Independent Study is Good for the Kids, My House, and Our Souls

Independent Study Week always happens the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  The kids get Monday through Thursday off to work on big projects that they present on Friday.

Eli's project consisted of (1) memorizing the speech "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" by William Shakespeare, (2) building a model/diorama of an Ancient Roman engineering marvel, (3) giving a presentation of the model/diorama.  

Elina's project was to (1) put a timeline of Ancient Rome on posterboard that included 10-12 major events with a brief synopsis of each event and (2) build a model of an assigned Ancient Roman structure.

   

I made a deal with the kids that if they worked hard and finished early, then the rest of the week could be spent playing.  Plus, I had a special idea for a family outing for Thursday! 

Eli chose to study the Colosseum.  I was really impressed with how hard Eli worked on this project.  We got home on Friday after the 3rd grade Roman Celebration and he wanted to start working right away.  I definitely learned something about Eli the hard way...he needs constant supervision.  That boy had to remake his model...he started doing good work, but then after awhile I went to lay down on the sofa and he got lazy and just tried to finish as quickly as possible.  I took a picture of it and then had Eli redo it.  (Look how uneven the arches were...how smashed the columns were...disaster.)

Then B and I took turns sitting with Eli while he completed the model.  It ended up looking SO awesome.  I had him compare the new model with the picture I had taken of the "first draft" and he could tell that the first one was not that great.  Phew!  I was thankful he at least could recognize that.

Then Eli had to write his essay.  After doing his research, he started writing his essay in script and I walked away for a few minutes...and when I came back I saw that he had gone past the margin on the right side.  So after writing 6 lines, he had to start all over.  I set him up again and he started writing...I walked away again for a little bit (why did I do this??) and when I came back I saw that he had written on the back of the looseleaf paper.  So after writing 6 lines, he had to start all over again.  At this point we were both giggling about the whole situation.  I mean, how come he can't get it right?  And how come I keep leaving him by himself??  Both were legitimate questions.  

When he started writing his third copy, I sat with him the entire time.  I encouraged him to keep up his neat handwriting.  I think he was sweating from how much he had to focus on good penmanship.  But then 30 minutes later we were all done!  It was awesome!

After that, everything else was a breeze!  I was so impressed he could memorize the long speech!   So he was rewarded with an extra playdate and a special trip to one of his favorite museums in town.  He definitely felt like it was worth it to work hard at the beginning.

Elina, on the other hand, decided to do things a bit differently. During the weekend (while Eli was working his tail off), she decided to have 2 long playdates--one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  So by the time Monday came around, she was pretty behind.  She spent all of Monday doing her timeline.

On Tuesday she tried to make her Colossem out of Sculpey clay and it turned into a fail.

There was no way to bake it standing up and it was so fragile!  It was sad that she had wasted those hours, but on Wednesday she worked hard all day making a Colosseum out of cardstock and it turned out great!

So on Thursday morning, we took the kids north of Fredericksburg to Enchanted Rock for some hiking.  I've been wanting to check this place out, but I had heard never to go when it's too warm out.  It was the most perfect day...sunny, breezy, 70F.

We hiked straight up that steep rock and had so much fun!  The kids loved it!  Eulee and Eli led us and a few times Eulee would turn around with her hand on her hip and say, "Are you guys coming??"  
 
We ate lunch at the top and then Eli and B went exploring in a cave.  Evie had wanted to go, but it was really slippery and dark so B sent her back out.  The boys went off for an hour and I took the girls down the Rock through Echo Canyon and we met the boys by Moss Lake when they finally crawled out of the other side of the cave.  They had so much fun on their adventure!  B said it was really tight in a few spots and super super dark.  How exciting!

This is a beautiful place and we'll definitely be back!!

So that was our Independent Study Week!  I'm really enjoying those extra days off after the busy holiday season.  The kids work hard and I can get a few house things done (I actually cleaned my oven and my garage freezer out!) and then we even have time to play.  I love it!