Week 6: Life is a highway...or at least zooms past like one!!

Even though we're running at full speed this week, we're starting to hit a stride here at Varga School. :) Six weeks into our schooling and I'm finally doing some "unschooling", as they call it. I'm finally starting to do more things in our "off" time that really count as schoolwork and work it in. 

For example, today I could NOT get out of bed. After a full week of school last week, a weekend with Cub Scouts camping, a full (9 hour) day field trip to DC in three Smithsonian museums on Monday, full day of school on Tuesday followed by two - count them, TWO - Den meetings on Tuesday night....and I was DONE this morning. When I finally came downstairs hours after my normal wakeup time, I told the boys, "You broke me!" ...lol. So we did a more relaxed day after I finally got started but still got so much teaching done!

First, we printed off the Minecraft creations they had made in conjunction with our Reading/History unit on Jamestown and Pocahontas. Ben had made an Indian village and Danny had made an English ship. After we printed them, they wrote  sentences about their picture (writing and history). Next, we did our weekly ice skating at the Columbia Ice Rink (P.E.), followed by a run to the grocery store to pick up some things. While we were there, we discussed nutrition and had them compare labels for content and sugars (health class here :) After we picked up Shayla from kindergarten, we came home and they wrote a science journal entry about the experiment they brought back from Scouts last night and repeated to the squealing delight of Shayla and Piper today (writing and science). Brief description, it involved Alka-Seltzer, water and small plastic containers with caps. Fun little explosions ensued..lol

I thought we were done at this point. Had a nice visit with both daughters and granddaughters - a great excuse to skip my afternoon nap again. :) But after they left and I was browsing through the Netflix movies, I hit the motherlode! A National Geographic hour long special on Machu Pichu - the lost city of the Incas, which we just happen to also be studying!! Bingo! We ate dinner and watched this great show on our big HD tv and that, my friends, will count as our history class tomorrow :) Such wonderful timing because I knew our history book about the Incas/Aztecs/Mayans was a little long on words and short  on beautiful visuals and this was a Godsend. 

So, we had a full day of class and the boys really only had to sit and do writing for 45 minutes or so. It's starting to work, to make more sense, and fit in better with our boys' lives. Makes running into Danny's 4th grade teacher last night (while at the school for Cub Scouts) all the more gratifying. Go me :)