Misnomer

Home. School. Since neither word really pertains to what we're doing here, I find it odd to keep calling it that. Compound words should equal the sum of their parts yet so far, this one does not.

Let's start with the first part: home. It is 9:40 on Tuesday night. I have not written since last Monday basically because we have not BEEN home. It's possible that I may have, in my slightly overzealous ambitions,  managed to enroll Sports Nut and Drawing Diva in practically every current non-overlapping homeschooling opportunity in the community. In the past week we have attended gymnastics, science classes at the nature center and hands-on museum, swim and gym classes at the Y, parks days, a festival, and gone camping. Historical museum classes start soon, as well as parent-taught class days at the community center. Luckily some activities are only monthly, but since they all started in the past week and a half, we have been very busy. Both Sports Nut and Drawing Diva are loving it. I love that they can get tons of extracurriculars during the day so we have the evenings to spend as a family at home.

Second part: school. We are doing very little of what most people would consider to be 'school'. We have followed no curriculum to this point; even the literature and writing texts I purchased have surfaced only a few times. We rarely sit down on a schedule to complete workbook tasks or projects. All three kids have a cubby of scant supplies including a good pencil, a notebook, and a folder. With those three materials they have written stories, drawn countless pictures, taken notes, made lists, and constructed a few random paper objects. I have not chastised Mini Marvel about proper letter formation, drawn attention to Drawing Diva's phonetically correct but misspelled words, or lectured Sports Nut about proper pencil grip. What has followed is a wealth of unhindered creativity and an excitement to produce work. Once they have put the time and effort into their own work, they often will ask me for the help or advice I had to sit on my hands not to force on them in the first place. Love it.

Sports Nut starts his day with band and comes home fully of energy and enthusiasm to show us what he has learned that day. The blaring trumpet usually brings the sisters down, who have been playing upstairs since waking. We eat, we look at the day's calendar, we talk, we discuss wants and needs, we compromise, and it seems to work.

On Sunday,  Sports Nut had trouble figuring out 7 times 7. I pointed out that it was important that he know math facts like that and he agreed.  Yesterday he got out his notebook and a Montessori style multiplication tool we have and methodically worked out a section of the times tables. Today he recopied them in a different way, as a website I had found suggested. Tomorrow he said we should make flash cards. Hooray.

At the library today, Drawing Diva confessed that many of the easy reader books were too silly and she didn't enjoy them. I showed her the juvenile non-fiction section and she elated. So many books and so much information, NONE of it silly. Perfect.

Mini Marvel has begged me to help her learn some of the more difficult tasks on the chore chart, whereas in the past she has shirked most responsibility, claiming she is the littlest and therby exempt. Today she chose cleaning the cat litter, so down to the basement we went with bag and scoop in hand. I opened the top of the box and showed her how to scoop up part of the litter, shake the loose litter out, and dump the clump into the bag. "Like a treasure hunt!" Um, yes. I suppose. "Ooooooh! I got a good piece. Get off, dirty litter, leave the great big shiny lump for me! Oh Mama, I think it's poop. Or is it urine? Oops, that one fell on the floor. Oh, use the scoop again? Don't pick it up with my hands? We have a TON of treasure!"

I shall leave you with that tonight. More anecdotes to follow shortly, if time allows ;)