homeschool // our first week

with one week of preschool at home under our belts i can say with conviction that it flowed rather smoothly, after a few bumps of course!  after a several weeks of researching multiple methods on how to teach little learners i chose to just jump right in and come what may.

i started our week using a timed method which proved to be pretty horrid thus short lived.  i found that keeping such a ridged schedule was not allowing stella to be the most creative nor the most thorough in her learning process.  this method sounded great because i am a big time planner and enjoy having things all mapped out.  it suggested we set a timer and do a variety of twenty minute activities or lessons through a two or three hour span.  while it sounded all and good, i would find that stella would get really interested in a particular task and i could not bear to end her fun and engagement.  this approach relied on the research that little kids have short attention spans therefore we must cater to that in order to achieve the best results.  blah.  so after two days of giving that a go, we threw it out the window and started anew.

our new "schedule" but i prefer to say rhythm because that's more accurate, went a bit like this: early mornings with me sipping a big mug of coffee while stella and theodore munch on cheerios.  as soon as he goes down for his morning nap which is usually around nine thirty we tip toe up to the loft for school.

per request of stella, we begin with music.  it's cheerful and interactive and silly.  after writing what content we will be covering on our chalkboard (i.e. number and letter for the week) we dive into our first lesson, letting her choose the area of content.  she can pick between doing the numbers, letters, shapes & colors, art project, reading with mom, or puzzle time.  this week we've been focusing on the letter "A" so i prepared a lot of fun activities to help her learn to recognize it, write it, trace it and color it.  she has painted acorns and apples and alligators and using the handwriting without tears curriculum has learned how to write both uppercase and lowercase "A's".  so far, i am very pleased with what we have ordered.

all of our mini lessons for the day correspond to a particular letter and number for that week.  stella knows her colors and shapes pretty well so we do those together.  regarding reading time, i let her choose a book or two and we snuggle in a read, talking about the plot and character motivation and the illustrations that go along with it.  for her art project we use different mediums to link to something we have learned that day.  if stella wants to do her art project first, she will create (via my instruction and example) a review project focusing on material we covered the previous day.  if we just read a book about space, she can can create something connecting to that.

this is the part of homeschooling that i love.  being a former teacher i am pretty good at thinking on my feet and coming up with activities and connecting lessons on the spot.  it is something i enjoy doing.  i feel that by making each piece of our preschool puzzle meaningful, stella is really getting the most out of the few hours a day we devote to preschool.

this less ridged and more choice-based method of learning alines with the montessori to approach education.  we decided that stella should be able to navigate what she wants to do first and so on and so forth, spending an appropriate amount of time on said lesson overseen by me.  we did this for three days and eased into a comfortable rhythm.  as teacher and student, we listened to what felt good and right, talked about it together, and went with it.  being that i have only homeschooled for one week and have much to learn, i foresee many challenges, triumphs, and bumps ahead in our path.  that being said, i am welcoming them with grace and reminding myself that patience is going to help me tremendously in my endeavors.