A True Mid-West Experience

Homeschooling continues to go well, for the most part. I'm still learning how to relax and not be too intense and try to have fun. The kids are learning how to take turns with mommy as well as counting, math, alphabet, handwriting, reading and all that other good stuff.

This week's special event was going to visit a farm in very small town, Ohio. I stuck with my commitment to be agenda-less and we just took it all in. Among the highlights were picking raspberries (I think Anna ate more than she actually saved); climbing on large piles of straw in a barn; picking corn; eating lunch in a restored log cabin and learning about how people used to live before electricity and indoor plumbing; and sitting on tractors. We also saw cows, a bull, a snake, several cats, and two very cute kittens. The kids got filthy but had a good time.

Here are some pics from our farm trip:

Anna on a porch swing in front of a late 1800s house.

Colin in the corn.

Anna on a tractor.

Colin on a tractor.

In other news, Colin is doing really well at Classical Conversations. The purpose of the Foundations program is mostly to teach kids various facts from all different subjects. At this point, he's learning the "grammar" of each subject which is the first step in the classical model for education. It's not critical that he understands all he memorizes, it's just important that the terms and facts get into his head. The idea is that kids at this age are great memorizers so take advantage and fill that brain with good stuff. Using songs, hand motions, and lots of repetition, Colin has memorized a ton of stuff. He can skip count all the way to the 6s, he knows the five kingdoms of living things, he knows the classifications of living things, he can state all 10 commandments, several Greek and Roman gods, the seven wonders of the ancient world, major events on a timeline, and the definition of a preposition as well as several of the propositions. It's truly amazing. I'M learning a ton in this process and even Anna has picked up on a lot. I'm so excited for him to be gaining so much information that he will be able to apply later.

Tomorrow we're finishing out the week and I'm hoping for a good morning so we can go back to Boonshoft in the afternoon. The weather has been rainy and depressing and I've been grouchy so we could all use a little fun.