Well, we started our homeschool today, and wow did it go fast!
I think when you do this for the first time, you have a habit of comparing it to a public school day. It takes all day for your child to go through all of their lessons and subjects. But in homeschooling, it really doesn’t take that long, mostly because you are trying to get just one or two (or a handful depending on how may kids you have) children to understand a concept. Once they get something, you practice it and just move on.
I was amazed at how quickly we went through our morning. Nathan and I read a book, then based the rest of our subjects off of that book/theme. We reviewed and expanded his popcorn or word wall words (common words in writing/reading: is, a, and, I….)
Luke helped with this and then he and I sat down together (while Nate practiced writing his words on a dry erase board) and did his math. Since he had already covered what I consider geometry last year, I was a little nervous when the first lesson started off with defining a rectangle, but I was pleasantly surprised it started asking questions that he couldn’t answer right away. Not because he didn’t remember, but because it was new!
Since I am planning on using this program when Nate gets older, I picked up these dry erase sleeves at the teacher store. They have come in handy more than once! Now I can just tear out the worksheet and slip it in the sleeve, rather than always copy and print them.
Since I want keep track of what we have learned (and when) along with how many days we are in school, I picked up this notebook at the Dollar Tree. It lets me keep track and make notes of what we do each day we are in class.
Another thing I was really excited to find at the Dollar Tree the other day was a cardboard clock that is for teaching time.
I saw a great idea on pinterest (that I’ve also seen in classrooms) where you have clocks set to an important time. Some take cheap wall clocks and dial them to a time (no battery so they stay, lol) and then label what it’s for. Like lunch, recess, specials, etc. I used a paper clock like this so I can change it after an event or if it’s not the same time everyday. That and on the back it’s set up to teach time, so I get double use out of it!
We are off to a good start and I am planning on it getting even better as we go on.
