sheesh, how many more to go? Ryvre's first day of kindergarten just about killed me. It started off ok; we went to the library, and got tons of books (the lady checking us out actually seemed a bit annoyed by the 3 huge stacks--hey, it's not my fault they raised the check-out limit to 10 items per card!) I've got enough material now for the first few units--if only i can get through them. We came home and watched one of the movies the kids picked out, reasoning that it IS a classic faerie tale, so that's literature...we filled out a weather chart and talked about using the calendar, etc. Then i got out the video camera to record the kids singing their ABCs and whatever else they would do...Willow can be heard crying in the background throughout the whole thing, because she kept nagging at me for a glass of ice (shaking the camera to the point i'm afraid to watch the tape), and my husband had the audacity to tell her "in a minute" which caused her to have a major breakdown. Argh. Ryvre was being a doll though, so i couldn't bring myself to stop him. Ryvre had a major fit concerning WORKSHEETS. These have always been his #1 obsession, and when i told him he needed to write his A's, a's, B's, and b's on lined paper before moving on to the C/c worksheet...all hell broke loose. He claimed he was too tired to write the letters any more, but he DID want to do the next worksheet...surprise surprise. When he's 18 and wonders why i can't pay for his college education, i'll pull out his homeschool portfolio, and calmly explain to him the cost of ink cartridges, back in the early 2000's Later in the afternoon he was alot more receptive; he colored and cut out a leaf for the "fall word wall" which took an hour, he was so meticulous about it (this is a good thing, he usually breezes through everything i hand him to the point that i run out of things for him to do long before he is satisfied). I love the way his mind works too--i suggested he color the stack of papers i handed him in "fall colors" (which Daddy helped him determine), and instead of scribbling one red, one yellow, etc, he used EVERY shade of red, yellow, orange, brown, and green on one leaf, creating a tie-dyed effect. Awesome. Dale also did a little math with Ryvre; he just wrote down a few addition problems on the chalkboard, and demonstrated them with potatoes as long as that held his son's interest--i laughed when Ryvre didn't recognize Dale's "2's" because he wrote them "wrong" hehe.
Good luck with days 2-180. Had to laugh to myself when ya mentioned Dale wrote a "2" wrong cuz I remember my kids getting slightly confused cuz their dad & I wrote 2's, e's, and sometimes a's different. How about making your own alphabet book. ..1 page for each letter, have your son print the letter on the top, then cut out pictures from magazines that start with each letter. A=apples,ants,alligator. B=bear,bats,ball,balloons,boat...etc.
www.dltk-kids.com has sheets with the letters of the alphabet that have a space at the bottom to trace the letters. I just printed off the whole alphabet. Now I'm gonna copy the pages so we have lots of extras. Kathi
I was checking out that link today...there was a few math games I'll try and I liked the gingerbread themed unit study
Why don't you send him to public school and fund his higher education with the money you save on printer cartridges! I worry about your childrens' education
steeros, what is it about homeschooling that you don't like? Do you hate spending time with your family that much? Were your grades so great in public school that you gave the graduation speech?
First of all, you're from the UK. You've not been subjected to the horrors of a US public school education. So on that point alone, you should be keeping your opinion to yourself. Secondly, this is the home-schooling forum. Therefore, coming here just to bash the fine efforts of parents in bettering their children AS THEY SEE FIT is rude and uncalled for. Thirdly, there is NO study that has ever been conducted that shows in any way that public school education is better for children than their parents teaching them. We spend the first 5 years of our lives learning so many difficult things with only our own precociousness and support of our parents to spur that learning. Why does it have to be any different after a child turns 5 years old? You should take a more open-minded approach about the possibilities of education and young children. And should also apologise for being so rude.
Maybe she wanted to give her child a quality education. I applaud her. I wish my parents had realized homeschooling was the best approach for me when I was her child's age instead of subjecting me to public schoool until sophomore year.
