Homeschooling is full of lessons- for me. I have realized, over the course of this journey, that I am in no way a CRAFTY PERSON. It actually is a cause for sadness for myself and sometimes my children. My heart broke when Bowden and Lucy came to me and asked, "Are we going to do crafts for Christmas? Like at school? We always do Christmas crafts at school!"
Oh. Right. I mean, I make masks and stuff from paper bags and paper plates, but that only goes so far. I had them make a list of crafts that we could do, and we did them, but I hated it. It makes me grumpy doing the crafts, cleaning up after the crafts, and eventually growing sick of the crafts and throwing them away.
What I love to do- science projects. They're just as messy. They take just as much prep. I don't know why I love them, but I do. We do at least one science project a week, apart from our nature study.
Last week was the ever simple cornstarch in water- one cup corn starch to one half cup water, to be exact.
This mixture is called a "hydrosol." It's gooey and drippy and feels so strange. When you put your hands in it gently, it's like quicksand. If you punch it, it's hard. That's pretty cool.
Jack thought that it was cool, too.
Miles took care of the clean-up. If only I could trust him with the dishes.
I have visited my friend Julie's house with the instruments of experimentation in hand, and we have done some very fun experiments with soda and balloons- after she sits the kids down with paintbrushes and paper.
Oh. Right. I mean, I make masks and stuff from paper bags and paper plates, but that only goes so far. I had them make a list of crafts that we could do, and we did them, but I hated it. It makes me grumpy doing the crafts, cleaning up after the crafts, and eventually growing sick of the crafts and throwing them away.
What I love to do- science projects. They're just as messy. They take just as much prep. I don't know why I love them, but I do. We do at least one science project a week, apart from our nature study.
Last week was the ever simple cornstarch in water- one cup corn starch to one half cup water, to be exact.
This mixture is called a "hydrosol." It's gooey and drippy and feels so strange. When you put your hands in it gently, it's like quicksand. If you punch it, it's hard. That's pretty cool.
Jack thought that it was cool, too.
Miles took care of the clean-up. If only I could trust him with the dishes.
I have visited my friend Julie's house with the instruments of experimentation in hand, and we have done some very fun experiments with soda and balloons- after she sits the kids down with paintbrushes and paper.That's a good trade.
6 comments:
I love seeing your (home)school. Can you post more pictures in your ample free time? I say ample because I know what the lives of hometeaching mom's REALLY looks like (all that ice-tea and fanning...) Would you possibly move to Pemba and I will do crafts and you will teach Science and we will live happiliy ever after? Or I'll come to you perhaps?! Either way you have all my love.
xo
That's the ticket! Find people who like crafts and swap. You do science one day, another crafts, another PE, another Health...
We actually had rotation of classes at one school, with me doing music that incorporated reading, different Genres (yes I got some Burl Ives in there), another teacher doing science, another social studies, etc.
It was great cause I only had to prepare for one and my kids got all, These were afternoon classes. We all did our own core curriculum.
Hey, maybe you could rope in Josh for a weekly French class, eh? Buen apetit! or, Tres Bien!
Oh, mom. You know Josh already does that. And...if I had all those people teach my kids, it wouldn't REALLY be homeschooling anymore...Burl Ives, though, is brilliant. More Burl Ives!
And Sandy.
Move near me.
I would move near you if I could, even with the giant spiders. You are worth giant spiders to me.
Oh, this sounds uncomfortably like me, only it's made even more uncomfortable by the fact that I DON'T do science experiments every week (cough. month). I've tried to entice a homeschooling friend to share the homeschooling fun, to no avail. [The fact that we live 45 minutes away from each other and are both always busy drinking (tea) and fanning probably has something to do with it.] I love living in the boonies, but I wish I had a wormhole portal to go along with it.
I have a small proposition. You AND Sandy can move near ME. You will make my children happy with all manner of crafts and science experiments, and, in return I'll....I dunno. Bake cookies? Sing cowboy songs? Both?
Ha! I have the least to offer of all these arrangements, but yes, I agree, a commune is in order.
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