Our typical day looks like this....
7:30 Jamie watches "What's in the Bible" or "Veggie Tales," plays in his room, eats breakfast.
9:00ish We have our Bible time. This consists of Catechism, memory verse, Bible reading and prayer.
(Not going to say what time everything else happens because its a little different everyday. We go with the flow allowing Jamie's interests to lead our day... mostly anyway)
After Bible we go for a walk. Daddy comes if he is home and of course Marivn.
When we get back we rock out our calendar time. The calendar takes about 15 minutes. We do a lot of math during this time... patterning, money, tallying, place value, number line work... We also do the weather.
Each day we try to cover two subjects. We take our time and do them throughout the day. He is only 4 and it is not going to work to make him sit and work for an extended period of time.
We use Sing Spell Read and Write for Language Arts. We are working on the first grade curriculum. We are in no rush to get through it.
For math we play a lot of games. Sometimes Jamie just creates his own math lesson and we go with it. He is constantly wanting to count his money to see if he has enough for whatever the next star wars toy is. I am also ordering a bunch of math literature from the library. I use the Voluntary Sate Curriculum (which the public school system follows) to make sure we are on track with where we need to be. We aren't "officially" homeschooling until next year, as far as the state goes.
This "year" in science we are studying biology. (year is in quotes because we will homeschool year round... more on my education philosophies in the next post.) We are starting with the animal kingdom. Right now we are working on a lapbook I bought on "currclick." In addition to working on the lapbook I am doing gobs of non-fiction read alouds. We are also spending time at various zoos in the area. At the end of this month we will begin regular nature walks, keep a nature journal and have a seasonal nature table... all with God's will of course. I also plan to take him to the Aquarium and museum of Natural History in DC. Additionally, once to twice a month we will go to Ladew Topiary Gardens to have a nature story time, and craft. We are focusing on Biology because we are in a Classical Conversations co-op and that is what they are studying for this cycle. (More on Classical Conversations later.)
For history we are using our CC (Classical Conversations) time line cards and reading, as well as listening to "The Story of the World" by Susan Wise Bauer. We listen to this alot in the car and I read it to him at bedtime. Basically it is world history told in a story book format. We are reading about ancient times right now because that is what CC is doing this cycle.
For Spanish we are using Power Glide Language Adventure. It is audio based and so we listen to this in the car a lot too. However we do have focused sit down times to study.
For Art we will be using Artistic Pursuits. We have not started this yet because it took me forever to get the special sketching pencils required. CC also has an art component which he does at co-op. We will also attend "Art Kids" once a month at the Walter's Art Gallery beginning in October.
Every Monday we attend our CC co-op from 9:30 to 1pm. This consists of homeschool families in our area meeting at a local church and spending the day together learning and playing. The entire family attends the co-op (including mommies). Children 3 and under are in the nursery and 4 years old's through seniors in high school break out into groups to practice history, science, math, english grammar and latin memory work. We also do art and science projects during this time. Each week every child is required to make a presentation to their age group. Tomorrow's topic is "All About Me." Jamie has practiced a few times and has notecards to read from to keep him on track. The kids then have to answers questions from other students about their presentations. It fills my heart with joy to watch him present. We also take field trips throughout the year with the co-op and celebrate Christmas together with a party at one of the family's homes.
Now that co-op is starting we will be including time to practice all of our memory work including history, science, math, grammar and latin. Thankfully most of it has all been put to song!!!
He also reads one book per day independently. I try to make sure it is an "easy" book for him so he stays confident in his reading skills. We work on the "tough stuff" during language arts time.
Other randomness...
Every thursday Jamie will be spending the morning at a gymnastics/preschool situation. This is really just to give me a moment to myself to plan, clean, work on the two "businesses" I am currently trying to start (more on that another time and really its not THAT serious), or go drink coffee and stare off into space.
We get outside everyday if possible. We walk to the park down the street from our house a lot. We also like to visit the area playgrounds and a new found love, the duck pond. We like to practice sports in the back yard, visit Lucy's garden and pick our millions of tomatoes.
On Tuesdays we get together (after "school" time) with the Lewis and Denny families. Eventually theses days will be mainly field trips to all the neat places we can find from Pennsylvania to Washington DC. Jamie and I will also host a harvest party and birthday party for Jesus this coming holiday season.
On Friday's we go to the library. He checks out whatever books "move" him and I read a few to him while we are there. He also does his independent reading time at here for the day. He also plays with the neat thematic stuff they have set up. I will also check out educational games and activities along with books with CD's. I order most of the books I want to use for school ahead of time and roll through the drive through to pick them up. This way I can just concentrate on being with Jamie while we are there.
I am reading a TON of books to Jamie. So far we have finished one of the "Adventures in Odyssey" books and "The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe." We now are reading "The Story of the World, Volume I."
We have started piano lessons again, but this time I'm the teacher. I want to see if he really has a genuine interest in it, in a passionate sort of way before I fork over $80 a month again. I really just want to explore his musical interests. I want him to learn to play the instrument of HIS choice not mine. He does want a drum set, but OH. My. WORD. I'm putting that off for as long as possible.
We also keep a variety of music playing in the house throughout the day. Thank you Pandora!!!!! I try to make sure we listen to solo piano, acoustic guitar, classical, praise, and fun kids music throughout the week.
Phew!!! That sounds like a lot doesn't? Believe me there are days when we are blessed to get through Bible and calendar, but basically this is how we roll.
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