Tender Twigs

A Most Thoughtful Post

Many of you probably read Higher Up and Further In but in case you do not know this site I would like to direct you to her most recent post.

To spark your interest I offer the first paragraph.  Really this is what homeschooling is all about to me.  Thanks Linda.  I will be keeping this post close in my heart for a long time.

"There are two words that are the very legs upon which our homeschool stands. I borrowed them from Miss Mason. (Are you surprised?)  They are HABITS and IDEAS.  If a child has not learned good habits, he won't have the will power to do the digging needed to acquire knowledge from books.  So the instillation of good habits is foundational. Likewise, if a child is fed with a steady diet of facts rather than IDEAS, his interest will die and school will become drudgery for all involved."

Meaningful Work?

Yesterday I asked Citcat to fold some washcloths.  She amazed me by folding about dozen washcloths with near perfection.  You might notice the potty seat in the photo.  Citcat has been diaper free during the day for two weeks.  She has had very few accidents although I will add that we take the potty from room to room.  I received a good deal of grief from others about not potty training her sooner.  I just knew she would wake up one day and be ready.  My very verbal 2.5 year old woke up two weeks ago and said "I don't want to wear a diaper.  I want to use the potty"  Tomorrow is Computer Free Friday for me.  I anticipate a productive day and going to bed early.

Maybe-Maybe not?

I saw the idea above on this beautiful craft site.  Looking at all her photos makes me want to learn to sew.  Computer Free Fridays.  I might just finish the ironing!  I am not sure if I can do it but it is worth a try.  I will let you know.

Later Wednesday evening:  I was delighted to realize that tomorrow is not Friday although I am still going to try it on Friday. 

Where do you get your books?

We love to read books. We are avid library patrons and always have the maximum items checked on our family card.  Before Citcat came into our lives I worked as a field representative for the book fair division of Scholastic and then for a large children's bookstore.  For ten years I had a dream job.  I read for both jobs but never purchased books.  So Citcat comes along and alas we have one small shelf of books.  After two years she has over 750 books.  I have acquired more than 2/3 of them from ebay, library book sales, paperbackswap.com and the Goodwill.

I am truly grateful to the generous people who donate books to the Goodwill.  I find the greatest gems at the Goodwill.  One or two Saturdays (50% off day .25 paperback & .50 for hardbacks) a month I go to the Goodwill and buy books.  We live comfortably but there is no way we could afford to buy our books new.  So I shop for books and read reviews and book blogs.  Bringing quality books into our home is my newest hobby.  Here is a picture of the great finds from my latest visit to the Goodwill. 

It delights me to hear the gasps at library book sales when a person finds just the book they were searching for.  When I shop for children's books I find myself gasping quite a bit.  I found a copy of Leo Lionni's A Color of His Own.   We had the book from the library sometime ago and Citcat still mentions the book.  I knew one day it would show up at the Goodwill.  I was also able to add another Sandra Boynton book to our collection.  We were given a copy of Moo Baa La la la as a baby present and we have been collecting them every since.  I found a two Don and Audrey Wood books Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry.. and Quick as a Cricket.  We read Quick as a Cricket today and at the end of the book the child is standing in front of a great bulletin board of all the animals he compared himself too.  It brought to mind By Sun and Candlelight's bulletin board post. I found several Hello readers including I Am A Leaf and I Am a Seed and one of my favorites entitled Growl! Book About Bears.  I found several fun wintertime books to add to our Winter study,  A juvenile Time Life book about Ancient Civilizations.  I also found a charming small boxed set of fairy tales and a old library copy of a book I have wanted to read.  I love the soft pages of very old library books.  A couple of Dr. Seuss books and book of children's poetry.  I could go on and on but I'm sure it would become too boring.  I bought exactly 100 books on Saturday about 20 of them (not pictured) were for my paperbackswap.com collection.  Someday I will write a post about my dedication (obsession?) with the site.  I would love to hear where you get your books!

And if you are still with me:  I wrote a post similar to this one but probably better last night and just as I posted it my Internet slowed to a halt and I lost the post!

Sorting Beads

Citcat sorted beads into bowls.  She is able to sort by color and shape.  Although she does not like to string these beads, which is the intended purpose she really likes to sort them.  I am pretty sure that she learned her colors about the same time my mother gave her the beads.  We would play with the beads and name the color.  Here is a photo of the sorted beads.  (Thrilling isn't it?)

Next she transfered the beads from one bowl to another.  She carried each individual bead in a big spoon from one side of the room to another.  This took about fifteen minutes.  Fifteen glorious minutes when I played on the Internet and she was throughly engrossed.  Here is a picture of the beginning of the project.

Next we attempted patterning.  She did not quite get the concept which is kind of fun to have something to continue to work toward.  Sometimes she picks up things so quickly that I don't get any practice "teaching" her. Another exciting picture.

Lastly, she transferred the beads using tongs from one bowl to another.  She really liked using the tongs.  I think this is supposed to help develop the hand for the purpose of hand writing.  Can any one tell me the purpose of this activity?

I was fairly pleased with the mornings activities.  We usually spend the morning reading and reading some more.  I am trying to expand the learning activities beyond books.  I always welcome suggestions.