what do homeschoolers do all day | Butterscotch Sundae

Catherine M. Rooney, 6th grade teacher instructs her alert pupils on the way and how of War Ration Book Two — This is pretty much what our days look like.

We’re finishing up our second week of school today, and so far it’s going swimmingly. Poppy has been eager to get to work every day. Pete has been a little difficult this week; I think he’s entering a Whiney Stage of Development. He settles down and actually enjoys himself once he finally succumbs to the learning process.

Would you like to know a little more about what we’ve been doing this week? Allons-y!

Reading

Our first read-aloud of the year is “Anne of Green Gables,” because that’s what I picked up on my last mad rush through the library. I’ve tried to read it before on my own without much luck. I just have a hard time getting into the story. Pete has been paying very little attention to it. He wanders through the room while we’re reading, but that’s about it. I don’t think it’s Poppy’s favorite book ever, but she enjoys the cuddle-on-the-couch time anyway.

We’re going to be studying the Middle Ages in history this year, so after we finish “Anne” I’m going to try to choose read-aloud books that are at least tangentially connected to that. Here are a few I’m considering:

“Igraine the Brave,” by Cornelia Funke

“The Squire’s Tale,” by Gerald Morris

“The Adventure’s of Sir Gawain the True, by Gerald Morris

“Favorite Medieval Tales,” Mary Pope Osborne.

Poppy’s daily schedule this year includes 30 minutes of free reading. This week she read a lot of books from my old “Sesame Street” collection as well as a new “My Little Pony” book from Grandma.

Teaching Pete to read is one of my primary goals this year. We’re using the BOB books, and he read the first one on the first day of school with hardly any help at all.

“How’d you know all those words?” I asked him.

“Oh,” he said. “I’ve just been learning.”

I’m hoping he magically absorbs Calculus the same way in a few years. Speaking of which …
Continue reading Wading into ‘Green Gables’ and other homeschool pursuits →

This week’s “Five in a Row” book was “When I Was Young in the Mountains” by Cynthia Rylant. It’s set in the Appalachian region years and years and years ago, before electricity, plumbing and, apparently, snake deterrent. Having grown up in the same region — with indoor plumbing, electricity and a dearth of snake sightings, happily — I was pretty excited about exploring its history with Poppy. We listened to a lot of bluegrass this week and read a few Jack tales in addition to our regularly scheduled activities.

I’ve been trying to jot down some notes on each day as we go along, but I didn’t do that very consistently this week. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell on which days I neglected to do it! Here’s what we did this week:
Continue reading I could’ve done without all the snake references →