Gustafer Yellowgold

This imaginary creature from the Sun that landed in a lake in Minnesota, has a pet eel, a brother back on the Sun that invented rocket shoes and whose favorite hobby is to smash cakes is quite charming. He's actually quite a celebrity in the NYC children performance scene.

Two days ago, Jove, Miranda and I saw a free performance at a local library. It was so entertaining and Jove has been talking about it ever since and we have been spending a little too much time on the website. Miranda thinks Gustafer is a monkey and makes monkey noises every time we talk about him.

Check it out!

the examined life

One of the things about teaching Jove that I love is that I am able to learn myself and with a recent topic we are exploring I definitely needed to be schooled.

I recently had a huge reality check about my own biases and presumptions. Jove mentioned that he was interested in learning more about Native Americans after seeing an exhibit at a nature center and going to a local Pow Wow. Our homeschooling group decided to do it as our next set of topics. I am thinking to myself, good timing with thanksgiving coming up and all (So wrong, I know).
I find this educator's website and it really forced to reexamine how I had envisioned Native Americans in the first place. Most of what is taught gives the perception that Native Americans are no longer alive or at least misrepresents their lifestyle as the way it was at the time of colonization. A common way to teach about Native Americans is to reenact Thanksgiving (as if it was a Native American celebration). After a lot of reading I have realized that there are going to be three guiding principles to my lessons: 1) Native Americans are alive today and discuss both history and current lifeways 2) focus on particular tribes and not generalize and 3) do not devalue or caricaturize Native Americans or their practices by having the kids make dream catchers, feather headresses or dress up as Native Americans. Can you imagine a Latino culture unit where the kids dress up as Latinos? What would that even mean? But, it still happens with Native Americans. I understand the point of teaching history, but by only presenting the past it doesn't leave children with the impression that Native Americans are still alive.

I feel both enlightened and humbled.

Side note: we have no pictures uploaded because of a computer memory issue. Hopefully we'll get it fixed soon.

hopeful

I have never allowed myself to completely give into cynicism about American society, but I have also felt, especially in the past few years, that I live in a little bit of a bubble of tolerance, diversity and progressive beliefs. Everyone from my parents, to my close friends and most of my students share my core beliefs.

Well, Obama's victory makes me feel like my bubble has grown tremendously and it makes me feel hopeful. Good for the American people that they value intellect, thoughtfulness and hopefulness. I know that many people voted for McCain, but then I think of Maine, a state that is overwhelmingly poor, white and rural and that they voted with a huge margin for Obama. I can't help but get emotional and think that this is the beginning of a new era. I am feeling something bordering on patriotism for the first time in a long time.

captured moments

Fall hikes and crabbing

Spooky dinner

Face painting

Sibling corn shucking

Pony rides in the Bronx (hard to believe I know!)

my friend Sara's apple cake

There are recipes you find in a book and then there are the recipes you ask someone to give you because you have tasted the results and you must try it (and eat it) for yourself. Well, my good friend Sara brought this apple cake to my house last year and I bugged her for the recipe, but my apple stash had run out. But, now I have both the recipe and apples and I cannot tell you how good this is you have to make it. It also falls squarely within my recipe requirements: simple, cheap to make and delicious.

Here goes:

Sara's Apple Cake

4 1/2 cups diced apples (any variety)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
3/4 sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

1) Mix apples and sugar together
2) Add eggs (well beaten) , nuts, oil and vanilla
3) In a separate bowl, mix remaining dry ingredients together and add to the apple mixture
4) Bake in a greased 13X9 inch pan for 60 minutes at 350 degrees

Bon appetit!

apples

1 We went apple picking (sunny and 80 degrees)
2) Miranda said the word apple at least 100 times that day
3) Jove started eating apples, finally!
4) Jupiter successfully located the trees that grow the apples that don't give him allergies
(all other apples do, its very strange)
5) I got to ride the cow train with the kiddies. I love the cow train.

turning the page

I have had to completely change how I work with Jove on learning since Miranda has stopped napping as much and as regularly. Now, almost everything takes place with both of them being involved or with Miranda being adequately distracted or being allowed to chew on the materials. I have also decided that in addition to pursuing the topics that Jove is interested in (this week: Johnny Appleseed) I try to get him to count, write or draw and work on letter/word recognition a little everyday. Some days are so much more productive than others and many days we are out of the house having adventures. Every moment seems like a teachable moment and it is hard for me to separate life from academics (guess that would make me an emerging unschooler)

In my best moments I am able to relax and enjoy Jove and his learning and know that he is great, he's only four and he is learning everyday. In my worst moments I worry because Jove doesn't like to write letters ( he says its tricky). I start to feel the judgments and fear that surround academic performance for so many kids. I think it is very easy to feel like I am never doing enough and I have to keep reminding myself that we are happy and he is totally engaged in the work we do.

By far the most exciting thing that has happened in the last month in our learning is that we have started to read chapter books. I read them out loud to him at various points throughout the day and he requests multiple chapters per day. We have read Charlotte's Web, James and the Giant Peach and The Mouse and the Motorcycle. I would have never thought to read chapter books to a four-year old, but a couple of moms mentioned it to me and it seemed like a good idea. I am amazed at how much remembers from day to day and how he understands character development.
I read a book called The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease and he has a website that gives a ton of information about the art of reading aloud, its importance and an extensive annotated list of books. This book is a treasure, not because it is a page-turner but because it illuminates so much of why and what people read. I have always felt a little kooky when I would read essays aloud to my high school students and now I feel vindicated; even teenagers want to be read aloud to.

So I will leave you with this anecdote: When my parents were staying with us at the beginning of September, we were reading Charlotte's Web as part of our nightly story time. Jove filled his grandparents in on the story line and they listened in on a few chapters. They were dismayed to realize that they were going to miss the ending to the book, so my mom read the rest of the book aloud to my dad while I put the kids to bed. It just goes to show, a good story is a good story and you can read stories aloud to people that already read independently.