Back when I started this homeschool blog I used it more to share peeks inside of our homeschool journey and it’s been awhile since I’ve done that so here we are: here’s a little peek into our homeschool lately.

 

THE DREADED WINTER

I first need to admit that this has been a hard winter personally for myself which definitely affects our homeschool.

I really want to do some themed studies soon but this winter has felt like survival through the cold was as much as I could muster. Now that things are warming up here on the Canadian prairies I am getting excited to get outside and start getting into a bit of a new routine.

This winter we continued with our homeschooling as a lifestyle/relaxed/minimal homeschool approach but it definitely bordered closer to the unschooling side some weeks.

 

 

OUR HOMESCHOOL LATELY

Here are a few highlights from the last few months:

 

 

THE SCIENCE CENTER

A few weeks ago my husband had a work meeting at a city a few hours away so the kids and I tagged along and went to the Saskatchewan Science Center. It had been a year and a half since our last trip there and that trip was made in the summer so it was madness in there while this time was a school day and there were only a handful of other small families in there during our time there.

We spent nearly 4 hours at the science center and the kids got to see everything they wanted to and never had to wait in any lines. Plus we got great seats for the science demonstrations and Raeca even volunteered for one (something she wouldn’t have done if there had been a lot of other kids there).

 

 

THE SCIENCE CONTINUES

When we got home the kids wanted to play all sorts of science-y things and even put on a few faux science shows for me. Decked out in their labs coats, of course.

 

 

BRAINS ON

On the science theme, we have been listening to the Brains On podcast lately. Normally we listen to audiobooks at lunch but we were almost finished Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM and then it needed to go back with only 45 minutes left so we decided to listen to something else while we waited to get the book back.

While I’ve listened to podcasts a lot myself this is my first time doing so with the kids and they love it. Part of me wants to go and find other podcasts for us to listen to but we have a lot of past Brains On episodes we can listen too now.

If you have a favorite podcast to listen to with kids I would love to hear about it!

 

 

AUDIOBOOKS

Like I said, we are continuing to listen to audiobooks together at lunch and we all have our own personal books on the go as well. If you are curious about what we are listening to, sign up for the bookish newsletter, each week I share what we are currently reading and listening to.

 

 

MATH AT THE SWIMMING POOL

While we are on little getaway a few weeks ago the kids and I went to the pool and hot tub and while we were there the kids noticed (in the hot tub) how the water level rose once we got in and we had a good chat about displacement, mass and volume.

This conversation took place the day after I shared my post about teaching math without a curriculum and it just confirmed what we’ve been doing.

 

 

PRINTING

I am trying to make sure Ephraim does a bit of printing most days. We had a copy of Handwriting Without Tears from when Raeca was younger so he will often print in there or else I have a composition notebook/journal he writes in.

 

 

READING

Remember DEAR from school (Drop Everything And Read)? When I was in school we would always have DEAR right after the lunch recess and I’ve currently decided to implement this in our homeschool. Right after lunch we sit down in the living room and do some silent reading (well, Rae and I do, Ephraim will look at books or do his printing).

I’ll admit, I started this mostly out of selfish reasons because it gives me 20-30 minutes to read in the middle of the day.

 

There you have it, a little peek into our homeschool at the end of a very long winter. With spring approaching and the spring-like weather starting I am looking forward to adding a lot more outside time to our homeschool days.

If you have some tips or tricks that help you through the long winter months I would love to hear them because as much as I would like to live in denial I happen to know winter will come around again before I’m ready for it.