School

For those who are unaware, we do plan to home school. I know what you are thinking: What about socialization? Your kids will be freaks, etc, etc, etc. As for socialization, there are plenty of ways to get socialization within our family and with kids in our community. For example, my kids go to church every Sunday and Tuesday night where they are in classes/play with their peers. Ollie also goes to gymnastics. We go to storytime at the library almost every week. We go to Mom's circle 2x a month. We have preschool co-op 2x a month. We also have frequent playdates. We are choosing to home school for two reasons: quality of education and to have more time to instill our values into our children. Besides, who wouldn't want to do school in their jammies?!  I can't tell you for how long we will keep them home. We are on a year by year plan.

So far, it's great. Ollie begs to do school everyday. I love being able to specialize his education. He is really gifted in math so we are doing lots of kindergarten and first grade math. Dawson loves art. Our activities include plenty of it. I did not purchase a curriculum this year. Ollie just turned 4 the end of August and I see no reason to make school rigid  at this point. My goal for the year was to get into a routine and to help my kids love to learn. So far, so good.

Since it is fall, we are focusing on Fall type themes. Last week, it was pumpkins. I try to have 3 activities ready per kid per day. Some days, that doesn't work. Some days Ollie does his workbooks (math, hand writing and reading) while Dawson sleeps or we count the science center as school. Nonetheless, we did some fun stuff.

I should mention that we also do Bible activities. Last week we talked about the creation story. My children used chalk and yellow streamers to make a light scene on black paper. The chalk was a big hit.

As for the pumpkins, I cut each boy some pumpkins out of orange construction paper. Ollie has been working on ordinals. So I wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th on five different pumpkins and had him put them into order. For Dawson, I cut three pumpkins all different sizes and had him order them from smallest to biggest.

Another activity we did involved emotions, I gave each boy 4 pumpkins and had them add mouths that I had cut out. We talk about the way each pumpkin was feeling. This was really easy for Ollie. Dawson did very well with happy and sad.

I created a sheet for each boy with the letter P and a pumpkin. Ollie had to first do a bit of handwriting with the P then he got to paint the pumpkin. Dawson and I talked about the P and then he painted it. My kids love painting.

Ollie is working on fractions. I cut four orange circles into different fractions- 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4. He had to glue the correct pieces into squares I had labeled. Dawson worked on the color orange. I gave him several orange shapes and he happily glued them to paper.

 To review concepts, I filled two bags with some objects. Ollie had to tell me which started with the p sound. Dawson had to find orange things.

I may have forgotten a few things but if I don't take a picture of it, I can't remember that we did it! I really love teaching my kids. It seems they really love being taught by me. I love the freedom or incorporating things they love into their assignments and planning days so that their isn't too many things that discourage them. I love that they can interrupt a book to ask a question without being scolded because unlike a regular classroom, we have time. The only people waiting are us. I love that we can go outside anytime we want to go to lunch or watch a movie. I love that I am giving them a strong foundation so that when they do go to school, they can stand on their own two feet. I love my kids and I love being with them.