School Time

It's officially time for Rilyn to start school!  We had originally planned on sending her to our local public school and felt good about it.  She was registered and had gone to all the back to school nights they had...but a couple weeks before school started Tyler and I decided to try homeschooling out.  I've always wanted to because I love teaching and most of all I love teaching my own kids.  We were already doing preschool at home and it has gone well.  It was a really hard decision because our neighborhood school is actually a great school and Rilyn really loves to be part of a group and socializing with other kids.

It is really important to us that all of our kids get the chance to be part of a community outside of our home so we were excited when we learned our district offers some homeschool enrichment programs. So, we signed up Rilyn to attend a Science/Spanish program twice a week for 3 hours, and we will do the rest of school at home.  In addition, to the program she has Sunday school, usually some sport, plus various other playdate occasions with friends.

We started school this last week and it's been an adjustment for us all.  Monday Rilyn was plain exhausted from the weekend so was super whiny even when I was making her chocolate chip waffles for a special breakfast.  We worked through the morning, but there was a lot of complaining and crying from all the kids so I gave it up, we went outside, and after her 2 hour nap we resumed and finished what I had planned.  She was awesome in the afternoon and was happy to do school with me. The nice thing about being home is I can work around their needs!

Some fine motor work 

Rilyn working on sounding on words

Playdough sight words

As you can tell the boys just do school with us.  If I give them activities to do they don't feel left out and don't cause trouble.  When they are bored of school they can go play.  I am working with Ryder on about the same level as Rilyn so I'm expecting a little more of him than Sawyer, but it helps that he has a natural tendency to want to do school.  And, I'm positive we will have rough days when the boys just want my attention.

Tuesday Rilyn was off to enrichment.  She told me she was excited but still a little nervous.  I was happy she could understand that it was okay and normal to have both emotions.  We all took her to school that first day and I think she felt pretty special that morning.  I did fine until I left and then I just wanted to turn around and pick her right back up.  Leaving your kid with strangers is so dang hard, but I know it's good for her.  The boys also weren't big fans of leaving their sissy behind.

When the boys and I got home, I got to enjoy watching the boys play without the direction a.k.a bossiness of their sister controlling the play scene and it was a real sweet moment for me.  I'm happy these two will have a chance to develop their own relationship.

After pick-up we headed straight to the park to run off some energy before lunch.

Rilyn enjoyed her time at school, but was a little disappointed they didn't get to play.  They don't have a recess which actually is a little disappointing to us also since we are primarily sending her for social interaction so we will have to try it out this year and reevaluate.  She is happy to go and happy to come home so I guess that is a good sign.

Wednesday I decided to tweak a few things in our schedule.  My goal would be to do most of our school work in the morning to leave the afternoon free for play.  That will be a challenge if I try to fit everything that sounds fun into our day, which by the way I did on Wednesday.  Rilyn was a champ and soared through everything Wednesday.  Tyler had an idea to set up a schedule on the computer for her and she loves it!  She sets her own schedule in the morning and then knows exactly what she has to get done.  This works incredibly well for her.  When the boys were antsy we took our lessons outside and since it was drizzling her and I sat in the garage for math.  Of course she had to teach Ryder what he missed out on while riding his bike.  

Again, she took another great nap and Ryder happened to nap also. He then fell back to sleep on his mama.  Oh my heart melts.

That afternoon, I almost ruined a perfect homeschooling morning by trying to fit more into our day than we needed too.  Like bake cookies for Poetry Tea Time and draw in our nature journals.  It's going to be so hard for me to say no to things.  We even ended up having tea time without cookies because I couldn't get them done before it was too late for them to have an afternoon snack.  

On Thursday, Rilyn had her enrichment program and then we hung out at grandma's for a little while. After nap, Rilyn did a little reading and we did a quick math lesson.  I'm not sure how much actual school we will do on the days she has enrichment, but I would like to do a little because I would like to leave Fridays open for field trips, our mom's group, or whatever fun activity we can come up with. 

On Friday, Rilyn worked on school all morning so we could spend the afternoon at the park.  

Sawyer right in on the action of some phonics

I think the week was successful.  At least Rilyn loves showing dad everything she knows and is excited for school next week.  She loves the attention she gets from me, and has had a really good first week.  I have a lot to tweak as far as scheduling goes, and I need to learn to let some things go. It all seems fun and important so it's hard for me to say no.  I'm hoping next week we can get through our schedule a little more quickly and smoothly so we are not doing school so much.  Even if Rilyn likes it I want to give her lots and lots of play time especially outside while it's still nice and we can enjoy being outside.