Sunday, September 11, 2011
Obligatory First Day of School photo!
Friday, September 9, 2011
The first week!
We had a GREAT first week of school! I am so encouraged!
We did school work Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this week. Tuesday was awesome, despite Wesley being awake and active, which I've been anxious about. He happily entertained himself while I worked with the girls and even though the school room was a mess when we were done, everyone was happy and eager to help me clean up. Really all it needed was some tidying and a vacuum.
Thursday was great too, and Friday was even better because we did our work in the afternoon and Wesley was sleeping. Oh sweet peaceful school time...
Caley is a stinkin' rockstar! She is so excited to sit at the table and do her work for the day. She's reading amazingly, complying with her writing exercises, super eager to do her math work (calendar, weather graph and worksheets) and generally agreeable when something doesn't go her way. Believe me, a month ago she was a completely different kid and I didn't see this school thing happening easily. I am amazed and thankful for God's grace.
Amelia is free to come and go during school time. She sometimes likes to sit at the table with us and other times likes to go play with her toys alone. She generally will come play a game or eat snack with us in the school room. I have been doing her reading book with her but if she's not into it, I don't push it. At some point she will need to come work with us, but that's not when she's only 4.
One thing I'm learning about Caley is also to not push things, within reason. We have a hard time during writing. I have her write the current memory verse (usually only half) on her writing paper. She frequently complains that she can't write an "a" or whatever. I know she can. So I've been doing half of it and letting her finish, or she'll do the first half and I'll finish it. The thing is, three hours later when she's into something else, she's writing everything! Today she was copying what was on Sesame Street online. Her penmanship was beautiful! I know she'll come around. That's one thing I like about homeschooling...if something's not working, all we may need to do an environment change and she'll willingly show me her mad skills.
This week we studied seeds and roots, spent some time in the garden, planted grass in a pot inside, and got our rhythm down for how things may go this year. I'm so glad to be homeschooling because I get to spend my day with the three best kids ever, watching them learn, grow, fight, then hug and make-up, and move on.
Love.
We did school work Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this week. Tuesday was awesome, despite Wesley being awake and active, which I've been anxious about. He happily entertained himself while I worked with the girls and even though the school room was a mess when we were done, everyone was happy and eager to help me clean up. Really all it needed was some tidying and a vacuum.
Thursday was great too, and Friday was even better because we did our work in the afternoon and Wesley was sleeping. Oh sweet peaceful school time...
Caley is a stinkin' rockstar! She is so excited to sit at the table and do her work for the day. She's reading amazingly, complying with her writing exercises, super eager to do her math work (calendar, weather graph and worksheets) and generally agreeable when something doesn't go her way. Believe me, a month ago she was a completely different kid and I didn't see this school thing happening easily. I am amazed and thankful for God's grace.
Amelia is free to come and go during school time. She sometimes likes to sit at the table with us and other times likes to go play with her toys alone. She generally will come play a game or eat snack with us in the school room. I have been doing her reading book with her but if she's not into it, I don't push it. At some point she will need to come work with us, but that's not when she's only 4.
One thing I'm learning about Caley is also to not push things, within reason. We have a hard time during writing. I have her write the current memory verse (usually only half) on her writing paper. She frequently complains that she can't write an "a" or whatever. I know she can. So I've been doing half of it and letting her finish, or she'll do the first half and I'll finish it. The thing is, three hours later when she's into something else, she's writing everything! Today she was copying what was on Sesame Street online. Her penmanship was beautiful! I know she'll come around. That's one thing I like about homeschooling...if something's not working, all we may need to do an environment change and she'll willingly show me her mad skills.
This week we studied seeds and roots, spent some time in the garden, planted grass in a pot inside, and got our rhythm down for how things may go this year. I'm so glad to be homeschooling because I get to spend my day with the three best kids ever, watching them learn, grow, fight, then hug and make-up, and move on.
Love.
Year-at-a-Glance 2011-2012
For my reference, here is a rough schedule of our school year.
I am also planning on including:
- 30 minutes per week speech therapy at Mukilteo Elementary
- 1-2 times per month co-op or field trip
- 1 time per month reading with seniors at Harbour Pointe Retirement
- Another service opportunity, perhaps through community group or women's group
- KONOS- Patience: Gardening/Plants/Grain/Bread
- Saxon 1
- Sorenson Reading and "A Lizard to Start With"
October
- KONOS- Patience: Human Birth/Animal Birth
- Saxon 1
- Sorenson Reading and "A Lizard to Start With"
November
- Saxon 1
- Free reading, maybe "A Lizard to Start With"
- Baby time!!
December
- Saxon 1
- Free reading
- Advent crafts/activities
- Baby!!
January
- KONOS- Trust: Deception/Sheep
- Saxon 1
- Sorenson Reading and "A Lizard to Start With"
February
- KONOS- Trust: Floating/Ships
- Saxon1
- Sorenson Reading and "A Lizard to Start With"
March
- KONOS- Trust: Flight/Airplanes
- Saxon 1
- Sorenson Reading and "A Lizard to Start With"
- Spring Break end of March
April
- KONOS- Stewardship: Ecology/Time/Money
- Saxon 1
- Sorenson Reading
- Easter Week activities
May
- KONOS- Stewardship: Prevention/Nutrition/Exercise
- Saxon 1
- Sorenson Reading
June
- KONOS- Stewardship: Rest/Fun
- Saxon 1
- Free reading
- Summer Break early June
Monday, September 5, 2011
Tomorrow is the day
Tomorrow we start our school year! I am so excited! On the agenda are some seed activities and working in the garden to learn about roots and we will plant some grass seeds in little pots. This weekend the kids helped Bill harvest some potatoes from the garden, which is basically the same thing as I planned for this week! I love how homeschooling can happen anytime, anywhere and not just during "school"!!
I hope to post our schedule sometime this week...but I'm not promising anything.
:)
I hope to post our schedule sometime this week...but I'm not promising anything.
:)
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Update before the new school year (and wrapping up the past school year)
Wow! I just realized that I haven't posted anything here since May! We finished up our school year at the end of May with a short study on rocks, plants, and animal classification. We also finished our math book (Saxon K) unceremoniously and Caley is making amazing progress on her reading skills. It seriously blows me away that I have a reader! She read her first chapter book this summer and also earned a "Finisher" award from the library in which she got to choose a free book.
Also in May we had a tea party for Mother's Day and went to Lobster Mania at Cost Cutter and played at the park. Caley will also continue her speech therapy into the next school year because she still qualifies. For some reason I thought she'd be tested again in order to qualify, but her test from 2010 guarantees her services until 2012, so it was just our therapist's discretion whether we should continue. Caley enjoys it and we've seen progress so we will continue it and reevaluate at the end of next year.
It was a good first "official" year of homeschooling!
Was it hard? Yes, at times, but I think anyone with three little kids would agree it's a challenging season regardless of their schooling. There were some challenging times because of Wesley dropping his morning nap and then discovering and enduring the first trimester of pregnancy.
What would I change? As far as curricula, I'd change nothing. What I would change (and will this fall) is making school time sacred from other activities (for the most part). I seemed to get more frustrated when I had too much on my plate. So, going into next year, I have to consider my time and commitments outside of the home. We aim to do school 4 times a week instead of 3.
What was the best part? Getting to see my kids learn! And learn to love each other! Sure, they bicker and such, but those "difficult times" are simply more opportunities for my kids to learn sharing, forgiveness, patience, and repentance!
Wesley's first attempt with playdough, and he didn't eat any! I was impressed!
We visited Cost Cutter for their annual Lobster Mania event. I'm glad we did, because in July they closed the store. :(
I'm hoping to make these pictures of First and Last Day of School a tradition.
Here's what the school room looks like! It's fun to put their crafts up on the walls and remember what we've studied.
We went to Kirkland beach to open the envelope after our ultrasound and found out we're having a baby girl!
Caley picked this book for free from the library summer reading program.
I think I am ready for this next year, and looking forward to getting back into a routine!
Also in May we had a tea party for Mother's Day and went to Lobster Mania at Cost Cutter and played at the park. Caley will also continue her speech therapy into the next school year because she still qualifies. For some reason I thought she'd be tested again in order to qualify, but her test from 2010 guarantees her services until 2012, so it was just our therapist's discretion whether we should continue. Caley enjoys it and we've seen progress so we will continue it and reevaluate at the end of next year.
It was a good first "official" year of homeschooling!
Was it hard? Yes, at times, but I think anyone with three little kids would agree it's a challenging season regardless of their schooling. There were some challenging times because of Wesley dropping his morning nap and then discovering and enduring the first trimester of pregnancy.
What would I change? As far as curricula, I'd change nothing. What I would change (and will this fall) is making school time sacred from other activities (for the most part). I seemed to get more frustrated when I had too much on my plate. So, going into next year, I have to consider my time and commitments outside of the home. We aim to do school 4 times a week instead of 3.
What was the best part? Getting to see my kids learn! And learn to love each other! Sure, they bicker and such, but those "difficult times" are simply more opportunities for my kids to learn sharing, forgiveness, patience, and repentance!
I think I am ready for this next year, and looking forward to getting back into a routine!
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