8.20.2015

School Days, School Days

The night before 1st grade...
We swam, we saw cousins, we went to the fair, we got a new dog and Mommy didn't care. Our summer was full of friends, gardens and sun, tomorrow starts first grade we can't wait for the fun.
I get asked a lot, "Why do you homeschool?" "What about friends?" "Won't your kids turn out weird?!?!" Well, the short answer to the question of why do we homeschool? Simply put, we want to be involved in the best part of their days, and for us, in this season of life, the best parts of their days are not between 4pm and 7:30pm when they would be home and awake. Could this change? Absolutely. Could sending our children to traditional school be in our future? Sure. Of course. But for this year, we're learning at the kitchen table and beyond! For a more in-depth description of our desire and why's of homeschooling, check out the posts I wrote last year. 

 First day of school!
Weren't they just babies?!?!?
 Mekonen Jack
 Evie Rae
 She's feeling like big stuff this year! :) 
 Getting started and they're excited. 


Their workboxes!
 We started workboxes this year and I am so, SO excited about them. I don't know about any of you other homeschoolers, but all last year I kept hearing, "Mom, are we done with school? How many school things are we doing today?" VOILA! Problem solved! I came across this idea on another blogger's site and was sold. Each day, I put their work in the various bins. They start at the top and work their way through the boxes. When they finish a box they move the number to the right side of the box. Then they can glance at the box and see how many more things they need to do. The boxes with a red circle mean "work with Mom." So if they come to a box with a red circle and I can't help at that moment, they skip it and go on to the next until I can help them. It's only been one day, but with Mekonen's need to know what is happening every second of the day, I think it'll be a huge help! If you're interested, here's a quick video tutorial on where I got the idea. She does a great job explaining the process. 


Evie's "signature" is by far one of our favorite things and we have so loved seeing all her "E, E, O's" written all over papers and things in our house. It's so cute. As Jon wrote about this picture I texted him yesterday....
"So sad for the quickly approaching day when she will learn to write the letter correctly and boringly like the rest of us." ;( 
(After she wrote her name she said, "Annnnnddd, I'll add a "Y."  Well, ok then. haha).

1 comment:

Melodie said...

I enjoy following along here and reading about your family. Traditional schools begin next week here in our part of Texas. We have a birthday boy next week so we are delaying an extra week. My big boys will be starting 1st and 2nd grade. I'm excited and hopeful for another year ahead of us to learn together. It's exhausting sometimes and challenging, but such a blessing to me.