This is the first post in a series called "Real Homeschool" where members from our group share about their homeschool days. We hope this encourages you in your journey - not every moment needs to be meme-worthy or profound, but the learning and living is real. To read other posts in the series, click here.
Today's post comes from a member with 3 young ones: G. (7 years), O. (5 years) and D. (3 years).
I love using everyday activities to teach the kids.
This morning we were making bacon in the microwave and it takes a
minute per slice. I was also making one slice for each kid so I decided
to ask, hey does anyone know what ratio is? Of course they don't, we
have not covered this topic formally yet. But they love new words so
they were curious and it had to do with their bacon so they were
interested. So I explained that 1 piece goes in for 1 minute and that
is a 1:1 ratio. Also we are having 1 piece per kid so that is 1:1.
What is I put the bacon in for 2 minutes what would be the ratio there?
Also given that the cooking suggestion is only 1 minute what would
happen if I doubled it? I just try to think of fun questions that will
get them thinking and make them laugh. They all thought the burnt bacon
possibility was hilarious (at ages 3,5, and 7 it doesn't take much). I
love when they can learn this way because it is so natural and
stress-free.
My kids just aren't the kind of kids who enjoy worksheets and although I sometimes require them to do the sit down type of work, I find that they learn more when they are enjoying and naturally curious which for us tends to happen when connecting learning to living.
Typical Day
We try to learn by living meaning we just go about our days and I interject lessons into things. We do chores (unload dishwasher, sort laundry, replace toilet paper role, put dirty clothes in washer, take out trash and recycling) and play and just turn stuff into lessons naturally. Like, when handing out apple slices to 3 kids and we have 12, how many does everyone get?We play outside a lot just digging in the dirt and climbing on the climber and riding bikes. We write when we need to make a shopping list or send a thank you note. O. and D. seemed to just write naturally and copy anything they saw in books, but G. needed to really practice forming the letters so we made them out of playdoh.
We go out a lot of places like Cantor Arts Center, Tech Museum, Palo Alto Jr Zoo, SF Zoo, Coyote Point Beach, Curiodyssey. G. and O. have taken art class at Marvegos in San Mateo, O. does gymnastics at Bayshore Elite in Redwood City. We have also done swim lessons at Sequoia YMCA and art classes at Laurel Street Arts. We use Ocean Grove Charter School and do a daily computer lesson called Iready (about fifteen minutes, half math, half language arts) usually in the evening.
List of Subjects/Areas
Math: Singapore Math, G. and O. do an online private math
tutoring sessions once a week with Jen Caddell and we keep up with
homework during the week. (https://www.adventuresforyoungexplorers.com/meet-your-teachers.html - her first lesson is free, she is also a Christian homeschool mom and she is Ocean Grove approved)
Reading: We started with www.starfall.com
and moved on to Hooked on Phonics Ipad app. We also use Leap Frog
videos like talking words factory and rock n learn dvd series (https://www.amazon.com/Sight-Words-Level-Rock-Learn/dp/B0056ZU41E) . We visit library several times a week
Science:
We play with science materials like baking soda and vinegar, molecule
building set, snap circuits, and we build with legos and blocks a lot.
History/Geography:
We build map puzzles (Geopuzzles) and draw our own maps. We play with
flash cards and placemats of the US presidents.
Bible: During the school year we do Bible Study Fellowship (https://www.bsfinternational.org/)
and the Peninsula Covenant Church class in Redwood City meets Wed AM
and has homeschool classes. We watch videos (I try to limit screen to
an hour a day) on Right Now media or https://crossroadskidsclub.net/video/
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