Reflections on a Year of Homeschool

What a blessing this year has been!  I look back and I’m so thankful that God led us to the decision to homeschool Grace for kindergarten. 

This time last year, we were agonizing over what direction we wanted to take for her education.  Public school, private school, charter school, or homeschool?  We finally narrowed it down to two…charter school or homeschool.  The charter school fills up very quickly and in order for Grace to get in, her lottery number had to be drawn.  God’s hand was evident in the circumstance that she was drawn very late.  No chance to get in.

The fact that she didn’t get in the charter school gave me confidence that God wanted us to homeschool.  Homeschooling is where my heart was, and I’m so glad that her lottery number was not drawn because then I would have been really confused! 

I bought my curriculum and set up our little schoolroom.  From the very beginning, Grace has loved it.  I was worried at first because the curriculum was challenging and there were times of frustration…especially during the phonics lessons.  But we kept going, full steam ahead, and God has rewarded our efforts!  She is reading independently and soaking new books up like a sponge.  What a joy it is to see her take delight in written word!  It is truly magical when the light comes on and a child begins to read.  I am so honored to be the one to see it happen!

We also love the extra time that homeschooling has given me to teach Bible lessons, catechism, cooking, household duties, and just enjoy being together!  We have the freedom to visit the zoo, children’s museum, community events, and parks during non-peak hours.  Grace can watch me manage our household, learning how to plan and shop for the things we need.  She helps me clip coupons and is learning how to save money.  Much of this would not have been possible if she were in school 8-3 every day!

And we have loved being a part of the Travis Academy of Fine Arts (TAFA).  What an amazing program this is for homeschool students!  I have met some very wise and dedicated home educators that have been inspirational and encouraging to me this year.  Grace has loved making new friends and learning ballet!  We already have her registered for ballet, art, and drama next year.

I wouldn’t change our decision to homeschool for anything.  It feels so good to see how God has blessed our efforts.  He leads us through the times of frustration…when I thought she’d never learn the difference between a short vowel and a long vowel…to days where she begs to have school, even on weekends! 

I can’t wait to see what adventures are awaiting us in 1st grade!

Homeschool Update

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I have updated this blog!  Check out my Cakes By Joanna blog to see why I’ve been so busy!

My days are very full, and I love it.  Our mornings are spent in school, and our afternoons are spent doing household chores, baking cakes, visiting with friends, and field trips. 

Homeschool is going great!  We love it so much.  I thought by now the newness would wear off, and Grace would start to get bored or frustrated.  Just the opposite has happened…she begs me to do school on Saturdays, Sundays, and any day I decide to take off! 

The kindergarten curriculum I’m using moves fairly quickly, and I’m pleased that Grace is keeping up!  We are working on phonic blends and basic grammar rules.  She is slowly learning to read on her own!  I love to see her take an interest in all the words around her…on road signs, billboards, books, etc.  She is so proud of herself when she sounds out new words she has never read before! 

She is also making good progress on her scripture memorization and catechism.  I love that she does not consider this a burden, but she enjoys showing others what she has learned.  My prayer is that the words she learns will be hidden in her heart for her whole life.

Naturally, there have been moments of drama in our school days…especially when we learn a new concept.  But I will say that she is learning to calm her emotions and simply try again when she becomes frustrated.  What I DON’T want her to do is give up.  In my opinion, it’s a more valuable lesson than what she is learning!

Slowly, she is gaining confidence and growing.  We are so proud of her!  I am so thankful to be able to teach her, and I do not take it for granted. 

The Joys of Homeschooling

Words cannot express how thankful I am to be a homeschool mom.  I realize that we are still in somewhat of the honeymoon stage…we’ve only been going for three weeks.  But, for Grace, there is NO doubt in our minds that we have made the right decision to keep her home with me.

Every morning she wakes up and eagerly asks what we will learn today.  She loves all the attention she is getting during our mornings together. 

Granted, there have been times of stress.  Even tears.  But I use it as a learning opportunity for her.  And me.  When she gets frustrated because she can’t do or understand something, I don’t let her give up.  We just try a different approach and she eventually learns that she CAN learn.  And she learns perseverance.  Then we take a break and do crafts.  Ha!

For Grace, this is a challenging curriculum.  I’m having to read and research different ways to teach some of the phonetic activities.  But, despite the fact that she struggles at times, she really wants to learn and is so excited when things start to connect in her brain. 

Today was so sweet.  When we finished our daily lessons, I went in the kitchen to make lunch.  I heard her in the school room pretending to teach a phonics lesson to another student.  She went through the whole lesson and all the activities we did today, pretending to be the teacher.  She even gave her imaginary student stickers and lots of verbal encouragement, “Great job, sweetie!”, etc.  My heart just melted and I knew today that we made the right decision for her.

I can only pray that she will continue to grow spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually.  Being her teacher is a great responsibility that I take very seriously.  It’s also a great joy!  All those months of agonizing over our decision of the direction we wanted to go with her education have been put to rest. 

First Day of Kindergarten

Grace’s much-anticipated first day of kindergarten finally arrived!  We have been literally counting down the days, marking them off our wall calendar.  I really had NO idea what to expect the first day, but it was great!  When we wrapped things up before lunch, she grabbed my arm and said, “Mommy, can we do this every day?  Please?”  Mission accomplished.

I know it won’t be sunshine and roses all the time.  There will be challenges.  We had a small one today.  But, I can already tell homeschool is going to be a wonderful experience for us both.  I am so thankful to be ABLE to do this.  I am so thankful for a husband who WANTS me to do this.  I am so thankful for a daughter who BEGS me to do this.  I am so thankful.

Many of you have asked what our typical day looks like.  We’ve only just started, and I’m sure it will evolve as we work out the kinks, but I’ll share what has worked for us so far.

I get up at 7:00 and exercise for about 45 minutes.  Grace usually wakes up between 7:30-8:00.  We eat breakfast and get dressed/ready for the day.  Grace meets me in the schoolroom to start at 9:00.  I like to start with Bible time.  We work through a simple devotional together.  Next I like to practice memory work with catechism and  Bible verses.  We finish with a short prayer time, asking God to bless our learning.

Next we have our calendar time where we learn the current day, date, year, etc.  We check the weather and record the forecast.  We post our letter, number, shape, and color of the day.  We keep track of how many days we have been in school, learning place value.  Calendar time takes about 10 minutes.

Next we move to phonics.  The curriculum I’m using has daily lessons with corresponding activities and worksheets.  We’ve been spending about 45 minutes on these lessons.  It’s a lot of oral practice and auditory learning.  I save the writing component for later.

Next we change gears and do math activities.  The curriculum is very hands-on, using manipulatives and games.  This is a great way to break up the more stressful phonics/language arts activities.  Math is Grace’s favorite part of the day!

Now that she’s had a break with math, we go back to writing.  We use dry erase boards and worksheets to practice the letters we have learned. 

Since writing can sometimes be frustrating for her, I like to move into a fun craft activity next.  I try to mix it up and use different materials every day. 

We end our school day by reading books together for a while.  Sometimes we might play an educational game.

All together, our kindergarten day takes 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  We finish before lunch! 

I love that we have our afternoons free to do other things.  Yesterday we attended orientation for her new ballet class, which begins next week.  Today we went to the science museum and played for a couple of hours.

I’m very happy with our schedule and I’m excited to see what this year has in store for both of us!

Getting Ready for School

Today was a special 20% off all educational supplies at my local Mardel store.  I decided to get there when they opened, but was naively surprised to see a full parking lot.  It was wall-to-wall people, no shopping carts, and for one panicked moment I relived my most recent Black Friday experience.

And let me just say that Kindergarten teachers are piranhas.  They look all sweet and innocent, but heaven help if you’re going for the same morning meeting book as them.  Or magnetic letters.  Trust me.

Anyway, miraculously, I managed to get everything I needed with the exception of a Saxon K-3 math manipulative kit.  (I’m keeping an eye on EBay and Craigslist for that.)  I set a budget between $200-$250 for my curriculum and I got out of the store with extra things not on my list for only $186.00! 

Grace was so excited to see everything I bought, and she wants to start Kindergarten NOW.  We’re going to wait to start the curriculum, however, until August.  I need more time to plan and get things ready!

Today, I bought our language arts curriculum.  We decided to use Alpha Omega Horizons.  I originally wanted to use Sonlight, but we just couldn’t justify the cost.  I’m going to supplement what I bought with some Hooked on Phonics and Scott Foresman materials I already own.  For math, we are using Saxon.    My sweet friend Julie Williams is letting me borrow her Kindergarten curriculum for this year!  I just need to find the required manipulatives.

For science, we will make frequent visits to the science museum, planetarium, and zoo.  We will check out science books from the library and learn about the human body.  For history, we will learn about different states in our nation and explore basic geography with our interactive globe and puzzles.  We will check out books from the library that describe other cultures and lands.  

We have signed Grace up for a weekly class with the Travis Academy of Fine Arts.  She will be so excited to begin ballet again!  Once she turns six years old, she will be eligible for other classes like drama, art, music, and bible study.  If there is room, we would love her to begin a couple of extra classes in the spring. 

We will start our school days with devotions and catechisms.  I have not been as faithful in teaching her the Westminster Catechism as I should have been, and I’m looking forward to getting into a routine of adding it back to our bible time in the mornings.  We will probably focus on one question per week. 

Even though this seems like a lot, I don’t expect our school days to take more than 2-3 hours total.  I hope to be done before lunchtime.  We are able to eliminate classroom hassles (i.e. bathroom breaks, learning rules and procedures, discipline issues, P.E., walking up and down the hallways, lunchtime, recess, and crowd control) to have a shorter day!  This leaves the afternoons free for field trips, shopping, library, playgrounds, and learning household skills. 

I spent the better part of today setting up our little classroom in our dining room.  I still have some things to laminate and hang up, but I’ll take pictures when I’m finished.  Grace watched in awe and wanted to play with everything I bought.  But, I told her it was only for kindergarten with mommy…gotta give her something to anticipate!