Homeschooling Fun!

When Gia turned 4, we started doing some school at home about 3-4 days a week.  It's only for about 30 minutes and nothing too stressful for her, just something that is fun and will hopefully prepare her for kindergarten next year.  Trey has also been doing "school" along with us by watching his ABCs, numbers and colors on youtube videos.  And it's working!  It's amazing how that second child picks up on things so quickly as they watch their older sibling learn.

So, Bobby and I plan on doing traditional school for our kids (probably a charter school in the area), but watching them learn together in the mornings seriously makes me consider homeschooling.  It's so much fun and I know exactly how to teach Gia that speaks to her specific learning style.  I also love implementing all of what she's learning through out the day.

We have a weekly schedule for our school.  Now, this is very flexible because she's only four and because living the life of a church-planting family means that our schedule is never predictable.  But, ideally, and what we strive for, is to have a schedule for her learning process.  Every week we focus on one Bible verse (memorizing and understanding), one mathematical concept (this week it's counting by 10s), writing one letter (this week was L), learning blended sounds (we just use flash cards and go over a few of those daily until she learns them), sight words with flash cards, etc...  I'd also like to add in a social studies concept, but we haven't done that yet.  

I figure that Gia is going to have SO MUCH to learn all at once in kindergarten, and I would rather my 5 year old not have to stress about learning her ABCs along with the concept of Atoms and historical figures.  I don't want her to be bored in school, but I also don't want her to get stressed when she learns (which tends to be her personality).  I secretly hope that she doesn't get picked from the charter lottery so that I can have an excuse to keep her home one more year and homeschool her for kindergarten, but know that what is probably best for her is to be in a classroom setting with other children, learning in a structured environment.  I'm already dreading letting her go, and I'm just thankful that the charter schools around here are only a half-day kindergarten :)

Here are a couple pictures of Gia and Trey singing "Head, shoulders knees and toes" on youtube.  I love that they like to learn together!