Manners and Habits

We've had an unpleasant word surface at our house: Stupid.

I don't care for the word and I don't care for hearing my daughter say it. Out comes my mediated learning toolbox and we have a discussion something like this:

"I've been hearing use of a word lately that is rather rude. Any ideas what word that might be?"

"um...stupid?" Intentionality and Reciprocity

"Yes. Any idea what that means?"

"Not smart. Foolish. Idiot."

"Yes. How do you think it sounds when I say, 'Oh, that game is stupid.' "

"You sound mean."

"Yes, and a little insulting too, right?"

"Yeah, but I only say it every once in a while."

"Well, it's been showing up a lot lately. I want to talk a little about why using that word often can lead to trouble. You know the Olympians we've been watching on tv?" Bridging

"Yes. I love speed skating!"

"Me too. And speed skaters get good by practicing. You know, there's two ways to practice. One way is to take one day a week and work hard for ten hours, the other is to work hard for 4 hours every day. Which way do you think brings better results?"

"The one day a week. 10 hours is a long time."

We have a discussion on why working hard for 4 hours every day actually brings better results. And we talked about how daily work helps form habit.

"Going back to what we were talking about earlier regarding the word 'stupid'. What kind of habit do you think it forms if you daily use that word?" Meaning

"A rude one?"

"Yes. And if you are a person with a rude habit, what kind of person does that make you?"

"A rude one."

"Yep. Remember that scripture we've been learning. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Eph 4:29) Do you think you have a habit that we need to pray about?" Meaning

A quiet moment. "Yes."

We prayed and asked God to help us make new habits.

We also talked about consequences and optimistic alternatives. Some times using 'stupid' is an attitude issue. Sometimes it's a lack of vocabulary to express frustration over something. We talked about the difference and came up with another option. We found some words that she could say if she is feeling frustrated and wants to express that.

We still need to continue to work on sensitivity to others when expressing frustration so as not to hurt their feelings. This is an ongoing process but today we made some progress.

Criteria Focus: Optimistic Alternatives

ML Criteria: Optimistic Alternative

We're covering the criteria of Mediated Learning. There are nine areas that fall into the Criteria category. These act as a means to Mediated Learning and they are important for ensuring growth in the learner. These factors affect the core and determine how you will Bridge and infuse meaning. They give a starting point for Intentionality and Reciprocity.

Optimistic Alternative

A positive view. The parent/mediator helps the child see from different perspectives, opinions, points of view as well as being able to look for positive solutions.

*these definitions are copied from my notes supplied by Wisdom Homeschooling

Click here to learn about what Mediated Learning is and click here to learn about the Core of Mediated Learning.

ML Criteria: Challenge

We're covering the criteria of Mediated Learning. There are nine areas that fall into the Criteria category. These act as a means to Mediated Learning and they are important for ensuring growth in the learner. These factors affect the core and determine how you will Bridge and infuse meaning. They give a starting point for Intentionality and Reciprocity.

Challenge

Facing novel and complex tasks. The parent mediator helps the child to be open to new and/or difficult situations, complex tasks and novel experiences. Creativity,originality and curiousity is encouraged.

*these definitions are copied from my notes supplied by Wisdom Homeschooling

Click here to learn about what Mediated Learning is and click here to learn about the Core of Mediated Learning.

Monday February 22 The Olympics at our house

Our friends arrive and we commence our incredible Olympic journey by building Inukshuks.

It 's tricky business trying to make them stand.

We came inside and made the Olympic flag and talked about what it symbolizes.

Then we had a snack break and made smoothies. We talked about Olympians and their need to have a particular diet in order to fuel their bodies for training and competing in races.
Then we played Don't Eat Pete!
We got busy making sugar cookies while the moms chatted about life.

Lunch time in the Olympic village was an array of food from other countries: Potato Wedges, Crepes and Thai spring rolls. Ymmm! Delish!

Melt the Ice dice game
A race with a feather in between your toe (Canada won)

A look at the medal standings chart after some of our sports were played
We then read a book about Levers. We learned all about force, load and fulcrums.

And then we put it into practice--by building walnut catapults.
All walnuts were harmed in the making of this event.

A game of curling among those Olympians who were still interested. A few were disqualified as they chose to climb into the (garbage bin) rocket ship and visit Mars instead of playing the game.
We came inside and warmed up by extinguishing the Olympic flame. Yes, we lit it and then made a baking soda/vinegar fire extinguisher and put it out!

Next was the bobsled race. We tried out different angles and textures (wax paper and tin foil) to see what would make our bobsled go quickly

Then we iced our medals and prizes for everyone. (This is the smartest idea ever! Thanks Lisa! Put icing into Ziploc bags, snip off the corner and away you go)
We took some time to go over some scriptures about crowns and winning races and we talked about what is really important in life.

We love the Olympics!

February learning

Ah! My hubby is back to work after a slight stint of 'slow down lay off'. That meant I was working out of the house 3 days a week to help our family out. But all that's changed, he's called back to work and I can cut my hours back to one day a week! Yahoo!
Here's what I was able to capture in the last two weeks....in between reading lots and Olympic cheering!

Learning about our family tree

Making salt crystals

Eldest made a jet engine using a balloon.She read the instructions and constructed it all by herself.

A cool trick. The kleenex stays dry even though we put the whole cup in the water!

Dinosaur plaster casts

Learning about teeth

The Pirate Thief came for a tooth and left some silver behind!

The Human body puzzle

Dinosaur excavation

Pass the Bag!

Some leftover love from last week

Tact- A lesson in asking questions

OK, so perhaps mediation can go overboard. Or perhaps I can go overboard and forget the Intentionality of mediation and just ask questions.

Ask, ask, ask.

It's a new habit I'm forming, but let's not forget intentionality. Because if you do, you are just asking questions and forgetting the person you are asking them to. You disregard rules of etiquette and what you ask--although valid questions--are asked in a rude and thoughtless manner.

Here's a tip: Mediation does not work if you have selfish motives that just want your questions answered with no thought about how to bring others into some of the criteria that makes mediational learning so special.

Lesson learned the hard way. Use tact when asking questions.

People's feelings get hurt when you don't.

Thank goodness for God's grace in learning to live life the way He's called us to live.

February 18- Memories

Today was a day that had me tackling a scrapbook.

Since attending my last Mediated Learning Workshop and understanding how important seeing and being aware of self-change is to your child, I have made it a priority to get some of these scrapbooks of our family put together.

So, last friday when I found a whole scrapbook (pages, book, and stickers, etc) on clearance for $4.18 I took it!

Today we scrapbooked and pulled out our old photo albums. We spent so much time talking about how we have grown and changed. What we used to like, memories we've made and the importance of our traditions. It was very eye-opening to see how much my children enjoyed looking at their lives and how they fit into the bigger picture of our family.

I made a point to scrapbook birthday cards from family who live out of town, and they were so excited to see that my sister wrote them a note or that their great Aunt Edie was excited they were born. They then begged for stories of when I was little. And I regaled them with many tales!

The other thing I did was review my daily learning photos that I've blogged on here. Sometimes when you homeschool (and I think especially when you are an almost unschooler), there is sometimes the question of "are we learning anything?" Well, taking a look at all that we've covered since we started blogging, it is clear that we have indeed learned many things. But more importantly, we've mediated them and bridged them to relevancy in everyday life and given meaning to the things they are learning.

See the change for yourself. Check here for our daily learning!

D is for dictionary, Mom

One of the newest sayings around our house is:

"How can you find out what that word means?"

And of late, the response has become, "Oh no! Don't tell me to use the dictionary!"

Yes, that hardly ever been used well worn book is the one I mean.

We were reading the story of Laura Secord and a word caught my daughter's attention.

"What does 'pillaged' mean?"

"How can we find out?" (intentionality and reciprocity)

"Don't say it, don't say it! I know you are going to tell me the dictionary!"

"Do you think that would be a good book to look at for the meaning of 'pillaged'?"

"Ye--essssss."

"Good decision."

We read an obscure version of pillaged that leaves us with the word 'plunder'.

"Pirates plunder don't they? But there are no pirates where Laura Secord lives."

"Well, maybe plunder doesn't just have to do with pirates, maybe it has a deeper meaning."

I get the look. "Are we going to have to look up plunder now?"

I shrug. "Depends. Do you want to know what pillaged means?"

"Well, yes. But why can't you just tell me what it means and we can go back to reading?"

To be quite honest, I am thinking the same thing. Why don't I just tell her and we can get on to the fun stuff?

But I stay the course:

"Why do you think it's important for you to learn to use the dictionary?"

"Mo-om!" an exasperated laugh escapes my daughter's mouth.

"I could tell you the answer, but where is the fun in learning if I just tell you everything?"

"Well, we could hear the rest of the story."

"We could, but I think it will mean more to all of us if we know what the word pillage means. Then we can understand what Laura's family went through and understand the hardships her family faced. (Meaning) What do you think?"

"OK, but you're going to read what the definition of plunder is, Mom."

"Excuse me?"

Sigh. "Please Mom."

"I think I can do that. Plunder: to rob using violence or force."

"So the soldiers robbed Laura Secord's family. Why didn't they just say that?"

"Why do you think they didn't just say that?"

"Mo--om!"

* I had to go back and bridge after this discussion. Upon writing it out I realized I had no bridging moment in here. Here's what I did:

"Hey, you know I was thinking about how we were using the dictionary to learn about the meaning of pillage and plunder. You know, the dictionary is a great book for us to use in all sorts of situations so that we can understand what a person is saying. Think of how handy it will be when you are reading a manual like our new dishwasher manual. You can make sure you understand what they are saying by knowing the definitions if you come across a word you don't understand."

I then took her to our dishwasher manual and found a word that was ambiguous to me. We looked it up. This lead to a discussion on precision and accuracy. I also asked her what other manuals or books could the dictionary help her understand.

Don't be afraid to go back and bridge a conversation from earlier that day. We are still learning how to create a mediated moment. Sometimes, upon reflection you realize that an element from the core has been missed. Don't worry about it. Go back and see if you can implement it. If you can't then just take what you've learned for the next time.

F- words: Fun and Fear and Failing

Fail.

That word can leave us quaking sometimes, can't it?

Or can it?

I guess it depends on what 'failure' means?

I like that quote by Albert Einstein, "Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid."

Failure can leaves us feeling stupid if it is measured in the terms that Albert Einstein is talking about.

Or we can approach it with a sense that failure is akin to Thomas Edison rebuttal to the comment that he had failed 10 000 times trying to make a light bulb. His elegant answer was, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

When failure is approached this way, fear is replaced with fun and adventure to be embarked upon.

Point in case, today's mediated moment:

My daughter was making a telephone between two plastic cups.

There was a lot of fun mediation that came as she tried to figure out how to make it. I asked questions the whole time and she surprised me with some of her answers. (Yay Mom for asking questions and no telling!!)

Her first attempt failed and she declared it impossible and that her intelligence was 'none too bright.'

It was time to have a little chat about failure and how it is a part of learning. (Intentionality and Reciprocity).

I shared with her the Thomas Edison quote and then bridged by asking, "How many lightbulbs does our town use?"

"Thousands."

"Right, and how do they help us?"

"We can see, it's safer for everyone, we can stay up later and have light."

"Do you think we could have all the benefits of the lightbulb if Thomas Edison decided that failing made him stupid and that it was just impossible to do anything?" (meaning)

"No."

"I have an idea. (Optimistic Alternative). Why don't we see how many times we can fail at making these plastic cup phones until we are successful. What do you think?"

"I think we could do that."

"Me too."

Fear turned to fun where failing is concerned: Fantastic!

Criteria Focus: Optimistic Alternative

Tuesday February 16

Devotions

Table-scaping and other decorating

Laundry folding

Mischief!

Dinosaur stickers

Printing and spelling new words

Reading, reading , reading books

heart art

The year of the Tiger! Smiling at us

Boo

outside walking to the dentist

watched Olympics in the waiting room

time for the park!

The mammoth tooth that was extracted, compared with the tooth my eldest lost on Sunday. A visit from the Pirate Thief is imminent

My little guy and his puppet show

Making note of a remarkable event today

Math numbers and story books on subtraction

LOVE math bingo

Friends over for tea party and outdoor play

Some scratch drawing

And pizza of eldest's choice to celebrate a huge mammoth tooth being taken out.

Ahhh! Good day

ML Criteria: Individuation

We're covering the criteria of Mediated Learning. There are nine areas that fall into the Criteria category. These act as a means to Mediated Learning and they are important for ensuring growth in the learner. These factors affect the core and determine how you will Bridge and infuse meaning. They give a starting point for Intentionality and Reciprocity.

Individuation- Uniqueness

The parent/mediator helps the child develop their unique gifts, skills, personality while still encouraging them to take responsibility and control of daily activities.

*these definitions are copied from my notes supplied by Wisdom Homeschooling

Click here to learn about what Mediated Learning is and click here to learn about the Core of Mediated Learning.

Games

Numerical Race

Sprouts

Math Bingo

Reading

Phonetic Bingo.

Battleship

Apples to Apples

Melt the Cube game

Checkers

Crokinole

Professor Noggin's Dinosaur Card Game

WWJD the Character Board Game

Nim

Go

Hex

Baffle Box

Qwirkle

Quads

Avalam

Quixo

Pente

Blokus

Magneatos

zoobs

mastermind

Quarto

Subtrax

Zertz

toobers and zots

Art Fun

Paper bag bald eagle art

Window sticker art

Puppets on a stick

Cookie icing art

Crushed candy cooked in the oven at 350 degrees

Hot glue gun meets the odds and ends drawer= tada!

Drawing the escape scene from my daughter's Super Hero story

Homemade clay painted and decorated

Clay sculptures

Swing art (tie some string to a paintbrush, dip it in paint and wheee! away you go!)

Sugar water chalk drawings. Pretty much how it sounds. 1/2 cup of sugar mixed in 2 cup waters and add chalk. The sugar helps the chalk become brighter