Mario characters + pizza = fractions…. of course!! Buzz loved this. I wish I could always put this much effort into numeracy!
We are actually de-schooling at the moment, which is a period of time at the start of home-schooling taken to get school out of the system so that you can start afresh and work out your own teaching/learning style. Call it a sabbatical if you like! If you jump straight into doing school at home it doesn’t really work too well and the kids come to resent homeschooling. Homeschooling isn’t school at home, because we have so much more freedom and choice and flexibility; we can be a lot more practical; so we need to take the time to work into it gently and find what works for us. And Buzz needs time to rediscover himself.
Something we have noticed since Buzz finished school is that he has re-learned how to play for a long period of time. School is so busy, moving from one activity to the next so that teachers can fit in all aspects of the National Curriculum required, that Buzz was losing his ability to fully engage in an activity and keep his focus on it. He is now regaining this ability and getting into the swing of taking life more slowly. It’s been a difficult time to be honest, as if Buzz is going through some kind of detox, but we are coming out the other end now and finding our feet. I can absolutely understand why de-schooling is so important.
Saying this, Barnabas enjoyed school and enjoys learning. He also thrives on having structure. So we are incorporating some numeracy work into our weekly schedule, be it a fun and practical activity like this, or just 2 to 5 minutes from a workbook.
Sunshine & Freckles 