Monday, January 14, 2013

Checking In and (finally) Catching My Breath

As usual, December was a whirlwind.  Actually, the last few months have been a whirlwind.  I'm finally able to sit down and catch my breath.  And, I wanted to update ya'll.  Okay, so we have a few friends from Texas, and I now say ya'll - not often, but sometimes.  I swear, I pick up dialect like some people catch colds.

Anyways.  Homeschooling is going very well!  X-Man loves it.  I had a schedule planned earlier in the year - the schedule is no longer applicable.  X-Man has been loving math, so he's a few weeks ahead there.  And, we took our time to study the planet Earth, so we're a few weeks behind there.  We've also added in some Presidential studies (X-Man can tell you the order of Presidents, which number each one was, and the dates of their Presidency - I however, cannot).

Also, we started back (after taking a couple weeks off for Christmas) last Monday, and now we begin each day with a quiet time.  I work on my Bible study, X-Man reads devotions, and L picks out some picture Bibles to look at - she often prays during this time (unfortunately, she thinks this means she can play  but call it praying "No, I'm praying over here!").  Overall, this change has been great!  It gives us time to ease into our day, and starts the day in the right mentality. We also added a basketball hoop to our classroom.  If X-Man starts getting antsy, he can hold the ball (it seems to help him focus) - he also gets to shoot a basket between each subject if he was a good listener.

I feel much more confident, so we often change what we were going to learn about to make it more interesting for them.  We've been using our library and are loving that.  Anything he wants to study is easy to study when you have a fantastic library with tons of resources.  We've been adding activities and games and even movies - all of which have been great.

Our family also started 2013 by adopting a weekly budget.  I take X-Man grocery shopping while Little Lou is at school.  He brings a calculator and keeps track of how much we're spending so that we don't overspend.  I also have him help me cut coupons - this helps him with fine motor skills, alphabetization, and matching similar items.

Little Lou is still loving preschool three days a week.  She is still learning Bible/History and Science with us, we also read some stories before she goes to Preschool.  The days she is home all day are much easier (I thought it would be easier when she was at school). 

Oh, and one more (huge) thing.  Remember when I left my job to begin homeschooling?  We talked about how this meant that we'd be bringing in less money.  Well, God again provided for us in ways that we never planned!  The hubby was offered a new job (a few months ago) that has more than provided the amount of lost income from my old job!  And, he loves his new position.  Again, I'm so thankful and can't wait to see what God has in store for us this year.  And, He has great things in store for you too :)

Thanks for reading!

No comments:

Post a Comment