Homeschooling: Week One

Initially I hadn't intended on starting homeschooling until we had officially moved into our new house.  I felt bad creating an even bigger mess at my in-laws than I already have... But, when I looked at my schedule for this week, I had FOUR whole days with not a single thing planned... no doctor's appointment, no Bible study, no play date, no nothing.

So I said, "eh, why not?".  I was ready.  I had pre-planned like a boss and everything was waiting in a ziplock bag to be learned.

We started on Monday:

Monday we did 3 activities.  Two activities with both of them and one with only Marco.

The boys painted:

Then they did a sock toss and I created a track for them to play with their cars on.  The track was not from the curriculum... just an idea I got from THIS BLOG.

Then Marco and I did shape/color matching:

And what did I learn from the first day?
That they shouldn't be cooped up in the house.  This can't be our only activity for the day.  By the afternoon they were BEGGING to go outside... so we went for a walk in the hot Miami weather.
And, that if I was well prepared, everything went pretty smoothly.
AND, that a 3 year old (or mine at least) can't sit still for 3 minutes.  He concentrates well and completes tasks perfectly, but his energy is forever flowing!

We continued on Tuesday:
Tuesday we also did 3 activities:  1 with both boys and 2 with just Marco.

We measured each other and talked about words like "tall" "taller" "tallest", "short" "shorter" "shortest".  Marco did really well.  Jonas walked away.

Then we talked about fractions with slicing an apple... and we devoured said apple with peanut butter and nutella... can you say "AMAZING?"... because it was!

And lastly, we painted an apple tree.  And if that isn't the most beautiful apple tree you've ever seen then you definitely need help!

On Wednesday we took the day off and headed to a park for some down time.
Thursday we had MOPS, so our entire morning was spent.

So we finished off our week on Friday with 3 more activities, but those smiling faces as pictured above, were gone.

Marco started off the day saying, "Noooo, I don't WANNA do schoooool"... that's a good sign.  But we did it anyway!
Why?
Because he's 3 and he doesn't make the rules.  Booya.

We played Hide The A... like hide and seek but with the letter A.  He only wanted to play 3 rounds, but I didn't push it because it was "supposed to be fun".

Then we laced an apple.  This activity was like pulling teeth with Marco.  He didn't want to do it.  He didn't want to complete it.  I told him he had to finish.  I bribed him with candy.  Jonas on the other hand, sat with me and completed it!  He was so proud of himself too!

see the face? He's really enjoying this!

Lastly, Marco and I used a glue stick to glue small pieces of paper onto a coloring sheet.  He's never used a glue stick before, so it was interesting.  The hardest part for me was to allow him to do it by himself and for him to use his "creative liberty" to do it the way he wanted.  The adult in me still wants it to look pretty and organized... I gotta learn to let go.

So that's it... week 1 complete.  9 activities down... 9 more to go next week.
Stay tuned... we've got lots more to do!

Curriculum can be found and purchased HERE.