kindergarten...

....  homeschooling is something I've always been open to.  Since Emory won't be 5 until October, yet has been pining away to begin school, we've decided to do kindergarten at home this year.  If it goes well, we'll do first grade at home next year.  If this is a bust, she'll go to kindergarten at a local classical school.

    So far so good.  The first week was really, really hard.  Emory does well, very well.  Ethan has been harder to occupy while I teach Emory, while Ella Margaret either sleeps or is content to be held.  I was fairly discouraged until Emory's first soccer practice when I got to chat with a mom who is on her second year of homeschooling and has children the same age as mine, with one extra thrown in there.  Our educational approach is very similar (I'm doing a blend of classical and Montessori) and she had some good ideas that have worked well for me.

For starters, I have stopped focusing on getting school done by a certain time.  We start around the time I put the baby down for her morning nap and get started on the hardest subjects first.  This first session is about 45 minutes.  Then, I just sneak in another small session or two throughout the rest of the day.  Emory has asked that she has an art project each day, and she usually completes that while I make supper.  So far, this system has worked far better. 

I've doing weekly thematic units, and I am planning my own curriculum which is a lot of fun but very time consuming as well.  If I teach Emory at home next year, we'll definately be purchasing a curriculum.  Here is a photo of my little scholar hard at work...

Comments

Yay! Glad to hear it's going well. Keep expecting to be flexible and make changes as EM gets older this year and Ethan learns to better entertain himself.
Rachel said…
That's awesome! You sound like you're doing a much more thorough job than me. I just fit it in on days that it works in! I'm using this last year of "youngness" to my advantage. :)

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