adamwife

babywisher

I am wanting to start homeschooling my 4 year old ds. I am curious as what kind of bible lessons you do. Also what does your day normally look like? We always seem to be a little hectic for no reason. I guess the first thing would be to get my lazy butt out of the bed before 8 in the mornings! Thanks!

tamarar5

Why do you have to get up at 8 ! We don't start school until 10am when ds goes down for his first nap. Then because we don't have him distracting us, we can plow through her lessons.

I'm not anywhere near as organized as adamwife, but I use a preplanned curriculum called ACE paces. They have a bible curriculum integrated into the daily work.

Hope you don't mind me butting in with my two cents!

wifeofadam

First, since your DD is 4, my advice would be to relax and take it easy for a while.  If you dive into homeschooling head first and try to do too much too soon, you may burn out quickly.  At that age I would avoid a lot of structured work and just have fun with learning.  Do nature walks and point things out that are interesting - see this tree trunk?  These are rings - can you count them for me to tell me how old the tree is?  Stuff like that.  Read lots of books.

For Bible we had been using MFW Kindergarden up until about a month ago.  We've now moved on to MFW 1.  DS1 does the proverb of the week from the lesson plans and we are also enjoying the 5 minute devotional book that came with the curriculum.

If you're not wanting to purchase a curriculum just yet, I have found Pinterest to be an amazing resource.  You could pick a Bible story a week and come up with your own curriculum using resources from Pinterest.  That Bible story could even be your theme for all of your other work you're doing.

I have another friend who has used Phil Vischer's (the Veggie Tales guy) What's in the Bible curriculum.  He has a set of DVDs with puppets that are cute and silly.  My kids love them (although they were probably 5ish before it held their interest).  Apparently if you go to his website there is also curriculum that goes along with the DVDs.  My friend's kid really loved it.

Here's what a normal day looks like for us:

7:00 - Make breakfast
7:30 - Everyone eats
8:00 - Start getting everyone ready for the day
8:30 - Clean up kitchen
9:00 - 10:30  - School time in the dining room with DS1 (DS2 and DD1 sometimes join us for some or all of this time and do worksheets or color.  Sometimes they listen to what we're reading about or do a craft with us.  DS2 just turned 5 and will start formal lessons this fall.)
10:30 - Errands or play time
12:00 - Make lunch
12:30 - Eat lunch
1:00 - the younger three go down for naps.  DS1 will either do leftover schoolwork with me, read books quietly, or play some video games (if he's been a good boy that day)
3:00 - everyone is up from naps, has a snack, and then has playtime - if the weather is nice we go outside for nature study/playtime
5:00 - prepare dinner
6:00 - eat dinner
7:00ish - bedtime

(Obviously as the kids get older and there are more of them in different levels of work, this schedule will change and we will spend a lot more time doing formal work.)

Mondays we go to a homeschool co-op physical education class after naps.  Tuesdays and Thursdays we have violin lessons at 10:30. Saturday mornings they have soccer.  I count all of that as school.

It sounds like a whole lot more work than it really is.  My primary focus is Bible, Math, and Phonics.  The rest just sort of falls into place.  If we get to it, great, if not, we fit it in eventually.  I'm also finding that the longer we've been homeschooling, the less I want to do formal curriculum.  The kids retain so much more information when the topic we're studying was either their idea or it is relevant to their lives at the time.  So instead of making out a yearly lesson plan myself, we're having better luck asking the kids what they want to learn about right now and then planning a unit based on that.  Another example, we're having hygiene issues with the boys right now - they are resisting baths and not doing a good job brushing their teeth.  Since we're hammering hygiene into their brains naturally as a part of life right now, we decided to incorporate it into formal school - a lesson on germs with activities and a dental hygiene unit.

Homeschooling sounds like so much work, but it doesn't have to be.  When your kids are with you 24/7, everything becomes a learning opportunity.  Reading a recipe is a lesson in fractions.  A trip to the grocery store becomes a scavenger hunt where they look for letters or learn about money.  Playing in the back yard sparks an impromptu lesson on something scientific.  It's all the normal stuff that a parent does with a curious child, you just make the intent of all of your interactions to be educational and you supplement your natural parenting methods with resources that back it up - read some books about whatever you found at the park after you get home.

I'm rambling.  I could talk about this all day.  If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I love our homeschooling life so much and want to encourage you in any way possible if you're feeling called to do this with your family.  I guarantee the experience will end up blessing you as a mother!

wifeofadam

Also, about waking up early - do what works for you.

I like to get our school lessons out of the way earlier in the day partly because we have activities planned later most days, but mainly because I'm worthless after 3:00 pm.  Once my littles go down for naps and I sit down for a break, I'm done.  Once the kids wake again I don't want to do anything productive.  I'll take them to the park and do fun stuff, but I rarely get any chores or formal book work done in the afternoon. 

On the other hand, my two closest homeschooling friends are not morning people at all.  They don't wake up when their husbands leave for work, so their kids sleep in a little later.  They don't like to do formal school work before noon.  That's what works for them.

You'll figure it out as you go.  Don't try to change your family's habits to do school.  The greatest part about homeschooling is that you get to do whatever comes naturally to your family.  If that means school happens in the evenings and weekends, that's fine too. 

babywisher

Thank you both so much! I am excited to start slowly with ds. He is a smart little guy and loves to learn. I also like that you said we don't to change our habits for schooling! It makes me feel like we really can do this.

tamarar5

Not getting up in the morning is one of my favorite reasons, lol! I'm not much of a morning person and c was rushed getting ready for school a LOT.

tamarar5

I have C get dressed for school, otherwise she would live in her pajamas, lol. We just don't start until E first nap around 10am.

wifeofadam

We don't get dressed for school every day, but we do start promptly at 9:00.  My kids just love to be in their PJs and especially this winter when it's been so cold, I prefer them to be in the footed PJs that keep them warm. 

Plus, I'm lazy and letting them stay in their PJs means less laundry for me (and thus, more time for school stuff) 

When they are a little older or if it seems like they need a little more structure, we'll institute a no PJ rule.