Well, the kids are out of school as of last Friday and today they're fussing because I'm making them do "homework!" They need to keep up skills they don't use on a daily basis; for Rianna, it's math and writing, for Geordan, it's writing numbers, letters and words. Science and social development are everyday things, so I'm not making "lessons" outside of everyday interactions or play. For example, yesterday we went to a small Hunter/Jumper horse show and the kids got to see the difference in the jumps the Hunter classes have and that it's more about the rider's posture, position and handling of the horse than about time to complete the course. They also saw kids their own ages on the horses, something they can aspire to if they can learn to control themselves and listen to teachers and coaches.
When we came home, Rianna and I started working on making halters for some of our larger models using leather lace and wire for hardware. We used a tack catalog to see how a halter should fit and we measured the pieces on the models as we made each piece. Rianna didn't want to try skiving (shaving the ends of the leather lace thinner where it folds over to glue on a ring) with my sharpened craft knife, but we talked about the safe handling of the knife and how to strop the blade to sharpen it. She also learned how to carefully handle gel super glue and that it can be removed from glued fingers without loss of too much skin.
I didn't mention reading. Rianna reads really well and reads everything she can, especially if it has to do with horses or fantasy creatures. My guidance of her involves having her slow down and sound unfamiliar words out instead of skipping over them and learning what they mean, from context if possible. Geordan gets read to every day, by me or Rianna, and is learning to recognize frequent words. He brought a book home from school that is a story told in a series of poems in the style of William Blake. We will look him up and find examples of his artwork and poetry as we go this summer.
