A Tale of Ten Homeschoolers- Back to “School”!

We’ve reached the end of our first week of our new homeschool year, and we have had so much fun! The kids and I were all so excited to begin, and that has lasted throughout the entire week, so things are looking great so far!

Unfortunately, we almost got off to a rocky start because I got a phone call early Monday morning from a family member asking me to drive them somewhere (they live 1/2 hr. away). After I explained that it was our first day of homeschool, they were very understanding. Unfortunately, though, when I mentioned it to another family member I was lectured about sometimes “having to make sacrifices.” I got more than a little angry at that, because I have sacrificed many a homeschool day to help people out. The problem is that once I started doing that, people have constantly been expecting me to do it over and over again. 

That’s one thing I’ve found with my family. I don’t think they take the fact that I’ve assumed responsibility for my children’s education seriously. They constantly point out that they don’t want to interrupt people at work for their help, yet they fail to recognize that this is my job!

So frustrating.

Anyway, I held my ground and vowed to stop answering the phone in the mornings. Problem solved. For now.

If you remember from my other posts, my high school age kids won’t be starting until the end of August, so I’ll just be including what my younger kids have been up to so far.

Monday

The Littles (ages 5, 6, almost 8, and sometimes the 3 yr old)

Table Time:

• read-aloud bible story
• worked on phonics using Adventures in Phonics Level A or Level B
• math using Spectrum Math for Luke and Liberty Mathematics Level K and Level A for Summer and Ireland

Five in a Row:

• read A Pair of Red Clogs
• found Japan on a map and talked about what islands are
• placed story disks on their own maps
• drew and colored Japanese flags
• talked about the importance of stewardship and honesty

The Older Kids (ages 9, 10, and 12)

Reading Time:

• family devotions using app
• read-aloud- Peter Pan
• completed notebooking page for Peter Pan
• silent reading (if you’re interested in their selections, I listed them here)

Table Time:

• spelling using Building Spelling Skills Grade 4, Grade 5, and Grade 7
• math using Life of Fred- Cats, Farming, and Mineshaft

Our first day of school also happened to be free slurpee day at 7-11, so that was a nice after-school treat!

Tuesday

The Littles

Table Time:

• bible story read-aloud
• read about volcanoes
• phonics
• math- the girls did their workbooks but Luke (7) did 2 chapters of Life of Fred- Apples

The Older Kids

Reading Time:

• devotions
• read-aloud Peter Pan
• silent reading

Table Time:

• Caollin (12) worked on Daily Grams, while the others did copywork
• all three did their Spectrum Math Workbooks

Konos: (Scientific Method/Scientists unit)

• did a bible verse copywork notebooking page
• played a game called “I Wonder”- I wonder why spoons are curved, why the sky is blue, etc.
• did an activity using a blindfold to identify items by their taste, touch, and scent (this was a huge hit!)

After school that day Bailey and Luke each had doctor’s appointments. The doctor asked Bailey what grade he’s in, and he stared blankly at her and said, “Um…9th?” She looked surprised, so I quickly replied, “No, Bailey, you’re 9. So 4th grade.” Ahh… the life of a homeschooler. 🙂

Wednesday

The Littles

Table Time:

• bible story read-aloud
• Luke did phonics, while the girls did Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
• the girls did their math workbooks, while Luke chose to do LOF again

Five in a Row:

• read-aloud A Pair of Red Clogs
• talked about whar reminiscing is and how the author used flashbacks in the story
• drew pictures of memories from their past and captioned them
• discussed some of the vocabulary in the story that they may not have recognized

The Older Kids

Reading Time:

• devotions
• Peter Pan
• Peter Pan notebooking page
• silent reading

Table Time:

• spelling workbooks
• LOF math

When my husband came home from work that day, he was excited to let us all know that he had joined the Pokemon Go craze (insert eye roll here), so all the kids had fun going for walks with him looking for Pokemon.

Thursday

The Littles

Table Time:

• bible story read-aloud
• read-aloud- The Sleepless Little Vampire (London (10) read this to them)

The Older Kids

Reading Time:

• devotions
•  Peter Pan
• silent reading

Konos:

•  watched a video on YouTube about how claw machines work
• discussed cause and effect; I gave some examples, then they went around doing their own cause and effect experiments
• completed cause and effect notebooking pages

If you noticed that their work was considerably lighter this day, it was because my husband had off of work, so we all went to the parkway looking for Pokemon. (shaking my head) Even our 22 yr old went along. 🙂 I was happy to consider it a field trip, though, because the kids were able to play in the creek and collect nuts, berries, clams, and rocks, and we had a nice, long walk on this hot, hot day.

Tomorrow (Friday) we’re planning another light day since I have to go grocery shopping, and when we complete our usual load of work, we typically don’t finish until around 3:30.

I accidentally deleted our first day of school pictures, so if you’d like to see them,  you can always check out my Instagram. 🙂

Until then, tell me. How was your week?