It's so hard to get back in to the groove after a vacation. The last thing we wanted to do was head back to homeschool. But this week, we turned to old routines and found ways to learn from our "extras", and it turned out to be a fantastic, learning-packed week!
Fun Parts of the Homeschool Routine
My kindergartner had a few play dates and I can see that those are going to be our redeeming feature of our days. My daughter really does need those free play times, with other people. Raisin also has his co-op classes, homeschool karate class, and in-person homeschool Spanish class as well to keep him busy.
My kids also started back up with swimming lessons. I'm hoping their swimming will continue to improve (especially Raisin's since he wants to join swim team). But even if their swimming doesn't improve significantly, at least they are swimming at least one day a week! We often try to get to at least one open swim a week as well.
Co-Op is Part of Our Homeschool Routine
When my son was in kindergarten I taught a "literary elements writing workshop" to lower elementary school students. Our first week, we talked about the writing process. The co-op as a whole was perfect for
My son also had a science class at the co-op. His first class he took home a bean to grow (a project he did with his summer science class in May and June this year) and he will be learning about plant life.
"Field Trips" Become Part of Our Homeschooling Extras
The fact that the first science co-op class was about botany was perfect for this week. A different homeschool group of mine had a field trip this week to the Apple Orchard! I was surprised to find, as we traveled there, that my kindergartner could not remember where the seeds are in an apple! I always cut out the core so Raisin and Strawberry rarely see the seeds when I give them apples.
Our apple orchard field trip was very educational. We learned how essential bees are for the growth of healthy and large apples. We even saw some bees busying around a hive and pointed out the queen bee! We also learned about the various stages of an apple tree's growth and how every apple contains the seeds needed for more trees.
In honor of our apple orchard trip, I wrote up some information about the apple tree life cycle. Strawberry (who is now Kindergarten) found it funny that there was no start or end to the life cycle.
"But, is the tree first or the seeds or the apples?" she asked when I first showed her the life cycle spinner. You can get the Apple Tree Life CycleSpinner free when you sign to be a
Line upon Line Learning VIP.
Applesauce Homeschooling (Or, Learning from the Homeschooling Extras)
We enjoyed learning about the apple tree life cycle as we ate our homemade applesauce! Yep, you got that right! My mom and two of her grandchildren made applesauce after our field trip today! What could be a better culmination to the busy-ness of the week?
Making applesauce helped the kids see just where the food they eats comes from. It also was lots of fun to watch the apples be turned into mush. I was grateful that my mom spearheaded that learning project.
I think we'll make some more apple crisp now. I'm craving more apple-cinnamon taste.
The awesome part of homeschooling is that all of this also counts as school learning!
Like this post? Pin it for later!
Related Articles:
When we go on a road trip, I try to add in mini-lessons as we go. One thing I love to revisit is clouds. A cloudy sky with a peek of blue is such a gorgeous site as we drive on the highway! Learning about the water cycle is a perfect compliment to such a
Read More
When I think of summer, I think of reading. I love to encourage free reading all summer long, and finding reading programs with book-ish rewards only adds to the fun.
Read More
What do you do for your students for Valentine’s Day? Here is a fun way to give a STEM Valentine’s Day card to your students or children — crack a code! My STEM Challenge class loved trying to figure the codes out. My preschooler enjoyed matching the symbols to the letters (although she could not
Read More
My son and I enjoy playing Scrabble and other word-building games. But while we are playing, I needed to find a way to keep my 2-year-old happy, without her grabbing our tiles! To keep her busy, I created some word templates for her to enjoy building words too. ABC Letters Tiles are fun for all letter
Read More
I’ve fallen in love with word links (also called word ladders, word golf, or doublets): games that change just one letter at a time to get to a completely different word. The game of word links were created by Lewis Carroll in 1877. My son, although a very strong reader, did struggle with vocabulary as a first
Read More
I am so excited about this year’s plan because we are starting out with STEAM the center of our minds! At our co-op, I’m teaching an upper elementary-level STEAM Challenge class. Besides that, I’m super excited about the ideas in the book STEAM Kids, a fantastic book full of gorgeous and creative ways to implement
Read More