Homeschooling Opportunities: The Day We Saw A Percy Jackson Play
Homeschooling has come with so many opportunities for us. Today we are taking advantage of a discounted day-time production of Percy Jackson.
These plays are offered to local schools for just $3 a student and as a homeschooling family we qualify for the schooling rate! Most of these plays are offered through Theatreworks USA and so far we have enjoyed quite a few of them. With the boys obsession with Percy Jackson we knew we could not miss this one!
We were so excited to go see a live production of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief today. I had a very shortened day of school planned knowing that our main focus was going to be the play. I asked each boy to read, do some math and pick either a writing or a spelling activity.
For Math:
Evan chose to work on a page in his Star Wars math book adding and subtracting two digit numbers. He did the whole page on his own and even read the code that he broke at the end. The question was "why did Darth Vader cross the road?" In solving the problems he filled in the corresponding letters to the answer code: "to get to the dark side."
Ian also chose his workbook and completed two pages on converting measurements for two whole pages. He had to multiply fractions & even do some division and he did a great job.
Alec worked on another subtract and color page later in the day while we drove to and from the play. He worked with three digit numbers and regrouping. He, once again, changed the colors he used to color in the picture but I was happy to see that he remembered how to subtract while regrouping with only one short reminder.
Writing:
While his brothers chose to work on math, Alec decided to dive right into some of our Harry Potter Unit stuff. He pulled out a packet of worksheets and ideas I had put together and found our Potions Master worksheet. I found this a long time ago as a free download but it is also available through this Halloween Mega pack on teachers pay teachers.
Alec thought it looked fun and the next thing I knew all three boys were excited to get writing.
EXCITED TO WRITE!
Yes, you did read that right.
I couldn't believe it either.
The older two boys had so many details and ideas that they asked for a second sheet of lined paper!!
They wrote up such detailed instructions and used so many creative ingredients. It was amazing to watch them and see how eager they were to share what they had each come up with. We had many opportunities to work on spelling, punctuation and capitalization; so many that I finally told them just to do the best they could so I wasn't being asked "how do you spell...." every time I turned around.
Evan dictated his work to me; he wasn't planning to participate otherwise and I wanted him to still get the benefit of thinking creatively. He did great and was finished up first, even though he started last. He tends to have fewer details than his brothers at this point but that's OK and totally age appropriate.
Alec is a methodical, but slow writer and though he was the first one to start writing he was the last one to finish. I finally offered to help him finish up by letting him dictate the second (and third!) sheet to me just to help him move onto the next subject.
I could not believe how much they enjoyed this.
Reading:
Evan and I read Hot Dog together and compared to the other books we've been reading together; this was very easy with only three words per page. He enjoyed the story enough to want to put it up in his room to re-read at bedtime.
Ian and I have been reading at least one chapter a day in the Hunger Games book and I've been having him read a page or two out loud to me. He's doing a great job but still prefers to pick a simple (usually a picture book) to read on his own in his head when it's his time to read. Today he chose to read one more book from the library about diggers. I figure between the various reading things we do he's getting plenty of exposure and I really would rather see him willing to read than fighting with me over what he's reading.
Alec, amazingly enough read while we were in the theater waiting for the play to start. We shared the theater with about 10 other school buses. It was noisy and crowded and the other two boys kept putting their hands over their ears asking me why it was so loud. Alec buried his head in his Flat Stanley book and read at least one more chapter.
Finally time for the play!!
All the boys really enjoyed the musical production of Percy Jackson. I had no idea it was going to be a musical and I was a bit worried that once it started Evan would not like it. He doesn't typically enjoy a lot of singing. We had to sit in the car and wait for all the buses to load and leave before we could get out of our parking space so we sat and chatted about the show. The boys told me that they all liked it.
Evan mentioned that it was odd that he liked a musical so much but he really did! We talked about the small group of actors and how they each portrayed different character rolls with just a small change of costume or demeanor. We talked about the small tweaks to the scenery and with just a few props we were able to follow the whole line of the story. We compared differences in the play to the movie and the book too.
It was a fun afternoon out and well worth the $12 spent for the four of us to go see a live show.
These plays are offered to local schools for just $3 a student and as a homeschooling family we qualify for the schooling rate! Most of these plays are offered through Theatreworks USA and so far we have enjoyed quite a few of them. With the boys obsession with Percy Jackson we knew we could not miss this one!
I love being able to provide such wonderful opportunities for my boys.
We were so excited to go see a live production of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief today. I had a very shortened day of school planned knowing that our main focus was going to be the play. I asked each boy to read, do some math and pick either a writing or a spelling activity.
For Math:
Evan chose to work on a page in his Star Wars math book adding and subtracting two digit numbers. He did the whole page on his own and even read the code that he broke at the end. The question was "why did Darth Vader cross the road?" In solving the problems he filled in the corresponding letters to the answer code: "to get to the dark side."
Ian also chose his workbook and completed two pages on converting measurements for two whole pages. He had to multiply fractions & even do some division and he did a great job.
Alec worked on another subtract and color page later in the day while we drove to and from the play. He worked with three digit numbers and regrouping. He, once again, changed the colors he used to color in the picture but I was happy to see that he remembered how to subtract while regrouping with only one short reminder.
Writing:
While his brothers chose to work on math, Alec decided to dive right into some of our Harry Potter Unit stuff. He pulled out a packet of worksheets and ideas I had put together and found our Potions Master worksheet. I found this a long time ago as a free download but it is also available through this Halloween Mega pack on teachers pay teachers.
Alec thought it looked fun and the next thing I knew all three boys were excited to get writing.
EXCITED TO WRITE!
Yes, you did read that right.
I couldn't believe it either.
The older two boys had so many details and ideas that they asked for a second sheet of lined paper!!
They wrote up such detailed instructions and used so many creative ingredients. It was amazing to watch them and see how eager they were to share what they had each come up with. We had many opportunities to work on spelling, punctuation and capitalization; so many that I finally told them just to do the best they could so I wasn't being asked "how do you spell...." every time I turned around.
Evan dictated his work to me; he wasn't planning to participate otherwise and I wanted him to still get the benefit of thinking creatively. He did great and was finished up first, even though he started last. He tends to have fewer details than his brothers at this point but that's OK and totally age appropriate.
Alec is a methodical, but slow writer and though he was the first one to start writing he was the last one to finish. I finally offered to help him finish up by letting him dictate the second (and third!) sheet to me just to help him move onto the next subject.
I could not believe how much they enjoyed this.
 |
| Their finished stories |
Evan and I read Hot Dog together and compared to the other books we've been reading together; this was very easy with only three words per page. He enjoyed the story enough to want to put it up in his room to re-read at bedtime.
Ian and I have been reading at least one chapter a day in the Hunger Games book and I've been having him read a page or two out loud to me. He's doing a great job but still prefers to pick a simple (usually a picture book) to read on his own in his head when it's his time to read. Today he chose to read one more book from the library about diggers. I figure between the various reading things we do he's getting plenty of exposure and I really would rather see him willing to read than fighting with me over what he's reading.
Alec, amazingly enough read while we were in the theater waiting for the play to start. We shared the theater with about 10 other school buses. It was noisy and crowded and the other two boys kept putting their hands over their ears asking me why it was so loud. Alec buried his head in his Flat Stanley book and read at least one more chapter.
Finally time for the play!!
All the boys really enjoyed the musical production of Percy Jackson. I had no idea it was going to be a musical and I was a bit worried that once it started Evan would not like it. He doesn't typically enjoy a lot of singing. We had to sit in the car and wait for all the buses to load and leave before we could get out of our parking space so we sat and chatted about the show. The boys told me that they all liked it.
Evan mentioned that it was odd that he liked a musical so much but he really did! We talked about the small group of actors and how they each portrayed different character rolls with just a small change of costume or demeanor. We talked about the small tweaks to the scenery and with just a few props we were able to follow the whole line of the story. We compared differences in the play to the movie and the book too.
It was a fun afternoon out and well worth the $12 spent for the four of us to go see a live show.
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