Friday, September 26, 2008

Our school routine


I got this question in a comment and decided to post my answer. Most of you will probably want to skip this post.

Would you mind sharing with me what your daily homeschooling schedule looks like?

My routine is to start in the kitchen and march into the school room. One boy is the line leader, the other is the calendar holder (both very important jobs ;). The line leader chooses the song. It is usually "This is the day that the Lord has made", or "Hallelu, Hallelu... Praise Ye the Lord", "Jesus Loves the Little Children", "Onward Christian Soldiers" or "Jesus Loves Me".
We start every day with prayer thanking God for things we are thankful for and inviting Him into our school to be our teacher. We pray for eager minds and good attitudes and we ask God to "clothe us in compassion, kindness, gentleness and patience" (Col 3).

Next, is Bible. They stand on the table with their swords and recite verses they know or we learn a new one. I try and keep them saying their old verses so they won't forget them.

Next, the Pledge of Allegiance. I tell them we say the pledge because we are thankful for our freedom that was fought for so that we can worship God and go to church.

Next, the calendar. We look at the day of the week, month, day, and year. I show them things we have to look forward to on the calendar. We talk about how long it is until then so they can start to understand time.

Next, we do a devotion out of "My ABC Bible Verses" book.

Then, I try to get Reece busy with Math while I do Bubba's reading lesson out of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I then get Bubba busy with blocks or Pattern Blocks while I work with Reece.

I don't really have a complete curriculum but I will get one next year. I knew that if I started researching or going to homeschool fairs that I would freak out and want to quit so I am easing into the whole curriculum thing. This year I have bought many of our workbooks from Sam's. We have lots of science books that we read and the boys just love. They ask so many questions about nature, bugs and animals.

Right now, we basically just have fun being together. I know I have to get more organized and I plan to buy a curriculum for next year. My goal for this year is to teach character, obedience, and structure. They are learning much more though. Reece is learning so much so fast. His reading skills have taken off and he is reading big words like important (I couldn't believe it when he read that one today). Bubba is starting to read too. It is so exciting. When they are both reading, it will get easier to combine their work.
Oh, and I cannot brag enough about the book, Growing Reader Phonics Bible, for young readers.
This whole process usually takes 2 hours or so. If the boys are having fun then we don't stop.
I can only homeschool if Tim is home to watch the baby or if he is napping.

Please do not think I have this homeschooling thing figured out. I DON'T. I just love being with the boys and am asking God to give me creativity in teaching them... to show me how to encourage them in their strengths... and develop them in their weaknesses. It is a HUGE responsibility that can be very overwhelming. Mostly, it is just pure joy. I really love it. Please feel free to leave any great resources or ideas in the comment box for us all to see!

Remember this verse if you feel overwhelmed or defeated...
" 'Not by might nor by power, but by MY SPIRIT', says the Lord Almighty." Zech. 4:6


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