I've been looking over my past posts and realized that I spend most of my entries rambling ("bloviating", as one of my fellow bloggers puts it) on random subjects other than the alleged subject of the blog - homeschooling. To whit, an overdue post on subject.
School officially started a few weeks ago. DD1 is pleased to be in 2nd grade while DD2 is the cutest 1st grader you've ever seen. They could not be more different, and yet each so wonderful. After a few weeks of struggling with what to do with The Boy (age 4), we decided that our church's 4K program was the best place for him (and the rest of us). He has fewer opportunities to "socialize" with his buddies than the girls do, and DW was struggling with keeping him engaged while still actually getting some work done with the girls. He's extremely happy to be back at "chapel school" Tues - Thurs and likes the fact that he still gets to "homeschool" on Mon and Fri.
I'm still in charge of History lessons and still struggling with that. Both girls absolutely love history and we're all enjoying our SWB "History of the World". However, we're only 3/4th the way through Ancient History when we should be barreling our way through Medieval right now. I take comfort in the fact that, at this stage, I primarily just want to enbue them with a passion for history and a passion for learning. I'm sure we'll absorb far more the second time around (I love the whole Trivium concept). However, I definitely need to conquer my schedule and technique before then!
Meanwhile, both girls are continuing to love math. DD1 struggled with reading last year, but suddenly it clicked and now she's reading at every opportunity. DD2 has seen this happen and is really working at it now. Even The Boy is sounding out words and trying to read.
All three also LOVE learning about animals. DD2 has announced that she is going to be a farmer when she grows up and is going to have ______ (fill in the blank with random animals). While at Disney last week, we spent a day at the Wild Animal Kingdom. Here are all three bonding with the sheep and goats in the petting zoo. (yes I know, those hardly qualify as "wild" animals, but work with me here).
It is such a blessing to actually see the growth in all three.
2 comments:
My daughters love horses. They have dozens of toy horses and several horse game. Horseopoly is fun. My sister lives about a half hour away and has a few horses. My daughters love to ride.
They have all said they want to own horses when they grow up. I've explained that horses are expensive. I've told them that to afford horses it helps to have a good education. My oldest says she might become a lawyer.
Ironically the more interest they have in history, the slower you have to take it. They want to delve in deeper and deeper to what they're covering now, rather than go on to the next thing that the curriculum dictates. This is a good thing, but it does occasionally require the teacher to say, "Hmmmm... if we're going to make more time for the Hellenistic Greeks, we'll just have to skip the Carthaginians this time around."
I love the pictures with the animals. You have cute kids. I took mine to a farm in San Jose (yes, there really is one there) a few months back, where my daughters got to discover just how loud a cow's moo is. And my oldest also learned how rough a cow's tongue is. We were just trying to pet its nose, and it decided to taste us. Shlurrp! Many giggles ensued.
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