Back in the day, like ages ago when my kids were in public school, I didn't believe in summer school at all. Kids need a break! Kids need to be free all summer!
I mean, I still believe this in part.
But in the two school years we've now done homeschool, I also believe in keeping them busy, keeping their brains active, and making learning fun. Summer learning camp and all that nonsense.
The new curriculum we started at the end of this past school year is strictly 20 day unit-studies, and so I thought shoot, why couldn't we do one unit study over the summer? And make it...dare I say....fun?
And what better topic to learn (the audacity) over the summer than Oceans?
So I bought the unit study and a couple variations of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne has become a favorite author of both boys), strung up some blue lights, and planned for Ocean Camp.
We can't call it school, because SCHOOL is for the SCHOOL YEAR. So this is Camp. Ocean Camp. Like Shark Week, on steroids and extra credit.
The kids, although resistant to summer school (I mean, camp, summer school might as well be a four letter word), love Shark Week and the crafts/snacks/documentaries that go along with it, so this is the next best thing. Or sloppy seconds, you decide.
The first day of Ocean Camp we learned about the creepy weird fish that are way, way deep near the ocean floor, drew an angler fish, and went to Jewel Beach to have a picnic lunch and collect as much sea glass as possible for an art project later in the unit.
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| Do ya? Do ya? DO YA. |
Fish are Friends, not Food. That's what they say in the movie, right?
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