A couple weeks ago in one my daughter’s Famous Fits of Four-Year-Old Frustration, she tossed out that she hates being alone in her room (and tacked on that I don’t care because I’m mean). Which made a strange idea click into me head. Me, the queen of One Child Per Room, thought “Huh. I wonder if it could work to move them into one room.”
The other day we did it. Stacked their bunk beds up (not that Xoe will sleep on the top yet–she’s been camping on the floor for the past two nights) and turned the nursery into a school room.
And you know, I gotta say–I love it.
See, I’d been kinda panicking at the thought of getting started with home schooling this year, even though I knew it was what I wanted to do. Much of it was apparently rooted in the fact that I had no good place to DO this schooling. But as soon as I considered making the nursery into a school room . . . wow. I was actually excited.
So on Tuesday I put Xoe’s new desk together (all by myself), moved a bookshelf in, organized the bedroom into a mish-mash of boy/girl kid stuff (other than the pink curtains, it was fairly neutral anyway–being very Pooh-ish), and Xoe and I had our first day of school.
It was so much fun. I decided to start with the Five in a Row system and got the book that will take us through kindergarten, and which I can also use with Rowyn. FIAR basically guides you through using actual kids books as your basis for subject-learning, by reading the same book each day for a week and looking at different aspects of it. So, for instance, you’d read a book about a panda–Monday you’d then study bears, Tuesday you’d study China, Wednesday you’d look at vocabulary words, etc.
At the pre-school/kindergarten age, it’s not so much academic as just looking at different aspects like patterns and rhymes, and then trying to incorporate it into your day. We’re also doing some basic letter/number stuff, Bible stories, coloring . . .
My highlight thus far was when we were reading about Adam and Eve eating the apple and sinning, and I explained how that meant they couldn’t talk to God like they had before, because they’d disobeyed him. And she piped in with, “But now we can again, because Jesus died and took the punishment.” A close second is that the American flag is important “because it reminds us of our country and Jesus, because he and God made the world and gave us our country.”
I’m having a blast gettin
g a peek into the mind of my sweet little girl. And my adorable little boy loves being in what was formerly Xoe’s room, and also loves the school room, where he plops down on his belly with paper and a pencil and goes to town. Overall, a great solution–and a new adventure.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
Absolutely, go with what works for her. Arrggghhhh…I need to get off my pc and work on research.
Nope, no overwhelm. I would have enjoyed reading through it all had I not been pressed for time. I'm finding that Xoe's really great at the idea stuff, applying lessons, that sort of thing. Printing on the other hand . . . she gets frustrated very easily when her letters don't look right. So for now I'm just going to focus on what she enjoys. We'll get hard-nosed in a year or so. 😉
Roseanna,
Wow! I wouldn't have paced her, that's great. If Elizabeth has the interest, I just push through. Let me know how you like Five in a Row. I already have Elizabeth's kindergarten curriculum, but might use the Five in a Row series for Noah in a year or two.
I'm sorry if I overwhelmed you with the links. I tend to go a little research crazy when I'm interested in anything. 🙂
Thanks! Just changed the design Thursday afternoon. =)
Before FIAR is actually what I have right now, but it's kinda funny. Xoe powered through pretty much all the activities for the first book in the first day and wanted more, More, MORE! I guess I should have paced her, but she was having so much fun, LOL. I wanted to start with the Before stuff to see how we like it before committing to doing it during the actual school year. So far, so good.
I looked at the links you sent me too but found myself clueless about the system–will have to do some more reading, though overall it sounds like my kind of thing!
I used Before Five in a Row for Elizabeth when she was 3 and she really enjoyed it. I love literature-based curriculum. Have fun! Love your map theme, BTW.
It looks so good! And I'm sure it being fun for you helps make it fun for Xoe.