Homeschooling stuff SCORE!

So I'm going to start up a family daycare. It's going to be all of the good and none of the dogmatic crap of all of the nice philosophies - Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Waldorf. Basically acknowledging that children are, you know, actual people. More on that later.

Anyway, I have been looking at sample childcare contracts and advertisements and stuff to work out what I want mine to say. The other day I did a search on Craigs List for childcare, but not knowing the site that well, I was searching goods instead of services. So I happened upon an ad for a crapload of awesome stuff that a homeschooling mom (who had run a family daycare) was selling. Loads and loads of resources and learning materials, including stuff that I had actually gone shopping for and not bought because they were too expensive new (Cuisenaire rods, 100s board with multiple sets of numbers). Children's thesaurus and dictionary, a rhyming dictionary, loads of space and constellation stuff, a music curriculum. And on and on and on. Art ideas galore, nature stuff, anatomy stuff. It was a score. I placed my (very substantial) order, recognizing that it was a bit of a coincidence (if you believe in coincidences, which I don't) to find all of this stuff so well priced, right when I'm looking into starting up a childcare.

We picked up our stuff today. It was a bit overwhelming at first, just because of the sheer volume (three boxes) and the lack of places to put it (we're still staying with my mom). I sort of organized stuff into "stuff aimed at the adult" and "stuff aimed at the kids" and left it at that.

After dinner, the kids started poking through and found the 100 board and a set of numbers. They decided to put the numbers in order from 1-100. Here's them at work:









After that set, they did the other set of numbers. Then moved onto one of the three sets of Cuisenaire rods. Ahh, the joy of math (when nobody is forcing you to do it).

Good times.

Bike safety

One of my first priorities when we got here was to get bikes for the kids (because they wanted them sooooo bad), and that was made urgent by the fact that there are 15+ kids in our cul-de-sac who like to ride bikes around.

My cousin gave us one for Nate that her kids had grown out of (and threw in a little scooter that Maya loves!) and a good friend passed on a Little Mermaid bike for Maya (rapture) and a tricycle with a handle for Eli. Nate needed training wheels since he's never really ridden a bike and is verrry cautious. We happened upon a set of training wheels at a local garage sale for a whopping $1, so that was that sorted. Maya's needed new tubes in the tires and training wheels as well, and we took it to a bike shop for those. Bikes, tick. Then we needed helmets!

My mom had picked up a flier for a cheap bike helmet event at a local church, so we headed over. It turned out to be a completely awesome family bike safety event. There was a bike clinic outside where bike mechanics were doing free tuneups. There was a bike course set up for riding. I didn't realise all of that was happening, so we didn't bring our bikes. We headed inside for the $5 helmets.

There was a series of bike safety areas set up. First stop was talking about different helmets and what they are used for.



Nate thought the (American) football helmet might be a cricket helmet which baffled the helmet woman. I thought it was very cute. They identified the motorcycle helmet and the bicycle helmet.

Next step was watching a helmet in action. The kids packed an egg in stuffing and packed it tightly into the helmet:





Well, most of them did ;o)



Then they dropped them from a great height:



Nate's egg didn't survive the fall which gave the woman an opportunity to talk about how even helmets can't protect against all head trauma, so it's very important to be road-safe.

More stations involved general road rules and safety, and how to tell if a bike is in riding order (tight chain, sturdy handlebars and seat, all in working order). Then it was on to the helmet fitting:







This was great, because I've never fitted a bike helmet and wouldn't have known how to do it properly. The fitters were suitably impressed by the sizes of my childrens' heads (no toddler helmet for my 2 year old's noggin, thank you very much).

And here Nate and Maya are in action after we got home:

Ballet!

So Maya has been interested in ballet for awhile now. Last summer when we were visiting the US, we watched some friends in a children's ballet performance, and the kids were mesmorised. (At one point, Maya inadvertantly pirouetted. It ranks among the cutest things I've ever seen.) She ended up feeling really sad that she couldn't participate though, so I asked her if she would be interested in doing a ballet class. I explained to her that ballet is a discipline and there are lots of rules, and if she took a class she would be doing what the teacher instructed. At the time, she wasn't interested in anything other than her own free-form ballet, so we didn't pursue it.

Then the other day, Nick and I went out to a movie, and while we were gone Maya apparently told my mom how much she wants to do a ballet class. So I did some internet searching and found a thread on mothering.com that suggested the parks and recreation summer classes. I looked, and out of the long list of pre-ballet classes at all of the different venues, there was one with availability. Nick is there now, signing her up - my driver's license is expired so I can't do it (lots of proving residency since it's a district thing).

So yesterday I asked my dear friend K where I could get Maya some ballet gear. K's girls do ballet, so I knew she would know. She had a look through the things her youngest girl has grown out of, and we came home with two pairs of shoes, two pairs of tights, a leotard, and a ballet skirt, plus a few hair pins and a hair net for a perfect bun! Wow. Score.

At the moment, Eli is rocking a pair of tights, shoes, the skirt and his pajama top, and Maya has a lovely bun, some tights and shoes, and a funky fluffy vest that she also came away with in the hand-me-down score. They, with Nate, are putting together some kind of performance in my bedroom.

Black holes

Nate is completely into outer space at the moment. Particularly black holes. I am so thankful for our awesome library here that has an awe-inspiring amount of books on almost any subject imaginable. The juvenile non-fiction section had four books on black holes alone (well, four on the shelf - there could have been more checked out), not to mention the hundreds of other books on space, the universe, the Milky Way, each individual planet, all of the major planets, the dwarf planets, and all combinations therein. It has been really cool, and I have learned a lot as well. Now we're getting into Stephen Hawking. I see A Brief History of Time in the near future... And possibly a telescope too.

Eli is completely into anything FISH. We picked up a few fish books at the library and he will read them from memory (in his Eli-language that not many people can understand). My mom's cable has loads of on-demand programs and the capability to tape shows in advance, so there are a few interesting fishy things there too that he is enjoying.

Maya? Going with the flow, as usual.

Eli and the crocodile

Before we left Sydney, we went to the Cultural Festival that was on at Rouse Hill Town Centre. It was pretty cool. We met a baby crocodile. It was beautiful. I love this picture, because Nick looks very wary:



The kids enjoyed some pavement chalk action:

Portland Children's Museum

My glorious mother gave us memberships to the Portland Children's Museum and the Oregon Zoo! Since it has rained almost non-stop since we've been here (please don't raise this sore subject with Nick...), we haven't made it to the zoo yet. But we did go to the Children's Museum, and the kids loved it.

We love the Grasshopper Grocery, where the kids can shop for the essentials...





...or grab a meal in the cafe:





They did some face painting:







I loved Nate's face - I've never seen anyone paint a landscape on their face before :o)



Funnily enough, the current exhibit is about Australia! We put on furry tails and pouches and hopped around like kangaroos, and visited the little Aussie shop that actually had impressively authentic fare:



All in all, fun was had by all. We'll definitely be coming back on member appreciation days when they don't schedule group visits!

Pictures!

Nick is completely awesome.

Because he's awesome, he put hundreds of photos on a flash drive for my mom a few years ago - all of the best photos from 2005 to 2008. We forgot. He found it today. Awesomeness. Seeing Maya's goofy little face brought tears to my eyes.



Here's Nate (looking a whole lot like Eli, about Eli's age) at the farm:



Another favorite of little Nate:



Nate meeting Maya for the first time:



Some of Maya's first smiles:



Oh geez, I could keep going for aaaages. I can't tell you how good it feels to HAVE these pictures! My beautiful babies! Happy sigh.