Honestly as the summer wore on, I was really nervous about homeschooling. I just didn't know how it was all going to pan out. What if we hated it from day one? What if I couldn't stay focused and keep to the schedule? What if the kids had horrible attitudes? I mean the possibilities were endless really.
We made this decision fully believing it was the best decision for our family. It may not be what we choose to do in years to come, but this year, it just seemed really important to have all of our children at home getting as much of our love and attention as possible. It didn't feel right to send the boys off to school (which they hated) and keep the girls home. It also didn't feel right to shove the girls off to school after such a huge transition. Homeschooling might be crazy and stressful and hard as rip, but it felt right for us for now.
Today, crazy or not, we had our first day of home education. I diffused some essential oils and didn't even wear a bra, so I guess we are officially hippie-fied. ;-)
After day one, I believe we have absolutely made the right decision. I recognize it was JUST day one, and I recognize it was JUST two of the five kids, but after fleshing it out it still felt right. Did it go flawlessly? Nope. Did I want to thump a kid on the forehead? Yep. Am I excited about getting up tomorrow to spend half the day teaching my two dudes? You better believe it!
So here's what we are doing this year...
Our main curriculum is My Father's World Adventures In U.S. History. This is a Christian based thematic curriculum that focuses on key figures in U.S. history and on learning all the 50 states. I love it because I can teach one thing and then tweak assignments for each child based on their current education level. I also love it because all the work is done for me – which is just about the only reason we are homeschooling! I don't have to put it all together from scratch!
I'm supplementing the main curriculum with Spelling Power, Language Lessons and Singapore Math. I'm also using some Horizon's worksheets for Asher but I'm about to ditch those because they aren't floating my boat.
We start our day at 8:00 and on most days we should finish shortly after lunchtime. Fridays are also a short day.
Brayden did awesome! I was really worried he may have a bad attitude, but he was great! He said he loved it and was asking to do more schooling! I may add some extra challenges for him as we go on!
Here's a picture he drew. I'm kinda tripping out about mini Obama as well as Abe and Washington's cozy relationship.
Asher did fair. He did better than I expected. My biggest concern after our first day is finding appropriate activities to help him learn easier. I really want to get him reading small words by the end of this school year. He just would MUCH rather play than learn, and he shuts down quickly if he messes up on something. He requires a LOT of praise and encouragement. He's hard to figure out.
Mom did pretty well I suppose. I was able to stay focused and we finished on time. God gave me a lot joy and patience this morning. I think taking a break from FB/computer really helped me to prepare. I'm basically not touching the computer until the afternoon. I was actually on it way more than I should have been this evening while I tried to figure out some adoption stuff.
I'll give an update later this week and let you guys know how things are going. Hopefully I'll also have an adoption update regarding court!
Until next time! -K
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