Under Our Belts

Well, we did it!  We got our first full week of homeschooling under our belts.  TS 1 & 2 got their feet wet with all of the curricula this week.  The schedule I worked on for so long seems to be working very well, requiring only a few tweaks so far.  Both TS 1 and TS 2 have had good attitudes so far.  When a bad attitude has made a brief appearance, I've been able to curtail it with a reminder of how much more time was spent working at school and on homework as well as a reminder that any work that is not finished not will have to be finished later thereby delaying "media time" and/or the playground after school.

Since most of the work right now is review, we are finishing much more quickly than I anticipated.  The extra time we have is being dedicated to PE :) That is, running around outside, playing catch, going for walks. As the weather turns colder, we will use any extra time during the day for enrichment activities in art and music.

For those who are curious about the nitty gritty, here is sample of our days, Monday through Thursday.  The order of subjects does change from day to day and some subjects only happen twice a week so this is just a sample:

Bible
Math
Spanish (twice a week)
Snack/Recess
History and Geography
Literature
Keyboarding TS 1 (twice a week)
Handwriting TS 2
Grammar
Phonics TS 2
Lunch/Recess
Composition
Science (in the evenings with dad twice a week)

Friday was our first co-op day and by then we were ALL looking forward to some time out of the house. The night before TS 2 was anxious about what it would be like and had trouble falling asleep.  The morning of was a bit stressful making sure all three kids had what they needed for the day and getting us all out the door on time.  You would think I've never gotten three kids off to school before!

Once we got there and the day started though, it was wonderful!  Every time I saw the boys in the halls, they had big smiles on their faces.  There were many familiar faces there from church.  We have also had two playdates with a local homeschooling family and they attend co-op as well.  That really helped the transition for both TS 1 & 2 as each had a friend to look forward to seeing at co-op.

We wrapped up the week with a playdate at a local park with a homeschooling group.  Most of these families do not attend co-op so it was new friends for us.  I look forward to getting to know these families better.

RA continues to love Kindergarten as I knew she would!  She has an incredible teacher, the same one TS 2 had when he was in Kindergarten and it is so much fun "redoing Kindergarten" with her :)  I am also grateful for the connection we are able to maintain with the school since RA is still a student.  We are looking forward to a family social event at the school next Friday!

How was your first full week of school/homeschool?