Learning to Play and Playing to Learn

This is what part of our school day has looked like for the past several days:

And it's awesome. The Boy loves building with LEGOs, and I love seeing how his creations evolve. He learns so much from those little blocks.

When I try to build with LEGOs, all I get is a headache. The Boy can build for hours because he loves it--that's how his brain works. I'm a firm believer that every child has an interest (or two or ten...) that lights them up, and that as parents and teachers, one of the most important things we can do for a child is to let them pursue that passion.

And yes, we still read and do chores and go outside each day. It's not all LEGOs all the time around here, although I'm sure The Boy would be all for that.

The Boy's Nerdy Future

Don't call CPS--we don't actually let our six-year-old use a soldering iron. It's his dad's, and he's had it drilled into his little head that soldering irons are NOT for touching. Unless Dad says it's okay because Mom thinks it would make a cute picture.

I don't know whether The Boy will really grow up to be a soldering maniac like his father. But if he does, homeschooling gives us the freedom to let him explore that potential interest as much as he wants. Or his interest in cars. Or his interest in soccer. Or...his interest in soldering cars while playing soccer. Whatever. As long as his interests are legal, he's got our full support.

Yo, I Heard You Like Reading

"Reading changes your life. Reading unlocks worlds unknown or forgotten, taking travelers around the world and through time. Reading helps you escape the confines of school and pursue your own education. Through characters--the saints and sinners, real or imagined--reading shows you how to be a better human being."

-Donalyn Miller


I just started reading Donalyn Miller's book, The Book Whisperer. I'm not very far into it yet, but I really like it so far. Especially that quote up there. Reading does change lives. I love that any kid can be inspired to be a reader.

Also...The Boy thinks it's hilarious that I'm reading a book about reading.

Learning is Fun

We recently (at the beginning of the school year) joined an online charter school. It requires a lot of us. I like it because it keeps us on track. But when we slack off a little, I feel like we are just doing boring worksheets and skipping all the fun. I decided that we need to bring the fun back.
So, for the next week, I am trying my best at doing the fun projects and not just the mandatory things. I figure since we school all year long, it will work out.
I'm hoping to take pictures of some of the fun we are having. So expect short post with fun ideas/pictures!!!

Today, we went on a shape nature walk. We went out and found different shapes we are learning about in nature. We noticed that some leaves are oval shapes. We noticed that there were diamond shapes in the bark of trees. I love using our imagination and thinking outside the box..

Today we are also making buildings. We made bricks out of clay yesterday and are going to use the dried "bricks" to build a house! I'm excited and will make sure to take pictures to post!

My motto has always been "learning should be fun." Sometimes I forget and it's so hard for even me to do school. So.. Here's to fun!!

What are some of the things that you do to make everyday learning more fun?

Bubbly

I was going to title this post "P.E." as kind of a joke, since...Little Boy's in preschool. And homeschooling. So we don't do formal P.E. That would be silly.

But we do get outside on nice days and run around. Little Boy really likes chasing bubbles around, but we almost never get the bubbles out. So this was kind of a special occasion.

That's my cute sister, by the way. She's a fantastic bubble-blower.

Social Studies: Memorial Day

If there's one thing that I've learned from all of this homeschooling stuff, it's that I have to teach Little Boy at his level. (Duh, I know. But sometimes I forget.)

So that's why when we went to the local...memorial park, I think? (Is there a difference between that and a cemetery?), and Little Boy was pretty bored by the whole thing:

we ended up talking mostly about flags instead of history.

Which is good, I guess, since I have a feeling that the Fourth of July will go the same way.

Street Signs

Little Boy is obsessed with cars.



So I knew this idea from The Mailbox magazine would be a big hit with him.



I looked up clip art of different street signs...



and taped them to some of his blocks. He was already using his blocks to make roads, so I don't know why I didn't think of making street signs on my own.



This was several weeks ago, and he still uses them. And now he points out all kinds of street signs when we're driving around.

That is, when he's not pointing out every car and truck on the road.