Adventures in Kindergarten

The first "real" week of homeschool has gone pretty well. I say "real" week because the last two weeks have mostly been preschool review/getting our feet wet. :)

Besides the general review like ABCs, numbers and fun preschool songs, we talked a lot about nature and the seven days of creation. I chose My Father's World kindergarten curriculum because it was the closest thing I could find to a Montessori method with a Christian perspective. I love it so far. It is very hands-on and nature-based, which is right up Maddox's alley. He is not the worksheet/flash card type kid (like Jude). That's another reason to love homeschooling...you know your child's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning and different styles and you can choose the teaching method. Now, it IS very challenging, but it's also rewarding and I think joining a local homeschool group will help a lot when it comes to having support. I'm excited for the year :) Since Maddox is so young for his grade (born one week before the cut-off), I like that he can get all this one-on-one attention and hopefully have a solid foundation by the time we put him in private school first grade (which is the plan so far). But we're taking all this one day at a time.

So! Here's a glimpse at the creation unit. It involved a lot of art, hands-on activities and discussing nature/creation. Jude made a mini-version of the creation book. He loves to join in and do "school" too.

This week we started Unit 1. Every unit focuses on a letter, that letter's sound and a part of nature that starts with that letter. This week is all about the sun and obviously letter S.

We kick off the morning with the Pledge of Allegiance, going over the calendar/weather, and the 100 chart. Each day we write a number on the 100 chart, Maddox adds a straw to the 1's jar. When we get ten straws, we will bunch them up with a rubber band and add them to the 10's jar. This is his favorite part of the morning.

Then I read a poem relating to the nature topic of the week. Today I read  "My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson. We went outside to look at our own shadows. We hid from them, watched them move and discussed why we have shadows. 

We use textured letters when we talk about letters and their sounds. For the letter s, he cut out pictures that begin with the /s/ sound and filed them away in the S envelope, which we will use throughout the week. We sang the phonics song and he did a worksheet circling the pictures that start with the /s/ sound and placing an X on the ones that do not. For handwriting (his least favorite), he practices in a salt tray first and then does his worksheets (which sometimes involve tears). 

We do math worksheets, too, and this week I read him several books about the sun and we talked about basic sun facts. We also sang songs and talked about how Jesus is the light of the world, just like the sun.

Today, Maddox put on his boots and we ventured into the backyard for a science project. We placed grapes on a plate and left them in the sun (Jude did this too). We made a grapes graph and every day Maddox will draw what the grape looks like and we'll talk about how it's changing and why. We should eventually get raisins! This is the kind of school that makes Maddox smile and gets him wanting to learn more ;)

Jude's favorite part so far was painting a sun. They took a canvas outside, some different paints, and painted away. Jude's sun is the abstract version ;)

So...that was our Monday and Tuesday.

I like that Jude is learning a lot right alongside Maddox.

And school with one kid doesn't take very long, so he has the rest of the day to play, explore and learn on his own. 

Here's the start of our homeschool adventure! 

Surgery and Visitors

In my head, September means jeans, pumpkin everything, crisp air, and changing leaves. But, in reality (in Florida), it is about as hot as August.

At the beginning of the month, Andrew had his inguinal hernia surgery. His parents came into town to help out and it was very appreciated! Before the surgery, we had a few days of fun. We celebrated Labor Day weekend at Postal Point. The water felt great and we had a picnic under the pavilion. The boys loved it.

We ventured out to McGuire's in Destin one night. It was crazy busy and the bagpipes were a little annoying (just ask Marion haha) but the food was delicious as always. I got the corned beef and it came with an entire HALF head of cabbage. We also ran into Yani, her dad and Alex there, so that was an added surprise :)

Andrew's surgery went well. The first two days were really rough though. He had to pee in a gallon jug and he pretty much moved as little as possible. Us women had to keep pushing him and reminding him he needed to walk, walk, walk as much as he could ;) The nurse had told me the more he walked (just to the bathroom, kitchen, etc...not a marathon) the better.

On Day 5, he was able to leave the house and we had lunch at the Golden Corral. The boys stocked up on food, especially cotton candy ;) We even journeyed to the outlets in Sandestin but that was pushing it. He got too hot and we headed home.

Debby and I left the men at home a good bit and we, along with the boys, got out the house and had some fun. Of course we hit up Bippy's, Starbucks and Target (a few times). We went so often to Target that when I later asked Maddox if he wanted to come with us (again), he said, "Why? We've been there a million times already this week!"

Kinda true.

The day after the Therrells headed back home, we kept Ava while her mommy had her little brother in the hospital nearby. 

And finally this week we get to dive into kindergarten. We got in school where we could the last couple weeks, but it was mostly lighter work/review and now it's the real deal.

Wish me luck! 

August Changes

Off the top of my head, three big things happened in August.

1. Andrew was having a lot of lower abdomen/groin pain and found out he had an inguinal hernia from lifting weights. This is my "I told you so!" moment. Anyway, he was pretty much miserable most of the month as he had to wait 3 weeks for an ultrasound...THEN wait for surgery. The military health system isn't the fastest in the world. I felt sorry for him.

2. Maddox turned five. We celebrated with his two closest friends at the Track then we had a big dinner, complete with the wildest Happy Birthday song ever, at Fudpucker's.

3. Maddox started kindergarten at Eglin. He cried, as was expected. But after just two days, I realized this was not a good fit for him. He was the youngest in a class of 18 with an inexperienced teacher who didn't like to smile. No good. I sucked up all my fears of homeschooling and ordered a curriculum, then joined a local homeschool group. No turning back now. It's been a fun, though very challenging, adventure so far. I know it was the right choice though and I'm excited to see where this year takes us!

Here's some pictures of all our August moments♥
And...then I'll be ALMOST all caught up!

Maddox's birthday....It started with cupcakes for breakfast!

 He learned to ride with no training wheels a few months before on his 12 inch Radio Flyer, but I was surprised he hopped on this big mama (16 inch) and took off just fine. Poppy says we should have gotten a different color though (haha. football season)

The Track was a blast. Maddox's favorite is always driving the kiddie carts.

We are lucky to have good friends here in Florida :)

Jude was tired, hungry and as his friend Ava would say, "CRABBY."

He only smiled once we got to Fudpucker's. Maddox was tickled pink when the staff came out shouting Happy Birthday and had our whole side of the restaurant join in.

I still can't believe he is five! 

Here are a few pictures of Maddox's public school experience - 2 whole days. Haha.

Other August happenings:
I spent a lot of time with my shoulda-been-my-sister friend Yani. She and her husband moved to Arizona this month (September) so we got in all the time we could in August. Who else is going to bring us creme brulee at night? Or go antiquing with me and freak out over an avacado green blender from the 70's? Yani was a blessing, a great friend and she is very missed! But...friends can still be friends far away...and I'm pretty excited to see pictures of her little man when he is born. Life is an adventure, indeed. We never know who we will meet or when we will say good-bye, but we keep going on, learning new things and enjoying it all. I'm thankful for so many good times!

We had a "Ninja turtle" (according to Jude) visit our backyard.

 Maddox got his first "goose egg." He ran straight into the corner of the wall. Poor guy! Thankfully a little Advil and some Curious George made it feel better.

The boys got early bday presents - Powerwheels 4wheelers.

They are a lot of fun, but big...and loud...and sometimes they think they are bumper cars. 

The Therrells came the very end of August for Andrew's hernia surgery. And surgery is what pretty much starts off September....(and football). I now have to get used to football on ALL day every Saturday. At least I can look forward to pumpkins, decorating, lattes, the fair, and cooler weather! I'm so ready for that.