Homeschooling

As many of you know, we had a crate full of belongings that came from Michigan.  On that crate, one of the most important things was all our homeschooling materials.  When the crate got here on December 31, we took a week to settle in and get lesson plans made, and then we started school on Monday, January 7.  We have a nice area right inside our front door where we have "school."  Megan sits in sometimes, even though she isn't in school yet.  She mostly colors pictures, although she likes to ask me for worksheets once in a while too!

A typical day begins with devotions and singing.  The last song we sing is always a "Psalter of the Week," which is one that we will be singing in church the following Sunday.  We learn a couple verses of that song, and hope that by the time we've sung it a few times, the kids will know it during church.  Then we have a Bible lesson, and Emily does the calendar like the kindergarteners at Heritage have.  Our "season" (on the calendar) is always summer, but sometimes we talk about what the weather is like in Michigan just for a little variety!   :-)

For Jessica (4th) and Eric (3rd), this is followed by reading and math, and later in the day by English, penmanship, spelling, science, history, geography, and D.O.L.  (Not all these subjects are taught every day!)  On Fridays there is art, and I plan to add music too. Science and art are taught by my husband.  

Jessica working on her English assignment, while Megan writes some "A"s

Eric and Emily, sweaty after a recess break, working on their assignments

Emily sits in on science, and otherwise follows a similar schedule to what she had at Heritage.  On Tuesdays she has a show-and-tell that starts with the letter of the week.  On Thursdays she does "work stations," made as similar to Heritage's as possible, with a worksheet or two about the letter of the week, a story read to her online for the "listening" station, a food that begins with that letter, a journal entry with a picture starting with the letter, and one or two other activities.  This week's letter is "B," and she brought her "baby brother" for show-and-tell today.

When I was finished making the homeschooling schedule a couple months ago, I asked Jessica and Eric to look at it and tell me if I had missed anything.  One said, "S.Q.U.I.R.T.!" and the other said, "D.E.A.R.!"  ("Sustained Quiet Un-Interrupted Reading Time" and "Drop Everything and Read").  So I added that into the schedule, and the first time they had it, Jason even joined them!

Of course we have recess too!  Conveniently, there is a playground located right off the elevator below our flat.

 

While the kids are doing their assignments, I throw a load of laundry in the washer or dryer, empty the dishwasher, grade papers...or rescue Jason from his latest predicament or mischief.

While we enjoyed our first few days of homeschooling, we very much miss Heritage. Homeschooling just isn't the same!  We pray for our schools, teachers, and former classmates often.  We pray that God will bless our efforts here, and the efforts of our teachers in the good Christian schools in the PRC, and use all of us for the good of our covenant children.