One month of homeschool

Our first month of homeschool is done. It feels like a grand accomplishment, but in reality it isn't all that. At first I was worried that it would be too difficult. Now I am worried it is too easy. Only time will tell.

So far our mornings have been filled with school work. We start with spelling, then Math, Reading and Science. Once a week we do History, Art, Grammar, Library and a field trip, one per day. We are busy from 8 am until 12. We listen to an audio book while we eat lunch, then they write in their journals. After that we are done for the day. Fridays are more relaxed than other days. We catch up on anything we may have missed, take tests and have our field trip. They take breaks as they need them, usually choosing to go outside and play for 15 min or so.

Erik is so relaxed and happy, I wish I would have done this years ago with him. He gets his work done quickly and without complaint. He does get overwhelmed with certain assignments, but if that happens I break it up into pieces for him, and he is fine. He loves our set schedule for each day and is good at keeping me on task. He will remind me "it's 10:00 mom you need to help me with math". He gets 100% in his spelling tests each week and last week he took a math test and got a perfect score on that as well. We have been working on reading fluently. I am getting the feeling he processes written words differently than I do. It seems like he processes the whole line of words at a time instead of reading each word individually. His comprehension is very good, but his oral reading sounds choppy. Sometimes it seems like he is giving a synopsis of the line instead of reading it back to you. I know that oral fluency is how they test reading ability at this level, so I feel like it is important he practice reading out loud fluently. We go sentence by sentence making sure to say each word, in the right order. It can be frustrating for both of us, but he is improving. The Singapore Math we are using is great. It is perfect for Erik. I love that we work on a concept until he has it 100% then we add to it a little. Riley's class is transitioning to Singapore math as well, so I am doubly glad We are using this method.

Tian loves homeschool, but I don't love it for him. He is a little more difficult to motivate, and struggles getting his work done some days. So far each week he has had one day where he just breaks down and refuses to do his work. It comes down to writing. He hates to do it and thinks I make him write too many things. It has been a while since I have had a first grader, so it is a possibility that I am pushing him too hard, but he is capable of doing the work, he just doesn't want to sometimes. He is reading and spelling quite well now and he really enjoys that he can sit down with an easy reader book on his own now. My biggest hang up with him is that he is lonely. He likes spending time with Erik each day, but I can tell that he misses being with other kids his age. there are no kids his age in our complex, so to get him playtime, I have to arrange play dates with kids in our ward. With 2 callings and home schooling each day I have not had much time to set those up, but I need to be better. If an opportunity comes up for him to attend the neighborhood school, I will put him back in. I hate the idea of putting him back in the "Everyday Math" program, but I am sure that like my other boys he will succeed in math despite a mediocre math program.

I miss my alone time. I am trying to arrange my life so that I can get up at 5 or 6am and have that time before the chaos of the day gets started, but I haven't made it yet. More than anything I just want to be able to go to the grocery store without kids and on a day when everyone else isn't there too. The 2 boys are a little unreliable alone together. Erik is not mature enough to keep himself and Tian out of trouble. Chris is here most of the day, but is sleeping so not much help. I am hoping as time goes on I will find ways to work around these small issues.