We have two days of homeschool under out belt! Read on to find out how it went and what we did!
I promised that I would write the reality of our days and not just make it all sound wonderful and Smoot (unless we do have one of those amazing days--hey, it happens!).Today went quite well, although it is a lot of work and exhausting trying to fit all aspects of my life in one day! My husband worked second shift today, so I ran out to do errands right away in the morning. When I got back Ellie and I did two lessons. After that we packed up and got some Chick-Fil-A to take the park for lunch. We had a picnic, watched some geese, and played. While at the park Ellie and I worked on a math lesson about money. When we got home the kids watched a little bit of tv to relax, after all, they spent three hours running around at a park! Dinner and baths followed before bedtime. I must admit, by the end of the day I was wiped out and DONE! I was so ready for them to get to bed so I could relax. Some days it is exhausting being ON all day... you know what I mean right?!
We read another version of the fable "The Ants and the Grasshopper". For this I am following the curriculum I bought, Blossom & Root. We read another version yesterday, so today we focused on comparing the two. How were they the same? How were they different? Then we completed the corresponding activity, the two sounds of A. We decided to make a list.
We have been informally working on sight words for a few months now, so we started off by reading off the list of sight words that Ellie already knows.
We then worked on sight words booklets. I found this books of sight word mini books at Dollar Tree. It's perfect because each booklet is short and simple. Each booklet focuses on 2-4 sight words in simple sentences.
Ellie highlighted the sight words listed on the cover and then she went through the pages and highlighted the same sight words in the sentences. Then we went through and she read each sentence (with some help with the words that were not learned yet). She was so excited to read! Then she colored the pictures.
Layla even got in on the action. I accidentally bought it twice so I pulled a few booklets for Layla to color and circle words and letters as she wanted. I didn't really do too much instruction with her, as I was busy working with Ellie, but I figured she was getting exposure to letters and words and creating a book.... all good things for a three year old!
So... one of the beauties of homeschooling is flexibility! For math this week I had planned to do activities regarding ten frames and numbers lines, however, Ellie came across some coins and was so excited about them. She gathered them all up, washed them in the bathroom sink, laid them out to dry, and placed them safely in one of the zipper pouches I had made her a while ago. She was all about this money. I thought, let's jump on this! So the rest of the week we are working on identifying coins, sorting them, and counting pennies and nickels instead of what I had planned. The ability to have the flexibility to move lessons around due to your kid's interests is AMAZING.
We took Ellies pouch of coins and the coin sorting mat with us to the park! First I had Ellie pull out a quarter, a nickel, a dime, and a penny. We analyzed each coin's characteristics (color, texture of edges, images, etc.). Ellie then sorted some of the coins on the mat I created for her (printed on cardstock and slipped in a page protector). I will post the printable PDF below. Our main goal today was to identify each coin and their name. It was short, effective, and fun! It's so awesome to be able to take our lessons and activities anywhere!
Click below to download the coin sorting mat.
Today's science lesson was completely impromptu. As we were eating our lunch on our blanket at the park the girls spotted a bunch of geese. They were so entertained. We discussed what kind of animals they were and how we know (birds because they have wings and feathers). We discussed what they ate and how they know (bugs since they were pecking the ground constantly).
Lastly, the girls found some bugs in the sand box and collected them in a bucket and examined them. We decided they were little millipedes (gross!) rather than centipedes. We then discussed the difference between the two and decided we needed to do some research on the two sometime.
I absolutely love how lessons and be on a whim based on their interests and based on opportunities that arise.
Overall a good day with fun and learning sprinkled in throughout. To be honest, I find myself feeling a bit guilty because I worry about the amount of learning that we are doing during the day. I keep comparing homeschool to public school (which I know very well being an elementary school teacher). I know that a homeschool day is not structured like day in public school, but it's hard! I just keep thinking that if she was at school, she would be there for 8 hours doing school things as opposed to homeschool where it is simply short bursts of lessons throughout the day. I honestly do believe that, for kindergarten, short bursts of learning is preferable to 8 hours of constant work. That's a lot of a 5 year old!
I also have to remember that she is getting one on one instruction.
She's getting immediate feedback from me. S
he's getting complete individualized instruction.
She's getting to learn based on her interests.
I just have to stop comparing the two ways of learning and just do us!
Thanks again for visiting my blog and for checking out our day! Stay tuned for more!
In case you missed it, here is my blog post about our first day of homeschool.
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