Karen's Clan

King Arthur did school today with a friend, and I want to share what we did and also some of my reflections on it... read on!

I had a blast preparing for it. It was so much fun preparing a unit of work for two children the same age - something I haven't done since teaching days, and because I have Sonlight, not something I necessarily need to do. So not only were there now TWO kids, but also of the same age and capabilities, a rare occurrence in the homeschooling field. I chose a day of introduction into our next Science Core A topic - the body.

It was a LOVELY day. The little girl in question didn't want to go home, and I loved watching them learn together...and play. Now lest you think that my life is perpetually golden, I shall paint a realistic picture for you of the days events!

So, the morning started, somewhat later than anticipated as my maid wasn't well and so I took her home. I had also forgotten to buy two important sheets of paper, so had to pop into our local Write shop! Ahem! So much for planning and being prepared!

K was dropped off by her dad, as if she really was going to 'school' and came with a packed lunch box, and then the morning began with some stretches. (A side note, in hindsight, I should have let them just get used to one another for a bit with some free play, but I was so excited to get started!).

They started off tracing a cut out of a body onto their own A4 flesh colored paper and coloring it in according to what they were wearing....





then some bouncing on the trampoline....

Then we looked at this awesome book The Human Body, (Classic Edition, 1906!)



and this one



and brainstormed what was in our skin - we did a lot of poking and prodding each other at this point! Then we focused on the skeleton for the rest of the morning.

I had remembered the song 'Dem bones' vaguely, but I was thrilled to find this video clip on You tube. It's brilliant!



We watched it...



and then attempted to make our own (meringue) bones. This is what they are supposed to look like:



AHEM. This ended in an absolute disaster! When reading this Martha Stewart recipe, I consciously remember reading 200 degrees and thinking, gosh that's really hot for meringues. But didn't think more of it. Dolt! it's 200 degrees FAHRENHEIT, Martha Stewart is American!!!!! NOT celsius. Needless to say I burnt them to a crisp. Burnt meringue is not a pleasant aroma!




Then we made our own skeletons inspired by this site. I had cut out all the bones ahead of time and made safety pin sized holes in the skeleton attachment points to make it easier. I only used 160gsm paper, and it really would have worked better if the paper was 240gsm - although I suspect this would require a trip to the printer, or tracing it onto card, and I wasn't that prepared!  It was interesting for me to watch my boy and a girl doing the same task, food for thought!



Then they bounced and played some more. We picked up Belle from school, (whilst belting out 'dem bones'), they bounced some more (can you tell I have a son?) with their skeletons!

Then just before lunch time, we googled x-rays of bones and broken ones, and then added our x ray dimension to our bodies:





Voila!

This day was lovely. I've come away with much food for thought and I leave you with this morsel:

 Homeschooling need not be a lonely journey - for you or your children. I hope you can find other moms you can start to build a community with to 'swap school' every once in a while (every month? every fortnight?). The friend King Arthur invited today doesn't follow the same curriculum as us, and that need not be a problem. In fact it's a wonderful opportunity! It gives the kids a fresh appreciation of home and your way of doing it, as well as exposing them to a different setting and routine. Co-ops are great, and another way to beat the possible loneliness, but swapping school is somewhat more intimate... for me.

I love the idea of sharing school!