9/6/13

We survived week one


After a few months of free range summer kids, it felt good to try to resurrect some sense of routine and order.

Although that task doesn't come without some adjustment pains, an occasional threat of mutiny.


I'm teaching four kids at home this year (three officially registered for home education and the fourth is a tag along), and we have one doing first grade at a local public school.  

I couldn't really give you a great reason why we have one child in regular school, other than "If it ain't broke don't fix it".  We're doing what works for now. 




Elijah will be doing Kindergarten at home this year for a variety of reasons. 




Silas giving me his best first day of first grade "smile".  



Roman is doing Teaching Textbooks for math for the first time.  So far so good!  


Aili is going to stick it out with SOS for another year....even though I wish I had bought her teaching textbooks now too. 


Our Science textbook.  I like subjects that I can to together with, and adapt to kids ranging from preschool to Junior High.  The little ones color animal pictures, while the big ones learn more indepth zoology.





 Here are a few of the other resources we're using. 









Elijah and Cece are doing Kindergarten and Pre-K work with Handwriting Without Tears supplies.


I'm having lots of fun with my two little students this week.   Aili and Roman didn't start home schooling until 2nd and 4th grade and Silas went to public school Kindergarten, so I've never put any effort into PreK type of work.
Honestly I thought it wasn't really my thing....since I'm not all crafty and creative.
But it's been fun. 

It's a lot more fun than trying to keep toddlers out of mischief while teaching older kids. 
 I'm quite enjoying a toddler free school year.  Cece is only 3 1/2 she and Elijah are pretty much on the same level, so it works great to have them doing the same things.  Keeping little hands and minds busy is a good thing.







I need to go hit a dollar store and stock up on craft supplies, and fun activities to keep these little one's constructively busy.  

I feel so much more confident, and assured about educating our kids at home than I have other years.  Maybe it's the three years of experience under our belts, or maybe it's that the kids have gotten older, or maybe the fact that we're seeing the fruit of the decisions we made.  The first year or so all I could do was second guess myself, compare what we were doing to the public school, and fight nagging terror that I was wrecking my kids.   Since then I think we've found our groove, and we're really seeing the benefits of a home schooling, lots of time together, making education a part of everything we do, lifestyle.   

It is only September though....all that optimism will be all used up by March...or maybe October. 


\This is my homework.  Very encouraging, empowering, and informative reading so far.




Aili is now doing 7th grade!  Wow.  Hard to believe she's a Junior Higher now. 
One perk of homeschooling is you get to choose your location while you study. 

It's been a good productive week, but it's also been challenging.  The Hubster is still working long days in the field.  The kids see him for a quick hug goodbye at breakfast time.  He gets home long after they're in bed.  It's a change from Daddy usually being home for meals and in the evenings.

Change is always hard on Elijah....by Friday afternoon he was pretty much a basket case.  It's been building up all week with Daddy away, his "twin" leaving every morning on the bus, and lots of little changes in routine.  He's just wound pretty tight, and his hyper vigilance has switched into a higher gear.  Overall he's handling things better than he did during seeding season (which I think also corresponded with a natural post honeymoon meltdown phase).  

To finish the week off strong I found out we have mice in our house.  It's been several years since we've had uninvited pets so I wasn't really expecting scurrying visitors.  



We limped our way to the finish and ended our school week with popcorn and a movie. 


After the kids were tucked into bed I had my own little 
"we made it through the first week of home school" celebration.



...and tomorrow we attempt to catch up on the yard, house, and garden work that got neglected all week.









3 comments:

Rebecca M said...

Goooo Burlandos!! So fun to hear about your first week of school. We are using SOTW Ancients as well this year. I love that curriculum.

Every single time I see a post from you, I think: I wish we lived closer. EVERY TIME.
Enjoy your weekend!

Carla said...

Me too Rebecca!

Marie said...

Wow! You are way ahead of us! The only thing we accomplished this week is the last pic! ;)