How Year Round Homeschooling Gives Us More Freedom
Sooo.... our structure went right out the window today! I had pulled out all the school stuff I wanted to get done today and was on the verge of getting started with our chores and schoolwork when I got a call and.... well,... life happened.
Our day was completely thrown off course and the rest of the our week will be too. I'm not stressing about it though.
Sometimes we go months without taking time off and other months it seems like we are doing nothing but taking time off. I spent the vast majority of my day on the computer and on the phone so I left the boys to their own resources today. Looking back I love seeing how the boys incorporated their own learning into their day.
I had dumped our box of pattern blocks out onto the coffee table before our day went all nutty and I found Ian building elaborate designs with the blocks.
Inspired he headed upstairs to build something in 3-D using his Lego blocks. He called me upstairs to show me his screening plant. It came out awesome! His hopper and feeder work, move and tip like a real screening plant. He was so proud of it that he took my camera upstairs and took his own photo of it! He pulled out his Lego trucks and played with it for quite a while.
Alec and Evan brought all the soft blocks up to Alec's room and worked together to build a large building. I know this only because I found some pictures of it on my phone and asked him all about it.
They had been playing quietly upstairs most of the morning, happily content with one another's company.
Ian put together a jigsaw puzzle of an ocean scene and Alec and Evan played a game of Mario Chess. Alec decided to add to the rules of the game by putting small pieces of putty on the board as traps for the queen and explained to Evan that the queens weren't going to be able to go on those spaces. Evan agreed so they continued to play their own way.
The boys all had a physical appointment today and they learned a lot about how to properly care for their bodies. Our Dr. is very thorough and ask the boys about:
Ian spent a good portion of his afternoon playing Stack the States on the Kindle and did an amazing job putting all 50 states in their correct place on a blank map without making any mistakes-- at all. He got the new high score beating out my best effort. We're looking into planning a family trip and Evan was reluctant to go. I had him come over to the map so I could show him where we'd be going and he immediately pointed to our state and told me that's where we live and then pointed to Tennessee and said that's where we're going. I had no idea he knew that! I talked to him about the names of all the other states we'd be driving through and showed him some of the things we'd try and see on our way.
We headed to Evan's karate class and they worked on a few new skills. They got to use blow darts today as part of their summer fun week on projectile weapons and the boys were in awe of the fact that they got to use REAL needles with them! They blew the darts at covered targets and could earn extra tickets if they hit the bull's-eye. They had 10 tries. Evan really struggled to even get anywhere near the target but he still had a blast and learned so much.
We listened to our Percy Jackson book in the car while running here, there and everywhere today. We stopped at our library to pick up some more books that had come in and decided to pick up the next book on CD too since we're a little more than half- way through this book already. The boys were eager to read the back jacket of the new book to see what it was all about. We're excited and a little sad to know we're ending the series with this next book. It's always neat to see how the series ends but sad to say goodbye to our favorite characters. We also had time to read a chapter of Harry Potter before the boys went to bed so at least I can say we got some reading into our day!
After dinner the boys pulled out our white board and their suction cup blow darts and made up their own competition. They drew a bull's-eye and awarded each circle a specific amount of points, Alec appointed himself as score keeper and they tried to see who could get the most amount of points. There was some bickering and both my husband and myself had to intervene a few times but for the most part they were content playing and working together to play nicely together.
The older boys both kept track of all the scores double checking their adding with one another.
I loved that they were practicing for karate and that they were working on math and writing too!
Self- guided really is best!
Our day was completely thrown off course and the rest of the our week will be too. I'm not stressing about it though.
Life happens and this is one of the reason I love year round homeschooling.
Sometimes we go months without taking time off and other months it seems like we are doing nothing but taking time off. I spent the vast majority of my day on the computer and on the phone so I left the boys to their own resources today. Looking back I love seeing how the boys incorporated their own learning into their day.
I had dumped our box of pattern blocks out onto the coffee table before our day went all nutty and I found Ian building elaborate designs with the blocks.
Inspired he headed upstairs to build something in 3-D using his Lego blocks. He called me upstairs to show me his screening plant. It came out awesome! His hopper and feeder work, move and tip like a real screening plant. He was so proud of it that he took my camera upstairs and took his own photo of it! He pulled out his Lego trucks and played with it for quite a while.
Alec and Evan brought all the soft blocks up to Alec's room and worked together to build a large building. I know this only because I found some pictures of it on my phone and asked him all about it.
They had been playing quietly upstairs most of the morning, happily content with one another's company.
Ian put together a jigsaw puzzle of an ocean scene and Alec and Evan played a game of Mario Chess. Alec decided to add to the rules of the game by putting small pieces of putty on the board as traps for the queen and explained to Evan that the queens weren't going to be able to go on those spaces. Evan agreed so they continued to play their own way.
The boys all had a physical appointment today and they learned a lot about how to properly care for their bodies. Our Dr. is very thorough and ask the boys about:
- what foods they eat
- whether or not they brush and floss their teeth
- how many times a year they go to the dentist
- if they exercise and what types of exercises they do
- She asked them what kinds of chores they do
- if they are learning how to cook or not
- She asked them about proper nutrition
- what to do in the case of a fire
- reminded them that no one other than a Dr. or a mom or dad should ever touch them in any way without their say so.
- She put challenges to them each about new foods to try and new skills to work on for the next year.
- She talked to them about the importance of immunizations and made sure they were all up to date.
Ian spent a good portion of his afternoon playing Stack the States on the Kindle and did an amazing job putting all 50 states in their correct place on a blank map without making any mistakes-- at all. He got the new high score beating out my best effort. We're looking into planning a family trip and Evan was reluctant to go. I had him come over to the map so I could show him where we'd be going and he immediately pointed to our state and told me that's where we live and then pointed to Tennessee and said that's where we're going. I had no idea he knew that! I talked to him about the names of all the other states we'd be driving through and showed him some of the things we'd try and see on our way.
We headed to Evan's karate class and they worked on a few new skills. They got to use blow darts today as part of their summer fun week on projectile weapons and the boys were in awe of the fact that they got to use REAL needles with them! They blew the darts at covered targets and could earn extra tickets if they hit the bull's-eye. They had 10 tries. Evan really struggled to even get anywhere near the target but he still had a blast and learned so much.
We listened to our Percy Jackson book in the car while running here, there and everywhere today. We stopped at our library to pick up some more books that had come in and decided to pick up the next book on CD too since we're a little more than half- way through this book already. The boys were eager to read the back jacket of the new book to see what it was all about. We're excited and a little sad to know we're ending the series with this next book. It's always neat to see how the series ends but sad to say goodbye to our favorite characters. We also had time to read a chapter of Harry Potter before the boys went to bed so at least I can say we got some reading into our day!
After dinner the boys pulled out our white board and their suction cup blow darts and made up their own competition. They drew a bull's-eye and awarded each circle a specific amount of points, Alec appointed himself as score keeper and they tried to see who could get the most amount of points. There was some bickering and both my husband and myself had to intervene a few times but for the most part they were content playing and working together to play nicely together.
The older boys both kept track of all the scores double checking their adding with one another.
I loved that they were practicing for karate and that they were working on math and writing too!
Self- guided really is best!
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| adding up the scores in his head... |
We are year-round homeschoolers too! Your day sounds wonderful, thank you for sharing!
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