We Haven't Started School Yet

It’s hard not to get caught up in the whole hype of the first day of school. We are going to have an official start day the day after Labor Day, but through my ponderings of what we are going to do through the school year I’ve reflected on what we’ve done this summer. Here is our day Tuesday just to give an example of what our summer break has been like taking a break from “school”.

Early A.M.: While reading my Bible I decide to read a Psalms out loud to my kids. Long discussion ensues on heaven, God, Jesus, making right choices, David, Goliath, Satan, and on and on.

Finish reading our chapter book, The Boxcar Children Caboose Mystery. Questions and discussions about the story and many other random things follow.

Boys go play outside, then inside building legos and skateboard ramps for their lego guys.

Kaden asks to play numberbow with me. Will wants to build a tower. I ask, Will, can you sort this box of legos by color, can you build me a tower with 12 black blocks, can you build me a tower that has a pattern of blue, red, yellow. Ok, so we have some unplanned math.

Throughout the day: Will: “I know what F starts with! Football!” (Same difference. He gets the concept. Discussion follows about other letters and their sounds.)

Kaden: “I’m going to make a mask.” Lots of cutting, pasting, and coloring goes on before he has his creation.

“Let’s write Grandad Bill notes and put them in his mailbox.” Lots of drawing, spelling, coloring, erasing, rewriting, crumpling, starting over until they are happy with their letters and go deliver them.

We picked the garden, played games, drew pictures & did puzzles throughout the day as well.

Lunchtime discussion: Questions: “What is a bobcat?” “What do they eat?” “What animals eat chickens?” “How do chicks hatch?” “Is this a chicken’s arm?” “How big are lions?” “Is Goliath in hell?” “Were angels already on earth or did God create them?” “Do deer eat people?” Very random. Lots of learning and discussion. Zoology, check.

Reading time: Read a book about hot and cold. Discussed weather, friction, seasons, & other random questions. (It takes us a long time to get through books through all the discussions.)Read a book about The Stupids (one of their favorite books). Read Mickey Moonbeam. Talked about outer space, planets, space ships, aliens, etc, etc.

Snack time: I ask if they’ve gotten enough colors of the rainbow in their diet. Discussion follows of healthy foods and the fact that yellow cheese doesn’t count as yellow, but the mango we’re eating does. They go grab a handful of peas, and take a bite of tomato to get a little more colors taken care of for the day.

Driving to the Ignite kick-off: Questions: “How many miles are we going?” “Are we there yet?”“How many miles are left?” “How many minutes are in a year?” “I’m going to count until we get there.” “I’m going the read the signs.” “What is the difference between a farm and a ranch?”“What are boulders?”

And on and on and on and on… That’s just a few of the learning opportunities we had that day and every other day.

So yeah we haven’t “started” school yet. I better get on the ball because I’m afraid they might not learn anything. They might be getting behind! Ha!

This just proves that life really is school, and even though I’m going to throw in a couple of more structured things throughout the year, after our “official start” of school our days just won’t look much different than this one.