I like to mix things up as do the boys. We see value in almost everything we do. Doing is learning. I've mentioned some of our time may involve some curriculum, but much of our time does not.
The two oldest boys have begun their Spring classes at the co-op. One class that they take together is Ninja Training, and I get to be official Ninja assistant!
We learned the importance of being quiet and stealthy, and how to move our feet and body to move unnoticed, yet prepared for anything.
My middle son is also continuing in a Fairy tales, Folklore, and Fables comparison class that he's been taking for two sessions, and a bookmaking class. In that class he will make books that "pop up, fly, twist, and turn!"
My oldest son will participate in a class entitled "Dirt" and explore all things pertaining to soil. He also attends "Outside/Inside Games." This week, they played "Angels and Mortals" which also required stealth and keen listening ability to detect "unseen angels" hovering near you. They also attempted a collaborative game where they formed a circle, and then sat back onto the person behind's knees, in essence a self-supporting structure. This proved challenging with the various body sizes. Outside, they played Dog and Bone-a relay type game, and Snake, in which they form a snake who's head (1st person)tries to bite the tail (last person).
These remind me of the games of my own childhood. It puts a smile on my face to see my children enjoying these games with other children, delighting in childhood and camaraderie.
Today, we took our morning time to play games at home, as it was a rather chilly spring morning, in fact snow is in the forecast for tomorrow!
We played around with a website called GoNoodle.com It has lots of brainbreak games and activities to get kids moving.
We also played Uno and Tantrix, both games that utilize chance and strategy. All of these avenues are excellent ways to get the brain moving and stimulated in many areas. Learning does not have to mean sitting down, reading, and completing workbooks and exercises. My sister gave the boys story cubes for Christmas. We've tried them out initially to create oral string a-long stories with the pictures "rolled." Today, we challenged ourselves to write a story, poem, or any type of writing using the pictures. I try to give the boys a sense of ownership to their work, by providing them with as many options as they need to feel successful and interested. With my older son, we used this opportunity to talk about self editing, and punctuation, very casually. With my middle son, we talked about spacing our words. We hope to compare their stories, and how different they were despite using the same set of pictures.
We also took a trip to the chiropractor and talked about nutrition, and alignment. The older boys were able to converse with the chiropractor while he conducted my adjustment-it was much needed as both my knee and lower back had been having issues over the weekend, rendering me almost unable to walk.
We also spent some time working in our Life Of Fred math books. The two older boys attended religious ed late in the day. My older son and I read The Number Devil and The Phantom Tollbooth as well.
We ended our day at the library learning all about the beautiful art and heritage of Irish Dancing.
