Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Bug videos

Seeing bugs in action:





Lighting fires

"Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire."
W.B. Yeats

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Home education... Year round?

While I am thinking of it (and since people are curious), I wanted to address the reasons why we home educate year round. 

Here are some of the reasons we enjoy year round home-schooling .  This is part of an article written by someone else  (who is way more eloquent than I).

Also, since homeschooling doesn't look like or feel like a regular classroom, one needs to keep in mind that it isn't as much drudgery as one would think.   (It simply does not take as long when there aren't bundles of other children to have to wait on).

Yet it is good discipline and wonderful for keeping an orderly schedule (which can be wonderful for a mother's sanity). :-)

Also, I can't help but insert that we will enjoy the holidays so much more if we have completed a huge chunk of our work by the time they roll around.  If we need to make some crafts, baking, or shopping... it's o.k.

Flexibility is a big blessing and we love it!

"One of the biggest benefits of homeschooling year round is that it eliminates the "summer learning gap." Simply put, kids just don't forget as much when they aren't out of school. However, there are some other advantages to homeschooling all year long:









•Consistent structure helps students know what to expect every day. This is especially helpful for little ones that have to be folded into the mix with older students.



•Homeschooling parents find that they have more time to dive into areas of interest or explore other more open ended activities.



•Some parents would say that life is learning and learning simply doesn't stop just because it's warm out.



•Flexibility in scheduling allows the family to take advantage of special opportunities as they arise without feeling the burden of "missing school."



•Kids can get more done in a grade year since there are more potential days in the school year. (This doesn't have to always be academic.)" ***I want to insert here that in our family if they make mistakes, they correct them. Or if they are struggling, we take more time.  It is nice to have the extra time minus the pressure. It is important to make sure they are learning before we move on to the next thing.***  

Insect/Bug Unit Study

The boys have been collecting all sorts of interesting insects (pupa, moths, and beetles of all sorts and shapes) so I decided that it would be a great time to do a bug unit study!   We have plenty of resources for to make a notebook with this study.  So far, we have used the following:
  • "Bugs Fun Kit" - includes mini-books, coloring books, stickers, stencils, etc (thanks to Papa & Grammy)
  • Let's Discover Insects - facts, stickers, & activities (thanks to Mummy)
  • The First Book of Bugs by Margaret Williamson - amazing book that I printed from the internet several months ago and just recently read to them. 
  • enchantedlearning.com.
Pictures are clickable for closeups

 

 

Justin's
 Ryan liked the Ambush Bug Nymph 

 Jonathan's little potato beetle above is saying, "Did you know that they suck insect's tissues?" 

Jonathan loves to draw comics...

They love creating notebooks.  We will be adding more to them as they learn.