First Day of School!

After a bit of a rough start, our first day of homeschooling was fabulous.


It seems that Ruby, despite our numerous talks about the mechanics of schooling at home, thought there would be more students present in our home today. And she was fine, right up to my, "Let's get going, Ruby!" to begin the day. The meltdown was intense but short, and I was thankful that the first box of the day held directions to read Proverbs 3 and had a worksheet/discussion sheet we enjoyed going through.

Ruby loves reading the Bible, and to assert her free will in the matter, she insisted on reading through the entire Old Testament, up to Proverbs, before we could begin. Thankfully, it was a children's Bible, but it still took us about 90 minutes to get to Proverbs, as we read each story and she asked questions. But really, who's going to tell their child, "No, honey, you can't read any more Bible today."

One funny detail: Ruby and Henry have been wearing "laser zappers" on their forearms this weekend, and Ruby made mysterious drawings on hers each time she completed a task today.

We talked Proverbs, practiced handwriting, reviewed math, started a lapbook about fruit of the Spirit, read to each other about the Greeks, and really enjoyed spending time together. We have two weeks until we begin the Tapestry of Grace curriculum; we're starting in unit three of Year Two (pre-colonial America), which should tie in nicely with our scheduled trip back to the States in the middle of the school year. Our survey of history from creation through the Renaissance has been cruising right along, and we should arrive in Jamestown right on time. :)

Several people have asked about curriculum; these are guidelines for the year:

Tapestry of Grace - History, Geography, Art, Literature
Legends & Leagues - Love their map-building exercises!
Apologia Zoology 1 Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day - Science
We are also doing quite a bit of Ocean-themed science this year - one good thing about living here!
A Reason For Handwriting
ReadyWriter (we need a LOT of handwriting help at the moment!)
Calculadder - Math review/mastery of tables
Math-U-See - Math building
Drawing With Children - Ruby loves to draw and wants to learn more about art
Draw Write Now - Did I mention we need handwriting practice? :) With great drawing lessons built in.

Ruby has also decided she wants to learn Spanish, so we are putting together a curriculum for her. Seriously, I wanted to teach her French, or at least Kiswahili since we live in East Africa. But she insists that Spanish is the only language she is interested in. So Spanish she shall learn! And so shall I!

We certainly aren't going to do each of these daily. Between swim lessons, play time, music of some sort (still working that out), service learning and living, I think we're going to be as busy as we want to be. Armed with the state standards and a slew of great ideas, it looks like a grand year from where I sit.