When people first find out you homeschool your children, there are a variety of responses, which I will outline for you here:
1) "Wow. I could never do that."
2) "Why did you decide to do that?"
3) "Did you not like the schools here?"
and, by far my favorite, a response I have only received once:
"Wouldn't it just be easier to send them to school all day?"
Why, yes, it would! But we do not make decisions on something as important as education based on what is easiest for us.
My sweet friends are always asking how school is going, and I always tell them it's going well, but it's challenging. Keeping Levi occupied is by far the most challenging part of my day. He wants so badly to do everything his big brother is doing, but his ability is just not there yet. I've been searching for things that will make Levi feel like he's doing the same work as his brother and be less frustrating for him.
We're about 3 months into homeschooling now, and we're already tweaking our curriculum. I started with a full purchased curriculum because I don't know enough about my kids' learning to design a curriculum on my own yet (and the options were completely overwhelming), but I have already learned some things we like and some things we really don't. Caleb loves anything he can create (drawing, painting, cutting, pasting, etc.); he is constantly grabbing the scissors and blank paper to make something. (His love language is also gift-giving, so most of these creations are made for someone, usually me.)
I am really enjoying spending so much time with the boys. It has been a wonderful change for all of us.
Here are some pictures from our school time:
Today we read
The Story About Ping:
Then we made lapbooks to go along with our study:
We learned about China, where
The Story About Ping is set. We cut and pasted the China flag and various maps of China:
Then we found where China was on our world map. The kids can now point out Singapore, China, Russia, Canada, and the United States. Today we learned that there are two countries larger in area than China (Russia and Canada):
Here's our reading corner in our school room. This is where we usually do our Bible reading and read-alouds for the day. Sometimes we switch it up and read on the couch or someone's bed:
So proud that he did this ALL by himself!
Two of our memory verses:
Another book we love and read often is
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom:
We made a lapbook for this one, too, and have been putting each letter of the alphabet in the pocket as we study them (this is mostly for Levi since Caleb knows all the letters):
We've been having fun. Homeschooling is not easy, but it's definitely what is best for our family. Now I'm looking at what we're going to do in the Spring. I need to find a new math curriculum (or some supplements) for Caleb since our current one combines writing and math, which I'm not a big fan of since Caleb's not ready for so much writing. His math skills are above where we are in the book, and I need to find some math activities that allow him to work on his math skills without writing numbers.
I want my kids to love God, to love learning and to love reading. So that's what we're focusing on...making learning fun.
Then we made lapbooks to go along with our study:
We learned about China, where The Story About Ping is set. We cut and pasted the China flag and various maps of China:
Then we found where China was on our world map. The kids can now point out Singapore, China, Russia, Canada, and the United States. Today we learned that there are two countries larger in area than China (Russia and Canada):
Here's our reading corner in our school room. This is where we usually do our Bible reading and read-alouds for the day. Sometimes we switch it up and read on the couch or someone's bed:
So proud that he did this ALL by himself!
Two of our memory verses:
Another book we love and read often is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom:
We made a lapbook for this one, too, and have been putting each letter of the alphabet in the pocket as we study them (this is mostly for Levi since Caleb knows all the letters):
