What are We Doing Wednesday?

It's Wednesday, so...

What are We Doing?

Back when we were in preschool and kindergarten/1st grade, we used to schedule Field Trip Fridays. You see, by the end of the week, my schedules and plans and dining room had become quite a mess. I needed a scheduled day each week to be unscheduled. To take the burden off and to just cut loose and have fun.

I am a fan of the idea of unschooling, you see. However, I can't really get my control-freak self to completely give in to it. So one day of field trips, of fun, of adventure...it was prefect. It was controlled unschooling once a week.

Then this past year, the twins moved up into second grade. Our core curriculum is Introduction to World History in One Year. 

Yikes.

Why does that seem so serious to me? It's like the rubber suddenly hit the road in our little homeschooling adventure.

And while it has been a great journey so far this year, we have had to make some adjustments. We aren't just doing topical studies each week based on children's story books and then some phonics on top. Every day we cover just about everything: history, geography, Bible, science, reading, language arts, handwriting, Spanish, art, and music.

Shorty has had the hardest time. And rightly so. After all, he's only in kindergarten. He can keep up just fine with the concepts, but he just can't make it to the end of a week with his sanity in tact. And if he has hit a brick wall of learning and turned into a tiny zombie, he manages to feast on his brothers' brains. Mine, too, if I'm honest. We were all exhausted and crazy by the end of our four days.

So our Field Trip Fridays weren't working out so well for us. By Friday we had work to catch up on. By Friday we were grumpy and burned out. By Friday all we wanted to do was sit in front of the television.

PBSkids was pretty much our sole adventure into unschooling. There was no more time or energy for exploration or for interest-led learning. No creative juices for experiments. As much as I love the zoo, how many times could I claim that it was a valid field trip during the year just because we had membership?

Something had to give.

And so, about midway through our year, I figured it out. (Yeah, I'm a quick study, I know.)

We needed to break up the days we were "on" and "off." We couldn't handle four days of sitting (mostly) still to learn.

We needed to move our Field Trip Fridays to mid week.

We needed a What are We Doing Wednesday?!

Eureka!

So, here we are, on a Wednesday, doing stuff. We are in the Middle Ages right now. Knights. Castles. The Black Plague. So...when you are in the middle of Kansas, what do you do on a Wednesday for a field trip related to your medieval curriculum?

You dress up in costumes and go to a castle, of course!

You keep a lookout from the highest tower, just in case there are any enemies (or ridiculously large groups of high schoolers apparently on their lunch hour) from whom you must protect the castle!

You practice shooting through the arrow slits at unseen enemies in the prairie grass

You eat your lunch in the cool of the great hall, well protected from the harsh Kansas winds.

You play a rousing game of "Rescue Princess Mommy" knight vs. woodsmen!

You learn that the castle itself dates only to 1936, but the location was probably visited by a Spanish conquistador looking for legendary cities of gold.

I've got to say, this excursion was a definite winner. I'm ready to dive back into book work tomorrow, and I think we will all sleep well tonight.

Now, the question is...What are We Doing (next) Wednesday?

Conjunction Junction, what's your function?

It's been a hectic week for me, getting everything we need for school plus a few other things taken over to the new place and organized. But I did it. I might have eaten nothing more than Dr. Pepper and Jalapeno chips this week, but I did it. We were ready to start school this morning, right on schedule.

We started our day off right, with a breakfast of champions, sure to sustain us to lunchtime.

After we finished eating, we hurried out the door. We didn't want to miss the bus on our very first day. What a disaster that would be! We took the obligatory pictures lined up for the bus. Naturally.

Then I hopped into the driver's seat, and we drove from the old house to the new. We excitedly entered the classroom and even tried to take pictures at the desk with the teacher.

We may need to work on our photography skills this year. Oh well. They were just excited that they each got a turn with my good camera, something they are rarely allowed to touch.

We finished our beloved FIAR at the end of last year, so we are launching headlong into new curriculum. Previously, I had loved the freedom and flexibility FIAR allowed us to have. I loved the fact that it was all based off of great children's books. I was able to really tailor or days to what we were interested in. However, after over 2 years of year-round school, I was growing weary. 

What I really wanted was for somebody to just tell me what to do each day. 

But I wanted it to be challenging.

And I still wanted some control.

And I wanted to be able to have the same core for two different grade levels.

And I didn't want to have to locate things every week at the library.

And I wanted to be able to do it in a 4-day week.

And I wanted to be able to custom fit math and reading levels for each child.

And I wanted to use real books.

And...

And...

So we settled on Sonlight. I was giddy the day EVERY book I would need for the entire year arrived in the mail. I was also a little intimidated. Second grade for the big boys, baby. Intro to World History. This stuff just got real.

It's too early to say how much (or whether) we love the new routine. Day 1 was a success, though, and I can say that I am looking forward to teaching my crazy, curious little men this year.

These boys are getting so very big. They amaze me every day.

Today we had some great conversations.

Some of those conversations were about Star Wars and whether Mace Windu should have been able to defeat Chancellor Palpatine. Or whether Luke would have stood a chance against Darth Maul's double light saber.

We also chatted about what they would like to be when they grow up. You know, typical first-day-of-school stuff.

Mr. N wants to be a zoologist in charge of his own zoo/aquarium. He was very specific about the "in charge" bit. He wants absolute control over every aspect.

Mr. W wants to be a firefighter and a lifeguard. He basically wants to be a superhero. To save people. And perhaps swim while doing it. He almost kind of still wants to be a zoologist. But he thinks he'll just visit with the animals every day after work.

Little Mr. L has been unwavering in his desire to be an artist and illustrator for many years. He actually would like to be a Caldecott-winning illustrator. But...since that's not entirely within his control, he didn't add that to his sign. He's in "catapult" kindergarten this year (as opposed to "cuckoo" last year) because he's being launched into elementary school.

Then there's me. My life goal is to one day become a beach bum. I really just want my hiney in the sand and a pina colada in my hand.

Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Real Life is Calling

We just got back from a week's vacation. We left the kids at Grands Camp. The hubs and I headed for the ocean. It was glorious.

A week from today we will head back to school. Things 1 & 2 are headed to second grade. Shorty will be in kindergarten. It is our third year on this homeschool adventure.

What are we doing to celebrate our last week of summer break? Hitting the pool everyday? Going on hikes and adventures? Lounging around in our PJs watching the tele? Those all sound like brilliant ideas.

But we are not doing any of that.

We are purging, packing, hauling, unloading, reorganizing.

We are moving.

Just across town, which is unusual for us, but we are moving nonetheless. We are trading our duplex on a soul-crushing street of other duplexes waaay out on the edge of town for a tidy little apartment a bit closer in to civilization. 

On the bright side, we will have year-round access to a pool (insert loud cheers from the children) in exchange for a fenced yard and attached garage. 

Giving in to the dark side, I have a sneaking suspicion that when the handsome husband throws around comments like "I'm looking forward to downsizing," he's mostly talking about my stuff and the kids' rather than his own.

This week I do not plan to come up for air. I am in beast mode. I have seven days. Seven short days which are also full of things like laundry, meal prep, soccer practice, and speech therapy. Just seven days to convert chaos into a classroom.

I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I sure do have some handsome little helpers who are also eager to get the job done. Or so they say...

www.jillheupel.com

Anyway. We are taking it in stride. Learning to be content in any circumstance. Even less-than-ideal, week-before-homeschool-starts, I'd-rather-be-poring-over-lesson-plans kinds of circumstances.