We're still adjusting our homeschooling rhythm and our routines. We are still figuring out what we like, what we don't like, what matters and what doesn't matter. So far, I like the flexibility of homeschooling. I like being able to allow us all to sleep in and stay in our jammies until noon, or later. At the same time, I like having a good reason to get things a little more organized around the house and have some structure to our days. I have a loose plan for each day, but welcome and accept interruptions. It feels good to know that whatever I had planned and placed inside of a box to 'learn' about, can be revisited when and if another learning moment arises which cannot otherwise be revisited. These moments happen ALL the time. Learning is rarely done at the exact moment I say it should happen. I offer some guidance and suggestions. I set a few rules and boundaries, and try to stick to them. Often, I take the lead of what my kids want to do and what they are interested in learning, and it seems to be working. More often than not, we play with or do something spontaneously, and then later I fit it into a subject category so that I can 'check it off the list' of things we should be covering in school. There is a balance. I'm sure there will come a day that I want to pull my hair out because one of my kids won't finish a worksheet of some sort. For now, Kindergarten, or the life of a 5 year old, is not supposed to be academic or rigid in my opinion. From my understanding, public school Kindergarten is mostly in place to teach kids how to stand in line, raise their hands and take turns. And then the rest is a bunch of play. Well, we can stand in line at the grocery store to learn all of that stuff. And play? We are really, REALLY good at that. But, like everyone, we do still need more practice playing.
Here is little peak into our school house adventures over the past few weeks. The picture above is our house - where all this 'schooling' stuff happens.
Gardening!!
Water color painting
Geography: we put together this wooden floor puzzle of the United States one afternoon. We talked about people we know in certain states, compared distances from where we are and where other people live as well as places we have been.
Leapfrog phonics game - fun for her, easy for me
Clock
Bike ride
Tracing and handwriting practice
Coloring
Photography skills
Making bread and butter
Spreading the butter they made onto the bread they made
Shaking the cream, making butter the good ol' fashioned way
We learned the hard way, thanks to a certain 2 year old, that if the bread machine is unplugged half way through the timer, that you will end up with a loaf of sunken bread. Still yummy, but sunken.
Eating bread and butter we made, with a little strawberry freezer jam we made a few months ago.
Leaf tracing! We collected leaves while on a walk in the neighborhood, placed them under paper then colored over the paper with our well loved stockmar block crayons. These kids were super thrilled and impressed with this project!
Picking up trash around our neighborhood is always a huge hit with the kiddos - fun for them, good for the neighborhood
Family picture day
Balancing
Sibling love
Sharing
Talking about the location of people and places when reading books set in other countries and continents.
Making wishes
Still trying to learn how to dress for this weather
Worksheets and desk work
Counting eggs and discussing odd and even numbers
The Cheetah is back
Watch out for the Cheetah at the library! I saw her at the Farmers Market too! We read some educational books about cheetahs too.
Flashcards - blah, blah, blah
Moon - we followed the phases of the moon in September - specifically from the New Moon to the Full Moon when almost every evening was a clear sky for our viewing. We watched a few videos, read some neat books and each night we spent time outside looking at the moon and talking about it. While we were at the beach the second week of September, during the moons Waxing Crescent phase, we discussed a little bit about how the moon affects the ocean tides. I need to learn more about this myself, so our discussion on this was pretty limited.
Passing time at the ER and learning about all the cool stuff doctors and nurses do. Ezra was not impressed with all the things they did to him, which included an anal thermometer and a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. He is fine, no pneumonia. Just an ear infection and upper respiratory infection. A small case of mom feeding into other peoples fear of kids being sicker than they really are. He was prescribed antibiotics by the doctor, because the cold could turn into pneumonia and the ear infection could get worse. I did not give him any of the antibiotics. I'm no doctor, but it just didn't make sense to give that kind of stuff to a kid with a normal cold and ear infection. Instead, I gave him oregano oil drops (which was NOT easy), lots of vitamin C & D, echinacea, elderberry syrup and when he'd let me or while he slept, I snuck garlic oil drops and breastmilk into his ear. After a few days, he was good as new.
Biting nails! Ahhh!
Neighborhood bike rides
Cuteness!!!
Coloring on pumpkins the neighbor guy gave us from his garden
Clouds, rain and puddles
Reading with Grandma Angelina
Aw, yes, the worksheets. She does love them.
Endless amount of learning happens along the shore of Lacamas Lake
Vacuuming
Folk instruments
the beginning of what will become Esperanza's Kindergarten quilt. It will look way better than this when it's completed, I promise.
Puzzles with breakfast. A sure way for mom to forget all about those worksheets in the box.
Zucchini, chocolate chip and walnut bread making
And rainbows! Don't forget the rainbows. Lots of them lately.
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