I LOVE markable maps!!!

This picture shows why I love markable maps. Well, first, let me give some background. I hated geography. I just didn't relate. Drawing the shapes of countries and rivers and hearing about their weather and vegetation did not interest me.

This year, I've decided to more fully use the Sonlight curriculum that I have had for some time. I started one of the grade 2 readers with Simonne, Clara and the Bookwagon. The setting is Maryland in the early 1900's. We talk about setting, then follow Sonlight's encouragement to find Maryland on the map. Well, I didn't know, so we found out together. My goodness! A whole new world was opened up. We continued by finding all the states we could recognise, then Simonne found a puzzle of the U.S. that was labeled and she spend a long time using it to identify states on our markable map.

THEN, I decided to continue on this vein, and introduce continents and oceans. Can I tell you that I had no previous idea about any of the oceans before this? Honestly, I remembered the location of the Caribbean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It was really exciting for me to find out where these were and have Simonne eagerly labeling the places. I even offered to write the labels for her and she just point them out, but she wanted to write herself (this is the former reluctant writer!) We have a cute little song about the continents and oceans singing and Zachary is singing along. I love homeschooling!!!

Every day since, in every book we read, we note the places mentioned, and look for them on the map sometime shortly after. What a life!

What happens to seeds when we plant them?

There has been a sudden interest in seeds and plants recently. I think it started with a visit to our friend Carmen's home and her guided exploration of the garden and all that plants need. A few weeks later, we planted our first set of seeds: beans, tomato and green peppers. It may be a little late in the year for peppers and tomatoes, since they aren't thriving like the beans.

I love projects like these that can be used to explore so many things. Take a look at our germination bags (talked about condensation) and out Popsicle sticks for labeling (handwriting), our very well sprouted beans, and less mature mung beans which were added a few weeks later and our window planter that had our transplanted plants (plant care, how delicate young plants are .... since a few of our beans died with the handling). We worked on some sensory issues (chiefly mine) since we had to handle the dirt to transfer the plants to the planter. We also discovered that young plants that have been bent, not broken, can reinforce the bent area and straighten itself.. and that Jaedon
loves to poke dirt and dig out small plants. we just have to help him to

identify which plants are weeds and which plants stay in the dirt!

Homeschooling allows me to learn alongside my children. I realised that children are like plants. They grow in the right environment, they are resilient and can recover from some mishandling (whew!), they grow towards the sunlight (praise and everything positive) and that so much is happening for them, even when I don't see it. I realise that learning is like breathing, it's happening all the time while they are alive.