This was a very non-traditional week of school. We started on Tuesday with a homeschool group tour of a local salmon hatchery. Salmon is a huge part of our culture here in the Pacific Northwest. The tour was split into two groups of 40 kids each by age (over 10 and under 10). When our group started, the tour guide called the kids to order and said, “We’re here to learn today even though this isn’t school.” One young boy…
Wow. For some reason, DJ decided to take a tour of nearly everything on his shelves this week. Note that we are still NOT doing school in any formal sense of the word. But that doesn’t seem to stop DJ. Here is a list of all the activities he chose to do this week in no particular order: M&D Pattern Blocks & Boards Guidecraft Feel & Find shapes Little Blue Truck Book Knobbed & Knobless Cylinders Golden Bead Subtraction Sandpaper…
So we’re still on summer break and having a great time. It’s been a hot summer for us so lots of outdoor time. But even though I’m not doing school, DJ still has access to his work shelves and selects activities randomly. This summer is giving me more respect for unschoolers – a homeschooling method where the parent doesn’t directly teach but just provides materials for the child to teach themselves. The past couple of weeks, DJ has been interested…
STILL loving the math! I laid out some number cards randomly and DJ placed the correct bead materials under them. This material is great for keeping little bodies moving rather than sitting calmly at a desk. DJ is still struggling with learning the numbers 11-19 despite his great desire to count to twenty. We called on his cars to help keep the lesson interesting and practical. I mean, when you have as many cars as DJ does, it’d be nice…