This is such a special week as we get to spend time in the lives of some of our grandchildren. So far we have participated in home-schooling, surfing, reading to the preschool class, conducting science experiments, playing math games, catching fish and going to the book store.
This is the first year that one of the families is home schooling. It is amazing to watch as learning goes on all day in many formats, starting early as they review verb forms on the bed, learn their history timeline, 
sing in latin while making legos and learn their state capitals. We went along to their morning of Classical Conversations which I had heard about but didn’t understand until we joined the home schooling families as they reviewed and learned new dates and events in history, added hand signs and songs and then recited it in latin! My husband came out of one the classrooms where he had been observing 1st grade and said, “I just had a whole day of school!” The fast-paced, fun delivery of organs of the body, grammar, state capitals and latin vocabulary gave us a packed morning. As a speech-language pathologist, I appreciated all the rich vocabulary that was introduced. As they first used their tin whistles in music time, they learned “cacophony” (which was applicable to their first notes!), harmony, melody, symphony and fipple (the hole in the mouthpiece)–who knew?
Short presentations to the class are started at an early age to teach kids to be confident in public speaking. Later when they have a foundation of historical events and the classics they will be equipped to discuss and debate ideas.
