Homeschool – Day 1

So, here we are on day 1 and we survived. Go, us!

I’ve had quarterly meetings for the past 2 days which means I was stuck in an office in Brentwood from sun up til sun down. Hubby has held down the fort for the past couple of days but it was mainly just an attempt to get her into the routine of doing something along the lines of homeschool. They did some reading and worksheets and puzzles.

Today we started Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool. This was the best solution I could find until I have time to sort out all of the other comprehensive curriculum choices. In fact, this alone is a pretty decent program and it’s free. Score! It addresses Language/Reading, Math, Bible, History, Science, and Arts on a daily basis. We started on Day 1 of First Year (Math & Language/Reading) and Day 1 of Year 1 (Bible, Science, History, Art).

It took us about 3 hours to get through the material today. That was a little more time than I think it should have taken but we are in a major adjustment period. All of the instructions are given online and it takes you to various links on the web to complete your assignments. For a Montessori kid, that’s not the norm. However, one of her favorite activities from today was this online sound mixer for nature sounds.

As I suspected, she loves the big rug in our homeschool room and was very eager to complete any print outs sitting on the floor with her clip board. Tomorrow I may try putting the laptop in the floor too.

The other reason that homeschool took a little longer was because we had several “friends” join us today. They all needed books and occasionally had to have nap time and snacks. While it was a bit of an inconvenience I really didn’t mind because she was using her imagination.

I’m hoping that in time she will continue to get more efficient and independent at doing her school work. For now, I’m making the investment to teach her and train her and it’s a good feeling indeed. I anticipate that sit down work should take about 2 hours. I plan to make up the other 2 hours through real-life experience (playing, cooking, cleaning, traveling, extra-curricular activities, ect). When it was all said and done, we gave a big high 5 because we did it!

But then the real work began of me trying to get my job done while keeping the little girl entertained. It wasn’t super easy but it wasn’t difficult either. I managed to work for 4 hours today and she only watched TV for 1.5 hours of that. It may not sound like it to others, but I’m considering that a win for the home team and a successful day of homeschool.

And then I got this sweet little note that read, “Mom – Sorry I was so annoying today. I’m new to homeschool.” Bless her precious little soul. She makes me melt. Tonight she told me, “Don’t tell anyone else but I think I like homeschool more than regular school.” THIS right here is the reason we are homeschooling. Because I adore her sweet little spirit and don’t often get to see it or experience it because public school makes her so grumpy. I definitely think we are on the right track. 😉