There were two major changes in our household. The first was the arrival of my mother in law. My mother in law recently moved in with us from out of state and it has been an adjustment for all of us. We're happy to have her here. It's amazing that instead of pictures and videos she can now see our tiny duck grow and explore with her. The second major event was my decision to stay home and no longer work out of town. While my job was enjoyable and I love my boss to death, it seemed like it was no longer an asset to the family, but was becoming a strain on our family unit, so we made the decision to no longer do shows that took me away from home for more then a week at a time, which in turned led to no more shows. While I will honestly miss parts of the incredible job with The Silver Coast (http://silvercoastjewelry.com) , I absolutely love being able to stay home with my ducks.
While out of town for the last show I made some awesome investments for our homeschool classroom. When we were thinking about starting this journey and I was pouring through essential homeschool items on websites a lot of the "helpful" list said we should have a printer and for that extra umph a laminator. When we started we decided to hold off on the purchases until we knew more about what we were doing and I spent countless hours writing and making our own activity sheets to "save money" and because it was simple enough. I recently bought the HP Envy 4502 Printer from Walmart. It has certainly made a difference. I no longer spend hours making work sheets and getting hand cramps. ;) There are so many amazing free printables online. You can find some awesome links for prek and kindergarten on my pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/duckylove610/homeschooling/ and there are plenty at no cost for all grade levels at www.TeachersPayTeachers.com . The sign up on that site is free and I have received minimal emails from them since signing up. I would definitely recommend this printer to anyone looking for an all in one printing system. http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Envy-4502-Inkjet-e-All-in-One-Printer/28994574 I feel the need to add that the printer was $20 cheaper when I bought it, so if you're watching your budget feel free to look around for a better price on this awesome printer ;) I also bought my laminator there for $20 an amazing purchase. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Scotch-Thermal-Laminator-2-Roller/17208765 In addition to allowing us an easy way to preserve our tiny duck's art work the laminator also allows us to laminate various activities and work sheets so that they can easily be reused. All you need to do is laminate the sheet and get some dry or wet erase markers.
Now that was not a sales pitch for the items. If you have been making your own and like it or are just starting with homeschool and still exploring if it's right for you, there is no need to run out and by them. I just know that it has made an incredible difference in our process.
Okay on to lessons. Our little duckling has come a long way with her letters. If you follow the blog you know that was the thing she was having the hardest time with, but with the help of fun activities, repetition, and some awesome phonics games and videos she is able to identify the letters and can even remember the sounds they make. She has most recently started working on sight words and rhyming words.
We have also been working on learning more about her numbers. We've been working on sequencing. While our little one can count in order and identify the numbers 1-15, telling what comes before or after another number was seeming like a bit of a challenge for her. We did several activities with her that she seemed to enjoy and she was able to successfully put the numbers in order. Our laminator came in handy with most of her math activities. We easily found free printable themed math, counting activities, and games for her online.
Our duckling has enjoyed working on learning the days of the week and lots of memory exercises. She loves My little Pony, so I found some awesome my little pony printables cut them out and laminated the ponies for memory games.
Here's a peak at most of what we covered this week.
So that's what she learned. What have I learned? This homeschooling process is harder then we thought. Don't get me wrong I still love it and we're going to keep homeschooling, but it is tougher then it looks. Having fun is important, but making sure our little one is learning and remembering everything can be a challenge at times. I don't know about all kids but our little ducking is a four year old ball of energy. She loves exploring and learning new things and her attention span is that of a four year old, so keeping her on track can sometimes be challenging. We've managed to keep her focused and keep it fun, by taking recess. :D I totally understand recess in public schools lol. Sometimes our homeschooler needs a little break and other times us teachers need one. We walk away and get our energy (or frustration) out and come back to try the lesson again. I have learned to notice the signs that tell me one of us needs to take a break and make it happen before the lessons become overwhelming.
So anyways that is what's been going on at the School of Ducks the past few weeks. :) Now we're getting ready for the weekend and looking forward to the next week of lessons.
So anyways that is what's been going on at the School of Ducks the past few weeks. :) Now we're getting ready for the weekend and looking forward to the next week of lessons.
