Joys of Home Educating


Two days ago Little Bro asked to do some reading, and I was surprised that he can now blend sounds together, i.e. read! A month or so ago, he couldn't. We were all so excited! Now it's my job to just keep calm and let him read when he's interested so it remains enjoyable and exciting for him.

Yesterday I had Big Bro (Kindergarten) do a project of his choosing (no suggestions from me). He chose to open a toy store on the front lawn. Here were the observable things he learned about:

-Character/values: You don't sell your brother's toys without asking first or sharing the profits.

-Spelling: He made a sign: "Toy Stor". I had him add an "e" (Who's gonna make that "o" say its name?).

-Art: He needed more "contrast" on his sign, so he went over the pencil with colorful marker.

-Pricing/value: $9 is too much to charge for a used whistle; $1 is (a little) more appropriate.

-Vocabulary:
"Grand Opening": What new stores usually say instead of 


     "OPieNinG DaY"

"Donations" vs. "Sales": The dollar our mailman, Don, gave 
     him. Best mailman ever.

"Demand": A used toy store on a weekday morning will 
     have less demand than a lemonade stand on a hot 
     Saturday. (The mailman is a generous donor to the 
     lemonade stand, too!)

"Residential district" vs. "business district": Why no one 
     is coming to our house to buy toys

"Merchandising": Why stores don't display their goods in 
     a deep box (usually!)

"Profit": He wanted to open a fruit stand but determined his 
     profit would be negligible.

"Negligible": Just kidding. Not yet. I can barely pronounce that myself.
-Donor appreciation: He made a thank-you note for the mailman.

That's a lot of learning for a half-day project he dreamed up and carried out himself!

Of course we also do much more structured learning - Big Bro's glad when his 3 R's are over with for the day. He's not the type to naturally enjoy sitting and writing. It's just so fun to have the space to let them learn at their own pace, and time to explore their interests, feed them healthy food they helped to grow, run around often and be loud boys, acknowledge God's amazing grace all throughout the day, and do it all as a family.

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