Drew (2nd grade) Judah (1st grade) Bobby (pre-K)
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| Our First Day |
Really this was our second day of school, but the first day at home. The Friday before they all went back to their co-op and Bobby was old enough to go in the pre-K/Kinder class for first period while I teach Chemistry and my P.E.Sports class for second period. Then he and I are free to go have lunch together and run errands while Judah and Drew have a picnic lunch with the kids and go to their third period classes. Judah is taking Art, P.E., and a craft class because that was all that was available for his age this year. Drew begged to be in my chemistry class even though it's for 10-13 year olds. So I let him be in it unofficially and he has been doing just fine, minus all the writing because he just can't keep up in that area. He is also taking a class on the Solar System and one on Snap Circuits.
On our first real day of schooling at home, we started our day with the Morning Offering and the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by morning time. This includes all our memory work, read alouds for History, Science, or Religion, and then grammar and math games. I set timers for each part so we just stop when the times up and move on to the next thing so that we aren't doing it all morning. Many of the subjects and even memory work are set up on loops so that we don't need to get to them every day.
After that Drew and Judah go work on their math, handwriting, and phonics independent work while I do a reading lesson with Bobby. He's totally loving doing his lessons and is enjoying practicing writing on his lined white board with a dry-erase marker. He's even writing lower case letters. The early lessons have me demonstrating the sounding out and reading and him copying me, but he has yet to let me demonstrate, he just sounds them right out and tells me the words.
Drew is doing his work with more diligence than last year and doesn't complain much anymore. Judah, on the other hand, has lost that loving feeling for his work. He has been crying about writing every day until about week four when he started to improve a bit after being banished to his room for two days to cry about it alone and only come out when it is completed. That seemed to help a lot, so I'm hoping that things will be improving now steadily.
Judah has joined the family in beginning piano lessons now that he is in 1st grade. He is doing well with it most day and the teacher said he is already seeing patterns and improving on his scales and finger coordination in just one month.
Here is our homeschool vision statement that I worked on over the summer.
To create an inviting place of…
Faithful prayer & Striving for holiness
Laughter & Togetherness
Orderliness & Responsibility
Learning & Creating
Relaxation & Warmth
Love & Forgiveness
To provide opportunities for each of us…
To be strong, faithful, conservative Catholics who can defend their faith and are familiar
with Church history..
To know love and grow in virtue in a personal relationship with our Creator.
To be respectful, communicate well, be a good host, be inclusive of others, and have a
grateful heart.
To have a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world, recognizing the beauty in the
maths and sciences and in grammar.
To be well read in the Classics.
To be proficient in music, the arts, cooking, and developing hobbies.
To have a base knowledge and confidence in sports and with animals.
To have an appreciation of languages, while continually improving our Latin and
German.
To learn to write beautifully and express ourselves clearly in an organized manner.
To this end we will…
Keep God in the center of our daily lives through regular family
prayers and discussions.
Attend Mass at least three times a week, adoration at least twice
a month, and confession once a month.
Practice the virtues, good communication with eye contact, and
being grateful.
Make meaningful memories and connections through family travel
and read alouds.
Learn responsibility and independence by doing “community”
household chores.
“Stop and smell the roses” as often as is prudent.
Schedule margins into our days.
Not prioritize checking boxes over developing relationships and
virtues.
Read independently everyday.
Read, learn, and practice math and grammar four times a week and
science and history at least twice a week.
Do copywork until 4th/5th grade, when we begin a regular
composition program.
Begin working on Latin in 3rd/4th grade and from the beginning
continually practice our German through Duolingo and
Pimsleur (in the van).
Take piano lessons from 1st grade on.
Have sporadic drawing lessons with Mom.
Play outside every school day, working on sports skills and bike
riding.
Read aloud books at various necessary appointments.
Help in taking care of and/or training an animal at home.
Help cook to the best of abilities depending on age.
The school of Christ is the school of love. In the last day, when the general examination takes place...Love will be the whole syllabus.
- St. Robert Bellarmine
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