Guests at a Cool Homeschool

We are having some work done in our house this week, so I took my cousin up on her offer to join her and her children at their family farm. She is homeschooling her Kindergartner, 4 year old, and almost-2 year old while they wait to settle into a new home in a new city. This amazing mom has spent the past month in a 1-room farmhouse and has been cooking up fabulous lesson plans for her kids every day. Since she hasn't had much of a break in the past month, I offered to plan today's lesson.



Our theme was Post Office. We read a few library books about mail and post offices, including a Gail Gibbons book. If you haven't checked out her informative non-fiction children's books - do so! Not that my children are much interested in sitting in a circle to read when there are new (to them) toys all around and 300 acres of farmland to explore. But, we got through the books and our cousins probably learned something. :)


Next up, each kid created a mailbox out of a shoebox while we talked about the things some of us learned in the books. Then, it was time to head outside for play time, where we quizzed the kids on their addresses as the romped around in the fresh air. They also had time to check the farm's mail box and write, address, and stamp letters to each other.


After lunch, we headed out for our field trip...to the Post Office, of course! The kids proudly found the correct slot for their letters and then the incredibly nice PostMaster took as back for a tour. We found our letters in their bins and then checked out how the post office runs behind the scenes. The kids even got to check out a mail truck, pick a piece of candy, and received a coloring book. Who knew the post office was so small-child friendly!