Day In the Life of Homeschooling Penny: Part 2

Homeschooling Penny is not always such a structured event. I am always looking for little opportunities to build on her understanding of the world. One of my favorite forums to reinforce pre-math skills, provide sensory exploration, and conduct mini science lessons is to involve her in cooking. Whether it's helping me measure out flour and sugar for cookies, "chopping" salad for dinner, or pushing the button on the blender for fruit smoothies, Penny is usually at my side during food preparation times. The best childhood memories I have with my mom are when I was helping her in the kitchen, so I really looked forward to involving Penny with me in my kitchen exploits.



The pig-themed day was just too tempting, so we went all out and made pigs-in-a-blanket for lunch. Though some people would call me a health-food nut, I'm not above making classic kid food. I just tend to put a healthy twist on it. PBJ? Fine, but on whole-grain bread, 100% fruit jam, and natural peanut butter. Burgers, fries, and milkshakes? Ok, but let's do turkey/veggie burgers, baked potato wedges or roasted green bean "fries," and a yogurt fruit smoothie. We have pizza on a weekly basis...but it's homemade with lots of veggies. Ect...

So my healthy spin on pigs-in-a-blanket? Nitrate-free beef franks wrapped in homemade whole-wheat biscuits. I assure you these taste way better than the canned biscuit alternative. To her delight, Penny helped paint egg wash onto the piggies. Cooking is so much fun for kids!




The learning doesn't end with our main dish. While they bake away, we pass the time by making patterns out of cheese triangles, carrot coins, and square crackers. I make the beginning of the pattern, and Penny has to figure out what comes next.



Ramona isn't big enough to participate yet, but she grabs a snack and spectates from her throne (or high chair...whatever). Rest assured, as soon as she is big enough to stand at the counter and hold a big wooden spoon, she'll be in on the fun.



After lunch, we head outside for "recess." Funny how changing the name of a normal everyday activity can motivate Penny and make it more fun. We live in a rather dark basement apartment, but we have the blessing of having a monstrous backyard. We played the three little pigs (I was the wolf) and Ramona observed and squealed in delight from her favorite seat.




After about 20 minutes, however, we all realized we were grossly underdressed (it was a freezing cold day) and both girls began to have pre-nap meltdowns. So recess was cut short and we ran into the house to get ready for quiet time. Ramona was wrapped in her favorite blankie and tucked into her crib for a nap, and Penny and I climbed into my bed for snuggling and a story. Penny rarely sleeps anymore, but she has a quiet time where she listens to music, reads books, and plays with puzzles or other toys. In the meantime, I get a cup of tea and check my email, do some chores, or if I'm lucky, take a nap myself.

After quiet time, and six rousing versions of "This Little Piggy Went to Market," (one for each foot in the house) we pull out the main event: our library books about pigs. On this particular day, I found a fantastic book about swine: "Pig" by Jules Older. Penny loves learning about animals- it's definitely her favorite subject for school. She was particularly interested in the nipples on pigs- "Look at all the nipples! The pig is feeding all her babies with her nipples!" 3-year-olds are weird.

Next comes our final activity of the day: crafts. Penny can't wait for craft time and often wants to skip everything else to get to get at the scissors, glue, glitter, and create something fun to put on the fridge.




I usually keep it pretty simple; as long as we have construction paper, popsicle sticks, tp tubes, and googly eyes, the possibilities are limitless. However, I was feeling inspired on pig day, so we made a little handbag made out of felt. One of the best sites for simple crafts is familyfun.com This was an adorable craft- I think we will be be making the other animals in the future.




Homeschooling Penny doesn't just get her ready for kindergarden- it helps us bond together, creates memories, and gives me a creative outlet. I love the way having my own kids actually keeps me young. I have to remember how to play, explore, and wonder about the world around me- skills that I swore I would never let get rusty as I grew up. But as we grow, the world wears us down and I'll admit worry, stress, other icky grown-up stuff has dulled my delight in life at times. Thank God for my children. With their help, I'll never have to truly grow up.

Day In the Life of Homeschooling Penny

When I transitioned to being a stay at home mom, the months stretched before me like a vast plain. It was slightly overwhelming- the time before me was void of a lot of the stress I had so often abhored, but how would I keep myself busy? My friends and family were all in Oregon, I was in a new city, and Micah was busy with his new career. It was entirely my own responsibility to make the most of the time I had with Penny now. Of course, I knew we would be doing a lot of visits to the library, parks, the zoo (thanks to my Aunt Meg for the awesome membership!), and playdates, but I wanted to make the time at home a little more meaningful and intentional. Preschool is not really an option for us financially and so I thought I would see if I could replicate the experience without leaving the house.

So, after some quick internet searches, I discovered there was enough free material online for me to put together my own homeschool curriculum. The following is a pretty typical day for us at "school," which we will do about 2-3 days a week.

We start out pretty much the same way each day: First we talk about the day of the week, the month, and the date and write it on our chalkboard. I love this art easel from Ikea: the best $15 I have spent in a long time on Penny. We sing our "Days of the Week Song" to the tune of "If Your Happy and You Know It":

Every week has seven days, yes it does!
Every week has seven days, yes it does!
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Every week has seven days, yes it does!

Today is Wednesday, Wednesday, yes it is....etc.



Next we talk about the theme/topic of the day and the letter it starts with. Penny helps me choose the subject or theme she would like to learn about. Due to frequent readings of Charlotte's Web, "Pigs" was the topic of choice this week. I will often pick a topic based off of what library books are available at our weekly trip to storytime. Sometimes I will plan ahead and place books on hold, but often I'll just go with what is available at the time. Being a teacher really brings out the procrastinator in me.

After a dizzying rendition of the ABC's (she spins in circles whenever we sing), we do our memory verse of the week (or month). Sometimes I will pick the same one she is learning at Sunday school or pick one that seems relevant. She was dealing with a lot of fears a few months ago, and I was amazed at how teaching her Isaiah 41:10 really helped calm her in moments of distress: "Do not be afraid, for I am with you." Being able to teach Penny truths about God has been the most rewarding part of being at home. Though I grateful for the place of Sunday school in her spiritual development, I want to help her discover the beauty of God on a daily basis.



We use the back part of the white board to practice phonics with the letter of the day. We will help each other come up with vocabulary with beginning with the letter and illustrate the words. This princess has really got it going on:



We will often be counting the days down until the next holiday or family visit. This month we made a paper chain to count down until Kiki (my mom) comes and St. Patrick's Day.




After our little introduction, I'll get her started on some worksheets, which I will find online for free. There really is an incredible abundance of free materials online. I will use our theme to find pre-writing, pre-math, concrete thinking skills, and coloring/art worksheets. Here are just a few of my favorite worksheet websites:

http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM
http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/
http://allkidsnetwork.com/






After she completes all of her worksheets, it's computer time. We usually start by doing an online puzzle Penny is getting so good at these- she made a record today of finishing it in 58 seconds! Then we read an online book of the Three Little Pigs- an obvious choice for a pig-themed day! Then she gets some free time to play at PBS kids- this is probably her favorite part of the day so I usually have to put a time limit on it or she would play right through lunch. Her favorite games are Curious George and Sesame Street.





Our day isn't over here, but this is getting a little bit long, so I'll be finishing the rest of our fabulous day of swine with a separate post.

Back to the Grindstone...Though I Never Really Left It

It’s been a while since I have had the inspiration/time/energy to write a blog entry so I’m feeling quite accomplished to finally have the gumption to do it. Maybe it’s the time of year- I always seem to lean into a bit of a funk in late winter, and I don’t think I’m alone. I was hoping that it was simply a result of feeling like a drowned rat in Portland by this time of year, but as it turns out winter is winter where ever you live…unless you live in paradise. February snow is decidedly gloomier, slushier, and dirtier than December snow. But the sun is gracious in Denver and at least I can feel it’s warmth on my face more than a few times each week, and for that we’re thankful.

As we near the end of the longest month of the year (even though it is technically the shortest, it always feels the longest), I am appreciating the past 8 months that I’ve been a stay-at-home mom. For the first 6 months it felt like such a luxury. It was a major change for me- I had transitioned abruptly from working part-time at MFH, managing Stepping Stone Apartments, and going to school almost full time to being home with the kids exclusively. I worried that I would be anxious and bored after being so busy, but it turns out it isn’t as scary to stay at home as I thought it might be. Between homeschooling Penny a few days each week, playdates, volunteering, storytime at the library, going to the park, managing the household, and caring for a new baby, the days and weeks tend to fly by in a flash.

But after the holidays came and went, our financial situation started fueling my drive to return to work. God has continually taken care of us over the past season in our lives even with unsteady work/unemployment for Micah, huge moving costs, and a new addition to the family. It’s almost unbelievable that we have been able to escape without debt (besides Micah’s student loans) to this point- truly we have been blessed. Yet, being one car repair or medical bill away from disaster has taken some of the joy away from my time at home. I also have dreams of moving out of our basement apartment into a home where I can actually see the snow fall and have huge floods of sunlight to bask in. A better part of town with less rowdy neighbors would be a major improvement as well.

Finding a job that would work with Micah’s schedule was a challenge though. Unlike when we lived in Portland, we don’t have a huge network of adoring Penny and Ramona fans that will babysit for free at the drop of a hat (we miss you all!!!). So after looking for several weeks, I had applied for one job, and one job alone, that would possibly work with my limited availability: an on-call position at a women’s transitional housing program called Warren Village First Step. As it turns out, it’s the only job I would need to apply for as they hired me last week. 

I have tried to think of the last 8 months as a career change and not a period of unemployment, because truly, being a stay-at-home mom is a challenging job and rich with rewards. But having worked with homeless families practically my entire adult life, advocating for those in need has become ingrained into the very heart of me and I’m eager to roll up my sleeves and get involved again. I am so relieved to be working in a small non-profit where they are flexible about my availability and welcome the involvement of my family and children in my work. The program manager was so understanding about my lack of childcare- she even encouraged me to bring Penny with me to work and for special events. As we always included Penny in all the activities at MFH, it’s a relief to be in such a flexible and warm work environment again. There are a lot of differences between MFH and Warren Village, but I view it as an opportunity to understand how another non-profit works and get my foot in the door to the social service field in Colorado. I’m only working one day a week to start, but I’m hoping they will find more hours for me as time goes on.

On another note, here are some pictures of our adventures over the past few weeks.

We had a huge snowstorm at the beginning of the month, giving us the opportunity to take the girls sledding for the first time.









On Valentine's Day, Penny and I had a little party with a friend from ballet class and then put on a fancy dinner for Daddy after he got home from work.




Enjoying chocolate fondue for dessert...Penny's new favorite thing.

I'll be posting more frequently hopefully now, so check back often for more updates!

Giving Some Serious Thanks

Living far from home means holidays have a whole new meaning and feel about them. Our dear friends, Amy and Mark Starr, moved to Denver about two months before we did and they also gave up the luxury of having family and a community of friends living nearby to move to an unfamiliar state to follow their dreams. Amy is doing her first year of residency at the Denver Children's Hospital so she can be a pediatrician. Amy and Mark are a critical part of our lives here- we all talk frequently about how we have become each other's family. We usually see them several times a week for impromptu dinners, game nights, and outings to (if possible) free local events. Amy and I cry on each others shoulders when we are discouraged or homesick, escape for girls yoga night, or try out new recipes on each other. Mark and Micah primarily spend their time together playing a card game called "Magic." Their obsession has even drawn them to Magic tournaments- huge geek fests where they are overwhelmingly outnumbered by pasty, awkward, virgin nerds. To each his own, I suppose.

This was the first Thanksgiving that both of our families had spent completely away from our families- where we would be responsible for the entire dinner, including the turkey. Because Amy and I both love to cook, we saw this as an enjoyable challenge. We both spent weeks planning our dishes and to fully admit it, we were "geeking out" just as much as the guys were on their Magic game...except our obsession became gratins, turkey brines, and pastry crust recipes. We called it our first grown up Thanksgiving- which is kind of funny since we are pushing 30. But truly, you don't really feel like a real adult until you are entirely in charge of the whole meal.

This turkey was a recipe that I found on the Food Network website by Alton Brown I brined it overnight in a delicious concoction of vegetable broth, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice, and candied ginger. I felt pretty cocky about my ability to make a good roast turkey, but when it came down to the last hour or so of cooking, I got really nervous and felt the full weight of the responsibility of pulling off the iconic dish of the holiday. My fears were relieved after I started carving and was rewarded with the most flavorful, moist, delicious turkey meat I have ever tasted. Luckily, I wasn't the only one to think so...everyone was impressed expect Penny, who has very little interest in meat at all. Ramona slept through the whole thing, but later raved about the quality of the breast milk.




Penny's favorite part was drinking cranberry juice cocktail from a fancy glass that was "just her size" as she says. She also had a little set of golden silverware and used a real glass plate. She has repeatedly told me that her favorite Thanksgiving food is bread. She relished a huge piece of Amy's homemade brown brown spread generously with her favorite condiment: butter.

The Spread

In order to feel like it was Thanksgiving, I had to attempt to make two family dishes: my mom's potato casserole and my dad's stuffing. As for Mom's recipe, I knew that if I followed the recipe, I would get an almost exact replica of the real deal. With Dad's recipe, I knew I would be on shakier ground. Whereas my mom follows recipes like a true baker- measuring everything accurately and rarely straying from the instructions, my dad is more like the Swedish Chef from the muppets. I knew I would probably not be able to replicate it exactly, but I did a pretty good imitation. At least it was good enough that Mark and Amy said it was the best stuffing they had ever had. Thanks Dad :)







After our feasting, we decided to head on out to Sandcreek Park, which is just a few minutes drive from our house to enjoy the sunset. The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately. It got up to 65 degrees on Thanksgiving Day- definitely the warmest and driest Thanksgiving I can ever remember having. Just more reasons to feel thankful to God for all the blessings he has given us over the past few months, even with all the hardships.




To help Penny understand Thanksgiving, I taught her about the history of the pilgrims and the Native Americans at the first American colony at "school" as we call it. We also made a Thanksgiving Tree during one of our craft times- an idea I stole from some volunteers who did the same activity at My Father's House during family night for the homeless families. We made the tree out of construction paper and taped the branches to the kitchen wall. Then Penny helped me cut out leaves (she is getting really great at using scissors!) and we put the leaves on each person's plate. Then everyone wrote something they were thankful about and we taped them to the tree. I think this will probably be a tradition for us now. Not only was it fun, but it helped create meaning for Penny about the day. She was thankful for "the delicious food God made, my Mom and my Dad, and the lovely home we have here." For as much as I complain about our basement apartment and our terrible neighborhood, if Penny finds it lovely, I'm satsified completely.



CHEERS!

The Sweetness of Living Apart

As expected, the hardest part of moving has been leaving all of our family and friends behind. The first few weeks were especially difficult as we (mostly Penny and I) suddenly began to feel the very real void left behind where our community had once been. There were more than a few days of tears, but just as with any mourning period, each day got a little better. Instead of just feeling the loss of my close relationships, I began to look around me and seek out opportunities to build new friendships.

We've had some small victories, like several exchanged numbers at the local library storytime. I we delighted to have made a friend just after our very first visit to the library. Her name is Kim and she is absolutely a peach-- we have had almost weekly playdates since our first brief meeting at "Book Babies," which is much needed for Penny. She still seems to be confused and sad about the move at times, and especially misses having lots of friends her age. So we are learning how to make new friends together.

But a community cannot be built instananeously, and making new friends does not make us miss our old ones less. So when Micah told me my birthday present was paying for half of the air fare to fly out my dear friend Bethany for a weekend visit, I was thrilled. Penny and I (who also adores Bethany) made a paper chain to count down the days until her arrival. And when we finally ripped off the final ring we had decorated with red glitter and it was time to pick her up at the airport, I discovered the hidden blessing in living apart: joy of friendship intensifed.

Bethany lived upstairs from us at our apartment in Portland with her husband, Ted. We joked about how it felt like we sometimes lived in a college dorm because we always had friends at hand to goof off with. Most weeks included a meal together and more than several late-night desserts. We didn't clean up our houses for each other, we shared crazy ideas, laughed often, and missed each other if one of us was gone for the weekend. This was much more than the "can-I-borrow-a-cup-of-sugar" neighbor. This was more like the "Can-you-drive-me-to-the-hospital-and-attend-my-second-daughter's-birth" kind of neighbor. There is no way to replace the experience we had together, but we knew it would not last forever. But having Ted and Bethany as upstairs neighbors will probably be one of the best memories of my life and some of the people we miss the most.

But though that magical era has ended in our lives, I discovered during Bethany's weekend visit how much more you appreciate friends when you only have 36 hours to enjoy their company. I was so giddy to pick her up that we ended up driving aimlessly on the freeway as I missed our exit a number of times (adding about an hour to our commute) while we chatted away. The next few days we filled with site seeing, amazing conversations, laughter, and good food. I didn't take Bethany for granted when she lived upstairs, but being without a community of friends made me so appreciative to be with someone who knew me well and that I could be completely relaxed with. It was much different than simply seeing someone you haven't seen in a while and missed- it truly fed my soul. Best birthday present ever :)

Guest Writing:

Heather has been pretty busy this week, so she asked me to try writing the blog. . . Ugh. As much as I always loved the language arts, I've never really liked writing. I'm just doing my duty as a friend, husband, and father.

I want to talk about work, since that's what I do with most of my waking hours. Teachers have written a lot about their first year of teaching. It's busy, you're always learning, and sometimes you have to use your kneecap to block a student's fist before it encounters another student's face. At this point in my career one of the most useful lessons that I have learned is that I can pretty much out wrestle any girl in my class. . . of course the other day one of my lovelies did come to school ready for a brawl - you'll just have to ask me about it later.

Most of my students pride themselves on being "hard," most of them have spent a lot of time on the street, and it shows. While they constantly bicker about who is tougher, and badder, and has spent more time in the Gil - it's a Denver thing - they actually spend more time complaining about their commute, school food, their peers, and especially the work load. Pretty typical adolescent high school behavior, but the contrast is pretty drastic.

I'll admit I'm being pretty negative, it's just how I vent at the end of a long day. It's been rewarding, and I feel like I'm really making a difference in these kids lives. The other day I pulled a student out of a class to do a private tutoring session. While we were working he apologised for his behavior and thanked me for not giving up on him. He actually said "Mr. Wiese, thanks for never giving up on me, even when I give you so much s***."

I'm having fun, I'm learning a lot of stuff that doesn't have to do with face punching, and I have a good feeling about where things are headed.

M-

13 Years In the Making

Micah and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on Monday night, but as many people know, we have been together since high school. When I first met Micah, he had shaggy hair down to his shoulders, wore roller skates held together by multicolored duct tape, and was barely passing any of his classes. I was an overachieving student sporting combat boots, hippy skirts and I was totally enamored with his witty charm. The best word to describe our high school romance would be "whimsical." We managed to be the best of friends, but also loved each other intensely. Remarkably, we somehow held our relationship together through the waves of pubescent instability, got married when we were 21, and now are trying to pass as real-live grown ups.

As we were sipping wine and enjoying steaming plates of fresh pasta (good thing it wasn't a first date- Micah had speghetti), we started talking about what our 16-year-old selves would say if they could see us now. I really think 16-year-old Heather would be surprised about 3 things. First of all, I would have been shocked to learn that I didn't graduate from college until I was 28. I was very driven in school- always an honors student and I had never doubted that I would get my degree right out of high school. But I would be glad to hear I did finish, even if it was a little behind my ideal timeline.

The second surprise/relief would be that Micah came around to the idea of having kids. At that early stage in our relationship, Micah was absolutely terrified of children-- sometimes even the sight of a baby would literally send him into the corner rocking in the fetal position. I didn't really want to date someone I couldn't see myself marrying and I had always knew I would be a mom someday so this was actually a serious point of tension and conflict in our relationship for the first couple years that we dated. 16-year-old Heather would be pleased as punch to know that not only did Micah eventually want to have kids, but he would be an incredible father. I don't know if I would have believed that he regularly volunteers in the church nursery as well and that babies adore him.

The third shocker would be that Micah had not only graduated from college before me, but that he had completed his master's degree and was a high school math and science teacher. I think this revelation would have given 16-year-old Heather an incredulous fit of disbelief. I mean this in the nicest way, but Micah was a complete slacker in high school. He barely passed his classes and graduated with barely a 2.0 gpa. He was clearly brilliant, but he was completely unmotivated at school and had very little ambition for his life. Part of our draw to each other was that we weren't sell outs- we walked a different line from everyone else. 16-year-old Micah would see being a teacher as being a serious square. We weren't totally rebels by any means, but Micah did reject "the establishment" and we playfully disdained "The Man."

We were brushing our teeth before bed the other night and I was looking at our reflections in the mirror. Suddenly, I was overcome with how fast time passes. How can this be? Are we really 29 years old? Parents of two children? People with degrees and careers? And we are living in Colorado? I'm sure this will happen all throughout our lives as we grow older. Our children will grow up, and we will be left wondering, "how the heck did this happen so fast?" Sometimes I still feel like I am 16-year-old Heather, dancing in the rain with my Strawberry Shortcake lunch box, writing terrible poetry and not having a care in the world about what people think of me. But with all the incredible transformations that have happened to us over the years and to the world around us, one thing has remained: I still love that crazy boy in rollerskates.