As well as playgroup, playgrounds, soft play and meeting up with a friend to play, we attended our first homeschool meetup, at the Adelaide Museum. Cai had a wonderful time, and I had the chance to meet homeschooled kids for the first time, and find out how kind, self-confident, learning-eager and smart they were. From now on, I'm going to make an effort to attend homeschool events regularly.
He also met his future brother in law for the first time. We talked to Cai about Marriage Equality, and since then he's been "marrying" his toys to each other.
Play-wise, Cai has been very focussed on imaginative, narrative play. He has spent much of the week "playing restaurant": a very complicated make believe game in which he provides us with menus, "cooks" and serves food, and runs entertainment. He's been playing more complex narratives with his toys, too, and playing make believe games like Shop with other children. I'm really pleased with his social progress and how he's bloomed: I never thought he would play co operative pretend games with other children the way he does now.
There's been a lot of lego this week, too, as well as playdough (mostly making and sharing "food), brick building and physical play--mostly soft play, because of the unreliable weather. Cai is keen on learning to hula hoop and stilt walk right now, and his rope climbing skills are improving. As always, he loves the playgroup sandpit, watering plants, and helping me cook and clean.
The seed unit study was inspired by Daimaru having adorable little seed pots to grow rye grass in. That started an exploration of seeds and their uses that has kept us happy and occupied for a while. I'm really pleased with how eager Cai is to learn, and how happily he embraces the activities--running around excitedly finding seeds, dissecting seeds, watching videos and playing games to learn. It's been fantastic, and we had so much fun together.
I've been thinking about ways to record his learning on unit projects and ensure I'm aligning them to the Australian Curriculum goals for his Foundation Year. I finally hit on a combination I like: I will keep records of the learning activities, and make cute "Pokemon Cards" he can collect as tangible signs of his progress. He seems very keen on the idea.
So am I!
