Fall curriculum

If I were still teaching (in a classroom) I know that by August I would be mentally preparing for the upcoming school year. Some things never leave you, and once again I find myself envisioning how our fall will play out. Which topics are essential? Some off the top of my head are:

1. letter recognition: tracing, magnet play, letter building with found objects (sticks, q-tips, raisins, etc.)
2. color exploration: learning the difference between primary and secondary colors, replicating a color wheel, finger painting, brush painting, straw painting
3. cooking: measuring, planning a menu, grocery shopping, mixing and tasting :)
4. outdoor exploration: fall hikes, exploring our environment, tree and leaf rubbings
5. insects and mammals: differences, visits to the zoo, many art projects
6. social interaction: visit the fire station, weekly playdates with homeschoolers, and Georgia will begin taking an "active" class; either gymnastics or indoor soccer

Summer Curriculum

I know the kids are still young, but I am really trying to take advantage of the weather and get in as many outdoor types of activities as possible...while we have more sun than rain.

So, far, we have spent our summer involved in the following activities:
building sand castles
practicing pouring and digging on the beach
collecting shells and rocks
city walks (often helped by a stroller ride)
exploring all areas of the zoo
tending to Georgia's veggie garden (tomatoes, radishes, and strawberries)
feeding our compost worms
practicing balance and gravity at the park
writing with sidewalk chalk
more pouring with water in our backyard pool
learning to balance and ride G's Skuut bike (balance bike)
Berry picking

We plan to also include:
horseback riding on our horse, Star
camping with our friends, Leah and Thom
visiting a water park
swimming in an outdoor pool

Any other suggestions?

Learning to Walk

It is kind of like homeschooling, isn't it? Learning to take small steps and have confidence in ourselves. Here are pictures of Theo learning to walk.

Berry Picking

Today I took the kids to Biringer Farms in Arlington. It was a 49 minute car ride through mostly grass and marsh land. Upon arriving, I set up the twin stroller, picked up some empty flat boxes, and made the trek out to the strawberry fields. Georgia enjoyed herself, pointing out the tractors and taking extreme delight in eating two berries for every berry she placed in our box. Theo mostly complained and whined from his stroller until Georgia would ever so kindly run over to him and hand him a berry to quiet him down. The weather was overcast and the rain didn't start until just as we were pulling out of the driveway to go back home.

Beach

Today we spent the morning at the beach. Golden Gardens Park is about 1.5 miles from our home and I really hadn't braved an outing with the kids there, so decided that there was no time like the present. We loaded up our sand buckets, three shovels, beach towels, lunch, and set off for a morning of sandy goodness.

I am embarrassed to report that we live 1.5 miles from a sandy beach...but Georgia is unfamiliar with sand outside of our sandbox. She spent the first 30 minutes at the beach hysterically crying and kicking off her Croc's because she had sand in her shoes. We are talking flailing, screaming, crying. I finally got her calmed down while we walked along the concrete sidewalk. I found a small stream of water running towards the ocean and talked her into getting wet and digging in the sand. Somewhere in the confusion, I lost one of our shovels, but consider that a small casualty when trying to keep track of the kids and managing temper tantrums.

By the end, Georgia thoroughly enjoyed digging in the sand and playing in the water. She had another temper tantrum when it was time to leave. Thank goodness Theo is pretty flexible and was content to sit on a blanket in the sand, digging with a shovel. It would have been much harder to manage two screaming kids.

I don't know how educational this trip was, but it was sensory filled and involved exploring our community. We will definitely go back to dig, scavenge during low tide, and play with others.

Number 1 Reason

I have been pondering my number one reason for homeschooling? I am having a difficult time choosing, but here is what I have come up with:

1. I want my kids to experience life.

Simple and to the point, but I really mean it. I don't want them to color in pictures of turkeys at Thanksgiving...but instead to visit a turkey farm and learn about the life cycle, breeds, foods, etc. of turkeys. I want them to raise a turkey, if they so wish. I want them to travel and really live life. I don't want my kids calculating "story" problems in a workbook...but instead going to the store and calculating how to feed the five of us on $15 a balanced dinner. I want real life to be at their fingertips during every second of the day.

I want them to have endless stories of places they have visited, people they have met, and questions they have answered. I am unsure if you can get this in any type of enclosed building housing thirty kids for 7 hours a day, 180 day a year.

Dead Bird

Today, our "classroom" briefly had a new pet. Last night, Jon was out gardening and noticed a cat playing with a baby bird. He rescued it and we put it in a shoe box, hoping to give it time to recover. It did, and even ate baby food from a chopstick this morning. Unfortunately, it's health declined and by this afternoon it had died. Georgia had been really curious about it and now that it has died, keeps saying, "Poor dead bird."