Academia and Field Study

So last week we finished off our first chapter in science. It stressed classification of living things. I created a test of a fill in the blank word box, also short answer, and just plain old fill in the blank. For my third grader, it was a little challenging and I gave him about five minutes to look in his book to get answers he just had on the "tip of his brain" *wink* They both got a B, so I feel that it was a success!

Yesterday was tough for a few reasons and I'm glad it's a new day and that by God's grace we can begin anew.



I realized I was being a little bit "all business" about school and we needed to get back into nature and get out of this house!! It was a beautiful day so we headed to the park with a nature walk, including creek walking (my kids' favorite).

Exploring near the creak

Flowers and tiny mollusk shell found near creak

They collected some items and I kept my lecture to a minimum (per Charlotte Mason's philosophy). I did sneak in some talk about erosion as we looked at the exposed tree roots. I also had the kids find a nonvascular plant and we once again talked about what makes moss different from a tree. We spotted some fungi (not a plant) and saw two different kinds growing under a very nice tree trunk perfect for resting with baby and watching the kids explore in the creek.

We followed with a picnic lunch and then drove to the playground portion.

Little Y had an utter meltdown and made a punching motion and grabbed my legs when it was time to go. He was so red and hot after playing at the park. It was a stark contrast to the cool shaded walking trail and calm appreciation of nature. How I love peace and so it was time to go home. Thankfully the screaming stopped when we got to the car (seriously, thank God).

Mommy and Baby E relaxing on a fallen tree

All said and done, it was a great day.

We will do some math time later and we do have our spelling tests today. I also wanted the kids to sketch their favorite find and write a little bit about that.

It feels laid back, but we are still learning. This is the beauty of home schooling in an eclectic style. You can exchange your schedule for a field day and enjoy life.

Cute fungi near the stream

But our schedule is working great with the blocks on normal days. The day is guided, but it's not a moment by moment thing. You can't schedule for one child needing extra help or some other problem, etc but it does help to know when we move on and how to get each subject done in the day. 

The vacation of July

So the kids went on a big road trip with daddy in early July to see their first ever live baseball game!

I was home alone with one baby and lots of writing work. They came home a day early...we all missed each other.

After that, it was well...break.

They wanted a break and since we had schooled through May and June I let it go to have any sort of schedule. We did learn this past month, but we did NOT do a schedule. We did do some trash-to-art projects. And watched some docs. Played "cool math" games (www.coolmath.com) and some other awesomesauce things.

I had a weird funk of a time adjusting to writing and kids at home and schooling. I am so thankful we started school and now I know kind of in a clearer way how I am going to prepare for the year.

I promised myself that after my Sociology test was over I could think about scheduling for this year, but not before. The writing didn't come in as crazy as I thought but I still did quite a bit. I am finding out that the insurance agent I am writing for is actually editing all my stuff before it goes live. He told me he needs to catch up to my work. I guess I was going through the excel sheet of web pages faster than he thought. And here I was thinking that he was waiting on me. haha. He is a super nice person. I know this because he gives me little smiley faces in his emails.

It's the little things.

Anyway. And OF COURSE we need to post lots of awesome pics of our garden. We are eating so many good things. What a blessing to grow your own food! We are just now eating our cucumbers. We picked the first one yesterday and they are so flavorful and wonderful.

We will update our science journals and post pictures this next week. Promise.

Also, I am happy. Happy to have some supportive friends here and it is going to make all the difference in the world as we embark on this journey. Isolation may have been needed mentally, physically, and spiritually for a time, but it feels so good to be around the living again!

Next week I go shopping with another mommy of four as we stock up on some (hopefully) artsy and eclectic awesomeness for this next year. My budget is low but my awesome shall be high!