Nature Class

Nora Lee has just started a nature class with several other homeschooling families. The class takes place at Topanga State park in the forest. It's a stunning place with fresh air, lots of trees and plenty of happy deer running around. The kids hike and study plants, animals, cycles of the earth, edible plants and much more.

This week they learned about time and different calendars and how humans have kept track of time in different ways throughout history. They made Native American "moon sticks" and will mark the stick each time there is a full moon to track the passing of one year.














We taste edible flowers








Nora Lee and Toby let roly polies crawl on their hands



Nora Lee's moon stick

Saturday in Ojai

Matt, Nora Lee, Hogarth and I went to Ojai with our dear friends, Lena, Josh, Dede, and Esme. We ate at an amazing cafe with fresh baked breads and pastries and other delicious foods. We walked around the tiny downtown area, played at a nearby park and simply had a lovely, relaxing Saturday afternoon.

Improv

Nora Lee has been taking an improv class for the last few months and is having a great time. It's a wonderful way for her to explore her creativity and desire for acting and pretend play. Matt could certainly teach her improv skills, and they do play at home, but we know there is a lot of value in Nora Lee learning from other adults and having her own classes out in the world.

The studio where she goes is all kids, all comedy, and all improv. I love the teachers and am a huge fan of the process. A few weeks ago Nora Lee performed in her first improv show. It was such a treat to see all those 4-6 year olds on stage.



We celebrate at Sweet Butter Kitchen after Nora's show

Explosions

In the last few weeks Nora Lee has been experiencing powerful emotional outbursts. She still remains, in general, a calm, reasonable person; but from time to time she will suddenly feel very angry or frustrated. It's most often directed at me and she blames me for something that happened to her. For example, she ran into the dining room table and hurt herself and she screamed, "Mom, why did you put that table there!!" She has also said things like, "I'm so mad I want to hit you, I'm not going to, but I WANT to!" I've told her that she can feel however she needs to feel but that she can't yell at me. She is allowed to go in her room or scream in the cave (which is soundproof). I have also talked to her about hitting her bed or pillows to let some of the energy out. She hasn't had an upset since this conversation so she hasn't tried it out yet, but she was excited about the idea.

The emotions remind me of turmoil some teenagers have when something relatively small can just make them go crazy for a second. Here are some recent quotes that I found rather funny and beautifully illustrate my point.

#1

Nora Lee: You are such a bad mom!

Me: Don't say that. It's not kind and It's not okay.

Nora Lee: Its just that you are so not easy to control!

#2

NL: Mom, you are such a hand-full.

#3

Me: I dont want to play with you anymore because you are being bossy and it's not fun to play anymore.

NL: I'm not being bossy. I'm just guiding you.

#4

Matt and Nora Lee were having a power struggle over her wearing socks. They went back and forth and then, of course, it was no longer about socks but about who was in control. Matt was explaining that when we say you need to do something, you need to do it.

They came to an agreement and Matt said, "Next time I tell you to wear socks, you need to wear socks. I will make you wear socks. Nora Lee responded, "Next time I will make YOU make me wear socks."

This cracked me up that she was determined to get the last word on the power struggle, even to the point of making Matt make her do something. Crazy.

Luckily, it seems that this is only a stage and perhaps a necessary one. It's been mild compared to what it could be and I am grateful!

Learning

So much of the learning that happens in our home, takes place in our daily lives. Life provides many opportunities to learn how the world works, why things happen, how to take care of our bodies, etc.

And, there is some learning that simply takes practice and is more about sitting down and practicing. We have been working with letters and numbers each morning after breakfast. We play games with recognizing the symbol and then Nora Lee practices writing them. We have also started simple math. Recently we introduced the symbol for addition and have done a little adding together. I've been surprised how Nora Lee already understands things like if I say, "You can have one more piece of candy." She will say, "Then there will only be three pieces left."

Family Fun

Could I have a cuter nephew? I mean, seriously.



Auntie Colleen, Cameron, Nora Lee and Grandma



Grandpa and Cameron



Rusty and Hogarth have a blast together



Grandma and Cameron



Clay and Cameron

Garden Updates

Having the seeds inside our dining room has allowed us to see much more of the growing process this year. We just planted the seeds recently (a week or two ago?) and so many of them are sprouting already! We have noticed that near the table there are discarded seed shells that the plants have outgrown. I've never been watching carefully enough to see this process before and its fascinating.




A bean sprout!



Shells that have been discarded after the seed has grown into a sprout




You can see the plant about ready to outgrow the seed shell