10 Fun Ways We've Learned and Played Lately

It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these updates.  Here’s a few of the ways we’ve learned and played in our homeschool recently…….

1. Jack, Alex and Daryl dressed up in old time clothes to volunteer at Pioneer Village in Worthington for Independence Day.  Our friend Nancy and her son Logan dressed up to join in, and Anna joined them all in modern clothes.  Alex, Jack and Logan taught kids how to roll hoops and Nancy was dressed as a prairie woman.  Daryl was a riverboat gambler in the saloon and he taught visitors card tricks and old-time gambling games like chuck-a-luck.  He even made the local paper!
2. We stayed with some fabulous homeschool friends near the Twin Cities so Daryl could take part in yet another historic event (a Civil War event commemorating the First Minnesota’s amazing sacrifice at the Battle of Gettysburg).  While there, Anna’s friend Ryker taught her how to use a blow dart and throwing stars!
3. Victoria’s friend shared this video about infinity on her Facebook wall, which she loved and went to learn more about.  http://youtu.be/A-QoutHCu4o
4. Victoria is learning how to build websites via sites like Code Academy.
5. The kids went to our town’s “Fun Days” and bounced in bouncy houses, met zoo animals, watched the parade and had other festival fun.  Anna got this picture of Fiona meeting Luna the skunk.  
6. Daryl and Toria went and collected cattail pollen, which I incorporated into homemade GF pasta.  It is a vibrant yellow gold and it’s full of nutrients.  This is a continuation of our summer of learning about foraging and wild edibles, and it’s the second way we’ve eaten cattails (the lower part of the spring stalks are wonderful boiled and served with butter and salt and pepper).
7. Anna, Jack, Alex and Daryl are in the last week of rehearsals for the Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant, which opens next week.   Family friend Logan is in it for his first year this year, too.  It should be a great show again this year and it’s always exciting! 
8. We all went and visited Great Grandma Lueck (Daryl’s grandma, who’s nearly 97 years old and still beautiful!) at the nursing home with Daryl’s mom.  It was wonderful to see her again, since we hadn’t visited her since she moved from her own home into the nursing home earlier this year.  We also talked to a man who brings in his therapy dog to visit with the patients. 
9. Alex and Fiona had lots of fun sheet painting and then getting clean in the sink. 
10. I’ve been working on handwriting with Jack, writing out lines for him to copy.  We’re also working on spelling.  One of our summer HS goals is for him to get one grade level of spelling improvement by the end of the summer.

The kids have all been doing lots of other things as well…. gardening, biking, walking, playing, skyping, writing stories, doing art, reading books, watching educational (and non-educational) TV, cooking, helping with the little kids, doing pet care, hanging out with friends, keeping up on current events (the political unrest in Egypt, the fires out west, the Texas filibuster and its aftermath, DOMA and other news), bird watching, learning about the Civil War, having deep talks, doing educational games, taking photos, making videos, shopping, climbing trees, playing ball, going to the park, snuggling and enjoying life……..

And in case you need it, here’s over 50 free curricular resources for your third grader that I wrote today.