Our Unconventional Homeschool Classroom

Our Unconventional Homeschool Classroom

We’ve been homeschooling now for over a decade and have lived in several different houses. Being a military family, we have literally lived all over the world and homeschooled in all sorts of different “classrooms.” However, in our current assignment, our homeschool classroom is very unconventional and we love it this way!

The Granite Peninsula

Because we live in a very small home near the beach, we had to be very creative as we have no space anywhere for a desk. So the children do their school work on a large granite peninsula we have in the kitchen. Without this large peninsula, our children would have nowhere to do their written work! We were able to find some great reasonably-priced stools that the children are comfortable sitting on while doing seat work and experiments. I can’t lie that I was a little leary at first using this for our two youngest (sons), as some research indicates your children’s feet should be touching the ground. However, our sons’ motor skills are both very advanced and we have seen no issues in this way.

Sometimes superheroes like to stop by and do their homeschool work at our peninsula. These days are super special and seem to happen quite often.

Lots of writing goes on at the peninsula. These are our two youngest doing some seat work.

And what peninsula would be complete without some good old science projects going on? This is our precious daughter examining a dollar bill under a microscope for a forensic science case.

Beach Learning

As I mentioned above, we live by the beach. We live so close that we can walk there every day in less than 5 minutes. This is an amazing opportunity for our children to learn and grow in ways that they have never experienced before. And we are taking full advantage of this. From discovering blood worms to writing in the sand–our family is so grateful for the chance to do some of our schooling at the beach.  Here are some of the ways the children learn by the sea…

Just sitting and observing sea life fosters questions and learning. We could go on for years just learning through observing. It is in these quiet times I see brilliance shining in my children’s eyes.

How fun is it when you discover things you didn’t even know existed? On one of our first beach expeditions we uncovered these specimens which we later learned are blood worms. These particular blood worms are segmented worms in the genus Euzonus. There are several other worms given the common name “blood worm” (some of which can bite people and make them bleed); however, the sandy beach blood worm does not bite and is harmless to humans. Who knew?

Who doesn’t like to swing and see the sea at the same time? This is a huge favorite for our kiddos. Swinging at the beach can teach many things: relaxation, physics, body movement, muscle control, and so much more!

And of course a trip to the beach isn’t complete without some type of writing in the sand. Here is our youngest carving out the letters of his name in the beautiful California sunshine.

Our children had a blast trying to figure out how this heart-shaped rock came to be. It’s finds like these that encapsulate the very essence of learning and exploration. We adore the fact that our children love to explore the world around them!

The digging classroom at the beach seems to be one of the most popular. From elementary to high school the students never seem to tire of it. I’d even go so far as to say that the teachers never tire of it, either!

The World Is Our Classroom

The world really is our classroom and we are so grateful for that. We find that the most organic learning happens when our children are engaging the world around them, allowing for a unique conceptualization of everything they are learning. Here are some of our favorite “classroom” moments that have happened as of late…

The boys love climbing anything they can–from trees to ladders–if it can be climbed, they climb it.

Good old parking lot learning. What’s that, you say? It’s the learning that goes on in the parking lot of your sister’s 4-hour-long gymnastics practice that just happens to take place 4-5 days a week. This time it was skateboarding; other times it’s reading aloud, riding bikes, or countless other fun activities.

And sometimes the classroom is learning how to do a tsukahara on vault in your USAG competitive gymnastics team practice. Our daughter has just recently found out that she loves gymnastics and she is amazingly gifted at it as well.

Other days the classroom is in a karate studio earning your yellow belt. Our oldest son thoroughly enjoyed earning his yellow belt over the summer.

And of course the basketball court has a major holding in our classroom schedule. Having a husband who played basketball in school and two boys that love it, too, this is a favorite classroom around here. And believe it or not, I played basketball through high school and still love it to this day!

Goodbye! We’re off to see a new classroom today!

I hope you enjoyed taking a peek at our unconventional classroom. While I only shared a few of our “classrooms,” some of our other favorite classrooms include the following: the kitchen, the hills (for hiking), the lake, the bike trail, field trips to local establishments and landmarks, traveling, and much, much more!

We are excited about what this new school year will hold for our homeschooling adventures! Having a high schooler and two elementary students will bring a lot of fun and joyous times as we continue to explore our love of learning together!

2014-2015 Homeschool Student Photos

Our 2014-2015 Homeschool Curriculum Choices – 9th, 2nd, & 1st Grade

Back-to-school Encouragement For Moms

This post is a part of the Back-to-school Encouragement For Moms series. Be sure to check out the others posts to be encouraged!

This is a part of the iHomeschool Network’s Not Back To School Blog Hop – School Room Week.