Play School!

     My son was talking to his grandma the other day and said, "I'm doing homeschool now." She asked him a little about it and I hear, "We pretty much do play school!" He was talking about the online program we have, and when I told him that the other things we do are school, he was surprised. I considered it a win, because he's not feeling pressured, and doesn't even realize that what we do is "school." While the phrase, "playschool" might make grandmas and others take a step back, rest assured that the kiddos are learning, A LOT! If you've read up on the studies/theories about delayed academics, or even unschooling you'll understand with me that learning is much more involved and encompasses more than filling out worksheets :) We don't necessarily do only child led activities, but I try to make sure that it's not a high pressured situation for learning.  
Here's what we do for "play school:"

• Friendschool (others call it a co-op, but I like this name better), where a few families get together 2 times a week with a Nature Day and a Language Arts/Creativity Day. It's been good and bad so far- bad was when my sons both disappeared at the nature park and I later found one in the car and the younger one at the pond, by himself! I'd like a place where I can see the kids so I know they haven't drowned in the pond or something. It's good because the kids are learning a lot about our natural world and getting to do it with friends. 
• Reading classic books and poetry- I read poetry during lunch (no, not every day), and we read other books quite a bit, though our classics are most often listened to in the car.
• Creative Time- I am now officially addicted to loose parts! We've got an indoor "creativity room" with spaces like a pop-up store front would be, and two "idea places" which are like adventure playgrounds outside. Here the kids are free to choose what/how they'd like to play and I love seeing what they come up with. I love to see my kids engrossed in creating and playing, and it's something that seems to be missing in most children's lives these days.
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• I found Education.com which has educational games online, and I like it a lot better then ABC Mouse, Starfall, or Leapfrog Academy for online learning. Education.com has lessons around a theme, and all you do is click on the dot in the world and it starts! I wish there were more lessons, but so far it's been good for both reading and math. Next year when Kyle (4) is doing Upstart with Waterford Institute, we'll have both boys work on that.
• Table Time: we use a morning basket, filled with uplifting things like character books, memorization items, a family history booklet, classic painting cards and the like. Morning baskets are fun because the kids get to choose what they want to do once our devotional is over- and it ranges from "word of the day" (hiding and finding letters, then putting them together to make the word) to playing Uno (learning sorting/matching and colors for the littles and rule following for the big 1st grader), or just reading lots of library books. Maybe we should call it a read-a-thon, since that's what reading all days is, right? I love the freedom of homeschooling, in that we can call it what we want. 
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• Geosafari- do you remember those? I found an old Geosafari board at a thrift store, and my sister just happened to have cards for the ages I needed! These are fun because it's not quite a screen but not just writing on paper, and the kids get practice on all sorts of things like math problems and telling time, learning constellations, or matching tops and bottoms of animals. It also brings back fun memories for me, like when we'd make our own cards for our younger siblings back in the day. 
• Family work time- we like to listen to dance music when we do the dishes, and pause every once in awhile to get our groove on! It makes chores much more fun. Then there's gardening with Dad, or feeding the chickens and gathering eggs. Family work teaches so much when we're all working together.  
  
• Setting up a contraption for starting plants inside. 

That's all I can think of for now, do you have some ideas for sneaky schooling, where the kids don't realize that it's "school" or think it's just play school?