Had a great conversation with my son after the first week of school ended. The end result of it was that he was going to have to take some initiative and be sure to have everything that is on his weekly goal list completed. Then at the end of the week he would report to his Dad all that he had accomplished. At this last bit of news his eyes grew big, he looked at me, then across at his Dad then back at me and said, "Okay. I'll do it." I'm not sure if it was fear or excitement or some combination of the two, but this past week in school he really stepped up his game and cheerfully completed all of his work.
Throughout the week the kids participated in a fundraiser put on by CrossFit to benefit the families of the 19 firefighters who were killed in June in the Arizona wildfires, many of whom were CrossFit athletes. The kids' class alone raised $2200, and along with their coach pledged to do 1 burpee for every dollar raised. I'm wondering how they are going to pull that off--hopefully not all in one day! In addition to selling raffle tickets my son participated in the
Hotshot 19 memorial WOD held on Saturday. Boxes all over the world were doing this WOD (Workout of the Day) to honor these heroes who lost their lives. We were so glad to be part of this incredible community and contribute to this cause. I was so proud of my son who completed the entire WOD, which was not scaled for kids, except in the weight that they used. (Read about his performance
here, if you're interested!)
Here are the highlights of this week's lessons:
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| Multiplication! |
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| Reading easily on her own |
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| TOG assigned reading |
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| Timeline work. With helper. |
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| Reading limericks together |
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| 180 squats, 114 power cleans, 42 pullups, 2400 m run |
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This week we begin our Tapestry of Grace co-op with a few friends. We will gather to discuss Geography and hold Socratic discussions about the assigned reading. I can't wait...I think the kids are looking forward to it as well.
Could you tell me what the math manipulatives are in the "Multiplication" photo? Thanks for the great post! :)
ReplyDeleteThose are the blocks that come with our Math U See curriculum. They are base-ten blocks that are divided into units per bar from 1 to 100.
DeleteThanks, Kelly! :)
DeleteHi Kelly. I am trying so hard to move away from the dreaded schedule that I grew up with. Math at this time, then LA, then the next subject. Boring! I want more freedom and more flow (if that makes sense)in our school day. It sounds like you run things in a stress free, go with the flow sort of way. Would you mind sharing a sample schedule of how you run a typical day?
ReplyDeleteFunny that you say you want to move away from the schedule and then ask me to share a "sample schedule." :-) The fact is that I don't really run our day on a "schedule" but more like a routine. It starts with three things: sleep, food, and exercise. After those needs are met, school can happen. We don't always get up at the same time each day, but we regularly rise between 7:00 and 8:00. If it's a CrossFit day we go and do our workouts, then come home and have a decent meal. If not we have a quick breakfast (smoothies, paleo muffins, yogurt, or eggs) and start school. We have subjects that we try to get to every day, just because they are best done daily--math, grammar, writing, spelling, and vocabulary. Sometimes most but not all get done, sometimes one gets done, sometimes it all gets done. Either way, I set a goal for each week with the kids as to what needs to be accomplished. If something doesn't get done one day they will double up on another day. They also have work in TOG and Science that needs to be completed each week. We work it in. We are typically done between 3:00 and 4:00 each afternoon, but we go at an easy pace during the day. It all gets done somehow.
DeleteIt really helps me to look back periodically and see how much we have accomplished over a period of time, and it helps me not to stress when it feels like nothing is getting done. It really does all work out...Life happens. That is learning. When life isn't happening, you have the luxury of sitting down and doing lessons. When you're not stressed because you're worrying about life, a lot of learning can happen in lessons. If you're worrying about stuff and stressing about checking boxes, you're not really educating your kids, and they're not really learning much. You're checking boxes and they're counting the minutes until the proverbial "bell" rings.
Haha, I may have to turn this into a blog post all its own! :) Thanks for the comment / question, and I'll try to do this question justice in a real post!
Just what I needed to hear! Thank you!
ReplyDelete