Summer Is My Pre-Test

I'm spending some time this summer on homeschool. I wanted to get a head start so there wasn't so much pressure to have all the hours done within the nine months of the normal school year. We want flexibility.

And I've basically decided on a Unit Study method. We'll pick a topic that is appropriate for Cameron and Ethan's educational level, as well as interesting to them, and we'll base our learning on that topic for a week.

For example, if the boys want to learn about dinosaurs, we will check out library books about dinosaurs, use those to read as well as pull our spelling words from. We'll take a field trip to the dinosaur museum a few towns away, possibly have a fossil dig, learn about fossils, maybe make a salt dough version of our favorite dinosaurs, etc... We can even incorporate our themes into our math work. Story problems and such.

There were a lot of things I liked about the Charlotte Mason method, in fact, I loved it, but I knew that it wasn't a good fit for my personality. I need more structure in order to be organized and productive. Plus, I think this Unit Study will be a good fit for my kids.

So anyhow, I wanted to start with some of the basics that led me to make this decision in the first place - penmanship, reading, writing, punctuation/grammar. But that stuff is no fun. Summer is not supposed to be filled with worksheets and assignments of four lines full of perfect letter g's.

So I'm adjusting a bit. I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants with no direction, and I guess that's ok for now. I've got til September to figure out all the details.

So tomorrow we're doing a science experiment - frying eggs on the sidewalk. Should be fun, right?

Two days ago we did an ice melt experiment. I wanted the boys to learn about hypothesis, estimation, recording data, and most importantly, making observations. So we took three ice cubes outside and placed them on different surfaces to see how long it took each to melt. First, we made estimates based on what we knew about grass, concrete, and foil. We recorded those and then moved on to find out how accurate we were. I think the kids had fun. We talked about how the results might have been different if there had been no clouds in the sky, if the weather had been cooler, etc. Plus, while we waited for ice to melt, we watched some ants and talked about their habits and jobs.









In the end - about an hour logged for science, and it was mostly effortless with really good results. Except that I was the only one around to see the ice on the grass melt. That sucker took forever!


Anyway - that's a very confusing look at what we're easing into. When things get more serious, I swear I'll be more organized. :)