A friend mentioned to me that homeschooling is a little like wading into a BIG lake. This last week we waded a little deeper - and survived our first official week of school! We had a fairly relaxed schedule, (This won't surprise anyone who knows me!) but managed to complete 4 1/2 days.

We are really enjoying our Five in a Row curriculum, which allows us to dig deeper into a living book for five days in a row. We read the story each day, then spend time doing art projects, Language Arts, history, social studies, and science activities that all relate to the story. We began with Katy and the Big Snow. The kids loved learning about snow plows, and excitedly point out any they see while we're driving around now! It was also a great story to use to teach them about responsibility, and that we don't stop working at a job until it's completed. (a good reminder for mommy as well!)

We continued in our Math-U-See program. Sawyer is constantly asking to do more math. We really like this curriculum because it is hands on. The kids use blocks to reinforce in a concrete way how numbers work together.  I am learning right along with them (hee hee!), and thankful that there is a DVD they watch that teaches them each new concept.

Our final subject is our phonics/reading curriculum. Spell to Write and Read is a fun program to use. They are both doing really well with it. Campbell is a little resistant to the writing (it teaches them cursive first, instead of printing) so we are just playing games with her right now. Sawyer is enjoying the large motor activities we're doing - writing in sand, on a large clock face taped to our school room door, etc. It's been so fun to see them making the connection between individual phonograms and putting them together to make words! We are just taking things slowly, and letting them progress as they're ready! Gracie knows the phongrams as well, just from listening to the older two, so she'll probably find the program very easy when it's her turn!

I still feel like I have no clue what I'm doing. I just try to remember that I only have to be one day ahead of them! (That means I don't have to worry about subtraction for at least two weeks!) Please pray for us as we continue on this exciting journey!