Thursday, January 16, 2014

Hi, I'm 5. (Also 100th post!)

Hi there. I'm a 5 year old.

You know that food I've liked since the day I could eat and ask for all the time and can't get enough of? Yeah, well I don't like it anymore.
Also, I don't care how much cocoa powder you put in the smoothie, it only tastes good when sipped through a green straw.

I used to like helping you in the kitchen? Oh, well, I will I guess... If there are chocolate chips involved.

Contrary to your belief, NOBODY writes in lower case letters anymore, and the letter 'E' does indeed have six lines protruding from it. You just don't know anything.

That Hotwheels car I just got? I can't find it. I was only playing with it RIGHT HERE and NOWHERE ELSE, and now it's GONE. Oh...yeah that's it, I thought something felt funny under my leg.

Speaking of cars, we're going to make one today ok? I have plans right here. We just need some metal and wood and stuff from the attic. Maybe some string.

Go Outside???!! I don't care that I wanted to 5 minutes ago, THAT WAS BEFORE YOU PUT MY SOCKS ON THE WRONG FEET!

Go Inside???!!?? Frostbite is a myth, get your facts straight, mom.

I don't believe you when you say that I used to love washing my hands and playing in the sink. Sink water is like snake venom and soap is like acid and I will not use either, and I'm pretty sure you're just making up these 'germ' things you keep speaking of.

Yes, I'll absolutely turn the TV off after this next show... Oh wait, I meant this one... Awwww I forgot this was on today!...Ok ok for sure after  this....one.....um.... can I have a snack?

OH YEAH, I have the FUNNIEST joke ever for you... ok, Knock knock (who's there) Lamp (Lamp who?) PFFFFTTT not LAAAAMP, I said SLAAAMMMMPPP. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, ok ok, here's another one...

I don't know why I went through a phase of only wearing button-up shirts. You shouldn't have let yourself get over-excited, because now I hate them, and I'm pretty sure this t-shirt looks way better than anything I own to wear to that wedding in the spring.

I CAN DO THINGS MYSELF. GO AWAY. DON'T HELP  ME. I CAN'T DO THIS. I NEED HELP.

Yeah I like bedtime because I like books and cuddling, but some nights I'm pretty sure that my bed is a portal to the underworld and if I don't stay up for several more hours screaming that I'm not done playing yet, I'm going to get sucked into the evil vortex of sleep.

Yes I like bubble baths. No you may not wash my hair. Yes I enjoy repeatedly dumping this bucket of water on my head.

There's a thing crawling on the other side of the room and I can't go in that room at ALL until you go catch the horrible crawly thing, but please don't hurt him, he's so cute, can we name him and keep him in a jar as a pet?

Friday, January 10, 2014

Adventures in Homeschooling?

Depending on my mood the word 'homeschooling' is either this huge floaty relief of a word, or a giant lead elephant climbing up my back.
I'm still not sure which it really is.

I still think I feel the need to over-plan things. I feel the need to 'be a teacher' and make everything about learning. I keep trying to cram his head full of educational things that he probably doesn't need to know until grade 1 or 2.
I have to keep reminding myself that a) he's only in kindergarten, and b) that's not necessarily the point of homeschooling.

However I do know I need to have some level of planning so make myself feel like we're accomplishing something.
I've made a calendar full of theme weeks that will at least give ME a starting place. Each day I write on the calendar what we did so that when I have moments of hopelessness I can at least look back at the proof that something was accomplished.

This week's theme was 'snow'. Conveniently it snowed over 2 feet, so we had a lot to look at.

We made winter scenes on our windows


















This one is a blue firework exploding into the shape of a guy flying an airplane.




















We made snowman prints with cookie cutters and talked about 'biggest to smallest'.
















We made snowflake cookies.
















We talked about what snow is and how snowflakes are made.

We read snowy day type books.
















We tried to freeze bubbles outside, but the best we got was a cold wobbly bubble that imploded in the wind.
















We went snowshoeing.




















We recorded the french words for 'snow', 'ice', and 'cold', because Toby seems obsessed at the moment with knowing the french words for everything.

We did some train track engineering
















We made a snow castle out of toilet paper tubes and egg carton, but according to Toby it's now a stage for his cars to perform plays on (or people too if they want, he's just corrected me)

































So far I've learned that Toby loves science, likes number and math stuff, and really doesn't like lower case letters. Or being asked to try new letters at all. Unless he's making a card for someone.

It's only week one and part of me feels like I've overdone it, and part of me feels un-accomplished.
I supposed we both have a lot to learn.