Aug. 23, 2007 - Our First Week of School
Well, our first official week of school this year is complete. It's been a good week! I am, once again, so very, very grateful for the chance to homeschool my dearest children. I am so thankful that my home is filled with their laughter and chattering all day long, all year long. I am so thankful that the littlest one doesn't have to miss out on time with the biggest one and vice versa. I am so thankful that I am the one that gets to monitor and facilitate the influences that effect my children. Teaching my children at home was a dream of mine long before I even had children and I'm so very grateful that the Lord chose to make my dream come true.
So this, our first week, we learned that the smallest muscle of the body is found in the ear, that Christopher Columbus met up with cannibals ("Mom, what's a cannibal?"
), that the Bible is very specific about not complaining and arguing, that Baby Sarah has got a winner of a smile, that Hannah knows the names of a few days of the week (she's such an eavesdropper!!!!), and a myriad of other things that all add up to home education. And you even get to have recess, in your own backyard!!!!!!
I am also so thrilled that my Kaleb (the scrumptious five year old in the picture above) is blending sounds, thus READING!!!!!! This, after me being convinced that he likely wouldn't until he was much older. I have been very satisfied with Sing, Spell, Read and Write and would still highly recommend it (this is what we used with our first schooler). Kaleb sailed through it just fine until it came to blending sounds and then, it was a very sudden STOP!!! The way they presented it simply wasn't clicking with this child. Tears and frustration ensued until finally I put it up on the shelf and cheerfully announced that we were done for now! Over the summer I sought out another method of introducing blending and found Stairway to Reading, a simple curriculum found on line. Something about it appealed to me (maybe that it's FREE!!!!) and I thought, "Well, I'll give it a try". I also had an old copy of 100 EZ Lessons, just in case! I'm so happy to say that it worked, with very little effort on either of our parts. The way that they present blending just clicked with Kaleb and the pride on his face when he sounded out and recognized his first word was priceless, absolutely priceless.
Yep, its official! Our first week of school has been a success!!!!
Comments
Aug. 23, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Rebeca
Congratulations!
Rebeca
Aug. 24, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Umm. That's mullien, although I don't know if I spelled that right. That's great that you've started school. I can't believe Kaleb is reading! Is Craig on days yet? Michelle
Aug. 25, 2007 - That's great!
Posted by SusannahCox
I love how upbeat you sound! Congratulations on a great first week! And yes, your 5yo is scrumptious. Makes me want to go hug mine.
