being homeschoolers, we run on a different schedule than the government mandated school schedules. spring is such a hectic time for us that we find ourselves taking a break from school to get the garden going. in a way, we are still schooling as the kids are learning to grow food to feed themselves, a lifeskill that is going to be needed more and more in the future. however, the more thought of subjects of reading, writing and arithmatic are set aside for the moment. we take an extended spring break to keep the homestead running smoothly. in the future, this may change, but for now, this is what works for us.
now that the garden is in, weeds are (semi) under control and food is pouring in for us to enjoy, days are hotter and more lazy. we have an intern that comes twice a week to help out and 2 wwoofers that are with us for 6 weeks. after that, 2 more come for 6 more weeks. time to get back to the grind.
jumping back in can be hard. after taking 6 weeks off to beat the rush of gardening, preparing for market and more, getting back to a routine can be difficult. i start by getting lots of books from the library on summer. this is a fun theme that gets us in the mood for more formal schooling.
during summer, we do a lot of free form (unschooling) schooling. lots of book reading on subjects we are interested in, time spent outside studying plants and animals, playing in the water pond and more.kids are very interested in the natural outdoors and i try to encourage that as much as possible. wintertime is for math, history, writing and more rigid studies when we are stuck indoors, plenty of time then for ‘boring’ bookwork, right now, it’s all about experiences!
i am in the middle of assembling nature kits for the kids so we can go off exploring the woods. i have collected ideas from various blogs to assemble items that will be interesting to the kids. i am making bags to stash these items out of old pants. these bags will contain:
a notebook with thick lineless paper strong enough to hold watercolor paint
a variety of art pencils, 2b, hb, 2h
pencil sharpener
eraser
water colors
charcoal
various sized containers (small altoids, lip balm, etc) for stashing ‘finds’
muslim bag for storing leaves, acorns and other nature jewels
magnifying glasses
a small bottle of water for the watercolors
we’ll be set to explore and journal our experiences. a fun way to combine our love of being outside with science and discovery.i also lug along a few field guides so we can look up plants when we discover them. insects and critters are well noted so we can look them up when we return home.
for more ideas on assembling your own nature kits for kids (and moms/dads too) to use, try these great blogs/posts:
field bag show and tell (a post showing others’ nature/field bags)
make a field/nature bag from recycled clothing/pants
I like that plan for the schooling. It seems to make a lot of sense.
I recently checked out the following book from the library, and 2 days later I went ahead and ordered a copy of my own. I really love this book:
The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature, by Cathy Johnson.
It might give you some ideas for your nature journal studies.
We are homeschoolers and we do just the same thing. Spring finds us in the garden every sunny moment, and then the hot summer days chase us back in and we relish a chance to sit still and open the books.
Us too… when the boys were small we took time off when needed but also life is life and there is something new to learn every day. It’s doesn’t have to come from a book.
I would like to think that even though we took time off the kids and I learned something everyday so there was no real time off to do nothing.
Even on a day to do nothing we would find ourselves in some project or another, what a great time in their lives. It sure sounds like you are doing a great job. Can I come too?….
K
[…] the beginning of this month, i talked about homeschooling during the summertime. in that post i mentioned field bags that were made from old pants. this month, i’ve worked […]