KINDERGARTEN!

Oh, I have been meaning to write a post for AGES sharing how our homeschooling adventure is going this year! It seems there is never time these days. However, this morning I happen to have a chunk of quite, so here goes…

I think I have had just about every emotion you could possibly imagine about homeschooling: I love it, I hate it, I am so glad we chose to do it, I want to send him back to school, we accomplish a ton, we accomplish next to nothing. I figure if I am experiencing all of that, I must be doing something right! We have, like most homeschoolers, chosen a sort of hodge-podge curriculum this year. In the morning time, we do a unit study. A unit study is sort of an all-encompassing study about a given topic. For example: we spent four weeks studying ears, sound and music. We did science experiments to demonstrate how sound vibrates and travels, we studied the inner workings of the inner ear, we listened to symphonies, studied musical instruments, learned the different sections of an orchestra and many of the instruments within each group. We also read bible stories associated with the particular unit we are studying and do a memory verse each week. In the afternoon, when both his sister’s are napping, we do our reading, writing and math work. We chose Horizon’s Math, Alpha-Phonics and Explode the Code for these studies for those studies.

It has been a huge blessing to watch Billy learn. He loves to learn and is quick to pick up on anything presented to him. Sometimes i think, oh this is going to be over his head, but it never is. He’s like a little sponge. I was most nervous about teaching him to read, but he’s picking it up very fast and he loves his reading lessons. I think reading is honestly his favorite part of each day!

As for me, well, I have mixed emotions. I love teaching him, but I worry he’s not learning everything he “needs” to know. I also have ZERO TIME! I mean, zero time. Honestly, I shouldn’t be blogging right now, I should be preparing my lesson plan for next week (we are starting our Native American unit study which will take us right up to Thanksgiving). The house is often a disaster (I hate that) and I have to be very intentional about making sure each of my children and my husband are getting everything they need from me. Right now is a HUGE time of growth for me. Sometimes that’s awesome, sometimes it’s tough.

We don’t think we will homeschool next year. I knew God was calling me to homeschool this year, but I didn’t really know why. I now believe it is because He knew that we were going to get out of the Navy, and He knew it was in Billy’s best interest not to start at a school for a year and then move and have to start all over again. I might be wrong, we may decide to homeschool again, and I will definitely make unit studies a part of every summer we have for the rest of his life, but I think public school will be his eventual destination.

The only other thing I wanted to talk about briefly was my discovery of an AMAZING homeschooling aid called a “lap book.” A lap book is a small scale scrapbook where we can showcase some of the things that we have studied within each unit. Billy is a social learning, so his lap book is a great tool to help him explain to others the things he has learned, which re-enforces each subject. It also is crafty project, which helps with coloring, cutting and pasting skills.

Well, the rugrats have emerged from their rooms, so it looks like it is time for us to start our day! Thanks for taking the time to read!

LOVE THIS! A ferry worker. Only when living in Bremerton would a child pick becoming a ferry worker as his dream job!

My boy is growing up so fast! So fun, but man, it’s going by fast!

Here he is with his first lap book. Totally fun!