our first week {review}

This past week FLEW by. We had so much going on that we were sad to see the weekend come. As our first official year of homeschooling, I’ve been anxious to see how all my months of planning and preparation would come to fruition. And I can honestly say that I was so so happy with our first week. We definitely had some behavior issues, whining, and competition between the siblings… but overall they were excited to learn and towards the end of the week began encouraging each other in their work. We learned a new hymn “My Father’s World” which we sang every day – my two boys put their arms around each other and swayed back and forth singing together. Precious memory forever.
Here is a bit more of a look into our week.

Using our fun FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL photos I made a “bio” of each kid that included grade, likes, personality, and goals for the year. I plan to do a similar page each year to place in their end of the year books. You can find the page I used here.

Each child has their own Calendar Notebook that will be the first thing we start off with each morning.

The Calendar Notebook contains:
1.  Monthly Calendar – write the correct date for each day of the month. (download calendar Meach Calendar)
2. Write the Date – write the day of the week, month+date+year, month+date+year in numerals (Mama Jen download)
3. Hundreds Tens Ones – as we count to 100 days of school we will work on place value. (download cards Mama Jen)
4. 100 Chart – counting to 100 days of school (chart included in My Father’s World curriculum)
5. Tally Marks – make a tally mark for each day of school; helps to learn counting by five (Mama Jen download)
6. Weather Graph – each day fill in the graph with the day’s weather (Meach Calendar)

The two links I provided you will be a HUGE resource if you are interested in making a Calendar Notebook for your child. Mama Jen and Mrs. Meacham both provide details and downloads to help you put on together. My kids absolutely love their notebooks and are becoming more independent each day with them.

Day 2: God separated the water and created SKY
(water and marshmallows for the clouds)

Day 3 – God created LAND and PLANTS and SEEDS
(grapes for the fruit and crushed oreo for the dirt)

Day 4 – God created the SUN, MOON, and STARS
(orange, blueberries, pretzel sticks)

Day 5 – God created all the animals in the SEA and SKY
(blue jello for water, swedish fish)

And now for some snap shots of our week in action.

Our first week of homeschool was a blast! Definitely learned alot (myself included!). Looking forward to getting into a better daily routine. Thankful for the opportunity to teach my babies. As a mother, the most amazing sight to see is my children’s eyes light up as they are learning new wonders.