The week that was…Natural learning
We have had such a fun week with friends. Those little feet you see in the picture above spent two full days straight running around together, giggling, going on secret adventures, dressing up, playing doctors, sharing snacks, running and jumping outside, and who knows what else! When I think that the main question people have when they hear about homeschooling is about socialization, it’s hard to imagine why now. It seems like such a non-issue to me. I see the beautiful relationships that have formed between this bunch of friends and I have no worries about socialization at all.
Now to the rest of the learning that unfolded this week! I have obviously had trouble cutting the photos down again. There was a lot going on. Be sure to also check out my fellow Australian homeschoolers at Racheous-Lovable Learning, Memoirs of a Childhood, and An Everyday Story who are joining me and sharing about the natural learning happening in their homes every week!
We started the week exploring shadows and creating some art with these beautiful new blocks. The girls were inspired after this and there was a lot of block play for the rest of the week.
A late afternoon trip to the oval for some bike riding with some meaningful maths thrown in. The girls are using the stop watch on their Dad’s phone to time him running laps of the oval.
Back into board games this week! Some more maths with Snakes and Ladders. They also played another game about shapes and colours.
Checking on the flowers from last week to see what they looked like in the day time.
Treasures from our trip to the beach last weekend were sorted and re-sorted.
There’s always chalk on the trampoline for drawing. My 3 year old drew a picture of me and wrote ‘Mum’!
Some carrots were pulled from the veggie garden!
Journal time and they decided to write/draw about when they went to the beach. Miss 5 wanted to know what a cuttlefish looked like when it was alive so we got a picture up on the iPad for her to draw.
She then wanted to know what part of the cuttlefish it was that she had found on the beach and asked if we could ‘google it’. She discovered that it was the cuttlefish’s bone and recorded that in her journal as well.
Next she found some books we had about the sea and sat them up in front of her to draw some other things from the ocean that she likes (some kelp and a great white shark).
Miss 3: ‘Look Mum, I made a squid!’
I often put out some things at night for the girls to find in the morning. This is a simple invitation to explore patterns.
My 5 year old added to the patterns that were there and then put the pieces back in the bowls before teaching my 3 year old how to do it too. They often do this and I love it because my 3 year old is able to join in with what her sister is doing and my 5 year old is able to consolidate what she has learnt by explaining it to someone else.
Me: ‘What do you want to do this afternoon?’
Miss 5: ‘Messy painting! A new type of painting that is going to be called splat painting’.
Miss 3 did a scratchy painting.
Even the littlest got involved, using the tiles as her canvas.
For a lot of the week the playroom floor was covered in loose parts, all meticulously placed to create this beautiful ‘fairy stadium’.
A new part of the human body app on the iPad was discovered. I think you can tell what this is, they thought it was hilarious.
Loose parts everywhere this week!
Miss 5: ‘Look Mum, I’m making abstracts!’
I’d love to know what you’ve been up to. Leave me a comment and let me know what natural learning you witnessed this week!
Comments
Such a lovely week! We really enjoyed spending so much time with you all 🙂
Us too!
I really enjoy reading along with you Sara. We are new to unschooling and your blog has been a HUGE help and inspiration so thank you for all your efforts in providing it to the world! 🙂 I actually have a question!I thought you might be able to answer. We are new to unschooling/ homeschooling as I mentioned and miss3yrs LOVES loose parts…….but so does my Mr1yr. LOL! How on earth do you keep things away from your youngest.? I hate having to restrict my daughter with her loose parts play and I also don’t like constantly having to restrict my son to keep him safe. Given you’ve been doing this a lot longer than me I thought you might have some tips! 🙂
Thank you so much Sam!
Oh gosh, I’m not sure I’m much help. It’s a struggle isn’t it! My 9 month old has started crawling recently so it’s hard. I too don’t want to put the loose parts away because they really enjoy them. I just have to supervise. I tried to set her up her own little play area to try and keep her away. Otherwise she is with me when the big girls are in the playroom playing.
The fairy stadium is just beautiful, isn’t it? Sara you have to promise me that your next post will be a look inside your playroom!! It looks so wonderfully inviting.
I must get on to that!! Just have to take the photos. Need a second when half of the things aren’t off the shelves in use, LOL.
Love all your adventures in the home, such lovely learning! And also, Sara, the light in your home is amazing, always so bright and happy 🙂 We had a pretty fun week too, with Miles getting into buttons and Lily into bubbles! x
Thank you Kate!! I do love the light in this house.
I just discovered your blog, and I just love it! You are so inspirational, and I am excited to follow along.
Thank you Riley! That’s so lovely 🙂
I’ve just found your blog, and it’s lovely! I am impressed at your home school activities! I wish I could be as creative as you are! What a lovely learning environment for your girls.
Hi Sarah, I have been reading your blog for a while now and see that you have lots of materials for different areas of learning. If you had to name 10 materials to buy that according to you or your girls are very beneficial, which ones would they be? Could we maybe have a post about this? Thanks ever so much for all your advice.
Thanks Anna!
I’m planning some posts coming up on our learning spaces and the materials we use 🙂
Thank you. Always helpful.
I love this. I’m just beginning a natural learning process with my 16 month old although we’ve been doing it since birth really. After teaching in the system the past 7 years, I refuse to put her in it. Thanks for sharing.
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