Mary Bianco

>From: "from Tyra" <mtwalte@...>

<<Can you tell me what you did today?>>


Joseph (8) and Sierra (7) were up before Alyssa (2) and I were. They were
out playing battleship for about almost an hour. Then Sierra went on the
computer, Alyssa and I went outside with the dogs and Joseph went in his
room working on his drawings. Sierra ate at the computer and Joseph and
Alyssa joined her, watching and eating as well. Joseph finished and went and
watched Stanley on TV, then back to his drawings. Alyssa and I watched
discovery health, babies being born. The I read to her while Sierra was
still on the computer. She finished and went to play, Alyssa left with her.
I'm getting my mail, talking with my oldest Tara (17) and cleaning as usual.
All 3 kids have been back and forth between Joseph's room and the girls'
room's. They have out dolls, beads, games and are playing movies. I told
them last night that today was a stay home day all day long. I think they
were looking forward to it as they have been busy and playing and pretty
quiet. It's almost 5:00 and they have been happily playing since about 10:00
this morning. TV hasn't been on since Joseph turned off Stanley. oops. just
heard the Tv in the playroom come on. Joseph and Sierra are seeing what's on
and Alyssa is at my side. I asked them what they were playing before and it
turns out they both made up a card game that entails building structures and
saving people all at the same time.

Too all my relatives and most friends, it would sound like they did
absolutely nothing all day. Most days of ours are like that. But we know
different!



<<Can you tell me your definition of unschooling? Do you use any workbook
at all or is that what unschooling is all about?>>


Joseph and Sierra have asked for workbooks on occasion. It came from them
asking for things to do when they were starting to read. I printed out some
sheets from the internet and asked if that's what they wanted. It was and
when we found workbooks that were similar, they would use those too. The
last sheet or workbook was about a year ago. Haven't picked one up since. If
they would ask again, I would get them but I don't go out and buy them and
have them laying around trying to entice. <BG> It's all a matter of what
they want and what they are interested in.

Mary B


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Shyrley

> >From: "from Tyra" <mtwalte@...>
>
> <<Can you tell me what you did today?>>
>

My day started unusually early. Bryn (9) charged into my bedroom at 8 am to tell me what he learned about Venus and Mercury. He was clutching a DK Guide to Space and proceeded to read it out loud.
Heather (10) came in an hour later to show me the new doll's dress she has sewn. I managed to get another hours doze while they went downstairs.
Once I got up Rhodri played on the PS while Bryn printed out maths worksheets from the web. Heather sat reading one of the endless Anne of Green Gables books (either she's re-reading them or there's an
awful lot).
Bryn sat at the table and did the worksheets while I tidied away breakfast and drank coffee.
Rhodri got out the cuisinaire rods and made towers with them :-) while Heather played the PS. Bryn went back to his space book and then surfed the NASA web site which prevented me from reading email so
I fixed my bicycle.
Rhodri and I then went for a walk round the neighbourhood and watched kids get on the 11.30 school bus.
After lunch, we went to a homeschooling drama class at the local library. Bryn didn't want to do it so we went to the supermarket while the other two did the class.
Since we got back I've been playing on the PC while the kids made snowflakes out of paper and Bryn finsihed his maths (he wants to be a mission controller for NASA which is why he's hot on maths this
week).

Pretty typical day for us. Sometimes we see people (though rare as nearly everyone is a School at home type), sometimes we go to the museums in DC. Bryn wants to go to the Air and Space museum as soon
as possible.
Basically the kids do what they want. Sometimes that involves me, sometimes it doesn't.

Shyrley

the_clevengers <[email protected]>

>From: "from Tyra" <mtwalte@p...>
> <<Can you tell me what you did today?>>

Our day today (most times approximate):

6:55 - I get up, thinking I'll get some email time before the kids
get up. Make tea, fire up computer
7:10 - Kids get up, they play with Paintbrush on their computer while
I finish up email
7:30 - Kids and I make pancakes, DH heads off to work
8:15 - Kids and I clean up kitchen after breakfast, they go off to
play upstairs. Son builds "Transformer Dinosaur" out of Legos that
becomes a "prehistoric walking whale"
9:15 - We get dressed and ready to bicycle to the pool
10:00 - Free play time at the pool
10:30 - Daughter has her swim lesson, my son and I work on his
freestyle swimming. He jumps into the deep end and swims to the side
for the first time. Yay!
11:00 - Hot tub and showers, then we have a picnic lunch on the deck
overlooking the pool
12:15 - Kids go into the childcare area. Daughter paints and draws,
son builds enormous Lego castle contraption. I cycle and run
2:00 - Pick up kids from childcare. Go to library
3:30 - Home. Kids build "Train Race Ramp" on our driveway with Brio
train tracks and trains. I make salad dressing, cook yams, and thaw
Tofurkey for dinner. Work in garden, kids help.
4:00 - Kids decide to join me making yeast bread. DH home from work
and goes for a run
4:30 - Bread rising, I chop wood, daughter and son work together to
crumple newspaper and lay down kindling for fire. I light fire.
5:00 - I check email, print out chapters I need to read for writer's
group. Kids want to know how yeast works. I find a webpage with
several different experiments
5:15 - I read/edit chapters and have some tea. Son is making a "Pin
the tail on the donkey" game. Daughter is playing with toy snakes
6:00 - I'll put the bread in the oven, finish dinner. DH and the kids
will eat. I'll leave for my writer's group. DH will do one of the
yeast experiments with the kids, then he will most likely wrestle
with the kids and have bounce session on the bed (their favorite
evening activity) then settle down for story reading. The kids will
most likely be asleep by the time I get home (10:00). DH and I will
watch a movie.

In general, we have no "typical" days, although there are days of the
week when we often go to the same scheduled activities (tomorrow, for
instance, we will go to our Homeschool group's play time at the
gymnastics center). We also have several things that usually happen
in any given day, like reading books is pretty much a constant. And
some days we try to take advantage of the weather if it's nice,
taking a hike or going flying or bicycling or to the snow. What the
kids do whenever they're at home is always different, and depends on
what they're into at the moment. In general, my son is very into
Legos, and creating all sorts of experiments and projects. His
greatest desire is to build a RUbe Goldberg-type device, and I think
that's what he's turning his room into. My daughter is into music.
She is often listening to music on her tape player, playing it on the
piano, recorder, harmonica, or whatever she can find, or singing. She
sings about 8 hours a day, I swear! It sounds like Rogers &
Hammerstein around here most of the time :-)

Blue Skies,
-Robin-