Public school is behind us and we're free to educate as we see
fit. The kids are so excited to start this new chapter of their lives as long
as they don't have to do school over the summer. At least that's what they keep
telling me. I know it would be valuable to de-school for several months but to
tell you the truth I can't wait to get started. When I find a new of approach
to a problem they may have or some interesting new curriculum, I just want to
dive in and begin. Seems silly to wait for everyone else to start school so we
can too. With this in mind I've started summer school.... only don't tell the
kids that!
Our first "assignment" is to sit and listen to me read
Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly (American History is on the docket this
Fall). I've read the book myself but found the battle descriptions somewhat
confusing. To remedy this and make the book come alive, I purchased some toy
soldiers setting them strategically around the dining room table labeling each
battle and some of the main characters. The kids had so much fun that they
decided there had to be an Abe Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, and Lucy Hale
character too. Emily and Kat enlisted the help of their Barbies for these
important roles and in a stroke of genius, Emily taped a $5 dollar bill around
Ken's head to further distinguish him as Lincoln. Each day we make it through
two or three chapters of the book which usually leads to all kinds of
conversations about war, human character traits, geography (had to pull out the
atlas to identify battlefields and rivers), order of events, motivations of
people, timelines and dates. So much to cover without doing "school".
Mr.
Lincoln assesses the situation.
Next week Gone with the Wind will be showing on TV. I'm
taping it and hoping the kids are old (and patient) enough to enjoy the movie.
I think it'll be a nice companion piece to our summer civil war project. Now,
if I could just find a way to have this much fun doing math. Perhaps a trip to
Justice for a little percent/discount/sales tax lesson is in order. :)
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