It's Day Two of my "A Week in the Life of Our Homeschool" series and today I get to share one of the "staple" days in our week: Community Day! This is our consistent Tuesday routine that we look forward to so much!
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| Charlie's CC Class |
Common Misconception of the Day:
Common Misconception: Homeschoolers are antisocial, unsocialized, or deprived the opportunity to hang out with other kids.
Our Truth: I understand how this stereotype came to be, but it is definitely not our reality (nor is it the reality for ANY homeschool families I know -- which is quite a few). I like to joke that we're so on-the-go that it's actually the ACADEMIC aspect of homeschool that is difficult to fit in. There is definitely no lack of socializing!
What Today Looked Like:
8:30am - Scheduled departure time
9:40am - Actual departure time
10:00am - Classical Conversations
1:00pm - Playground
2:00pm - Home | Lessons & free play for kids. Chores for mom.
Today's Story:
Tuesday is CC day! Classical Conversations is a homeschool community and we LOVE it. CC is a classical method of education, which basically means the kids do a whole crap ton of memorizing. The amount of information seems overwhelming, but it’s incredibly impressive how well they do with it!
This morning, I got an extra little reminder of why I appreciate the freedom and flexibility of homeschool life when Beckett (usually a 6:30am riser) was still asleep at 8:30am - when we are usually leaving the house! Charlie and I sat ready to go, waiting on him to get up, only for him to take his dear sweet time. I decided that if my five-year-old (who rarely sleeps in) was still sleeping at almost 9am, then his body apparently needed it! Thankfully, it wasn't too long before he woke up in a great mood, ready for the day, and with no signs of illness (which was another concern). So we headed out the door over an HOUR behind schedule. And it was liberating.
This morning, I got an extra little reminder of why I appreciate the freedom and flexibility of homeschool life when Beckett (usually a 6:30am riser) was still asleep at 8:30am - when we are usually leaving the house! Charlie and I sat ready to go, waiting on him to get up, only for him to take his dear sweet time. I decided that if my five-year-old (who rarely sleeps in) was still sleeping at almost 9am, then his body apparently needed it! Thankfully, it wasn't too long before he woke up in a great mood, ready for the day, and with no signs of illness (which was another concern). So we headed out the door over an HOUR behind schedule. And it was liberating.
On CC day, the kids are introduced to their new memory work for the week, study music or art, give presentations to their class, and do a science project. Then they have lunch together and play!
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| Today's Science: Sun Prints |
Throughout the week, we study the same memory work, with the goal of having it mastered by the time we return. Each week (for 24 weeks), we have new information in 7 subjects: Math, Science, History, Timeline, Latin, English, and Geography.
CC is AMAZNG. They repeat the same information every 3 years through the elementary years, add in writing during the middle school years, and then speech/debate during the high school years — all built on the concepts memorized from age 4. It’s kind of like the alphabet - you memorize it as a kiddo, then use it more and in different ways as you grow! Even better: the whole program is Christ-Centered.
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| Music Theory: Tin Whistle Practice |
The best part of CC is the actual community! We get together with our friends regularly, and I am SO grateful for the other moms! They are FAN.TAS.TIC and so encouraging. Exactly the type of people I want to surround myself with!
On the way home from CC today, Charlie suggested we hit the playground. This season is my happy time, so I was all about it. We popped through Starbucks (obviously) and hit a new (to us) playground in the area. I sat for an hour and sipped my coffee in silence while I watched Beckett find friends to play tag with and Charlie find a new friend to play babies with. We could have stayed there forever, except my coffee ran out and we had other things to do.
As soon as we were home, we switched out our CC whiteboard and reviewed our newest memory work. Below is a little peek at what some of that looks like. Review looks different every day. Often the kids review on their iPads. We also have CDs we listen to in the car, a neat coloring book we're working through, and flashcards (that are mostly neglected).
We squeezed in a math board game, some learning palette time, and a little reading. Then, the last thing on the list was their iPad time. I don't care what anybody says - I LOOOVE technology in our house and the amazing opportunities it provides the kiddos. I'm amazed at the challenges they take on through their math apps and am SO grateful for the extra independent practice! They use their iPads daily (on timers) for math, reading/phonics, piano, and CC memory work.
Today was a full day, so we didn't finish up with our official checklist until around 3:30. But it was a good, good day!
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| Beckett (5) is assembling a Times Table and Charlie (4) is working on subtracting from 20. |
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