Lets Talk Homeschool

I know, WHAT a corny title! But I can’t help it.

We typically school year round, meaning we take breaks as we deem them necessary and often have a huge sign on the front door which states “School is in Session” (unfortunately that sign is often ignored and the doorbell rings a.lot.). For the past two summers we have had things come up from a babysitting job to a three week vacation at my Mom’s, so school had a tendency to sit on the back burner until those “things” were over and I had a chance to gather my thoughts.

Having seen that the kids do so much better with some form of schedule I couldn’t just sit back and let them tear the house apart, so I set out this week to begin school. It is now Wednesday and we are now beginning.

I’ll tell you what, we are all over the place this year. Our oldest son is in 8th grade, he has chosen to complete a unit study on Fahrenheit 451, Our 6th grade girl decided that Island of the Blue Dolphins is calling out to her and the 3rd grader is enthralled with all things Magic Tree House, in addition to all of that we added a Kindergartener to the mix this year. You should SEE me attempt to teach math. (Where’s the Excedrin when I need it?) None of us are “together”, sure we are in the same room, but we are all headed different directions.

Anyway, back to my point and the reason for the title of this post. Today we were reading The Story About Ping with my K and 3rd graders. It’s a great book and I think an easy way to wade into what is sure to be one of the craziest school years yet. One of the lessons was on the reflection of light off of water, which somehow led us to how flashlights work (don’t ask me how it led us there, we’re homeschoolers, the rabbit trails we can find are simply astounding).

Suddenly, there in the school room/dining room everyone came together, my 13 year old set his Algebra aside, my 11 year old put down her Grammar and everyone gathered around the tin foil, tape, C-battery, and flashlight bulb set out on the table and watched in awe as 5 year old Ethan illuminated the bulb, showing the kids how just a few household items can in fact, light up their lives.

And it made the new student feel pretty darn smart to boot!

You can see us hard at work here, and also find the directions for creating a flashlight.