One Month Down!

I noticed when I saw down to begin planning for this week's lessons, that we've been at this for a whole month!  It feels like forever!.....but in a good way :)

I've already learned some interesting things about homeschooling and how my son and myself react to this new adventure.  For example, if we aren't doing something physical then my little man isn't interested.  Like, when we did our Around the World lesson for Mexico, we learned about Lucha Libra wrestling, made our own Lucha Libra masks, then wrestled.  It was TONS of fun!  But when it was time to sit down and learn how to properly write the alphabet.....well, can I blame him for not being pumped?

I've gotten more creative when it comes to math, something my son is thankfully eager to learn.  Instead of just using flashcards, one by one, I have him stand at the top of the stair case, and when he gets a flashcard correct, step down one stair.  If he misses, he goes back up one stair.  He enjoyed being up and moving, so the lesson went pretty well.

But I know that at some point, he needs to just sit at his school desk and practice writing.  So that's a challenge...

I've also learned that I'm going to need some sort of organized curriculum.  Currently, I'm winging it, and while I love the flexibility this offers (we're only in preschool so I that allows a lot of wiggle room with lessons) I'm going to need some help when we start kindergarten.  Planning takes more time than I anticipated, especially since I'm trying to make our lessons super exciting every time.  Yes, I'll be buying an actual curriculum when we start elementary school.

I have also found that we do far less educational activities during the day.  Before homeschooling, we spent our free time reading books, doing mazes, putting together puzzles....lots of "thinking" activities.  We don't really do those things anymore.  It seems that anything that involves learning is now "school" and can only be learned in our designated school times.

So I've learned a few things this month.  I've also learned that my son learns best when he is moving around.  At first, it kind of annoyed me that he was always standing or jumping or swaying while we were suppose to be learning, but I quickly realized that he was paying attention.  He just likes to pay attention and wiggle at the same time!  I also learned that he remembers things when they are put to a song.

It's been fun learning how my son learns.  It's also been fun teaching him.  I look forward to all that this year is going to teach us both!