Zayne's a winner and how skiing is work

Zayne was so proud to receive first place for the Scouts Pinewood Derby tonight. Yeah Zayne! Dan's hard work paid off.
I haven't done any posting for awhile. I know you all must be "pining" for my updates. In short, this is what we've been up to since November: holidays trips, homeschooling, skiing, visiting family in Utah, loving being with family, homeschooling, skiing, looking at houses, getting frustrated looking at houses, homeschooling, skiing, looking at lots, getting frustrated at the lack of lots, homeschooling, skiing, selling some of our Poodles, homeschooling, skiing and not much else.

Ah. . . the joy of frolicking through fresh fallen frosty flakes brings me such peace and exhileration at the same time. Since the skiing season began I feel that there is more sunshine beaming into our lives as it is one of our favorite family past times. I must admit that skiing on weekdays was one of the reasons we opted to homeschool. The children and I have even started XC skiing which has been interesting. After taking Zayne for the first time he stopped after 20 minutes and panted, "I thought this was going to be fun, but this is work." Hopefully they will stick with it.
Devon Zayne, Dan and Joshi at Alta
Devon getting to know his local snow.

Playing with the cousins in Deer Valley
Joshi

homeschool drudgery

I am using Homeschool Tracker to try to be more organized this year. Time will tell if the two us us will get along. I down loaded it free from www.homeschooltracker.com

organization. . . ugh

This is the start of another school year and you'd think I'd have the organization thing down by now. Ugh. I am looking for a program that I can put in my course schedules that adjusts to missing days and making up days. I want a program that shows me how many more lessons we have to do before the end of the semester. I know a program like this is out there; I just cannot find one that I like. I downloaded one last spring, but alas, I cannot find any record of it on my computer or through the google search engine. Any hints from you other homeschool mothers?

birds and turds

The thick, sweet, intoxicating scent of wild honeysuckle was ever present when I came home from NYC, as was the thick bird turds on our cars. Dan, being the super father he is, made Blue Bird boxes with Joshi and Zayne. Obviuosly they did a fine job because a pair of Blue Birds quickly made their nest in one. The kids got a kick out of seeing the four eggs they laid. Now there are two for some reason.

We all thought this was a wonderful, warm fuzzy, educational thing until the parental pair decided that their favorite resting spot is on our cars. I had no idea little Blue Birds can poop that much in one day.

Mount Vernon

lifetime love affair

As a child I was not a reader. I didn't dislike reading; I just couldn't hold still long enough to finish anything. I think that is the same reason my mother gave up on me learning to play the piano. Reading a book didn't come to my mind as something to entertain myself. I wanted to play soccer, ride a bike, and play, and play, and play. So, it thrills me to see my children becoming devout readers. The reading gene certainly comes from the Kirkham side of the family. I tease them, and it is true, that they have already read more books than I did before I graduated from high school. It also is satisfying to see my children enjoying this pass time for it is a skill and desire that I strove to develop within them since infancy. My current favorite trick is to stratigically leave books that I want them to read on the couch or any other noticable place. I have to bite my tongue many times when I find them reading and they should be doing something else because I had set them up.
Joshi and Zayne have also been good example to me of how to squeeze in a read. Typically they have a book in the car to read while we drive or if we get stuck somewhere. Also, they leave books here and there through out the house and are handy to sneak in a few pages in between classes. I have found them reading in the bath, in trees, in the bathroom, perched on the kitchen counter and cirled up with the dogs.



I love to have them see me read. Most of the time they too go grab a book. Zayne sometimes wants to read what I am reading. For the past couple weeks I have been reading what they read. Sharing their books with me excites them. Reading all those books that I should have read as a child has been fun. I have also gained a great appreciation for juvenile literature.

There is a Kirkham family rule, which Dan has exempted himself from, that you cannot see a book based movie until you read the book. So in the past couple weeks we've raced through the "Water Horse," "Spiderwick Chronicles," "Nancy Drew," and "The Chronicles of Narnia." Well, Zayne is done with the prior and I am on book #2. He puts me to shame. Out of all the books so far, my children love the books from the "Redwall" series, by Brian Jacques. I hope they continue their love affair with reading through their lifetime.

as you like it

While Dan was on his way to the mountains and tropical forest of Ecuador, the children and I went to see Shakespeare's "As You Like It" performed by the Richmond Shakespeare Company. Joshi has been studying this play with some other students for the past six weeks. The book the teacher used was "No Fear Shakespeare" which is a marvelous way to read Shakespeare for both young and old. On one side of the paper is the original script and on the other it is written out in modern language. Joshi loves it. Another good thing about these books is that they relatively cheap.

The play was okay. Joshi was bothered by how they strayed from the original story. I am looking forward to going to the American Shakespeare Center this week, http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/ The set is supposedly just like the Globe, so we will eat on our hard wood benches that surround the performance. Zayne shouldn't squirm too much while he has fried chicken in his lap and Joshi will be pleased that they perform the plays exactly as they did in Shakespeare's time.

Delving into Shakespeare this year has been surprisingly enjoyable. So far, I feel that we only have sampled a bit of what he has to offer. My only other exposure, aside from movies, was in my 8th grade Literature class where we read Romeo and Juliet. I think the fact that I thought both characters were stupidly shortsighted tainted me somewhat against the writer, plus the whole class was dull. Zayne says Shakespeare is all about love, lies, death and murder. Maybe he is right. I am just glad he is able to have some knowledge of the writings to form an opinion. I would add to Zayne's list cross dressing which seems to be a popular side theme is his plays.

For those of you who are planning on introducing The Bard to your wee ones take a look at our battle plan and see what you would like or not like to incorporate into you own plan.

1. Read picture books with the plays simplified for young readers. Act excited and make this time a fun snuggling time with Mom or Dad. Let them slow the story down to ask questions. The point is to understand, mull over and experience the story, not just get through it. Reading these stories provokes a lot of questions about human nature for young thinkers. Be patient and enjoy the time snuggling and conversation.

Bruce Coville does a great job with these short stories. http://www.amazon.com/Hamlet-Bruce-Coville/dp/0803727089

2. Videos can be an added benefit if they do not deviate to much from the real story line. Scheshinger puts out some good ones, (as well as many other educational programs). Libraries should have several different adaptations to choose from.

3. Jump in with one of his short comedies. Children loved the lightheartedness of these comedies and, at least for my children, they do not get as excited over the more murderous plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth.

4. An intermediate interpretation of the plays is an other option. We read Charles and Mary Lamb's "Tales from Shakespeare", put out by Puffin Classics. This is easier than reading the plays straight up (unless you have former knowledge of Shakespeare), but I found that I still have to do a lot of explaining because it was first published in 1807 and my children, 8 and 10 yrs old, do not understand all of the wording or phrasing therein. But, do not what I said scare you. Their book is still great. The brother and sister writing duo retell the plays in story form while not losing the feel of Shakspeare's creative language.

Tales from Shakespeare:
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Shakespeare-Puffin-Classics-Charles/dp/0613519019/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208664077&sr=1-5


5. Skip over parts if your kids start getting the "glassy eyed" look or the content is too graphic or sexual. I do the same thing reading the The Bible to them. Knowing who begat who is not necessary for their salvation.

With the "No Fear Shakespeare" Joshi can read on her own and get the benefit of the original, colorful language. Of course she can't write a twenty page discourse about her readings, but the point is she is actually enjoying her reading, excitedly shares with me things from the story and is getting the main idea and the beauty of this guy called The Bard of England. She doesn't like Romeo and Juliet either.

No Fear Shakespeare:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?ie=UTF8&rs=1000&keywords=no%20fear%20shakespeare&rh=n%3A1000%2Ck%3Ano%20fear%20shakespeare&page=1

yorktown

Last weekend we went to York Beach and Yorktown. It was fun to was the children run around on the beach, but Brrrr! It was cold on the river. Visiting historic places and battle fields excite me. I do not mind letting my children see this and am pleased to see sparks of this excitement in them also. The beach was still the best part to them.

zayne's giant

Last fall Zayne found a little treasure. He proudly showed me his rare finding after he brought it home on a stick. It was a rather large chrysalis. Though I did not have much hope for it lasting the winter in his room, I consented to his desire to keep and "study" it. Mothers always have to give into the educational argument. A plastic container was our little morphing friend's home. Regularly Zayne checked on the little guy as he waited and waited. Last night Zayne's pet hatched and it was a moth. He was so excited he had to call us while we were at the concert to let us know.

This morning I was surprised to see how large the moth was, about 4" x 2.5" prompting Zayne to name him Giant. I loved the designs on Giant. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ helped us identify the little guy as Antheraea Polyphemus, from the silkworm family. The site was informative and we learned a few things about Mr. Antheraea Polyphemus, which I won't bore you with. However, I will tell you that the lepidopterists that run the site did not have our Giant living in our county, so we email them about our sighting and attached a picture. We are all excited to hear back from them.

Giant stayed outside where we laid him all day long, never moving a centimeter. We were thrilled to discover that our little night creature flew away after sunset.

Update:

The lepidopterists over our area responded and has added Zayne's moth to the data base. Zayne is thrilled with the honor of finding the first Antheraea Polyphemus in Central Virginia.

Giant ate up his casing after hatching. These are the leaves left that surrounded the chrysalis. We found out that these guys do not eat as adults and mate within an hour after hatching. Most likely, Giant will not have any descendants since he spent his first night in Zayne's bedroom.

Homeschooling on the Road

Two weekends ago our family was riding in Dan's car when one of my friend's, Annelise, songs came on. It made me miss her so I said, "I really need to visit Annelise." My super-duper-wonderful-supportive husband said something like, "Sounds good. When do you want to go?" After thinking about it I discovered that this week would be the best time for me and the kids to go. Annelise happily welcomed us after I called her Sunday night. I was on the road Tuesday morning. Ah . . . spontaneity, the beauty of homeschooling and a remarkable husband.
We spent Tuesday evening and Wednesday seeing The Smokey Mountain National Park. Tuesday brought severe storms in the mountains with tornado warnings for the county. It was truly amazing to see the amount of run off that the storm caused. Waterfalls and torrents plummeted down the mountain sides. After the Storm ceased we drove up a little "holler", or canyon. The river was almost up to the road in areas as it raged beyond its boundaries. We all had a thrilling time playing aside the roaring river and its mossy banks. I wasn't surprised later to find out that this region is dangerous for flash floods.
The next day we drove to the top of the Smokies, took pictures of cascades, waterfalls, and the 6 foot Rhododendrons and of course enjoyed the view of the misty peaks. Can I call them peaks after living in the Rockies? On the way down we picked up some hitch hikers who were trekking the Appalachian trail from Georgia to Maine and needed to resupply in town. They got pelted in the storm. In the lowlands we drove along some rivers. While sitting on some rocks and gazing at the river we saw a river otter scamper across a rock on the opposite bank, then disappear into the water, never to resurface to our sight. That was the highlight of the day. Joshi and Zayne are somewhat infatuated with otters because of the characters in the Redwall book series. They had just purchased stuffed animal otters in the gift shop and were holding them at the time of the sighting. I failed to mention that Joshi, the biggest otter fiend, missed the excitement because she did not want to get out of the car. I felt bad for her. She talks like the otters in the books. She writes her own tales about otters. Maybe we'll see another in Oregeon. Our Smokies' tour ended in The Cove where the park preserved part of a mountain settlement after they kicked the settlers out. It was on to Nashville after that. Joshi and Zayne were dying to see Annelise.

Annelise is such a fun, happy person to be around. It was a joy to be with her. We mostly hung out, chatted, giggled and stayed up late like we were in high school again. There were plenty of things to do and see in Nashville, but I get so tired and achey hobbling around on these crutches, so I picked just a few things to see. Annelise took us on a driving tour of the Music City during a sleet storm. People were standing outside in it waiting to see a concert at the Wild Horse Saloon. Fun and crazy folks.
The morning after the storm I had planned to go to the Nashville Temple. I called ahead to make sure that they were open. They were but, the 8 am session was cancelled. Another sister and I did sealings with the temple workers until the 10 am session where it was just me, another guy and the temple workers. I mention this only because it truly was a unique experience. The Nashville temple is one of those small temples, 10, 000 sq ft, no laundry, everything is very simple. With the smallness of the building, me being one of two patrons, the whole experience was very intimate and personal. Also, when else can you hang out and chat with the temple president and his wife?
That's an eel betwen our heads.
Saturday night we went to the Aquarium restaurant across from the Grand Ole Oprey. I felt like a kid "oo-ing" and "ah-ing" at all the sharks, rays, eels and fish. It was even better that Annelise was beside me doing the same. Joshi and Zayne lost interest in the fish before I did. What? That surprised me. Outside the Grande Ole Oprey people were dressed up like the original hosts. Joshi wondered why one lady had a tag hanging off her hat. My children not knowing who Pearl was made me feel old. It was like the first time they saw an electric type writer and did not know what it was. The Grande Old Oprey's show was fantastic. Some golden oldies performed as well as new favorites. Joshi and Zayne's favorite performances were Lee Greenwood's "Proud To Be an American, " some fun blue grass ditties, and the energetic performance of the Charlie Daniel's Band. When they played "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" the crowd went ecstatic as did Joshi and Zayne. Rosin dust and bow strings were flying through the air as Charlie fervently attacked his fiddle. Yee-haw! Back at the house, Annelise made the night even better when she got out her guitar and sang the children to sleep. We made it home Sunday night, giving us plenty of time to prepare for homeschool on the morrow. I must admit that I prefer homeschooling on the road.
The three of us doing history at Annelise's House.

cute things

Zayne cracks me up sometimes and I just have to write about it. There are times when he does not speak like a normal eight year old with his word usage. Like this morning he was "transfixed" on his food. Sometimes he finds a situation "plausible." Once in awhile he mispronounces a word but uses it right. I think that it safe to presume that he gleans these words from his reading. Zayne likes to read a lot, an awful lot. If he gets in trouble we sometimes take away his reading privileges. Let it be known that the other side of this reading monster is a video game fiend. It is like his cocaine and there is never enough of it. But don't worry, we monitor the cocaine intake. I wonder why games and books can keep him rapt in attention while staying on task writing is so difficult for this cute little guy? Using the Institute for Excellence in Writing has helped tremendously with that challenge though. The program has helped him organize his writing details before putting them on paper.

Another thing about Zayne that makes me smile is watching and listening to him play. Watching children play in their very own fantasy worlds is always delightful, but adding sound to that just makes it even more endearing. Of course he does the typical guns blasting, bombs exploding and people yelling noises, but he also sings. It is more common to find Zayne playing by himself singing than playing quietly. What does he sing? Whatever is in his head be it of another’s composition or his own. He loves to rewrite songs to make the lyrics comical. It truly is adorable, especially because he has a higher pitch voice singing. He has done this for years. As a toddler he would often start singing in the mornings before even opening his eyes. That would melt any mother’s heart. For about a year we heard “Baa-Baa Black Sheep” and “The Farmer in the Dell” every day. Yet, he has no desire to sing in a choir or solo in front of others. I hope he keeps this wonderful singing habit for years to some.

I had a "Mommy Payday" yesterday. Its that little yet proud, warm fuzzy moment when your child shows you that he actually is internalizing your teachings, she is expanding on them and making them her own, you glimpse the adult they are becoming and all of which reinforces to your heart that your are doing a good job with your children. Zayne and I were talking about faith for a cub scout badge. When asked if he knows of anyone who has displayed faith he smiled, put his arms around my neck, sweetly looked into my eyes and said, "You Mommy. You have faith in me for when I grow up. That is why you do school and read with us. You know, for when I am older and on my own." My heart almost burst at his words. I hugged that adorable child like I hadn't seen him in a week. Those dear words came on a bad homeschooling day. I actually had thrown in the towel and opted to read books with the kids on the trampoline while basking in the sun rays of a rare warm winter day.

A few days ago I asked Zayne to eat something more filling than a piece of toast for lunch. He lovingly replied, "But Mom, I like to put Grammi Jam on my toast because I think of Grammi while I eat it. And it fills me with love." I let him eat the Grammi Jam and toast.

Joshi is my writer and always has been. She was "writing" books before she even knew all her letters. She has probably filled more journals in her 10 years of life then I have in my 34 years. We are still working on our spelling and grammar, but she too has improved with IEW. Her problem was opposite of Zayne's; she could write on and on forever. IEW has helped her focus her writing in a more concise manner.

Writing poetry is another one Josi's periodic pastimes. Yet, heaven forbid I try to give any pointers or teach anything about poetry writing. You might be wondering how we can homeschool with that attitude. Fortunately the attitude doesn't flow over to all subjects.

Joshi is into her horses, stuffed animals (all over her bed and snuggling her at night), tea parties and the Redwall book series by Brian Jacques. The audio books really hold her affection. Brian Jacques and his Liverpool cast do a fabulous job bringing his books to life with their creative voices, drums and songs. The only problem with this obsession is that she has begun to talk with the characters' accents and terminology and at times comprehending her is awkward. Yet, it still is adorable. Dan drew the line last night when she was talking like that during family prayer. She got into the tea party thing because Felicity from the American Girl book series likes them. I has ben rather nice having my mint tea brought to me.