Planet Homeschool

Somehow my homeschool classroom has become centered around science.  It must be what interests my eldest student most (the youngest being a mere 10 weeks old), since she's managed to finagle all sorts of unit studies out of me (how do strawberries grow?  Why do trees lose their leaves?  I want to learn about being an astronaut!  I want to be a doctor... etc.).  You can learn reading, writing and arithmetic using just about any subject, but it's easier to create interest around those things when the subject is fun for the student.  Recently we've been learning about space, mostly because I wanted to teach about calendars and time, so we had to understand how time works, first.  I divided the awesomely vast subject into a few days (we could have taken a whole year):

1) Planet Earth- from the inside out- rocks and minerals, continents, basic geography, etc.  Very basic overview.  We reviewed our volcano study from earlier this summer, too.

2) The planets and our solar system- names of the planets, the name origin, how planets orbit and spin, etc, time and weight, gravity, etc.

3) Stars and other bodies- primary focus on constellations and space exploration.

NASA is an amazing resource online, but not the only one, that shows actual video and interactive activities about space exploration and our solar system.  A simple google search yields many great sites for kids.

Of course, we read lots of books at our house.  So here are three of my favorite storytelling books, one for each day above, about space.  Every subject in school deserves good stories!

1. Whole World  This is a Barefoot Books rendition of the old classic song.  The focus here is on stewardship and also on the various environments of our planet.  The song is catchy, of course, and the illustrations quirky and fun.  It opens the door to all sorts of discussion about what our planet is all about and how we can practice planetary stewardship.  There is also a workbook to accompany the book, but it's a little advanced for my darling student.

2.  Star Seeker is a Barefoot Books title that truly is a journey- beautiful illustrations of the planets and a lyrical story that keeps the imagination going long after the book has ended.  The end notes have tons of scientific data about our solar system and beyond, successfully linking story to science.  Hooray! 

3.  Zoo in the Sky is a great book about the constellations.  My daughter used this book to develop her own constellation pictures, which is actually quite easy for a four-year-old since they can be fairly abstract.  Again, lots of info at the back to blend science and story.  This book has great illustrations showing actual star placement within the constellations.

Of course we read lots of non- fiction books, too, about astronauts, planets and space.  I can't wait to revisit this topic when we come back to it in a few years!  And a year is 365 days, a day is 24 hours, an hour is 60 minutes, a minute is 60 seconds, etc... what better way to learn about time than through stories?  Happy storytelling!

My Fairy-Tale Life...

I must start with a confession:  Last week we let our 3 year old daughter watch Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”  I normally don’t encourage such behavior, but it seemed like harmless fun at the time.  Family movie night quickly turned into a week-long obsession with Belle and Beast.  Being the non-conformist mama that I am, I wasn’t content to let her watch it over and over again, so we went to the library at checked out classic fairy tale versions of Beauty and Beast (of which there are many!).  We discussed the differences between the books, we looked at pictures, but mostly we acted out the story.  Storytelling can be a great way to infuse a little fun into your otherwise normal (read: boring) day- here’s what my day looked like, today:
 
7:00 am- My daughter tells me she is the Beast and I am Beauty.  Ok.  If that is any indication of how the day is going to go, at least I’m prepared.

7:30 am- Beast eats all his oatmeal (because Beasts need to be strong to be fierce).

8:00 am- Beauty helps Beast pick out some beautiful courtly clothes for the day.
 
8:30 am- Beauty vacuums while Beast begrudgingly dusts and helps vacuum (because a clean castle is a happy castle).  Singing helps us along.
 
9:30 am- My daughter tells me that I am now the Beast and she is Beauty.  Was it the vacuuming that turned me beastly?
 
10:00 am- Beast convinces Beauty that the castle is being attacked by dragons.  Beauty climbs into her chariot while the horses and Beast whisk her off on a nice 2 ½ mile jog through the forest.  Beast is happier with a little exercise.
 
10:30 am- Beauty runs with the horses then rides her bike (“it’s NOT a horse, Beast, it’s a bicycle!”) around the neighborhood with Beast in hot pursuit. 
 
11:00 am- Beauty finds a baby who needs a home and invites her to stay in the castle while Beast makes lunch and tidies up.
 
1:00 pm- As we settle down for naptime books, my daughter says, “I’m just June now and you‘re just Mommy.”   “Oh Good- I’ve kind of missed being Mommy.  But I had fun, too!”

Not every day will be the perfect pre-school day.  Neither of us were in the mood, today, for counting, letters or anything structured.  Besides, the house looks clean.  We got our exercise.  And we had fun. 

Mission accomplished. 
Maybe tomorrow I’ll get to be a dinosaur. 
I like dinosaur-days.

Bedside Storytelling

One of my favorite things about my addiction to children's books (not just Barefoot Books!) is the great storytelling I encounter. The books that stand the test of time, and the test of patience, are the ones that are great stories. Barefoot has MANY in this category (Mama Panya's Pancakes, Herb the Vegetarian Dragon, and hundreds of others). Some of the best stories come from our own imagination. Often, at my daughter's bedtime, I find my own eyes closing. Reality blurs with imagination, and I sometimes find it is easy to conjur a great tale.

Tonight my daughter requested a story about a horse (lately we've been giving her a choice of an animal and allowing the story to unfold naturally. Lately she's been choosing a horse). Daddy told the story, tonight. Here it is:

Once upon a time there was a horse. The horse lived on a farm with a barn, stables, fields and many other animals. The big strong horse worked hard for the farmer, year after year, plowing diligently in the fields, day after day, never complaining. The farmer always gave him the best oats and brushed his coat every day. The horse believed that he was made for this: for hard work, great rewards, and a gentle life. One day, the farmer said to the horse, "would you like to go run in the pasture?" The horse tossed his mane. "I never thought of it, before," he replied. "But I suppose I could try it." So, with a kind smile, the farmer led the old horse to the wide open pasture and released him. The old horse began with a pleasant trot, enjoying the sunshine and open space. Then he saw a bluebird. The little bluebird said, "oh great horse, I bet you can't run faster than I can fly!" So the horse began to chase him. He ran faster and faster, pushing his limits, breathing harder and harder, sweat glistening on his flanks. He chased the bird across the pasture where he finally met an open gate at the other end, leading out into a deep green field, surrounded by forest. But the mighty horse stopped. The horse remembered the farmer. He remembered the farmer's kindness, always giving him the best feed and gently brushing his coat every night. The mighty horse tossed his head and turned. He ran back to the farmer at the other end of the field. The farmer greeted his old friend with a smile. "Why did you come back?" The horse replied, "I ran all the way to the other end of the field. I realized for the first time that I was made for this, to run free. The air tasted sweet, the sky was blue, but I remembered you. Your kindness, always giving me the best oats, and your gentleness, brushing my coat every night. I thought maybe I ought to come back and keep working for you as I have all these years." The farmer lovingly stroked the mighty horse's nose. "Ah, old friend, your time plowing is through. You passed the test and came home to me. It's time to do what you were made to do. Go run." The horse tossed his head, turned and ran and ran and ran. Running free, as he was made to do.

Here's an amazing collection of magical horse stories from Barefoot Books, for the nights when your imagination needs a rest, or for an endless number of other good reasons.

When a Story is More than Just a Story

I realized recently that Storytelling can be much more than a way to pass time or something to do when there are no books around -- however improbable that may be since I'm the Barefoot Books lady. I have many memories of lying in my own bed as a child listening to stories, my eyes fighting to stay open against the pull of my imagination.

A few weeks ago June was accidentally exposed to a scary part of Finding Nemo. The scene where Nemo's dad and Dory run into the sharks having a support group meeting is a little disturbing at first glance: all you see is rows and rows of shark teeth and there are definitely scary undertones. We explained carefully that the shark was not going to eat anyone and he was, in fact, a good shark who chose to be gentle with his teeth. Which is true. We skipped the next part where he got a taste of Dory's blood and went berserk.

For the next few weeks June kept asking for stories about sharks and Nemo and fish in general. After endless renditions of gentle sharks seeking approval from family members who just don't understand and some tales of improbable friendships, June finally let it go. She still likes to hear "Nemo Stories" but has moved back to her safe and always available "Princess June" stories.

Storytelling is such a great exercise for my brain as well as June's. Trying to remember the rules of a good story often get me into trouble. Spontaneous storytelling is just more fun! June has an incurable habit of "steering" the story by inserting a who, what or where in the middle of my story. If you've ever tried to tell a story about a fish, a princess, some cookies and a pumpkin patch, you know what I'm talking about. So, here's to late autumn nights in dark bedrooms when sleepy eyes fight against dreamtime and here's to moms and dads who tell stories to their kids. Keep up the good work! Somewhere in that unfathomable childhood imagination, there is some serious work going on. Character building, acceptance of differences, and a greater understanding of the world may be just one story away. Now that's Living Barefoot!