Since Jacob is going to be 5 next year and I want to homeschool the kids we decided to start figuring out how things work for us and experimenting how we will do this. Jacob and I sat down together and collaborated to select this year's curriculum. This is what Jacob said he wanted to learn about and do this year:
The Revolutionary War - guns and weapons
Watch movies
Read books
Play
Do Art - draw pictures, carve, make metal, chop down trees, cut with scissors, use clay,
make yarn monsters and movie worms
Learn about anatomy, specifically cavities on teeth, jaws, bones and muscles, scales,
and what happens to food
Numbers
Letters
Go on trips to Jenkins Arboretum, Morgan Log House, Merry Mead Farm, Peter Wentz Farm, and the Camden Aquarium
Build things/make things - a robotic elmo
Animals - Rockfish, poisonous fish, angler fish, and cone-rod fish (?)
Nature
Exercise - walks, treadmill
Seasons and holidays, Halloween - scary stuff, ghosts, etc.
So far Jacob LOVES it. He woke up one morning and eagerly told me "I want to learn about math!" (yes this is my child) and he is constantly asking "When are we going to do school? I want to do school." Actually, it's a little overwhelming how much time he wants to spend on this, especially on doing projects. So I'm learning I'm going to have to set some boundaries on how much time I can spend on specific things each day. Here are some pictures of school so far.
Jacob adores books. Most of our school books come from trips to the library
which is heaven on earth for him.
This is a schematic that Jacob drew for a robot he is making with Doug.
Learning about letters and shapes using an improvised "sand" tray.
A field trip to the Mercer Museum with Leah's family.
Simon enjoying the exhibit.
Jacob learning to count like a Mayan. Look at that face!
Making rubbings of glyphs.
Simon couldn't get enough of this bridge.
Learning about shapes.
Another shape project.
Stained glass window, Jacob style.
Shape prints on shape paper.
So far it's been fun and I'm learning a lot. Also I've noticed the mood in the house has improved overall. I hope I can keep this up... :)
