September Homeschooling

After we got through a few bumps in the road the first couple weeks of homeschooling, this year has really shaped up in some pretty neat ways. Instead of having to worry about tending two little ones plus teaching, I have actually been able to include all three kids in quite a few of the activities we do daily. While Hadley and Reid aren't doing much in the way of adding and subtracting or reading yet, they definitely can take part in the Bible lessons and art projects we find ourselves getting into. When it's time for story time, they're all ready to pile up beside me or on my lap to listen to whatever book Mommy's got for the day as well. It's nice to feel like we're all moving in a common direction at least for part of the day instead of just doing our own thing. 

This craft was good for everybody, providing a little fine motor practice that they all could use. For Hadley, it also allowed us to work towards the goal of helping her learn how to spell her name. 

Reid just loved the glue!

Learning to hold scissors the right way for cutting...practice makes perfect.

One of the resources we've been using for Bible is the Horizons preschool book. I've been very impressed with how deep some of the concepts are and how wonderfully they simplify them for the kids. The craft in the picture involved letting the kids create a picture of what they though heaven would be like. 

Reid and Caleb didn't have the workbook page to use as a base like Hadley did, but they had fun making their own pictures of heaven anyway - especially adding the glitter and cotton balls. 

Caleb doesn't mind stepping back from some of his work to go along with and help me introduce a few preschool concepts either. Sometimes this keeps us balanced actually and reminds me that even though he is moving ahead quickly academically, he is still six and enjoys a lot of active creative play incorporated in the learning activities just like the little ones.

Kinesthetic learning!

One of the great parts about homeschooling is watching the learning trickle down from older siblings to the younger ones. Caleb's reading skills really took off over the past year and now he's able to sit down with a book and read his siblings a story. Though they don't sit still a ton and do much of this, Reid and Hadley definitely enjoy it when big brother takes the time to give them a bit of his time to dig into a story together.

Plenty of time was spent with Caleb doing individualized school work as well focused at his grade level. We are doing McRuffy for reading and Saxon Math again, so we picked up where we left off. For science, we decided to finish up our Apologia Astronomy book before moving on to studying animals, but we've been more laid back with that, doing things here and there at our own pace as it fits in our schedule.

For our unit on stars and constellations, Caleb and Dave made their own planetarium using a cardboard box, flashlight, and our basement office (since there are no windows in there).

Ready to test it out.

Hadley's learning isn't nearly as time consuming or structured as Caleb's usually since she is younger. We started with a program I purchased from a friend called Horizons Preschool that has everything from pre-reading to physical education. It provides opportunities to practice basic math, social studies skills, art, and most importantly Bible.We were pretty consistent with keeping up with the program at the beginning of the year, not doing it every day but often. However, we dwindled a bit over time and have been more about impromptu learning lately.

This puzzle we found one day at Grandma Nora Ann's house was an easy way to get in some counting practice in a fun way.

One of the things I tried to carry over from last year and be a bit more purposeful about at the beginning of this year was including "specials" like music, P.E., art, and library into our schedule regularly. The second week of school we even made it to the library for story time, which we haven't done since the fall of last year since it always seemed like one of the kids was acting crazy every time we went. Things went much smoother this time around though and both the littler ones really enjoyed it. While we didn't go to any more story times in September, we did go back to the library a couple more times to pick out a few books and movies to enjoy at home. The kids love to choose their own and they're pretty predictable. Caleb heads straight to the Easy Reader nonfiction section, Hadley picks whatever girlie thing catches her eye, and Reid looks for something with a dinosaur or monster on the cover.

For P.E. both Hadley and Caleb played t-ball this fall, which you'll hear more about in an upcoming post. Hadley also is enrolled in a Saturday morning ballet class, which is a great place for her to spend time with other little girls, get in some exercise, and develop good listening skills as she follows her dance instructors' directions.

Sometimes our "specials" aren't the typical ones you might find in the schedule of a public school day. It may just be a trip to the park or taking in a play somewhere. One day we just went up to my grandparents and spent a portion of the day back on the hill watching and feeding the cattle. We didn't finish all the book work I'd planned for that day, but I'm trying to be more flexible with that and be more well rounded in our learning experiences. Books are wonderful things, but days spent observing are great opportunities for growth too.

 

 

 

And, time spent being taught and nurtured by grandparents is a priceless gift I won't be able to replicate in any other form. The kids especially love days spent at NaNa's and Granny's, and I'm glad we can just pick up our work and take it with us, visiting and savoring quality time as we go.

As far as co-ops go, I really debated whether or not to join HEARTH again this year like we did last. It was really difficult to manage a lot of the field trips by myself with all three of my kids being so young and almost all of their activities were held right in the middle of my younger two's nap time, which meant I had cranky kiddos if I did attempt to attend. This year though, they decided to restructure and not do field trips every week. The goal instead is to have one P.E. day, two classroom days, and one field trip each month. This new schedule alone made me think that this was going to be much more doable, and since Hadley and Reid began to give up naps over the summer and early fall, we really have been able to attend so much more than I originally envisioned.

The first week we did an ice cream social and play date at Rockland Park.

The following meeting was a P.E. field day at the park on Criser Road.

The kids would have been satisfied just playing on the playground the whole time if we'd let them.

There are a lot more younger kids this year than last when we were pretty much the only ones in our age bracket. This is much better for socialization but also for activities like this where the kids are placed in groups with peers much more similar in ability level.

Field day was rough for Caleb. He hates getting wet and chose to sit out for the water balloon activity. He was none to happy Mommy made him participate in this activity either. We are working on it. :)

And, the third week we met at the library for a classroom day focused on learning about Johnny Appleseed. 

After watching a video about Johnny, the older and younger kids split into two groups for their lessons. Mrs. Jacob, who is the children's librarian and a fellow homeschooling mom, read my guys a book about Johnny.

The younger kids did a fine motor apple craft.

While the older ones practiced drawing a bowl of apples. Caleb was supposed to be in the younger group but thought the older group's activity looked more up his alley, so we were flexible.

We missed the field trip to hike up in the national park on the following Wednesday, but so far, that's the only one we haven' t been able to make this year. I'm really glad we decided to stick with it!

Aside from HEARTH, we are participating in another mini co-op this year that a few ladies I met through MOPS and/or have done Bible studies with decided to start. Right now there are four moms who are organizing and leading the learning activities. We start out with some circle time where we have a little singing, counting, learning the days or the week, and doing story time, and then move on to a Bible lesson. Afterwards we split into groups for science and reading and then switch off before heading in to a little P.E./play time. I couldn't ask for better ladies or kids to work with and it is such a perfect fit since all of our kids are roughly in the same age ranges. I hope this is something we continue to do long term! Here are a few pics from our first meeting:

A cute bunch

Craft time

Rhyming practice

Racing

They loved the Cookie Monster game they learned.

And, that's our first full month back to the grind this year. Looking back, I'm surprised at how much we got into! More updates on October and November coming soon...