Project Days: A New Approach

During the school prep workshop in August all of us dedicated moms found that we had identical requests from our boys:  Make school fun.  So,  the question that seemed to dominate all of our brainstorming was:  How DO we make school fun? 

I shared that one freeing and enjoyable part of our schooling week is project days.  In our house every Friday holds 2 things (that always bring a smile to my face):  1. Room cleaning day and 2.  Project day.    Friday is when every cool project that we have always wanted to work on becomes reality.  I have found that that bookshelf idea I had on Monday was less of a distraction because I knew that I could set the idea aside and focus on it on Friday.  My boys, also, find freedom in our project days as their schoolwork consists of math, reading and a spelling test.  After those three simple tasks (and a clean room), they are free to work on any project that has been pre-approved by Tyler or myself.  I have found that we all look forward to these days and the added benefits to the morale, and creativity in my house is an incredible bonus.  

With this idea as our base my comrades and I decided to make project days a group event.  Ideas abounded as to what ventures we should offer our little men.  Finally, we decided to embark on an 8 week project that marries both hands on art and science.  What is it you may ask?  Why it is 8 project days in a row in which the participants build, study, film, edit, produce and enjoy robots.  Mind you,  beginner robots, as our boys are between the ages of 6 and 9, but robots nonetheless.  Using this idea as a start opens up our chances to include more complex systems as our boys grow.  

This is not the only ingenious idea to come from our brainstorming session this year.  If you want to know more please feel free to ask, and if you don't ask I am sure we will share them when we implement them.  For updates on how the boys are doing with their robots stay tuned!  We will keep you posted on all of the great fun happening in our school this year!

P.S.  Feel like you missed something amazing?  You did.  Our workshop in August was a benefit to all who attended.  Join us next time (January 2013) to contribute, learn, and be inspired for your own school!   

The above picture is one of Eli's most recent projects:  A mold to make an iron axe.