One of the challenges I have faced in homeschooling is the monotony that can come from week to week. There are times that I am preparing the lesson plans for the week, and I feel like "not this again...." And so when I do not make any changes and present my daughter with the daily plans, she exclaims; "but I already did this". So in order to just get over this phase I have for this week at least, put down the MFW lessons, and made my own. Adding "fun" stuff that will keep her entertained and focused. I believe that learning should be fun. I have also "relaxed" a bit and added the board game Boggle Jr. Even though we are playing a game, she is learning. I must say that breaking away from the norms or "un school" myself is very hard. On a good note is that I have an idea of what I want to teach for first grade. I emphasize "idea" because I know that the closer I get, my mind will tend to change. I guess I just need to take one-day-at a time. I am planning to school thru the summer so we can finish up our K curriculum. I will continue to do a 4 day week and enjoy the rest of the day outdoor (weather permitting). Have a great and productive learning week. Many blessings.
We finally completed the Ant project and moved on to the Butterfly one. Last week was intense but at the same time fun and rewarding. This morning we got to observe the last chrysalis open up. It was truly beautiful. I will be posting pictures soon. Until then.
This week has been so much fun. We began we lesson 11 learning about the ants and their habitat. And the next day we celebrated Earth Day by doing our first lapbook. The Ants finally arrived on the second day and we deposit them into their new habitat as they searched and explored their way around. There is so much life lessons that we learned this week. My daughter has made a conscious effort to keep all the lights off in our home. "because we need to save electricity so we can save our planet Mommy." My hubby and I in turn have learned that Ants become lazy in the cold! Wow. This is one if the many reasons I love to homeschool. I feel as if I too get a chance to do it all over again. Learning and making it fun. She finished all her scheduled lessons in 4 days. We are planning to take today off. It has been a steady but intensive week. I think that I will probably carry on with the insect theme for next week's lesson. The ants will only survive at max for 2 more weeks. And I want us to take full advantage of learning a thing or two from them. I have seen first hand how much my girl has enjoyed this week. As I said, for being 5.5 she had intensive and long sitting lessons. But she never complained because she was totally enjoying what she was doing. I love to hear "I love homeschool Mommy". In the other hand, I am seeing first hand how her character is being shaped. I wish I can say that she always deserve a star for her behavior, but that is not the case. Well, that is for now. This post usually appears in my homeschool lounge homepage, in the event you would like to leave a comment. View the scroll bar to the right and you will find it there! Have a great weekend to all. Many blessings.
Weekend is finally here and I can't wait because tomorrow I'll be going to my first homeschooling conference! Dani did fantastic this week! She really challenged herself and was able to write a short story. The short story detailed her love for her cat. It was four sentences long. Which is very long for her specially her lack of desire for writing! She's so incline to numbers. She absolutely loves math! Speaking of her cat. We welcomed 4 kittens this week and they are so adorable. She has been so good at helping out and making sure that they are safe. Today she mentioned that she does not speak spanish because she speaks Meow!!!! That was a good laugh. Anyways, that is our progress for this week. Many blessings and have a fantastic weekend!
As I sit here and get ready to post of on our weekly progress I have to just breath and laugh. I had all of our lessons planned and I was ready to introduce new and exciting material but my girl would not have any of it. She was basically on academic strike. To be honest, I felt the same way. So I cut my self some slack and totally revamped our week. Monday we worked in our garden. Tuesday we hit the beach. Wednesday did attempt to get some phonics/reading done on a computer program. Thursday it was party pool day. And today, we will just relax. There is always next week to get back to what was planned for this week. Part of me is stressing, I can feel it in the way my heart palpitates at the knowledge that "nothing" got done. But we had a Blast, so it was well worth it. It has to be fun right? Keep you posted. Blessings.
I feel so blessed to be done with this week! I don't want to sound too dreadful but I am still learning how to tweet and pick our homeschooling days!
We have been doing most of the work in the kitchen table. The only complaint I get is that her legs are hurting. Perhaps it is because of her size and the fact that the chair and table is designed for adults.
So I suggested moving to the playroom where we have a child size table and chair.
BAD idea. She was getting distracted and I was getting annoyed. Ok we tried it, now let's go back to what we know that works!
I signed us up for a reading course that is sponsored by the University of Miami. It will be during the summer once weekly for two hours.
Here she will be evaluated and placed in a program that will help me teach her to her reading level and enable and challenge her as well!
I am very excited about that!
My hubby and I decided not to have her attend Dance or Gymnastics summer camp. Even though it was broken down in 3 week sessions. The first factor was her age, and the second one is that is just so darn expensive.
Instead, I will only home school 3-4 days leaving us with a day for planned field trips.
I have come a little far to notice what is finally working for us when it comes to doing the lessons.
I realized that after having the Sundays off, I can not come to strong on Mondays with her lessons. Instead Mondays and Fridays are becoming easy already-know-how-to lessons. Tues, Wed., and Thurs are filled with just new material.
Yesterday while we were at a play date at the park she mentioned to her best schooled friend how much she loves homeschooling. Her friend said, but Dani you missed the petting zoo at school and she said "no really, I flew a kite, looked for lizards and played with my animals!!!!!!!"
Wow, I feel so happy that she acknowledge that she is NOT missing out on anything from her old school.
Her response was really the highlight of my week.
Wishing you all a blessed weekend!
Last week we breezed through a few lessons from my MFW curriculum. I have also incorporated the Scholastic Math worksheets.
I am beginning to observe the changes in her penmanship. Even though she totally dislikes writing she feels excited to see her improvement as well.
She no longer writes every word in capital letter. She is understanding the concept of proper use of Captial and lowercases.
Also, she has been completing the time worksheets on her own. We started with whole hours and now we have move to 1/2 hours increments in time telling.
She was so delighted that there is two types of clocks; the digitals and the conventional ones.
With the green hour assignment we collected alot of rocks. We observed and researched a few. The others were painted to be pet rocks!
We have done alot of crafts this week as well.
For next week I will continue with the lesson plans from MFW and we have a field trip planned. Can't wait!
Wishing you all a blessed weekend!
