It's been so quiet in here! Let's talk (type) more this year! I'll start it off by asking what everyone's favorite curriculum or activity was last year.
My daughter's fav thing has been writing to her Pen Pals, both on-line and snail mail. I don't think she considers it school but the amount of writing and spelling work that she does for it is phenomenal.
Mine has been her website. It's been fun working with her to add to it and convenient when I'd like her to do a project - all I do is announce that we're putting it on the website. Next up is a report on snakes! ;oD
Xia's Bulletin Board http://xiarocks.home.att.net
School from Home http://nydramamama.home.att.net
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
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
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
The hardest part was finding a place to do it other than my home, and a friend volunteered his church's social hall for free.
I've been collecting math materials for the past year or so, and especially anything fun and hands-on, so I just put everything into the back of my truck and arrived 15 minutes early to set up.
I tested the games out on my kids and their friends first, to weed out the ones that are really worksheets disguised as games. They hate those.
I must admit, there are times when I don't know if I'm doing all this stuff for my kids or for ME!!! ;-)
Eugenia
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
I've actually started to admit to myself that I get a big kick out of hsing. Maybe "kick" isn't the right word but I enjoy the time with my daughter and watching and facilitating her learning.
It also allows be to pursue my artistic goals. It's not a mainstream lifestyle, I know, but I think that's part of what I enjoy about it too!
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.