In March Sprout learned about dogs. We read Lassie Come-Home, he was responsible for some of the pet care for our little zoo, and he wrote his first-ever research paper. The latter turned out surprisingly well, and he produced several pages on Border Collies, all typed up himself.
Since he put in so much work on his paper (and, admittedly, because PonyMommy thought it was really cool), we took a weekend trip to the AKC 2014 National Agility Championship in Harrisburg, PA to see one of the things Border Collies do best. The kids loved it - they sat and watched the dogs for hours - and had a lot of fun just enjoying normal kid-travel things like going out to eat and sleeping in a hotel.
And honestly, I was really happy that the kids were impressed by the experience. As we sat in TGIFriday's eating our burgers, I saw several kids come in with their families who seemed downright sullen and bored to be eating in such an unoriginal place on a Saturday night. Kids who clearly were looking for something far more entertaining than a chain restaurant. But really - what should it take to make kids who are eight, five, three, and not-yet-one happy? Do they need Disneyworld? An XBox? Those things aren't bad, although we've decided to keep our house video-game free and may never be able to afford a trip to Disney. I was thrilled that the kids were over the moon about little things like chocolate milk, and petting puppies, and going out to eat. Things shouldn't be complicated or grand when they're little.
One of the things I'm liking about homeschooling the younger grades is that you can cover some subjects as the mood strikes you. While we had a very reading- and writing-intensive winter, with spring moving in, we started learning about plants and gardens, focusing on science. We spent a rainy day at the water company, of all places, wandering through their (really very good) exhibits about the water cycle, conservation, and natural resources.
When things dried up, we headed outside and planted flowers. The best part? We were able to have all this fun over lunchtime, while I worked from home.
Sprout spent some time on the internet learning about earthworms, and we dug some up and inspected them as we planted. We'll plant some seeds inside and watch them grow, and do some experiments with beans. This weekend we'll get some veggies and herbs started, too.
Along with our "things that grow" theme, we visited a local organic dairy with our homeschool group. We had a lovely day of petting brand-new calves, watching "the ladies" get milked, and sampling ice cream.
Sprout paired this with reading a nonfiction book about a year on a family farm, and since the kids cannot get enough of Laura Ingalls Wilder - we've done Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie already this year - we'll be starting Farmer Boy next week, too. I've read several of our books this year aloud to all the kids. Sprout can go back and re-read them on his own if he needs to for assignments, but this way SweetPea and SweetPotato get to enjoy them, too.
And after our start to spring, we're taking Holy Week as our spring break - and I don't know whether mommy or the kids are happier. When we start back up after Easter, we'll have just a short time left to the end of the year!
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