Friday, July 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
End of year wrap up
For the past several years I’ve taken a pretty laid back stance on “schooling”, choosing to follow my son’s lead which had led to holding off on most formal learning and instead just focusing on playing and living! Since my son was 7 for most of the school year, and this was our first official homeschooling year with my son being school age, we basically took the year to ease into a more formal type of learning.
In September 2009 my son joined Cub Scouts which sparked in him a desire to “catch up” to his peers. He started the year not even knowing his entire alphabet or numbers by heart and is now ending the year with basic reading skills and a love of math which he is constantly improving on! He is still behind other kids his age in reading because of his late start, but we will be focusing more on his reading and writing skills in the coming year and I have no doubt that he will continue to progress well at his own pace. When he sets his mind on learning something he does it with ease!
He also loves science and we are always doing interesting things. For example, this year he was interested in volcanoes so we took time to learn about them and he even built his own! He made a soda bottle terrarium and watched his seeds grow throughout the spring. We’ve done a lot of gardening this spring as well and learned all about how plants grow. We’ve also done a lot of little experiments from his science kit that he got for Christmas, such as growing crystals and how different chemicals react to each other.
He is also becoming quite interested in history. We recently marched in our city’s Memorial Day parade with his Scout pack so he learned all about the history of Memorial Day, our flag, and veterans. He has also taken a liking to Abraham Lincoln and has been learning about him.
Another neat thing we took part in this year (and continue to do so) is a postcard swap for unschoolers. We’ve traded postcards with people from all over the world! Not only are we working on a really cool collection of postcards from all over, but it’s been a wonderful way for both of us to discover and learn about new places together!
Also, something that he worked VERY hard on this year was that he completed two ranks, Tiger & Wolf, in Cub Scouts. That entailed completing a series of achievements from two different books and age/rank levels. Some of the things he has learned from this-
The pledge of allegiance and was able to tell what it means. He also learned about the U.S. & State flag and how to fold and display them.
Map skills
Fire safety and emergency skills
Healthy habits
The food pyramid
A series of physical skills such as doing the crab & elephant walk, front and back rolls, etc.
Tool identification and how to use them.
Recycling, reusing, & reducing along with having to practice these things in everyday life.
TONS of arts & crafts
Knot Tying
How to set up a tent
Camping skills
He built a pinewood derby car and raced it at his pack and district events.
We have also gone on several field trips this year-
Hiking at Camp Gustin, Bradbury Mountain, Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary, Mt. Apatite
Popham Beach
The Auburn Fire Department on Minot Ave
Outdoor skills at L.L. Bean
Auburn Municipal Airport
Lewiston local television station where he learned about all of the equipment and how shows are filmed and broadcasted.
Tour of Wilbur’s of Maine chocolate factory where he got to learn about the machinery and even make some of his own treats!
And of course many trips to the public library!
To meet his phys ed requirements (in addition to being an active boy! :D) he is taking karate classes 2-3 times a week.
Beyond “Schooling”, here are some of his interests- Legos, space, camping, hiking, kayaking, swimming, video games, bicycling, cooking, caring for his cat.
In September 2009 my son joined Cub Scouts which sparked in him a desire to “catch up” to his peers. He started the year not even knowing his entire alphabet or numbers by heart and is now ending the year with basic reading skills and a love of math which he is constantly improving on! He is still behind other kids his age in reading because of his late start, but we will be focusing more on his reading and writing skills in the coming year and I have no doubt that he will continue to progress well at his own pace. When he sets his mind on learning something he does it with ease!
He also loves science and we are always doing interesting things. For example, this year he was interested in volcanoes so we took time to learn about them and he even built his own! He made a soda bottle terrarium and watched his seeds grow throughout the spring. We’ve done a lot of gardening this spring as well and learned all about how plants grow. We’ve also done a lot of little experiments from his science kit that he got for Christmas, such as growing crystals and how different chemicals react to each other.
He is also becoming quite interested in history. We recently marched in our city’s Memorial Day parade with his Scout pack so he learned all about the history of Memorial Day, our flag, and veterans. He has also taken a liking to Abraham Lincoln and has been learning about him.
Another neat thing we took part in this year (and continue to do so) is a postcard swap for unschoolers. We’ve traded postcards with people from all over the world! Not only are we working on a really cool collection of postcards from all over, but it’s been a wonderful way for both of us to discover and learn about new places together!
Also, something that he worked VERY hard on this year was that he completed two ranks, Tiger & Wolf, in Cub Scouts. That entailed completing a series of achievements from two different books and age/rank levels. Some of the things he has learned from this-
The pledge of allegiance and was able to tell what it means. He also learned about the U.S. & State flag and how to fold and display them.
Map skills
Fire safety and emergency skills
Healthy habits
The food pyramid
A series of physical skills such as doing the crab & elephant walk, front and back rolls, etc.
Tool identification and how to use them.
Recycling, reusing, & reducing along with having to practice these things in everyday life.
TONS of arts & crafts
Knot Tying
How to set up a tent
Camping skills
He built a pinewood derby car and raced it at his pack and district events.
We have also gone on several field trips this year-
Hiking at Camp Gustin, Bradbury Mountain, Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary, Mt. Apatite
Popham Beach
The Auburn Fire Department on Minot Ave
Outdoor skills at L.L. Bean
Auburn Municipal Airport
Lewiston local television station where he learned about all of the equipment and how shows are filmed and broadcasted.
Tour of Wilbur’s of Maine chocolate factory where he got to learn about the machinery and even make some of his own treats!
And of course many trips to the public library!
To meet his phys ed requirements (in addition to being an active boy! :D) he is taking karate classes 2-3 times a week.
Beyond “Schooling”, here are some of his interests- Legos, space, camping, hiking, kayaking, swimming, video games, bicycling, cooking, caring for his cat.
Finishing up the year & future plans for this blog
The 2009-10 “school” year is officially OVER for us! We’ve done our 175 days of “instruction” and then some! Life is learning and that never stops for us, but since the state has their own guidelines and we’ve met them, we’re good to go! :)
Since I failed miserably at keeping a blog throughout the year, I’m just going to start fresh with the new “school year”, which I’m thinking I’ll likely officially start in August.
We will see where this goes :)
Since I failed miserably at keeping a blog throughout the year, I’m just going to start fresh with the new “school year”, which I’m thinking I’ll likely officially start in August.
We will see where this goes :)
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