Since Sunshine is still just 4, our school schedule is fairly flexible and I try hard to follow her lead. For now (though I'm planning on making some changes), she has Math (Math-U-See), Writing (Handwriting Without Tears) and Reading (All About Reading Level 1) every day. We do science and life skills about once a week. She is making great progress in each subject, but we work slowly. One of the things I've learned about Sunshine is that she is a bit of a perfectionist (I suppose she gets that honestly). I have had to be creative about making sure she is completing her work relatively quickly. We have an app on my iPhone that she uses when doing her fluency worksheets with AAR. I'm so very proud of the work that she has done!
We attend a Homeschool co-op once a week- I am so happy we found this group! Not only does it give my very social daughter a chance to get some extra socialization, she is able to do things at co-op that I just wouldn't be able to do with her. They did a song for the talent show, sang in the musical and even went to the fire department! I am looking foward to starting up again soon.
Sunshine got a science kit and book for Christmas so we can start doing experiements. She loves nature and I think she'll love doing experiments of her own. I'm hoping to do put science in our schedule at least once a week, if not more. I'm reworking our schedule right now, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to fit everything in!
Monday, December 31, 2012
The beginning
January 31, 2012... the end of a year, and the beginning of another... welcome 2013!!
2012 is the year that brought us to homeschooling my daughter, Sunshine. She is 4.5, though I'm pretty sure she thinks she at least 22. She is thriving at home, but homeschooling sure is a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Slugger, who is 19 months, is a little ball of fire and is really starting to enjoy more learning type playing. His current favorite toy are his stacking cups!
A little history... I am a former school teacher. I taught middle school for 4 years, worked as a paraprofessional for a year prior to that and pretty much worked with children my whole life (babysitting, camp counseling, etc). I love kids, and always have. After having my daughter, my husband and I decided that making the necessary sacrifices to stay home was important to our family. At the time I didn't think much of homeschooling- I always figured I would return to work whenever my husband and I were finished having children.
God had other plans...
I'm sure I'll give the back story at some point about our journey to realizing that homeschooling was the direction that God wanted for our family, but for now, I'll just say, I have been homeschooling since August and I love it, but its hard.
Sunshine is doing great- she can write all her letters, has gotten better at using scissors, can read most three letter words now and knows her number up through 100 and can do simple addition. She is thriving, but I am getting burnt out. Slugger makes things complicated too-- I spend much of our homeschool time chasing him down and getting him off the kitchen table. But he occasionally sits down long enough to practice skills and I look forward to doing Tot School with him as he gets older and focuses more on tasks!
Anyone who has homeschooled, realizes the abundance of information out there-- I took on too much, and tried to do everything, and compared myself to other families, especially blogging families, and constantly felt as though I fell short. Little tip- don't do that. Homeschooling is a personal journey. Homeschooling doesn't have to be "school" every day. For a 4 year old, homeschooling is helping with dinner, exploring outside and helping with chores as much as learning to read, doing math and doing craft projects. Life is school- and I want to provide as abundant and rich life as possible.
I'm starting this blog to help focus myself- to share bits and pieces of our homeschool life, to focus on the now, to celebrate each accomplishment, and gain wisdom from other homeschool families. Welcome to our little corner of the web!
2012 is the year that brought us to homeschooling my daughter, Sunshine. She is 4.5, though I'm pretty sure she thinks she at least 22. She is thriving at home, but homeschooling sure is a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Slugger, who is 19 months, is a little ball of fire and is really starting to enjoy more learning type playing. His current favorite toy are his stacking cups!
A little history... I am a former school teacher. I taught middle school for 4 years, worked as a paraprofessional for a year prior to that and pretty much worked with children my whole life (babysitting, camp counseling, etc). I love kids, and always have. After having my daughter, my husband and I decided that making the necessary sacrifices to stay home was important to our family. At the time I didn't think much of homeschooling- I always figured I would return to work whenever my husband and I were finished having children.
God had other plans...
I'm sure I'll give the back story at some point about our journey to realizing that homeschooling was the direction that God wanted for our family, but for now, I'll just say, I have been homeschooling since August and I love it, but its hard.
Sunshine is doing great- she can write all her letters, has gotten better at using scissors, can read most three letter words now and knows her number up through 100 and can do simple addition. She is thriving, but I am getting burnt out. Slugger makes things complicated too-- I spend much of our homeschool time chasing him down and getting him off the kitchen table. But he occasionally sits down long enough to practice skills and I look forward to doing Tot School with him as he gets older and focuses more on tasks!
Anyone who has homeschooled, realizes the abundance of information out there-- I took on too much, and tried to do everything, and compared myself to other families, especially blogging families, and constantly felt as though I fell short. Little tip- don't do that. Homeschooling is a personal journey. Homeschooling doesn't have to be "school" every day. For a 4 year old, homeschooling is helping with dinner, exploring outside and helping with chores as much as learning to read, doing math and doing craft projects. Life is school- and I want to provide as abundant and rich life as possible.
I'm starting this blog to help focus myself- to share bits and pieces of our homeschool life, to focus on the now, to celebrate each accomplishment, and gain wisdom from other homeschool families. Welcome to our little corner of the web!
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