Ok, so it’s likely many, many people knew other than me!  In case you’re totally living under a rock and don’t know anything about it, or you just haven’t played yet here is a summary.   It’s really fun.  This coming from a person who pretty much goes against the majority of all things “trendy.”

We are actually learning some good skills from the game.  The boys have had some Pokemon cards for a while now and not really played with them.  Now they are playing with the cards a bunch and asking friends to bring their cards over too.  They are comparing (reading) the names of the Pokemon in the app with the ones on their cardsor in the TV show.  They are playing Pokemon in real life with their friends too, rolling around on the floor and pretending to be different creatures with unique powers.  When we are out and about we often turn on the app and catch what we can or walk to hatch an egg, or keep an eye on the map for nearby Pokestops.  Since we’re wading further into the unschooling pool these days I can easily see the learning in the game.  I know some of you like to hear those good ol’ words like reading, writing and arithmetic though so here you go:
They are reading the names of the Pokemon and their powers.

They are using the app to learn map skills to find nearby Pokestops or Gyms.

They are learning to convert miles from kilometers in order to know how far we need to walk to hatch an egg.  Also estimating distances.

They are counting and estimating the number of Pokemon they need to trade in to evolve or power up a Pokemon.

They are counting and estimating the number of pokeballs we need to have.

They are learning how best to take turns and negotiate time playing the app.

We are making Pokemon related origami.

So, no real writing involved I guess, but all of the above and probably other stuff I forgot are really great things to work on, all the while just having fun playing a game.

 

It’s back to school time.  You can’t miss it!  Not much changes officially for us right now.  We are really digging into the life learning model of learning all the time.  We follow our interests which often leads to a real immersion in one subject or another for a while.  

Owen learned how to use money this summer because he wanted to buy things at the pool snack bar.  He’s pretty much got it down.  Not a worksheet in sight!

The boys and I both got really into The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra series on Amazon prime this summer.  We watched a ton of episodes and talked a lot about the ideas presented in the shows.  The ideas of spirituality presented were great for us while navigating the grief from our family’s losses.

We’ve been to a lot of different places this summer and maps and directions are always an interest for the boys.

Some friends have helped spark an interest in origami.  Simon created his own crab design last night.

We spent a lot of time looking at the trout at the aquarium the other day.  I came right home and requested some books from the library to learn more about their habits.

Things will change for us in a couple weeks.  I’ll begin working at Wauhatchie School on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Simon will be with me and Owen will go to his preschool those days.  It will be a good chance for us all to have some space from each other and spread out wings.

Looking forward to see where our interests take us this upcoming “school year”.  

Wow…we have had a really fun summer.  We are so fortunate to have great friends and family help us visit really cool places.

We visited Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham in late June.  

On our way there the boys and I enjoyed a trip to the Western North Carolina Nature Center.  Really nice place with native animal exhibits.

The Museum of Life and Science in Durham is not to be missed.

We saw some great friends too!

After all that fun we had more to come in the mountains with Rick’s parents and a surprise visit from his childhood friend Jenny and her family.  Rafting and exploring together was great fun!

We headed back home for a week or so before leaving again for Florida for “Grandma’s Camp”!  Good times with cousins were had by all!

What a great couple of months! We also had some fun around town, with friends and in the pool.  We got into Pokemon Go while in Florida and have been enjoying it as a family.

We are so grateful for the experiences we had so far this summer.  It was a rough spring for our family with the loss of my Dad, Rick’s Great Aunt Nancy and our beloved dog Duke.  We certainly lived it up in honor of those we lost.