I love that homeschooling gives my kids the freedom to be creative. Something that their brains crave. They rarely sit still long enough to do any kind of table work or have the brain stamina to long tedious worksheets. And I don’t blame them one bit. I love being creative and doing things with my hands. I rarely sit still unless I’m hyper focused on it.

Just today, Bunny and Penguin put two bikes together, upside down with wheels touching, and used their hands with the pedals of one bike to see that it not only turns the wheel of that bike but when touching the other tire creates motion in the other bike. They then started to put items in between the tires to see what would happen so I had them hypothesize what would happen to each item before they used it. STEM at its finest. And I love being outside with them because this nice weather isn’t going to last forever here in the Midwest!

Fox decided to make dog treats today to hand out at Halloween. She did all of the mixing and used cute cookie cutters. She just needed a little help with the oven part. On Halloween, we sit at the end of our driveway after going around the neighborhood for a bit to hand out treats so she thought it would be nice to hand out some treats for those who have dogs. She has an idea to start a dog treat business so it’s great advertisement and practice in both baking, which include math and science, and communicating with others. She’s very shy so any extra practice talking is great!

Monkey is also creative and loves to build things out of wood. From the time he was a toddler he could stack blocks in formations that shouldn’t have been able to stand upright. It was amazing to watch! And he still loves building things but now they are much bigger and involve screws and nails. He just doesn’t do it as often b/c he’s a preteen now and would rather be on his electronic devices gaming and chatting online with friends. In fact, I admit, it’s gotten a bit out of hand and I need to rein it in a bit and get him back outside more. It’s just been the last month or so that I’ve noticed he’s been indoors more than out. His siblings miss him as well.

Parrot is a teenager so he’s not outside a lot. But he’s never been an outdoor kid. He could stand maybe 30 minutes at a time outside and then would rather do puzzles or build with blocks or read. He keeps his hands busy typing on his laptop. He can type way faster than I could even dream of. He loves to research topics of interest and then document them. He can tell you pretty much anything about most movies, like who directed it (and others they also directed), who’s in it, etc. We do a weekly family movie night and he’s in charge of researching and picking out the best rated movie at the time, kid friendly of course.

Are your kids super creative? How do you encourage that passion of learning through curiosity?

I have this one kid that I adore that can’t seem to use things for their intended purpose. Why? Why can’t he just use a broom as a cleaning device? Or jump rope for jumping? Or a hammer as a tool for nails? Instead, I find beheaded brooms, jump ropes hanging from branches or tied to the handle of a cart, or see him using a hammer to make a hole in the ground for something I dare not ask. My creative, brilliant, amazing child has turned our backyard into a graveyard of once useful things. There are bits and pieces that I recognize and some things that I haven’t a clue as to what they once were. But everything is useful in his eyes. A literal believer in the phrase, “one man’s trash, is another man’s treasure” but it stresses me out. Don’t get me wrong, I love his creative mind and the way he come up with uses for broken items but it’s not always a safe option. Sometimes that includes dangling from that jump rope tied to a not so thick branch. I’m pretty sure that one day he will come up with the best inventions but until then I have to live with the chaos that is now. Do you have a kid like this???