Journal of a Homeschool Mama

[RedBedHead]

Noah wanted to start school today so we did. I guess boredom just got the best of him. He wanted to do math flashcards . I'm not big on flashcards but we did it since he asked. We're planning to do a little bit of Spanish after lunch and then we'll call it a day.
In NC we have to name homeschools. Ours is Watershed Academy. A watershed is generally two or more bodies of water coming together. We named our school ,together, symbolic of the parent and child coming together to form something big. This is an awesome adventure for us.
I do have to admit that I have to find a decent balance. Cameron washed her hair with hand soap while I was working with Noah. I need to get an activity basket pulled together for her to use in the same room with us while I'm working with Noah.

[jana]

How exciting! I love your homeschool's name. I'd like to come up with something for ours, but I don't have any good ideas yet. I have plenty of time, though!

Lol at Cameron's hair washing. I bet she was pretty proud of herself!

[KeelyKay]

How exciting . I'm sure C would like to learn too. Giving her an activity basket sounds like a great idea!

[RedBedHead]

I found an awesome website this afternoon. Bigmathtime.com. It's awesome. It generates a lesson for your child and takes some time to assess the level that your child is at. Your child does his/her math each day on the computer and after they finish the lesson they get to play a game. You can also set the amount of problems. I chose 50 and Noah did them without much complaining at all. He actually had a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, it only goes through 4th grade.
Jana, I like the name too. It also describes how I feel about homeschooling in general. We're using a variety of materials and a variety of philosophies as well. Watershed just made perfect sense.
Keely, I can't say that the idea was mine. You're right, it is a good one.
We're done for the day. We did math, Spanish, and handwriting. I won't start Spelling until August. History and geography I'll wait on until our scheduled first day (July 16). Science is an everyday thing at my house, lol.

[Csara]

Wow - very exciting! I look forward to hearing more about your adventure. My DH recently expressed an interest in homeschooling, but I honestly don't think we/I'd be able to balance everything. Kudos to you!

[RedBedHead]

I thought the same thing C. Then, after I thought about it, I realized...I taught this kid how to talk, walk, tie his shoes, ride a bike, use the potty, etc. BUT, it certainly isn't for everyone and may only be for us for a short time. I'm just going to take it a year at the time.

[RedBedHead]

Monday is the official first day. We really haven't done much since that day last week. I just have to tell you guys that everything is coming together nicely.
His teacher from last year ran into us this week and happened to have an interest profile that she did for Noah earlier in the school year. It goes into all of his interests and then calculates what type of learner he is. I found out that Noah is a visual learner (which I knew) but that he also has a lot of kinesthetic tendencies (can't sit still). So, he and I are going Walmartin (in verb tense, lol) as soon as dh gets home today. I'm going to buy him a huge pilates ball to use as his chair on the days that he can't be still. He is so excited about that. For those activities that just require him to sit down and write (which won't be too many) it will really help I believe.
Keep us both in your thoughts on Monday. This is going to take a liberal dose of patience for both of us!!!

[RedBedHead]

Things could not be going better for us.
Our typical day looks like this-

8:00- Wake up/breakfast
9:00- Math
9:30- Educational TV (The Magic Schoolbus, Cyberchase)
10:00- Language Arts (journaling primarily for now)
10:30- Break (outside)
11:00- Independent reading
11:45-1:00- Lunch
1:00-1:30- Science
1:30-2:00- History

I am not a scheduling kind of person. This is just the way it seems to be working out.
Noah is very eager to get his work done nine tenths of the time. He is really excited about learning for FUN! If only the rest of third grade can go as well as the last 2 1/2 weeks have it will all be butter!

[pink_elephant]

Wow, sounds like you really have it all together!

[Csara]

That's wonderful! Sounds like it's going great. How's Cameron doing with it all?