Let your heart be light!

December Fun

We always kick off the Christmas season with tree decorating night.  The kids get new pajamas, new Christmas books, and new ornaments to represent the year.  This year I chose gingerbread houses to represent the year of "home".  The kids didn't really get my attempt at symbolism, but they were still grateful for their ornaments. :) 

We almost didn't visit Santa this year, but I'm so glad that we did!  We made a reservation and there was nobody else there.  It was so nice! The kids had to sit in front of plexiglass for the picture (because...2020), but then Santa spent time talking to them next to the plexiglass.  

We have absolutely loved going to The Teddy Bear Tea the last couple of years, but since that wasn't happening, we recreated our own Christmas tea for the girls at Mumsie and Popsie's house!  Mumsie set a beautiful table.  We had lunch, decorated gingerbread cookies, danced, and did a gingerbread house ornament craft.  Mumsie also got the girls new Christmas books and read to them!

The traditional preschool Christmas program wasn't able to happen, but Rhett's wonderful teachers recreated the program in the classroom for us to watch on zoom (in true 2020 style).  Rhett was excited to be a wiseman.  

One cold night we went and looked at Christmas lights in Pin Oak in the back of the truck!  We stopped for hot chocolate on the way.  

We had a fun cousin gingerbread house challenge!

Desmond came back this year, much to the delight of the kids!  It's not 2020 for an elf unless you take a nap in a mask hammock.  

We also did plenty of Christmas movie watching and Christmas book reading!  

It's truly the most wonderful time of the year.  

Homeschooling

We have officially finished our first semester of homeschooling!  I want to try to document this experience the best that I can.  This post will be focused on Reid and Georgia since Rhett goes to preschool.  We miss him so much during the day, but I definitely feel that it was the best thing for him!  

Once we decided to homeschool, I started researching curriculum right away.  There is SO MUCH out there and while the teacher in me loved it, it also started to feel overwhelming.  Once I made decisions and everything started to arrive, it was time to get to work organizing and prepping!  This part was actually really fun for me.  I also knew I wanted a designated school room to store our things and have an area where they could really focus when needed, so we converted the downstairs study!  Chris is still working upstairs because it's quieter.  Here is a look at our room!

I set our "official" start date as September 8th, when Rhett started preschool, but we began easing into it a couple of weeks before that.  There were a few days in the beginning that I felt really discouraged.  I feel like it took about a month to really settle in and find our rhythm.  I also made a couple of curriculum changes that first month (GK's math and our English/Grammar).  I started following a few homeschooling moms on instagram and quickly realized that there is a very wide spectrum of how people homeschool.  I definitely fall on the more structured end, but with room to be flexible!  

Here is our basic schedule:

Everyone wakes up on their own, usually between 6:45 and 7:15.  Having Chris home in the mornings has been so nice!  The kids eat breakfast, get dressed, and play (no tv on school mornings) while I make lunches.  Since I pack Rhett's lunch for preschool on Monday-Thursday, I also pack Reid and Georgia's lunch at the same time and then I don't have to mess with it later.  

Rhett and Perry are in the same class, so Alli and I carpool.  She takes them to school in the mornings.  She picks Rhett up around 8:30 and then I either do a few things (start laundry, pick up the kitchen, etc.) or finish getting myself dressed before we start school.  We aim to start at 8:45.  

We start out with a warm up.  So far we've done states and capitals copywork and Georgia has done some extra handwriting practice.  

Next up is English/Grammar.  We do our English lessons together.  I found something that is quick and to the point, so we typically only spend 5-10 minutes on it each morning.  Whatever the skill is that week, we do a mini-lesson and notebook practice on Monday, a quick writing application on Tuesday, tasks cards on Wednesday, and a quiz Thursday.  

After English we start math.  If one or both are doing something that involves little to no instruction from me, then they will work on math at the same time.  If they are both on lessons that involve more instruction from me before they work independently, then I will work on math with one and usually the other one will work on their current writing piece.  We are always cycling through the writing process and this fits into our week differently depending on how everything else is going.  We work through prewriting, rough drafts, revising and editing, and final drafts.  

I typically send them outside mid-morning for a little break after math.  

After the break, we move into our reading time.  They each have their own reading curriculum.  It's the same program, but different levels.  I love the program!  Every other lesson is a phonics based which is great even for the older ones because it really helps with spelling.  In the other lessons they read aloud short stories that incorporate the previously worked on phonics skill as well as comprehension skills.  Georgia has especially benefitted from the program and she has become a much more confident reader! I work with one kid while the other one reads whatever they want independently.  We also have a read aloud time at some point every day.  This time varies from day to day, but it is always my favorite time!  

We usually stop for lunch after reading.  

We finish our day with science or history.  I am teaching science and history to both kids at the same time.  Texas homeschooling laws do not require an official science or history curriculum, so this gives us a lot of freedom and flexibility!  I used the science and social studies TEKS from both grade levels to piece together a plan for our year.  We alternate between the subjects (a few weeks of science/a few weeks of history) instead of doing both each day.  

We are almost always finished with our day by 1:00, but often sooner!  I pick up Rhett and Perry from preschool at 2:15.  If Chris is home, which he usually is, then Reid and GK get to stay home and watch shows while I go pick them up.  I am also able to use this hour or so to run a quick errand or two before picking them up!  I fully believe that Chris working from home has helped a lot with my sanity because I am able to squeeze in that little bit of alone time.  

Here are more specifics about what we have covered so far!

Reading Lessons and Read Alouds:  We are using All About Reading for our main curriculum.  Reid completed 33 out of 63 lessons and Georgia Kate completed 28 out of 54 lessons.  Our first read aloud was Little House in the Big Woods (which we actually listened to on audiobook).  Next, we read Charlotte's Web.  I turned this into a novel study and we made lap books throughout the study that included vocabulary, character traits, setting, sequence of events, problem and solution, and theme.  We also watched the movie and did a Venn diagram comparing the movie to the book.  Our last read aloud for the semester was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which we didn't love.  I had to edit a lot as I read, which I hate doing.  

Writing:  We completed the writing process on three pieces of writing - realistic fiction,  personal narrative, and the story of Christmas.  We have also worked on letter writing by writing letters back and forth to Guinny!  We've loved this!  

English:  nouns, pronouns, plural nouns, irregular plural nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, abstract nouns, possessive nouns

Math:

Georgia - I landed on Math Made Fun by The Moffatt Girls (purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers) for her curriculum.  We have been working a lot on memorizing basic addition and subtraction facts, place value, overall number sense, and addition and subtraction with regrouping.  

Reid - He is working through Dimensions by Singapore Math.  This curriculum is a great fit for him and his math loving brain.  He's covered a lot of mental addition and subtraction strategies with large numbers,  multistep word problems, basic multiplication and division (will get into two and three digit numbers in January), and graphs.  

Science: I am using different science units from The Good and the Beautiful.  This semester we did Water and Our World (states of water, the water cycle, bodies of water, currents/tides, icebergs/glaciers, and groundwater) and Space Science (the moon and its phases, characteristics of each planet, and constellations).  Water and Our World was very hands on and the kids loved that!  Almost every day we did some kind of experiment or small project.  Space Science was less hands on, but they had a blast making their solar system model at the end of our unit.  

Social Studies/History: Our only social studies unit of the semester was studying the election.  We learned about who can vote, who can run for president, the party system, the electoral college, etc.  I was so excited for the kids to fill out their electoral college map on the evening of the election and we all know how that went.  Georgia's face says it all.  

We also went on three field trips with two other families we know that are homeschooling this year!  

We went to the George Ranch to learn about pioneer life.   

We painted at Ceramics by Tess.  

We also visited Newman's Castle in Bellville!

I feel like I have a unique perspective on schooling because I have now experienced private school, public school (as a parent and teacher), and homeschool.  I truly think there are pros and cons to all three.  At this time, homeschooling is a one year thing for us.  That said, I want to remember my favorite things about it!

*I absolutely love getting to know them better as learners, especially as readers.  

*I love that we aren't tied to a schedule.  If it's a gorgeous day and I want to take them to the park for an hour or two, we do it.  

*This probably isn't one of their favorite things, but we have more time to build chores into our week.  Most notable is that they each clean their bathrooms on Wednesdays.  I took the time to teach them how to do it right and they earn money if they do it well.  

*We have been utilizing our local library a lot!  I reserve all of the books online and then when they are ready, they bag them up and we do curbside pickup.  It's so easy and the kids are going through a lot of books between their independent reading time during the day and before bed.

*Our evenings don't feel as stressful.  I feel like we used to have so many hectic afternoons and evenings.  The kids are still involved in their activities, but because our day feels more relaxed and the kids aren't as tired, we are excited and ready for those evening activities!  I was worried that they would miss being at school with friends, but I think having their extracurricular activities has helped so much with that.  They also play with neighbor friends a lot.  

Now, it has not all been rainbows and unicorns! :) As I said earlier, I was discouraged when we first started.  I questioned our decision and questioned my ability.  There are days when a particular curly haired student and I go head to head and I want to run away.  There are days when the whining might actually make me go insane.  The line between mom and teacher is very blurry and that is hard!   

I NEVER thought I would homeschool, but...2020!  It was a leap of faith and one I'm so happy we took!  As I told the kids, I am really proud of us! We are excited about a break before we kick off the second half of our homeschooling year!

Thanksgiving in Webb County

We spent Thanksgiving at the ranch this year!  The kids absolutely love going there.

Highlights for each of them:

GK - Driving me around in the gator for HOURS.  She says she is ready for her driver's license now.

Rhett - Catching the only fish of the week!

Reid - Shooting his first animal, a hog.  Even though I don't really understand, I know this is a big deal, so I was happy for him!