Or what would otherwise be "week 7" if I were really still holding fast to the setup we began with in late August. :-)
More or less we've been "deschooling" from the school-at-home regime I had slipped into. That started with having the three girls FINALLY paint their dressers in their room. They did a great job and the finished dressers help the room look more finished itself. I helped Cate (5) paint the drawers and Lizzy (10) helped paint the dresser top, but Cate did great painting the rest of it (in her favorite color, pink) by herself.
Julia threw herself into her writing project and her artwork, no surprise there. We got her a laptop for her birthday, so she's been spending a LOT of time online, which is fine. She reads a lot, writes a lot, and thinks a lot. Much of what she does revolves around or relates to, in some way, the Beatles. Since she has such an interest in the Beatles and the 60s, I figured I'd rent "Woodstock" and we'd watch it together. We watched last weekend while Matt and John were at baseball. Funny...I remember it being a LOT cooler when I was about 20! Still, we're both wanting to watch the movie "Taking Woodstock" but will likely have to wait until it comes out on DVD.
John spends a good deal of his spare time playing poker, either online, with friends, or here at home with the siblings. Lots of math and mental stuff going on there. I'm happy he's naturally good at math. For laughs, one night last week we played "what's the square root of...?" which everyone joined in on. He's also still doing well at school with minimal effort or input on my part. Then there are the sports. He plays fall baseball on two teams, depending on when they need him, and he is playing in a fall basketball league with the guys from last year's team so they can prepare for basketball tryouts that come up in November.
Lizzy has been doing more independent baking...she made chocolate sugar cookies and a chocolate bundt cake. She was really pleased that I asked her if she wanted me to buy a bundt pan when we were in the baking aisle at the grocery store. She is the one who likes working in workbooks, so she works here and there on math and spelling, usually in the evenings.
Connor has captured all sorts of creatures in the last few weeks. This week he caught a frog at Miami Meadows after getting a new net at Wal-Mart. He has kept busy finding crickets around the house to feed to the frog. He also found a turtle in the woods, but has since released it. He spends time online watching YouTube videos of wrestling or "the world's biggest" whatever creature he's interested in at the moment.
Drew is Drew. What else can I say? He's smart and absorbs a lot around him. He had a concussion this week as a result of falling out of the top bunk in his sleep...had his first CT scan! He is clear to play football, though, so he's happy. He also pitched for the first time last week for his fall ball team.
Cate is memorizing the alphabet song, though she knows her letters by sight and can write most of them w/a little help. She enjoys making lists and playing Barbies.
Me? As usual I'm reading and researching during this deschooling period. Here are a few quotes from a relaxed homeschooling article by Mary Hood:
"It [relaxed homeschooling] is really just a mindset. It’s the idea that you are a family, not a
school. You’re a mom, not a teacher. You don’t have a classroom. You have
individual relationships with your children. Your husband isn’t a principal,
because there isn’t really a school. He is the head of your household, a dad,
and your number one supporter."
And this one:
"Having a "relaxed homeschooling mindset" will free you up from many
responsibilities, and make the ones you do have, clearer and easier to fulfill.
If you aren’t a "teacher", you don’t necessarily need to make
lesson plans, purchase teacher’s manuals, test and grade your children, or
teach them every subject known to man all by yourself. You don’t have to
select a particular curriculum, and have everything in place every year on
September first, the way a classroom teacher does. You don’t need to begin
each day with a pledge to the flag, and divide the morning up into fifty-minute
segments, each devoted to a particular subject. You don’t have to go from room
to room teaching fifth grade social studies, third grade science, and first
grade phonics. You don’t need to make a bunch of reluctant children sit at the
kitchen table for hours laboring over boring workbooks."
Hooray! How did I lose sight of theses things???
I think it might be time to reconsider what Mary Hood has presented. I remember reading something by her in the past and thinking, "well, duh" because we were in the midst of relaxed homeschooling. I see that our local library has her audio collection available, so I'll be checking that out ASAP.
