We took our first official stab at homeschooling today.
I thought we would pilot our schedule and see how it feels. We have a list of WCS resources we can use, so for right now I decided to use those for Math, Coding, and Typing. I’m adding in Writing, with a page of prompts to choose from that will change each week, and a different fun activity that the boys can do each day for Science/Art (thank you, Pinterest!!!). The first block will be Writing and Rotations (Math, Coding M/W/F or Typing T/TH, and Mommy and Me Time for each boy). After the first block, it will be time for outside play, lunch, chores, and quiet time with tablets. Afterwards, we’ll finish up the homeschooling day with the second block, a Science/Art activity. (Over planning is a manifestation of my anxiety…still I’m grateful for what I feel like have been Holy Spirit downloads of creativity in homeschool lesson planning.)
Aside from Jonas and Roman getting into a fight while writing in their journals, during which I literally had to body block Jonas to keep him from hurting Roman for throwing a pencil at his head because Jonas made a snide remark about his writing and send Roman to his room for throwing a pencil at Jonas’ head and overreacting himself into a meltdown…we had a pretty decent first block. HaHa! During our Mommy and Me Time, Roman and I sorted his Pokemon cards (a boy after his mother’s heart), Xander and I played Forbidden Dessert (I’m glad he knows how to play that game and can explain it to me because I have no idea…it’s so complicated) and baked a cake (mix), and Jonas and I built towers with wooden dominoes and played several rounds of Jenga (Jonas dominated, of course).
For outside play, we went on a bear hunt around the neighborhood which was really fun. A mom in our neighborhood encouraged everyone to put bears in their windows for kids to find and count on bear hunt walks…such a great idea. There are several other neighborhoods in Nolensville participating now…I love our little town. Roman hung back and rescued worms, Xander ran ahead and recorded the number of bears and their addresses in a little notebook, and Jonas walked with Petra and helped me look for any bears that Xander might have missed. We only made it around the back part of our neighborhood because Roman took off through the woods to put the worms he rescued in our garden.
During our second block, we made peanut-free bird feeders out of empty toilet paper rolls, soy butter, and cheerios. It kind of made a big mess, but oh well. (I think it ended up being a good thing that the honey was solidified and we couldn’t add that to our concoctions.) It was fun to do, and I’m hoping the birds will appreciate it.
