What isn't educational?

Watching old episodes of "How It's Made" should count as school, shouldn't it? Well, it's an episode on making suits of armor and if that doesn't fit a study on the Middle Ages, I don't know what does.

Enjoying the Middle Ages

So far this unit study is going pretty well. Still a lot to cover but I have found a load of good resources though the library books are a little iffy.

Here is our first lapbook:

Not that much color but each of these mini books is filled with writing and information. It turned out really well. I got most of the components from Homeschool Share. Not all of their stuff is secular, but this particular project was fine. I've been making some of my own worksheets too, which I'll start to post when I get a minute.

Trying to get a better schedule going for us, with a better plan for the afternoons. French and geography are going to be planned out better instead of just being hit or miss. Spending a few weeks looking at the world ecosystems too since that was part of this year's school work but we covered very poorly (in my opinion). The BBC Planet Earth series is an awesome way to look at the major habitats of the world. We're on deserts right now.

Cheerful

Currently discussing the lyrics to Ring Around the Rosy, and how it relates to the Black Plague.

And people think today's music lyrics are bad....

Snowed in

Too much snow, and we're missing our weekly play day (again). Getting a little discouraged and more than slightly desperate for spring.

So we're taking our first steps into the Middle Ages today with a little reading and a lapbook. I picked a bunch of components from Homeschool Share for knights and castles. I lucked out and got the book from the library to go with it, but i'm sure any Middle Ages book would do. She seems to be enjoying the process so far.

So much for that...

Sat down to write about our day, and daughter came pounding at the window: "Lamb!"

No time for anything now, had to go watch another birth.

I guess that's one of the great things about homeschooling. You can make time for the unexpected.

Between Units

Our days are progressing smoothly, and I think Em is getting into the homeschooling groove. Attitude has greatly improved and she's much better with self-directed projects or assignments.

Did a chapter review in grammar and more division word problems. Cursive practice after that.

Since our main science unit is done, and I'm not actually ready to begin the big Middle Ages unit yet, we're filling in time for the afternoons until next week. Today there was some news reading at Currents4kids and even a quick typing lesson. I figure some typing skills will come in handy soon enough, even though she's only 9. All those new-fangled computers and such. Oh, and we spent time together looking at animal pictures in a big world wildlife book.

This weekend will be all about gathering up resources for the Middle Ages unit. I expect that to last at least a full month if not 2. It's still really hard to judge since I have no clue how long each day or lesson is going to take. Still, I'm sure it will be more interesting than talking about sound waves.

Struggling with social options still. Another playdate is on the horizon for the weekend, but getting another mom to call me back is not working out.... AGAIN.

Links to Nowhere

Ok, just a rant. I really hate it when you find pages on a specific topic, like a page titled "Unit Study on the Middle Ages" (my current project to organize), and then the majority of the supposed resource is really just a collection of links to other pages. Ok, that's fine.

But then I start to follow those pages, only to find they lead to more collections of links and after 5 or 6 clicks, I am still looking at link lists and not a darned bit of information on the Middle Ages.

It makes me nuts.