We’ve been “unschooling” for a couple of months now, and I’m embarrassed to admit that my boys are still obsessed with their video games. I even hesitate to share this news with you, but in the fairness of full disclosure I want other parents to know that the road to …
Now that the first day of winter is just around the corner, I have found myself standing at my picture window gazing longingly outside and wondering what I can do to encourage participation with nature despite the cold. And how can I stimulate inquiry into the science of winter? What …
Why is it that science intimidates us? I’ve heard it more than once–I even used to feel that way! That science was just too hard to teach, since I really didn’t understand it myself. Science is so all-encompassing, and so critically important–as homeschoolers it’s daunting to think about teaching our …
As the Scientific Homeschool we love our science channels. We watch Mythbusters, How It’s Made, Planet Earth, Destroyed in Seconds (is that really science? or just the male desire for destruction?), Dirty Jobs, Bugging Out, Head Rush, Meteorite Men, Through the Wormhole, even “Punkin Chunkin” and more. I even consider …
Now that we’re practicing unschooling, I’ve been consciously making an effort to say yes more often. We’ve done no formal sit-at-the-table school work this week. Basically it feels as though we’re on vacation, enjoying the New England autumn–and working through our screen-obsession. As we adjust to the unschooling lifestyle, I’m …
It’s been a long time coming, I think, but our family is finally taking the plunge into unschooling. Unschooling is also referred to as child-led or interest-led learning. Basically it is a way of viewing the learning in everything so that you see the educational value of it all. Let’s …
I make a lot of things from scratch in my home. A lot of our food is made the old fashioned way, from scratch–without the aid of a boxed or packaged-mix. I do this partly to prevent ingestion of preservatives, dyes, and other harmful chemicals, and partly to stretch our …
We’ve been avidly enjoying our summer vacation. The boys are eating up the free time (among other things), and I’ve been taking the time to pursue some of my many interests. But here is a brief glimpse into some of our summertime activities. Nothing beats eating blueberries right off the …
As the Scientific Homeschool, we’ve finally finished with our first year officially homeschooling, and are now enjoying the summer hiatus. That doesn’t mean that there’s nothing going on, however. I’ve been working on new segments for the ESU. We’ve worked our way through the Cambrian, and when we take up …
With our 2009–2010 school year drawing to a close I find myself taking a look back on the last year. Taking a scrutinizing look at all the things that worked for us, and all the things that did not. After a rough start in the fall getting into a consistent …