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.

Homeschooling, Week 10

     Week 10 moved at a snail's pace.  (Ironically, in my last post I said every week passes quickly!)  This week was slow because both my daughter and I had a cold.  My daughter was feeling a bit under the weather Monday afternoon and when we got home from the park, she passed on lunch and slept.  The next day I awoke with a sore throat and immediately knew I was coming down with something.  I was able to go through school work on Tuesday, but come Wednesday I had no voice and my head was throbbing.  We took that day "off".  I gave her history and science copywork and called it a day.  We took Saturday morning to go over the day that we missed and now we're back on track.

     As I mentioned in my last post our Classical Conversations community began meeting.  When we had the opportunity to enroll our daughter midway early Spring, I was immediately hooked on how the kids were learning, what they were learning and the fact it had plenty of parent participation.  It is what opened the idea of me homeschooling my daughter.  I can't imagine it any other way.

     This was our second week of CC.  In Classical Conversations the kids learn what is referred to as a Timeline; points and people in history from Creation to Modern Times.  By the end of the CC year the kids will have memorized 161 events and people in chronological order.  There are fact cards that go along with each event or person listed on the Timeline.  The cards go into more detail about that occurrence or person.  Last CC year I purchased the fact cards but didn't really use them since we started so late.  This year I didn't buy any new cards because I thought we already had all of them.  Unfortunately,  much to my daughter's disappointment, I learned that I did not have the current cards and had yet to purchase them.  She wanted to practice putting the cards in order, as we do when our community meets.

     Since my daughter was so eager to work with them she decided to make her own.  They're like those fact cards of the U.S. Presidents that you see; with the picture and name on the front and the details on the back.  She wrote the name of the event and drew pictures to go along with it.  She made 14 cards because that is how many events we have covered to date.

     That very first card you see at the bottom is one for "Age of Ancient Empires" and she drew a Sphinx, which she remembered is on that particular fact card.  The next one is "Creation and The Fall".  She chose to draw Adam and Eve at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

     I was delighted to see her take initiative and make her own cards.  To me it's a sign that she is enjoying what she's learning and is seeking more.  Plus, I get to see what she comes up with for each card.  I mean, what would you draw for "Babylonians"?

     I've ordered the cards and they're on their way.  While I know she wouldn't mind creating all the cards herself (and she still might do so) and this is a great way to reinforce what she's learning, we'll need the cards for when she gets older and the details on the back become more significant.

     That is our week.  We're starting Week 11, cold-free (mostly) and ready for Autumn!