Well, we started dabbling in homeschooling activities this week. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around putting together a preschool "curriculum" (for lack of a better word) and figuring out what will interest Levi, challenge him but not push him, fit it into our routine and get him in the groove. He's never been a kid who is much interested in doing art projects or coloring activities or anything like that. But I bought some glue and scissors and a few odds and ends for activities, and when I brought them home Levi went bananas begging me to use them or show him how to use them. The next day I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a few more things, and both of the boys were excited to play with it all when I got home.
I'm not really planning on starting an official routine until this fall, but since he's shown some interest I thought I'd throw a few things at him this week and see what he is interested in doing. This morning for "special project time" (we started with "special book time" at the beginning of the week - mostly a very focused reading time where I was more intentional than usual about having him count, name colors, focus on a specific letter, etc) I gave him a scripture printable from my favorite site with some crayons and craft supplies. I plan to focus first on teaching him the letters of his name, so for the next couple of weeks (while I ease into this) we'll work on the letter L. I read the verse aloud, and then he colored it (as you can see, he's not much into coloring. He uses like two swipes of a crayon and says he's done), and glued the googly eyes and sequins on (he's very into googly eyes) - I gave him a q-tip and a little pool of glue and showed him how to dab a little glue onto his sheet. Then we sat and read the corresponding story in his new scripture memory book, talked briefly about what it looks like to let your light shine.............and that was that. Total time spent on said activity: eight minutes. Hey man, he's still a few months away from turning three. I'm surprised he sat down and spent any time at all. It was a start.
He was VERY excited about his new desk. There is an area in our house that I look forward to making our school space, but a diaper changing table sitting there is cramping our style. So for now it'll be a lap desk and a shower caddy.
GREAT verse book. Each letter has a corresponding verse and a story to apply it.
His finished project. LOL
Fun with all the cool new stuff I bought the other day. :)
Found a little baggie of wooden blocks and pegs that can link together at Hobby Lobby for about $2 or $3. Much cheaper than any Melissa and Doug toy. :) Levi dove in and started constructing.
When Luke dumps his morning nap (I figure between Christmas and Easter sometime) I'll incorporate him into what we're doing too with some Montessori-style sensory activities. I'm not super into Montessori, but I want to include him with some intentional playtime that does not include his regular toys. I have odds and ends that will give him some fun playtime with sorting, pouring, shaking, etc. If he's not interested in it, enh. No biggie. But at least he'll get used to the swing of things and be exposed to some fun stuff alongside Levi.
Okay, that was a lot more writing than I normally do. I want to be intentional about saying that home schooling is something Matt and I started talking about well before we had kids. At first I was very resistant to the thought, but over the past few years the Lord has grown in me a desire and passion to at least try. It's something we will be constantly evaluating if it's a good fit for both boys. One may thrive in a home school setting, and the other may prefer and need to be in a traditional classroom setting. Or both may. Who knows. This is where the Lord is leading our family for this season, and in no way do we believe that it is THE way. We are SO fortunate to be surrounded by incredible public and charter schools, and several private Christian schools. Home schooling fits our goals as a family, and is something that we have the time and resources to at least attempt.
**I can't recommend highly enough the site 1plus1plus1equals1.net. A friend introduced me to it and I've been combing through it for a number of months now. It is an INCREDIBLE resource and the lady who writes the blog blows my mind away, and therefore it's very overwhelming too. It's like being in a fascinating maze, where every door you open leads to several more equally fascinating doors. So it's a lot to bite off and chew, but I kept visiting it on and off until I could start to figure out what I wanted to take away from it. Anyway, even if you don't plan to home school but you're one of those moms who likes to do projects and super-educational things with their kids (oddly, I'm not), it has tons of great ideas and free resources that I'm sure your child's future kindergarten teacher would thank you for at least exposing them to. :)
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