Quote #12.

Here's this week's:

By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn. –Latin Proverb

This is so, spot-on, true. As a homeschool mom, I find this ALL the time. One of the best ways for me to teach my boys is by example. By watching me learn new things, they see the value of looking for answers…they accept that no one knows everything…and they discover the process of educating one’s self. And in almost every lesson I teach, I learn something new…even when it’s not anything to do with the subject at hand.

(Incidentally, for the many parents out there who would love to homeschool but think that they don’t know enough, I can tell you for darn sure that I don’t know enough. I'm constantly coming across stuff that I only vaguely remember or have no recollection of whatsoever. But. I can learn it alongside my boys. And that works just dandy.)

Ten on Tuesday.

1. A day late, but Happy Pi Day!! Yup, yesterday was 3.14, the approximate value for pi. Not only was I one of "those" people in school who actually thought pi was cool and tried to memorize it to like the 27th decimal place, but the day, itself, holds special significance for Nathan and me. You see, 19 years ago yesterday was the day we met. Yay us! To celebrate, Nathan took some time from work and we spent the first part of the day together...running errands and eating out and just enjoying time together (the boys, since it was Monday, were at Options). Not to repeat previous years' failures, we also set out to eat some pie. But. When it came down to it, we didn't find any pie that called our names more than these sweet little fruit tarts at Whole Foods. They're shaped like a pie, so that counts, right? ;)

(Here's an entry from a couple years ago. I promise I typed this entry before I went back to look at that one. It's just a very weird thing that I used such similar words, lol.)

2. Some of the errands that we ran yesterday were the "culmination" of what spring cleaning I've done this year. We dropped off a few boxes at Goodwill and some to local gently used places that buy stuff that was still in good condition. That was all. I went through the entire house and that's all I came up with. Call me weird, but I was strangely disappointed that I didn't have more spring cleaning to do. Apparently, I've done a good job over the past couple years of weeding stuff out and keeping the clutter down. Yay? 

(Okay, disclaimer, I do still have a few boxes and items in the basement that I mean to sell. But I have to take pictures and list them on ebay and Craigslist and stuff and just haven't gotten around to that yet. But. It's all in one spot and the descriptions have actually already mostly been written up.)

3. If you haven't started your own spring cleaning yet, this blog has a fun weekly challenge sort of thing going on right now. Good luck! (I've been watching it but had already done the two challenges they've listed.)

4. Gonna give this grammar game a try this afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes. Mine mostly have the parts of speech figured out, but quicker recognition of them wouldn't hurt. ;)

5. I bought/pre-ordered this book yesterday. Given our current enthusiasm about geography, I figure it'll be a nice addition to our collection and know the boys will enjoy the nice bite-sized chunks of information. I'm thinking that even just reading a page a day would be fun. 

6. Yesterday, for Asher's karate class, they had a special "board break" day that they only do once (??) a year. At the end of class, they worked on strength moves and then got to try them out on breaking these special boards (they're pre-broken but it still takes some momentum to break them apart each time). Asher didn't care for the kicking moves too much, but did enjoy the elbow break move. :)

7. I've added some more links up above under linkety link links in case you're interested. (Let me know if you have any others to recommend!)

8. Question. How do you show three homeschooled boys more clearly that they're in different "classes" when many of your lessons occur altogether? For time and efficiency reasons, I tend to do many subjects with all three boys together. I expect different levels of understanding and work from them, but they're still done at the same time. What I'm finding lately, though, is that they're comparing themselves to each other a bit too much. I'm working on finding ways to show Micah that he shouldn't be distraught if he can't do the same things as Noah...and on ways to motivate Noah to want to do more beyond what his brothers are doing (as he's presently quite content, feeling that he's at the "top of the class"). Any ideas?

9. Another question. Would love any ideas on how to review/reinforce spelling words *other* than written and/or verbal spelling "tests"...This has been our first real year of doing spelling and it's going well for the most part. I'd love to be able to go back and review more often without it feeling like a test, though. 

10. Yes, the boys have settled on names for their countries and plenty more. I'll save that for another post. :)

Hope your Tuesday is as beautiful as it is here!

Quote #11.

This week's quote...

To be a person is to have a story to tell. –Isak Dinesen

This one completely appeals to me. There are so many ways one can look at this…as a call to write your own story, to chart your own course…as motivation to document your life, to leave a chronicle for later generations…as an appeal to share your story with others, to make a difference. I strive to do all three. Through my life choices, I’m endeavoring to create the life I want for myself and my family. In this, I’m constantly recording that life…for my own memory and for others to look back on. (I think, by the way, that this is particularly worthwhile in two ways…it provides an account of what happened such that it could possibly be learned from (like history)…and it is evidence to my boys that their actions and lives have already been and continue to be momentous to me.) Finally, I work on sharing the lessons I’ve learned with others…through the Good Grief Blog I started, through being an active part of my homeschooling group, through homeschooling, itself, and through so much more. So. Yes, I have a story to tell.

Incidentally, I finally decided on a name for my country (remember that project the boys and I are working on?). My country will be The Supreme Queendom of Storia. “Queendom” because I think it only fair that it not be a “kingdom.” “Supreme” because, well, why not? And “Storia” because of this very quote and line of thought. Cool, eh? I’m stoked.

Weekend links.

Because I think you should check them out:

Giveaway. In Loving Memory class. (Fantastic class. Fantastic idea. Fantastic person.)

Team Scarlette. (Be sure you have some tissues.)

Thursday Templates. (Um, I meant to post this one on Thursday. Check it out again on Thursday, too, okay?)

I have this feeling that I had more I wanted to share but daylight's savings has cost me an hour and my brain isn't fully functioning as a result. ;)

Three months later.

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Asher who was set to finish the testing for his yellow belt in karate the very next day. He was so excited...and felt like he'd been waiting for that for months (well, he had).

Then, he fell and broke his arm and wasn't able to go to karate class for the next two months.

He finally was given the go ahead to start back...just three days after the latest round of belt promotions. Since the promotions only happen once a month, he had to wait another month. (Which, really, wasn't so bad since he was still regaining strength in his arm and refreshing his memory of the material...though that's hard to explain to an eight year old who was impatient and irked by the fact that his little brother had passed him in rank while he was out of commission.)

So. Tonight. He *finally* got that yellow belt. Here he is receiving high fives from his fellow promotees after getting his new belt:

Yeah. He was happy. ;) He's a higher rank than Micah again, so all is right with the world, lol. (Except that Micah is now determined to catch up and has decided he wants to start going twice a week also, instead of just once a week. Since he's in a different category of classes, though, he won't actually catch Asher soon, so it'll be okay. I checked, lol.)

The promotion, itself, was really quite fun. (It's a separate session from classes...just for promotions.) All those who were moving up demonstrated the skills they've been learning in class...forms, combinations, defenses, sparring (for the older kids). Not only did we get to see all of that (cool to see what's down the road!), but the school's Demo Team performed a few times (choreographed routines to show specific skills). And there was pizza at the end...which made Noah and Micah happy. ;)

In any case, so very proud of my boy. He's worked hard for this and it's wonderful to see him excited about karate.