Homeschooling Thoughts for the Day - Laid Back Parenting and Self-Motivation

I will admit - when I first started researching homeschooling, and realized I would actually be teaching my children at home, I went a bit crazy.  Even though the one I would be homeschooling was barely five I set up a school room, got worksheets, sat him down and started.  It was a disaster.

So, I researched more, let go of my ideas, and in a lot of ways - stopped.  Stopped pushing, stopped scheduling, stopped teaching.  But really, I didn't stop teaching.  I just stopped stressing.

I still read to them, still find books I want to read to them, and we still do things like go to the Museum of Science and Industry, go on nature walks, talk about math, play games and do all the things that involve learning.  I just don't feel the need to be involved in every single aspect of their learning and don't need to sit them down as if they were in a formal school.

So, while I backed off, there has been a huge nagging worry - how do I introduce them to the world that is out there, with the vast world of knowledge and all the amazing learning experiences that are out there without it being a huge chore.  And then - Samuel discovered the Nature Swap room at Brookfield Zoo.

Samuel loves nature.  He is only 6 1/2 but he reads bird identification books, insect identification books, collects rocks, seeds, shells and knows more about animals than most people I know.  And when he saw the Nature Swap room he was in heaven!  The first time he went in he spent almost an hour in there, inspecting the artifacts and looking at everything under the magnifying glass (he even brought his own in case they didn't have one).  And then, the most amazing thing happened - he decided he wanted to collect points for the tiger canine.

Now, to collect points in the Nature Swap room (whoever thought of this was brilliant) knowledge is king.  The more a child can talk about nature, write about an object , the more points the child can collect.  So, Samuel has decided to learn about the Allosaurus.  But, not just a little learning.  No - we looked for a picture, he is making a sculpture of one that he will paint and he's asking for lots of information so he can write about it.  He's 6 1/2 remember - but he has a goal.  His writing, his sculpure, his knowledge isn't sophisticated - but it is his.  And he has done this on his own. With, of course, my assistance in helping him find the information and giving him guidance. But this is his.

I'm finding that the more I step back and give my children the space to discover their interests, the more they will take things and run with them.  Do I still read them children's books about the Roman Empire and books about history, math and other topics?  Of course, I'm still a mom and I still have ideas about what I want them to learn.  But, it's far more sporatic and laid back than my first days of "teaching."

Candle Making - Part 1

My oldest son, Isaac, decided he really wanted to try making candles out of old crayons.  This idea came to him after we melted crayons in a pan and made a beautiful collage and after a power outage when we used a lot of random candles.  So, we are on a mission - how to make our own candles using what we have in the house.

I have found this eHow link on how to make our own wicks.  All we need to have is string (which we have old string in abundance), table salt, borax and wax.  Now, thankfully, I have granulated beeswax in the house from the time I decided to make my own lip balm.  And, Jewel sells borax!  Now, that's not in our house at the moment, but hey - it's cheaper than the $20 candle molds at the craft stores!

For the candle molds - we will try the mounting supply of recycled snack pack cups I've been collecting.  We will have to make sure they won't melt though!  I'll get back to you on that one.  This eHow site gives ideas on what to do for a candle mold.  If the snack pack cups don't work, we'll probably use the canning jars we have.  But, I'd rather not.  I actually want to use them for canning.

I have read that it's possible to buy bags at the craft store to boil the crayons or wax in so that it's easy to pour into the mold.  I don't want to spend money (or at least as little as possible) so we're going to try using the canning jars instead.  This is definitely an experiment.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Oh, and I forgot to mention - having the kids peel all the broken crayons keeps them busy for quite a while.  So, definitely something to do on a cloudy, bad weather day!