Nothing short of that. Just AMAZING!
That's how our first day of homeschool went.
The day started off bright and early. I was up at 5:30 and the little ones soon followed by 7:00 a.m. They were beyond excited. I was nervous. I wasn't sure how I was going to keep everyone focused, working hard and having fun all at the same time.
We began our day with a morning prayer asking God to anoint Mama's Homeschool and to help us all be good listeners and respectful of each other.
I then went to the chart where each child was assigned two jobs for the week. I loved watching their eyes light up when their name was called and I explained what their job was and how important it was. Everyone took their job ultra-serious! They were so cute!
The proud Pledge leader.
Saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
Kai was the Pledge leader, so he got to hold up our flag while we saluted with hands over our hearts. We discussed a bit about what the flag means and why we need to honor it. That totally changed their attitude and you could almost see a twinkle in their eye as they recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
We then did some bible study and talked about Jesus and his love for his children, followed by a very fun rendition of the Hokey Pokey but instead of singing "You put your (insert body part) in and you turn yourself around" you say, "You give your heart to Jesus and He turns your life around.....that's what it's all about!" They loved it! We laughed and played twice to appease the chants for "More!"
Turning themselves around during the Hokey Pokey dance.
After that, we had Reading/Spelling. This is the only area where I had to sort of split myself in three. Anna Grace is not at the level I expected her to be and AJ is a bit more advanced that PK level, so I'm gonna bump him up and I will be able to teach them both the same levels. Kai was doing great and is definitely at a beginning first grade level.
Then our line leader, Anna Grace, led the line downstairs for snack time. They sat for a few minutes drinking juice and eating grapes while talking about how much they enjoyed Mama's Homeschool. Our snack time was scheduled for 15 minutes, but after 10 minutes, they were chomping at the bit to get back upstairs. We did this right after the "Zookeeper", AJ, did his job of feeding the dog.
We then had Spanish, which Kai claimed to be his favorite part of the day. They were so funny and cute. I'm assigning 3 words a week for them to use at all times. Each time I hear the word during the day/night, they will receive a point which will be accumulated towards a prize towards the end of the week. So, I've now heard "Abre la Puerta" (open the door) many times in addition to them telling me they live in a "casa" (house).
At the end of the day, drawing a picture of what their favorite part of the first day of school was.
Math was fun. We rolled dice in a game I made up. 1 die for AJ, 2 for Anna Grace and 3 for Kai. Once the dice were rolled, they had to add up the total and then I'd assign a certain task for them to do. For instance, Anna Grace rolled a 2 and a 3, after she'd tell me the total of 5, I'd ask her to take 5 bunny hops to the other side of the room. There were pretty creative making elephant noises, crawling like inchworms and even stomping like Megatron.
So cute! Here they are making "bubble faces" when I flicker the lights. That's there sign that it needs to be quiet.
Recess outside was rained out so I let them play with their toys for a little while, but they were anxious to get back to school. We came back upstairs spent a few minutes doing the "wiggle the wiggles out of us dance" and had story time, followed by lunch.
After lunch was science. I was very impressed with how much their little brains could take in. I planned on speaking about our planet. Instead, they were filled with questions about the sun, the stars and Kai even brought up the "solar system". Our time allotted for Science went well over double of what was planned.
We ended the day with music and singing two silly Mama versions of "Joy in my Heart" and "B-I-N-G-O" and then a final thanksgiving prayer.
We could not have asked for a more perfect first day of school, especially after hearing them repeatedly say, "Mama's Homeschool is the best!" ::insert swollen heart:: and for all of it, to God be the glory!
