So the chaos has begun, before we began. Haha! Well, after so much effort on gathering my supplies and curriculum, I am throwing it up in the air. So we did our first few days, kind of winging it. I thought I had it ready, because I had the books, so we just would do the workbooks, page by page. Easy Peasy! Not so well!
Unit Study by Netflix!
So first indicator was at the library. I had an awesome plan, book list and all that jazz to do a bird unit study. I felt like I had spent a semester prepping for an algebra test, to realize I was taking a history exam. Yikes! So at the library, the influence of Netflix reeked havoc in my plan. The nature documentary of crocodilians and the fact that crocodilian books are for some reason filed in the dewy decimal system next to the birds, landed us into a crocodilian unit study.
Not really prepared, but I figured we could wing it with a lot of ready. Let’s just say, I have done a lot of reading about those things and we still have more books coming on loan. We can safely say, there are no crocodilian books left in our branch of the library.
Workbooks Shmurkbooks!
Next, we are having a small issue with our workbooks. My darling son, precious #2 HATES them. Our reading program is sinking has sunk. He refuses. No interest, eyes glassed over.
Math also seams to mean nothing on paper to my children, they are hands on. The 3 year old wants to do her school work and the 1 year old trashed the house. On a positive note, speech is good as long as the list of words for him to say is not bound in a book and I have stickers.
Unschooling, hmm.
I think we are naturally just unschooling homeschoolers. Now that is a scary thought. I have to have a plan. Or unschooling approach is that we will know the topics to cover, we will use our library and do it, until we get it. I am thinking we are more of a Charlotte Mason approach.
What flies well around here is reading aloud, manipulative, notebook paper, stickers, and games. So I need to keep things simpler to be effective.
New Plan!
So new plan with a daily routine built within.
1. Chores. I know this might sound crazy, but the house is out of control. We could spend all day swimming through books, coloring, exploring, but it doesn’t give use clean underwear in the morning or dinner ready for us to eat. So chores must come first, besides these are some very important life skills.
I just learned a new life skill today. Dora is the perfect amount of time to keep the laundry flowing. After every episode, the washer and dryer was checked and rotated if needed, the dried load was folded and put away before we start the next. The amazing part was all I had to do was start and load the washer and fold. The kids did all the moving the laundry around. Can we have an OHH YEAHH! in the house.
2. School. Simpler is better. We will simply do a devotion, phonics, penmanship, math, unit study time. I am not covering anything else, nor will I get myself distracted by pretty workbooks, curriculums, or whatever those other homeschool families are doing.
We will also be involved in a weekly homeschool coop, and a monthly one. I have plans to have the kids join a gardening 4H club (another monthly meeting). Of course, we will do the weekly AWANAs program at our church. The kids will also take swim lessons 1-2 times a week starting this fall. Hmm, who ever said homeschool kids are not socialized. I hope I am up for all this.
3. Play. Then we can play. Play outside, in the house, as long as it is not a mess in my chore list. Game on. I am really thinking we would use this time to garden, cook, sew, woodshop (thanks so much www.anna-white.com). Play! No TV.
4. TV. More specifically Netflix. Once we are exhausted and hot, then the tv can come on. Of course it will probably just entice the next unit study. See my children watch the educational stuff and the older movies. Like tonight, when I was crying my eyes out over Where the Red Fern Grows. I think between swamp people and this last one, I might have to get my son a few more pairs of overalls, he is acting as if it is his uniform. I am also loving all the Christian movies available. NICE!
So I will get into the specific on our new “curriculum”. I am going to say curriculum lightly, since we really will not have a formal one. We will essentially have topics and progression for reading, writing, arithmetic, and responsibility; those are my Rs. Well, maybe we will add in relationships.
Pray for me, I need it!
~trish
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