This was basically an unschooling day, meaning that it was a day so packed with informal learning that we didn’t have time to break out the regular books.
Sean and Kieron have just recently registered on a bionicle message board where their older brother is also a member. This has led to all kinds of real life lessons, from netiquette to proper syntax to applied logic and critical thinking, not to mention family solidarity. Honestly, I feel like we just leaped ahead in some of our informal goals for the teenage transition years. I know the internet can be a wasteland for teenagers and believe me, we don’t take our responsibility to guard and guide lightly. But at the same time, transition towards responsible interaction in public cyber-places is something that we the parents are glad to have a hand in.
Kieron spent a fair amount of time on the phone talking to a friend, and then in the afternoon we had our homeschool Stations of the Cross where the kids get to meet up with their friends after the devotion. (Clare got her weekly chance to play a real piano instead of our mid-range electronic keyboard.)
I spent a part of the day on the phone too (not really typical of me) arranging details for Clare’s visit to the college of her choice with a couple of friends of hers — their family will be visiting us next week. So we are getting some quality time out there in the real world, which is nice because winter seems to find us hibernating a bit because of the snow, viruses and other factors.
Sean did some math and I think he did a couple of readings. As usual they read for a good part of the day, too. We did a lot of family dialectics. I think it was a good day.
