Collage Friday - Part Time Unschoolers? and Loads of Links!
Friday, April 12, 2013 at 6:50AM 
Our Spring Break was extended (by me - administrator in charge!) another week. This past week was GLORIOUS.
I have coined a new term: Part Time Unschoolers
Left to their own devices this week (with very few requirements from me) my children were learning, creating, having fun with friends, and I managed to clean my garage, catch up on housework, and begin a blogging project I have been contemplating for some time.
*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.
The structure of our week makes me slightly nervous to restart our regular school schedule next week. I think some modifications might be in order.
A Fun Field Trip
Last Friday I decided to take the kids to The World of Coke in downtown Atlanta. I hadn't been in 15 years and the kids had never been. I thought I would earn some serious coolness points for this one, and I did.
The very end of the tour culminates in a massive Coke tasting. They have Coca-Cola brands from all over the world, organized by continent. My kids aren't allowed to drink Coke, so this was a huge treat. I basically said "HAVE AT IT" and they did. I did indulge in several glasses of Coke Zero (remember, I gave it up on January 1). Fun times.
If you follow the news, you also know The Final Four was in downtown Atlanta that same day. My goodness. It was quite crowded, but that actually added to the fun. We parked directly at The World of Coke and didn't encounter much traffic.
My husband works just a block away, and he met us for an early lunch at a great little restaurant, Baja Fresh. The kids and I enjoyed the afternoon at The World of Coke, and then my husband met us when he was done with work and rode home with us. (He takes a commuter bus from where we live, so this worked out great!)
There was a lot to be learned on our field trip. One exhibit gave facts about the price of certain goods when Coke was first invented and wildly popular. The kids thought $.25 for a gallon of gas was interesting. (I can remember $.99 - can you?)
As we were finishing at The World of Coke, we waited outside for my husband. There was a lot going on due to the Final Four. We watched a huge hot air balloon being inflated and talked with the guys filling the balloon. That was very interesting!
I was thankful for TIME to be with my kids and just soak everything in. We are lucky to live close to a big city, and even more lucky to live just FAR ENOUGH AWAY, too.
Ben Franklin and Some Science
I read the book Ben and Me aloud to the kids on Saturday. It was really geared towards Grant's age level, but Anna appreciated the clever way in which it was written. It is written from the perspective of Ben Franklin's fictitious mouse, Amos. We all adored the book.
Sunday afternoon daddy sat down with the kids and did some science. We have a light kit from EEME and it was such a great little project. It is geared for kids ages 7-12 and has online lessons available. The parent is really just the facilitator. My husband said he learned a lot about electricity through this little project, too.
This Ben Franklin/electricity study wasn't something I planned. It all just kind of fell in our lap. I love learning like that, don't you?
Music, Music Music!
A few weeks ago, I bragged about Anna. She won an artistry award at the Federation piano competition. She also received a Superior rating from her judge. I am very proud of her. I don't have to ask her to practice and she plays so musically. Music is truly her gift.
She also loves singing in the Spivey Hall Children's Chorus. In a couple of weeks she will be auditioning for the next choir in the group. There is always singing or piano playing going on in our home. It's such a blessing.
This week she pursued various pieces of sheet music on her own.
Let me preface this video by saying I am not a huge fan of pop music. Anna, however, loves the music of Taylor Swift, particularly the songs with good piano parts. (We screen all of the songs she listens to, and are careful to limit it to just a few.)
She took it upon herself to learn the music and make this video. She has since learned another Taylor Swift song and is making a video for that, too. If you feel led to do so, leave her a comment on YouTube letting her know what you think. I asked her permission to include this in today's post and she most excitedly gave it to me!
Did you see that I added to the SQUILT lessons this week? I am hoping to add more this spring, and I also have a special project coming that may take me a while to get finished, but I think it will be worth the wait.
I feel so strongly about music being a part of our children's lives, and I want to help parents teach music to their children.
LEGO Update
Exciting news here. I'm now an official LEGO Education blogger, which means I will be telling you about all things LEGO Education and how you can use them in your homeschool. We already use these products, so it is a natural partnership.
I might even be giving some LEGO Education products away - that's exciting!
Speaking of LEGO deals, have you seen the group buy through The Homeschool Buyers Co-Op? There are three particular LEGO products they are offering so check it out!
Grant spent a lot of time this week using the Simple and Motorized Mechanisms and Base Set. He learned SO much all on his own. He made many different motorized vehicles and a Dogbot, too. You can also see a special windmill he made. He was experimenting with the size of wheels and how they affected the speed of a vehicle.
This set is great for just one child, but it is designed to be used with a buddy - the instructions come in A and B booklets, so two friends can build together. It would be great for a co-op setting.
He also took a large piece of cardboard we had and created a LEGO racecar track.
See what I mean about the unschooling thing?
Time With Friends
Now that I have stopped giving private piano lessons, our afternoons are wide open. One afternoon this week the kids invited a couple of friends to come for playing LEGOS and some crafting.
Grant and a friend played LEGO StoryStarters, while Anna and her friend made scripture card books for a friend in our co-op that is going through some major health problems.
I printed the scripture from fellow Tommy Nelson Mommy, Rachel's blog. Rachel's site is my new favorite hangout. I gain much encouragement each time I visit.
Speaking of Tommy Nelson, I have a giveaway going on for an adorable Hermie DVD about telling the truth. The giveaway runs until Sunday, so go enter now!
Other posts from this week:
Please join me for Collage Friday!
The rules are simple. Link your post (that incudes photo collages) about your homeschool week. Be sure to grab a Collage Friday button or text link back to this post in some way. Then, be sure to visit the other blogs on the list to offer support and gain ideas. This is a wonderful community and I love reading through your blogs each weekend and seeing how you all encourage each other.
*I will delete any links that don't comply with these guidelines. {not trying to be crabby, just trying to respect the hard work of those who do follow the rules}
Reader Comments (18)
What a fun week going PT can work out so well! oh Zachary would LOVE World of Coke. He is only aloud "clear" soda once and a while. I stopped soda months ago also - dont miss it. Looks like a fun week! Thanks for hosting.
I just clicked over to Rachel's site and I can see why you spend time there. I feel like you posted this just for me. I have bee struggling with a few family issues and while they are minor and resolvable, they have weighed heavily on my mind. I found comfort on her sight. God's words have that effect, don't they?
You did have a fun and exciting week! There's a lot to see and do in Atlanta!
I love the look at your week and all the happy faces! I wish we could visit The World of Coke! We love sharing books with the whole family, too.
I'm say taking another week off was pretty awesome! I'd love to go to the World of Coke. It's the only soda I really drink IF I have soda (which is very rare). We have our own personal copy of Ben and Me. :wink: Definitely a keeper! Awesome about Lego! Heading off to read about SOTW. We're half way through book 2.
I hope one day I'll be comfortable enough with home learning to go completely unschooling! I love the idea of providing the tools and simply allowing the children to excel and create. Already I've noticed that even when I don't "plan" a structured day, the girls involve themselves in all kinds of activities like writing fictional stories, designing newsletters, baking, drawing, organizing and building forts in the backyard. It's wonderful to witness. My son is exposed to it all...I'm counting on him to teach himself to read :) Thanks for sharing your wonderful week!
OK, I have to admit, the longer I homeschool, the more I lean towards to philosophy of unschooling! I mean, look how much y'all LEARNED this week, without all the structure?
Impressive, as usual, miss Mary...
Such a fun and productive week. The field trip looks great! I'm not a coke fan, excepting diet caffeine free coke, but it still sounds like a fun bit of history to see and even the taste testing.
Have a good weekend!
We loved the SQUILT lesson. IT was great. Thank you so much for sharing them with us. IT sounds like you all had tons of great learning this week. SO glad you all had a restful and fun week.
Blessings, Dawn
My girls love Taylor Swift as well.
And we love Baja Fresh, but all of our local franchises have closed in the last year :(
We have been getting more and more interest-led as well, as the girls get older and I see them taking the initiative and being responsible with being independent learners, I am more and more willing to let go of my agenda!
What a lot of great fun and learning. We read "Ben and Me" earlier this year and loved it. The unintentional electricity tie in is great! We got a snap circuits kit recently and that has been pretty cool...I just opened your link to EEME in another tab and I'm going to check that out too!
Congratulations on making the partnership with Lego official! I can't say I'm surprised. You've been sharing about homeschooling with Legos for a LONG time. :)
I really need to start using your SQUILT. Congrats on the new Lego partnership!
--Gena
Oh, Atlanta sounds exciting:)
We were just talking about Benjamin Franklin and learning more about him. I think I'll grab Ben and Me to read aloud, just for fun!
We had a Literature Fair with our homeschool group this past week. Your posts a few weeks back inspired us to organize one, Thanks for the idea:) We had a great time!
Would you mind sharing how you make the pictures into collages? And how you add the watermark? I've just purchased photoshop so maybe that would help? Thank you!
I enjoyed seeing your pictures of The World of Coke - my kids would love that too (partly because they aren't allowed Coke either!).
We have had a very relaxed week here too as the local schools have been off. I'm trying to figure out how to keep this relaxed feeling once we start fitting in all our activities as well as maths and English next week :-|
thank you for hosting Collage Friday.
Lucinda
Great post Mary. I love our 'unschooling' life. As long as Keilee is interesting in doing all sorts of things I am pretty comfortable with it. Most of the time. :) I have always wanted to go to the Coke Museum! It looks amazing. I remember gas being 99¢ too! Even though Keilee is not huge into Legos sometimes I show her a post that you have done and she drags hers out. :) Off to check out Anna's piano piece. Thanks for the Collage Friday.
When I first read this post I could feel your energy and enthusiasm (something took me away before I could comment). The format for the last few weeks seems to work for you! I am really interested in the Lego stuff- I will be back to check that out some more. Great week!!