First day!

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.

Setting up for our new adventure!

We haven’t gotten to the nursery yet, but we are getting ready for our first year homeschooling!

It’s kind of intimidating, I have to say. Being so used to a traditional classroom, I was feeling like we needed some really good space (or spaces) for the boys. And also, the layout of the day. Some sort of schedule to follow that could be flexible enough for extra time or interruptions, but predictable enough for success.

After some inspiration from Pinterest and some blogs I follow, I came up with a few different things today.

First of all, I wanted to really get us in gear for scheduling. I found this idea on Pinterest and thought it was genius.

Eventually, I’d like to back these and put magnets on them. But for right now, it works great! The boys can follow it and know what to expect and I have some accountability to follow it, lol.

Next I wanted to set up a reading/quiet area for the boys. I had originally thought about each boy having a nook in their room, but I wanted to keep all the books together. Instead I cleared out their tiny toy (i.e. horribly overflowing, never put away, heap of toys *aka death trap*) and made it better.

It still has a long way to go (not to mention a good remodeling, lol) but for now I am quite pleased. We’ve got a shelf for games and puzzles. Then a shelving unit with two sided access for books! The blue tub is full of big books, and there is a tub of musical stuff on top of the shelf. Oh, and can’t forget the chair in the corner.

I had thought about also putting the craft area in with the books, but (rightly) decided to move it downstairs. It makes way more sense to be down stairs since we mostly work at the kitchen table.

So I converted a poorly used space beside the kitchen into our craft area.

All of our supplies and the little stack of workbooks we have. Plus coloring books, notebooks and letter stamps. Everything is easy to find, has a place and is easy to reach.

I’m hoping that this gets me on a roll with the rest of the home, lol. Not to mention homeschooling this year