Parksilicious: School and Play

Since I'm not as involved in the nitty gritty of school, I don't post about it much. Nonetheless, I wanted to share a bit if I can manage it here, to offer an idea of what life and school look like for them.

Geography class is the most consistent, daily class, and it has lots of parts!

They usually begin by singing the animaniacs song with the US states and their capitals along with another song that lists the US states, and a song that lists all the US presidents. As a result, when we see a car with a license plate of a state other than where we are, the kids like to name the capital... aaand sometimes they fight about who gets to answer. Because why not! 😏

The order of activities from there seems to vary, and they don't always do all of them, but they usually do. Each of the following are parts of geography class:

Bonnie reads some facts about the state being studied, which is usually a couple states ahead in our schedule of where we currently are. For example, right now the focus is on Florida, but we're not planning on heading there until February.
The kids take turns picking a state symbol and learning about them. In case you didn't know, states have symbols about practically E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G! Sure, we've all heard of states having an official State flag, State bird, state flower, etc., but how about state insect, state snack, state lichen, state tall ship, state glee club song, or state honey? These and SO many more! But it not only lets them learn about a wide variety of subjects, they also get a feel for what is familiar in different regions. I don't know how or when Bonnie came up with this idea, but I think it was a stroke of brilliance!
One of the "curricula" books Bonnie purchased called "Cantering the Country" teaches about people who were born in or did significant work in each state. They've learned about Sam Houston, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Mary McLeod Bethune, Bernard Baruch, James Strom Thermund, and more. While it makes it more meaningful when we then go see where these people lived out their historic deeds, we like most learning about what drove them, why they did what they did, and about their character.
Read-alouds. Bonnie uses Kindle Unlimited and other resources to find books that are about or take significant place in the state being studied. Some of these she reads to the kids, some she summarizes for them. A sample so far have included: Louisiana Purchase, Y is for Yellowhammer, The Amazing Story of Jesse Owens, In the Garden with Dr. Carver, The Inspiring Tale of Helen Keller, Helen Keller for Kids Book, Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, George Washington Carver: A Life from Beginning to End, Space Vehicles, With Books and Bricks: How Booker T. Washington Built a School, Booker T. Washington: Foundations of Liberty, P is for Palmetto, Helen Keller: Author and Advocate for Disabled People, P is for Peach, Who was Jackie Robinson?, Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream, I Have a Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King Jr., Sequoyah: Native American Scholar, Great Egret: Amazing Facts and Pictures, The Airplane Photo Book... and on and on.

Honestly, I don't know how we do anything ever besides Geography class! How she fits all that in... ? And then there's Math class, Spanish class, Music Appreciation class, Language Arts class, and more.

They don't do all those classes every day--it's pretty much Geography class plus Spanish class, then a kid gets to choose a class (each kid has a day of the week that is their choosing day), then Bonnie chooses a class. Whew, right?!

After school (really? can you believe there is an "after school?", Mom ran some errands while we had recess in our back yard! We made it down to the Coosa river out our back-yard for the first time!