Taking the Scenic Route

We're starting to put the finishing touches on our first official year of home educating, so I thought I'd give you a little peek into what it looks like for us. Since Charlie is just 4, this year has been pretty low key, but it has been a good time to find our bearings and start to learn what works and what doesn't for us. Looking back, I feel like the fall was pretty messy as I was trying to do too much with different themes every week.

This semester I feel like we're starting to find a groove doing a letter of the week. I narrowed down the GAZILLION online homeschool resources out there to two that I primarily use. No Time For Flash Cards has been a great source for crafts and fun activities, and School Sparks provides free worksheets that help us work on our handwriting and letter sound recognition along with general kindergarten readiness. I am so grateful for the hard work of the many people who have gone before me and are passionate about helping parents educate their children (whether exclusively, or in addition to traditional school).

We are also part of a Classical Conversations (CC) community. We go to "class" one day a week (in fact, I'm the tutor for Charlie's class). There Charlie learns our new memory work for the week (history, Latin, English, science, math and geography), does an art project and a science project, and gives a brief presentation to his class. We are grateful for all the guidance in the area of classical education we have received from being a part of this community and for all the friendships we have made with other families in the area who are on this same journey.

Now for some pictures!

I already posted this picture this fall, but I wanted to share it again because it shows Charlie doing Geography, which has been his favorite subject in CC this year. But more importantly it shows my wonderful husband helping out with our school work. Dave has been an important part of our homeschool journey so far. He is supportive and encouraging to me and isn't afraid to jump in and help with our school time.

This is one of my favorite parts of our Letter of the Week we've been doing this spring. I've been hanging all of our letter crafts on a wall in the playroom. Charlie really loves doing crafts, and I love seeing all of his work together.

Charlie has developed a love of drawing this year. I love to encourage it and to draw with him. Almost every week he draws a picture to go along with his presentation at CC, and he's constantly drawing pictures to hang on our fridge or give to other people.

Here's Charlie with the Texas flag he made for his presentation on the state of Texas.

What about Nate? He joins us for a few activities, but other times he finds plenty of ways to occupy himself.

One of my favorite things about home educating is the ability to be spontaneous, in so many different areas. I have been following a suggested order when introducing the letters (non-alphabetical, instead grouping them by how they are written), but last week we jumped ahead to C when we realized we were going to make cupcakes with Cody, and Charlie had chosen some other circus crafts to do. I love how our life and our education are tied together.

Making Mat Man with Handwriting Without Tears wood blocks. We also use these blocks to make all the capital letters.

This is a number game we played around Christmas. Both boys enjoyed playing it as we worked on number recognition. As you can see, we are doing our part to help perpetuate the stereotype that homeschoolers do school in their pajamas. In fact, most days we are still in our PJs since we usually do most of our work right after breakfast, so I'm surprised we aren't in our PJs in more of these pictures.

We will continue to do school through the summer because we want our boys' education to be a part of the rhythm of our family, not something that is only done at specific time at a specific place. (And we'll need all those weeks to finish the alphabet before the fall.) We plan on starting Kindergarten coursework in the fall, which I'm very excited about. This is Kindergarten round-up time of year, and I realized the other day that if we were doing public school we would have a very stressful decision to make right now. Charlie has a mid-summer birthday, so we would be faced with the decision of whether or not to start him in Kindergarten in the fall or wait one more year. I know some families that did not hold their summer birthday boys back and have really regretted it as they got older, but since Charlie is so big for his age I would also feel uncomfortable having him be a big, tall 6-year-old in a class of mostly smaller 5-year-olds. But since we're doing it at home, we can start now and teach him at his level. If he's showing some immaturity, then we can slow the pace or step back and continue when he's ready. Or if he's doing well, then we can advance as appropriate.

The decision to homeschool has been quite a journey for us, and it will continue to be as we constantly evaluate what is best for Charlie and Nate. We take each step in faith and with lots of prayer.

Back in January the boys and I visited LLELA (Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area) for their monthly bison tour. Before the tour, the guide warned us that bison are very dangerous animals (according to him, they're responsible for more deaths in national parks than bears), so I spent more time making sure the boys didn't make any loud noises or sudden movements than I did enjoying the bison. And the boys spent more time playing in the mud and exploring the field than they did looking at the bison. But in the end it was a fun way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon.