Getting in the Homeschool Groove

The last two weeks have honestly been two of the most enjoyable weeks I've had in a long while.  I love to schedule, I love to plan, I love to spend quality time with our kids, and most of all, I love to have fun!

First off, I'd like to introduce you to the newest members of the Out of the Box Learning Academy.  Yep.  You read it!  I even got so creative that I named our homeschool.  Did you know that there are a TON of freebies and rewards out there available to schools and homeschoolers?  I sure didn't.  But I did quickly see that a lot of them require you to have a school "name".  Hence, our Academy was born!

So without further ado, meet our preschooler, Princess M and our 2nd grader, Mr. C!

 Aren't they the cutest? Well, I sure think so.  And they have personalities that are out of this world.  I was really worried about this at first, because, you know, sometimes our personalities don't quite fit into the box that the world deems appropriate for schooling.  But for our school, they fit just fine!  We laugh, we work hard, and we have fun.  We work together in a way that makes everyone happy, because with homeschooling, you can do that!  Now, by that I don't mean that I let them have their way.  What I mean is that they can learn in a way that leaves them with a smile on their face, rather than being forced to do it the same way as the child sitting next to them.

So we've been schooling for almost two weeks now. We've started paper mache globes, because we're just learning what Geography is all about.  It's pretty awesome that this doubles as an art lesson too! The best part?  We sat down one night as a family on the kitchen floor and did it together.  If I tried that last year, Mr. C would have been a complete mess because he had already spent all day at school and was tired of "learning".  Now, its just part of our everyday life!

We've done some science experiments already as well.  We learned what happens when you mummify and apple vs. just letting it sit out.  We've learned how water can magnify words.  And this week, we'll be making an edible cell model to enjoy after dinner one night!

In Mr. C's language arts curriculum, we are reading The Courage of Sarah Noble.  In the first few chapters, we learned about cloaks and talked about the noises of the night and sleeping outside.  The plan was to camp over the holiday weekend and wear our cloaks that we created, but unfortunately it was a tad warm.  So instead, we moved the tent inside!  Are you SEEING how much fun homeschooling is yet!?!  We're having a blast!

We've learned about instruments, and the kids both got to try their music abilities by attempting to play the flute, we've been on nature walks, been swimming for PE, baked cookies for home ec, worked on our hammering abilities for shop, and talked to each other using some of the sign language we are all learning together.  And these are just the super fun things!

You know, its been pretty awesome.  But awesome doesn't even begin to describe the feeling I get when we get up in the morning and before we even make our beds, the kids are asking what we are going to do today.  It doesn't begin to describe the feeling I get when I get to watch as the information they are learning actually clicks in their head.  It doesn't describe the smile that was on my face when I saw M finally trace that letter A for the first time.  And it certainly doesn't describe what its like to have your seven year old and three year old explain to dad over dinner exactly what they learned that day.  All I can say about it is I can't believe I waited this long to start on this journey.

I'm sure we'll have our bad days as well as the good.  I'm sure it won't always be this fun.  But for now, I'm going to eat up every moment of every day and make memories that are going to last a lifetime.

I'll try to continually update my blog for those of you who want to know how our schooling is going, so check back every once in a while.  Keep us in your prayers, too.

Until next time, have a great night everyone!