Second Week

I've learned several things through our first 2 1/2 weeks of homeschooling.  The first thing I've learned the past two weeks is that my schedule is still a work in progress.  Major tweaking to our daily schedule has been done since we started.  We've gone from a 5 day a week schedule to a 4 day a week schedule (there always seems to be one day a week where we are busy all day long).  I've cut out our manners program and Corbin's BFIAR lessons for now, decreased what we are doing with Jovi's FIAR lessons and added a ten week fairy princess program (it helps motivate Jovi to happily do her handwriting and reading lessons when she has something extra fun to look forward to).  

The second thing I've learned that goes along with scheduling is to never do detailed lesson plans more than two weeks in advance because I'll have to pretty much rewrite them from scratch if I do.

The third thing I've learned, at least I'm working on learning, is that less is more.  Sure, there are tons of fun, interesting things that I can teach Jovi.  Things that we can have fun doing together.   But I have to focus on my educational goals for Jovi and plan the important stuff, like reading, math and handwriting first.  Jovi can only deal with parent led activities (and it doesn't seem to matter what type) for about an hour before she needs an unstructured break so planning less content for other areas helps us get through everything in a day.

The fourth thing I've learned is to have outside time in the morning, it is just too darn HOT to go out any other time except for the occasional pool trip. (duh moment, how could I not have known that growing up here)

The fifth thing I've learned is that we are really, really addicted to TV.  Cutting down is easier when you have fun stuff to do, but the kids still watch a lot of TV everyday and request more than I let them watch.  Does anyone have some suggestions?  I've been thinking about totally cutting it out for a few weeks, but I'm a bit scared.  What am I going to do when the kids are going crazy and I'm all out of energy or when I'm trying to make dinner and Corbin is either making a huge mess or tearing up things that don't need tearing up?  Right now I turn on the TV and and we all get a little break.  I've tried a few other options with not so great results, but I'm willing to try again.  There are a lot of reasons to watch less tv with young children, my mom sends me research articles about it.  Learning disabilities and ADHD symptoms are more likely in children who watch a lot (being more than 2 hours a day) of tv along with lower IQs, and that's not even talking about content and what kids are learning (although we rarely watch anything other than movies, PBS or qubo when the kids are in the room). Anyway, if you have some ideas, please send them my way.

So on to the actual week...Last week we read  Lentil (Picture Puffins) about a little boy who saves the day with his harmonica.  I think it is a favorite with Jovi.  With our new 4 day a week program we are doing a week and a half (or 6 days) with each book so we finished the lessons on Tuesday.  The two highlights of the week were getting Jovi her own ($3 from Walmart) harmonica and making lemonade (lemons play a big role in the story).  Here is the lemonade that we made together, it was yummy.


Last week we did one Before Five In A Row Lesson, we read  Goodnight Moon and then we made puffy paint and painted moon and star pictures on black poster board.  This puffy paint was a lot of fun.  You mix 1 cup of glue, 3 cups of shaving cream and a little paint together, draw a shape on the poster board and then fingerpaint with it. 








Here are some things I've learned about art projects, especially paint projects, with small children (most were learned through some painful errors).  Do all art over tile or linoleum (never carpet).  Have all supplies ready before starting.  Have an art only tablecloth.  Strip your kids, have them wear an art smock or clothing you truly don't care about because even if it is supposed to be washable, it isn't always true.  The last and most important, don't do ANYTHING else except watch and help the kids during an art project.  This is IMPERATIVE, turn your back for one minute and that awesome puffy paint could be all over your walls.  Art is fun, especially using paints, but it does take some effort to have a positive experience.

Here are the two folders Jovi has made to go with her FIAR lessons.  All the minibooks are from homeschoolshare .  Jovi likes making things like this, otherwise I don't think I'd bother.  I originally thought they would be great for reviewing lessons and what we learned throughout the week, but Jovi doesn't show any interest in reviewing things.  It is a cool way for ME to remember what we've done and maybe she'll like looking through them some time in the future.  (I can hope can't I?)






Hope you enjoyed. :)

First week of homeschooling

Last week was our first week of homeschooling.  It wasn't a "normal" week because we spent the afternoons helping my sister who has back problems, but we did get in almost all the subjects (missed out on science and manners).  It's still early to tell much about the curriculum I've chosen, but the Five in a Row lessons went well and Jovi really likes the reading lessons.  I had kind of planned for this, but Corbin is not always in a "lesson" mood so a few days last week we just played together which was fun too.  So far I am not excited about the Math lessons.  We've been doing colors, shapes and counting to 10 and that is with doubling up on lessons.  She's willing to do it and likes the games we do before the worksheet, but she isn't learning anything new.  I talked with someone and they said that Horizons Math starts out slow and then speeds up fast, I'd say we are ready for it to speed up.  Our Five in a Row book this week was Madeline.  We had lots of fun learning about France.  Jovi is able to find France on our world wall map without help.  This doesn't translate to other maps yet, but it was her first week of working with any maps at all so I'd say it is a good start.  We put together a notebook with all the things we learned last week using lots of cute minibooks from Homeschoolshare so she will have a way to review her lessons.  I'll try to take a picture of it and next week's notebook to give you an idea of what we are doing.  On Friday we went to la Madeline for lunch, Jovi was very excited to find out that croissants were French and had a croissant peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

We read The Little Rabbit (Pictureback(R)) for Corbin's Before Five in a Row lesson.  A very cute book.  It is about a little girl who gets a pet rabbit.  We talked about baby animals ,colors, pets and on Thursday went and got the kids their very own own pets.  Two beta fish in their own PLASTIC bowls (our last beta died when its pretty glass bowl was accidentally pushed off the counter and shattered, very sad).  I wanted to get goldfish, but they apparently need very large tanks and a filter.  This is not what I remember as a child who had feeder goldfish as pets.  They lived in a normal fishbowl and seemed to do just fine, but I guess betas are just as good and they are very easy to take care of.  The kids were SO excited.  Jovi named her fish Rainbow Rose.




Corbin named his fish Blue Fish. We got our last beta fish when Jovi was two and she named it Blue so I think it is an age thing. Kids this age are just really literal, it's funny.




I'm not planning on taking them to restaurants and getting them pets regularly or anything, but I thought we should do a few special things for our first week.  It's been fun and we look forward to next week.

Favorite Color

Jovi's favorite colors are purple, pink and rainbow (in that order).  These were developed over time with no conscious push towards a specific color on the part of the adults that surrounded her.  My best guess is that they came about because we DID buy Disney princess stuff for her and she has always liked "girl" stuff. 

This contrasts strongly with Corbin's favorite color experience.  Corbin didn't get a choice.  About 6 or so months ago Jovi realized that blue is a boy color and so when getting breakfast, Jovi would inform us that Corbin needed the blue bowl.  When getting drinks she would let us know that Corbin would prefer the blue cup.  When choosing things Jovi would give Corbin the blue item saying, "Blue is for boys, you like blue right?".  It was a well thought out and executed campaign.  It didn't take long for Corbin to catch on and blue became the first color he could consistently name.  It is also his "favorite" color and he likes everything that is blue and if it is blue it should be his.  I think it is SO funny how these things develop.  I wonder if this will be his favorite color forever or if it will change when he gets older and has a bit more freedom to choose.  It will be interesting to watch and see.