Friday, September 17, 2010

Sam's Poetry

We have been reading a lot of poetry here lately. Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Pizza the Size of the Sun. The other day Sammy decided he was going to write his own poetry. I detect some anxiety in his poems. He did tell me I can share them here on my blog, understanding that others will read them.

 Going Upstairs
Going up up stairs
I am still on stairs
and still
and never stop
and I am still on the stairs
I want to stop and sit
and then go up and up as I go

        Flying (Sammy tells me this poem is about gravity turned off)
Flying in the house indoors
I am flying Wee!! Wee!!
This is Fun
I'm flying indoors!!
I'm in a house
when will I stop
I need to stop.
My feet are not on the ground.

My Brother

My brother brings my house everywhere he goes
my brother has his house still
when will he stop
he went to Meijer
he still has it
and he went to the doctors
he still has it
if he stops I will be glad

Friday, September 10, 2010

Students

     This Fall, for our homeschool Enrichment Day, I am teaching a Creative Writing class for 6th-12th graders and a Story Writing class for 3rd-5th graders. I'm also teaching gym for 1st and 2nd grade. Since I taught gym last Spring, that is easy and fun.
     What surprised me is that in the Creative Writing class, only one student (out of 14) was willing to share what she wrote during the classroom exercise! One! Obviously, I can't use grades, but I would love to think of something that would work as an incentive for them to share their work.
     That brings me back to the 3rd to 5th graders. They were clamoring to share their work. I had a hard time ending class on time because they all wanted to read (or have me read) what they wrote. What a difference! Kids obviously change a lot in those couple years. It makes me a little sad to think that in a few years, those same kids probably won't want to share either.
    Also, during the Story Writing class, one of the girls (who was probably 10) said that sometimes in her stories Harry Potter is her husband.  I tried so hard to keep a straight face, but I just couldn't. How cute is that.  I really loved that class and I look forward to the next five weeks.  I'm sure the Creative Writing will be fine too, now that I will adjust my expectations.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

First Day

We started school today along with all the other kids in Michigan. Jonah was so excited to start his kindergarten that he actually did some of his work already last week. Sadie has some preschool things because I know she would want to be working alongside Jonah.

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We will be using a really great Science curriculum this year. It is very hands-on and outdoorsy which is exactly what science should be for children. Today we read a library book about trees and then headed to the woods to be "tree detectives".

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Saturday, September 04, 2010

Happenings

I had so much fun running the last 5k that I told Jeremiah he should run one. We did something even better though, we hired a sitter and ran one together! What? Not your idea of a romantic date? :) It was a brutal run! It was a trail run, and there were so many hills including an extremely steep one that I couldn't quite run all the way up. I have to admit, in the middle of this run I was wondering why exactly I dragged myself out of bed on a rainy morning and paid money to be tortured like this?

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Isaac will be playing trumpet in band this year. He doesn't start band class until next week, but he has been practicing and making some good noise already. I mean music.

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We took a mini-vacation to Mackinaw City and Sault Ste. Marie a few days ago. We got a great deal on a hotel with an indoor water park. Of course we wanted to visit our old campus in the Soo!
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