I knew I didn't want to start school with Ben until the big two were back in classes, because it's just easier to be in school mode if your siblings aren't still having summer! I waited a while to order his curriculum since we're lucky enough to have the actual company and printing house in our city. Surprisingly though (not really) lots of people had this same idea, so when I called to order I found out that I couldn't even pick it up until the same day that Anna and Noah went back. So instead of starting that same day, Ben got one more day of summer while I sorted through the books and made plans for the rest of the week.
I have to admit, when I opened our curriculum boxes I was overwhelmed. I shouldn't have been surprised because they weighed a ton - as in, I almost didn't make it to the car when Ben decided to investigate the door mechanics rather than open it for me! Our
Junior Kindergarten curriculum was also from the same company, but it wasn't near as much material. Luckily it looks like more than it really is, and Ben will in no way be tied to workbooks all day. A lot of this is teacher manuals and some of it won't even be fully used this year. Because Anna and Noah went through this same curriculum in Kindergarten, I'm very familiar with how it all works together and how much time we need to get through a typical lesson.
For most of that first day I let Ben and Kate play while I sat here, sorting and planning and seriously feeling giddy. The table stayed like this for a couple of days while we did school on the fringe, but I'm happy to say it's organized now.....at least until I carry out my full school room plans later this year.
The next morning we took Anna and Noah and Kate to school, and Ben and I came home to get started.
I loved that I could take that picture with his little sign and instead of rushing him off to go somewhere we sat and looked at caterpillars on the driveway for as long as he wanted.
The next few days were a complete joy. Really, he is so fun to teach and he loves it all. My biggest complaint so far is that he wants to snuggle all the time, which makes writing a little difficult. Not really a problem!
I love how Kindergarten brings in music and art study and he really loved his first artist card - Birch forest by Gustav Klimt. He was so cute when we discussed it in the house. He kept over pronouncing it and saying, "Kliiiiim-T, Klimmmmt, I'm gonna have to practice that name!". Then we went outside because he remembered that we have some birch trees in our yard. He literally squealed when he held up the art card and saw that it matched some of our trees.
Then he wanted to know the names of all the trees in our yard (and there are a lot!) and he just couldn't get over how the book pages looked the same. Kate got in on it too and they were both so excited. The first day we had a leaf hunt to make his tree picture above and seeing the book match the yard sent us on another little trip to learn more about trees.
From an academic standpoint, Kindergarten is starting off very easy for him. The first 6 weeks of this curriculum (in just about every grade) incorporates review from the past year, so we're flying through the book work. In a week and a half we've done 3 weeks of work, but I know that speed won't last forever, and we will encounter new material for him soon. He already knows how to read, so I'm looking forward to getting him onto new stories, and his little math mind continues to outpace anything I offer. Kate joins in when we're home and she's already writing like crazy....and maybe sometimes on surfaces she shouldn't write on at all!
We're also working in our
A Year of Playing Skillfully program and of course they love everything we've done so far. Nathan sneaked these balloons into the house the night before so that we could have our big reveal to get started - a hot air balloon to take us on our new journey. Yes, that is a cardboard box with no decoration, and yes those balloons were half way deflated by the next morning. But I'm sure it won't be shocking to know that they still LOVED it and thought it was the best thing ever.
We played in the box, the cut the stings off the balloons to play with them on the floor, read some hot air balloon themed books and designed our own on these coloring pages. I think Ben's face shows how he felt about it all.
He is an active little boy, so of course he has groaned a few times when I've asked him to do some things, but he really understands what a gift it is to be home. On maybe day two he finished his work and looked up at me and said, "Wait....if I was at school with Noah and Anna right now, I wouldn't be done until like, way later!". That's right, buddy, you've got it pretty good. ;) Because I just have one student, we can get through the work so much faster than if I had an entire class to work with. That leaves time to go out and play and take mid-day bike rides. Nathan was working from home that day so I busted him out of his home office and he came with us for a little break.
With the whole year in front of us I'm excited to see where we go. Kate is in preschool 3 mornings a week but when she is here she's super eager to be involved, so I'm seeing good things for keeping her home next year too. And when W joins us at the end of this year we hope he enjoys it at a laid back pace as well. Someone asked me last week how long I plan to homeschool Ben and really, the older I've gotten the more I've embraced the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mindset. Homeschooling started last year with him out of necessity - the Junior Kindergarten at our campus wasn't open due to construction and the only other option was across town at the same start time as Anna and Noah. It just wasn't possible for me to be in two places at once. But we had a blast doing it at home last year and he learned a ton. I really enjoyed teaching him and I really enjoyed not dragging him out of bed at 6am and fighting through homework late into the evening. So much so that I constantly ask the older two if they want to come home for school too, ha! Maybe one day... For now I'm enjoying my time with just Ben, looking forward to figuring out what W will need this winter, and planning for next fall when Kate will join and our little school will go from 1 to 3 students! Tomorrow Ben starts back at his Friday enrichment group and they've already told us that they're happy to have our other two once they're ready. I feel like it's going to be so good for all three of them.
Speaking of our school, I admit I always thought it was a little silly when people would name their homeschool. I just didn't see the need and thought it was kind of funny. But in my state you have to inform the city and school district of your intent to homeschool any child age 6 or above and guess what - they want a school name on that record. Of course you could just use Your Last Name School. But why not make it fun? So we are Sprout Hill Academy. And one day I just might have to get that embroidered on something, hee hee.
