I have always thought about homeschooling my kids. I was born to teach, I love it! I always say that it is just in my blood. It isn't uncommon for me to randomly wake up in the night with a neat learning activity or game for the kids. Or to be so excited about doing something school related with them that I cant fall asleep. Think that is weird? That is okay, so does Daniel. If I am willing to teach 22 kids that aren't my own, then why not teach my own someday? There are a lot of reasons I want to home school other than my passion for teaching but having a passion definitely helps.
I went go back and fourth on the issue, though there was mostly a yes in my heart to do so. It is a big decision and so many things to consider and I know it isn't for everyone. As Joshua gets closer and closer to starting Kindergarten the fact that we really need to decide is getting more real. I decided to really be intentional this year about doing school with him at home. Since he was about 18 months we have always done stuff according to his level and interest and of course that just came naturally with Kayla. But this year we are going to be a little more scheduled and intentional about it and see how it goes. We will just continue this trend and if we all like it and it works for us as the kids get older then we will keep at it. If not, then we will consider our other options for school. We have so many great schools to choose from around here so we are open to whatever God leads us. And if homeschooling does work out for us, there is a huge home school community where we live so that will be helpful.
So far we are all enjoying schooling. We have school 3 days a week and I split it up into about 3 short sessions a day. To say that Joshua loves it is an understatement. He has always loved learning new things and picks up on new concepts incredibly fast. He truly makes teaching easy. Kayla is enjoying it as well. We usually do 2 of our teaching sessions when she is awake and then I try to squeeze one in right when he gets up from nap before I get Kayla up. Kayla will usually sit with us for most lessons even though it is above her level. Of course I include her by pointing out things she is leaning too (colors and shapes etc). Her favorite lesson to sit through is math. You can tell she just feels like a big kid. And she is always up for craft time.
When Joshua is outside playing and I call him in for school he never argues or complains. Even when he is playing with friends. He has two neighborhood friends who just started kindergarten and another one in preschool. I thought he would want to go to school instead of doing it at home and he hasn't brought that up at all. In fact, he even tells me he likes doing it at home.
I know I am bias but he is so smart! We are doing a lot of kindergarten work and he is mastering it without any issues. We have started phonics and he will seriously be reading in no time. He is already starting to sound out simple words and word family words. Sometimes when I tell him, "okay, we are done now" he will say, "no I want to do more school." I often find Kayla and Joshua "teaching" each other. It is so cute. They take turns doing stuff in their notebooks. Kayla likes to teach Joshua about "going to church."
Something interesting is that Joshua loves doing worksheets. SSHHH, don't tell any of my college professors that. He is so much more interested in the worksheets than the fun hands on activities/games I plan.
We love the flexibility of being able to do school outside and so do the kids. They often choose to have school on the front porch. Here they are driving their cars on the R road we made for the letter R.
Painting his first rainbow for the letter R and Noah's Ark. Love integrating more than one subject into a lesson.
Watching an alphabet video.
Working on their self portrait and All about Me books.
Another perk is we can invite the neighbor kids over to join us if we want. Here they are making Cheerio necklaces for the letter N (circles for Kayla).
Kayla munching on her necklace.
Joshua's cutest classmate :) Until Levi grows out of eating
books, he doesnt count as a classmate.
Working hard.
On this particular day when I told Joshua that we were going to have school time he hugged my leg and told me, "I love school!" Then when we were done he whined saying, "I want to do more school" so he did some of the next days work.
Not to long ago he discovered notebooks and has become obsessed with them. He is always writing and drawing in one. I love it!
One day he wrote "Jojo" and asked me what is spelled. When I read it with the short O sound so it would read like his nickname Kayla gave him and he was so tickled and that is all he would write for a while.
Loves making pizza's.
And tracing his hand.
I love his "E."
He asked me how to spell Pharaoh.
A dino!
Working on our 6 and 9's.
I am really having a blast with this homeschooling stuff so far! One of the best things about being a teacher is seeing the students progress and it has been so much more amazing since my students are my kiddies!
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