Moving Right Along

Our first 2 weeks have gone quite well.

Reading:
-We’ve finished 10 lessons, a few workbook pages, and a few Bob Books. He’s so eager to do his reading lessons, and I catch him reading simple words and going, ‘Say the sounds slowly…say it fast!’

PE:
-I signed my son up to play sports with some other home schoolers at a sports arena, with real coaches. He did not want to go. I explained to him what he would be doing, that his 2 cousins would be there, and I would be right there with him. He still did not want to go. After one session he was hooked. He loves PE, can’t wait to go every Friday, and begs to go the next day. He’s had 4 sessions so far. This is a good example of why we are not radical unschoolers (which I dabbled with for a short time)…if we were, I would have had to allow my son to give in to his fear of trying something new. However, if he hated it, and still hated it after a few sessions, I would not have forced him to keep going.

Arts & Crafts:
-You know, I’m starting to think the whole craft thing is a bit over rated. My son’s not really interested in making some useless thing out of toilet rolls and pipe cleaners, just for the sake of it. Yes, he likes to paint, draw, use pastels, cut things up…but when he does some sort of craft, it’s completely spontaneous; something he wants to create for himself. He once made a car from a shoe box and whatever else he could find. No one told him it was time to sit down and make ‘X’ from a craft book, no one told him to fold tab a down and glue it to tab b, and no one said it needed to look like it does in the picture. And he enjoyed it immensely.

And I, myself, think some of these projects are just a big waste of time. Not everything…but a lot of it. Things like knitting, sewing, paper-making, and weaving are wonderful…they’re real crafts, real skills…something real and useful is made from it. What exactly are we supposed to do with a fish made from a paper plate? Not only did my son not really enjoy making it, it was a waste of resources and time (not only to make it, but to plan it). And most of the time, he wants me to do it. Oh yeah, he loves watching me make things for some reason.

So the planned, contrived useless crafts are out…

…and nature study is in.

Next week we’re going to learn about leaves, why they change colour, a bit of anatomy, and lots of fun activities. I got this idea from my friend Lynn. Basically, I’m copying what she’s done, and have added a bit. Have a look here. There may be a bit of crafts involved, but these crafts I think he will enjoy, and if not, we’ll leave it. Most of it is for the nature journal we’ll start. This is a bit experimental; not sure how it will go over. If he’s not interested in this, I don’t plan to push it. And it will be very, very basic. If he doesn’t want to do it, we’ll leave it and try again in a year.

On a completely different note, someone posted an amazing blog entry that I think all home schoolers should read. It’s not long, but it’s powerful. I’ve book-marked it and plan to read it over and over to keep myself focused on what’s important during our homeschool journey. Please take 2 minutes to read this.