When I Grow Up…
08 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Field Trips, Our Progress, Schooling Tags: careers, critical thinking, Field trips, History, Science
As always, life is very busy. We have so much going on, and I’m finally getting a minute to sit down here and catch up.
Field trips:
We’ve had two field trips this last month, both with the idea of teaching the kids about different careers they could have.
First, we went to visit a friend of mine who taught woodshop for something like 30 years. He’s an amazing carpenter and I thought it would be great if he could talk to the kids about carpentry. He was great with them. He talked to them about different tools and types of wood and their uses. He also talked to them about the importance of knowing math when you do carpentry. He actually stressed that quite a bit. Then, we were privileged to be able to go into his home and see all the amazing things he’s built over the years. While we were doing that, we were able to hear more about his life, which was very cool. He also talked to the kids about how he made certain things. The kids all enjoyed it, and so did the moms.
The second trip we took was to a firestation. We were toured around by a friend of Kelly’s, who was wonderful with the kids. He answered questions and demonstrated how some of the equipment worked. Of course the kids were all fascinated by all of the equipment and tools. He had my oldest daughter dress up in all their gear, minus the air tanks. She decided that was definitely too heavy to want to move around in. He also showed how a machine they use to monitor your heart works, but hooking it up to my youngest daughter. She wasn’t too sure about that, but we all thought it was pretty cool. They all got to go inside the giant fire truck and check that out, too. After we saw all the cool equipment on the truck, they hooked up a hose and all the kids were able to take a turn spraying it. Naturally, they loved that! When we were all done with that, we went inside and got to see how the firemen spend their down time and how they live at the station. That was pretty informative, too. However, I think the kids were much less impressed with the inside of the station than they were with all the fun things on the truck. He also took a little bit of time and spoke to them about what you have to do to become a firefighter. Becoming an EMT first was highly recommended. He also told us that they have continuing training and education they have to do. Everyone enjoyed that trip too! 
We have more things coming up for the kids, which should be quite a bit of fun. We are planning another trip to the planetarium and also a trip out of town to observe the skies, hopefully with the Las Vegas Astronomical Society. We have lined up a trip to speak to a nurse, too. We’ll also be taking a tour of our hometown dairy.
Academics:
The kids have been hard at work, learning all about colonial life and the things that led up to the Revolutionary War. We will be getting to the Revolutionary War within the next month, and I’m personally very excited about that! We’ve also had the kids pondering my question I wrote about in my previous post. Would we still have had the American Revolution if something would have been different?? I haven’t told the kids my thoughts on that yet, but I sure love watching their brains working and really thinking about it. I won’t even let them answer at all yet. I told them they really have to think about it hard and for a long time. Critical thinking!! Yeah!
As for science, we are planning a giant extravaganza! We are putting together an awards show for the solar system, like the Oscars. It’s going to be all formal and we are putting together a dinner where all the food has to do with the planets. The families have been making models of the Sun and the Moon this week and we’ll be doing the rest of the planets in the next two weeks. Each child is going to have the opportunity to learn in depth about one of the planets, and as we give the awards to the planets, one child will accept the award on behalf of the planet and share something about that planet with the audience. We’ve invited all sorts of friends and family and we’re all really looking forward to it. It seemed like a fun way to get the kids excited about learning about the solar system.
As for our family’s work outside of the co-op, we’ve been working away with math and reading. The kids are doing great. Although, I have to say, it’s been so nice outside that it’s hard to want to do any school work. But, at least we have the ability to work in the evenings, after the sun is down. One great thing about homeschooling is being able to create your own schedule.
Speaking of schedule, I finally finished putting together my lesson plans for the rest of the year for our co-op! Hooray for that!! We’ve decided we’ll work through July, then take off August and September, since I’m due the middle of August. That way, I have a little bit of time to adjust before getting back to school. Then, we’ll pick things right back up in October. It’s so nice to see it all laid out and written down. Makes it so much easier to plan ahead, especially the fun activities!
