Cruisin' Down the River

AH in front of the Mississippi Queen

AH and I got a chance to take a narrated riverboat cruise down the Mississippi River last week.  We learned some great facts about Minneapolis and the Mississippi river.  But the best part was going through the St. Anthony lock.  Check out the photos we took that day!

Entering the lock

Exiting the lock, 50 feet lower!
AH thought the doors looked like the gates of Mordor (Lord of the Rings)

AH was fascinated with this whole field trip

Having fun together!

A Blast from the Past

Do you remember the set of books, Childcraft? I loved them as a child. We didn't have all of them, but the ones we had were old and well loved. I was browsing the bookshelves of Goodwill last week when I came upon 2 pristine Childcraft books from the 1990 How and Why series. Each was priced at $2.99 and I grabbed both of them and began to search the shelves for more. Alas, I didn't find more, but the ones I did buy have been a hoot! AH and I paged through Volume 13, Mathemagic last night. Remember, this is a child who has had issues with math for most of his school life. He loves this book!! We solved rebuses, attempted to solve brainteasers and read about squaring numbers. He came up with amazingly creative solutions to some of the brainteasers, even if they weren't the "right answer" and that is exactly what I'm striving for: problem solving creativity. It seems to me that creativity and using your imagination is the key to liking math and understanding it. A natural and playful creativity cannot but make math beautiful and (gasp) fun. AH actually asked if we could do some more of the activities in that book today! I know he has a long way to go, but at least we have found part of the path and are enjoying our walk.

My favorite math websites and blogs:
Math Mama Writes
Living Math

An long, but very interesting, article on math and creativity:
A Mathematician's Lament

"Hey Mom, I have an Idea..."

Those were the words I heard one morning about two weeks ago. I should have known those words were going to mean work for me!! I don't mind work, but usually AH's projects have me doing the grunt work and this was no exception.

"I want to sell stuff on e-bay and make some money!

"Okay," I replied. "What stuff do you have that you can sell?"

He thought for a moment and then was gone. He came back 5 minutes later with 3 books. Good choices, too. They were books that were given to him that were WAY over his reading level. He had given them a good try, but they were too much work to read to have any fun.

We were off to the computer to list our items on e-bay. Since it was easier to just use my account instead of setting up a new one with a cool name (which he couldn't decide on, anyway!) we got right into it. We found the stock photo. We researched prices, we guessed on postage and then listed our items. For 4 days, there was nothing. He lost interest. I had to keep checking! He thought it was cool that he finally had a bid after 6 days. After the 7 day auction he had sold one item. We learned not to guess on the postage...I thought I had guessed high, but I was short $.45. Oh well, not a horrible mistake. AH is just happy to have made about US$4.00. (I paid for the envelope, mailed it in a timely manner and pretty much handled everything.) He is pumped for his next sale and to become the next mega retailer on e-bay!! I think I'll let him do the work from now on...

Mozzarella!

In our quest to learn in a more relaxed way, we took a great idea from Denise at Mom in Madison and made our own mozzarella! Fun and Yummy!

The curds begin forming

Straining the curds from the whey.

Austen really liked the mozzarella and shared with Dad and AD. He's hamming it up for a photo...we may be on to something!!

The recipe is found on Denise's food blog, cook.eat.think.

Thank you, Denise!

Tug of War

I'm experiencing a lull.
AH doesn't seem interested in much. He grumbles and hems and haws about doing "stuff " escapes to the backyard anytime he thinks I'm not paying attention and is generally making himself very annoying.I realize I've drifted perilously close to "school at home" which I did not want to do with AH. He learns much differently than most kids and learning in a more hands on and visual way is the path I need to take. Instead, I am doing exactly what the school was doing to him and the reason we fled to homeschooling! He is close to shutting down again and it's my own darn fault!

I'm trying to back off.

But an internal tug of war is waging in my mind. On one hand I want him to find his own interests and we can explore them together. On the other hand I have a voice inside telling me that this is not the way school works! Where are the worksheet and reports and spelling lists? That way I have something to show for his "learning!"

We are taking a break from work sheets, problems and memorization. I feel guilty, though. I'm worried my husband will think that our days are filled with nothing but play and that we are wasting time. I know deep inside AH needs space and a more creative presentation of knowledge. Unfortunately, my husband looks at the notes AH leaves for himself and others and is appalled by AH's spelling. He wonders why we haven't worked on spelling. Why doesn't AH know his multiplication tables by heart? In these areas I guess I have been found lacking as a teacher. Don't get me wrong. Doug has been very supportive these past 2 years. And I know that those aren't the only measurements of a child. AH has a fantastic vocabulary, he can make reasoned arguments for a side or viewpoint, he has a memory that is almost infallible (until we deal with multiplication!) he has a sense of humor, he is reading on his own now and becomes a stronger reader every week. He loves history and geography and nature studies. Yet I still struggle for a balance between structure and spontaneous learning. I believe it is a struggle to me (and for Doug) only because I only know about learning from my own school background. All I know is worksheets and tests. But I also know that I didn't really learn much in school. I've forgotten most of it. Most of my knowledge has come from time spent with my mom and dad and adults I trusted. Books were so important to me (and still are) and I've learned from them. Experiences, travel, practice, trial and error. When I really think about it, those have been my real teachers in life!

I am trying to let go of my traditional thoughts on learning, albeit, slowly, and in spurts. I take heart in the fact that, at the very least, I'm moving in the right direction!

To that end, here are some of the wonderful learning experiences we've been sharing for the past week and a half:

Making Easter decorations.

An Easter T-Shirt

Easter Egg Coloring

Abstract Landscape
We have found a wonderful resource online, Art Projects for Kids, filled with ideas for teaching art to children. We are enjoying creating our own abstract art (in fact, this is something that AH has NOT complained about!!)