The End of School Year Post

Wait, what am I talking about here? Aren't we homeschooling? Not only that, but we don't really have a schedule so far (well, we're still pre-K and I don't think a formal curriculum or schedule is appropriate or needed at this point).

But it just so happened that our homeschool pre-school co-op wrapped up for the school year and we went to Lake Wheeler for the year-end party. It was really just a big playdate with some snacks. No learning activity was done this time and no books were read. Just lots and lots of free play. Beats any graduation party if you ask me.

That same week we also attended a Homeschoolers Showcase. It's an annual event that marks the end of school year for older homeschoolers. This was our first year attending (as visitors). It was so much fun that I'm considering claiming a table and preparing a presentation for the 2012 Showcase.

M and Chris got to attend as well. Finally Chris met other HS families and met some of M's friends from the preschool co-op (and their parents). He also got to see what older HS kids get to work on and accomplish (again, for now the only record we're keeping is this blog and a [small] stack of art work; oh, and all the junk Star Wars and junk Space Exploration toys we've been making).

M also loved the showcase. First, there was not one, but two REAL ROBOTS there, made by kids from the robotics co-op. M really liked the little robot that could pick up pipes and load them in the box. M kept "feeding" him all the pipes and admiring the 'bot. It's been over a week now and M still asks me when we're going to make our own robot just like that one, except with eyes.

Inspired by robots, M spent almost an hour by the huge LEGO table piecing together something or other. It is very hard work for him since he has such hard time controlling the tiny LEGO pieces. But he kept at it for a long time!

Finally, here are a couple of pictures from the Memorial Day weekend. Our good friends invited us over for some grill-and-beer action. There were other kids there - 5 more boys. So imagine all the fun they were having! After spending quite a lot of time slipping and sliding across the wet tarp (tearing up the lawn in the process), M and a few others settled down for an experiment. They were trying to fill up plastic bags with water from the sprinkler. Amazingly, this simple activity kept them busy for about 40 minutes or so!