Changes

The unique challenges of Cora's particular 2-year-old eccentricities have led me to change our routine in homeschooling, yet again.

This is probably a very common thing to do while homeschooling, but it always takes me a little time to realize I need to change things...yet again.  I'm not used to shifting so often, so I guess this is good for me.  :)

I've not realized that, rather than try to change Cora, or make her grow up faster, (neither of which are kind or loving to her...) I am simply going to get her out of the house on a regular basis...while we remain home.  Haha.  :)  So, I've set up a kid exchange with a neighbor 2X a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.  On these days her daughter comes to us in the mornings, and Cora goes to her in the afternoon.  This gives me a guaranteed 2.5 hours on each of those days to accomplish solid school with Layla, and Finn has been more free to join in on those days as well...that's been great for him.  It's making me think that preschool for Cora next year, 3 days a week, would be a good thing for everyone involved...but we'll see.  That a VERY long way off still, in my little world that I view one day or one week at a time.

I'm also trying to be more flexible in how we do school.  Originally I wanted to get it all done in one sitting, or close to one sitting with a small break in between, as it's not very much to start out with.  But now I'm seeing that, for now at least...spreading things out is more helpful.  So, I try to get 2 easier things done in the morning (history and one LOOP item like science, art, music, etc.) and then do math and reading in the afternoon.  Doing the harder 2 subjects in the morning seemed like a good idea to me, but nooooooooooo...that did not work well for Layla.  Lesson learned!

I'm flexing.  I'm adapting.  I'm trying to not be so ISTJ about all of this.  :)

Wish me luck!

Some books from the past few months:

And audio books listened to:

Mercy Watson is a BIG favorite.

A few books we have finished lately:

A forgotten field trip: our visit to a local farm education area.

Showing off the candles they made.

Lately:

I'm keeping track of all the books we read on a word document on my computer, as I tend to forget to put them here lately!  However, one book we recently finished was this one.  We'll be watching the recent movie of it for Family Movie Night tonight! :)  My prediction is that the movie will be more fun than the book.  It was rather dry and boring to me, and I think the kids put up with it as well.  I should have quit and just picked up another one, but quitting is hard for me sometimes.  I'll get better at it soon, I promise!

One book they were very interested in, that we read in just one sitting, was this one:

In her phonics work, Layla continues to move along quite well and has now finished the next two books in Sing, Spell, Read and Write:

She has now finished the 3 books on the bottom left of this picture:  a, e, and i.

Apple Cider field trip to Tamarack Nature Center:

Quick updates:

1.  Today is a big day around our house because we officially have a reader now!  Layla read the first 22 pages of her Sing, Spell, Read and Write phonics book *a*.  She's super proud of herself, and so am I.  :)

2.  For my own use, really, here is our very basic schedule that we do daily:

4 days a week I try to have a normal morning schedule at home, and 1 day a week I keep available for field trips, fun outside learning experiences, etc.

Mornings =

Breakfast 8:30-9:00.  Clean rooms, make beds, etc.  I eat before or after the kids so that I can read to them the entire time they are eating.  We start out with the Doxology, then do 1 Bible story, then pray.  Then I read from a poetry book for the rest of the time.  In a month or so, once I feel like our routine is really solid, then we will also begin doing our memory work at this time (Scripture, short poems, Shakespeare bits).

9:00-12:00 = School time.  School does not go past 12:00 on the 4 normal days, no matter what.  There are many more important things to do in life than school work.  

School Time = 

9:00-10:00 is LOOP time.  I only have 2 subjects that we do every day:  Math and Reading/Phonics.  Everything else is included in my loop time, which we do 3X a week (M,W,F...and sometimes 1 other time in the week).  I loop things I think are very important, but I don't want to assign to a specific day of the week.  Every loop time starts by reading 1 book on history (American history).  Then we loop the following subjects/topics:

1.  Science (mostly nature this year...nothing crazy.  Books on animals, etc).

2.  Literature read-alouds

3.  A nature walk with drawing in our nature journal (learning to draw will be our "learned art" focus for the year).  This is the one thing I have let drop in September, because I feel like it disrupts our school day flow somewhat, but I really need to just let that go.  It's IMPORTANT.  So we will do it more for sure now that thing will slow down just a bit in October. We are going to start some formal drawing lessons on October 10th, so that will be great motivation for me.  

4.  Shakespeare plays

5.  Artist study:  Monet 

6.  Composer study:  Bach 

7.  Handwriting (using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum)*

*I am not sure how much I will use this writing curriculum, as much as I think it is good and not very overwhelming at all.  I don't feel like I can let it go entirely yet, but I don't feel a need to do much more than 1X a week practice right now.  Research does not support pushing this skill in young children, even though our school system operates this way, so I'm more inclined to follow research than the norm at this point.  We shall see.

During LOOP time we move from the dining room table to the couch.  Layla need to sit by me, but she can be holding things/looking at stuff/playing quietly with something as long as she is listening and paying attention.  Finn often sits and listens with me, but sometimes he plays with Cora as well.  Cora is always with us, and she can mostly play with playdough or something else for a while before she interrupts...but this is still a challenge for her.  :)  We're working on it, though, and she clearly is learning the routine, so I have HIGH hopes for how things will be maybe after Christmas?  Haha.

10:00-12:00 = CORE subject time:  Math and Phonics/Reading

The most I do of each of these subjects is 30 minutes per subject at a time, but I need to plan that much buffer time for Cora, mostly, and also all of life's unplanned little things that can sidetrack us.  The amount of time I have planned so far, and how much I fill it up, is working really well so far, so I think it will only need a few tweaks from here on out.  

1.  Our Math is Right Start Mathematics.  It's going really well for Layla so far, so I'm pleased with her attitude towards math right now, as well as the way the curriculum works.  The only downside is that I need to be there with her, working on it.  There is no "do this on your own while I do X."  So it's teacher intensive right now, but should we continue, that will even out later on.

2.  For Phonics we are using Sing, Spell, Read and Write.  Except we really aren't doing much with the Spell and Write parts...haha.  Again, that goes back to my personal philosophy on education (should not take up more than 2-3 hours of a little kid's day, tops), and research, which shows that pushing writing and spelling young do not help, and can harm.  What makes a good reader and writer, according to research?  Fancy this...it's hearing lots of quality literature. Or, having lots of quality literature read out loud to you.  So, that is what we do!  We do 30 minutes of phonics instruction daily, and then try to read as much quality lit as we can.  It's VERY fun.  :)  (I also use audio books for pre-bed reading for the kids, when I need a break from talking/being around people...)

Afternoon time:

12:00-1:00 = Lunch time

During lunch I read out loud from all of the picture books we brought home from the library that week (usually 30-50 at a time).  I need things that keep Cora's interest as well, otherwise I'd read more chapter books at this time also.  However, I don't really mind reading the picture books...I think they are wonderful, and a far under-rater took for keeping older kids interested in reading as well.

1:00-2:00 = Mama exercises, kids each get to pick one show to watch (as most of them are about 22 minutes long, this works out perfectly).

2:00-5:00 = Free play time, hopefully outside much of it.  Some chores are done in here as well.

Evening

5:00-5:30 = Hopefully a violin lesson for Layla.  This varies in time some days...it just depends on when J gets home from work.

5:30-6:00 = Dinner as a family.

6:00 = Cora to bed.

7:00 = Reading with the older two, chapter books and literature that Cora can't be entertained by during the day.  This is always reading in person together for about 45 minutes, but it can also be listening to an audio book when they are in bed for a while.

8:00 = Bed for the older 2.  This will likely be earlier after daylight savings, but for now it is 8:00.