Day 12

When I actually have time to write more, maybe I'll have better titles, but this will do for now.  This morning we actually finished violin practice in record time (not because we sped through it so much as there wasn't as much procrastination) and had an excellent morning.  The only thing we missed was handwriting since I had misplaced the book the day before.  But we're bounding ahead in math, averaging two lessons a day and did our first test.  History we also did some catch up to get the worksheets up to were we are in the book.  I think we could do history all day and nobody would complain.

Week 3, Day 11

Now we're rolling!  A slightly slower start to the morning, but we were able to add in some history work, a personal timeline (my husband's printer is being finicky, so no family history since I can't copy the worksheets :( ).  We're getting into a pretty good rhythm.  Violin practice, math, reading, writing and history worksheets in the morning.  Literature and history reading and maybe some art in the afternoons.  Today the kids were working on their sewing/embroidery while I read some Little House in the Big Woods and Magic Tree House #45.  Plus finished a library book I had started the other day.

Day 10, Friday

Ugh, not an easy day.  It started hard and ended hard and the only thing that made things okay was the school part in the middle.  My son can take his emotions out on his sisters with his hands, and it was just a rough day with all three of them together.  Fortunately, he also loves synagogue, so telling him that he can't go if his behavior didn't improve worked to get us through dinner and out the door.  The school work for the day was cut short a bit by needing to go to the grocery store, so no history and only three pages of math.  Reading was a book he'd already read to me, but this time he didn't struggle with it.

Day 9

I lucked out on figuring out my curriculum.  A friend of mine home schooled and recommended www.welltrainedmind.com as a resource.  There is a book that describes the curriculum from preschool to 12th grade (400+ pages) and you can buy 1st Grade in a Box, basic and deluxe.  I went for the deluxe, and well, it really does have everything, maybe even for two years!  Math, reading, grammar, writing, handwriting, history, science (lots of science), art and music.  It's overwhelming, but still comforting that it's all there.  The Well-Trained Mind has it's own publishing company, Peace Hill Press, and several of the books are written by the same two women who developed the curriculum.  Everything is developmentally appropriate, which is something that seems harder and harder to find in public school curriculum.  We put our children in Montessori preschool, so I am very much aware of the importance of teaching to a child's level.

Today's work was similar to yesterday's, but more math.  The kids love the history book so I'm trying to read it after my daughter is home, but son couldn't wait so we did the next chapter right after violin practice.  Finished Matilda and read a bit from Little House on the Prairie.  I had started the Little House series at the beginning of the school year with my daughter during her (now non-existent) special time with me every afternoon.  She loves Laura and Mary!  Well, now we're starting over again so that both kids can hear the entire series.  If they're anything like me, we'll be needing a new set in a couple of years.

Day 8

We have the textbooks, it's a regular day, and I finally feeling like we're doing something.  Violin practice, start some math worksheets and crack open the reading book.  The first 26 chapters are on the letters so I skip ahead and have my son practice making words on a magnetic board with letters.  Word endings at, an, ad, and am.  He has fun and gets most of them himself.  Then he practices writing letters until it's time to get his sister from school.  After lunch we read the first chapter of the history book and a few chapters of Matilda.

Day 7, Veterans' Day

Today was kind of an odd day since middle sister was home from school and the grandparents decided to drop in.  We did still manage to do the first page of the new math workbook, 19 pages of the handwriting book, read Sandra Boynton Moo, Baa, La La La and half an hour of violin practice.  The biggest, most awesome change that I've seen so far is in violin practice.  It's always been a struggle, and that is getting easier since it's always the first thing that we do, and the sound just keeps getting more amazing.  I really hope that it continues!

Second week, Day 6

Not a great schooling day, mainly because I needed to get some errands done.  We did the bare minimum of Math, Literature and Reading.  But, I did finally get the books!  With some errors in the package.  But it was a 42 lb box of books, so I'm not going to complain.  Will write more about it when I'm feeling less overwhelmed, and have more time.  I did say to keep expectations on the blog low for now!

Day 5

Friday I feel like we were finally starting to settle into a routine.  Did music practice, math, reading, recess, writing and attempted to do some science reading.  Unfortunately, I'm dealing with a very clingy toddler right now.  Trying to include her in some activities works a bit, but all she seems to want to do 90% of the time is nurse.  I'm chalking it up to settling back in after our vacation, and dealing with the fact that big brother is home all of the time now, but it is making things much more difficult.  So I'll be working on that one.  And still waiting for textbooks to arrive (to be fair, I only ordered them a week ago, and chose free shipping option, so who knows how long that is!), other than the how to teach reading book.

Day 4

The first Thursday of the month is Free Admissions day at a lot of the local museums (although not the children's museums or the science museum, which are the kids' favorites) so I've decided we need to take advantage of that.  Realizing that my kids are only going to last an hour or two makes it easier to justify just planning for an afternoon outing rather than trying to make everything an all-day event as I would just for me (and I did a bit on my recent vacation).  Unfortunately, yesterday was a rainy blustery day.  Great for Winnie-the-Pooh stories, not so great for carting three kids around and trying to find close parking.  Or any parking in Seattle.  The Asian Art Museum, http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/asian-art-museum, had free parking outside the door and was easy to get to on Capitol Hill.  I just didn't realize that an adult reading every word for every artifact to go through the museum in less than half an hour.  Lovely collection, just very, very small.  So twenty minutes after arriving, we left and spent about forty minutes running around the muddy grass, climbing muddy, wet trees.  Art gave way to P.E.
Today's actual school work was a big condensed to make room for the afternoon adventures: we had music (started working on a new rhythm), math (worksheet I made up), reading (the entire Green Eggs and Ham) and handwriting.  Not too bad considering I also did four loads of laundry.

Day 3

Eventually I'll come up with better titles, but I think the counting works for now.

Today was our first stay-at-home, no extras day.  Although my husband was home from work sick, so that was helpful when all my toddler wanted to do was nurse all morning.  We still don't have our books, so I'm improvising until they come, but we were able to cover all of our subjects: Music, Math, Reading, Writing (penmanship for now), Science, History, Literature and Art.  The morning had an excellent violin practice and hand-made worksheet with addition, subtraction, addition with carrying and multiplication.  Then we practiced penmanship and read a few pages of National Geographic Kids (which is not well-liked; it was a gift subscription and wow, has it changed in 30 years!).  Lunch took a while and then I put my toddler down for a nap.  We read Matilda while doing art, then an entire history book on colonial children and more art.  Art for four hours.  It was a lot!  And we had a little recess time, too.  Looking forward to continuing with enthusiasm.

Day 2

Today was another slightly messed up day since I'm still getting back into the swing of things after being gone for ten days, and jet lagged by four hours.  I absolutely had to get to the grocery store for food, and in the afternoon we had an informational tour at Edmonds Heights, a public alternative learning resource.  With our hour and a half learning time in the morning we were still able to manage a violin practice, math game and reading.  After lunch we played a game of Sorry (counting, strategy) before being off on our next errand.

http://www.edmondshrc.com/  Hmm, how best to describe Edmonds Heights.  I think how we will use it: as supplemental instruction to our homeschooling.  There aren't really full classes there, and parents cannot use it as a full alternative to regular school.  But there are workshops in subjects like theater and robotics that I cannot provide at home.  Some classes come at a cost and others are free.  To be a "student" there only requires an hour a week, which can include study time.  My kids were all really excited by the possibilities (the play areas and building lab with a wall of Legos may have helped).  Now I just need to fill out the mountain of paperwork to apply and take the eight week orientation class.

Today is the first day of Home School.  There are a lot reasons I ended up here, and I think ultimately my choices that have continuously been counter to the current normal are the answers to how.  But as a mother of three (6, 4 and 2), my goal is to have minimal expectations for the blog, so I'll explain as I have time.

The Basics:  I'm homeschooling my six year old son after not clicking with the private Catholic school that we chose after being unimpressed with the public schools in our area of the suburbs of Seattle.  My 4 year old daughter is in a Montessori that we love, and my 2 year old daughter will follow next year.  Unfortunately, the Montessori only goes up to Kindergarten.  I'll be using the classical curriculum from The Well-Trained Mind, as soon as it arrives (ordered last week).

Today: I arrived home from a ten day East Coast trip after eleven o-clock last night.  Husband got kids up and dressed and fed.  Took daughter to school.  Son practiced violin, we sang a bit (I have music curriculum from the California public schools from around the sixties, fun!) then read a story and played a math game.  My goal is most of the subjects in the morning and then literature and art in the afternoon when my daughter is home and toddler is sleeping.  My travels includes stopping at some historical sites and art museums and I picked up some books there to supplement.  We'll be playing with some George Washington and Frida Kahlo paper dolls later today!