Time for a change!

Are you ready to take an adventure with us? Well we are going on a homeschooling adventure. You see January and February are what a lot of homeschoolers call the "doldrums". Simply because you've just come through your most busy time and during the "winter" you stay indoors a lot more and you get as much school done as you can. Lately our life has had its many downs than up times and I'm stuck in a rut. So I got a little inspiration from our homeschooling loop on Unit Studies and decided that we are going to change a little learning around here.

One of the reasons that I homeschool is to hopefully make my children think. Unfortunately for me it makes me think too! I have to think up stuff that is fun and simply put, I'm not a lot of fun! I like to keep my house clean and just do routine stuff. I like my homeschooling days to be in the "norm" for us rather than the "un-norm" everyday. I don't like crafts, messy paints, researching stuff and stopping in the middle of what I'm doing to figure things out. I like my kids to go self paced (self disciplined to do what they need to do to "get it done"). However that doesn't create a very learning environment for my children.

So we are off on an adventure. We are throwing aside the history curriculum and the science curriculum (although Sarah still has to do hers) and heading off into the world of 'Unit Studies'. They are studies directed by parent or students that usually last 2 to 3 weeks about one particular thing and then all your learning comes into play studying that one thing. For example, lets say a particular child wants to know why we have a lunar eclipse. For two weeks we would check out books from the library about lunar eclipses, research on the internet, build models, write stories, do some math problems (like light years and miles around the moon and how many years till the next one, etc), and much much more. Now before all of you freak out and say that's not enough study, I agree. So we will stick to the regular math and english programs, the spelling and vocabulary, etc. They will learn all about one thing on top of their regular studies except for their regular History and Science. This helps keep it interesting and makes them want to learn and how to learn.

So come on the adventure with us! We will study about Bald Eagles, the Model T Ford Car, and Wedding Rings. (These are the topics my kids picked out from a list of unit studies I had for them) Isabella picked the wedding rings. At first I thought why would wedding rings be a relevant study, but she actually gets to study gold, platinum, and diamonds (that by the way is chemistry!). She gets to learn the symbolism of the complete circle of the wedding ring. Also if I'm smart, I'll plug in some "true love waits" information in there too! I'm sure also that by the time we are done she will have picked out the wedding ring she wants. I told her that I'm not buying one of those just for the study.

If you have any relevant information about any of these or any interesting ideas on these let me know. I'll be sure to snap plenty of pictures for you to find out all you can. Oh and by the way at the end of two weeks they will be required to deliver a full report of what they've learned to dad and I and the other siblings. So if your within driving distance and want to come and hear, come on down and we will even make you dinner!