The Bright Side

new red belt!

 

Congrats on the new red belt, Ryan!  Way to go, kid!  

 

Keep up the good work! 

Oh, and congrats on earning the one-year award.  That's so cool!

 

 

love this quote!

Saw the following quote, written by the songwriter, Leonard Cohen, over on Julia's Hooked on Houses blog in a post about Elizabeth Edward's home.  This quote is written on Elizabeth's kitchen wall:  

 

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

Isn't it beautiful?  I think so.  It really spoke to me and truly captures how we've felt and what we've experienced having autism in our lives, so I thought I would share it here with you.  

 

Julia also has several photos from Oprah's visit to Ms. Edward's home as well.  My absolutely favorite room was the children's playroom.   Now this would be an awesome place for some seriously enjoyable homeschooling!!

 

The books, the shelves, the cozy couch, oh my!

 

And how about this for a workspace?  Lovely.

 

Thanks, Julia, for bringing that quote into my life.  It is a keeper!

 

 

congratulations to my karate kid!

Congrats, Ryan, on earning a silver medal in your first karate tournament!  Way to go, karate kid!  Good luck on your upcoming gold belt black stripe test.  We are very proud of you!

4th grade update

Decision made.  We are going to keep homeschooling our youngest for one more year.  We are geared up and ready to go.  The Calvert School curriculum is our fav and we are going to stick with it. Calvert really steps it up in fourth grade so it promises to be an interesting and busy year. 

We are going to try something new for math, however. I have heard great things and was very impressed by the demos on the Teaching Textbooks website. It has an exciting interactive computer component that I think Ryan is really going to like. Plus, it has a great built-in review element to each lesson.

For enrichment courses this year we are going to tackle the first half of the Calvert Spanish course. That promises to be interesting as I learned French in high school, not Spanish. Thankfully, Calvert has an audio component on their website. May have to call my daughter in as back up on this one.

Minnesota History is next up on our schedule. Calvert has an awesome in-depth class for that with multiple field trips included. We plan on hitting as many of these as we can fit in. They include:

• Fort Snelling (Civil War Weekend)
• Traverse des Sioux
• Birch Coulee Battlefield 
• James J. Hill Mansion 
• Oliver H. Kelley Farm 
• Walnut Grove and the Wilder Museum
• Mill City Museum  
• Soudan Underground Mine State Park
• The logging camp at the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids
• A Paul Bunyan statue or two 
• The Walker Art Center
• The Minneapolis Institiute of Arts 
• St. Paul Winter Carnival 
• The Science Museum 
• Lake Superior Railroad Museum
• Minnesota State Capitol Bldg. 
• The Boundary Waters 
• Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site 
• Mille Lacs Indian Museum 
• Big Island Festival in Albert Lea 
• Buffalo River State Park

Phew! That should keep us busy!  Many are only open from May-Sept or October so we are trying to fit in several before our school year actually begins.

our homeschool downsizes

We've been homeschooling our youngest, Ryan, for 3 years now.  In the first few years, I went a little overboard in the enthusiasm department. I set up a school in our living room and dining room space, that could have comfortably accommodated an army of children.  

We had it all.  Each subject had its own area and center.  

 

Here is a close-up of the math center.

We even had a beautifully stocked and categorized "library", complete with comfy chairs.

And where, might you ask, did we end up doing school EVERY blasted day? The kitchen table, of course!  Or snuggled up on the couch in the family room, with nary a bookcase, school supply or desk in sight! Neither one of us felt compelled to spend time in that formal classroom.  

It was time for a change.  Everything you see in the above photos, has now been relocated.  A few things made it into Ryan's room or storage and many others were given away for our friends to enjoy.

So, what's left?  We're down to just one bookcase in the kitchen with the bare essentials; our books, papers and school supplies.  It's heaven!  The serenity and focus that came with the downsize has been incredible.  I was so worried about not "doing it right" that I overcompensated with way too much stuff. 

  

Now, without all of the clutter, we have more space to think and breathe. We are both much happier!  There is less of that "have-to" feeling and more of an excitement about learning. Lesson learned.  

Ryan drew this the other day when we were learning about John James Audubon and he wanted to share it here.  He named it the "Formal (note the red bow tie) Bald Quail".  (He's really excited for you to see his work.)

Whether you homeschool or help with homework every night, where's your family's favorite spot for learning?