Our Homeschool Journal: Gearing Up for Science Fair

When I looked over our scheduled events for the week and also realized we needed time to prepare for the science fair we’re participating in next week I decided to throw our regular schedule out the window.  I called it a “project week” but the kids ended up calling it “fun school.”  Part of me wishes we could roll this way all the time, but those pesky math facts and grammar rules just won’t let me do it.

In our homeschool this week…

Our work at home has been all about the science fair we’re participating in next week.  I’m so excited and thankful for a veteran homeschool mom who put the whole thing together.  I’ve always wanted to have a reason to buy those three-panel display boards!  I’ll share all the details on our projects when they’re complete.

We also followed a little interest-led learning after a mild earthquake hit Maine this week!  It’s effects didn’t reach our area, but my mother called when she felt shaking at her house.  My husband did a mini-unit with the kids on earthquakes to answer all their questions.  Believe it or not, in a huge coincidence my son had picked out an earthquake nonfiction book at the library last week.  We also watched a Bill Nye earthquake video on YouTube.

Places we went and people we saw…

One of our major events was a field trip to Old Fort Western in Augusta, Maine.  Built in 1754 it’s New England’s oldest surviving wooden fort.  Dad joined little brother as he experienced life as a soldier, including drills and moving and firing a cannon.  Big sister and I dove into household chores: working in a smoky kitchen, tightening a rope bed, even chopping wood for the fire.  Any time I feel overwhelmed I need to spend a day living the life of colonial women.

We also had Girl and Boy Scout meetings, my daughter’s book club, a homeschool group meeting, and took a day today to visit Grandpa for his birthday.

We’re reading…

In honor of Mary at Homegrown Learners and her posts about reading aloud, I thought I’d share a little more in-depth on what we work on for read alouds.  Reading aloud truly is the backbone of our homeschool, and almost anything we’re learning about starts with books.  Here’s a collage to illustrate what I mean:

There is a basket of seasonal books just for fun in the living room; right now they’re about fall and Halloween.  I am slightly addicted to picture books for holidays and have a closet where I keep the off-season books, plus I also grab more at our library.  Beside the couch is a metal basket with our morning books (poetry and Bible) along with our current family chapter books (Treasure Island, On the Banks of Plum Creek).

In the schoolroom there is a crate of library books–you never know what you’ll find here, but we usually have 30-50 books checked out at one time.  I love my small-town library and the wonderful librarians there!  Mary is so right when she says they are a valuable resource.  Lots of these are just for fun, whatever the kids or I see that’s interesting on our regular library trips.  (Like the earthquake book!)  Also in the schoolroom is a wood crate with specific books I’ve chosen to go along with our studies.  For instance right now it holds books for our Government and Elections Unit Study, Brazil for Geography Club, and our upcoming nature study focus on trees.

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays.

Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!