Unschooling Summer Week #8
It's been tough trying to find things to do where I can keep in the shade so we've been sticking close to home this week. It's been pretty quiet and pretty hot but we've still managed to have lots of fun. We spent a lot of time with family and friends this week enjoying the water in all it's various forms-- water balloons, slip & slide, swimming in local lakes and ponds and playing in the sprinklers.
Socialization-- We had two birthday parties over the weekend. The boys met many new people and played quite a few new games too. We then had some friends over to play one day this week and had a great time playing with them. We spent another day meeting tons of new homeschoolers through a homeschool field trip that one mom set up for us all. We spent one afternoon with our homeschool group swimming at a local park and since we hadn't seen any of these families in quite awhile we had a great day reacquainting ourselves with everyone.
Math-- The boys got back to filling out their review sheets each morning and at Evan's request we left +1 & -1 behind in favor of moving on to +2. He's not quite as quick with his facts as I'd like him to be but I certainly don't want to be the one to hold him back either. He'll keep working & gaining on his skills through his regular schoolwork anyway through the years. My goal of these summer review sheets was just o keep their facts fresh in their minds. The older two boys continue to work with all skills; adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Ian also filled out another bank deposit slip and counted up all his money. All three boys spent one morning trying to count up all their money. At various times throughout the week I heard the boys quizzing each other on math skills too as part of their playing; "What is 90 +50?" "Do you know what 104 + 104 is?"
Reading-- Ian read Mockingjay, Evan read Too Many Cats, Field Day & See Santa Nap. Alec read his Warriors book, spent one night reading Confronting the Dragon to Evan, and picked up the next book in the Warriors series. We've been listening to Inkspell in the car and we're a little more than half- way through the story. So far it's a lot like Inkheart except all the main characters have been sucked back into the book. I'd be lying if I said I was enjoying it; this series is just not my type of book. But the boys all seem to be enjoying it and that's all that matters to me. We've also read another chapter in The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. The chapters are quite long and it's taking us some time to get through them. We're not yet sure if we're going to love this book or not but it definitely has some funny moments!
Science/ Technology-- Just being around the lake we observed a lot about science this week; we watched a water snake swimming around by our dock. We noticed how it moved in the water, how it kept it's head above water, and how quickly they move. We also fed the ducks and tried to catch some fish. Alec had a great time applying a bit of math and science to real life this past weekend when trying to get the life sized slingshot to work well enough to knock over a large pile of boxes. He tried and failed and tried again so many times. He was determined to figure out the right trajectory, force, and speed necessary. He was overjoyed when he finally managed to knock a few of them over. We got to see some tadpoles swimming around this week and reviewed all that we knew about tadpoles and frogs. The boys also watched a few more Wild Kratts Episodes and learned about the animals of Madagascar. The boys spent an afternoon playing with water balloons and experimenting with what it takes to make them sink in the lake. The boys spent plenty of time playing video games and watching YouTube videos. My younger two have really started trying to learn the ins & out of Terraria; a game they had previously ignored.
Physical education-- We went to an indoor obstacle course. We spent four hours working on balance, muscle control, and endurance. We had an amazing time and came home quite tuckered out. We all had to apply some math/ logic in figuring out how best to tackle each obstacle too. They played water games and football at our park meet- up this week as well as swimming and running through the sprinklers all week.
Life skills-- Alec went to the forge again and Ian spent one night mowing lawns. The younger boys have been taking care of their grandmother's cats once a week too making sure they have food and water (and plenty of attention). All three boys have helped clean, do laundry and prepare food at least once this week. They all helped out with grocery shopping and carting the food into the house. We had some wonderful discussions about shopping, budgeting, nutrition and health too.
Socialization-- We had two birthday parties over the weekend. The boys met many new people and played quite a few new games too. We then had some friends over to play one day this week and had a great time playing with them. We spent another day meeting tons of new homeschoolers through a homeschool field trip that one mom set up for us all. We spent one afternoon with our homeschool group swimming at a local park and since we hadn't seen any of these families in quite awhile we had a great day reacquainting ourselves with everyone.
Math-- The boys got back to filling out their review sheets each morning and at Evan's request we left +1 & -1 behind in favor of moving on to +2. He's not quite as quick with his facts as I'd like him to be but I certainly don't want to be the one to hold him back either. He'll keep working & gaining on his skills through his regular schoolwork anyway through the years. My goal of these summer review sheets was just o keep their facts fresh in their minds. The older two boys continue to work with all skills; adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Ian also filled out another bank deposit slip and counted up all his money. All three boys spent one morning trying to count up all their money. At various times throughout the week I heard the boys quizzing each other on math skills too as part of their playing; "What is 90 +50?" "Do you know what 104 + 104 is?"
Reading-- Ian read Mockingjay, Evan read Too Many Cats, Field Day & See Santa Nap. Alec read his Warriors book, spent one night reading Confronting the Dragon to Evan, and picked up the next book in the Warriors series. We've been listening to Inkspell in the car and we're a little more than half- way through the story. So far it's a lot like Inkheart except all the main characters have been sucked back into the book. I'd be lying if I said I was enjoying it; this series is just not my type of book. But the boys all seem to be enjoying it and that's all that matters to me. We've also read another chapter in The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. The chapters are quite long and it's taking us some time to get through them. We're not yet sure if we're going to love this book or not but it definitely has some funny moments!
Science/ Technology-- Just being around the lake we observed a lot about science this week; we watched a water snake swimming around by our dock. We noticed how it moved in the water, how it kept it's head above water, and how quickly they move. We also fed the ducks and tried to catch some fish. Alec had a great time applying a bit of math and science to real life this past weekend when trying to get the life sized slingshot to work well enough to knock over a large pile of boxes. He tried and failed and tried again so many times. He was determined to figure out the right trajectory, force, and speed necessary. He was overjoyed when he finally managed to knock a few of them over. We got to see some tadpoles swimming around this week and reviewed all that we knew about tadpoles and frogs. The boys also watched a few more Wild Kratts Episodes and learned about the animals of Madagascar. The boys spent an afternoon playing with water balloons and experimenting with what it takes to make them sink in the lake. The boys spent plenty of time playing video games and watching YouTube videos. My younger two have really started trying to learn the ins & out of Terraria; a game they had previously ignored.
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| Look at that face! Fiercely determined. |
Physical education-- We went to an indoor obstacle course. We spent four hours working on balance, muscle control, and endurance. We had an amazing time and came home quite tuckered out. We all had to apply some math/ logic in figuring out how best to tackle each obstacle too. They played water games and football at our park meet- up this week as well as swimming and running through the sprinklers all week.
Life skills-- Alec went to the forge again and Ian spent one night mowing lawns. The younger boys have been taking care of their grandmother's cats once a week too making sure they have food and water (and plenty of attention). All three boys have helped clean, do laundry and prepare food at least once this week. They all helped out with grocery shopping and carting the food into the house. We had some wonderful discussions about shopping, budgeting, nutrition and health too.
I love getting a glimpse into your weeks! They are always so full of fun and plenty of learning. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
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