First week of school!

Wow! Our first week of homeschooling is finished. It went by really fast and, looking back over the week, it went really well. There were some bumps here and there. The first day was a little frustrating for Calen as he’s not used to so much work. His preschool curriculum was only 30-45 minutes. Monday night I scheduled the lessons in a way that would best for us; plus I scheduled in two breaks between some of the lessons for him to play with play-doh or blocks. Another day he didn’t concentrate very well because, as he later confessed but mommy already knew, he wanted to play Playstation. He didn’t get to play it though. Jax was the biggest challenge the first three days (more on him next post)...

Calen grinning, Momma not crying on the first day of school... so far...

So what did Calen (and Danny and I) learn this first week? First, Danny and I learned that they sure don’t do kindergarten like they used to (lol).

Bible- we read Genesis (Creation through Abraham) . He also had a memory verse- Romans 3:23.
Math- He was finished in minutes. The lessons were counting to 10, numbers 1 and 2, some colors and shapes, same and different, top and bottom, left and right, first, middle, and last. I promised him it was become harder- money, time, multiplication, fractions, measurements, graphs- yep, he’ll learn all those things. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t even know what a perimeter was until junior high!
History/Geography- He learned about Martin Luther and William Tyndale and their roles in Christianity. This is where Danny and I learned more than we ever knew! We also learned where Germany, Italy, and Belgium are located on the world map. We are also doing a timeline from Adam and Eve until present. Yesterday, when we went were preparing to add William Tyndale to the chart Calen asked, “So, did William come before or after Martin Luther?” WOW! What a great question! Next week- history of the earth and people (introduction to the theory of evolution)
Reading- This is a literature rich curriculum so we’ve been reading the Boxcar Children, a book of poetry, and a book of nursery rhymes, his reader with short stories, and our history book, Hero Tales.
Spelling/Phonics- He made a 100 on his test this morning!!! Yesterday he was doing his phonics lesson (which incorporates the spelling words) when he said, “Hey! I’m not even thinking about the word! I don’t have to sound it out; I just know it in my mind!” I would have missed that blessed moment in learning if he had been away for school.

First A+! A chip off Dad's old block, Danny would say....writes like him anyway!

Science- Wow! He loves his science book and the experiments we did on Wednesday involving air and molecules. He can tell you the rain cycle, how a rainbow is formed, how thunder and lighting occurs, how snow and ice forms, and the basics of the sun and moon. Some of this information I didn’t learn until sometime around third or fourth grade. Next week- Seasons, stars, planets, volcanoes, the layers of Earth, and how flowers grow.
Language Arts- He learned about periods, question marks, and exclamation marks. He learned about capitalization at the beginning of a sentence and the names of people, places, and things.

Next week- double constant sounds, definitions, and similes. My first recollection of simile is seventh grade. At this rate he’ll checking the grammar on this blog by May.

The basis for next week's lessons...

We also have handwriting (I believe Calen would rather eat worms), Creative Expression/Writing (with the exception of making up stories and playing games he would rather eat fried worms), and a list of impressive vocabulary words that we’ve come across throughout the week in our studies (we keep the dictionary close by)! I didn’t always know the exact definition and had no idea how to explain it to a five year old. I felt like eating a worm until I told myself that there wasn’t a way to explain it an easier otherwise the authors would have done it. I really didn’t want to eat a worm. :)

I know that from the list it looks like we did school from sun up to sun down, but we were always finished in less than three hours. Calen already seems so grown up. It’s amazing what a few days of school can do to childhood. We’ve had such a great start to our homeschooling journey. I know that there won’t always be days or weeks like this, but it’s great to start the year with more blessings than worms.

True joy is not taking yourself seriously... Calen in the rain celebrating his first week of school!