Week 2: let's simplify!

The first week had some good moments, but getting H to do his work was becoming a Herculean task, and after Monday I was ready to pull my hair out. I met a friend at a park and she recommended pulling back more - keeping it fun and easing in a little more slowly. I immediately knew what I needed to do. The rest of the week I have dropped structured math completely, and we have focused most of our school day on project time. We still have circle time first thing, and H still has to do a handwriting page and practice math facts, but it has been so much more fun and he is engaged and working hard. I know we will have to add math back in soon, but it has been a great week and we are all just enjoying learning so much now!

Here are some high points:

One morning during circle time, I gave them their sketch/project books and they had a blast decorating them and doing some leaf rubbings and sketches inside. It was then that I heard Henry (my anti-perfectionist, anti-handwriting boy) say, "I am going to make a perfect 'A' too!" After his brother had been working really hard on his "A."

(Notice the flowers on the table. We did some watercolors one day, too, the goal being to sketch and paint them, but I didn't get pics of that.)

H's big project he is working on right now is a head-to-toe costume of a Clone Trooper that he will wear for Halloween. Right now we are working on cutting templates out of paper before we use cardboard. He is doing lots of measuring and cutting and problem solving with that! 

One of the best perks of homeschooling is taking 5 minute bike breaks!

We also have time for lots of other fun things:

Board games 

Lego creations (AT-AT Walker)

Impromptu STEM challenges (experimenting with zip lines)

And of course stalking rabbits in the back yard.

Probably the most gratifying experience this week wasn't even part of the school day. H was practicing piano - or that's what he was supposed to be doing. Instead he came up with a little song he liked. He kept playing it, and since I was in a schooling mentality, I asked if he wanted to write it down. He worked really hard and figured out how to write the notes on the lines (he hasn't learned where actual notes are yet, just intervals and relative motion). It really helped with his music theory, though, since he had to figure out where measure lines went, how many counts each note got, and how to explain where your hand went. We tested it by having Dad play it when he got downstairs. 

So that was our week! And just in case you think I have forgotten I have other children, here are some good pics of their cute faces!