Adventures in Homeschooling - Day 5 (FrIdAy)

Rhylee's Review

ty6g65r5bn tyg y

\jmn6tjm  ,nm         mkjhu j  'l

(I liked when I got to watch The Letter Factory and when aunt Lisa came to visit and when my sister taught me about the alphabet)

Mackenzie's Review

School this week has been fun so far. I learned Math, Language, Spanish and Bible. I also learned alot of spelling. My favorite lesson in Math was learning about properties. My favorite lesson in Language was the four types of sentences. My favorite lesson in Bible was all of them. And last is Spanish. My favorite lesson in Spanish was all of them because that's my favorite.

Trevor's Review

My Week at Homeschool

So far this school year at home has been easy as apple pie.  This week was really cool and I understood alot of my work. Mom was a really good and nice teacher this week. I learned so many new things and mom learned some things that she didn't know.

So if I were to describe homeschooling it would be, HOMESCHOOL IS AWESOMEEE!!!!

Mom's Review

I did it...I completed my first week. I'm sitting back now wondering why I was so afraid of starting this last year. I am so thankful for the support of my friends and family. I'm thankful that my husband lovingly pushed me and believed in me enough to do this. For my friends who didn't call me crazy when I told you and sent encouraging messages during my first week, thank you <3 My mom and sister who are a constant source of support, thank you. And thank you to those who were patient with me while I asked you a BILLION questions, for pointing me in the right direction and for encouraging me along the way (:



Adventures in Homeschooling - Day 4

We took an impromptu field trip to the Animal Control Center to rescue our dog, who apparently had been there since going missing on Friday. He slipped through the cracks somehow and they forgot to post his info on their website until Wednesday. Thank God they remembered because as of yesterday he was eligible for adoption :/

Trevor took his first Geometry quiz today and only missed one! He was so proud and so was I. I am pleasantly surprised at how well he has transitioned into this new school setting. Yesterday he took it upon himself to do extra work in an area that he has struggled in for years (:

My mini me (Kenzie) is loving being home but not loving the fact that she has to do ACTUAL school work. Her resistance is putting my patience to the test. We talked yesterday about what she thought homeschooling would be like. I shared some of my fears about it too. Change is not easy for me and apparently not so easy for her. I guess we are going to need some time to work out these misconceptions and get into the groove.

We watched some videos about some misconceptions and had a good laugh (:

Lisa stopped by for a visit today!! Kenzie was excited because she got some help with her work from someone who was a little less frustrated (:

Rhylee has been such a trooper about sharing her time with her brother and sister. She's even getting in on the action and getting some lessons from her big sister!

I do think vowels are a little advanced for a 7 month old but Rhylee seems to enjoy it!!





Adventures in Homeschooling - Day 3

Day 3 is complete...not as easy as yesterday but all in all, not a bad day.

I'm getting some resistance from a certain student and I'm having to remind myself to be patient because this is new for all of us.

While going over Trevor's English lesson today I gained a new respect for those trying to learn the language. There are so many rules and some of them make no sense to me. Thank goodness for Google!

It's only the third day and I'm already noticing where the kids are struggling with things they should have learned years ago. It's great having that one on one with them because we can take as much time as we need to make sure they really grasp the concept. I love seeing that "aaaahhhh" moment when they finally get it. There's alot of high fives and corny dancing going on around here (:

The biggest accomplishment of the day came from my tiniest student. She learned how to eat puffs without choking AND finally figured out how to get her drink out of her sippy cup.

Very exciting day around here (:

Our little cheese-burger



Adventures in Homeschooling - I SURVIVED DAY 2

What a difference a day makes!!

I started our day prepared for anything to go wrong and EVERYTHING went so right!!!

Rhylee joined us for part of our Bible lesson

Trevor working on Geometry

Rhylee watching The Letter Factory while I finished up Language with Kenzie

Kenzie was excited to learn that she could bring Kanani to school (:

Day 2 - Kenzie's Review

Today I had lessons in Math, Language, Spanish and Bible.

My favorite subject was Spanish because it was alot of fun. I liked learning new Spanish words.

In Math I learned about place value.

In Language I learned how to write a correct sentence. The incorrect sentences they used were funny.

And in Bible I learned all about Adam and Eve's family tree. I also learned that Noah named one of his kids Ham! I like ham (:


Kenzie

Day 2 - Trevor's Review

 So far homeschooling has been really great. Mom has been a pretty cool teacher so far. I hope it'll stay like this as long as we are homeschooled.

Yesterday I was pretty nervous because I didn't know how things would go. I was glad that we only had one lesson yesterday because it made it easier to start homeschooling.

Today we had more lessons. I worked on English II, Geometry, Bible and Speech and Communications. I did pretty good on all of my lessons except Speech and Communications; it was kind of hard. Next week I will start Spanish, Biology and US History.

I'm really looking forward to Science and the experiments we'll do. I also am looking forward to the field trips we'll be able to take.

T.A.G

Adventures in Homeschooling...Day 1

School at Monarch Prep is officially in session and the first day was....well.....

We started off the day by reviewing the meaning of our school name and verse.

I let the kids come up with some rules...here are a few of my favorites

No wondering eyes

No drawing on yourself

If you have to pass gas, say excuse me

and my favorite.....

No being distracted by Rhylee's cheeks

(I totally understand why this one made the list)

We got off to a great start and my confidence was high.....that was short lived. I was so thankful for the encouraging messages and calls I received this morning from my mom and friends, they were much needed and appreciated.

Only one subject on the calendar for today: Bible. The story: Creation. Easy enough, right?

I printed off my material, had three concordances handy and two computers for the kids to follow along with the lesson online.

I soon realized that I only printed half the lesson, then the computers starting acting up and we were unable to use them to watch the videos, Rhylee was not cooperating and I could see the kids loosing focus and then began the spiral....grrrrrrr

But I was so prepared, I had my notes and papers all organized in a cute new folder that my in-laws bought. I had read the lesson and even had a fun activity planned in lieu of answering questions. I prayed that morning for patience with my new students and myself.

So what happened?

Life

Like everything else, the way I approached homeschooling was all wrong.

I put too much confidence in MY ability.

My focus was on how great a first day I could create.

On what a great teacher I was going to be.

See the pattern :/

We wrapped up the first day, I finished my chores and started dinner. Then Jarrod came home...poor Jarrod.

Cue the water works.

Is it normal to cry on your first day of school when you're the teacher?

I sure hope so.

After a wonderful foot massage and some encouraging words I looked back at the pictures I took today and ya know what....our day wasn't that bad.

The kids had two assignments today, write a short essay about their feelings about being homeschooled and come up with a creative way to teach someone about the story of Creation.

Trevor's Creation Storybook

Trevor's book was great...it walked you through each day adding to the picture until it was complete. He even made up a song to go with it!

Mackenzie's Creation Diorama

Kenzie went in a different direction and used her Littlest Petshop toys and of course her Lalaloopsy dolls. (Yes, that is God resting in the bed duck taped to the sky. Adam and Eve are duck taped in the bottom corner)


Rhylee trying to help out by feeding herself (: