Okay…to me this feels like a huge deal…we have actually made it through our first 4 weeks of homeschooling! Not preschool home school where I always felt like if we just didn’t feel like doing it we didn’t have to. I mean 4, real, actual weeks of Kindergarten homeschooling where even when we didn’t feel like it we made it through!
And here are my wonderful students…
We have had a lot of fabulous times, including some fun field trips…and also, some really difficult times, especially the first week. But over all it’s going really well, and I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet. In fact, I feel like God is expanding my vision…and expanding my character. Oh the patience it takes, and oh how many times have I failed and stopped in the middle of our day to seek God and ask Him to give me more of Him!
So, I had grand plans of weekly updating our Blog with all kinds of fabulous pictures of everything we are doing, and detailing out our curriculum just like all those wonderful blogs that I love to read and snag ideas from. However, the reality of my life is that just is not possible. But I did want to share some pictures of the last 4 weeks and share some of our highlights, and some of our challenges…because we are by no means perfect!
Our biggest challenge came the first week with the new routine. No more getting up whenever we want, slowly eating our breakfast over PBS Kids, and then moving straight into play time where Olivia directed the games…boy, that was a HUGE challenge met with many tears and fits that first week! I realize now that I could have slowly prepared us all a whole lot better. But, now, 4 weeks into it we are a rockin’ and a rollin’ in the mornings…I’ve learned that we can have at least a little flexibility, and Olivia has learned she is not calling the shots…at least not all of them. We do meet up with the occasional whine and “I’m not going to school!” but with patient persistence it’s become a mere bump to hop over now instead of an entire Mountain Range to traverse.
Another challenge for me has been the occasional “this is BORING!” comments. Wow! I wasn’t expecting that! I have had to really pray about this and ask God for discernment between me being a bad teacher and Olivia expecting to be entertained all the time (you know…Nick Jr. and iPad). I have worked really hard in the last couple of weeks to make sure our lesson plans our balanced, and we have had some really fun times together in between those moments where she is learning to be attentive and diligent.
And of course, another challenge has been Isaiah. But it’s one of those challenges that also leads to one of the rewards I believe to be the greatest in homeschooling…a loving bond between brother and sister. Some of our activities include Isaiah…like calendar time. They both get their pointers out and bang on the calendar while counting the days. I absolutely love to watch Olivia help Isaiah point to the right number and “teach” him!!! It is the greatest joy of my day! And it has paid off. He can now successfully and with much control point to the letters on our calendar and identify them (I have to brag just a little here…sorry…yes, Isaiah can identify all 26 of the letters at 21 months old!)
First Day Calendar Time…Olivia wears her dance outfit for school Mondays because we do school for an hour, go to dance, and then come home to finish school.
Teaching Isaiah phonograms.
Isaiah’s shelf.
Table time for Isaiah…dot painting everything including his lips.
We all love the iPad!!
A very cool Montessori activity that keeps Isaiah entertained for up to 20 minutes!
Stacking things…another activity that can keep him entertained for up to 20 minutes.
Isaiah carrying around his favorite letter “W.” His “W” and “N” can keep him happy for along time even at a restaurant!
But even though there is that moment at the calendar that warms my heart and the moments when Olivia wants to teach him something new, there are moments when Isaiah just wants…and needs…to be a one year old running around and playing. And it can cause Olivia to get distracted and want to play with him instead of focusing on our math lesson. But we are learning…I am learning ways to incorporate fun activities for the two of them, and Olivia is slowly learning to be attentive in spite of the toddler jabber going on.
“Space” Sensory Bin…this is geared more toward Isaiah, but Olivia loves it too. We’ve done it a couple of times and is a great excuse for making a mess. For Olivia it’s been a fabulous opportunity for using her imagination and story telling gift. Here was our “Space” bin that she turned into the planet Opitizi. Earlier she had used the flannel board to create a hilarious story about a brother and sister going to space.
Olivia working hard while Isaiah plays.
Those are just a few of our highs and lows!!
So, exactly what are we doing? A lot! We are using a curriculum called “The Noah Plan” that is big into God and God’s Word being the foundation of every single subject; and it is also huge on American Patriotism, so we will be studying a lot about our Christian Heritage and forefathers…and I love it! After 4 weeks I can already see fruit of the method of it and weaving in God’s Word everywhere! Within The Noah Plan we use RightStart Mathematics (which, I can’t say enough wonderful things about) and The Spalding Method for reading and writing. We have stepped outside of The Noah Plan for Science and are using My Father’s World…which, so far I am loving.
Olivia’s table setup. I like everything about the setup except the swivel chairs. I thought they would be fabulous…and the red one for me is, but Olivia’s chair is driving me bonkers. I might have to change them out for stationary chairs. I change out the word based on the unit we’re doing. We spent 2 weeks on “Creation” and then 2 weeks on “Space,” but we used the word Sun. Isaiah likes to throw the letters across the room…along with just about every other toy he gets his hands on.
Calendar Time and Olivia’s shelves. Each green bin contains her independent work for each subject each day…it varies by day. Every day we do Bible, Reading, Math, and Science. Then we alternate with Literature, History, Geography, and French (the baby dolls under the calendar played a key role in our recent Literature unit about lullabies…her favorite lesson to date!)
Science craft for our space unit. It’s a mobile with Moon and Starts on one side and Sun on the other.
Math time…creating units of 10 on the abacus.
More math time…combing tally sticks and then marking it on her worksheet.
And then, 2 afternoons a week Olivia goes to a Cottage School. It looks and feels just like a regular Kindergarten class, only it is just 2 afternoons a week with other home school kids. But boy has this presented some challenges…especially the first day! Big tears, death grip on mommy, shoving back into the classroom, big scene…oh, my! I thought for sure after that scene her teacher was going to think something really weird was going on…but when I picked Olivia up her teacher simply said, “Olivia did good today, and you did good this morning mom!” Have I said I love her teacher!
Cottage School is where Olivia gets most of her Spalding instruction for “phonics” and writing. She also has Spanish, music, art, and PE. I feel so incredibly blessed to be in this program!!! Her teachers are wonderful, and the school even provides training classes for parents to better help kids with reading and writing at home.
First Day of Cottage School…check out the uniform!!!
Right before the tears started to roll.
In addition to all of that, Olivia is taking tap/ballet, a music class, and we have started to go to a home school group through our church. We started the fall with Awana, but have since dropped it. I’m trying to be very sensitive to the Lord’s leading about our schedule and was feeling like we were overloaded. But Olivia had insisted on doing Awana. Well, last week she changed her mind, and I thought it was just an answer to prayer. She is, after all, only 5 years old! I find myself planning into our schedule lots and lots of free time for her.
Whew…that’s a lot! I’m so excited for our school year! And I’m so excited to see what the Lord does over the next year. He’s been speaking to me in the depths of my heart about a ton of things…home school as well as other things…and has been working on my heart in many areas that need change. But I am so thankful that I have not become beaten down or overcome by the convictions of the Holy Spirit in my heart. What a gentle and loving God He is!
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