Learning even on ordinary days

 Not long ago a blog reader e-mailed and asked a question about what our normal homeschool day was like. As I was sharing with her in my e-mail I started to have this feeling like "Are we doing enough?", "Should I be more scheduled?" and just feeling like things have been so ordinary and not really exciting. So I have been thinking about that some lately. When these sort of thoughts come up I think it is good to face them, pray about them and make changes if needed or possibly make changes in how you are thinking and feeling.

 

 I think the devil wants us to feel inadaquate while God is there to give us strength and help us through each day. The world often gives us the message that life always needs to be exciting and you need to keep your kids stimulated and learning but that isn't completely true. Yes excitement is fun and we do need to stimulate our children at times but we also need quiet times, slowly growing times, simple days and times of rest. From my experience there are going to be times where you have a ton of fun doing a lot of neat learning, you feel passionate about something, everybody is interested but then that excitement wears off and you have times where you just do the basics, you don't learn at such a rapid pace. I think both are needed.

 

 Even though it has been a "quieter" time for us recently I have started to pay attention to some of the little ways the kids have learning lately. I thought I would share a few with you.....

 

• Mara found a contest online (At American Girl) where entrants are required to take and enter some nature photos and also write a little essay about nature. She had fun spending a couple of afternoons outside with the camera, we discussed the pictures together and edited them a little and then she also wrote a cute little essay about how nature inspires here.
• I have been reading aloud "The Story of the World, Ancient Times" lately and have been enjoying it but I was pleased the other day to hear Aaron playing pretend with Megan and he was Julius Ceaser and he had her be Pompey or one of the other Senaters (I don't remember now).
• We all went with Mara to an eye appointment and learned a lot about how the eye works and what all happens at an eye exam. It was a lovely little "field trip"!

Doesn't she look cute in her glasses?

• Mara is learning new concepts in her math and Jonathan is getting to be a much better speller.
• Mara is starting to do more and more in the way of homemaking. She is becoming more independant in the kitchen and the laundry room. This of course is not only very helpful to me now but will be something she will use throughout the rest of her life.
• Megan is learning how to write her name.
• Aaron is getting more and more familiar with letters.
• The kids are learning creativity and science while making candy for a gift. I got out a variety of ingredients and then melted some chocolate and they got to decide what went in their special type of candy. The each made 4. They got to eat one of their creations and then gave away the other 3. They found it to be a very exciting activity for the day.

        Here are the finished products!

• We have had fun concentrating a little heavier lately on Bible Memorization. "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Ps. 119:11
• We have sent out quite a few letters lately which is good practise for writing.
• The boys have had a lot of fun creating with Legos lately. This helps develop several skills.

Ordinary days are good. We are enjoying our quiet learning times. How have you been learning at your house?