First Day Of School

Yes, it’s a bit of an odd time to start school.

That is the beauty of homeschooling; you can adjust around what works best for your family. Here in Florida, where we are currently stationed, most 4 year olds are partaking in Pre-K for a few hours a day. If we had decided to send our daughter to school she would not have made the cut off since she turned 4 a few months after the school year began. Instead I planned to start “schooling” her myself after her 4th birthday.

Once I started looking for a teaching method as well as curriculum I was quickly overwhelmed as explained in an earlier post to this blog. My husband, the more level headed of us two, encouraged me to pick a pre-made curriculum that I felt comfortable with. I was worried I would get locked in to teaching things I may not want to. He gently reminded me I can always add and take away as I see fit. Although our daughter is Pre-K age, once I delved deeper into my search I realized she was ready for Kindergarten. As Pre-K mainly consists of colors, numbers, alphabet and shapes I was excited to find out she was well past the basic knowledge of those topics.

Not knowing how the day would go I allotted for a lot of extra time! Even that extra time quickly slipped away I am generally pleased with how the day turned out overall.

6-7Breakfast, Devotions and Get Dad off to work.
7-9 I blocked off these two hours for exercise and play.
9-10 Bath’s and clean up
10-11 Memory verse review, phonics/handwriting, math
11-1 Naps for all!!
1-1:30 Snack
2-3:30 Science, History and Art
3:30-4 clean the house/work on dinner

This is how today went. I prefer to work on school a bit more in the morning. However, the 2 hours blocked off for exercise my friend and I rotated watching the kids and went on 3 mile runs. The weather wasn’t that great so it took a bit longer to switch off than expected. It’s still a work in process and I’m sure all the kinks will be ironed out in a few weeks.

I have always prided myself that my time in the Army taught me to be and expert organizer; but the aesthetics of today were certainly a challenge!

I am so proud of my little girl’s performance today! She loves to learn and picks things up very quick! I was a bit worried that the Kindergarten curriculum would move to fast for her so I am taking it very slow. It has been a breeze so far! I know tougher times are yet to come because once I touched on something a bit challenging her frustration level went through the roof. Is this normal for kids when they learn something new? I suppose time will tell. If you would like to comment or share your own experiences I’d love to hear them.