Homeschool: Week One

Week one of homeschool is in the books! What a week!! 

Bright and early on Monday morning we began. I woke Jonah up around 7:45 and he did his morning chores (make the bed, get dressed and brush teeth), then we did our devotion and prayer together to start the day headed in the right direction. 

From 8-9am we worked on Language Arts lessons, then stopped for breakfast. Since it was our first day I decorated and the kids had bacon and cinnamon rolls! 

After breakfast we sat around the table and Jonah completed his handwriting practice sheets and we began listening to The Courage of Sarah Noble (history!). The kids played for a bit, we had lunch together and then once Sutton was down for her nap Jonah and I went on a nature walk and documented our findings in his nature journal (science!). 

As the week progressed I began to get a feel for how long each subject lesson should take- and how long he can sit and pay attention. He seems to love listening to the books while practicing handwriting! Overall our school day is right around 1.5/2hrs long depending on how many lessons we complete. 

We finished up The Courage of Sarah Noble on Wednesday and began Captain John Smith. I was pleased that as we began listening Jonah  put together the timeline of events and noted that Sarah lived after John- which is correct! Also, he has made significant progress in sound words out this first week and I absolutely feel that’s a result of the phonics we’re practicing daily! It was so nice to see small glimpses of learning and his excitement (he cheered for himself- he’s been mixing up “well” and “will” while reading out loud and he totally nailed it on Wednesday!). Also cute- he drew this boat when we began listening to John Smith (he’s paying attention while working on handwriting!). 

I feel great. And proud. I’m aware there will be hard days, and hard weeks but this first one is under our belt and it’s been WONDERFUL! I’m excited and full of hope for our year together.... and surviving on coffee and colored markers! 

We’re currently learning the Christian Pledge- and our first memory work is Deuteronomy 6:5-7: 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sold and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall TEACH them diligently to your children, and shall y’all of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you rise.” 

I’m incredibly thankful for the best first week of homeschool!! Every day is a GIFT! 

School Prep

Guys. I’ve been having the best time researching and prepping for Jonah’s school year. His curriculum arrived a couple of week ago and we (verrrry gently) eased into doing a few lessons together each day. Really casually. Nothing structured. First, I wanted to gauge the material and see how I liked it, see how the lessons were laid out and also get a feel for the length of them and really most importantly- how Jonah feels about it. He loves it! I love it.  

For the most part The Good and The Beautiful is open and go. It’s divided into Languages Arts (grammar, phonics, spelling, etc), Math and Handwriting. They have science units I plan to introduce later in our year. For now we will explore science thru life lessons. Jonah’s super into American History right now- so I plan to capitalize on that and have been researching great living books that coordinate with US History. 

On that note- we are beginning with The Courage of Sarah Noble tomorrow and I’ve been having the most fun researching other read aloud books. It really seems to have sparked something within me (I used to be the biggest bookworm before I had Jonah and got away from reading- I miss it!). 

Honestly I’m just so excited. This is my initial plan for what our daily schedule will look like, of course it’s likely to change- but that’s the beauty of homeschool! It’s okay to be flexible. So, I’m planning to begin our homeschool day with morning chores (my friend Sherah sent me the coolest family economy system), sit down for language arts lessons, then break for breakfast/morning time around the table once Sutton wakes up (maybe insert a break to ride bikes or go on a nature walk after breakfast) then math lesson, handwriting and finish up with some memory work. My goal is to be completely finished with schoolwork/lessons by lunch-time each day. I’m eager to see what rhythm we actually fall into- and what ends up working best for us. 

Jonah requested cinnamon rolls and bacon for our annual back to school breakfast tomorrow- we will be celebrating our new adventure!! I’m praying for the Lord to guide us and bless this time we have together on our homeschool journey. I’m certain every day won’t be a piece of cake but my attitude is EVERYTHING. Time is a gift. Time with my children is certainly a gift. I’m going to do my best to roll with it and try to remember why we chose this! 

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I snagged the cutest back to school pjs for the kiddos and they LOVE them. I’m surprising them with the personalized crayons at breakfast tomorrow and can’t hardly wait!