A Day of Home Learning

My camera isn't working again and I have felt uninspired to write, so there has been a lack of posts lately.  I have felt the pull to write something down, though, so here goes. 

We are in a bit of a home learning groove.  The topics of interest lately are vast and far reaching.  Of course their passions still hold true with building and animals, but they are starting to branch out and are starting to make connections between old and new learning.  I am so fortunate to get to experience all of this first hand.  The acquisition of knowledge and desire to learn in children is truly amazing.

We started off today with baking banana bread.  The kids are starting to pick up on different measurements and have been asking about 1/2 vs. whole measurements.  We ate breakfast and got ready to head out of the house.  A local nature reserve was having a family day with guided tours and activities which we were keen to participate in.  The talk was great and included the use of binoculars - fun.  We ended up staying at the reserve for over 2 hours.  And came home with knowledge on different wing shapes and leg carriage for birds, some animal track etchings, and painted rocks. 

We drove home and BW and Animal fell asleep.  LBB, Builder and I played baseball in the front yard.  We can no longer play in the back yard for fear of loosing the ball over the fence to the dogs and breaking windows.  The boys carried on and rode bikes while I raked and bagged leaves.  Then we headed in the house for a snack and some cuddle time with classic stories by Virginia Lee Burton.  Builder loves her books.  We headed back outside for more yard work.  Animal woke up and joined me in weeding one of the vegetable gardens.  We had a discussion on whether we should finally pick the leeks we planted last year, or whether we should leave them and see what happens.  Animal decided we should leave them.

BW woke up and had her snack.  Then we all headed outside for some swinging and baseball play.  I left the boys to play in their shed, while I went in to cook dinner.

We ate a fairly boring dinner of chicken, rice, and broccoli.  We headed out for our after dinner walk/ride around the neighborhood.  Animal decided to walk his bike with me, while the other two rode to Grandma's house for a quick visit.  Animal and I had our first discussion about gravity and had fun dropping various objects and predicting which would land first.  When we caught up to his brothers, he showed him his new dropping trick and declared that it was, 'avidy.'  We carried on to the empty lot where a young man has been building a bmx track.  BW and I watched while the boys practiced their crashing stunts.  When they were thoroughly dirty, we carried on home.  After a quick clean and pajama change, Dad arrived home.  Beafcake played snakes and ladders with builder, LBB, and BW. 

Then off to bed for LBB, builder and BW.  Animal sits beside me at the moment listening to some audio stories.  Soon he will head to bed and my day is done.  A day in the life.