Unschool-ology

Unschool-ology
Unschooling: Living Without School; Living Free Range-Freedom to Learn What One Wants When One Wants

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Sooo...It's been a week, and let me just say that having a 6-year-old is SOOO COOL!

They catch on to things quicker and reason better. I can't tell you how many times I felt like a failure as a homeschool Mom for NOT making Samantha practice her math facts-Sad, I know. I felt like I was being lazy. Like I need to MAKE her practice these vital facts! (No seriously, you do need to know them if you want to do ANY higher maths with ease. Including things as simple as multiplying. I know that, but I also know you don't need to learn them as early as people expect kids to learn them.) Welp, NO MORE! I do not feel that way. I was assuaged, as usual, by watching
...and waiting. I resisted the urge and only gabe her somethjng to practice if she asked. But I guess it was too sporadic and really didnt help. But this week we played a game with a new card deck we bought by Right Start Math. One of the games is called Go To The Dump, like Go Fish, but you are trying to get sums of 10. (Or whatever other math fact you choose.) Four games in and she knows her 10 facts like the back of her hand. 1s are easy. She knows 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s. We still have 6, 7, 8, 9 left, but at this pace I have no worries. She is enjoying it. (That's rare for math, so I guess Right Start games are for us.) It is a part of a curriculum, but we will not use it as a curriculum. We will use it when we feel like it-IF we feel like it. Although, this week has centered around just that.

Coming Up....Friday we are trekking to the Old Stone Church, a local museum (very small) of a place that was used as a hospital during the Civil War. Right next door they have built a playground and picnic area and that is where you will find us afterward. May bring the hammocks, and definitely the Marley book. We have Homeschool Day at McKay, a CHEA Playdate-a few actually, a trip to go Apple Picking, a camping trip, and a Nature Club meeting on the Biology Trails at SAU. THEN....drum roll, please, THE HOLIDAYS!!!! Ah. The holidays. One word. Baking. Loys of fractions! I can smell it now. This year will be pumpkin cookies, pumpkin Play Doh, apple cobbler....and not sure what else apple. J is the only one who eats apples, so we sha'll see. I'm just happy for cool weather, but still warm enough to allow for hiking, rock climbing, possibly camping. And then soon our house will smell like a Christmas tree. Got most of my shopping done, but still a fun season.

We recently switched gears to dog books and dog training and soon we'll wrap up the Civil War and move on until she shows interest again. (I'm sure she will since we live in the heart of that History.) We'll probably continue to focus more on You Tube video making and editing. And then gear up for learning about Egypt (for the Geography Fair) in January when it is too cold to venture outdoors too much.

So much to do, but pretty much just wanted to say that having a 6 year old is awesome because it comes with all the fun silliness and talkativeness of a 5-year-old, but a better and easier grasp on things.

Here are some pictures of my SUPER AWESOME 6 year old! Tried to post some that I didn't put on FB. :)










My Artist


No comments:

Post a Comment