I always start out the school year thinking I'm going to blog through our year, documenting the kids' milestones and achievements. And I don't think I've ever documented much more than the first couple of weeks. This year for sure is going to be no exception, seeing as I'm only blogging about once a month, but I thought it would be fun to at least share the beginning of our homeschool year.
We have massaged our basic routine a bit just to smooth out a few kinks, shake things up a bit, and also accommodate the fact that Leila was ready for a bit more structure.
One of our new additions that we are all loving is
Morning Meeting. During this time we sing, have our Bible lesson, review our calendar skills, talk about and graph the weather and work on basic math skills by tracking our days of school. We also have a letter, animal, color, and shape of the week (tracking along with Leila's preschool work) that we review some days. We also try to have time some days that the kids can share their previous journal entries, which they are always eager to do. We always end our Morning Meeting with prayer, which is something I hadn't really thought to include in our daily routine in past years. I like the sense of family unity and focus this time brings to our whole day. Sometimes it's hard to cut it off and not let it take up too much of our day!
We have Morning Meeting at the bottom of the stairs :)
Here's a close-up of our board: (L to R, top to bottom) ..."of the week" cards, song cards, weather/season cards, weather bar graph, hundreds chart, place value and number words cards, "decimal street"
My biggest challenge this year has been trying to figure out how to divide my time between my children, especially since none of them are very solidly in the self-directing camp yet. Each needs my help and attention for nearly everything they do, so I've had to get creative. I have been able to use various technological resources this year, which has been fun. Even Leila gets her little 15 minutes of computer time each day, which she spends on a phonics website (starfall.com - a phenominal free resource, by the way).
We are also attending a co-op one day a week this year (see
this post, if you missed it.) We are all loving it!
Benj: Finding His Groove
Benj is in 1st grade this year. So far our transition into the school year has gone much more smoothly than last year. I am keeping essentially the same structure in place that he was used to all last year, so that has helped him to jump right in with enthusiasm. Last year I would write up little messages on our small chalkboard at the bottom of the stairs to greet them as they came down to school; things like "Are you excited to learn today?" I remember getting several flat out "No, not really"'s. This year Benj has told me several times: "I had so much fun in school today!" I am so thankful for his great attitude!
For the last 2 years (Preschool 4/5 and Kindergarten) I have used a full "boxed curriculum" for Benj. Even if you aren't familiar with curriculum lingo, you can probably guess that this means I received everything I needed for a complete year in a box and didn't have to do any planning on my own. This year I decided to branch out and tweak some things to fit our vision and Benj's style a little better. This means I spent a good deal of time this summer searching out and piecing together resources to fill his academic plate. Now that we are five weeks into our school year I am really enjoying the fruit of that labor. Subjects he despised last year (copywork!, creative writing!) have become some of his favorite tasks this year. I am really enjoying the freedom of using a wider selection of the many, many amazing resources out there.
Spelling with cereal box letters (I've been collecting them all summer!)
Completed spelling assignment
Bible copywork on Rule #8: Exercise self-control in all things
Talia: A Great Start
Talia is a Great Big Kindergartener this year. She is loving her new status as a grade-schooler. She is getting to participate in all the experiences that were new to Benj last year so she feels like big stuff. She is a much more naturally eager and willing student than Benj was as a new kindergartener. I originally wouldn't have pegged her as a born scholar (she seems like such a classic bubbly socialite), but she absolutely LOVES the challenges school presents and is meeting them with enthusiasm and skill. I am so proud of her!
I am using the same Kindergarten curriculum Benj used last year with Talia this year. It's a good feeling to have my feet under me from the very beginning. Not only am I familiar with it, but the curriculum fits Talia's academic personality well so things are going very smoothly with her. She loves math, declaring at math time on the first day of school, "Finally! Math! Now THIS is what I have been waiting for." Actually, I don't think there is a subject Talia doesn't love. She is eager to participate in pretty much any task I give her. It is a blessing to have such a willing student!
Coloring her Create-A-Calendar
Lost in a book. Talia is a great reader! She won "top reader" for her age group (complete with a $20 gift card prize!) in a summer reading program, logging 90 or more minutes most days!
Leila: Me Too!
Leila has grown up so much in the last few months! Maybe it's just my perception since she is no longer the baby of the family, but she has seemed to just explode with developmental milestones over the last few months. I knew she would definitely be ready for more academically this year, especially since she is really into being one of the "big kids" right now. She is really thriving with a more structured day.
Last year I tried putting together activities based on a few homeschooling blogs, which was a royal failure! It was so time consuming I didn't prepare well beyond the first 12 weeks or so, and didn't do it at all towards the end of the year. She ended up just kind of wandering around aimlessly, poor little lady. So this year I decided to go with a fully-planned-out-for-me (free!) curriculum. We are both having a great time with it. She is learning some basic Bible stories, memory verses, songs, and nursery rhymes. We are also working on her letter sounds (although I was shocked at how many she already knew when I pre-tested her at the beginning of the year) and numbers. We are working on fine motor skills as well with fun activities like cutting, building with blocks, and drawing and lots more. She is loving school this year!
Leila loves to cut! It is her favorite school activity
This was the result of a "draw what I draw" activity with Leila. Too cute!
And they call this school! We are clearly having way too much fun. :)
So there you have it: school for this year. It's not as smooth and perfect as it all looks on a blog (trust me!), but we have gotten into a good groove and are having a mostly enjoyable year so far. I am thankful for the privilege of seeing my children grow and develop before my very eyes.
Oh, and in case anyone is interested in what we are using this year (I love perusing what others are doing to get fresh ideas!), I am going to put together some links in a separate post, coming soon. ish.
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