How We Homeschooled Today #53
Clouds, sunsets, books books books
How We Homeschool pen pal exchange
If you’d like your child to have a pen pal, send me their age and your home country—no need for a home address—and I’ll try to match people up. You can leave a comment, or press reply if you’re a subscriber.
No guarantees as I’ve no idea how many people will be keen, and I recommend not telling your child until something is arranged otherwise I’m going to end up writing to children all over the world to prevent crushing disappointment!
If you’re new here, my daughter is 7 and my son is 5.
A Very Good Start: The children played quietly in their room until my husband and I woke naturally at 8.30!
Reading at breakfast (more of the IHero series which I hate, but the children love).
Last night my daughter replied to her pen pal letter. But when she realised she would have to post it and never see it again, there was much anguish. I offered to take a photo, but she chose to instead copy out the whole thing this morning so she has a copy to keep and a copy to send. This was actually great handwriting practice, and an opportunity to correct the mistakes she had made in the original.
Her brother read Illustrated Myths From Around the World.
I have been rereading The Secret World of Weather, so I took the children out into the garden and talked about the clear blue sky, the wispy cirrus clouds, and why it takes a few hours of daylight for the cumulus clouds to form. Later in the day we looked at the sky to observe how the cumulus were developing. Then they played with a friend in the garden and I got a head start on lunch (this is the kind of miracle that’s possible when I sleep in until 8.30.)
Renato Fumian via Unsplash For their maths activities, my son chose a game from Tiny Polka Dot (fantastic maths resource for children aged 3 to 8 and beyond), and my daughter did some Khan Academy.
Then we spent the entire afternoon in the library—list of what we borrowed below (if you love a book list, see my recent post Everything we borrowed from the library this weekend).
Back home in time for tea, when I put on Ladybird Language Stories: My First Words in French (which was a bit ambitious of me, as we were all hot and worn out).
They are campaigning to go and see the sunset in pyjamas, which I will probably acquiesce to once they’ve had some reading in bed and I’ve had a chance to eat, tidy up, rest etc.
Here’s what we borrowed today
Loads of Biff and Chip books
A Bluey book about Easter
Fortunately, The Milk by Neil Gaiman
Usborne History of Britain: Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
The Jamie and Angus Stories by Anne Fine
Ice Palace by Robert Swindells
(Everything apart from the top two were my own suggestions. Otherwise it would all have been Bluey and Biff and Chip. But usually my suggestions prove quite popular once we get home.)
And for me, I borrowed:
Quiet Power: Growing up as an introvert in a world that can’t stop talking
I contain multitudes: The microbes within us and a grander view of life
Horizons: A global history of science
How to make the world add up: Ten rules for thinking differently about numbers
The brilliant abyss: True Tales of Exploring the deep sea, discovering hidden life and selling the seabed
Digital Minimalism (thought of you,
)
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Hi, Catherine — If it isn’t too late, my 9 year-old son would love to participate. We’re in the US. Great idea, thank you.
I have a 7 year old son and 5 year old son who would like to participate! We live in Florida, USA. Thank you for presenting this opportunity!