All About...

Well... the first three weeks of our little Summer School have passed.

Setting aside these few hours each week to learn and develop and experience together has been such a blessing to our little family.

I expected resistance from the boys once the initial excitement abated... but I have yet to see any indication of that happening anytime soon.

They love our school time.
They ask me for it.
For the most part they sit quietly and diligently while we work. (Jack and Alaster? Really? Yep! Really!)
They are excited about the things they are learning and I can see their confidence (particularly Alaster's... what a blessing!) increase.

I can honestly say that the hours we spend at our kitchen table doing this are some of the most peaceful hours in our entire week. We clean the kitchen and living room prior to starting, the baby is sleeping, we're doing our thing... it's wonderful.

I want to document the details of what we are doing so that I can track our progress and for future reference in the coming years.

We start each session off with a prayer. From there the boys take turns pulling out a popsicle stick indicating each child's assignment. I set the timer for 15-20 minutes (excepting one category that is usually 10) and off we go!

The current popsicle sticks (I imagine we'll have to change them out as skills are mastered and material concluded) are:

***Jack: Spelling workbook or Write a Story/Aly: Handwriting Practice***
***Jack: Read Aloud to Mom or Reading Comprehension Workbook/Aly: Read to Self or Basic Concepts Workbook***
***Both: Math Practice and Word Problem Workbooks***
***Jack: Read to Self/Aly: Read to Mom or Reading Lesson Book (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons info: HERE)***
***Jack: Piano Theory or Free Art Time(if theory for the week is finished)/Aly: Cutting and Pasting Practice***

Often the popsicle sticks will last a bit longer than 20 minutes if we are still working on something, but once the timer dings we try and wrap it up. After we have done 3 popsicle sticks we take a 10 minute break.

At the end of the day we do an art or science or just plain fun activity.

All of the workbooks we chose are from the same company HERE. Thanks Katie for the recommendation, they are great! The idea is to do one page or problem daily, but we are going through them much more quickly than that. It's been great to reinforce things Jack has already learned and we have had the chance to introduce new concepts as well (which I love because then I am doing actual teaching!).

Alaster has been a joyful surprise. We knew he was smart, but I was unprepared for how well he would do, particularly in math. The kid is a natural!

The above collage is of Jack doing his spelling workbook. Good Heavens that child is bright but he cannot spell worth a darn! My favorite part of the spelling workbook is when I get to test him on the set of words for the week. I am very serious as I read a word and use it in the most ridiculous sentence I can think of to get a laugh. Alaster usually stops what he is doing to listen and laugh along for this particular part of the lesson.

Some days to shake things up I let Jack write a story instead of doing his spelling workbook. The idea is that he writes it (sometimes it's his own idea, sometimes I provide the subject) , I circle the words he spelled incorrectly and # them, he re-writes them correctly at the bottom of the page. I included a picture of his first story in the collage. In case you can't see it, it's entitled "Mummy," and it reads:

Once upon a time there was a mummy. He ate people such as the police men who tried to put him in jail for eating people. He ate and ate and ate and kept eating until CRASH a building fell on him never to be seen again.

(Yes, I do realize that his grammar and punctuation also need work...)

For Alaster's handwriting practice he is learning the proper way to form his letters... ie: the line for T goes from top to bottom, then cross at the top from left to right. He has a plate with rice on it, and he chooses flashcards from the pile to practice the motions in.

After 3 weeks he can form most of his letters and numbers correctly without me telling him how to do it. We will probably continue this motor skill building activity for one more week before proceeding to the next step!

His favorite workbook "Basic Concepts," is also featured in that collage. It's mostly pre-schooley type stuff... shapes and colors, patterns, alphabet, counting etc. It's below his level but still fun!

Alaster reading the Scholastic BOB books aloud to me. He is doing great on set 1 and 2. HERE.

Jack reading Mercy Watson HERE to me. Kate DiCamillo HERE is quickly becoming my favorite children's book author. I just ordered "Bink and Gollie," from the library. I can't wait to read it!

So that's basically it! For my own records, I will post changes as we make them, and how the kids are progressing. I will probably keep posting our fun activities we do each week as well.

Last but not least, it is worth mentioning that my kids are being taught by other people this summer besides me. Jack is continuing piano lessons (in the collage below you can see an example of the level he is at... he's starting basic chords and such) with Terra. And Alaster is enrolled in Kindermusik, a normally quite pricey program info HERE, that a generous friend of mine HERE and HERE is teaching for just the enrollment fee + some other trades (I am cleaning/organizing for her, and Corey is building her shelves).

Aunt Nat: Do you remember telling me once that opportunities will still come to my kids even when we are poor? I am grateful for those comforting words you gave me once based on your own experience. It has proved true! I am so grateful Jack and Aly can have these experiences in a way that works for our family!

Aly playing with a slide whistle and... what would you call those Alysa? He's brought home lots of goodies to help the learning and playing continue at home!

All in all I am loving doing this with my kids.
It's only 6-7 hrs a week spread across 3 days. It doesn't take away too much from summer free time, and we do it while the baby sleeps so it also doesn't take away from outside time, since we would be home-bound anyway.

I am sure that other people are doing much fancier/better things... there is so much you really could do with it! But I am pleased with what we have going so far.
I love these bright little boys of mine.
I love having such direct, hands on, scheduled learning time with them.
They are incredible, and I can't wait to see what wonderful things they do with their talents in the coming years!