Today is a day to write about. Not all of the others have been, so here I am. It's a good day at M.A.K.E.
8:00am: I drag my body out of bed, and head straight for the coffee Brad has already made.
Luke & Grace are watching Clifford.
8:30 We eat breakfast and then begin our school day. I sit down with my coffee in the chair next to Luke's desk in the playroom and watch him look over today's list already put in his "HomeSchool Notebook" the night before.
He reads the scripture for the day. (Sometimes he writes it, but today he is writing in his journal....and boys don't enjoy writing so much.)
"This is the day that the Lord has made, I will be glad and have fun it." Psalm 118:24 --Mommy's revision
Journal: "What are 2 questions you would like to ask Neil Armstrong if he were here?"--(Our VIP of the month, since we're studying the Solar System)
Language Arts: We do pages in a workbook by A Beka books, a christian curriculum. I may be changing this, though, because it's too easy! For now, we are working on suffix-es!
Reading: We go to the Library every Monday and get books about the topics we are studying. Yesterday we got books about the moon. He will read two or three of my choice and then, later in the afternoon will be "free reading" of his choice.
Math: We found a curriculum called Math-U-See, which uses manipulatives to teach concepts and not just the facts. Luke is a visual/kinesthetic learner, so this is great for him. Grace also learns along with Luke as she likes to watch when we're "playing" math.
About Grace: Her school work is in a pink folder on a small table where she will trace letters, do easy mazes, count objects I've laid out for her or just color. She spends small amounts at a time here, but that's okay. She will be going to our church for Preschool starting Thursday, Sept. 8.
10:00am: After math we all have a break and a snack. Today we took Stevie for a walk around the neighborhood. We talked about the weather and why God made animals dumber than people. Some days it's harder to get back to work than others. Today Luke wanted to finish quickly because he was excited about what he had read at the bottom of today's list. (this is called incentive) I had found some new websites that I added to his bookmarks on the computer and he was anxious to see what they were.
Social Studies has been mostly Map Skills out of a workbook, which he enjoys. We have also put together a family tree, which only lacks my busy Dad's side of the family.
Science has been the most fun, I think. This could purely be done by reading books from the library. We have also made a styrofoam model of the solar system and pictures of the night sky as art projects. We will be going to NASA this weekend to round out our unit, and we can't wait! This will be our first big field trip! Today, Luke filled in the blanks of a diagram of the Solar System and spelled each planet perfectly and knew the order perfectly. (I could not have told you these in order just last month, but now I know and am learning a lot!) Remember this: My Very Energetic Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas. :)
11:30 Lunch
After lunch we sometimes watch "Between the Lions" at 12 on PBS, which encourages reading. Today, we learned a new song on the piano and worked on the names of the white keys.
12:30pm: Grace laid down to take a nap and Luke began free reading time. While he read and she "napped", I planned for the next few days lessons.
1:30pm: Luke finally gets to play on the computer. I have found many websites with educational games including learningplanet.com, which has games for all ages, so Grace can play too. They also enjoy pbs.org. Luke also works on a program called JumpStart Advanced for 2nd Grade, which is all learning games, and even has a progress report for me to look at to tell me what he needs to work on and where he is excelling! Tomorrow he will create a book cover (a Word doc.) for a story he wrote about an astronaut named, "Duke".
2:00: Grace gets up and joins him on the web. I prepare for Art.
3:00: Fingerpaint! --Art doesn't happen every day and not usually this late in the day.
Every day is different, but it can only take 3 or 4 hours for us to finish with school. We don't have to stand in lines or wait on 18 other kids, so the day goes much faster for us at home. I have enjoyed watching Luke be able to stand up to do his work, take breaks when he needs them and get excited about learning! God is so good. I have never been so fulfilled. It's a lot of work, and I'm tired, but I am so genuinely glad that God has blessed me with this calling and opportunity to spend this short time with my kids. This morning, I asked Luke if he liked homeschooling. He said yes. I asked him if he'd rather go back to public school. He said no.
Every day I question if I'm doing the right thing. Every day my Father gently answers yes.
