School Days

Yesterday, I organized our homeschool supplies and found a set of workbooks that I had bought at a garage sale a few years ago.

They are dated, but still relevant.

Each book has a theme and focuses on developing different skills. The activities are simple, quick and engaging.

Today, the boys did book work for about 30 minutes. We did this in the morning because that is when they are at their freshest.

In that 30 minutes, we colored.

We cut.

We counted.

We learned about addition, shapes, colors and bears.

Yes, bears.

Both boys have their own book.

Jake is working from the “All About Me” book and Joe is working from the “Animal Families” book.

The first page of each book was a coloring sheet.

Joe’s page was a bear with cubs. Before he started to color, we talked about the picture and we talked about bears.

What kind of bears are there? What color is their fur?

What do bears eat? How much do they weigh? How long do they live? What was the bear in the picture doing?

Then, we played the “Bears on a Log” addition game included in the workbook.

We played this game until Joe’s attention started to reach its limit and the silliness started to show.

As I put the workbooks up, I heard Joe talking to Jake about his picture.

“That’s good, Jake.”

“Thank you, Joe.”

“You can stay in the lines like mine next time. Like this.”

Then Joe showed his picture to Jake. It wasn’t completely colored in, but Joe was so proud that he’d managed to stay in the lines.

He was encouraging Jake to keep up the good work.

After I packed everything up, we all got in the van and headed to the Wildlife Prairie Park to see a few bears.

The whole time we were there, Joe led Jake. He pointed out the animals, telling Jake what they were.

He showed him the “correct” way to carry a stick. (I didn’t know there was a wrong way.)

“Look at this Jake! It’s a seed!”

“Over here Jake, it’s a goat!”

“Look Jake, a garden!”

I thought it was cute how excited he was and how his excitement rubbed off on Jake. Then, I realized what was happening.

My 5-year-old was teaching my 3-year-old.

Pretty cool.