End of Week 1: Kicking It Off Right

It's been a great start to the year.  We've gotten so much done!  I can't believe the strong start we've had.  Somehow I always think we're going to just slink into the year, not making much effort to really get into it, and that's what we always end up doing.  Slowly we start adding more until we're in full swing, but then we have periods of slacking and not getting through as much as we'd intended, paired with an all-out scramble to catch up once we fall behind.  It's getting everything done, but it's more than a little stressful.

Creeper working hard on his phonics

This year has been different.  We took a week off before really getting into it, but we jumped in and completely committed, straight from the start.  I'm really impressed at our ability to progress through our lessons and just keep going.  I wasn't expecting such a smooth transition.  Normally getting the kids back into the school routine results in resistance and struggles, but this time it was smooth sailing.

I started with attempting to make a schedule for the kids, but that went out the window fast.  It seemed like things didn't want to sit in the blocks they were assigned for, and with the kids doing lessons by Skype with our aunt, that made it challenging.  I think that one was on me, though.  I just wanted to be organized.  In my head there was just so much to be done, but as it turned out, it wasn't nearly as much as I thought it would.  Science and history, which I thought would be long and involved were both pretty easy and quick, at least where I was involved.  Getting their language arts done simply flew.  The only subjects that took a little more time were phonics and math, which I knew would be more time consuming anyway.

Bear's first copyork!

This year was Bear's first year doing copywork, and the first time we've decided to do any significant practice of copywork.  Pinkie and Link have done copywork before, for a co-op we used to go to, but they would only do it once a week.  Now Bear and Creeper are doing copywork three times a week and Link is doing dictation twice.  I expected them to find it boring, but they're really quite enjoying it.  Better still, they love the sentences coming from their literature.  I think that's their favorite part!

Already I'm seeing improvements in their handwriting.  Between the copywork and all of the writing for their phonics programs, they're really starting to become a lot more careful and neat.  This is especially obvious for Bear, who used to hate writing neatly.  He liked to treat his writing like it was a form of art, but that gave it the impression of being almost hieroglyphic in nature.  It was sometimes hard to read.  Creeper's work wasn't always the easiest to read either, which didn't help.  I have a feeling their copywork will be far different between the beginning of the year and the end of the year.  I even took pictures to compare at the end of the year.

Bear's first copywork of the year

Creeper's first copywork of the year

This was really exciting for us.  This is the first year we're going to have something significant to compare at either end of the year.  We've never been all that into portfolios, so we haven't kept a lot of work samples.  Most of what we've kept has been workbooks so the kids can see how far they've progressed.  This time things are different.  They're going to have two things to hold up and compare, which is going to be a lot of fun for them.

Creeper doing his literature by Skype

The biggest success of the year so far was getting things started up for Skype.  They're loving those lessons.  I think this is fantastic because it's not just a chance for them to have some educational time with someone other than me, but it's also a chance to build a relationship with another member of their family.  They get exposure to a really good reader as well.  I'm loving this Skype arrangement.  More importantly, the kids are loving this whole Skype thing.

This is also just a really funky way to homeschool.  It's given me the idea that we may want to start budgeting for some other online classes, maybe through something like Outschool.  There's something special about having a chance to work alone in my little office without any distractions, and have someone's attention just on them.  I think they'd love doing classes online this way too.  It could be something to think about for our future in homeschooling.  Maybe we'll have to consider getting them each on an online class for their birthday or for Christmas.  That could be so much fun.

Link working in the comfy chair

In other news, while this is the first week of homeschooling for Link, it may also be the last solid week of homeschooling for Link.  We just got word back that he's off the waiting list for the charter school we've been looking into for him.  While it makes me sad to think of how much I'll miss out on with him being in school, I can't help but think how good this will be for him.  The school has a reputation for having a great program, with lots of support for special needs.  It's entirely science and technology based, which is really Link's thing.  Most of all, it means he'll have a chance to make some really good social connections and make some friends, something that's been kind of lacking in his life right now.  Without a car our opportunities for socialization are limited, and he's really of an age where he needs to expand his social circle.

It's going to be an interesting transition for us, should we decide this is the best path for Link.  He's super excited and ready to go back to school.  He wants friends his own age and a big social network.  He's already a morning person, so getting him up and out the door shouldn't be hard, and adapting our lives to work around when he's on and off the bus shouldn't be hard, but it's going to be a very different dynamic only having two at home.  It will be a big change for almost all of us.

All of us except Pinkie.  She's already back in school.  Her first week back was in her landscaping shop, and apparently it was wonderful.  She's looking forward to a great year there, though we're not sure how great it will be yet.  We won't know what she really feels until she gets into her academic week at the vocational school, which happens when she goes back on Tuesday.  So far it looks like it should be a good year though.

Pinkie has really taken off on her own this year.  She started volunteering at the local food pantry over the summer and plans to continue on one day a week throughout the year.  She's moving on into an honors class.  She's decided it's healthier to walk to and from school, so she's been doing that because she wants to stay in shape, which is especially important with her shop.  She needs to stay strong and capable.  In some ways it's hard to believe we're one step closer to her being out in the world, but at the same time, it seems right.  It's going to be a hard change when she's finally off to college or living on her own.

But this is only the first week of school.  We've had a couple victories, things the kids are wicked proud of, particularly Bear.  He's feeling especially accomplished this week.  We've even caught on video two very special moments:

Bear reading Mac and Tab (Primary Phonics)

This is Bear reading his first phonics reader, Mac and Tab, done by Primary Phonics.  I have to admit, when I first learned about this program I wasn't in love with it.  In fact, I kind of hated it, but Creeper was doing okay with it, so we kept with it.  Now that I'm seeing the incredible impact it's having on the kids' ability to read, I'm really pretty impressed with it.  It feels like we're really making progress with reading, and this program has so much to do with that, especially with the readers, which are right on target and perfectly timed with the levels.  I couldn't ask for more!

Bear recites "from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"

Also, this is another huge accomplishment.  The kids are all going to be memorizing poems this year, even Link, who has decided to continue with his poems even after he goes back to school.  Bear was the first one to have a poem due, and he did wonderfully!  He's so proud of himself and I'm so proud of him!  This year is going to be full of poetry for the kids, which is fantastic because they're totally loving the memorization and are so excited to show off to the world!

Haircuts by Daddy

In an unrelated to school front, Bear decided he was sick of having long hair (as I'm sure you've noticed in the second video), so he wanted his hair cut.  His cute new style was given to him by his dad, and it turned out great!  More often than not our idea of haircuts are clippers by the sink, or paying someone else to do them, but this worked out really well.  We may have to do more haircuts by Daddy!

Now Bear says he has "princess hair, like Mommy," which I think is the cutest thing.  It's great that we've been able to give him a new style for his first year in an actual numbered grade.  He's no longer a little kid anymore, he's a first grader!  Now he has more of a big kid style to go with it, or at least that's how he feels.

As for going forward, we're really excited about continuing our work for this school year.  We've got some really great stuff coming our way as the year goes on.  The plan is to keep at least weekly updates, possibly more often if we're up to fun and interesting things.  It's shaping up to be a great school year already!