Tuesday, February 20, 2007

A Lifestyle of Learning Part 3: Outside Play

Play does not have to be limited to a gated grassy area or for that matter a playground or toys that have been bought from the store. Here, in the Kanahele home school, 'real' play takes place when they are allowed to explore. Even if I went out and bought them a plastic toy, they might play with it for an hour or so then eventually forget about it to later find it under the bed. They find so much fulfillment by being let loose to explore the world outside. It is so cool to watch them play as they find excitement in digging in the dirt, climbing a tree, riding bikes together as brothers and then coming back to tell mom they just saw whales "jumping out of the water" at the oceans edge, or coming back home with a papaya or an orange. It is not uncommon for Luke to take a few moments to pop in during play to give mom a flower...a recent one was red ginger.

All the while playing outside, they are learning, they are getting to know their Creator, the Creator of all the universe. As they dig in the dirt and watch whales jumping out of the ocean they are developing a knowledge of who their God is. He is creative like the creatures in the dirt. He is beautiful like the flower on our gardens edge. He is all powerful like the whales jumping out of the water. He is majestic like the high mountains we see in the clouds.

In months past we received a second hand X box. The boys were really excited about playing it. So, Ash and I decided that we would use it as a reward if they had completed their responsibilities. To our regret, it got out of hand and the boys would play it for hours. Sometimes we would even use it as a babysitter. They would be so preoccupied with the video game, they would be oblivious to what was going on around them. Play outside on the weekends was second choice, if at all. The video games they never knew about a year ago were now games they were hooked on. I didn't like it at all. Just the look of them gazing into the t.v. screen made me regretful that we even allowed it in the first place.

Thankfully, about 6 months later, Ash and I agreed that we would not allow the boys to play video games anymore, at all. We were convinced that there were better things to be doing with their time....obviously. They are back outside engaging in the world around them. Building relationships with each other as they look out for one another and learn to share with one another and work together. There is soo much more to talk about. And so much more to be thankful for. They are tired and worn out after a long days of work and play....... outside that is.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

A Lifestyle of Learning Part 2: Jewelry 101

Lately, Ash has been putting time into teaching the boys how to make jewelry. It has always been a desire of his to eventually teach our children how to make jewelry and the time has come. With Cody being 11 and Luke at the age of 9 wanting to learn from daddy there is no better time than this. Who knows what will come of it, but we know that God has a wonderful plan for each of them!

Luke measuring the metal for cutting and filing

Ash teaching Luke how to control the torch

Luke melting the solder

Luke preparing the ring for solder by heating it up

Luke adhering the solder to connect a brass ring

Saturday, February 17, 2007

A Lifestyle of Learning

Mama monk seal and her pup bathing in the sun during their stay at 'The Mill' -Fall 2006

What is home school in the Kanahele home?

  • starting our day in God's word and praising Him through music together
  • learning how to cook breakfast , lunch and dinner aside of mom and then mastering a meal to prepare on their own
  • observation of a mama monk seal and her pups birth at 'our' beach, The Mill
  • getting an unexpected phone call in the middle of the day from daddy to say" It's a beautiful day, I'm coming home now so get ready , we're going to the beach!"
  • climbing trees and digging in the dirt
  • going on walks to explore the creation
  • making collections of :beach glass, leaves, sticks, rocks
  • learning about the history of where we live- we live in an old plantation community built many years ago upon the sugar industry
  • hearing the sound of mom nagging about cleaning up this mess and that
  • Cody teaching his sister about her shapes and colors
  • Luke reading to Seth, all the while Seth learning how to read
  • opportunities for hospitality as we welcome unexpected guests
  • enjoying a book together snuggled together in bed
  • pausing in the middle of our lesson to watch the neighbor cut down his tree
  • doing our lessons on a blanket in the yard on a beautiful day
  • having picnics for lunch
  • a nap/quiet time in the middle of the day
  • watching two Hawaiian hawks spiral into depths of the sky
  • lessons from dad on jewelry making
  • a field trip to the nearby community college for taro testing and voting; then bringing taro cuttings home to plant them in our garden -created by Cody of course
  • hearing the 'sweet ' cries of Tori... and the not so sweet
  • a visit to the elderly or the lonely on any given day
'Home schooling ' is life, it's home, learning, growing, together as a family. Here, we have fun, we laugh, we make room for pleasant interruptions, and also for the unpleasant. God is so, so good!

Mama seal taking a break from baby

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentines Day!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Homeschooling Preschoolers

The preschool years of home schooling I will always treasure. I would trade nothing for this precious time that I have and will spend with my children. These years have left a lasting impression upon my heart and the hearts of my children. There are times when I am making play dough with Olivia and Seth and Cody will say something like, " Mom, remember when you used to make play dough with me?". Not to mention that he still takes time to be a 'preschooler' and plays play dough. These children are so curious and excited about our world and there is soo much to teach them. They are like sponges and it is so rewarding to me as a mommy to see that when I am teaching my child to read he eventually retains the information and actually starts reading on his own! Praise God!
At this point, I have two that are no longer preschool age and I have three, who I would classify as 'preschool' age. I have not spent a ton of time with my younger ones doing 'preschool' things, but lately I have felt like I better not let these precious years go by without putting the time in creating lasting memories for my little ones. These children keep you young, I tell ya! During my personal 'inspiration' hour searching the internet I found some really awesome sites and they have really inspired me with great ideas that I have either tried before or will try for the first time. So, I thought I'd share them with you all. Enjoy!

Letter of the Week Curriculum

Hubbards Cupboard

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Zipper Says "Hello!"

This is it! A sock monkey, made out of two socks.

Luke spotted one on the net and wanted one for his birthday, so I came up with a great idea and decided I'd give it a go and try to make one myself. How's this for the first try? We were all soo proud when I finished it in two hours, through dinner and bedtime. Luke loves him and he's named him Zipper. Zipper finds himself cozy in Lukes bed every night. Within the next few weeks Zipper will have a few more friends joining him.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Can you sleep?

I can't....Okay, I am a dork. This is actually the second post I am making in one sitting. I kinda like this blog thing. I think I'm getting better at writing. Hey! Maybe, I should write a book. That's a great idea at, what time is it? That's 1:42 in the morning. All the while I am already thinking about the next day....next day because it's still dark out there, but the next day is today.

What do I aspire to do today after I finally get some ZZZZ's? Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I actually went to sleep quite early yesterday only to wake up at about 11:55 to use the potty and then couldn't get back to sleep and remembered that before I went to sleep yesterday that I wanted to do some reading on all you blogs. I learn alot and get inspired the most when I am up late when everyone else in the 'shoe' is sleeping and babies are not crawling all over me and I'm not feeling guilty that I'm on the computer when my children are taking turns in asking me to pay attention to them in some other kind of way, like "mommy, can you play outside with me?", or "mom, look what I made", or "mommy, can you read this book to me?"

Okay, back to what I aspire to do today and what I attempted to do yesterday to prepare for today:

* get up early after going to sleep late
* attempted- to wash the van
* prep lunch which will be enchilada's since we didn't have them last night
* iron church clothes- wanted to do that yesterday, but didn't. Will try again next week
* go to church
* come home and try to rest- I know what's best for me ...only thing, do I always do it??
If I can't rest, then I'll do other things, like sit around and casually plan meals for next week and look over my schedule for the week ahead of me. It's always a good thing! And probably a little more....It's also always a good thing to get some sleep once in awhile.

Vacuum Disaster

Never! I repeat, NEVER decide to vacuum corners of your home without making sure that the filter is in place and you have emptied your shop vac out.

This is what happened last night: We were in the mood for deep cleaning late yesterday afternoon and Cody, my eldest son, has a great idea..to bring the shop vac in to vacuum up all the termite droppings (wonderful!) in our workshop. Then he had another great idea, being that our regular house vacuum went out on us several months ago, to use it in our living room. Well, I thought it was pretty cool, that we could finally vacuum our area rug (we've been sweeping it and shaking it out all this time). So, I'm having a grand old time vacuuming away seeing all the lint disappear before my eyes only to get up and find behind me a big cloud of orange'ish' dust in the air and caked on the rug. Uggh!!! I got up to proclaim to Cody and Ash just laughing away at the thought that I was 'cleaning' my rug that whole time.....Well, apparently I was making my somewhat clean rug into a not at all clean rug. And what was even worse than that, I started feeling really tight in my chest, like an asthma feeling, like I could hardly breathe, itchy throat, runny nose itchy, watery eyes and not only me, but the rest of my innocent family.

What was meant for a night of late cleaning turned into a night on the town. We quickly left the house. We couldn't find Seth's asthma pump, so we opted for the Pulmo Aide and brought it along with us with our portable power unit taking turns puffing away on the meds. Oh boy, oh boy...what a night!

It actually turned out to be a' lovely' night of McDonald's food(we had $15 in Mickey D's gift cards that the kids got recently) instead of the enchiladas that I was working on. As a family we parked in the Hilo Ben Franklin parking lot eating our dinner and laughing and having fun, to end our night on the town with lovely candy bars from our local Sack N Save. Aahh! The joys of 'real' family life :o) Oh yeah, we can breathe now.