The Children's Hour by Annie

"Between the dark and the daylight,

When the night is beginning to lower,

Comes a pause in the day's occupations,

That is known as the Children's Hour."

*Longfellow

This poem has been making the cinnamon roll circuit of my mind lately and has finally arrived in the middle. The middle being where action takes place.

There was little I needed to revamp for school this semester, fall went very smoothly (despite a very thorny Rose). The only curriculum things I altered were spreading a week of grammar out to two weeks (filling in with more journaling and poetry), and adjusting a few things on Avonlea's checklist. Avonlea really loves languages and cajoled me to let her take Spanish. She also is very interested in calligraphy. So I bought a Spanish course and a calligraphy book and gave her free hand in them.

The only major change I added was the addition in my day of a Children's Hour. I ask things of my children all day. They, for the most part, obey without grumbling. So many times when they ask me to do something with them I have a legitimate excuse, "Sweetheart, my hands are covered in chicken grease right now," "I don't really think a bike ride in 30 degree weather sounds appealing," "I hate monopoly." etc. So....I told them on Sunday night, that I am setting aside 3-4pm every day for them. NOT for their education, NOT for their nourishment, NOT for their laundry or dust-balls, but for THEM.

So this week, Avonlea, Grant, and I finish afternoon school, get the babes out of quiet time and discuss what we are going to do with our hour. The first day we played sardines (like hide and seek) for the whole time, Tuesday we played red-light green-light, mother-may-I (which I discovered they had never heard of), and duck-duck-goose. Today, they wanted to bake brownies.

So for one hour, I am theirs exclusively.........and it's the best spent hour of my day.

Planning......cont. by Annie

I just came home from a helping a friend organize her home school stuff for the fall. It's so exciting. There's such a sense of peace when you've outlined some basic goals for the semester and lined everything up in it's place.

I had stated previously that I did school with Rowan first. These boxes entertained Rose when she wanted attention. I have a box of play dough things, one of rubber stamps and ink, a cork board with a hammer and shapes, magic sand, a box a matchbox cars, and a caddy of crayons, scissors, glue, etc. I also have a basket of old magazines that has occupied children in making collages for hours. They also like these things. Another big hit with them is when I trace their bodies on the big rolls of white paper and let them decorate themselves.
Here are the kids list's of things they do on their own. I used to write out the exact directions for each category but it took forever. Now, they just know to do a line of handwriting, a chapter of Bible, the History assignments that are on the board, their math page for the day, the next poem in their poetry book, etc. This list is great to have because there are days I'm running behind, but they don't need to be because they can get started on their stuff. The art tab has 10 page protectors in it to hold their art projects. At the end of 12 weeks, or on some subjects, the end of the school year, I empty the divisions into their grade folder in the filing cabinet.

It's always fun to work towards something. One goal that we work toward is having an open class-room night at the end of our semester. Last year we had the grandparents over and gave them a taste of what we do in school. We started with the pledge of allegiance and a song. The kids recited poetry, Bible, history, and geography. Rowan pointed out his continents and oceans on the map. They dissected sentences. We had a spelling bee with grandparents included. The kids displayed their art work, etc. It was tons of fun and such a good reward for all their hard work!

One Word By Annie

My friend had decided to home-school her kindergartner. As the fall approached her apprehension mounted, could she really do it? Finally she decided to go to a homeschooling conference where she hoped to get help. A homeschooling veteran of 20 years was there answering questions after her lecture. My friend waited in a long line while mentally listing all the doubts and questions she had about homeschooling.

She eventually made it to the front of the line and poured out her concerns to the home-school goddess, "What curriculum should I use, they all look good to me! What do I do with her siblings while I'm trying to teach? How much time a day should I spend teaching? Do you recommend starting a foreign language in kindergarten?" etc.

The woman listened silently and when the barrage had stopped she said calmly, "I have one word for you. It's the best advice I can give."

My friend waited wide eyed for the magic word that would solve all her home-school fears.

And the woman said, "Chill."

"Chill? As in.........?"

"As in, really, RELAX! It's kindergarten for crying out loud! Play games with her, read to her, talk to her. But realize that your attitude does far more than any curriculum and if she learns from you that school is fun, she'll believe it and learn without even trying. Good luck! Next!"

I thought this story was hilarious but I also thought it was extremely helpful. Now I have a 5th, 3rd and Preschooler, but it still holds true. If I'm relaxed and having fun teaching........they are relaxed and having fun learning. If I'm laughing, they're laughing. If I'm enthusiastic, they mirror that enthusiasm. There are days when I forget this, days when I get wound up tighter than a yo-yo, days I fail to impart my love for them and the math concept. But as Rose spills the paint, and Rowan writes his name backwards, and Avonlea shed martyrs tears over math, Grant can only think frogs, and my temperature is rising at an alarming rate, I remember one word, and I often say it out loud,
"Chill."