Day 2 In the Works

Today - day 2 of our kindergarten homeschool - has been much easier; It's been a little more chaotic, but more enjoyable for all. We started out slowly because we had initially planned to go up to the church for a few hours this morning so I could help in preparations for Fall Mission Friends, our preschool program that teaches children about missionaries. But the cold that we have all shared since Amy came down with it at the homeschool conference made me rethink our plans. Amy and Nathan are mostly coughing at this point, but this morning Alex was runny-nosed and complaining of a sore throat. I decided not to share that with all the other kids in the church childcare. So we had a leisure morning watching Scooby Doo and playing until about 10:30, at which time we did only 4 total pages of workbook exercises and then followed up with some flash cards. We took another play break and had lunch. Then a little while ago I set up the counting bears into groups ranging from 1 to 10 bears. Then I gave Alex numbered index cards and he went around and matched the index cards to the correct number of bears (thanks for the idea, Celeste!). He had a great time doing this and only got two swapped - and it was only a counting error, not a number identification error. And then I had him group them by size, and he had fun with that, too. I was so proud of him! Nathan and Amy had fun playing with the bears, as well, and now they are all in the other room pretending and making bear families. In just a few minutes, we will read our FIAR story again and do our languauge arts lesson. Then I promised to play a game.

I think today is a better representation of how I want our homeschool day to go. I don't want it to be rigidly structured and packed with workbook exercises. Yesterday, Alex told me he thought homeschooling was going to be fun, but it wasn't. And when his daddy came home and asked him what he learned, he said, "Nothing." He did remember that we read a story about a storm... It was disappointing to see that kind of response after our first day of homeschooling. But it was also a sign to me that I needed to make some changes. Today, though not a typical day with it starting out in illness, still focused more on having fun while learning. Alex amazed me as we went through the number flash cards and he identified all of them correctly.

Thank you, Celeste. Our evening of coffee and homeschool discussion was inspiring and so uplifting. You are a dear friend and I am forever grateful for your friendship and support. Let's keep those encouraging coffee nights coming! :)