school's out!

Thursday was the last day of school for all of our kids.  It was the last day of second grade for Mr. Shawn, complete with a party, snacks and gifts for his teachers.  Shawn and I had so much fun making the letters for the title page of his "book."  Which, by the way has 31 chapters!  (dictated to me last year)...

That same day the girls had their final day of home school (Annabel finished sixth grade and Sky finished eighth grade) with their sweet teacher Miss Yvonne.  They did research presentations for history and science.  Annabel taught us about Barack Obama and arctic animals.  Sky taught us about the first moon landing  and black holes and white dwarfs.  Did you know, in 6 billion years the sun will shed it's outer core and become a white dwarf just a little smaller than earth...

My kids are so bright and love learning.  They all had great years in school!  

Shawn learned to read better, a lot of math, history, science (his teacher's speciality), computers, and art.  Plus he took drum and acting classes this year.

The girls studied language arts, math, science, history, French, geography, theater, research, geography, and conflict resolution.  All the kids were happy in school and they got really good report cards.

I am so grateful to their wonderful teachers.

corner view~what's for lunch?

Annabel's specialties, curry tofu and French bean dish

This year both of our girls have been home schooling.  One of the sweetest parts of this experience is that we all get to share lunch, often with Dad too, as he works from home.  This year both girls have gotten into cooking, and many times they have made me some pretty great lunches! 

Although today it was hot and there were some sore throats to soothe, so after eating some leftovers we made "strawberry snow" in the juicer with ice, frozen strawberries, and agave nectar.

creative friday

Starting a few weeks ago we have changed the home school schedule.  If the girls work hard Monday through Thursday, they get to focus on creative things on independent study Fridays.  It has been wonderful.  And they are working hard.  Sewing, sculpture, reading, acting, singing, recording, photography, practicing instruments, filming, and making videos.  There are a couple of people in the entertainment industry encouraging and pushing them to grow.  And it has very good for them.  Lest you think my oldest is miserable, she is not.  I have never seen her happier.  In the last photo, she is acting.  Did she fool you?

and now we have a...

drummer girl!

One of the things I love about home schooling is that the girls have more time to devote to other interests.  Skylar has been studying drums.  She has had a few lessons from Shawn's teacher, and she is a natural!   The only problem is when they both feel like playing at the same time!  Never a dull moment over here, I tell you.

corner view~rain

2008:  I wrote about this day a couple of years ago.  We had just started homeschooling the girls and one winter day, it rained.  A big deal in our parts.  Quite rare. 

I let them go outside with umbrellas, and eventually it turned to just playing in the warm rain.

What a fun time.  The freedom they felt with their new lifestyle was evident on their faces.

I personally love when we get rain.  It cools everything and my plants seem to vibrate with happiness.   After a good rain I can see their growth overnight.

Next week we will write about "improvising."  This idea comes from Anna.

Please give me more ideas of what you wish to write about in your comments.  Happy December to you all!

corner view~school

I pretty much liked school all the way through the educational process - from grammar school through graduate school.  Most of my teachers made positive impressions.  I just wrote a note last week to my sixth grade teacher.

On the other hand, my husband hated school.  Poor G.  He was bored, he was unchallenged, he was harassed.  My two girls have been to formal school and now home school.  They love home schooling.  But my son loves his public school!

What is the magic ingredient?  It's not the school, I believe.  Not the university, or the philosophy, and not really the subject matter, as much as it is the individual teacher.

When the teacher and the student get to a place of respect and joy where a true exchange of ideas is going on, then learning is taking place. When the student is inspired then that is real success. What I've learned from my children is that school is defined by the student's relationship to the teacher, nothing more, nothing less.

This is what we look for when we choose our girls' home school teachers, or when we enroll our kids in classes, and in our public school system -- we look for mentors -- truly gifted ones who know how to do more than just put information before them.  I believe this is the standard we all must set if we want to be inspired, and truly learn.

By the way, to any of my blog friends who are fans of Gary, my husband's music, there is a giveaway of his newest CD on facebook here.

And happy September to all of you.  I am back from a long trip, happy to be back into a routine, into blogging, into visiting you all!

To see more corner views hop over to the sidebar here.

marathon video shoot

Our video production was quite a production day and night!  We flew our videographer out from Wisconsin, and he stayed with us.  (The guy pictured in the aqua shirt sitting at the drums with Shawn, and in other shots as well) We shot a ton of footage in three days, and we are making several music videos from this.  They will be added to YouTube over the next couple of months, I will share them here as we make them.

Everyone got in on the action, which was fun, and it was part of home school for sure.  Since one song is about Annabel, she acted in one of the videos.  And I got to act in one, where I play a woman whose musician-boyfriend (Gary) is asking her to let him come back home to her after he tried to make it big in New York but ended up being chewed up and spit out. (I accepted him back.)  I am wearing all white.   Sky helped a lot with additional camera angles.  And Shawn did some drumming for fun, while our guy filmed him.  He did such a good job we might use it in one of the videos.  Shh...don't tell him, it will be a surprise.

I included the shot of me singing because Gary loves it.  No I did not sing on film, although, like I have said, I am a wanna be.

holland house

July 2010:  It all started when we drove to my old apartment in Old Town Alexandria and simply parked the car to walk around my old neighborhood.  We came upon this beautiful property that I had never noticed when I lived there in my distracted 20's -- right across the street from my apartment.  A man was gardening outside of the brick wall and noticed me being nosy glancing in the old wooden door propped open to see the garden.  Turns out he was the friendly owner and he seemed to appreciate our curious and enthusiastic nature, and invited Gary, the kids and me in to see the grounds.  He gave us a tour of his amazing garden and the next thing we knew he invited us to see the inside of the house.

Part of it was built in 1750!  Some was added in the early 1800's and the rest in the later 1800's.  The painting above the fireplace is an original of our founding father, George Washington.  The owner showed us a book from the 1500's in his library, we saw original wood floors, and molding on the walls.  He took us back outside and gave us more information on the property.  George Washington had surveyed it hundreds of years ago....During a remodel a few years back they uncovered a layer of rutted gray stone which was part of the original outdoor steps. It was purposely left exposed as the remodel continued all around it.  The Thomas Jefferson statue was life sized.  Note the carriage house in the last photo, used to store buggies.  There was also a small barn for the animals.  It was an incredible stroke of luck and we all loved the experience.

What a great experience of seeing history for our children.  I could never have planned this as a home school field trip!

It really struck me being back east how much history that part of our country holds.  Made me appreciate all of the antique trips my parents took us on, when I was a child, as they hunted for treasures.  It's much harder to find those treasures now.  And my parents found some amazing deals in the 70's.

smooth criminal

Sky's newest Youtube video.  Since this she has posted 7 of her original songs...kind of a roll.  Annabel is recording something new today, stay tuned...

Have a great week everyone.  A busy time for us right now.  We are getting ready for a 2 month trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Florida and upstate New York.

spring~what's been up

We have been really busy these last couple of months, too busy for many individual posts, except cornerview, my weekly connection to the blog world.  So in the interest of time, and because we are leaving for our annual summer trek in a little over ONE month, and I have a big to do list, I am doing a March-April summary post:

Shawn won a school wide award for good character in his first grade class.  This month the quality was justice.  A little girl from his class came up to me after the ceremony and said, "Shawn deserves Pueo of the month.  He is always fair and he always tells the truth."

Home school - Shooting a video: "How to aquajog."  Underwater camera was ultra cool.

We hosted a house concert featuring the entire family - everyone (but me) played and sang music and we did a comedy skit with all five of us, and our buddy Jason, the bass player.  It was so much fun, and we followed with an assortment of deserts.  This was a fundraiser for an organization in Haiti.  My physician brother recently went there for a couple of weeks with the University of Chicago Med Center.

We auditioned to be extras in a movie being filmed around the corner from where we live.  Crowds like I have never seen here gathered.  Jennifer Aniston draws 'em in.

Sky is working on a documentary film being made by Lisa and Marq, about our musical family.  This is an ongoing project, and each family member is being interviewed.

Easter.  New beginnings.

Sky and Gary went to Los Angeles to mix Gary's new CD.  It came out great.  Sky helped so much that Gary is giving her assistant producer credit.  I am very excited.  This is his best work yet.  More on that soon...

Home school history oral reports.  Dad is the teacher of this class, while Miss Lisa attends and takes notes, then gives assignments.  Pictured, the girls are reading their online reports on U.S. history - slavery and emancipation.  I love the bare feet and casualness of this image.  But it's serious study, let me tell you.

Occasionally I let the girls work on homework together, if they don't goof off.

A certain red headed boy turned 7!  I made the cake, Sky decorated it.  On Shawn's birthday, he said, "In my particular mind, a birthday is a chance to be nice to people and to show your love for people."

And of course, our newest obsession, cool dancing, Michael Jackson style.