Our first week back homeschooling

Not at all surprised by how the week went. Started out on a high note and then reality set in. We started Tuesday and enjoyed the day by going to one of the local 'not back to school' picnics. We had a blast, saw lots of friends, had good food and the kids go some special treats - one family brought a slip-n-slide, a sprinkler, and a pinata. Oh the fun!

Wednesday through Friday saw us working on some basics (reading, writing, LA, and math). Friday had a bit of history thrown in as well. Like I imagined, my son jumped right in and is excited to learn new things while my daughter drags her feet and is afraid. This year I'm much less unschooling than I have been in the past. In the past my kids were given more free time and they chose more electronic time than I can deal with. This year is going to be different and my daughter doesn't deal well with change. She never has. But I know she can do this so I'm going to challenge her to rise to the occasion.

We managed to get to two park days this week and the kids and I had a great time. Today's (Friday) park was a new one for us and only about 10 minutes from our house. How did we manage to totally miss this wonderful park all these years? I just wish it had a bathroom. The kids so need to the time to run around outside and hang out with kids during the day. It's good and necessary to blow off steam.

Next week we're adding in more history/geography, science, art, cooking. I know the kids will enjoy the subjects, it's just fitting them in with how our mornings are going. Some will be in the afternoon, but I still don't want to feel like a dictator and be grumpy and burnt out by the time we get to lunch. I want to enjoy our time together. I guess it will just take time to get to that point.

This coming Monday will be our first history crafting with my daughter's friend. We're sliding into history this year through the historical American Girl stories. We're starting with Kaya and I think Monday will include making a dress for their American Girl dolls and doing some string games. Depending on time we might make a period snack (or I'll have one made). This two person crafting club is sometime I came up with in the hopes that it keeps my daughter interested in reading the books and learning more of the history of the time periods.

As you can see I'm using this blog as a way of keeping track of some of the activities we're doing along with how our homeschooling is going. At some point I hope to post some pictures of things we're doing or places we've been.

Anyway, that's all for now.