incredibly proud of how well he's done this year. We're taking the month of June off (we'll be in the States), but will start up with 2nd grade after the 4th of July. I'm going in a new direction next year, but I'll talk about that later. And I'll try to update more often.