On the eve of beginning Kindergarten at home with Cara tomorrow, I'm just so excited! Since she was around a year old I had a feeling I'd be homeschooling her. Wasn't sure when/if/how so I started researching. Long before the days of pinterest.com I had folders of favorites, homeschool blogs, printables places, etc. I'd look at them, get overwhelmed, then not look at them for awhile. I didn't put Cara in preschool when she was 3 to keep her home and work on some basic preschool concepts that year. I ended up watching Aynslee, and getting pregnant with Anna just before Christmas, so I didn't go all out on curriculum or have a set schedule. We did some art, some reading lessons, lots of matching and writing. She loves doing all of that. However, with watching 3 kids and pregnant (aka tired, nauseous, etc) I said, NOPE, she's going to public school at least a few years! This momma needs a break!
I put her in preschool at church last year and she absolutely loved it. She reminded me a lot of me when I was younger, I loved school, the friends, the teachers, the clean desks and paper and pencils. I loved all the activities. I commited last August to pray for a year about whether or not to homeschool or public school Cara. I was still saying she was going to public school, but it just didn't sit well with my heart. So the praying and softening of my heart started. In March God confirmed what I thought was happening: calling the Newsome family to homeschool (among other life changing things). I began really researching curriculum, but also seeked guidance from my best bud and former english teacher and others who have walked this road previously. I picked math, she picked ELA, we both liked the same history, she found some great bible curriculum, and my other best bud found some great, easy science for kindergarteners, as well as art projects. I've been collecting books/manipulatives for years, and with a mom, husband and sister as a teacher, we were given LOTS of great items/books, etc!
I'm excited to embark on this journey with some great friends of mine for support and encouragement. My time is short and I have so much more I'd love to tell you about why we chose to homeschool, but for my own sanity and so I can head to bed, I took some pictures of our school area to post so we wouldn't forget. I'm 'officially' (HA!) a homeschooling momma!
Our school corner. Cara's Ikea desk and Micah's table my mom got for me when her school was getting rid of old items.
I put her in preschool at church last year and she absolutely loved it. She reminded me a lot of me when I was younger, I loved school, the friends, the teachers, the clean desks and paper and pencils. I loved all the activities. I commited last August to pray for a year about whether or not to homeschool or public school Cara. I was still saying she was going to public school, but it just didn't sit well with my heart. So the praying and softening of my heart started. In March God confirmed what I thought was happening: calling the Newsome family to homeschool (among other life changing things). I began really researching curriculum, but also seeked guidance from my best bud and former english teacher and others who have walked this road previously. I picked math, she picked ELA, we both liked the same history, she found some great bible curriculum, and my other best bud found some great, easy science for kindergarteners, as well as art projects. I've been collecting books/manipulatives for years, and with a mom, husband and sister as a teacher, we were given LOTS of great items/books, etc!
I'm excited to embark on this journey with some great friends of mine for support and encouragement. My time is short and I have so much more I'd love to tell you about why we chose to homeschool, but for my own sanity and so I can head to bed, I took some pictures of our school area to post so we wouldn't forget. I'm 'officially' (HA!) a homeschooling momma!
Our school corner. Cara's Ikea desk and Micah's table my mom got for me when her school was getting rid of old items.
We got this IKEA cabinet 4 or 5 months ago and we love it! Our books of the bible poster and number 1-100 poster. The buckets/bar hanging in front of her desk are from Ikea as well and have scissors/glue/crayons/markers/pens/pencils/map pencils, etc in them. I love that they stand up alone as well, Micah grabs the crayons, takes them to the table and goes to town!
Welcome to school Miss Cara!
The white boxes are her workboxes that I'm going to see how they work this week and will post more about them later.
Thermometer from my mom and our calendar board.
There you have it. I have some super fun things for Micah planned as well, I can't wait to get started. He's going to church preschool Tuesday/Thursday this year and he is VERY excited to start that in a couple of weeks. I'm praying we can get him fully potty trained before then, so it'll be a busy few weeks for sure!
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2 comments:
I love your homeschool room! It looks great. I hope you have a super year.
Your school area looks wonderful, Misti!
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