2nd day of 2nd grade!

So my children must have some sort of internal clock that tells them that they should be done with the lazy days of summer this week every year, becasue yesterday, ( although I hadnt planned on doing any formal "school" stuff for several weeks), they decieded they wanted to work on some math problems, have a couple of violin lessons, watch 2 shows about sharks, and read a little bit of course... so I deemed it our 1st day of 2nd grade. (Not that our 'school days" versus 'non school days" look all that different at this point!) Anyhow, it was a relaxed day, but they were certainly in the mood to used their minds.

I have to say that this new thing we are trying with math, makes it see like math problems are much more like they are solving little puzzles or playing little games than"work" which is how I think it should be... not like trying to force information into their little brains, but letting them practice it in a non stressful way till it is just something they know, and can use whenever they need it.

Today we have done a little math review.. they listened to me reading a star wars book at their request, Em has done her First sequential spelling lesson ( which she said was easy peesy!) An we looked at my teachers calendar book to learn about what is special about this date.

They are also asking if they can play the games on Starfall that they used last year.. which they are probably well past understanding.. but hey, as long as they like it.

Probably going to try to see if Ian wants to try the spelling stuff later, but I have some appointments this afternoon, so we might have a laid back rest of the day... and you know what, we can, because we can do things on our own schedule, and still get so much done, soooo much faster and easier than expected! We LOVE Homeschooling!!!

Gearing up for 2nd grade!

Hello big wide world!!!

I realize we havent written anything since last spring.. but hey.. its been summer and we have been too busy going out and exploring, taking trips, making plans.........

Anyhow, wanted to update everyone on our plans for 2nd grade, as well as throw out a few of the fun things we have done this summer.

We got a few new curriculum ideas at a convention in Virginia in June, which includes the whole family self teaching ourselves how to play the violin.. we've been slow at it so far, but plan to get more regular once we can get in a normal routine in the fall.

We also picked up Math on the level, which is a different Math curriculum, which should be good for several years (yay for not having to buy more math stuff every stinkin year!) and is much less workbook/ text book focused than what we were using before... sure we will still throw in some fun workbook stuff ( such as the oversized workbooks we just got at Sam's club, which help the kids with telling time and money), but aside from short concept reviews and little tiny quizzes, MotL is based around using real life experiences and games to demonstrate math, and make it more relatable. It will take more effort to do it this way most likely, but the kids get so much more out of experiences than they historically have out of pages and pages of questions, which seem to just be an exercise in frustration, especially for my son.

We got a spelling curriculum, which just breaks spelling lists into a more logical order, and some other kind of random stuff for reading practice, and a new handwriting/ drawing curriculum at the used curriculum fair.

We are going into this year with much less of a focus on recreating a typical schoolroom in the home, because as we figured out last year, it is just a little to rigid for us, and doesnt really contribute to true learning.. at first the kids thought it was fun.. like playing house.. but soon it developed into drudgery for everyone. So, our whole approach this year is to focus on keeping things interesting, making information and concepts as fun a possible, and being thinkers, instead of doing things for the sake of completing a curriculum.

Even with our slow downs due to re-thinking some of our choices last year, I'm happy to report that both kids are ahead of their grade level in reading, and generally vary between being patient with math to which they don't immediately know the answer, to not even letting me get a math related question out before they are answering... so that has been successful, and I'm amazed at how quickly they are picking things up.

We are going to continue reading our volume 1 story of the world, because we didn't get through it last year. We simply take so much time on every time period they talk about and do more research than they recommend or expect ( plus we are always on the look out for other unrelated subject matter), but I'm not complaining.. if the kids are interested, they can take as much time to get as much information about something as they want!

I think our current science plan (as if a plan matters.. its never going to stay within the confines of a plan!) is to do a big study on Ocean life this year. This comes on the heels of a few awesome aquarium trips, as well as the opportunity to pet and feed dolphins over the summer... I have to say I'm pretty psyched about this one... see homeschooling is just as much for the parents as the kids!

We also just signed up for our fall co-op classes... the kids are taking classes about transportation, sign language, inventions, science experiments, and creative writing. They have been asking for months now when their co-op classes will start back up, so I think they will be pretty excited to see their friends and have some fun. I'm also hoping to sign the kids back up for Kidzart in the fall.. they loved it last year... hopefully they will open registration soon!

I've been doing a lot of research on different opportunities for the fall, there are just so many things happening... I think we might do some workshops at the Walters art museum, St. Mary's city, a bunch of wildlife preserve stuff, tours and exhibits at gardens and arboretums, the science center (of course), picking fruit, library events and book clubs.... yeah we are going to be busy. Add to that, our jiu jitsu classes, and the kids working on a new dance routine to debut at the US Open in November, and I think we have plenty planned.... maybe I should stop looking for stuff to do!!!

Some of our experiences over the summer.. of the top of my head:

The Statue of Liberty

Fort Clinch

Fort McHenry

Dolphin Experience at Marineland

Crystal Grottos Caverns

The Indianapolis Children's museum ( thanks nana and pappaw!)

Kinderfarm park

Learning to ride 2 wheelers

Niagara Falls

historic Palmyra ( and other locations in Upstate NY)

I'm sure I'm missing something.. but thats what I can think of right now! This week, assuming it ever stops raining, we are going to the National Cathedral... where rumor has it there is a gargoyle shaped like Darth Vader.. score!!!! Next week we are going to Boston, and I'm going to see if we can actually schedule some sightseeing in between our other commitments while we are there... also we are ring some Canadian friends of ours back from Boston with us, and they want to go sightseeing in DC while visiting, so I'm sure we will do some fun stuff then as well!