Goodbye chickies!

We returned our chickens to their farm home on Sunday. In one week they had developed tiny wing and tail feathers. Some had even started growing feathers on their feet.

I will miss their cuteness but not their smell!

Yes, E Day

My kids are constantly complaining that I Always Say No to Everything Fun. They "never" get to do "anything" they want to do. My four year old had a total meltdown the other afternoon out of such frustration that he *never* gets *his* way.

I read an article several years ago in Wondertime magazine (sadly no longer in print) about having a Yes Day. The mom author of the article promised to say yes to her daughter for a whole day. The idea of a yes day (or hour, week, month, etc) has stuck with me because I think it's great and fun. Kids love to be able to be in charge. But we all know they can't (and should not have to) handle the responsibilities of being in charge all the time.

So I suggested this solution to my sons. A Yes E Day and a Yes H Day. They each penciled in a date on my calendar. We set some guidelines: they each get their own day, so only one boss and less conflict; a budget of what we could spend; rules like I can't say yes to something unsafe or something that would hurt someone.

My friend said her kids would ask "Mommy, can I stay naked all day? Mommy, can I eat off the floor? Mommy, can I eat Daddy's unattended cake?" To these I would reply, "Yes you can stay naked-in our house. If you want to leave our house, you have to get dressed." "Eat away." "No I cannot give you permission to eat someone else's cake. But if you ask Daddy directly, he might let you eat it in the spirit of Yes E Day."

So the day began with seven-year-old E requesting to watch television (an no-no on school mornings) and a special breakfast of French toast and bacon. We skipped the usual academics for playing, writing an email, drawing pictures, pleasure reading. He decided he wanted to go have lunch at the mall. He requested Chik-fil-A but when he saw the ridiculous line, he headed for Five Guys burgers, and got sidetracked by a sample of mall "Cajun" bourbon chicken. He ordered a plate of that with two vegetables on the side (corn and carrots), foregoing the rice/pasta for an extra vegetable. He chose lemonade for a drink. He and his brother shared food peacefully while I got mall sushi, then we headed upstairs to see Gnomeo and Juliet at the movie theater. His budget was gone after lunch and movie tickets, so we skipped treats at the theater.

We headed back toward home and stopped at a local park to meet some friends for a playdate. It had just been renovated (unbeknownst to us) and the kids had a fabulous time. We headed home for a snack break. E wanted to play Wii so he played for about two hours while I read a book to his brother, who passed out in my lap.

For dinner, we had no budget left so E chose from what we already had on our weekly menu. He chose chicken nuggets and salad.

His last request was to stay up a half-hour later than his usual bedtime to watch his favorite television show.

What most surprised me is that he never asked for candy or soda the whole day. I expected he would balk at the usual personal hygeine stuff, or cleaning up toys, or would ask to wear his kajamas all day. But he did those things just like normal routine without fussing. I expected him to be sort of clingy and want my undivided attention...for playing games, reading out loud to him, etc. I had prepared myself mentally to be totally focused on him all day, but that didn't really happen. I had lots of time to read, get a little sewing done, household chores, play with little brother. E was obviously much more interested in getting out of our house and doing fun stuff. This is a good reminder that he is very extroverted, and I am very introverted, and I need to plan "out of our house" time more often.

This coming Tuesday is Yes H Day. With him being the younger of the two boys (he's four) I thought it would be smart to let E go first, so that H would have a better idea of what kind of things he is allowed, and see that Mom says no to the things that are outside our agreed-upon boundaries. Last night as he got in bed, he told Daddy he wanted to change his special day to today! Of course, Mom said no.

Eleven, Eleven Baby Chicks, Aaaah, aaaah, aaah

We jumped on an opportunity to rent an incubator and raise some chicks from eggs. We have done a whole unit on eggs and chickens.

We started with 18 fertilized eggs. We read all the instructions for the incubator which involved keeping a bottom tray partially filled with water to maintain humidity, maintaining a temperature of about 100 degrees F, and marking and turning the eggs daily.

Chicken eggs take 21 days to hatch. At day 6 we candled the eggs. We candled again at day 20 and removed two eggs that were obviously not fertile. On day 21 we started hearing cheeps from the incubator and saw tiny cracks in a couple of eggs. By the following evening, we had 11 healthy hatched chicks, and one that started hatching but didn't completely hatch.

We are keeping the chicks for a week then returning them and the incubator to the farm from which they came. They are so cute and fuzzy. They are relatively easy to care for. They need a heat lamp, water, and chick starter feed. We borrowed a cage to use as a brooder, and lined the bottom with pine shavings. Our two cats are very curious about them, but don't bother them much.

Our egg unit reading list:
Egg to chick by Millicent E. Selsam This is the most awesome book ever for this project. It shows the development of the chick at many stages. Be forewarned that is deals frankly with sexual reproduction.
The Chicken Book by Garth Williams
Chicks and Chickens by Gail Gibbons
An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni

This is How Homeschooled Kids Start their Day

Holiday Photos

Thanks to my friend Alicia for these beautiful photographs.

Update

I'm so ashamed that I haven't updated this blog since September! It has been such a busy semester.

We have been taking a weekly Spanish class at the home of a local family. The class is great. The teacher uses lots of music and interactive games to get the kids really involved.

We have also been taking a weekly Physical Education class at a gym. The kids have been learning the basics of soccer, basketball and dodgeball. They love this class, even though it's hard for them to keep up with the older kids sometimes.

At home, we've been studying American history. Thing One has been learning about punctuation, alphabetization, addition in columns and place value, and practicing his writing. He has been learning some basic report writing skills, and basic research skills. In his free time, he loves to draw comic books and read, read, read. And his favorite privilege is playing video games on the computer, Wii, or dad's Ipod.

Thing Two has been absorbing alphabet letters and numbers at a rate that is sometimes disturbing (in a good way). He loves to practice writing on paper, and also in the air, making nice little sounds to go along with it. Reminds me of Victor Borge's classic act. Perhaps he's a kinesthetic learner?

We have had many great field trips. The most exciting were St. Mary's City Homeschool Day and Mount Vernon Homeschool Day. We enjoyed an art class at The American Visionary Art Museum, and a science class at The National Aquarium where we met the new octopus.

Type A Homschooling Mom

Wow, an article that I can totally relate to. This lady and I have a lot in common.