Week 2- Being a kid.

Picking Owen up from school.

This was a week of revelation. Monday was brilliant. Owen was in Owie school, and Leif and I had a morning of discovery learning: consonant blends led to onomatopoeia; talking about Owen having the next Monday off for MLK Day led us to watching King's I Have A Dream speech and discussing slavery and equality and dreams. It was amazing. For me.
Tuesday morning Leif broke the news to me: Home school was not what he imagined. I wasn't fun, and he didn't want to do it. Also, he thought home school meant he could do whatever he wanted. So, I let him know that the good news was that we only had a half-year that we needed to complete and that we were open to other options. The other good news is that we are still working on what home school looked like, and so I was open to suggestions. I asked him what he wanted home school to be like, and he said he wanted it to be more like what they do at home school school on Fridays: crafts, songs and fun stuff.

Owen said, "I am an artist."

My teaching experience is with high schoolers. Who would think that my kids would like crafts and kid songs? By chance, I put a sticker on a sheet Leif had completed and he was thrilled. I couldn't believe it. I forgot that my kids are kids! I know this may sound ridiculous, but Leif has grown up so quickly intellectually, and physically, that I forget sometimes that he's not even 6 yet. I have been living with these little people like they are little people. This week, I had the great delight of living with these little people like they were kids! And kids are a blast. We played games and did crafts, lots of crafts. Thanks to Pinterest, I am learning how to be a Kindergarten teacher. And my house is beginning to look like a kid's art gallery. By the end of the week Leif said he had a fun week, and so did I.

The water cycle. Using glue drips and gravity.

Thank-you Pinterest for this rain craft.

I tried to come up with craft ideas that went along with Leif's lessons. This week his science lessons were on weather & the water cycle.
My revelation about my kids needing to be kids and doing kid-like things not only transformed my view of home school, I think it's going to change the way we live in general. I think I was the one who learned the most this week. 

Owen's watercolor. He says its a meadow, or a restaurant, or a pony.

My water color of a lightning strike.

When Leif learns cursive, I first have him close his eyes and let me write the word for him with his hand, so he can feel the sweep of the letters.

Leif thought up this craft. He wanted to buy 3 wooden spheres (his words) and make them into snowmen. The only disappointment: he had hoped them would be "normal" snowmen size, like about as tall as a chair. But he settled for these cute guys: (yes, I knit them caps, and braided scarves)

Leif had his buddy Kaden over for a play date this week. Kaden made a snowman with us, and it was warm enough for the boys to enjoy some trampoline time.

We set up our new basketball hoop!

Leif injured himself and the first thing he said was, "Can we FaceTime Daddy?" Luckily Charles was on lunch break and he told the boys a story.