A Tale of The Little Engine That Could...

Did you ever read the classic story, The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper?

Assuming that most of you will say "yes" to being familiar with this tale, most of you will remember the famous line from the book, "I think I can...I think I can...I think I can..."

You can also probably visualize the little train trying its best to pull the huge load up and down the hill...

Well, we have had a bit of a true-to-life "I think I can" saga going on here.

My train ride has been up and over various medical hills and valleys.

Dear Hubby has been along for the ride, as have the boys.
They have been trying to stay positive and chug along as it has been a challenging ride, to say the least.

Back in the fall, found out that I would need to have a hysterectomy and some bladder reconstruction surgery.

Hill Number 1
But then, things got interesting, the first big hill being a ruptured ovarian cyst followed by a hospital stay, as the fluid had got up under my sternum and mimicked the feeling of a heart attack.
My lymph nodes and blood pressure weren't happy about the cyst rupture, to say the least...
Stayed positive, got through Hill 1, and then, loads of tests, blood work, and such.

Hill Number 2
Tried to get clearance for the hysterectomy surgery.
Kept a positive attitude, as I was pretty sure that I would be cleared and on my way...
Did not get clearance to have the surgery from the hematologist or the cardiologist.
My blood is in need of an overhaul and since it is not working correctly, it is straining my heart.
My blood is too thin with some factors (VWD, Factor 8, Ristocetin) and too thick in others (high hematocrit, high hemoglobin) so it is sludging through instead of flowing like it should.

Hill Number 3
The doctors did a CT scan and discovered something: that I have a complex cyst in my kidney.
One of my doctors who had reviewed the CT scan felt that it needed to be taken out immediately so she referred me to a well known local cancer treatment center.
So, had another hill to climb this past week...

Luckily, Dear Hubby came along to the cancer center for Hill Number 4 , as it has been a bit more of a challenge to stay positive and feel that "I think I can" attitude.
We went last week and met with the doctor at the cancer center.
Hearing the word cancer, having to fill out a myriad of forms, having to decide about things like Living Wills and whether or not to participate in clinical research is a bit daunting, to say the least...
We got the impression from the kidney cancer doc who specializes in these sorts of things.
According to him, my kidney cyst is "in the bleacher seats", not in the front row.
He also added that he felt that at present, "the morbidity risk outweighs the benefit" of trying to go in and cut this out from where it is situated at the moment.
They would do an MRI and keep an eye on it to see if it grows or moves.
So he ordered an MRI with and without contrast...

Hill Number 5

Had the MRI and had a violent reaction.

Dear Hubby said it was so surreal, as first, they called him to say that I was done and would be out shortly...then, a half hour later, they said that there had been an incident and they were going to hold me for a little longer there...
Then, they called back another half hour later and said they were taking me to acute care...
Then, when he arrived at acute care, they told him that they had to take me for a CT scan of my brain, as I may have had a brain bleed.

From my end, it was equally surreal. Went from listening to 80's music with a little Bob Marley mixed in the sound track in the MRI tube to feeling like I was on a hay ride with 10,000 cats.
Then, went from feeling like it was one of the most wicked hay fever attacks ever, to having the blood vessels in my eyes popping, to having them test me for my reasoning, speaking, and strength, to them deciding to take me for a CT scan of my brain...just a crazy way to spend several hours.

So, now, not sure where things are going, but the train has not derailed and we are still trying to keep up the "I think I can" attitude...

Am taking meds, am trying to enjoy each and every day with the boys and my hubby, and am getting myself geared up for yet another uphill ride this week. Feel very blessed to have such a wonderful family, as well as some truly great friends who have been very supportive through all of this.

It has been quite the ride on the boys too.
They have had their own peaks and valleys on this wild ride...
Little Bro asks me daily how many doctor's appointments I have for that particular day and for that particular week.
Big Bro has been trying to be a perfect helper but gets very easily frustrated and overwhelmed.
He is feeling that he has to be the responsible one, whereas Little Bro has regressed on some days, acting very babyish and even preferring to play with some of his preschool type toys and older works from back when he was 3 or 4...
We have been getting lots of time outside to play in the park, to take in some sunshine, and to let out the stress.
Have been trying to keep somewhat of a homeschool schedule but have realized that there will just be days when we do what we can...
The boys prefer to have a regular routine as much as possible, so we have tried our best to keep things consistent.
We were happy to learn that they have several programs in place at the cancer center for the whole family, so depending on how things progress, we would like to take part in these...

Dear Hubby has had to be in the "I think I can" mode quite a bit too...

He has had to juggle work and home, the boys' needs and mine, and the toll it takes to try to keep things running smoothly when Mama is not 100%.

When Dear Hubby is stressed, he likes to throw himself into projects and into working on train sets.
Working on trains for him is a stress relief as much as a fun hobby.
I have been pinning wildly on Pinterest...over 6,300 pins and counting...

Thanks, Pinterest!  

Pinterest has helped me to keep positive and to be able to visualize happy things during this difficult time.
Cannot thank the creators of Pinterest enough, as it helps to be able to pass the time clicking on neat visual images and to be able to categorize them and think about doing all sorts of neat projects in the future related to the pins and boards...

Well, these two hobbies (Trains for my hubby and Pinterest for me) collided in a wonderful way, while perusing things to add to my Pinterest boards, while sitting at one of the many doctor's offices waiting for an appointment, had seen a Flickr photo of an amazing Lego table. 

Sent the link to Dear Hubby and so he cranked out and has whipped up a truly amazing train table and activity center for the boys!

Thanks to rb3wreath Boyd on Flickr for inspiring us! Hope that you will like how our train table turned out, too!

Here is the awesome and amazing train table that Dear Hubby made for the boys:

It has been a wonderful addition to our playroom / classroom. They can play with their Lego trains on this table, but they also can use the table to do their school work or to play with their other toys, etc.

Well, hope that if any of you are having to go through personal struggles, that you also keep at it with trying to have that "I think I can" attitude...

With the support of your family and friends, and with strong faith in God, even when the chips are down, it is possible to get through even the wildest and most harrowing of rides!

Am not certain as to how much blogging I will be doing, but will probably keep pinning like crazy, as it is fun to visualize positive images while going through all of this.

If you would please keep us in your prayers, for us to stay strong to get through all of this, I would really appreciate it.

Am hoping that it is in God's plan for me to be around for many, many years to come, as I love being a mommy and wife and cannot picture not being here to see the day-to-day with my family.

Am placing it in God's Hands and am hoping that somehow, there will be a viable option to get that darned cyst outta there without it being such a high risk.
Hoping that they can do the hysterectomy and bladder reconstruction, as that has been put on hold and that is something that is really also medically necessary...

If you happens to read this, and you are or you know of a surgeon or researcher specializing in complex kidney cysts, and  / or Von Willebrand's disease, along with other non-specific coagulation disorders, would be great if you have any suggestions as far as less invasive, higher success rate, lower morbidity risk procedures. Would like to get a second opinion and would love it if anyone knows a contact for me at Duke, Anderson, Mayo, or the Cleveland Clinic.

Have a great team of doctors trying to figure this out here, but am hoping that someone will pose an alternative way to take this little sucker of a cyst out before it gets the chance to get bigger.

Hope that you will all pop by from time to time, as I may do some blogging...just not sure yet what the next few weeks or months will be like here.

Here's wishing, hoping and praying for a healthy and happy 2012!!!

2/6/2012 Update:
When they got the results back from my MRI, they discovered additional kidney cysts.
I have now been referred to Duke Medical Center by my doctors. 
Have contacts in some of the specialties, but was told that I would have to find some of the specialists myself. Called the Duke Referral Line and they suggested that I consider the option of having medical students look at my case, but am not sure about that as an option, as it has been complicated for veteran doctors here in Florida. 
If you read this and you have connections at Duke in any of the specialties, please contact me so that maybe I can contact them. 
Still need to add a few to my team who will be working on me there, namely a cardiologist and a kidney doctor who has some understanding of coagulation issues as well as kidneys. 

2/16/12 Update: 

We have decided (based on both the doctors' recommendations and the general impression that we have gotten) to instead go to the Mayo Clinic. That is the plan...if anyone reads this and has had a similar diagnosis, consider going to Mayo Clinic. 
They have been wonderful to deal with so far!!!

Dear Hubby might do some updating from time to time, but other than that, I will not be blogging for a while...

Please continue to pray for me to get through the surgery and for my family to continue to be strong, as it is still a long haul ahead... 
The boys are doing well through all of this and we are continuing to go full speed ahead with our homeschooling year. We will take some time off during surgery time, but then, we hope to get back into the groove shortly thereafter. 
We have been working at making every day special, as when you are faced with things like this, you realize you need to truly enjoy every day. Live life to the fullest, but take pleasure in the simple moments too...
Today, the boys and I did PE and science at Clearwater Beach. Nothing clears the head faster than listening to the waves and watching the boys play at the beach. We feel so blessed to be able to homeschool, as it has allowed us to continue to spend quality time with each other throughout this whole time! 

Well, hope that all of you are enjoying February! 

On a side note, I have continued to pin, pin, pin on Pinterest! 
It has been a wonderful stress relief and way to keep positive and happy. 

Hope that you will check out my Pinterest boards and hope that when I get back into blogging, that you will pop back to see how things are going. 

Learning All About Pets

Theme: Pets
One topic that has continued to develop as a theme for what the boys want to learn about is pets.
Both Big Bro and Little Bro just adore pets of all kinds so we did a pets study of sorts,  primarily focused on pets that our family already has, including dogs, frogs, and fish, but then, we also added pets that the boys would like to have, including turtles and hamsters.
Since we had some resources to go with cats, birds, and rabbits, we touched upon these animals as pets too...

Using themes based upon their current interests gives us a way to bring the activities together for both boys but in new ways. This way, Little Bro gets to learn these concepts without it having to be a total repeat of how Big Bro learned these.
Big Bro had already learned about the parts of a fish and the life cycle of a frog, but now, we were able to revisit these concepts through doing a pets unit, keeping it interesting for both boys.

Montessori Inspired Work:
We have a set of three part cards about pets that Big Bro had already used as language work with the movable alphabet,  but then, this time, as we discussed pets, I made additional copies of the cards and the corresponding picture story starter and encouraged Big Bro to use them in new ways.
Both boys ended up cutting out a set of their own cards and made their own activities to go along with the cards. Little Bro was still able to choose to do the pets work as a language work with the movable alphabet, but it opened up new options for Big Bro...

Little Bro had some shelf work about pets where he was able to match the pet shapes to their correct homes. He enjoyed doing this work... 
For language work, Big Bro read his appropriately leveled books about pets, both independently and with me, Little Bro read his beginning reader books with me, and then, I read books to both boys, including nonfiction themed books, picture books, and longer chapter books about pets.
Little Bro also designed his own Find the Puppy book to go with our pup.
To make this book, as a fun extension after you have read Find the Puppy, have your child to make their own Find Your Pet book...
To do this, take shots of your rooms and then, have your child draw your pet. then, make copies of your child's drawing and glue each one onto its own book page. Cut flaps on your photos so that they can be lifted and your pet will be revealed underneath. Then glue the photos over the book pages and voila! Your own personal version of Find the _______(Your pet).
Little Bro had a blast making one of these!
We used the dogs that we normally have as part of our continents box for Europe as part of maps work but also as part of math work.
The boys worked together and found each dog's country of origin.
Then, from that point on, they used the dogs for different works...Little Bro used the dogs for math work, doing ordinal counting of the dogs, one to one correspondence of the dogs to little balls that he made for them out of Play Doh, and ordering them in size from biggest to smallest, etc. 
Big Bro has been working on the concept of sets and subsets, as well as greater than / less than so for his work, he used the dogs  by putting them into groups / sets such as: farm dogs, search and rescue dogs, military / police dogs, service dogs, and those considered to be toy dogs.  He made subsets that included separating out the service dogs into different types of work that they do, etc.
Then, he made sets based upon characteristics, such as those holding a toy, those showing their tongues, those showing their teeth, dogs with similar types of fur, etc. and then, he compared and contrasted the size of each set.
For a cooking project, we plan to make two kinds of homemade biscuits, one for our pup to eat and one that is meant for people to eat. Decided to wait until this weekend to make these, as I know that two kids plus a cooking  project involving flour will be a little messy but fun! Plan to let the boys use pet shaped cookie cutters for these...will have to post some photos when we do this...

Reggio Emilia Inspired Activities and Community Events, including Special Co-op Days & Field Trips
For art, we will convert the space on our lanai over to be a studio to make and create pets art projects all next week. Have been trying to get back into the groove of using the book, The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings, by Ann Pelo, as both inspiration and guidance for setting up and doing Reggio Emilia studio art with the boys. But have found that what works best for us is to do one week on, one week off, with respect to setting up the studio space itself. This is because initially, we had a dedicated space to do art projects on our lanai but the boys like being out there so much to do both schoolwork and to just hand out and play out there that every other week is the best compromise for the space...
We will have materials out on the lanai for the boys to try out making watercolor and chalk pastel pets pictures, as well as clay pets. Should prove to be fun.

We have been visiting some area pet stores to learn more first hand about pets.
We had a special day with some of our co-op friends and did a "Pizza & Pets" Day.

First, we met at a pizza shop and did a little class about pets and then, we had some great pizza. Thanks to Marchello's for being good sports about letting us do a homeschool project before we had our pizza party. Worked out so perfectly though, as we had everything wrapped up by the time our pizzas were ready. We talked about how to care for a pet and then, each child drew a picture of their idea for a perfect pet and then, we went around the table and everyone shared their art and what they had learned about taking care of pets.
After we finished our yummy pizza, we walked to the nearby pet store.
The children had a fun time for the most part, although Big Bro and Little Bro learned a life's lesson: sometimes, pets bite.
Big Bro was bitten twice on his hand by Robo  / Dwarf Hamsters. He said that it only felt like a pinch, but was quite devastated to have been bitten, because he knew that this would probably put the idea of getting pet hamsters as pets to rest...and he is right, as he had not provoked them when they bit him. He was being very gentle and kind like he is naturally with all animals.
Little Bro also learned this painful lesson, only his bite and the subsequent aftermath of the bite was a bit more scary...
Since Little Bro has Von Willebrand's, when the turtle bit him on his hand, it bled and bled and bled, even though it was a rather tiny bite. Then, to make matters worse, Little Bro immediately stuck his hand into his hand into his mouth...and turtles carry salmonella, so that made us a bit nervous. Little Bro ended up vomiting around 12 hours later, so that made us worry...but it turned out that his sickness was a virus, not from the turtle bite. We took him in to be checked and they said it was not salmonella, but it made us also decide to rule out adding a pet turtle to our pet collection.
We are sticking with the pets we have and are having fun with them for now. The boys both ended up drawing pictures of their bites and we talked about what we had learned from this.

Just as we were starting to study pets, we visited the Miami Children's Museum.
Both boys enjoyed their Pet Central exhibit they had there.
Also, went to the Glazer Children's Museum, both before this unit and during this unit, to check out the Vet Clinic exhibit there, as it deals with pets as well...

We still have a few more pets related field trips in the works for next week: we are going to visit an animal hospital and a local pet shelter. Loads of real life experiences here related to pets!

For additional in-home practical life, the boys have been helping to care for our pets by feeding them and by helping to take our pup for a walk.  They helped to choose new fish tanks and new stones for our fish, as well as prepping sticks and moss for our frog. 

My awesome and very artistic cousin gave us a hand painted a vintage children's suitcase with a painting of her dog on the side. Inside the suitcase are all of Little Bro's pet stuffed animals.
He likes to take these animals out and then, with his veterinarian's kit, he pretends to be a vet and cares for the pets. Sometimes Big Bro will join in to play vet clinic with Little Bro, but most of the time, Little Bro enjoys playing this by himself.

One other material I plan to get to go along with our pets unit is made by Laughing Star Montessori called Pets Story Writing Masters.
Students trace, copy, compose and illustrate stories about pets and practice writing on lines...
Students trace or copy or compose the story. (Then) They draw a picture!

It is a neat little book of black line masters all about pets. Am in the process of reviewing some excellent Laughing Star products.
While reviewing their products, I saw that they have this neat booklet and plan to order it from them.
The products they have sent as pdf's for me to review are excellent.
Am going to run the reviews next week for all of you to read.
Please be sure to check out their website. They have some very nice free downloads  and you can also sign up to receive their newsletter. Their newsletters are great and sometimes offer some savings to their readers.
Everything I have seen about Laughing Star Montessori has been impressive, so if you are looking for some nice products, please come back next week to read my reviews and please visit their website to check their products out for yourselves.

The American Veterinary Medical Association developed a series of twelve lesson plans for National Pet Week, which is in May, but you can really use these any time of year...
These nice lesson plans, appropriate for approximately ages 4-10, can be downloaded for free and with a little tweaking, they are perfect for a Montessori inspired homeschool or classroom.

Would have uploaded more photos but got an error message that I am out of space, so will have to figure that out before I can upload any more photos or blog posts...oops!

Well, hope all of you are having a happy weekend.
We are having a good one here in the Sunshine State.

Thankful Thursday - Inspirations and Different Perspectives

Karen Tyler is a wonderful Montessorian and has been a real inspiration to many of us,  largely   homeschooling moms...

Karen gets it...
She gets that there may very well be great reasons (ranging from spiritual to physical, from financial to philosophical) WHY we homeschool and why we choose to utilize Montessori materials and the Montessori philosophy in our homes.
She gets the notion of a Montessori inspired home and also gets the idea that some of us choose to not only use Montessori but also to incorporate some other materials and philosophies into something that works for our children.
She gets that we are all on our own life journey and that one size does not fit all with respect to educational settings, for some children have very specific environmental or learning needs, so Karen has been willing to share her expertise in helping us to navigate how to try to "do Montessori" in the home. 

Karen gives it...
She gives freely of herself, her experiences, her materials, her insights...
She has made her online training, her excellent albums, and her lectures, essays, helpful hints very accessible.
She is incredibly generous. She does not charge nearly what her training is worth...she wants to share her wealth of knowledge and does so out of the goodness of her heart.

Although I have additional degrees in education and have classroom teaching experience, going through Karen's program really helped me to chart a course for homeschooling my sons. Homeschooling is a whole other "ballgame" than being in the classroom in a school setting, regardless of whether it is public or private, traditional or progressive, etc.

So, from the bottom of my heart, Karen, thank you!
Karen is the founder and instructor for Montessori Worldwide Album Class and runs A Montessori Marketplace.


Now, for some inspiration and a very different perspective...

Jenny is a Reggio Emilia inspired, progressive education preschool teacher and blogger and new one to me...

Her blog, called let the children play, is something to behold, as it challenges my comfort zone with what I would consider safe for my sons to do...but to grow, we need to be challenged...we need to re-evaluate from time to time and think about the authentic learning process, and that includes letting children get messy and taking risks...

Here are two of her thought provoking sentences:

While we don't want children to come to harm, our fears can lead us to overreact to risky play.  If we remove risk from play, we are not encouraging children to persist at challenging tasks.  If we remove the challenges we are not developing resilience in our children.

Being a bit of a chicken comes most naturally for me...
I am good (bordering on very good) at being a chicken...

When you have three very high risk pregnancies, you lose one dear one at 20 weeks, your oldest child is born with tracheomalacia, and your youngest child has Von Willebrand's, and both of your sons have asthma and allergies, it is very easy to be overly protective...keeping them in a bubble would not be wise, nor really even feasible, nor would it be good for their intellectual / physical / emotional growth...
They need to go out and explore the world, and that is what we do try to do...but in all honesty, allowing them to try things that I would normally consider dangerous makes me feel nauseous, almost like how I feel going down a big twisty water slide ride.
Absolutely do not like feeling like I am completely out of control, so just as it completely freaks me out when we go to a water park and go on water slide rides where your whole family is all thrust togther on a big inflatable donut and you spin uncontrollably round and round as you simultaneously go downhill, without being able to see where you are going...without being able to control the direction you are headed or the speed or the trajectory of your ride... 

But as I read her blog and some of the ones she has in her sidebar, feel compelled to loosen up a bit and maybe just maybe them try some more risky outdoor activities.

So, Jenny, thank you from the bottom of my heart...you have given me so much food for thought!

We were told outright that under no certain circumstances can Little Bro play contact sports. 
Not up for consideration...just out and out, No... don't do it.

So, with that being the case, that makes us question what other outdoorsy fun will he not be able to do while growing up that usually other boys love, such as rock climbing, tree climbing, or building structures that could lead to him getting injured.

It is a tricky balancing act...but I do realize that I have to be willing to loosen up at least a little. 

Then, the other question that eats at me is how do we then make it"fair" for Big Bro, if Little Bro can't do these things?

How do I make it fair for both boys?

 If you have a child or children whom you feel you very well might shelter a little too much, then please pop over to check out Jenny's interesting blog. 


Well, thank you to both of these dynamic, insightful, intelligent women. 

They have made an impact on me. Hope that they will make an impact on you, too... 

One more thing, please be sure to read my post about the upcoming scavenger hunt for this weekend...it's gonna be fun!!!

Kinda Thinking & Planning for the Fall....

Well, today, you get two posts for Monday...

Have been working on planning for the fall and have been toying with how we are going to do things this year and also because tomorrow, I have another blog post ready (am going to announce some award winners, so please be sure to check back tomorrow)...
We have play dates scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, and have to get some errands done on Thursday, so if I didn't give you a two for one day today, I would have had to have held off and posted this post over the weekend...

Well, if you read this and have any input / ideas / suggestions, would just love to hear from you!
Well, to get things kick started for the fall, I asked the boys to tell me what they would like to learn about, as well as any questions, ideas, or themes they would like to explore...
they are used to doing this, as it is something we have done since the very beginning...I actively involve them in the process of what we could / should study...sometimes, we do the good ole' standby, KW L...

What I Know, What I Want to Know, and then, What I Learned...

For the purposes of trying to flesh out what we could do starting in the fall, I had them focus primarily on what they Want to know...

Big Bro:
Have been working on putting things together for Big Bro..he wants to learn about the following:

"Chemistry...I like to do experiments with liquids."

"The Presidents...about the ones who were in when we have had wars and what they decided to do about them."

"The future...about robots and if we will use them and how things will work with more machines"

"Inventions...about all of them, actually...but we need to come up with one that works to clean up the oil spill. I want to come up with one..."

"Machines...from little ones to big ones...what is the smallest machine that can do the biggest job"?

"Native Americans...their homes, their weapons, and where they lived and how they got there...and what life is like on a reservation now versus way back, when they first went to one...and what life was like before reservations."

"Animal homes...how they build them and which ones are predators and which ones are prey."
"The Rainforest...who lives there...what grows there...how long ago did they start making poison darts from poison dart frogs..."

"Italian, Chinese, French, and Spanish...how to say some things in these languages and more about the countries and why other countries have people who also speak these languages."

Little Bro:
Little Bro wants to learn about all kinds of things, too...luckily, some of his interests cross over with Big Bro's interests...

"Frogs"

"Snow cones"

"Polar Bears"

"Penguins"

"How you make toys"

"Stuff in the sea"

"Shells"

"Dogs and the ones that help people"

"What's inside your brain"

"How you make glass and Legos"

"What's inside a wheel and how it works"

"How you make chocolate"

"How you get hot and sweaty from the sun"

"How you make a rainbow"

"How do you find gold"?

"What is inside a turtle"?

"Who lives in a barn"?"

"How does poop work...how does food know to turn into poop...how does it know to go through your body and end up that way..."

"How does your body know which tube things should go in...how does the air go in the right place and what you eat or drink go in the right place and how does your body use the food and the drinks and how does your body use air"?

Now, the poop thing threw me at first, but then, the more he talked, the more I realized that he wants to really learn more about the digestive system...
We will cover the systems of the body and will start with digestion when we do systems.

He is also curious about blood, and this is because he has Von Willebrand's.
Little Bro will have to undergo some additional blood tests soon, so we will discuss how blood flows through the body and a little more about the details of his blood disorder.

Have been working on putting things together to kind of tie in with all of their interests, where possible, as well as what our region has to offer, as far as field trips and other sorts of experiential learning opportunities that would tie in with these concepts...

Am most likely going to do:

Fall / Harvest / Farm
 
Body Systems

Polar Animals - will do both poles, but am going to separate them out, as doing them together makes it confusing for kids...

Will discuss Inuit / Eskimo, dog sledding while we do the Arctic Circle...will tie in French and Inuit language for Big Bro for this...

Rainforest - will tie in chocolate and frogs to this...will tie in Spanish, mostly for Big Bro, with this...will also tie in the future of the Rainforest...we had started this earlier this summer, but have not really done it in depth, as we have had lots of company and have taken off some time to have a more laid back sort of summer schedule...

Sea Life - will tie in beach glass, the future of the Gulf, machines to clean up the oil spill, how sea animals are being treated for Big Bro when we do sea life....

Will tie in snow cones and how toys are made with inventions and simple machines...

Will tie in working dogs ( Sheep Dogs, Border Collies) with Farm

Space - Neither one mentioned space when we were discussing this coming school year, which was almost a shocker, as they both LOVE learning about space...but I will ask them at some point in the future if they don't mention it anytime soon...am sure that we will be doing something about space, but just not sure when or what we will be doing for sure...

That is how far I have gotten...
Am sure that they will have other interests as the year goes on, but this is what they gave me for starters...the key is for me now to flesh out the "Essential Questions" that tie in with what they Want to know so that it ties in well with what they Need to know...for this, I use some materials by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, the creators of the concept of Understanding by Design...here is a pdf that highlights their work.

The exciting news is that friends of ours are also interested in doing some hands-on learning projects with us...
We are going to get together to plan and to try to loosely map out some field trips and other enrichment opportunities...

Friends who live here and are part of our co-op, as well as dear family friends who live in Canada...with them, we will share via Skype, email, phone calls, and photos...so it should be neat to be able to share in different ways...

Am getting geared up to make some hands on materials to tie in with these concepts.
We are going to focus on utilizing a bigger light table this year, too, as the boys liked the very tiny and portable one we had, but a bigger one will give us much more of an opportunity...

Both boys love making shadow puppets.
Both love working with translucent and transparent objects. Both also love working with color, light, and texture, so we will be bringing these into our day to day even more this year.

We used an atilierista (artist / art teacher) this past year, not consistently but for some of the major themes. We will do the same again this year.

Miss Laurie is going to do a end of the summer camp for us, and plans to explore the books and the artwork of Eric Carle, so I anticipate that we will be doing many hands on projects involving collage...can't wait, as I love Eric Carle's books and his artwork!

Laurie is a talented artist in her own right, but thought that doing a themed camp would really pull children into the art...so that is the plan.

Both Big Bro and Little Bro love Eric Carle, so it is going to be fun learning for all!

Well, hope that you all had a happy Monday!

Again, if anyone has some suggestions to go with any of these concepts  / essential questions / themes, would love to hear from you!

Little Bro's Somewhat Montessori Style Bedroom

Little Bro has a Montessori inspired floor bed, along with drawers and closet organizers that he can reach for himself. Although he is old enough to move into a regular bed, he still flips around at night so the floor bed is still a safer option for him. (And, most nights, he ends up in our room at some point of the night, so having something low to the ground such as a floor bed makes it safer if he gets up and comes into our room for a little snuggle time).
We are a little more cautious with the chance for self injury, as he has Von Willebrand's blood disorder. Having a floor bed has its advantages when they are very young, as it promotes independence and allows for movement within the room at the child's desire...we used to keep a baby gate at the door when he was very young, but that no longer is necessary. Now, the only thing the baby gate is helpful for is if the boys want to do a project in their room with their bedroom doors open but they don't want our pup to get into their things.

Having a floor bed when you are a little older is fun, as it also works as a reading corner and as a trampoline when not in use as a bed. Both boys love to read on it together, as well as jump on it together and think it is a blast. It is so much safer to have them jump on this than a regular trampoline would be if we had one.

 Little Bro's room has more toys than I am sure that many some Montessorians would expect to see in a child's room, but it seems to work for him.
He seems to like having these little extras in his room.
Since we homeschool, I would rather that toys be kept in his bedroom versus out where they could get intermingled with his "work". The train table works in his room gives him a chance to go and play and be creative in his room. He can make all of the sound effects that would be disturbing if the train table were out in the room where they do their work.
Both Little Bro and big Bro just love everything to do with Toy Story. This is probably because we live an hour from all things Disney and have had season's passes there over the last few years. There are some neat attractions at the Disney parks related to Toy Story, as well as some shops in Downtown Disney that feature Toy Story items...so that is that.
Little Bro also wanted his room to be "either a cowboy room or a space room" when we moved into our home, so Toy Story kind of works with both of these...