I somehow managed to volunteer to team-teach a co-op class on Hands-On science.   We’ve been doing fun, educational, hands on projects with 22 kids ranging in age from about 5-12.     As I’ve been gathering stuff together, I started pondering the difference between understanding a concept and being able to name the term for it.  We’ve certainly experimented with concepts, and certainly have thrown out terms, but there is no quiz at the end for the kids to spit the terms back to us next to the appropriate multiple choice question.     And I wondered, should we be doing more to drill the names of these terms into these childrens’ brains?   Will it be a successful class if the kids don’t walk away with Newton’s laws memorized?   Maybe it is the fact that there are 22 kids that made me slip into such a schoolish mindset, but I’d never really pondered the difference between understanding what is happening and being able to label it.   We experimented with centrifugal force and inertia point last week.  Certainly, as the kids spun around on my dizzy disk and held handweights out and then brough them to their chest they were learning that they sped up if their arms were tucked in and slowed down when they put their arms out.     And I mentioned some names, and some reasons for this that they probably won’t dutifully regurgitate for me next week.  Does that take away from their learning?   I’m guessing most unschoolers would say an emphatic “no”, and perhaps many school teachers would say yes (or at least it would effect their grade and/or standardized test outcomes).  As for me, I’m just pondering.   At this point, I would like to believe that the experiences are laying a groundwork so that in a more formal learning environment some day, they will have a reference point to really understand the terms they learn at that time.

We decided to take a fall trip.  September really is the ideal month for homeschooler travel.   We got into all the museums for free, and had the place to ourselves.  Everyone is back in school and yet it is too early in the year for schools to be doing field trips.    The trip had its challenges, but we had a lot of fun and certainly a lot of learning between the natural history museum, the science and industry museum, the aquarium, and legoland discovery center.

Ah, look at the sibling love in this one….

Its always like that around here……hahahahahahahahaha

Not sure if I’ve blogged about it, but I’ve openly mocked our local public school for their ban on playing tag or any “chase” games.   I mean, its tag.    Not exactly life threatening.

Last week at homeschool recess the kids were playing when Alex was ushered over to me by his friends.   He was white as a sheet, shaky and told me he fell and heard something crack.    Yes, he was playing tag.  And, yes, he broke something (his collarbone).

If only he had been kept safe in public school!!!

And, yes, I’ll still let him play tag–but maybe not for a few weeks.

It is just tooo much to get out of bed before starting to learn.

Alex with his Intro to Physics kit and is ever present audio player, with one of the HP books I’m sure.