Be Careful What You Wish For.......

Remember when I said I was so prepared that I should have been a Boy Scout? Uh, yeah. Tonight I let myself be talked into becoming the Den Leader for Buggy's Wolf Den. I always think that God giggled to himself when he blessed me with three little boys. I have no brothers, and raising boys is always a learning experience for me. So, I guess this will be another opportunity to learn. And, hopefully, so will the boys. Pray for them. And me. Thanks.

So, moving on. Today was our second day of school, and our first day without Keil. I have to admit, I had a small large amount of anxiety about how things were going to go, trying to entertain the littles and still manage to provide some semblance of an education to the older boys. This year I am bound and determined to stick to a "no electronics" rule during school time---for everyone. I know that this rule will get broken at some point....probably approximately mid-December when the snow is 3 feet deep and everyone is stir crazy. At that point I will have absolutely no guilt about popping in Leapfrog Letter Factory. But, this is only Day 2, and it seemed a bit early to already be resorting to the television to occupy the Littles.

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about (at least not today). Louie and Sugar Biscuit spent at least an hour playing with Playdough. 

When it was time for the older boys to do a painting art project, the Littles sat up to the table with their washable watercolors and created a huge wet mess beautiful masterpieces. 

I also pulled out a busy bag of color sorting beads for them. I was part of a swap organized by another homeschooling mommy blogger and now have 30 different activities at the ready (SEE! I told you I was prepared!) And while I was helping them get started with the sorting, Punky and Buggy were doing this:

Punky was reading their history out loud to Buggy, and they were discussing what they were reading. I was tempted to leave them all to it and go take a nap......or at least go hide in the kitchen and eat some chocolate. Oh please, don't tell me you've never done it!!

This afternoon, we made use of some of the file folder games we got for free. The Littles spent about 20 minutes sorting shapes and sizes. Oh, and if you are paying attention, you'll notice that Sugar Biscuit has changed her clothes in this picture. This is a common occurrence around here. Generally it is normal for her to be wearing a different outfit every time I glance in her direction.

Okay, now I'm about to admit something. Last year, we never did any art projects. Just the thought of organizing an art project, setting it up, supervising, and cleaning up was totally overwhelming to me. But, our new curriculum is so awesome. The art projects are built right in, and are so easy. Oh, we did have a heck of a mess to clean up by the time it was over, but the set up and process were so easy, that cleaning up the mess didn't seem so bad. And look at these awesome pictures of the ocean my boys created!

 I'm fairly certain these will one day be very valuable. But, there's a small possibility I'm biased. 

And now, the absolute best part of the day. First thing this morning, I gathered all four children around the school table and played our Hymn for this week. We are learning the first verse of 'Holy, Holy, Holy!' The boys were able to sing along without looking at the words, but what was really amazing was that the Littles were also beginning to sing along. Even Sugar Biscuit was singing her little heart out---she's not even 3 yet! A little while later, in the middle of the play dough adventure, Louie spontaneously burst into a chorus of "Holy! Holy! Holy!!" My heart smiled.

One Down.........

Day one, done!

Of course, we began the morning with the traditional First-Day-of-School Pictures: 
Here's Buggy with his awesome mohawk:

And Punky, also with a mohawk:

They talked me into the mohawks about a month ago, and I have informed them several times that this is a benefit of home schooling. If they were headed out the door to a school room with a teacher and other children that I would have never let them sport that style!

Beginning our morning. Don't they look thrilled?!

After Keil led us in a prayer, we called all 4 of the kiddos to the school table to talk about the date, the weather, and to listen to our hymn.

 We had a great morning, and the boys really loved our new curriculum. They are both working together in Bigger Hearts for His Glory.  Punky is a 4th grader, and Buggy is in 2nd, so they will be doing English (Rod & Staff) and Math (Singapore) separately. I also ordered an extension package for History and Science for Punky. The one thing the boys were a bit hesitant about was the Poetry lesson, but once we got into it they admitted it really wasn't so bad. 

Here they are doing the copywork from the poem. 

See, no looks of horror and torture! Win!

And finally, just to prove yesterday's post about being prepared, I took a couple of pictures of our classroom. Our basement is totally unfinished, but I'm making the best of it!

The library:

Our bulletin board. Isn't it fancy?!

And, our classroom:

Oh, and, no, I didn't buy all those bulletin board decorations and banners. When prioritizing the budget (as I'm sure is true with most home school families) curriculum is first and usually last on the list. We were so blessed to receive a local FreeCycle (check out Yahoo groups to find yours!) offer from a former teacher who was giving away a barn full of books, bulletin boards, file folder games, and tons of other educational games and tools! Over half the books on our shelves are from her, and many of them were on our curriculum reading lists!


Okay, that was day one. Day two was supposed to start 3 minutes ago, and I'm still blogging. Have a great day!!

I Should Have Been a Boy Scout. Or, not.

You know, because of that whole "Always Be Prepared!" thing. Because, I am. Prepared. 

Tomorrow (well, okay, today seeing as how I am up after midnight - again.) is the first day of our new home school  year. We I am excited! I can't speak for the boys, I think they're excited, or at least a tiny bit anticipatory (see, I use big words; I'm totally qualified for this home schooling thing!) but, of course they won't admit it. 

I have been working for weeks now to get things ready. This year is going to be different. Oh yes, it will. We started home schooling last November, and I was kind of thrown into the whole gig rather suddenly when we decided to take our kids out of their private school. The choice had come down to one of two options: a) continue to pay for a private education, or b) be able to afford to feed the four children. I think we made the right choice. Anyhow, last year I just used the curriculum from the private school, as we had already purchased most of it anyhow. I didn't feel as if I was truly teaching so much as I was just passing out 'homework.' As I grew to better know the boys' learning styles I realized that the curriculum we were using just wasn't a good fit. So, I went on the hunt for a true home schooling curriculum, and thanks to the advice of an amazing friend, I think we are in for a great year of learning, joy, and shared family moments. 

Last year we "did school" around the dining room table. That alone added to our my stress. The mess of school stuff all over when we were sitting down to eat and the lack of organization nearly drove me crazy. My motto for year last year was "Survive With a Smile." This year, I have set up a complete classroom at one end of the playroom in our basement. We have book shelves, an organized cupboard, daily lesson plans, a supply list for the entire year, and tons of extra activities ready for down time when kids are waiting for me to finish up with another child. This year, I'm planning to do more than just survive. I'm planning for everyone to thrive! (I know, it rhymes. I can own my dorkiness.)

Here we go!