Spending All Day Together

 I love spending all day with my boy. 

And it's not always the all-smiles I share here.

Sometimes we drive each other crazy. 

Sometimes we argue. 

Sometimes we yell. 

But I love that part too, because that's how I know that he is strong-willed, and that he will stand up for what he believes, and that he will voice his opinion. I would not want a child who was too afraid to argue with me, or who would just do as they were told always, without questioning anything. This is his education. He gets a say in it, even if I don't like it. But I get to question him right back.  

(So, added bonus, we're also developing our persuasive argument and debating skills as we go.)

It's all a part of the whole - being together, working together, learning how to work out our differences, picking good tomatoes at the market together, cooking lunch together, eating together, having conversations, dealing with bad moods, feeling lazy sometimes, needing and giving some alone time, being aware of the other person's feelings, remembering to drink enough water throughout our day, convincing, compromising, exercising, singing, dancing, playing, cuddling, remembering to be grateful... the list goes on and on. 

And even "bad days" are good days, 

because we learn and we grow from them. 

And even though I don't share them often,

know that we do have our fair share of "bad days",

although I'd rather call them "challenging days".

But luckily, today was a great day!

(as everyday can be if we focus on the positive)

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There was an impromptu music class...

self-directed.

There was the learning of the top row.

 There was the math (slight groan).

There were prepositions.

There was a quiz! 

Lu finished Farmer Boy yesterday, and I was dreading asking him to write a summary, especially since he'd been warning me that it wasn't so much of a story as it was an account of a family's year.

Which translates to:

"Mama, please don't ask me to write a summary."

So, instead of a summary, I got online and googled "quiz for Farmer Boy",  and sure enough, there are free interactive quizzes on pretty much anything you need.

How did people homeschool before there was internet?

Lu did this one. 

He did it in about three minutes, did great,

and I got reassurance that he is reading and retaining.

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Now he's onto this book - Tales of the Jungle

We've not been doing so well  for making time for writing in Spanish, so I'm having him write two "really interesting sentences" about what he reads. The sentences don't even have to be related, they just have to be good, complex sentences. 

Indeed, they were better sentences than the ones he usually writes in longer assignments. Quality over quantity. Let's say it together again. Quality over quantity.

The book - Tales of the Jungle - is a collection of short stories about jungle animals that tie in perfectly with all the other animal-y stuff we've been doing, like -

learning about animals from different biomes

around the world,

and watching the final episodes of  

The Life of Birds, with lunch.

After lunch, Lu continued his independent research

for his Hawk Report, and did some drawing.

He was especially proud of how the beak came out.

There was also soccer,

and a beautiful plate of griddled zucchini,

garnished with edible Chinese Lantern flowers

from the garden.

I love spending all day with my boy.

And, as a homeschooler,

I do it every day.