In honor of the folk hero, John Chapman, aka, Johnny Appleseed, our theme for Spirals today was Apples. We had a great time! We started peeling, coring, and slicing the apples around 9:30.

We followed that up with some active games and free play, returning after about 20 minutes to make the pie crust. The girls each took turns stirring the dough while Susan read them How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.

Later we attempted a brief circle time. The kids weren't really into it.
So we had lunch instead.

Susan did read them the story of Johnny Appleseed while they ate.

Finally we came home to eat our "hard work."

We have been keeping pretty busy the last week and a half or so. It's been wonderful! Lots of errrand-running, stops at the park, and visits with friends. A few library visits, reading together, narration, writing, and a bit of artwork thrown in for good measure. Jade has been writing letters more and more, almost always out of her own impetus. Occasionally she wants to do school and I'll get the "paperwork" out for her, and every so often it's my suggestion, but it's not much time. Bookwork tends to be too boring, imo. :-)

We did a bit with dinosaurs last week. Susan helped the kids with a dinosaur egg hunt, then the kids cracked them open to find tiny dino "fossils." At our Cooperative Academy Day (CAD) they talked about plants and other animals that were around during the time of the dinos. We also read some books at home, though nothing too in depth.

The previous CAD was Madeline. Lori and I did it and it was exhausting! Whew! We did circle time, read the story Madeline, worked on some geography, colored France's flag, made croisants, had snack and free play, and did other things that I am sure are slipping my mind now! It was great!

I'll be trying to tie in some of this weeks CAD with the one two weeks ago. We're going to do an apple theme. A few of my planned activities:

• Free Play,
• Make an apple pie,
• Snack,
• Read about Johnny Appleseed,
• Circle Time with Poems, Songs, Games and a Story- How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Majorie Priceman. (I'm not sure which story we'll read first, but I hope to read both to the kids.)
• I'm going to get a map of Europe and point out England, France and Italy, and I'd also like to get a US map to put up on the wall, where we can find CA and Vermont.
• As I read the story, I'll encourage the girls to pantomine it.
• We'll finish up with lunch, art, and free play.

Of course, I plan to be pretty flexible, but I hope this is about the right amount of activity. The girls tore through the academic stuff we did on the 12th.

I was thinking it might be fun to list some of the books Jade picked out at the library this week:

• Mercury: A True Book by Larry Dane Brimmer
• Tyrannosaurus Rex by Millicent Selsam
• Dinosaur Tree by Douglas Henderson
• Flying Reptiles In the Age of Dinosaurs by John Kaufmann
• How Do you Know What Time It Is? by Robert E Wells
• I picked out Alison's Zinnia by Anita Lobel (a LOVELY ABC book.)

She also picked two magazines:

• Hopscotch for Girls, April-May 2003, and
• Hopscotch for Girls, June-July 2003

I think it's neat how diverse her book choices are. Sometimes she decides not to read a book for one reason or another, but I am so glad I'm giving her the right to decide on books herself. She always look through all the books herself though, and sometimes tells me, "I already read that ook mom!" O-kay then...

I am thrilled to announce that Jade now knows how to write her name. Her letter comprehension is slowly but steadily improving.

I thought I might follow the classical model of education presented in The Well-Trained Mind. I read the book this Spring and found it rather inspiring, if a bit over-much. I liked the idea of following history as a central theme of our curriculum. I liked that the main focus for K-4 and K-5 was phonics and some math. Jade didn't care for the idea. She wasn't terribly keen on learning to read, or rather, on being TAUGHT to read. So I backed off, and I put Phonics Pathways away for the time being. Next I thought, "Oh! Saxon Math K sounds like a match! I can follow these directions." Again, Jade put me in my place. She'd like to play with the manipulatives, yes, but no, she did not want to do any book work.

Jade definately has a mind of her own. She does her own thing, in her own time. I didn't want to be an unschooler. Yes, the idea had appealed to me when she was wee, but as she grew, routines and schedules grew more appealing. "A curriculum!" I thought. "That's the answer! A curriculum will make it all so much easier and homeschooling so much more palatable." Because, of course, staying home with two kids can be mighty tiring and stressful at times.

It's become apparent that we will not be doing school-at-home, at least not this year. We'll be focusing on the underlying skills needed for academic success, and finding way to incorporate "academics" into everyday, "real" life.

I don't know how the year will turn out. I know we have a "schedule" and are constantly working on developing a routine. I hope we are all happy at the end of the year and don't end up at one anothers throats.

I am guessing that library visits (and games!) will be a major focal point of our "academics." Jade has begun venturing into the children's non-fiction section at the library. To be honest, it scares the hell out of me. I never know just what book she's going to decide she wants to check out, and I don't know that I want to be "required" to delve into the stuff she picks out. A lot of it seems boring to me, and I just don't feel all that interested. How do I support an interest in something if I think it's going to be a drag? And how can she be picking out non-fiction when she can't even read yet? "She's just picking books at random!" my inner grump complains.

Anyway, this week she picked out Wanna Bet?: Science Challenges to Fool You, Magic... Naturally!, and Red, White and Blue, and Uncle Who? So I guess next week we'll take about mechanics, Newton's First Law of Motion, and fristion, and do some "magic tricks." I think we'll also examine the US flag, maybe color a picture of it, and read a few pages from Red, White and Blue, and Uncle Who? Of course we're camping until Monday, Tuesday we have a playgroup, and Friday is our SPIRAL academy day. This is a bit daunting.