Leave the kids in charge?!

It's only October but the kids are getting burnt out on our curriculum for school so I said okay then, you plan a school day for yourself.  They thought that was a great idea.  But then I included some guidelines.  They must cover all school subjects (Lang. Arts/reading, math, science, history, art, music and some kind of physical activity).  One last thing, it needs to be at grade level.  It's not a day full of super easy work.  They were still up for it.  They both made their list of school plans for today.  There was no moaning and groaning about getting to work this morning.  If all goes well maybe we will throw more days like this into our schedule. 

We also changed it from a "school day" to a "learning day" after a discussion on Tuesday about how learning doesn't stop at the end of a "school day".  Learning doesn't stop during summer break.  Learning doesn't stop once you finish "school".  Learning happens every day of your whole life.  So instead of a school day we are enjoying some planned learning time.

Here is Lili's learning plan for the day... 
*math with cereal (addition/subtraction/multiplication/division with the use of cereal as our hands on manipulative)
*art- watercolor painting (Art is by far her favorite subject)


















*reading- reading a couple library books.
*math/measurement/fractions- baking muffins (measuring ingredients and reading a recipe)
*history - with my help she went through old family photos.  Family history sounds like it may be a good topic for our history detour.  I am looking for an online program for making a family tree.
*science - snoop through the kitchen for experiments.  Lili asked what she could use to make something explode.  Since I am not up for explosions indoors I went for a slightly smaller scale of an explosion and gave her baking soda and a bottle of vinegar.  Her and Gabi decided to add food coloring and I slipped a large plate under their experimentation cups to catch the "explosion".  Although we have done this kind of thing before with baking soda and vinegar they were still excited and impressed with their colorful foaming results.  After a couple colorful rounds we cleaned up.
*Physical Ed. - jumping on the couch, playing freeze dance and chase the cats around.
*Building with geometric foam blocks - last minute this was changed to building with Legos


Here is Gabi's learning plan for the day...
*math with cereal (addition/subtraction/and we threw in a little intro to multiplication and division, she can handle it).  She was quite proud that she could divide with her cereal.  She grasped the concept once she saw it done with the cereal.
*art - painting (art is her favorite also)

*creating and building with play-doh














*math/measurements/fractions - baking cupcakes (Gabi LOVES cupcakes and is always talking about the bakery she will open when she is older.)
*math mat floor game - We have numbers 1-20 written on large pieces of paper and cardboard.  We spread them out on the floor and I call out math problems while they jump to the correct answer.  Lili's math problems are a little tougher but they take turns so playing with both at once works well.
*science - snooping for experiment ingredients with Lili.  Her science for the day was the same, written above.
*physical ed - jumping on the couch and playing freeze dance
*building with foam blocks - she also changed this to Legos and from there set up a whole town of Littlest Pet Shop and continued with her imaginative play for the rest of the afternoon. 

Our day went really well.  Gabi even cleaned up after herself without complaining which is a big deal for her.  I think we're on to something.  :)



Here are Lili's banana muffins dusted with confectioners sugar.  Yes we are missing two muffins.  We had to do a little taste test. 

These are Gabi's vanilla cupcakes with her favorite cream cheese frosting.  Lili and I helped decorate a few of them.

Youtube?

Lili loves all things in the arts... music, singing, dance, movies, theater, drawing, painting, etc....  The list could keep on going.   She has been learning to play the recorder, piano and ukalele.  She can not choose just one instrument.  We have done well with beginning to read music.  She can play a few songs on both the recorder and the piano.  We have also learned a few chords on the ukalele.  We needed to move on from the small book of songs for the recorder.  She wants to learn to play songs she knows.  While searching for help online to find new sheet music that is still on a beginner level we kept finding all these Youtube videos of children and adults playing the recorder.  Lili enjoyed watching them.  Then we found some videos that include the notes to play and you play along with.  This was wonderful.  Lili has never sat and played for that long before.  It seemed to really help that she was playing along with someone and could hear how her notes sounded compared to theirs.  She has learned a couple new songs from using these Youtube videos.  I never would have thought to use Youtube in our school day.  Here is a link to one of the Youtube videos she liked.  We have subscribed to her and hope to find more videos as we go.
Youtube Recorder

Lili really like playing Rain Rain Go Away :D

Let's just play today

This article is long but worth the read.  I makes me want to tweak our days a little to free up even more time for play.  I think we already get in more play time than the average.  But no where as much as what is described in this article.  But times have changed and I can't just open the door and let my kids run off unattended.  What I can do is find the balance between learning what is needed for school work, encouragement to explore their own interests, extra curricular activities and last but definitely not least, as much playing as we can.  They're only young for a short time.  Here is the article...

http://www.aeonmagazine.com/being-human/children-today-are-suffering-a-severe-deficit-of-play/

Teach My Monster to Read

Gabi is learning to read.  She is doing very well but still intimidated by reading books from the library.  We have 3 sets of the Now I'm Reading program, Level 1,2 & 3.  She has finished level 1 and can read all 20 books that came with that set.  We are now working on set #2.  Usually after set 2 you can start trying out some early readers from the library.  In the mean time I wanted something fun for her to use to practice letter sounds and putting letters together to form words.  I found a great online game that is FREE for kids called  Teach Your Monster to Read.  Gabi loves it!  You get to create your own monster and as you move on through the game if you are getting things right your monster gets fun accessories like hats, glasses, belts, etc...    They recently came out with a 2nd game that helps the child with blending and sentences and adds more words than game 1.   I also like that you create an account or yourself and your child and through the parents account you can see how well your child is doing.  It will show you which letters they know and which they need help with.   We like that Teach Your Monster to Read is helping us Teach OUR Monster to Read :D









"The more that you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

-Dr. Seuss

Back to school 2013-2014

We are four weeks into our new school year.  Gabi is reviewing some work from her Kindergarten year last year and will soon be moving on to first grade.  Lili is adjusting well to the big jump from 2nd grade to 3rd.  Gabi loves anything she learns using the iPad.  She prefers touching a screen to holding a pencil.  I suppose that is becoming the norm for kids.  A colorful, musical math game must be more exciting than a worksheet.  We still do our fair share of pencil and paper in addition to enjoying some educational games.  Lili loves to read and is tackling bigger chapter books on her own.  She has been known to max out her library card.  Both girls love art.  Lili enjoys painting and Gabi has a knack for taking household items and a variety of office supplies and turning them into art.

Our homeschool group is growing fast this year.  We have had 3 field trips so far this school year.  We went berry picking, an educational outdoor hike through the parks dept.  and an exciting tour at Metro Recycling.  We have a hayride coming up for the group.  We have had close to 30 families sign up for the hayride, which is a total of 80 attending so far.  It still surprises me to see so many homeschooling families from our local area getting together.  We really enjoy the monthly field trips and weekly park days.  The girls have made so many friends through the group.

I was looking for an enjoyable way to get the girls writing.  They need the practice and repetition of spelling, grammar but without the torture of daily worksheets.  A class newspaper is recommended for 1st-3rd grade so I put a twist on the class paper idea and opened a private facebook group for them to share their writing with friends and family.    The feedback and interaction with everyone regarding their writing I think will be motivating for them.

More to come about our daily adventures in homeschooling, field trip fun and hopefully pictures when I remember to have the camera on hand.