Tossing the Schedule

 A few months ago,

 I tossed the idea of having an hour-by-hour schedule.

In it's place, I created a spreadsheet 

on which I record everything we do in the day,

at the end of the day.

To my surprise, I found that we do

WAY MORE COOL STUFF.

This week, we played in the river.

A friend came and made mini-rafts with Lu,

and they sent them down the river to see whose design 

would go the furthest.

Lu finished the Narnia series and wrote a 5-page summary,

even though I'd only asked for a few paragraphs.

We finished our studies on the Byzantine Empire.

 Lu made a timeline,

and we wrapped it up by watching History Channel's 

Engineering an Empire: The Byzantine Empire.

In our studies of Religions of the World,

we learned about Taoism, and Lu made a poster - 

In math, Lu's been doing MEP worksheets

and lots of Khan. (both are free!)

 In science we've been learning about atoms and electrons,

and heat conduction...

 He loves these videos, and asks for them every day.

We've also been watching BBC's "Space" with lunch,
and learning about Super Novas and Black Holes.

He assembled a digital monitor,

 and has been cooking up a storm.

He's been making dinner a couple times a week.

 

He learned Potatoes Au Gratin

 He made a casserole, cheese dip, guacamole,

and pie to take to a potluck party

at our neighbor's house.

Everyone was very impressed!

 and he made his first cheesecake -

For creative writing,

Lu wrote about what he needs to be happy,

like peace and spending time in nature.

He also wrote about what his current interests are:

cooking (of course), music, and dance.

 And now he's reading a pirate story.

Not having a schedule makes for a lot less stress. We can do the things that fit in best with our day and our moods. We are finding more learning experiences in the day to day - running errands, housekeeping, pet training, walk-taking... I've had schedules ALL my life, so it's hard to think of a day where ANYTHING can happen.
But it's good. So good.