Overall it was a really good week. We are learning about each other as much as we are learning other stuff. I got a few meltdowns from Asher but I kind of expected that. I got a bit of attitude from Brayden on one day but I really expected that (actually I expected a lot more than I got). I lost my temper on Thursday but I expected that, too. I didn't expect to enjoy homeschooling as much as I do right now.
So far I'm loving it. There are definitely some things I will be changing up in the near future, especially for Asher (Asher is all about having fun. He just can't sit and do "work" right now), but overall it's been good.
I'm super excited about next week, because things actually get going. This week was pretty light and we had several days which only had a few subjects to complete. Next week we start reading our "American Pioneers and Patriots" book and we also start doing the Bible devotions included in our curriculum.
So far, I think my biggest issue with homeschooling is my own OCD. I'm kind of a perfectionist about things (except my house... no perfection there). For example, we went to the park yesterday for a nature walk. We will do this throughout the year. Each child is supposed to find something interesting in nature and then draw it. Once we get home we will write down some interesting information about the plant/animal/land feature and they will paint their drawing with water color paints. We will put these into a notebook and at the end of the year we should have a nice collection of interesting things!
In my head this sounded awesome! I mean I envisioned a leisurely walk in the woods and lovely little paintings with educational info blurbs we would treasure forever. We even had a fellow homeschooling friend join us! Perfect, right? It didn't go that way so much...
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| Crossing the bridge! |
First off, it was like the hottest day ever. Pretty much as soon as we got out of the van I was sweating. Yuck! Our friends got there and we began to walk into the woods (mainly to get out of the sun). As soon as we got into the shade, we told the kids to start looking around for something interesting to draw.
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| Weary travelers! |
I'm convinced Brayden had his mind made up before we ever got to the park. He was going to draw a squirrel and that was the end of it. I pointed out flowers and bugs and fish and birds and shells and all sorts of stuff but the only thing he wanted to draw was a squirrel.
Asher didn't want to commit to anything but finally settled on a rock. Yes, a rock. I think he dug it up out of the mud so we had to spend 10 minutes getting all the mud off of the rock and his hands. At this point was really excited about the fact I had just paid to have my van washed and cleaned out.
I gave up trying to direct them to more interesting and less common things, and I gave all the kids paper and pencils to draw their items. Brayden was done in less than 2 minutes. He's a very good drawer but this was not his best. I wanted his best, but how can I say "This drawing looks a lot more like a prehistoric creature than the cute little squirrel in the drawing in my head... please redo it." I kept my OCD thoughts to myself.
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| Brayden's squirrel. The sun actually felt that close! |
Asher started his and I decided to coach him through. His rock was jagged, oddly shaped, with black flecks, and yet, even though I was sitting there "helping" he drew a circle. Ta Da! Rock done! Then he colored it in with pencil and I said "Asher, you aren't supposed to color it in with pencil because you're going to paint it when we get home." He got upset and I happily assured him it was perfectly ok because we had more paper and he could draw his rock again! He had another chance to draw the rock the way it was drawn in my head... he drew another circle. When I pointed out the rock was not a perfect circle, he simply drew a little bump on the side of circle. I'm just thankful he didn't draw the bump in the middle of the circle...
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| Asher's rock. :-/ |
Just to satisfy my OCD, I found a pinecone and drew it for myself. At least 1/3 of our nature walk folder will be how I want it to be.
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| My well drawn pinecone. Thank you, I agree... it is lovely. |
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| Asher says "Namaste!" |
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