This year we are doing things a bit differently in our homeschool.  We had a good year last year, but we spent so much of our time doing the “have to’s” that we didn’t have any time for the “want to’s”.  I was rushing through devotionals and skimping on story times because of how much the boys were working on every day.  This was totally backwards from what I had originally intended for our school.  So we made some changes.  This year story time (reading good books and discussing them) and gospel study and character building take up a much bigger chunk of our school day.  And I am giving the boys more say in what they actually do in each of their subject areas.  This is also something I had originally intended for our homeschool, but wasn’t really happening as we tried to follow someone else’s pre-determined plan.  Now I require that they do certain subjects each day, but they get to choose for the most part what curriculum/resource they use with my ok.  Choice for the kids is such a major reason I chose to homeschool!  Everyone is happier this way. 

Here is a little snippet from school this week.

For history we’ve been learning about the Renaissance and have been studying famous people of that period.  This week it’s been Leonardo da Vinci.  He was such a fascinating man.  I had no idea.  But I should have. Yet another reason I’m homeschooling.  Did you know that he thought of contact lenses, or was the first to invent the bike chain or was the first to invent a clock with both the hour and the minute hand on it?  He designed the first snorkel, and life preserver.  Fascinating!

As we read today about his study of the eye, our history lesson morphed into a fabulous science lesson.  I LOVE it when that happens!  After reading that da Vinci would boil eyeballs in egg whites to make them hard so as to dissect them, the boys were totally hooked.  We read on to learn that he studied the pupil and the way it dilates in the dark and contracts in the light.  So the boys had to try it.  We ran to the bathroom where there was no light and they giggled and screeched with delight as they watched each other’s pupils contract when the lights came on.  We must have done it twenty times.  They made all kinds of discoveries, inferences and conclusions.  They discovered that Cade’s eyes contracted faster than the rest of us.  Why?!  They hypothesized that maybe it’s because he was the only blue eyed person. They remembered that cats eyes are tiny slits during the day but big and round at night.  They were so excited they were fairly dancing with glee.  It was so natural and simple and fun.  It was glorious.