....and it begins!

We'll, I've survived our first two official days of homeschooling. The question is will I survive the school year being a homeschooling mama?!?

Yesterday was an exciting day for both Mairead and Lilah. They woke up ready to go to school! On Sunday, we went to the mall and they each picked out a "first day of school" dress, so they were very ready to get dressed in their special dresses and start school.

After lunch, I put Clara and Callum down so I could be with the big girls with minimal interruptions. We went immediately outside so we could do a little project for their first day. I've been a pinterest addict and found the idea there. One thing about homeschooling is that I want to make sure that our children get to experience all the "special" things about starting school. Just because they are being homeschooled doesn't mean it isn't any less special. Mairead is starting kindergarten, and for me, that's a pretty huge milestone for a kid.

Mairead's Kindergarten work basket

Once we came in, we went over some "rules", and did a few activities. For Mairead, she started to practice writing her lowercase letters, did some coloring, drew in her journal and had some computer time. For Lilah, she focused on the letter "A", practiced some mazes and did some coloring for her journal, too. I found mazes helped Mairead tremendously in learning how to draw straight lines and copy letters. Lilah did really great with them! I was really proud of how well each girl did.

Kevin and I decided not to do any particular curriculum with Mairead and instead try the Time4Learning online learning. It could be used as a full curriculum or just a supplement. For us, we'll just be using it as a supplement. We've bought some activity books for both girls, flash cards, etc. And we'll see where that takes us. Since we're both new to homeschooling, it will be a year of trial and error....probably more errors than success, but thankfully Kindergarten isn't that serious :)

Mairead's journal entry for today

Today, I had Lilah go upstairs for a rest and had Mairead stay downstairs to do some more work with her letters. I want to make sure Lilah stays excited for learning and school, and don't want to bore her, so we'll probably just do "school" with her a few days a week and see where that takes her...also, she's a December baby, so she won't be ready for school for another two years.

Here in Loudoun County, Virginia, elementary school starts before 8am, so I am very thankful to be homeschooling Mairead this year as I couldn't imagine waking her at 615am every morning for school. She'd be a bear by the end of the week! Another positive of homeschooling is that Mairead can wear whatever she wants while learning........


Even in her underwear :)