baby step #5 One of the most important lessons

                                             Sibling importance lesson.


  So yesterday started off slow, we took are time cleaning the rooms up, getting the day started. I remember picking a few items off the floor and walking off to put them away when I heard Jonas my four year old son saying a few ugly words to my two year old daughter Jaden, Well Jaden may be a girl but I find her likely to talk with her fists as much as her mouth, don't get me wrong, she is not quiet by no means, she is a sassy lil lass with more attitude then I can imagine fitting into a lil person and this squabble was no exception. I heard Jonas howl and cry, when I reached him he was holding his face. I told him to calm down and if he wanted me to understand him he must talk loud enough and clearly. After 2 or 3 attempts I believed I understood what he was saying but I was hoping I had heard wrong so I had him start again. Sure enough, he was saying Jaden hit him with a glue stick and that he didn't like sisters and he wanted to get rid of that sister!
  I tried my best to remain calm though I was upset but I had heard the story my Grandma told many times of how my uncle who had once told my mom that he hated her and wished she had never been born when they were little and had squabbled over toys.   I know kids say things they don't really understand so I thought I would try to make him understand.
  I told him "If you don't want a sister then you won't have a sister, you go to your room, you play by yourself, you are not aloud to play with Jaden, you are not aloud to talk to Jaden, you will eat your lunch all by yourself today. Jaden you are not aloud to talk to Jonas or play with him either." Then I sent Jonas to his room and Jaden to mine. They both started crying and I went in hugged Jaden telling her it was alright and she could come out but she mustn't go in their room or talk to Jonas so we went to the kitchen and I started slicing a peach for her. A few minutes later Jonas came out crying. "What are you doing out here?" I asked. He rubbed at the tears in his eyes and sobbed "I liked sisters! I.. I.. want to play with her! Sob sob, I.. I...  LOVE HER!! , Sister is my friend!!".  " Oh?" I said " Dose that mean you want to keep Jaden?"  "Yeah, sob, I like her, sisters are best friends!"  "Well then, I suppose you can have your sister back if that is how you really feel but I want you to hug her and tell her sorry." And he did, he hugged her tightly and sobbed. Jaden being the silly character that she is, put one arm around him, patting him said quietly in her small sweet voice "It's OK Jone Jone, It's OK, don't cry." Then with her other hand took a bite of her peach slice.
  I smiled. "Jaden? Would you like to share your peach with Jonas?"  She nodded. "Yeah." She said and gave him a bite of the slice she had just bit into and they shared the peach all the way down to the very last slice. When Jonas took the last slice Jaden pouted and he set it back on the table sadly but willingly, when I saw jaden pick it up and take a bite I said "That was very nice of Jonas letting you have the last one, maybe you should share it with him?" And she did, they took turns taking bites till there was no more left.

 

I think Jonas now realizes how important it is to have a sister, though I know they will still fight, hit and yell at each other I think he will think twice before wanting to get rid of her.  :) 

A life lesson, one that is better learned through experience instead of a school book.

Psalm 116:6

The Lord preserveth the simple: 

I was brought low, and he helped me.

Keeping record and you informed. God Bless!

Baby step #4 Facebook Homeschooling page

  I started a Facebook Homeschooling page.
  You can look it up, I just started it today. Just look up "Homeschooling" on your search bar on Facebook.  It's the one with the apple icon.
 
 Purpose for this is for Homeschoolers from all around to share ideas, thoughts and tips a little more personally then pinterest, you can even share your pins there (If you can figure out how to, I'm not sure how to exactly do that.)

  The main reason for creating this is to get more Homeschoolers together because with Homeschooling one of the challenges we faced growing up was little to very, very little socializing. Which I know can be overcome with enough effort and determination but also one of the reasons I am Homeschooling is I want my children growing up without all the influences of the world. I would like them to grow up with children whose parents hold most of the same values that we do.
  So here I create the Homeschooling page to bring families and children together, striving for the same goals but I can't do it by myself so if you Homeschool or know anyone that dose please, please join Homeschooling on Facebook and share, get involved. If not for yourself then for those little future minds that you are raising.


                                               
                                                          Proverbs 23:26
                                 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes
                                                         Observe my ways



                                 Keeping record and you informed, God Bless.

Baby step #3 Homeschool Schedule

 OK so today I am going to be working on my Homeschooling schedule.

  I am trying to get a grave yard job to help ends meet currently I am working from 5-11:30 two nights a week in the evening but my job is to far away and I need to work hours that I don't need a babysitter so I am shooting for a  job as a waitress at a 24hr diner.  So my Homeschooling schedule is going to be a little difficult but I am determined.

  Monday
  Read the weekly bible verse, Trace the letter, One number game, Go outside for exercise and a break, Find the colors of the week outside, Come inside for motor skill tracing, 10-15 minute story time, Learn a fact about the nature subject that was picked, color shape of the week with colors of the week. 30 minutes Art and craft time.

  Tuesday
   Read weekly bible verse, One letter game, One number craft, Go outside for exercise and a break, Do a motor skill activity, 10-15 minute story time, learn a fact on nature subject, Play a shape game, Find and gather five items that are color of the week, 30 minute Art and craft time.

   Wednesday
   Read weekly bible verse, One letter craft, Trace the number, Go outside for exercise and a break, Motor skill building, Color a picture with colors of the week, Find color of the week, Point out shape of the week, 10-15 minute story time, Learn nature fact, 30 minutes Art and craft.

  Thursday
   Read weekly bible verse, Recognise the letter game, Recognise the number game, Go outside for exercise and break, Find colors of the week, Learn nature fact, Trace the shape, Motor skill activity, 10-15 minutes reading time, 30 minutes Art and craft.

  Friday
  Read weekly bible verse, trace and review letter and number, recognise and review shapes and colors, Motor skill activity, Outside for break and exercise, Nature facts review, 10-15 minute story time.

  We will see how this schedule suits us the first week then we will make adjustments if needed. I will probably have a time to start in the morning but won't have a finish time, I will just go at their pace and try to remember it's not a race.

                                                          Proverbs 29:17
                                Correct they son, and he shall give thee rest;
                                      Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

 
                                         Keeping record and you informed.
                                                             God Bless!!

Baby step #2 Homeschooling supplies.

  I got a game plan, I know what I want to teach this first week of Homeschooling now I just have to figure out what supplies to use to teach these precious lil people.
  To do this I need to figure out what methods I will be using. I won't be using any curriculum (sorry, guess I should have clarified that earlier.) so I must come up with my own methods.  Like I said before I will be getting most of these ideas off pinterest but I may have to tweak them a bit so we can afford them. It's all  about creativity anyway *wink,wink* remember to keep that in mind, try thinking outside the box and don't be afraid to let go and see where your imagination takes you!!  Like last week I was thinking "How can I get them to be interested in shapes? And understand the importance of learning them?"  After a while of thinking all of a sudden I found myself drawing shapes and cutting them out excitedly and after a circle, large oval, two skinny rectangles and multiple triangles I had completed my project and when the children woke from their naps I sat them at the table with one orange marker and one yellow one. Instructing them on which shape to color letting them trade between colors. Asking what color they were using and helping them remember. My son kept asking "what are we doing?" And "Why are we doing this?" Then after awhile he was having to much fun to ask questions.  When they finished coloring I had them glue it all together having them say the name of the shape they were gluing and this is what we made!!!!

The kid's loved it and I was happy to see how proud they were of their little chicks. 

Materials used in this project were:

Creativity

Scissors

Paper

Markers

Two moving eyes.

 So for schooling on our first week we will start at the beginning with the letter A and number 1 here are some ideas I want to try.

 

This picture is taken from the blog "No time for flash cards"

I really want do the ant and alligator but we shall see. I am not sure if I can afford supplies before we start or not so we will make do with what we have.

So back to supplies, I am not going all crazy buying all kinds of stuff. That would take the fun and creativity out of all this. I have a stack of computer paper my husband got off a job he did a few years ago and I have markers, crayons , toilet paper rolls, some wiggly eyes, some color pencils I got on sell at target, glue and a bit of a brain that I hope can get me through this. I'm sure I will find other things laying around the house for us to use as well. I do believe we can do most everything with the supplies on hand and if not we will do a Craft supply treasure hunt around the house and outside:).

Homeschooling has been the only option in my mind and my husband is so wonderful, he is all for it as well. Though I know it will be a challenge I believe it will be worth it. I love my children and want to spend as much time with them as possible, especially while they are young. If I were to send them to school do you realise that I would miss around 30 hours of their lives a week? That is about 120 hours of their lives a month, and those are hours of precious memories I would never ever get back!

No one knows your children the way you do, No one is going to care for them in the way that you do, No one will put their individual needs above everything else like you will, No one will appreciate them or their time with them like you will, no one will take the thought for their eternal souls like you will.

In the end...... 

That is what makes it worth it.

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old,

He will not depart from it.

Keeping record and you informed.

Baby step #1

So here is what I am doing.

I am putting all of the subjects that I want to teach on a piece of paper.

     After that I am going to highlight all the ones that I really want to focus on.   

Now I am going to sort out how much I want to do every week. 

Making a list I will put down how much of each subject I am going teach through the week. I am starting very small and later will adjust to each child's advancements.

So pretty much one letter, one number, one shape and so on but I will pick two colors because I have two children and I will let them pick a color every week. I will do five motor skill activities every week because that won't bog their brains down I'm sure they can handle it.

I have a pin board on pinterest where I will be getting a lot of my ideas, it is listed Homeschooling. Here I will try to find all different ways to teach letters, numbers shapes and colors. I also have a lot of good science projects. Tons of arts and crafts as well.

So there! I have now taken my biggest baby step toward this exciting journey. Hope to continue it later on in the day.

Keeping record and you informed! God bless.

Preparing for the first year of Homeschooling.

This will be my first official year Homeschooling and I got to say I am beyond excited and a lil nervous. I am going to really be on a very tight budget so it's going to be a test of my creativity!
  I have a four year old and a two year old.  Though I have gone through colors, shapes, numbers, and letters through the year by counting aloud to them and singing the ABC's and pointing out colors of things and their shapes but I have not actually dedicated myself to teaching. Though I must point out that I believe every day I must teach my children though it may not be considered school to some I consider it to be. Teaching children life lessons, morals, manners, work ethic and of their creator our God is as important as any numbers, letters, shapes and colors.

  This Blog is being created to help other new Homeschooler's and to keep record of my Homeschooling because I am sure I will make mistakes and need record to go back and track those mistakes in order to improve in the future.

  The thing I love about Homeschooling is that I have no one breathing down my back telling me what to do and how to do it. I am in complete control of deciding what my children need and at what pace they are comfortable with. They do not have to compete with 20 other children if they can't learn the subject as fast as the other children. Which I believe usually happens due to to much divided attention and sitting in one room for hours. At home they can take a break when I see the subject is losing their interest and pick it back up in 20 mins when I have found a way to dress it up making it more interesting for the child to learn keeping that precious love of learning instilled within their hearts.

  So here are my goals for Homeschooling this year.

 1. Learning about God and what he has created.
 2. Keeping the love of learning in their hearts and minds.
 3. Teaching creative thinking.
 4. Keeping happy interested children
 5. Learning motor skills
 6. Learning Letters, Numbers, Colors and Shapes.

 Those are my goals not to say we will not do more in this blog though :).
 I have a passion for Art,  Dance and leverage mechanics so you may see a bit of that in the future Lord willing.

 Looking forward to starting August 11th 2014!! Whooo hooo!

 So in the meantime I will be posting about the ideas I have for the upcoming first week of Homeschooling keeping record an you informed! Of course that will have to be latter when I don't have to rush off to the grocery store:) until then God bless and leave some of your own ideas in the comment box. Thanks!