FINDING OUR WAY IN THE HOMESCHOOLING WORLD

October 2, 2014

My daughter and I are into our 2nd year of homeschooling.  This year we are finding that we both need to spend less time sitting at a table and more time learning outside or at the very least learning through crafts or other activities.  Thankfully I have two books that have made getting away from the "sit down" work much easier.

R.E.A.L Science Odyssey Curriculum

Both my daughter and I are loving the lessons in this book.  We are working on Level One Life Science and the hands-on work in the book is quite fun.  Here is a pic of the day Aiyana was learning about cells.  We used a raw egg (on right) to learn about a single cell and (on left) we were using jello and fruit to learn the difference between plant and animal cells. Can you tell which one is the plant cell? :D


We've also figured if we are going to run away from sit-down work and head outside that it would have to be for more than just playing so I pulled out the Nature Seeker Workbook, turned to the section titled "autumn" and started with the first lesson which is studying leaves.  

We took a 2 mile walk around the lake and examined practically every tree along the way.  We found over a dozen different types of trees and something we'd never seen before (pictured in lower right corner of bottom photo).  I thought it was some kind of nut when Aiyana first picked it off an oak tree but after looking it up online I found that it is called an Oak Apple Gall and inside is the home of a wasp (click HERE for more information).  The wasp in this one is already gone (See the tiny hole? That is a sign they've moved on).  Pretty cool! 


So stay tuned for the next post about ways we found to get away from the "study table" because we are going to be running away to learn a lot now that we've discovered how much more fun it is than sitting at a table for 3 hours :D
Teresa Robeson said...

Love this, M! I'm so glad you're doing fun, hands-on stuff. Some people might say "school is work" but I maintain that that's the wrong attitude. Learning should be fun because we remember fun things. We don't remember if we're forced to memorize things for a test. :)

Besides, there will be some forced learning later in life but at her age, it should be about cultivating a love of learning, not cramming things into her head by force.

Michelle said...

Thanks T for helping me see the light on this. I have been brainwashed by piblic school into thinking learning can't be fun and it is time to get away from that type of thinking.

Epicure68 said...

What a wonderful post MIchelle! It just goes to show that homeschooling can be fun and educational! Not to mention tasty! ;)

I think being able to interact with what you're trying to learn helps you retain so much more than just having someone talk at you. But then again, it could just be me with too many years of catechism, turning me into an expert at tuning things out.

Michelle said...

Monica, I agree! I wish that all my learning had been hands-on because I sure would have been a better student :-)

Epicure68 said...

I think you make a great teacher now Michelle.