Charlie has only been homeschooling for a little bit, and he is already saying he is tired and bored. I can understand as we have been doing the same thing most days. Which is getting out the stack of workbooks I have and working in them. We spend hours at the Dining Room table. Charlie and I get up to dance for Music.
David is off this morning, and I wanted to shake things up some so with Valentines being yesterday we are heading to Put Putt this morning for Charlie to drive Go Carts. So as I sat down last night to work on lessons for today, I took a step back and asked myself why are you, Homeschooling Charlie?
I sat and thought about it, I heard myself say so Charlie can learn the things he is interested in at his own pace.Why am I trying to pack on 35 pages a day? When Charlie can learn all, he needs in under 2 hours. Because as we progress through the day, we can use the things we do as learning experiences.
I am regrouping and reorganizing and reworking school and turning it not only into a learning experience but a way for our family to spend more time together. Charlie has a blog just as I do. We will be using it in school because we can get outside and find things to do even if it is taking a walk. Then when we get home, we can write out experiences up.
Starting next week, we will be going on at least one Field Trip a week even if it is to the grocery store so we can get out of the house and see new things. So come along with us on our journey as I am sure there are times when I will fail and may need your help so be patient with my family as we may have to ask you for your support.
To get started on our new journey I have put a list of things for Charlie to do. Charlie can pick one new project a week for Charlie and me to master.This will gives us even more freedom in school. If you have items, you think I should add to the list leave me a comment and I will get them added as soon as possible.
1. Master an Outdoor Skill – Challenge your kids to master a new outdoor skill this summer. Dribbling a basketball, jumping rope, playing bocce ball, throw a baseball, flying a kite, croquet, throwing a frisbee, etc. Have them note what skill they want to master at the today and then remind them to go outside as often as they can to practice.
As for Charlie, I am sure it will either be Soccer or Football if not both activities. I hope David is ready to get outside and play with us. By doing this, it will allow us all to spend time together and will enable us to learn a new skill. I plan on looking up the rules for each Sport so we can learn them the correct way. Charlie will have to be willing to read. So not only will we be having fun we will be learning a new Sport while using our reading skills.
One class, I want Charlie to master is cooking as he will need it when he grows up and moves out of my home. So to make the cooking class more fun for Charlie and I I have decided we should find kid-friendly foods Charlie will eat and to share them with his friends and family. So I think for our first week we will make Nachos as it is Charlie’s favorite food. For other ideas of things, you can do in your cooking class check out the ideal below.
2. Have a Dessert of the Week – Learn (right along with your kids) how to make a different Dessert each week. Have them keep a journal on how each of the desserts turned out. As well as which one was the best. As the end of a particular time like in 3 months have them pick out the top 3 desserts, and each of you makes one of them. Then host a Cook-Off and pick out some judges and let them decide on which dessert is the best in specific categories and why.
3. Play a Board Game of the Week – Start a family game night. Pick a new game every week. Have your kids keep a written record of who wins the most. For our family, this will be interesting as Charlie is a sore loser and will expect to win each week which isn’t good for him. So this is going to be a lot of fun figuring out how we can get past that.
I had meant to do this even before we started to Homeschool. So with a room full of Board Games that never get used it is time to get them out and begin our Family Game Night. With David being off on Thursdays we could play on Tuesday nights as no, one would have to get up early.
It’s time to watch sales and when games go on sale to start to pick them up as they make lovely Christmas Gifts and Birthday Gifts. Which gives me a reason to shop and that is never a bad thing is it? LOL So now I need to take Charlie to Toy’s R Us so we can make a list of all the Board Games we want so we can share out Wish List with people when they ask what Charlie would like for Christmas or his Birthday.
4. Eat Out for Free – Make a list of all the restaurants where kids eat free and plan on eating out a few times a month. Have your kids make a rating system for these restaurants and rate each one after your visit. Use OutToEatWithKids.com, KidsEat4Free.com, and MyKidsEatFree.com to find restaurants in your region.
Charlie and I are blessed as David takes us out to eat at least once a week no, matter what else is going on in our home. There are weeks where we eat out more than we eat at home. With this happening it leads to a new blog post. As I always take pictures then have the time I forget to use them, and then the photos are deleted. To keep this from happening once a week, I will be downloading all my pictures and adding them into drafts in Charlies back-office so each day Charlie has something inside his blog waiting to become a post.
Now before you ask what about me, yes I am going to do the same thing as this will allow me to build a local following why showing Charlie that I work and learn right along with him. For me, it will give me the opportunity to practice my photography skills. If you eat out a lot come and journal which restaurants you visit and for math, you could put together a log of how much you eat out this year. Heck, you can even keep a record of how much money you spend so you know what you would have saved at the end of the year if you had eaten at home.
5. Take a Tour of Local Parks – Visit all the local parks in your area and have your kids tell you what they like about each one. Have them come up with a rating system for what makes for a good park and then have them give each park a “grade.”
I live in an area where there are many many different Suburbs neither Charlie or I have ever visited. So in the evenings when David gets home I want to attend at least one park a night. As it allows Charlie to play and for me to walk. Which will help me get my steps in and help with my Weight Loss I want to do this year.
With us finding parks in new areas including where I live as there are a lot of parks I haven’t ever visited. It will allow Charlie and I to explore different regions as you never know what you might pass on the way to the park. Which can turn into a learning experience? So if you’re in Dallas/ Fort Worth and you have a favorite park you like to visit and leave me a comment so Charlie and I can check it out.
In the meantime, there are thousands of more ideas I could add to this list, but I didn’t want to overwhelm either you or myself so that I will stop here. Although if you think of things, Charlie and I could do to keep Charlie from getting bored in school leave me a comment as I could use all the help I can get.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
