Cave Paintings

Campster working diligently on her cave painting.

Sher Bear is completely focused on this activity.

 A good friend is also studying the Ancients this  year.  She is using The Story of the World and the accompanying Activity Book.  We used these with Jor Man when he was K4 - but they are really very appropriate for K - 3 or even older.  Since Campster is in 2nd grade this year, and Sher Bear, the kindergardener wanted to study Egypt, we are doing some of the activities together with our friends.

This particular day was warm, so we headed to our local lake and enjoyed the beach with three other families for an end of summer play time. My friend brought kraft paper (the kind you get if you order stuff from Amazon.com), and some black paint and brushes.

The beach was the perfect no mess place to do this activity.  If anyone decided to paint themselves, we sent them into the water to wash off.

A friend and Campster share the meat tray paint palette.

Wind, waves, sun and friends.  Beats normal school any day!

Campster has painted a cave person and their "Kill"

 To prepare my kids for this activity, I looked up "Cave Paintings, France" on Swag Bucks, and found this great website on the Lascaux cave paintings.  I love that they have an online tour of the caves.  I had seen still shots before in text books.  But I had no idea the complexity of the paintings, let alone the shear number of them.

The kids were inspired to create their own "cave paintings".  We also read aloud a couple of books which I had purchased from the Institute for Creation Research about creation and early man:  Dry Bones and Other Fossils by Gary E. & Mary M. Parker, and Life in the Great Ice Age by Michael & Beverly Oard.

Sher Bear and friend hard at work

Another great resource for materials that fit this time frame is Answers in Genesis.  They have a children's magazine that is excellent.

Sher Bear says it's a dear with antlers

Wish you were here!

Vacation Bible School

Last week was spent at Kidz Kamp, our church's version of Vacation Bible School.  We meet each morning from 9 am to 12:15 pm.  I lead the theater class and a Bible class for 3rd and 4th graders.  

This year, Jor Man chose to do "Tech" class again, and loved it.  They figured out (the teachers didn't tell them) how to make motors.  Then they made blimps and finally submarines.  Jor Man was entranced.  He came home every afternoon eager to show Big Dad and I what he had discovered.  We begged the instructor to know where he got his projects.  This website has lots of fun experiments and projects in technology.  

Campster and Sher Bear adored their "Younger Crafts" class as usual.  Next year Campster will be old enough to possibly try something else.  But she really loves the crafts, too.

The teens serve as CTs (Counselors in Training) and it is an opportunity for them to experience ministering to others, as well as being on the team together.  In addition to assisting the teachers, (and sometimes being the teachers), they lead worship, put on skits, and set the tone for the whole camp.  This year's CT group was phenomenal.  Jor Man is looking forward to being a CT in three more years.

I love how our little church really turns out for this event each year - people take their vacations to be able to share this week with the kids.  It's free for the families, and so we draw many children from the surrounding area who do not usually attend our church.

I especially loved my Bible class, where the kids asked tough questions:  "How good do you have to be to get into heaven?" and "Why did they kill Jesus?"  I love their honesty and their willingness to get real.

Some of the kids who came to camp were not well behaved.  That gave me an opportunity to talk with my kids about how we treat others who are not nice to us.  They were able to pray for, and love these children, and now they are friends.  That's Jesus' love in action!  

Wish you were here!

Summer School

Sher Bear and Big Dad before they discovered the snake in the boat.

I received an email today from one of the many online homeschool groups that I participate in.  A mom was asking what other moms do in the summer to prevent the inevitable loss of learning over summer break.  She explained that before summer her kids would know their multiplication tables, and by the start of the school year, they would had forgotten them.

Of course, I know what she is talking about.  Having been in public school myself, and having done "school at home" for the first few years of our homeschooling adventure - I know all about the vacuum that is summer break.  It seemingly sucks all of the knowledge right out of kid's brains.  Why is that?

Jor Man goes out with Big Dad.

Well, now that we have been unschooling, I can tell you we no longer experience this.  Summer is just like any other time of our year - only warmer, and with more kids around.  I have found that if we leave something alone for a while (say Campster's reading), when we go back to it, she hasn't forgotten - she's made leaps.  She's more developmentally ready.  She's been processing what was already integrated into her learning.

It begs the question:  What is learning?  If we "learn" something, only to forget it a few months (weeks, days, hours?) later, did we ever really LEARN it in the first place?

Campster and Big Dad rowing out.

John Holt writes about this concept in "How Children Fail".  He defines two different things he sees happening in the classroom:  Learning and Producing.  Learning happens when kids are engaged and interested in the subject - when they want to learn - when it is driven by their own curiosity and delight.  Producing is something kids do to cope with the expectations of others.  It has nothing to do with real learning.  It may mean guessing at the answer.  It probably means picking up clues from the teacher or from other kids.  It may even mean choosing to answer incorrectly - failing as a coping strategy.  If you haven't read the book yet - and you are actually reading this blog - may I entice you to read it?  You'll thank me.

So, going back to the chid who learns their multiplication tables but forgets them over the summer.  I'm going to suggest that they never learned them in the first place.  They produced them.  And then it was summer and they didn't have to produce, so they forgot.  Learning is like riding a bicycle.  You don't forget how to do something you've learned, just because you haven't done it in a while.  You've incorporated it into who you are, and how you see the world.  It is part of you.

I want my kids to learn.  I have very little use for producing.

In the same email, I read this description of summer learning.  Lovely.

Enjoy your summer.

Wish you were here!