Break week?

A friend asked if we took breaks like "regular school," honestly no we don't.  We break when we need to.  We are just in preschool of course and what we concentrate on wouldn't really fit inside any text book.  We are learning in different ways, just as valid as conventional ways, but different.  It is so interwoven through our day that we don't have on and off switches that tell us when we should be "in school". 

So my question is, do you take a break?  Do you "school" in the summer? 

She's "knitting" with her knitter here.

Sunday we bought a french knitter and off and on, only for a few minutes at a time, Sarah has been "knitting".  She has been begging to learn so when I seen this at a local toy shop when we participated in Tacoma's Cash Mob it was something on our must buy list.  I had seen something similar to what we bought on Imagine Childhood as well if you don't have a local owned toy store in your town and want to see what it is you can look there.  You might also be able to find them on Amazon. 

Such a proud girl!

This knits a chain, so I see many Barbie scarves in our future before we graduate to another method.  Our hope is that it fine tunes some fine motor skills as well as fine tunes some patience. 

The weather has been off an on this week.  Monday we had a impromptu picnic after running some errands.  We went to Wright Park and ended up feeding the birds.  Tuesday brought a return to my classes as well as the rain, yet we did make juice and Popsicles.  I am able to get her to eat apples, pineapples, carrots, kale and more when we juice and make Popsicles out of the juice.  I feel better about her favorite treat and she is getting fruits and vegetables without really seeing it as a plate of green beans or carrots. 

Yesterday, Wednesday, was beautiful.  The morning was a bit foggy but we still ventured out to the park and playground with friends Tana and her daughter Jennalise.  While it may seem like we just played yesterday, I look at all the social skills, observation skills and critical thinking that those girls were doing and can't help but see the rich education that was happening.  A give and take, counting out and digging into their rich imaginations for tales of wonder was something we could have never taught, or at least taught well.  At one point they were playing with another boy close to their age (Jennalise is about a year older than Sarah) and making up stories and pretending to be animals in kingdoms of their own imaginations.  Wonderful wonderous Childhood!

Then today, we woke up sick.... bummer bummer bummer.  We had plans to go to a nature club event tomorrow, but we shall have to see what the night brings. 

Today we are learning about tidal zones and discussing tides and animals and how tides are contorled and a bit about how people in ancient times thoughts tides were controled.  We love the ocean and exploreing todal pools.  It is my greatest wish that we could one day spend a lot of time just exploring, day in and day out, tidal pools and the critters found there.  I bought a couple books, Pacific Intertidal Life: A Guide to Organisms of Rocky Reefs and Tide Pools of the Pacific Coast and The Burgess Seashore Book for Children.  I also broke down and purchased a microscope that is child friendly and fitable in a pocket or bag for our nature explorations, even when those forays just happen to be in the backyard.  I will keep all interested parties informed on how well we like these, but I'm thinking I need to stop buying for a while!  I know I'm not alone in always looking for things that enhance our education/life experiences.