She's just so pretty

This is school?

I had a random idea to set up a little tea party for the kids.  Alison had asked for pumpkin bread and thank you Trader Joe's for making that super easy for me.  When the bread was done, I made some hot cocoa and got out our china.  Then I turned on some "fall" music, lit a fall smelling candle and grabbed a book.  I called the kids in for our special snack time and they LOVED it.

I read ,while they dined.

Alison said, "I wish we were English and could do this everyday."  I told her that we could do it every day (just not with pumpkin bread), but reminded her that she doesn't like tea.  She said, "You're right.  I like our "Shearish" way better."

{It cracked me up how Maya could not be left out and laid their quietly next to us }

At the end of the day, the kids all said this was their favorite part of the day.  I said, "I'm so thankful to hear that school was your favorite part!" and Alison said, "THAT WAS SCHOOL?!?"

Goal accomplished.

Did you hear literature?  yes.

Did you hear classical music? yes.

Did you engage in a conversation about what you were hearing?  yes.

Then you just learned something and that my friends, is what we call "school".

I don't have a concrete goal for us this year yet...our fall is so busy that I might wait until the new year, but I do have a goal that they would enjoy learning this year; to break the idea that school fits in a box and is boring.  Even for myself, this is the first year that I haven't filled out a year long spreadsheet of what lessons need to be done when.  I've been doing this long enough that I know about what pace we need to take.  I left all those boxes blank and told the kids that it didn't matter how long it took to finish to books or how many chapters we got done, it matters that they learn it.  What point is it to fill out the pages but not actually know it?

We did have another tea party and continued on our reading.  This week, I'm going to have Alison bake some cookies (i.e. cooking class) for our tea party :)

Clearly busy

I promise we're alive...clearly we've been busy starting our new school year, as that's pretty much all I have to document of this last month.

Colin has some news.  He went on a date with Daddy and loved every minute.  They got hamburgers and milkshakes and then went shopping for some new clothes.

We make it a point to get Colin a hamburger and shake every once in awhile because he will devour it and it's kind of like our calorie insurance plan for him :)  I asked him what he wanted for breakfast the other day and he said, "I'll just take some carrots."

 Colin helped me cook dinner the other night and it made my day!

Lego Star Wars Imperial Base

Created by Eli Shear

This is a Lego Star Wars Imperial Base.

This is the landing pad.

This is the hanger.

This is the motorcycle parking and can also store stuff.

This is the shield generator.

This is the training room.

This is the meditating room.

This is the factory where they make weapons.  They send it to the storage when it's done.

This is the break room.

This is where ships park.

This is the prison.

The grey pillars are doors.

Humongous Star Wars fleet

Created by Eli Shear

This fleet contains a lot of old Lego sets, such as the Millennium Falcon, a Tie fighter, Obi-Wan Star Fighter and an Imperial shuttle.

School on the beach

Clearly life is pretty rough over here ;)

Why do school on the beach?  I'm glad you asked.  There are many reasons.

First, it's good for my soul.  

If you haven't read Sarah Mackenzie's book, 'Teaching from Rest', do it now.  I can't think of a better, more relaxing way to teach, than by the ocean.

Second, I loved the idea of doing a little work, then taking breaks to find sea glass or look for crabs or jump in the waves. 

Third, I want to break the box in my kids' minds of what learning looks like.  I want them to know that learning can happen ANYWHERE not just at a desk at a certain time.  I also want to give them tools to figure out what works for them...I often encourage them to pair learning with something they love, like listening to music or ,just to keep it real, munching on gummy bears.

Third, we're studying sea life in science this year and I am A-okay with spending lots of time by the sea to get a hands on experience of what we are learning.

Fourth, I wanted to carve out time to make a dent in this book. It's an extremely fascinating read.

Finally, because we live in California!  And this is what my homeschool dreams are made of!