First Day of Homeschooling

This is the fifth photo I took of the boys at breakfast in an attempt to catch Jack’s eyes open. Oh well. I blame the flash.

I woke the boys up a hair before 8 a.m., and after telling them to get dressed, this is how they appeared in the kitchen – as Obi Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett. Since we don’t have a dress code, I went with it. They ate “J” pancakes for breakfast and we got right to work.

I know all the other homeschool moms and dads have lesson plans and schedules, but I don’t yet, and that’s because I really don’t know how this is going to look. We have curriculum and some sort of idea about how it’ll go this year, but nothing is concrete. And that’s on purpose.

We started with journaling an “About Me” page. I measured their height and weight and we talking about the things they enjoy at this age. Jeremy wrote an entire page while I more or less interviewed Jackson, copied his answers and he drew pictures to go along with it. Then came math.

Jackson will complete a PreK book prior to starting his Kindergarten work since we are still dealing with some cognitive delays. We’re starting at the very beginning.

Jeremy is using Math U See curriculum, and he completed the entire first lesson with very little help from me. This is good!

After math, I sent Jackson to computer time on Starfall so I could focus singly on Jeremy for reading – with which we’re also starting from the very beginning. He’s only been exposed to sight words in school, so we’re starting from the beginning with phonics. On reference from my friend Tara, we’re using Explode the Code. Again, Jeremy sailed through the first lesson, but I expected that. I don’t mind it being easy at first since we’re starting with building block number one. I suspect we’ll move quickly through the first book and hopefully the second.

Suddenly it was 11:15, my coffee was cold and the boys were hungry. We ate lunch and began a science experiment. Liquid, solid or gas?

That jar is currently sitting on the deck in the sun so we can evaluate what happened to the ice cubes after a day of direct heat.

Then it was time to play! Jeremy called it recess, so I called it recess. We went to the park. They didn’t change clothes.

After coming home we checked on our jar of water (surprise! it’s a liquid!), ate a snack and did our Bible lesson. The day became much more relaxed after that. We hung around, they played, I ran. They picked hot dogs and french fries for a special First Day of School Dinner and now Jeremy and I are about to bake cookies. Overall, the day has been swell.

In a few weeks we’ll begin co-op classes with other homeschoolers and Jeremy will start Cub Scouts. (Jackson can begin next year, if he so chooses.) Our schedule will become a bit busier, but I’m refraining from doing too much. I’m not sure how this year will go and I’m determined to keep it flexible, so I’m hesitant to make too many commitments.

As far as curriculum goes, I like the university approach. We’ll do math and language arts everyday, but as far as science, social studies (which will be Tennessee state history), art and other electives go, we’ll tackle them in a twice-a-week rotation.

I have 180 days to make an academic impact. Day one was a good start.

1 Comment

  1. LOVE the photos w/stories! Would LOVE to be able to just drop in from time to time, too. Hope things settle in nicely in more ways than you might anticipate, esp. since you’re not alone in this tremendous endeavor – sounds like a lot of meaningful components. Great start indeed.

    {A-hemmm, might I suggest your Ever-Available Local Editor stop by to make a mere **few** corrections here?}

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