[Frackel]

How do you combine Science, Social Studies, History, Home Ec., Math, Art and Spanish lessons into one?

Like this....



It started off with a Spanish lesson that lead to learning all about pinatas and their origin, as well as significance to other cultures(Spanish, History and Social Studies). It moved on to a Science lesson, discussing how and why the paste works, then to a Home Ec. and Math lesson creating both the paste and paper strips. Last but not least, an Art lesson discussing how to create a pinata, decorate it, and what other ways we can use this sort of art project later this year.(we plan to make some biodegradable plant pots for outside using a similar method)

Gotta love when subjects all meld together like that. Without even trying. All completely child lead too. They'd never get that sort of fun, much less knowledge in such a wide variety of subjects, being in a classroom full of 25+ other kids.

Now we have to let them all dry before we can finish, which means we can extend the lessons even further.

[BensMom]

What? No religious/cultural histories with Easter-themed pinatas? What sort of half-done project is this?

I'm TOTALLY kidding! (I hope you know that.) Love it! The kids look like they're having a great time! What sort of pinatas ARE they making anyway?

[Frackel]

Rofl!! Another mom I know asked me the same thing(except she was dead serious,lol).

To be honest, I have no clue what kind they are making. I guess we'll find out when they finish. This is going to take a few days, at least. We'll probably drag it out for like a week by the time all is said and done. They haven't yet told me what they plan on making. They put most of this into motion by themselves.

Oh and Leo ALWAYS takes his shirt off for messy stuff. Cracks me up. I made him put actual shorts on though, he was in just his boxers.

It's funny most of those strips are either junk mail, or junk catalogs we get and have no use for(or desire to get, yet they still come, regularly, lol). Usually I save junk mail and send it back to credit card companies in their own prepaid mailer, but the kids have been keeping all of my junk mail(still not sure why). Great way to reuse rather than throw away.(no recycling here, unfortunately)

[BensMom]

LOL! Yeah, Ben was looking over my shoulder (as always ) and wondered why his shirt was off. We never go shirt-less in this house. I think it shocked him.

[2pinks&ablue]

Wow, they look like they were having a blast! My son always takes his shirt off for craft projects too! He hates getting his clothes dirty!

[Frackel]

They were definitely having a blast. The only problem is the cats were getting in there too. Tiger is the orange tabby, he's a teeny tiny lil guy(though full grown) and a very strange cat. He kept trying to lick the paste. Not that it's really anything that can harm him, it's flour and water with a tiny bit of salt to keep it from getting yucky, but still, lol.
We worked on them a little more today, but not much. This morning I hid eggs all around the yard for the kids and later tonight we're coloring Easter eggs-which are cooking right now, lol.

That's really cool! Are all your things completely child led, or was this just one of those special days?

[Frackel]

Most things are, not everything we do is. A lot of their schooling is though.