November 9, 2011

Comparisons

Why in life are comparisons so important?  J asked if he could study history and science (which we already do daily, but without labeling them as such).  The reason he asked is because he was comparing school notes with a fellow homeschooled friend, and the friend is working on high school level work.  Why do we have to compare?  Why do we have to do what the other child is doing?  Part of me feels frustrated, but part of me is happy that this will make J work on something different (other than Legos.)

I have a Sonlight World History core that I've been holding on to (okay, hoarding!) in case one of the children becomes interested in history, and voila, it looks like now is the time to pull it out.  I'm actually pretty excited, because I wish my parents had taught me with Sonlight - it's the exact type of program I would have LOVED in school - lots of reading.  Umm, which reminds me, I'll need to add some hands-on projects for J.  He's an auditory and kinesthetic learner, which makes for hands-on and lots of reading aloud by me.  Wish us luck!

I'll let you know how it goes.  :)

Owl mini-study

J and I have been really into owls lately.  We started our interest in owls by reading some of the Guardians of Ga'hoole book series.  We watched the movie (disappointing - it didn't really follow the books at all).  We attended a Raptor, Inc. presentation with live owls - they even had a barn owl, he was beautiful.  We learned that there are only maybe 50 pairs of barn owls in all of Ohio. 

We studied a few books about owls and owl breeds.  Overall, we definitely expanded our interests to include owls.  J is even thinking about volunteering with Raptor, Inc. when he is old enough.  Fun times.