Today we wrapped up our first full month of home school. I just cannot believe how fast time has flown! With the exception of a few tough moments, it has been uneventfully smooth, fun, and incredibly rewarding. I hate to sound like I had low expectations, as I truly didn't, but it's been surprising on all levels how joyful this has been for all of us.
We mixed poetry with art this day.
This was a picture narration of Abram leaving Ur upon God's command. Since we're from Texas, it should be no surprise that we imagine the move to include camels AND longhorns.
We used Legos in our geography lesson to create our own pyramids.
I am in the process of tweaking some scheduling challenges and reminded of one of the things about homeschooling that so appealed to me: the flexibility. If something isn't working, change it! So I'm working on that. I had hoped to have the new schedule written out by the time we start Week 5 next week, but not sure that's going to happen. And you know what? It's okay. The boys have been very content for me to just dictate what's next on the daily agenda and they will be none the wiser when an official change is made, whenever I get to it. The Lord has blessed me with two boys that have been happy no matter what we do...they are just happy to be HOME!
B's willingness to sit and do our daily writing. Bless him. His older brother has had incredible fine motor control from a very young age. So when B was 4 1/2 and still not able to scratch out his name very legibly, of course I worried like crazy. So on the advice of a friend in the early childhood development world, we lazily worked on fine motor exercises for a few months. And I was shocked at how quickly he made progress. We always did fun things like beading or sorting or clay or lacing. But he never enjoyed it for more than 4 or 5 minutes at a time. It made me a little nervous about school. So fast forward to a month ago: everyday we would sit and write our letters or practice sums and he has never ever complained! Even when I have doubled up on some lessons, he hasn't complained. He just sits at the table and buckles down and does his work. Talk about shocking my socks off! Today he complained about table work for the first time. But it was me asking him to free form copy Picasso's "The Weeping Woman" in quadrants and I think it overwhelmed him. And after me sitting with him, guiding him, he did much better. For my noisy, chatty, bouncy, theatrical, listen-to-story-time-upside-down-on-the-couch Tigger...this amazed me!
The second thing that has surprised me has been how much more bonded my firstborn and I have become. We are a LOT alike. In the good ways and not-quite-as-charming ways. One thing we have in common is physical touch is not our primary love language. But I think all the cuddling on the couch reading together is changing that. He consistently approaches me to offer or receive hugs and kisses. He often asks me to cuddle at bedtime. He willingly lets me hold his hand at random times. Its been pretty awesome! When I asked him not to long ago what he liked best about homeschooling so far, his enthusiastic answer was, "I get to see you SO much more!" Wow. Um, yeah. I'll take that! :-)
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