A Week in the Life

We've been having a lot of fun here at Royal Academy.  The air is downright frigid outside.  It is January in SE Michigan after all.  That being said, I've been trying to talk myself into making a bigger commitment to getting outside with the kids more often.  We tend to hibernate in the winter.  I see it as a season, though.  I mean, really.  Who wants to spend half an hour putting winter gear on children only to return back inside 15 minutes after you walk out the door?  Well, not me.  However, the kids are getting older.  Bella and Avery are more adept at dressing themselves, and Harmony is growing into quite the helpful young lady.  Both are HUGE bonuses for this "round-two" mom.  Tomorrow is the first day in our new routine where I have Nature Walk added to the planner.  We'll see how we do.  There are 11 acres here to explore, after all, and it would be a shame not to discover all there is to discover.

We just wrapped up week one of our newly implemented routine, and we all have had a wonderful time playing and learning this week.  It has been a nice hodgepodge of playing, curriculum, games, impromptu moments, and tweaking the schedule to allow for some flexibility due to a couple late nights.  Yes, week one, and we already employed the right to change up the plan.  In my book that is a VERY beautiful thing.

School for us doesn't always resemble the brick and mortar style school most people think of when they think of education.  Honestly, in my opinion, I am doing things the best when it least resembles institutional education as far as I'm concerned.  My crew seems to learn best hands on, and that's when we generate the most excitement.  Another one of my goals this season is to institute more art into our week.  We have some real budding artists here, and I really do see the real value in art in regard to brain development and such.  I'm sorry to say it had fallen by the wayside.  Somehow, I had fallen into the trap of being more focused on finishing the curriculum on time and lost the joy part of learning.  As far as I am concerned the joy is the most important part, and I had inadvertently misplaced it all together.  With a little shift in priorities, all is right in our world at the moment.

I thought it would be fun to share a little photo journal of sorts to show some of the highlights of our week, messy house and all.  After all, we really are LIVING here in The Zoo Crew.  Hope you enjoy this little glimpse into our week:

Bella exploring math with our frogs on a log.

Harmony exploring the function of
vocal cords and the voice box.

A little make believe princess play.

The newest addition to our routine, Tablet Time.

Avery exploring the effects of water temperature on his color changing car.

Fingerprint Art

Learning some Kung Fu moves to correlate
with our study on The Boxer Rebellion.

Wrapping up the week with some snow fun!

What have you been up to this week?  How do you incorporate more outside activity into your routine?  I'd love to hear about your life at home learning with your family.