Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A Day Of Relaxed Homeschooling


We got sort of a late start yesterday.  I let Sunshyne sleep in, whereas normally she is expected to set her alarm clock and be up by 7:00am to get dressed and complete her morning chores.  We usually start formal learning around 9:00am, immediately following breakfast.  Well yesterday looked nothing like that.  Sunshyne had helped out with RJ at around 6:00am and so as a reward, I let her sleep until she woke up on her own... which was about 10:30am.  After a few chores and breakfast, it was almost 11:30am before she was ready to begin any of her studies.  I decided that it might be a good idea to head out to the back yard to kinda get our juices flowing.  The next thing I knew, I was hauling out soccer balls and scooter toys for RJ.
That was the beginning of our "relaxed" homeschooling day.


Playing soccer was the highlight of the afternoon.  RJ loved chasing after the ball.  He doesn't have kicking it down to a science....



But he's pretty good at throwing it!


I loved watching him in action, chasing after the ball and then throwing it to his sister so that she could kick it back.  He was very serious about this game...maybe I should say focused.


That ball looks as big as he does in this photo, doesn't it???


After they were all tuckered out from soccer and other outdoor games, we all sat down for some quiet time reading.


This is why I love homeschooling, the flexibility and versatility.  This is the way I'd envisioned homeschooling my children.  Being able to learn naturally, simply because it's enjoyable.


It truly doesn't get any better than this!

Are you relaxed in your way of teaching your children?  I enjoyed this so much that I think looking into this "method" (for lack of a better term) seems feasible.  Please share any views or experiences that you've had with relaxed homeschooling.  Thank you so much for stopping by:)

~Blessings~
Claudea B.




3 comments:

Jenilee said...

this weather is perfect for lazy homeschooling! love it! :)

Contessa Kris said...

According to your description, just about all our days are 'relaxed homeschooling' days. lol I really wish we could get started earlier, its just not in our genes or something. I love to just let my child be free to study what she wants, and read all the time but I worry that we're not learning everything. How will she learn math? I just haven't figured out how to do school this way yet. Visiting from HHH!

Mama Know Best said...

@Contessa Kris I love doing manipulatives for math. Putting out games that teach and the kiddos can learn without really realizing it. I LOVE Monopoly for this vary reason, but there are other games that teach different skills. We have a pizza game for fractions, and I created a measuring game for lenght, height, weight, metrics, and the conversions using a tape measure, a kitchen scale, and some measuring cups. Stuff like that is really helpful. Also, cooking is probably one of the best ways to teach math, along with other skills such as reading, comprehension, and problem solving.

I'd gotten away from this way of homeschooling thinking she needed to do text and workbooks more because she's getting older, but I do miss the creativity and just plain fun of homeschooling in a more relaxed manner.