Week one of
homeschooling, DONE! What's the BIG DEAL? Sounds like nothing to
celebrate but I considered it a milestone. After the first week of
staying home with my children, being a mom and their primary teacher
24/7, I'm beat! Would I still do it for the next 173 days or 8 years?
YESSSSSSSS no question about it. Yes, it is stressful; trying to
balance home and "school"; worrying if I am being too rigid with our
schedule or that I'm not doing enough; frustrating when what I've
planned didn't materialize; but the rewards overshadow the challenges.
Seeing my children learn, ask questions, create things and just have fun
is something that I won't trade for anything, and knowing that I am
there to share those memories with them is just simply priceless.
Here are some highlights of our week:
The first couple of days were very gloomy and rainy so we spent most of the times indoors, however, the kids still managed to enjoy themselves and be creative. Monday, I left a CD playing with songs connected to our lessons about the Holy Trinity while I went upstairs to prepare lunch, and the boys stayed in their "classroom" playing with KNEX. The next thing I know, my oldest son was calling me and showing me what they built. A "TUB-low" and "ZIG-lophone". Both of them were holding a "musical" instrument from the KNEX they made and marching around the classroom pretending to be part of a band. It's just a testimony that children can have the most creative and imaginative minds given the right tools. On Tuesday, we met up with other homeschooler families and the boys played with other children in the group. It's interesting to share ideas and learn form other families "How they do it?" Wednesday, finally the sun showed up and we were able sit outside, do some lessons and play some games. You can see in the pictures how my youngest son is learning to balance on one leg, they also tried to do the wheelbarrow and inchworm race. My eldest son came up with the idea of doing a treasure hunt for my husband in our yard since we were talking about voyages during the times of crusaders and early navigators for our history lessons. He made a map of our yard and we applied the "rhyming" lesson from English to make the clues. It was a successful treasure hunt. I loved it because we were able to combine together various lessons in one fun-filled activity. Thursday, I introduced the food pyramid as part of their science lessons. Talking about picky-eaters. This was a perfect lesson about eating healthy and why we need to eat healthy. The boys made a book about the five food groups and Anthony wrote a story about his favorite food, the "Corn". We also decided to do a "Good Deed" chart where each of them can earn stars for their every good deed. I've got the inspiration from Anthony's karate teacher and his story about the good and the bad dragons. He said, "If we wanted the good dragon to grow and become stronger, we have to feed it." What do we give the dragons as food? Good deeds! Which ties in with our lessons about obedience and following rules. I think it's really awesome that I can make connections with things that we do in school, at home and outside our home/school to reinforce values that we wanted them to have. The week went by fast, Friday was extra special because we celebrated Mary's birthday. Both of them made cards for Mary, and helped me maked her birthday cake which we shared later with two of Anthony's classmate from his old school during our "movie night." Overall, I can say that I can't wait for our next class, and I am looking forward to more stressful but rewarding weeks with my boys!
Here are some highlights of our week:
The first couple of days were very gloomy and rainy so we spent most of the times indoors, however, the kids still managed to enjoy themselves and be creative. Monday, I left a CD playing with songs connected to our lessons about the Holy Trinity while I went upstairs to prepare lunch, and the boys stayed in their "classroom" playing with KNEX. The next thing I know, my oldest son was calling me and showing me what they built. A "TUB-low" and "ZIG-lophone". Both of them were holding a "musical" instrument from the KNEX they made and marching around the classroom pretending to be part of a band. It's just a testimony that children can have the most creative and imaginative minds given the right tools. On Tuesday, we met up with other homeschooler families and the boys played with other children in the group. It's interesting to share ideas and learn form other families "How they do it?" Wednesday, finally the sun showed up and we were able sit outside, do some lessons and play some games. You can see in the pictures how my youngest son is learning to balance on one leg, they also tried to do the wheelbarrow and inchworm race. My eldest son came up with the idea of doing a treasure hunt for my husband in our yard since we were talking about voyages during the times of crusaders and early navigators for our history lessons. He made a map of our yard and we applied the "rhyming" lesson from English to make the clues. It was a successful treasure hunt. I loved it because we were able to combine together various lessons in one fun-filled activity. Thursday, I introduced the food pyramid as part of their science lessons. Talking about picky-eaters. This was a perfect lesson about eating healthy and why we need to eat healthy. The boys made a book about the five food groups and Anthony wrote a story about his favorite food, the "Corn". We also decided to do a "Good Deed" chart where each of them can earn stars for their every good deed. I've got the inspiration from Anthony's karate teacher and his story about the good and the bad dragons. He said, "If we wanted the good dragon to grow and become stronger, we have to feed it." What do we give the dragons as food? Good deeds! Which ties in with our lessons about obedience and following rules. I think it's really awesome that I can make connections with things that we do in school, at home and outside our home/school to reinforce values that we wanted them to have. The week went by fast, Friday was extra special because we celebrated Mary's birthday. Both of them made cards for Mary, and helped me maked her birthday cake which we shared later with two of Anthony's classmate from his old school during our "movie night." Overall, I can say that I can't wait for our next class, and I am looking forward to more stressful but rewarding weeks with my boys!
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