Unschooling By Day

Originally posted here

I'm toying with the idea of trying to make certain days more "subject" specific.  Since we've opted to try a more unschooling approach, I tend to just try to lead the kids in a certain direction.  Things we day daily are art, music, religion, reading, handwriting, and ASL.  But I want to try and figure out fun ways to put in other subjects.  Thursdays are Field Trip day so that day is a given, and Wednesdays are when they visit their grandparents, so I don't want to add anything to that day either.  So that leaves me with Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, as well as the weekends.

My thoughts are Math Mondays, Tesla Tuesdays (for Science), and Fact Filled Friday (for History & Social Studies).  I thought of adding "Thoughtful Thursdays" for ELA because pairing language arts with a fun fieldtrip as a reward might be a good fit. 

As we really get into our second grade curriculum, I hope I'll get a grasp on how to do this whole homeschooling shebang.  Especially with a new baby coming on board in October!  The kids love space and astronomy, so that is the majority of our science.  I bought a Montessori based math program at a homeschool conference I attended, so that is our math.  ELA, history, and languages (we're planning to add Latin to our ASL and the kids are already picking up some early Spanish) are just mishmashes of things.  For religion, we're using the CHC products again, since last year went well.

Unschooling is definitely Peter's bag of chips more than it is mine, but that is mostly because I don't really learn that way.  The kids are doing great with a more relaxed approach, but it is really hard for me to let go of the binder and the books and just let the kids learn by talking and doing.  But such is life.  I suppose in many ways, we are all just perpetual students.  The proof is in the pudding, though.  The twins are working at a grade above where they would be (and, had they been born a mere five days later, two grades above where they would be in school) and Michael, who is barely 2, is picking up stuff left and right.