Creation wrap up

I am starting to think that trying to sit and blog daily might not happen. Not in the beginning, anyhow. We'll see how the year progresses. Right now, I am trying hard to find my rhythm in the day. I am not a routine following person by nature, but I think I need to really get myself on a schedule.

Anyhow... here's a peek at the projects Nathan did for the Creation Unit.

These are the pages to his creation book. 

The days of creation poster. It's currently in his playroom. 

We really enjoyed the Creation unit and even took a field trip to the zoo yesterday to see much of creation at once. Okay, really we wanted to meet friends there. But I did talk to him about what he saw and what God made on the way home.

Nathan is by far my favorite of all God's Creations. 

Voices

This morning we finished up our first week of homeschooling. 

I am going to tell you, I love it! Granted we are simply doing a laid back version of kindergarten - have I mentioned that Nathan is only 4 1/2 and won't officially be in kindergarten until next year? I am not pushing him to learn anything, simply laying the ground work and helping his mind absorb what it can. 

Some of my observations from this week. 

He is better at art than I realized. I guess I have not really sat at the table with him while he does art. I mostly set it up and let him do his thing while I get stuff done. 

I love hearing his mind work. The way he processes, talks, and answers questions.

Also, he is very hard on himself. This is the thrust of my post today, because it's the one I want to explore myself. 

This morning I was dragging. I didn't get much sleep and my cup of coffee did little help me shake the sleepies. When I am tired, I tend to be impatient. A fault I am aware of and not please with. Anyhow, we started school with Nathan's normal joy and excitement for the tasks ahead. When we started the week he couldn't name the letters by sight. As of Wednesday he had learned a handful. So this morning we were doing review and he was being silly and not naming the letters. I got short with him and told him he knew better and to answer me correctly. Fast forward a few minutes and he was working his alphabet puzzle. He was having a hard time finding the correct place for a letter and tapped his head and said, "What is wrong with me??"  My heart broke 1,000 times!  Now, I have never used those words but the gist was the same. 

It was such a reminder that he is absorbing much, much more than letters and numbers. He is listening carefully to my words, tone, attitude and views. The other day a friend posted a quote on Facebook and it has been with me since. It said, "How we speak to our children becomes their inner voice." Today was an illustration of that, without doubt. 

Yes, as adults we do make mistakes. I believe it's important to allow our children to see us make mistakes and make them right. I also believe that we need to be as teachable as we expect them to be in daily situations like this. 

So far, I am convinced that I have learned far more this week than he has. 

Creation Day 3

What a great day!

When we started on Monday, Nathan could only recognize the letter N.

This week we have been reviewing the letters, emphasizing on the two at a time starting with A & B. I am proud to say that he can now identify A & B, along with E, I, M & N.

He wants to read so badly and is excited that he is learning letters and on the path to reading.

upside down 3

coloring his 3 for the creation poster

We have begun charting the weather.

He pounds the paper when gluing, cracks me up. 

Coloring apples on his tree. 

Watercolors! 

School Day 2, part 2

I realized that I didn't give much detail on our day in the last post. Pictures are awesome, but I need to get some words out.

School is going great and we are having so much fun! Our curriculum came with a classical music cd and I turn that on when we begin and just leave it as background music. I love it! Today Nathan painted as part of his school project for the day and then did 'free' painting. So much fun to watch him, one on one. The colors were white & blue and he had blast mixing the colors and creating shades.

Only being at the table for an hour is perfect. That hour includes him doing art after our 'work' is done.

When we sit at the table, we start by praying together. Right now it's very simple and short - thanking God for our day & asking Him to help us learn. (this includes both of us, since I have lots to learn each day.) Then we read our Bible passage. We say our Bible Verse & talk about what our story meant. From there we look at our numbers and letters. Then I have Nathan practice writing his name and the letter of the day. I am not pushing him and he gets no criticism right now. At this point, I want him to enjoy trying. He is making a lot of progress and putting in true effort. I am happy with that! Then we look at the calender, talk about the month, day and season. 


After that he does his art project. Currently, he is putting together a Creation Book that illustrates the days of creation. I love that this is done this way and to set that as our foundation.

Once he is done with his project, we sing our songs. Yesterday he wanted to dance to the music and today he wanted to simply sit and listen to them.

At this point, we are done but I have him choose an art to extend the table time. He loves paint, so he asked to paint some more. I set out a few pages of construction paper him to use. He found the excitement of blending colors. He only had blue and white since that's what we used for our project today, but he was thrilled to watch dark blue become light. He swirled the colors together and marveled at the effects on the paper. Then came the fun of seeing what it looked like on different color paper.

The beauty of it, is that he has done all this before. Many times, yet he finds new joy in these simple things. Such a reminder to myself.

Today there is a nice breeze, so we played outside before lunch. Having fun chasing the new dog around the yard, then playing in the water from the hose. Yesterday we did exercise inside. He did yoga with me then we did Just Dance Kids on the Wii. haha! So much fun.

After lunch I have been reading a story from some of the classic children's books. Yesterday we read a couple short stories from Aesop's Fables and today we read a chapter from the Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh. I love the sweet moments cuddled up on the couch reading. Reading to him from the start has been such a help, because he knows to sit quietly and listen to the story. Quite a feat for my active boy.

I am glad we are choosing to homeschool, even for now. These early years will slip away so fast. I am glad I get to be here with him and experience it together.

Creation Day 2

Today was fun!

I decided to let him paint for his creation book and that was a hit. In fact as I am typing this, 20 minutes after being done with school, he is still painting. Having fun mixing colors and using different colored paper for new effects. I love art!

Painting the ocean.

adding a few clouds to the sky

Mixing blue & white paints to see what happens 

These little cups are wonderful! I got them last year while teaching preschool. They are condiment cups from Wal-Mart. I believe they come 8 to a package for less than a buck.

Coloring the number 2 for his creation poster.

sweet hands.

First Day of School

We have finished our first day of school! WooHoo!

It went as well, if not better than I expected. It's still a novelty for both of us, so we were eager to move through all the things on our list to do.

Before school, I did the First Day of School pictures. We did these for preschool as well.

We started by praying together for our day. Why have I not been doing this all along? 

Then we read the Bible passage for today, Genesis 1:1-5.

Then some table work...

...and working on the creation book & poster.

We reviewed our letters {a & b} and talked about the calender, month & season.

homeschool fun!

This blog has been pretty much abandoned. I feel bad about it and think of it often. I just haven't felt much like blogging. I have facebook for the day to day stuff and that has satisfied me. Until now. I want a better place to document our homeschool adventures. So, here we go. I am sure this will be about more than just homeschooling, but life in general.

Our curriculum arrived on 7/11/12. My Father's World, Kindergarten.

fun stuff from Michael's. 

Nathan playing with new supplies.
Love these journals from OfficeMax and need
a few more.