Our Homeschooling Adventure: The First Week!

Well we made it. All four of us survived our first week of homeschool, and I have to say it went incredibly well. I went into it anticipating that I would end up changing pretty much everything, but I knew I had to start somewhere.  Now I can see that I'm not going to have to change too much, just adjust a little here and there. I made a point to snap a few pictures throughout the day as proof for the non-believers that we actually did school work this week and my kids really did learn something. FYI this is a really long post!

This is how we've been starting our day. Green smoothies anyone? A little playing outside followed by a few showers and then we're off to school! I love the mellow flow of our mornings now. When I compare them to what they were like last year I love them even more.

 Now let me take you on a quick tour of our beautiful, and oh so functional, school room. I show it off to anyone that will let me ;)

Daily schedule, and daily folder. We each have a folder for each day of the week. The girls folders have the assignments they're doing for that day and mine has copies of their assignments, my lesson plans, and any teaching aides I'll need.

 Chore Chart. I have searched high and low for a chore chart that I felt would be functional for our family. Finally I morphed a few ideas into something workable for us. I wrote out all the chores onto cards. As you can see there's a morning chores pocket and an afternoon chores pocket. We do morning chores before school and afternoon chores after school. I've put them totally in control of this and they're responsible for checking their cards and moving them to the Done pocket once the chore is complete. The last pocket is where I put the tickets they earned that day and store the extra chore cards. The girls get two tickets if they finish all of their chores and two tickets if they make it through school without whining or complaining (neither one has yet to earn those!) I also offer bonus tickets for extra chores or special accomplishments. For example Melody memorized the First Article of Faith this week so she got a bonus ticket. Every Friday I open the 'school store' and they get to spend their tickets on fun stuff. They can also use them to buy TV or Minecraft time (thanks Uncle Isaak) So far it seems to be working pretty well. There was only one day this week that we didn't get everything done. Fingers crossed that the novelty doesn't wear off too quick!

 

Calendar center. Eventually this whole wall will be covered with roll out cork board, but until that money magically appears we use tape :) This was one thing Melody specifically requested our school have because she enjoyed it so much in kindergarten. We do Calendar every morning at Circle Time. We also say the Pledge, review our schedule for the day, read scriptures and say a prayer.

One of the goals I had for this year is to have the girls memorize as many of the Articles of Faith as they could. I found these really cute printables to help. I ran out of ink before I could get to 13 lol!

 Here's the girls giant desk and super cute chairs their genius daddy found for a steal in the 'as is' section at IKEA. The computers aren't completely set up yet, but the screens are ready for when they're done! The hanging cups just might be my favorite thing in the room next to the giant white board. They keep everything we need at arms reach, but organized and out of the way.

Now for the good stuff...the learning! 

Journal Time. I have the girls do journal time everyday so they get used to the idea of getting their thoughts down on the paper. It's the one time of day I don't hassle them about spelling or handwriting.

This is one of Katie's. The question was 'What are five awesome things about me?'
Here's the translation

1-Play with sisters

2-Make my bed well

3-Eat healthy foods

4-Help with chores

5- good at school.

I ask her the question and she tells me her answer, then I write it down for her to copy. Melody, however, is on her own. I make her sound it out the best she can.

Here's a sample of Melody's...

translation: dear first grade journal. My day is starting out good. Mommy is letting us draw in our journals. It is fun.

Translation: dear first grade journal. Today is a great day to be outside.

...and here's where Melody usually does her journal. This picture right here is why I love homeschooling!

Language Arts. Katie learned about opposites this week. We read books about opposites and did a few activities. Then we filled in this graphic organizer with all the opposites we learned.

Melody learned about problem-action-solution graphic organizers and the short vowels o,u and i. We read a different story everyday and filled in the graphic organizer to go with it. I give her the choice of doing her work on paper or the board. She usually opts for the board :)

Handwriting. Last year Melody's teacher told me that having the kids write on the white board will help strengthen their muscles and improve their fine motor skill and handwriting. So I have the girls alternate between practicing on paper and on the board. It's great because handwriting is at the end of the day when they're starting to get burned out and the appeal of writing on the board is enough to keep them going. Melody will be copying the Article of Faith we're working on for that week two days and I'm going to start having her work in the book Draw. Write. Now. the other two days. Katie is still learning a few letters so for now we're just reviewing the ABC's.

Even Allie gets in on the fun! I have dry erase crayons and small lap dry erase boards so she can stay busy while sisters work.

   

Math. We did all kinds of fun things for math this week. I had them do a counting game with beads and pipe cleaners. I put a piece of tape on top of a pipe cleaner with a number on it. They had to identify the number and put the right number of beads on the pipe cleaner. It was a little too easy for Melody, but a good first of the year review. Katie loved it because it was just hard enough to make her think, but she got to make it a project so she was ok with it.

We also did some gambling math :) For Katie I had her roll the dice, draw a picture of it on her paper, count the dots and then write the number. For Melody I gave her blank addition problems. She had to roll two dice, draw a picture of both, write each number in the blanks and then add it. After we finished school for the day she brought me the dice and asked if she could do it again only this time with the 'take away' sign. So we did another page of subtraction and she did amazing.

 

We spent most of one day outside because it was just too beautiful to be inside. Melody practiced her addition and fact families, while Katie and I played counting hopscotch. Melody wanted to play hopscotch too, so instead of counting in order I had her do it counting by 5's and 10's. 

Snack Time. I scheduled in a one hour block for the girls to take a break and get a snack while I nurse Allie and put her down for a nap. They usually start out silent reading, but it only takes a few minutes for them to move outside.