Homeschooling on the Road
Today we did a bit of schooling on the road.
We had an early morning dentist appointment and I had made up a popping pile of math reviews for each of the boys (I often save packing material from boxes we get in and write math facts on the popper for a fun review activity). It was fun but it took longer than I thought and we didn't have enough time to get through our regular work before we needed to leave.
We often school while on the road. We've found a few things makes this work so much more smoothly!:
Today was a bit different though:
Math:
The boys enjoyed shouting out their math facts and popping all of the air packets (I had a ton of them left over from various shipments) before we left. It was super simple to set up. I took all of the air filled packing sacks that I had stored up and used a sharpie to write math facts on them. The older boys had multiplication facts written on them and Evan's had addition facts of doubles and near doubles.
Once they were all done popping their facts they pulled out some additional math work. Evan played a few addition games on ABCya while Ian completed two pages in his workbook on volume. Alec finished one page on subtracting three digit numbers and then brought his book in the car to finish up his second page on the 8 times tables.
Reading:
They all brought reading books into the car in the hopes that we'd have time to get it all done before heading back home. Evan read one of his Dick and Jane stories out loud to Alec as we drove. He then started to read the second story but we had arrived at the dentist before he was done. He didn't want to bring his book in to read and ended up reading the rest of the story to himself when we got back in the car. I wasn't sure how to evaluate his reading since he was reading in his head but after asking a few questions it was obvious that he had in fact finished reading the story and that he understood what he had read.
Ian read a funny Grumpy Cat book at the dentist's office today. Once he realized that this one lady's pictures of her cat made millions of dollars he decided he wanted to find some funny looking pet to own when he was older in the hopes that he could do the same. I couldn't argue with that logic!
After the dentist we stopped at my grandmother's to visit her. Alec went to curl up in a chair and read the next chapter in the Gameknight book. Evan was upset that Alec did not read out loud and that put Evan a chapter behind Alec in the series. Evan and I ended up reading that chapter together once we were back home.
Socialization/ Family Time:
It was 86 at my grandmother's house by early afternoon and the boys started begging me to leave so that they could go home and go swimming. We had visited for a few hours and since we stopped rather last minute there wasn't a whole lot for them to do there and they were all bored as well as hot.
Art/ Science:
Before we left my grandmother gave Alec some scissors to cut a few flowers to bring home. He put together a lovely bouquet. Alec made sure to get all the different colors he could around the yard and to only snip a few of each type so that great gram would still have plenty to enjoy herself. He held them the whole way home and helped me arrange them in the vase once we arrived home.
Summer Fun/ Physical Education:
The boys changed into bathing suits and swam in the lake for a bit. Evan was swimming out really far using his boogie board to help him rest when he needed to. Ian paddled around the dock area for a bit but using the unclaimed paddle boat that floated up on shore. He's been trying to master the steering of the whole thing and practices whenever he can.
We had an early morning dentist appointment and I had made up a popping pile of math reviews for each of the boys (I often save packing material from boxes we get in and write math facts on the popper for a fun review activity). It was fun but it took longer than I thought and we didn't have enough time to get through our regular work before we needed to leave.
We often school while on the road. We've found a few things makes this work so much more smoothly!:
- Each child has a car ride bag filled with educational books, toys, a binder with worksheets and a pencil case. They each have a small pencil sharpener and some markers (washable and dry erase). We often put some fun sheets in plastic cases for dry erase fun.
- Each child had a lap desk or clipboard for the car.
- Audiobooks! They're a great way for us to listen to "read alouds" when mom is busy driving.
- Brainquest question and answer cards (or other car trivia games)
Today was a bit different though:
Math:
The boys enjoyed shouting out their math facts and popping all of the air packets (I had a ton of them left over from various shipments) before we left. It was super simple to set up. I took all of the air filled packing sacks that I had stored up and used a sharpie to write math facts on them. The older boys had multiplication facts written on them and Evan's had addition facts of doubles and near doubles.
 |
| Alec's pile of math fact poppers |
 |
| Popping away! |
 |
| Evan had addition facts of doubles and near doubles to work with; he had more fun playing with the interesting shape of the poppers |
Once they were all done popping their facts they pulled out some additional math work. Evan played a few addition games on ABCya while Ian completed two pages in his workbook on volume. Alec finished one page on subtracting three digit numbers and then brought his book in the car to finish up his second page on the 8 times tables.
Reading:
They all brought reading books into the car in the hopes that we'd have time to get it all done before heading back home. Evan read one of his Dick and Jane stories out loud to Alec as we drove. He then started to read the second story but we had arrived at the dentist before he was done. He didn't want to bring his book in to read and ended up reading the rest of the story to himself when we got back in the car. I wasn't sure how to evaluate his reading since he was reading in his head but after asking a few questions it was obvious that he had in fact finished reading the story and that he understood what he had read.
Ian read a funny Grumpy Cat book at the dentist's office today. Once he realized that this one lady's pictures of her cat made millions of dollars he decided he wanted to find some funny looking pet to own when he was older in the hopes that he could do the same. I couldn't argue with that logic!
After the dentist we stopped at my grandmother's to visit her. Alec went to curl up in a chair and read the next chapter in the Gameknight book. Evan was upset that Alec did not read out loud and that put Evan a chapter behind Alec in the series. Evan and I ended up reading that chapter together once we were back home.
Socialization/ Family Time:
It was 86 at my grandmother's house by early afternoon and the boys started begging me to leave so that they could go home and go swimming. We had visited for a few hours and since we stopped rather last minute there wasn't a whole lot for them to do there and they were all bored as well as hot.
Art/ Science:
Before we left my grandmother gave Alec some scissors to cut a few flowers to bring home. He put together a lovely bouquet. Alec made sure to get all the different colors he could around the yard and to only snip a few of each type so that great gram would still have plenty to enjoy herself. He held them the whole way home and helped me arrange them in the vase once we arrived home.
The boys changed into bathing suits and swam in the lake for a bit. Evan was swimming out really far using his boogie board to help him rest when he needed to. Ian paddled around the dock area for a bit but using the unclaimed paddle boat that floated up on shore. He's been trying to master the steering of the whole thing and practices whenever he can.
I love the math popper idea! Holy Cow my kids love those things!
ReplyDeleteMine do too; we use them for a lot of practice!
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