Homeschooling- Week 1

We survived! And it actually wasn't too bad! It was a whole lot of trial and error (and will continue to be for a while) but overall we both enjoyed it and had a good week and Madison proved that she actually was paying attention by showing off for my friends Friday night with all her newfound knowledge. We are using KONOS as our main curriculum, which is christian unit studies-mostly hands on-and based on character traits of God- or that God wants to instill in us. I decided to go with unit studies style of teaching because I thought it would be best suited for Madison as well as for teaching all 3 kids together eventually. If you are not familiar with Unit Studies, here is an example of our first week to give you an idea. KONOS starts with an overall theme, Our first character trait is Obedience. The goal over the next 18 weeks is too focus on things that have to do with obedience and stem from there. The sub theme for the week was Authority and Light. We talked about all kinds of things. We learned what authority is and how we should obey our authority figures, how God is Light and the word like a lamp to our feet, read noahs ark, watched the video, discussed how Noah obeyed God when everyone laughed at him, learned how light bulbs work (broke one to see inside it and then drew and labled one), painted a rainbow, learned what rainbows are, about the color spectrum, and and how we see them as well as colors we can't see like infrared. Each day she learns a bible story and verse of the week that relates to that theme. Another one this week was about Abraham and The Sacrifice and how he obeyed God even when it was something he really didn't want to do. I am trying hard to encourage Madison to obey with a submissive attitude and having it repeated throughout the day helps a lot. On the same day as the Abraham story, we learned the history and uses of lighthouses, looked up pictures of them all over the world, colored some, and then actually made our own which I failed to take a picture of and watched the classic movie Pete's Dragon. She is learning literature, how to draw, we sing songs, color, do crafts, and she does her phonics and spelling program on the computer while I cook breakfast every morning. She writes a story that relates to the theme, and journal entry each day for handwritting practice that is more personal. We ended up not doing math last week, as I felt too overwhelmed to add that in the first week! But Math will also be a hands on curriculum called Math-U-See. I took a picture of two of our days schedules but Madison had already erased some of what we did on one of them, but it gives you a good idea of our routine I am trying to establish.

It does get very chaotic with the boys not old enough to be involved yet. The only part Tyler wants anything to do with is painting, he isn't into coloring yet and will not sit still for anything else. So he just plays and isn't too much of a problem running around us, MOST of the time. Ethan is the harder one at the moment bc he is teething bad and wants to be held and nursed a lot and is fussier than normal. So while I would like to get done earlier in the day, most days I had to drag it out throughout the whole day, do what we could when we could and come back to it later. I know it will get easier as the boys get older and especially when I am teaching both boys at the same time.

It was rewarding actually teaching Madison some meaningful things and her actually remembering them. She said she wants to homeschool her kids, too, that she hates school. So that made me feel good. It helps to make sure I spend quality time with her and have fun with her, not just get on to her all day. Interacting with her with a purpose is much more rewarding than her just being here, watching tv or doing her own thing or me on the computer. I like that it's getting me off of here more and making the days go by very quickly while John is gone. But it's also making the nights very long as I prepare for the next day. I need to plan better. For the most part, Madison minds well and does her work no problem, mostly bc it's interesting or fun. She does all of that much better than she does anything else in our life like cleaning her room, she really likes to learn. I do have trouble keeping her focused when something really disctracting happens like somebody coming over, jenifer coming home, or ethans crying. And that will probably never change, she has no attention span and likes to ask a hundred questions throughout the morning that have nothing to do with what I am talking about. While I am in the middle of a sentence about rainbows she starts telling me about how when she was in school she hated silent time bc they had to listen to the same music every day and she hated that music bu would like the same music every day if it were Taylor Swift. Keeping her on track is probably my biggest battle and always will be. Her mind goes 90 to nothin and the off the wall questions keep coming one after the other when she is on one of her runs. Good thing Patience and Attentiveness are our next two character traits. The odd thing is that she really is still listening, she remembers everything I said and recited it all, even though she interupted me over and over with unrelated comments and questions. Her teacher said the same thing- that she was one of the best students and best readers (worst at handwriting though!!!) aside from the fact that she couldn't keep her on topic. Usually when we start thinking of other things we stop listening and tune back in when we are done thinking about the other thing. She stays tuned it to several different stations at once lol. She is smart, but difficult I tell ya.

I am so excited about our next 4 week unit, The Middle Ages, or Medieval Times. It's supposedly one of the most fun and memorable konos units where we make our own costumes and coat of arms, have a tournament and feast, learn all about the middle ages, kings and queens,the government, what they wore, ate, how they lived. It should be lots of fun.

The month we are joining a homeschool co-op to make some friends, and in the fall she is starting ballet again, and going to One Day Academy which is classes for homeschooled kids, where she will take Piano and one or two other things that I have not decided yet.