Home school rules

We have been slowly learning how to learn here at Wild Flower Academy (our school name, chosen because we are wild, and we think flowers are pretty, and we like dandelions). The days are speeding by and we are keeping very busy, even though most of our hours don't officially count to put in our log book for the program that we are enrolled in. Nature walks, park play and painting are our favorite things, we have also been swimming, learning to read, and learning about the life cycle of bugs. Layla raises her hand when she knows an answer, even though she is sitting right next to me at the table, and no one else is there. Cute, silly girl. We are supposed to plot out our days 2 weeks in advance (as if, I am sure "real" teachers don't even do that, although I do have 2 cousins that teach grade school, and I plan to ask them directly) and write out our schedule in our official log book. That hasn't happened yet. The thing that has worked for us so far (and kept us all busy and happy) is to learn about whatever is interesting to us at the moment and moving on from there. We caught and observed a praying mantis, and learned about them, (even found a mantis word search!) then set him free. We had frogs to observe and learn about-unfortunately the frogs only lasted about as long as the lesson (RIP willow & Cutie pie) We are now patiently waiting for our chrysalides to hatch out butterflies, and are carefully counting the days until their arrival with tick marks on the chalk board, they should be coming out just in time for the Aunties to arrive! There is also math and maps and writing to pass the time.
Bugs seem to be a favorite subject with both girls, even though we have been learning about different ones for a while now. Maggie is particularly interested in the observation of them, Layla is happy enough to look at pictures and learn facts and information. The shop we ordered our caterpillars from is www.insectlore.com and they recently sent us a catalog of all the wonderful things in their shop. It really is a neat catalog, and Maggie has been sitting for long stretches going over and over all of the pages. Some of the things are pretty unique, they have silk worms and butterfly larvae, but you could also buy ants, worms and lady bugs (really?!) I am thinking that a lot of the things you can find/hunt/make yourself if you don't mind getting your hands dirty. Maggie immediately started begging for a clear cylinder that you wear around your neck, and put live bugs inside (when you catch them) to observe. wow-pretty cool. (and this my friends is why I LOVE the internet) Upon searching, I stumbled upon this blog by a super cool mama (and fellow Etsy artist) Nikki at WhiMSy love, with detailed instructions with pictures on how to make your own bug catcher necklace! AND I just happen to know that we have a couple of these little plastic bubbles floating around here somewhere (and if, by chance, they are no where to be found, I also know where to get some-RAD) Since I am working on sharing, I will share this cool blog with you now: http://whimsy-girl.blogspot.com/2009/08/bug-catcher-necklace-tutorial.html
This is why homeschooling is fun. You get to be creative and have a good time, and spend quality time with your kids. The things we do are simple and silly, but they are real, and it does count in my book, which, if you ask me, is the only one that matters.

things I can't live without today

(in no particular order)
rotary cutter
girls tool kit (LOVE mine!)
tylenol
chocolate chip raspberry magic muffins
coffee

lots of projects underway here. Today we put together a futon, this involved lots of screwing in screws with a non-electric screw driver, and also lots of slapping high fives along with shouting things like "GIRL POWER!!" and "GIRLS RULE, BOYS DROOL!!!" Gotta love the littles, even simple mundane tasks are exciting. I am now cutting our final set of curtains and Layla is scrubbing dishes (after begging for an hour), later friends are coming over to watch football (go ducks!) and there will be pizza. Not too bad of a day says me. Getting up from sitting on the floor is much harder than it used to be, might have to add beer to the list, it might even go at the top.