Homeschooling Update

We moved into our new house about a month ago now and homeschooling has been put on the back burner.  And by back burner, I mean perhaps the grill outside.  

I have totally dropped the ball.  

How do I feel about it?  A little bit like a failure and a little bit like, eh, whatever. 

I try to guilt myself:  "What's wrong with you?  Why can't you just get your act together to do a few activities with the boys a week?  Why are you so selfish?  It's not hard after all!"

And then I try to justify it to myself: "Well, they are only 2 and 3... it's not like the HAVE to go to school, and besides, they're pretty smart already.  We don't have internet at the new house, so it's too hard for me to plan.  Well, at least we still read to them.  Well at least we watch educational television like PBS.  Well, at least..."

So as you can tell, I'm conflicted.

I was so gung ho about it in the summer but that was mostly because I had no activities in the summer.  I was beyond bored in the summer.  But now that all my activities started back up, I'm busier and I'm less motivated- (another excuse).  The only REAL days I can commit to homeschooling is Monday and Tuesday, but even then I cop out and don't do it. 

I'm being a bit hard on myself here though... I have done SOME activities with the boys... but not nearly as many as I would have liked by this point.  

Remember my original goal was to do 1 week's worth of curriculum (one letter) over the course of two weeks?  Well... by THAT plan we should already be on the letter E... but we're still on the letter C.  

Some activities we have done:

Played Dominoes: Marco loved doing this!

Finger Painted:  Jonas made a big mess but was so happy.  Marco didn't want to get dirty so he didn't do much.

We've done a few other things as well.  And we're still getting the suggested library books and reading them consistently.  

I still love the curriculum we got... it's so creative and fun.  I just need to get back into it and become motivated.

But I have decided that I'll be putting Marco in school for K4 next year.  Apparently I can't count on myself to be as consistent as needed.  Hats off to all you homeschooling mommies... you're pretty amazing!

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.

Homeschooling: Pre Planning

I shared with you last week that we have decided to homeschool Marco for K3 instead of sending him to school.
I came across the perfect curriculum and got started right away.

First I hit up Target and bought some supplies. You know, the basics: crayons, paint, brushes, sharpies, highlighters, glue sticks, etc... What is it about fresh school supplies that makes you feel like you can tackle on the world?!  (ahhh, I'm a nerd).

Then I printed Week 1 lessons from the curriculum and the accompanying coloring sheets.  I needed to have it in my hand in order to make notes, cross out, and get a real feel for it.

It can be a little overwhelming to start.  I had 16 pages in my hand and I didn't know where to begin.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to follow the curriculum to the days that were already outlined, so the first thing I did was forget about the written "days".  I would build my own days.

As I looked through each lesson, individually, I had to decide if it was suitable for both children to participate OR if this was an activity I had to reserve for just Marco.  I also had to decide which activities we were not going to do at all because it was something we did anyway (go to the library) or something I KNEW my kids wouldn't even attempt (bobbing for apples).  Once I had labeled each activity as such, I started to put them together.

I decided it would be best for me to do 1-2 activities with both children, then put Jonas down for a nap, and complete the day with only Marco before his nap.  So I had to rearrange the order of some of the lessons so that they follow along that plan.

Then I put it all onto a spread sheet so that I could see a day's work at a glance and go back to the curriculum guide for the details.  I color coded it so I can also see at a glance if it is an activity for both boys or just for Marco.

Then I went onto the site for my local library and reserved 5 of the accompanying literature books to be picked up together.  This way, I don't have to do the searching while at the library with 2 wild boys!  It'll be ready for me when I get there!

The way I have broken it down here, I'll be doing 3 lessons a day, 3 days per week, so this will take me 2 weeks to complete. 

Doing all of this took me less about an hour.

During another nap time, I went through each lesson and prepared all of the manipulatives that need to be pre-made so that I'll have everything for the entire two weeks ready to go in my folder. 

This took a little longer... about 2 hours.  It's not difficult, but tedious... a lot of cutting, coloring and laminating.  I've been laminating using contact paper and I'm really happy with the results... everything is sturdy and nice.  I'm only laminating the things I think will be used more in other lessons and weeks, such as the number cards... that way I don't have to make them ever again (hopefully). 

Good thing I only have my two boys with me for all of this because, really, I don't make pretty letters, or apples, or cut straight.  But they don't care if my apples look like apples, or pumpkins or tomatos!  Whew! 

I still have a few more things to make, which I don't have all the supplies for, but that's ok.  

I'm not going to be able to begin my teaching schedule until I move into our new house.  With all the hands on, crafty, painting activities, I don't feel good about doing that at my in-law's house... just in case, ya know!

Stay tuned... we've only just begun! 

Curriculum can be found and purchased HERE

Homeschooling

Early in January, I had decided that it was time for me to find a school for Marco to go to in the Fall. He would be going into PK3 and I was ready to release him a bit.

I decided to enroll him in a local Christian school that had a 3 day half day program. So he'd be going Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 8-12. I only wanted him to go 3 days because I didn't want to separate him from Jonas so abruptly. They're best friends and they're pretty attached to each other.

One day I was talking to two ladies that homeschool their kids and the subject came up. When I told them that I didn't think I had the patience to do it, they said that they didn't either but that God equipped them for it. Then one of them said that when you make a decision to homeschool, you don't have to decide then and there to do it all the way through high school graduation... You can choose to go year by year. I really liked that. So often we feel like we have to make all of the decisions for our kids RIGHT NOW... But we don't. We can "play it by ear".

But even after our conversation, I said hellz no... I want my freedom. I want to go to the grocery store or the doctor with only one child.

And then during the Bible Study of Jonah that I was taking this summer, Priscilla Shirer said something to me during her DVD lesson. It was like she may as well had said, "Nicole, are you listening?". She said, "maybe God is calling you to homeschool when you just thought you were about to have some freedom for the first time". I looked around the room and put my head down "no God, not me...".

Then we bought our house, and we went from saving every penny to spending every penny overnight. A few days after the close, Mauricio turned to me and said, "I think you need to withdrawal Marco from the preschool you enrolled him into... It's just an unnecessary expense that we don't need to take on right now." to which I responded, "well, he's already 3, so I want him to do something..." and them he said what I had been running from all along, "why don't you homeschool him". Hmmm? Come again?

But in my experience, running from God and going against your husband does not yield the best results, so I submitted to both of them. I called the school the very next day and explained our circumstance and withdrew him from the program.

I also spent most of the afternoon researching PK3 curriculum. It's very limited and sometimes expensive. I also know that if I tried to make up my own curriculum, I'd get frustrated because there's a lot of prep time and not a lot of do time. And truthfully, I'm just not that creative Finally, I found the one!

What I love about it is that it's very versatile and fool proof. There are step by step instructions for materials, preparation and instruction. There are 6 subjects per day; English, Literature, Pre-Math, Motor Skills, Science and Art. And sometimes one or two are switched out for Social Studies or Music.

The curriculum has been laid out to be covered over the course of 26 weeks, one week for every letter of the alphabet. 5 days a week with 6 lessons per day! That's a whopping 780 complete lessons!

So because it's so extensive and because I plan to include Jonas in a lot of the lessons, I'll be cutting it in half and doing 3 lessons per day. At this rate it'll take me 2 weeks to complete each letter. And an entire year (52 weeks) to complete the whole curriculum!

Will I be permanently homeschooling the boys? Will Marco go to PK4 next fall? Honestly, I don't know. I don't have the answer to any of these questions. For now, I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

And I'm gonna do it. I'm really going to try and stick with the plan and get these boys learning together.

I'm encouraged. And excited. Now I've got to do a little preplanning and we'll be ready to get started as soon as we move into our new home!

Stay tuned for updates!