A half-week in homeschooling

On Monday we went over Chinese New Year. Bub liked it so much he requested a complete unit on Ancient China. Do you know how difficult it is to find age-appropriate material? I mean, just the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty alone, he had to deal with three assassination attempts--the first orchestrated by his mother, her lover and his stepbrothers, and then he had all of them (except his mother) executed. He really liked his dinosaur unit from last fall (where there were math, science and language arts worksheets) but there's no way I'll be able to find Ancient China-themed worksheets like that--I remember trying to find them for Ancient Greece and failing, so this unit will have to be different.

Yesterday before our park play date we ran by the library to borrow the DK book on Ancient China. He read a little yesterday, and I hope to read some to him tomorrow. I'm thinking of focusing more on ancient Chinese accomplishments and achievements and maybe skip over all of the violence and sadness until he's older.

Today we had our home school park date. We've gone the past two weeks and only met one mother and her children each time. This time there were more! One mother had a brood of boys, ages one through seven, which was wonderful for Tol. The two older boys were directing the dramatic play--at one point they were searching for crystals (large rocks in the sand) and at another, they pretended to be injured people and paramedics. Between that they were running up and down with NERF guns and rifles, but they were all so *nice* about it--the boys were rambunctious without being aggressive. And I was so glad to meet the moms and garner information.

Of course, after we got home, Bub had a total meltdown (it must have taken a lot of energy to be so social) so both kids were sent to nap. Tomorrow is Music Together and then another play date with another mother and kids.

Aside from curriculum, one of the things I've been wondering about is exactly how much time to spend "doing school". The general consensus amongst the mothers today, at least, was only one to four hours in a day, because you only have to answer your child(ren)'s questions, not 30+ children's questions. Unless you want to replicate school at home, which I am not interested in doing. Originally I'd signed Bub up for a "preschool" class at the local community college but it's the same time and date as this park date so I plan on dropping it; I believe he would get better, more positive socialization from this mixed-age group of boys.

Tackling the curriculum will be the next challenge, but one of the mothers pointed me to Sky Mountain Charter School. I'm going to be checking it out.