hi girls!

Hi friends, fellow moms & teachers of the next generation. I miss you all! I hope you are all doing GREAT, and continuing to be inspired and energized by one another. Are you still going to the park for connection times, and exercise for the littles? I truly miss the mommy-connections, and I think of you all often!

The Old School days sound so amazing - I hope you have enough help & creativity to share the load. You gals are pouring your very lives into those sweet kiddos - and its so worth it! We have gotten into a great routine over here too, using our mornings to learn - and afternoons to play & create. Of course, I have many other things sprinkled in throughout my day, but this schedule seems to work well for now. I love that homeschooling is so flexible, since our lives tend to be quite unpredictable. I was wondering if any of you adhere to a "schedule" - or a fixed routine of subjects, time table of the day, or anything like that. If so - I would love to take a gander. I wonder if I am missing anything....or oblivious to a topic that might be helpful. Asia will be 6 this June, and Eden will be 4 soon too. Anyhow....please share your knowledge and expertise with me!

Also, please let me know if your kids might want to be pen-pals with our girls here. We'd love to correspond with you anytime. Hugs, Ali

Opening up Old School Mondays

Hello Vintage Moms,

Please read the last TWO postings I did that are important to the upcoming Old School Monday.

Then, I would very much like to hear your opinion: I was talking with my friend Alberta, who is the mom who got us to homeschool in the first place, and she commented on how much she enjoyed the Valentine's Day party we had and how the gathering of moms and kids felt like a good fit for their family, but the kids are mostly younger than hers (3rd and 5th grade) and that limits how much they will be involved. I am sure Tina would have the same thoughts, since her boys are older. How would you all feel about me advertising Old School Mondays in the Coast and Valley email newletter, to get more families involved and broaden our age range?

I would value your feedback.

Thanks!

Lisa

Author's Fair!

I am proposing now that we as a group host a table at the Student Author's Fair on May 2nd at the Capitola Mall, representing Ocean Grove. It would be a chance for our kids to show their work to others (they can even read their books to those who stop by and are interested), which is great incentive for you and them to do a fun writing/art project. My ES, Terry, said that OG cannot yet do a table because they do not have anyone to host it. I said I would suggest it to you all--we have the bodies and it would be so much fun! So here is Terry's response, in an email:

Hi Lisa,

The Santa Cruz County Reading Association and the County Office of Ed. co-sponsor a Student Author's Fair each year. Schools can request a table and students can enter and display books they have written and created. If OG is registered, we will need students to participate and volunteers to set up and staff the table. I have a family that has participated through another school, and they want to continue. Here are links to explain the program.
http://sites.google.com/site/sccra2008/
http://www.santacruz.k12.ca.us/ed_services/student_authors_fair2008.html

Thanks for helping promote this,

Terry

We probably need to decide soon, to get the official gears in motion. So think about it, check your calendars, and let's talk when we get together at OSM. (Or you can post a comment here!)

Next Old School Monday!

Ok, Vintage Moms, I want you all to get the date for the next OSM written down on your calendars: March 23, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. See the previous postings for the info! But I thought I would tell you in advance what we will be doing, so you can prepare (or not, as you choose).

We will start out the morning with our first spelldown, so if you are currently working on a list of words with your child, then bring it! That way each child will definitely have words that are appropriate for him/her. If you do not bring a list of words, that is fine too--I will have my "Eclectic Speller" that will give a really wide range, so we can find words for everyone. Each mom who brings a list, be prepared to test your own child when it is his/her turn, and that will keep the game running smoothly. For the moms of little ones, if you have them, bring alphabet flash cards so your child can read a letter of the alphabet for his/her turn. If we have a lot of kids, we will break up into two different groups: readers and ABCers. If there are not many of us, then we will just line up and do it all together! I think the kids are really going to enjoy this.

Then we will either do the get-em movin' game next or do circle time, depending on how antsy the kids are. Any mom want to volunteer to host the game? I was thinking of kick the can, for which I have instructions too (and a can!), but any other organized game would be fine too.

For circle time, please bring a project or some school accomplishment to share, or something your child wants to recite--or you and your child can just come and model good listening. : ) Gwynneth and I will be bringing our completed Preamble Book to show. And that will lead into our project for the day: making a book!

If you have made books already and want to bring them to show and inspire us, please do! (Tina?) If you want, you can start work on a book now and bring it for your student to work on during our OSM project time. If you don't want to start something ahead of time, then I will have a fun and easy book project we can start all together and then you can finish up at home. If you want to participate in this craft, please bring:
--some stickers that have characters (cars, people, animals, shells, etc), and
--$1 per child for the other materials.
--and don't forget your Monday box! (supplies--see previous posting)

Then we will have lunch/running around with balls and noodles time, so the kids can play and moms can chat.

The, if we still have time, we will have a little lesson about something academic and approachable for a range of ages, which I will prepare--but I would prefer we have plenty of time to do the book project, so that will get top priority.

I recommend that you bring a blanket you don't mind eating on, so we can keep the food mess down to a minimum (they can be shaken outside) and we will keep the food on one side of the gym. You can also use the blanket for you and your child to sit on during circle time, since the floor can be pretty cold and dirty!

Anyone have questions, thoughts, suggestions? Post them here! And please invite your homeschooling friends to these events!

Lisa