First Day of School

We started school this morning! 

I'm not a huge believer that kids need preschool.  Most kids love preschool, but learning letters at two vs five is not going to make or break a kid's academic career.  However, as my eldest has been begging to start school, I thought I would capitalize on his excitement.  My original plan was to do two days a week most weeks and try to be consistent about going to "story time" at the library on Thursdays, which would also give us a chance to check out books for the week.  However, we will be at it again tomorrow and Wednesday.  I'll see if I can pry him away from his new school supplies to make a trip to the "big library" on Thursday. (We have a library closer to home that we usually frequent, but we like the downtown library for story time and they have a better/more overwhelming yet more organized book selection.)

I like logistics.  I want to see how others do things before I decide how to do them myself.  If I'm starting to think about what our schooling is going to look like, I want to know how others are doing it.  So if you aren't interested in that kind of thing just skim through the cuties' pictures.

 Cute sign complements of Classy Clutter. Printed on some card stock. Go card stock not regular printer paper, just do it!

 

And don't forget about this cutie.  She joined us too for most of the time.   

We are homeschooling at the kitchen table, as that is the only space that will work for us right now.  We don't have a spare bedroom, and we don't even have a dining room, so we are making do in the kitchen right now, and so far it's not too bad.  I know it's just day one right?  

I've got to rearrange some closets (again) to make some space for storing school boxes, but once we can figure out how to keep school stuff close, but out of sight I'll be happier with our set up. Once I get everything how I like it, I'll post pics, because I am always interested in how others set up their school room, especially when it is a shared space.  (I don't want my only dining space looking too "schooly.")

Read about my stellar new planner here!

 

So, as I said Sterling has been begging to start school.  I don't think begging does it justice.  Whining, pleading, but he wants to go to school, because everyone else does.  He wants to ride a bus, and carry a lunch box, because it seems so fun to him.  So I thought, I would have to do something this year to show him that homeschooling is great, and he's going to love it.  I promised we would start doing something more formal this fall.  So, here we go!

I wanted to start by saying, this is what we are going to do.  I am not someone who thinks there is only one way to skin a cat.  I am not opposed to public school, I'm a trained public school teacher for cryn' out loud!  This is what God has called us to.  However, I would like to say, as a trained teacher, anyone can homeschool.  I hear moms who think they would enjoy homeschooling, but think they can't, because their kids wouldn't perform for them or that they wouldn't be organized enough, or know enough, etc.

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to homeschool, most people don't.  But everyone can!  Believe me, even the first day with all of the excitement, Sterling and I had to have a serious discussion about how schooling is not an option, and when I ask him to practice writing a letter, I am not making a suggestion.  Even if he doesn't think it's fun, he must to what I ask, and he must do his best.

I also don't think that the method we have chosen is the only method to homeschool, this just fits best with my own ideas and ways of doing things.  There is so much "mommy guilt" out there.  I am only sharing for information, because I like to know what others are doing.

Anyway, I asked around about what others were doing as far as curriculum goes.  I didn't think we would purchase a all inclusive curriculum, especially at this age.  But there are some really good ones, and if there was one that was a good fit, I didn't want to miss out!

My cousin told me that she and her husband had read A Well-Trained Mind.  It is quite pricy for just a book, it is just an argument for classical schooling and an outline through high school, and they give some curriculum suggestions.  As I wasn't sure at all what we would use, I had the brilliant idea to check it out from the library.  I never think to do that for myself.  I was hooked!  I love the author's ideas about schooling, I love the classical model.  It was exactly what I was looking for!

The classical model is built around a child's natural process of learning.  The first few years are spent learning the facts, then later reasoning, then in high school applying.  It is totally literature based, and everything, at least as outlined in this book, is based off of a sequential outline of history.  The authors have divided history into four main periods, and from those periods reading, language, even your science, and even more loosely math in later grades, is built.  So after twelve grades children will have gone through the histories and sciences three times each at a different level of thinking.  Confused? Read the book.

I really wanted something that would use mainly literature not textbooks.  I really wanted to teach sequentially when it came to history.  I also really wanted everything as deeply integrated as they could be.

But my son's four and not ready for first grade.  So what are we to do until then?  The authors also have the same views of school before first grade, at least homeschooling before first grade, as I do.  They talk about learning through life.  Sterling, picked up reading through play.  He learned letter sounds through over and over doing a wooden puzzle he got many years ago.  He learned to count to twenty around two as well.  I honestly don't even remember where that came from, cartoons maybe?.  Ann Elizabeth is now counting to ten because she's watched and played hide-and-seek with Sterling.

Children pick things up from their environment, so if I can remain engaged with them they are going to learn.  I loved that these authors were saying the same thing, which is now so counter cultural. 

In saying all of that, even now that we are officially doing "school."  I am still going to be very laid back.  I was very pleased how our first day went.

I found some great printables for calendar time at royalbaloo.com It includes some skills that I really want to work on this year so we are incorporating many of her ideas with calendar time.  We worked on days of the week: today is, yesterday was, tomorrow is.  Then, in the car, we learned them in order on the way to pick up UPS.  Sterling traced numbers on a calendar and a goal is for him to neatly be able to fill them in by May (we'll see).  We also had a number of the day, borrowed from the site.  We will slowly work up to filling out her number of the day sheet.  For now I picked a two digit number and Sterling wrote it, one number more, and one number less.  We observed the weather and graphed it, another printable from royalbaloo. We found the calendar day in a group of numbers and marked that it was odd.

We have a color and shape of the day for Ann Elizabeth.  Since we have chosen to follow the classical model and the trivium, Sterling won't get true US history until about third grade.  I thought now would be a good opportunity to teach him some of that.  So each week/day (not sure which yet) we will learn about one state, and president. Our goal is to memorize the state capitals and presidents by the end of the year.  I'm sure eventually we will memorize a song for both.  I printed off the states from this site, and I am planning to make the puzzle as well (maybe on sheet magnets though instead of cardboard). Sterling now knows Montgomery, AL and George Washington.

We are also going to memorize the children's first catechism, which Sterling has a pretty good start on, but we are going to start back at the beginning and solidify.  I'm also hoping Ann Elizabeth can start learning some of these besides "Who made you? God"  We've got that one down pat.  We of course are going to do some scripture memory as well.  I'm not sure yet if we will just do verses or chapters.  I'm leaning more towards chuncks/chapters and then some verses here and there maybe.

I think that was all.  It was a good first day.  It sounds like a lot, but we did most of this in an hour, some in the car. Then we watched a video about George Washington during lunch.  Sterling woke up from nap wanting more school so we practiced blends and diagraphs with some flashcards.  Then we picked one and started naming things with that diagraph, Sterling decided to write the words down.  Since it wasn't handwriting time, I wasn't strict about the lines or backwards letters.  I just had to take a deep breath and let him enjoy himself.  The only thing I had him fix was backwards a "b" and "d".  He chose to do the writing, I don't want to make him hate it, perfection is what both of us have to fight against.

One thing that stuck with me from an assessment class was, do not count off for something you are not assessing.  Not that he is getting grades, but that means, spelling is spelling, don't count off for it on a history test, unless it is counted as a separate spelling grade.  Or said this way, a spelling error should not be reflected in a history grade.

P.S. - This background is driving me CRAZY!  I tried a few months ago to remember how to change it, but I found the site I had used for directions and they no longer work with blogger I guess, or something is messed up with mine, because I couldn't make it work.  So I apologize for the crazy look, I'm so over it!