Unschooling Summer Week #10

We had another great, fun, and busy week.  We were amazed to discover that our local school starts back up in three weeks.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not ready to start back to school.  With being stuck inside (or in the shade) for the past two weeks and avoiding the water with Evan for the past week I feel like we've barely gotten to enjoy our summer.

We're looking forward to lots of field trips and family fun for the rest of August and even into part of September.  I'm sure we'll start SOME school work soon but we certainly won't be jumping right back into a full schedule just because it's September and it's back to school time.  We're having way to much fun unschooling and exploring the world together.


Socialization-- We went down to visit my sister one day and then they came up to visit later in the week.  We spent part of our afternoon at a local nature center with some other homeschoolers practicing using a bow & arrows.  We had a mini party at our house with some friends that Evan and Alec made in preschool; we had three families over for a total of 10 additional people.  The kids had a great time playing together, swimming, jumping off the dock, running around, screaming and yelling.  It was a great week with lots of visiting, memories, and good times.

Math-- In figuring out how many Pokemon cards he owned, Ian counted up the number of cards per page and multiplied the number of cards per page by the number of pages.  He then figured out how many more he needed to reach 1,000 cards.  He also used some of his pocket money to buy some "special and rare" Pokemon cards from his cousin.  We then figured out how much he spent per card and compared that to how many cards he could have bought at the store with the same amount of money.  The boys also worked on their math minutes most days this week practicing their math facts.  They all pooled their money one night and asked me to go to Gamestop and buy a new video game.  They worked out how much they'd each pay, how much they'd be able to play, and how they were going to handle turn-taking.  They calculated how much they were spending and if there would be any change left.

Science/ Nature/ Technology-- We spent one day this weekend at the seaside exploring rocks, forts, and wild life (you can read more about our trip here).  The boys hunted for crabs, eggs, fish and snails.  They used a metal detector to look for buried treasure and even brought some seaweed samples home.  We read quite a few ocean books this week too; A Day in the Salt Marsh, The Seashore Book, and Between the Tides (which is also reading of course!).  We went blueberry picking and saw wild turkeys, ducks, and birds.  We checked out the flowers and wild grapes growing nearby too.  While at home this week we saw a water snake, some birds and hummingbirds (the younger boys actually helped a hummingbird that was trapped in our garage find his way out).  They spent some time playing TONS of new video games; they bought one for the WiiU, One for Ian's xbox and a few free ones for the Kindle.



Art-- We made tie dyed t-shirts this week.  We try to decorate t-shirts every year during the warm summer months when we can be messy outside and I realized a few weeks ago that we had yet to do anything like that this year.  After talking with the boys we settled on tie- dying.  They had lots of fun and we talked a lot about how colors mix and what colors the different combinations would most likely make.  It was so fun that Alec decided to make two shirts!  Alec also had fun making a beaded bracelet the day of his mini- party.  One of his friends has a younger sister and she brings a craft project each year to keep her occupied.  Alec joined in with her last year and she remembered asking if he'd like to join in again this year.  He had a great time making his bracelet with her; we had to tie and untie it several times to make sure it was tight enough not to fall off and yet loose enough that he could get if off when he wanted.



Life Skills-- All the boys helped me grocery shop this week.  They took turns pushing the cart, finding items we needed on the shelf, comparing prices and carrying groceries.  Ian spent two days working with his father, grand father and great grandfather.  He helped replace an old septic system with a new one; running equipment, transporting equipment, learning about electrical work and plumbing.  Ian also made a double batch of his waffles for us one day this week for breakfast.



Physical Education-- The boys took an archery class one day this week.  We have simple bows and arrows that they occasionally use, but this class taught them each how to use compound bows.  They had fun trying to master this new skill and took quite a few turns trying to reach the bulls- eye.  They've also been swimming  several days this week from sunup 'til sundown.



Reading-- Ian has been reminding me all weekend that we need to make plenty of time for reading this week because we left off at a really good part in the book and he just NEEDS to know what happens next.  We read the next few chapters in Mockingjay and we're just about ready to finish it up. Alec has been reading Tombquest book #2 and Night Whispers, the next book in the Warriors series.  Evan read Ride Otto Ride!, See Otto, and See Pip Point.  While driving in the car we spent our time divided between listening to our book on CD; Inkspell and listening to Alec and Ian reading out loud chapters in The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.




Comments

  1. What a wonderful week. The waffles look great. They are learning great skills.
    Blessings, Dawn

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    1. Thanks Dawn, they were delicious! He did such a great job on them and more than the skills I love to see the look of pride and accomplishment on his face. Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Wow! Wow! That's a tremendous amount of learning :) I'm sure it was fun, and it didn't even seem like learning. That's why I love homeschooling so much! I love that you're easing into the books, but you're still learning all the time. Thanks for sharing your great post with us at Homeschool Memo Blog Hop!!!

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    Replies
    1. I'm finding more and more as I write up our weekly summaries I'm struck by how much we can cover just living life. We've dabbled with unschooling many times over the three years of homeschooling but this is the first time I'm really able to see it working!

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  3. We are going to tie-dye T shirts in a couple of weeks, too. We also do that every summer. What a great week!

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    Replies
    1. It's such a fun way to document and remember each summer.

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