Box Day!

I decided that this year I am going to use Sonlight's boxed curriculum along with Singapore math K, hooked on phonics K, The ordinary Parent's guide to Teaching Reading and Scripture Stories (starting with the Book of Mormon). I decided that I am going with a packaged curriculum this year because I am worn out from the last 4 years of teaching. I also know from 9 years in the classroom that planning is not my favorite part of teaching. In the future I plan to follow the Well Trained Mind with a classical approach to education. Though Sonlight is not perfectly classical, it does have lots of reading and that will be good prep work a classical education. My biggest goal for this year is to get Baby reading.

So on to box day. I ordered my Sonlight box back in June and asked them not to send it until August as we were going to be out of town a lot. I was very pleased that they did not send it early and it arrived when we were home. Baby was still in her pajamas when the box arrived. I told her she had to get dressed and ready for the day before we could open the box. The waiting about killed me! It was the fastest she has ever gotten ready. She was very excited to get started! (Oh yes, that is a broken arm you see. Two hours after we arrived at our summer vacation destination-my sister's house, Baby tripped over a curb as she was running to help unload the car and broke it.)
The pattern blocks were a big hit! She ended up playing with them for awhile.
Now she is very excited to start homeschool. I am too. I am trying to get our office all set up and ready to go. I need a space to do homeschool that can be locked away. Moo loves to tear covers off of books and use them as fans, all paper is made for flapping and chewing on, and book shelves were made to have everything pulled off of. So I want a space that we can go to, work, and then lock the door behind us and if we leave something out, we will find it the way we left it. In a perfect world, Moo will join us at home in a couple of years. She does enjoy leaving and going to school but some years (depending on her teacher) I worry about what her day is like. I hope to have Nadia reading fairly well, and good work habits developed before I bring Maile home. That is the plan anyway.

Box day was a success, now we are just waiting for the official start day.

Why homeschool????

Why homeschool? That is a good question! Because I am crazy, because I want to be crazy, because I want everyone to think that I am crazy! Maybe but not really. After teacher for 9 years there are lots of reasons why I don't want my kids in public schools but I won't even mention them. After missing the last 4 years of days with my children while I was teaching all of the other children, I want my babies with me! I am selfish, what can I say. I love my babies and the thought of dragging them out of bed at 6:30 and sending them off to school is enough to kill me! Not only that, I really think I can do a better job at home then can be done in the classroom. Don't think for a minute I am trashing teachers. I know lots of wonderful teachers out there that dedicate themselves to their students. The system is broken, not most of the teachers. So this year is a trial run in a way. I am going to homeschool Nadia 3 days a week and let her go to the preschool that she has loved for the last two years. Maile will still be in school. I want to try it. My goal for this year is to get Nadia reading a bit and to build our relationships within our family. So here we go!