The Reluctant Homeschooling Mom

Yep that is me right now. You see it is the last week of August and I was not really prepared for my first grader to be at my bedroom door at 8:30am chores done asking to start school! Even though I had warning and saw it coming I still was in disbelief that this day was coming so soon.

Rhiannon informed me last week that it was about time to start school and I pulled everything together. If it were up to me we would not be starting for another solid 4 weeks. You see September is my favorite month in Minnesota. Followed only by May so why school those months if we can manage not to? Well the only good reason to do so - my children want to! At least for right now - check back in three weeks to see how strong we are going? Rest assured by October we are in full swing one way or another.

Maybe they are thinking ahead to the fact that grandma and grandpa are coming to spend two weeks with us in October and schooling will definitely be affected by that - so maybe they know best here. Not that I honestly think they are thinking ahead. Still I'm not going to fight with city hall. So we started school today much to my disbelief. Someone said I must be doing something right. I'd love to take that compliment but really I think they just really are getting tired and bored of summer and miss some of the structure and they do love to learn still - so here we go.

I could not have asked for a better day with Ciaran. He was a dream actually. If our days are half as good as today we are in great shape. He was ready to start early and agreeable and flexible and just happy to be working. We started with him reading aloud to me as I folded laundry - makes that chore go so much faster and he is fairly proficient now that I can just correct a few words here and there so it works well. I still prefer him on my lap and we do a lot of that but this was a nice shakeup.

Then he worked in his Primary Phonics book that he loves doing three pages checking in with me from time to time as I helped the girls finish cleaning under their beds and reorganize their toys (yes again) - I left the girls to finish their chores and sat down to do science with Ciaran. We are working through the Christian Liberty Nature Readers and today we learned about mud wasps. We extended the lesson on google of course. He gave a narration of the chapter and then we added some pictures we found of the nest, grubs, and full grown wasp. He had fun and it was so easy to do that it was fun for us both.

He settled into some handwriting and I checked in with the girls. Then it was bible time. He is reading the My Father's World First Grade Bible Reader and illustrating a bible. Today he drew Day One and Day Two of Creation. He really enjoyed having the creativity of coming up with the images and ideas himself and was proud both that he could read it and of his finished work. We did some math - learning odd and evens and finished up with some more read alouds. He was happy and agreeable and did so well that I decided to invite a friend over for him for the afternoon which made him super excited. They played so nicely for the afternoon and he had finished all his chores and school before lunch!

Rhiannon was having a harder time with chores and did not sit down to school until after lunch now less than excited because Ciaran had a friend over. Still she wanted to do some and was hoping she could get done quick enough to invite a friend over as well. We started with math which was review for her but more handwriting than she loves. Then she did cursive practice and we settled in for our new grammar and writing program. We are using Voyages in English which is more traditional and intensive than FLL we have used until this point. She was timid at first but I was excited that tonight at dinner when asked what her favorite subject was today she said writing. Which is amazing considering she near flat refused to do it. Refusing to write or even consider it.

That first battle of the wills - to which I responded it was her assignment and she would do it or nothing else until it was done. I held my breath wondering how that would go over on the first day but sure it was a bit of a testing. She conceded and starting writing a story about her and our dogs and by the end she was really enjoying it and even smiling after what started in tears. I felt like Tom Hanks in the beginning "There's no crying in school" but we made it through and it was all okay in the end. We finished the day with science which for us was a nice review of seeds (we studied botany all last year) and was a high note to end on. I even let her type her answers to the questions instead of a narration or written answers. She enjoyed that - though she made me promise not blog them. She wanted to do Latin then and I said No, we are done. Not wanting to risk more tears or turn downhill after such a nice recovery I decided to call it a day and sent her outside to find a neighborhood friend. The kids enjoyed friends for awhile and then we headed out for a family walk.

Miss Sirah had money burning in her pocket from her birthday so we cashed her checks and took her to the store. She wanted those nice quality little lifelike animals to fill her barn. She bought lots of babies: llama, calf, foal, kitten, lamb, donkey, rooster, chicken, goat, piglet, mouse, and a hedgehog of all things. She was very excited with her purchases. Ciaran bought himself a mechanical claw and Rhiannon settled on a slinky and some marbles.

We headed over to the library - where I forgot Andrea's smart rule "You may not check out more than you can carry home" and found myself pushing a double stroller with all the store purchases (including a hula hoop), over 50 library books and various odds and ends, not to mention Sirah as the other two rode along pleasantly on their bikes as if they had not a care in the world. This would all be great if I was not recovering from a nasty cold and had to stop to cough and hack every few moments. I was a sight to see to say the least.

Came home and managed to make a homemade pizza (yes it took a lot of willpower to resist the urge to call for one delivered) and peeled the over the edge apples for a crisp before they turned to mush in the morning - it actually tasted good. Rebooted the laundry - made the kids beds (today was sheets for the house) and started our new read aloud - The Bobsey Twins and the Circus surprise. Sent the kids to bed, tucked them in prayed, extra last drinks, etc and then proceeded to ignore the sounds that were a clear indicator they were not going to sleep yet as I talked to a friend on the phone. Got off the phone, sent kids back to bed - replaced all couch cushions onto couch from the floor under my kitchen table, did last load of laundry and headed into bed to work on this post hoping Serona comes home sometime soon - but hoping the kids are asleep before he gets back since it is nearly 11pm and I know we are starting over tomorrow at 6:30am with my early sun riser. Well he is home a bit after 11pm and two out of the three are asleep that counts for something right?

Tune in tomorrow when I get to home school again in the morning when I would really rather be hiking or swimming in the pool or relaxing on my lawn chair - so that is why for today at least I am the reluctant homeschooling mom. Reluctant but schooling and trying to be enthusiastic as I do so. And it will be another gorgeous 70 degree sunny day in Minnesota. What exactly are my children thinking? Can someone enlighten me?

----------------
Now playing: Relient K - Bite My Tongue
via FoxyTunes

----------------
Now playing: Relient K - High Of 75
via FoxyTunes



----------------
Now playing: Casting Crowns - The Word Is Alive
via FoxyTunes

----------------
Now playing: The All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret
via FoxyTunes


----------------
Now playing: Casting Crowns - Slow Fade
via FoxyTunes

----------------
Now playing: Casting Crowns - What This World Needs
via FoxyTunes

----------------
Now playing: Casting Crowns - Every Man
via FoxyTunes