Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Toddler Translations

So my life has been a complete roller coaster of the last few months making my blogging time very limited.
Every day I spend with my little family gets more and more interesting and involved. I keep thinking about how much Caleb has started to make me laugh (not that he didn't before of course) with his funny little antics. I thought it might be interesting to give you a bit of an insight into Caleb's mind and his way of speaking/thinking.
For those of you who know Caleb on a personal level some of these will come as no surprise. For others, it may jsut let you understand why I enjoy mothering this little man so much.

Caleb has a way of communicating that consists of signs with a few words interjected. Sometimes he makes up his own signs and often he makes up his own words. I think it's pretty typical of a toddler to do so but every toddler still has their very own language.Here's some of Caleb's language:

He says "kitty" and kitties say "wow!" (in a very high pitched voice.
For the most part, all of the other animals just get noises as their names. Examples: fwoof=dog; a whispered "quaaa quaaa"=duck; "mmmmmmoo"=cow (this sound hilarious when he actually says it cuz it's mostly just a long mumble); birrr=bird which says "pee-pee, ouch!" (my mom pretends that her bird bites her so he figures all birds bite); "he he he"=horse; fish consists of a pretty limp fish sign accompanied by the word "twater"

Words:
Twater=water
Trater=tractor (very easy to get confused with water)
Keee= kitty and kids, or "key car" means.... car keys (shocker!)
Bow=ball
Troe bow=soccer (he loves watching Fifa with my dad and playing soccer with his uncle)
Mumbee=mommy
Quaa= quad, wheel loader, skidsteer
Coke-ee = Cookie
Buddies=bubbles
Quock=rock
Cwook or Crock=book (not a great thing for him to say when he wants a Bible from the pew in the middle of a sermon. Don't worry, I explained that the sermon is not a crock)
Bye-ee=bug or butterfly or fly
Bar=Barn
Croaker=Broken
Ttheeo=TV, movie, music. If accompanied by some hand motions it means Tea
Caw-hee=Coffee
Oat=Hot
Bump truck=dump truck
Tyorry or Sossy=sorry
*snif snif*=flower

Phrases (usually half SIGNED, half spoken):
My WORK HELP daddy trater SLEEP moo= I'm going to help daddy bed the cows. (always accompanied by "bye mumbee")
Quaa HELP BABY moo=Let's go help feed the calves then go on a quad ride with daddy.
WORK Bar moo MILK= I'm going to pick up some milk from the barn (usually accompanied by "bye mumbee" and a door slam)
Trow bow ttheeo=I'm going to watch soccer on TV now.
WORK dirt quaa=I'm going to play in the sandbox with my loader... er work in the sandbox I suppose would be a better translation.

Things Caleb loves: Butterflies, bubbles, birds, machinery of all sorts, his mama and papa, playing outside (he would live outside if I let him!), milkies, snuggling with a book, going to Opa and Oma's house, friends of all sorts (he's very good at making new ones), his Cozy Coupe. Pretty much things that all toddlers love. Did I mention that he ADORES his dad? He is a little buckeroo and would follow his daddy to the ends of the earth!
To illustrate:




Friday, June 11, 2010

Thoughts for the Future

A few of you know that I have been thinking/planning to homeschool my child(ren) instead of sending them to public or private school. Through my life I've attended public schools, Christian schools, as well as homeschooled for a couple of years. I will be honost and say that I did well in all 3 systems. I think that school was something that I always enjoyed. Perhaps it's because my dad was a teacher and he instilled a love of learning in me so that I was always eager to pick up a new book and read. Perhaps it's just because I learn very easily in the way that the school systems teach. You pick up a book, you read it, you take some notes, then you write a test. For me this was always very straightforward and simple to understand. Not that I always go the best grades, mind you, but at least I never really believed that I was "stupid" or "didn't read well" or worse, "didn't learn quick enough." Those are all phrases I've heard people close to me say actually.

Since I had pretty good experiences in all three systems, what would cause the big urge in me to homeschool instead of make use of the public/private system?

I came across a website that made me think about my reasons for wanting to homeschool and actually put them on paper. This was an awesome experience for me to go through because not only did it make me evaluate my reasoning (part of it is because I just can't stand the thought of sending my children away from me for 8 hours a day, I want to spend that time with them instead) and expand on that. It was also good for Adam to see what some of the reasons were. He was a little more skeptical of the whole "homeschooling thing" because he only ever experienced going to a Christian school (the same one actually) for all of his education.

So anyway, here's my thoughts that I put on paper as I followed the outline on the aforementioned website. Keep in mind that these are a rough draft and unedited. I realized as I read through them again that some of the wording is awkward but it's quite late now and I don't feel like editing them so I'm just going to type them as I wrote them several months ago :

My Educational Beliefs
1. I believe children should love learning.
2. I believe a parent's main education to a child should be to teach him/her to:
a) Love God wholeheartedly
b) Love others as they love themselves
c) Love him/herself (confidence/self-esteem)
3. I believe all children learn by different methods and learning should be tailored to suit the child (not vice versa)
4. I believe children are naturally curious and should not be discouraged from pursing those interests.
5. I believe education should not be resitricted to a certain subject or method.
6. I believe a parent/teacher should only ever have enthusiasm about a child learning, not disappointment over what they haven't learned.

Life Goals for My Child
1. I hope he learns to listen to his Heavently Father in all things.
2. I hope he shows commitment to what he starts and is a man of his words.
3. I hope he becomes a wonderful, loving, involved husband and father (if God leads him that way).
4. I hope he does everything to his best ability.
5. A man of impeccable morals and ethics, I hope he always does the right thing, no matter what others do.
6. I hope he takes care of the mind and body God has given him.
7. I hope he is not afraid to be who God made him to be. Not ashamed of who he is.

Why we are going to homeschool our children
1. No one has a better vested interes in thier education than we do.
2. To give us flexibility of time to pursue life instead of grades.
3. To stay close to our children - emotionally, mentally, and physically.
4. To take the money we could spend on school and use it for education instead.
5. To be the favorite and respected teacher that they think about when they grow up.
6. Because I want my kids to learn in a way they enjoy.
7. Because kids learn better/more if they are not restricted by graces/curriculum.
8. Because I will not allow anyone to tell or make my child feel stupid.
9. My children will learn with, intereact with, and appreciate children in all age groups.
10. So we can learn right alongside our children.
11. Our school systems sucks.
12. To know what our children are learning.