Kindergarten Schedule -- Really

Ok, so all the veteran home schoolers are not surprised at all that my original Kindergarten schedule did not go as planned.  Click here to see what we were trying to do.  

The first morning went great.  Sammie did some memory/match games.  I found lots of neat kids' sites at Rocks In My Dryer.
While Sam had her computer time, Chase and Ava built a castle.  (While the stable was being built, a monster named "Ava" tore down the castle, so Prince Chase had to rescue the princess and rebuild everything.)

The afternoon is where we kind of fell apart. Chase is very used to Sammie leading the fun during nap time, so he interrupted a ton and wanted to do whatever Sam was doing. In the morning, he seems to be content with a video or playing with Ava. The biggest revisions to our day have to do with timing and location.

1) We're now doing the work she doesn't like in the morning, then computer time is her reward for finishing.  She doesn't like to practice her handwriting, but it's already done a world of good. I never thought I'd hear the word "boring" on day one!

2)We're moving locations from the room I'd prepared downstairs to the kitchen counter. Although she thought it was fun to have a special room, it didn't really work.  Especially since we're moving to more work in the morning.  I can get her started, then do my chores or take care of the little one's needs without great interruption to her work.  Maybe a "school room" will make more sense when there's more than one of them working.

3) Also, instead of trying to do school all at once in the afternoon during Ava's naptime, I'm breaking it up more.  Practice sheets and math at the counter in the morning, then any new lessons in the afternoon.

That's about it, but it seems to be going much more smoothly just with those little changes.

Here's the gem so far:  on the second morning she actually ASKED to do math.  Woohoo! You can see the counting blocks that she loves.  She got through 25 pages the first two days.

Chase wanted in on the action when he saw Grandaddy reading to Sam earlier.

And yesterday, every time I said it was time to be finished with our read aloud, she would say, "Just a little more, please?" Imagine that. A book with no pictures even! I hope she's loving it as much as I am.