Right now, Morgan is my only child being homeschooled. Bryn and Coco will start with the new school year. However, over vacation and on weekends I have been doing "trial" homeschooling with them. Mainly to help me figure out what on Earth I am doing, and what works, before we start for real. Already I have discovered some real benefits. Learning has become more apart of family life, and something that happens all the time. For instance last week Coco and Morgan made their own tofurkey (yes they love this stuff) sandwiches. Then, while eating, they discussed how many squirts of ketchup and mustard they used. Who had used more, who had used less, which one was greatest, which one was least. A little math lesson, totally spontaneous and unprompted by me.
This weekend we took the whole family to the Chattahoochee Nature Center. It's minutes from our home and I am now convinced it is the greatest place on Earth. In the Nature Exchange kids are encouraged to bring in found items from nature, nature journals and projects of all kinds. They are awarded points based on what they know about their items. The points can be exchanged for a wide array of goodies from shells to insects to amazing fossils. Kids projects are on display throughout the Exchange, it's a homeschoolers dream!
Entirely of her own accord, Bryn picked a bird out of her birders guide and got working on a report. She spent all her free time this past weekend working on it. I can't believe how great of a job she did. She even created a chart for a humorous "Bird Menu" at the end.We will be taking it to the Nature Exchange this weekend to see how many points she has earned. (I will post her report as soon as I figure out how!) I am becoming more and more convinced this is the way to learn!
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