7 Quick Takes (Sunday): Homeschool Edition

Joining Jen for 7 Quick Takes Friday!

1. Many of my friends have chosen to enroll their kids into preschool, and their kids are learning French and coming home with crafty fall art projects.  In the past when people have asked where G will go to school, I've said that we plan to home school.  Now that she's three, I'm feeling the pressure to say that we DO home school.  And that I need to have something to show other than that "Um, she counted out potatoes for me for dinner" (and got to "eleventeen").  So, here are some things we've done in the past weeks for her education.

2. We took a field trip!  A replica of the Nina (the most accurate ever built) was docked in Pittsburgh's North Side for a few days prior to Columbus Day.





It's quite small, compared to today's ships.  But for being guided by a tiller (not a wheel), it's large.  The crew of 24 men used to sleep on deck, as the hull was full of food, horses and extra rigging.

Grace's fav part was trotting up and down the gangplank.

I found out about this event because I joined the Catholic Homeschoolers of Pittsburgh listserv.  All kinds of home school points!

3. We went apple picking.  This is our third year going to Simmons Farm to pick apples, and I love that we have this tradition.  I saw a preschool group there and realized that this totally counts as a field trip.

The tractors on the farm were not G's fav part.

4. We did something with construction paper!  In The Well Trained Mind, Bauer recommends Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready as "a preschool curriculum in itself", or something like that.  There is a weekly activity for children from birth through age five.  G's age-approp. activity was fishing.

We are learning colors and counting in fun ways.

5. We checked out a Theme Bag from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.  (Incidentally, this has to be one of the best libraries in the nation.  Is that obvious? They probably have lots of awards. I'm just talking from personal experience.)  A friend recently recommended Theme Bags, which are intended for teachers but (apparently) anyone can check them out.  We did the Silly Songs and Nonsense bag which had 11 books and some cloth figures.  My favs from that bag: Silly Sally and Donna O'Neeshuck was Chased by Some Cows.

6. We have magnet letters, and they're on the fridge.  Our very cool library gave them to us (along with a backpack of other fun items) and I selected just a few and review them with her (almost) every day.

7. Gettysburg--another field trip!  We drove through Gettysburg on the way home from DC.

The look of a mom who still has miles to go before she sleeps.

Actually, though, Grace was too engrossed in her (non-educational) TV show to get out of the car.  Fail.  But Sheldon liked it.

One afternoon, when our girls were toddlers, my friend and I put them in separate clear Rubbermaid bins (sans lids, of course).  We tossed some toys in there, and the girls were quite content and out of trouble.  I joked that we should open up a daycare and call it "Le Petite Bucket."  So far, the ad hoc nature of our home school reminds me of "Le Petite Bucket."  We're totally making this up, and it's probably fine for now.  :)