Homeschooling And The Working Mom

Yes, we are homeschooling! C is working though My Father's World Kindergarten and Math U See Alpha this year and we are both loving it! We sit down for about 1-1.5 hours four nights a week when I come home from work and we get to work. C looks forward to school all day and she is soaking it all up! As time goes on, I will share some of our more fun ideas with you and tell you all about our "fails" as well (ants...need I say more?). I will also review both programs with my own opinions in a separate post.

I have to admit, sometimes teaching Kindergarten/First/Second all day long and going home to teach for a few more hours can seem rather daunting and is a true test of my patience some days. However, I wouldn't change it for the world! (okay, maybe I would...but only if it meant being a stay-at-home mom and homeschooling). I love seeing how much C learns and knowing it is due mostly to me and the hard work we have been doing. I love seeing her love of Christ and her growing understanding...even though her questions do sometimes catch me off guard and leave me wondering how to answer them in a 4-year old appropriate manner! I also love that we can take learning at her own pace. For example, she is sailing through her Kindergarten curriculum right now and I am finding new ways to challenge her reading all the time (Thank you, Starfall!), but we have temporarily stalled our Math while she works to memorize the facts already taught and review for increased understanding. I love that we can go at her pace with homeschooling!

C may attend public school next year, but if she does we are already planning to supplement with My Father's World First Grade for both the academic challenge and the awesome Biblical studies.

I can't wait to share all the fun things we are doing with these programs with you!

~Mommy S

The Return

Hello hello! I've been gone for a very long time but I'm back and ready to blog at least a little bit!

Allow me to reintroduce myself! I'm a wife of a wonderful, hard-working, God-fearning man and a mom of two lovely little girls, C and G. C is 4.5 years old (going on 13 so she thinks!) and G is 20 months old. I am homeschooling C who is working through kindergarten this year, although she might go to school next year so we will see where life takes us. I am a cloth diapering, co-sleeping (Yes, G still co-sleeps from about 3am on), baby food making, breastfeeding (well really G gave that up 2 months ago), clean eating, God-fearing, fun-loving mommy. I am also a special education teacher full time in kindergarten through second grades....man some of those kiddos sure do keep me on my toes! I'll probably talk about the fun games and such that I do for them from time to time (although of course you won't hear any specifics about those kiddos for confidentiality purposes).

C keeps me on my toes! She definitely is my more defiant child. We are working on a program called We Choose Virtues to help instill all virtues, with obedience being our focus at the moment. Her favorite phrase right now is "Okay Mom, I'll obey right away!" She is so smart, caring, and loves to take care of her little sister! She is also on the move all the time and long-ago decided that she doesn't have time for cuddles because she is just too busy exploring life.

G is my snuggler! She would sit on my lap and "huggy" all day long if I would let her. I am pretty sure she would love it if I would still Moby her! She does go to play but she prefers to take me with her, although she also is quite attached to her big sister so if C is there G is more willing to run off and play. We just took her paci away except at naps/bedtime and she has done well with that...until she gets tired or upset. I'm also quite excited that she has suddenly noticed that her big sister has school every day and she now wants to learn "counts" and colors.

On my blog I hope to post at least twice a week as work will allow, review products for the kiddos, talk about life as a momma, share my adventures (and mis-adventures) and create a space of encouragement and understanding. This weekend I will be doing a bit of an overhaul on the looks of the blog to create easier use for all of you.

Have a wonderful week!

~M