Two Weeks of Homeschooling

Well, we are just finishing our second week of homeschooling and I thought I'd update you all with a report.

I LOVE IT.

Now that I am getting into the swing of things, I am really having a blast. I still need to get a bit better organized (such is the story of my life) but it is such fun! Well, kindergarten is at least.

I love that when we were working on letters this week, I showed Abby that if you flip over a "b," it makes a "d." That "j's" are just an "i" with a tail. That a "M" is an upside-down "W." Abby's eyes were huge, like I had just imparted the secrets of the universe.

I am extremely intimidated by the fact my child is brilliant at math. I am okay now, but what in the world am I going to do when she gets older? Joel should start saving up for the phone bills, because right now my plan is to just make her call my mom!

The main question anyone has asked me, is how is my supremely social butterfly going to deal with not having a large class of friends every day? And so far, she's doing great! She is reveling in having all the one-on-one time with Mommy. She is so proud of homeschooling that she goes around telling everyone, "I go to homeschool." She is loving learning, and that's what it should all be about.

And when we need more social groups, there are tons of homeschoolers in our area. I have joined one local association, and plan to join a second one (if I could find the paperwork). They organize local playgroups for the younger age kids. I do plan to be active in those groups, but it is just so durn hot outside right now.

What in the world do we do in homeschool? Well, if you're interested in our curriculum plan, you can check that on our blog under "Homeschool Resources." We completed the letter "S" unit yesterday, and started the "M" unit today. All of our "schoolwork" last about 2 or so hours, then lunch and nap, and then onto fun! Abby does ballet and has started guitar. On Thursdays, Lily has ballet and so is home from preschool, so that is our designated field trip day. Last week we went to the Exploreum in Mobile and watched the movie about the Hubble telescope and about all of the pictures it has taken of space (which goes with our Sun and Moon units).

But, let's talk about what we don't do. Hmmm, that would be everything else. For the past few weeks, I have been needing that afternoon nap maybe more than the kids do. My plan to "work" while they nap hasn't really happened so far. I have various little projects lying around my bedroom in piles and they wouldn't take that long if I actually had time to sit down and do them. By the time the girls are in bed asleep (and they have been going to bed a full hour earlier, so I KNOW they are tired!) my brain is fried, so getting anything that requires mental capacity isn't going to happen then either. I am getting errands done, and actually folded laundry while Abby did her worksheets, so that's some progress I guess! And it will all eventually settle down and we'll get into a routine.

 So, here are some pictures of our first few weeks of school.


Abby's first day of kindergarten

Writing our letter and number of the day on the board

Working with our Cuisinaire Rods

Showing off her work

And here are some of our outside activities.

My girl- sitting there like she was born with that guitar in her hand!

Ballet class- with the added "please stop taking my picture" look.

Lily joins us on Thursdays so she can take her ballet class. 

Not that you can see it, but here she's got that "I am too cool to be doing THAT" face on. Priceless.

Here is the funny story behind this picture. My sister and I used to turn our backs to the camera so my mom couldn't take our pictures. To retaliate, she'd take them of our backsides. I am so proud that Lily is going to carry on the Smith family tradition. And she's got such a cute little tush anyway!

We've also already been on our first field trip, but ummm, I forgot to take the camera. Oops.

Yes, I've been MIA . . .

So, I've finally made myself sit down and work on this durn blog.

I've been debating what to do about this blog, and didn't really like the idea of quitting. I've been doing this blog for far too long now to want to give it up! But keeping it updated every month became such a royal chore and really took far too long. It's really not about the writing, exactly, (we all know I can talk with the best of them), but coming up with what to say, and also dealing with the pictures. That process literally began to take all day long. And I don't have that kind of time anymore!

Another interesting thing has begun to happen lately - I've had ideas to write about but no real place to do it. This blog really wasn't set up for typical random blog musings, but as a monthly email update! I think I've gotten bored with that format. And with Facebook, I keep up with most of you on a daily basis, and heck, some of you I'm even seeing on a daily/weekly basis since I'm back in the US. Writing a monthly "this is what we did this month" email seems a little redundant. Maybe we'll get back to that when we're back overseas.

In the meantime, I'm going to start branching out with this blog and adding new things. Time to bring this blog into a new era, I guess! You can already see that I've changed the layout and it looks so much prettier!  :) I will start writing about things in our life - our Foreign Service "life", our new adventure into homeschooling, random cuteness of our kids, and just whatever thoughts I need to put on paper and get out of my head. I will still add pictures, but not as often and not as many. It just takes too long.