Homeschool Weekly Wrap Up Week 1

Welcome to my first "official" Homeschool Weekly Wrap Up on the blog and for this year!  I'm very excited to  start implementing this regular posting each week as I share about what I'm learning, what the kiddos are learning and how we're getting there! I'm a rookie, so please don't think this is me trying to impart wisdom...it's more me processing and sharing the victories and agonizing over the struggles with you and if you homeschool, I would love to hear your thoughts, advice and comments!  So without further ado...This is what we did this week. It was a short week due to the holidays but we packed a nice little bit in the last three days. Nicholas' letter of the week was "K" and the animal of the week was the Koala. He really liked learning about this marsupial and enjoyed the National Geographic Kids Creature Feature on Koalas. I love that animals come alive for him on the screen!  I was so proud of him this week in that he is really starting to apply himself to the lesson and do the work, not just do enough to get by like he was at the beginning of the school year. He's excited about doing the pages and does them all diligently and with excitement! Thrills my heart to see that progress!

A few weeks ago, I downloaded the iPhone App, Letter School. This is by far one of my favorite educational apps. It really makes writing your letters/numbers come alive in such a fun way that I want to do it too! :) Nicholas loves this app and since working on it, has really shown a lot more interest in writing his letters (something he wasn't at all interested in 2 months ago)! I highly recommend it and think it's definitely worth the $2.99 it costs! 

Sophia struggled a bit Wednesday to get back into the school routine, but did so much better yesterday! She too enjoyed the koala craft. She is by far my hands-on learner. She loves to do crafts and get her hands dirty while learning so I'm really trying to give her something like that each day while still helping her get the work done that she has to do.

Yesterday we ended the day with baking some chocolate chip cookies and she got so excited about the idea of being able to eventually bake on her own. I told her she would learn to make bread next week and then before we knew it, she would be kicking me out of the kitchen and baking something herself. She LOVED that idea and I look forward to the day when she is able to do that as she learns the basics in the kitchen! :) Yesterday afternoon I applied myself to getting some homeschooling organization done. Since starting homeschool in September, I've wanted to be more organized, but we had so much going on last year that I just didn't get it done. What I came up with will definitely work for now, even though its still pretty rustic, but it feels so good to know that things are more orderly and I can feel ahead of the game going forward.  I came up with a weekly lesson plan that I can use for both kids. Some of their lessons/activities overlap, but it's nice to have everything laid out for me for each of them. I'm happy to share the document with anyone who might want it. Simply click here

Everything went into a three-ring binder with the weekly lesson plan going in first for at-a-glance. For now, this definitely works and I'm happy with it! :)

RESOURCES:

I am continuing to use 1+1+1=1 for the weekly Animal ABCs

Koala Craft 

What have you been up to this first week of the year?
Lovely Sponsor