Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Pajamas

I do feel like I should add to my last post about our homeschooling start...
the girls are pictured in all of those pictures in their pajamas. We don't plan on staying in our pajamas all day every day while we are home schooling. Last week, we were studying Goodnight Moon, so the girls stayed in their pajamas (or out of them, if we're talking about Lucy) on Thursday and today was a sick day... they are planning on wearing clothes after their nap today... just fyi! :)

The beginning of a home school adventure!









So, we've started a new adventure in our lives (as if there aren't enough already). We have decided to give home school a try! We are very excited and we have already started! We are doing a preschool program right now and through the summer in order to "get our feet wet." We were afraid if we start in the fall with kindergarten curriculum, Lucy won't know what to do with the time I'm spending with Adelaide and Adelaide won't be ready to just sit and listen. Also, this will give me time to prepare and get myself together before we are doing things that actually count.
Also, since Adelaide's birthday is late, she wouldn't actually start public school until next year, so this will give us a trial year to see if we like it and if we don't, we won't be behind.
So far, we have all loved it! Adelaide is doing great and is always eager to learn something new, and Lucy has adapted well. I always have the same activities for Lucy to do that Adelaide is doing. Sometimes she is interested in these, sometimes she's not... we just go with whatever mood she's in.
We are using a program called Before Five in a Row for Preschool and then in the fall we will use Five in a Row. This program is Biblically based and uses children's literature to teach different subjects. The parent is to read the same book every day for five days and focus every day on subjects based on the book.
We started last week with Goodnight Moon. It was so much fun! We talked about rhyming words and the moon, animals and colors... the list goes on an on. Jason made the comment, "I never knew Goodnight Moon was so educational." The pictures above are from our art lesson. We were supposed to talk about primary and secondary colors that the illustrator uses throughout the book. Instead of just talking about them, we did an experiment to discover what colors are made when different colors are mixed. Adelaide loved this!!! We made lots of colors and she filled out her "recipe card" when she found out what the colors made! How fun!! I loved seeing her learning and understanding something she hadn't known before. She knew a few of the combinations, but this really gave her an opportunity to see for herself what happened when they are mixed.
This week we are reading Jesse Bear, What Will you Wear. We've had painters at the house for the past two days, so we have been a bit limited to what we can do since we were stuck in the master bedroom all day. So, today, we painted using potato stamps to make a pattern like in the book. It was a lot of fun, and Lucy got in on the action.
I am so thankful for this opportunity and we will take it little by little. I want to do what is best for my girls and our family, and I hope this glorifies God. I hope we are able to build great relationships throughout the years and what better way, than spending lots of time with them!?
Today, everyone is home sick (various stages of bronchitis and ear infections), but school still went on. They were eagerly asking for lessons, so, of course, I delivered! They are little sponges, thirsty for more!
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and we are looking forward to posting some more of our adventures!