Our Homeschool Week: March 14 - 20

What’s an easy way to add some fun to your homeschool week? Fieldtrips! I’m a bit behind in posting this - but a week back we met friends at the zoo AND we returned to the pool for the first time since the pandemic began. Both trips brought a lot of joy, fulfillment, and growth to my kids. We were gifted a zoo membership by my husband’s mother this year, which has been an incredible gift. It makes going to the zoo a much less stressful day because we can go less often and we don’t feel this urgency to get our money’s worth of the day. We wandered around with friends picking our favorite animals to visit and we had a picnic on the big green lawn. It was basically heaven. My daughter’s vocabulary has grown so much, I was so impressed by how many names she knew. My son has been a walking animal encyclopedia since age 4 - and that hasn’t changed. The friends we met were in a play-based preschool program with my son. Both boys are now homeschooling and are incredibly curious self-directed learners.

Just a quick aside here - I know zoos are controversial places for environmentalists like my family. They can play an important role in conserving species at risk, but there are ethical questions about raising large animals, especially elephants, in captivity. As families who strive to live a life of values, we each have to research ourselves and make the call as individuals on ethical considerations like this. We can also can and should push for institutions like zoos to do better. Ok, back to your regular programming!

We met another family at the pool on Friday. I’ve been nervous about how crowded it might be, but it was blissfully empty. My children have had some water fears, so watching them play freely at the pool was incredible. They pushed their own limits in ways they never did in structured lessons. I always thought that swimming would be one area I’d need to purchase lessons for, but I’m rethinking that idea now.

Read on to hear more about last week's activities, reading, and other homeschool fun.

Magical Moments

My son is continuing to work on his comic book about the gods and heroes of Olympus, re-envisioned as chickens. We worked on outlining what information should be in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. We talked about character arcs and how to make the problems our characters face more interesting. We are having a lot of fun working on this together. We also used some of our reading about chickens to deepen the characters based on what breed of chicken we think each character is.

Projects like this have been such an important part of our homeschooling experience. The motivation is so much stronger when he’s working on a project he’s passionate about. However, he needs a lot of help with organizing his ideas, planning the project, and managing his time to continue pursuing his goal. I am acting as his scribe while he gets organized. His mind continues to move so much faster and he thinks and speaks so much more deeply than his hand can write and it's very frustrating for him. I am hoping to build his confidence and see if I can help him to type the text for the final project himself.

Exploring

Pi Day: We had a lot of fun exploring the number pi on Pi Day. We baked a pie, for fun, and we discussed what pi is and how it is used. We watched a few videos about pi, which led to exploring more about infinity.

Science Club: Earth science: Volcanoes and Earthquakes

Lego Club: Castles

Reading

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Finished:

• Chickenology by Barbara Sandri

• Zonia's Rain Forest by Juana Martinez-Neal

• Greta and the Giants - I actually really didn't like this one. Yes it's purposefully made into a dramatic fiction story, and of course, it is very simplified. But I don't like HOW they simplify her story. At the end everything was solved! Are the giants adults or corporations? Either way the “gee we are really sorry” turn around they present is much too idealistic for me.

• Give Bees a Chance - We absolutely loved this book. It’s funny and informative!

• If Bees Disappeared by Lily Williams - This book is part of a series which helps explain the cascading effects of losing different animals. It brings home the concept that every living thing is connected to every other living thing. Highly recommend.

Still Reading:

• When on Earth: History as You've Never Seen It Before! by DK

• How Do Octopi Eat Pizza Pie? Pizza Math (I Love Math) by Neil Kagan - We love these books. They are super old, and in some ways geared towards younger children but I find we still can find new way to learn, play, or explore a math concept.

• Lila and Ecco’s Do It Yourself Comics Club by Willow Dawson

• History Quest: Ancient Times - I finally bought the audiobook. We truly can't do this kind of reading any other way. With my 3 year old underfoot, a business to run, and even a pretty minimal calendar of activities there just isn't time. We've been listening in the car or when my youngest naps and we are really enjoying this now.

Evening Read Aloud:

Bob by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

Read to Self:

• Time Jumpers: Stealing the Sword & Escape from Egypt by Wendy Mass

Making

We are playing around with some environmental-themed art. I can't share it yet because I plan to include it in our upcoming super-secret earth day release!

Practicing (Math & Literacy)

Math Practice - I went ahead and got my son the next upgrade for the Monster Math app. He seems to really enjoy it so far and it's been a good thing for him to do when I'm putting his baby sister down for a nap.

How Do Octopi Eat Pizza Pie? Pizza Math (I Love Math) We used this book for some math themed games and art. Great practice for fractions and multi-digit addition.

Thanks for reading about our homeschool week! I hope you found something interesting to read or explore with your children.

If our hands-on play-based homeschooling approach appeals to you, be sure to check out the curriculum in my store. It’s based on our daily homeschool experience with activities road-tested by my kids and their friends. We research and vet our studies thoroughly to ensure the science is accurate and all resources reflect values of environmental stewardship and social justice.

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