Have you had your PI Time today??

Homeschoolers have many reasons why they homeschool.  They vary from family to family.  It is always good to ponder your reasons why, and make goals to improve!  One of my reasons is to help my kids learn to study what interests THEM.  I want them to have a say, at least some of the time.  I LOVE the excited feeling you get when you are interested in something and can't wait to find out more about it.  I feel like I didn't gain this excitement for learning while I was growing up and in the public school system.  It wasn't really encouraged, I don't know why.  I still remember the day I watched the movie "Titanic" and suddenly I was very intertested to learn all I could about that ship and it's fateful voyage.  I went to the library and found some books about it and enjoyed learning about something because I WANTED to, not because I HAD to.   There will be things we HAVE to learn about, whether we want to or not, but knowing how to study what you love and learning your whole life is important to me and our homeschooling.

 I decided I needed to focus on this in our homeschool more than I have in years past and will be having them each take time each day to read about what interests them.  We will call it "PI Time", or "Personal Interest Time".  I am thinking it will be from 15-30 minutes a day.  They can do it together or on their own.  It can be about whatever interests them.....but it does need to have some educational value.  I can see them wanting to "learn" about Pokemon cards for their PI Time.  They can learn about where they started or who started them. I would be ok with that!  I am hoping to join them as much as the two little ones in the family allow me to.  I am a firm believer that you should model what you want your kids to do, not just tell them to do it, as much as you can.  Over dinner we can take turns telling what we learned in PI Time that day.  I am excited to impliment this into our day........

So, what interests YOU?  Mummies? Diamonds?  The ocean? Photography? Art? Musicians?  There is so much out there and the library is right down the street!  See ya there.....