The boys have been asking and asking for us to have a yard sale. I've been putting it off.
Too much work, I'd tell myself. Don't I have other more pressing matters to take care of?
Wow, I'm surprised at how easy it actually was! Easy peasy!
Not only was it easy, the boys did most of it. It was their idea. They gathered, sorted, priced and sold their own toys to earn their own money. (I refuse to give an allowance. "In the real word" people earn their money, it isn't given to them.) They took out the tables and set everything up themselves, even the few items I had out there. They collected the money and gave out change. They even kept track of how much money they each made.
During the slow times (and sometimes when busy,) they played with bubbles, their baby sister, friends and neighbours. We read books on a blanket and tried to keep the mosquito's away...then we counted the mosquito bites.
Talk about school! But isn't life school?
It is in this house.
We do do workbooks...sometimes...but this is so much more fun. Learning, while applying what you have learned, in real life, make so much sense to me. An over simplification of what I'm talking about would be the abstract concept of 2+3=5 vs. harvesting apples from the apple tree you and your family planted together; your asked to pick 5 and you already have 2 so you pick 3 more to end up with 5. Then you take the same five apples and make them into other groups (4 and 1, 5 and 0, 1 and 1 and 3) but you see, there are always 5.
Then you take the 5 apples and either pass them out to your family (1 and 1 and 1 and 1 and 1 is 5) or take them inside to make an apple pie from scratch. This means measuring ingredients, thinking about how many more apples you might need and so many more things to learn.
For us, we learn much more with real life math than workbook math.
Now I want pie. Time to teach. (Too hot to bake were going to the store.)
p.s. I'm hoping to add a picture. Need to figure a few (more) things out first.
Too much work, I'd tell myself. Don't I have other more pressing matters to take care of?
Wow, I'm surprised at how easy it actually was! Easy peasy!
Not only was it easy, the boys did most of it. It was their idea. They gathered, sorted, priced and sold their own toys to earn their own money. (I refuse to give an allowance. "In the real word" people earn their money, it isn't given to them.) They took out the tables and set everything up themselves, even the few items I had out there. They collected the money and gave out change. They even kept track of how much money they each made.
During the slow times (and sometimes when busy,) they played with bubbles, their baby sister, friends and neighbours. We read books on a blanket and tried to keep the mosquito's away...then we counted the mosquito bites.
Talk about school! But isn't life school?
It is in this house.
We do do workbooks...sometimes...but this is so much more fun. Learning, while applying what you have learned, in real life, make so much sense to me. An over simplification of what I'm talking about would be the abstract concept of 2+3=5 vs. harvesting apples from the apple tree you and your family planted together; your asked to pick 5 and you already have 2 so you pick 3 more to end up with 5. Then you take the same five apples and make them into other groups (4 and 1, 5 and 0, 1 and 1 and 3) but you see, there are always 5.
Then you take the 5 apples and either pass them out to your family (1 and 1 and 1 and 1 and 1 is 5) or take them inside to make an apple pie from scratch. This means measuring ingredients, thinking about how many more apples you might need and so many more things to learn.
For us, we learn much more with real life math than workbook math.
Now I want pie. Time to teach. (Too hot to bake were going to the store.)
p.s. I'm hoping to add a picture. Need to figure a few (more) things out first.
I love this! I am slowly gaining the confidence that life is infact school and the kids will learn what they need to by doing. But it's hard and I've already done a few years of homeschooling the "school at home" way.
ReplyDeleteThat is the beauty of kids. They learn. We just need to give them the skills to find-out-for-themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhat an inspiring post. I hope to mostly unschool my children. The "mostly" springs from a fear that they might not learn everything they need. However, I read posts like this and realize life is all about learning and I need to trust my kids. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI can't force myself or Smootch to even think about workbooks anymore. If I ever get to talking like we should have workbooks, give me a smack. Apple pie sounds way better.
ReplyDelete