Homeschooling Away from Home

A few weeks into the school year I decided to take advantage of our homeschool flexibility, so we turned the three-day Columbus Day weekend into a six-day visit up north. I do mean north: we were less than twenty miles this side of the Canadian line.

The days were sunny and windy with temperatures in the 50's more or less, I think. Monkey1 refused to wear a jacket, "I have long sleeves!" while Monkey2 bundled up in a fleece and a raincoat and winter boots and would tromp back into the house asking for hot chocolate after about ten minutes.

There was a table in the woods for tea parties, and rocks to throw into the lake, and frogs and toads and wooly bears to catch, and pumpkins to decorate, and yes, lessons to do. The trip was Thursday-Tuesday, so our Wednesday Classical Conversations day had just given us our memorization work to be ready upon our return!

The first thing I realized was that our usual review time was missing; at home, every time we get in the car, I pop in the audio CD and we sing our History sentence, Latin verb conjugation, and Math skipping counting sets, and repeat the English grammar, Science fact, and Geography elements. Ten or fifteen minutes in the car to get somewhere and then another ten or fifteen minutes back to home, once or twice a day really adds up! So I had to remember to play the CD daily.

I also struggled to give Monkey1 quiet with my attention/help for reading practice. Having Monkey2 out of the house a few mornings a week at preschool while I work with Monkey1 has made homeschooling very easy! Now, Chatterina, um, Monkey2, was really living up her to nickname! She never stopped talking! Once I squeezed in a lesson while she was investigating what the bearded dragon in residence was having for breakfast, and another time a lesson was after little sister went to bed and fell asleep at 6:30 p.m. Fortunately I had brought the McGuffey Primer with us for the phonics/reading practice, and Monkey1 really liked the layout of one page is one lesson, with a picture and sentences, so she was motivated to work on the reading despite Monkey2's commotion.

Handwriting, printing, practice was the same as at home. I made a sheet of letters for each Monkey to practice. Monkey1 worked on lower case letters, while Monkey2 liked to trace her name. I still find it amusing that she really does trace the letters, just as she would put her hand on a piece of paper and trace around it, she carefully works around the outside of each letter of her name. At first I had no idea what she was doing, and then I realized how we've used the word "trace" with her.

Of course, we read books. I brought The Story of the World with us, and then there were books in the house. Monkey2 favored Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman and Heckedy Peg by Audrey Wood, while Monkey1 was fascinated by Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.

It worked out, homeschooling away from home.