A Week in the Life of Unschoolers

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Welcome to another week in the life of unschoolers, where we give you a glimpse into the adventures we had during the week. This also lets you see how we approach learning in our home which is eclectic/unschooling and child-led.

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As always our week began with a trip to the library. Our son, Gabriel discovered the Greek myth section and became obsessed! The Greek Myths book by Ann Turnbull has gorgeous illustrations which I think caught his eye. He grabbed about 10 other Greek myth books but we only managed to read two others this week: Theseus and the Minotaur and Profiles in Greek & Roman Mythology Athena. We also started reading Swiss Family Robinson aloud at bed time. The kids really enjoy the the slightly different speech of this book. Our son also read Max’s Dragon, The Dirty Cowboy, Detective LaRue, and The Color of Us this week.

Our daughter, Jade, chose a few books of her own: Have You Seen My Duckling, Wee Little Chick, and Juna’s Jar. We read these darling books over, and over, and over, and over, and over….you get the idea. She really loved them.

Gabriel was quite obsessed with audio books this week. Normally he listens to 1 or 2 Audible books per week, but this week he knocked out 4 books: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Star Wars: Book 1 of The Bounty Hunter Wars and Star Wars: Book 2 of the Bounty Hunter Wars. He gave all of them 2 thumbs way, way up! You can get a free 30 day trial of Audible with 2 free audio books here.

We finally got to our January Tinker Crate box. It’s been sitting on a shelf just waiting for the kids to take an interest. Well, Gabriel finally became interested. It just so happened to be one of the coolest boxes yet! We learned all about Automatons! Gabriel read the blueprint provided and built his own ball stair automaton….Just in case you’re wondering….that’s “War Paint” he’s wearing…it was needed before any building commenced.

Next, with a bit of help from myself and Papa, Gabriel built a flapping butterfly automaton. It was really fun learning about cranks, cams and automatons from history too. We had a super fun time with this Tinker Crate box.

Jade received her Green Kid Crafts Box this week! You should have heard the squeals of excitement when I handed her the box! First, she made a “Lava Lamp” with food coloring, water, vegetable oil and an alka seltzer! She LOVED watching the bubbles rise up. This got Gabriel’s attention too and he joined in on the fun.

Next they made their own slime with food coloring, water, glue, and borax. Slime is always a big hit in our home.

Then, the kids made their slime into slime monsters with some googly eyes and a few pom poms. We also made some air rockets out of straws, but I didn’t get a picture of them. The kids really had loads of fun with this months Green Kid Crafts box.

The children made homemade berry muffins this week. They are both really great in the kitchen, although they always fight over who gets to crack the eggs. Apparently, cracking the eggs is quite fun. Jade got to do the honors this week and the muffins came out delicious!

Gabriel practiced more chords on his guitar this week. He has found several You Tube videos to help him learn them. And…yes….he’s dressed up as….something, ha!

Jade played with her water beads, kinetic sand, and play-doh daily. She loves her sensory bins.

We had fun with the story cubes one morning before breakfast. Jade sort of took over with her story and didn’t want to give anyone else a turn. It was quite funny to listen to her create such an elaborate story about dinosaurs and princesses in a time vortex!

Loads of Lego building happened daily. Usually, Gabriel builds while listening to his audio books. Since he listened to 2 Star Wars books….there were quite a few spaceships made.

Jade and I enjoyed some one on one story telling and acting/interpretive dance. Apparently, after she “reads” a part of the story, she then has to act/dance out what just happened. I loved it!

Gabriel played several games and Apps this week. You can read about his favorite Math Games here. On his list this week were the Prodigy Math Game, Math Slicer, and a couple of new Apps like Mahjong and another called Ansel and Claire Triassic Dinosaurs and Jurassic Dinosaurs. Gabriel also watched 2 documentaries: Wildest India and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts.

We also enjoyed a game of Suspend. It’s really fun trying to balance these metal rods on each other.

I discovered someone having a tea party with Mr. Dinosaur and Minnie Mouse in the bathtub. I laughed till I cried!

My kitchen floor became piled with puzzles at one point…you had to tip toe and hop into the few empty spaces that were left. But Jade was perfectly content. She LOVES puzzles.

She even takes her puzzles outside so her friends can join in the fun. Gabriel, on the other hand, was pretending to be a wild native on a planet in a far off galaxy.

I have found that even with our very eclectic, child-led homeschooling lifestyle, our children are always excited, always discovering, and always learning.