What We Actually Do for Homeschool Electives (Week in the Life) | Homeschool Show and Tell

Hey everybody. Welcome. I'm Jessica. And today's video is going to be a homeschool show-and-tell. The homeschool show-and-tell is an open collaboration hosted by Abby from Rooted in Rest and myself. Our goal with the homeschool show-and-tell was really just to showcase that there's not one right way to homeschool. So we do that by bringing homeschoolers together from around the world each and every month to share their take on a specific topic. This month's topic is electives in your homeschool. So we're going to be showing the electives that we do and how we do them. Now our homeschool is just a little willy-nilly and kind of fly by the seat of your pants. So we don't have specific electives that we do at specific times. So I thought instead of just talking to you about our homeschool electives, I would actually bring you guys along for what electives look like in our homeschool for this week. So I'm just going to be showing you each day what we're doing that is extra elective enrichment. On Monday, Emily had her weekly guitar lesson, which is something she's been doing consistently for about a year now. She spends about an hour working one-on-one with her instructor, building skills over time and getting more comfortable with her playing each week. Right now they're working on a piece called The Waltz, which she's preparing for an upcoming recital. So a lot of her lesson is focused on working through sections of the song, refining technique and making sure everything sounds the way it should. She's not just learning the notes, but also working on timing, transitions and really understanding how the piece comes together as a whole. It's been really neat to watch that progression from learning the basics to being able to work through a full piece like this, especially something she's going to be performing. On Tuesday, Kevin works with Emily on Steam, which is something they do together once a week. This time he decided to make it a little more real life applicable, especially since she's almost 14 and getting closer to learning how to drive. So they focused on basic car maintenance. They started inside with a how things work book, talking through the different parts of a car and basic maintenance and what everything does. Just kind of building that foundation before jumping into it. Then they took it outside to the Jeep, open the hood and walk through it all together, checking the fluids and seeing where everything is and how it all works in real life. So instead of just reading about it, she's actually connecting it to something she can see and do, which makes it all feel a lot more relevant and easier to understand. And it's going to come in really handy in the future. On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon in the backyard doing archery practice together. We were shooting 3D targets, which is what we've been focusing on lately as we get ready for a few upcoming tournaments over the next couple of months. So we've been working on accuracy, getting comfortable with different target positions and building consistency with each shot as we practice. It's also been a really fun way for all of us to spend time together outside since it's something we can all do at our own pace while still working on the same skill. And this is what we count as PE in our homeschool because it's active, it builds focus and coordination, and it's something we're consistently showing up and practicing for together. On Thursday, Emily and I spent some time working on crafts together. Right now we're both just a little obsessed with diamond art, so that's what we're working on. I'm making a card and she's working on a cat compact, both of which are gifts for friends. We usually just sit and work on our projects, placing each piece one by one. It's one of those activities that takes focus and patience as you go. But sometimes we'll turn on an audio book or just have some intense conversation with each other, just kind of checking in on how things are going in life. This is something we come back to often for our handicraft time. It's not always the same thing though. Sometimes we're watercoloring, sometimes we're crocheting, and sometimes we're painting ceramics. Just depends on what we're in the mood for. On Friday, Emily spent time with her pat-pat working on leather work, and this is such a cool process for us to watch. They started by tracing out her design, then used a swivel knife to carefully carve it into the leather. From there, she used a beveler to go along the edges, which is what gives the design that raised dimensional look. Then she added texture using a pebbler, which really changed how the whole piece looked, adding depth and detail to the design. She's learning each step as she goes, building on what she did before. And they're working towards a final project, which is making her a custom guitar strap. And getting to do all of this alongside her grandfather adds a whole different layer to it. Just the time spent together and everything that comes along with that. On Saturday, we had a family movie night. We watched The Lord of the Rings, and instead of just watching it together, we used Lights Camera Learn to turn it into more of a film study. So as we watched, we paused to talk about different parts of the story, the characters, and some of the filmmaking choices along the way. It gave us a chance to notice things we might not have paid attention to otherwise, and to have conversations about the movie as it was happening instead of after it ended. We talked through the story structure, character development, and even some of the visual choices that made certain scenes feel the way that they did. It ended up being such a fun mix of relaxing together and still being intentional with how we were watching it. And it was a really nice way to wrap up the week.