One week of school down!
Overall, I think it went really well. It's been nice to have more structure in our days; I think we're all happier and are definitely accomplishing a lot more. I've implemented some morning routines and tasks that, though they still need some tweaking, have made a big difference.
Tuesday morning (our first day), Bryce woke up sooooo excited to "do morning chores!" He maintained the same enthusiasm through the end of the week. Who knew making his bed would be such treat?
He is also loving his "school," and that makes me happy too. As our week progressed, however, I noticed I had a bad habit of trying to start him on Step 3 of a task or concept, without first teaching steps 1 and 2. I'm used to teaching Aubree and she's 2 1/2 years older than him; I take too much for granted. This will be a learning process for us all.
He is also loving his "school," and that makes me happy too. As our week progressed, however, I noticed I had a bad habit of trying to start him on Step 3 of a task or concept, without first teaching steps 1 and 2. I'm used to teaching Aubree and she's 2 1/2 years older than him; I take too much for granted. This will be a learning process for us all.
I've also been impressed with how interested Bryce is in what Aubree's doing. He'll listen to her stories, play with her math manipulatives, and is eager to participate in any hands-on activities. For example, for history this week we were studying about Archeologists, so we set up our own mini-archeological dig. Aubree assigned Bryce his own quadrant and he diligently helped excavate priceless treasures.
The interest goes both ways; Aubree thinks lots of Bryce's activities look like fun and wants to make her own letter of the week, do art projects (like our apple print wreaths), color, and use the do-a-dot pen. Fine with me!
We try to save the messier activities for Thane's nap-time. I need to have more age-appropriate activities for Thane to do when he is awake. That's definitely an area for improvement! Although, we've started having a simple "morning circle" and Thane loves it. His favorite part is when it's his turn to "run around the circle." He's got the "run around" part down, now we just need him to grasp the "circle" part.
School with Aubree also went well. I was surprised at how quickly we got through all the planned material. Granted, our math curriculum didn't arrive till Thursday, and we hadn't yet started gymnastics, our Co-op, or the weekly on-site classes, but it makes me feel more confident that we've planned an appropriate and manageable (yet still challenging) amount of work.
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