Ok, this is going to be LONG, so hang in there!
Hello, I have been frequenting this board because my husband and I have decided that we want to homeschool our future children (we do not have children yet, still trying to get pregnant). However, I have MUCH younger siblings (brother Doug is six and sister Tory is four) and I get paid by my mother to babysit them (I prefer the term "child care provider" though, lol). This summer I have decided to start practicing homeschool on them. They have nothing to lose (infact much more to gain), so I and my mother do not mind that they are the "guinea pigs". I figured this was a perfect chance to practice for when I have kids. I can figure out how I want to do this and how it MIGHT play out with our own children (of course, it wont be EXACTLY the same, as every child is different, but I am lucky to have this practice).
I just finished our first week (four days... I dont watch them on Mondays, so we only get to work together from Tuesday through Friday), and there were a few bumps as I wasnt quite sure how to work with this and it was a tad unorganized. However, this weekend I really worked hard on organizing their assignments and I think I have it down now. We shall see the next time they come over--which wont be for another two weeks, unfortunately because I am going on vacation to visit my dad and go to my cousin's wedding.
For two weeks now (before we started the homeschool) we have been having daily morning exercises. Doug and Tory absolutely LOVE this! It starts at around 7 (sometimes 8, depending on how we feel in the morning) and lasts between 15-25 minutes. We bring out our "mats" (mine being the yoga mat that I hadnt used yet until our first exercises, and their's being some old towels... hopefully someday I can get some nice kid-sized mats for them too) and lay them between my living room and dining room. I found a great exercise routine for kids online, printed it out... picked the exercises that the kids would probably like and have stuck with that routine. What was great was that I got to add two new exercises that the kids themselves made up! I thought that was fantastic. We added "Doug's Upside-Down Bicycle" exercise and "Tory's Rocking-Horse" exercise. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
After exercises we take about an hour break to eat breakfast and either play outside with the dogs or watch some morning 'kiddie shows'. At around nine (sometimes earlier, if we started exercises earlier) we begin homeschool. I got some curriculum from Amazon.com. Two different companies. Tory uses American Education Publishing's
Pre-School Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills and Doug uses
Learn at Home: First Grade. I have started getting Doug in the habit of not only putting his name at the top of his paper, but to also add the date, unlike how they did it in his kindergarten class (in public school... so glad he is out of that class, I couldnt stand his teacher). Tory's lessons are considerably shorter than Doug's, but that's ok. After she's done with her lessons she likes to watch Doug do his (which is fine, but can also be a problem since they do not really get along... so sometimes Doug gets annoyed by her watching him), or sometimes just goes and plays outside or watches some more 'Playhouse Disney'. As for the curriculum, there are plusses and minuses to each. The thing I like about Doug's is that it gives you some instructions for each week and activities you can do outside of the book, whereas Tory's is just a huge book of worksheets. But what I like about Tory's is that you can work straight in the book with no problems. In Doug's we cant do that... its pages were designed to be copied and not used straight out of the book. This is a problem since our copier/printer has been acting up lately, but we try to work around it as best we can.
After homework or at 11 (whichever comes first) the kids get to play video games (the highlight of Doug's day, lol). They play that for a while (Tory sometimes takes a nap during this time) and at around 12:00-1:00 we have lunch. After lunch they play outside some more (or play more video games) and around 3 or so we finish up on any homework that we didnt finish earlier. Then my mother picks them up at around 4:30-5:30.
I have really enjoyed doing this and I have been extremely excited about it! Not only do I enjoy it, but the kids do too! And that's what it's all about.... the kids have to like it too or it's most likely not going to work. Doug was praised in kindergarten for having the highest vocabulary in the class and great reading skills, so I've really tried to emphasise and utilize his natural talent during this past week and will continue to do so. After our lessons we like to read stories, and a lot of times Doug will read them instead of me. He gets tired of reading every once in a while, which is fine... thats when I take over, and he listens and watches the words as I read. And little Miss Tory LOVES storytime, lol! Tory has always been a little "behind" in her learning skills, so I really hope this early start will help her out before she starts kindergarten. I wont say she is "slow", but her learning abilities are not the same as her older brother. We try to work with that too.
I am glad that I get to homeschool them for the summer (and Tory will continue to homeschool throughout the next year since she still has another year to go before kindergarten) because as much as I dont like to say it, my mother and step-father are not very good parents... when it comes to interacting with the children (she was the same way when me and my other brother-who is two years younger than me-were little). I dont think my mother has ever read a story to the kids and she doesnt really participate with the growth of the children. Many people have said that I and my husband are much more of parents to them than my mom and step-dad, and that is sad... but at least they are getting the parenting from someplace! I just hope my influence has a lasting effect on them.
Well anyways... time to finish the book I've written here, lol. I just wanted to share my first week of homeschooling with everyone and get some nice feedback and/or advise. Thanks for listening if you actually read all that! LOL!
Blessings to all
~Niamh G. Dhabolt
