I decided to switch gears on our phonics approach.  I liked what we were using and Carson was doing really well with it but there was just something missing.  He was asking a lot of questions about things we were not covering yet.  I felt like I was constantly telling him we would learn that later or there was a rule for that and we would learn that later.

I was researching other approaches to teaching phonics when I came across The Logic of English by Denise Eide.  I loved what I saw but Essentials is geared toward older students and I wasn’t really sure how to make it work for us.  I heard that the author was in the process of writing a foundations program for Kindergarten students but it was still in beta testing.  I inquired about it and found out they were opening up more slots for people to beta test.  I was a little skeptical about doing it because it’s not finished and there are a lot of unknowns.  I decided to go ahead and try it after emailing with the author and asking some questions.

I am absolutely LOVING the looks of this program.  It teaches all the sounds of the phonograms up front.  It teaches spelling rules and incorporates handwriting.  It also teaches grammar.  I’m not sure I’ll use it for grammar but it will be a great supplement to use if we choose something else.  The author has done a wonderful job of making this program so open and go.  We love that there are so many ideas and games to reinforce the phonograms and what we are learning.  I went ahead and bought the Essentials book and Teacher manual.  I doubt we are going to catch up but if we do and the program has not gone to press yet I wanted to have the other material to use.  The plan is to do foundations this year in Kindergarten and then start Essentials and work through it over a year and a half.

Today was our first “official” day of Kindergarten.  Carson has been begging to start school since his birthday in May.  We’ve been doing “school” for a while but I ordered some new fun stuff for Kindergarten and he’s really excited.  I was going to wait until August but it’s been so hot lately we’ve stayed indoors more than usual.  I figured starting a few weeks early wouldn’t be a big deal.

We went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast because that is what Carson wanted to do.  We all went out to eat and spent some time together before Daddy flew to Baltimore for 2 days.  We stayed and played for a while and then came home and I put Calen down for a nap.

I knew better than to pull everything out and try to do school in the morning.  I thought I had enough things to keep Camron occupied but I was wrong.  I quickly realized that school in the morning was not going to work 🙂  After a few meltdowns and a few talks we made it through our first day.

The rest of the week went really well.  Carson really enjoys doing “school.”  His favorite thing right now is math and bible time.  He is doing really well with Handwriting and he loves to play phonics games.  We really love to read but sometimes I put it off and then forget.  We always read at bedtime but I want more reading throughout the day.  We have made it a point every morning to set a timer for 20 minutes and go curl up in bed and read.  I hope that he always loves to learn.

I am asked this question a lot so here it is.  Every family is different so my reasons for homeschooling may not be the same as another families.  We all make decisions based on what is best for our families.  I have prayed a lot over this and homeschooling is best for our family.

Why home school?

I’ve wanted to home school my children for as long as I can remember.  I love the idea of teaching them and learning with them daily.  We have so much fun together and I love having them with me.

I do not want someone else having more influence over my children than me.  Children are put into school at very young ages.  I do not want them spending 8+ waking hours with someone that I do not know.

I believe God gave me these blessings to raise in his way and I’m going to do the best job that I can.  I believe teaching my boys about God is most important and public schools do not do that.  Honestly, it’s not their job nor do I want it to be.

I believe that family is important.  Call me over protective, I don’t care.  They are young and vulnerable.  I want to protect them and keep them innocent for as long as possible.

I believe that no one wants my children to succeed more than me.  I know I will do everything I can to ensure that they do succeed.  I want them to be able to study those things that they are passionate about. I love that Carson is excited about learning.

These are just some of the many reasons homeschooling is the right decision for us.

We started a very laid back preschool at home this year. I am really laid back about structured learning with young kids because I want my boys to be kids for as long as possible. I want them to explore things and figure things out on their own and just have fun. Carson would start Kindergarten this next school year and I honestly can’t imagine my child having to be in school 8 hours at 5 years old. Sometimes I feel like this world is so “hurry up and grow up” that it bothers me.
I had planned on really waiting until Carson was closer to 6 before we started any “schooling” but he asked me to teach him to read. My boys love books and Carson has many of his favorite books memorized and will read them to me. He seems to be pushing me much more than I want him too but he is an eager little one so I’m following his lead. I’m a little OCD when it comes to organizing so of course I had to sit down and get a game plan in place. I’m one of those people that makes lists of my list 🙂 It’s a horrible habit! I had several weeks of stuff planned out for us just to see how it goes. It was fun stuff and we were using the “workbox” system.
I’ve made plans and guess what? We are not following them, LOL. We have been doing some reading lessons and they take 5-10 minutes. If we do other stuff it’s strictly because he is asking. I have ordered a few things for him and will plan out some stuff for kindergarten but plan on following his lead with it. We will mainly focus on reading, writing and math.
A typical day around here looks like this

 and this

 and a lot of this 🙂