homeschooling

Some people have wondered what we do for "homeschooling." Here's a little glimpse into our morning. After breakfast, we went outside and the boys & I drew in our nature journals. The boys narrated what I should write in theirs to explain their pictures. Colin drew a bird-of-paradise blossom, Nate drew a rock (there's a theme here - I think we need to rename his journal the rock journal) and I drew the trunks of our tree out front.

We came in for a drink and then Colin started working on a time worksheet (1st picture.) Nate played with some art ABC blocks and practiced recognizing his letters (the more active he can be, the more he learns I've found.) The 3rd picture shows his excitement at being able to find each letter I asked for. The last picture shows both boys playing with the blocks.

After Colin completed his time worksheet (he can tell time perfectly, as long as it's on the hour or 1/2 hour) he read the 6th book of Little Folks Phonics. His reading improves every day, as he only had to sound out 2 or 3 words. The word he stumbled over most in this book was have - since it doesn't follow the long vowel / silent "e" rule.

Colin came up with 3 clues to describe a stuffed bear and copied the clues onto paper after I wrote them out for him, and practiced reading them. He was sent home with the guessing can last week at his enrichment program, and this was part of that. Then, he took a book and did some copy work using a fairytale storybook (unprompted, on his own.)

Nate is going around the house trying to find letters to show me. He is working towards filling up his ABC chart showing that he recognizes all the letters. It's funny -- he knows the sounds that each letter makes - but he has struggled with recognizing the actual letters in print. (His vision is perfect. We just had it tested in June by a specialist. I think he just couldn't be bothered before now.)

I'm sure there will be lots of building going on for the rest of the day, and a few drawings completed. There will be dressing up in superhero and dinosaur and other costumes. We'll read a few books (Nate has a compilation of Tonka Emergency & Tonka Building Vehicle stories that he wants to get through (can't find on Amazon - it's 4 Tonka emergency stories in one, and the other is 5 building vehicle stories in one), as well as a book about the Lady of Guadalupe. Colin wants me to read a book about the Grand Canyon and a book about animal camouflage.) If Bo is home for bedtime, he'll start a new bedtime story about the boy who saved baseball, since they just finished Ralph S. Mouse. If I'm on bedtime duty, we'll continue On the Banks of Plum Creek.

So, that's our day! Lots of play, plenty of learning, definite progress being made!