Kids Around the World

Japanese Tea Ceremony

It's been awhile since I've given any update about school around these parts. We've had a great year of dabbling and following Max's interests, while being sure to incorporate plenty of letter and number basics (most often in the form of word games, which Max loves! Hooray!) Our curriculum has been dictated by Max, covering such broad-reaching topics as pirates (surprise, surprise), Ancient Egypt, pets, outer space, the human body, Under the Sea, famous artists and famous scientists, and now Kids Around the World.

Using a cool map with velcro labels from Grandma Yantes, we learned the names of the continents and oceans. Starting in Asia, we chose a few countries on each continent to study more in-depth. We then moved to North and South America, Europe (including Austria, of course!) and now we're in Africa. In each country we learned about the games children like to play, stories they would know, foods they are likely to eat (I even made borscht!) and how to say "hello" and "goodbye".

The biggest takeaway for Max has been that kids from different countries really aren't that different than kids in our own neighborhood. They might eat different food and play different games, but they are more like us than not, and we are all one big human family! Sadly I won't be able to fulfill Max's new wish and travel to every country we learned about. I sure would have liked to add some field trips to this unit.

Nigerian Animal Mask

As we wrap up our first year of homeschooling, I am so excited to tackle Kindergarten next year! I have found a great Catholic phonics program that I'm thinking about trying, and beyond that I think we'll continue our Max-led curriculum, seeing as his hunger for knowledge has not lessened a bit! Who knows what we'll study come September? He continues to surprise me.

Like anyone, I have my fair share of crazy, hair-pulling, hide in a corner, plug-my-ears-and-sing-loudly-to-myself type of days (Wait, you don't have any of those? Oh...), but I truly love having my children around me and around each other! Max and Lucian are such great pals already, when they are not dumping water on each other and trying to run each other through with swords, and I can't wait to see how their relationship blossoms with each coming year.

I've said since the beginning that we are taking homeschooling one year at a time and we will re-evaluate each summer, but I'm happy to say that year one was a resounding success!