Knock on wood for me; the kids are being total angels this week. Apparently, they heard my cry for change loud and clear. There's been (almost) no complaining, and they have been extremely cooperative. I don't mean to leave the impression that my kids are generally uncooperative, quite the opposite. They're typically very agreeable; we had just gotten a bit off track by the end of last week. I'm glad to see we are back on track. It makes homeschooling so much more pleasant.
I haven't been blogging mid-week much lately, but this has been such a spectacular last 2 days that I have to report. Yesterday, we began with reading the bible. (We are in Genesis 28, just after Rebekah and Jacob betray Esau.) My plan is to read the bible on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until we are done with it. After that, I would like to work our way slowly through other great religious tomes like the Torah, the Quran, the Guru Granth Sahib, the Vedas, and of some of the Buddhist texts. Of course, they will all need to be children's versions and I have only located a few so far. I'm excited to read them myself and to have the opportunity to expose the children to some of the universal teachings which hold true across all religions. ("Do unto others as you would have done unto you," comes to mind.)
On Tuesday and Thursday, then, we'll begin our day with yoga. We did just that today. It was so refreshing to begin the school day with movement, music, and meditation. I taught a short set and then we did a chanting meditation (Kirtan Kriya) which both kids know and love. I'm not sure if it was the physical exercise or the centering effect of the meditation, but we had an especially engaging day of learning. The kids worked diligently on their basics this morning: math and literacy. Thing 1 has completed her spelling unit for the week already and is starting another one. (We normally only do one unit per week.)
Then, over the lunch hour, the kids pulled out materials to construct dioramas for science. We're studying biomes. Thing 1 has chosen to do a coral reef diorama and Thing 2 will do a desert. They worked for well over an hour at that and I didn't have the heart to tear them away, even though I wanted to do a unit on the election. This is one of the advantages of homeschooling. I can allow their work (and their attention span) to come to a natural conclusion. What a gift! They did finally tire of making clay models of anemones and cacti, and then we launched into our election unit.
We lingered over decorating some posters I had found at the dollar store on the party system and only had time to briefly discuss the candidates. We'll pick it up again later this week or next and then, we'll have our own election at home. With only 3 votes, it won't be as exciting as a public school mock election, but they'll get the idea.
And that's all the news that isn't! Stay tuned...
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