Homeschooling

When we began homeschooling, some people were extremely supportive, most people actually. Some were skeptical and some were just curious. We believed and still do that it was the right decision for our family. We believe it is the direction that God had led and we are continuing to follow. Our first year is winding down and I thought I'd give a brief recap. Here is a picture of one day during our first week. We did not buy desks for school, the kids each had an antique desk from grandparents. If we had not had them, we probably would have conducted school around the dining room table.


Sometime our first week or so we did our first art projects. We did straw painting (can you say dizzy??) and my favorite, marble painting!

We have taken field trips. This picture is from the Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna. We took a cave tour and saw cave formations such as stalactites and stalagmites. We even took a short hike but decided we'd return on a cooler day for a longer hike.

This picture is from a field trip to see replicas of the Nina and the Pinta. It was so cool!

We are growing things and learning about it as we grow! We are growing lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, basil, and parsley. We intend to have a garden each year but it always sneaks up on us and we just use pots. Can someone tell time to slow down a bit pretty please? Thanks!


We also currently have 8 butterfly larvae that we are watching and documenting as they grow. I'll have a full post once we have butterflies.

Grace and her Dad are making a habitat for a wild tree frog they caught a couple of days ago. They are everywhere around here at night. We studied them a bit and figured out a good habitat and I'll post pictures of it once it's finished. I think Whitney is having as much fun as Grace with it.

One funny thing...one pot of my lettuce had a few snails (several actually) and I was horrified and grossed out. Grace was thrilled because that is what black beetles eat and she and her friend Jaron were catching them this weekend and...you guessed it...making habitats! So now we don't have to search for beetle food.

Granted, some days we blow off worksheets and handwriting pages and go outside or to the beach. Those days I like to think the kids are still "in school" because they are so much more tuned in to what's around them. (Don't tell them that!) They realize learning occurs out of class now as much as in class. And that my friends, is why we do what we do! :o)