Mischief night
I spent some time this afternoon working in the yard after studies. I love yard work. There is something very therapeutic about it. I had planned to cover more academics this evening, but those plans were interrupted by my kids preparing for mischief night. Our neighborhood trees tend to get rolled with toilet paper by teenagers, so my kids wanted to be ready for them. They dressed in all black, planted themselves in the yard, and had water guns to spray the potential intruders. Since it’s now bedtime for my children, I’ve been given instructions to be on the look-out for the rollers.
Tomorrow is Halloween, so that means dress-up and candy for my crew. Hopefully, I can have a productive academic day in the midst of the excitement.
The global bladder of Germany
That title highlights some topics of discussion today..
We began studies around 9:30 after the kids had eaten breakfast and helped with cleaning the house. Man alive, the stuff under our sofa pillows was disgusting! Hadn’t seen that area in a while. A myriad of subjects were covered. I’ve done such a poor job of laying with Latin this school year, so I finally got my act together and incorporated a lesson in there today. The kids watched their Latin DVD during the lunch break. My older son and I finished his lesson in his workbook at 10:00 tonight. I know, it’s late, but this is the way we roll. He had come in from his soccer game around 9:00 (they won a pretty amazing game I’m told), had dinner, and we finished up shortly thereafter. That was after I finished math lessons with my second son. You see that we don’t really have a set schedule. I’ve tried. It doesn’t work. We school all over the place, anytime, anywhere. Whatever I need to do to expose them to what I think is important.
So “the global bladder of Germany”. Yes..Well, a couple of random things in my head. I had a lovely discussion with some homeschooling colleagues today on the importance of making your child global in nature. What does that mean? It means exposing them to bigger things, issues, people, other cultures and so forth outside of their local community bubble. Such experiences will affect their outlook, change their interests, and shape how they interact and impact the world. We are all aware of how much smaller our planet is becoming because of things like technology, so our children and future generations have to adjust and adjust quickly so it seems. The Ivies appreciate such experiences, so there’s another reason to connect the world for your child.
The bladder..I was just having a good laugh this afternoon during my gym class because the instructor was having us jump rope for quite a while. I eventually had to excuse myself because I was afraid I might go to the bathroom from all of the jumping up and down. When I arrived back into class, she quizzed me on why I had left for a few minutes, so I got to share with her how my pelvic anatomy has changed since carrying four babies down there. She enjoyed my torture. Of course, it made me think how much these little people have impacted my life. Not only do I have many sleep-deprived nights, but my ability to exercise has been altered because of their stretching out my ligaments for months on end. Ugh…
Germany…I’m told Fox News and Friends will have Mike Farris from HSLDA on their show in the morning, 7:15 eastern time. The story will be highlighting the homeschooling family who fled from Germany after being harassed by their government. Watch it if you get the opportunity. It’s 2 A.M. Time for bed..
http://www.hslda.org/legal/cases/romeike.asp?src=slide&slide=Romeike_March18_2013&pos=1
Anybody see the Harvard basketball team win tonight?
Encouraging reading while on vacation
We have enjoyed our trip over the holidays being with friends and family, and I’ve enjoyed the break from teaching our daily academics. However, most homeschoolers know that you don’t really ever stop teaching, and if you’re good, you’ll try to use any life experience as a teaching tool. Maybe that experience will trigger an interest in something that they would have never known otherwise. My kids have done and seen several new things this week while being with family. I don’t know if the experiences fostered a new course of learning for them. Sometimes it’s just beneficial to have fun as a kid and enjoy your loved ones. That being said, now that the cousins have gone back home, I’ve encouraged my crew to get back into reading. The older boys were up at midnight enjoying a good book. Tomorrow, they will be writing several thank-you notes as well as working on some school projects before we return home. My oldest is presenting on Thomas Edison next week so there is much to learn and do before then. I just found a free book to download on Edison-love to save on books! Well, it’s 1a.m. as usual. I’ll be up for a while reading a bit on Edison myself. I try to learn with my children as they are learning new things.
The treasure tub
My kids love to receive rewards. I assume most people do.
I seem to be making this one a tradition, especially for the younger ages. I go to the local dollar store and buy lots of toy-type items, stickers, candy, novelty items, etc. I fill my beverage tub with the gifts and present it to the kids at the beginning of our school year. After they have worked hard on their studies for a certain amount of time, they are permitted to pick out one item from the treasure tub as part of their reward.
Is that bribery? I would argue not. I would say it’s just an added bonus for doing well in their studies. But, really I don’t know:)
Topics covered today: electricity, Gershwin, commutative property, arrays, times tables, book club, Lewis and Clark, the western frontier, West Indies, South America
Some photos from “Excelsior”, our homeschool cooperative
Ivy League Homeschooling 