An Abundance of Learning

Discovery: Delightful moments of learning are not planned, but they are abundant.

For the past week, the boys have fallen sick like dominoes-- one right after the other. As a result, there wasn't much official homeschooling going on, and my teacher brain was making dire predictions. Needlessly.

Early yesterday morning, I sat by the fire rubbing Denver's back. It occurred to me that he might like to play a game I remembered from childhood. I whispered, "See if you can tell what I'm writing." I then drew a capital D on his back.

"D!" he said, smiling. I continued spelling out the word Denver. Then we tried some more. He decided it was his turn, and he wrote Batman and zombie on my back. We had fun. It probably only lasted 15 minutes. But the boy who says he "hates" homeschool had a smiling, giggly, snuggly time with Momma that we won't forget.

Later in the day, Spencer was playing Minecraft. Since he was clearly well enough to enjoy the game, I was strongly tempted to give him orders about work to do. Luckily, when he began asking me how to spell several words, I took the time to notice what he was doing. He was writing a book in his Minecraft world! It was a book of directions to tell others how to build certain things. I'm really glad I didn't ask him to stop writing in order to go learn something.



Two buddies showing off
their new footie pajamas.



Later in the day, John Robert and I played a game of dominoes. Denver wanted to play, too. I tried to include him, but the need to add numbers quickly and try to find multiples of five was a little too much for him. Instead, he drew dominoes for us out of the pile and watched intently as we talked about and played the game. I don't know what he learned, but I hope he saw that we were using numbers and counting to have fun. And it was fun. Even though I lost!

Finally, late last night Spencer and Denver and I settled down near the fire again. The boys were playing with pilgrim figurines while I read a Magic Treehouse book about the first Thanksgiving. We all loved it, and the boys stopped the story several times to ask questions and share their thoughts. I am still amazed at Denver's recent focus on listening. Last year, he could scarcely sit still while I read to him. But lately, he is riveted.

After the story, the boys watched a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving while I went to sleep. I woke up to find us all on the floor of the livingroom together under piles of blankets. Lady was on her bed in the foyer nearby-- snoring.

So much to be grateful for.

Growing in Gratitude



At church today, Judy stood before the congregation with her silver hair and big smile and sang with a voice like a songbird. She sang a song of gratitude to God; and tears found their way to my cheeks while goose bumps rose on my arms. You see, Judy and her husband recently lost their son. And still . . . she can stand up and praise God and see His blessings.

I love my boys with a fierceness that knows no limits. My children's health, happiness, and wellbeing are my greatest concerns. I cannot imagine lifting my voice in gratitude after such a loss. But Judy taught me today that it is possible.

My life is beautiful and I am so grateful. May you, too, feel the blessings upon you this Thanksgiving.

Creating Our Own Maps and Worlds

In the last few weeks, the boys have become fascinated with creating new worlds and maps on Minecraft. If you don't know what this is, that's because you don't have a tweenage boy living in your home.

The boys-- Denver, too!-- design not just buildings or cities, but whole worlds. They create maps for their new worlds and then invite each other to play on them. I watch and listen as they discuss strategies and ideas. I watch them use the internet as a resource to learn from others on youtube how to create and build.

This is all new learning for me. I cannot teach them and they do not ask for my help. Although it is tempting to dismiss this learning as simply "video games," I can't help but see that this is art, design, logical thinking and problem solving at its best.

This is one of the many things the boys do "after school." But they have been busy with many other learning adventures outside of their academic studies.

John Robert and friends go ziplining for Jibby's birthday!

Zippity Do Da!



Denver and friend explore the work of a blood bank lab technician
at the St. Louis Science Center.







Denver and Spencer get silly at the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts.





John and Quinn enjoy fine dining and especially dessert!



Owning our Work



John Robert in his "uniform"--
sweat pants, sweatshirt, and
swim team t-shirt.



When I was in graduate school earning a master's degree in teaching, there was a lot of talk about getting kids to take ownership of their work. When a student takes ownership of his work, I was told, the student is motivated to see a project through to completion, make his best possible effort, and learn far more than other students.



Nearly 20 years after graduate school, several teaching positions, and three children to homeschool, I agree that taking ownership of one's learning is key. However, convincing a child to take ownership and pride in work that he did not choose and has no choice to reject is a hard sell.

This fall, after a brief comment from John Robert about how he would like to learn some physics, I organized an entire year's worth of physics assignments and projects. Two weeks into the school year, I gently set the textbooks aside. They were not fun-- for anyone. Four months into the school year, we occasionally play with some of the project material, but no one has touched the textbooks. The curriculum was my idea, not the boys' idea. There was no ownership.

Last week, however, I downloaded an app called Simple Physics for the boys' Kindles. I didn't say anything about it or suggest that anyone had to play. But they did play. All three of them. My husband even spent a half hour with it. I gave it a try, too! The idea is to design structures-- bridges, roofs, treehouses-- that will withstand the pressure and weight of cars, snow, or the weight of six children playing on it. In the process of playing, we all discovered things we didn't know about engineering, pressure, weight, and design.



Simple Physics-- Build a Roof within a given budget
that will withstand heavy snowfall.



Last night, John Robert called excitedly to me. He had been trying to build a roof that would withstand a heavy snowfall. "Look at this," he shouted. "It says my design is one of the strongest possible!" Sure enough, his design ranked 16th in strength. He was extraordinarily proud of this unexpected accomplishment, and began explaining to me in great detail how he had decided to build this design.

I tried to listen, but mostly I noted the glittering eyes, the focused expression, and the excitement emanating from him. Ownership of his work? Yes. This was work (or was it play?) that he had chosen. No one told him he had to do this. He could just as easily have been watching cartoons or eating ice cream. But he chose this challenging game; it was his work, his learning, and his success.

Field Trips and Fractions

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer



Spencer runs from a Giant Pinocchio foot!



Were the boys too old to enjoy the premier of a Christmas puppet show? I didn't think so. However, when we arrived at the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts yesterday, I couldn't help but notice that most of the audience was pre-K and below! Even Denver looked like a giant in the crowd-- and John Robert? Well, he was taller than many of the parents!

Nevertheless, the boys and I really enjoyed the wonderful production! Afterward, the puppeteers came out (two women and four men), and showed how they did all the work with the different puppets. They did all the voices and singing live, and the special effects were very creative. They also designed and sewed all the puppets there at the studio! Unbelievable. They looked just like the characters from the old Rudolph Christmas TV shows.

I could see that Spencer and Denver loved the show. To my delight, even John Robert said that he really enjoyed the program. It was Nana's educational money well spent.



Spencer uses manipulatives to explore
fractions, decimals, and percents.



Just in case anyone is wondering whether we actually do any "work" anymore, the answer is YES. Spencer's free time is spent learning about ancient history and playing outside. He is still exploring decimals and fractions in math. He likes using items he can see when he thinks about fractions. He has also been enjoying (?) making his own math problems to practice rounding numbers.

Denver is beginning to do some emails on the computer-- most recently a thank you note to Uncle Rob and Aunt Melissa for birthday money! His reading skills are coming right along, though he prefers video games for reading practice.



Denver sends an email to Uncle Rob.



John Robert's essay writing skills are getting so much better that I breathe a sigh of relief just thinking about the benefits of spellcheck. However, he recently emailed a question to his algebra tutor, and I was shocked to see his "creative spelling"! When I sheepishly mentioned something to his math tutor about all the spelling errors yesterday, she just laughed and said,"He writes just like an engineer!" John Robert smiled at me triumphantly. I said no more.

We are enjoying the cool, fall weather and beautiful trees as we glide toward winter . . . and Christmas!

A Boy's Home is his Castle

For Halloween, he was a knight. And so began another intense fascination with history for Denver. The next day, Denver asked to go to the library and get books and movies about medieval times. I read a Jack and Annie book to him entitled, A Knight before Dawn. He loved it. From there, he asked Spencer to help him create a list of all the things they would need to have a Knights' Day.

Today is Monday in the rest of the world with all that word entails: school, work, a busy week ahead. Today in our kingdon is Knights' Day. And it's different.

Denver sat beside me this morning and explained all the things we must do today: drink from goblets, not plastic cups. No silverware, but a fancy feast. He must have a crown because he is both a king and a knight (like King Arthur). I am the queen of course. Denver picked out a purple glitter foam crown for me to wear as I conduct my royal duties around the castle. However, the royal servants are conspicuously absent from our castle!

Spencer and Denver created a castle made of quilts and chairs. We had a royal ceremony to crown Denver king. We held a royal feast complete with servant and court jester. For the last hour, those two have been outside battling for the kingdom-- slaying dragons; scaring the dog?

So this is how these boys love to learn: reading, watching, thinking, and acting it out. Today is Knights' Day. In planning and executing this rather simple event, Denver asked the following questions:


Queen Mama poses with his majesty,
The King.



Did they have doctors in medieval times?

What would they have done for asthma?

How did they decorate the inside of the castle?

How did they get persian rugs?

Did they have silverware?
What did they eat at a feast?
Did knights invent anything?
What languages did knights speak?

Did they read and write?

What did you have to do to become a knight?
What is a code of chivalry?
What did the kings do?

His Majesty on his most valiant steed.

If we call it school, it is history, p.e., and drama class. When we created our crowns, it was art. But it all has the exuberant joyful feeling of PLAY. :-)