School is in Session

Sort of.

This summer we're doing something a little different. Even though I'm pretty big on keeping summers unstructured, every Tuesday for a little more than half the day, the kids and I are playing school.

That might sound like a big project, but other than the initial preparation, it's been easy and fun. Since the kids and I enjoy it, it's been a good bonding experience. And since I feel like my kids are already getting a great education at their schools, anything else I add onto it is just a bonus, so there's no pressure there either.

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Dirty faces are acceptable:

Hmmm, I guess it's hard to see, but trust me, his face was dirty.

Dry hair is optional:

Tomorrow is the third time we'll be doing it, so here's a little snippet about the first two Tuesdays.

The goal is to start school at 8:30. (The first week we were a little late, but last week we did better.)

We start with the pledge, putting out the flag, and a prayer. (At the end of our first day, I asked the kids how they liked it. John and Chris both gave me an "Awesome!" but Ben said "So, so." "Uh oh," I thought. "Which parts didn't you like?" I asked. "The pledge," he said. For Pete's Sake. Chris seconded that, but I think he was just saying that because Ben was saying it. So we only do the Pledge every other week. If I were really homeschooling them, the Pledge would not be an option. But for this, I really don't care.)

They each have a folder, a small notebook that we use for journal prompts, and a three subject notebook for work. Here they are, ready to go:



They do "seatwork" which I've put in their folders ahead of time, while I pull them aside one at a time to go over the goal charts:

The charts are one of the things I planned we're not following through on like I'd hoped, but that's okay. We're keeping what works and letting the rest go. Another thing I planned was a "Person of the Week" lesson, but by the time I get to that part of the schedule, I'm feeling done.

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Anyway, after seat work we have 10 minutes for journaling. When we're finished they can share if they like, but they don't have to. (So far, they've been excited to share.)

Then we do a Geography lesson. Academically, this is the only area I'd say I have goals in. But since my goal is "I want them to have a mental picture of the world before they hit high school," there's really not a lot of pressure. So far they know the continents, oceans and seas, (I actually taught them this last September, so this was just review the first week) and we've discussed basic geography stuff like longitude, latitude, the equator, arctic/anarctic circles, etc. My plan is to study countries one region at a time, not moving on until we've mastered where we're at.

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Right now we're working on North America. I expect we'll be in North America for awhile. Tomorrow I plan on reading them a couple children's books about Canada and Mexico, and watching a children's video about the Caribbean. I want them to have some sense of what these places are like, in addition to knowing their place on a map.

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They also each get a filled in map and corrresponding blank map which they put in different sections in their 3-section notebooks. They're building their own atlases which they can also use as a study tool as we progress.

Following the Geography lesson, we do some sort of active game, followed by recess. Here's a pic from a game we played last week. I put numbers 1-20 around the yard, and then several strips of paper in a bowl with a series of numbers on them (i.e. "8 - 17 - 3") and they'd have to race to those numbers. It was good sequencing work for Chris and just fun for John and Ben. I've kept the cards and plan on creating variations of this. (I'm thinking math equations, where they have to run to the answer, or questions like, how many continents are there, etc.)

After recess I let them have a snack while we play the table top game. They LOVE this. This is their chance to test their geography knowledge, and earn points. Earn enough points, get a "book buck." Later this summer I'll take them to the used book store to "spend" their bucks.

After this it's usually lunch time. After lunch we'll work a logic problem together, and then do some sort of activity. Last week we did a fun art project using prompts.

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I separated the kids so they couldn't see what the others were doing, then I gave instructions like "draw four lines from one edge to any other edge" and "draw four circles" etc. It was fun to see how different the finished products were:

When Daddy got home, he wanted to do it too before he saw what theirs looked like.

We enjoyed this project so much, we're doing it again tomorrow. I collected two "prompts" from everybody, so it will be different. This time I'm playing too.

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We're generally done around 1:00 or so. I've told the kids to plan on 3:00, just in case. Last week we took a "field trip" to the library after school. I originally had more ambitious field trips in mind, but we'll see if we actually do them or not. :)

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Anyway, getting ready from week to week doesn't really take me that long. Less than an hour, I'd say. So it's just been a fun thing for us to do. Once school starts, I'll still give them a 30 minute geography lesson and do a table top game (which they're very excited about). Me too. I'd like my kids to really know their geography. I'm refreshing my knowledge too, while we're at it. :)

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So that's our big activity this summer. A LOT more than we usually do (which is nothing). ;)