Summer educational exploration at our house....

So, I just thought I'd share what we are doing this summer and some of our thoughts for the upcoming fall/school year. We do feel that learning takes place all the time, including weekends and summer, but there is a rythum to life, and in the summer months we tend to look at what we want to do and learn in the upcoming year. Some of this is due to the fact that this is the time of year we report to the school system our intent to homeschool next year, and some is just the easy, lazy pace of the summer months.

So we are planning to keep a scrapbook this year, and have just
purchased a couple for Joy and Danielle. Heidi will also keep a
scrapbook, but she hasn't found one she likes yet. Each girl will
keep her own, and include pictures of things she does and places she goes. We like the Notebooking, or scrapbooking idea for record keeping since it is the child's own work and also provides a lasting memory of this exciting, learning and exploring, part of childhood.

I also got a great deal on some acrylic paints and brushes
this week. We are been planning to do some pastels/water color
painting, and will include acrylic/oil styles now too. I'm pretty
excited about this since it is a passion of mine as well. We are
also going to do some batik and tye dye this summer.

As for science, we have been studing animal habitat this summer. At the horse stables, a pair of racoons took up residence and started planning a family. They figured it was a good habitat for them since a large bowl of cat food and water was always available, and
the barn cats didn't seem to mind sharing. What they didn't count
on was the fact that racoons often carry disease that is
transferable to horses. So the traps were set, and after being
scared by invading racoons for weeks, we were so sad to see them
captured and discover that mom was already producing milk for her
soon to be born babies. We are hoping they will be relocated in a
park or wilderness area, but fear they will be distroyed.
It was a hard lesson in human vs. animal habitat for Danielle and
Joy, but one they will remember.

We also have a toad living under our front stoop whom we have been observing, and we have "saved" several toads at the stables by removing them from stalls where they could be trampled
and "relocating" them in the tall grasses and wetland areas of the farm.

We have also been reading lots of fun books from the library,
learning some typing and computer skills, doing yoga, pilates,
biking, swimming, walking, gardening and healthy (meaning diet on my part) meal planning.

Our math this summer has been mostly fractions, geometry, and
measurement, involving sand castle building, cookie baking and meal prep. I have some amazing little cooks here, but the sand castle buiding skills need some major pratice, so we shall be needing to visit the beach on a regular basis, no doubt.

So what are all you interesting free range learning mamas and kids doing this summer?

peace and love,
mosaic

 

Hello.

I think it's great all the things you have planned for your family. Sounds like you are in for some major fun.

Learning is a constant in our house too. Since I sew and crochet, I plan on teaching the kids how to do this as well. We plan on making more clay and hopefully once I find the exact plans I am looking for, we will build an earth oven to fire up our newly created clay pieces.

I am looking into a teacher for piano lessons (wished my mother in law lived near by as she is amazing on the piano) and maybe voice lessons for the kids. Music is a big part of out lives and my oldest seems to have a musical creativity just waiting to burst out.

We read tons and are planning on going to the National Storytelling Festival. My kids have entered a local story writing contest and we do alot of journaling. I have them do what we like to call "weekend news" where they write about all the things they do on the weekend and draw pictures to go along with the story.

We are getting rid of our tv's, because for a while the video game things was becoming too much and so was the movie watching. We lived for two years without tv and I miss those days. It's not on as much as it had been, but more than I would like.

We have a pool so they swim alot and my oldest does swim team 3 nights a week. They use to do gymnastics and dance, but we decided one sport was enough for now. I didn't want them to get too overwhelmed.

Here is our homeschool shedule.

8am: journaling
830: Math (mondays), Languauge Arts (tuesdays), Art (wednesday), Spanish (thursday), Math (Friday)
930: Spelling/vocab (monday), Science (Tuesday), History/Geography(Wednesday), Music (thursday), Social Studies (Friday)
1030: Free time (which can be any of the following, field trips swimming, library, errands, going to the park, baking, crocheting, drawing, reading, listening to music, computer games)
12pm: Lunch
1pm: Reading for one hour (they can either read to me, read to eachother or on their own)
2pm: end school

The rest of the day is pretty much open to whatever we want to do. Family time is great. We play board games, exercise, run around outside, make things, put on plays, play dress up.... anything really.

 

sounds like a your family is having fun living and learning. Making clay sounds like a lot of fun, maybe we will try our hand at that this summer.
I crochet also and having taught all my kids the basics, I have one daughter who has really taken off with it. She has far surpassed me with design abilities. She can look at a sweater, or something, and then turn around and make one like it, only better! The tv and video games were always a distraction for my sons also. We never did get rid of it altogether, but I often would make it off limits until evening.

 

My two oldest girls have been trying to make the "World's largest mud-puddle". They took dirt from the garden and put it in the pool. What a mess!!!!! They were having so much fun though!

My step-daughter is leaving for Buffalo in 2 days to help out on her grand-parents' orchard for three weeks. I think that will be a great learning experience for her.

We are planning on starting "school" with my oldest next week. We are starting out with a unit on dinosaurs.

My baby.....well, she's just hanging around soaking it all in!

 

Robert and I have been moving so we are currently learning all about our new house- we have a toad neighbor too. We are learning about outdoor safety and about how to swim but of course he is two so its pretty informal. I will write again when things are a bit more settled.

 

The kids have had a sorta busy Summer here.
The grand-kids have gone to a few fairs with my daughter...where she was making/selling food.

For Science: My son is trying to grow a mango. The kids have been taking care of the wild blackberry & blueberry bushes. They like watching the squirrels & learning what they eat & where they live.

Reading/writing: we have tons of books, magazines & newspapers around. We also write to a few pen pals around the country.

Math: cooking (fractions & measurements), tons of board games (monopoly...etc), legos, sand castles,
repairing an old cabin....literally tearing down walls & riping up floors, & putting in new electric wires. Collecting seashells & rocks, comparing weather around world & making a graph

History: Dad is a history buff so whatever is on news & history channel on TV.

 

Everything everyone is doing for their kids sounds awesome. It seems as if we're all in for amazing years this go round.

 

Sounds like so much fun!

We school year-round. For my son, he needs a full 12 months to get through the year in subjects like math & grammar... and for the rest & my daughter, we work on unit-style learning based on things like the Magic Schoolbus & Magic Treehouse books, and what's going on at our science museum during the summer. We have a TON more field trips, and a lot more observation & exploration type science than during the rest of the year.

This summer we're dedicated to learning more about volcanoes & ancient Greece and the midwestern-prairie Indians & their culture, and my dad offered to teach my son some basic electronics (he's an electronics technician; this is SO not my area of expertise!) he said something about motors & magnets, but I forget what exactly Dad had in mind as a project. I know we'll do more too, but that's what we've got in mind for now.
love,
mom

 

I love summer when I don't have to worry about pushing the kids at all. I remember fondly my summers as a child.

My daughter (16) is big into writing atm. All she wants to do is write, talk about writing, read, play games, do aikido, see friends, and watch movies or tv.

My son (14) is all about tennis and vid games right now. He asks me to take him to the courts at least once a day, sometimes three times. He also likes hanging with his buds.

I'm working some, working on some marketing as well and getting ready to start school again in August.

My husband is working as usual.

 

We are taking the month of June off completely and then gradually adding a subject at a time until we are doing a full schedule again in September. I do like that month of doing nothing structured at all and just giving the brain a rest. But then I don't like to take too much time off and have to spend the first two months of the school year reviewing.

My kids are enjoying the time off of school. We go to the movies, the park, etc and just enjoy life. They are participating in the library's summer reading program. They are also enjoying lots of time with friends from church.

I am taking advantage of the time off by doing some freelance writing and studying for my GRE.

Happy summer y'all!