Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Teaching

Schooling is winding down here in our house, mostly because of the weather! The sun and beach are calling our names! But we are not quite done and we are still having fun! ;) I think a good portion of our enjoyment is a good balance between doing things like learning to print or write cursive and "life learning"!
I recently got tired of Jake telling people that we did not do any school on some days SO I explained the concept of life learning. That sometimes we learn from reading books or doing math problems but we can also learn amazing things by going for a hike, grocery shopping, or crafting! People keep asking me if we will take a summer break from school, most of the time I say, "yes we take a break from formal learning but we do continue to do less structured things." But really I want to yell, "NO! KIDS ARE ALWAYS LEARNING IF WE LET THEM!!!!"  Jake now proud;y tells people, "we had life learning today!" And I smile as big as he!

I have also found a couple fun things I thought I'd share!
One is THIS uber cool activity I found over a Journey Into Unschooling! We just have to wait until our craft store gets rounds back in.
I also found this fun site just this morning while looking for a copy work maker. They have math mazes, maps, tons of FREE printables over at Worksheet Works!
Happy Hump-Day!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Did you see...

Did you see the super moon? Did you take the time to walk outside?
We did.
We planned it and talked about it. We met with friends and waited. We are high here in Reno so we had to wait until it got over the mountains to our east.
Minutes before it peaked we could see its glow! The kids were amazed the moon could make so much light. And then it crested the mountain. It was beautiful and big and bright.
I love that my family can watch this kind of celestial phenomenon and be awed. Awed at our Father's creations, awed that nature can provide such a spectacular and beautiful sight. And awed that in the dark you can find so much happiness just being together!
We're ready for Sunday's annular eclipse! And ready for more awe!
Yeah for life learning as jake would say!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Bierstadt

I am always excited when I find out something has stuck in the kids brains, to me it means they are enjoying or find our studies interesting!
We continue doing Artist Study even though I do not put the pictures up on the side bar any longer (it was a pain to get up!). This last trimester we have been looking at paintings by Albert Bierstadt, the intrest was first piqued when they learned he was German the second because of his subject matter.
Bierstadt was an explorer and in the 1800's where was the frontier? Right here in our back yard! The Sierra Nevadas were a large portion of his paintings. Plus he is a beautiful artist, he paints in the romantic style but was also considered an luminism because of the use of light in them.
The fun came when during our trip down the 395 last month, we stayed overnight in a hotel with the usual hotel furnishings. But then Riley noticed... above the beds were prints of what appeared to be Bierstadt's paintings! Riley pointed out why he thought they were his and my proud homeschool mama heart swelled!
It is the sweet days that make it all worth it!

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Mondays

 
Sometimes Mondays can be hard. Sometimes you have to just deal with it. But sometimes you have to outsmart Monday!
That is what we have done, at least for schooling. We don't start a new week on Mondays, we now start on Tuesdays. So that means that on Mondays we are just finishing off the last couple tasks from our lesson and I am not feeling overwhelmed trying to get everything ready Sunday night! Seriously this was a hard step for me mentally because I am a things in order kind of gal, Monday thru Friday, A thru B...
But in all seriousness this has really taken some pressure off of me and Mondays are not quite so dreaded!