The first week of homeschool ended in our first field trip! Dog and all.
Wherever the guidebook that teaches me how to homeschool AND run a daycare simultaneously, please show it to me. I'm kidding (kinda). In all honesty, the first week of homeschooling, while chaotic, went as smoothly as I could hope for. It's A LOT of change for not only my kids homeschooling, but daycare as well. I know it will take a while to find our footing. I did manage to incorporate some of what my kids were learning into daycare as well. I"ve found that's a huge advantage in having the multiple age groups: the littles want to learn and do what the bigs are doing, but the bigs run the show and learn through doing and teaching/helping the littles. I quite certain it's A LOT different than what a typical school year looks like, but more than anything, it will be memorable. I have no doubt that everyone will learn a thing or two, or three, in the next few weeks and months.
I kept the first week simple so we could ease into things.
A look at what our daily schedule is like. I've found all of the kids to be much more energetic in the mornings, which makes it an ideal time for hands on learning. I try to make science and social studies at interactive as I possibly can. Science I'll try to keep them learning similar things throughout the year, so we can do experiments, have our very own science fair, enjoy our microscope and telescope, and learn all the things (ideally).
Our first unit in music is Instruments From Around the World. I put together this lesson plan myself. Twice a week we learn about a new instrument, what it's used for, where it came from, etc. This week's was the Tibetan singing bowl (not actually from Tibet, fyi) and the Chilean Rainstick. We also listened to top song right now in Chile one day during snack. The minis were thrilled to hear Spanish words they recognized from their Spanish class!
Naturally, we did yoga right after learning about the singing bowl. We finished our morning course work early, so we moved gym up to late morning. While all of the kids have more energy in the mornings, I try to put the fine art and gym classes at the end of the day.
We received all of our textbooks we'll need for this quarter. I'll be incorporating a few different curriculums into homeschooling, as that's what works best for us. If I'm taking the year to homeschool my children, there's things I want to take the time to teach them that they won't learn in a textbook. Since I've been given the gift of time, I'm using it the best I can, for all of us!
I giggled a lot whenever they had something to complete because they had to decide which school room they wanted to work in. They moved all around and tried out all of the spots!
Reading their journals is still one of my favorite things! This was from the kids who insisted he call me Mrs. Sheaffer all day or he would get confused if he had to call me mom.
We've done these experiments so many time, but it's a good one to do. This time it was fun because the kids did the entire thing by themselves, including looking up why the whole milk and dish soap experiment works.
Poor Zeus had a ROUGH couple of days getting used to the kid's attention not being on him. He found a dead fly on the floor and pawed at it for a good 20 minutes, trying to get it to play with him. Eventually he just ate it.
Above: More hands on learning: in science, the oldest learned about erosion and deposition (as a segue into this week's science topics: rocks, minerals, and sediments) so we made dirt mountains and created wind (blowing) and rain (water from a slow flow watering can). This easily showed how our mountains broke down over a few minutes. It also created a lot of easy conversation, as the three minis realized where we've seen evidence of erosion on hikes and traveling. I saw the light bulb go off in their heads. Even though all three have learned about erosion at some point at school, to be able to apply it to real life is what I like to see.
Below: Math for the younger two included measuring. I had them do it with measuring cups and water, so they could see. They instantly got the lesson and were able to do the math worksheet. Visuals and actually doing the activity/lesson they're learning about helps kids (especially grade school children) understand new concepts and ideas much more quickly.
I started the oldest on The Diary of a Young Girl. We're still learning mom's expectations because I'm quite certain he wouldn't write "I would have lost my balls if I were her." Good grief. That being said, we were able to talk about the book and he had a good understanding of what Anne and her family went through thanks to our own quarantine. He has a whole new way of looking at the book and appreciating it, than what I ever could at his age.
Art class last week was making tie blankets. I bought the girls tie blanket kits and the boys chose their own fabric (because they thought the boys fabric was "too little kid like"). The kids did amazing at these blankets and loved coming up with their patterns.
Cooking has become an important part of our homeschooling. At least one meal a day is made by a mini. On this day it was Fruit Loop pancakes.
Typical homeschool scene: kids working and reading, dog asleep at their feet, ready at a moment's notice for them to play again.
With dad's help they used the microscope to examine soil samples taken from around our neighborhood. They had to compare each sample and write their findings.
Finished tie blankets. I had the boys do all of their own measuring, cutting, and tying. They did great and their blankets turned out perfectly!
Back when I thought we'd be doing virtual school through the district, I decided to take Friday's in September off in case we needed a catch up day. When we decided to switch to homeschool, I decided to keep my Friday's off and I'm so glad I did! Not only did we spend this Friday on our first homeschool field trip (to Living History Farms), but they also got school work done when we got home so we wouldn't have an insane four days of learning Labor Day week.
Living History Farms was wonderful! Plenty of room for social distancing, masks are required inside buildings and when you're not able to social distance (we wound up wearing our mask most of the time), dogs are allowed at any time, and the minis got so many one on one demonstrations from their workers in the shops and on the farms. We've been to LHF plenty of times before, but this was honestly the most educational and personal visit we've ever had! They have some of our favorite fall events coming up, so be sure to check them out if you're in the area!
Zeus and I did a lot of waiting for the minis while they were inside the shops learning. They got a lesson on how the printing press worked back in the day, how to make perfume at the drug store, did a little shopping in the General Store, saw how a birthday party was thrown in 1900's at the Flynn Mansion, and smelled wonderful baking smells at the town farm. Then, we hopped on the tractor for a ride to the farms.
The kids got to help start a fire at the 1700 Ioway Indian farm.
We had to leave the 1800's farm pretty quickly because Zeus didn't like the oxen that were tied to a tree. I've never heard my dog deep bark, but that's exactly what he did with the oxen, as well as put himself between the kids and the oxen.
We got to help move the hay at the 1900's farm.
The newest exhibit is the Sukup Safe T Home. It shows kids (any visitor really) how these are used in different parts of the world. In Iowa they're used as grain bins, but in other parts of the world they're used as shelter, clinics, orphanges, and even schools. I think I enjoyed this exhibit more than the minis!
The pup was exhausted after the farms, so we had to come home. It worked out well because we were home in time for a late lunch and an afternoon of a few school projects before we began our long weekend!
