We started the day discussing what they wanted to do after breakfast. They both wanted to read so I was very happy to oblige and J read a chapter of Famous Five on Treasure Island and E read a bit from one of the Rainbow Magic books. They both seemed to really enjoy it as I hadn't asked them to do it they had chosen to and I think that made a difference.
On Friday I had mentioned to the kids the idea of doing a 60-minute race against the clock day (see this page at homeschooling ideas for more info on it) where they had to beat the timer. Josh in particular thought this was a great idea. I told them that they could choose what they wanted to do in those 60 minutes.
They really enjoyed this and have said they want to do it again tomorrow. E did a maths worksheet and J did 4 pages of his choice from his maths workbook (usually I would set him certain pages to do but he decided on his own what pages to do) and they did that in the 10 minutes.
The alarm went off and I read them chapter 16 of Charlotte's Web (their choice again) followed by 10 minutes doing PE exercises. They loved this. We played follow the leader and took it in turns leading each other around the house doing different activities.
Next they wanted to add a little to their stories so they did 10 minutes of story writing. Then the timer went off and they did some Halloween art. It was J's idea to do the picture and E wants to be a part of everything he does so they did it together. They painted their thumbs green firstly for the witches faces. Then orange for the pumpkins along the bottom and black for the spiders and bat at the top. I was really proud of his idea. We had to leave them to dry before they could do anything else so they came back to them later.
Then we did the History Pocket on Ancient Egypt. They love history pockets but so often when I plan out the week for them these sorts of craft and hands on things get put to the bottom of the pile and never get done so they were both really keen to do it today. They carried on past the 10 minute alarm for that and ended up spending an enjoyable 30 minutes on it altogether.
They returned to the Halloween Art and with the help of dh who is far better at art and craft than me helped them finish their pictures. I am really pleased with the end result as are they. They were still in the mood for more Halloween Crafts so I went online and found the witches pictured below here. I helped them with those and they enjoyed making them.
The toilet roll witches:
E's halloween picture:
J's halloween picture:
This afternoon they have spent pretty much all of it outside looking for bugs. It seems to be developing into an interest of theirs to go outside on a bug hunt. They love it. They have got lots of what I think are little caterpillars (I'm not certain so will have to google them later!) and they found some snails which are covering my pation table at present including some leaves. My patio furniture is blending into the garden as they keep covering it with leaves and more bugs!!!
I have just had to call them in now though as they think they have seen a baby snake. I am not a snake lover but if there is one in the garden or anywhere near the house I would rather know about them and where they are. About this time last year we had two small poisonous blunt nose vipers in our pool within 2 weeks of each other. I very nearly ran all the way back to England then. Thankfully none of them were very big and no one came to any harm. I will be glad to get back to the 'normal' bugs of England lol.
The kids have had a great day and I asked them if they have enjoyed today and I have had a very resounding yes!!! I have felt much more relaxed and not stressed about getting work done. I have stressed to them that they choose what they want to do and not because they think that I think they should do something. Do you understand that? I'm trying to word it right. What I am trying to say is I don't want to influence their choice of activites. I want them to want to do something for them not for me.
Hopefully things will continue to improve from here on in!
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