Summer School

A lot of people have been asking me if we're still doing homeschool now that our local district is on summer break. The answer is yes, but I feel a little disingenuous saying simply that. I mean, I'm not using any particular curriculum and I'm not administering tests, it's not like I'm locking them indoors and forcing their noses into workbooks. I'm just trying to inspire a love of learning, teach correct principles and values, and assist the boys in improving their skills and talents and pursuing their interests. Sure, some days include specific "lessons" but much more often "school" is just living life, with just a bit more fore- or afterthought.

And another thing: I don't do it alone. Mark is awesome at spontaneously teaching the kids. Whether it's sight words, math, scriptures or science he always makes it into a game or a "challenge" and they eat it up. One recent morning he left some equations on the white board and challenged the boys to show him their answers when he got home. I couldn't get them very interested until it was almost dinnertime and they knew he'd be coming in the door soon, but then they were ready. That's pretty much how our homeschool rolls: they need to be interested or there's no point. Sometimes they get frustrated (Mark doesn't care one whit about chronological order of teaching math), but I like to use manipulatives (often our abacus) or we just talk through the logical possible ways they can approach a problem until they figure out how to solve it. (And if they get it wrong, we tell them and they try again - usually seeing their mistake right away.) So here is the results of that impromptu math assignment

Sam is adorably still working on writing his numbers and letters correctly. He told us that his "Six looks like a 'd' but that's okay." We were especially impressed with Isaac figuring out his last equation... he thought it was "funny" but somehow he decided that it had to be less than zero all on his own. And that is another benefit of our random method: we are constantly being amazed at the things the boys already understand and are reaffirmed that our kids would not benefit from a standard grade-level-equivalent curriculum.

So anyway, YES, we are doing homeschool during the summer, but don't worry about them being too stressed out. For them, learning is just FUN. And so is being their teacher.