Success...

We finished our first week, and I have to say, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I totally loved it! After the first day, it just felt right. I can't even explain it right, it was just an awesome feeling, and Kameron loved it too. We rowed the book, Blueberries for Sal. We focused on the letter "B" for the week. We learned about bears and blueberries, and we even got to go blueberry picking.

For bears, we learned about black bears since they are the types of bears in the book. I started by helping Kameron fill out a mini book about bears. Things he knew, wanted to know, and what he learned. He had some different coloring pages to color. I had a fact sheet about the bears that I filled in so I could teach him about the different things.

We learned about the best climates for blueberries and things you could make with the blueberries. We practiced counting one we had went and picked the blueberries. We made waffles with blueberries and blueberry muffins. We used some pictures of buckets with blueberries to learn about amounts. One was half full, full, empty, 3/4 and 1/4 full. It was fun. We added those buckets to his lapbook. We also had from that same site, a spinning life cycle of a blueberry bush that showed it growing from a seed to the bush we know and love!

I used my letter pocket chart and focused on the letter "B" He practiced writing both the upper and lower case letters. I wrote out words on the board and he told me which words used the letter b. I had him name off as many words as he could think of that used "B". He would make the "B" sound, and then name a word, it was great to hear him go "bbbb, bike!'

I had so much fun and look forward to our next week of rowing. We are going to do How to make a Cherry Pie and see the USA. I'm super excited about this book too. It doesn't have a planned lesson anywhere, so I'm excited to be doing this one solo again. I don't know why I enjoy that so much, but I like making the lesson plans. It is about a girl that wants to make a cherry pie for the 4th of July. We will be learning about cherries, the letter "C" and the USA!

Until next week......

So it Begins

Here begins our homeschooling adventure. We are embarking on this journey after a lot of debating back and forth, worry over learning enough and socializing, and prayer. I am so very excited about this decision. I know that I can do more for Kameron and Kaydence, teaching them at home, then they will get from a school environment. I don't have to worry about them not being able to pray before their meal, or talk about Jesus around the other kids. Kameron is so full of questions that he would be in trouble constantly because he wouldn't be able to stop asking. I love that with me teaching him, as he asks a question, we can get off topic and answer it. There won't be a test afterwards, or a specific topic that is being covered that leaves no room for questions. He will be here, safe in our house, getting the best of what we can give him. We will have time for camping, fishing, bi-weekly field trips, zoo days, park days, pajama only days and so much more. We don't have to answer to anyone. As long as our kids are learning, then we are going in the right direction. We will be able to teach what we want, how we want, and when we want. A classroom without administration dictating what can happen, it's on us. We control our classroom and that is the best feeling in the world!!!

We are going to use Five in a Row. It is a program that uses the same book for a week, incorporating different subjects each day. I am finalizing the lesson plans for our first book we are going to "row". The book we are doing is called, Blueberries for Sal. We will be picking blueberries next week, so I thought that this book would be awesome for our first attempt.