Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy: When Homeschooling Days are a Breeze
To start school for today, I called everyone down to eat and asked them to finish their "Me on the Map" activity we started last week.
Not one single complaint was uttered.
They all finished up breakfast, got out their supplies and got to work. I worked with Evan (he hates to color so I offer to color the ocean while he picks a state and then we take turns from there). While working with Evan I asked him to find the United States on each map, he was able to point out a few of the actual states and some of the other continents.
We talked about our neighbors-- Canada and Mexico, the arctic, Antarctica, Alaska, Madagascar, and so much more.
I had pulled up Maps.com in case any of the boys wanted to do some extra work on geography. Alec was curious about some of the games and tried the Africa Drag and Drop game. He picked an area of Africa and tried to place the right name for each region in the right box.
He knows a bit about Africa but this was to advanced for him. He carefully carried the laptop to the world map and used that to help him. I don't know if he finished playing the game or not but after a while he asked me if he could go play. Since I hadn't looked at the games as an assignment anyway I said sure. He asked me to save the site for later though so I guess he liked it.
Ian and asked if he could help mop the kitchen floor (as if I'd say no!).
The younger two boys had been playing so quietly together in Evan's room using all of his new Lego's that I had not heard from them in several hours.
Evan has one set left to put together and they'd work on it for a bit and then play with other Lego's. They were scattered throughout the two boys rooms, my bedroom and even into the bathroom.
I didn't mind since they were playing so nicely and getting along. They were using their imaginations and I never once had a single person ask me all day if they could watch TV, a movie, or play video games!
Ian was a bit bored since his brothers were playing so nicely and didn't want to include him. Ian wandered into my craftroom where I was working on making some birthday cards and asked if he could make some too.
He made a card for his dad and his best friend's birthday next weekend. He did a great job on both of them too. Especially since I don't think Ian has done much cardmaking.
We stopped for a late lunch and I had the boys take the food outside. My house was finally clean and I really wanted it to stay that way, plus it was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day.
It was one of those kinds of days you don't see very often in the fall. The sky was so blue with hardly any wisps of clouds, the leaves were bright and colorful while we were in shorts, t-shirts and flip flops.
The boys all decided they wanted to play whiffle ball again so we spent the next hour or so hitting balls, running and learning the rules of the game.
The younger two boys decided they'd had enough of baseball and went back to playing Lego's. It was another two hours before we saw them! They had free reign of the upstairs and they were getting along famously.
Ian wanted to stay and play outside. We played ball with just the two of us and a lot of ghost men to hold the bases for him. It was fun and he commented that while he had played outside all day his brothers had been playing inside. He was right; that just seems to be their personalities. Ian can't wait to get outdoors while the other two are usually content to stay inside. I don't mind that when they are using their imaginations to keep themselves busy all day and no fighting breaks out.
I had to head in to finish cooking supper so Ian decided to ride scooters for a bit. Since I was cooking supper the boys knew they could watch TV and they decided to watch Cyberchase-- a show I would even let them watch during the "school day." They also watched Wild Kratts and I loved that all agreed on what to watch.
I can't help marveling over the fact that we have had two absolutely perfect homeschooling weeks of school. The boys are happy with our "almost unschoolers" routine and most of the complaining has stopped.
They have found new interests and spent time perfecting others.
They're getting along pretty well (for brothers!) and I can't help wishing it were always this easy! I've decided I'm going to try and store up the memory of these idyllic days so when we hit a bump in the road maybe I won't be so quick to think of packing it all in and giving up.
Not one single complaint was uttered.
They all finished up breakfast, got out their supplies and got to work. I worked with Evan (he hates to color so I offer to color the ocean while he picks a state and then we take turns from there). While working with Evan I asked him to find the United States on each map, he was able to point out a few of the actual states and some of the other continents.
We talked about our neighbors-- Canada and Mexico, the arctic, Antarctica, Alaska, Madagascar, and so much more.
 |
| all done! |
He knows a bit about Africa but this was to advanced for him. He carefully carried the laptop to the world map and used that to help him. I don't know if he finished playing the game or not but after a while he asked me if he could go play. Since I hadn't looked at the games as an assignment anyway I said sure. He asked me to save the site for later though so I guess he liked it.
Ian and asked if he could help mop the kitchen floor (as if I'd say no!).
 |
| doing chores eagerly and willingly! |
Evan has one set left to put together and they'd work on it for a bit and then play with other Lego's. They were scattered throughout the two boys rooms, my bedroom and even into the bathroom.
 |
| best friends (today anyway) |
Ian was a bit bored since his brothers were playing so nicely and didn't want to include him. Ian wandered into my craftroom where I was working on making some birthday cards and asked if he could make some too.
He made a card for his dad and his best friend's birthday next weekend. He did a great job on both of them too. Especially since I don't think Ian has done much cardmaking.
 |
| love that he's taking an interest in my interests |
We stopped for a late lunch and I had the boys take the food outside. My house was finally clean and I really wanted it to stay that way, plus it was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day.
It was one of those kinds of days you don't see very often in the fall. The sky was so blue with hardly any wisps of clouds, the leaves were bright and colorful while we were in shorts, t-shirts and flip flops.
The boys all decided they wanted to play whiffle ball again so we spent the next hour or so hitting balls, running and learning the rules of the game.
 |
| Evan working on his game face... he's serious about baseball! |
The younger two boys decided they'd had enough of baseball and went back to playing Lego's. It was another two hours before we saw them! They had free reign of the upstairs and they were getting along famously.
Ian wanted to stay and play outside. We played ball with just the two of us and a lot of ghost men to hold the bases for him. It was fun and he commented that while he had played outside all day his brothers had been playing inside. He was right; that just seems to be their personalities. Ian can't wait to get outdoors while the other two are usually content to stay inside. I don't mind that when they are using their imaginations to keep themselves busy all day and no fighting breaks out.
I had to head in to finish cooking supper so Ian decided to ride scooters for a bit. Since I was cooking supper the boys knew they could watch TV and they decided to watch Cyberchase-- a show I would even let them watch during the "school day." They also watched Wild Kratts and I loved that all agreed on what to watch.
I can't help marveling over the fact that we have had two absolutely perfect homeschooling weeks of school. The boys are happy with our "almost unschoolers" routine and most of the complaining has stopped.
They have found new interests and spent time perfecting others.
They're getting along pretty well (for brothers!) and I can't help wishing it were always this easy! I've decided I'm going to try and store up the memory of these idyllic days so when we hit a bump in the road maybe I won't be so quick to think of packing it all in and giving up.
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