Homeschooling Begins!

Although my lil Gigi and I have always done some form of learning every day since she was an infant, I have decided to venture into a more formal version of teaching this year. I've posted some pics so you can take a peek at our school room/play room/Mama's sewing and craft space! Also formerly known as our formal living room. :)

My daughter is only three, and yes, I have heard the many masses of people who say "just let them play - they'll learn!" and yes, I agree. However, I know my daughter better than anyone else in this world and if I feel she can handle AND benefit from more formal schooling- I'm gonna do it!! I don't need anyone's approval to do so and I also don't need anyone's negative comments or opinions that I am "pushing" education on my young child and causing her to miss out on "being a kid". I don't push her and she certainly gets plenty of time just "being a kid".

That being said - what do I do?? Well, this year we are actually using a curriculum (somewhat). I have pulled resources from various places and combined them to make, what I feel, is a complete curriculum for us. I began by printing out the skills list for 3 and 4 year olds (since there was a lot on the 3 year old list that she already knows, I also pulled the list for 4 year olds) and am using these as a guide for what I believe my daughter can reasonably master by the end of the year. If she doesn't master all the skills - there's alway next year! I plan to go at whatever pace is comfortable for her - no deadlines! I used the skills lists that were created by Michelle Lewis - I think they are great!!

We are beginning to learn about phonics this year since Gigi has shown an immense interest in what the "symbols" in her story books say. To aid in this task, I am using a program called "ABC Discovery". It was given to me, so I thought I would give it a shot. I'm still not sure if it will work for us, but I will keep you updated on our progress.

For math we are using Abeka's "Number Skills". We actually started with this in August. We've completed (successfully) 13 lessons so far and Gigi LOVES it! I think we will be sticking with Abeka for our math this year!

Science and social studies so far have been done by me picking a topic and pulling various books, dvd's and other resources we already own to present the theme.

For example, this week for science we are learning about our 5 senses. Every day we focus on a different sense. We read stories about it and then do some sort of hands-on activity to demonstrate how to use that sense - like playing with sound boxes, blindfolded, to see if we can hear the different sound each one makes.

Every weekend I gather up all the supplies, print outs and workbook pages I am going to need for the following week. I sit down and write out a lesson plan for what I want to accomplish on each day and how I want to get it done. I then put all that information into separate pocket folders - one for each day. This way on Monday morning I just need to grab the folder labeled "Monday" and everything I need is already there - no searching for anything! We don't always get to all the folders for he week, so then I just use them following week instead.

This has been a fabulous system for a full month now. Having everything prepared ahead of time ensures that I actually get things done!! Which is HUGE for me considering I tend to have wonderful ideas but not the motivation to follow through with them!

Will it work for the whole year?? Who knows. I am hopeful, but not banking on it - especially since baby #2 is expected to arrive in early November. I am sure he will throw a great big wrench into our normal schedule! Am I gonna sweat it?? Absolutely not. I know we have plenty of time to get these things done - when it happens it happens!