One Down, Many More to Go!

But that just means all the more fun! I do have to say that today was a learning experience... mostly for me! I thought we would focus on a couple of workbooks for review: Step Ahead's Numbers 1 to 10 and Alphabet Skills. I planned out the numbers book for only a week, thinking we could easily get through the 32 page book since it was mostly review. Then we'd spend 2 weeks on the alphabet book because it was a bit longer, though we'd still do about 6 to 8 pages a day as review. But I realized today that it takes WAY too long to do that many pages because it really isn't just review. It's been awhile since preschool, and I don't think Alex really ever had his numbers and letters completely down pat. In fact, I'd say we still have quite a bit of work to do.

Since it took so long to get through the workbook exercises, Alex was already tired (we struggled through those last couple of workbook pages!) and as a result, our Five in a Row lesson didn't go as well as it should have. I think the kids enjoyed the book. We read Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz. It was the attempt at discussing the book that we had difficulty with. Alex kept asking if we were going to do a project (which is what, thanks to a misunderstanding back when we did a little at-home preschool lessons, he thinks homeschool is all about). We did finally move on to drawing storm pictures with chalk onto black construction paper. Everyone had fun doing this - and making quite the chalky mess in the kitchen!

Of course, even though we are done with our lessons, Alex is back at drawing and cutting out, his favorite thing to do. We'll have lunch here in a little bit and then we'll play a game. And I might try to do some flash cards later on to help Alex with his numbers and letters. I would also like to read them a story from the Bible, something I had originally thought we would do as part of our Five in a Row lesson, but again, I've learned that too much is too much. We may need to break after we finish the lesson using our FIAR book and then have a related Bible lesson later in the day.

I'm thankful that homeschooling is so forgiving. I feel like with each day, it will get better and better and once we get our schedule to work for us, then we'll really be able to enjoy the whole experience. It's just hammering out the structure of our daily lessons that might take a little time. But we'll get there!





On a side note, I am proud of our nifty map for our FIAR geography lessons. There are numbered labels for each of the stories we will be reading. The kids then attach them to the map to show where the story takes place. The book recommends you attach the provided story disks, but our map is not large enough, so I just used the story disks as a key for our number labels. We have a "Land of Make Believe" spot on the map for stories taking place in made up places. I think the kids will have fun with this little introduction to geography... Just as long as I can keep Amy from running off with all our number labels!