Week in Review

I'm going to be totally honest here. As this week approached, I decided to set my expectations llloooow. Standards high, but expectations way down there. I saw so many new homeschoolers say their first day was AWESOME and then it went downhill from there. Some were keeping rigorous schedules, waking children up to start a day by XX time, some were timing activities, some just doing too much (in my opinion) at the start. 

I completely believe in having a system, but the rhythm is more important to me. For example, after we wake up we eat breakfast, then the boys throw dishes in the sink, they play, Deacon lays down for a nap, we do school stuff, they play, and so on. 

It worked like a charm. I'm sure the novelty of activities had something to do with it, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve for when that gets old. 

Eli loved is Tot Trays! The pom-pom color sorting was his favorite! 

He also loved his letter Aa crafts and is so happy to see them on the wall.

Turner blew through six math lessons (it's only Thursday), and all sorts of oral phonemic awareness exercises. I printed off the Star Wars preschool pack from Homeschool Creations and, while he loved it, I realized that he can do so much more than just 3 months ago! 

Eli was really eager to try anything! 

Deaon tried out his first real walking shoes. I got them from See Kai Run on sale! I still can't believe he's finally walking! 

 I printed off more Dot-a-Dot activities from my Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week curriculum. 

For the "moon rock" sorting, Eli was more interested in using the mini grabber (from the Dollar Tree) than sorting the letters but he eventually wanted to look inside the papers.

 Mr. Deacon decided to get in to everything so I had to contain him for five minutes. He was feeling extra grabby and, since the big boys' work is at his level, it was game on. 

We were even able to start some artwork! I love Pink and Green Mama for ideas! Mary Lea is such a wonderful inspiration and we always look for reasons to get messy! 

Overall, we had a great week! Tomorrow is "Fun Food Friday" and I have a surprise I've been saving since our visit to DC a few weeks ago! They are going to be happy boys. 

2011-2012 Curriculum

So far, these are the choices I've made for curriculum: (obviously, I have no idea what will work and what won't or if we'll even get to use everything!)

Rocket Phonics (along with finishing up Get Ready, Get Set & Go for the Code Books)

Horizons math with manipulatives

Nature in a Nutshell for Kids and home spun experiments for science (to fill time when needed)

The Hand Book of Nature Study by Anna Comstock along with Handbook of Nature Study ebook

Continent Bags a la Counting Coconuts for geography

Five in a Row for everyday reading

Pink & Green Mama for art inspiration

Lesson Pathways for a free curriculum for just about anything (i.e. if I'm fumbling and need something to do)

Tot School for Eli, if he so chooses! 

History and all things between the lines of this list will be seasonal, eclectic (classical education to Waldorf!). We'll bake, prepare meals, play, build, pretend, dream...we'll pretty much continue life as we already know it. Just, maybe, a little more organized.

We're DOOOOING It!

After MUCH deliberation, we will be homeschooling! 

We finished the rest of preschool with some wonderful weather so I abandoned the blog and we went outside. Really, we worked on getting Turner ready for kindergarten in case the decision was made to send him to the local public school. 

In getting him ready, I found all the rest of my reasons to go ahead with homeschooling. Turner hates writing at the moment: he's not ready. He hates coloring. Um, hello, I know they color all the time in kindergarten classrooms. He's not ready for sitting, nor should he be forced to do so. He still takes naps and, really, the thought of him giving them up abruptly in September to go to school just saddened me. 

Then I thought: "Why be sad when I can educate him?" 

What I know Turner wants is to stay home. Whether it's to play, laugh, love or learn (let's hope all), or just be is fine by me. This moment, the boys love painting, getting dirty, baking, helping around the house, doing homemade science experiments, fighting, playing together and learning from me. 

And they love driving me nuts, too.