1) Homeschooling this year is AMAZING so far!! For real! Partially because my children are geniuses!!
*Rebekah is so motivated and can do A LOT on her own. Seriously, this girl can practically homeschool herself. And she LIKES me and WANTS to do what I think is important. Can life get any better?!?! :)
*Samuel is SO SMART!! I have to sit and "help him" or he will run off and play with his brother, but he catches on really fast and is doing amazing. He is reading chapter books to me (very slowly, mind you) and flying through his site words cards. He is a wiz at Math and now picking up geography like nothing. He cuts well and his writing is legible! (What more can you ask from a first grader?!?!)
*But perhaps the most surprising is Jacob. He has not been interested in anything very academic AT ALL up to this point. He has his blocks and he is happy. But suddenly, it is as if a switch has been flicked in his brain. He is getting "serious" over his "schoolwork." He is a cutting fool and has got quite a bit figured out in the letters and sounds department. He REALLY likes rhyming and is getting better at writing. His Math is not too shabby either. Who knew?
*Paul is. . . well, he is enthusiastic, but let's be real, he is ONLY THREE. So he keeps trying to do what his big brother Jacob is doing, but although he has the desire, he does not really get it all that much yet. He is a wiz on puzzles, though (real, connecting puzzles - not those wimpy one piece in one slot jobbies), and loves to cut and color. So I think he is on track for pre-school.
2) Homeschooling this year is AMAZING so far!! And I think a lot of it has to do with better scheduling on my part. Last year I never really came up with a real workable schedule. I think it was because I was still of the mindset that I needed to run our "homeschool" like "real school" and that really was not working for us. So I fought with that all year and we ended ok, but it was really frustrating for a long time. This year I am more realistic about things. We are not going to cover EVERY subject EVERY day. Some subjects are really important to me and we will cover those (such as Catholicism, Scripture, Reading, Writing). Most other subjects are at least twice a week with some special exceptions. So far it is working well for us, but I foresee more tweaking in the future as I feel out if we need to add curriculum or take some things out. Anyhow, if you are curious to step into the "heart of our homeschool" feel free to click here for our "schedule." (Side note: We have a different schedule for each week day. That is just how we roll around here.)
3) Homeschooling this year is AMAZING so far!! And it is partially due to one of my oldie but goodie ideas that I call the "visual track." I make it up in a spreadsheet document. I actually do this in lieu of lesson plans. Each "lesson" (however I want to break it down - a page, a few pages, a chapter, etc) is put in its own box. The columns are the subjects (or book titles). As they complete each "lesson" they color in the correct box. This way we know EXACTLY where we are and where we are going. We all love it very much.
4) Homeschooling this year is AMAZING so far!! And part of it it is because of these cool desks we picked up off the local want-ads. They were from an old high school that shut down. They work great because. . . there is no need to shift the chair, they can be easily hauled all over the living room (as I put pads under the feet and we have hardwood), they really do not take up much room, and THE KIDS ALL LOVE THEM!!
5) Homeschooling this year is AMAZING so far!! And perhaps a little of it is due to the fact that I was able to get quite a bit of cleaning/organizing done in "the study" before the year started. Thanks so much to Nana and Papa (my parents) and Grandpa and Grandma (Gordie's folks) for each taking the kids for a couple days so I could paint more on my house and do organizing/cleaning/school prep.
 |
| "The Study" (aka where we store a bunch of stuff and sometimes do schoolwork - we really like to do our school work all over the house and outside some too - we are just cool like that :) |
 |
| "The Study" from the inside looking out. |
6) I am still working on getting the house painted. It is taking forever and I knew it would. It does not help that I am NOT a neat painter AT ALL. So I often have to go back and touch up several times for it to look "presentable" but I am definitely getting closer. I'm hoping to have it all done before it snows. We shall see how that goes. . .
 |
| I KNOW I have a picture of our house in all it's original green and off-white glory, but I CANNOT find it. (It does not help that I have changed computers at least six times since taking it. I know it exists. . . somewhere. . . I'm just not sure where right now.) Anyhow, this is an OLD picture (that is Rebekah and Samuel on the stairs) but it shows some of the original color and paint scheme. |
 |
| Again, this is to show you the original colors of the house (not a great picture for it, but you can kinda make it out). And I should note, the door is the same color green (even though it is open in this picture and you cannot really tell). |
 |
| Hello Cherry Cobbler Red!! Yum yum! :) |
 |
| And new color scheme, complete with new door color. It practically looks brand new!! |
8) I mentioned in my last journal post that Miriam likes to wear pants (or shorts). Well, here are some shots of her in her "pjs of choice" (the onsesie is what I WOULD put her to bed in, the shorts are her addition that she INSISTS upon).
 |
| Rebekah is "helping" her smile here. She often gives me a good smile initially when I pull out the camera, but my camera is ALWAYS too slow to catch it . (Usually it has to charge the flash - dumb regular battery-powered camera - such a pain!!) |
 |
| Miriam likes Paul's bed a lot. |
 |
| Oh brothers :) |
No comments:
Post a Comment