Homeschooling Update

Thought I'd update on how things are going in the "school" department. Rob and I were going to put Avonlea in preschool just a few half days a week starting in January and the main reason for it was the socialization issue. Avonlea THRIVES on being social and with schooling her at home for the past 6 or so months, it's something I have to work extra hard at providing for her. We definately don't want an unsocialized child! Anywhoo, I thought we were lacking in that department seeing that I stopped our little in-home daycare (I think some of you were aware that we were doing that awhile back, until the pregnancy + extra kids = too much for me). Avonlea wakes up all the time asking who is coming over to play today. So, I started evaluating how much time she was actually getting with other friends. After I sat down and thought about it, she's getting PLENTY of time. She's involved in a consistent classroom setting 3 times a week (Sunday school, AWANA and a mom's group I lead). She also goes to a music class once a week as well. So, four days out of the week, she's away from me and socializing with other children. That doesn't even count the "field trip" days we take with other preschool friends/families visiting the farm, going to the park, zoo, aquarium, etc. She's not lacking was my conclusion, and for me to pay almost $200.00 (that's only two half-days a week!) a month for her to get the same socialization somewhere else just didn't make any sense. After gettinng all the paperwork filled out for the school we chose, going on tours and meeting teachers, we decided to keep Avonlea homeschooled for awhile, as long as I can be home to do it. I LOVE getting play groups together, setting up gatherings for projects, experiments, cooking/baking, nature walks, exploring and just learning in general and the kids love it too!

I'm currently working on (and praying about) getting a local preschool group together to go on outings once a week and/or gather at our house for neat and interesting projects, etc. My goal is to keep it free of charge or at a VERY low cost (for supplies only), educational (not just a social time for mommys) and at a preschool/early childhood level. I'd love to have the moms on board with focusing on a letter a week with her child(ren) and staying in-sync with the topics we are learning, so that we may create field trips accordingly on the subject/topic we're talking about. Anyway, teaching children is my passion (for those of you who don't know, I used to be a teacher). I have TONS of manipulatives, books, lesson plans, etc. collecting dust in my garage until I started going through some of the bins/boxes months ago when I thought of persuing homeschooling with Avy.

Having school at home isn't always a walk in the park, but it's definately FUN when you plan accordingly. One problem I've found lately is that I do like my house neat and clean, but I also love to make messes when doing projects (cooking, science, crafts). Now the trick is to balance the two. I know my house won't always look perfect, but I'm learning to accept that because I know that enjoying learning with my kids is more important.

I received a gift card for Christmas and just purchased a world globe with two neat books on science experiments for preschoolers and a book called "Prop Box Play - 50 Themes to Inspire Dramatic Play". I can't wait to get them in the mail and start highlighting and marking pages of neat things to do. One thing is for sure, I have found that when I plan things out well and have supplies ready in the morning for school time, it makes our mornings fly by. We also do some fun things in the afternoon and in the past I'd be checking the clock thinking, "When is Rob coming home?", but now the time just flies (most days, mind you).

So, these are "Thoughts With Kelli" today. Hope you don't mind what I've shared. I like sharing and I do realize that not everyone chooses this route and that's okay. Every family is different...Tis a season. Here are some pictures on what we've been learning about.


Avonlea learned to measure in "I"nches last week when we were learning about letter "I". We had a blast using different types of measuring tools and measuring long and short objects.


Here's the "I"gloo we made last night. I had to show Avy pictures on the internet because what Floridian child knows what an igloo is anyway right? =)


Our igloo upclose. We used sugar cubes (1 small box) and icing to make it stick.


We use a workbook that I got from Sam's Club for $7.00 last year and that's all we need as far as "curriculum". Everything else we do is from using books from the library, exploring on our own, hands on activities and lesson plans I get off the internet. No need to spend oodles of money!!


Our "Letter of the Week Box" in which we go on a "J" hunt (or whatever the letter is for that week) every Monday and find things around the house that have that sound.


This week, we're learning about letter "J" and here are just a few of the "J" and jungle books we checked out this weekend. I always try to pick a theme that goes along with the letter of the week. Sometimes, there's more than one theme if it's small. This week it's the "j"ungle.

We'll also be making homemade "j"elly, using "j"ello and "j"ellybeans for math and science, making "j"ewelry out of noodles and yarn and "j"obs (community helpers...just an introduction to them since this topic can be VERY big and broad, making "j"uice, making a "j"ack-in-the-box for craft, creating our own "j"ungle and learning about the four layers of it.



Counting and sorting "j"ellybeans. We learned which colors/rows had more, fewer and which rows had the same. We also added and subtracted.


Avonlea's Alphabet Book
This is a book I made from construction paper and three rings. I take pictures from the internet (Microsoft Word online pics) and magazine pics and Avonlea practices cutting and gluing the pictures onto that letter's page. She loves reading it aloud to Lincoln (he doesn't have much patience for it though!), showing him the sounds and pictures of each letter.

Oh yeah! Happy Groundhog Day! No shadows here since it's rainy and cold outside. Oh well. More winter weather I guess. (Boo-hoo)