Week 2, Ss Sun.

With our curriculum, we will cover all 26 letters of the alphabet over 26 weeks. Each week has its own letter and theme......and to kick us off was "Sun". I am enjoying watching her light up with excitement and having those "ah ha" moments. And I am enjoying learning stuff myself!! One thing I learned this week is that Pluto is no longer considered a planet??!!! What??!!! I had to double check the publish date of the book we were reading to be sure that this was correct. Yup, apparently there are only 8 planets now instead of 9! Who knew!!

Our biblical view tie in with "Sun" is "Jesus is the light of the world." The curriculum layout does an amazing job of tying it all together and doing it at her level. And the exercises and activities are very helpful at reinforcing it! One exercise we did was that I blindfolded her.......before I could even explain what she needed to do, she took off and ran straight into the fridge! After convincing her it would in fact be fun IF she had instructions first, we started over. She ended up loving it!!!

She enjoyed feeling around with her hands and feet to guess where she was and to "see" where she was headed. It was very enlightening too when I explained how some people are blind.....to which she quickly responded "momma! We gotta go help some blind peoples!". Ah, my big hearted girl.

I was very happy to watch little man sit at the table with us while we "did school". One day he actually sat with us for 2 hours! This is so not his normal manner.......he can barely sit still long enough to eat a meal. So to see him sit and actually be focused on some activities and tasks was quite inspiring. He loves his new pegs we purchased and loves flipping through flashcards.

He even got in on the action when we made binoculars so we can use them this year to see all that is in our Father's world.

While we have so much fun with reading and art projects and hands on fun stuff........we definitely have our rocky spots. We are so much alike and sometimes that makes for some tough moments. But we are working through them and finding our groove. She is enjoying being at home and I love that I am blessed to continue to spend the days with her. This is my first year to home-school.......something I never imagined I would do. This is her first year of some kind of organized, planned learning........something that is new to her. Between the two of us, we are entering new territory that needs to be mapped and charted. But we are exploring it together and learning and growing and I hold fast to what I heard someone say about homeschooling......"it's not a sprint, it's a marathon".

Week 1. Creation.

So we started our kindergarten time together this week and we learned about the 7 days of creation. Mae loved that we were reading in my "big girl bible" and that she was able to recite back so much information as the days passed.Even daddy got in on some of the artsy craftiness in helping make her Creation book......
Which she (I think daddy helped her) wanted to title "In the Beginning".........she is quite proud of all the pictures she made each day. She was elated when I showed her that when we put them all together they make a story book! We'll be taking it to Staples to be spiral bound to have as a keepsake. It is a great token from our first week of Kindergarten and that we didn't kill each other!! Hehe!
My highlights that I jotted down as we went through the week were these:

1. We were reviewing the date on the calendar.......we do this every day discussing yesterday, today and tomorrow. She decided that she was going to just count out the rest of the month......I then learned that August has a "thirtieth one" day and not a thirty first. :)

2. I was trying to tell her something quietly and she told me "just secret it into my ear".

3. When drawing Adam and Eve in her Creation book.......she didn't draw clothes on their stick figure bodies. I guess she knew they were "born" that way.

4. In learning about the 7th day........our page in our book is blank. There's nothing on it because God did nothing on the 7th day, He rested. Insert Tony who suggests to her to draw a bed and pillow to remind her that God rested.......Mae explained that God doesn't sleep in a bed. Tony left the kitchen, Mae leans over rolling her eyes and whispers "He don't know what he's talking about."

What we covered in 6 days was supposed to take 10! So um.....yeah, I will be digging deep into some creative supplements and we'll be taking many field trips too!

YUP!!! It was a GREAT GREAT first week of home-school!!!! Praise God!

Our "kindergarten in a box" came!!!!

We pulled up to our house and there was a big brown box on the front porch and she exclaims: "MOMMY!!! Look!! Kindergarten in box came!!" I loved that she was so excited to get it and to be doing Kindergarten at home.........the curriculum we went with is "My Father's World--Kindergarten." http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/M50/20/0/0/1#products It is very hands on and incorporates God's word into each weekly unit.

She could not wait to tear into the box and see all the goodies inside!

Very proud of her ant farm......BUT was sad to learn that the ants have to be ordered.

After convincing her that we were going to be waiting another week to start school......I was able to put everything away and start reading through the Teacher's Guide. I had lots of stuff to cut up and cut out......I laminated it all (in case I use it for Logan or resale it later) to keep it all in good condition. I did all the prep work my guide suggested and labeled folders for each week and separated out her worksheets accordingly. The thing I really love about MFW is that she does not have more than 5 worksheets or so each week......that's about 1 a day. So everything we do will be hands on and reading and art. Who wants to sit and do a bunch of yucky worksheets, not my Mae!! :)

So we're all set and ready to go.........and we will be starting our first day on August 15th!! We will start with the 7 days of Creation. It's supposed to take 10 days to cover.......but after reading through the lessons, I am thinking Mae will go much faster than that. I am already planning ahead on supplemental items and activities for the 26 weeks that will follow. She will require more activities and learning opportunities to consume in her 4 hours a day. :0)

SO..........ready or not----Kindergarten starts on August 15th. We're pumped!

Why Home-school???

Oh my, oh my! What a lot of funny things go by!-----Dr. Seuss

So......I never planned on being a mommy when God decided it was apparently time. I never planned on being a stay at home mom, BUT God mapped it out just perfectly to put me here----at HOME. And I PROMISE that home-schooling my children was never even a thought, much less an option. Until about maybe a year ago.........

I have a dear friend (whom I love!) and she told me she was going to be home-schooling. She invited me to a few events and talks, that sort of thing. Of course I never went. Why would I? Because clearly I am NOT a home-school mom. I am completely unorganized, suffer from mild ADD-whatever that thing is and I am very unorganized......so unorganized I had to say it twice, or was that because of the ADD? Well.......anyhow!!! We talked a few other times and the topic would come up and I would quickly change the subject. I wasn't fully comfortable with sending my sweet baby girl out into "the world" just yet.......let's face it, there is so much out there that I would just prefer to shield her from and I don't want her growing up too quick. Kids are smacked in the face so much now with worldly junk at such an early age! Their little minds cannot comprehend or process it and they shouldn't have to! So we looked into a local magnet school and signed her up to test to see if she could get in there......this was just a happy compromise for this mommy's heart and soul. So we went, she tested, she didn't get a spot. So at this point I am telling myself that the school I am going to sign her up for is a good school, I always hear such great stuff from other parents about it, she is going to love it AND I am going to love the "break" every day.

Summer came......and summer was almost done and I was tuning in really closely to things I was hearing. Just "stuff" that goes on "out there" and things that our children are being exposed to much earlier than I would prefer and insert the ACLU stomping it's nasty boots in our county lately regarding prayer and God-------let's just say I could hear God trying to get my attention. I began learning that several of my friends were going to be home-schooling.......how did I not know this??!! AND then my dear friend mentioned (that I mentioned at the start) shared one more of those "stuff" kind of stories and it literally shoved me over the edge! I started asking her questions.......lots and lots of 'em! And I realized quickly that home-school was SO NOT what I had made myself believe it to be. I was imagining long drawn out days at the kitchen table doing worksheet after worksheet after worksheet. And having a strict schedule and spending tons of money on I don't know what! And the whole scheduling thing and my organizing shortfalls would totally clash! And my sweet friend set me STRAIGHT!!! I came to learn that what was in my head, was ONLY in my head!!!

Home-school could be whatever me and Mae want it to be! It can be planned, set up and changed as need be to keep her interested and learning and growing! We can move at her pace and speed without any extra pressures. If it takes her 5 days to get something, great! If she gets it in 5 minutes, we move on! She can still take her usual 1 1/2 hour long nap (my girl is a sleeper) and she can sleep til 7 and if we aren't home in time for bedtime on occasion........NO BIGGIE, cause she can sleep in and nap the next day! I love it! The freedom for us to be the one's in charge is wonderful especially when your husband runs his own business. We need to be able to plan trips and family time and vacation around his work......not what the school district sets in place. This just works way better for US!!!!!

SO YES!!!! YES I am a home-school mom!!!! And I am proud and loving it!!!! I love that I will get to keep spending these fleeting days with my sweet girl! I love that I get to mold and shape her much more than if she was away for those 30+ hours per week. I love that me and Tony still have the upper hand on what she is learning about the "world" and YES keep her in a bubble for a bit longer. Just call her The Bubble Girl. Hehe! She is going to be thrust into the world soon enough and I am loving that I get to keep her innocent and sheltered just a bit longer..........yes, I said sheltered.

So here we are..........so here we go.........it's going to be an amazing year of KINDERGARTEN AT HOME!!!

The stuff that makes it life........

This blog will be full of the "stuff" that makes our life.......LIFE!!! Life worth living! Life worth living for HIM! And well.........how we are living the LIFE He has blessed us with. Now I admit, there are days that I dig deep inside trying to figure out "what in the world God is doing"!! Hehe! And I PROMISE I will be nothing short of honest and blunt about what we do, where we go and this fabulous journey He has us on......in this LIFE. <3