The Piano Man

Kiddo decided to teach himself to play the piano. He has been saying he wants to learn for a while, and I have been a bit slow to find a teacher. I have my reasons, though I think they are likely my own blocks, not his. I took lessons for 4 years, and while I can play, I am certainly not fantastic. I didn't like to practice and my last piano teacher took all of the joy out of it for me. As an adult, I like to sit down and play and I enjoy the fruits of my labors, but as a child I did not. The teacher really wanted to be training pianists in the making, which I was not. Even thinking about trying to find a teacher who is gentle and would make playing the piano fun instead of a chore, whose expectations would match that of the student, is daunting.

So he is teaching himself. We have taught him a few things before. Middle C. Left and right hands. Very basic things. But that has been at least a year. Maybe two. We have various lesson books at the piano--mine from when I was a child, Hubby's from the same time, and a few I have picked up at garage sales and thrift shops. Recently I purchased a new copy of the piano books I started with and gave them to Kiddo as his very own. He was thrilled.

He goes in spurts, which is fine when one is teaching oneself! There will be a week or two where he plays a lot, asks for feedback on what he has played, challenges himself to move forward. He has even co-written a song with Kutey! She wrote the lyrics and he wrote the music. Over thanksgiving he had the chance to "jam" with his very talented cousin Dimples (I have called him Dimples since he was, um, 3. He is 16 now. He still finds it amusing.) Dimples attends a special arts high school because of his musical talent. He plays multiple instruments, including the piano. He and Kiddo played for several hours. Piano, trombone, trumpet, guitar, drums. Kiddo was in heaven. I wish Dimples lived closer to us and they could do that more often.

Kiddo hasn't asked for a teacher for a while, but he has also stopped moving forward in the book. He plays the songs he knows, changes them now and then, plays with tempo and the pedals, but hasn't really moved ahead. Do I get him a teacher? How does one go about finding someone?

All before breakfast!

This morning when I made my way downstairs, I found this:



Kiddo actually started on his school work. Before I made my way downstairs. He had gone through what he normally does and figured out what he could do without me. "Pick one." I have a card that lists several "enrichment" activities for him to do. Each day he picks one of them. Tangrams, Logic Links, KenKen puzzles, Sudoku puzzles, and, of course, his favorite, Build-it Cards. So he picked one. And did as many cards as he could before he ran out of blocks. We have 3 sets of 20. That was enough for 6.

After he ran out of blocks, while I was getting breakfast, he picked another.



He and Kutey had a blast making things that stood up:






It started the day of well. We got through so much. All because Kiddo chose to start the day.

Creative Seuss-esque Works

In addition to the Dr. Seuss food lunch and reading and reading (and reading!) Dr. Seuss books, Kiddo created some Seuss-esque works.





The first was a book he sat down and wrote and illustrated of his own accord after we read "There's a Wocket in my Pocket." He created his own characters, like a fook on the book. Page after page, whipped out like it was nothing. No, the drawings aren't his highest quality. Yes, the spelling is terrible. But that matters less than the fact that once he started the project, he followed through with it all the way to the end. In fact, the back of the last picture says "The End." Very fun!



The second thing was something I requested he do. After we read so many Dr. Seuss books, I asked both Kiddo and Kutey to draw: A new kind of fish for McElligot's Pool, a new creature There's a Wocket in my Pocket, and a new sleeper for The Sleep Book. I asked that he color them, too. He whipped these out. And he made an entirely different character for the Wocket. Kutey was still feeling a bit tired and did not do the drawings. She has been drawing up a storm lately, too. Just not Seuss-esque.

Odyseuss' Ship

We have been listening to Mary Pope Osborne's Tales from the Odyssey read by James Simmons. It is a fabulous listen. Kiddo loves it.

While he was listening the other day, while Kutey was napping (she has been doing that a lot since she was sick), and after he had finished his school work, he began building a ship. Odysseus's ship.



And what replica would be complete without the people!


One of them is Odysseus. I have no idea which one. The chains go to a raft, another part of the story.

I love how LEGOS allow Kiddo to process what he is learning. He is constantly building, often things like this that go along with what we are studying. And it absolutely helps him to retain the information better. I have a hard time believing he would retain half as much if he was sitting in a desk listening to this. Guess it is just one more reason to love homeschooling!

Math, Math, Math

What a difference a few weeks makes! A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to determine if our math curriculum (Singapore) was a good fit for Kiddo, and ME. Mostly me. Math-U-See was looking attractive, thinking maybe I just needed someone else to explain things to Kiddo. We may still look at Math-U-See, but for the moment, things are going much more smoothly. And Kiddo? Kiddo has been bounding around the house for the last few days saying math is his favorite subject.

He has also been doing this:



Those are all math problems. Most of them he has made up himself. He carries the clipboard around the house, writing problems, solving them, then checking with Daddy or I to make sure he has done the problem correctly. I did make an effort to spend a bit more time just hanging out with Kiddo at the table this week. We had no outside activities (other than our trip to the doctor for Kutey) which left lots and lots of time for Kiddo to process new concepts. Big wall, crumbles down. Love it.

Gringotts

Kiddo has been reading the first book of the Harry Potter series for a couple of weeks now. It is a bit of a leap for his reading level, not that he is a poor reader, but this is a bit more than what he had been reading. He has stepped up to the challenge quite nicely.

The added benefit is that he is also extending in other areas because of this. He has been drawing the entire story in "story board" fashion. He has a book of potions and spells going. He writes down the spell, what the wand motion is, and what it does. He writes down the potion, the ingredients, and how to mix it. That is more voluntary writing than he has done for a while!

It has also invaded his LEGO play. He knows there are Harry Potter LEGO sets. We look at them every time we go to T*rget, but we own none of them. Don't worry, they are on his list, but he has to wait for a gift season to get them. That has not, however, stopped him from creating Harry Potter scenes from pieces he has. This weeks masterpiece was Gringotts.



He worked on this in between reading and school work.



Tweaking things here and there.



Before he was finally happy with how it came out.



I love how he made Hagrid and hid his wand in an umbrella. I also love how he put the characters in motion.


It took over the dining room table.
(forgive the blurry photo...still haven't figured out what is going on with the camera. I am researching new ones, if any one has any suggestions...)

Drawing in the Morning

Kiddo was up before me this morning. In fact, he woke me up to tell me he was drawing a rainbow, but he couldn't find indigo. In my half-awake state, I told him to skip it, just go from blue to violet. That must have been acceptable, because he wandered off.

By the time I got downstairs, he had completed most of these:


He drew them for his friends in our Tuesday group. Hubby and I have commented to each other on how thoughtful he always is in picking out gifts for others. He always thinks about what they would like, not what he would. He was equally thoughtful in drawing pictures for his friends. Each person was drawn a picture of one of their favorite things: a pink fairy princess, a rainbow, a digger, Thomas the Tank Engine, and two Star Wars characters. He used toys to model for some of the pictures; he was very proud of that method.

I really need to find him an art outlet!

A break through

This morning I packed the kids up and headed for my MOMS Club monthly meeting. Being the only homeschooler in the group is sometimes tricky. Obviously the kids who are there are much younger than Kiddo. But it is still social time for Kutey, and for me. And this morning they had a professional organizer come to speak. I am not so very organized, so I wanted to go and listen. But what to do with Kiddo...

I have been thinking about this for a few days. Sometimes I have another homeschooling friend who will watch the kids while I go to an event. But she has been VERY stressed lately and I did not want to add to her burden. Hubby couldn't stay home for the morning. What to do?

Then an amazing thing happened. Kiddo started reading. To himself. BY himself. Don't get me wrong. He is a good reader, he just has had very little interest in reading to himself. Or by himself. He wants me there to help, he wants to read to me. I love that, but it also means he doesn't read as much as he could. But we came home from the library on Tuesday, he had a new book, he was tired, and he just sat down and read. He finished the book that night. Yesterday he picked up another one.

I had my solution. I brought Kiddo, and his books. I also printed off some "Kidoku" from KrazyDad (LOVE his site!), which Kiddo enjoys. I had a few KenKen left from my last KenKen classroom email for him to do, and I printed a few worksheets from Math Fact Cafe.

He sat quietly in the back of the room...so quietly in fact that some of the moms didn't know he was there. He finished his book, started the next, and worked through 8 kidoku. He was happy, I was happy, Kutey was happy. It was only 45 minutes, but it was a good 45 minutes.

Did I learn anything new from the speaker? Nothing new. I had heard most of what she said before. Just a restating of what I already know. It will take a mental shift for me to be able to get through my clutter, just telling me how to organize things doesn't really help. I am glad I went. The presenter is a homeschooler in my area and I have been curious about her business for a while. I won't be hiring her anytime soon, but it was nice to get to hear her speak.

But even better? I know now that I can go to these things, that Kiddo will be content with his books and puzzles while we are there. And that is a gift.

What was I thinking!?!?!?!

On our nature walk for the Outdoor Hour Challenge, we walked past a few garage sales (we were headed to a more natural area to listen, but had to walk through the neighborhood to get there...). At one, Kiddo saw these. I didn't buy them. I thought they were a bit expensive, and honestly, we already have 35 POUNDS of LEGOS. So why would we need more building things? But Kiddo could not stop talking about them. So I told him to talk to Daddy. Hubby stopped on his way home from work and picked up 2 boxes--one small and one large. We were talking, though, and he thought maybe we could get a couple more. They weren't that expensive, they came with convenient storage, and Kiddo would love to be able to build whatever he wanted without running out of pieces. We have a few small sets of K'Nex, you see, and apparently this running out of pieces thing has been a problem in the past. OK, so I went to pick up another one. Or two. Since they only had 3 more, I bargained and got all 3.

Hubby has long wanted organization for the LEGOS, so the boxes for the K'Nex? perfect--one for connectors, one for sticks, etc. We proceeded to dump out 2 *small* boxes...what you see on the floor in the picture...and that is when we realized just exactly how many pieces fit in a box. And when we began to wonder what we were thinking...

Kiddo could barely contain his excitement. He lost the ability to complete sentences, which was kinda funny. We dumped out the rest of the pieces and then proceeded to sort them. I have to say, the sorting of the pieces, while it took FOREVER, has paid off. These have been played with for 2 days straight, but at the end of the day, they are EASILY picked up and put into their respective boxes to be put away. Currently there is a ceiling-height tower with a secondary tower next to it, a little shorter. Both have motorized elevators that operate on a pulley system in them. That structure barely made a dent in the K'Nex supply. And Kiddo has been learning non-stop for 2 days. Probably that is what we were thinking.

Siblings

Kutey has been sick since yesterday. She has a cold, so she has been tired all day and spent the better part of the day watching movies and falling asleep on the couch. Her nose is raw from wiping. She can only breathe through her mouth. She has been miserable. But you can't keep her down. Kiddo is currently outside where Kutey would LOVE to be. She is an outdoor girl. Telling her she can't go outside is one of the worst things you can do. But she is sick, so I can't let her go out. Instead, her wonderful brother is playing a basketball game in front of the window where she can see him, giving her frequent updates on his status in the game, and making sure she is included, even though she can't be out. In return, Kutey is sitting in her little chair right at the door cheering him on against his imaginary opponent. They are each having a great time with their part. It is times like these that I am grateful for children who get along so well!

Signs of spring

We have been having quite a warm spell. With that warmth, come all sorts of signs of spring. In order to encourage Kiddo (and Kutey) to notice the subtle changes as the seasons change, we have been spending a time looking for signs of spring. Since we have been able to get out and walk many days, we have had a variety of bird sightings in addition to our cedar waxwing sighting of a couple weeks ago. The red wing blackbirds have come back in force, and we have had at least 4 cardinal sightings (3 in one walk!). Kiddo has enjoyed watching the snow melt from one day to the next ("Look, that pile was a lot bigger yesterday!"), noticing what causes ripples as the water flows down the gutters, and watching for buds on the trees. He has, of course noticed some things that are not in nature. The first day I was able to hang my laundry outside to dry, Kiddo proudly proclaimed "A sign of spring!"

Craft time

This morning we went to a MOMS Club gathering that was supposed to include a craft. The craft was there, but Kiddo really had no interest in crafting at the time. He and his buddy M were having too much fun building. M is public schooled, so we don't get to see him that often. He does Kindergarten in the afternoons, so we get to see him if we make it to a morning gathering, like today. I am sure it will get harder when he gets to all day school next year. For now, though, we are enjoying what we can.

Anyway, Kiddo had no interest in the craft. Knowing Kiddo as I do, I asked the hostess if it would be OK if we took the pieces home with us. She was happy to accommodate that request. The craft was this, which was mostly coloring anyway. I figured Kiddo would scribble a little (He doesn't really color, he likes to draw, but filling in a pre-made shape with color? Not so much), and be done with it. Well, I was quite wrong. He went to work immediately upon arriving home. He has diligently colored in 3 of the 6 shapes. He even used multiple colors for the hat! If I hadn't had to interrupt him for lunch, he might have kept right on coloring. I am so excited to see him working at something he didn't do. There is also something to the fact that this was not something he was required to do, not something that is being compared to anyone else's work, not something that is being judged. I like that he came to it in his own way. It is one of the many moments that make me happy to be a homeschooler.