1st Day of Kindergarten - Homeschool

And so it begins . . . our first day of homeschooling Kindergarten. Will doesn't quite make the cutoff to start Kindergarten in the public schools this year, but as a homeschooler, I'm anxious to get him started. He loves to learn & seems ready to go. 

As a side, we have Will enrolled in preschool as well, but I just tell him it's a glorified playdate. It makes me feel better about sending him there even though I've only ever heard good things about it, & his teacher is the nicest woman.

Since Will's day started with preschool, we took it easy with our own schooling. We started working on blending sounds to form two-letter words. He's usually in such a hurry that he'll just guess without trying to understand the concept of phonics. Today, however, he caught on immediately. He was able to sound out "at," "an," "am," & "ad" with very little guidance. It was such a proud mom moment. After our 5 minute max phonics lesson, I let him color on the whiteboard. He was so pleased with himself when he wrote an "L" without any direction from me. He called it his "wiggly L" & stood up to shake his bum & laugh while telling me all about it. He also did a worksheet in a math book - learning to write the #1. I plan on having a mini devotional tonight & sending him on a treasure hunt for a wrapped gift. Inside will be a copy of the Book of Mormon, & I will explain how it is a gift to us from a loving Heavenly Father to teach us more about our Savior Jesus Christ.

Here is our schedule for the remainder of the week:

Religion - We will study the Book of Mormon this year (& rotate different sets of scripture each year, including the Old & New Testaments & the Doctrine & Covenants). This week, we're talking about where the scriptures came from.

Phonics/Reading - continue blending short "a" three-letter words (cat, mad, nap . . .) I plan on using the BOB books to help him read on his own as he progresses with his sound blending.

Math - Math Made Easy: Kindergarten Workbook, a card game of WAR, & a board game of his choice

Five in a Row (FIAR) - We will be "rowing" Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans over the next two weeks (T, TH, F). We plan on learning a bit about French architecture, making crepes, learning about rhyming words, talking about compassion (I'm wanting to teach him the value of service, so this will be a great way to tie it into our lessons), making our own Impressionist art after Claude Monet, & learning about healthy habits (eating well, exercising, washing hands . . .) &/or about the appendix. If we have time, I may take him to the fire station to tour an ambulance.

365 | week 3 | life is good

January 22/Day 22:

Time out . . . again.

 

January 21/Day 21:

"twinkle toes"

 

January 20/Day 20:

tricycles & static

 

January 19/Day 19:

Cars parked & ready for bed.

 

January 18/Day 18:

This girl terrifies me on the stairs. She is fearless & doesn't even begin to comprehend danger.

 

January 17/Day 17:

Daddy being home makes everyone happy. Pillow pile. Dancing girl.

 

January 16/Day 16:

Making "snowballs" for preschool - Ebelskievers sprinkled with powdered sugar. The usual Mega Blocks bag on her head.

 

Continue the 365 lineup by checking out Sarah's blog next.

365 | week 2 | shadows & hiking & sickness - oh my!

January 9/Day 9:

-Still sick today, but not nearly as bad as the day before.

-Will & Ruby had a waffle picnic on the stairs.

-Will started singing, "Drop it, drop it low girl. Dropt it, drop it low girl." while sitting in front of the sofa playing with his cars. I think I might need to reevaluate playing Zumba music in front of him. Hilarious! & so perfectly innocent.

January 10/Day 10:
-A wonderful, sunny day.
-I see the world a little differently sometimes.

January 11/Day 11:
-We need to find new knobs to replace the current ones on our entertainment center. The're all starting to break.
-Went on a walk in the woods today. I brought the tripod with me, so we could get some family pictures. It was so much fun having Will push the shutter & come running towards us to get in the picture in time. Love his enthusiasm for photography.

January 12/Day 12:
-Ruby loves to cuddle after waking from her nap. It's even more special when daddy's home to be with her.

January 13/Day 13:
-Nana & Papa drove home from Utah last night & spent the night with us. It was so good to see them.
-We/ve all had pretty nasty colds lately.

January 14/Day 14:
-For "school" today, we read The Snowy Day & went "sledding" down the stairs in sleeping bags. Will has found a new favorite thing to do.

January 15/Day 15:
-Caught up on laundry.
-We rolled out butcher paper, & Will made different tracks by painting with his feet. (Day 2 of The Snowy Day)

 

Continue to Christina's blog to see how her 365 is going.

Project 26 | A is for . . .

AMBIGUITY

& for 10 minutes - GO.

I've had a hard time figuring out how to interpret "ambiguous" into photography. What does it mean exactly? Unclear? Unsure of intent? Not typical? Whatever the true photographic definition is, I'm pleased with the way it has stretched me this week.

It's our first week of our 26 ABC project, & I cannot WAIT for all the things I get to try along the way. We choose whatever word we want to go along with the week's letter of the alphabet & just go for it. I'm a total nerd & love my lists, so I went through the back of a bunch of my photography book indexes & wrote down terms that came up. I hope to spend this year stretching & experimenting through this project, & I am thrilled for the opportunity!

I often go back & forth on whether or not photography (or anything I attempt to do) is something I can possibly excel at. I know I'm not alone in this. We all have our moments of self-doubt, of comparing to others, wondering if we're doing things "right." For some reason, this week I've been worrying myself about this more than normal. But then I realized that I have something to say with my work. Whether others understand it or not shouldn't matter because I LOVE the beauty in creating. Is my work typical? Maybe, maybe not. I like to think that it's honest, even if it is a tad obscure at times. I often have the quote come back to me, "Comparison is the thief of joy." We are ALL blessed with innate abilities & gifts - perhaps that innate ability is to push yourself to continue trying until you become something you never thought you could be. Whatever that thing is, that gift that's deep down inside of you, PLEASE don't shun it before you've given battle to it first. And I mean a true & honest battle. Keep pushing & trying if it's something you are passionate about. If you have something to share or say, don't let those self-deprecating voices in your mind & the taunting from the outside cause you to cover the light you have to share. Even if it's something that you can't get others to see eye to eye with you on, it's still something that will allow you to grow & progress until you are overflowing with joy & purpose.

STOP.

Next up, Jackie Petersen Photography. I love this woman. She is wonderful all around!

10 on 10: January | our disorganized life

"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

-Voltaire

Who says a disorganized life isn't a wonderful life? Yes, I wish I were better about having a clean home & wish that my hair & makeup always looked stellar, but guess what, this is life! As it is. We have our meltdowns, me including the kids; we have our sick days; we have what feels like absolute chaos in our home at times, but we are defined by more than that.

We love one another, we play, we laugh & dance, we build beautiful memories that will last a life time. We cherish the everyday. It might not look perfect from the outside, & trust me, it doesn't always feel perfect from the inside - honestly, it rarely feels perfect, but at the end of the day, week, month . . . all that time has passed, & I feel we've lived a pretty beautiful life, chaos & all.

Next up is Aimee Confer, Central Pennsylvania Photographer.