A Sort of Weekly Report...

This has been a good week for child led education!

Elf
Working on cursive daily with cutomized printable worksheets from KidZone. He asked me for these! Today I made him one about insects, focusing on the Darwin's Stag Beetle, which he developed an interest in after watching Life (that great documentary series).

He is still reading from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. When a book makes him laugh aloud, I know he's enjoying it! He's also reading from a book on planes, which has led to a fascination with the Wright Brothers. And a lot of airplane drawing, since he checked out a book on airplane drawing as well.

Fairy
She's really enjoying The Reading Lesson, and is doing well with it! She is sounding out words, and insisting on trying. I am in awe, and last night almost cried with joy when she read 6 pages aloud, of her own choice (and insistance).

I'm reading Ramona and Her Father to her as well. She seems to really connect with Ramona, and is happy that there are more in the series. I have promised her that when she is ready, I will order the entire set as a gift for her.

She's also doing two to three lessons most days in MathSteps. After a lot of debate, and after getting her opinion, we're sticking with Saxon Math for the fall rather than switching her to MEP. Why fix what isn't broken? She also learned a bit more about fractions this week, when she asked to make a cake. We made a caramel cake, using a recipe from the back of a Fannie Flagg book. Fairy did almost all the measuring, and mixing. She also learned to set the temperature dial on the oven for preheating.

Both
We completed another week in the reading challenge at our library. As a bonus, when we got there this week, there was a box of rolled up posters on a table, with a sign "Free to parents and teachers". So we went through all the posters, and found a great one for each child... Elf got a lovely painting of the Wright Brothers with a bi-plane, and Fairy got an Elsa Beskow poster, highlighting several of her children's books!

Both have helped me with watering the yard this week. The kids are growing popcorn, and they measure the stalks almost daily. We also have some volunteer melons coming up from last year's garden, and are getting ready to dig them up for transplanting. Can't wait until we can tell what kinds they are! Both are growing tomatoes also, and their plants finally have little baby tomatoes on them. I've been teaching them flower identification while we're out there... lobelias, hydrangeas, abutilon, morning glories, salvias, dahlias, nasturtiums, and so forth.

We've been discussing fall physical activities. Elf really wants to go back to fencing, which he tried before for a few months. Fairy has decided to try jazz dancing, which I think may suit her more than ballet.

I think that's it for this week!

What If?

What if we only did the "three R's"? What if I let the kids choose what to study? What if we follow their interests for a year, and see where that takes us?

The Boy checked out a book at the library yesterday on flight... Book of Flight: The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. After spending, oh probably an hour or so looking through it, he asked if I could find some books on the Wright Brothers for him. And so we put some on hold - hopefully they'll be in soon! I could see that interest leading to many possibilities. Right now, he's carefully sketching out old airplanes from a drawing how-to book. And discussing how airplanes get lift-- it's called the Bernoulli effect in case you wanted to know.

And The Girl found a book from one of my various stacks called Science Made Simple. So she's working on a dinosaur coloring/cut-out activity, which is getting The Boy's attention too. Both want to identify the dinosaurs they are coloring, so that they can call them by name.

Why am I rambling on? Because, the more I think about it, the less I want to plan out a whole year at a time. Our interests shift and change. Even mine do! Hmmmm.... so what I am thinking is this: focus on the three R's. Very simple. All else could be child led. History, science, art, music, etc.

I also think I want to do away with my planned "school calendar". Why put those limits on learning? It's not as if their brains shut down just because I say "no school this week". I'd like to be more flexible this year. Take advantage of museums, zoos and parks more. Take field trips just for fun, not because they tie into our curriculum, and because who knows what great ideas and interests will spring from random field trips? I want our homeschooling to be a reflection of my blog's name! Blend living and learning a little more, blurring the lines between homeschooling and life.

What do you think?