Here's another monthly recap of our homeschooling activities outside of the usual workbooks and reading we do each day.
I plug the boys' new words into SpellingCity.com sometimes and let them play games with them. :) The match game and hang mouse are their favorites.
It was the big election! We talked about voting booths, voting, and election results. The boys had their own mock voting booth and secretly voted on that days' snack. :) Mom lost.
Miles overly enjoyed watching the results come in on election night. He had his red and blue map going the entire evening.
And since he had to go to bed before learning the winner, Miles jumped out of bed the next day ready to finish coloring the map.
The boys spelled words with some rub-on letters. When Miles had "Miles loves" on the paper, I was curious if he was going to say "mom" or "dad".
But I was even more pleased when this was the final result....note exclamation point. ;)
We went to the YMCA for a homeschool field trip day where the boys took cooking, swimming, and gymnastic classes. What a great time!
The boys took tractor rides...in the city...with our awesome neighbor, Jon. Graham eats up any chance to be around motorized vehicles.
The boys helped with a lot of holiday cooking. Here Graham crushed candy canes for peppermint ice cream.
And they helped make homemade rolls for Thanksgiving. Wow, they were a huge help with their rolling out dough, cutting, and rolling!
Miles often helps Graham with his readers. I love those moments!
Who needs a Little Tykes kitchen when you can make one out of cardboard boxes, baskets, crates, and toys?! This was all sparked by a non-working coffee pot Jeff was throwing out. The basket sink is my favorite...complete with a faucet made from Trio blocks. Ha!
The kitchen segued into a restaurant where they requested lunch be served.
The boys made patterns with foam fall stickers. I bet you can guess who did which one.
Miles did a drawing recap of our drive to Wisconsin Dells. Windmills, llamas, a glass ceiling market, pumpkin patches, hay, a bridge, a house on a hill, a broken tree, a playground. Remember, we took the scenic route....not the interstate. ;) That was worth this picture!
Graham drew an adorable road and then put tractor stickers on it. :) Oh, and Daffy Duck.
Homeschool is well on track, and I foresee some kind of summer break this year! Yahoo!!!!
3 comments:
HHi, I am new to your blog. I have a son with multiple food allergies to peanut, dairy and egg. The peanut and dairy are life-threatening. He is only two but already it has me thinking about homeschooling vs. public or private school. What kind of research did you do before deciding on homeschooling and how did you find information on homeschooling? Thanks in advance,
Stephanie
Hi, welcome! Sorry about the allergies, you sound just like us early on. Be encouraged...we outgrew peanut and egg! :)
The homeschooling idea was planted in my head by a group of my craft customers who homeschool...when Miles was a baby. So I spent several years mulling over it and experimenting with it.
We played around with Montessori preschool methods at home, just to get a feel for being home together all the time and schooling here. It worked well. There are many Montessori websites to give you lots of fun ideas. I also have most of our preschool lessons posted on this blog!
As Kindergarten approached, I talked to public schools and private schools in our area. Homeschool was plan A and schools were plan B. I just went with my gut and decided not to put my kids in school. The schools in my area just didn't seem equipped.
Our area has a huge homeschool community. So that helped a lot. We have a yahoo group where lots of emails come through. There are music classes, PE classes, YMCA classes, homeschool coops, etc. It's almost too many social options, and we don't do them all. But every time I meet a new homeschool mom, I learn new options for homeschooling! It's definitely a learning process for me.
Before Kindergarten even, I met with some moms I know and asked opinions about curriculum. There is a ton out there and it's about finding what fits your style...and your kids. Doing preschool helps to learn your styles for when Kindergarten hits.
I also went to a curriculum fair with some experienced homeschool moms. Curriculum runs across the board from reading living books (Sonlight) to doing texts and workbooks (Bob Jones) to online (Abeka)....there's old school (Classical Conversations) and new school (unschooling)...you just gotta find your fit.
For preschool, I made up my own curriculum based on several sources. But I realized that trying to run a business from home keeps me from being able to invent my own curriculum well. I also learned that my boys are very workbook savvy. Bob Jones has been our pick because of the workbooks. If your children love to read books with you, Sonlight is wonderful. Our math is Math U See at the recommendation of moms who used it, left it, and came back. :)
So really, asking around is what helped me the most! And you can always make changes. It's ok to put them in school later, it's ok to change curriculum, it's flexible!
The best info I read was in Dobson's Bringing Up Boys book...saying homeschooling boys even for the first few years helps them emerge as leaders later in public school. I can say my boys have a lot of confidence being home with me and I know they would do well if they went to school later on. For now, we enjoy the flexibility. Some moms say there's so much homework even early on...that you may as well be homeschooling anyways, LOL! ;)
Doing homeschool definitely allows for family time in the evenings and on weekends which I love. Homeschool has been focused and saturated...no fluff taking up hours a day like at school. Kindergarten takes about an hour. First grade takes us about 1.5 to 2 hours. And we naturally continue in through summer just because we are in the habit.
It's also good to find out your state rules for homeschooling. My state is pretty lax so I really had nothing to lose with taking the plunge.
I hope that helps. Ask any other questions you may have!
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