Candy Land

Ollie is learning to play his first board game, Candy Land.

There is a lot to learn with a simple game like this: Taking turns, colors,
drawing cards and putting them in the discard pile, counting spaces,
the concept of starting at the beginning and moving toward the finish line,
and the concept that you are represented by a game piece.

Dragon Battle

For his eight birthday, Aunt Rita and Uncle Tom took Merrit shopping in downtown Black Mountain. What Merrit chose was a book called The Klutz Book of Animation. For all our homeschooling friends and/or bored summer-vacationers, there are tons of fun projects in the book to engage a young, aspiring animator.

Check out Merrit's first animation. We did this together in about an hour (my role was simply installing and opening software programs and cueing up the music...he did everything else).

If you have a webcam, a computer with an Internet connection that you are willing to let your kid use, and can download a free software application called SAM, you have everything you need to let your kid create his or her own short animations. Hope you have as much fun with this as we had--and will continue to have! 
Thanks Durenda and Tom for such a great birthday gift! Here's that book again. Not that you need the book, but it does have lots of good ideas and some background information on animations in general; you can get it at Amazon.com.

The Roman Fort at Segedunum

I tagged this post "history" and "homeschool" because our trip to the Roman fort at Segedunum yesterday was on the first day of what I'm calling our Summer School Program (more about that in another post).

Just outside of Newcastle upon Tyne, the fort is right alongside the River Tyne. Some parts of the ruins are actually underneath a busy highway and a nearby apartment complex. The name of the district/village where the ruins are located is called Wallsend. Why? Because that's where Hadrian's Wall (which we saw a few weeks ago) joins up with the walls of the fort. The wall's end.

All that's left of the buildings now. Just outlines on the ground, really.

Merrit, Ollie, and a friend inside the ruins of the building that used to
be the fort's armory.

From the top of the nine-story observation tower, you can see the outlines
of where the fort's various buildings used to stand. On the TV screen, an
animation shows a time-lapse representation of the land stretching out
below...grasslands to Roman fort to fort in ruins to farmland to coal colliery
to shipyard to present-day archaeological site and museum. Very cool. 

The boys duel like gladiators in the gift shop.

Merrit works at building an arch with oversized foam bricks.

What the latrine in the barracks' bath house would have looked like.

Inside the bath house, which has been reconstructed based on the ruins and
what archaeologists know about how the Romans lived and used bath houses.
This was the "warm bath room" in the barrack's bath house, where a fountain like
this one would have spouted warm water for washing the face and body.

Checkmate

Mike has been teaching Merrit how to play chess.
As I eavesdrop (not really, I just happen to be fixing dinner),
I'm amazed how many life lessons can be worked into a game
of chess. Once a homeschooling family, always a homeschooling
family--at least in spirit. Everything is a learning opportunity!

Ollie in the background playing with his Leap Frog
alphabet letters.

Date Night at the Theatre

I had a first date on Wednesday night. Even though I had to ask the boy out and pay for the tickets myself and he didn't take me out to dinner first, I still think it was a great first date! Here's my date and I:

Merrit and I outside the house, getting ready to walk to
the theatre.

I had to explain to Merrit on the way to the Whitley Bay Playhouse that we were on a date and that meant that instead of running a half-block ahead of me yelling back at me to hurry up, he should walk with me, and hold my hand, and ask me about things I'm interested in. Once we were walking hand-in-hand, I said, "I'll start."

"So, Merrit, I understand that you have been homeschooled until now and this is your first time in public school. What's that like?"

"Well, it's a lot of fun and I like it. It's a long day though and sometimes I miss you—I mean—my mom. But, it's good. Um, so have you been settling in here? Are you making friends?"

"Oh, thanks for asking. Well, yes, I have met some people that are nice, but it'll take time to make good friends. Don't you think it takes time to make friends?"

"Yeah."

"Oh look, here we are at the playhouse."

It's a short walk! Just two blocks.

The playhouse is right across the street from Merrit's
school.

We had tickets to see Lionel Bart's Oliver, presented by the Whitley Bay Operatic Society. It was a great show. The boy who played the part of Oliver Twist was only eight years old and he did an amazing job! I was so impressed and touched when this little kid sang "Where Is Love?" all alone, under a spotlight, in front of a mostly-adult audience. Such bravery for a young kid.

I watched Oliver once before, a long time ago, when my cousin was in a high-school (or maybe even middle school?) presentation of the play. I sort of knew the storyline, but I was a bit rusty. What a great story. What great music!...Songs like "Food, Glorious Food," "Consider Yourself," "As Long As He Needs Me," "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two," and "I'd Do Anything." And how cool is it that they had a live, albeit small, orchestra to accompany the actors?

Merrit took this picture from our seats on the third row.

This was Merrit's fourth play. He's seen Stomp!, Schoolhouse
Rocks (a production with an all-kid cast), and Macbeth (in which
his friend Max played the part of Fleance).

After I took Merrit's picture with the tix, he wanted to take mine.

At intermission, we bought some crisps (potato chips) and gummy snakes.

Merrit saw a teacher from his school at intermission and said hello. He didn't think to introduce me, but we're still working on date etiquette!

During the second act, Merrit was getting a little tired. He leaned over and whispered, "I think if I could eat a couple more gummy snakes, it might help me stay awake." Ha ha. Always working the angle, that one.

He had a lot of questions during the second act, as the plot became more complicated. The music helped him differentiate the good guys from the bad guys; the musicians in the orchestra pit played little bits of "mood music" (I'm sure there's a term for this but I don't know it) during non-speaking and non-singing parts of the play. And of course he jumped back in his seat and covered his eyes when Bill Sykes strangles Nancy on London Bridge at midnight. Just a little violent but, hey, if you've seen Macbeth, you can handle just about anything.

Thankfully, the Broadway version of the story is much less dark than Charles Dickens' original. In the play, Mr. Fagin is a comical character who seems to have a good heart even though he makes his troop of orphaned boys work as pickpockets in London, but in the Dickens story, Mr. Fagin is a criminal who treats the children cruelly and who is eventually tried and executed for his crimes. Note: I didn't know any of this before yesterday...but you gotta love Wikipedia.

When the play was over, we held hands and walked home in the dark. That was sweet. We watched an airplane fly overhead and found the moon, half-hidden behind the clouds. We talked about whether Mr. Fagin was good or bad, or a little of both. And whether he could change his ways. I didn't have to tell Merrit not to run ahead or to hold my hand on the way home—maybe because it was dark out, but I like to think that it was because he was having a nice time on our date.

"I am going to school today..."

Merrit's journal entry this morning.

I woke up Merrit at 6:30 this morning for his first day of school. He pulled on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bathrobe that his Great Aunt Frances made for him for Christmas and said, as we were walking down the stairs to breakfast, "Remember when I went to preschool? Well one time in preschool, we dressed up like clowns. All the kids put on different colored noses. My nose was brown. Some of the kids who had red noses said, 'You can't play with us because you don't have a red nose.'" 

And then he paused. I was multi-tasking and rendered speechless by the toothpaste and toothbrush in my mouth so I just looked at him, waiting to see what he'd say next.

He goes, "I don't have to worry about that at school today because this is school for big boys." And he kept heading down the steps to the kitchen.

I have never heard that story. I am so surprised that he woke up thinking about it. What does it mean? Is there a part of him that's worried about today? About fitting in? About being different?

It's only normal to feel that way, but I was surprised by this story because he's normally so transparent about his feelings and this seemed to come from left field.

That was the end of it, though. After toast and eggs, he was revved up and literally counting the minutes till we needed to head out the door. 

Mike on his way out to get the Metro at about 8:30.

We left for school about 10 minutes after Mike. Drop-off time is 8:50. School starts at 9:00.
Merrit ran ahead the whole way, very worried about being late!
It's a three-block walk from our house to the school.

Getting ready to go in for his first day! This is an elementary, or first, school.
They have 3- and 4-year old nursery school (free for siblings of enrolled students),
kindergarten (which they call Year One), and Grades 1 through 3 (which they call
Years Two through Four). Merrit is in Year Three.

Here he is at the front entrance, getting ready to go in for his Big Day!

Here's his classroom. He immediately noticed the big aluminum-foiled robot
in the corner.

His teacher, left, is taking off her coat from bringing her class in from the playground.
This little boy, named Hammish, was kind enough to take Merrit to show him where
to put his packed lunch and coat and hat. 

When I picked Merrit up today (he only stayed for a half-day
today since the afternoon on Friday is swimming and we don't have
his bathing suit yet), Hammish was playing with him on the playground,
keeping an arm around his shoulder the whole time. I could have
cried to see the kindness of this little boy.

Merrit said he thought Hammish
had hair like Ollie and that's how he could find him in a crowd.

Ollie and I said goodbye to Merrit and headed out. I snapped a couple of pictures of
the playground on our way out. Here's the vegetable garden and natural area and pond.

The side of the school, overlooking the playground.

The school has a large Astroturf field with a playground next to it. This
picture is cool because you can see how close the ocean-front is.

I should be getting information about the upcoming term's curriculum next week. For now, I know that the kids do gymnastics once a week, dance once a week, swimming once a week, and outdoor P.E. twice a week. Outside playtime for an hour each day. Every student learns French. (I was hoping they would be teaching a second language!) Art classes. ICT classes (information and computer technology). Music once or maybe twice a week. I saw a number of students bringing in violin cases, so, I don't know...maybe that's available as an extracurricular activity...? I can't wait to learn more about what they'll teach and what his daily schedule will be like. 

I'm so charmed by the idea of uniforms, but here everyone takes it as a given. We have to order a few more uniforms on Monday. He can wear either a light blue or white golf-style shirt with an emblemed navy, royal blue, or red sweatshirt, grey trousers, and black shoes. There are also extras you can purchase, like emblemed anoraks, cardigans, and sweaters. Today, the school sent him home with a cute little Marine Park First School book satchel. It looks like a little soft-sided royal blue briefcase and it has the school logo embroidered on the front. Adorable. He looks like such a little man.

To celebrate Ollie-and-me time, I took my boy out for scones. He
had a raisin scone and I had a cherry and almond scone. 

Two fresh baked scones and a small pot of tea cost me 3 pounds, about
4 dollars and 80 cents.

We stopped by Sainsbury's grocery for milk and eggs.
Outside, Ollie rode the horse for 50 pence.

Ollie and I went to the bank and stopped by a dentist and a doctor's office to register
(you have to register with them--if they are even accepting new patients--before
you can make an appointment to be seen).

Last stop before home and lunch: The guitar shop. This has quickly become
Ollie's favorite place in town. Second favorite: The pet supply store, where
he likes to look at all the pictures of dogs and cats on the bags of food in
the window.

I love the big windows on the store fronts and the window-displays. Such
creativity and time go into them. I've noticed that many of the stores
put out a new window display every few days. It definitely makes it fun
to walk by and see what's new at each store.

So that's how we spent Merrit's first day of school. We picked him up at 1:15, after recess (which they call playtime). He said he had an "excellent" time. He met new friends, but couldn't remember anyone's name except for Hammish (pronounced Irmish). No homework tonight, but we can expect it come Monday, his teacher said. I am glad for it because I can't imagine not being in touch with what he's learning. It is going to be a strange transition for me.

Ending homeschooling is a bit like weaning, I think. On the one hand, you're a bit sad and sentimental that this particular chapter is coming to an end. On the other hand, you know that you're about to experience newfound freedom and fewer demands and that's exciting. So, mixed feelings. But all good.

New Shoes...and That's Just the Beginning

Merrit needed black trainers (we call 'em sneakers) for his school uniform.
And Ollie needed Wellies -- um -- yesterday!

I have a friend, Darlene, who--when someone asks her, "How long have you been homeschooling?"--likes to say, "From the beginning." In that way, all parents are homeschoolers.

But officially, we homeschooled Merrit through kindergarten, first grade, and for this, his second grade year--at least up till now. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

That kindergarten year we read Pipi Longstockings and The House at Pooh Corner and Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little and so many others, spread out on a picnic blanket upstairs while Ollie slept downstairs in his crib. And when Merrit learned to read all by himself. Wow. What a miracle and privilege to watch my boy learn to read! I was so in awe. Our goal for that year was to teach Merrit to read, and to help him learn to love books. We also took field trips. And made cookies. And worked puzzles. We also participated in Classical Conversations, and Merrit memorized all kinds of facts and formulas to the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "Yankee Doodle" and so on. That year was just bliss. Really.

First grade was more challenging. Only because Ollie was older, slept less, and schooling, necessarily, had to get more structured. But still we persevered through Classical Conversations' materials, through Science, Latin, History, Geography, Grammar, Spelling, Handwriting, and a big honkin' Saxon Level 1 math book...the whole thing...omgosh, that book was fat. Our goal for that year was to foster a natural curiosity, to help associate learning with fun, and to gain familiarity with basic material across a wide breadth of subjects.

This year--second grade--has been a good year. It was our third year enrolled in Classical Conversations. Ollie went to preschool and Merrit and I worked hard to squeeze our schooling into those three hours a day. He started multiplication tables, world geography, cursive writing, and chapter books. We read more great literature. Old Yeller, Shiloh, My Side of the Mountain, The Borrowers, the first three books in the Narnia series, The Hobbit, and two books in the Little House series.

Since I love homeschooling so much, I have had mixed feelings about putting Merrit into school. But after a lot of discussion, Mike and I think this will be good.

For one thing, what a great opportunity for Merrit! To go to school in another country. To meet English kids. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The school has an opening now--and it probably won't have an opening in the fall since it's typically oversubscribed with a big waiting list. Even though I hadn't thought about putting him into school mid-year, it seems like this might be the best way to go.

And here's what I was not really prepared for: Merrit is really, really excited to go! We had thought we'd get here, adjust, take some time to transition into the idea of going to school, just take it one big change at a time. But Merrit has been asking, and asking, and asking about school. We walk past it on our way to the library and he is so impatient to go.

Honesty: There's a teeny part of me that's thinking, "Wow, is school THAT bad with me?"

But when quizzed, Merrit gives the reasons for wanting to go to school that must be typical for a kid his age. Recess. Lunch. Making friends. What I know about Merrit is that he loves structure and he is such a social little guy. I really think he's going to dig being in a classroom with other kids.

Another reason that now is a great time for Merrit to go to school: Ollie. Maybe this is a shortcoming of mine, or maybe it has more to do with Ollie's active nature, but all I know is that I am in awe of these moms who homeschool five kids. How do they do it? It has been hard for me to give Ollie the kind of time, attention, and stimulation that I would like to while schooling Merrit.

So, yes, it's Ollie's turn. And he is going to drink it up. He's such an observant, adventurous person. Whatever he sees you do, he wants to try. He's fearless. With structured, intentional time with me, I think he'll do great.