Our Unschooling Journal

This will be my first week of actually paying attention to what Jasmine is doing. Technically this past week has been a vacation week. We have 4 of my grandchildren that live with us. One is in 2nd grade and 2 of the girls are in Headstart. They've been out of school on break.
However, here are the notes that I took on Jasmine's activities for the week:

We went bowling on New Year's Eve
She's been working on illustrating and writing up a cover page for a story she wants to write.
She's been doing a LOT of drawing.
She asked me to teach her how to use the washer and dryer and has started doing her own laundry.
She is into Sociology, which is a college course. She's gotten 2 piles of texts from the public library's book sales. This past week she read 2 chapters in a text entitled Sociology with Social Problems Applies to Nursing.
She chose to do a grammar worksheet on sentences.
She did a lot of building with the K'Nex that my grandson got for Christmas.
The weather has been mild, so she did a lot of outdoor play this past week.
I was given a sewing machine for Christmas. I don't know a lot about using one, so we will learn this together. She sat and mended her scarf as well as the side of one of her pairs of pants.
She watched a show on the History channel about gangs, and also one on Hitler.

This is what we can think of for this week. Stay tuned for next week.

This ended up being an off week. Although I quit my job as a lunch aide, with my last day being December 18, right before the holiday school break, I got called in to work this week. The first week back and I ended up working all week.

Each day I would come home and ask Jasmine what she did that was school related. Each day she gave me that look and said nothing really.

So, we aren't doing so hot on this unschooling venture as of yet.

These are the things that I had her do;
A health worksheet where she tried to come up with foods for each letter of the alphabet for each food group.
A cursive writing workbook page
A sentence grammar workbook page
A start of putting together a stamp collection.

i had Jasmine make up 2 banks. One is marked tithing and the other savings. We also got her a purse and a wallet. I am going to try to give her a little money (and I do mean little), but I want her to tithe 10% and save 10%. We had several discussions on this throughout the week.

On her own Jasmine did these things:
Quite a bit of drawing
She made her own alphabet list like the health worksheet only for Deathnote (an anime show she likes and I built a lens on)
She went to Awanas...for those of you that don't know, this is like scouts, put on by the Baptist church. There they learn Bible and play games.
She did a multiplication chart
She's been playing a lot of the game Magic the Gathering this week. I got 2 decks of the cards free on the internet. Can you tell me if this has any educational value at all? I paid some attention and they do have to know what they are doing and add up points.

As a bzzagent I got the Game Wave gaming system I really like it because the games are educational, and not violent etc.
This week several times Jasmine played these games:
Letter Zap--you get a box of letters and you see how many words you can make with the letters.
Rewind-History type game--relive the events of our past. Mostly what I seen on this game had to do with entertainment.
Click-is a game like Wheel of Fortune.

She watched Animal Planet...2 shows on animal surgeries.
She watched Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest on the History channel.

She did her own laundry as well as helped cook several meals this week.

We played the board game called Great States. I took this a step further by then getting out a blank United States map and having her fill in the states.

Each Monday our newspaper, as part of Newspapers in Education, puts out what they call a mini page. My mom has been saving these for us for years. I thought it was time to use them. Each one has a little something about history and such plus a couple of word games. In future posts when I talk about mini pages you will know what I mean.
This week we did 2 mini pages, one on the History of Music and one on Farming in the City.

She did her usual drawing, which this week I included a scan of one of her pictures.

She attended Awanas.

She did a math worksheet on fractions, plus we worked on her saving plan more.

She also worked on the stamp collection....which I also included a photo of.

This week we got the kayboard replaced on Jasmine's computer. It's not online but she has spent each day this past week working on writing a story.

I started playing bingo with all the kids this past week. I have several snack food items to choose from for prizes. They are all having a great time.

We did 2 mini pages from the newspaper this week. One was called The Elephant Sanctuary and the other Connect to Our World.

Jasmine attended Awana's this week and right now is off skating with her Awana's group.

She finished reading Midnight for Charlie Bone #1. She cleared a bookshelf in her room and put all her books on it. She has loads as she gets lots of them at the library book sales. She has them organized now just the way she wants them.

She did one page of cursive writing and some math worksheets having to do with measuring, angles, etc.

Once again, she did her own laundry. I hope she wants to continue with this responsibility. Saturday is my 17 yr old's day that she does her own, so I think this is where Jasmine picked it up. I'm still glad she wanted to learn how to work the washer and dryer and has continued.

We watched the Inauguration and all the news that went along with it on Tuesday.

Lastly, this week, she put in more time working on the stamp collection.

As mom, I feel like we had a much more productive learning week this week.

We played bingo as usual.
Jasmine attended Awanas.
She messed around more or less reading in several books, but didn't find one she actually wanted to read.
She helped cook a few meals.
She got into reading her Seventeen magazines and trying some of the beauty tips (like putting egg whites in her hair for shininess for an example)
She worked on jigsaw puzzles with her oldest sister.

I had read a lens here about a mini math office. Much like a lapbook. I told Jasmine about it and showed her. She couldn't wait to start making hers. It's rather large, but it is hers. You can see a photo below. Since making it we have found other things to put on it. She has sat several times in front of it this week just going over the things she chose to put in it.

I also found a math on DVD set that I had gotten a few years ago from a homeschool site. I had gotten it to review. It's amazing, she got right into the lessons....begged me to get the worksheets printed out, and has done the lessons 3 days this week. This is impressive for someone who hates math. So between the DVD lessons and the math mini-office I think we will do well from now on.

January 29th marked Kansas' 148th birthday. In honor of that I decided our first lapbook should be about Kansas. This was a hit for Jasmine too. We spent 2 days looking up photos, cutting things from the newspaper and putting it together. I made a separate lens on it. I hope you will check it out at Kansas Lapbook

We've had a strange week with some personal things going on not pertaining to schooling. This has been stressful but all in all I think a lot was done around the worry.

I won another deck of Magic cards from a contest on gather, so she got into playing it again for a couple of days.

She's been playing a game on her computer which involved multiplication over several days. She was checking with me on if answers were correct before putting them in as well as using her math office.

She made a small lapbook on the Oklahoma Octopus, which i will share in another lens.You can find Jasmine's Lapbooks lens here
She took up an interest in Atilla the Hun, doing research and taking notes from the computer.

She's been learning some of her favorite songs in foreign languages.

She's done her normal amount of drawing.

She attended Awanas.

I got a t-shirt painting kit so she made herself a t-shirt.

I bought her a bookmark with a timer so she's been making sure to read for at least 30 minutes a day.

She helped me iron the material for my quilt squares.

She did her own laundry.

"Who Else Wants A Way To Make MATH So Much FUN And So EASY That Kids Will Beg You For More And More?"

Click Here!

Jasmine has decided that she wants her next lapbook to be on anime. She didn't get past deciding how big it needs to be other than doing some drawings that she will put in book form inside.

She attended Awanas, plus did extra work in her book at home.

We did one mini page from the newspaper on Helping One Another.

She worked more on cutting out stamps. I'm going to have to sit down and help her or it might (literally) be 3 years before they are all cut out and sorted.

She's been playing on her game sites. I have to learn to appreciate them. The one you have to do multiplication to get the right answers. The other 2 is basic math as you earn items to sell. You have to know how many things you need to acquire to buy the items that you want or need.

She also found another website that is really neat. It's howrse.com. You take care of horses. As you take care of them you are learning about them....all about them. She showed me and told me all kinds of interesting facts. There are also quizzes on what you've learned along the way.

She got a real life lesson this week. I bought a van. We drove it for 2 days deciding on whether to keep it. She was there with me the whole way. We had walked to the Dollar Store and on the way home stopped at the garage to see if they had anything I could afford.
She went when we decided to keep it and had the title made over. Then it was off to pay the insurance, then to the court house to tag it. After that it was to the gas station, the the autoparts store. I had to buy oil, oil filter and other needed motor items. She came to the conclusion that when she grows up she does not want a car. She says it's way to expensive to own one. She will make sure her house is close to places she wants to go and those that aren't she will take a taxi or find another ride. (pretty smart actually) That night after all the running to make the van really ours, the ignition went out!

Another thing she did this week was to spend a lot of time reading Seventeen magazine. She's really into her personal self now. She spent some of her allowance while we were at the dollar store buying the suggested type of body lotion, bath gel, and acne wash.

She's used her math office again with Roman numerals.

I posted before that she had finished reading Midnight for Charlie Bone, but I was mistaken as she brought it to me last night saying she had just finished it.

Another online game she played was called piano and she was learning songs with her computer keyboard. It was really neat and she was proud of the songs.

This past week Jasmine has been doing a lot yet on howrse.com. One day she told me about how she had to get a job to earn enough to take care of her horse. She then stated she might have to find a 2nd job as it's expensive to take care of a horse. Another day she logged on to find that her horse had colic. She was actually panicked but was able to get the right medicine (and have enough money to buy it), and cure the colic.

She attended Awanas.

We were going out and about and I told her to choose something to bring along. What she chose was a crossword puzzle book. I don't have a problem with this, you learn a lot doing those.

On another outing she forgot her book. It ended up being almost a 2 hour appt for my older daughter. I pulled out a Fruits and Vegetable activity book out of my note that a lady at church had given me. She ended up working the entire book.

She cooked us a really nice grilled chicken supper.

She worked quite often in an attempt to clean and organize her room.

She worked on the stamp collection.

She read This Day In History February 21 that I had printed out for her.

She did a page of cursive writing.

She did a Making Our Lives Better mini page.

She did a whole and parts math worksheet.

She thought more on the anime lapbook, but thinking is as far as we went with it.

I'm still having a hard time with this...I want to see concrete work done. Even though I know there is a lot more that she actually does than what I observe (or ask her to do). I'm going to keep giving this a try to see if I can get used to it.

This week we've had my aunt and uncle here visiting from Michigan. It was quite the week of here and there.
While visiting with the relatives at my brother's house she did get a lot of outside time playing kickball since it was a nice day.
There's always the family "history" you hear while the relatives are visiting.

We went to church this past Sunday for the first time in awhile. I finally had my own vehicle to drive, which since is down again. :(

We had family fun night at church on Friday night. That was a fun night of fellowship with supper and a movie.

She started reading the next Charlie Bone book.

She worked some on the anime lapbook as far as getting the folders ready and drawing more pictures.

She attended Awanas.

She did a mini-page called Lincoln's Greatest Speech.

We put together a pocket chart of daily items to do. She is just getting in to that, but has already asked me to make her a weekly pocket chart as well.

I am hoping for a much more organized week this week with the relatives gone.

Last Sunday we had a bit of excitement. One of our cats spent all day having her kittens. Jasmine asked me if that would count for school while she watched. I told her, of course, it's science. And, it was the first time she's actually witnessed it. I share a gather photo essay on it if you are interested at Nymphadora Had Her Kittens--Photo Essay

She read in her Charlie Bone book.

She attended Awanas

She helped me check and refill fluids in the van.

She did some more anime drawings that will go in her Anime lapbook. I hope to really help her out with this this next week as far as printing out things.

She did some adjective grammar worksheets.

She did some fraction math worksheets.

She did one mini page on Making Our Lives Better.

She did a cursive writing page.

She watched episodes of How It's Made on making a dollhouse, making fishing reels, and making mixers.

It's been a nice spring like weather week so we spent a lot of time outdoors. They've played a lot of ball games, jumped rope etc as well as yard work too.

(This is my last posting for this lens. I will be starting part 2 next week)

Step By Step Instructions For Lots Of Easy Science Projects For Kids In Grades K - 12.

Click Here!