This has been our focus the last month.
Welcome to a new year on our homeschooling journey! Good thing we don't have to submit test results this year because we are struggling on the educational aspect of schooling. With the new baby, trip to Kenya, and now our classroom flooding, I'm not sure when we will start back properly!! I guess that is the joy of homeschooling at its finest. You can school anywhere at anytime. There has been a lot of impromptu schooling and a great deal of relationship forming/bonding in the last month or two. My husband recently came across a blog written by Katie Davis which is where the picture at the top of the post is inspired from. (Actually it is really taken from the Gospel of Matthew, Ch. 28:19.) She really focuses on the idea of sacrifice and having true joy in the midst of it. We have really tried to step back from the rigorous schooling that I had all planned out for them. My husband constantly reminds me that it doesn't matter how many presentations you get through. If the kids behavior is poor and they don't treat each other with respect, then it doesn't really matter. We have missed the big picture.
My boys teacher, (a blog I follow) recently posted a fantastic story of her journey through this school year thus far and it fits me perfectly. I actually couldn't have said it any better. She articulated my daily struggle, especially with homeschooling Montessori.
However! Never fear!! We will succeed in anything we put our minds to and persevere through it. I am actually quite excited to get up and going again in our classroom because Bubs is probably ready for GRAMMAR BOXES! Not sure why I love these things so much. Maybe because I spent so much time and effort making them and seeing Kui use them. Check out my post.. I wish I learned my parts of speech that way. Nito is also plowing through the sandpaper letters and gets so excited when he recognizes one of the sounds. He knows about 4 or 5 so far. It is a little slow going because he insists on choosing about 10 at a time and they are never the same ones. He will eventually get it, but it won't be as quick as Bubs. I don't want to force the issue though since he is excited about them and keeps choosing them off the shelf.
I have included a few pictures of some of the work they have done upstairs out of the classroom in December. We had quite a few guests over the holidays and my hubby took 3 weeks off work so not much schooling was done.
Geometric solids. He feels the shape and tells me the name.
Fun with the pink tower and brown stairs.
This later became a bridge for his cars.
Pardon the baby playpen and mobile in the background!
Bubs is moving right along with the multiplication board.
Kui worked on the skeleton folder and had fun learning some of the funny names of the bones in our body.
This was her favorite!
Oh did I mention our classroom is totally under construction?!?! Ugh...It is never a good thing when one goes downstairs and hears the sound of water gushing like you are standing next to Niagara Falls. Needless to say, that we are upstairs doing very little work since we have sick kiddos and the cleanup crew is in and out. Sooo...in the meantime, we decided to play in paint and put handprints all over our front door! Good times, let me tell ya.
We should be up and running smoothly in a week or so and you can expect regular posts again.
But in the meantime, go love on your children, play a game with them, leave the dirty kitchen, and tell them you love them. Heck! Give them the afternoon off. School work will always be there. I mean, isn't this one of the reasons why I homeschool in the first place?
