Lovin' the Homeschooling Life!

Today was the first day of school. On Mondays I get to be with my kids all morning before going to work in the afternoon/evening. Neither one of them went to bed easily last night so I let them sleep in this morning. While other parents in Arbuckle Creek were fighting their children in their semi-exhausted states (the bus comes by at 6:40 AM!!!), I let them sleep in. When they woke up, they were happy children, ready to learn. This morning we spent an hour on spirituality which is actually a year's study on how to listen to God. They loved it and it incorporated other parts of our curriculum too like reading and art. Sometimes it will even include writing. I never expected to see my 6 year old reading a Bible, but she picked up The Growing Readers Phonics Bible and started reading the first story -- part 1 of creation. She liked it so much she kept reading. "Just for fun" she read through the story of Noah and the Ark. Way cool! Then I spent time on math with my 3rd grader, grammar with my 1st grader, handwriting with both of them, and they each got to start a science project: watching the feeding habits of the many birds behind our house. We have a bunch of cranes, herons, and other cool birds, some of which are endangered so it's fascinating to watch them feast every morning on fish and mosquitoes. Occasionally I'll even see a morning hawk or owl pick up a mouse and fly off.

There's still much more to cover, but there's no rush. We'll move at the pace we're ready for. I wasn't sure how this was going to go -- I'm a planner by nature and couldn't imagine not "getting it all done" each day, but I can see now that you can't plan it that easily. There will be days when math takes five minutes and other days we'll need to spend an hour on it. There will be days when the spelling words are simple and other days when we have to "unlearn" a wrong spelling in our heads. There will be days when art is coloring and other days when it is designing. And so my goal is to just "go with the flow" paying attention to their moods, etc.

This afternoon they go back to cheerleading with their team so I'll make a mark by "P.E." Tonight we'll read a book together. Wednesday we're going to watch a play at the little theatre (visual arts) and Friday the Caladium Festival will be coming to town in our locality so we'll learn about caladiums (science -- they're BEAUTIFUL leafy plants if you're not familiar with them) and observe the local artists (again, visual arts.)

I'm beginning to see that the possibilities are endless and I'm looking forward to their endless curiosity. In the meantime, they're supposed to be "resting" right now and I hear giggling. Hmmm . . . we may have to study the cultural practice of "siesta" in other countries . . .

And this is the news from Arbuckle Creek where all the women drive golf carts, the men are blatant carnivores (EAT MORE BEEF!) and the children watch for alligators in their backyards.