Kindergarten, Week 22

     We're back!  We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year began surrounded by loves ones while counting your blessings!  We took two weeks off from school, though I thought I was going to take a longer break.  My son only had two weeks off from school so I felt inclined to stick to the same schedule.  I have yet to adjust to all the flexibility homeschooling has to offer.

     We started school in July because my Little Toughie wanted to, but I thought that it would be great because we could take the whole month of December off.  I couldn't completely take a break.  I tried, but my daughter and I love our Sonlight Curriculum and all the reading we get to do together.  She also loves math so even during our break we did Nativity and Christmas themed math worksheets along with reading a stack of books from the library.

     Which brings us to Week 22.  We started our study on Little House in the Big Woods.  We started reading it in the Fall, but I realized it was part of the curriculum so we stopped.  I was excited to see that we were starting it this week.  There are 9 books in the series and eventually we'll make our way through all of them.

     We also started a new game with word cards.  My daughter first had to find the rhyming pairs, then find and create stacks of all the words that begin with the same letter.  Then she had to alphabetize those stacks.  Finally, she had to organize them by the last letter in the word.  It's something you can easily do at home with index card and about 10-12 words and it's an exercise that not only gets them reading and builds their vocabulary but also gets them to focus on the instructions given to them.  Plus, if you make a bunch of cards (perhaps a different vowel in each set) you can use them while dining out or traveling.

     This week our Bible study brought us to the events leading up to Daniel being thrown into the lion's den and the events after.  My favorite part of this was that my daughter was able to tie the Bible study with her timeline from Classical Conversations.  There's a part of the timeline that says, "Judah falls to Babylon, Temple Destroyed" and then "Babylon falls to Persia, Jews Return and rebuild the Temple."  As I read from the book of Jeremiah and then made our way through Daniel, my daughter recognized where we were in the Bible and blurted out the timeline sentences above.  I didn't even have to point it out to her.  I love when I see the connections being made!

     As parents, sometimes we question whether or not what we're teaching or showing our kids is getting through to them.  It is.  They may not say anything or even give you a second glance, but they're listening and watching.  Always.  How you treat others, what you say when someone cuts you off, how you act when you're in a rush and the lines are long or moving slowly...if they are with you they are always watching and listening.  Whether or not you homeschool, you are your child's primary teacher.  They will look to you for answers, perhaps not with direct questions, but as a parent they will look to you and AT you for the answers.

     May the grace of God, the love of Jesus and the voice of the Holy Spirit lead you in all your ways, but especially as you raise your children.