This Homeschool Thing

We have just about completed four full weeks of homeschool. And, I've got to say, it's been pretty darn good.

Not all of our days have been perfect, but I think if you ask any school teacher anywhere they will say the same.

Some of the things I am enjoying the most so far are:
~flexibility: I have pregnancy-related doctor appointments and these often involve long waits. So, we pack up our read-alouds, some handwriting and a few other things to keep the kids occupied and learning while we wait. We also started back up at the mom's group I attend and on those days we do school after lunch OR we will do a little extra work the day before and the day after. **I think the first 2 weeks I was very rigid on doing Week one, Day 1 on THAT DAY, and I didn't allow myself to be flexible. It has been very much a learning experience for me as well.

~Sisterly-love: The three girls have always had close relationships, and these relationships certainly seem to be blossoming. If I send Anne to school half the day I know Anne would have entered a world that Abbey could not enter and therefore they would begin that gradual drift in relationship. In fact, this year they are in the same class during SMILE (my mom's group) and when the kids went around and introduced themselves and told their ages Anne said, "This is my sister Abbey and I'm so glad she's here!" and hugged her tight.

~Extra learning opportunities: Today Anne is helping Trent plant a tree and will learn to care for it. The kids all get to come to my appointments and hear the baby's heartbeat. Last week the doctor even let Anne use the Doppler to listen to her own heart and to hear how much slower it sounds than the baby's. I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure most Kindergarteners aren't learning about Ancient Rome and Egyptians, or sediment and igneous rocks, or the Earth's rotation. We have an amazing opportunity to teach these kids really great information AND from a Christian worldview.

I'm sure there are more things, but I'm being called to inspect Anne's maple tree. I'm sure I still have lots to learn on the teaching and flexibility end, but so far we are all loving it. We also decided to place Abbey in Kindergarten along with Anne since she was accomplishing the same tasks as Anne and was thriving on learning more and new information. I definitely do some altering to make things harder for Anne as she is advanced in some of our subject areas. Abbey is determined to learn to read and has made quite a bit of progress in the past four weeks. In fact, just yesterday I spelled a word at the table and she figured it out. :)  I believe I said, "Someone needs an N-A-P." And she chimed in, "Nap!" Maggie needs a nap!"