Do you homeschool on Saturday? My family does! Well, sort of. Our days together are filled with our interests. The children pursue their own agendas and we engage with them as they want and we are able to, whether that's reading to them, helping with a project, or playing a game. My husband and I pursue our interests too and bring the children into those pursuits. We love to hike as a family, especially when my husband is home and the weather is sunny. I love identifying plants, foraging and I'm also exploring watercolor journaling. My husband is learning how to hunt for mushrooms. My kids just love the freedom of being outside and having room to roam.

*I’m LOVING our* *pocket nature journal* *so much!*

This Saturday, we took a family adventure to find a new spot of woods to explore and see if any spring mushrooms were out yet. We wandered a long time and didn't find mushrooms. It doesn't matter, just breathing in the forest air is enough to make the trip worthwhile. We always find ways to have fun learning and exploring nature. We picnicked in a sunny clearing in the forest, we stumbled upon a sparkling creek bed, we used our senses for a sit spot prompt in our journal, we hunted for things to fill out our ABC scavenger hunt, and we saved nature treasures.

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

Magical Moments

My kids continue to love Poetry teatime. One good poetry book and some snacks and they eat it up like the treat it is. After our most recent teatime, my son was inspired to write his own poem, loosely based on a sweet documentary we watched about this baby pufferfish called Puff: Wonders of the Reef.

Exploring

Nature Documentaries: We enjoyed Inside the Forest and Puff: Wonders of the Reef last week. On weeks when no one feels like getting outside in the cold and rain, I’ll sometimes put on a nature documentary. I find the soothing benefits of nature are still present in gently-paced nature documentaries.

Paper Circuits & Lego Engineering City challenge - My son is attending a club so he’s been doing a bunch of science activities without me. I love doing it with him, but I’m also grateful for outsourcing a few classes so that he can make friends with other science-loving kids.

Kiwi Crate: Mirrors and Peak into Ponds - I've fallen into pulling these out in weeks when my son is looking for something to do while I need to work. My daughter is only three but she is very into art projects and we have often done the projects together with her.

Reading

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Finished:

Egg Marks the Spot (Skunk and Badger) by Amy Timberlake

Still Reading:

History Quest
When on Earth: History as You've Never Seen It Before! by DK
National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry
by J. Patrick Lewis
Foxheart by Claire Legrand
Chickenology by Barbara Sandri

Evening Read Aloud:

Kane Chronicles: Serpent’s Shadow by Rick Riordan

Read to Self:

My son was VERY engaged with reading this week. I let him lean into this even if it means less time doing experiments or math or something else. I find the weeks truly do even out a bit over time so there is no reason to stress.

Notebook of Doom: Whack of the P-Rex
Notebook of Doom: Sneeze of the Octo-Schnozz
Notebook of Doom: Rumble of the Coaster Ghost
Notebook of Doom: Charge of the Lightning Bugs
Last Pick
Cranky Chicken
Lafayette by Nathan Hale

Playing

Family Math - We often pull out this book when looking to practice math in a fun way. We tried the Animal Crossing game but it wasn't much of a challenge. Oh well, it still gave my son a chance to show what he knows.

Cards from the Carbon Cycle Game — *Carbon Cycle Game*

Carbon Cycle Game - We did so much great math practice scoring this game. Triple-digit addition and subtraction and negative numbers! The best part was that my son had a great time adding up the score and it definitely didn't feel like work to him. I'm truly obsessed with this game. You really get to experience the impact of human activity on the carbon cycle in a fun and strategic cooperative game. You just HAVE to check this game out.

Suduko - My son was asking about this game. I used to do the puzzles every weekend before I had kids, so it was super pleasant to spend a little time doing a puzzle with him one afternoon. It's such a great logic and pattern-seeking puzzle. My son wanted to make one up for us to do, and quickly realized that this wouldn't be a simple task!

Making

Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith - This book is a lot of fun and helps with releasing big feelings. Interesting prompts encourage you to destroy the book or do taboo-breaking things like licking the page. It's not a hit for everyone, but if you have a child that needs to let go, understand that some rules are ok to break, and so on, this is a good one to try.

Domino Patterns - My son was making these interesting patterns with the dominoes. It’s a game he made up and to be honest I don’t totally understand the rules, but it shows incredible pattern-making which is a mathematical skill.

Practicing (Math & Literacy)

Division - Discussed dividing by zero and remainders at bedtime. Our pop-it and just some random objects I was holding were quick and easy visual tools.

Grammar - Read from Know Nonsense Grammar and then did some Madlibs. Such a great combo!

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

*Great pairing of Mad Libs with fun grammar book*

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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