So how's it going?
As of now we are two weeks into our first year. There haven't been any mental breakdowns or anyone running and screaming out of the house so I guess you could say... so far so good! :-) Seriously though, I have done pretty well and the kids are doing great. My biggest challenge so far is figuring out what works best for the kids in order for them to do their work the best. So far I've discovered J doesn't like silence so I've been playing light classical music in the background (thank you Charlotte Mason) and that seems to help a lot. We've also moved from the kitchen table, to the dining table, to the family room floor. Basically I let it be up to them where we're doing our work (as long as it's not painting of course) and adapt. I will say the second week I made changes and tweaked things from the first week, and this next week I'll continue to tweak things until we find our groove and figure out what works best. By the time I do figure it all out I'm sure something will change and I'll have to make more changes but that is the beauty of homeschooling. We roll with the punches and take things as they come.
So how are you homeschooling a first grader, a preschooler and taking care of a baby?
I've found that getting up and just getting started first thing in the morning does not work for us. For one thing F has speech therapy 3 times a week. Another challenge is that it is nearly impossible to do school while Sarah is awake. So for now what we're doing is getting up and while hubby is making breakfast we're doing bible all together. After breakfast is chores and getting dressed. After chores it's about time for F's speech. After speech I put S down for her nap and then school begins.
What's your method for school?
I'm doing a modified workbox method (see previous post for a pic of my system). On Sunday nights I plan out the entire weeks daily schedule with what subjects will be studied on what day. This sounds like a lot of work but it's pretty repetitive from the weeks prior so it's really not bad at all. I also make any copies I need and make sure I have all my supplies for projects lined up. Every night during the week I set up each drawer in my workbox with the subjects we'll be covering the next day. This is really not complicated, it's simply putting the correct workbook or worksheet in a drawer and putting the subject "coin" (once again you'll have to look at the pic to see what I'm talking about) on the outside of the drawer. For F, it's mostly purposeful play activities revolving around the letter of the week. She also has activities aimed at helping her Apraxia and fine motor skills as well. When the kids are done with a subject or activity they're responsible for putting that back in the drawer and moving the subject "coin" from the left side of the drawer to the right. This helps us all visually see that subject is finished.
What is this co-op and why are you in a co-op if you're homeschooling?
From the moment we pulled J out of public school I knew I wanted him in a community of people that we're doing what he was doing. I knew from day one I wanted to be apart of a certain co-op and I prayed hard to get in. This is because this co-op is rather large but I knew in my heart this is where we needed to be. We are 500 members strong (about 350 are students alone). There were 40 new families accepted in this year. Some families had to be turned away so we thank God for the opportunity to be in this group. J is taking two classes and F's class is a preschool setting. They take backpack's and everything :-) I think this is really good for them because it gives them a chance to learn from someone other than me with other teaching styles. They loved it and are so happy. J has been asking everyday when we get to go back. I'm so happy he's making homeschool friends.
Are you homeschooling all the way through?
I don't know. We never knew we were going to be a homeschool family until God told us we were, so I won't begin to presume when he will have us stop. So basically until further notice I guess the answer is yes. We will teach and act as though we are. This area is saturated with possibilities and opportunities so why not?? The community of homeschoolers are huge. We have sports leagues, music groups, band, prom, national honor society and anything else you can think of. As long as the kids are happy so are we.
Well hopefully that clears a few things up. Here are some pictures of our first 2 weeks and hanging out at our co-op's opening assembly...
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