Week 4 - Fall Fun

I know, I know.. it's been awhile since I have written anything on this blog. I'm busy beyond belief and sitting down to write about the fun things Bee and I do has proved to be difficult. More difficult than I could have imagined. Going to catch up a bit here.

We are now on week 4. We've covered letters A, B and C. He can recognize and trace those 3 letters with ease. He is obsessed with letters. More specifically the letter L. We have yet to cover it, but he has learned about letters from not only me, but from books and Super Why. He's constantly asking me "What letter is this?" then he'll scream out what it is. Obviously some letters he is totally off, but other letters he can identify easily. He gets T and L mixed up. He plays with letters in the bathtub and when the L is upside down, it looks like a T. I can understand why he thinks it is a T.

Instead of covering letter D this week, we will be doing some Fall Fun activities. I hope to get some pictures up this week, but time will tell. We're having fun and learning. Most days he is great about sitting at the table, other days, not so much. He loves to color and has started making stick people and naming them all from the family. He then asks me to draw, but I'm not very good at that. He can probably do better than I.

Letter A - Day 3

Today was day 3 of learning the letter A. I also wanted to make sure to start teaching Bee how to hold markers, crayons and pencils the correct way. Today he gave me major attitude. He woke up at 6am today, and it showed. I pushed through, though, offering a few different activities while still being able to to do the ones I wanted to work on with him.

Last week while I was trying to see exactly what he could and couldn't do in our 26 week curriculum, I found that he wasn't very able to trace lines/numbers/letters, and made note of it as something I wanted to work on. Do I expect him to be able to draw these things on his own without tracing some dotted lines? Not one bit. He's 3. My main goal in homeschooling is not to force and overwhelm him, and that is the beauty of homeschooling. Things are on the child's terms, not everyone else.



So, here's how he did today. Obviously a lot better. I was impressed. The lowercase a looks pretty funky, lol. I thought it was cute though, and he was so happy he did it that he squealed.

I then had him try tracing along the lines. This sheet was made for "cutting practice", but he's not skilled enough to hold scissors just yet.



Anyway, we're making progress, I can already tell. He's becoming more willing to actually do things with me. When I say "It's time for school!" he goes over to get some of his crafts and sits at the table. We're both having fun!

Letter A - Day 2

Today started off pretty bad. I didn't sleep well last night, and I guess Bee didn't either. So, we were both a mess. We carried on with our day as planned, though.

We're still working on the letter A (all week long). Today I taught him uppercase and lowercase. We matched the case letters with the correct apples. He did great! I love the way he says uppercase and lowercase. It's very cute.

After that, we practiced counting the seeds in the apples and matching it with the correct number. He gets bored quick with this one, so I'll have to find a way that engages him. I have a few ideas in mind.

We also did the "Do A Dot" activity. We did it last week for fun when I received the markers in the mail, and his colors were everywhere but on the spots they were "supposed" to be (in the blank dots). It was a pretty picture, though. So how did he do this time?



As you can see - a whole lot better! He stayed in the dots (mostly) and didn't go insane with the markers. He has a ton of fun with these things!

I then printed off another tracing/coloring page with ants. I, of course, tried to get him to trace the A's, but he told me "I color da ants!" and let out this viscous laugh. He likes to mess with bugs - even on paper. Typical boy, I suppose.



He then spotted the glue sticks in his little pouch and did the "What's that?" thing where he knows what it is, but wants me to give it to him and tries to pretend he's innocent. You know how they get us parents with that. So, then I thought - hey! I'll grab some construction paper, cut out some shapes (do not laugh - they were free-form) and have him glue them onto a bigger sheet. Of course, this is when the attitude came out. He wanted to do it all on his own, but he hasn't learned that glue is NOT a crayon - it cannot go all over my dining room table. So, it didn't last long for the gluing. Then I asked him what each shape was and what color it was and we (me) wrote it down.



After our free time/Mommy's work time, I decided to get out the magnets to play with. He loves to make these things "click" by putting them together. He thinks it's hilarious and I'm not sure why. He played with these for a good 20 minutes, then got upset that I made him keep them on the dry erase board instead of on my floor.




And this is the aftermath of today's works.. so peaceful. It always melts my heart when I see him peacefully sleeping.

Our First Day - Letter A

Today was our first day of school. Yes, even though it was technically a "Holiday". We did activities that were scheduled, as well as some extras because we had time and he was interested in more after lunch. I also evaluated him with a sheet that tells me what he should know by the time we're headed into Kindergarten (he's only 3, so we have a couple of years yet), and he did okay, but obviously needs improvement. It's good to see where he stands.

One thing that is difficult trying to each a 3 year old, is having enough patience with each other. He colored, did some matching, read the Bible verse that was scheduled, etc., then wanted to be done. There was a few times in between activities where he kept yawning (on purpose, to let me know he was done), but I told him, let's make it through this then we can have some free time. So, we did.

Here are two of the activities we did today:



He did try to trace the uppercase A, and did well for the most part, but obviously it is something we need work on. He's 3 - it won't look perfect for a long time yet.



This activity grabbed his attention. I cut out the apples, put some glue on them, and let him stick it to the tree. I tried letting him have the glue, but he treated it like it was a crayon. Lol, NOT very fun for me.

We also worked on Spanish words that begin with the letter A, practiced counting/recognizing numbers, shapes, colors, etc.

Overall, today was a good day.

Almost Done..

Well, I did it. I have almost 2 weeks left to get all of our homeschooling materials bought, things organized, and my brain ready to go. And, I've done it all before time ran out. I'm going to pat myself on the back for that one. I haven't been this "organized" since high school.

I ordered a laminator and a some Do-A-Dot markers from Amazon. I had $30 in Amazon gift cards to use from Swag Bucks, so I paid $11 for $100 worth of stuff plus got FREE shipping. Oh, how I love to get a deal.

I plan to post some pictures later this week when I figure out exactly where I want out "classroom" to be. I'm very particular with my space - things have to look organized and not cluttered, or I will not be able to work. This will prove to be challenging. I think I need a 3 bedroom home..

*Note, I used my affiliate links for Amazon and Swag Bucks.

Lesson Plan: Week 1

I am usually a procrastinator, but realize I have to get rid of that "trait" (yeah, I'm going with that as my excuse) if I want to be successful in everything I do. So, I'm working hard on getting everything I need to be ready when we start our curriculum in 2 weeks.

My goal for each week is to go through the entire alphabet one letter at a time. Obviously, this will last for 26 weeks. We'll be doing a lot of activities each day to go along with each letter. Example: For letter A, we're doing an "Apple Cut & Paste" activity. I'll cut out the apple tree and apples, and I'll have Bee glue and stick the apples on the tree. We'll count how many apples are on the tree and then we'll hang our tree up. We'll also be covering some Spanish words for each letter. We're going to have some outside fun while we still can, as well.

You can view our schedule for week 1 here.

I am following the curriculum made available by Confessions of a Homeschooler.

*Ding Ding* School Starts 9/5

I tried to think of a clever intro to this post, but as you will learn about me, I'm not that clever. I do try to be though, which is probably embarrassing for people around me. Anyway, I'm rambling.

What is One Homeschooling Mom going to consist of you may ask yourself. Well, it will take you through my journey of homeschooling my Son, who we'll call "Bee". What works, what doesn't work and hopefully some insight for all parties involved. I'm learning as I go.

Why am I homeschooling?

As a parent, I find it is my obligation to raise my Son as best as I can. To give him opportunities I never had. To give him a love for God and understanding of what God wants from His children. Something public schools cannot offer my child. Most of all, he'll receive love each and every day (yes, even on the days he may make me want to pull my hair out).

I may also post some recipes, daily life, Doctor appointments, etc. to mix things up a bit.

I'm very, very excited to start this new journey in our lives. So, let the preparation begin..