Week 2 of School

One of the benefits of home schooling is flexibility.  I decided that this week's FIAR book was a little too advanced for the triplets, so we did not do it.  Instead we spent a lot of time on phonics, reading, and memory skills.   They also wrote letters to Alexander (handwriting), drew pictures with the letters (art), and Amelia walked to the post office with me, bought the stamp herself and collected her change (community awareness, street safety).

Micah is the most puzzling of my children.  He flies through the phonics worksheets and knows all sorts of sight words.  Yet he is stubborn and often acts tired unless he is receiving direct one on one attention.  Amelia meanwhile hovers over everyone trying to help with the teaching.  Amelia tries very hard at everything, while the reading seems to come easily to Micah.  Even with the memory work, Micah outpaces his sisters, when he is obedient enough to do the work with me.

We also started attending a co-op this week; it meets every Friday.  The triplets have 3 classes:  Ballet, US States and Capitols,  and Apologia Science: Land Animals.  The science requires a lot of reading during the week, and in class the kids to activities and put together a lapbook.  Nikita is also part of the co-op, she is taking Logic, Health, and High School Art. 

Zachary just stays home wearing his hat:

Actually, Leif goes to co-op and is in the Nursery with other pre-schoolers.  This photo is an excellent example of another home schooling benefit:  brothers bonding and having a blast.

Leif helped me clean up some over our yard area one day, and this led to another science lesson:

Who doesn't enjoy finding a caterpillar?

(His face is dirty from working outside, not bruised.)

This year I think one of my favorite learning tools is our iPad.  It is so nice to put one kid at the table with the iPad while I work with another.  There are so many apps, although I usually stick to the inexpensive short versions.  A favorite this week has been BOB books, as well as some spelling and sight reading apps. We also have a Montessori math app that helps them with counting.

Next week we will be reading and learning from Madeline, it should be an adventure!

What Really Matters

The Essence of Autumn slide show causes me to reflect on Christmas and the value of our families to us all. Although Christmas is supremely a time to celebrate the most singular event in the history of the cosmos, the birth of Jesus the Christ, the Redeemer of Humanity, too often it becomes a time where the focus is on what you can get and not what you can give. But what do we really need? Do we need that Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 with its latest tutorial on how to live a life of crime (Grand Theft Auto, etc.)? Do we need more stuff for which we have no room and no need?

This brings me to the Essence of Autumn, where we see an exposition of the truly important things in life. We need to enjoy our families, here, now, today, because even if we all live to be 100, today will never come again. That three year old in the leaves, that seven year trying to help bag the leaves, and that thirteen year old hoping to finish soon, will never be at this stage of life again. Enjoy it while it lasts. It is the family leaf pile that you and they will remember long after that game system has faded from memory. That Wooly Bear crawling on their hand is worth more than all the presents we can buy. So get them things for Christmas, there is nothing wrong with that, but if that is our focus then we have missed the point. We need to give of ourselves and learn to accept that gracious gift from others. That's what really matters. James