How Schoolife is going here

Or, is it, "How Lifeschool is going"?

You know that we like to use real life to teach, and we like to teach things in the context of real life. That doesn't mean we never use curriculum (we do, and some of it follows), but rather that we use a mix of methods, and often we find a great deal of our education happening in the everyday.

Here are some of the things we've been learning about of late.

Science:

Deer. They are crepuscular. They enjoy playing tackle sports with teachers who are driving to work early in the morning. Isn't crepuscular a great word?

Anne-with-an-e is doing a science course from the Teaching Company, on biology and human behavior. We both find it fascinating, and it also offers great opportunities to discuss the relationship between the physical world and our faith, and between faith and reason.

We also think that Atticus, living in a house with four females, might be qualified to teach his own course on the relationship between biology and behavior. Ahem.

Betsy is loving Janice VanCleave's Chemistry for Every Kid and Ramona is loving the role of Betsy's lab partner. Today, we have pennies turning green.

Life skills:

Insurance 101: Related to, you know, that deer thing.

Organizational skills: Because when you are living with one vehicle, you necessarily become better at organizing time, trips to the store, errands, etc. Related to, you know, that deer thing.

Depending on the kindness of friends: Because, when one car is in the body shop, and then the other vehicle starts leaking something and has to go to the mechanic, you might have to call on a friend. (Related to, you know ....)

Novel writing:

Both Anne-with-an-e and Betsy are writing novels. They are not far into their literary works yet, but I'm eager to see what they come up with. Anne-with-an-e is writing something about a werewolf, and Betsy has created an ancient world peopled with characters who bear allegorical names and fight evil.

I use their writing to teach grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and so on. Also, I use it to discuss the difference between fun and boring in a fantasy series (just kidding, but do see Jennifer this morning for a very funny post about Twilight, which fell under the "I can't even finish this" category for Anne and me. Oh, how weary we grew of Edward's eyes!)

And now, the crepuscular time of day is past, and I am out of time.