Teaching Tuesday: Half Way Point

For all practical purposes we have reached a half way point through our first year of homeschooling.  We didn't take off a long time at Christmas and New Years, for two reasons.  The first being I had taken a break when Levi was born and again when I had surgery.  Second, the children do well with the structure and routine especially when it is too cold to play outside.  So I wanted to take some time to reflect on this half of the first year.  Even though I did do some "school" with Landon last year it was very casual and informal.  Which is how I think it should be.  Kids need time to play, there is so much learning and growing during free play.  So this year I have had to work out a balance not only for him, but for Elaine.  She is only 2.  She needs to play, play, play.  She wants to do school work like Landon but doesn't have the attention span to hang in there, so often she becomes a distraction.  Thankfully Landon has come to understand that when I take her and help her find some toys to play with, its not a reward for her while he is punished with "school".  He is older and has new responsibilities.  Also he has learned (not that he doesn't have to be reminded) that when she isn't interrupting and he is focused, our formal school time is quite brief.  Some days it is only 30 min and at the most an hour.  Outside of our structured school time we read books, paint, use our imaginations, cook, clean, go to the library, take karate, and play with our friends.  All of those things are important, not just phonics and numbers.  I feel good about the balance we have created.

As for the second half of the year we will press on with our phonics, numbers, Bible, and readiness skills.  We will finish up our health and safety lessons and move into character traits.  I am also going to add in some science experiments and lessons on dinosaurs thanks to some amazing books we received for Christmas.  I am excited to share those with you as well. 

Over the next few Tuesdays I plan to share some resources i have found for 2-3 year olds and what curriculum I plan to use for next year.  I actually have some crafty ideas and recipes for later this week!  We have snow here, so I am sure snow angels are in the plans for today.  I hope you have a great Tuesday.