We took a week off from school. Even though I didn't officially teach lessons from my teacher books, I still had the boys working on different areas of their learning. They just didn't know it :) For example, I challenged them to read 20 books for a prize and then picked out a number of books that centered around Thanksgiving. The boys were so excited to have days of freedom. To wake up and not have to buckle down and work on school work. My Mum came into town and spent the morning and evening with us for a day (she spends the afternoons with my grandmother! I'm so thankful she will divide her time between us!) so the boys loved having the free time to be with her! We crafted place cards for our 2 Thanksgiving dinners and the boys wrote the names on all the cards!
I have been hesitant to blog about homeschooling and where the kiddos are at. They have struggled each in their own areas and I didn't want to 'out' them, if you know what I mean? I know I'd hate for other to be blabbing about my short comings. And while their struggles are a far cry from 'short' comings since they are doing so well and have far exceeded the standards set for public school students, I still have been hesitant to post about it.
Isaiah was on a reading spree this weekend. He sat with my Mum and read a bunch of books with her. I sat back and listened in awe of the leaps and bounds he has grew in his reading journey since we started homeschooling in August. He is more willing to challenge himself now and is becoming very fluent with his level 1 readers. I listened as he added inflections in his voice and his reading became quite 'alive'! I may have cried a bit. It was so encouraging to hear him read so comfortably with someone else other than myself! He still loves math, but when I was telling my grandmother that reading came second to math on his 'like' list, he quickly added that he does enjoy reading! The library found him some easier leveled comic books that he enjoys so much!
T-man started adding 1 before we had Thanksgiving break. This opened his eyes to a whole new world in math! He is doing so well with his number recognition! I don't feel like I am pulling teeth to get him to the table for his math lesson anymore! He comes very eagerly! He loves to be challenged and to have new material placed in front of him. I struggled with knowing how much to push him at the beginning of our school year when he was getting off to a slow start. I didn't want to discourage him by pushing to far ahead but I also didn't want him to feel not challenged with the material. I am very thankful that we kept plugging away. He finds sight words to be incredibly frustrating and I find him sounding out everything he can! I love to see his passion grow as he learns more and more every day!
Hannah is working on colors and counting. She loves to color and just needed a fresh box of crayons for her box as she colored the tips right off her current crayons! She loves to sit on my lap and color while I am teaching the boys! She is very excited next year to get her very own school books!
The boys are begging to start cursive. I had ordered the books but mailed them back out of fear that it would be too difficult and now I am regretting it! I am going to look just a basic cursive book to start them on once the baby gets here and then I will order the cursive book with their curriculum next year.
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