In Which Young Explorers Completes The First Year

Yeah, that's right! We finished up Block 3 of our first year today!! Would love to have had a block 4, but hey, that would mean giving up my road trip to Arizona, and ... not gonna happen!!

Seriously friends, we had such a great year.  Was talking to my hubby on the phone tonight (he's travelling on business), and he asked me if I thought it was "worth it" for Alexa. Cause she's the reason I do Young Explorers.

Of course its worth it! And here's why:

Every week she adds a little more confidence to her toolkit because of the icebreakers. For today's icebreaker, each child was given a little "proverb" or saying to talk about, such as "grab the bull by the horns," or "cold fish," or "hasn't got a leg to stand on." 

Every week she is exposed to a classic tale, fable or story and has the opportunity to go deep (well, for a 6 yo!) into the lofty ideas surrounded by a group of peers.  Not just any peers. Peers whose parents have a like-minded philosophy and who are deeply committed to a great education. Not just a good one.  Peers who already, at this young age, are training their brains to dig a little deeper and think. Its socratic discussion, peeps, and while their depth and breadth may be just scratching the surface, they are indeed breaking ground. Today we read The Magic Pomegranate (Jewish Folktale) and came to the conclusion that the most worthy gift is one that you have to give something "up" of yourself to truly give.

Every week Alexa gets to enjoy another poem and has developed a love of poetry! Sure, I could do this in absence of YE, but I get to kill a lot of birds with the one stone that is YE, because we have fallen in love with more poems this year than I know I would have done otherwise.  Today, in the poem The Duel by Eugene Field, we ended up talking about gossip! The poem is so so so so cute though, give it a try.

Most every week, Alexa and all the kids listen to a classic piece of music. We have enjoyed the likes of Grieg, Beethoven, Handel, Brahms, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and all those awesome masters. I say most weeks, because today, we were so busy doing our art project that the music did not get played!

Art? Yes, today was art day! We played with pop art, using Andy Warhol's work as a guide for imitation.  Last week, I snapped a picture of each child's head/shoulders, and after printing them, had them photocopied onto good strong cardstock.  We had about 8 photocopies of EACH child. Then we painted them in unexpected colors and added unexpected details - and collaged them onto black posterboard. It was wacky and it was fun and the kids really enjoyed the experience!

And then .... the very best part? They had cake. Kind of a last day of YE celebration toffee coffee cake.

Young Explorers will be back in the fall ... but not till October because ... did you hear? Sewing Summit is earlier this year - September 19 - 21st.  Oh YEAH. With that, I wish you all wonderful blessings on your homeschooling adventures, wherever they may take you!