School Update

School has gone well, although we did not accomplish 5 full days this week. Actually my goal is 4 full days. "Full" meaning every intended subject accomplished. That usually only takes us until about 1:00 (we start at 8:30 and break for lunch). The 5th day is for the fun stuff! ;) An art project, or a science project, the library, or other field trip. This week we've only managed 3 full days. One day, my sister came in and we spent the day playing hide and seek, and dancing. Today, the oldest 2 are at a friend's house celebrating one of her daughter's birthdays. But the days we had went very well, and I'm very happy with the curriculum we're using.

I have 2 4-yr-olds. One of which is MORE than ready to start kindergarden. This was suitable for me, since she really needed to be by me at the table most of the time, anyway. I also felt it would separate the 2 of them in grade level, and therefore maybe eliminate some of the competition they would otherwise experience. Charity is just one of THOSE kids. She's EXTREMELY smart. And not only that, but she's extremely coordinated, too. She's good at anything she tries. If she wants to be. She'll make excellent grades. She'll have perfect penmanship. Her reading will be perfectly fluent and expressive. You get the picture. I felt that would automatically put Grace in an awkward position. Grace is younger, though only by 4 months. And I did not think she was ready for Kindergarden.

Again, I don't know where my mind was. Can you imagine the response as Charity got to be beside me at the table, doing work I was constantly praising her for? Sitting in my lap for her reading lesson, high fives, and "great job"s, and "wow"s probably looks pretty enticing to the other 4 yr. old. Sure enough, Grace was BEGGING to do school, too. "Me, too, Mom, Me too!" "I want to do what she's doing."

So, I now have 4 official schoolers. My table is full for several hours every day. Which I love. The 2 of them are currently working on a binder. One thing I LOVE about homeschooling is that instead of getting new binders or notebooks every year, they can build on the same binder year after year. You see, Faith and Hope each have a Vocabulary binder. Each letter of the alphabet is colored or painted or crafted in a special way. We then put it in a page protector, and place in a binder. Year after year, their vocabulary words are written in their binder filed behind the correct alphabet letter. Faith has some vocabulary words she wrote way back in the first grade! ;) LOVE that! So, Charity and Grace have started their binder. They made a page for "a" this week. I don't know if we'll stick with one letter per week, or move quicker. Their reading lessons move much quicker, so we may try to keep up with that. We'll see! That's one thing about starting K a year early. We can certainly take our time and enjoy the lessons and make sure they master each skill before we move on. I love getting to be the one to teach them to read. It's my most favorite thing about home schooling.