more unschooling

Today ended up being another unschooling day.

2 yo woke up at 6 with a fever and not a single other symptom. The boys got up and got dressed by 8. When I was placing various things in and out of storage area and they were looking for makkot animals, they pulled out an electric piano ( kid-sized). I hat that toy, they blast volume, hiss in the microphone, bang total cacophony. This time it went a bit differently. 7 yo immediately tried Twinkle Twinkle  and got it, with a few mistakes. I suggested Oh Susanna ( one of his favorites). I did not know the notes, so I Goggled it. Then I realized that he did not know how to read sheet music, so I printed out keyboard layout and explained the scale. Someone will pounce on me, as I do not know the proper terms for this in English and I forgot how to sigh-read myself, but I can figure it out, with enough time. He caught on, and I started him on writing the notes' names under each note. They are labeled on the piano, so once he knows that this one is D, he can play the right one. He told me to go and worked on it for a while.

I went back to finishing my breakfast and thinking: I was taught piano for 3 years. Some of those were definitely against my will. As you can see, I do not have a whole lot to show for those years. I know that there are 8 notes. So do my kids ( Shemona Tzlilim Yafim from Shalom Sesame Chanukah). I can tell you that they are of different duration and that this part is for the right hand an this part is for the left hand. And Oh Susanna is performed to the count of four. The end.

Somehow, I was able to teach all of this in a very short period of time. The student was willing, the timing was right, the info was easily available. No, he cannot play it yet, but now I have tools to teach him and he has info in order to play.

Then we davened and shlepped to farmer's market--Pesach is still coming and nobody will buy those veggies for me. 7 yo checked off our extensive shopping list. 5 yo read which countries the vegetables came from. Then they both stood and gawked at the pineapple cutting machine. Then they asked to look at the lobsters and crayfish. Then they noticed yellow-fin tuna being sliced, it is hard not to notice a monstrosity of that size. They watched fish getting descaled and filleted. I practically had to drag them away, as 2 yo was not doing well.

7 yo switched to Boxcar Children from Greek mythology, just like that. I have four of those books, from some library sale, and, all of a sudden, they are interesting.

I got 2 yo to nap and got a start on Pesach cooking. I got 7 yo to peel eggplant and carrots and both boys to run up and down the stairs with various ingredients. One of the pilot lights went out, so I got a match and showed boys how to relight it. I also showed what happens in the oven when you turn it on. They were fascinated, 5 yo thanked me. Then he played with manual egg beater and excitedly explained how it works, how the cranking turns the gears and then the beaters. 7 yo asked to make some dessert, so we made almond bars. He measured out brown sugar and chocolate chips, ground the nuts and mixed the batter. He made a joke that it's weird dough--weirdo. Then I asked him to peel some potatoes. He asked for a reward. I promised a nut bar. He peeled away.

5 yo ran upstairs to check on sleeping toddler and then set up to play with legos. 7 yo joined him and pulled down a map. He asked me, how could Avram be promised the land all the way to Euphrates, that's part of Syria? How could that land be ours? I said that in the time of Mashiach, it will be worked out. He then asked how that could be done without wars. All of his historical reading plus chumash reading is integrating.

Once the toddler woke up, there was more misery, she just wanted to be held and cuddled. Thankfully, now her fever has broken, and all three kids are playing in the sandbox.

piano practice

This morning started with a dental cleaning for mommy. My husband was supposed to be home with the kids... well, there was a cord prolapse, emergency CS, so I was stuck bringing all three of them to the office. I was concerned. I put 2 yo in the stroller, grabbed some books for the boys and headed out. In the waiting room, 7 yo mercifully picked up some ATV racing magazine and not Sports Illustrated. I started reading One Fish, Two Fish and both the younger ones listened in. I got taken for X-rays before my husband came to pick up the kids, so I brought toddler with me and hoped that boys would behave in the not-child-friendly waiting room.

After all that was done, we headed out to Interactive Kids Neighborhood. This place is an hour away, so we packed lunch. This was our first time, so I was not sure what to expect. It was cute, set up as a neighborhood, with a post office, grocery store, vet, hospital, cafe, police car, fire truck, etc. They had a designated toddler room and place to eat lunches in the back. The kids had a blast.

I felt a tinge of sadness. Instead of experiencing life in a real neighborhood, now we have to build a make-believe one and then let kids play there. I let my kids play in whichever area they chose. At the same time, I observed a school group. They were led by a teacher, followed her in pairs. They marched to a plane, gawking, but still lined up. Then the teacher spoke for a bit. Then they lined up and marched off, kids wistfully looking at all the things they did not get to play with. I'm sure it will go home in a newsletter: we had a field trip. They kids learned a lot...

There was a music room with a piano. 5 yo came and banged on the keys for a bit. I told him the only song I know how to play is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Later, 7 yo came.He wanted me to teach him. I showed it slowly, he practiced. I showed it again. By then, 2 yo ran to another room, so I left. I heard him practicing on his own. Then he called me to demonstrate. 

As a kid, I took piano for 3 years.Those were tear-soaked years, when I memorized where my fingers are supposed to go, but could not hear the mistakes I was making. All I have to show for them is that Twinkle, Twinkle. And here is my son, in a moment of high motivation, picking it right up. Then he practiced it on a xylophone. 

Overall, they had great time and want to go back there again.

Formally, we did chumash when we came back, after dinner. 7 yo told me he wants to do it first thing every day, more to get it done with. I will see how that will work. He was able to translate most of the new pesukim. He does not like reviewing the pesukim from the previous day, and he wanted to translate them right away. I asked him to first read the whole pasuk in Hebrew and then go back to translate.