Trying something new

It is amazing how much homeschool is a learning process for me as much as it is for Monkey. Thankfully one of the best advantages is that if something doesn't work you can stop and try something different. My family though seems to think that we need to sit at a table and do "school at home" for like 5 hours each day. I love my family even though I get minimal support from them, but boy do we have a difference of opinion when it comes to what homeschool entails. One family member basically thinks I should be "training" her to be put in public school. NOT! My method for her school is that I know what I want her to learn, and whatever fun ways we can come up with to accomplish this is what I will use.

Last week we started our homeschooling very slowly, doing one subject each day for 5 days for no more than 1/2 an hour per day. Math and science related activities are definitely her favorite subjects as they tend to be more hands-on activities and using manipulatives. Some of what we did last week was more traditional schooling, which did not go well for either of us.

I decided this week to completely change gears. Doing a different subject each day just didn't have a nice flow to it, so for this week I am doing things really differently. I decided to try my first unit study. A while back Hands of a Child was giving away their Butterflies project pack, so I downloaded it to try at some point. Who knew that point would come so soon. We are doing a section of it each day with most of the activities, (not quite all of the activities are suitable to kindergarten), and she is having a blast and begging me to do her "school work" first thing when she gets up.

While I am trying to homeschool for almost free, I can see me purchasing a few of their project packs over the next year. Monkey is having such a great time with the Butterfly project pack that it completely justifies the cost of purchasing a few more. Besides, their prices are very reasonable; and since I am also working outside the home it will save me hours of time.

Since this is our first lapbook experience, I am anxious to see what the final project will look like. Now if I can only remember to get some pictures so I can remember forever this experience.

Quick note to self: when deciding to do lapbooks, it would be great to have some colored paper for printing the projects on, and some nice colored file folders!

Beth