Our favorite activities

Hi, Janine,

Our hands-down favorite activity was Math Club, in which kids from grades K-7 met once a week for 2 hours to play math games, work math-based puzzles and have a mini-lesson on something weird but fun, like how to quickly square any number whose one's digit is 5. I hosted the Math Club for 6 weeks in the fall, and am preparing to put another 6 week session together soon.

I think Math Club worked well because it was a "browsing" sort of event, in which the activities were roughly divided into three levels, but the kids could select whatever they wanted to do. The little ones loved the Bank (making deposits, making change, counting money) and the older ones liked the board games.

We did Math Club in the evening so we could have a mix of schooled kids and HSers, and that made the whole thing more interesting.

My 12 yo son has just started taking free 2-hour hands-on classes at NASA once a week with three friends, and I can see that will probably be the highlight of his week this year.

I think my 10 yo dd's favorite activity is Art Class - taught by a friend of ours in her art studio once a week.

My 5 yo dd says her favorite things are Spanish class (I teach 5-6 kids) and writing class (I lead about eight K-3 kids in word games, basic writing projects, and shared writing).

It's really weird, but after all these years of eclectic HSing, I think I am becoming a teacher....
a free range teacher, but a teacher nonetheless.

Eugenia