LaPaz Home Learning

Sorry we’ve been so spotty with the posting lately, but things have been crazy here lately. Good crazy, but crazy nonetheless, so I am glad to finally be getting back to a normal routine.

Really good day today for our first official day back to school. The kids are eager to dig in to their new stuff and I am eager to have something to occupy my days other than housekeeping and loafing at the beach. We decide to do a staggered start and add a few subjects each day until we get what feels like a good groove on. Superboy is excited about Marine Biology and dove right in to the week 1 lesson plans at the Fieldwork blog. JBug has a great attitude and eagerly got to work on her reading, math, and art. Superboy and I are both really excited about our “Wreck this Journal” time together and are looking forward to digging into Shakespeare as well.

And the big news is that we have a returning classmate:

Recognize this sweet little face? It’s my grandson JackJack and he is back to school with us this year! And although his older brother Squirt will be going to the local public kindergarten this year,we couldn’t be happier that 4 year old JackJack will be adding his own special brand of excitement to our days.

How’s the new school year looking for you all?

Lets see. I want science supplies over here and math manipulatives over there. No, maybe over there. A little to the left. That’s good. And that stack of books? Move them again, please. I know it’s the fourth time, but please humor me. Oh, and that table, it needs to come out from the wall a bit so we can all fit around it, and the computer needs to be against that wall with the plug. The art supplies all need to come out of that closet and move into the dining room. Yes, the dining room. Trust me on this, ok?…

Ahhh..a new school year about to begin. You know what that means. Rearranging furniture! Why is it that after all these years, some part of me still thinks that if I arrange everything just so that the next school year will run ever so much more smoothly than the last? When down deep inside I know the only things that really need to be re-arranged are my priorities? In truth, moving from a relaxed summer into  full-on learning mode isn’t all that drastic. It’s simply a matter of managing our time  and energy a bit differently. More time and energy exploring new ideas, less time and energy frittered away on mindless pursuits.

But year after year it is always the same. Move the furniture. Re-arrange shelves. Empty boxes of one thing and fill them with something else. Make everything just right, shiny and new. Streamlined and efficient.

Why?

Could it be that all of this external re-arranging is simply a reflection of the internal re-arranging that is going on inside my head and heart as I prepare for a new year of learning adventures with my kids? Does dusting off the mental cobwebs lead to dusting off the map cabinet? Does re-ordering priorities go hand in hand with ordering books? Does deep thinking lead to heavy lifting?

Well, around here it sure seems to happen that way.

How about you? Moving any furniture lately?

Over on my Fieldwork blog I have gathered some resources for writing lab reports at various levels. Although the post was written specifically for those participating in our Marine Biology course, there are some good links there that would apply to any science course your students may be doing. Hop on over and check it out!

Fieldwork: How to write a lab report

Just a little reminder. If you’d like to participate with us this year in our hands-on marine biology course over at my Fieldwork blog, head on over and check it out. There are now 11 weeks of lesson plans up, tons of great resources linked, and much more. Currently I’m asking for input over there on ways we can share our progress with each other. I’d love to hear your ideas!

Oh, and don’t forget to add Fieldwork to your feed reader! Even if you are not participating, there should be some nifty Lapaz science action going on over there starting about sept 1. You won’t want to miss that!

I’ve been thinking about some things lately (oh, no. Here she goes again.)

The ever-inspiring Karen Edmisten has got me thinking about the purpose of my blog. Does it, or even should it have a single purpose? I’m not sure. As Karen so wisely points out, homeschooling moms tend to be a bit more multifaceted than the general public realizes. Though we tend to be hyper-focused on our kids’ educations, we do have lives outside of all that. We also write, play sports, knit, volunteer, sew, hike, make art, run marathons, work part-time, collect vintage whatevers…We are not one-dimensional beings so it is only natural that our blogs not be confined to a single topic.

(page from my art journal)

This “multi-dimentionality” is true of everyone I suppose, so it rarely surprises me to see craft ideas on cooking blogs, recipes on art blogs, book reviews  on mommy blogs, and parenting tidbits on craft blogs, etc. Why not? I ramble on here about any old thing, so why shouldn’t others?

(page from my nature journal)

This is a homeschooling blog. But that isn’t all it is. I think of my blog as a journal– a record of the things our family does, mostly including homeschooling, but also encompassing some of the other bits and pieces that make up the big picture of what a homeschooling lifestyle is all about. After all, if I wanted to give a true picture of what homeschooling is, I’d have to include all that, wouldn’t I? Homeschooling’s not just sitting around the kitchen table doing workbooks, now is it? At least I hope folks will pick up on that from visiting here.

(page from my art journal)

But really, this post is not about any of that. This isn’t a blog post about blogging. And it’s not even about homeschooling, really. It’s about journaling. Not blogging, but other forms of journaling.

(page from my craft ideas journal)

A little history. Before blogging came along, I was never one to keep a journal. (Well, except my nature journal, but even that is spotty at best.)

(page from my nature journal)

It’s not as if I didn’t try. I cannot count how many diaries as a child or blank books as an adult that I started with good intentions but abandoned after a only a few days sporadic scribblings. The problem was that first of all  I am not a writer (as is quite obvious), and secondly I just did not often have much to say( a little harder to believe, I know. Very funny). So days and days wore on and eventually blank pages became the norm. Eventually I had to accept it  and had given up on ever journaling. And then I found blogging and found I did have something to say after all, and a great medium for it as well. So I took off with it and several years later here we are.

(page from my personal learning journal)

But still…remember that whole “multi-dimentional” thing I wrote about up there in the first paragraph?

Yea, that.

Thanks to the internet and other sources of inspiration I have found that my journaling does not have to be confined to one subject (or even one medium) any more than my life does! I’ve quite happily discovered the wonderful world of art journaling (I am currently  getting a  lot of ideas from this wonderful site), I keep a “personal learning journal” for whatever subject I am currently immersed in, I have a notebook to scribble in craft and sewing ideas, and I still treasure my nature journal for outdoors and my blog for recording the goings on of everyday life and our homeschool.

(page from my art journal)

That’s a lot of journals, but I’ve grown to learn that I need them all to contain all of  my thoughts, ideas, etc. and express what I want to say in my own multi-dimentional, multi-faceted way. I’ve gone from a journaling failure to somewhat of a journal junkie!LOL! It’s addictive once you get going!

In fact, I’m getting these for both Superboy and myself, hoping to get him hooked and incorporate some regular journaling time into our routine this school year.

Wreck This Journal

So, tell me..how do YOU journal??? I’d love to hear about it!!!