Our Read Aloud, The Hundred Dresses

Our read aloud for the past 2 weeks has been The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. This is a great book that has allowed for some great discussion between Zoe and I. Although I think some of it might have been a little over Zoe’s head, I’m sure that the general message was able to get through, I am also sure that it is one of those kind of stories that will stick with us for a while. The Hundred Dresses, is about a poor immigrant girl and her way of coping with her poverty and the constant teasing she receives for wearing the same blue dress to school everyday, One of her ways of coping is to tell a story to the little girls about how she has 100 dresses in her closet. We find out by the end of the story that she is not exactly lying. The little girls in the story are not necessarily seen as being terrible, they are just immature and materialistic. The story ends sadly with the little girl moving away because of the treatment from the children in her class. This leaves the girls with feelings of remorse and they attempt to make it right with Wanda, but they find out that they are a little too late.
As you can imagine there are so many great discussions that can come from this book. I have decided that when Zoe is just a little older I will put together a mother, daughter book club and this is one of those books we will revisit again.

Simply Homeschooling

For the past year I have read many books on homeschooling, How to, as well as just getting down to the heart of Why’s. I recently borrowed the book Simply Homeschooling from a friend ( I will eventually get it back to you Kimberly) There are so many great ideas and thoughts to take in all the way throughout the book, but so far one of the most profound thoughts for me has been the idea of just staying home. It has given me cause to reflect on why we chose this path and what is best for our family. I am by nature a homebody but these past few years, especially as our children get older, things seem to keep getting busier, and I find myself constantly on the go.  So I’m rethinking my schedule and working on ways to keep us home more often, I can already think of all the great homemaking skills we can work on with the extra time and of course all the extra snuggling while reading.

Productive

I really did have great intentions of posting more often than once a week. But I have decided to let myself off the hook, and say- I’ll post as often as life lets me.

We had a great week this week. Very productive. We even had the chance to visit the Zoo, and join our playgroup for a few hours at the bounce house. I had many opportunities to remember why we chose homeschooling for our family. I have always loved teaching, there is just something wonderful about seeing someone have a light bulb moment and finally “get” something they have struggled with. When it’s your own child, and you are the one responsible for making that moment happen- nothing compares. I have loved watching Zoe think through things and grasp different subjects, but I especially love all the great literature we have snuggled up together on the couch to read. 

In this picture, I had asked Zoe to sort  some buttons. I had no idea how she would classify them, she started by sorting colors, then sizes. But then she decided to go by texture. She ended up with about 10 different groups. I can’t wait to do it again and tell her she can only put them in 4 groups.

Here are a few other pictures from the week.

Working on Dictionary Skills

Creating patterns

 Figuring out the Pattern

First Day

We started school this past Monday. I wish I could say It started with a bang, but I would be lying, unless of course the “bang” was the sound of me sobbing in my room. For some reason I woke up with this overwhelming fear of “what am I doing, am I making a mistake?” The only thing I could think of was that I was cheating Zoe out of her first day of Kindergarten. It started as I sat down to have some time with God. I decided to pray for all of the children heading off to school for their first day of Kindergarten, and then it hit me. I just pictured Zoe all dressed up and excited about school and friends and everything else. And then I just couldn’t stop crying. I immediately sent out a SOS to some dear homeschooling friends who have been at it for a tad longer than me, and they came through like champs. They gently reminded me of why I chose homeschooling and encouraged me in my calling, with words of wisdom and great verses to turn to.  I’ll be honest and say I continued to cry for most of the day, but mostly I think I just let my emotions get the best of me. By the next day I was great and we jumped in with enthusiasm and today we had a wonderful day. I’m sure I’ll have many more of those kind of days, but I’m going to just take it one day at a time.

Here are some pictures of the first few days. We are taking it slow. Zoe is more advanced than the beginning letters and sounds curriculum in Sonlight, but not quite ready for the next level, so we are flying through the first one doing a week in 3 days. We also started with read alouds, science- we are working on weather, phonics ( we are using Click -Start, a computer program) and Handwriting (Handwriting without Tears) Next week we start Math (Saxon) and Geography with a state study.  We will also continue on with the core Sonlight curriculum.

 working on the Letter M

 Zack and Ella (one of the little girls I babysit) They just do whatever we do, on their level- at least until they get bored.  We read a story on whales, they are putting together a whale puzzle.

 Zoe getting ready to do her phonics work on the computer

 The second computer picture I took after I realized how messy the computer was, Come on, yours looks like that too, right?  🙂

 Practicing writing our letters in cornmeal

  A little baking to end the day. Everyone needs chocolate chip cookies to end a school day.

The journey

I’m not hooked on the name, I just needed something to put down so that I can get started with this blog, so don’t be frazzled when you show up here one day and there is something completely new greeting you.  I’m using this blog as a journey through our homeschool experience.  Because I’m so new at this, the only thing I can offer is a peak into our ups and downs, successes and failures.

We began thinking about this  Journey about 5  years ago. I was in a bible study with several other women, most whom had been homeschooled. I remember being entirely impressed by their general knowledge and the way they carried themselves. It was the mother of one of these women that began speaking to me about first being a stay at home mom to my soon to be first child and then about the benefits of homeschooling. It was not until I held my daughter in my arms that these things became important to me.

Fast forward to last year. The reality that my baby was about to enter kindergarten got me moving into high gear. I began to research curriculum and talk with other homeschooling moms and their children. With the help of a very generous friend I decided to start out using Sonlight. She had offered me the use of many books and I pieced the curriculum together from used homeschool bookstores and the internet. I am using several other programs as well, that I’m sure I’ll get into more detail with as the days move along. Right now I’m pleased with the choices that we’ve made but only time will tell I guess.