Feeling the Rhythm

We're finally starting to feel a routine forming during the day and it makes things go a lot more smoothly. In the morning we have breakfast and scripture study (2-3 min long and a captive audience with their mouths already full--works well for us). Then everyone does chores and we go to the park when they are done. Usually Ethan finishes in 5 minutes, most of the time without me reminding him to do anything, and an hour later (after my chores are done), Ethan, Jenna and I wait in the car while Sean finally decides he actually CAN do his chores and quickly finishes them up.

While at the park, I study for my BYU class for about an hour, the kids get nice and tired and we head home for lunch. After lunch, Jenna naps and then the real fun begins. We do a math and reading activity Monday through Thursday, and alternate between science and social studies during those days as well. We also do "binders" where I tear worksheets out of our various workbooks that coincide with whatever we're working on. Mostly handwriting and math pages. They stick each page into a sheet protector and use dry erase markers (I have at least three more kids that have to do this same stuff eventually!), which I think also makes it more fun.

Fridays are our fun days. We do an art project and last week we started piano lessons. I fill their binders with activities like dot-to-dots and cut out art projects, and I've been trying to get out and do a field trip. Our monthly homeschooling parties are also scheduled on Fridays, which are not to be missed for anything.

I'm beginning to appreciate the principle of "line upon line." If I looked at what I do now a year ago, I think I would have fainted. But we started with just one thing, and once I had that thing down, another something occurred to me that we should incorporate. I can see later how when I try to keep life in line with the spirit, I am prompted at just the right time to add another thing. It's really an amazing principle, and I have become more tolerant of others as I have seen it work in my life. We are all at different stages, and the spirit propels us forward at just the right pace if we are trying to stay close to Christ. It also gives me comfort that when the time comes for me to have several kids homeschooling at different levels, I will be ready for it then. Not now, but then.

Math Lesson

Sometimes I wonder how kindergarten teachers do it. I can't imagine teaching concepts to 15 five year olds and expecting them all to get it. I love that I can do activities I know Ethan will respond to and once he gets it, we can move on. We've been working on counting by tens this week. Yesterday we counted beans in piles of ten to 100. This number-card activity ended up taking about 45 minutes. Sean gave up shortly after the picture was taken, but by the end of the activity, I was convinced Ethan was cured of the "twenty-tens." It is so exciting to see him actually learning school stuff at home and understanding it. We can do this!

Another week down

We made it through another week. This is the first week I tried to apply my curriculum: a week long schedule, complete with activities for every subject. I feel like I have an epiphany every day on how to make it work better. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But Ethan seems to actually be learning stuff despite our lack of a regular school routine. That makes me feel like I can explore and try new things and not worry about him suffering.

It has been hard being pregnant. I feel like my brain is not at full capacity. Today I was at the library perusing some books about teaching art to children, and I ended up checking them all out because I could not focus. I just couldn't make myself concentrate enough to decide if the book was good or not. Is this going to get better after that baby is here? I will just be more sleep deprived and my time will be spread thinner. But maybe it won't be so hot all the time!

This morning we woke up and he had already emerged. You can see his empty cocoon on the front of the planter. Ethan remembered at the zoo they put out plates of fruit for the butterflies to suck on, so we thought we'd see if he'd take a nibble when he's ready.

New Tactics

OK, I'm changing my approach, something that I'm sure will happen more than once throughout this year. Instead of haphazardly doing math, reading and science lessons, I've started to write a curriculum for the year. I'm OK with making kindergarten less formal than the other grades, but I've decided that since I consider this a practice year, I'd better practice.
So I've been writing up a curriculum for each subject the last week or so. Reading, Math, Social Studies, Science, Art and Music. It's pretty time consuming, but most of the time has been figuring out how to format it so that it will be a valuable tool for me throughout the year. I think writing a first grade curriculum will be a lot easier once I've gone through the steps for kindergarten, and seen how it plays out. Once again, I'm so thankful I have the time to experiment and figure out what works before I feel the pressure of doing things "just right." In fact, I already feel so much better about what we're going to accomplish, that I'm tempted to write a preschool curriculum for Sean. We'll see how much mental energy I have left when I'm done. I feel like I'm working harder on this than on any college paper I've done. Not that it's difficult, it just takes some real thought, research, and time.
The benefit of having a curriculum laid out is that I have goals and milestones to reach for and teach to. I'm not writing lesson plans, those will still be fairly spontaneous, but I can teach to each goal. When I check something off, we move to the next thing. And at the end of the year, if Ethan has reached most of the larger goals, then I will feel successful, regardless of where he is compared to other kids his age.