More Spring Science (& Writing)

April 23, 2012

I had more photos I wanted to share in my Spring is For Science post. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough space. (I try to limit myself to 8 photos per post for upload-ability and such, what a bother.)

These photos then, go along with that post. Part two if you will. In addition, I wanted to point you to a science report on Laurent's blog. Pond study has always been a big hit in our house around this time of year. 

That post of Laurent's is one example of the type of writing we do together. The kids are keen about a topic and naturally have something they want to share. We sit down together over several days (or just one short session) to get out the thoughts, edit and then publish. Most times "publishing" is simply me handwriting or typing what they want to say.

Sometimes publishing is a letter sent to grandma, or a poster put up in the house, an e-mail sent to a friend, a report in their own writing, etc. I have learned the shorter the writing session is the better. My kids have things they want to say, but when I drag it out it's no longer fun and they lose their natural interest in writing. 

They also do a lot of writing completely independent of me, except for occasional spelling requests. I don't require my children to spell correctly for independent writing. That would just totally discourage their efforts. It's much more important to me that they enjoy the process and purpose of writing, than get it perfect.

Ah, but here I am talking about writing in a science post! Some day I will publish, in depth, our elementary writing philosophy and "curriculum". It's a post that's been a long time coming and I've got a lot to share. My own ideas are much along the lines of The Writer's Jungle if you want to do some research on your own. 

I will be posting a complete run down of our homeschool curriculum for the past school year at Simple Homeschool next week. So stay tuned. I'll link up from here. 

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