First Week of School

We just completed our first week of homeschooling and it was really awesome!! Charlie was excited to the majority of his lessons, really I think he had fun doing all of them except for the last phonics review this morning. He even asked to do school on Tuesday ;)

This week was a little haphazard with our school schedule due to some doctors appointments and a playdate, but that is one of things I like about what we are doing....flexibility. We didn't do any school on Thursday but easily made up the work earlier in the week as well as today. We are actually a few lessons ahead of the game which is nice to have a cushion! I hope to get a week or two ahead of the game for when the baby comes.

Monday was certainly a day of learning :) I thought that I was prepared but there were several materials missing. Not a huge deal, just a bit of looking for the crayons, a certain book etc. At first I started to get frustrated, but I didn't want my frustration to ruin the day. So, I said a little prayer for help and just rolled with the bumps. I am so glad that I didn't let my need for everything to be "just right" to put a damper on our lessons! See, I am learning too :)
Charlie and I are also really enjoying the K12 curriculum that we choose. He LOVES working on "his" computer and doing all the games and educational activities. He even got a chance to meet the rest of his "classmates" and his "teacher" in a virtual school room. We both thought that was pretty neat!

Even though I like the basis of the program I do think it is a little dry and not very imaginative. So I have already started looking through our lessons and planning extra activities of us to do. I am going to incorporate some more crafts and different science projects into our lessons. I am grateful to have the program though and "know" exactly what Charlie needs to know and have most of the curriculum planned and provided free of charge. Thank you State of Ohio!

It is also evident, but not surprising, that Charlie already has quiet of few of the concepts already down. He is already able to do small math problems in his head, so starting off with identifying shapes etc for math is a bit of review for him. I think that review is good, but I am also going to keep on eye on things and make sure that he isn't getting bored. I know that he can skip through lessons if he needs too.

Here is what Charlie has to say about our first week:
Charlie how do you think your first week of school went? "Good"
What was your favorite part of school? "coloring the trains and making my robot" (There were a few worksheets that he had to color the train cars different colors, practicing beginning, middle and end. And the robot was a shapes game that he played on the computer. Tommy even loved this game!)
Something you didn't like? "Saying the words" (The phonics lesson we did today where I told him 3 words and he had to tell me which 2 of the words had the same ending. This is something he did fine all week, but was DONE when the review came around. Next time we will take a break and come back to it :)

I am so grateful to be given this opportunity to teach our children at home. I never would have dreamed that this would be the path that our family, let alone myself, would be traveling down, but I am so happy with our decision! I feel so blessed to have a husband that is so supportive as well as friends and family members who are encouraging and interested in what we are doing.

Last year as we contemplated keeping Charlie home from PreK I was full of anxiety, fear and uncertainty of what we should do. I felt led to keep him home and be his teacher. My heart told me this was what we needed to do, what we were being called to do. I prayed about it over and over again and always got the same answer. I knew what we needed to do. However, homeschooling is certainly not the norm and to choose to actually do it felt very uncomfortable as far as what other people might think of us.

Then I read this: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12-2

We had a great week! I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!!