We just completed our first *official* two weeks of homeschool.
By official, I mean I actually set out to do somethings, and I did... some of those somethings.
I admit that I was being very (overly) ambitious--- more with myself than with Bean, as she will pretty much learn/memorize/complete anything I put in front of her.
But that's ok! It's preschool, it's homeschool, and it's MY school, so I don't have to live up to someones checklist of what needs to be done--- which, by the way, I LOVE.
Overall, I'm quite proud of myself. We managed to do some amount of school for at least 4 days each week, and a decent-to-extraordinary amount for 2-3 of those days each week. I'm going to go into detail about what, exactly, we did in the next post. But now I'm lazy; I don't want to plug in my camera and download the pictures of what we did, so that's not happening.
Here is what I learned these past two weeks:
First: I was really intending on doing an equal smattering of Character (morning), letters/numbers (pre-lunch), unit studies (after nap), and fine motor/art (pre-dinner with Dad). Needless to say, our days didn't (ever) look like that.
Oh well, that's what experiments are for!
My priority with Bean was, is, and is going to be making sure that we work on Character and Bible. I figured out that the best way to do that, for us, is to talk about it at the breakfast table while we eat every morning. Then, if I have a book, DVD, or craft/activity for us to do, we can do it after. But she learns really well from just discussing it on a daily basis. This works well because our breakfast table is also our school table, and all the Character materials are on display in the corner where she can see them while she eats.
Letters/Numbers got scrunched into unit studies and/or art (although I did have a few days where we did some letter activities before nap still). Nik has pretty much taken over this area (yay!). I do the planning, but he actually does the "lessons" with the kids. It gives me a good break for the day!
Planning day-by-day curriculum just DOESN'T work for me at this stage. Maybe because I'm pregnant and lazy. Or because I hate being stuck inside all day and all my day trips ruin my plans. Regardless, I can't stick to doing things on that exact of a schedule.
What DOES work for me (us) is to have a list of projects, activities, movies, etc that go along with what I want to do (either with the unit we're doing, or just general number/letter activities and art things) and then look at it during naptime and decide what will be best for the day. I really love this because then I can actually judge "Ok, she's in a drawing mood today, she'll like doing workpages and tracing, etc." or "No way this kid is gonna sit still for a lesson, maybe we better do hopscotch" or "they're in a really messy mood, let's bust out some shaving cream or fingerpaints."
I guess I'm turning into a hippie or something.
Oh, on a practical note, I also learned that I need to *remember* to order my books from the library at least a week in advance. I'm still working out the timing on this one. I forgot this time, didn't order this weeks books until Friday, and I'm not really sure that they will be here by tomorrow (Tuesday). Whoopsie.
Anyway, not a terribly thrilling topic, I know. But it's good for me to have these things in writing so that when I try to go crazy next year (or next week), I know better...
Just a *small* preview what we did get accomplished (specifically) these last two weeks:
--Bean learned 2 new letters (recognizing and some sounds)
-- We both learned 2 new verses
-- A new Character Quality
-- 2 new bible stories
-- Lots of swashbuckling fun.
Till next time (when I get my pics uploaded!)
--B
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