What a Typical Homeschooling Day Looks Like for Us- Sometimes

Here's my confession; we don't have a solid school day routine. In a perfect world, we'd start studying around 8:30 after breakfast and finish by lunch. After lunch, we'd spend time outdoors or allow the kids free time to explore personal interests. But I haven't locked down the school routine yet. It's embarrassing because we've been homeschooling for three years now. I should have my shiitake mushrooms together, but I don't. Do we learn every day? Yes. Do we cover the main subjects? Yes. It's just messy. Part of this is probably because our children are young, and I can't do it all. Some days I'm inspired, and today was one of those days, and it began with art.

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Starting the day with a painting lesson allows my kids to unleash their creativity and express themselves freely, with paint and brushes flying in every direction! There are no rules other than to have fun painting a picture with shades of blue. Today we learned about Picasso, a Spanish man considered one of the most prominent and influential artists of the 20th century. Picasso had a series of works called the Blue Period, where he used many blue hues. He was depressed, so they called it the blue period. Picasso's blue period was a season of intense personal and artistic growth, during which he explored themes of poverty, isolation, and despair.

We then discussed what it means to be depressed and why some people might become glum, like losing a loved one or a buddy moving away. Then we looked at some of Picasso's blue paintings before creating a palate, handing out brushes and water cups. I cranked up a good playlist, and the boys began creating their own masterpieces!

Pictured above is Watson's, age 6, interpretation of Pablo Picasos, The Ascetic.

After cleaning up the paint, it was time for a short science lesson demonstrating how oil and water don't mix. We use a couple of science kits, and the Ocean in a Bottle Experiment was from this kit linked below.

We needed to stock our ocean. So, I had the boys run around looking for small toy fish, sharks, and starfish before mixing the blue food coloring, water, and vegetable oil. They found two "Nemo fish" known as clown fish, a yellow seahorse, and a great white shark. I found a small piece of plastic trash and added that to the bottle as well. I explained to the boys that this piece of trash represents the real trash problem we have in the ocean. I told them about the trash mass the size of Texas in our ocean right now. Ironically, we put all the toys in a plastic water bottle and all the other ingredients to make an ocean. After cleaning up the paint, it was time for a short science lesson demonstrating how oil and water don't mix. We use a couple of science kits, and the Ocean in a Bottle Experiment was from this kit linked below.

After lunch, we found a YouTube video about the history of toy army men. We learned that toy army men had held the same 11 classic poses for over 50 years, and sales were down the most during the Vietnam War because the conflict was unpopular. This video was outdated, so I'm continuing my search for a more updated version about the green soldiers. I often ask the kids what they want to learn about; this topic was a pick from Watson.

The rest of the day was open for the kids to play freely. On rare occasions, we do most of the subjects, but usually, we do math, reading, and writing daily.

Today's lesson was inspired by a preschool workbook for parents to use to create assignments for their students or homeschoolers. Get yours below!