First day of School

Sophia jut had to tag along ( :

By now you probably all realize that John and I are crazy educational elitists who feel that the only way our children are going to get a thorough, proper education is for us to do it ourselves. ( : We embarked on a new adventure this year, delving into a more regimented educational routine. Christopher is not technically old enough for kindergarten, but we felt he was ready for most of the academic fundamentals of it.

So, Monday we had a "First day of School". We had letter pancakes for breakfast and donned backpacks filled with new school supplies (and a couple treats) and went for a short walk- to our school. The children walked down the sidewalk to the street, then to the mailbox, and back home. They got a kick out of it and couldn't wait to get started that morning. We've been working in the living room, but I think a more appropriate place would be the toyroom, after we get it cleaned up again ( ; It has more toy learning stations for the very littles, and all of our craft supplies and storage of extra homeschool supplies.

For curriculum we have been using a mix: Saxon math for the hard core stuff- did 3 lessons this week, math manipulatives from them for playing, Ordinary parents guide to teaching reading- did 6 lessons this week, Sing, Spell Read and Write for a different language arts approach- did about 8 pages- he really likes this, and Bob books readers. We also had a story from the literature section of Hirsch's What every kindergartener should know and have been starting the day with a couple songs at the piano. We are aiming for 4 days a week, but today I was just frazzled so we only did about half the work we usually would. It's nice to have that flexibility and know he is still learning so much! Theodore just hangs around, doing workbook pages and playing with math toys or trains. This week wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be, although I am looking forward to getting out more as soon as I can.