Welcome

I am a God-loving, husband-adoring, mybabyboys-hugging, mind-reeling, photo-taking, life-documenting, yummyfood-cooking, garden-planting, country-living girl. Writing about life, with boys, in the sticks...
this is life... with boys... in the country...
Slideshow Image 1 Slideshow Image 2 Slideshow Image 3 Slideshow Image 4 Slideshow Image 5 Slideshow Image 6 Slideshow Image 7 Slideshow Image 8 Slideshow Image 9 Slideshow Image 10 Slideshow Image 11 Slideshow Image 12 Slideshow Image 13 Slideshow Image 14 Slideshow Image 15 Slideshow Image 16 Slideshow Image 17

Friday, September 10, 2010

Homeschooling: One Week Down…

… and how many to go??   I don’t know.  I won’t let the first week (okay, 3 days) determine the longevity of our homeschooling adventure.  As with starting anything new, there is a transition period, and beginning our first year of actually homeschooling is no exception.  For me or Gage.  And I really probably shouldn’t have embarked on this new beginning when both of us were sick with colds.   Sep-08-2010_firstweekofscho

But as a whole, I haven’t figured out how I want to go about homeschooling… how to approach it as something he gets to do rather than has to do (although he does have to do it), without talking down going away to school.  I am already realizing that a structured curriculum (Sonlight? Abecka?) is probably in our future and that school-time should probably happen when Cooper is napping. 

Although, on Day 2, I tried to get Cooper involved in the learning, which he was all for. 

I’d look at an Alphabet flash card, that contained the letter, picture beginning with that letter, and the word.  Cooper was in charge of telling Gage what the picture was of, and then Gage had to figure out what letter it began with.  No problem.  Gage would then show Cooper the letter that he wrote down…

Sep-08-2010_lookforthef … and Cooper would try to find it on the wonderful Alphabet quilt my aunt made for the boys… some letters were harder for him to find than others, and this exhausted him…

Sep-08-2010_findingthef

And sometimes Gage would have to help him… “J is for what Papa always gives us!”  ie.  Jelly Beans. 

Sep-08-2010_jisforjellybean

The game lasted about a half-an-hour and it encouraged me that this is possible! 

I am really enjoying working with Gage on his letters and sounds and I have heard that the fundamental of homeschooling is to teach your child to read and teach them discipline, and then they will teach themselves. 

But I know there is more involved than just the letters and numbers, so that is where I feel a curriculum would be beneficial.  So that I know I am covering all the bases I am supposed to.   Sep-08-2010coloringshapes

I unfortunately feel like I’ve started off Gage’s year of Kindergarten under-prepared.  I should have already researched curriculums and planned out weeks worth of lessons.  At this point, I don’t know if I’m lazy or just embracing the flexibility of homeschooling.  I don’t want to say “Its just Kindergarten” because this is a foundation we are laying.  And I know that if I mess this up at the age of 5, it’ll be hard to later foster a love of learning in this kiddo. 

And if I don’t embrace Cooper’s snippets of interest in being involved in school, I may mess him up, too.

Sep-08-2010_cooperpracticin

For a few other reasons, too, I am wondering if homeschooling is the best option for Gage.  Does he need more time with other kids, his own age?  Does he need to learn to be instructed by other adults besides me and his dad? 

I’m not giving up (Ha!  That would be crazy after only 3 days…) but definitely need to evaluate our situation each day. I need to put more time into his lessons, more time into thinking about creative fun ways to teach, and I need to make sure I am choosing to home-school for the right reasons.  Not because I’d miss him too much if I sent him to school.  Or because it would interrupt the flow of our day… a flow we have become quite accustomed to. 

But I also need to know that I wouldn’t be sending him to school for the wrong reasons too… like to get a break from having 3 kids around.  I find that thought popping into my head an awful lot lately.. 

So, after only 3 days of homeschooling, I’ve determined that I am going to be learning as much from this adventure as he is.  So goes life.

4 comments:

Dianne said...

When you home school, the great thing about it is the flexibility. You should have a routine, but if something comes up, it's easy to adjust your day. I think Abeka is a great curriculum and I used it for many grades. I switched to Saxon math once they hit 4th grade but used Abeka for everything else.

Neither of your boys show any signs of being socially mal-adjusted! You can always plan field trips with other home schooling families.

They say that one hour of one-on-one equals 3 hours in a classroom so Kindergarten should take one hour tops. If you do it in the morning, you still get your quiet time in the afternoon when they all go down for a nap :0)

You'll do just fine Lacey...teaching is in your blood!

said...

Hi Lacey! Love the new look of your blog and the header slideshow is so cute!

I think you'll be an amazing homeschool teacher! We used Abeka curriculum during our years of HSing and loved it!

Your jam looks delicious! You'll certainly enjoy it throughout the year!

Debbie

Dianne said...

Here's another great reason for home schooling...This is unbelievable!!!

http://preventdisease.com/news/10/090910_pharma_dumping_vaccines_schools.shtml

Kerensa said...

I thought of you when I read this in the news today... another good reason to homeschool!!

http://everett.komonews.com/content/schools-let-kids-head-lice-stay

Post a Comment