Friday, August 29, 2008

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.


Photobucket


3 comments:

  1. That's great! That's the beauty of homeschooling - flexibility to make changes as you go. And sometimes you only figure those things out once you actually do them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is so wonderful! I have several friends who homeschool. I know God will bless your heart to teach your children!

    My middle daughter just started K-5. I have heard the word boring quite a bit myself when it comes to the handwriting homework! :)

    I wanted to let you know I linked to you in my post today! I let some awards pile up, so instead of trying to pass them on, I did a post to thank you sweet awarders (is that a word?) for blessing me!

    Blessings to you with your school year!
    Kimberly :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Way to make it work! The key to successful homeschooling is tweaking. ;) And just to warn you, with the ages of your kids, once you get everything running smoothly, something will change: someone will drop their nap, someone will become more mobile, someone will need to be added to the school table,...and you tweak some more. Keep rolling with the punches and you'll go far! :)

    The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

    ReplyDelete