Our first few days of school

We decided to start school a week early. This was my decision, although I convinced Nathan that it was a good idea. Katie was on board, of course. I couldn't sleep well the night before because I was actually nervous! I have no idea what made me nervous. I think it was because I was less than prepared. So we were up early (7am) to shower and take daddy to work. We dressed, brushed teeth, ate breakfast, cleaned our rooms, and finished our other chores. I started school by setting Katie up with Nick Jr. Yes, my daughter gets to watch cartoons in the morning. Shoot me.

During this time, I pulled out the books with Nathan. I introduced him to his new books and we dove right in. Over the last three days, I realized that during the first hour, I am just going over assignments and giving new assignments. The only thing that we do "together" is our read-aloud. When all of Nathan's assignments have been written in his book, he heads upstairs with his books to get to work.

Now Katie and I start school. I feel like we are already getting into a good groove. We start with our finger play. We do the same one for an entire week, so Katie really gets to learn it. This week, we are learning about Adam and the Animals that God created. Of course, our letter of the week is A. After our finger play, we read our Bible story. Next, we do a lesson from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Right now, Katie very much dislikes this book. I'm hoping that she will like it as she begins to read. Then I read two books to her.

Now we move to the kitchen table to do some workbook pages. She does one line of handwriting from a great Mead handwriting book. It's perfect for her skill level and only expects her to practice one letter a week. Then we do one or two workbook pages. This can come from computer printouts or from her phonics books. Finally, we end with Katie's favorite activities. One day we worked with modeling clay (a huge hit). The next day we drew with white crayons on white paper. Then we water painted with black to make our creation appear. Today, we glued marshmallows onto our giant A worksheet. We also have a huge A on our carpet made from blue painter's tape for Kate's animals to walk on.

After I'm done with Katie (about an hour), Nathan is allowed to ask for help. He's doing well at being independent in his work. I will answer questions about how a problem is done, but I will not help him with specific problems. When he is finished, I grade his work and put it in my grade book. The next day, when we go over missed problems, I add one or two points to his score for correcting his work.

School is not taking very long for me. I'm usually done by around noon. Nathan makes lunch from a schedule on our fridge. Then he finishes his work and is usually done by 1:00. He likes to get ahead by working on his assignments at bedtime. I don't usually mind him doing this.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to show soon.