Back to (Home) School: Week 1

A few additional highlights from week 1.

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk at least a little about this cool, rare(ish) thing that happened: a solar eclipse!

Someone in our family (ahem: I have no idea who that someone might be...) was a little slow on the uptake and neglected to get the cool solar glasses that were going around.  Fortunately, amazon visits our house often, and the internet has great ideas.

We did a little role-playing to explain how the orbits of earth, moon and sun all conspire to create an eclipse.

Although, even afterward, Logan was convinced the astronomical phenomenon was purely in celebration of their first day of school.  

We took full advantage of our status as homeschoolers to enjoy the entire effect.  In Colorado, the eclipse was nearly total, which created a fun and eerie atmosphere in which to work and read.

And play, of course.

The light.  It was SO cool!

We will begin Classical Conversations in two weeks, but since this year's cycle centers around American History, we began our own studies - naturally - with a short but oh-so-fun Native American unit.  

The kids had a great time.  Quick break-down of our readings and activities, since I didn't get pictures of everything: 

This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall: How Columbus Fared

Pocahontas by Ingri d'Aulaire

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola

Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Smith

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling

The Burgess Animal Book by Thornton Burgess

Thanks to the Animals by Sebastian Allen

The Legend of the Grand Canyon (Book of America)

Winnie the Pooh by A.A.Milne

Poetry: When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

Composer: Review from last year (Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven)

Picture study: Treaty of Penn with the Indians (Benjamin West, 1771)

We made these feather necklaces, and read about the culture and lifestyle of several different tribes of Native Americans.

As our weekly virtues study, we wrote and memorized Charlotte Mason's student motto to kick off our school year: 

I AM, I CAN, I OUGHT, I WILL

On our first day of school, we relish getting dressed up and taking photos...

...but it doesn't take us very long to return to our natural (and favorite) attire: jammies!  Although we've been working on setting an alarm and training ourselves in the morning to dress, tidy and make beds before we come downstairs - tasks that they are absolutely doing awesome with, I might add - I relented by Thursday.

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons.  

It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.

- Walt Whitman

Livvy Joy is a champ when it comes to keeping herself busy during our school day.  It doesn't take very many activities, and she stays busy for the roughly four hours as we do school.  That child is dedicated to her play, and has such creativity and imagination.  Logan joined us for a "formal"-ish preschool when he was three, but I am so content to let Livvy play and touch and experience.

One thing that so appeals to me about Charlotte Mason an Classical Conversations: flexibility.  We have a handful of regular workbooks - math and writing, to be precise - but so much of what we do can be moved around to suit our weekly schedule.   We're not glued to the table; we're free to take advantage of the beautiful outdoors, or even, through the magic of audio books, take it on the road.

Of course, that's not to say that I don't have a schedule we adhere to regularly.  Children thrive on routine, so most of what we do follows a predictable pattern.  But if we're having an off day, if a toddler needs extra love or a baby insists on taking five naps instead of two, I'm at perfect liberty to can whatever we're doing, change or tweak it appropriately or simply move it around to another day.  

The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful.

- Socrates

I think my favorite moment of the week, however, was the addition of something new.  Something I've never done before.

I called it our Thursday Think.  It's an incredibly simple idea, really.  

I wanted to know what they remembered from our week of learning.  What they had taken in; what they were passionate about.  Which subjects resonated with them or questions still lingered.

I rolled a large sheet of butcher paper across our table, put out the pastels and most of the materials we'd used during the week... and off they went!

I love what came pouring out of them. 

I discovered that Logan likes to write. 

He wanted to write more than he wanted to draw.  I did not see that one coming. He also has quite the knack for spelling... even if not for spacing his words.  (For the record, that purple one reads, "Is Logan here mom?  No.")

And Leah, as ever, is my perfectionist.  This, with it's lack of structure, kid-driven, no-right-answer was way outside of her comfort zone... but she kinda loved it.

And my little artist Livvy adored this project.  She sat and colored for an hour straight.  We're gonna need more pastels.

And then on Friday, to wrap up our week, it was time to head to their enrichment program.

Just in case life wasn't rich enough already.