Almost time to start school

Since everywhere we go and everyone we meet is talking about school starting up soon, I figured it's time to get our routine figured out.  Since one of my weaknesses is sticking to a schedule, I decided this time around I need helpers to keep me going.  At least 1 of the 3 of us (Andrew, Izzy or I) will say, "Hey aren't we supposed to do school?" and since we set up video game rules to be that they can't play unless chores and school is done, just an added incentive to keep us going.  (Mini note on the video games:  They can't play until after quiet time so school has to happen before lunch or school will happen during video game time.  Otherwise, we'd have kids doing the least amount of work to get what they want as soon as possible.)

In the past, I've come up with ways to "do school" but when it wouldn't go exactly as I planned, I'd get frustrated and then just give up.  So this time I decided to get the kids involved.  If they help plan how we're going to start school everyday, hopefully we'll have less whining and complaining.  Last week was our trial run and we think we've got opening exercises decided.   Since the kids love being in charge of conducting Family Home Evening, we decided this would be the most fun way to start school.  Plus, we have the perfect stage: the fireplace.  

First we came with our list of things we need to do before school starts.  

*Get dressed

*eat breakfast

*brush teeth

*chores done

*lights turned off in all rooms that we're not using.  (Izzy made sure we wrote this rule down on our paper.=)

We decided school will start at 9am. so if something that's supposed to get done before school starts doesn't get done, it will have to wait til lunchtime.  Good rule?  We'll see how it goes. Then we figured out what our opening exercises would need.

*Welcome to the Gilson Schoolhouse (kids will take turns conducting opening exercises.  We also came up with this name for our school.  Not very original, but it works.)

*Song

*Prayer

*Pledge of Allegiance (the kid that's not conducting that day leads us in the pledge)

*Stretching (I lead but then they get to pick a stretch or exercise before we're done.  Pushups, or jumping jacks have been a hit.)

*Storytime (the kid conducting will pick the story for the day and then the other kid picks a fairy tale from our favorite fairy tale book.  These are Hans Christian Anderson, Brothers Grimm, etc.  Not Disney versions.=)  It's surprising how much these kids LOVE these stories.  I sometimes find Izzy off reading them on her own.

*Narration (this is to show me that the kids are listening to what's being read.  We filled up a jar of ways to narrate including

   narrate to Mama

   Playdoh

   draw 1 picture

   draw 3 pictures (on same page in sequential order, or they need to number them)

   draw 6 pictures (same)

   paint

   skit (10 mins. to plan and then act it out together)

   blocks (build their own set with some form of blocks and then act the story out)

   3 questions to ask each other

   Or skip today

So far they've used Playdoh for Tom Thumb, drew the Little Mermaid, drew 3 pictures of the Princess and the Glass Hill (I'd never heard of that one either) and painted the 3 Billy Goats Gruff.  It's been so much fun and the kids enjoy doing something new everyday.  

In the middle of our opening exercises one day, it started pouring rain.  Since we LOVE the rain, we took a break and had "recess" early.  Izzy even dressed for the occasion.  The kids were filling up all the buckets possible and pouring them into other containers.  Even Calvin was getting in on the fun.  When the rain died down, the kids started cooking something in the big pot.  They collected grass, rocks, spit, anything they could think of and everyone got to stir. Calvin just had fun splashing in the puddles of water that Alex had contributed to the back porch.  That's what I love about homeschooling.  When something happens, we can drop everything else that's been planned at the drop of a hat and enjoy life.  I love it.