Why not start a blog about our homeschool? Maybe it will help me be more organized or more thoughtful, or maybe it will just fizzle into nothing, but why not? If I can get myself organized, this would be a great place to keep track of all that we've done and how much we've grown and what resources I've used. Every great teacher knows you need a great place to store things that work, so that when another kid comes along with the same need, you can find that story/website/game/song/whatever....
I'm going to try keeping track of what we do at Ingram School, so to start let me say who we are and where we are at our starting point:
I am a stay-at-home Mom to 3 children ages 5, 3, and 2. I am going to do my best to homeschool these children all the way from elementary to middle to high school. I was a middle school teacher for 9 years and am realizing quickly that middle schoolers are just bigger versions of toddlers!! ha! I'm not going to be perfect, but I can at least hope to be good (maybe even great some days!). I get asked a lot why I'm choosing to homeschool and the best answer I can give is that it's what works best for our family. Could that change someday? Sure, but for now, this is awesome!
Rachel is our oldest child, she just turned 5 and actually went to preschool for 2 years. She loved going to school and I loved that she made friends and had fun, but I felt like she needed more. At home we have been able to tackle upper and lower case letters, addition, telling time, and a little bit of reading. She has attended an art class and is on her 4th week of violin lessons. She is a true introvert and does not want the spotlight on her. I joke that one day she will make a great stage manager when her brother and sister are on stage soaking up the spotlight!! She is kind, loving, and has the highest metabolism of anyone I've ever met!
Ford is in the middle. He is 3 and a half. He went to preschool for two days and I am pretty sure it traumatized him (sort of kidding, not sure, though!). He still some days will say, "You know I'm not going to go to preschool, right?" He is learning a lot from Rachel, but does things in a very different way! He loves to use his hands to build and has taken quickly to building letters with blocks and can write his own name and many of the upper case letters as well as numbers. He loves going to story time at the library and has just started taking art lessons. One day he wants to play the banjo! He is a true Gemini and can go from affectionate to obstinate in a split second.
Ruby is the youngest (don't call her the baby!). She loves to draw and paint and sing and dance and do anything dangerous and daring! She is stubborn and strong and too cute for her own good! I know she will learn quickly because she spends much of her day trying to keep up with her older siblings. She can count in English and Spanish, she knows her colors in English and Spanish, and she can tell knock knock jokes with the best of them! She hasn't decided yet if she is right-handed or left-handed and there's no way I'm going to make her choose any time soon, because she will just change her mind, so we just go with whatever hand she likes at the time! She is trying to use the potty, trying to get rid of the sippy cup, and doing anything she can to lose the title of "baby"....she just wants to be a big kid!
So, here's who I have in my class and on Monday we're going to start as organized of a system as I can with everyone doing what they need to do each day. In a typical week, we have music and movement class on Mondays, story time at the library on Tuesdays, Violin and art on Thursdays, and playdates on Fridays. I call all of those things our enrichment activities and they give us a chance to socialize as well. I've made each kid a chart for this week with what they need to do and it varies according to their needs. Rachel's chart includes math, writing, violin practice, reading, art, and cleaning up her room. Ford's chart has writing, reading, art, and helping with a chore such as the dishes. Ruby's chart has reading, art, a learning activity, and no accidents. I know they won't be perfect and I don't expect them to be, but I told them I would reward them with a dollar for the week if they have a completed chart (we're going to put a sticker each day for each activity they complete). However, since I don't want them to have the pressure of being perfect, I also will break it down into 20 cents a day for completing all of their activities that day. This is not meant to be a bribe, because they do these activities without complaint, but a way to teach them to save money because it will go into their piggy bank, not directly to the store.
Hopefully I will be able to post some of the activities we do this week, but I want to at least follow up with a post at the end of the week to see how our first official week of Organized Ingram School has gone!!
Bear with me, this is going to be quite a journey!!
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