Wednesday, July 05, 2006

In the swing of summer!

Okay, so for a while here we will not be doing our lessons anymore. I am realizing that the pull of summer is just too strong for me to battle. Noting, that this doesnt mean we arent learning, it just means we arent sitting and doing our lessons anymore for a bit. Instead, we are digging into what we have been learning over the past year. GM did a lot of measuring in the garage this weekend, as well as some hammering, and demoing of some walls. He was learning about why it is so hot in the garage where there is no insulation vs in the house where there is. Also we are reading daily, and gardening and planning and playing. GD is reading wonderfully and exploring his imagination while playing with ME. They are in the full swing of free-ranging imaginative play. ME is all about being the helper! She stayed with us in the garage while we worked almost all weekend. She is a trooper and loves to be a part of whatever we are working on. She had a great time finding things and playing with them in her little imaginary world. It was fun to have her with us out there.

So what will be the plan for the next few months??
  1. Health: Getting GM on his enzymes and trying to heal that leaky gut issue while dealing with some yeast die-off issues. Also continuing our GF diet and beginning to look more into removing the cassein as well. Moving the entire family closer to a whole foods diet, remaining organic and trying to further our goal of buying our foods directly from the farmer, for freshness, and a direct relationship with our food.
  2. Renovations: We want to have completed our renovations on the house before Octrober 1, 2006. That is the goal, and yeah, it is a big one. We have a LOT of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. This will be a major theme to our summer and having the kids involved in each step of the way, will make it more fun, and a great learning experience for them as well.
  3. Planning: I want to complete reading through my Enki guides and resources and really have a good plan for heading into our next focussed lesson time, which will be in mid-October. We will be doing other lessons before then, mainly finishing up the tail ends of things from this year, but our next "year" will begin shortly before Halloween. This is my plan, but we will see, I can and likely will tweak it some more.
  4. Gardening: We are planting our fall beds now, and will continue to plant right through the fall. This is a daily activity for us, spending about one hour each morning outside tending the plants, watering, and weeding. Also in this time we tend the chickens and fill the feeders and bath for the doves. (currently we have over 40 morning doves who spend the morning and early evening with us). Also we have the gardening class that GM does every other week.
  5. Responsibility: I want to really bring in more responsibility to our children and our family this summer. This will stem from establishing a healthy rhythm. Which is a huge part of our life.

So that is my focus, it feels good to see it all written out and to feel pretty good about our ability to accomplish it. So, now Im off to do the laundry! WooHoo!!!

PS. I will get the info on Enki and my 3.5 year old up on the blog very soon, either today or tomorrow. I apologize for the delay, just so much happening right now.

5 comments:

Sunshine Alternative Mama said...

It sounds like your timing is perfect to go through the Foundation Guides with me. I've read them, but it has been over the last 10 months and not systematically. Some sections I have read more than once, and some have received little more than a speed reading.

I too feel the pull of summer. Interestingly enough, DH pointed out that I haven't attended school and had a summer break since finishing college in March 1992 (so my last break was 1991). I find it fascinating that the rhythm can pull so strongly after so many years. And it seems to be an artificial construct of modern schooling; I think long ago the natural resting time would have been winter for many people in North America, after the crops had been tended all summer and harvested in the fall, but before it was time to plow and plant again.

DH also pointed out that my boys don't feel the pull of summer, and in fact they are really interested in continuing their learning right now. So we will stick through it, but I am giving myself permission to slow down and add things in slowly, rather than feeling that we need to be doing everything right now.

Your plan looks great! You really can't be too prepared. Will you continue with movement and projects throughout your break? My goal is to have the movement portion of our morning dialed in by fall, and to continue it through our break, and to do a few projects (crafts, etc.) during the week, but otherwise to only follow academics as the boys ask questions and want to explore.

Blissfulbee said...

Lets start a foundation Guides study via our blogs!!! That will be so wonderful and helpful for me, and for anyone who is also following along.

your husband is right, but also I feel like the sunshine is such a great time to be learning outside. Really experiencing the world and taking in life WHILE learning, rather than being indoors doing lessons etc. Im sure my guys wouldnt mind doing lessons right now, but I feel like I will be just trying to keep up by trying to get it in there right now, and actually preventing them from being outside playing, or taking road trips, or whatever.

Im excited to do a study together! When should we start, or are you even interested??

Sunshine Alternative Mama said...

I posted a plan to the new list, but I am basically planning to do this:

7/3-7/9 Book I, Introduction through The Enki Homeschool (pp. i-53)

7/10-7/16 Book I, Philosophy and Goals: The Heart of the Matter (pp. 55-95)

7/17-7/23 Book I, Philosophy and Goals: The Enki Ecosystem (pp. 97-132)

7/24-7/30 Book II, The Teacher and Child, The Homeschool Teacher (pp. 139-160)

7/31-8/6 Book II, Mirroring Child Development (pp. 165-211)

8/7-8/13 Book III, Rhythms, Rings of Rhythms, Integrating Body, Speech, and Mind: Integration in the Realm of the Body and Sensory Integration (pp. 217-264)

8/14-8/20 Book III, Integrating Body, Speech, and Mind: Integration in the Realm of Speech, Integration in the Realm of Mind, Integration of Body, Speech, and Mind (pp. 265-305) AND Book III, Environment (pp. 309-317)

8/21-8/27 Book III, Rhythms of Time: Daily Rhythms and Family Life (pp. 323-368)

8/28-9/3 Book III, Rhythms of Time: Weekly Rhythms and the Learning Cycle, Monthly Rhythms and the Block Cycle, Yearly Rhythms: Seasonal Patterns in Learning (pp. 369-405)

9/4-9/10 Book III, The Activity of Learning, Essential Energy, Unity and Diversity, Guarantees: Is There Such a Thing as Truth? (pp. 409-447)

9/11-9/17 Book III, Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Setting Boundaries (pp. 451-497)

We are still spending time outside in the sun when the weather cooperates. Really, that is a great part of our lives no matter what the season.

Blissfulbee said...

Sounds terrific, Im game! I will probably do it on my blog and the list a bit, mainly because I want to be able to save my thoughts to review later in the year.

Im excited!!!!

Sunshine Alternative Mama said...

I will probably post on my blog and the list, just copying over to save time.