Today is our first
day of homeschooling and I think we did pretty good! I was nervous
since I'm not sure how our day will go in terms of establishing routines
for the kids, time management on my part, keeping with our "daily
goals", and balancing "school" and home stuff. We started our day half
an hour late but the good news is we were able to accomplish what we
have to do at the end of the day. We were even been able to squeezed in
some physical activities and games. I wouldn't say that everything went
according to plan but that is one of the beauty of homeschooling,
schedules are flexible which gives us opportunity to adjust our plans
depending on the needs of everyone involve. After our morning prayers,
we started our day with establishing "house" rules and expectations,
and ended our day with thanksgiving prayer. My eldest son was really
cooperative and enthusiastic about his works. He was really excited to
start the day and remained focus on things he has to do. My youngest
one was a little challenging. It was still hard for him to remain in
one place for more than 10minutes. He started wandering of to the play
area even if he is still not done with his work, and there were times
that he refused to do what I asked him to do ( which is expected for his
age and personality). I tried to remain cool and understanding most of
the time, with a few frustrating moments and issuing warnings once in a
while. I have to remind my self that this is the firs time he got
exposed to a more "structured" setting . Despite the small hurdles that I
have to overcome today, at the end I can say that both of them really
listened well. My warnings didn't go beyond the first one and nobody
went to time-out or threw a tantrum. I feel really blessed to spend
this day ( and hopefully for the rest of the school year) with my two
boys. I missed my eldest son's first day to Kindergarten since my first
day of school (former public school teacher) coincided with his. As a
bonus, when my husband asked them what they did today, both of them
shared something which is a big deal for me. It shows that they
remembered something (even how simple it is) of the things we've done.
Some personal lessons learned as a stay-home-teacher-mom: Planning and
some structure are still important for both the kids and me; patience
and encouraging words can go a long way; spending time with my children
and teaching them not only academic but "life" stuffs is just simply
priceless. I am going to savor and enjoy this gift I am given until
they get tired of me.
