Eye of the Tiger

Here is something I bet you didn't know about needing a wheelchair: it brings out the crazy in your friends. In the six months or so that I used one, I lost count of the times when friends couldn't resist trying for warp speed while pushing me through a parking lot, or down a hotel hallway, or on a crowded sidewalk in Newport. There was even one night when, after making sure that I was securely on my barstool, a buddy popped wheelies in my chair until he flipped it over.

This past December, as I laced up ice skates for the first time since beginning my unwanted dance with chronic tendinitis, I realized it was almost exactly 2 years since I first needed the chair. The silliness of friends and family is what made that accursed chair bearable; without them, it would only remind me of the howling pain and fear of the unknown which I felt during many of those months. It took a long time, but my legs regained their strength.
The problem with tendons is, they aren't just in your legs. These past few years have been a long series of whanging my head on a proverbial garden rake that I had left carelessly lying around, saying to myself “jeez, I better move that rake,” and then whanging my head again. And again. And…

This time around, the recovering tendons are in one elbow and the other thumb. Poor Ben is doing all my jobs, plus all his usual jobs; thankfully, our homeschooling Village and amazing network of friends and family are helping with moral support and meals. Also thankfully, Luke and Owen enjoy cooking, and are learning great lessons in ability, disability, and home economics. (Luke and Owen, in my completely unbiased opinion, are two of the best kids on the planet. But I'll save my gushing for another post.)

 So, what's a girl to do when she can't use her hands for writing, typing, cooking, cleaning, card-playing, making music, knitting, or anything really, beyond holding a fork? Well, I've spent a lot of time in my own head, learning patience. Also, I have read some great books – again, another post – thunk thoughts both shallow and deep, and used my voice, sometimes for singing, sometimes for conversation and laughter, and sometimes, as now, for writing.

I have really missed blogging. I have missed having my own little corner of the Internet to share my opinions, and more importantly ask yours. I have missed documenting the boys' growth and development through the blog, where I can really highlight their joyful approach to life. Most, I have missed blogging as a space to discuss meta-learning, the learning that has gone on for me above (and because of) my children's learning.

In that last category, I include lessons they have taught me, like the time Luke rang the bell at the top of the climbing wall, things I have learned as the facilitator of their learning, and conversations I've had with others here in this blog about homeschooling, about learning, about teaching.

My hope is to blog again. Probably I will start off with fewer pics and hyperlinks, as both of those require hand power that I don't have.

Can I stave off the garden rake and bring the blog back to life at the same time? Well, we'll see.

Slowly, Slowly

Growth comes in tiny packages sometimes.

One day, I stood up and walked away from the computer without even thinking about it – no planning where to put my feet, no thinking about shifting weight from one side to the other side. Before I knew it, I was up and away.

Another day, I discovered that I can shave my legs standing up in the shower! Funny what constitutes progress.

Those plants in the banner up there? They are now so big, that they no longer fit on the table and have had to be moved outside into a tiny greenhouse that I got last Christmas. It's like Attack of the Nasturtiums.



Thank goodness the boys and their Dad are digging a new garden, we're gonna need it soon!



Owen learned to read in such tiny increments that I didn't realize what was happening. Over a period of about six months he went from not reading, to decoding print, to almost effortless reading with inflection and emphasis. And giggling, lots of giggling – Owen prefers comics. The other day, I asked him to choose a book to bring to physical therapy in case he got bored while I was getting treatment. As he ran off to grab his favorite Garfield, he paused, looked up at me, and asked "Mom? Am I a reader?" I was so happy to be able to say to him with a big smile, "Yep!"

Slowly, slowly – it seems like everything has been moving at a snail's pace. And yet here we are in sunny April, walking and reading and growing. It feels incremental and at the same time all at once.

Unconventional Gingerbread Houses

I know, a positive post from The Stone Age Techie! One that is not about health problems, or health insurance, or other sucky stuff like that. I feel lots better, largely because I started acupuncture about six weeks ago. (Think it's too expensive? So did I, until I found out about Community Acupuncture.) It is a frickin' miracle, and between that and physical therapy I hope I am on the road to recovery.

I've learned many lessons from these last months of illness; I think the two most important are 1) it's okay to depend on others sometimes and 2) patience really is a virtue. I want to thank everybody who contacted me here, or on Facebook, or via e-mail - your support really got me through this! I'm very lucky in my virtual friends as well as my real-world ones.

My kids have learned many lessons too, and have spent lots of their homeschooling time honing their life skills ( laundry, chicken care, dishes, cooking, etc. ) and their patience. In a way, these months have been extra-special because we've spent more time at home with each other, playing board games and talking about everything under the sun, and just laughing together. I wish I could've blogged about the time that Luke and Owen performed a shadow-puppet show, The Lord of The Rings Part One, with a theater and puppets they'd made from scratch to cheer me up during an especially low point. I could take no pictures, but oh boy, did this work. I'm tearing up thinking about it. It was awesome.

With health improving and Christmas coming, the month of December has been pretty exciting. The boys have been good to each other, have shared their time, energy, and even some of their hard-earned money to help less fortunate families in our area, they've been truly helpful around the house – so this week seemed like a good time to bust into the gingerbread. A few years ago, my dear friend Nicole, whose fantastic blog about unschooling you can check out here, somehow managed to get geometry concepts across while making gingerbread houses in the math class she taught; since then, Luke and Owen look forward to replicating that project every Christmas. Here are this year's results!

Instead of gingerbread, we use graham crackers because they are approximately the same size as index cards. ( And they're already made – gingerbread for houses is one thing I have yet to perfect.) So first, each boy uses index cards and tape to make a model for their gingerbread house. Here is Owen's, next door to his partially completed house:



Barn, actually. He declared his gingerbread house would be "the old barn where Jesus was born." "You mean manger?" I asked, enjoying his substitution for a word he did not know. "Yes!" came the answer.

It was fun to watch him design this. He spent his time painstakingly folding roof pieces and cutting small pieces for the upper walls. I wouldn't be surprised if he pulls out index cards just to build with them again sometime.

Luke went sort of in the other direction, making a cute, fairly unconventional house… complete with outhouse in back. Here he is, putting it together:



Their eyes widened so much when I brought out the candy:



It's rare that they see that much candy in one place, never mind in our house.



A happy boy.

Here's Owen putting the finishing touches on his manger:



This one gives you a good view of Luke's house, and outhouse:



He said at one point, "Hey Mom! I just put up a jellybean as an air freshener in the outhouse!" I haven't laughed that hard in weeks.

And here are the finished products:



Owen's manger, complete with candy gardens in front and back – and a stash of candy inside for the residents.



And Luke's, which he designed and built and decorated all on his own. Yes, it's an outhouse, but it's his outhouse, know what I mean?

When Owen developed the idea from the Rollo chimney, Luke soon followed suit. In fact, they traded ideas, as well as candy and extra frosting, very companionably. I kept thinking how great it is that they're such good friends, how even though they fight sometimes they're very quick to make up and care very much about each other.

And, not only can they rely on each other for help and support and fun and silliness, but Ben and I can rely on them for these things too.

It's been just one more positive lesson to come out of the trying year of 2011.

A Visit to the Massachusetts Ministry of Magic

Or, as we like to call it, the State House:

Our state homeschooling organization, Advocates for Home Education in Massachusetts, planned a day for homeschoolers to visit the State House. The visit included a well-set-up scavenger hunt which took us all over the building, a State House tour, and the chance to meet with our State Representative.
Here are some pictures:



Up there, that's the statue of General Hooker. One of the many well-dressed workers at the State House took time out of his busy day to tell us all about Gen. Hooker, a Civil war hero. He also discussed how, in a sculpture of a person on a horse, you can tell if the subject is alive or dead by the number of hooves on the ground or in the air. Gen. Hooker, it turns out,lived through the Civil War; had he died the horse would be rearing with both front legs off the ground.

These next two pictures are of the Great Hall of Flags, which houses each Massachusetts town's official flag.




For much of our visit, the Great Hall of Flags was full of people and TV cameras and officials all gathered to discuss autism. It wasn't the only area of the state house bustling with senators, representatives, aides, journalists, photographers, and visitors. In most hallways and gathering spaces, people were everywhere! Another beautiful gallery, the Hall of Nurses, hosted a meeting the morning we were there attended by police officers from across the state. Just add in the flying paper airplanes that count as interoffice mail in the Ministry of Magic, and we could've been in the wizarding world.

It seemed like everywhere we went, there was somebody to help us. On our scavenger hunt, we needed to get into a large reception hall to find a painting of Horace Mann. A guard informed us that there was a meeting going on, we wouldn't be able to get into the reception room; as he was finishing his sentence, a senator rushed up, overruled the guard, and took us in to the room by a door further down the hallway, telling us many facts about the hall and the building as we went. When he opened the door to show us the picture, we saw officials, journalists, and photographers way over on the other side of reception hall – and the picture we were seeking was just above our heads.


Here is a lovely window that I enjoyed as we walked through the State House.

We were lucky enough to meet with the representative from our area, at a moment when he had the time to give us a tour of the House Debating Chamber. This picture hangs in the chamber:


Also, our representative told us about the Sacred Cod, which you can see in the gallery below. The cod's head points toward the side of the party in power; here in Massachusetts, the cod has pointed toward the Democrat's side since 1948 – a fact which our Republican representative told us with no irony or bitterness whatsoever; I liked him for that. When you are attempting to rear children with respect for their civil government, it's nice to have your elected representatives treat the other side with civility.


And, here is our group posing for a picture with the representative in the debating chamber. We are standing where the Speaker of the House stands; it was quite a feeling!


One of the most memorable parts of the day for me will always be when our representative was showing Luke, Owen, and I some of the quieter chambers off to the side of the big chamber. Luke asked a really interesting question: "Representative, why is everything oval-shaped in here? I mean, the curtains, the tables, the plaster above the lights…"
A conversation ensued about how the architecture in this building reflects the builders' belief in equality for everyone. Our representative told us further that the chairs in the Senate Chamber are carefully set so that everyone's head is at the same height while they debate. He then asked if the boys knew about the legend of King Arthur; when they responded enthusiastically, the three of them shared in a conversation about why the Round Table was round.
And then:
Owen: "Representative, our mom lets us watch clips of a movie about King Arthur on YouTube. Have you ever heard of Monty Python?"
Representative: (smiling)"Yes, I have."
Owen:"Oh, that is one of our favorite movies to watch clips from! Have you ever seen the part with the Killer Rabbit?"
Representative:(smiling even wider)"Sure, I remember him!"
Owen:"Do you remember this part? What's he gonna do, nibble my bum?" Seriously, my six-year-old said that to our State Representative. I was a bit embarrassed, but I have to admit I also thought it was very cute – and, I think the Representative will remember our meeting with fondness. He laughed heartily at Owen's imitation.



As for us, we remember this visit with fondness too. Really, all that were missing were the flying interoffice memos; the State House is quite a magical place.

A Season in Pictures: The Leadville Mining Hall of Fame

This is from a huge room of mini-dioramas explaining mining, starting with the Gold Rush; I loved this depiction of sluice-mining.



A canary in a coal mine, just one tiny part of just one of the amazing 'mines' you can walk through here. They really give you an idea of what miners' days were (and are) like!



A huge sculpture of a miner, mining. I also loved the elaborate stained glass windows, depicting everything from jackhammers to those huge dump trucks, one of which you can see behind the sculpture.

The pictures simply do not do this place justice. We walked in thinking, 'okay, we'll spend an hour, how exciting can a museum about mining be?' And left thinking, 'whoa.'

If you're ever in Leadville, Colorado, it is worth a stop!

Strike While The Iron Is Hot

As I write, Luke is dictating an idea for a game he's had to his Dad. He is so excited, he is pacing and breathless, speaking faster than his dad can write. It's been a long time since I've seen him like this.


Owen is excited too; now, it's his turn to tell Dad all about the dragons that are going to be in his game.


It's really this excitement that I wanted to blog about tonight. We have had kind of a blah day, cooped up in the house with freezing rain and grayness outside, Luke and I both with headaches and all three of us with an unsatisfy-able sweet tooth. It looked like we were going to have an evening with much of the same, and then – a eureka moment!

We got to talking about making our own games, even making a company that would sell our games, and it sparked something new in both children. I mean, they've been excited about things, but this was different. You could see the possibilities dawning on their faces, especially Luke.

At one point he was so emotional he could hardly speak; when he found his voice, he asked, "what if we fail?" I told him that I don't think of it as failing, and instead if we end up not reaching our goal, we would still have learned lots, and that what we learn would take us through future ventures. I told him, I try to think in terms of learning versus succeeding or failing. He had been so upset, I was frankly a little surprised when he perked right up and asked for a notebook, a pencil, and some time on the computer.

Now, he is asking for a different notebook that he can take up to bed with him to write more ideas; Owen just came in to kiss me good night and as he was leaving he asked, "Mom, how do you start a company?"

I told him I was just about to look into it.

First: Simplify

Well, goodbye 2010. In many ways you were a hard year, and I won't be sad to see you go.

When you were toughest, often it had to do with disorganization and clutter, not just with our material possessions but also in our minds. This feeling came on gradually, but by October or November it was getting hard to stay afloat above all the clutter.
I include here Luke's need to grow out of childhood gracefully, and Owen's excitement about transforming his ideas into reality with the use of copious amounts of cardboard, tape, and glue, and my desire to slow things down and enjoy every moment.

I mean to fix this in 2011.

Here is my list of goals for the coming year:

1) Make rather than purchase, when at all possible.

2) Stay organized –
Go through toys, books, clothes.
Give away much, keep what's most important.
Involve the boys in this organizing process.

3) Write –
As I'm happiest when blogging, and as blogging helps me to collect my thoughts, I have a great writing tool right here. I'm gonna use it, even when it's just for a picture or a quick note.

4) Facilitate the boys' projects –
Because rather than continue with Perpetual Saturday Morning, our homeschooling style is changing. As part of Luke's work towards his rite of passage, I've learned that he does better with a project. Having something to get up and do helps him feel accomplished, excited, and engaged.
Owen, too, needs to be involved in something bigger than himself, which is especially fun because he's now writing and drawing like a boy obsessed.
I guess I should include my own projects in here, as well. Funny to think about facilitating your own projects, but knitting, growing food and playing with it in the kitchen, and who knows what else I'll come up with this year – I need some space and time for these as well.

5) Keep in mind that, while the days may be long, the years are short -
I aim to take something positive from every day, even if it is just a fleeting smile or quirky comment from someone I love. Especially Luke and Owen; they're growing so quickly, and soon their childhood will be a memory. Thank you Jena, for helping me remember this!


So, this should make for an interesting year. What about you? Any resolutions, or changes you plan to make in 2011?

The Base-10 System

You might think he's just a kid, playing with Legos. But you'd be wrong - this activity is helping Owen understand base-10 mathematics, something he wouldn't care to do unless Legos were involved.

So what happened was, our friend Nicole issued a challenge this week connected with our weekly math/science class: to bring something representing the number 100. Of course, Owen's mind went immediately to Legos.

We started by choosing 100 Lego pieces, a harder challenge than it seems. Each time Owen started counting out pieces, he'd lose track somewhere in the early double-digits. I showed him how to keep track, placing the pieces into 10-piece piles:



At which point both kids agreed, that's not a lot of Legos. As Luke pointed out, the minifigs alone are 8 pieces each! Owen wasn't sure we would be able to build the space station he wanted to bring to math this week. Here he is getting started:



And, he used every piece to make a pretty fancy space station.



I loved doing this because of all the math chat we had while working, counting by tens, estimating, seeing the light dawn about how the base-10 system works, and watching Owen realize that each tiny piece counts as 1, however big or small.

Also, once we got going, Owen treated it as a game; how much easier math would be for me, if only I could have treated it as a game.

Obladi, Oblada...

Life goes on, rah/
La la, how their life goes on/

Even though it has been a tough few weeks, there has also been much to be thankful for. Here are some pics of our life going on, this lovely, lovely autumn.

Hiking at a place called King Philip Rock (the name, incidentally, has raised some curiosity about who King Philip was, and finding out has been yet another cool part of this fall):






The tree with the reddish leaves is called sarsparilla, and someday I am going to figure out how to make root beer from this tree.


Here's the view from the rock itself. It's so nice to be above the trees in our very tree-ful neck of the woods!


Here's a preying mantis that hung out on our doorstep for a while one afternoon. He was at least five inches long; I love how he's looking at us in this pic that my Dad took.


I made amazing apple jelly with apples from a friend's tree. Isn't it a pretty color?

We visited friends up in Maine, and one highlight of our visit was a ride in their motorboat:






My favorite bird, the loon. I love how they look, how they sound, and where they live... of course, my family thinks it's because I can really relate to a bird with a name like loon! Heh.

The Month That Keeps On Giving

Since this hasn't been a year in which somebody close to us got married in September, we've had to find other ways to keep busy. And we have! So busy, in fact, that getting time to blog about it all has been hard. Here's a sampling of what us Stone Age Techies have been up to:

We visited Plimoth Plantation, practically all by our onesies because it's too early for field trips yet. And, other than getting attacked by the English Village's chickens as we attempted to eat lunch, we had a great time.



We were all fascinated with canoe-making...



And charcoal-making.

Both boys also loved the Mayflower II, docked in Plymouth Harbor.



They were totally nonplussed by Plymouth Rock, however.



"Mom, it's just... a rock." You can almost hear Luke's silent 'WTF?' ... if he knew what WTF? meant.

And then! Oh, we went on a camping trip to Cape Cod, with friends who know what there is to do on Cape Cod. What a trip!



This, and the following pics, are from Fort Hill on the Cape. The lack of houses and people astounded me, I've always thought of the Cape as a place of ice-cream shacks and little tourist cabins lined up, side by each. But no, there are entire acres pretty well undeveloped:









We were all fascinated with the view, but returned quickly to camera-hamming:



Then we went off to Skaket Beach, timed just right to hit low tide:



Notice that, to take this pic, I am standing way the heck off shore, facing the land. The rock has that orange buoy attached because, at high tide, it's totally submerged. I don't know why I think that is so cool, but I really do think it is.

Then, to top off the weekend, we had Flax Pond at Nickerson State Park all to ourselves! And Luke learned how to kayak:



He was so free out there on the water, wandering any old which way he wanted to.

Thanks, Carrie and family, for a great weekend... when we next come up for air, I will be sure to post some pics about our adventures!

The Intersection of Math and Art

School, such as it is for us, kind of officially started last week, with an art class at the library and an amazing math/science class offered by a friend.

Historically, my boys have been totally uninterested in art classes, at least those not about making light sabers out of ziti and aluminum foil. But after Luke was on the winning Battle of the Books team and the second place finisher, that same day, in our library's Harry Potter Trivia Tournament last month, he would follow the librarian anywhere, even into art classes.

Last week's was all about lines, and truthfully I did not think either Luke or Owen got much out of it - until math class, in which the kids made geoboards.

I had my doubts about the geoboards, too. Luke was freaked out about hammering, and worked hard to overcome his fear of getting hurt, so I helped him lots more than I would have thought a ten-year-old might need. Owen helped pound about five nails in before running off to play with the other six-year-olds; when we left, with plenty of colorful elastics and two finished geoboards mostly made by yours truly, I concluded that they would not even be looked at before the next math class.

So, imagine my surprise when, before breakfast the next morning, Luke asked, "Hey Mom, what do you think of this:"



I was stunned. When had he made this creation? "Oh, just now." On the other side of the table, Owen was working too:



My awe was complete when the boys started talking about how the lines in their geoboard designs connected with the lines they learned about in art class. They drew comparisons between the two classes that I would never have thought of, just casually, over breakfast.

Reminding me (again) that learning happens when it happens, and even when you think it isn't happening.

Positive Press

Gosh, I've been so busy canning tomatoes and peaches that I've almost forgotten we are homeschoolers! Until, that is, I had this amusing chat with Owen's dental hygienist, who thinks that homeschooling is okay, as long as it is 'school-at-home:'

Hygienist: Well, Owen, when do you start homeschooling? Time to bust out the books soon, right?

Owen (with Mr. Thirsty, the little mouth vac, halfway down his throat): Ungh?

Me: When should we count the beginning of our year, Owen? Maybe, the first museum we visit this September? Our first trip to Old Sturbridge Village? Our camping trip on the Cape next month?

As I tick off some of the fun things we'll be doing soon, the hygienist's jaw drops further and further.

Me again: We like to do more experiential learning while the weather's nice.

Hygienist: Well, I guess you do! Owen, it sounds like you are going to have a fun school year...

Owen (nodding, as Mr. Thirsty jiggles up and down in his mouth): Ungh-huh!

After a few months of nobody asking the boys why they're not in school, I got used to blending in; it was something of a shock to realize that soon we'll be standing out again, two 'big boys' and their mom.

But we won't be standing out quite as much as homeschoolers used to - and we have more and more resources to help us along our homeschooling way. My friend Kerry, author of the fun and funny Topsy-Techie blog until last May, runs one such resource, secularhomeschool.com. Recently, Kerry was interviewed by The Detroit Free Press about just this topic; here is the article, More Resources Help Metro Homeschoolers Go Mainstream.

Kerry talks about "accidental homeschoolers... families who never planned on it until a child's health problem, a poor fit with a teacher or a lack of special learning resources led them to try it." This is exactly why we decided to try homeschooling, as you can read here if you'd like.

When we started, I could never have imagined how wonderful homeschooling would turn out to be. Some of my favorite times have been when it was just my 'big boys' and me; other favorite times have involved the large and wonderful homeschooling community we are blessed to live in. Still other favorite times have been totally online, like Jena's Virtual Field Trip. (Isn't it getting on time for another one, Jena? Nudge, nudge? :-)

I am as secular as it is possible to be, and I wake up every morning thanking Goodness for this life I am living, this accidental, crazy, messy, fun life - and the people who make it that way.

8/24/10 Update - I woke up this morning remembering a few other favorite bloggy moments:
Firefly Mom's hilarious chat about the birds and the bees one night at the dinner table (I can't find it, though I have searched your archives - help me, Firefly Mom. You're my only hope!).
9/13/10 - Firefly Mom came through: here it is!
Susan's amazing Revolutionary Road Trip. Favorite bits include Philly, Old Sturbridge Village, and the rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center. And the desk, of course!
This last one's new, from the blog of my lifelong buddy Shannon, noiselessly forth. Her photography is breathtaking, and - I can't believe I am sharing this - she posted video footage of a bunch of us singing karaoke at a party a few weeks ago. I'm on the extreme right of the video; we sound terrible, but hoo hoo, it was fun! (I can't get a link directly to the video, which may not be such a loss... if you want to see it though, scroll through Shannon's posts until you get to the video marked 'karaoke fun.' Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Rube Goldberg, You Rock My World

I hadn't heard of Rube Goldberg before last week, when the boys started a class at our library called Simple Machines. But evidently, Mr. Goldberg is the guy who first combined pulleys, levers, fulcrums, wheels, ramps and balls into those funny machines that do something - smash an egg, drop ping-pong balls on your head, that kind of thing.

Part of our homework this week was to look up Rube Goldberg machines on YouTube, so I thought I'd share some of our favorites.

Here is one called 'Creme that Egg:'



OK Go's newest, This Too Shall Pass:




This one knocks down a whole bunch of bowling pins, in somebody's workplace:



They are fun, and silly, and require a lot more thought than, well, you might think. When Luke and Owen have made their Rube Goldberg machines, I'll post about them.

The Evolution of Writing

Owen is writing, and it is soooo cute.

But it's more than just cute. There is also something profound in these first clumsy attempts at written communication. My heart speeds up when I watch him shape letters, I marvel over what he perceives as so important that it must be written down. Here, other than his name, is the first document Owen's ever written himself:



It is about dwarfs, and what they do, and what they require to do what they do. Because someday, when he's old enough, Owen plans to play Dungeons and Dragons as a dwarf, and he's going to need the information on this sheet.
If you study the letters closely, you will see that he traced quite a few of them from dots that I put on the paper. Also, the words, where you can make them out, are spelled correctly; this is because he asked me how to spell the words and I told him.
But check out this next sample, the name of a store he and Luke are starting up for Poke (like Pokemon, pronounce Po-Kay) York:



It's called The Brothers Pom Pom Store, and they're planning on making pom-poms to sell, for Monopoly money, in Poke York for the Pokemon who live there. (Want to see Poke York? Click here.) You'll notice that 'Brothers' is spelled unconventionally, as is 'store.' Also, the letters are totally of his formation, not tracings of my letters.
When Luke saw this sign, I knew that he might question the mistakes. So I asked him to help Owen learn to write in the way that I wished he had learned to write: by trying to figure out which letters make which sounds to him, even if it doesn't make sense to the rest of us. Luke happily agreed, and I think he is enjoying being a teacher, even in a subject he's not all that confident in himself. Or, maybe it's because of his own lack of confidence.

In this latest sample, you can really see the evolution of Owen's writing - from me telling him what and how to write, to him sounding things out and writing them himself:



The drawing is mostly mine, but the letters that spell 'Pikachu' are all Owen's. They are, in order: P, K, E, D, E. And he sounded out the sounds in the word 'Pikachu' to get to those letters. So although it's barely legible, it is the one with the most personal meaning to him.

Being there at the very beginning of real attempts at written communication, especially when you can see how meaningful it is for the new writer, is one of the biggest joys of homeschooling so far. I can't wait to see what he writes next!