Homeschooling Somewhere in Between

Jordan wanted to make a picture book based on a cardboard fold out style (we had received a very fancy invitation in this style and she wanted to try it out).   She chose the topic of unicorns and we searched for some pictures on the internet and then she created a short story around them.

She decorated each page with various papers and pictures

The text of the story:

There was once a staute of a unicorn and it lived in a museum park and it would come to life at night.
It would go into this realm that other statues of unicorns come to life and they would have baby unicorns too.
One day a little girl came and wandered off from her mother. She wandered into the park and saw the statue unicorn. The little girl climbed onto the unicorn’s back.At night it came to life and the little girl was not frightened. The unicorn ran and when they got to the realm the little girl aged and became a princess. The unicorn and the princess ran into a beautiful field of flowers.   Then they saw a dragan spitting fire and a squirrel.
The princess and the unicorn got tired and fell asleep on the soft grass. When she woke up she was back at the museum and she was a little girl again. The unicorn was a statue again.

Alex’s fascination with the story “Airman” by Eoin Colfer has introduced him to the “steampunk” aesthetic and when his dad showed him some online examples of turning an ordinary nerf gun (of which he has an arsenal), he jumped on the idea as a project.

He took an ordinary nerf gun:

Took it apart

Spray painted it:

(and yes, I realize, spray painting indoors is not recommended and I do lament the loss of brain cells.  It was simply too cold, even in our garage, to do it anywhere else)

Then came the hard part—reassembly.   He learned a lot about how the gun works and how various pieces work together.

And his new gun:

Next up, modifying the gun to shoot further.

I tried to jot down what the kids were doing this week since we didn’t have anything structured planned.    It was a rough week, lots of milling about finding nothing better to do than annoy a sibling, but it is helpful looking back to see how much they did.   Due to weather, we spent a lot more time at home than usual.  As I try to move closer to unschooling/child-directed/Inspire not require, I’m finding that the main stumbling block is the amount of time I’m having to tell my kids to find something to do.   They are victims of their culture, and if they aren’t connected to a screen then they are “bored”.  The one thing I do limit during the “school day” is tv and video games.   I know many people don’t, but for our family I find that excessive amounts of screen time for very active kids is a neurological time bomb.

So here’s my notes on what the kids managed to do in between times of antagonism and complaints of boredom.    I’m happy with the list, now to work on the in between times.

Alex:   He worked on spelling almost every day, and grammar as well.    In math, he did some mathletic challenges and we did a chapter of Life of Fred together.  Also, after snowboarding outside we had a long discussion about the measurement of angles and how that relates to “doing a 180″.    He loves the series “You Wouldn’t Want to be a….” and read through several of these that I got from the library.   He also watched several Bill Nye videos that I got from the library.    I am reading “Hatchet” to him, and we read a few chapters in that.   Also, lots of sledding, sledding, more sledding, and lego building.   He had 4 hours of gymnastics practice and built a castle out of a cardboard box and erected some sort of battle simulation across the only open area on his bedroom floor.    Friday he and his dad steampunked a nerf gun.

Jordan:  She worked on a story for a picture book, which we also made.   She did some challenges in mathletics and also asked to play several math games with me.   She read me a “My America” book based in the Civil War and also read some Geronimo Stilton books.    She also started working with her dog trying to train him to jump through a hula hoop.   And then, sledding, gymnastics, various craft projects.

Together we listened to SOTW while in the car.  We are on the Modern disk, which I’m finding quite dry but Alex seems to still enjoy.    Reading historical fiction seemed to really help Jordan connect with the time periods better than SOTW, so I plan on reading more with Jordan.   They also got into our body book and felt body parts and took turns laying down and letting the other lay the felt organs in the proper spot.  All fun and games until Jordan put the uterus (complete with baby) on Alex.

Figuring out what Aubrey does all day is more difficult, but she says she did a lot of drawing and also a few lessons on her virtual school which ends next week.   Sitting on my hands trying to stay out of it.   She starts a new class (Composition) at the community college next week.    I am curious to see what she does with her time once her virtual classes finish up.       I think she needs to take more responsibility and direction for her education and not just “cop out” by signing up for classes which she completes but doesn’t really get anything out of.